In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 162

The evening we flew to New York, Roddy and I dove straight into the talk show schedule.

This talk show brought back memories of <Hometown>.

Back then, even when I appeared with Aiden, there were people who gave off racist undertones.

Now that atmosphere had completely vanished.

Unlike last time, this wasn’t a mid-show segment either—the entire episode was blocked out as a Roddy special.

The MC, famous for throwing curveball questions, fired one off as soon as we exchanged greetings.

“The music videos are almost fully released now. It’s literally Roddy and Sena’s world right now. How does it feel?”

The MC asked with a grin.

Roddy answered first.

“First of all, I almost got murdered by my staff before the album dropped.”

“Oh, what happened?”

“After making music videos for every track, then the leak incident, and I said I wanted to remix right before release.”

“Then you’re lucky to be alive.”

Roddy and the MC cheerfully acknowledged the hard work of the staff who’d worked on the album together.

“I heard you almost couldn’t release the music video because your acting was so terrible. Is that true?”

The MC laughed while mentioning content from Roddy’s uncle’s interview.

The director had left interviews dissing Roddy left and right at various places right after filming wrapped.

Roddy pressed his temple like he was losing his mind.

“I’ll be honest. Without Sena, I almost couldn’t have released the music video.”

Laughter burst from the audience at those words.

“Sena must have been so frustrated. How was it, Sena?”

The MC naturally turned the question to me.

I answered with a slight smile.

“Of course Roddy’s acting wasn’t quite as excellent as his singing skills. But it kept getting better as we went along. At first it was really… yeah.”

“I’m really sorry.”

Everyone burst into laughter together again.

“By the way, Sena, you’re the one who created countless international fans through the OTT Netmate, right? Now you’re even appearing in music videos. You really try all kinds of things.”

“Yes, that’s right. But none of these flows were anything I planned. It was truly luck.”

“Modest as the rumors say. Roddy should learn some of that modesty, considering he wants to shoot fashion spreads.”

The arrow quickly turned toward Roddy.

Roddy scratched the back of his head with an expression like he was losing his mind and laughed.

“I could do it too! This might be the last fashion spread of my life!”

The MC shrugged at that answer.

Then turned the question back to me.

“Are you thinking about seriously breaking into Hollywood as an actress now? Looks like your preparation for superhero films is done.”

The MC asked playfully while slipping in a reference to Fabulous.

Roddy also looked at me with an interested expression after hearing that question.

“Well, yeah…”

I hesitated slightly in my answer when the MC continued.

“Actually, there was a lot of disappointment about the Asian superhero who appeared in the last Warners series. You know about that, right?”

The moment I heard that question, my body immediately stiffened.

I hadn’t expected such a direct mention of Lee Nara.

“Many people are hoping you’d take it on. What do you think?”

Roddy made a flustered expression too, seeming to realize I was caught off guard.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“It’s something to be grateful for.”

The MC raised an eyebrow.

“If I get the opportunity someday, I definitely plan to do it. Though I’d prefer to greet everyone as a completely new character.”

A corner of my heart grew anxious.

What if Lee Nara, her company, and Lee Nara’s fans saw this video and attacked me?

 

On the way out after finishing the studio recording, someone walked toward Roddy and me.

“…?”

Roddy’s manager immediately stepped forward to block them, but the man introduced himself as Bill Ramton’s manager.

Bill Ramton?

The manager approached me and greeted me.

“Bill Ramton sent me. Do you happen to remember this person?”

The manager pulled out his phone and showed me a photo of Bill Ramton.

It was a photo of a stand-up comedian confidently holding a mic on stage.

“Oh! This person??”

It was the comedian I’d randomly run into on the street during <Hometown>.

Seeing my surprised face, the manager smiled slightly.

“Bill invited you to the show. Come when you have time.”

The manager handed over two VIP tickets to Bill Ramton’s solo comedy show.

Receiving those tickets made me feel excited.

To think another connection would form like this.

Roddy smoothly snatched one of the tickets.

“Sounds fun? Take me with you!”

 

The next day, at Bill’s venue.

“People who say my comedy isn’t funny all have something in common. They’re the ones laughing loudest at my shows.”

In the heated atmosphere, Bill threw out joke after joke in succession.

Bill’s performance had gotten so much funnier than before.

Like he’d discovered his own strengths.

Bill raised his middle finger.

“I had a rough time clearing out those losers and haters for a while.”

Thunderous applause poured from the audience.

Bill smiled and took a sip of whiskey to wet his throat.

“Anyway. I made a special connection while crawling up from rock bottom.”

The venue grew quiet for a moment.

“A famous actress these days. Sena from Korea!”

The moment I heard those words, I stood up from my seat with a stunned expression.

Me?

He’s calling me out??

As I stood there looking lost, Bill laughed and gestured for me to come up on stage.

I walked onto the stage with a shocked expression.

Another round of applause and cheers poured from the audience.

Countless cameras held by people started filming me.

My mind went blank.

Bill continued with his performance.

“We met on the street. Back when I was so broke I was standing on the street trying to sell my body.”

I covered my mouth with a stunned expression again, and laughter rang out from the audience.

“Just kidding. When I had zero recognition or anything, I was telling jokes on the street. She helped me back then. And now we’re both doing pretty damn well. There’s no one in America right now who doesn’t know this hot face, right?”

Hearing Bill’s compliments made me feel my face heating up.

I stood there not knowing what to do when suddenly the audience erupted with cheers loud enough to make my head ring.

“…?”

People’s gazes were directed behind Bill and me.

When I turned around, Roddy—who’d left saying he was going to the bathroom—stood there with a guitar strapped on.

“???”

As I stared at Roddy with a blank expression, Roddy drew a V with his fingers and walked to the front of the stage.

“Today’s my first time seeing Bill. But I’m stealing this stage. Sorry.”

Roddy cheekily delivered that line and stood in front of the mic.

Bill laughed heartily and stepped aside.

People went wild and started filming videos like crazy.

Roddy leisurely began playing the new song’s title track on guitar.

The day I first saw her

Yeah that day

When Bill stood on the street

When he was doing bad things

Roddy changed the lyrics using the jokes Bill had thrown out.

Bill and the audience burst out laughing simultaneously.

I felt my tension release as I grabbed my stomach and laughed.

When Bill was begging for attention

I was begging too

Playing guitar

Two men saved by a woman

She is Sena

Roddy sang nonsense lyrics with a sweet voice.

Quite a few people who’d mastered Roddy’s new song started singing along in unison.

She is Sena

She is perfect

She is by my side

She is right here

She knows me

She is Sena

“This was Sena, Rodriguez, and Bill! Thank you all!”

Bill delivered his closing remarks while the song’s interlude flowed.

Cheers poured from the audience.

* * *

A few days later.

Videos recorded by audience members of the surprise event at Bill’s show spread like wildfire.

Articles and eyewitness accounts about that night poured out across various sites.

Meanwhile, the view counts of the fully released music videos kept breaking worldwide records day by day, and the three title tracks were fiercely competing for the Billboard Hot 100 number one spot.

That’s when more unexpected good news came.

The <Collapse> music video had been nominated for a special category award at a famous international short film festival.

It was a completely unexpected result, but only the director seemed smug, as if he’d known all along.

-Of course! It should win an award. It’s such a magnificent video.

The director had high pride in his own work.

Roddy showed more interest in his music video making it into a film festival than sweeping the Billboard charts.

-Isn’t this a successful debut? Right?

I shook my head at that incorrigible joker energy, while Solar Music quickly jumped to capitalize on the incoming opportunities.

‘How about making a music video commentary for <Collapse>?’

Solar Music planned to unveil the video at the short film festival’s special screening, then convert it to paid content on iTube afterward.

Hearing that plan made me feel dazed.

I’d occasionally watched idol concert commentary films with fascination.

It felt like idol-exclusive content, but now I’d be doing it myself.

The surprises didn’t stop there.

I pocketed my phone after browsing various things and stood in the middle of Times Square in New York.

The street was incredibly crowded with people busily walking around.

In the heart of Times Square hung the CVL photo spread Roddy and I had shot.

Far in the distance on a massive billboard, I could see Roddy smiling like a child with my hand on his shoulder.

We were both wearing couple white shirts and jeans in a casual look.

It felt strange.

Several people who seemed to be Roddy fans would stop walking, snap photos of that billboard, then continue on.

I stared at that scene blankly for a while before pulling my cap down low.

I started walking again.

There were still many schedules left.