In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 80

A few days later, while mindlessly resting the entire time, Minyeong unnie sent me some kind of link.

“What’s this?”

When I clicked the link in the messenger window, it connected to an overseas site.

[Korean Drama <Desert Island> Reviews]

– Let’s make a remake right now. (3.2k upvotes)

– If anyone still hasn’t watched this, go watch it immediately. It’s on a completely different level from time-killer American shows. (2.9k upvotes)

– Wish American series went this route. They keep dragging things out forever with forced plot twists until all the fans drop off. (2.1k upvotes)

– Didn’t know much about this country called Korea, but I learned about it through this drama. It’s small but incredibly creative. (1.7k upvotes)

“This is…”

I scrolled through the comments, unable to hide my shock.

This was a post on “Be Right,” America’s massive community site.

Be Right was also a site actively used by various celebrities and politicians for shaping public opinion.

A place with enormous influence on the American public.

Countless people of various nationalities who’d watched <Desert Island> were sharing their impressions of the drama.

The comment with the most upvotes was about a remake.

“A remake…?”

I left the post and looked through Be Right’s trending topics.

There was one more post related to <Desert Island>.

[So What’s the Real Source of the Money in <Desert Island>?]

– Could’ve been placed by either Yu Junho or Lee Jihyeon.

⤷Yu Junho’s definitely not it, friend. He’s not the type to tempt people to murder with money.

– There’s definitely some dark force that wanted their downfall.

– The source of the money isn’t important. What matters is that we’re not so different from the characters dying on that island, all of us living obsessed with money.

– If there’s a remake, hope they add this content too.

Tens of thousands of comments filled the space below both posts.

Seeing all these passionate responses written in English made my heart beat irregularly.

My small attempt and challenge—the video filming—had come this far.

Not just people from my own country, but people from overseas were reacting to the drama too.

I’d heard it was gaining major popularity in North America beyond expectations, but I hadn’t imagined it would be to this extent.

No matter how much I scrolled, the comments never ended.

It felt like I’d reached the peak of what my challenge could achieve.

A truly spectacular closing.

It came across as an even greater achievement than the results from the year Netmate’s OTT service launched in my memories.

This drama really was the highest peak in my career so far.

“Better enjoy this while I can.”

I grinned at the <Desert Island> poster.

Maintaining a winning streak while working as an actor was harder than plucking stars from the sky.

As they say—sometimes things go well, sometimes they don’t.

Because luck played such a huge role in this world, hard work didn’t always translate directly into results.

Which made moments like this worth savoring fully.

Enjoy it thoroughly then forget.

Come back to square one and run forward again.

I smiled and called Minyeong unnie.

It was time to tell her about what I’d been thinking about these past few days—what I wanted to do.

Will unnie be surprised? Hehe.

* * *

Two weeks later, on a plane heading to America.

I lifted the blind covering the small window and watched Korea’s landscape grow distant.

The cabin was quiet.

In the business class seat next to mine, Kkotbyeol was fast asleep, oblivious to the world.

I smiled slightly looking at her face.

We’re really leaving.

I was on my way to attend an acting workshop being held in Hollywood.

Minyeong unnie’s voice, surprised when she heard I wanted to participate in the workshop, echoed in my ears.

‘LA acting workshop? I told you to rest, not to do more stuff. …Though, well. This is so you. I give up completely now.’

Unnie had looked flustered at first, but seeing my determined expression, she quickly smiled.

I smiled back at her face.

Going to study in Hollywood, the city of cinema—that had been another long-held dream of mine.

Going there to talk with various people, practice, and share dreams together.

It had been something I couldn’t even dream of in my past life, constantly battered by reality.

Truly just a mirage-like delusion of a dream.

Resting these past few days had made me think of that dream again.

Now there was nothing I couldn’t attempt.

Schedule-wise I couldn’t stay for several years like I’d wished, but I could stay for a month or two.

I gazed at the clouds flowing beneath the plane’s wing.

If I kept challenging myself, I’d encounter unexpected opportunities just like I had until now.

I wanted to always be someone ready for those opportunities.

Even more than now.

Lately, this thought had suddenly occurred to me.

Maybe the strange phenomena in my life are all over now.

I hadn’t entered the world inside a script even once while filming these recent projects.

I hadn’t even had similar dreams.

The time I’d lived inside scripts felt like a midsummer night’s dream.

As if it had never happened at all.

I took a light sip of wine.

Maybe this is for the best…

Like I’d thought before, I shouldn’t rely on anything from now on—I need to forge ahead on my own.

That incident of possessing the world inside scripts was probably just a small chance.

A chance given like practice so I could adapt to my newly gained life.

A consideration that pushed me forward saying, “Go ahead, try what you want to your heart’s content.”

Though of course, that system had been pretty unreasonable.

Anyway, I decided to think of it that way.

Which meant this trip to America was also the right choice.

I need to push through to the end with my own strength.

Watching the flowing clouds made drowsiness wash over me like being in a dream world.

* * *

Several hours later, LAX.

I gathered my luggage and prepared to leave the airport.

But shortly after, something completely unexpected happened.

“Actress…?”

The immigration officer suddenly questioned my occupation.

Then looked back and forth between my passport and my face.

“…Yes, but why?”

I answered, flustered, when another officer also approached and said something to my officer.

The two of them whispered together.

I grew increasingly confused.

What on earth is this situation?

Is there some disqualifying issue about me I don’t even know about…?

That’s when my officer spoke again.

“Could you take a photo?”

“…?”

“…With me.”

Huh?

* * *

Shortly after, outside LAX where fairly hot sunlight beat down.

After taking a photo with the officer who recognized me, I successfully exited the airport.

Phew, I thought I was being dragged to secondary inspection.

The unfamiliar breeze touching my skin felt humid.

I fanned my face when Kkotbyeol, who’d finished immigration, walked over.

Kkotbyeol heard about what just happened and grinned broadly.

“As expected, unnie. Like a global star.”

Hearing that, I took off my sunglasses.

“Oh my, a global star? The kind with paparazzi following them everywhere?”

“Yes. Totally. Exactly that vibe.”

I laughed at Kkotbyeol’s words.

But unlike what Kkotbyeol said, people who’d recognize me here would be few and far between now.

And I was looking forward to that most of all.

Time to enjoy some freedom myself.

In Korea, the more famous I became, the harder it got to go out alone.

It hadn’t been that bad in my past life.

The life of an actor doing commercials and building a filmography through various controversies was definitely different from before.

How should I put it—I’d become more celebrity-like?

Anyway, whether in good or bad ways, combining both lives meant I’d lived over twenty years being conscious of people’s gazes.

I could indulge in this brief liberation, right?

Humming, I dragged my suitcase toward a taxi.

“Won’t even be able to wear long sleeves.”

“Right?”

But then…

As I tried to hail a taxi, another strange thing happened.

A group of people kept glancing at our group and whispering among themselves.

“…?”

I felt briefly flustered by their obvious stares.

That’s when one person from the chattering group approached as if taking charge and asked.

“Sena? Sena?”

I looked up at the person calling my name, startled.

“Unnie, I think those people recognize us?”

Kkotbyeol stepped forward and began fluently exchanging words in English.

Then turned back with a delighted expression.

“Unnie! These people watched <Desert Island>!”

I was shocked again by those words.

Right, there were tons of people on Be Right who’d watched it too.

I’d only encountered people who’d watched the drama online until now, so actually meeting them in person felt strange.

I awkwardly waved at the person who’d asked my name.

Then smiled kindly while taking photos with the approaching people.

It seemed like it would be a fun memory for me too.

Foreigners approaching and calling my name.

“Thank you all, goodbye!”

After taking photos with everyone one by one, I slowly said goodbye and climbed into the taxi.

As the wheels rolled and exotic buildings whizzed past the window…

“No matter what, it’s still amazing. The main release was only three months ago, right? Did everyone watch with subtitles?”

I still couldn’t quite believe it.

Kkotbyeol shook her head.

“Probably dubbing? English speakers don’t really watch subtitles.”

“Dubbing?”

Dubbing somehow made even less sense.

Dubbing ultimately costs money too, so they dubbed an original Korean content?

One person I really wanted to share this news with came to mind.

I opened messenger and placed a voice call to them.

After a brief connection tone.

‘Hello? Sena-ssi?’

A voice that felt even more welcome hearing it from LA.

“Chaeseong-ssi! I’m in LA right now. You know what, people here recognized me and Kkotbyeol.”

‘Ah, really? I expected that, but it’s quite surprising.’

He expected it?

“Did you know about it, Chaeseong-ssi? That Netmate dubbed and released our drama to other countries?”

‘Yes. You know K-pop’s doing well these days. So they decided to try releasing the drama with just English dubbing first as a test. If the English version sells well, they’ll service it in other countries too.’

When on earth had this discussion happened?

‘But even Netmate didn’t expect <Desert Island> to do this well in North America. They were originally targeting Southeast Asia—places like the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan.’

“Ah, right. I heard that.”

It was something I’d heard over and over in my past life too.

‘So they dubbed it targeting that region, then released it in North America too, and it gained more popularity than expected.’

Smart Kkotbyeol just gazed out the window as if this wasn’t surprising at all.

Do young people’s minds really work that fast?

I clicked my tongue again, truly grasping the global-scale popularity.

You really do need to live twice to see these things.