Chapter 10
Baek Ga-yoon stared at the screen with a deathly pale face.
She couldn’t believe her own eyes.
“Sunbae, are you all right?”
Jeong Ga-yoon, who had followed her over in the meantime, asked with an infuriatingly innocent expression.
“What? This is really—!”
Baek Ga-yoon muttered a curse and angrily swung her hand.
Annoyed that Jeong Ga-yoon was shaking her up without knowing anything, she intended to smack her across the head.
But—
Grab!
Jeong Ga-yoon caught her wrist without even blinking.
“I won’t let it happen twice.”
Twice?
Had something like this happened before?
She could feel the staff around them turning their attention toward them.
Damn it. This is so humiliating!
Baek Ga-yoon yanked her arm away, and Jeong Ga-yoon willingly released her wrist.
Unlike her, Jeong Ga-yoon looked completely relaxed, which only made Baek Ga-yoon even more furious.
Baek Ga-yoon panted as she looked around.
“No! That’s not it! It’s not!”
Her voice cracked as she shouted.
That’s not what you people think!
She desperately tried to explain herself, but the gazes directed at her seemed to grow increasingly unpleasant.
Her chest heaved repeatedly as she struggled to catch her breath.
There was no way she could continue acting in this state.
Baek Ga-yoon kicked off her uncomfortable heels and hurried toward the waiting room as though fleeing.
Lee Jeong-han quickly followed after picking up her shoes.
Then, one person’s whisper suddenly reached her ears with unusual clarity.
“Wow. Even Baek Ga-yoon got eaten alive by a junior’s acting.”
At that moment, Baek Ga-yoon’s face turned bright red.
Damn it.
I’m going to kill that Jeong Ga-yoon somehow.
*
“What are we going to do about filming, Director?”
The assistant director asked, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
How long would it take for the panicked Baek Ga-yoon to return to normal and be able to film again?
If they delayed any longer, they really would end up missing the schedule entirely.
Rather than waiting for Baek Ga-yoon in that condition, it might be better to have her join the next shoot.
Director Kang squeezed his eyes shut and scratched his forehead.
Then Baek Ga-yoon’s earlier tantrum flashed through his mind.
“A stand-in…? Right! Let’s use a stand-in.”
“What? A stand-in?”
The assistant director asked in confusion.
Wouldn’t there be limitations to using footage filmed with a stand-in?
“I mean the NG footage from just now. We’ll cut out the part where the NG happened and use the frontal shot, then transition to the stuntwoman’s back.”
And there was no major problem with changing the shot that had originally been planned as a close-up of Lee Ha-yeon to a shot of the villain.
After all, the villain was the one delivering the dialogue.
Moreover, judging from Jeong Ga-yoon’s acting just now, Director Kang thought the scene would be far more tense if they focused on revealing the villain’s raw emotions rather than showing the heroine’s suffering.
“Ah…!”
The assistant director seemed to visualize the scene Director Kang had in mind and exclaimed in admiration.
“It’s fine, right? Go get the stuntwoman!”
The assistant director hurried off to call the stuntwoman.
Director Kang then turned toward Jeong Ga-yoon, who had been standing beside him the entire time.
“Ms. Jeong! I’m counting on you! Let’s do it just like before. Exactly like before!”
“Yes, Director.”
It was acting she had already analyzed completely.
Regardless of who her scene partner was, she could perform it the same way.
Jeong Ga-yoon watched the stuntwoman, who had hurried over and was preparing for filming, before turning her gaze toward the waiting room where Baek Ga-yoon was.
I wonder what she’s doing.
While filming this scene, Ga-yoon had hoped that Baek Ga-yoon would lose her composure because of her acting.
But—
She really panicked that badly.
Had she ever felt this refreshed by someone else’s misfortune before?
Serves her right.
With a quiet smirk, Jeong Ga-yoon secretly curled the corners of her lips and slowly walked toward the stuntwoman.
*
“Cut! Okay!”
The filming with the stuntwoman was complete.
“How is it? Is it usable, Director?”
Jeong Ga-yoon stood beside Director Kang to monitor the footage.
“Uh, uh. Just a moment, Ms. Jeong.”
Director Kang was editing the footage they had just shot on-site and playing it back.
The party was crowded with people.
Lee Ha-yeon, who had been chatting with the people around her, set down her champagne glass and headed toward the balcony.
At the end of the drama, Lee Ha-yeon had achieved revenge, work, and love.
Her face looked lighter and more lovely than ever.
Then—
Creeeak.
The atmosphere changed with the chilly appearance of Na Yu-joo.
Director Kang skillfully pieced together footage of Baek Ga-yoon as Lee Ha-yeon with the stuntwoman’s shots.
He allowed not the slightest hint of awkwardness.
Na Yu-joo’s face, overflowing with vicious emotion.
The stuntwoman falling from the high balcony.
Everything flowed together naturally.
With a little more editing and sound added, it would be even more perfect.
“Okay. I like it. What do you think, Ms. Jeong?”
Jeong Ga-yoon hadn’t expected him to ask for her opinion as well.
Feeling rather pleased, the corners of her lips rose smoothly.
“I like it too. It’s perfect, Director!”
She cheerfully gave him a thumbs-up.
Director Kang burst into hearty laughter.
After laughing with satisfaction, he patted Ga-yoon on the shoulder as though thanking her.
“You worked so hard until the very end, Ms. Jeong.”
“Not at all. I learned a lot.”
This was Na Yu-joo’s final shoot.
Hearing Director Kang tell her that she had worked hard filled her with a bittersweet feeling.
“Ms. Ga-yoon!”
She turned at the voice calling from behind.
A staff member immediately placed a small bouquet of flowers into her arms.
The fragrant scent of the flowers eased her lingering sadness.
“Thank you so much for showing us from the very beginning that you wouldn’t be intimidated by Ms. Baek’s acting.”
Jeong Ga-yoon had also been someone who repeatedly tried to soften the tense atmosphere on set whenever Baek Ga-yoon ruined it.
Thanks to her kindness and wit, the sensitive staff members had quickly been able to refocus on filming.
On top of that, her excellent acting contributed to the scenes receiving an easy “Okay” without much delay.
Anyone who helped them get off work early was always appreciated.
And when everyone had a common enemy, didn’t the remaining people tend to band together even more tightly?
“Honestly, this is the worst set I’ve ever worked on.”
Director Kang frowned and jerked his chin toward the waiting room.
Everyone knew who he meant without him having to say the name.
“Thanks to you, it was bearable. Thank you.”
“Get plenty of rest, and I’ll see you at the wrap party. I’ll grill some delicious meat for you. Even better than the food truck you treated us to last time!”
“You worked hard. Let’s work together again sometime!”
The staff gathered around her, each adding another word.
These people, seriously.
Are they deliberately trying to make me cry?
Whenever a drama ended, she always felt strangely emotional.
It was as though all the hardships they had endured together passed before her eyes like a panorama.
“I’m even more grateful.”
With tears glistening in her eyes, Jeong Ga-yoon wrapped up filming for The Conditions of Inheritance.
*
Jeong Ga-yoon returned home.
She sat in front of the vanity mirror and checked how much time she had left.
She had acted as though she intended to kill someone.
Perhaps because it had only been acting and not reality, she had gained a mere ten days.
And since time had passed while filming, the amount of time remaining was now—
15 days 03:18:24
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The passing of time felt cruel.
“Haa… Fifteen days.”
After letting out a deep sigh, she rose from the vanity and headed into the living room.
Several scripts were spread across the living-room table.
She needed to choose her next project quickly.
Last time, she had asked them to find her something where she could audition instead of the similar roles she had been offered.
“None of these are purely villain roles.”
The similar villain roles could be confirmed immediately if she said she would take them, which made her hesitate a little.
That was because those characters didn’t commit evil deeds all that often.
She would rather play a serial killer or a terrorist.
But such roles rarely came to actresses, which was the problem.
“What should I do?”
Fifteen days.
It was the kind of amount of time that could disappear before she even realized it.
After once again emphasizing to her agency that she wanted them to look for a script with an intense villain role—
For now, the best option was to go through the scripts she had received and narrow them down to the roles that committed the most evil deeds.
“Hey, evil spirit.”
She called out to the evil spirit.
There was something she wanted to ask, but ever since that day, the evil spirit hadn’t spoken another word.
She thought fifteen days was quite an increase compared to the twelve hours she had initially been given.
But she had questions.
How much stronger has the evil spirit become compared to the day I died and came back to life?
Once it becomes strong enough, will it be able to control my lifespan according to its own will?
And—
Am I going to have to live attached to this evil spirit for the rest of my life?
She wanted to know all of that.
But she couldn’t tell whether it hadn’t recovered all its strength yet or whether it had some other hidden agenda.
“Hmm.”
A few days after filming The Conditions of Inheritance, there would be the wrap party.
Baek Ga-yoon would come too.
“Should I ask her then?”
She probably wouldn’t answer willingly, but Ga-yoon wanted to see Baek Ga-yoon’s reaction.
Whether it was about the evil spirit—
Or the reason she had tried to kill her.
If she asked the questions, she might at least be able to read some kind of nonverbal answer.
*
Four days later, it was the day the final episode of The Conditions of Inheritance aired.
The actors and other people involved in the drama gradually arrived at the barbecue restaurant that had been reserved for the occasion.
“Jeong Ga-yoon! Come over here.”
After greeting the reporters camped out in front of the restaurant, Jeong Ga-yoon entered.
Someone called out to her warmly.
It was Ahn Ji-ho, the male lead of The Conditions of Inheritance.
And sitting across from him was Baek Ga-yoon, wearing a sharp, displeased expression.
“Hello, sunbae.”
Jeong Ga-yoon greeted them and sat down beside them.
Baek Ga-yoon turned to look at her with a sidelong glance.
Watching the atmosphere between the two women, Ahn Ji-ho asked with an intrigued expression,
“I heard you two had one hell of a fight?”
