Chapter 151: Sacrificial Pawn (1)

Today was like any other day for the shoot of Shuttered, but Ra-Eun felt far more comfortable with today’s shoot than any other that came before it. Not only was it an indoor shoot instead of an outdoor one, there were no jumpscare scenes planned today.

All she needed to do was to just put emotion into her acting while looking at the other actors, so it had been a while since she had felt such peace of mind. Her satisfaction amplified simply from reading the script.

The actors finished reading the script together under the lead of Seo Tae-Yeon, the oldest among the cast members. They got into their own positions once the shoot was about to begin. They would be acting out scene #11-2, where they discussed the mysterious things that had been occurring ever since their visit to the shuttered hospital.

“Ready... Action!”

Ra-Eun had the first line in the scene. She instantly furrowed her brow at the clap of the slate.

“Is it really true... that Seong-Hu is dead?”

“I-I’m telling you! He suddenly died from a h-heart attack!”

“There’s no way. Hyeong-In also died that way, didn’t he?”

Not even a week had passed between their deaths, and they had both died from heart attacks. No matter how one looked at it, their deaths were highly suspicious. Hence, the police were investigating everyone who had been close to them, including everyone here.

However, there was one more thing that the two men had in common that the police had no idea of.

“Seong-Hu and Hyeong-In were with us when we went to that hospital, weren’t they?”

“Y-Yeah!”

Ra-Eun’s eyes narrowed. Could their unnatural deaths have had something to do with the supernatural phenomena that had occurred there?

“What did your mother say about it, Hye-Mi?” she asked.

“I haven’t told her that we’d gone there yet.”

“Then let’s go tell her.”

Song Hye-Mi’s mother was a shamaness, so Ra-Eun was thinking of telling her that they had gone to the shuttered hospital for a test of courage. However...

“We can’t! Are you crazy, Tae-Yeong? You know that place is a restricted area! We’ll be suspected by the police even more if word gets out that we’d trespassed there!”

Several friends opposed her idea.

Ra-Eun raised her voice in anger, “Then what?! Are you suggesting we all just let ourselves be killed by the ghost? Huh?”

The energy she emitted was completely different from what she had shown at the old hospital. After a short silence, Director Choi raised his megaphone.

“Okay! That was great. Let’s prepare for the next scene right away.”

“Yes, Director.”

Scenes like this were easy, but she shriveled up in fear whenever she had to shoot in scary places.

***

In the next morning, Jin Seo-Yeong, who had come to the set early, greeted Ra-Eun.

“Good morning, sunbae!”

Ra-Eun light nodded. “Hello. You’re pretty early today. What time did you arrive?”

“I've been here since an hour ago. And... sunbae,” Seo-Yeong expressed hesitantly. “You can speak casually to me. You’re my sunbae, after all.”

Ra-Eun might have done as Seo-Yeong suggested if she was older than her, but...

“You’re older than me, so I don’t think it’s appropriate to use casual speech even if I’m your sunbae.”

This wasn’t the army with ranks, so Ra-Eun did not like to quibble over formalities based on one’s time in the industry.

“Or would you like to speak casually to me, Seo-Yeong?”

Seo-Yeong was shocked and fiercely shook her head from the suggestion.

“N-No! How could I dare to... I’m fine with the way things are!”

“The same goes for me. And I’m not doing this because I want to keep a distance from you, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t get the wrong idea. Like I’d said before, this feels more comfortable for me.”

A junior couldn’t stay stubborn when a senior was saying that it was fine.

“I understand.”

With this, the argument over formalities had come to an end.

“But sunbae! Back when we had our shoots in the hospital... You’d gotten super frightened, hadn’t you?” Seo-Yeong questioned.

“Had I?”

Ra-Eun momentarily flinched, but Seo-Yeong had not said this to find out whether or not Ra-Eun was easily frightened.

“To be honest, when it was my turn, I wasn’t able to act properly because I got so scared. I think I caused... ten NG cuts.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“I asked the staff members, and Tae-Yeon sunbae had the opposite problem; she didn’t get scared enough. But I heard that you had given the exact reaction that Director Choi had wanted and more.”

Ra-Eun had almost exerted violence on the ghost extras as self-defense, but she had been doing the best out of all the actors so far. Seo-Yeong was curious about her secret.

“I was wondering if you could give me a little tip if you have some special know-how.”

“Well...”

There was no special know-how; she just needed to be a chicken. If she was, then she would easily bring out the reaction that Director Choi wanted. However, Ra-Eun did not want to let her junior find out that she was a chicken. And so, she used the perfect excuse for such situations.

“You just need to work on it.”

She brought out the all-purpose excuse. Seo-Yeong, who had taken out a notepad to write down whatever Ra-Eun was going to say, wrote ‘work harder’ in big letters on a blank page.

***

Ra-Eun had now gotten used to heading to the Shuttered?set, but the air around it felt different than usual. She could vividly feel the chaos. Ra-Eun was able to confirm her suspicions through the woman who had been doing her make-up.

“You can feel the chaos on the set, can’t you?” she said to Ra-Eun.

Ra-Eun took this chance to ask about the chaotic mood. “Yes. Did something happen?”

The make-up artist sighed deeply.

“It’s because of Jin-Ah.”

“Are you talking about Jo Jin-Ah sunbae?”

“Yes.”

An unexpected individual had been brought up. The actress Jo Jin-Ah was one of the cast members of the film, and played the character Han Seong-Yun, a supporting role with almost as much screen time as Seo-Yeong’s character. She also had a scene scheduled this afternoon.

Had Jin-Ah caused some sort of problem? From what Ra-Eun remembered of her past life, she hadn’t done anything majorly problematic.

‘She probably didn’t drink and drive.’

That said, it was also highly unlikely that she had taken drugs. If she had, Ra-Eun would definitely remember it blowing up on the news. However, there were things that not even Ra-Eun knew about.

“You know about the recent huge Kim Chi-Yeol scandal, don’t you, Ra-Eun?”

“Yes, of course.”

They had not yet begun a full-scale investigation. It seemed like they were unable to take reckless actions until they had surefire evidence, since Chi-Yeol was the son of an influential political figure. The entertainment industry had also been up in a huge stir while the political world had been in a fierce battle.

“The celebrities involved in the Kim Chi-Yeol case have been a huge topic lately,” the make-up artist remarked.

The public had been desperately looking for celebrities who had seen benefits through political figures, and one of them who had been mentioned was...

“Miss Jo Jin-Ah had also been in on the act, apparently.”

Ra-Eun’s eyes sharpened for an instant.

‘Jo Jin-Ah had also been on Kim Chi-Yeol’s side, huh?’

Not even she had known this. Tons of people who had been involved in the case were springing up like mushrooms after it had been brought into the light.

The make-up artist chatted even more once Jo Jin-Ah came up in their conversation.

“You really can’t judge a book by its cover, huh? I can’t believe someone like Miss Jo Jin-Ah had been involved in such illicit acts when she looks so innocent... Ugh! I’m getting goosebumps all over.”

“The truly bad people never let people see their wicked nature. Take scammers, for instance. They earn your trust while acting like nice people, and then backstab you at the very end,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“You’re so right,” the make-up artist agreed wholeheartedly.

Ra-Eun had one more thing she was curious about.

“Then what will happen to Jin-Ah sunbae?”

“They’ll investigate her to see if she actually had any involvement in the Kim Chi-Yeol case. The director said that he would consider removing her from the production based on the result.”

Removing someone during the middle of production was a big deal, but there was at least some good news.

‘It hasn’t been that long since the production opened.’

There had likely not been that many scenes with Jo Jin-Ah in it, since most of the shoots so far had been focused around Ra-Eun and Tae-Yeon.

‘It’s better to nip it in the bud before it has a chance to grow.’

If an actor who had committed a grave sin was kept in the production due to something like staying loyal to them, it was possible that it would damage the reputations of other actors involved in the production. It would be a massive problem if the film Shuttered?was boycotted all because of Jo Jin-Ah.

Director Choi would not keep Jo Jin-Ah on the ship that was Shuttered while taking the massive risk of it sinking, when he, the hard-working staff members, the other actors and the investors were all on it.

‘And it’s not like Director Choi is super close to Jo Jin-Ah.’

As long as there were no massive abnormalities, things would go exactly as the make-up artist expected.

‘That aside, that son of a bitch Kim Chi-Yeol is so tenacious.’

It was possible that Kim Han-Gyo was helping him by pulling some strings from the shadows, despite Ra-Eun blackmailing him last time.

‘You won’t let your son go to hell, is it?’

It was not like they’d ever been a loving family. Ra-Eun held in her exasperated laugh.

‘If that’s how you’re gonna be, I have some plays I can make.’

All that a halted sailboat needed was a tailwind to get it going.

***

Ma Yeong-Jun arrived at the larger facility that Levanche had moved to. Director Do Hye-Yeong tilted her head in confusion when she saw him.

“Weren’t you off duty today?” she asked.

Like she had said, Yeong-Jun had a day off today. However, he had no choice but to save it for another day due to the call from last night.

“I was called for important business,” he answered concisely like always, and headed somewhere with his hands in his pockets.

He had arrived at the chairwoman’s office of Levanche, where Ra-Eun was. She greeted him as soon as he opened the door.

“Welcome.”

“What kind of errand are you putting me on this time? Do I have to go to Reporter Ahn again?”

Yeong-Jun had gotten used to being a delivery man thanks to Ra-Eun. However, she refuted his question while shaking her head.

“No. Someone else this time.”

“Someone else? Who?”

Ra-Eun handed Yeong-Jun a thick document envelope.

“My high school classmate.”