Chapter 76
Eun-young approached Han-seong with a friendly smile.
“Han-seong, where did you go?”
“Ah, um. Just went out for a smoke.”
He answered nonchalantly and lingered. Sara clenched her fist tightly behind her back, then forced herself to relax.
Fighting Han-seong here would only delay filming. She kept a smiling face, ran through her blocking once, and they started shooting.
“Okay, rolling. Action!”
This scene was a fight sequence that took place inside a cramped house.
Sara moved along the planned blocking and acted urgently. The scene had her fleeing past the dining table and then being grabbed by Han-seong.
“Ugh!”
“Where did you hide the memory card? Tell me now!”
“I don’t know! I don’t know!”
As the violent struggle continued, objects on the table crashed to the floor with a clatter.
Because Sara’s resistance went on longer than expected, Han-seong put both hands around her neck.
That had been rehearsed beforehand. The only difference was how much force the grip on her neck had — it was stronger than anticipated.
Thanks to that, Sara was able to act realistically.
“Gak—let me go.”
Sara clawed at his arms with her nails and struggled. Next she was supposed to pick up a wine bottle made from sugar that had fallen to the floor and strike him over the head with it.
She reached toward the prop wine bottle she had prepared. But as time passed, the grip around her neck grew far too tight.
Because the scene was dangerous, they had a prearranged safety signal: loosen your grip.
Sara dug her nails into the back of her own hand and sent the signal.
The pressure on her throat eased.
But only for a moment.
Han-seong ignored Sara’s signal and continued to throttle her.
Her head started to cloud.
Her hand, which had been reaching for the wine bottle without thinking, gradually lost strength.
“Cut! Cut!”
Eun-young, watching through the monitor, sensed something was wrong and hurried out.
She pushed Han-seong forcefully off Sara, who had been pinned.
Cough, cough!
Freed from the pressure suppressing her windpipe, Sara coughed violently until her body shook.
If they’d been a little slower, she might have fainted.
“Han Seong-shi! What on earth are you doing? Do you want to kill someone?”
“Ah… I’m sorry. I got carried away with the acting.”
When Eun-young yelled, Han-seong glanced sheepishly at his hands and bowed his head.
“Apologize to her, not me. Sara, are you okay?”
“Uh, ahem. I’m okay. I’m fine, fine.”
When her coughing stopped, Sara staggered to her feet. Anger toward Han-seong welled up, but she also thought the scene would look quite realistic because of it.
She went over to the camera director and asked, “Did it look good? Or should we do it again?”
“Is the problem the footage right now? Your neck—hyung, Han-seong. Can’t you tell acting from real life?”
“I already said I’m sorry. I got too focused on my acting, that’s all. I’m sorry, Seo Sara.”
Like someone who’d farted and then got mad at being called out, Han-seong tossed out a curt apology and left the set on his own terms.
Eun-young wanted to shout after that irresponsible back of his, but she swallowed her anger.
Instead she ran to Sara.
“Sara, how’s your neck?”
Other staff gathered around Sara in a murmur. One of the directing-team staff said with a grave look, “Director. Sara has hand marks on her neck.”
“What? Show me.”
There were red hand marks on her neck — clear evidence of how hard he’d been choking her. Even if it had happened during filming, Eun-young felt like strangling Han-seong right then.
She huffed and took Sara’s hand, leading her to a corner.
“Where’s your manager?”
“Joo-young? Why? He should be coming now.”
“You should go to the hospital. Doesn’t your neck hurt?”
“Ah, it’s nothing to go to the hospital over. I’m fine.”
Sara downplayed it and went back to the camera director to ask again about the footage. The camera director answered with an uncomfortable face.
“Well, her expression was good…”
“Uh, no. Director. Could you look at it? Can we use the take?”
“Is that the problem right now?”
“If the take is wasted, it’d be a shame. I think my expression was okay. What do you think?”
At times like this you could see why Sara was a natural actress. Eun-young clicked her tongue inwardly.
Han-seong had left without offering a proper apology, and that would have been enough reason for Sara to be angry, but she didn’t show it — professional to the end. That thought calmed Eun-young’s rising fury.
“Come to think of it, we should cover that mark with makeup. I’ll go to the waiting room for a moment.”
Sara kept smiling to the end. Just before leaving the set for the waiting room, she reached into a box in the corner and found something.
She picked it up and said to the props team beside her, “Can I borrow this for a bit?”
“Ah, yes. Sure.”
The staff looked a bit puzzled at what she had in her hand but nodded without suspicion.
Sara tucked it into her clothes, then stopped a passing staff member and asked, “Have you seen Kang Han-seong?”
“Earlier I saw him heading toward the parking lot.”
“Thanks.”
Following that staffer’s tip and walking a little, she spotted Han-seong smoking in a corner of the parking lot.
When Sara approached, Han-seong hurriedly put out his cigarette. He must have remembered how much she hated the smell.
“Uh… Sara. Is the director calling? Are we rolling?”
His gaze flicked to the red hand marks on her neck. He sounded small, as if he felt a little guilty.
“Uh, um. I’m sorry. But you know how it is — when you get into the acting…”
Sara stared at Han-seong while he mumbled his excuses, then she produced the prop she’d borrowed from the staff like someone pulling a lipstick from her bag — a short knife.
The color drained from Han-seong’s face the instant he saw it.
“W-what’s that?”
“Kang Han-seong. Do you know how painful and agonizing it is when someone chokes you?”
“Hey, hey! I didn’t do it on purpose. Wait, put the knife down and let’s talk.”
Without batting an eye, Sara held the knife steady and pointed it at Han-seong.
“You can’t breathe, your head gets dizzy… I scratched the back of my hand to give a sign, and you didn’t even flinch and kept choking me. Look at the mark on my neck — I thought I was going to die.”
“Ah, okay. I’m sorry. Sorry. Next time I’ll be gentle.”
“Gentle? Your apology attitude is awful.”
“What else do you want from me? Honestly, picking apart acting like this is weird. If you keep this up, will you sue me if I get slapped during a scene?”
“If it’s acting, I’d understand. But your hands on my neck had feeling behind them. Were you taking petty revenge because you were embarrassed by my boyfriend earlier?”
If it had really been just acting, she would have let it go even if she’d been slapped instead of choked. But Han-seong had loosened his grip once in the middle and then tightened it again.
It was clear he’d done it on purpose.
Sara walked toward him with the knife handle clenched expressionlessly.
Her eyes looked like glass marbles, devoid of anything. That eerie, chilling sight made Han-seong instinctively back away.
“Revenge? Hey. I didn’t— what embarrassment? Seo Sara, you’ve got issues. Delusions, maybe.”
“Oh? You figured out I have delusions?”
“Yeah, you should see a doctor.”
“Because of my delusions, when I look at your face I want to stab you with a knife like you’re possessed by an evil spirit.”
“Hey! Don’t come near me! I said don’t come near me!”
He jumped and tried to run, but his foot caught and he stumbled. Sara didn’t miss the moment.
She plunged forward into his torso and, with the knife she’d been holding, stabbed Han-seong in the stomach.
Han-seong gasped and froze, then looked down at his belly expecting pain.
On inspection, the blade was entirely inside the handle — it was a filming prop knife.
Seeing him frozen stiff and unable to move, Sara sneered.
“Scared?”
“Hey, geez, there are things you joke about and things you don’t!”
When it was revealed to be a toy knife, Han-seong blew up in anger and swatted the knife away.
