INTV 02

Chapter 2

“Gasp, huff—!”

Baek Ga-yoon frantically escaped from the rooftop and returned to the studio.

“Oh, Baek—”

One of the staff members who had been searching everywhere for her stopped in surprise at Baek Ga-yoon’s appearance, which was beyond anything he could have imagined.

Her hair was disheveled, and her face was smeared with blood from the scratches around her eyes and across her cheeks.

And then there were her viciously gleaming eyes.

“Eek! Ga-yoon!”

Baek Ga-yoon’s manager, Lee Jeong-han, rushed toward her in shock, but she walked straight past him and entered the waiting room.

“Uh, no……”

Not knowing what to do, Jeong-han hovered between the staff and the waiting room.

Then, as if deciding that he should go find out what had happened, he gave an awkward smile and followed her inside.

Looking at the closed waiting-room door, the staff member who had been searching for Baek Ga-yoon muttered,

“Damn. We’re screwed.”

With that many injuries on her face, there was no way today’s filming would continue.

The staff member let out a heavy sigh and headed back to the set to report the news to the director.

The director was in the chaotic set, going over the script with the assistant director.

They were probably deciding which scene to film next in case they couldn’t find Baek Ga-yoon.

“Director. We found Baek.”

“What? You found her?!”

At the staff member’s words, the director brightened and closed the script.

However—

“Yes. But she can’t film.”

At those words, the director’s bright expression immediately twisted.

“What do you mean?”

The staff member briefly explained the situation.

Baek Ga-yoon had apparently returned with her face covered in large scratches.

“Ah, shit. Crazy……”

The director and assistant director didn’t bother suppressing the curses that rose in disbelief.

The actress who was supposed to be filming had shown up with her face covered in injuries.

What on earth had she been doing?

“Haah…… When did you say Ahn Ji-ho was coming?”

The director checked the schedule of the actor playing the male lead.

He was currently filming elsewhere and was supposed to join them soon.

The director scratched his forehead before making a decision.

“Jeong Ga-yoon is here, right? Let’s do the villain’s monologue scene first. When Ahn Ji-ho arrives, we’ll shoot the scenes with Ahn Ji-ho and Jeong Ga-yoon first.”

He hesitated before adding,

“The PPL…… Ah, fuck it. We’ll worry about that later.”

“Yes, understood.”

The director and assistant director went out to reset the set for the villain’s monologue scene.

The staff member headed toward Jeong Ga-yoon’s waiting room to inform her of the change in the filming schedule.

*

Meanwhile, in Baek Ga-yoon’s waiting room.

Lee Jeong-han kept glancing nervously at Baek Ga-yoon as he struggled to speak.

“Ga-yoon. What on earth happened?”

“……”

She didn’t answer.

Only Baek Ga-yoon’s personal stylists were busy wiping the blood from her face and giving her emergency treatment.

“Ga-yoon.”

Jeong-han called her again, urging her to respond.

That was when Baek Ga-yoon suddenly stood up and charged toward the waiting-room door.

She looked as though she were barely conscious.

“Mom. I need to go to Mom.”

Mom will take care of it.

Her muttered voice trembled.

“What about the filming……!”

Jeong-han rubbed his face in frustration.

Baek Ga-yoon abruptly turned around and shouted.

“Do I look like I can film right now?!”

With her face scratched and swollen like that, how could she possibly film?

“Haah, well, that’s true…… Ah, damn it!”

Jeong-han dragged his hands through his hair in frustration.

The filming was a problem.

The PPL was a problem, too.

There were all sorts of tangled issues to deal with, and she had apparently gone and gotten into another fight somewhere, making everything even more difficult to clean up.

“Fine. Let’s go to the CEO first.”

They quickly cleaned up the waiting room and left the set.

There were staff members who had seen how badly damaged Ga-yoon’s face was, so saying they were going to the hospital would probably be a believable excuse.

It didn’t solve this troublesome situation, though.

Whether Jeong-han was frustrated or not, Baek Ga-yoon had already gotten into the car.

She began biting her fingernails.

She had killed someone.

Her whole body trembled from an inexplicable chill, yet a strange sense of exhilaration welled up inside her.

A snicker escaped her lips.

“Heh, hehehe.”

Click. Click. Click.

Her bitten fingernails began to bleed, but she couldn’t feel a thing.

She had killed Jeong Ga-yoon.

That girl who had been an eyesore throughout her entire life.

She had killed the real Baek Ga-yoon.

I killed her.

Baek Ga-yoon, the daughter of Geum Sa-ra.

Rattle, rattle, rattle……

A deep, ominous sound echoed as black shadows undulated behind Baek Ga-yoon, covering her as if they were about to devour her.

Geum Sa-ra didn’t know about the existence of the real Baek Ga-yoon.

She couldn’t let her find out.

But Jeong Ga-yoon kept distinguishing herself in the entertainment industry.

As if she were the real Baek Ga-yoon.

With a talent that Baek Ga-yoon herself didn’t possess, she kept making a name for herself in the industry.

It had made her anxious.

She felt as though everyone would discover at any moment that she was a fake.

Geum Sa-ra would cast her aside, and the entire country would turn its back on her.

Would she go down in history as the greatest liar of all time?

But it wasn’t as though she had wanted things to turn out this way!

Why was she the one who had to live in fear like this?

The shadows whispered.

Get rid of Jeong Ga-yoon.

Yes.

If Jeong Ga-yoon disappeared from the entertainment industry, the problem would be solved.

She had manipulated Geum Sa-ra into taking away the position Jeong Ga-yoon had earned.

She had used every means available to prevent Jeong Ga-yoon from rising in the industry.

Jeong Ga-yoon had so much in common with her.

They were the same age and had the same birthday.

They were the same height and weight.

Even their appearances were similar.

So Baek Ga-yoon had accused her of copying her.

The Second Baek Ga-yoon?

It might have sounded like a compliment, but wasn’t it the perfect title for people to tear her apart over?

Baek Ga-yoon had taken away her casting opportunities and made people attack her.

She thought Jeong Ga-yoon would gradually disappear from the industry.

But Jeong Ga-yoon kept taking roles and clawing her way upward.

“How annoying.”

She had gone from minor roles to supporting roles.

And now, she had even taken on a villainous role opposite Baek Ga-yoon herself, rising to the point where she could threaten the protagonist’s position.

The shadows continued whispering.

Get rid of Jeong Ga-yoon.

Baek Ga-yoon had clawed and struggled to improve her acting skills.

Jeong Ga-yoon, however, effortlessly proved her talent.

But—

“It’s over now.”

Baek Ga-yoon stared at her own hands.

They were pale, slender hands that trembled uncontrollably.

With these hands, she had cut off that girl’s breath.

As for cleaning up afterward—

Mom would take care of it.

Just as she always had.

Just as she had covered up all the trouble and incidents Baek Ga-yoon had caused until now, today’s incident would disappear as though it had never happened.

The black shadows around the pale, trembling Baek Ga-yoon writhed violently, blazing like flames.

As though they could swallow her at any moment.

*

She had definitely lost consciousness.

Yet—

Jeong Ga-yoon slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

Despite the warmth she could feel in her body, the rooftop floor beneath her was freezing cold.

“I…… I’m not dead?”

She felt her throbbing neck.

Baek Ga-yoon was gone.

It seemed she was alone.

Ga-yoon slowly tried to make sense of what had happened.

“How much time has passed?”

Strangely enough, the first thing she worried about was the filming.

Let’s go downstairs first.

Ga-yoon jumped to her feet and headed toward the set.

The moment she entered the eighth-floor hallway where the set was located, she ran into her manager, Min-ji, who had been coming to look for her.

“Ga-yoon!”

Min-ji urgently pulled her along and headed straight for the waiting room.

“They’re resetting the set right now. They said they’ll film your monologue scene first.”

“Oh, really?”

For a moment, Ga-yoon wondered if enough time had already passed for Baek Ga-yoon’s filming to be over.

Then she remembered the state of Baek Ga-yoon’s face after she had scratched it.

She suddenly felt awkward.

The schedule had been changed.

“And you know what?”

As soon as they entered the waiting room, Min-ji moved away from the door and whispered,

“I have no idea what she was doing, but apparently Baek Ga-yoon came back with her whole face scratched up, canceled her filming, and went straight home.”

“Wh-what? Really……?”

I’m the one who scratched her face.

Ga-yoon couldn’t exactly say that out loud.

So she answered awkwardly.

“Anyway, we have to film, so let’s fix your makeup first.”

The stylist, who had already prepared everything in front of the mirror, tapped the chair.

“Right, right. Let’s do that.”

“Look at you. Your mind is somewhere else.”

Min-ji quickly sat Ga-yoon down in front of the mirror.

The stylist immediately began applying makeup.

“Anyway. So we’ll film your monologue first, and when Ji-ho arrives……”

As Min-ji rattled off the rest of the schedule, Ga-yoon examined the back of her neck in the mirror.

She really should tell them what had just happened.

But the situation was unbelievably difficult to explain.

Baek Ga-yoon’s fingernails had dug into her skin.

Yet there wasn’t even a trace of a fingernail mark, let alone any sign that she had been strangled.

What on earth had happened?

The pain was still so vivid.

Ga-yoon slowly raised a hand and touched the area around her neck.

Fwoosh—!

Black smoke suddenly flared up like flames around her neck.

It circled the area before revealing a dark handprint.

Then the marks left by fingernails digging into her skin began to emerge clearly as well.

“……!”

Startled, Ga-yoon looked into the mirror to check Min-ji and the stylist’s reactions.

“Unnie?”

It was as though time had stopped.

Min-ji remained frozen in the exact position she had been speaking in.

The stylist was likewise frozen in place, her brush suspended exactly where it had been.

Neither of them moved.

Tick. Tick.

Then—

The second hand of the clock stopped, too.

Even the air seemed to have stopped moving.

Ssss—

The black smoke circling Ga-yoon’s neck gradually faded.

And numbers appeared on her skin.

12:00:00

What on earth did that mean?

Ga-yoon furrowed her brow.

Then, right before her eyes, a fist-sized black shadow suddenly appeared, flickering as though it were burning.

『Twelve hours. That’s how long you have left to keep breathing.』

The black shadow spun around in place while letting out a playful, cackling laugh.

Then it opened its mouth again.

『You went through all that trouble to come back to life. Don’t you want to live a little longer? Shall I tell you how?』