In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 201

“So… this was all a hidden camera thing?”

After hearing the explanation, I glared at the supporting actors sitting at a corner table.

When the actors’ eyes met mine, they all looked away one by one.

“Do you know how scared I was?! Taehyeon-ssi, say something.”

I raised my voice while looking at the mystery actor I’d somehow gotten on a first-name basis with.

“Shh, shh!”

Taehyeon-ssi panicked and gestured for me to lower my voice.

“…?”

“No, it’s not that…”

The actors made thoroughly uncomfortable expressions.

Plus, for some reason, the supporting actors sitting at nearby tables were also stealing glances at us.

“What?”

“Well… the director and production team ordered us to…”

“Huh?”

I glanced at the director drinking in the distance.

“We’re still weak on promotion… so they wanted to surprise the actors and audience at the production announcement…”

Taehyeon-ssi trailed off without finishing his sentence.

“Sorry. You must’ve been really startled.”

“Oh my god…”

I took a sip of alcohol, feeling absurd.

Come to think of it, I’d heard about on-set hidden camera episodes fairly often.

Usually staff and a few actors would commit to pranks for promotional use or behind-the-scenes footage…

But there’d never been a case where supporting actors banded together like this to pull something off.

Though it was probably only possible because this was a zombie film.

“The scene of you searching for the missing supporting actor on set on the first day of filming aired on Solo Life.”

“Ah, right.”

I recalled that day I’d briefly forgotten about.

When that unknown supporting actor appeared and the set descended into chaos—after that aired on Solo Life, it had generated quite a buzz.

“Wait, so that was all an act too?”

A wave of betrayal washed over me.

The supporting actors all laughed sheepishly.

“What about the recording booth voice? Was that staged too?”

At that, the actors spoke with apologetic expressions.

“The staff there… we coordinated in advance…”

“Wow, why are you all such good actors? This is ridiculous.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Hearing Taehyeon-ssi’s friendly dialect finally made me crack a smile despite myself.

“So what was the plan for the production announcement?”

“At the production announcement, actors dressed as zombies were going to be sitting in the audience. When the lights came on, people would freak out seeing zombies, and then Taehyeon-ssi, who everyone had been searching for, would make a grand entrance… that kind of story.”

“Whoa.”

“Then we’d all go, surprise! It was a hidden camera!”

What a brilliant idea.

It would’ve definitely generated buzz, even if small-scale.

“Seriously. But why do I need to be quiet?”

At my question, the actor sitting next to me spoke softly.

“Changhyeon-ssi still doesn’t know.”

“Ah.”

Hearing that, I looked far into the distance at Do Changhyeon, who was drunkenly dancing among the staff.

“Oh really?”

That instant, we all simultaneously locked eyes with gleaming intensity.

“Sena-ssi, you in?”

Since things had already come this far, should I join in too?

A giggle suddenly bubbled out.

“Wow, that’s an evil laugh.”

“Whoa, thought you were Tak Yeowon for a second.”

The actors, excited about pranking Do Changhyeon, quickly filled my glass as my anger melted away.

“Okay, I’m in.”

We whispered together and gathered our hands under the table.

“Fighting, fighting.”

* * *

After the on-set rumors died down and we finally finished all the editing…

Just as we were wrapping things up nicely and choosing a release date…

We hit a new problem.

One that was somewhat expected, if you could call it that.

-Two of the three major multiplex chains refused to screen it.

The director’s voice over the phone sounded bitter as he shared the news.

“Ah.”

Two of Korea’s three major theater chains had refused to screen the film.

-The remaining one will probably refuse too.

I already knew this future, so I felt bitter alongside him.

I’d hoped things might change, but as expected, it wasn’t an easy problem.

Releasing a self-produced film on an OTT platform involved far more complex interests than I’d anticipated.

The film industry would naturally panic that iTube, already dominating the market, would now eat into the theater pie too.

In a way, it was a fight over livelihoods.

“It’s okay, Director. It can’t be helped.”

-I know. But I’m really worried about promoting the film.

“Yeah…”

I grew a bit concerned too.

-Thanks to Sena-ssi, <Solo Life> provided significant first-stage promotion.

“But realistically, variety show promotion alone won’t be enough. And it was only one show.”

-Exactly…

The director let out a small sigh.

“I’ll promote it more on my iTube channel too!”

I spoke in a deliberately bright voice.

-Thank you, Sena-ssi. I feel bad that we’re relying on you so much for promotion.

“Not at all, this is what lead actors do. Let’s think about it together some more.”

-Yes. I’ll reach out to iTube again too.

After hanging up, I sat in thought for a moment.

Even in my past life, when I analyzed why iTube abandoned its content business, weak promotion had been a major issue.

Maybe they’d assumed that since iTube was such a huge company everyone knew about, and accessibility was easy, people would naturally watch the content.

Many people didn’t even know iTube Original content existed in Korea.

“Not this time. We need to flip the script.”

We absolutely had to find a way to promote it.

* * *

A few days later, even the last multiplex chain informed us they wouldn’t provide screening rooms.

As the director’s anxiety continued to burn…

I stayed home, lost in thought.

While catching up on <Solo Life> episodes I’d missed during filming…

The broadcast showed a scene of Do Changhyeon and me filming a rough confrontation.

I smiled slightly watching Jeong Haeseon, worked up and emotional, and Tak Yeowon acting brazenly defiant to provoke him.

The <Solo Life> episode uploaded to iTube also had tons of comments anticipating Jeong Haeseon and Tak Yeowon’s chemistry.

“Hmm. Is there a way to leverage this more?”

That’s when the director called.

-Sena-ssi, the trailer releases next week. The iTube release date is four weeks out.

“Got it. The schedule’s all set.”

-Yes. But I called because there’ll be additional filming.

“Additional filming?”

I sat up straight at this unscheduled shoot.

-We want to make a main trailer edited from the film footage, but also create separately produced sub-trailers.

It seemed the meeting had concluded that producing additional trailers was a suitable promotional direction.

But then an idea suddenly flashed in my mind.

“Director. About the trailer production.”

-Yes?

“How much of our budget do we have left?”

-Sorry?

The director sounded flustered by the sudden budget question.

“What if we made multiple trailers?”

-Multiple? How many…?

“At least five.”

-What?!

The director jumped in surprise.

“How about shooting fake trailers?”

-Fake trailers?

“We released quite a lot of footage on <Solo Life>.”

-Right?

“Many people still can’t predict the ending though. What if we shake things up one more time with the Tak Yeowon and Jeong Haeseon characters?”

The director listened, catching onto my intention.

“We release trailer versions with different endings. So no one can guess the real ending.”

The director let out an exclamation.

-I get it now. That would make people even more curious about the ending.

“What do you think?”

-Wow, that’s amazing?

The director called it without a moment’s hesitation.

-Sena-ssi, let me move forward with this. I’ll discuss it and get back to you.

“Sounds good. Fighting.”

-Thank you so much!

It was the brightest the director’s voice had sounded since filming wrapped.

* * *

One week later.

The director and assistant director showed up on set looking completely haggard.

I flipped through the massive storyboard they’d sent two days ago and let out an astonished gasp.

“You… created all this in just a few days?”

The director raised a trembling thumbs-up.

“If this flops, I’m just retiring.”

I smiled sympathetically at those words.

For something put together in days, the quality was surprisingly high with genuinely entertaining content.

There were seven trailers total, with only one being real.

The remaining six would mix self-produced footage with actual film footage.

First: A heartbreaking romance version between Jeong Haeseon and Tak Yeowon.

Second: A Tak Yeowon zombie action hero version.

Third: A version where Jeong Haeseon turns dark and rules over the survivor group.

Fourth: A version where Tak Yeowon abuses(?) zombie Jeong Haeseon while raising him and dragging him around.

Fifth: A version where zombie Tak Yeowon hunts down survivors.

Finally: A version where Jeong Haeseon and Tak Yeowon save the world and die together.

The iTube release date got pushed back, but the schedule became much more exciting.

After reviewing and closing the storyboard, I looked around the set.

The all-green chroma key studio was far more massive than I’d expected.

I stared at the director discussing preparations with the staff working on CG.

Where did all this budget come from…?

“Director, you didn’t take out loans thinking you’d really retire if this flops, right?”

Do Changhyeon muttered beside me, seemingly thinking the same thing.

“Hmm…”

That’s when I grabbed the passing assistant director.

“Excuse me, I know this is rude to ask, but… how did you manage the additional production costs…?”

“Ah, that.”

The assistant director downed the last of their coffee in one gulp before answering.

“iTube is iTube, after all. They readily pushed through the funding.”

“Oh?”

“It’s all thanks to Sena-ssi’s recognition. Without you, it wouldn’t have been remotely possible. They loved that we’d already done variety show marketing too.”

“As expected of a top star.”

Do Changhyeon clapped while making a ‘keugh’ sound beside me.

Several staff members who’d overheard also applauded while looking at me.

“Ugh.”

I quickly turned my head, embarrassed.

“Alright, let’s run rehearsal!”

The director’s excited, booming voice rang out from the distance.

“Let’s go.”

“Yep.”

Do Changhyeon and I strode toward the camera together.