A strangely chilling atmosphere enveloped the room.
That meant the acting Seo Yeon had just shown was that impressive.
Leaving aside whether it was good or bad, the synchronization was suspiciously perfect.
‘Has she perhaps roughed a few people up?’
Director Bae Jin-hwan, who inadvertently had such a thought, slapped his own cheek with his palm.
What kind of thoughts was he having about a child?
Anyway, it seemed he wasn't the only one who felt that way.
Seeing the actors' eyes lose their focus and meet each other's gazes proved it.
“……Did I make a mistake?”
When Seo Yeon, a bit sullen from that atmosphere, spoke,
“No!”
“Absolutely not, right?”
“You did so well, Seo Yeon, that everyone was just surprised.”
“Yes, yes, that's right.”
From the male actors to Jeong Si-hyeon, who played Han Ye-hwa, they quickly chimed in.
Although they were confused by her dressed-up appearance and actions, they realized Seo Yeon was still a teenage girl.
It wasn't actually because there was a problem with her acting.
It was simply because her acting was too chilling.
“Is that so?”
Of course, Seo Yeon wasn't actually sullen.
She had only acted to probe them slightly.
Still, it was true that she had been nervous.
At their reaction, Seo Yeon felt inwardly relieved.
‘Was it too much?’
No, but this level is right.
Seo Yeon repeated to herself.
She could understand why they showed such a reaction.
The role of a lifetime.
At least this role might fall into the category of the role of a lifetime for Ju Seo-yeon.
‘To be exact…….’
Rather than the character Ju Seo-yeon, it was her past life.
A role that resembled her own past life.
“Hmm. Let's try a few more scenes once more first.”
Director Bae Jin-hwan said so to refresh the atmosphere.
Besides, he wanted to see if the chilling feeling he just got from Seo Yeon was an illusion.
It wasn't just Bae Jin-hwan.
The other actors felt the same.
“Would it be okay if I try this time?”
The one who raised her hand was Jeong Si-hyeon, the actress playing the victim Han Ye-hwa.
She looked at Seo Yeon and swallowed dry saliva.
‘She is Ju Seo-yeon.’
Jeong Si-hyeon tensed up inwardly.
It was only natural.
Because there was a victim of Ju Seo-yeon in her agency.
“No, that's really too much.”
A woman speaking while roughly poking at a salad with a fork in a restaurant.
A woman now in her mid-to-late thirties, but boasting a smooth appearance without a single wrinkle.
Ha Ye-seo, who had established herself as one of South Korea's representative method actresses, spoke as if indignant.
“Why suddenly come back after 10 years and tear me limb from limb?”
“You can just shoot again, Unnie.”
“……Are you kidding? How can an ajumma play that role now? Then I'd be not Princess Yeonhwa, but Dowager Yeonhwa.”
Calling her an ajumma.
Jeong Si-hyeon clicked her tongue inwardly.
The only woman who could say such a thing was someone who knew better than anyone that she didn't look like an ajumma.
If someone called her an ajumma looking like that, she'd flare up in anger.
“Anyway.”
She washed her mouth with a drink and said.
“So, you're acting with that kid this time?”
“Yes. I heard she was cast as the villain. Cha Seo-ah.”
“Hmm, a villain.”
Ha Ye-seo recalled the young Seo Yeon she had seen a long time ago.
Her acting skills were immature, but she was a child actress unlike a child.
How did Ha Ye-seo feel when she saw Seo Yeon's acting back then?
“It was chilling.”
“Pardon?”
“Emotional acting that didn't suit a child. It felt like the emotions were misaligned. That's why Actor Jeong Eun-seon scolded her severely.”
“It seems her temper wasn't very good even 10 years ago.”
“Beyond not being good, she's just a clueless old hag.”
Is it okay to say such things about a veteran actor?
While thinking that, she also figured there was nothing they couldn't say when it was just the two of them.
“Anyway. Be careful.”
“Yes?”
“If you don't want to be torn limb from limb like me.”
Honestly, Ha Ye-seo wanted to act with Seo Yeon at least once.
Vengeance for the past.
Well, absolutely. Because she really wanted to get vengeance for the past at least once.
Ha Ye-seo chewed on a cherry tomato and looked at her junior before her.
Excellent acting skills, and a good appearance.
A female actress with an even more promising future.
‘She definitely has talent, but she's been acting too much in a greenhouse.’
Perhaps this movie could be a very good opportunity.
To break the wall.
She eventually had to see what the wall was, after all.
The genius child actress returning after 10 years.
Ha Ye-seo had also quietly watched her first theater stage.
“Do your best.”
That was why Ha Ye-seo said so to her junior.
Jeong Si-hyeon honestly didn't think much of her senior's rare words of encouragement.
No matter how well she did, she was just a teenage actress.
She thought so, but actually seeing her, the feeling was completely different.
If she wasn't careful, she too might become a victim like her senior.
No, she would end up in a more miserable state than a victim.
Because Ha Ye-seo had at least never appeared in the same scene with her.
But what about herself?
The character that appeared most in the same scenes as Cha Seo-ah was Han Ye-hwa.
Since she was the victim dragged in by her.
“Alright.”
The okay sign fell from Bae Jin-hwan.
The two's acting.
Because it seemed good to match their chemistry once in advance.
“Let's see……, it's Scene 37.”
S# 37.
Unlike the detective scene, this part was passionate and intense.
‘Was the acting just now really.’
‘A coincidence.’
‘Or real, I need to see.’
The actors' gazes turned to Seo Yeon all at once.
Seo Yeon and Jeong Si-hyeon.
Two young actresses.
The two stood up from their seats, not the table, and stood facing each other in the empty space.
Because it was too intense a part to act across a table.
A place where the lighting didn't reach properly.
Jeong Si-hyeon stood there and looked at Seo Yeon.
Long black hair, contrasting with her white skin.
Looking into her eyes, she felt as if a red light was gradually growing stronger in her hazel pupils.
That made it even more chilling.
Even though they hadn't started acting, it felt as if Cha Seo-ah was standing right in front of her.
Holding the script in her hand.
Jeong Si-hyeon pictured the scene in her head.
One breath.
When she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them.
Han Ye-hwa was in an alley.
Running through the narrow alley, there were rough footsteps chasing behind her.
The sound of footsteps heard from afar grew little by little louder.
“Haa, heup. Haa.”
Han Ye-hwa exhaled, letting out rough breaths.
She tried covering her mouth with both hands, but she couldn't block the sound of her labored breathing.
“Why, just why.”
Han Ye-hwa looked ahead with a fading voice.
She saw an alley blocked by a pile of trash.
The sound of footsteps from behind her could no longer be heard.
Did she possibly leave?
Han Ye-hwa, who had been facing the wall, slowly turned her body.
Then.
At the entrance of the alley, there was a woman looking at her.
In her hand was a hammer.
A commonly available tool.
But on that tool was stained something that should never be stained.
Red blood.
The hammer that had just struck her boyfriend's head was gripped in that hand.
“Why, why are you doing this!!”
When she screamed, only then did the woman's footsteps begin to move.
The woman was smiling.
A joyful smile as if she had found the escaped Han Ye-hwa.
If only that were it.
If only that were it, she wouldn't have felt such terror.
“Just.”
The woman said with a smile.
The smile hanging on her lips was like unpleasant makeup painted over a doll's face.
“Because it hurts here.”
A monotonous voice.
“Because it's too hard to watch.”
The woman's footsteps little by little.
Little by little began to speed up.
By the time Han Ye-hwa gasped and tried to pull her body away, the woman had already arrived right in front of her nose.
Her face was thrust right in front of Han Ye-hwa.
As if reading the emotions contained in her pupils.
“I really wish it were this easy to understand.”
Fear.
Horror.
Such emotions were so vivid that they were easy to understand.
“Like this.”
The girl's expression moved.
As if mimicking Han Ye-hwa's terrified expression.
It resembled that face.
A human face mimicking fear.
Was intensely unpleasant.
“Like this?”
A face distorted by fear.
It was like seeing what her own expression looked like on another person's face.
“I don't know.”
The girl's hand moved.
She tried to move the hammer.
Han Ye-hwa pushed her chest with all her might.
No, she had to push her away.
And after a physical struggle, she had to shake her off.
She had to continue acting.
But Jeong Si-hyeon froze as she looked at Cha Seo-ah's face looking down at her.
She was completely overwhelmed by that presence.
Being beaten by the swung hammer despite her desperate struggles and fainting.
That was how the scene was supposed to be.
“That's enough.”
The dark alley became an indoor space with bright lights visible.
Bae Jin-hwan wiped the sweat from his forehead and stroked his chin.
“Both of you did very well.”
Those words were a sincere compliment.
Until the end, before Jeong Si-hyeon was suppressed by Seo Yeon's hand, it was.
Until Jeong Si-hyeon stiffened seeing Seo Yeon's face right in front of her nose.
Normally, he would have given feedback on her mistake, but this time it felt a bit ambiguous.
Rather, he felt like he had underestimated the actress named Jeong Si-hyeon.
‘But.’
The actors fell into agonizing thought as they looked at Jeong Si-hyeon standing with an empty face.
‘The moment we acted together, she wasn't visible at all.’
When she was standing a little apart, Jeong Si-hyeon's acting was worthy of applause.
But from the scene where she was suppressed by Seo Yeon's hand.
The character Han Ye-hwa was completely invisible.
‘The play.’
Did the acting she showed in the play help this much?
It felt like watching a play, not a script reading.
Although exaggerated, to that acting which suited the villain so perfectly.
No, to Ju Seo-yeon's presence which showed such superb synchronization that one wondered if it was even acting.
The character Han Ye-hwa, the actress Jeong Si-hyeon, was completely buried.
‘It's true that it's a scene where the villain stands out.’
‘But if she's overwhelmed to this extent, it's difficult.’
The actors each thought about what it would be like if they were in the same scene as Actress Jeong Si-hyeon.
It wouldn't be easy.
That level of pressure was an acting that only great actors who could overwhelm a scene by themselves would possess.
It had that level of power.
‘I need to be careful.’
Especially Actor Kim Dae-heon, who played the lead Im Seung-cheol, made up his mind firmly.
He too had never been told anywhere that his acting was lacking.
‘But.’
Kim Dae-heon laughed low.
He was also a little excited.
When he came out in the same scene as that kid, what a wonderful picture would be drawn.
What kind of acting he would put on.
He was very much looking forward to it.
“…….”
And.
Jeong Si-hyeon, who had just acted with her, bit her lower lip.
She bowed her head looking at Seo Yeon who faced her.
She was truly ashamed.
“I'm sorry.”
“Yes?”
“Next time, I'll do it without mistakes.”
Jeong Si-hyeon apologized to an actress ten years younger than her.
That was also a reflection toward herself.
If she hadn't made a mistake, a truly wonderful picture would have been drawn.
She ruined that.
‘Next time.’
She would never make a mistake like this again.
She made such a resolution.
That she would never ruin the acting Seo Yeon had just shown.
‘……Um.’
Seo Yeon looked at Jeong Si-hyeon like that, her lips moving, then firmly closing them.
Because it was hard to grasp what to say at times like this.
Should she comfort her?
No, at times like this, cheering her on would be...
“F-Fighting.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, it's nothing…….”
Seo Yeon cursed her lacking communication skills.
Sincerely.
And
A week later.
As the play *Close Your Eyes* closed with its final performance.
A call came from the cable broadcast she had asked Lee Ji-yeon about.
A program broadcast on the gaming channel for 10 years.
From *If You Turn It On, Go to the King*.