In This Life, I Want an Oscar, Not a Husband - Chapter 28

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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 28

“Director?”
At that moment, I heard someone calling out to him.
Only then did Park Seo-woo realize he had unconsciously picked up his camera and was photographing Ha Eun-rae.
“Ah… I apologize. I took the shot without realizing it. If I’ve made you uncomfortable…”
Taking someone’s photograph without their consent was indeed wrong.
“Please print it for me later.”
But she smiled, her expression showing no displeasure whatsoever.
‘I’m curious. How will my face look in Park Seo-woo’s camera for the first time?’
That’s what Ha Eun-rae was thinking.
‘Today I did my makeup to match the protagonist’s face, so I’m also curious how that will translate on camera.’
Park Seo-woo was probably testing the camera with that very thought in mind.
Unaware of what Eun-rae was thinking, Park Seo-woo sat across from her.
“I apologize. This is our first proper meeting, but it was difficult to secure a conference room—”
“We’ve brought such an important person to such a humble place?”
Ha Eun-rae laughed.
At that, Park Seo-woo’s brow furrowed slightly—barely enough for Eun-rae to notice.
As if the wall that existed before had vanished, she seemed to be treating him more comfortably—
‘But it’s actually the opposite.’
I could sense the refined scent of practiced business etiquette.
“I was joking, Director. Since you’re the director now, I’ll call you that. I heard the Cinematographer couldn’t make it today.”
“Ah, yes. It seems we’ll need to proceed with the script reading between ourselves.”
Park Seo-woo also switched into business mode with practiced ease.
She had no idea.
That their first meeting wasn’t on the set of 【Cohabiting with a Ghost】.
‘She probably wouldn’t care anyway.’
With that thought, he pulled out the printed script and storyboard he’d brought.
“But what did you tell your agency…?”
Ha Eun-rae was a rising actress who had recently gained significant recognition.
Having appeared in TV commercials and even shot a major music video, she was no longer the caliber for no-budget YouTube content.
‘I actually thought this was the right timing for her to start pursuing drama roles.’
Her agency was probably thinking along the lines of a web drama lead role at minimum.
If she told them she wanted to appear in a short film like this, they would certainly have opposed it.
“I told them I’d handle it as a personal schedule. But I think I’ll need to get approval on the final cut—is that alright?”
“Of course, I’ll provide it. But did the company say they were okay with this?”
This kind of image consumption?
“Yes. The people at our company dig up land and do business with it.”
“Pardon?”
“No, I mean—when I showed them the synopsis, they said it looked interesting. Our CEO values artistic merit highly.”
It was true.
Eun-rae had sent only the synopsis to Heo Kyung-hoe without telling the CEO whose work it was, what the guarantee was, or anything like that.
And the moment Heo Kyung-hoe read it, he responded.

“Don’t tell me this is a piece you’re submitting to a short film festival?”

It was a natural reaction.
This was Park Seo-woo’s synopsis, after all.
No matter that he was only twenty, Park Seo-woo’s talent didn’t diminish anywhere.
Of course Heo Kyung-hoe had approved filming this work.
‘His eye for material is absolutely impeccable.’
That’s why Naru Stage had grown so large in such a short time.
“I really enjoyed reading it. The script.”
Eun-rae met Park Seo-woo’s gaze directly as she spoke.
She no longer felt flustered in his presence. She had decided not to be uncomfortable around him.
‘I’m only thinking about one thing now.’
She erased from her mind his words that had pierced her core and stabbed at her heart.
He was a director who would win an Oscar.
A stepping stone to her career—nothing more, nothing less.
And to use such a Park Seo-woo—
“Could we shoot as quickly as possible and show it to people as quickly as possible?”
She had to make this work succeed.
On her timeline.
“Is there a specific timeframe you have in mind?”
At Park Seo-woo’s question, Ha Eun-rae swallowed her smile.
A strange sense of satisfaction rose within her.
For now, at least, her stock was higher than Park Seo-woo’s.
How long would such a moment last?
She couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity.
“I’d like it by the end of this month. Is that possible?”
Park Seo-woo’s answer came in one second.
“I’ll make it happen.”

* * *

– I’m sorry, but I really need that button. I have a midterm evaluation today. Could you bring it to me?

The next afternoon.
I boarded a bus heading to D University after Kang Ye-reum asked me for the favor.
The bus was packed with university students wearing school jackets.
Seeing them stirred something peculiar in me.
‘I wanted to go to university too, at least.’
Well, I gave up on that after my father squandered my tuition money.
Still, wouldn’t it have helped when filming campus scenes if I’d attended university, even late in my previous life?
‘I’m a bit regretful about not getting into university.’
I hated being criticized for only having a high school diploma, but I also despised being accused of academic credential fraud, so I found myself regretting all those missed opportunities in my past life.
‘Ugh…. In this life, I’ll worry less about what others think.’
That’s when I was lost in such thoughts.
I heard murmuring from those around me.
“Oh… hey, I think that’s right.”
What’s right?
I glanced subtly at my surroundings.
Then my eyes met with a male student in a school jacket nearby.
In that moment, I realized it.
Ah.
That’s the face of someone who recognizes me.
“Aren’t you that… Gyodong Chicken girl! Right?!”
Instantly, every eye on the bus turned toward me.
“Ah… um….”
I rolled my eyes, unsure how to respond.
‘I let my guard down thinking I wasn’t famous yet in this life!’
Besides, in my previous life I’d only ever traveled by van, so I’d never encountered a situation like this before.
“Ah… um… uh….”
While I was stammering, I quickly jumped out through the open bus door.
My face completely flushed red.
This is a disaster!
Image management, my foot!
As I watched people on the departing bus eagerly taking photos of me, I noticed an advertisement plastered on the bus’s side and realized something.

[Gyodong Chicken, it’s really delicious!]

That’s my face on there.
‘What the hell…!’
I need to go buy a mask!

* * *

Glub, glub, glub….
Sitting in the cafe, I blew air into my drink with a dejected expression, while Kang Ye-reum simply laughed at the sightings of me posted on SNS.

– Look at her running the moment people recognize her lolololololol
– I wasn’t really interested in Ha Eun-rae but I think I’m about to become a fan;;;; this is ridiculous;;;

“Hey, look at this.”
“I don’t want to see it….”
How did I end up with such an extreme image in the first place?
I’m not an introvert—I just….
‘…find people a little frightening, that’s all.’
I pulled my mask back up and looked around.
Fortunately, the cafe Kang Ye-reum had brought me to was quite deserted.
‘Sigh….’
From now on, I should at least bring a hat and mask whenever I go out.
Even if it seems a bit excessive, there’s no harm in doing so.
Besides, being consumed by an ‘image’ like this rather than by one’s actual work isn’t particularly good for an actress.
Once you’re locked into a single image, the range of roles you can play becomes limited.
‘I’m glad Park Seo-woo’s project filming is starting soon. He said it begins tomorrow….’
Since they said they’d edit as quickly as possible, I could minimize the time this strange viral content keeps circulating.
Then Kang Ye-reum held out her phone screen to me.

@silverlining ♡silver cloud♡

“Hey, you’ve got a fan account?”
A fan account…?
I took the phone Kang Ye-reum offered me.
There was an SNS account plastered with photos of me.
Screenshots captured at nano-scale precision from the making film, photos from the Gyodong Chicken commercial, my CF making-of footage, and—
they’d even dug up photos from when I was modeling for an Internet Shopping Mall and written this post.

You must have lived really hard after all. This was in XX year, when I was 18 years old. Why is my kitten working so hard?

Reading that post, something twisted strangely in my chest.
‘Back then, I was obsessed with money.’
I thought if I saved enough money, I could go to university, and I was desperate to earn it.
When someone renamed the dark past I’d thought of as mere obsession with money as ‘living hard’—if that made those days not seem so terrible…was I going crazy?

I want to see Eun-rae’s romantic comedyㅠㅠ I want to see a historical drama, I want to see Eun-rae in a hanbokㅠㅠ I also want to see high school student Eun-raeㅠ Oh, I don’t know, I just want to see everything..!! I think the crying cat will be good at anything.

“Kitten…?”
At my confusion, Kang Ye-reum shrugged at me.
“You look a bit like a kitten, you know. If I had to be specific, a black kitten?”
…So that’s what a ‘nickname’ is.
I’d never had one in my past life.
I’d seen plenty of actor fans bringing placards to official events, but I wasn’t an actress with that kind of fanbase.
Rather, I was the kind of actress that those fandoms disliked.

Ugh, Ha Eun-rae again? Why do Korean films keep casting her? They know she’s controversial.

But I have a ‘nickname’ now?
The feeling is strange.
A feeling that gratitude alone cannot fully express.
The affection they have for me, the desire to see my other films—it settled in my heart as a pleasant burden.
I want to show them too.
To this person. To the public.
How far I can go.

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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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