Chapter 77
Sarah glanced briefly at the knife that had fallen to the floor and spoke casually.
“You seriously tried to strangle me, so why can’t I stab your stomach with a toy knife?”
“How is that the same thing?”
“You’re right. It’s not. You almost killed me for real, while I’m just playing around. Just a joke. You can understand that, right?”
She smiled as brightly as she could.
Hanseong looked at her, dumbfounded and irritated.
“What kind of psycho are you?”
“Oh, come on. If I were really crazy, I would’ve swapped out the prop for a real knife.”
“…What?”
“You know there’s that scene next week where you stab me, right?”
“…”
“What, scared again? You think I’ll use the excuse of ‘acting’ to switch the knife and really stab you?”
“Hey, you…”
A bead of cold sweat ran down Hanseong’s back.
If it were Sarah, he knew she might actually do it.
“Nah, but I’m sure our dear Mr. Hanseong would understand. It’s all for the sake of acting, right? Even if a delusional actress gets too immersed and really stabs you with a real knife — you’d understand, wouldn’t you?”
By now, all the color had drained from Hanseong’s face.
Just then, Eunyeong spotted them from afar and waved.
Sarah lightly kicked the fallen knife, sending it rolling under a car.
“Oh, there you two are. What were you talking about?”
“Ah, Hanseong was just apologizing to me in private.”
Sarah smiled sweetly — a smile that, from Hanseong’s point of view, was utterly infuriating.
“Oh really? Well, even if it was acting, you don’t go around choking your co-star like that.”
Eunyeong raised her voice, then caught herself and muttered the rest of her sentence under her breath.
“Never mind. If he apologized, we’ll just let it go.”
“Yeah, it can happen when an actor gets too into character. Don’t be too hard on him.”
“Ha! Sarah, you’re too kind for your own good. Alright, if you’ve made up, come on. We need to shoot the next scene.”
“Okay, coming.”
Sarah followed behind Eunyeong with a bright smile.
Then she turned around and mimed zipping her lips shut at Hanseong.
It took him a while before he could bring himself to move from that spot.
* * *
“Good work today, everyone.”
After many ups and downs, filming finally wrapped for the day.
Perhaps Hanseong had taken Sarah’s “advice” to heart — the rest of the shoot went surprisingly smoothly.
When Jooyoung arrived late and saw the marks on Sarah’s neck, she freaked out. Once she learned Hanseong was responsible, she practically exploded.
“Should I call Director Park right now?”
“And say what? That my co-star couldn’t control his strength during a scene? What are you hoping for, a public apology?”
“Still, noona, the marks are really visible. They might look even worse tomorrow.”
“It’s fine. They’ll fade in a day or two.”
“Huh?”
Jooyoung looked startled at how casually Sarah said it.
Realizing she’d slipped up, Sarah quickly changed the subject.
“I said I’m fine. Anyway, I’m having dinner with Director Choi tonight.”
“I’ll drive you!”
“Sure. Drop me off at that shabu-shabu place in Ilsan — the one I go to a lot.”
“Got it.”
Because cleanup on set took longer than expected, it was already well past 8 p.m. when Sarah and Eunyeong arrived at the restaurant.
“Ugh, I’m starving. Let’s order right away.”
“Yeah. What broth do you want? Mushroom? Soy sauce?”
“Anything. I’m so hungry my stomach’s about to stick to my back.”
Actors could eat or rest when they weren’t filming, but directors couldn’t leave the set for even a moment.
Eunyeong often survived the day on a single roll of gimbap eaten standing up.
Yet her face still glowed with that special light of someone who truly loved her job.
“So, what’s this about? Why did you want to meet me separately? Don’t tell me… you’re getting married?”
“What?!”
“Come on, are you?”
“Unnie! How old do you think I am? I’m nowhere near marriage yet!”
“Why not? I got married at twenty-eight.”
“Honestly, I was so shocked when you did! You brought home that bear-looking guy and—”
Sarah pouted, remembering that time.
Back then, she was still in middle school — a time when she craved the kind of affection she imagined from Eunyeong as an older sister or even a mother figure.
So Eunyeong’s sudden marriage had felt almost like hearing that her mom was remarrying.
“What’s wrong with Somin’s dad? Men just need to be responsible and hardworking.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Now, of course, Sarah treated her brother-in-law affectionately, but back then she’d thrown a fit, sobbing that he was “stealing” her sister away.
Even now, their family sometimes laughed about it.
“Anyway, tell me about your boyfriend. Got a picture?”
“Huh?”
“You must have one together. I want to see how handsome he is — the girls on set make such a fuss about him.”
“Oh… uh… a picture…”
Sarah realized that the only photo she had of Yoon Seungtae was a cropped image from an economics newspaper article she’d screenshotted.
She forced an awkward smile.
“He doesn’t really like taking photos. I’ll show you next time.”
“I see. Then what’s he like? Do you two get along?”
“His personality?”
Sarah paused, thinking.
Yoon Seungtae’s personality… even after all the time she’d spent with him, she still couldn’t fully grasp it.
“He seems kind on the surface, but sometimes he’s cold… and a bit obsessive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? So what drew you to him? His face? Don’t tell me it’s the face again! Sarah, looks aren’t everything.”
Eunyeong said this in the tone of a mother lecturing a teenage daughter.
Sarah quickly added, almost defensively,
“Still, he treats me well.”
“Of course he should — he’s dating our Sarah.”
Just then, the food arrived.
As the broth began to boil, Sarah added the vegetables and meat, stealing glances at Eunyeong.
It was time to bring up Hanseong.
“Anyway, he’s much better than my ex.”
“Your ex? Who was that again? Oh right, Min Dowon? I heard his latest movie tanked.”
“Well… actually, there was one more after him.”
“Another one? Who? Someone I don’t know?”
“…Hanseong Kang.”
“Kang Hanseong? Wait—what?! You dated that Hanseong? The one you’re filming with right now?”
Sarah hung her head and gave a tiny nod, as if confessing a crime.
Eunyeong practically leapt from her seat.
“Why are you only telling me this now? How long did you date? When did you break up?”
“We dated for about six months. Broke up a year and a half ago.”
“You’re missing the most important part — why are you telling me now? You should’ve said something when I was casting him! Oh, so that’s why Jisoo looked like that that night.”
Eunyeong suddenly remembered their dinner with Jisoo and let out a long sigh.
She’d sensed something odd between the two but never imagined Hanseong was Sarah’s ex.
Eunyeong’s eyes narrowed as she looked sharply at Sarah.
Sarah confessed in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Back then we couldn’t find a lead actor, and the shoot was already delayed… It’s been a long time since we broke up, and it’s not even a romance film, so I thought…”
“Seo Sarah.”
“I’m sorry, unnie. I know I should’ve said something earlier, but I just couldn’t bring myself to.”
“Couldn’t bring yourself to? Please. You had no intention of telling me. You probably thought, ‘If it’s awkward, I’ll just deal with it myself,’ didn’t you?”
Having known Sarah for so long, Eunyeong saw right through her.
Sarah flinched, keeping her head down.
“Look at me.”
Sarah hesitated, then raised her head.
“How old am I?”
“Thirty-nine.”
“Exactly. I’ll be forty soon. If you’d refused to film with your ex and cried about it, I still would’ve gone ahead if he was right for the role. And even if you’d wanted someone else, I wouldn’t have cast them if they didn’t fit. That’s the level of judgment I have. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“…Yeah.”
“Sigh. So, how did you two even break up?”
“He cheated. While we were dating, he was seeing two other women.”
“What?! He cheated on you? That bastard—”
