In This Life, I Want an Oscar, Not a Husband - Chapter 24

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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 24

My younger siblings discover the MP3 player hidden beneath my bed—the one containing Million X’s songs.

Dad, look at this. She’s obsessed with some guy!

The words are inaudible, visible only through the shape of lips.
Violence follows, and tears burst from my eyes.
Despair begins anew.
And then comes the long-awaited band concert day.
I don’t attend, but the members perform their songs and dances with fervor.
The members finish the stage with radiant smiles.
Then, someone hurriedly slips out from the concert venue’s exit.
Rowen dashes swiftly toward that shadow.
Having finally caught me, Rowen breaks into a grin.

I knew you’d come. How did you like our music?

My eyes, calm and composed, betray that every smile until now has been a lie.

It was just…

My gaze conceals the word “good.”
But Rowen doesn’t notice the truth in my eyes, placing his hand against the wall as he speaks.

Listen, there’s something I need to tell you…

Rowen’s eyes close in on the camera.
The sound fades away.
As Rowen says something, Eun-rae’s eyes widen slightly before—
she falls into despair.
A despair as if everything were being swallowed whole.
A wounded expression.
What Rowen said must have been a confession.
Eun-rae’s expression, starkly different from Rowen’s hopeful face, appears on screen.
Eun-rae stands against the graffiti-covered wall of the Concert Venue, looking up at Rowen.
As if everything were already prepared.
She opens her mouth—a woman who has finished preparing to slaughter with her own hands the warm, happy moments they shared.

【Did you think I loved you?】

A bitter smile crosses her face.
In her eyes, tears shimmer faintly.

– Crying while smiling? How do you even do that… Watch this video.

It was that scene that had detonated across countless online communities and SNS.

【Why?】

A final smile.
And trembling lips, eyes brimming with tears.
Simultaneously, the shot widens to a full frame, showing Rowen left alone and Eun-rae growing distant.
Eun-rae walks forward with brave steps, holding back her sobs.
“Torn….”
Kang Ye-reum closed the video she’d watched through multiple viewings and looked at Eun-rae.
She was clearly looking at her friend, yet it felt strange—as if she were watching the music video’s protagonist instead.
“Hey, you…. Have you checked StarGram?”
I hadn’t.
Eun-rae shook her head. In her previous life, she’d received so much hate that avoiding SNS had become second nature.
“You haven’t been on since last time?”
“You have 100,000 followers?”
“…?”
100,000?
How could one music video possibly bring that many?
Eun-rae was shocked, but quickly made sense of it.
‘Million X’s view count was about to hit 100 million anyway.’
“With this many, wouldn’t you be getting contacted constantly?!”
I’d already heard that my DM inbox was on the verge of overflowing.
Especially since the shopping malls I’d modeled for previously were becoming trending topics, and my messenger app was absolutely flooded.

Eun-rae, I watched your music video! You were amazing!😍
Eun-rae, I’m sorry about what I said during filming last time
(See more)
Eun-rae, Eun-rae~ we’re filming together next time too, right?
This time I’ll pay…(See more)

There were far too many messages to even attempt reading them all, but I planned to respond to everyone except those I’d genuinely had bad relationships with.
‘Image management… image management….’
Eun-rae drilled into her head the image management she’d failed to do in her previous life.
But for an actress, something was more important than image management.
‘The next project.’
Eun-rae recalled the proposal she’d received at the last film set.

“Would you be interested in a YouTube film with Seo-woo? The pay might not be much, but if you’re in it, Eun-rae, I’m thinking of selling one of the lenses I have at home….”

What are these people constantly trying to sell?
I recalled another ‘item’ I’d received previously.
‘Search Rights.’
With just this, I could verify Park Seo-woo’s filmography after the change.
Whether this project appeared in it.
If it did, what kind of impact it had and what reviews it received.
A glimmer of interest flickered across my eyes.
And that was when it happened.
Kang Ye-reum slapped my thigh from beside me with an audible smack.
“Ow!”
I yelped, but Kang Ye-reum paid no mind and thrust her phone screen toward me.
“The music video making film just dropped! Turn on your laptop right now. You need to watch it reverently.”
My brow furrowed at her words.
The memory of my awkward self in that hastily-filmed making film came flooding back.

* * *

“Eun-rae. I called you because there’s something we need to discuss.”
The next morning, I was summoned to Jang Hee-ja’s office.
What… is this about?
Could it be a scolding over the making film?
I recalled my performance from yesterday’s making film.

【No, I’ll do better… I promise…】

Stuttering was just the beginning.

【It’s chicken! Sir! Which Gyeongdong chicken do you prefer?】
【Ah, Gyeongdong chicken? It really is delicious.】

A complete non-sequitur—

【You mentioned this was your first music video shoot, so how did it feel…?】
【…】

Standing there like a machine, unable to even respond!
God.
Please.
Do you… actually want to be an entertainer?
I’ve thrown away all the experience I accumulated from my previous life in the entertainment industry.
But self-deprecation wouldn’t change anything.
I know it myself.
In my past life, I was terrible at interviews.
Actress Ha Eun-rae was known to have some acting talent, but star quality? I had none whatsoever.
My fashion sense was nothing special, I had no heartwarming anecdotes to speak of, and I wasn’t suited for variety shows either.
So I was trying to change things in this life—
“Have you checked your SNS follower count?”
“Oh, yes. 100,000…”
“100,000? It’s already at 300,000.”
My eyes widened at those words.
300,000?
“Wait, when I checked yesterday it was definitely…”
“Yesterday and today are different worlds.”
Manager Jang showed me my StarGram account on his tablet—the one jointly managed by the Entertainment Agency and me.
There it was: 300,000 followers, and the direct messages were flooding in.
“Am I getting hate?”
I couldn’t stop my heart from racing suddenly.
Whenever people suddenly took this much interest in me, it was always because something bad had happened.
“Not hate exactly, but more like… funny? It’s become a meme of sorts.”
Manager Jang said this while showing me the pages where I’d been tagged.
And there were—

An actress called “Extreme IIII”

Posts with titles like that, or

The Film Set of an Actress Who Became a Machine

Videos with titles like these.
And when I clicked on one, my video appeared.

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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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