In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 182

“I heard our PPL’s doing well?”

Inside the set, now upgraded to an expensive catering truck for the second time.

Everyone sat gathered around tables, eating and chatting.

“Really?”

“A staff friend told me? They said QYN’s late-night movie ratings have been climbing steadily.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“From what I saw, our team leader has a real knack for broadcast. You were so good at it?”

Several colleagues teased Lee Junhyeong sunbaenim, who played the team leader role.

Lee Junhyeong sunbaenim casually set down his finished spoon and spoke.

“Let me tell you something. I may not look it, but I’ve got the soul of an entertainer.”

Laughter burst out from all around at sunbaenim’s words.

“You know how much I love attention, right?”

That’s when the director at the next table looked at his phone with a serious expression while eating.

“Wait.”

At the director’s single word, the surroundings fell instantly silent.

“…?”

“Director, is something wrong?”

“Yes, there is. Something big.”

“?!”

Even staff and actors from farther away turned to watch the director with startled faces.

The director bit his lip slightly before speaking.

“Things… might be getting bigger for us.”

Everyone stared at him with curious faces as the director broke into a grin.

“Looks like we’re getting reactions overseas too. They’re saying we’ll prepare for OTT and international broadcasts.”

“Wow, jackpot!! How?”

“Apparently contacts have been coming in from all over overseas to headquarters. The company just contacted me.”

Hearing that, my eyes widened too.

“This is crazy. We’ll recover the entire investment and make several times more, won’t we?”

“The director’s smile is splitting his face.”

I chewed my food with my jaw hanging open.

Even this small channel’s drama is getting attention so quickly.

I didn’t expect it would be this much.

It was a completely unexpected result even from my side.

“Things work out when we work with Sena-ssi.”

That’s when Choi Sunha spoke with his characteristic sly-looking smile.

“What?? Why does the story go that way?”

Other actors and staff then chimed in agreeing with Choi Sunha.

“Of course it does. No matter how entertaining we made it, without Sena-ssi we wouldn’t have gotten this level of results.”

“Probably 80 percent of the overseas reactions are Sena-ssi’s fans.”

I waved my hands in embarrassment when a small vibration came from my phone.

I checked my phone to find a post on Rodriguez’s account tagging me on SNS.

‘My muse turned firefighter! I love it♥’

Above the brief comment were captured photos from the drama.

Pictures of me wearing the uniform and struggling through various situations.

I barely held back almost spitting out the food I was chewing.

When did he even watch my drama?

Roddy was currently in the middle of an overseas tour.

Busy beyond belief, he’d still watched my drama and voluntarily joined in promoting it like this.

“Why? What is it?”

My teammates craned their necks toward my phone.

“What the—what is this! Rodriguez posted this? Just now??”

“Why, what?”

“Rodriguez promoted our drama!”

“What??? Jackpot!!”

In an instant, the filming location erupted into complete chaos.

A flood of DMs from Roddy came through on the phone I’d finally reclaimed after struggling all winter.

-Sena! I’m really enjoying the drama!

I immediately sent a reply.

-Roddy, thank you!!

-I’m doing a two-day tour in Korea next month too! You’ll come to my concert, right!?

-Of course. I’ll definitely be there.

-Okay! I’ll send you tickets! See you then!

“Wow, a world star.”

“Please sign this for me.”

“Where do you think you’re running off to, superstar?”

Ugh.

I clutched my tray and quickly fled from the people who’d started teasing me.

* * *

[Still Holding Its Ground as Terrestrial! <The Perfect Man> Episode 6 Breaks Through 13.7% Ratings]

[<The Perfect Man> Supporting Actor Im Taehyun Drops Out Mid-Production Due to Health Issues]

[Rodriguez Promotes <Night of Fire>! Overseas Fans’ Attention Pours In]

[QYN’s <Night of Fire> Goes Full-Scale International Export! Investment Expected to Return 5-6 Times Over]

As news about both teams’ dramas poured their full efforts in kept coming, people’s interest grew higher.

No matter how much Rodriguez promoted it, as expected of terrestrial broadcasting, HBC’s ratings were still an insurmountable wall for now.

However, the most important part was this.

‘Investment expected to return 5-6 times over.’

This part.

QYN was pulling in tremendous profits beyond just recovering their investment, to the point where they no longer needed to obsess over ratings.

Some staff members gathered on location and talked like analysts.

“HBC’s barely recovering their investment even if they break 20 percent ratings right now.”

“Wow, that much?”

“Their original goal was 30 percent.”

“Wow, that’s brutal. I heard that director there is completely insane too.”

“You call that guy insane? Insane people are way better than that.”

“Right. They don’t deserve to be compared to that bastard.”

I shuddered while listening to the director’s already widespread reputation.

I recalled the drunk face of the director I’d met before.

That’s when Jeon Woongi, playing Shin Huiryeong sunbae’s role, also finished their cut and all the actors gathered in one place.

“Sena! Come quick!”

The sunbaenims waved at me from over there.

I quickly ran that way.

“Alright, filming ends here for today!”

“Director, we’re heading out!”

Staff members looked puzzled as they packed up equipment.

“The firefighter variety show filming!”

“Huh? What’s that?”

Leaving the staff behind, I quickly climbed into the van with the actors.

The day still had a long way to go before ending.

* * *

We arrived at a fire station near the filming location.

When we reached the fire station, cameras and staff were positioned everywhere from the entrance to inside, waiting for us.

This was variety content QYN was producing in-house, riding the momentum of viewer reactions.

<Night of Fire>’s cast would experience the hardships of firefighters at actual dispatch scenes, showing their working environment in detail.

Plus, for entertainment value, there’d be fitness training along with athletic competitions and various fun games.

The recorded content would be uploaded to iTube.

After the video went live, if reactions were good, I heard they planned to move to different fire stations and continue the series.

Following one staff member’s guidance, we headed to a small open area behind the fire station.

“?”

In the open area, firefighters were either shirtless, hanging dramatically from pull-up bars, or lifting dumbbells doing various exercises.

A firefighter who looked like a team leader came out and blew a whistle, shouting.

“Alright! Physical training begins!”

My teammates and I stood there completely dumbfounded.

“What?”

That’s when Choi Sunha stepped forward first, rolling up his sleeves.

“First we run ten laps! Begin!”

“…? Begin….”

And so right after finishing filming, my teammates and I started running full speed.

“What is this?”

“Ugh, I’m going to die from exhaustion.”

Groans burst out from all around.

Choi Sunha alone ran at the very front with a firefighter, keeping pace with the cadence call.

“Huff, huff.”

“Sena’s stamina is pretty terrible too.”

“It is not!”

Laughter erupted from the staff and firefighters watching us.

That’s when a female firefighter approached next to me.

I asked casually while running.

“Do you really train like this?”

“Well… we do train. Just exaggerating it because we’re filming.”

The moment I heard those words, laughter burst out from all around again.

Even at a glance, she had great variety sense.

This is going to make for entertaining footage, isn’t it?

I pumped my legs desperately while sweating buckets.

That’s when a siren blared from inside the station.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

The firefighters all dashed into the station as one.

“Dispatch.”

This was a real situation.

My teammates and I climbed aboard the fire truck, still dazed.

Inside the fire truck with cameras already installed.

I examined the interior carefully while asking the firefighter sitting next to me.

“Um, excuse me….”

It was the female firefighter who’d given us laughter earlier.

Her name was Kim Hanbyeol.

“Where are we dispatching to right now?”

“A small commercial building in this neighborhood. It’s an old building, so probably an electrical short or leak accident.”

“Ah, I see.”

I was impressed by how naturally she prepared for the scene.

My heart pounded somehow.

I hope they’re safe until we arrive.

Choi Sunha sitting across from me also wore a rarely worried expression.

* * *

After fortunately suppressing a small fire.

We headed to a memorial altar with the firefighters.

The atmosphere had grown solemn before we knew it.

The fire station team leader walked to one spot and introduced a fallen team member.

In the portrait photo, a young man around my age smiled.

“We accepted this filming because we wanted to introduce this friend on broadcast.”

“……”

Unlike us, unable to wear any expression, the firefighters smiled as if happy to see a colleague after a long time.

“Jeongtae, these are our trainees for the day.”

Another firefighter spoke to the photo.

We bowed our heads before it.

“Feel free to call him sunbaenim.”

Firefighter Kim Hanbyeol smiled slightly as she spoke.

“May we address him that way?”

“Yes. The PD told you to.”

At those words, the other firefighters laughed.

“Yes, sunbaenim.”

“Our Jeongtae was deployed to a nearby factory fire that made big headlines three years ago and didn’t make it out.”

Three years ago.

It hadn’t even been that long.

My chest felt heavy.

Then the team leader moved to another location and stood before another photo.

“This friend left for heaven nine years ago, a colleague of mine.”

All of us actors and staff bowed respectfully.

“I hope you’ll capture it well on broadcast so our colleagues won’t be forgotten. So people can remember them even a little more.”

Looking at the firefighter in the photo brought tears to my eyes.

The other actors also bit their lips with reddened eyes.

Those who willingly gave their lives to save others, those who lost colleagues and silently walked their own path.

Everyone possessed an immeasurable spirit of sacrifice.

Suddenly, tremendous pressure filled my heart.

People who didn’t know about them, people who did, and these people themselves—they’d all be watching our drama.

I resolved that to honor people like these, we had to film without a single shameful scene.

If the reward for escaping the script would go to them, if they’d finally receive the overflowing attention they’d never gotten before, then I’d be satisfied with just that.

There were far too many reasons to complete this drama well.