How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 122

Chapter 122

 

“Have you ever used fake blood before?”

I’ve seen real blood plenty of times.

But I obviously couldn’t say that, so I simply shook my head.

“No. It’s my first time.”

“These days, there are all sorts of ways to create blood effects. For gunshot scenes, we use small explosive devices, and when blood needs to flow continuously, we connect tubes.”

But today’s scene involved neither gunshots nor blood flowing out.

“We’ll be using this pouch.”

The staff member handed me a pouch filled with fake blood.

“If you squeeze it hard, it’ll burst and spread over your clothes. If you press too hard, too much will come out at once, so you’ll have to control the pressure.”

He demonstrated by bursting one himself.

“Just do it like this.”

“Why is the color so bright?”

I rubbed the blood dripping onto the floor with my finger.

It was much redder than real blood.

“It’s afternoon right now. At night it wouldn’t matter as much, but with lighting like this, it has to be brighter and more vivid than actual blood.”

I nodded at the explanation that this was how it looked like real blood on camera.

‘But the color isn’t the only difference.’

Unlike real blood, the fake stuff wasn’t warm, and its consistency was different.

‘Why is it so sticky?’

Artistic exaggeration, maybe?

There was none of that metallic smell either. Instead, it smelled sweet.

Well, it wasn’t real, so that made sense.

As long as it didn’t look as cheap as ketchup, I didn’t care.

“Shall we rehearse?”

“Sure.”

Since timing was important, I practiced with my scene partner for a long time.

Only after a lengthy rehearsal was everything finally ready.

“We’re rolling soon!”

At the staff’s call, everyone returned to their places where they’d been eating ramen.

I took off the shirt I’d worn during the break, and the chilly air touched my skin.

“Hyung, you must be freezing.”

The actor playing Seungmin looked at me worriedly.

“At least we’re indoors.”

I shrugged, and everyone agreed that that was truly fortunate.

“If we were filming outside today, I would’ve collapsed.”

“Seriously. I had a runny nose last night and freaked out thinking I’d caught a cold.”

Thankfully, today’s shoot was inside the studio.

They’d been trying to finish the outdoor scenes as quickly as possible, but today’s weather was too brutal.

More importantly, since most of the cast were rookies, filming in chronological order helped maintain the emotional flow.

‘Only the highlight scene remains outdoors now.’

And I was the main character of that scene.

It was basically a one-man show.

Which also meant that in the dead of winter, wandering around a mountain in shorts and a T-shirt would be my job alone.

‘What can you do?’

People can’t always do only what they want.

If you’re getting paid, there are things you have to give up.

At the very least, Director Seo had paid me enough for that.

‘At least I don’t have to take my shirt off outdoors.’

Even though I’d been half-naked since morning, being indoors had kept me in decent condition.

I steadied my breathing, thinking I only needed to endure a little longer.

“Let’s go. Ready… Action!”

 

***

 

“W-What?”

“…Isn’t that Hyewoo?”

The person pounding on the window was Hyewoo.

At first, she was so pale, and her hair was such a mess that I thought she was a ghost.

The moment Ajin recognized her, she sprang to her feet and rushed to the front door.

I followed behind her while hurriedly grabbing whatever clothes I could find off the floor and putting them on.

Bang!

“Hyewoo, y–Hey! What happened to your clothes?!”

Ajin brought her inside, her face full of shock.

Hyewoo looked dazed, staggering around like someone who had lost her soul, and her clothes were covered in mud.

“We looked everywhere for you–”

“Where’s Jaehyun?”

“Huh?”

Just as tears of relief welled up in Ajin’s eyes after finding her friend…

Hyewoo quietly asked about Jaehyun.

“Jaehyun? Ah, don’t worry. He’s fine. He was really worried about you.”

I figured she was naturally worried about her boyfriend first, but Hyewoo looked completely uninterested and asked again.

“Where is he?”

Something about her voice sounded eerie.

Ajin hesitated for a moment but pointed anyway.

“Over there.”

The long finger pointed toward the room in the back.

The room between the living room and kitchen.

Less than an hour had passed since we’d carried the seizing Jaehyun there and laid him on the bed.

“Um, earlier Jaehyun…”

Remembering what happened, Ajin carefully opened her mouth.

She was probably about to ask if Hyewoo knew about any medical condition.

But Hyewoo suddenly started walking.

“…? Hyewoo?”

Watching her from behind sent a chill down my spine.

She looked like an ordinary girl walking, yet somehow she didn’t seem human.

Her limbs were limp, as if she were being dragged by something, but her steps were light, almost excited.

‘What the hell?’

I was staring blankly when something suddenly caught my eye.

“…! Hey! You–!”

BANG!

The back room door slammed shut with a loud noise.

Everyone froze, mouths agape, as if it had swallowed Hyewoo whole.

“T-The door just closed by itself…”

While Seungmin mumbled blankly, I immediately grabbed the doorknob.

“Hyewoo! Hey! Ji Hyewoo! Open the door!!”

But it wouldn’t budge, as though steel beams were holding it shut from inside.

So I started pounding on it hard enough to break it down.

“Fuck! Ji Hyewoo! Open the damn door!!!!”

“Oppa, what’s wrong?!”

Ajin rushed over in alarm.

Behind me, Seorae and Seungmin were staring, unable to process what was happening.

“Ajin, go to the kitchen and bring me a knife.”

“What?!”

“Hurry!”

“N-No, tell me what’s–”

“She had a knife in her hand!!”

The instant I shouted that, a horrific scream came from inside the room.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”

It was Jaehyun.

A scream so desperate I couldn’t imagine it coming from a grown man.

It turned into sobbing.

Mixed in with it were cries begging for help.

“T-This…”

“…Hurry and get the knife.”

I whispered to Ajin, who was stumbling backward.

Even though my mind couldn’t process the absurdity of the situation, my body moved on instinct.

When Ajin couldn’t move at all, I shoved her toward the others and sprinted into the kitchen.

“Hah… Hah…”

Seven seconds.

That was all it took to grab a random knife and return to the door.

Yet my heart was pounding so hard it felt ready to leap out of my mouth.

“I was wrong!! I was wr–Guhk!!!”

The horrifying sounds from inside made it hard to breathe.

Jaehyun’s screams were loud, but so were the repeated wet stabbing noises.

The image forming in my head made me curse.

“Fuck…”

My hand trembled violently around the knife.

I was so scared that even swallowing was difficult.

‘What happened?’

I couldn’t understand any of it.

Just moments ago we’d been peacefully eating ramen.

And while Jaehyun screamed for help inside, I hated myself for trembling outside.

‘Shouldn’t I break down the door and go in?’

That’s what my head said.

But my body refused to move.

All I could do was stand there, swallowing nervously while listening to Jaehyun seemingly die.

“O-Oppa… can we just stay here…?”

Seorae whispered tearfully.

That pathetic question made anger flare up inside me.

“Then you go open the do–!”

Right then…

Creeeak…

The screams abruptly stopped.

And the door slowly opened by itself.

I instinctively stepped back, and the others scrambled into a corner.

“…”

I swallowed hard and tightened my grip on the knife.

I’d never held one for this purpose before, so my stance felt awkward.

“Ji Hyewoo, come out slowly.”

I spoke as calmly as possible.

No answer came.

“Come out and tell us what’s going on. We’ll listen.”

Keeping my distance, I peered inside.

Through the crack of the slightly opened door, I saw red.

‘Is that blood?’

No, idiot. Of course it’s blood.

The knife in Hyewoo’s hand.

Jaehyun’s screams.

The sound of something being stabbed.

Only an idiot wouldn’t put together that Hyewoo had stabbed Jaehyun.

And yet the situation felt so disconnected from reality that stupid thoughts kept surfacing.

‘Could this all be a dream?’

I was momentarily spacing out when…

Kyaahahahaha!!!

Hyewoo burst through the door laughing.

Her face was that of a madwoman.

“KYAAAH!!”

“Junho Oppa!!!!”

The girls screamed as she charged straight at me without hesitation.

I instinctively stepped back to flee, but she caught up instantly.

“Hahaha!!!”

Her mouth stretched wide in laughter, and sure enough, there was a knife in her hand.

She tackled me and swung it without hesitation.

I blocked as best I could, but she still slashed my arms several times.

“Urgh.”

Was it survival instinct?

I didn’t feel pain.

My heart was just pounding wildly, and nothing felt real.

All I could do was hold back the knife she was trying to drive into me from barely four inches away.

‘What kind of strength is this?!’

No matter how insane she was, Hyewoo was just a girl.

I was bigger than average.

How was I losing in a contest of strength against a girl barely 160 centimeters tall?

“Ugh.”

I gritted my teeth and struggled until my body shook, but the knife kept inching closer.

The knife I’d brought from the kitchen had been knocked away when she tackled me.

“F-Fuck… pull yourself together…”

It felt less like fighting one person and more like fighting a whole crowd.

Seeing that I was holding on, Hyewoo suddenly withdrew the knife.

Somewhere along the way, it grazed my waist, and even now it felt as though my skin were burning.

“Please…”

“Haha!!!”

Without hesitation, Hyewoo climbed on top of me and raised the knife high with both hands.

Just as she was about to plunge it into my face…

“Urgh!!!”

Someone rushed in from afar and rammed into Hyewoo.

It was Ajin.

While the two girls rolled away across the floor, I searched for the knife I’d dropped.

‘There!’

No time to hesitate.

I grabbed it immediately and looked over.

Hyewoo was already getting back up.

Ajin had slammed her head against the floor and was clutching it with one hand.

Hyewoo headed straight toward Ajin with the knife.

And so…

“Haaagh!!!”

I had no choice.

I really had no choice.

Before I knew it, my knife had plunged into Hyewoo’s stomach.

Blood burst out, staining my hands red.

What the hell was happening?

Was this even real?

My mind was numb, but my body screamed that I couldn’t stop.

“Hah… ugh…”

I kept driving the knife into her stomach and pulling it back out.

Unlike in movies, people didn’t die easily.

Thud. Stab.

I repeated the same motion over and over in a daze.

Then…

“J-Junho Oppa…”

Hyewoo tearfully grabbed my hand.

Looking down, I saw her trembling, tears pooled in her eyes.

I could only stare at her silently.

Then all the strength left her body.

The light vanished from her dark eyes in an instant.

“…”

It happened so quickly.

Only after witnessing someone’s death did I finally let go of the knife.

“…”

No one spoke.

I could see Ajin trembling beside me.

I didn’t want to believe this was reality.