INTV 01

Chapter 1

The end of a villain is usually not a happy one.

When the protagonist wins, the villain loses, and when the protagonist finds happiness, the villain becomes miserable.

The end of my role would be the same.

Because I was the villain.

“Cut! Okay. Let’s prepare for the next scene.”

The director’s calm voice echoed across the set.

Jeong Ga-yoon, who had just finished filming, immediately put on a smile while secretly letting out a faint sigh.

“Good work.”

“Oh, yeah. Ms. Ga-yoon. You’re on standby for now, right? Good job!”

The assistant director patted Ga-yoon on the shoulder before moving on.

She had always been cast as supporting characters who barely had any screen time, but this time, she had landed a fairly substantial role as a villain.

She had eagerly accepted because she was happy about the opportunity, only to discover that the heroine she would be opposing was also named Baek Ga-yoon.

“Next up is Baek’s PPL scene, so make sure everything is ready!”

The assistant director busily gave orders while running around.

Ga-yoon quietly moved to a spot where she would not get in the staff’s way.

Baek Ga-yoon would be coming over to film soon.

Baek Ga-yoon had debuted at the age of five and had worked steadily for twenty-two years, making her a veteran top actress.

Top in popularity.

Top in experience.

And top in personality, too.

Unfortunately, it was her reputation behind people’s backs that made that last part a problem.

“Hey, more lighting over here! Put another reflector up!”

Even if her personality was terrible, popularity was everything in this industry.

On top of that, Baek Ga-yoon had powerful backing.

She belonged to High-Top Entertainment, one of the most prominent agencies in the country, and its CEO, Geum Sa-ra, was Baek Ga-yoon’s mother.

How did Ga-yoon know all that?

She wasn’t a fan of Baek Ga-yoon.

If anything, she had more than enough reason to dislike her.

The bustling set was being arranged entirely for Baek Ga-yoon, according to Baek Ga-yoon’s needs.

Then—

“Excuse me, where’s the director?”

Baek Ga-yoon’s manager hurried onto the set and asked Ga-yoon.

“He’s checking the audio.”

The director was relatively nearby, but the manager seemed so flustered that he couldn’t even see him.

“Oh, Director. Goodness.”

Baek Ga-yoon’s manager swallowed nervously, wiped his sweaty palms against his pants, and approached the director before whispering something to him.

They weren’t far apart, but it wasn’t close enough for Ga-yoon to hear a whisper.

“What?! You’re telling me this now?!”

The loud shout immediately drew everyone’s attention.

Kim Min-ji, Ga-yoon’s manager, had been talking to another staff member from a distance. She hurried over to Ga-yoon and asked,

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

There was no need for an explanation.

The furious director immediately shouted out the reason.

“You’re telling me the actress disappeared in the middle of filming?! You should be looking for Baek Ga-yoon right now! What are you standing around for?!”

In truth, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

“Here we go again.”

Min-ji clicked her tongue.

The staff members who had been preparing everything around Baek Ga-yoon sighed irritably and stopped what they were doing.

The assistant director and production PD rushed off to find Baek Ga-yoon, while the director continued yelling at her manager.

“You! Every time this happens, aren’t you just hiding Baek?!”

“Oh, Director! Absolutely not!”

“Don’t give me that! How can a manager not know where his own actress has gone? Even now, shouldn’t you be going to find her first?!”

“Goodness, Director. Do you think I haven’t looked? I’m always the one who gets chewed out over this.”

The director tore at his hair as he listened to Baek Ga-yoon’s manager repeatedly apologize.

The manager hurried out of the set, saying he would search again.

“What a mess.”

“When is this damn shoot ever going to end?”

Filming was temporarily suspended.

The exhausted staff grumbled among themselves.

“……”

Ga-yoon awkwardly exchanged glances with Min-ji before moving away.

It was better to get out of there for a while before some unnecessary trouble came her way.

“How long do you think it’ll be delayed?”

Min-ji muttered as they headed toward the waiting room.

Probably about thirty minutes.

And then—

“If it’s going to be delayed for a while, won’t they just move up the other scenes?”

“Haah, yeah. They probably will.”

That was usually how it went.

The scenes of other supporting actors would be moved forward.

“Anyone who knows this industry should know better than to slack off like that. Good grief. We don’t know when filming will resume, so go get some rest, Ga-yoon.”

Min-ji lamented as she encouraged Ga-yoon to rest.

But Ga-yoon smiled and shook her head.

“No, I’m going to take the stairs for a bit.”

“Again?”

“I need to exercise.”

There had been so much filming lately that she hadn’t been able to exercise, and she felt like she was putting on weight.

There was only so much she could accomplish by eating less.

Ga-yoon entered the stairwell and slowly began climbing.

The studio she was in was on the eighth floor, and the rooftop was on the twelfth.

Four floors was a reasonable distance for her to take her time and get some exercise.

Clatter—

A loud noise came from above, followed by the voices of staff members traveling down the stairwell.

“She’s not on the roof. Look somewhere else!”

“Where the hell did she disappear to?”

The irritated staff members went down to another floor.

Tap. Tap.

Ga-yoon continued climbing silently.

The dim stairwell lit up one section at a time as she climbed.

If only the path ahead of her could always be this brightly lit.

Baek Ga-yoon, who shared her name, could live however she wanted and still walk down a smooth, effortless road.

So why did she have to struggle just to make a name for herself as an actress?

A sigh escaped her.

Eventually, she reached the rooftop.

Feeling suddenly suffocated, Ga-yoon threw open the rooftop door.

Creeeak—

A clear blue sky stretched above her, and a refreshing breeze blew against her.

She took a deep breath.

Then—

“What the hell, Fake Ga-yoon?”

An unexpectedly sharp voice pierced her ears.

Baek Ga-yoon?

She could have sworn she had heard the staff saying that she wasn’t on the rooftop before going back downstairs.

“Senior.”

“Yeah, Fake Ga-yoon. Come here.”

Baek Ga-yoon was leaning against the rooftop railing, smoking a cigarette.

She crooked a finger at Ga-yoon.

Fake Ga-yoon.

That was the nasty nickname people had given Jeong Ga-yoon, claiming that she was trying to imitate Baek Ga-yoon.

It was also what Baek Ga-yoon’s fans—and Jeong Ga-yoon’s antis—called her.

But Ga-yoon never expected to hear it from Baek Ga-yoon herself.

She slowly approached.

Baek Ga-yoon exhaled deeply and looked her up and down.

“I really hate you.”

Ever since Ga-yoon had been cast in this drama, The Conditions of Inheritance, Baek Ga-yoon had looked at her with obvious displeasure.

It was unfair, but Ga-yoon could understand it to some extent.

From the perspective of a star like Baek Ga-yoon, having someone with a similar appearance and even the same name might naturally be irritating.

Ga-yoon herself had considered changing her stage name because of that.

“……”

Baek Ga-yoon stared silently at her as she came closer.

After glaring at her for a long while, Baek Ga-yoon crushed out her cigarette with her foot.

Then she abruptly grabbed Ga-yoon by the throat.

It was shocking and deeply unpleasant.

“Why are you doing this?”

No matter how much she disliked her, this was too much.

Ga-yoon tried to take a step back—

Clench!

Baek Ga-yoon suddenly tightened her grip.

“Ghk……!”

Her airway was instantly blocked.

Ga-yoon tried to knock Baek Ga-yoon’s hand away, but it was difficult.

What the hell?

Where did she get that kind of strength?

It had happened so suddenly that Ga-yoon couldn’t understand it.

Why was she doing this?

What had Ga-yoon done?

Was there really any reason to go this far?

Baek Ga-yoon’s fingernails dug into the back of her neck.

“Hng!”

Ga-yoon struggled in pain.

But Baek Ga-yoon looked frighteningly expressionless.

Ga-yoon had known she wasn’t a good person.

But was she really this kind of person?

Ga-yoon grabbed Baek Ga-yoon’s wrist with both hands and tried to pull it away, but she couldn’t loosen the grip.

It was an absurd amount of strength.

And then—

“Ah…… Hahaha!”

Baek Ga-yoon suddenly burst into laughter.

While strangling her.

“Kh! Why……?”

Ga-yoon couldn’t speak properly because she couldn’t breathe.

She stumbled backward and tried to kick Baek Ga-yoon.

But Baek Ga-yoon grabbed her throat with her other hand as well and used her weight to shove her down.

Thud! Crash!

Baek Ga-yoon climbed on top of the fallen Ga-yoon and laughed like a madwoman, spitting out her words in a rapid-fire torrent, consumed by rage.

“Yeah, I should’ve done this sooner. So much sooner! Do you know how anxious you made me? Because of you! You!”

Anxious?

Because of Ga-yoon?

Why?

She couldn’t understand it at all.

What was she to Baek Ga-yoon?

Why had Baek Ga-yoon been so anxious because of her?

Baek Ga-yoon seemed to hold a deep grudge as she tightened her grip around Ga-yoon’s neck.

As if she really intended to kill her.

“W-why……?”

Even while gasping desperately for air, Ga-yoon forced out the question.

At least let her know the reason.

Why did Baek Ga-yoon hate her so much?

What had she ever done?

Why was this happening?

As her air ran out, her vision began to blur.

She didn’t want to die like this.

If anyone had a reason to hold a grudge, it should have been her.

At nineteen years old, she had passed an audition and been cast in the movie The Doll by the renowned director Jang Moon-seok.

She had even been cast in the leading role.

But after High-Top Entertainment poured its financial backing into the production, the casting was overturned.

The person who took her leading role was Baek Ga-yoon.

Then why are you doing this to me?

You already have everything.

What did I ever do to you?

Was it because people called me the second Baek Ga-yoon?

She reached out and grabbed Baek Ga-yoon’s face.

With all the strength she had left.

Her fingernails dug deeply into Baek Ga-yoon’s cheeks and around her eyes, leaving scratches.

“AAH! No!”

Baek Ga-yoon screamed, but she didn’t loosen her grip around Ga-yoon’s neck.

Her eyes glinted with madness as she squeezed harder.

“Just a little longer. Just a little…… more……!”

As Ga-yoon continued clawing at Baek Ga-yoon’s face, the strength gradually drained from her hands.

Whoosh—

Through her darkening vision, she suddenly saw something else.

“Hahahahaha!”

Beyond Baek Ga-yoon’s shoulder was something pitch-black, undulating in the air.

Several surreal black shadows were clinging to her.

I don’t want to die like this.

Even at that moment, it was absurd that she was worried about the filming she still had left to do.

With the last of her strength, she flailed her hand and grabbed part of one of the black shadows.

She didn’t know what it was.

But somehow, she felt like it could save her.

Save me.

But soon, her breath stopped.

The hand that had been reaching helplessly through the air dropped limply to the ground.

“……”

At the same time, Baek Ga-yoon’s mad laughter abruptly stopped.

“Huh…….”

As though she had been under some spell and had suddenly regained her senses, Baek Ga-yoon took a moment to comprehend the situation.

Then—

“Ah…… AAAAAH!”

She screamed in horror and scrambled off Jeong Ga-yoon’s body.

Baek Ga-yoon fell backward awkwardly and began crawling away.

“Aaaaaah!”

Then she fled down the stairs.

Whoooosh—

A chilly wind swept across the rooftop.

The clear sky had become overcast before anyone noticed.

Fwoosh—

At the fingertips of Jeong Ga-yoon, which were slowly growing cold, a black shadow flickered.

Soon, it faintly covered her entire body.