In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 156

What followed was a scene where we wielded swords in action near Quebec.

We were supposed to match our moves according to the martial arts director’s instructions, but Roddy dropped his sword time and again.

Roddy truly had zero talent for physical movement whatsoever.

With no progress in filming for over an hour, the director’s frustration reached its limit.

“Hey, you—get off set! You stupid bastard!!”

“It’s my music video—how am I supposed to get off?!”

“Find another actor! We’ve poured all this money in and this is the only music video that’s gonna look like complete garbage. Because of you.”

Eventually, curses started slipping between the director’s words.

Roddy and the director began arguing in front of the staff.

Contrary to my expectations, the filming location’s atmosphere started turning hostile little by little due to their fight.

Seeing a fight break out so openly on set was a first for me too—it was flustering.

The director jabbed his finger at Roddy, issuing a warning.

“This is the last time. If you blow this cut, I’m not calling any more NGs either. Fire me or do whatever you want.”

Roddy’s face turned red and blue as he threw both arms up in an angry gesture without answering.

“Ready, action!”

Roddy charged at me with his sword, his face furious.

Seeing that expression, I knew instinctively.

Now’s the time.

As Roddy raised his sword and brought it down, I brought my blade up to meet it at exactly the right moment.

The clang of metal striking metal rang through the set.

“Next!”

At the martial arts director’s cue, Roddy changed his stance and stepped back. Then he came at me again in proper form with his sword aimed straight.

But then.

“Whoa.”

Roddy’s foot slipped, and his blade barely grazed past my ribs.

We couldn’t call another NG like this.

Without giving Roddy a chance to react, I brought my sword to his throat.

As if I’d been waiting for exactly this mistake.

Roddy stared at me with a bewildered expression.

I grinned back at him.

Hoping this ad-lib would work, I smiled on the outside while my insides churned with nervous tension.

After a few long seconds passed.

“Cut, okay!!”

The director sprang up from his seat behind us.

The martial arts director also clapped as if relieved.

“That’s it! Sena, you caught him perfectly!”

“Roddy, you did great too! Didn’t look like acting at all. Though of course, it wasn’t acting.”

At the director’s words, the staff giggled.

Roddy also exhaled in relief, finally at ease now that one section was complete.

Roddy dropped his sword and collapsed onto the ground.

“Ugh, I’m dying from exhaustion.”

But the director gave him no time to rest.

“Get up. We need to move to the next location right away. You delayed us by two hours.”

The director shot him a look, and I joined in too.

“Roddy, what are you doing? Get up! We need to shoot the next scene right away.”

With even me nagging him, Roddy’s face went blank with shock.

“S-Sena…?”

“Sorry, but I’m on the director and staff’s side too.”

I shrugged at Roddy.

* * *

Drawing out Roddy’s anger proved incredibly effective.

“Aaaahhh!!”

“You stupid idiot.”

“Hyaaah!!”

“A five-year-old could do better than you.”

The director provoked Roddy with words bordering on insults.

“Roddy, you’re too slow. How can you handle a spear like that!”

I spun my spear leisurely with three fingers while needling him.

Roddy on horseback yanked the reins with a thoroughly furious expression.

Every time Roddy came at me with that completely enraged face, the take passed.

Of course, that didn’t mean Rodriguez was suddenly showing actor-level performance.

But he was standing before the camera with genuine emotion, creating something natural.

Through this forced march, Roddy showed clear improvement.

Roddy and I crossed swords in medieval knight costumes, raced each other in off-road vehicles through wastelands playing chicken, and aimed sniper rifles at each other from skyscrapers filled with artificial lights.

That night, after finally catching up on all the filming we’d missed during the delayed time—

Both Roddy and I collapsed from exhaustion.

“You both worked really hard.”

For the first time, the director approached us with a kind smile.

“You worked hard too, director.”

“Sena worked hardest, filming with that guy.”

The director joked with a laugh.

Staff members who’d somehow become friendly toward me also came over and said a few words.

“Without Sena, I don’t know how we would’ve filmed this. It’s terrifying to think about.”

“Sena is basically the real lead of this music video.”

“Roddy needs to buy Sena at least a house. Seriously.”

Roddy clutched his forehead, listening to the staff’s words.

“Everyone worked hard because of me.”

Staff members answered with half-joking, half-serious responses to Roddy’s words.

“We know.”

“I almost sued you today, but held back.”

Hearing that made me burst out laughing.

Roddy scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

* * *

Two weeks later, at a rooftop wine bar.

After finishing filming the music videos for the title track and other tracks, our schedule traveling all across North America finally ended.

Now only two shoots remained: that problematic scene we’d postponed due to costume issues, and one more track music video I still didn’t know about.

I was sprawled on the sofa enjoying a rare moment of rest with Roddy.

“When’s the next filming schedule coming out?”

As I muttered to myself, Roddy suddenly sat bolt upright.

“Sena, I actually have something I’m worried about.”

“Hm?”

Roddy wore a rather serious expression.

“I actually couldn’t finalize the track 6 song.”

“Huh???”

Startled, I sat up too.

“I’ve been struggling with it ever since working on the album. That’s why I scheduled the music video shoot for last too…”

Roddy trailed off.

“You haven’t decided yet?”

When I asked again, Roddy nodded.

“So I was wondering. Sena, would you mind listening to the candidate tracks?”

I waved my hands, flustered at the suggestion.

“Roddy, I’m an actress, not a singer. I don’t know much about music.”

“I know. I don’t need a singer or actress. I just need one listener.”

“……”

“And besides me, you’re probably the person who understands the emotions of these two people in my music best right now.”

There was desperation in Roddy’s eyes as he spoke.

It was bewildering.

“If you say so…”

“Let’s go to my studio.”

Before I could even finish speaking, Roddy jumped up.

* * *

Roddy had three candidate tracks.

Among them, the two tracks Roddy was most concerned about and struggling over were these two.

One was in the country style Roddy usually worked with, and the other was electronic.

Both were excellent tracks without a flaw.

But strangely, the one that caught my ear was the last track.

The third track that Roddy thought had no real chance.

Track three only had a guide attached with no lyrics yet.

This track was under two minutes long, and featured a twenty-second section in the middle where Roddy hummed the melody a cappella, which was incredibly charming.

Positioned in the middle of the ten tracks, it would probably give listeners’ ears a moment to rest.

And most importantly—

“Roddy, I think this track could be a turning point within the ten tracks.”

“Huh?”

Roddy looked surprised that I’d chosen the third track.

He also seemed somewhat confused.

“The moment when love shifts to breakup. It feels like the final point where love still lingers. And most of all, this humming gives off a strange feeling of the flames of love dying out.”

Roddy’s brow furrowed as he listened to my completely jumbled interpretation.

“……”

“Sorry. That’s total nonsense. Don’t worry about it.”

I quickly stood up.

Roddy remained silent to the very end.

* * *

The next day, at Solar Music headquarters.

Eventually, the main staff for the album gathered, including Rodriguez.

They’d convened to decide on track 6.

With the album release date approaching, all the staff were getting anxious.

The track would be decided by vote.

From the moment Rodriguez arrived and sat down in the conference room, he didn’t say a word.

Staff members were gauging the situation, unsettled by Roddy’s unusually serious mood.

One staff member stood up and opened the ballot box.

A brief silence fell over the conference room.

The staff member who’d been carefully examining the ballots spoke up.

“Track 6 is…”

“We’re going with the third track.”

Roddy abruptly cut off the staff member’s words.

“…The voting result was the first track.”

The staff wore displeased expressions.

“Let’s go with the third track. I just decided. Let’s pretend the vote didn’t happen.”

Silence descended on the conference room again.

“And I’m going to remix this.”

Finally, several staff members let out sighs.

“If you’re just going to do whatever you want, why did you even call us here?”

“What are you trying to do right now? Remix it again? When are we filming the music video?”

Staff members snapped irritably.

Roddy sat there quietly, as if he’d expected this reaction.

The feedback he’d heard from Han Sena yesterday kept circling in Roddy’s ears.

‘A turning point.’

More precisely, those words had stuck with him.

Even in Roddy’s own opinion, this track could become a variation point in the story within the overall track flow.

Roddy conveyed his apology to the staff.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t think there’s any other way. I’ll get the remix done as quickly as possible.”

Roddy stood up and left the conference room.

The remaining staff stared at the closing door with incredulous expressions.

* * *

But that night.

“What is this…?”

Right after hearing a rough summary of the meeting results from Roddy—

When I logged onto the internet for the first time in a while, overseas community sites were in complete chaos.

[Rodriguez’s New Song ‘Track 6’ Leaked]

With trembling hands, I clicked on that post.

The moment I opened the post, the song I’d heard in Roddy’s studio just this afternoon started playing.

“!!!”

-What? Is it real?

-Whoa. It’s good though… but if it leaked like this, won’t it get cut from the album?

-Don’t know if it’s real, but I reported it just in case.

Given the unclear source and seeing “I reported it” comments scattered among the enthusiastic ones…

This was clearly a leak incident.