In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 160

After wrapping the final music video shoot, Roddy went radio silent for several days.

I’d grown accustomed to the luxurious hotel life before I knew it, and found myself packing for my return to Korea.

My flight was scheduled for tomorrow morning.

“Ugh, this luggage is a mountain.”

Staring at luggage that had doubled from when I’d arrived in LA, I fell into an inexplicable mystery.

I hadn’t really added anything to my bags… Strange.

I miss Mom and Dad.

I want to eat kimchi stew too.

“Ugh.”

I flopped carelessly onto the bed and stared up at the high ceiling.

Then fiddled with my phone for no reason.

Will I really leave without seeing Roddy’s face one last time?

Still, tomorrow’s my departure day—leaving like this feels disappointing.

Is he busy?

Bzzt—

Right then, as if reading my mind, a call came from Roddy.

“Roddy! You’re alive?”

When I asked playfully, Roddy answered in a voice thoroughly soaked with exhaustion.

-Yeah. Want to grab dinner together tonight?

“If you’re too tired, you don’t need to see me off.”

-No, I’ll come pick you up at your hotel later.

“Alright then. See you later.”

After hanging up, I let out a grunt as I hauled myself up.

* * *

My last night in LA.

I sat across from Roddy at a nice restaurant on the outskirts, tilting back a wine glass.

Outside the restaurant, rain pattered down steadily.

Roddy showed up with puffy eyes, having pulled all-nighters doing final work until dawn.

His exhaustion lasted only briefly—Roddy cackled away while reminiscing about our filming period together.

“I seriously had no idea I’d end up working with you like this, Sena.”

“I had no idea I’d be filming like this with some random person who tried to blow up my SNS out of nowhere either.”

“Ah, I’m really sorry about that again.”

Seeing Roddy with both hands raised made me giggle.

Roddy conveyed his heartfelt thanks.

“Without you, Sena, I might not have finished not just the music video but maybe even the album.”

“Same here. Thanks to you, Roddy, these times felt like a dream. I might never get another chance to work on something this new in my life.”

I meant it sincerely too.

These had been times I couldn’t have even imagined.

Dipping my toes into this world, trying new filming—everything had been so enjoyable.

It felt like I was leaving behind my daily life and projects for a refreshing break.

Not only did my filmography grow, but I gained friends too—truly the cherry on top.

I felt lucky to have experienced this thanks to Roddy.

That’s why before returning to Korea, I really wanted to tell Roddy thank you.

“Let’s meet again soon.”

“Yeah, let’s. I’ll be praying your album does well.”

“Thanks.”

I stood up from my seat and exchanged a handshake with Roddy.

* * *

After receiving Rodriguez’s team’s gracious hospitality all the way to the airport till the very end, I returned to Korea.

For the first time in a while, I lay around for almost several days without budging an inch.

The accumulated fatigue felt like it was hitting me all at once.

After a few days rolled by, enjoying my leisure with no schedule while tumbling around the house—

Evening came and the sun began setting when I finished a simple meal and sat down with a trembling heart.

I quickly logged onto a music streaming site.

My heart pounded as time passed.

“Ha, why am I the one getting nervous?”

That’s when the clock pointed to 6:23.

Finally, Rodriguez’s album dropped.

Seeing the album cover with Roddy holding his guitar made my chest well up with emotion.

So it’s really being released to people now.

With hands dripping with sweat, I pressed the play button.

With an overflowing heart, I started listening from track 1 again.

The tracks totaled 29 minutes and 11 seconds.

These were songs I’d already listened to dozens more times on set and through files Roddy had sent.

Yet they felt new all over again.

Bass lines I hadn’t heard during those dozens of listens came through, along with rhythmically layered drum sounds and Roddy’s voice cracking attractively here and there in the middle—they all hit me deeply.

The tracks flowed by slowly.

* * *

A small American town street.

Three teenage boys riding bicycles through the evening streets pulled over, dripping with sweat.

The boys, who’d been fooling around and pushing each other over, plopped down on the sidewalk to cool off.

A breeze rustling through the leaves brushed past the boys’ sweaty foreheads.

“Someone play some music.”

“Ah! Today’s the day Rodriguez’s song comes out!”

“That Rodriguez obsession of yours.”

“Hurry up and play it!”

One boy who was a Roddy fan nagged his two friends.

A friend chuckled and picked up his phone.

“Huh? I can’t connect to the server.”

The boy’s usual music streaming site server was down.

“Damn.”

The other two boys also grew interested and huddled together to watch the music video on iTube first.

On iTube, an intro music video and a short 30-second preview video were up.

When they clicked the preview, the video teasingly showed glimpses of each music video from intro to outro under the theme of “Ten Forms of Love.”

At the end on a black screen, text appeared saying starting from release day, one music video would drop daily at 6:23 PM in track order.

The boy who was Roddy’s fan made an excited expression.

“Wow! This’ll be fun! Let’s watch the intro first!”

The three quickly played the intro music video.

The intro was a track just over one minute long.

The video began with black-and-white footage of a California landscape.

A small alley highlighting its simplicity.

A woman turned the corner into view and walked down the street.

“That must be the actress!”

“What was her name… Sena?”

“Yeah, Sena!”

Only Han Sena shone with color in the black-and-white scenery.

Wherever Han Sena passed while talking to a dog and watering flowers, color began spreading.

A man who spotted this started following Han Sena with a clumsy look.

It was Rodriguez.

Roddy, who’d been circling nearby the whole time, finally caught Han Sena’s eye once.

When Han Sena smiled at Roddy, color slowly spread through Roddy starting from his chest.

The short music video ended with Roddy’s smiling face.

“Wow, the music video’s so pretty.”

“Yeah. Even the song’s good!”

“But this actress is really charming. She’s so pretty?”

“Right? Now let’s listen to the songs! Try connecting to the server again.”

The three clicked on Roddy’s album on the music streaming site that had finally connected.

Roddy’s voice echoed through the street.

* * *

The same time, Korea.

A woman who’d finished work and returned home quickly sat down in front of her laptop.

Today was the long-awaited comeback day for her favorite idol.

The woman logged onto a music streaming site with an excited expression.

“Huh?”

But the woman’s face twisted when she saw the music chart.

The upper ranks of the music chart were completely dominated by some foreign pop singer.

“Who’s this person?”

The woman, who usually didn’t listen to foreign pop, didn’t even know Rodriguez.

The fanclub messenger she belonged to was on fire.

-What’s going on with this.

-Our kids are buried underneath. What’s Rodriguez!

-That’s the one, right? Han Sena filmed a music video for it.

-This is so absurd. What’s happening.

The woman quickly pulled up her idol’s music video first.

This album with its refreshing concept clearly showed the company had put in serious effort.

The woman hummed along to the addictive melody with a pleased face.

It was a song they’d previewed at a fan meeting.

After the music video ended and she checked the charts again, the woman let out a deep sigh.

Then with an annoyed expression, she randomly clicked one of Roddy’s songs dominating the charts.

A gentle guitar melody flowed from her laptop.

But the woman’s expression grew strange as she listened to the music.

The melody, the voice—everything was flawlessly absorbing.

The woman let out a hollow sigh and typed in the messenger.

-I thought we’d finally break into the top 5 this time, but it’s ruined. Still, let’s all work hard on streaming!

The woman turned off the messenger and logged onto iTube to play Roddy’s music video.

* * *

The next day.

Morning arrived after sleeping while listening to Roddy’s songs all night.

I logged onto iTube feeling refreshed.

I was curious about Roddy’s music video view count.

The moment I checked the view count—

“Huh!? 5.5 million??? Already?”

I covered my mouth with my hand.

iTube of course, but every community and SNS site was plastered with Rodriguez’s new song news.

Not only did the Billboard music rankings line up with tracks from first place, but even our domestic music sites had the tracks lined up in order from number 1.

I’d already expected Billboard.

But our domestic charts were extremely surprising.

For a foreign singer to hit the upper ranks of domestic charts was already incredibly rare—but to have them all lined up in a row?

Another chaos erupted when I checked SNS, where countless notifications had arrived.

Roddy’s fans and countless domestic and international musicians, actors, models, and celebrities were all uploading photos tagged with “6:23” related keywords.

Streaming verification shots, music recommendations, music video reactions, even fan works.

Album-related reactions poured out like crazy.

But a few comments on Korean articles and communities stuck in my chest like thorns.

-Typical parasite celebrity. Never once risen on her own recognition.

-Lee Nara, Lee Seonho, Seo Jaeyeon, and now Rodriguez lol

-I have no idea why this person’s even popular. Is she getting sponsorships?

-How does she keep riding other stars’ fame like this lolol shameless.

-Seriously best at attention-grabbing. Pure bubble celebrity.

-How’d she seduce Rodriguez. Did she seduce him during <Hometown> filming?

I tried hard to ignore the hate comments and turn my attention away.

But hate comments started appearing on SNS too.

-It’s Rodriguez’s new song, not yours. Stop promoting.

-Look at her uploading photos thinking this is her moment lolol

-Opportunist.