In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 222

Several days later, at a regional location shoot.

Im Hyangmin, who’d dominated the solo scenes all day, stepped out of the van and rubbed his stiff neck area.

Im Hyangmin wore an unusually tense expression as he pulled gum from his back pants pocket.

The manager openly laughed with a keugh sound at Im Hyangmin, who habitually chewed gum whenever he got nervous.

It was a completely different face from his usual stoic demeanor while handling Im Hyangmin’s messes.

“What’s up with you?”

Im Hyangmin lightly smacked the manager’s waist.

The manager didn’t dodge, instead countering verbally.

“Hyung, you really want to do well this time?”

“Hey, when did I ever phone it in?”

“You’re showing it too obviously. That you’re conscious of Han Sena.”

The manager grinned teasingly.

Im Hyangmin snapped “This guy, seriously. Want to die?” and lunged forward, catching the manager in a headlock.

But when the much larger manager pushed him away with one hand, Im Hyangmin got shoved back helplessly.

“Don’t force it too much. When you force it, hyung, your acting gets tacky.”

“What! Tacky!”

Im Hyangmin flared up and shouted.

“That’s also part of your charm, though.”

The manager patted Im Hyangmin’s shoulder.

“Really?”

Im Hyangmin wiped his nose sheepishly and asked.

Always quick to flare up and quick to cool down—that was Im Hyangmin.

“But does Han Sena really act that well?”

The manager brought up Han Sena again.

Im Hyangmin’s expression turned tense again as he clenched and unclenched his cold fingers.

After holding back for a moment, Im Hyangmin spoke bluntly.

“Yeah, she’s good.”

“Wow.”

The manager let out an impressed gasp despite asking the question himself.

“First time I’ve seen you praise someone?”

“Right, I don’t praise anyone. Don’t criticize them either.”

“Exactly, you’ve always been like that. Wow, I’ve been watching you for nearly 15 years now. This is a first.”

The manager crossed his arms and leaned against the van with an intrigued expression.

“You’ve barely been drinking during this shoot too.”

“…”

“Worried it’ll affect the next day’s filming, aren’t you?”

“Did you come here to piss me off?”

Im Hyangmin furrowed his brow sharply.

The manager let out a hearty laugh.

Im Hyangmin pulled out a cigarette and put it to his lips, lighting it.

After taking a drag, he spoke again with a serious expression.

“Got my ass handed to me.”

“Huh?”

“My acting got destroyed. In several cuts. More than just one or two.”

“…”

“It’s weird, she’s so young. But she knows so much, her emotions and skills are solid. I should be the one learning from her.”

The manager finally uncrossed his arms and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Plus she’s got the character down too. In my nearly 20 years in this industry, I’ve never seen a kid like that.”

“Wow.”

“You know how much I practice at home every night, worried my character might get buried? Seriously feels like I’m back to my debut days, man.”

Im Hyangmin finished speaking and laughed while taking his last drag.

“What pisses me off even more is that she definitely knows. That I’m putting in 200%, 300% more effort than usual right now. She’s pretending not to notice and it’s driving me crazy.”

The manager burst into laughter again.

Im Hyangmin always spoke his mind without holding back, even the stuff most people kept buried.

The manager watched Im Hyangmin fondly and patted his shoulder.

“Your honesty is what makes you charming, you bastard. Hyung, you’re doing great. Best I’ve seen since your debut, actually.”

“Really?”

Im Hyangmin asked back with a skeptical face.

“Really. Trust me. This film’s gonna be huge.”

“Ah, obviously. If this tanks, I’m retiring.”

Im Hyangmin took a deep breath, then immediately started trudging toward the set.

The manager leaned back against the van, watching Im Hyangmin’s retreating figure.

“Nice, Han Sena. Making even jaded industry vets feel their hearts race again.”

* * *

Shortly after, inside the police station set.

Im Hyangmin approached the camera.

Staff bustled about the dark police station interior, turning on dim lights.

Im Hyangmin held his position alone without Han Sena, immersing himself in his role as his expression turned razor-sharp.

“Ready, action!”

Im Hyangmin sat at the table with Han Jina’s personal information displayed on the monitor, lost in thought.

“What, a good person?”

Im Hyangmin muttered, recalling his past conversation with Han Jina.

“Kid’s got great credentials. Can’t tell the difference between words even elementary schoolers know. Good and bad—why can’t you understand those?”

Murder cases seemingly connected to Hanyeong Group kept occurring.

Im Hyangmin’s expression gradually stiffened with anger.

As his rage exceeded its limit, his face transformed into something unexpectedly calm.

A cold atmosphere began emanating from Lee Dongkyo’s character for the first time.

It was the first time Im Hyangmin had used this method in his anger acting.

The conclusion Im Hyangmin had reached after practicing and agonizing through sleepless nights.

Stop the movements, stop the expressions, stop the acting, stop the thoughts—everything.

Just freeze like ice.

Im Hyangmin truly became like someone frozen solid, staring down at the documents on the table while barely breathing, completely motionless.

Despite only holding that one gesture, an ominous tension built as if something would explode at any moment.

A small twitch rippled across Im Hyangmin’s cheek as he struggled to stay still.

This wasn’t intentional at all.

Genuine rage was rising from the very core.

Im Hyangmin slowly closed his eyes.

Then slowly opened them again.

Completely transformed 180 degrees into a reborn Lee Dongkyo, Im Hyangmin stared at the documents.

* * *

After Im Hyangmin finished his solo scene.

I arrived on set according to the production team’s call time.

Im Hyangmin waved from a distance as he approached.

“Sunbaenim, did you film well?”

“Of course. Filmed amazingly well. You better be nervous.”

Im Hyangmin smirked while puffing out his chest.

“Hm, wonder if you can keep that up in front of Han Jina though.”

I teased Im Hyangmin again.

“This girl, seriously.”

Im Hyangmin lunged forward as if to catch me in a headlock, reaching out his arms.

I quickly dodged between them, laughing.

“I learned boxing, you know.”

“Wow.”

Im Hyangmin looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“No wonder your jabs are no joke.”

“Heh.”

“When did you even have time to learn?”

“I’ve always liked working out. Went to a boxing gym near my place while preparing for this role.”

“Ah damn, you should’ve told me earlier. Would’ve prepared more myself!”

That’s when the director, who’d approached at some point, smoothly cut in.

“Your getting-hit acting was art though, wasn’t it? You practiced that?”

“This bastard. Even if you say it…”

Im Hyangmin frowned sharply while looking at the director.

“We’re busy, no time to mess around. Hurry up.”

The director paid no attention and led the way into the set building.

* * *

Inside the lavish mansion.

I sat on the living room sofa decorated with chandeliers, various animal hides, and lace.

From now on, we’d film the most important scene I’d been worried about.

The scene where Han Jina injects drugs.

To make this scene feel realistic, I’d searched for hundreds of drug-related videos.

Im Hyangmin waited outside the camera frame, watching me.

The director finished coordinating blocking and sat in front of the monitor.

Three cameras closed in beside me and above my head.

“Sena-ssi, let me know when you’re ready.”

The director spoke.

Hearing that, I looked away from the camera and slowly relaxed my body.

I firmly suppressed the anxiety and tension surging before filming.

Holding the syringe placed on the table, I brought it near my arm.

“Going in.”

I spoke briefly.

The director responded from afar.

“Ready, action.”

His small voice seemed intended not to disturb my performance.

As if pushing that voice to the back of my consciousness, I sat half-reclined on the sofa and dropped the syringe beneath it.

My pupils lost focus as I stared at the ceiling, as if consciousness was fading.

I let out intermittent moans while rubbing my limbs against the sofa.

While writhing my body against it, my hair became disheveled as laughter spilled out.

Laughter bordering on seizure.

Cutting off irregularly like coughs, then leaking out again.

I kept laughing while staring into empty space as if watching something amusing.

Timed perfectly, Im Hyangmin entered the camera’s field of view.

While lying down completely, I turned my head and suddenly locked eyes with Im Hyangmin.

Looking at Im Hyangmin with unfocused eyes, I let laughter slip out.

Speaking with a slurred tongue.

“Lee Dongkyo…”

Im Hyangmin approached with an expressionless face.

Han Jina was seeing Lee Dongkyo’s hallucination right now.

I reached my hand toward Im Hyangmin.

Im Hyangmin came closer as if responding to my call.

I grabbed Im Hyangmin’s collar and pulled him close, examining his face carefully at breath’s distance.

Laughing like someone insane, I stared at Im Hyangmin.

Im Hyangmin continued meeting my eyes with a numb expression.

Watching that face, my laughter abruptly stopped.

“Why won’t you smile?”

I shoved Im Hyangmin’s face away hard.

Pushed by the force, Im Hyangmin collapsed to the floor.

I grabbed Im Hyangmin’s head and pulled him onto the sofa.

Im Hyangmin sat with his upper body against the sofa while I immediately climbed down and mounted Im Hyangmin’s body.

Then brought both my subtly trembling hands to Im Hyangmin’s neck.

I could feel Im Hyangmin’s warm skin.

Putting force into my hands, I began strangling Im Hyangmin’s neck.

Im Hyangmin’s face turned red instantly as his neck was choked.

Yet strangely, I felt like my consciousness might cut out.

My excitement kept building without calming down.

More force entered the hands strangling Im Hyangmin’s neck.

Im Hyangmin looked up at me with a face ready to burst.

“Why won’t you smile! Why!”

I screamed loud enough to shake the living room and started hitting Im Hyangmin wildly.

Behind Han Jina’s personality was a background of parental abuse.

The constant forced smiling in any situation, anywhere.

Han Jina, who learned only how to smile while growing up, spent every single day from waking to sleeping always smiling grotesquely.

During all that, her personality was completely destroyed.

Finally she became a monster who could trample others without a care while smiling.

Im Hyangmin sat still taking hits everywhere while never withdrawing his gaze from me.

Locking eyes with Im Hyangmin again, laughter burst out once more.

“Hahahaha!”

My voice’s pitch rose endlessly.

I laughed madly with sounds close to screaming.

And while laughing like that…

A tear dropped from one eye.

The tear ran down one cheek.

I stopped laughing and looked down at Im Hyangmin.

“…”

Another tear fell from the other eye, this time landing on Im Hyangmin’s cheek.

I wiped Im Hyangmin’s tear-stained cheek with my palm.

“Why are you crying? You should smile. Smile.”

I hooked my fingers on both corners of Im Hyangmin’s mouth and forced them up as if tearing them apart.

We stared at each other’s grotesque faces for a long time like that.