Chapter : 22
‘…Unni (sister). Please save me. There’s something I couldn’t tell you. The person who killed me is…’
Beyond the haze of her fading memory, Hae-jin was saying something.
Was it a dream or reality?
No, it couldn’t be reality.
Unable to tell which, Hae-in tried to recall her sister’s final words. The more she focused on Hae-jin’s voice, the stronger the inexplicable chill that swept through her body.
Do-jun, who had been quietly watching her, took the blanket from his own shoulders and placed it over Hae-in.
“Oh, it’s fine, really—”
“Protecting the condition of my assigned actress is part of my job.”
That wasn’t what he meant to say. He didn’t want to sound that stiff.
“Yoon Hae-in is my actress.”
Ah, please—Seo Do-jun, stop talking.
Why was it that, unlike usual, all the words he wanted to take back kept spilling from his mouth? When Do-jun let out a faint sigh, a small smile finally appeared on Hae-in’s face.
“…Well, that’s a reasonable excuse. But isn’t that suit expensive? It’s soaked.”
Would he notice her voice still trembling? Hae-in continued speaking in as calm a tone as she could manage.
The reason she heard Hae-jin’s voice. The reason Hae-jin was calling out to her.
None of it could be explained. There were no answers.
But today, after hearing her sister’s voice, she felt as though the fear she had carried since that first audition shoot had finally lifted.
She intended to uncover the secret behind her sister’s “that day,” piece by piece.
Hae-jin, just wait a little longer.
Hae-in made that vow silently to the air.
Maybe Do-jun felt relieved, seeing that the tension had left her face, because he chuckled softly and shook his head.
“Not at all. It’s not more expensive than my actress.”
It wasn’t just an offhand remark.
To him, she truly was the actress he had hoped for — the one who might shine brilliantly somewhere in the last five years.
“I have a question,” she said.
“Ask away.”
Seo Do-jun still didn’t ask her anything.
Not why she suddenly had a panic attack, nor what exactly had happened underwater.
Watching him sit silently beside her as though it were simply his duty, Hae-in suddenly voiced the question she’d long wondered about.
“Why me?”
“Hm. That’s quite a broad question.”
“The entertainment world lives and dies by image. I’m an actress whose expiration date has already passed. I’m not exceptionally talented, nor do I have a stunning face. There are dozens of trainees at AJ Entertainment alone who are younger and better than me.”
Half right, half wrong. Do-jun stayed quiet for a moment.
Yoon Hae-in didn’t yet know her own potential.
She didn’t realize how extraordinary her talent truly was.
“When I first saw Illusion, I watched it two, three, four times in a row. Yes, that was exactly five years ago.”
“….”
“I stayed up all night rewatching it. I’m someone who always sleeps at the same time every night, you know. But from that day on, I scoured all of America looking for an actress with a mask like that. I auditioned hundreds of Asian actors, thinking maybe one of them would have the face I was looking for. But no one could recreate that expression.”
“There are tons of works like Illusion. And plenty of actors who could perform at that level.”
For some reason, she wanted to deny herself —
to feel guilt for being happy in a world where Hae-jin no longer existed.
She needed that guilt.
Only through it could she forgive herself for smiling that day — the day her sister died — wearing that dazzling dress.
“Sure, maybe it’s greed as a producer. But Yoon Hae-in, you have something special. I don’t know what it is yet, but there’s definitely something only you can portray. And I’ve decided to bet on that.”
That too was half true, half false.
Even so, Hae-in didn’t press further.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“What?”
“It’s all over the news now — my sister’s case.”
“Ah…”
Do-jun bit his dry lips, not knowing what to say. Hae-in hugged her knees and buried her face in them.
“After Hae-jin died, I couldn’t do anything. The Illusion script was lying beside her when she died. Since then, I couldn’t act again. But I thought if I stayed in this industry, maybe I’d find even the smallest clue. So I lingered for five years.”
What must it have been like to remain in the entertainment world that disgusted her, all because of her sister’s death?
Do-jun couldn’t say a word.
“Today… I made up my mind. I won’t be weak anymore. I’ll rise again from this place — live the way Hae-jin most wanted me to. And I’ll find out what happened to her, with my own hands.”
There was something solid in her voice now — she seemed stronger, even after just one day.
Do-jun nodded silently. Whatever choice she made, he intended to help her achieve that dream.
“…The rain’s stopped. Should we head back?”
The heavy rainfall that had filled the waiting room had stopped at some point. Hae-in looked at the hand Do-jun offered her.
Should she take it?
“I’ll go back with Ga-young. She’s waiting in the car.”
In the end, she stood up without taking his hand.
After returning from Yongin Daejamiya, A-yeon drove her car to a quiet parking lot by the Han River.
After circling the lot a couple of times, she spotted a woman in a baseball cap and mask standing in the distance. When A-yeon pulled up beside her, the woman looked around briefly before getting into the car.
“Unni.”
“Looks like Pa Tae-young’s chosen Yoon Hae-in as his new muse. And you — you couldn’t even secure that one simple thing.”
“Unni, I won’t get into trouble for this, right? No one knows, right?”
The two women clearly cared about different things.
Even as A-yeon insulted her, the younger woman pressed on with an anxious tone.
On the phone in her hand was an article about Yoon Hae-in.
Seeing the photo — that familiar face — stirred a strange discomfort in A-yeon’s chest.
That expression at the end… what was that?
“Unni…! I really put everything into this audition. It can’t go wrong.”
Her mind was already a mess, and now So-yi’s whining made her irritation flare.
Was an audition really what mattered right now, when Yoon Hae-in was about to spread her wings?
“Ha… So-yi.”
Han So-yi pulled down the mask covering half her face. Finally able to breathe, she felt a bit less suffocated.
“You made the best deal you could. Honestly, do you think a no-name like you would ever get to play a main supporting role in a drama? There’s an overflow of nobodies in this industry!”
As A-yeon’s voice rose, So-yi lowered her head and stayed silent.
A nobody like her couldn’t talk back to the great Baek A-yeon.
“Hey. Come to think of it, you’re such an idiot. Didn’t I tell you three times that Pa Tae-young likes baby’s breath flowers?”
At that, So-yi suddenly remembered the bouquet of baby’s breath in Hae-in’s hand.
“I just… thought sincerity would come through better than something like that…”
“Oh, for— You’re unbelievably stupid. Do you and Pa Tae-young even know each other well enough for sincerity to matter? Are you close?”
Tap tap tap tap—
Why was she so angry?
Was it fear — fear brought on by seeing Yoon Hae-in’s potential, which she had sworn could never soar?
Or was it discomfort, faint though it was, from watching Yoon Hae-in almost drown?
Biting her nails anxiously, A-yeon looked at So-yi again.
Her shoot with Pa Tae-young might have fallen apart, but she still needed at least one ally on the [The One: Actresses] set.
For now, So-yi was still a useful card.
“With your skills, you won’t get cut in the first round. Contact this person.”
She handed over a phone number.
“He’s the director who’ll film your acting clip for MeTube.”
