Jin Yeonseo's actions after the conversation ended were cruel.
What unfolded from then on was a one-sided massacre.
The sight of Jin Yeonseo killing the fleeing researchers one by one was truly a masterpiece.
To the eyes of the staff watching, it felt as if blood was splattering right before them.
Because the voices of the screaming actors were so desperate.
Jin Yeonseo's appearance was like a devil in human form, just like the title of the work.
Because she seemed like a Ma-in (Demonic Human).
"Next scene, we're moving straight to the next scene. Sora, are you ready?"
"Ah, yes!!"
Sora grasped the stick, which was now familiar in her hand.
'It's a sword, a sword.'
Since they were filming, it was just a simple stick, but in the actual drama, CG would be applied to make it appear as a sword.
'My nunchaku...'
It was a truly missed weapon, but swinging nunchaku in a scene like this certainly wouldn't feel right.
"Here we go."
Sora is a foreigner.
So before spitting out her lines, she read through them once in her head.
To see if there were any mistakes.
The parts where she had to put nuance and emotion.
Finishing that distribution, she opens her eyes.
'Joo Seoyeon.'
Inside the burning laboratory.
In Sora's eyes, no.
In the eyes of her, who was now Shin Arin, she saw it.
The corpses of the researchers who had taken care of her.
And the girl in black walking slowly across the floor soaked in their blood.
It was a familiar sight.
The scene where they fought when she first clashed with Seoyeon in
This was exactly that part.
Other things were mostly different, but the finals scene was inserted into the drama as it was.
Even if the details were different, the emotional line was the same.
The grand rehearsal had already been done in the past.
Now, it was only the real thing.
The crisp sound of the slate is heard.
Han Yegeon's shout ringing in her ears.
The quiet set.
The moment the filming set transforms into a laboratory.
Sora likes this split second where reality turns into virtuality.
Because that was the reason she became an actress.
'Jin Yeonseo.'
Sora's light face changes and becomes Shin Arin's.
The eyes that looked at Seoyeon with a slightly weary gaze also transform into those of a girl filled with anger.
"Jin Yeonseo!!"
Looking at the dead researchers, Shin Arin charges at Jin Yeonseo with a distorted face.
The next scene was an action scene that looked like a painting.
Enough for the phantoms of swords and axes to be visible to people's eyes.
5 seconds, exchanging offense and defense simultaneously once, and stopping the scene.
After checking the footage, they exchange strikes again in various angles.
In that process, there wasn't a single NG.
No, there were NGs, but they covered it up so naturally with ad-libs as if they had read each other's minds.
Even Han Yegeon, who had almost no flexibility, momentarily wondered if he had included such a scene.
'No, the speed is too fast.'
'Aren't they actually fighting?'
'I heard it was that speed during practice too.'
Actors who were somewhat used to action couldn't keep up with the rapidly exchanged strikes.
"Oh, Arthur. It wasn't a joke when I said it was slow for you."
"...Don't group me with those other types. Only someone like you can match that. Or Jack Robin."
The current action's exchange was at such a great level that it warranted naming a representative American action actor.
"If only she improved her acting skills a bit more. But the Japanese friend is still awkward."
"So I guess I should say I used Joo Seoyeon's presence. It's natural since she's the protagonist, though."
The two had that conversation while watching the scene where the match between the two superhumans was decided.
About 30 minutes of filming,
Shin Arin, who collapsed limp during that process, was probably not just acting.
They literally squeezed out every ounce of stamina to film.
A scene where they immersed themselves so deeply that they even forgot they were filming.
However, there was one thing everyone watching that scene thought in common.
'The protagonist? That?'
Even though they knew the content, her appearance was so destructive that it was hard to accept.
Whether it was when she massacred the people in the lab, or the reversal she showed when taking down Shin Arin.
It was a characterization closer to a villain than a protagonist.
'She brought out the feel of the script perfectly.'
Cough, Jo Seohee also coughed and clapped inwardly at Seoyeon's acting.
It was probably around this time.
Right before the audience developed a dislike for 'Jin Yeonseo'.
No matter how much of a protagonist she is, if she kills this many people.
And Shin Arin was also a character who came off quite favorably in the work.
If she kills her, Jin Yeonseo will lean more toward being a 'villain' than a protagonist.
'But.'
That must have been the intention.
Seohee quietly watches Seoyeon's acting.
The fallen Shin Arin grabs Jin Yeonseo's ankle as she turns her back to walk away.
And says, why on earth are you doing this.
Jin Yeonseo's feet stop abruptly.
She slowly turns her gaze to Shin Arin below her feet.
"Why on earth am I doing this, you ask."
A chuckle slips from Jin Yeonseo's mouth.
It was a voice different from the one she had been making so far.
She slowly crouches down and opens her mouth toward Shin Arin, who is looking at her with hateful eyes.
As if it were really nothing.
"Then why did you guys do that to me?"
Shin Arin refutes, thinking those words refer to the 'choice' she forced upon the researchers.
Screaming.
Yeonseo listens to those words with her eyes quietly closed.
Seohee thought Yeonseo's face looked like she was enduring something.
Although Yeonseo hadn't wavered to others, she showed a reaction to Shin Arin's words.
That was probably because Yeonseo had thought of Shin Arin as a friend, even if only for a moment.
"Shin Arin, do you know why I, and the superhumans, were born?"
Jin Yeonseo says.
"Why on earth did they conduct research to manifest superpowers in humans? Hmm, what did they tell you? To overcome the limits of the human species? Or for some sacred purpose? To become a new breed of humanity?"
Jin Yeonseo gently strokes the hair of Shin Arin, who is looking at her with wavering eyes.
"But for something like that, it's very secretive, isn't it? Making a fuss as if they were born with a new mission. Don't you think it's strange? Why people try to kill me, and try to claim me at all costs. It's too much interest for a slightly strong human. When there are already similar things everywhere."
The reason was simple.
"Immortality."
"...What?"
"I said it a bit grandly, but just... they were looking for a way to overcome the human lifespan. Because rich people want to live long."
Yes, they had helped her until now.
The father of Hong Seha, who was currently lying in a hospital room, was the same.
As a chaebol, he wanted to live long, and for that, he invested in this research.
But when the research成果 ran away, and that promise and hope disappeared, he was enraged.
He tried to expose the researchers who were trying to go into hiding with the money he gave them to the press.
So they were killed.
Truly, they were all filthy reasons.
"But ta-da, a child with abilities like this was born?"
Regeneration ability that heals any wound quickly.
Physical abilities surpassing humans.
Plus other superpowers.
It must have felt as if a god had been born.
In fact, Yeonseo had it.
The key to immortality.
"You guys just received and accepted the serum made based on my genes. I'm the only real one."
In the end, all superhumans were nothing more than minor copies of Jin Yeonseo.
"But you rejected me. Then why would they? They clearly need me."
"That's..."
"The foundation must have been laid. Or they found a means to replace me."
An investor, or something that would give birth to a new Jin Yeonseo.
So they rejected her even though she offered first.
There was no need to risk accepting an uncontrollable existence.
"You might not have known. How well everyone treated you. Among the superhumans I've met so far, you're the one who resembles me the most. You're the one who took in my blood the deepest. If even you run away, all possibilities are cut off, right? So how well would they have treated you. You must have thought everyone was good people?"
But, to kill her.
Or to get more samples, they sent Shin Arin.
Probably, that point was when they found something new.
"So I killed them all."
Before another 'me' is born.
"I don't think I can bear to see that happen again."
If they had accepted her, that would have been enough.
Her, the only superhuman.
She thought it would be okay to endure it alone if there was someone who understood her.
Because when she thought of 'Shin Arin', there was definitely a possibility that they might have changed from the past.
But they hadn't changed.
"Because I was in so much pain."
Jin Yeonseo's smiling lips trembled slightly.
She was pretending to be calm, but her shaking emotions could be felt in her voice.
The emotional changes that had been subtly showing began to feel dramatic at this moment.
The actors and staff watching it.
Director Han Yegeon too.
Arthur and Oliver too.
And Seohee felt it too.
The moment the devil, who had only been cruel so far, showed a human appearance.
She tried to laugh and mock as usual, but that face was completely different from usual.
As if she couldn't properly express her emotions.
It was a greatly distorted appearance.
Seoyeon could easily imagine how she looked right now.
Because it was a face she used to see often in the past.
'In the past, I was scared to look in the mirror.'
In the past, when Seoyeon looked in the mirror, it was when she was learning emotions.
She watched many videos and compared their expressions with her own face reflected in the mirror.
She just thought she had to.
A reason why didn't exist for her.
Maybe she just wanted to experience what a normal person was.
She didn't know.
Because she truly knew nothing, she couldn't say anything else.
But one thing she remembered was her face reflected in the mirror.
Unlike the people in dramas or movies.
Her own figure, unable to even properly perceive small emotions, struggling to imitate them.
She thinks her emotion at that time was probably 'sadness'.
But, she seemed to have practiced hard because she wanted to smile.
So, a very strange face ended up appearing.
Perhaps, always pretending to be relaxed.
Jin Yeonseo, who tries to smile as if mocking her opponent, too.
Wouldn't she be like this right now?
Unlike herself, if she knows emotions, wouldn't it be even harder to hide them?
Seoyeon held her breath and spat out her lines as if slowly letting it out.
"My flesh was torn off while I was alive. They drew blood enough to fill this laboratory. Still, I didn't die. To them, I was just a sample to complete the product."
Jin Yeonseo was a coward.
She couldn't help but be.
Because the world was only pain to her.
That emotion, she didn't know in the past, but now she thinks she might know.
Because she knows emotions, recalling the past naturally makes her know.
"It hurts, it hurts. No matter how much I said it. No one listened."
"No. But to me..."
"Because they know now."
Yeonseo patted her own leg with her palm.
"That this precious sample has legs."
And that she can think.
That she can run away.
Even Jin Yeonseo, who hadn't even learned emotions and had lived only as a tool, ran away.
Then, if a superhuman who knows the world and merely received the serum runs away, can they stop them?
Who could stop Shin Arin, who shared the thickest blood with Jin Yeonseo?
"I always thought. Why on earth. Why on earth to me. You must have thought that countless times too."
She didn't even believe Adam's words.
The outside might be more cruel than this. She thought so.
But the world was as Adam said.
It was beautiful, and her adoptive father who loved her became the most precious person to her.
So, even though she was afraid, she decided to live in the world.
Until Shin Arin came looking for her.
"I thought it was all over because I wasn't there. I thought there was zero chance of the same miracle happening again. But you came to me."
Sending Shin Arin, who strongly inherited her blood, here.
Means the experiment continues, and there is a being to replace this.
The foundation that allows them to continue researching even if a superhuman like Shin Arin disappears.
Maybe it was for comparison, or maybe they were really after a sample.
She probably didn't expect that she would come all the way to the lab herself.
"So I will kill every existence that knows me. I will kill all the researchers involved in this experiment and everyone behind it."
Because another child suffering like her shouldn't appear.
Because more 'samples' shouldn't be made.
All suffering had to end with her.
If they didn't choose her, the remaining conclusion was only that.
"Then what about us? What about the superhumans who attacked you?"
"Because I'm no saint who would spare even those who tried to kill me."
You guys tried to kill me too, didn't you?
She said it like a joke, but somehow it didn't feel as light as before.
It was heavy.
Shin Arin couldn't make any rebuttal to Jin Yeonseo's words right now.
Jin Yeonseo said.
That you guys made me.
Ma-in (Demonic Human).
A person who resembles a devil.
Whatever purpose there was, the fact that she became an existence that had to kill many people didn't change.
"But, I'll spare you. Because you resemble me a lot."
With those words, Jin Yeonseo slowly peeled Shin Arin's hand off.
It was like letting go of the hand of someone who was, albeit briefly, definitely a friend.
She tried to hide it, but there was a distinctly felt sorrow.
Only then did Shin Arin realize.
Jin Yeonseo had noticed she was a superhuman from the moment she first saw her.
Yet she became her friend.
And pretended not to know until she revealed it herself.
Maybe Jin Yeonseo had wanted Shin Arin to become her understanding person.
Regardless of the purpose she came for.
She truly wanted her to be her friend.
Because Shin Arin resembled Jin Yeonseo a lot.
"...Yeonseo."
Shin Arin called out to Jin Yeonseo belatedly, but Jin Yeonseo had already disappeared.
To find Adam, who would be somewhere in this lab.
Like that, the final scene of episode 11 of
'It feels somehow very short.'
It was quite long for a single scene.
5 minutes?
Maybe about 10 minutes if the flashback is inserted later?
Since it was filmed right after the action scene ended, the perceived time was about that.
It was simple for Jin Yeonseo's image to change with just that.
NG.
Without even a gap to spit out such a word.
It was like watching a play.
This itself was like a completed play.
Even without CG and with a shabby green wall as the background.
The sight of everyone looking at only one actor.
Seoyeon smiling awkwardly, and actors approaching while clapping were visible.
They praised her as excellent, and Arthur, the actor who would film next, makes a displeased expression.
Maybe he's feeling burdened contrary to how it looks.
Sitting a little apart, watching that, it was a scene that felt like the past to Seohee.
It was familiar.
This series of situations.
The moment that Jo Seohee, a kindergartener who followed her mother to the filming set when she was still a young child, always watched.
The scene where everyone on set sent praises to the genius actress who performed starlight-like acting.
Jo Seohee, who couldn't see all of it, closed her eyes for a moment.
When she closes her eyes, she sees stars.
Just yesterday, the winter sea she went to with Seoyeon.
The place where they spent a day from morning to night.
"I'm definitely going to catch a cold tomorrow."
"You don't have filming tomorrow anyway."
"W-What are you talking about? You have filming tomorrow."
"I'm fine."
"What kind of logic is that?"
Sitting on the breakwater, listening to the sound of the night sea waves, they share such a conversation.
Even though she wore a ton of clothes, she's cold.
She's cold even though Seoyeon took off her padding jacket and put it on her.
Who would have thought that among the luggage Seoyeon brought, there would be clothes for her to change into?
"What kind of acting did your mother do?"
"...You saw it, so why ask? You confidently said you'd win, are you sizing up my abilities?"
"Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll win every battle."
"You're less confident than I thought."
"Tell me I'm being careful."
At Seoyeon's words, Seohee smirked.
And calmly opened her mouth.
"Just like I said earlier, she did starlight-like acting. When Mom acted, everything sparkled."
It wasn't just her who thought so.
Splendid.
A star so beautiful it was blinding.
"It sparkled so much and was so pretty that I thought I wanted to become like that too."
Like a star seen far in the sky.
Yes, so to speak.
"Polaris."
"What?"
"It's called the Guiding Star."
A star that sparkles and guides travelers so they don't lose their way.
To Seohee, her mother was that starlight.
She learned acting from her mother, and believed that if she kept chasing after her like that, she could become such a star too.
"Polaris isn't that bright, you know."
"Are you going to say something without romance?"
"I'm joking."
Seoyeon smiled brightly and stared intently at Seohee's face.
It was a gaze to the point of being burdensome.
Doesn't this kid feel shy? She stared so much that it made her think that.
Come to think of it, Seoyeon was always like that.
When looking at others' eyes.
She always met their gaze head-on.
When she averted her eyes, it was when she had done something wrong.
"Seohee, you resemble your mom a lot, right?"
"Yeah, right."
"...Have you ever thought you hated that face?"
That was a slightly out-of-the-blue question.
So she was a bit flustered, but it was also a question that hit the nail on the head.
"A little."
Because surprisingly, it was something Seohee often thought about.
"Because I look like Mom, everyone knows I'm actress Baek Seoran's daughter. There are some viewers who don't know yet, but most celebrities know. That's why the rumor that I'm the daughter of the chairman of the Newlike Group also spread."
Even though she hadn't particularly revealed it, there was an atmosphere where everyone already knew.
The celebrities who knew her all found Baek Seoran in Seohee's face.
And believed she would act just as well.
"But when I act, I can feel everyone's reaction of 'that's not quite it'."
Even when she performed excellently, the standard of comparison was always her mother.
While she was proud of such a mother, she felt like she was tarnishing her mother's name.
So she liked it, but also hated it.
This face.
"Then I shouldn't tease you by calling you Tomie anymore."
"Hey."
...Of course, she did have a somewhat fiercer face than her mother.
Probably took after her dad.
"Anyway, yes. So I feel like I've lost my way."
She was chasing the starlight she saw when she was young, but she didn't know if it was the right path.
Because her Polaris had already disappeared.
"What am I really doing?"
Seoyeon said she was ready.
But, even if she prepared that much, it would be meaningless if she didn't know where to go.
If Seoyeon erased the starlight of the past, would I rather be able to find my way?
"Seohee has strong mentality, but she's a coward in strange places."
"S-Shut up."
"You prepared so hard, so it doesn't make sense to say you can't do it."
"Ugh, s-sorry about that."
Taking her eyes off the grumbling Seohee, Seoyeon looked up at the sky.
The night sky seen from the sea somehow looks very close.
She thought it was very beautiful because the stars were sparkling clearly visible.
Can I shine like that too?
Guiding Star.
Someone says Seoyeon's acting is like starlight.
But, honestly, it's not.
Seoyeon neither sparkles like that, nor is she a star that can lead someone.
She cannot be Polaris.
But.
"Really, it can't be helped."
Seoyeon looks at the stars reflected in the sea.
The sight of starlight being swept by the waves.
"Just this once."
She can't be starlight, but what about a star reflected in the sea?
Isn't mimicry what she does best?
"Just this once."
Seoyeon thinks.
In a world she couldn't know, she was definitely an actress who resembled a star.
But that star was now hidden by other starlights, not even knowing what kind of light she emitted.
But if she saw her starlight reflected in the sea, wouldn't she know?
What kind of light she emits.
How much she can sparkle.
"I'll be your Polaris just this once."
Surely, if she guided her just a little, she would find her way.
Seoyeon said so and smiled playfully.
"As Seohee's Guiding Star."
Seohee looked at Seoyeon smiling as she said that.
Without any particular intention, just blankly.
Even though she tried to say something, the words didn't come out well.
Normally, Seoyeon had no expression, but occasionally there were times like this.
When emotions appeared more distinctly than anyone else's.
Then her words hit her heart so directly as being sincere.
Right now, like this.
"Seohee."
When she raised her head, Seoyeon, dressed as Jin Yeonseo, was standing there.
"Did you see it?"
What she saw, Seoyeon didn't bother to ask in detail.
"Yeah."
"Then we should go."
"Where?"
Seohee felt like she had spoken somewhat stiffly.
She didn't intend to do that, but it just ended up like that.
"To act."
Hong Seha, originally Seohee's role, had already finished all filming.
But acting now.
That meant, surely, a reshoot.
But there was no way Seoyeon decided that alone.
"Did the director ask you?"
"T-That's not it, but. Should I say he read my intentions."
"I know, the director has consistently been feeling like that. He reshot a lot."
It can't be helped.
Seohee stood up from her seat.
Still, she thought it was a relief that she didn't need to stubbornly insist if it was the director's words.
Being a nuisance to the other actors didn't change, but Han Yegeon, who brought it up first, would bear it.
"Alright."
Seohee smiled confidently at Seoyeon.
Her appearance when they first met, confidently mocking her as a parachute.
"I'll do it."
Her voice was nasal from a cold, but her gait was truly confident.
Seeing that, Seoyeon smiled softly.
Because only now, it was finally like her.