In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 178

A few days later, in front of a set building shrouded in smoke.

Today we were scheduled to film the scene where Park Inha uses her ability for the first time on scene without her colleagues knowing, finding a rescue target.

I sat briefly in a dark spot without lighting, keeping out of sight from my colleagues.

I exhaled a small sigh while lost in thought.

‘Making Park Inha’s ability visible is proving harder than I thought.’

The reason for this dilemma was a conversation I’d had with the director earlier.

‘Sena-ssi, could you reveal the part where Park Inha uses her ability through more definitive acting?’

The moment I heard that request, I felt briefly confused.

In the script world, using the ability was nothing more and nothing less than sensing temperature.

If I had to add anything, maybe her sense of smell too.

How was I supposed to express the moment of sensing alone without anyone knowing?

If I tried to dramatize the moment of using this ability too much, it risked looking overly exaggerated.

No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t find an answer, so I stood up and brushed myself off.

Maybe I’ll find the solution once filming starts.

In the distance, I could see Hyunsu-ssi and Choi Sunha in the middle of their shoot.

Hyunsu-ssi emerged from the smoke and collapsed onto the ground in front of the camera.

Then he roughly tore off his respirator mask and bowed his head.

His face looked as agonized as a real firefighter’s.

Choi Sunha poured the water bottle he’d been drinking over Hyunsu-ssi’s head.

This too was an ad-lib not in the script, but a shot the two had created with their own idea.

I watched the scene with a pleased smile.

They really look like heroes.

As the actors’ coordination improved, they kept adding more ad-libs, and those moments were showing the kind of detailed realism you’d see from actual firefighters.

Hyunsu-ssi grabbed Choi Sunha’s hand while completely exhausted and rose to his feet.

Then he turned and walked back out.

I fell back into thought while watching Hyunsu-ssi’s retreating back.

This is what the work of firefighters called heroes truly looks like.

There were no cool-looking gestures or flashy goals in their rescue operations.

Just the struggle to save people, nothing more.

“Okay! Good.”

That’s when the director called out with a satisfied smile.

My turn was next.

I felt instinctively nervous.

With so much budget invested in the filming sets, I worried about causing an NG.

Staff members moved about busily preparing for the next shoot.

I took deep breaths while watching them.

Flames began blazing again from the special effects devices set up for filming.

* * *

“Alright, let’s go.”

I stood inside the building thick with acrid smoke from the roaring flames.

I raised my head to look at the pipeline connected to the ceiling and walls.

Park Inha needed to endure the heat radiating from these metal pipes and follow the line to track the fire.

But suddenly, despite this being filming, my breathing became stifled.

A cough escaped and my face contorted in pain.

It was a sensation similar to when I’d suffered in the script world.

Even though everything was fabricated set pieces, my fingertips trembled slightly.

It seemed to be from the trauma I’d experienced inside the script.

The camera stayed close, capturing my expression.

I slowly followed the pipeline while frowning.

Now that I’d returned to Han Sena’s body, there was no way I could actually feel this heat.

But what about Park Inha?

What would Park Inha—whose sense of responsibility was so strong it bordered on obsession with rescues—show in this situation?

Without realizing it, I removed one glove.

Then I brought my hand close to the pipeline.

I had the illusion that heat was radiating from the cold metal pipe.

I moved forward with my hand near the pipeline as if feeling that heat.

Park Inha doesn’t have any special cool-looking acting on rescue scenes either.

Just an exceptional tenacity and passion, nothing more.

That’s when Choi Sunha approached from the distance.

“What are you doing?”

Choi Sunha grabbed my hand in alarm.

Choi Sunha also immersed himself in my ad-lib and received it perfectly.

He was already as absorbed in the role of Tae Sunwoo as I was in mine.

“You want all the skin on your hand to peel off?!”

Tae Sunwoo in front of me shouted loud enough to make my ears ring.

I wordlessly pulled my hand free from his.

As if to say, don’t interfere.

Tae Sunwoo used his radio to inform colleagues of our location.

I walked past Tae Sunwoo and continued feeling for heat with my hand as I headed deeper into the building.

Without realizing it, my hand trembled more and more severely.

If this were Park Inha, the moment she removed her glove she would have suffered burns across her entire hand.

I squeezed my eyes shut while recalling that sensation.

The camera kept following alongside me.

After walking for some time, I opened my eyes.

Then I looked up at the ceiling.

I reached my hand toward the ceiling.

As if something unreachable was hanging from the ceiling.

I desperately moved sideways while reaching upward.

Tae Sunwoo approached and watched what I was doing, at a loss for words.

“Here.”

“What?”

“Above this…”

My voice trembled and a cough burst out.

The moment Tae Sunwoo understood what I meant, he grabbed his radio.

As soon as he transmitted the critical location for extinguishing the fire to his colleagues, strength drained from my legs.

Tae Sunwoo helped me up as I collapsed onto the floor.

“Go outside.”

“I can’t…”

But my body was already on the verge of losing consciousness.

I leaned weakly against Tae Sunwoo’s arm as he dragged me toward the path we’d come from.

* * *

Filming continued.

“Found them!”

Back at the rescue scene again.

The moment I shouted into the radio that I’d found the rescue target, the building wall behind me collapsed.

It was a special false wall that had been installed in advance.

I fell to the floor with an expression of being pushed by the fake concrete and smoke.

-Park Inha, what! What’s happening!!

-Inha! Park Inha!!!

The voices of Tae Sunwoo and Kim Youngwoo flowed from the radio.

“Ugh.”

I looked at the rescue target lying before me while letting out an agonized groan.

‘I have to save this person. I absolutely have to save them. They can’t die.’

‘Not like that time.’

I reached my hand toward the rescue target while lying there collapsed.

I slowly closed my eyes as if my eyelids felt heavy.

That’s when I heard the sound of multiple people running from behind.

“Park Inha!!”

“Park Inha, stay with me!”

Tae Sunwoo, Kim Youngwoo, Shin Huiryeong, Jang Haemi, and the other team members…

Kim Youngwoo and Shin Huiryeong supported the rescue target, Tae Sunwoo carried me on his back, and Jang Haemi radioed the team leader.

In the blink of an eye, the team members moved in perfect coordination from their positions as if this were an actual scene, racing forward.

A bead of sweat rolled down from behind Tae Sunwoo’s neck.

I closed my eyes, thinking I’d glimpsed this same bead of sweat even in the script world.

“Okay!!”

The director’s voice flowed from speakers installed in the building.

* * *

“Ugh, I’m dying.”

“So hot. Give me water.”

The actors and I sprawled out in giant X shapes on the controlled road’s asphalt.

I pressed my back against the cold asphalt and gasped for air.

The blue sky filled my entire field of vision.

Had I ever lain on asphalt like this before in my life?

My hair stuck to my face in clumps from all the sweat.

When I turned my head, I saw Choi Sunha sprawled out in a nearly unconscious state.

I looked at his face with pity and laughed.

Ever since filming started, Choi Sunha had been busy all day carrying me, holding me, dragging me out, and supporting me.

“Sunbaenim, you’re exhausted, aren’t you?”

Choi Sunha rolled his eyes back in an expression that said answering was too difficult.

“Phew.”

The colleagues lying around burst into laughter seeing that.

Even in this difficult situation, Choi Sunha hadn’t lost his sense of humor.

Choi Sunha made a groaning sound.

“I’m so dizzy I could die. Even lost weight.”

“I personally think you should lose some more.”

“Sena-ssi, if I lose any more I’ll be thinner than my dog’s bone.”

Hearing that, even Hyunsu-ssi burst into helpless laughter.

“Tae Sunwoo being this down-to-earth.”

Staff members approached and handed us armfuls of ice packs.

“Wow, so cool.”

“Ah.”

“Real firefighters must have it so hard—how do they even work? Amazing.”

We were dying from exhaustion just imitating a fake scene.

Thinking of the people working on the front lines of actual accident scenes made my heart swell with admiration and respect.

That’s when I heard the sound of camera shutters clicking from somewhere.

When I looked toward the sound, two staff members were using their phones to photograph us sprawled out.

“What’s that for?”

“It’s a secret.”

After finishing their photos, the staff answered cheerfully and scurried away.

We didn’t even have the energy to care, as everyone pressed ice packs against their bodies.

* * *

The next day.

“What’s this?”

Photos of me and my colleagues taken at various spots on set had been posted on the portal site main page.

Our on-set photos were circulating all over the internet.

Pictures of us hurriedly eating sandwiches with our uniforms draped over us, sprawled on bare ground covered in ash and sweat, pouring water bottles over colleagues removing their helmets.

They were all photos of the actors completely disheveled, regardless of gender.

Without any title or broadcast schedule, just large photos hanging on the banner with netizen speculation comments below.

-Oh, it’s that one. <Night of Fire> filming site.

-Is this the one they filmed after Han Sena’s accident?

-Today’s actually National Firefighters Day. Didn’t even know there was such a day, but it’s meaningful.

-I seriously thought they were real firefighters. Why does Choi Sunha look so gaunt?

-Feel bad for the actresses

-Don’t act like firefighters over one measly shoot. Just actors.

⤷ You’re twisted. Don’t you get the drama’s concept?

⤷ Don’t watch dramas then.

-Wonder if it’ll do well.

-I trust and watch Han Sena! Will definitely tune in for the live broadcast!

When I arrived at the filming location, the actors and staff were also reading the comments.

The production team explained their intention for posting the photos.

“HBC’s side is pouring massive money into promotion. We need to work our strategy accordingly.”

People nodded at those words.

“Looking at the comments, it seems like it’s gradually getting promoted.”

“Alright, alright, stop reading comments and let’s film quickly. We’ve got a long road ahead today too.”

Hearing one staff member’s words, I stood up and brushed myself off.

I set down my phone while thinking briefly.

These photo views are going to keep climbing.

So HBC probably won’t just sit still—I wonder how they’ll respond?

“Everyone be careful not to get injured today!! Let’s all fighting.”