In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 127

Outside the agency office.

The moment I returned to Seoul, unexpected visitors were waiting.

Two middle-aged men sat on the office sofa with their arms crossed.

I was about to open the door and enter when my manager, who’d been struggling inside, spotted me and came flying out.

Then urgently asked.

“Are you really… dating that total jerk?”

“Total jerk? Kang Jio?”

“Yeah.”

The manager desperately pressed for an answer.

“Yeah. But who the hell are those people? Isn’t the company handling this?”

When I asked irritably, the manager scratched his head roughly.

“They’re Kang Jio’s family.”

“What?”

“His aunt’s husband and his uncle. They just showed up out of nowhere mentioning the scandal.”

“…?”

Frowning, I immediately opened the door.

Then Kang Jio’s family members, who’d been sitting there, tilted their heads without even standing up.

And suddenly threw several photos onto the table.

“…?”

When I approached and looked, they were pictures of me clinging to Kang Jio while in my other personalities.

Especially when I was Baek Jangmi—there were tons of shots of me throwing myself at Kang Jio even outdoors.

I sighed lightly looking at those photos.

But why do these people have them…

That’s when one of them spoke up.

“I’m Jio’s uncle. You know this would end your acting career if it came out, right?”

Hearing those words, I scoffed inwardly.

What exactly are these so-called family members doing right now?

“And you seem to be going in and out of hospitals. Something wrong with your head?”

Kang Jio’s aunt’s husband threw out a sharp question.

As I stood there listening to insulting words, Kang Jio’s uncle immediately got to the point.

“We’ll block all these photos and scandals on our end, so let’s make a deal.”

I stared at the uncle silently.

“Whether you two are actually dating or not doesn’t matter to us. Just expose that Kang Jio committed dating violence against you.”

“…What did you say?”

“If not that far, at least do an interview saying he’s a violent person. He’s entangled in the death case of our group’s former chairman from before. That case is still on trial.”

The aunt’s husband also chimed in from the side.

“We’ll handle planting stories everywhere.”

The moment I heard those words, Kang Jio’s face flashed through my mind.

Fury boiled up as I felt sorry for Kang Jio.

How hard must it have been for him, alone among family like this?

I stared quietly at those people, then tossed the photos back onto the table and sat down on the sofa.

“It seems like you’ve done quite a bit of digging, but you’re lacking some background information.”

“…?”

“Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Yu Dayang, Jio-ssi’s girlfriend.”

The two men didn’t react easily, but I could read slight confusion on their faces.

“Jio-ssi and I are in a pretty serious relationship. Feel free to leak photos like these all you want. What top star doesn’t have at least one scandal?”

“….”

“If push comes to shove, I can just quit being a celebrity. I’ve already made enough money. Quit being a celebrity and… become a chaebol wife or something like that.”

As I spoke and smiled coldly, the expressions of the two men sitting across from me hardened immediately.

“After that, I think it’d be pretty nice to get attention by doing an interview about how I lived under threats like this. So what do you two think? Will you be alright?”

The aunt’s husband tried to step forward angrily, but the uncle, reading the unfavorable flow, blocked him.

Then stood up from his seat.

“Miss, can you handle it?”

I also stood up and looked at him directly.

“Surviving in the entertainment industry is just as brutally difficult as surviving in a chaebol family.”

I smiled sweetly.

“….”

“You see, I’m someone who’s been quite thoroughly trained. Maybe you family members are the ones who need to prepare yourselves.”

The two men glared at me for a moment, lost for words.

“See you around then.”

And they left the office.

The moment the door closed behind the two men, my legs gave out completely.

The manager, who’d been trembling beside me, rushed over.

“Dayang, are you okay??”

I showed him a slight smile.

“I wasn’t shaking, was I?”

“No, you looked insane. Like usual…”

I glanced sideways at the manager and let out a deep sigh.

I’m actually using all those makjang chaebol dramas I watched for something.

The manager clicked his tongue beside me.

“She’s made a mess of things.”

“Right?”

But then the manager suddenly started lecturing.

“Seriously, do you have zero eye for men? Dating aside, shouldn’t you at least meet someone decent?”

I whipped my head toward the manager.

“What’s wrong with Kang Jio?”

“You two have the exact same personality!! You jerks. At least one of you should be nice, don’t you think?”

“What? Jerks?”

“Didn’t you say he’s refusing to explain the scandal too?”

“Why bother?”

“You’ve been photographed dating all over the place and other people are blackmailing you with it. Even the CEO’s given up, given up.”

Man, people are really interested in other people’s love lives.

Suddenly it felt like a headache was coming on.

Would it feel like this if a scandal broke while living as Han Sena in real life too?

That’s when a text came from Kang Jio.

-Where should we go tomorrow?

I burst out laughing.

This jerk is this carefree?

The manager looked at me like I was crazy as I smiled while texting back.

* * *

The next day, at a small playground.

Kang Jio was waiting for me looking furious.

“What’s with that expression?”

When I asked in surprise, Kang Jio’s frown deepened dramatically.

“You seriously don’t know why I’m asking?”

“What did I do wrong?”

Then Kang Jio touched his forehead.

“I’m the one who messed up. My family did. My aunt’s husband and uncle came to see you.”

“Oh, that.”

Kang Jio looked at me as I answered like it was nothing.

“I’m no better. I lit up my eyes like headlights and totally confronted them—adults and all.”

“What did those people say to you?”

“Just stuff…”

I trailed off and looked up at Kang Jio.

Telling him would only hurt him.

After hesitating, I opened my mouth.

“What exactly happened to make them want to bury you like that?”

“….”

At my question, Kang Jio bit his lip as if he’d guessed the content.

“You have to tell me what’s going on so I can handle things going forward too.”

“…I said there was an accident a long time ago, right? I was in the car with my grandfather then. When the accident happened, both my grandfather and I were thrown out the window, and my grandfather protected me while holding me the entire time.”

I listened to the terrible story while looking at Kang Jio.

I couldn’t find any words to say.

“But the driver at the time testified that I pushed my grandfather out the door during the accident. That testimony was accepted as fact, and since I was a minor at the time and had lost my memory, I wasn’t punished, but.”

“……”

“After that, I tried to find the driver but he disappeared. Since then I’ve been living with people calling me a murderer.”

Kang Jio spoke matter-of-factly, but I felt even more upset on his behalf.

How hard must it have been for that young child?

I was about to offer Kang Jio some words of comfort when suddenly my voice wouldn’t come out.

And an unexpected statement popped out.

“I know that driver.”

“?”

Kang Jio looked at me in surprise.

I was equally startled, but I couldn’t make any gestures.

A dark, familiar sensation taking control of me…

In that sudden moment, the final personality emerged.

The final personality left a meaningful comment and walked toward the swing.

Kang Jio followed as if entranced and sat next to me, observing.

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re.”

The final personality swung on the swing while looking at Kang Jio.

“You still don’t remember me?”

Kang Jio answered in confusion.

“I couldn’t recover my memories. Tell me your name.”

“Yu Hayeong.”

A name similar to Yu Dayang.

Yu Hayeong was the name of the final personality.

From inside Yu Hayeong, I could only listen in shock to what Yu Hayeong was saying.

“I saw that driver before, when you ran away from home.”

“…When I ran away?”

Kang Jio searched through his lost memories.

“Yeah. That driver had a torn scar on his forehead, right?”

“!!”

Kang Jio’s expression turned shocked.

Apparently Yu Hayeong’s description matched the facial injury of the driver he’d confirmed through photos.

Kang Jio said with a confused face.

“But that person quit a long time ago.”

That’s when Yu Hayeong revealed new information.

“Among the road managers Yu Dayang worked with, there was someone who looked similar with a scar in the same place.”

* * *

That evening.

I asked my manager to dig into the company where that road manager worked, but the only answer that came back was that he’d quit long ago.

I sat across from Kang Jio in my house, deeply disappointed.

Kang Jio tried hard to collect himself.

“It’s not good to have expectations like that. I’m fine.”

I looked at Kang Jio with pitying eyes.

A confused feeling still remained.

I couldn’t gauge just how deep the history between the fifth personality and Kang Jio ran.

It seemed like Yu Hayeong remembered even the past that Kang Jio didn’t know about.

Something felt a bit strange.

I’d definitely heard that Yu Hayeong was the last personality to emerge.

Even Baek Jangmi, who was created third, had emerged around Yu Dayang’s third project after debut.

But Yu Hayeong…

How could she have met Kang Jio in their mid-teens?

Before Yu Dayang even started acting.

Feeling uneasy, I immediately called Nam Woohyeok.

The moment Nam Woohyeok answered, I spilled all the new information from Yu Hayeong.

And the news that Baek Jangmi had left too.

Then Nam Woohyeok went silent for a long time as if shocked.

– ….

“Hello?”

– Yeah. Dayang, let me look into it more and I’ll call you back.

Nam Woohyeok answered in a serious voice I’d never heard before and hung up.

Somehow an uneasy feeling welled up.

Kang Jio squeezed my hand tightly.

“It’ll be okay.”

Even though he’s having a hard time himself…

I gripped Kang Jio’s hand tightly back.

* * *

A few days later.

After handling Yu Dayang’s brutal schedule for the first time in a while, I headed to an amusement park with Kang Jio.

“It feels like we haven’t seen each other in ages.”

It had been less than a week since we’d last met, but somehow I felt inexplicably glad.

Kang Jio looked at me and chuckled.

“You don’t like me too much, do you?”

“That’s overconfidence.”

I answered Kang Jio and looked at the natural scenery spread before my eyes.

“Wow, it’s beautiful!”

That’s when I saw unfamiliar tropical plants and animals in the distance.

“Whoa, let’s go there!”

I was quickly pulling Kang Jio along when suddenly my head spun.

“Huh, wait.”

When my body swayed, startled Kang Jio quickly supported me.

“Are you okay?”

“I want to see things like this too!”

“…?”

Jung Sewoon’s personality suddenly popped out.

“I’m sick of being stuck in the office working all the time.”

Kang Jio, who’d encountered Jung Sewoon after so long, looked surprised for just a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Look all you want. Let’s explore together.”

Jung Sewoon grabbed Kang Jio’s arm and headed toward the animal enclosure.

“Wow, it’s a crane!”

A long-necked bird was drinking water right in front of us.

But a zookeeper interjected from the side with a correction.

“That’s an egret.”

Hearing that made my face burn with embarrassment.

Feeling mortified, I muttered “Ah, I see,” when Kang Jio beside me burst out laughing.

“Pfft.”

“What are you snickering at? Seriously.”

Embarrassed, Jung Sewoon turned around and headed to another enclosure.

Inside the other enclosure were red pandas.

“Wow, they’re cute. Red pandas…?”

“Yeah, cute.”

“They don’t look like pandas though?”

When Jung Sewoon said this confusedly, another zookeeper butted in.

“Red pandas are in the weasel family.”

“….”

Jung Sewoon clamped her mouth shut.

Beside her, Kang Jio started laughing uproariously.

“You really are hopeless at everything except studying.”

“Well, did you know? You didn’t either!”

Irritated, Jung Sewoon snapped at him.

Jung Sewoon’s pretty hot-tempered too.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

Kang Jio took Jung Sewoon’s hand soothingly and pulled her elsewhere.

“Let’s look at other animals. Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not looking!”

Kang Jio kept chuckling softly.