In This Life, I Want an Oscar, Not a Husband - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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This life, I choose The Oscars over a husband.
Chapter 13

Min Se-ye soon reached for the camera.
Like a director with considerable expertise in filming, he devoted meticulous attention to the camera setup.
Fingers adorned with colorful rings deftly adjusted the camera and moved the lighting equipment.
From the carefully positioned camera angle, Min Se-ye smiled as he looked at me through the viewfinder—a sharp, predatory gaze.
“Perfect. This is exactly right. Shall we give it a try?”
Nothing about him resembled the man who’d been fawning moments ago—his eyes held the intensity of a hawk.
In truth, Min Se-ye in private was merely a man who loved alcohol, fine clothing, and parties.
But the moment filming began, his entire demeanor transformed completely.
There are often directors like this.
The type who act intimately before an audition, then change entirely once it begins.
Inexperienced actors who haven’t yet learned to separate professional from personal often become flustered by such directors.
But I wasn’t that green.
“Yes. I’m ready.”
I immediately focused on the performance.
Min Se-ye seemed slightly taken aback by my shift, but he quickly returned to his professional demeanor as well.
“There will be dialogue in the final scene as the music cuts out. To briefly explain the preceding situation—”
Min Se-ye explained the music video’s story to me.
It was a narrative I already knew.
The high school where Million X members attend.
There, they encounter a woman.
Each member, brimming with distinct personality and differing temperaments, encounters the woman in their own unique way.
Some discover her smoking while working at a meat restaurant; others spot her passing through the school gates long after classes have begun.
The woman captivates the members’ hearts like a femme fatale, yet she rejects every confession they make.
And her final words are these.
“‘Did you think I loved you? Why?’ That’s the final line.”
‘There’s no way this dialogue could be any more cutting….’
After giving them every reason to hope, she mocks their feelings in that final moment.
I recall the actress who played this role before my regression received tremendous backlash.
The dialogue was too cold, and the woman delivering it seemed far too arrogant.
“Can you do this? Let me know when you’re ready.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Though I was already prepared, since I’d only just received the dialogue, I pretended to take a moment to prepare.
Meanwhile, I slowly ran through my mental simulation of what I’d already rehearsed.
“Okay.”
I murmured to myself, then spoke to Min Se-ye.
“I’m ready.”
“Already? I thought it would take longer.”
Min Se-ye tilted his head curiously.
“I just thought of something I want to try.”
I observed him calmly.
Then Min Se-ye nodded with an inscrutable smile.
As if to say, go ahead and give it a shot.
I stood before his camera and immediately immersed myself in the scene.
Five men had entered my life—a life that had always been desolate.
And with them came moments that burned like sunlight, blazed like fire, or ached with longing.
Why had I said such things?
Why had I spoken so cruelly?
Without saying I was sorry, without saying I never loved you.
As I turned the dialogue over in my mind, I began to understand myself.
Because I didn’t want to drag them into the shadows of my life.
Because I didn’t want to show them the darkness within me.
So I chose to speak that way deliberately.
Speaking to myself.
Why did I think I loved this man? When it could never be.
Like that.
I gazed at the camera and leaned against the wall.
Then, with a slightly weary expression, I spoke softly.
“Did I really think I loved you?”
Tinged with resignation, sorrow, and regret.
My life would always be like this.
No one would ever love me, and I could never love anyone.
At nineteen, the wild emotions of youth swept through me.
“Why?”
I uttered the word briefly, as if asking myself.
Tears threatened to spill, but I held them back, instead letting out a bitter laugh.
As if I’d heard something absurd.
Then, collecting myself, I smiled again at the camera.
I thrust my hands into my pockets and walked away indifferently.
Out of frame.
“….”
“….”
The brief scene ended just like that.
For a moment, silence filled the practice room.
Manager Jang, who sat beside me, said nothing. Neither did the LP Entertainment representative.
Even Min Se-ye remained silent.
I looked at Min Se-ye with a somewhat awkward expression.
“Director… that’s all I’ve prepared.”
At my words, Min Se-ye tore his gaze from the camera and looked at me.
“Huh? Ah… um…”
Min Se-ye answered with a dazed expression.

* * *

“Director?”
Someone called out to Min Se-ye, who sat in a chair staring blankly into space.
It was Kim Byung-ho, the representative of the talent agency Kanna.
For context, moments earlier, Kim Byung-ho’s rising starlet Kang Ye-ji had just finished a camera test in front of Min Se-ye.
Kang Ye-ji.
She was the new actress Kim Byung-ho had been pushing lately.
In these times of actress shortage, Kim Byung-ho had acquired quite an attractive face.
Pure and innocent without appearing overly pitiful, with large eyes that held a hint of charm.
In short, a face fit for a leading role.
Her acting was even decent.
The moment Kim Byung-ho acquired Kang Ye-ji, he had already mapped out her trajectory in his mind.
A drama lead role was out of reach for now.
So first, build her face recognition through commercials and music videos!
The perfect project for this was Min Se-ye’s Million X music video.
With Million X, the music video would easily rack up fifty million views, and the female lead of the MV would inevitably become a hot topic!
With his calculations in place, Kim Byung-ho grinned and spoke to Min Se-ye.
“What do you think? Our Ye-ji has some real acting chops, doesn’t she? And that face.”
Upon hearing this, Kang Ye-ji smiled sweetly.
As Kim Byung-ho praised Kang Ye-ji, the LP Entertainment Manager beside him subtly pushed her as well.
“If you ask me, Kang Ye-ji is the best option.”
The gazes of Kim Byung-ho and the LP Entertainment Manager intertwined in the air.
The two had already “strengthened their friendship” over drinks at a bar.

“Ah, I shouldn’t be accepting these kinds of things. But with my backing, the female lead role in the MV is as good as settled. The CEO already handed full authority over this MV to me.”

The Manager seemed displeased with Kim Byung-ho’s “lobbying.”
Given the circumstances, if Min Se-ye approved, there was nothing stopping Kang Ye-ji from securing the female lead role.
“Beauty isn’t what matters. What matters is fitting the character.”
Min Se-ye spoke in a lukewarm tone, his eyes sweeping up and down Kang Ye-ji’s outfit.
A short tennis skirt mimicking a cheerleader’s uniform paired with a fitted cardigan.
…But the color combination was oddly tacky.
“The female lead in this one is a femme fatale, so I dressed like a school queen bee.”
“A school queen bee….”
Min Se-ye smacked his lips.
“Why is a school queen bee working at a meat restaurant?”
“Pardon?”
Kang Ye-ji glanced at Kim Byung-ho at those words.
She had simply worn what he told her to wear.
It was Kim Byung-ho who had consulted with the stylist.
All he had told her was this.

“Just act like some arrogant bitch. Haughty and aloof.”
“Yes. I’ll prepare hard.”

Kang Ye-ji flashed a determined smile.
While her academy and school friends hadn’t even signed with a talent agency yet, here I was auditioning for a music video female lead.
I couldn’t afford to miss an opportunity like this.
I asked the stylist to make the outfit even shorter and tighter than what Kim Byung-ho had suggested.
“What were you thinking about when you acted?”
But I hadn’t anticipated such a specific question from Min Se-ye.

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