The Chaebol Family’s Youngest Daughter Doesn’t Hide Her Acting Skills - Chapter 53

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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 53

 

The downpour commotion subsided, and silence settled over the set preparing for filming.

 

Ju Sae-i, who had been running around being called the raincoat fairy just moments before, was nowhere to be seen. Standing before the camera, she had already become the character from the drama, So Ji-min.

 

“Ready, action!”

 

With the director’s signal, the air grew heavy.

 

Her co-star Dojehyeon slowly turned his head to gaze at So Ji-min. He too wore the perfect face of the mountain god ‘Seo Hyeon-gyeom.’

 

“I told you to leave this place.”

 

The mountain god’s low voice was perfect. The imposing yet somehow weary appearance of the mountain god.

 

His gaze, much deeper than during script reading, poured toward Ji-min.

 

Ji-min swallowed dry saliva and met those eyes. It was her turn to deliver her lines.

 

‘…!’

 

The moment their eyes met, déjà vu struck like a blow.

 

Black pupils that pretended to be strong but were mixed with helplessness. It was the afterimage of Woon Seong-ha, with whom she had practiced in the rehearsal room not long ago.

 

Was it because she had been impressed by the resignation unique to the mountain god that Woon Seong-ha had portrayed?

 

‘Uh….’

 

Dojehyeon was right in front of her, but Woon Seong-ha’s voice echoed in her head. The disconnect between sight and sound. Sae-i’s breathing caught at that alien sensation.

 

“…Ah.”

 

Instead of the lines that should have come out, only a foolish sigh escaped her lips. Dojehyeon’s brow furrowing seemed to play in slow motion.

 

“Cut!”

 

The director’s shout flew like a dagger and pierced through.

 

“Sae-i, did you forget your lines?”

 

“I’m sorry! I’ll do it again!”

 

Sae-i hurriedly bowed her head. Her heart was pounding. This couldn’t be dismissed as a simple mistake.

 

To think of someone else’s acting instead of watching her co-star’s performance. It was the worst discourtesy as an actor.

 

“….”

 

Dojehyeon looked down at Sae-i without saying anything.

 

Dojehyeon was a sensitive actor. Sensitive enough to instinctively know whether his acting partner was looking at him or thinking about something else.

 

During the brief filming break while the lighting was being reset, Dojehyeon approached Sae-i.

 

“Hey, Ju Sae-i.”

 

He opened his mouth with a sharp tone. Sae-i’s shoulders instinctively hunched.

 

“Who are you acting with right now?”

 

“…Huh?”

 

“Look into my eyes and act. Don’t think about other things.”

 

Dojehyeon’s eyes were accurate.

 

The moment Sae-i’s pupils wavered, he had seen through that something other than the mountain god he was portraying was reflected in them.

 

‘It’s probably Seong-ha hyung.’

 

It wasn’t that Ju Sae-i was incomprehensible. He too had been impressed by Woon Seong-ha’s mountain god acting.

 

However, if this kind of thing happened again, or if it were a different senior actor instead of him.

 

‘She’d hear all sorts of things.’

 

Dojehyeon was determined to give her a sharp word to prevent such incidents.

 

“Get your head together. Is it because you got rained on? If you’re not going to focus….”

 

But he who was about to continue speaking had to close his mouth.

 

“….”

 

Ju Sae-i’s face was beyond pale—it was ashen.

 

It wasn’t simply the expression of someone scared from being scolded. Like someone who had seen a ghost, or as if she had received a great shock from herself, her lips were trembling.

 

‘I must be crazy. How could I think of someone else’s acting….’

 

Sae-i couldn’t forgive herself.

 

The fact that she had been consumed by Woon Seong-ha’s acting at the moment when she should have been immersed was bewildering. Guilt and confusion were clearly written on her face.

 

That expression looked so pitiful that Dojehyeon, who had been about to lash out, became flustered instead and stammered.

 

“Uh, um… Hey, that, a bit….”

 

The momentum to get angry had completely disappeared, and only his awkwardly frozen hand wandered through the air.

 

‘Did I speak too harshly.’

 

He scratched the back of his neck for no reason. Seeing her blame herself with a face that looked ready to cry, he couldn’t push her any further.

 

“Sorry. I really won’t do it again. Really… I’m sorry.”

 

Sae-i apologized in a crawling voice. She looked exactly like a wet puppy.

 

Dojehyeon let out a short sigh. His anger had long since evaporated.

 

“…Just know that.”

 

He replied curtly and turned his gaze away.

 

“Clear your head. Don’t think complicated thoughts. You’re originally good at this.”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

“Let’s go again. This time I’ll support you properly.”

 

Dojehyeon’s ears were slightly red as he threw out his words gruffly and turned around.

 

Sae-i dry-washed her face and pulled herself together. She had to erase Woon Seong-ha’s afterimage. What was in front of her now was Dojehyeon’s mountain god.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

Sae-i’s eyes began to shine clearly again.

 

***

 

“Ready… action!”

 

The slate sound sharply cut through the air. I took a deep breath of the humid air.

 

As the cold energy mixed with the scent of rain hit my mind, the mistake from earlier came back painfully.

 

‘I can’t make a mistake this time.’

 

The NG I had just caused kept holding me back.

 

The staff were exhausted from the rain, and the sun was already beginning to set.

 

If I stumbled again here, it would be the ultimate inconvenience. The obsession that I absolutely had to get an okay tightened around my throat.

 

‘Let’s get it in one take, in one take.’

 

Dojehyeon was standing on those steep stone stairs.

 

The mountain god’s gaze looking down at me arrogantly. I had to become the desperate So Ji-min who had to cling to him, begging him to let her stay. Because Ji-min had fallen into a past where she didn’t know a single person.

 

I began climbing the stone stairs.

 

One step, one step.

 

The sensation touching my soles felt unpleasant. Due to the downpour that had just fallen, the stone stairs were soaked with moisture and glistening.

 

‘It’s slippery.’

 

It felt like walking on thin ice.

 

Moreover, something had been strange since earlier. My vision was slightly swaying.

 

Was it because of nervousness, or was I overexerting myself? Dizziness arose as if the ground was rising and falling on its own.

 

But I couldn’t stop. My eyes right now must be that very ‘desperation’ the director wanted. If I stopped here, the flow would break.

 

I gritted my teeth and stepped forward.

 

I could see Dojehyeon’s eyebrows twitch as he looked down at me from above. A strangely stiff expression. For the mountain god’s acting, there was too much worry in it.

 

‘Why is he like that? Not concentrating.’

 

I tried hard to ignore that gaze. The camera right in front was busy capturing my expression.

 

The moment I leaned my upper body forward while forcibly maintaining my staggering center of gravity.

 

The tip of my shoe stepped on that gap—the crevice between old stones where wet moss and mud had clumped together.

 

“Huh…?”

 

The sole of my shoe, having lost friction, slipped helplessly.

 

The world flipped upside down. My body, having lost its center, floated in the air and then tilted backward. What entered my vision was the distant bottom of the stone stairs.

 

‘Wait a minute….’

 

Instinctive fear dominated my brain. The worst-case scenario was calculated in my mind in an instant.

 

From this height, at this angle, if I rolled down to that hard stone floor?

 

At minimum, ten weeks of treatment.

 

I’d be lucky if it ended with just one broken leg, and if I damaged a nerve, acting would be over in this life too.

 

Not only would I have to leave this drama, but I’d waste several years on rehabilitation. Then during that time, Ju Suduk would again with Father and me….

 

No. I’ve only just started.

 

Now finally….

 

I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut. It was the moment I was about to curl up my body, bracing for the terrible pain that would come crashing down with a bang.

 

“Ju Sae-i…!”

 

Someone shot out like a bullet from the top of the stairs.

 

Urgent footsteps that ignored both the awareness of filming and camera angles struck my eardrums.

 

And then.

 

“Noona…!”

 

Thud!

 

A strong grip snatched my waist.

 

With a rough impact, my falling body was sucked into solid arms.

 

A silence came as if the world had stopped.

 

All I could hear was rough breathing, the scent of rain wafting over, and an unfamiliar body scent.

 

No, what was more shocking than that was the cry that had just torn through my eardrums.

 

‘…Noona?’

 

When I opened my eyes with a start, Dojehyeon’s face was right in front of me.

 

The always leisurely and annoyingly arrogant Dojehyeon was nowhere to be found.

 

Only a frightened, childlike figure was before my eyes, gripping my waist so tightly it might break, his face pale and lips trembling with fear.

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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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