In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 188

New Year’s morning dawned.

-Kkotbyeol: Happy New Year!

-Kim Eunseo: Happy New Year~

-Jinseok oppa: Let’s run together toward ten million this year too! Happy New Year~

-Lee Seonho: Sena-ssi, I watched <Night of Fire>. Great work. Happy New Year.

-Lee Seokhyun: What’s this Sena-ticon thing? You’ll do anything. Hilarious. Wanna collab on a project this year?

-Seong Minhui: Sena-ssi, the Sena-ticons are so cute^^~ I bought them right away too!

-Seo Jaeyeon: Where’s your place? Let’s drink. New Year’s celebration.

-Seon Yuseok: Noona, Happy New Year! Noona, your emoticons are hilariously awesome.

-Sena-ssi, do you remember me? I’m Lee Jiyeon from the <Flat Shoes> makeup team. I watched <Night of Fire>. Great work. You took such good care of us on Flat Shoes, I wanted to say thank you like this. May this year be yours too!

-Choi Sunha: Our Inha, Happy New Year~

New Year’s greetings poured in from all directions.

Everyone had somehow found and sent a Sena-ticon without exception.

“Ugh.”

Each messenger window displayed me moving around ridiculously.

My phone vibrations rang endlessly.

Even with SNS notifications turned off, messages kept coming—from various greetings to the management director’s messages every time a new article dropped.

-Sena-ssi, the pre-order calendar sold eight thousand more copies than initially ordered!

-The NBS news segment you appeared in got 3% higher viewership ratings than usual. I’ll attach the article link.

I was genuinely surprised reading management director’s message.

I clicked through the links the management director had sent.

[Starting 2018 with Firefighters!]

[South Korea Is in the Grip of <Night of Fire> Fever!]

[Citizen-Organized Fire Station Donation Support Breaks Through 2 Billion Won!]

[Trendsetter Han Sena! Her Filmography Under the Microscope!]

[Broadcasters Who Held Their Breath Waiting for <Night of Fire> to End Can Finally Breathe! Three Networks Releasing Their Content Now!]

The most overwhelmingly prevalent articles focused on improving firefighter treatment through <Night of Fire>.

Active firefighter interviews, special programs, new documentaries being made, variety shows, editorials.

I checked everything thoroughly with a grin.

This felt like the biggest and most definite reward the system had ever given me.

‘This is my favorite reward yet.’

The phone I was holding kept heating up.

My phone had been draining and dying frequently lately.

Should I get another one…?

After checking the articles, I was opening messages one by one to reply to everyone’s greetings when the doorbell rang.

When I walked to the intercom, Mom and Dad stood side by side.

“Huh? I said I’d come over.”

The moment I opened the door, both of them came in making pained sounds.

“You came? Ugh, what’s all this.”

Mom and Dad both had massive loads in their hands.

“Let’s make dumplings.”

“Dumplings?? No, Mom, you should’ve called me to your place instead. Why come all the way here?”

“Can’t. The house is already buried in food right now. No room.”

Cold sweat broke out listening to Dad.

Mom, who normally has generous portions, would fill the entire house with food whenever she set a day aside.

“We’re only three people. Why, Mom?”

“If you make it, you end up eating it all.”

As they unpacked their loads in the kitchen…

Buzz— Buzz—

The phone rang frantically again.

It was Minyeong unnie.

“Yes, unnie. What’s up?”

-Happy New Year.

I chuckled and answered.

“You too, unnie.”

-Sorry for bringing up work right on New Year’s. Quartet Media contacted me.

“Huh? About what?”

The drama was over, so what could it be?

Unnie explained the situation over the phone.

Hearing that made my eyes light up.

“That person?! I’m curious about them too!”

Behind me, Mom and Dad, who’d been preparing dumplings, looked over at me.

“Of course I should go! Got it.”

After hanging up, Mom and Dad stared at me with curious faces.

“Our daughter, you’re not getting into another scandal, are you? Dad’s heart just dropped.”

“Who is it?”

“Someone I love!”

I sat down to make dumplings, a smile spreading across my face without realizing it.

“Fold them prettier! How have you not improved in over twenty years.”

Mom’s nagging flew right at me.

“I think I’m better than Dad though?”

“Yours look even uglier.”

* * *

A few days later.

After stopping by the salon early in the morning to get prettied up, I sat alone in a spacious conference room.

With nervous, fluttering feelings, I couldn’t keep my hands still and drummed on the innocent office desk.

“This feels like going on a blind date.”

I pulled out my phone, opened the camera, and checked my face.

“What if she’s disappointed seeing me in person after only watching through screens…?”

As I muttered to myself, the door opened.

I jumped up from my seat in surprise.

A woman about a head taller than me entered with a shy expression.

When our eyes met, she covered her face with both hands.

“Oh no, what do I do…?”

Seeing that made me grin.

“Park Dahye-ssi, right?”

“Yes….”

This was my devoted fan from the fan cafe with the username “YooJianFloormat,” whom I’d always been curious about.

I’d only learned her real name this morning.

I approached her and spread my arms wide.

Then tears welled up in Park Dahye’s eyes as she looked at me.

“Ah, why are you crying!”

“What do I do….”

Park Dahye squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself at me.

Though realistically, being shorter, I ended up being the one embraced.

Feeling Park Dahye’s trembling hands, I chuckled.

“Why are you shaking so much, Dahye-ssi!”

“I’ve only ever seen you from far away. So suddenly…”

In the end, Park Dahye let tears fall.

“No crying. We need to take verification photos too.”

“Verification photos?”

Park Dahye looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Get your phone out, Dahye-ssi!”

Then Park Dahye snapped to attention as if waking up and pulled out her phone.

“Let’s take tons today!”

“No! I’ll only take two!”

“Why?”

At the unexpected answer, I looked up at Park Dahye.

“Our unnie will wear out.”

“What?”

At the unexpectedly absurd answer, I burst out laughing again.

After taking a couple photos like that, we sat facing each other at the table.

“I heard so much about you, Dahye-ssi. They said our drama promotion was absolutely stellar thanks to you.”

“Not at all….”

Park Dahye smiled as if embarrassed.

“For someone this capable to be shy.”

From what I’d heard from Minyeong unnie, Park Dahye had joined Quartet as an intern and taken full charge of this drama’s promotion with her outstanding skills.

Given how brilliantly she’d promoted every project and activity of mine online, it wasn’t surprising.

“The CEO said if I pulled this off well, I’d get an amazing reward…. I didn’t know it’d be a one-on-one fan meeting…. I must be truly blessed.”

“I’m the one who’s blessed to have you as my fan.”

That’s when Park Dahye shyly handed over a letter she’d prepared.

[To. My Sena Unnie]

Looking at the carefully chosen envelope made me grin.

“Thank you. I’ll treasure this.”

Park Dahye smiled brightly too.

“So what did you want to do meeting me?”

I was thinking of ordering food, when Park Dahye hesitated briefly before answering with a serious expression.

“I really wanted to… personally tell you thank you with my own mouth.”

“Huh?”

“You probably don’t know much about me, unnie… but I was actually a complete shut-in. I had no plans for my life at all.”

“Ah….”

This was news to me.

But Park Dahye’s next words briefly stopped my breath.

“Your existence is the first passion I’ve ever had in my life, unnie.”

“…!”

This was the first time I’d received such a deep, heart-stirring confession from anyone.

“Thanks to you, unnie, I got to experience being crazy about something. Living became good. I wanted to come out into the world.”

“……”

“Living like that day by day… I started wanting to live harder. Sometimes I even wanted to become a good person. Before, I’d only resent the world, wondering why I was even born.”

I listened to this incredible story completely still.

“Now I get to meet my benefactor like this. I guess it’s worth living long.”

After finishing, Park Dahye scratched her cheek with an embarrassed face again.

Watching her made my chest swell and my nose sting.

To think someone I’d never met could love me this much.

To think I could become a precious piece in the life of someone I’d never encountered.

Did I even deserve that?

I reached out and grasped Park Dahye’s hand.

“Dahye-ssi, because you love me so much, I have courage to keep living too. I want to keep trying new challenges.”

“…!”

I revealed feelings I’d never told anyone else.

“I… actually wanted to be loved. Desperately….”

This time Park Dahye’s eyes reddened.

“Now I’m going to try loving too. Thanks to you, Dahye-ssi, I feel like I can love not just myself but many things.”

I squeezed our clasped hands tight.

Each other’s warmth transferred and our hands grew warm.

* * *

A few days later, before the afterglow of the one-on-one fan meeting had faded.

Park Dahye was still checking Han Sena’s new schedule with a fluttering heart.

“Oh right, I’ll be late!”

After checking the time, Park Dahye jumped in surprise and turned on the TV.

Quickly flipping through channels, just then Han Sena appeared as a guest on a program, introducing herself.

“Wow, unnie’s appearing on something like that.”

Park Dahye’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

This was a truly shocking schedule.

Han Sena sat in the studio with a slightly nervous face, smiling.

“So today we’re going to completely dissect Han Sena-ssi’s daily life!”

The MC started things off.

“Han Sena-ssi’s solo life! We’ll be examining her daily life living alone.”

* * *

Some time ago, SCBS <Solo Life> studio.

Everyone in the studio had their eyes fixed on me.

“Wow, I’m so curious about Sena-ssi’s place too.”

“What does Sena-ssi usually do?”

“I’m curious about Sena-ssi’s eating too!”

<Solo Life>, as the channel name suggested, was a program that introduced the daily lives and homes of celebrities living alone.

I sat in front of the VCR sweating bullets.

As expected, I shouldn’t have agreed to this.

The trailer they’d released ahead of time had already caused a frenzy.

Way more articles than I’d anticipated had spread.

There’d been so many posts in the fan cafe asking me to appear on <Solo Life> that I’d squeezed my eyes shut and went for it.

I didn’t know this would blow up so big.

“Alright, let’s watch!”

Oh no, what do I do.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

The recorded VCR footage began playing.