If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 64

It was after finishing classes at Yewon as usual.

When I opened my locker, the inside was turned upside down in a mess. There were clear signs someone had gone through it, and they didn’t even seem to intend to hide it.

As I calmly assessed what was missing, I felt my heart grow cold.

…It was the script.

As soon as I heard laughter echoing from a group in the distance, I walked straight toward them.

Gazes clung to me while pretending not to look.

It was always like this at Yewon.

Everyone pretended not to care while paying attention to my every move. Expecting and waiting for me to fall.

That kind of world it was.

“What? What script? What are you asking for?”

“She must be talking about a practice script. Sing-a, can’t you even distinguish between a screenplay and a script? Not even greeting your seniors. I guess being a rising star makes you look down on everyone.”

“Rising? Isn’t she a has-been star now?”

“Shh. Didn’t you hear from Mihee? If you touch the princess, Bae Tae-ja comes running to bite you.”

‘If this reaches Bae Tae-ak’s ears, it won’t be an exaggeration – he really will bite them.’

But I ignored the extras.

Because the main act wasn’t over there. I looked directly at Namihee, who was smiling serenely among them.

“Can’t you hear me? You took it. Give it back.”

“What are you going on about? Don’t falsely accuse innocent people.”

“No. Sing-a seems to have lost something. Whenever anything goes missing, she always comes to me first.”

Namihee smiled bitterly.

Then the gazes watching me from nearby became more openly aggressive.

This was helping poor Namihee who was being bullied by me, so their actions were also righteous – that was their logic.

“Really now. I guess she looks down on you because you live at your aunt’s house. Her character is just…”

Namihee’s borrowed-knife-to-kill tactic was a trick I’d been subjected to countless times by Jeong Hyeon-hye, so it didn’t even itch. It was an outdated method that even Jeong Hyeon-hye doesn’t use anymore these days.

And.

‘When it comes to disgusting acting, I’m pretty good at it too.’

I quickly inhaled while keeping my angry expression.

As if I was so wronged I didn’t know what to do, like a naive and clumsy kid who didn’t even know how to control emotions, I stammered.

“Wh-why are you really doing this to me. You said I was your only real friend at Yewon…! I endured it even when you pretended not to know me. If that’s what you wanted, if it made only you comfortable, I was okay with it.”

To play the victim role, you need a narrative to support it.

Namihee who had been constantly badmouthing VS Seosing-a who had only been on the receiving end.

In people’s eyes, who would really look like the good guy?

“But was it all lies? Did you hate me that much? Enough to lie and bully me like this…?”

As my face turned red and I shed tears, people standing far away watching in the hallway began to murmur.

Even the extras next to Namihee who had been ready to criticize me hesitated.

The faces glancing suspiciously at Namihee seemed confused about which side was the bad one.

Namihee’s face hardened.

“Seosing-a. Your acting has improved a lot. Even in a place like this-“

“If you want, I’ll say what script it is right here. That’s what you want, right?”

“…”

Namihee hesitated and glared at me.

I returned it with a slight eye-smile in a moment no one could see.

What Namihee stole was Director Haemun’s script.

Security for unreleased scripts by established directors was extremely tight.

Especially for a next project script by a director as famous as Haemun, it was worth whatever price you named and could even cause underground wars, so production companies wouldn’t take even the slightest risk of losing it.

Not only did they hide it thoroughly, but they only shared it with a very limited number of investors under restricted conditions, so it would never circulate in the market.

If such a thing happened, regardless of whether it was a small or large scale, the production company would stake their life on biting whoever caused it.

When Haemun handed it over to me at our first meeting, it was just trust and goodwill he showed as a director to his actor.

But an actor who wasn’t even cast stole it from a colleague’s hands?

Just getting a similar label would bury that actor in this industry.

It was the worst scarlet letter that would turn everyone in the industry – production companies, directors, fellow actors – into enemies.

Namihee couldn’t be unaware of this fact, yet she really did it, either out of desperation or stupidity.

‘Or was I too lenient all this time?’

To the point where she thought I’d tolerate even this crazy act?

I moved my lips as if I was about to speak right away. Namihee jumped up urgently.

“Sisters. I’ll be right back. It seems like there’s some misunderstanding with Sing-a.”

♧

“Why are you so sure it was me?”

“Then who else could it be?”

I calmly wiped away my not-yet-dry tears.

The 4th floor bathroom of Yewon.

Same place, same person as half a year ago, but the conversation content was worlds apart.

“Mihee unnie. I’m not trying to attack you personally, but seriously… isn’t your head a bit too bad? The only people who know my locker password are you and Bae Tae-ak, so should I suspect Bae Tae-ak instead of you?”

Why would I?

“Just because I left one of Bae Tae-ak’s keychains there? Hah~ Where would you find such convenient logic?”

It was basically a place where everyone was competitors.

Someone like Bae Tae-ak might have thought it was okay to frame me since Bae Seo-nyeok would clean up the mess even if he stole Haemun’s script out of greed.

But the problem was that no matter how well Namihee treated me when people weren’t watching, I hadn’t forgotten.

That look in Namihee’s eyes when she looked at me in the cafeteria that day, like a starving hyena.

“Fine. Let’s stop. I was naive to think you’d trust me over Bae Tae-ak.”

“…”

“I never thought you’d expose it in front of everyone. I didn’t know you had such guts. With so many people watching, you dared to reveal the director’s next project? Do you want to advertise that you were cast as the female lead? You’re not usually like this, Sing-a. Why did you change? You used to be timid, do you want Director Haemun’s movie that badly?”

Namihee let out a bitter laugh.

“Right~ That must be it. I was shocked when I opened the script. You even did a complete script analysis. Very diligently too. I guess you’re serious. Could you really get in?”

“What if I do?”

“…I’ve never seen a kid as greedy as you. What exactly can you even do?”

A face glaring at me, completely distorted.

It didn’t overlap at all with the pathetic appearance from a few months ago, begging me to save her just once, saying she was sorry.

Namihee had changed.

Whether by choice or force, this was reality and truth anyway.

“Syndrome? That’s really ridiculous. You think you became something just because you shot one CF? Even delusions have limits.”

I swallowed a sigh. What was I doing arguing with a kid?

“Namihee. Let’s not waste time. We probably won’t see each other after today anyway, so just give me back my stuff.”

“That was originally mine.”

What kind of nonsense is this now?

“…Are you dreaming? Are you in your right mind?”

“The CF you shot was originally mine too, and I heard about the director’s next project first! The protagonist’s age fits me better, and I act much better, but if you hadn’t done the despicable thing of using Bae Tae-ak to climb up to Bae Seo-nyeok, if we had competed fairly, it would have been my spot originally! You know?! You ruined everything!”

Namihee gritted her teeth and raged. She even shed tears.

“Everything was mine but you took it away! Everything!!!”

“…”

“Don’t act like you’re being generous while enjoying things that were originally mine. It’s disgusting, you know? Who are you? Do you know acting? Do you know movies? Who are you?! A nobody commoner…!”

Her voice, filled with rage, echoed sharply off the bathroom walls.

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh. Commoner?

Truly befitting the daughter of a legendary actress.

I’d heard as a joke that there were celebrities who believed themselves to be privileged class, but it was real?

The most absurd fact was that this kid was serious.

Every word spoken in this place was sincere.

Namihee truly thought this way and believed it.

Because of her confident conviction, I reflexively searched my memories too. Wondering if I really had stolen Namihee’s opportunities.

But in the original timeline, the model for that CF was a different child, and the concept and approach were completely different from mine.

The script for Director Haemun’s next project that he gave me was also a title and content I had never heard of before.

After meeting with the director, when I called Bae Seo-nyeok, he said:

“If he hadn’t met you, the director wouldn’t have even thought of bringing this work to the world.”

My determination toward the path of acting was like grass roots, and if I hadn’t had the confidence that others had repeatedly built up for me in that way, I might have crumbled at just a few of Namihee’s confident words.

I quietly stared at Namihee.

Though her tears were real, those tears were only for herself.

“Give me the script. It’s late. I need to go home. Unlike a noble young lady, a commoner has a humble family to return to.”

It would be a lie to say I didn’t want to crush her, but I was still the adult here.

The moral restraints I held as an adult made me endure.

However.

“I don’t have it. I tore it up and threw it away.”

“…What?”

Namihee, who had been crying, burst into sharp laughter.

“Can’t you understand? I tore it to shreds and flushed it down the toilet.”

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