In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 72

The next morning, in the HBC broadcasting station director’s office.

Director Go Taekhyeon sat at his desk from early in the new year.

His monitor displayed real-time search results dominated by articles about Han Sena’s award.

“Seriously.”

Go Taekhyeon read through Han Sena articles with a displeased expression for quite some time.

It was just yesterday that HBC’s show had nosedived because of that damn Palace Flower.

And now, the drama Han Sena was making with Netmate was stealing attention that should’ve been focused on HBC’s upcoming new production.

The ambitious project HBC had poured billions into.

Yet it was getting zero publicity.

Also, Han Sena had boldly rejected every HBC appearance—from dramas to radio shows to variety programs.

And after doing that, she’d recently appeared on another network’s variety show as a group with all the Palace Flower cast members.

Even that variety show had blown up in ratings—he remembered it clearly.

“Is she doing this on purpose now?”

Go Taekhyeon typed Kwon Minyeong’s name into the search bar.

“Is this her doing?”

Long ago, when Kwon Minyeong was at True Actors, there’d been a brief conflict.

HBC had given lead roles in a heavily budgeted drama to True Actors’ talent and worked them hard in various ways.

In exchange, they’d prohibited publicity appearances and other filming commitments for the time being.

It might have felt a bit excessive.

But the judgment was that the solo lead of a drama with massive production costs had to shoulder that level of responsibility.

Then, shortly after, the agency sent the absurd position that they’d decline the casting.

‘The crank-in article already went out and now you’re backing out? Are you insane?’

‘There’s someone at the agency named Management Director Kwon Minyeong… apparently she’s not easy to deal with.’

He’d completely lost it when he heard the news from his subordinate back then.

After finishing a brief recollection, Go Taekhyeon let out a dry laugh.

“How dare a mere agency stick its nose up at a broadcasting station… Acting so smart.”

Go Taekhyeon turned off the screen.

“Well, might as well establish discipline once and for all. Show who’s in charge.”

* * *

Same time, on the Blue Island where the weather had finally cleared.

[Desert Island Dress Goddess Han Sena’s Acceptance Speech]

[Han Sena’s Professionalism Shines in Wilderness Dress Outfit!]

[‘Even if I’m embarrassed, I have to do what needs to be done…’ The Grace of a Young Actress from the Land of Eastern Courtesy]

[‘Han Sena Deserves Credit for Best Script’ Writer Nam Jihye’s Honest Feelings]

I let out a low scream while reading the articles.

“Ugh, I’m losing it.”

It felt like the whole world was mocking me.

People’s reactions were way stronger than I’d expected.

– Wow, I always thought Han Sena was lowkey funny but she’s straight-up comedy material. And she dances that well too.

– The unnie who dresses properly even on a desert island is our unnie. Everyone should stan her.

– She never tries to act cool so it’s likable. Makes me more excited for her next project somehow. Netmate drama, hurry up and come out.

I eventually just shut off the screen.

Staff members walking past me all grinned as they passed.

“Mood Scene, Mood Scene.”

After Dance King, I’d gotten a new nickname.

A.k.a. Desert Island Dress Goddess.

That’s when the assistant director shouted standby from the distance.

“Jaehyung-ssi, Sena-ssi, you ready?”

“Yes!”

I put down my phone and walked into the set.

This scene had Jihyeon, my character, starting to suspect Junho, played by Jaehyung-ssi, of being the serial killer.

“Ready, action.”

The attic of the pension.

I confronted Yu Junho on the top floor of the pension that the other characters didn’t know about.

My hand still held the camcorder.

The scene didn’t have many lines.

The static between the two had to spark as intensely as possible.

It was exponentially harder than things I could resolve with voice or action.

I was silently grateful that my partner was at least Jaehyung-ssi, whom I’d coordinated with a few times before.

A thin shaft of sunlight entered through the small window.

Yu Junho looked this way and asked dryly.

“Could you put that camera away?”

“Does it bother you?”

I asked back in an even drier tone than Yu Junho.

My gaze stayed fixed on Yu Junho’s face through the camcorder.

The sunlight momentarily disappeared behind clouds, darkening the room.

At the same time, shadows fell across half of Yu Junho’s face.

Nature provided incredible lighting.

“I’m not confident enough in front of cameras to be handsome.”

Yu Junho joked without a trace of smile on his face.

I took my eyes off the camcorder and met Yu Junho’s gaze.

“What did you say you did in Seoul?”

At my question, Yu Junho turned his head and approached the window.

“…It feels kind of bad being interrogated so openly like this.”

Yu Junho swept the old dust sitting on the windowsill with his index finger.

“Sure, it’s surprising that people who came here to die are dying, but what’s so strange? Are you trying to ask if I killed Kim Gyuhwan and Kim Mingyeong?”

Yu Junho looked back at me.

I zoomed in on Yu Junho’s dust-covered finger with the camcorder and answered.

“No. Yu Junho-ssi, this isn’t your first time on this island, is it?”

At my words, Yu Junho froze.

It was the first reaction from Yu Junho, who’d always been feigning composure.

I gripped the camcorder tightly, as if I wouldn’t let that moment slip away.

Yu Junho didn’t answer.

“You knew the way suspiciously well. From day one, you even found this attic.”

“You’re the same though.”

“I followed you. To this attic.”

Yu Junho looked at me with a chilling gaze.

Goosebumps actually rose.

I couldn’t show it in front of Yu Junho.

But the camera would capture my composure with a trace of fear underneath.

That was my character’s point.

A social psychologist so devoted to research she’d risked her life for it—yet she felt the same fear and unfamiliarity that others felt.

No, as a psychologist, she felt it even more sensitively, sharply, and deeply.

I made an expression as if I was sensing Yu Junho’s murderous intent with my whole body while struggling to hold my ground.

Yu Junho lowered his gaze to stare at my camcorder.

Suffocating silence flowed.

* * *

Outside the attic, Jung Chaeseong with hollow eyes sat before the monitor, staring intently at the two actors.

It felt like he could see the dangerous, precarious current flowing between them.

‘She’s too clever.’

Jung Chaeseong silently let out a sound of admiration.

He meant Han Sena.

Of course, veteran actor Kwon Jaehyung was also skillfully handling things well.

But Han Sena was surpassing the realm of simply doing well.

It had always been what he’d thought since first seeing Han Sena, but in moments like this, it was simply awe-inspiring.

“Cut, that’s an okay.”

Staff members let out deep exhales after hearing the okay.

“Wow, isn’t that insane? Actor Kwon Jaehyung was so scary.”

“The acting is so intense. Even I’m scared.”

“Jaehyung-ssi! You’re no ordinary veteran, are you?”

While staff all unanimously praised Kwon Jaehyung, Jung Chaeseong quietly replayed the scene on repeat.

Jung Chaeseong’s eyes were fixed on Han Sena.

‘The key to making audiences feel fear in a thriller isn’t the object delivering it. It’s the subject experiencing it. People immerse in the subject feeling the emotion, not the object, and feel terror.’

It was an old thriller theory.

Like all theories, it gets refuted, overturned, and modified with the flow of time.

But the classic premise doesn’t change.

And Han Sena knew that precisely right now.

If she’d misinterpreted the character, she could’ve portrayed Lee Jihyeon as someone with both eyes blindfolded, absorbed only in her research.

As a character audiences couldn’t empathize with.

But Han Sena knew that the essence of the emotion Lee Jihyeon needed to have was fear.

Only, the driving force making her hold the camcorder was curiosity surpassing that fear.

In the video playing on repeat, Han Sena’s face had about as much life as Kwon Jaehyung’s.

But her eyes alone glimmered strangely.

That point made her different from the killer before her eyes.

Yet also—her hand gripping the camcorder so tightly she had nowhere to lean on.

Her knuckles had turned white, clenched so hard no blood could flow.

It was the exact psychology of Lee Jihyeon that Jung Chaeseong had wanted to express.

Han Sena possessed the ability to actually materialize what the director had only felt and imagined through intuition.

And that ability had developed far more than during Flat Shoes.

“Just who is this person…”

At Jung Chaeseong’s quiet murmur, the assistant director beside him spoke excitedly.

“Amazing, right? How does she express it so intensely?”

Jung Chaeseong nodded.

* * *

That evening.

We were sharing lunch boxes that had arrived by boat that morning with the staff.

“Wow, I’m freezing to death for real!”

“I pulled my shoulder.”

Everyone had heat packs stuck all over their bodies and was bundled up tightly in padding.

Kkotbyeol had apparently caught a cold and was sniffling.

“If I sound nasally when I say my lines…”

I patted Kkotbyeol’s head as she worried about acting like she was already a pro.

“That’ll actually make it more realistic, won’t it? That much is fine.”

After hearing my words, Kkotbyeol nodded hard.

That’s when Kim Eunseo, who’d been far away, approached me.

“Hey… don’t panic, just look online.”

Kim Eunseo’s face was serious as she quietly spoke so only I could hear.

The moment I saw that expression, I instinctively knew something had happened.

I stood up and moved somewhere away from people with Kim Eunseo.

[Korean OTT Launch Marked by Nepotism—Is This Right?]

I stared blankly at my phone screen.

It was the headline of a column posted on a major newspaper’s society section.

“What is this…”

‘…One actress gathering friends to create a video was this drama’s starting point. But when capital entered, staff joined, and audiences appeared, things should have changed. Currently, the actress at the center of this project is pulling strings from the director to the OST artist, controlling the entire set. Clear overreach.’

My grip on the phone tightened.

‘Furthermore, the OTT platform production company, director, and staff aren’t raising objections to this… Going forward, shouldn’t we cut off the toxic practice of letting authority figures manipulate production sets, and participate in and consume fair cultural content creation?’

This column was spreading like wildfire while we were filming.

When I hit refresh, articles about the controversy breaking out were already uploading.

Comments began sprouting underneath like bamboo shoots.

– This damn academic ties, regional ties, blood ties exists everywhere. Republic of Korea strikes again.

– All Han Sena articles from the new year. So tired of it.

– Should’ve reflected instead of prancing around in dresses on islands.

– Long tails always get caught. I knew it from when she pushed out Seo Jaeyeon and Lee Nara to snatch the lead role.

I turned off the article, watching comments with a completely opposite mood from this morning.

I felt my mood gradually sinking.

But then, a strange article headline caught my eye.

[Actress H Exposes Han Sena’s Threats]

With trembling hands, I clicked the article.