1440 - Chapter 31

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 31
Crack.
Crack-crack. With a nauseating sound like bone shattering, a pallid woman’s face swam into Hyerin’s vision.
The woman’s face twisted at an angle impossible for a human body, and despite standing a step higher than Hyerin, she contorted herself to thrust her face beneath the younger actress’s bowed head.
The woman’s ashen, drained face stared directly at Hyerin and smiled.
“Am I pretty? Aren’t I pretty? Look how well I can do this.”
The woman’s mouth gaped wide. From it poured the disjointed dialogue of some long-forgotten play.
Her mouth spilled out three or four sentences at once, drawing closer as though to swallow Hyerin whole. Staring into that dark throat, Hyerin’s vision suddenly went black. Blackout.
As Hyerin crumbled where she stood on the staircase, the woman released her grip. The skeletal, fragile body of the actress tumbled slowly down the steps.
***
Mina, trimming her nails while on a speakerphone call, looked up in confusion when Hyerin suddenly fell silent.
Had the call dropped? She checked the screen, but that wasn’t it. The call timer was still running.
12 minutes 58 seconds. 59 seconds.
“Hey, Hyerin. What are you doing? Where’d you go? Hello?”
She picked up the nail clipper and joked around, but there was no response from the other end. What the hell. Like I don’t have enough to deal with.
Honestly, answering Hyerin’s calls every single day was a chore.
Mina found Hyerin’s baseless confidence repulsive. And what really grated on her was how she’d pretend they were the same age and friends, all while subtly lording her seniority over her with that insufferable senior attitude.
Either act like a proper senior or don’t. The way she played nice and suggested they be friends while casually ordering her around on petty errands was absolutely infuriating.
What kind of game was she playing this time?
Honestly, Hyerin gave Mina the creeps. She already knew Hyerin was jealous of Soyeon, but to harbor the kind of jealousy and competitive spite toward someone on a completely different level—and then resort to a curse? It was something an ordinary person would never even consider.
Not that Mina cared much for Soyeon either. But she had respected her as a senior, which made the disappointment cut deeper.
Mina’s admiration for Soyeon had frozen over completely after what happened at a drinking gathering about a month ago.
It had been a large company dinner—the Director, staff, and supporting cast actors all together. Since it was a rare opportunity to appeal to the Director, both Hyerin and Mina had been engaged in a subtle power play to sit at the same table as him.
When the gathering was in full swing, the Director naturally drifted over to their table with a drink in hand. The two of them saw their chance and smiled with their prettiest faces, bowing respectfully. Just as the Director was squeezing in to sit between them—
“Oh, Director. Don’t create a stiff atmosphere—let the girls relax. Come here with me, yes?”
Soyeon had stepped in.
She hooked her arm through his naturally and pulled him up from the seat he’d just taken.
The Director, pleasantly drunk, seemed quite pleased that the nation’s top actress was fawning over him, and he chuckled with obvious delight.
And so the Director simply passed by Hyerin and Mina’s table. Soyeon led him toward where the lead actors were gathered.
As Hyerin watched their figures recede, she ground her teeth and whispered to Mina.
“…Looks like that rumor’s true after all.”
“What rumor?”
30
At Mina’s question, Hyerin downed her soju roughly as though indignant. She set the glass down hard and leaned in close to Mina.
“That Soyeon trades on Body Sponsorship with directors.”
“What? No way…”
Mina shook her head and refilled Hyerin’s empty glass. Hyerin then tapped her own chest in frustration.
“I’m telling you it’s true. Soyeon barely had an unknown period before she just exploded onto the scene. Everyone says that’s because of Body Sponsorship. People have seen her waiting for someone at hotels, and the way she carries herself so flirtatiously, it’s obvious—God, even today she’s being so shameless! Why! I’m so fucking… completely disgusted.”
Mina glanced over at Soyeon. She was pouring the Director a drink and smiling warmly at him.
The closeness between them did look excessive. And the dress she wore today, which showed her figure more, somehow made the whole scene feel improper.
“…If that’s really what’s going on, it’s too much. Way too much. It’s filthy.”
“Right? Women like her are the ones spreading gossip about sponsorships for female actors, you know? God, it’s so infuriating.”
By then, Soyeon’s title had shifted in their speech from “senior” to “woman.”
Hyerin tipped back the glass Mina had filled. The two of them had to finish the gathering in lonely, forgotten silence.
Days later, Hyerin made a secret proposal—a curse.
At first, Mina told her not to talk such nonsense. But the method was surprisingly simple, and it piqued her interest. Thinking that if the method was simple, the result probably wouldn’t amount to much, she quietly went along with it.
The day the two of them secretly hid the small pouch, a lighting accident occurred on stage, leaving a scratch across Soyeon’s skin.
Seeing it, both of them felt a chill and became certain. This was real.
Hesitation didn’t last long. They wanted to drive Soyeon off the stage by any means. Just a few scratches on her face—wouldn’t that prevent her from performing anymore?
The senior had already made plenty of money, so she could live comfortably without performing ever again.
And if talented performers like themselves, who had simply lacked opportunity, could fill that void, wouldn’t that be good for everyone? That logic dominated their thinking.
Eventually, they set the curse up on stage again, and even bribed Soyeon’s housemaid.
Whether it was called a curse, yang-bap, or slander—whatever name it bore—it worked remarkably well. When the second lighting accident occurred, the thrill gave way to genuine terror.
This could actually kill her.
Mina didn’t wish for that. It would be enough if Soyeon found it difficult to continue her acting career. But after witnessing that accident where Soyeon’s body nearly got crushed, Mina no longer wanted to continue with this.
That’s why she’d been subtly avoiding Hyerin, and now this woman kept annoying her with daily calls and stupid pranks. It infuriated her.
Crazy bitch.
To Mina, both Soyeon with her Body Sponsorship and Hyerin desperate because she couldn’t manage it were equally crazy bitches.
She couldn’t shake the thought that someone like herself—a natural beauty with decent acting skills who worked steadily and consistently—should be the one succeeding.
Anyway.
“Hyerin. If you’re going to joke around, I’m hanging up.”
Click-click. Mina snipped at her cuticles with the nail clipper, her irritation mounting. If she got annoyed, Hyerin would doubtless start up again with her usual nonsense, but today she could hardly bear it.
Yet even though this was the moment Hyerin usually would have—she stayed silent. Mina checked the screen again, confused.
“Hyerin?”
[Yeah. Mm-hmm-hmm.]
Hyerin finally answered. In that quiet, Mina had felt something deeply unpleasant creeping over her, but now she relaxed, returning to her cuticles. Click-click.
“Don’t mess with me too. You were laughing and joking around before, but… honestly, it scares me.”
[Scares you?]
“Of course it scares me. This curse thing—it’s actually coming true. Doesn’t it scare you?”
[Scares you?]
……
Hyerin’s voice held no inflection, just the same words repeated. Mina’s heart sank. But Hyerin didn’t stop.
[Scares you? What’s there to be scared of. You did this. You’re just like me. Hating and hating and envying and jealous and wanting and hating and hating.]
“Mom!”
Startled, Mina shoved back her chair and stood. Her mobile phone tumbled from the table, clattering across the floor. It landed on the bedroom floor with a dull thud, but the voice didn’t stop.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————