'It's okay.'
Looking at herself reflected on the screen, Lee Ji-yeon tried to hide her trembling hands.
Because it felt like that strangely quick-witted girl would notice at a time like this.
The 'Yeon Seon-ye' reflected on the screen looked like her, but seemed like a completely different person.
However, that appearance was familiar to Ji-yeon.
"You don't necessarily have to act out something new."
When asked about Yeon Seon-ye's emotional line, Seo-yeon had answered like that.
"You just add a slight variation to what you've already done. I learned it from an actor when doing a play."
Deceiving the audience.
Making them recall the 'emotion' that the audience thinks of, with a similar emotional line.
Yeon Seon-ye is a tenacious, yet gentle girl.
A gentle Lee Ji-yeon.
Honestly, she wasn't confident she could portray that well.
'If I borrow it.'
The gentle girl she thought of.
Funnily enough, it was the character from the internet broadcast she started through Seo-yeon that came to mind.
Lamiel.
Seo-yeon probably said that with that in mind.
'How funny.'
The audience probably wouldn't know.
That Yeon Seon-ye's acting tone right now is similar to a VTuber.
Especially, Yeon Seon-ye listening to Michiko's worries looked exactly like Lamiel.
'But.'
She thought that alone wasn't enough.
She kept worrying, and the Yeon Seon-ye reflected on the screen exuded such anxiety.
Yeon Seon-ye, the thing she had to do.
Steal the necklace, and kill Michiko.
Even though it was something she had to do to save her younger sibling, Yeon Seon-ye was hesitating.
Since she knew the location of the necklace, she just had to do everything.
Yeon Seon-ye's face, fallen into agony over not being able to easily act.
Intertwined with Lee Ji-yeon's feelings at the time, it felt as if that emotion transcended the screen.
「Do not harbor idle thoughts.」
Isamu's low voice fills the theater.
Heavy music.
And, a voice with as much weight as that heavy music.
The gleam in his eyes reflected by the candlelight glistened as he glared at Yeon Seon-ye.
「You just need to do your part.」
From his perspective, it was as if Yeon Seon-ye was trying to overturn the board.
They were almost there.
「If you don't want your idle thoughts to be discovered right now... yes, it would be better for you to kill Yuina first.」
A life lived to take revenge on the 'Amanabi family' that abandoned her.
Even living wretchedly after defecting to the enemy Kasugayama family.
「Yuina is dimly aware of your betrayal. So, if you don't want to die, it'd be better for you to draw your sword first.」
Because the board was about to be overturned, swayed by mere emotion, even he found it difficult to stay calm.
At his appearance, Yeon Seon-ye swallows dry saliva.
「If you kill Yuina, I'll give you several times the reward I gave you before. Money enough for you to play and eat for the rest of your life. How about it? Isn't it a profitable deal? It's money you'd never even be able to touch in your whole miserable life.」
At those words, tinged with madness, Yeon Seon-ye slowly nodded.
She wasn't convinced by those words.
Because it felt like she would die if she didn't nod here.
「Seon-ye.」
Michiko looking at the conflicted Yeon Seon-ye.
She already knew her objective.
「You look very tired. Is the work hard?」
「No, My Lady.」
「Then that's a relief.」
It was a night like any other.
Before going to sleep, Michiko said to Yeon Seon-ye who was seeing her off.
「I heard your younger sibling is sick.」
「Pardon?」
「So I looked into it a little, and they are hospitalized in a hospital in the capital.」
Seon-ye, who never expected her younger sibling to be mentioned from Michiko's mouth, swallowed dry saliva.
Because her younger sibling was not entirely unrelated to this matter.
Everything Yeon Seon-ye was doing right now was for her younger sibling.
So....
「I heard they are about to have surgery.」
「Yes, yes.」
「If you say it's alright, I could pay for that surgery.」
「...Pardon?」
「Why are you so surprised? Can I not do at least that much? It might be a large sum to you, but it's not a large amount to me. So, you don't need to feel burdened.」
Michiko speaking as if it were truly nothing.
At those words, Yeon Seon-ye was momentarily speechless.
As Michiko said, the surgery fee wouldn't be a large sum to her.
But, she never expected her to say it like this.
「Then, would it be alright if I ask you a favor? If so, I will repay your kindness for the rest of my life...」
「I didn't say this to hear such grand words. Yes, if you allow it, I'll let the doctor know as well.」
Having said that much, Michiko gave Yeon Seon-ye a glance.
Meaning it was enough and she could leave now.
Bowing her head, Yeon Seon-ye quietly closed Michiko's door and came out, walked a few steps, leaned against the wall, and collapsed.
「What should I do.」
Burying her face in both palms.
「What should I do.」
The justification that she had to treat her younger sibling disappeared.
At this point, Yeon Seon-ye realized.
That she no longer had the heart to kill Michiko.
Yeon Seon-ye looked down at her palms for a moment.
The image of Yuina treating her palms came to mind.
Her figure telling her not to lie.
What would happen if she quit the job?
'She'll definitely send someone else to kill Michiko.'
Instead of a gentle method like this time, she might use somewhat rougher tactics.
Because Goto Isamu had actually mentioned those methods to Yeon Seon-ye.
'Right.'
Her younger sibling can be cured.
That's enough.
Then, the rest was up to her.
Yeon Seon-ye slapped her own cheeks.
She couldn't think of a proper method.
But, if not Goto Isamu, Yuina might have some way.
If only she could cool her hatred, surely.
And.
「....」
The sight of Yeon Seon-ye staggering up from her spot and disappearing.
Michiko, who had been watching from the darkness a little distance away, walked back to her room.
***
「Michiko!」
A sharp, scream-like shout flew in, cutting through the voices of the countless crowd.
「You intend to die, don't you?」
Yeon Seon-ye and Michiko's outing.
At first, it seemed like just a light outing.
Looking at things, and sometimes buying them.
Such an ordinary outing.
But a strange tension flowed.
Between Michiko and Yeon Seon-ye.
Their conflict was clearly showing, even though they were smiling.
So, the background music was not that light either.
Music inducing tension in the watching audience.
Right when they were feeling anxious like that, Yuina appeared.
Even dropping the pipe she held in her hand, she strode over, grabbed Michiko by the collar, and pinned her against the wall.
「How amusing, Yuina. If you wanted to kill me that much, you should have been happy about it. I'm saying I'll give back everything I took from you.」
「It's been like that since we were young. You think too pointlessly, and you think you're the most unfortunate person in the world? You're arrogant, Michiko. I really hate you, who has everything but acts like you've lost it all.」
「Hah! I had everything? What did I have? I didn't want any of it. It was my parents who wanted it. It was your parents, it was you who wanted it!」
「Because you've never lost anything, you can say such things, Amanabi Michiko.」
The light fight between Michiko and Yuina that started with such a conversation, naturally, Michiko was no match.
Yuina's family had several yakuza organizations under its umbrella.
Naturally, Yuina also had the skills to handle such rough people, and there was no way Michiko, an ordinary young lady, could win.
「Stop it right no... Argh?!」
But at that moment, Yeon Seon-ye fell flat and headbutted Yuina.
「Don't torment the young lady, you wicked bitch!!」
And shouting those words out of nowhere, seeing the flustered Yuina and her rolling around, Michiko watched the situation in bewilderment.
And Yuina was equally flustered.
Because she never expected Yeon Seon-ye to attack her like this.
「No, are you crazy? Do you want to see me die? What is this in broad daylight. Why don't you just announce that I snuck in to slit your throats?」
Yuina was momentarily speechless at Seon-ye's words, fired in rapid succession into her ear.
Like those words said, her actions were a dangerous move that could shatter all plans.
'Why?'
Yuina suddenly questioned her own actions.
Surely, there was no need for her to step forward this time.
If Michiko decided to die, she just had to leave her be.
But, why.
Together with the remaining two, Yeon Seon-ye and Michiko held hands and disappeared, pushing through the crowd.
Laughing as they looked at each other's messy appearances.
Watching that quietly, Yuina silently grabbed the dirt floor with her hand.
Grabbing the dropped pipe, she stands up.
Alone, unlike the two who had run off together.
***
The dispute at the market.
The incident at the auction house.
Like that, the distance between their hearts narrowed little by little, but their conflict was not completely resolved.
Michiko knew that to resolve Yeon Seon-ye's situation, she had to die.
A life with no lingering attachments anyway.
Because she thought this was fine too.
Anyway, things like the family's wealth didn't matter.
If it went to Yuina, that would be fine in its own way.
However, she didn't know why Yuina tried to stop her death.
Didn't you clearly want to kill me?
「Are you crazy?!」
Yeon Seon-ye grabbed her from behind and pulled her down, as she was about to open the window and jump.
Feeling that if she stayed like this she wouldn't want to die, Michiko, who had tried to force herself to die, was flustered and pushed Yeon Seon-ye away.
「Yes, I'm crazy. So let me die.」
「How can I just leave you!!」
An explosive burst of intense emotion.
The audience held their breath at the most intense expression of emotion among Yeon Seon-ye's acting shown so far.
「I'm, I'm the wicked bitch.」
「Just a stupid bitch who thought my own worries were the biggest.」
「A gullible bitch who was completely swayed for a few pennies. Why should the young lady die, leaving a bitch like that!!」
The weak presence she had shown when the movie began.
Yeon Seon-ye's presence, which hadn't seemed like a protagonist, had now become so large.
The critic, Kang Yu-seok, realized that her judgment was wrong.
She had definitely thought it was just ordinary acting until now.
But, now it was different.
Yeon Seon-ye's acting was now immersing countless audiences.
Including herself.
'How.'
Before watching this movie, she had looked into the actress named Lee Ji-yeon.
She had only been in a few cable dramas at most.
Even there, she hadn't shown that impressive acting.
Compared to 'real actors' who shine even in small roles or as extras, she was an ordinary actress you could find anywhere.
That was all she thought.
Kang Yu-seok stopped thinking and immersed herself in the scene.
Because it would be her loss if she couldn't properly enjoy the movie due to these useless thoughts.
'The last footage filmed in Japan.'
Ji-yeon realized her hands were trembling as she watched the part that could be called the climax of this movie.
Honestly, looking at herself, she didn't know if she was doing well.
She thought it was the best at the time.
The anger towards Michiko right now was not directed at her.
It was closer to anger pouring out her own wretchedness.
The target of Yeon Seon-ye's anger was not others, but herself.
'Funnily enough.'
When filming this scene, Ji-yeon had a lot of worries.
Really, a lot of worries.
"This is quite a difficult scene."
Jo Seo-hee had said that when filming this scene.
"I just need to reveal Michiko's flustered feelings. And then be shaken by Yeon Seon-ye's emotions and shed tears. That's all the acting I need."
Of course, that isn't that easy either.
The reason she can call it easy is because she is Jo Seo-hee.
Lee Ji-yeon thinks.
Jo Seo-hee tends to underestimate herself, but that's because her goals are so high.
She is always the starlight-like actress she speaks of.
"Yeon Seon-ye has to rage and cry here. Can you do it? I'm asking if you can shed tears right there on the spot."
"If I use eye drops..."
"Yeah, it's possible. But we'll have to see how the scene turns out."
Crying acting.
How many actors can shed tears right on the spot?
'Really.'
So Lee Ji-yeon looked at the eye drops in her hand and recalled the past numerous times.
'I'm worse than seven-year-old Ju Seo-yeon.'
Thinking that, Ji-yeon let out a chuckle.
Because she remembered that a similar thing had happened just three years ago.
When Ju Seo-yeon had disappeared for about 5 or 6 years.
Lee Ji-yeon became a middle school student and started participating in dramas in earnest.
It was only a minor role in a cable drama, but it was something.
"Ah, the crying acting is awkward. Hmm."
"She lacks experience, so it can't be helped. Well."
"Well, it's not that important of a scene, should we edit this part out?"
"She's just a minor role anyway."
The staff at the time said so.
It happened that a crying scene was included.
So, that scene was cut.
Because the crying acting Ji-yeon filmed was too awkward.
Even a portion of her few appearance scenes disappeared, so Ji-yeon truly cried that day.
"It's okay, you can do well next time."
Seo-yeon said that to Ji-yeon and comforted her.
It was an ordinary comfort, and she knew Seo-yeon couldn't really say anything else.
But, that day, Lee Ji-yeon was angry.
Of course, that anger was not directed at Seo-yeon, but at herself.
"You wouldn't know."
Probably, because she was in puberty herself.
"You think this kind of acting is easy."
Without realizing it, she spat out such words to Seo-yeon.
"How can you cry so easily? What does it mean to put emotion into your lines? I can't do that. No matter how hard I try, I can't. What you could do at the mere age of seven, I can't do no matter how hard I try!"
Seven-year-old Ju Seo-yeon.
Princess Yeon-hwa giving her final farewell to Yoon Seo-il at sunset.
Seo-yeon's figure shedding tears with a warm, sunshine-like smile.
When she was young, Ji-yeon saw that acting and thought.
That someday she wanted to do acting like that too.
Even though 7 years had passed since then, she hadn't even dared to do such acting.
Uttering lines filled with emotion.
Naturally shedding tears.
"Enough. I'm going."
Ji-yeon said that to the flustered Seo-yeon and turned her back.
And, she probably walked aimlessly.
She was too ashamed to go home.
Her parents were so proud of her appearing in a drama.
She didn't want to tell them that she was cut because she couldn't even handle her few scenes.
A late-night park.
Her phone kept ringing, so she turned it off.
She just blankly looked up at the sky.
A twinkling star caught her eye.
People commonly call celebrities stars.
Perhaps they call them stars because they twinkle and shine even from far away.
But there must be invisible stars in that dark sky.
Countless stars that cannot emit enough light to be seen from here.
"Found you."
"!"
As she sat on the bench looking like that, Seo-yeon flopped down next to her.
Seo-yeon at that time had a stronger boyish impression than now.
Should I say it felt like a half-and-half mix of boy and girl.
A time when she preferred pants over skirts.
"...Why did you come find me."
At Ji-yeon's words, Seo-yeon didn't say anything.
She just looked at Ji-yeon and gave a faint smile.
"Because it's unfair."
"What?"
"It's not empty words."
Seo-yeon said quite seriously.
"You have more talent than you think."
"...What are you talking about."
"You speak better than me. And you can easily empathize with others."
Seo-yeon said that and talked about several of Ji-yeon's strengths.
That was truly not an empty word.
Seo-yeon thought Ji-yeon had talent.
Of course, she didn't know to what extent.
Sometimes, people say.
There is nothing as foolish as clumsily chasing a dream without talent.
She thought it wasn't a wrong statement.
But, wouldn't it be a bit too early to give up now.
It'd be too regrettable to give up without even trying.
Even if she has to work much harder later.
Even if it becomes difficult, if it's something she can do now, wouldn't it be good to try?
"But that has nothing to do with being an actor. Acting is hard."
"Being hard is normal. If it were easy, everyone would be an actor."
"That's true. Why are you speaking so well, unlike Ju Seo-yeon."
Ji-yeon muttered that and hesitated for a moment.
Because she felt somewhat ashamed.
"I'm sorry for throwing a tantrum."
"Yeah."
Ji-yeon let out a sigh at Seo-yeon's answer, which sounded as if it were nothing.
Then, something warm touched her hand.
Wondering what it was, she looked at Seo-yeon.
"Because you were trembling."
She saw Seo-yeon's hand placed on top of the back of her hand.
Then, as if by magic, the trembling seemed to stop.
"I'm annoying, right?"
"It's okay."
"Why?"
"We're childhood friends."
At Seo-yeon's words, Ji-yeon was speechless.
For a moment, she couldn't really think of what to say.
To such Ji-yeon, Seo-yeon calmly opened her mouth.
"I'll return when I go to high school."
"...What?"
"I mean as an actress."
Until now, Ji-yeon had told Seo-yeon many times to return as an actress.
But, it was Seo-yeon who refused every time.
So she thought she had completely given up on the idea, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
"So."
Under the twinkling stars, Seo-yeon looked at her, smiling broadly.
"Then, would you like to film a movie together sometime?"
Let's act together.
Such words.
Rather than any comfort, those words reached Ji-yeon more.
Enough to forget the burden and tension about the role.
Because we're childhood friends.
It felt like she was telling her they would always be together.
"...Because I watched Ju Seo-yeon doing it."
Of course, she was a prim girl who couldn't be honest, though.