"I'm Kim Dae-heon, playing Im Seung-cheol."
*The Chaser* is a story centered around two police officers chasing a culprit.
Im Seung-cheol is the protagonist of the story, a detective in the violent crimes unit.
Having trained in martial arts, he is a hot-blooded detective who doesn't shy away from a physical fight with criminals.
And as if to reflect that character setting, actor Kim Dae-heon possessed an impressive physique.
A square jaw, thick eyebrows, and piercing eyes.
With a height exceeding 180cm and a solid build, his appearance was quite intimidating when faced head-on.
"Wow, I've played the culprit often enough, but this is my first time playing a detective."
His banter drew laughter from those around him.
He was an actor who usually took on general roles in historical dramas, but in modern dramas, he most often appeared as the culprit.
It was his first detective role, but no actor present was worried about it.
Because his acting skills were already renowned in the industry.
"I'm Jung Si-hyun, playing the victim Han Ye-hwa. I look forward to working with you."
A woman with a pure, innocent appearance bowed, greeting the actors seated around the large table.
Jung Si-hyun had played the female lead in a drama that recently ended to much popularity.
She had a good image and her recent public recognition was high.
Truth be told, while the role was called the 'victim,' it was actually closer to the main heroine the protagonist had to save.
And then...
"……."
Everyone's gaze focused on a single girl.
The youngest among them, the seventeen-year-old actress Joo Seo-yeon.
'Princess Yeonhwa, right?'
'She was on TV recently.'
Joo Seo-yeon's casting was, in fact, close to a surprise.
It was the first time they had seen her face, only now at this introductory meeting.
They knew that the director, Bae Jin-hwan, had been struggling to find an actor for the film's main villain, 'Cha Seo-ah.'
They had heard that he had scouted various actors and barely managed to find someone, but...
'To think it would be Joo Seo-yeon.'
Joo Seo-yeon.
A child actress who had suddenly vanished ten years ago.
In truth, it was common for child actors to suddenly retire.
The reasons varied, but it wasn't an uncommon occurrence.
What made Seo-yeon's case unique was that she had disappeared at the height of her popularity.
"I'm Joo Seo-yeon, playing Cha Seo-ah."
Her voice was calm and pleasant to hear.
A beautiful face with an overall expressionless demeanor.
It was a visual that perfectly fit the character of Cha Seo-ah.
However.
'The image of Princess Yeonhwa is too strongly entrenched.'
'I heard her acting in *Closing Eyes* really struck a chord with the director.'
The staff exchanged such conversations in hushed tones.
Many of those who hadn't seen the play were puzzled by Bae Jin-hwan's casting choice.
The most recent time they had seen Joo Seo-yeon was her memorable appearance in *Looking at the Past, Memories*.
It was a miraculous reunion after ten years alongside the grown-up Yoon Seo-il and Park Jung-woo.
The Princess Yeonhwa who moved everyone to tears... playing a villain?
"I must say, I'm truly surprised that actress Joo Seo-yeon is playing Cha Seo-ah."
The one who said that was Park Hee-joon, playing Seo Kwang-il, one of the two detectives in *The Chaser*.
Unlike Kim Dae-heon, who played Im Seung-cheol with a solid build and the typical 'hot-blooded' persona, Park Hee-joon gave off an overall cold, sharp impression.
Since Seo Kwang-il's role in the story was primarily to keep the hot-blooded detective Im Seung-cheol in check, it felt like a fitting match.
"The role of Cha Seo-ah is truly crucial to this film, so I look forward to your hard work."
Warm pleasantries.
That's how it could have sounded, but...
'There's a hidden edge to those words.'
'It seems he finds actress Joo Seo-yeon a bit suspicious.'
In truth, Park Hee-joon wasn't very pleased with Seo-yeon.
How much effort had he put into auditioning for this role, how hard had he worked to immerse himself in the character of 'Seo Kwang-il'?
A role of a lifetime.
It felt exactly like that.
Furthermore, since it was a film invested in by the GH Group, the chances of it being a massive hit were high.
He had practically staked everything on this film, so it was only natural he harbored doubts about Seo-yeon.
Honestly.
'It's not that I doubt Director Bae Jin-hwan's abilities, but having Joo Seo-yeon play Cha Seo-ah is...'
It wasn't outright hostility. But the anxiety was strong.
Certainly, Joo Seo-yeon had been well-received for her acting skills.
But that was ten years ago, and what she had shown on variety shows were merely short plays.
And on the stage of a play. Not a drama or a film.
Practically, her first opportunity to reveal herself to the public would be this film.
Therefore, he certainly wasn't the only one harboring such anxiety.
At that moment.
"Let's go ahead and do a script reading today."
Those words left Director Bae Jin-hwan's mouth.
A slight commotion swept through the room at his words.
It wasn't unheard of to jump straight into a script reading after initial greetings.
Frankly, in a situation fraught with such anxiety, it was important to dispel it quickly.
'As expected.'
And the production producer present, Cha Dong-jin, read Bae Jin-hwan's intent.
He had already seen Seo-yeon's acting in the play. Thus, he had a certain degree of conviction.
This young actress. Joo Seo-yeon was undoubtedly the real deal.
But it would be different for the other actors. To them, Joo Seo-yeon was merely a child actress returning after ten years.
"Let's do Scene Number 24."
"Excuse me? That's..."
Kim Dae-heon, playing Im Seung-cheol, reacted with puzzlement.
Scene 24.
It wasn't a part where Cha Seo-ah particularly showcased anything villainous.
It was the part where Cha Seo-ah, standing at a bus stop, and the two detectives meet for the first time.
The two detectives, who had been chasing a murderer, encounter Cha Seo-ah at a bus stop not far from the crime scene.
At that moment, Im Seung-cheol gets a strange feeling upon seeing Cha Seo-ah and strikes up a conversation. The scene concludes after a brief exchange as Cha Seo-ah boards a bus and departs.
Just a simple scene like that.
"...Understood."
What could she possibly show here?
Such doubts arose, but since it was the director's order, the actors accepted it and picked up their scripts.
Scene Number 24. The setting is a bus stop.
The table where the actors sat facing each other transformed into a small bus stop.
When Kim Dae-heon and Park Hee-joon faced Joo Seo-yeon with scripts in hand...
And then.
"Hey, miss."
His thick eyebrows furrowing, Kim Dae-heon—no, 'Detective Im Seung-cheol'—spoke.
"Haven't you seen the news today? It's dangerous to be walking around here alone! Didn't you hear there's a killer on the loose?"
"Good grief, senior. Don't scare her for no reason. Why do you have to be like that every time you see someone?"
Im Seung-cheol was in a foul mood.
Three murders had already occurred within his jurisdiction.
There was no distinction between male and female victims.
That made narrowing down the culprit even more difficult.
The fact that a burly man was killed only suggested the perpetrator was more likely male.
"Hey, but the killer could pop up out of nowhere! You still need to be careful, alright?"
"What kind of caution is that? It's just harassment."
They exchanged those words while quietly observing the woman.
The woman simply stood at the bus stop, silently looking back at them.
A strange atmosphere. Yes, that was the vibe.
Ordinarily, Im Seung-cheol would have ignored her and walked past, but that peculiar atmosphere held his feet in place.
Was she twenty now? Or perhaps late teens?
A woman with a petite frame, impossible to imagine killing a grown man.
Yet, she inexplicably drew his attention.
And then, the woman smiled.
"Thank you for your concern. I'll be careful."
It was nothing special. An ordinary line.
But something... something was off.
'What was that?'
The first to sense that anomaly was actor Kim Dae-heon.
Seo-yeon's portrayal of Cha Seo-ah's smile.
It was a smile like something out of a painting.
Acting. It was distinctly a performed smile, yet something was different.
'Is she... acting like she's acting?'
Yes, that was exactly the feeling.
She was smiling, but it felt like she was acting out the act of smiling.
This was what people commonly called 'awkward acting.' But this was on an entirely different level.
It felt like it was operating on a completely different track.
An indescribable sense of unpleasantness crept in.
'Humans.'
Seo-yeon looked at them and slowly wiped the smile from her face.
'Feel a sense of revulsion when they see something almost identical to a human.'
There is a concept called the uncanny valley.
The emotion people feel when they see a robot, a doll, or a drawing that resembles a human.
It is the feeling that arises when something looks human, but instincts scream that it is not.
"Thank you for your hard work as always. If things get dangerous, I'll be sure to call."
A light, unremarkable remark.
The smile playing on her lips, her curved eyes.
Judging from that alone, it was the image of a woman speaking gently to the police.
However, seeing her right in front of them, they couldn't possibly call her gentle.
'Cha Seo-ah is like me, but different from me.'
Her past self was loved. She liked to think so.
She had been given a chance.
Time was given to observe, learn, and mimic the emotions of others.
Even if she was scolded and subjected to corporal punishment in the process.
Abuse... it probably wasn't.
Her past self was forced to become a 'normal person.'
She was expected to become a human who smiled and cried normally.
She believed that was the expectation her parents placed on her.
But Cha Seo-ah never even had the chance to get that far.
Cha Seo-ah's smile was a survival tactic honed amidst abuse.
A mere imitation that didn't even reach the level of 'emotional mimicry' her past self possessed.
'Keep the emotional mimicry as faint as possible, right on the borderline of awkwardness.'
Seo-yeon knew. The exact point where people began to sense 'something off.'
She remembered the faces people made when she smiled and cried countless times in her past life, showing them those expressions.
In the midst of that, she had seen fear.
What Seo-yeon was acting out now was the very edge of that revulsion.
If her usual emotional mimicry replicated normal emotions at over 95% accuracy...
What Seo-yeon was doing now was 70%.
A precarious level where people could still discern it as 'emotion.'
And the threshold where they began to feel awkwardness.
"But,"
Seo-yeon—no, Cha Seo-ah—smiled calmly once again and spoke.
"Do you detectives work at the police station nearby?"
It was an ordinary question. Yet, a thick tension hung in the air.
The simple words struck the hearts of the two police officers like a scene from a thriller.
"Ah, yes. That's right."
"Ah~ I see. Then if I call, you'll come right away? How long does it usually take? You can come immediately, right?"
Was she asking out of fear of the killer? It didn't feel that way.
How long dispatch took, when and where they were stationed.
The woman seemed overly interested in such things.
"But why are you curious about that?"
Detective Seo Kwang-il asked cautiously.
Trying hard to shake off the bizarre feeling emanating from the woman.
"Well, you said it was dangerous. I'm just a frail woman, so I figured I should know when and how I can get help."
It was a reason that would make sense.
But there was no 'concern' whatsoever in the woman's dialogue.
Only pure curiosity was contained within the question.
Coupled with a smile that contradicted the content of her question, it amplified the awkwardness.
She mimicked a calm smile, but the emotion that surfaced was bright.
As if she didn't know how much she was supposed to smile to smile properly, so she smiled with all her might.
"Ah, the bus is here."
When the two failed to respond, the woman spoke and bowed her head.
"I'll leave it to you then."
Normally, Detective Im Seung-cheol would have replied with some lighthearted banter to that greeting, but right now, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He felt it. A premonition that he would cross paths with this woman again someday.
Because he felt that vague certainty.
The two detectives were left with no choice but to blankly watch the woman board the bus and leave.
And so, Scene 24.
The first encounter between Cha Seo-ah and the two detectives came to an end.
"...Huu."
Someone exhaled a breath.
The heavy tension that had settled over the table dissipated with that sigh.
A script reading. It was a smooth conclusion.
It was just an exchange of level dialogue without any intense emotional surges.
And yet.
'What was that.'
The gaze of everyone seated at the table converged on Seo-yeon.
'Is that... acting?'
Method acting. No, this was beyond that realm.
What they had just faced was the real 'Cha Seo-ah.'
They were actors, people who made a living through acting.
Thus, they could distinguish what was acting and what wasn't.
But right now, it was different. They couldn't tell. They couldn't distinguish it.
"S-Seo-yeon-ssi?"
Even Bae Jin-hwan asked with a trembling voice.
He had believed Seo-yeon would do well, but he never expected it to be to this extent.
Wasn't this feeling entirely on a different level from Hong Jung-hee in *Closing Eyes*?
"Yes?"
At their reaction, it was Seo-yeon who was rather puzzled.
Because the gazes directed at her were completely filled with tension.