In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 59

A few days later.

On the office TV, my desperate running form played out.

Watching together—Minyeong unnie, Teacher Yoon Youngjae, and Kkotbyeol—all giggled excitedly.

“Wow, look at how shrewd that girl Han Sena is.”

“Did you split the gold bar with Won Hyerim sunbaenim?”

“Of course.”

I nodded at Kkotbyeol with a smile.

Teacher, covered in pain relief patches all over his body, shook his head.

“Completely got played.”

“I was pretty good, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah, you little brat.”

“Teacher, is your body okay?”

Teacher let out a groan and leaned back on the sofa.

“Do two variety shows and I’ll cross the River Styx, I swear.”

At that, unnie laughed and picked up her coffee.

“So, are you feeling the popularity these days?”

Kkotbyeol’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

“Yeah. It’s completely different from the Flat Shoes days now. Even the stew place I used to go to near my house—they’ve got my autographs, photos, even a banner up. It’s fascinating.”

“What kind of stew place puts up a banner?”

“Actress Han Sena’s Regular Spot. Like that.”

The three of them cracked up at my words.

Unnie picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

“Then it’s about time we did that thing.”

“That thing?”

Unnie opened her laptop and showed me screenshots from the fan cafe.

Comments from people suffering withdrawal after the Yeouido Park real-life encounter, people whose stomachs hurt from reading other fans’ gushing reviews, people slightly envious of other celebrity fandoms, people wondering if there was something for Sena’s birthday coming up soon.

“What’s all this?”

At my question, unnie grinned.

“Han Sena Birthday Party with Fans. How about it? Not bad, right?”

At those words, I was stunned.

It was an idea that combined all those needs.

Before I could even process my surprise, an answer burst out.

“Of course!”

Unnie asked.

“So what do you want to do with the fans?”

At that, my mind went blank for a moment.

So… this is like a fan meeting, right?

What do people usually do at fan meetings?

As far as I knew, typical fan meetings were conducted like talk concerts—performing a few signature scenes from their projects, singing or dancing a few songs, with some simple games thrown in.

Hmm, but that seems too ordinary.

Our fundamentals have a pretty good sense of humor, you know.

How should I satisfy them?

Now that it came down to actually doing it, my worries piled up like mountains.

They said 300 people.

Suddenly I remembered when Seon Yuseok broke through his slump and had his big hit—5,000 people showed up to his fan meeting.

I’d been so envious back then.

300 fans coming to see me.

For a newly debuted actress, it wasn’t a small number, and they said it sold out the moment tickets went on sale.

My heart started racing.

First, I should get some advice.

I stood up, said goodbye, and left the office.

I immediately dug through my phone contacts.

That’s when Lee Seokhyun’s name caught my eye.

The moment I sent a text asking for fan meeting advice, a reply flew back within a minute.

Does this guy have no schedule at all?

– Well, I’m multitalented, you know. I danced and sang. Oh right, I did a magic show too. With a pigeon.

This was Lee Seokhyun’s reply about fan meeting advice.

How does even his text come across as insufferable?

A pigeon, seriously? How did he even do that?

Next came a reply from Yuri-ssi, who I’d contacted after a while.

– Hmm… I sang two songs too. One favorite, one fan song. When I put my personal belongings as prizes for games, that seemed really popular?

As expected, experience shows.

Finally some actually memorable information.

I was busily taking notes when Yuri-ssi sent another text.

– More than anything else, how about showing fans something they’re curious about?

At those words, I ended up calling Yuri-ssi.

‘When I mentioned on a radio appearance that I’d learned flute before, our fans were curious. I’d only briefly learned it as a kid, so I desperately practiced just one song right up until the fan meeting, but ended up getting encore requests and my skill level got completely exposed. But fans like that kind of thing.’

To summarize the short phone call: ‘Don’t overthink it—just address their curiosity.’

‘Things fans might be curious about me.’

After hanging up, I racked my brain alone.

Unable to find an answer by myself, I opened my laptop.

After opening the fan cafe post editor, I pondered for a while.

In the end, all I wrote was a short single line.

「Fundamentals, is there anything you’re curious about regarding me?」

The moment I posted, comments started appearing within a second.

What, what’s this? Everyone’s already here?

Who are these people?

– So many things! Favorite food! Ideal type!

– Please recommend your life movie.

– Favorite actor or idol? Curious about dance practice stories too!

– Tell us your crush stories.

Among the comments, a detective appeared.

– Wait, is this an event? Are we finally getting a fan meeting?

Thanks to this comment, the fans’ firepower really ignited.

My cooking skills, musical instruments I can play, favorite sports team, favorite songs, books I like, celebrity friends, characters I want to play, and so on.

Various questions poured in.

Even fans’ wishes to see me act right before their eyes.

Reading those comments made me think about aspects of myself I hadn’t even considered.

So people can be this curious about me.

I needed to figure out how to prepare in a way that would show them as much of me as possible.

* * *

A few days later.

Far away on the stage, the lights poured down brilliantly.

I stood backstage in the darkness, holding my trembling heart.

My stomach felt like it was churning.

Should’ve postponed the date just a bit more.

Maybe I rushed the preparation too much…

The packed audience made me even more nervous.

They’d said it was 300 seats, so I’d thought “no way,” but tickets sold out at lightning speed, and I heard even the additional 50 seats that were released got filled instantly.

“What’s this, even grandma’s getting nervous?”

Beside me, Lee Seokhyun started teasing me with that grin again.

Lee Seokhyun had unexpectedly shown up ready to provide supporting fire.

I was grateful in many ways, truly grateful, but…

Did I make a mistake calling him?

“Opening in 10 seconds!”

At the staff’s words, the audience went quiet.

“3, 2, 1. Mic on!”

Lee Seokhyun glanced at me with a slight smile before walking out onto the stage first.

Screams erupted like the venue might blow away.

From backstage, I watched Lee Seokhyun’s back and took a deep breath.

“Sunim, where on earth is this place? Where have you summoned me?”

Lee Seokhyun delivered his line on stage with complete nonchalance.

The fan meeting opening was a short skit using the Palace Flower setting.

I approached Lee Seokhyun as he pretended to wander around lost on stage.

Ear-splitting screams rang out.

When the screaming died down, I responded to Lee Seokhyun.

“After saying I’d remain your vassal, I nearly died from overwork!”

It was Sunim’s first time throwing a tantrum at the king, completely out of character.

“I can’t live with this much work, so today I’m on strike.”

“With all these people watching only us, you truly intend to strike?”

Lee Seokhyun gestured toward the audience.

Bright smiles bloomed on people’s faces.

“Alright, alright. I’ll go back in now from embarrassment.”

“Don’t do that, come here. Did you hear that story? Apparently a book containing our tale has been published.”

“How utterly presumptuous. To reveal Your Majesty’s private life? Shouldn’t they be severely punished?”

The fans burst into giggles with each line.

Their laughter made me happy too.

After that, we exchanged a few lines parodying the romantic scenes between the two from the drama.

“Maintain your dignity! Please!”

After the short play ended like a side story, Lee Seokhyun waved with a bright face and tossed out a brief greeting.

“Well then, everyone enjoy yourselves! If you want to see more of me, come to my fan meeting!”

Such a quintessentially Lee Seokhyun exit.

I also waved at Lee Seokhyun gratefully before sitting in the chair the staff had set up and grabbing the handheld mic.

“Hello, I’m Han Sena.”

Eardrum-bursting screams filled the venue once again.

“Fundamentals, I missed you all so much!”

“Me too! Unnie!”

“Han Sena! You’re even prettier in person!”

The audience’s reactions continued for quite a while.

After listening to them all, I smiled broadly.

“Let’s have an amazing time today! Remember when I asked on the fan cafe if you had anything you were curious about?”

“Yes!!”

The fans’ resounding answer came back.

“Some of you said you wanted to see me act in person, so I prepared something. Did you like it?”

Once again, the audience shouted their answer in unison.

My heart swelled with pride.

Isn’t this a successful opening?

Seeing the fans’ beaming faces gradually calmed my nerves.

I wanted to thoroughly enjoy this moment too.

“First, I picked the top five things you were most curious about.”

Holding up a panel and peeling off stickers one by one, I read the questions in reverse order from fifth place.

After reading all the questions, a cheerful voice flowed from the speakers.

“Everyone, you want to hear the answers quickly, right?”

The fans scanned the stage with confused expressions.

MC Chae Jui walked out from backstage.

“Wow, there’s an MC?”

“Makes sense. They usually have one but it wasn’t mentioned.”

“Whoa, it’s Chae Jui! Did you two become close?”

I happily clasped hands with Chae Jui on stage.

After appearing on the variety show, we’d connected, and when I sent the MC request, Jui-ssi readily agreed.

The fans showed an especially enthusiastic reaction.

Jui-ssi raised the atmosphere like the pro MC she was.

“Alright, so we’ve prepared this! Tell Us About Han Sena Bingo Game!”

The fans applauded in unison.

After everyone wrote down five each of sports, singers, movies, food, and hobbies on paper, we started the bingo game.

It was an event where fans who completed the most bingos in order would receive homemade cookies I’d made as gifts.

“Alright, first one. Favorite sport—baseball! I’m a Skaters team fan.”

The audience showed various reactions.

“Han Sena’s a saint.”

“No wonder she’s so good at enduring acting.”

“Aaah! I got it! Same as me, noona!”

I grinned and called out the next word.

“Next! Favorite food! It’s grilled hagfish.”

At that, people burst into laughter simultaneously.

MC Chae Jui picked up her mic.

“Wait, hold on. Grilled hagfish? I thought Sena-ssi survived on dew alone. Is that really dew?”

“No way.”

The audience booed.

“Then what’s our Sena-ssi’s drinking capacity?”

“Well, me…”

I glanced around at people’s faces and answered slyly.

“About one bottle?”

“No way, that’s a lie!”

“Unnie’s famous for being able to drink!”

Even the MC laughed and chimed in.

“Ah, Sena-ssi. You’re so smooth-faced. For our actress’s sake, let’s move to the next one.”