Chapter: 96
It felt as if the scent of blood was oozing outside the screen.
Chae Seo-ah looked at Seo Gwang-il, who was collapsed with blood streaming from his head.
She exhaled a rough breath, feeling pain in her waist.
「…….」
Chae Seo-ah gazed at the shattered window.
It was where Seo Gwang-il had stolen her hammer to break through.
And apart from Seo Gwang-il, who was breathing his last, there was no one else around.
During the commotion, Han Ye-hwa had managed to escape through the broken glass.
「Ha.」
Chae Seo-ah quickly tied up the unconscious Seo Gwang-il with the remaining blue tape.
「Not enough.」
She had used too much tape to bind Han Ye-hwa earlier.
The screen flipped, showing Han Ye-hwa hiding in a nearby convenience store, unable to run any further due to her wounds.
「Oh my, what’s happening? Get inside and quickly tend to your wounds! I’ll call the ambulance!」
The convenience store lady, wide-eyed, pushed Han Ye-hwa toward the back room.
As Han Ye-hwa took a moment to catch her breath and call the police, a new customer entered the convenience store.
It was none other than Chae Seo-ah, who had come to gather tools to murder Seo Gwang-il.
At that moment, the convenience store lady’s gaze fell upon Chae Seo-ah.
The audience collectively thought, “Wait, is this really happening?”
And then, the convenience store lady spoke to Chae Seo-ah with a worried expression.
「What on earth is going on today? This is the second time already.」
At those words, Chae Seo-ah’s hands abruptly froze.
A sigh of disbelief echoed throughout the packed cinema.
The audience forgot they were in a theater, and gasped involuntarily.
As everyone anticipated, Chae Seo-ah snatched the tools and promptly killed the convenience store lady.
However, what they didn’t expect was Chae Seo-ah’s reaction afterward.
For the first time, emotions that could actually be ‘read’ surfaced on Chae Seo-ah’s face.
Pain.
Regret.
An emotion that even she might not have fully understood appeared vividly on the screen.
It was suffocating.
Bitten lower lip, Chae Seo-ah exhibited a face that was neither crying nor laughing.
‘Wow.’
This time, she was on the verge of a different kind of sigh.
A face smiling yet crying.
Not even realizing it herself, Chae Seo-ah touched her face repeatedly.
The frustration and desperation emanating from her were palpable.
For the first time, people sympathized with the pain Chae Seo-ah was feeling.
At the very end, the face of the deceased convenience store lady blended with that of her parents, overlaying in a haunting manner.
Unable to bear it any longer, Chae Seo-ah turned her body.
The storage room where Han Ye-hwa was hiding.
As the door creaked open, Han Ye-hwa, brandishing a soju bottle, struck Chae Seo-ah’s head.
*
Detective Im Seung-cheol was running.
He had pursued Seo Gwang-il, who had entered the scene earlier, and discovered the unconscious detective.
Sensing Im Seung-cheol’s presence, Seo Gwang-il muttered in a daze.
「She… ran away. Chased… after her.」
Ran away and chased after her.
At first, he thought it was Chae Seo-ah’s escape he referred to, but soon realized Han Ye-hwa had also disappeared.
Seo Gwang-il’s mission was to rescue Han Ye-hwa desperately.
And Chae Seo-ah had run after her.
Or perhaps, she had gone to fetch the tools to kill Seo Gwang-il.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
Im Seung-cheol kept running.
He didn’t even count how many times he had run that day.
Breathless and drenched in sweat, he searched close by and finally arrived at the convenience store.
On a weekday afternoon.
With blinds drawn so tightly that the inside was obscured.
Being a regular at that convenience store, Im Seung-cheol knew that the lady working there wouldn’t be silent.
「You bastards!!」
Kicking the door open, he burst inside to find Chae Seo-ah choking Han Ye-hwa.
With blood spilling from her head, Han Ye-hwa was on the floor.
Seeing this, Im Seung-cheol rushed over and kicked Chae Seo-ah.
Bang! The convenience store display toppled over.
In the chaos, Chae Seo-ah fell but grasped the fallen hammer.
「Oh yeah, let’s do this.」
「…….」
Glancing at Han Ye-hwa’s condition, Im Seung-cheol positioned himself slowly, aiming his taser at Chae Seo-ah.
Chae Seo-ah’s lips twisted into a smirk that was far from human.
It looked unsettling, almost like a grotesque smile.
As it hardened like stone, Chae Seo-ah lunged at Im Seung-cheol.
「Ugh!!」
He aimed the taser but she dodged behind the tilted display.
Without missing a moment, she charged at Im Seung-cheol, swinging her hammer.
He resisted, throwing down whatever items were on the ground, trying to defend himself.
Kicking and punching, he attempted to hit Chae Seo-ah’s face, but her hammer struck Im Seung-cheol’s side powerfully.
「Cough!」
Im Seung-cheol twisted and let out a scream, announcing his pain across the theater.
Despite being battered, Chae Seo-ah charged forward, as if she felt no pain.
Just as she lifted the hammer to finish him off…
「!!」
Chae Seo-ah’s knees suddenly crumpled.
The impact came from Han Ye-hwa, who had struck Chae Seo-ah on the head with a soju bottle—something she had seen on the CCTV.
The combination of blows from Seo Gwang-il and Han Ye-hwa had caused her knees to buckle.
Confusion.
At that moment, staring intently at the emotions visible on Chae Seo-ah’s face, Im Seung-cheol’s fist connected with hers.
The audience was gripped with tension as they watched Chae Seo-ah collapse, along with the unexpected commotion that drew more people to the convenience store.
The sound of police sirens echoed through the air.
The screen gradually dimmed, allowing the audience to release a collective breath.
A sigh of relief filled the space.
*
“Did you see
“Oh man, I did! I almost swore during that convenience store scene.”
“Wow, me too! That scene was epic!”
A small wave started to spread like a tide, as word-of-mouth began to circulate.
It began with advertisements.
Then, the talk from variety shows combined, and people started flocking to theaters.
“Wow, look, I’m sweating in my palms!”
“Is that Joo Su-yeon? Wow, her acting is no joke!”
“Chae Seo-ah’s act of crying and laughing? I was so close to spilling my drink!”
“Dude, she’s our age!”
“Who? Chae Seo-ah? No way!”
Recently, perhaps due to a lack of other movies to watch, the crowd kept coming for this thriller.
Tickets were selling out so fast that they began extending the screening times.
With such talks emerging offline, it was only natural that online communities started buzzing too.
==
[Post: Whoa,
Isn’t this Joo Su-yeon’s first film?
Has she already secured a ten million star status???
Replies
– Ugh
– Please, just stay at your main fandom
– No way it’ll hit ten million, lol
– You think it’s easy to hit ten million with a thriller?
==
On the very first day of release.
As the audience count surged, such comments appeared.
The general vibe of the community was fairly negative.
It was just that thriller fans were showing up due to a lack of recent films.
Pretty much that sort of nuance.
But.
On day three, it hit 1.2 million.
– Hmm…. This might actually hit ten million???
– Utopia is also getting good reviews and might not last long.
– Lol, at this rate it won’t hit ten million!
– If it hits ten million, I’ll dance naked in Gangnam, just saying!
– Seriously???
– But it’s definitely impressive, nonetheless.
After such reactions emerged, after the weekend, on day seven,
– Wait, what?
– No way, is this really gonna hit ten million? 5 million???
– I saw it and the acting was insane! The actors did great!
– For real, the tension was off the charts; now I can’t hear “convenience store” without swearing!
– But Joo Su-yeon is really pretty; I actually started watching Dream Future because of that, lol!
– Dream Future? You consider that worth watching?
– Surprisingly, Dream Future is pretty good.
– But Joo Su-yeon has like zero screen time!
– She’s definitely gonna be popular now, just you wait.
The wave of success was now beginning to swell into a tsunami.
As
[Director Bae Jin-hwan says, ‘Thanks for 3 million!!’]
[The cast of
[Who’s the MVP of the success? ‘Chae Seo-ah’]
Amidst the flurry of articles, one entity began to feel anxious.
That was none other than Éclat Étoile.
The company that had hired Seoyeon for a cosmetics ad.
“Um, Director.”
“Why now?”
“Well, the sales….”
“Did they go up?”
“Well, not quite, but it’s being maintained.”
Hearing that it was at least being sustained, Director Baek Min-chan sighed in relief.
He never imagined someone could play a murderer in a film.
While they hadn’t included a clause against such roles, he certainly hadn’t expected it.
“Still, her acting was top-notch. If you haven’t seen it yet, Director Jung, you should definitely do so.”
“Oh, of course, I’ve seen it. I can hardly believe it’s the same person.”
“Make sure to watch Dream Future as well.”
“Oh, I’ll think about it.”
Team Leader Jung Tae-soo cleared his throat at Director Baek Min-chan’s words and continued.
“It’s strange that it’s being maintained. Normally, you’d expect a decline with such a negative image.”
“Really? It hasn’t declined?”
“Well, it did drop.”
“Then it must be as expected.”
“No, but it’s barely dropped—one might consider it statistical error.”
“Oh, really? For real? Why?”
“I think it might be because the image she showcased is strong enough to influence the ads.”
Yet, the drop was far less than expected.
Why was that?
He pondered but the answer was simple.
“Maybe because she’s pretty?”
“…I think it might be time for you to change positions.”
“No, I genuinely believe that’s the only explanation. Moreover, I think the female audience’s sympathy for Chae Seo-ah might be a contributing factor.”
Indeed, the Chae Seo-ah displayed in the film had an appropriately chilling image.
Moreover, despite being a murderer, the sultry aura she exuded seemed to align amusingly well with Éclat Étoile’s advertising.
And as Team Leader Jung Tae-soo predicted,
Fifteen days after the release of
sales for Éclat Étoile began to rebound.
*
The box office runaway of
In just fifteen days, it reached 8 million.
While ten million was virtually guaranteed,
not everyone was smiling.
“Is this really happening?”
“No…”
“You said it would succeed. We got the investment.”
A sharp voice rang out.
Another film had also premiered alongside
The film that was backed by GH Group, like
The lead actor, Hwang Min-hwa, glared at her co-star, his face contorting in frustration.
She had been filed under ‘Horizon Company’ thanks to this film,
and now found herself in a rather humiliating position.
“W-well, it’s not a total failure.”
“200 million.”
“…”.
“Well, if luck is on our side, 400 million could be possible. There’s potential for growth.”
However, nobody mentioned
It was all
It felt shameful.
Especially knowing they had been trounced by the actor from Nova Entertainment, whom she had once kicked out.
‘Joo Seoyeon.’
The image of the young actress flitted through her mind.
Hwang Min-hwa bit her lower lip.
There was indeed an aura about her.
One could feel the shining talent radiating from her.
But still, she had thought of her as just a rookie.
Gritting her teeth,
Hwang Min-hwa vowed to never forget this incident.
Just as Hwang Min-hwa was making that promise,
“Congratulations, Director Bae Jin-hwan!”
“Oh, what for?”
“You’re now a ten-million director!”
“Not yet. Not yet!!”
Bae Jin-hwan beamed as he clinked glasses with others at the table.
It was almost time for him to earn that title.
Today? Or maybe tomorrow.
‘Finally, I can become a ten-million director.’
That glorious honor was soon to be his.
Especially at a young age among directors.
“I really need to thank the actors for their hard work.”
“It’s a shame that Seoyeon couldn’t join the celebration today.”
“She’s still in high school.”
“Considering her young age and what she’s accomplished… Wow, is she really going to Hollywood?”
“Of course, why not? I, Bae Jin-hwan, can guarantee it!”
Clink!
As they clinked their glasses in celebration, actor Kim Dae-heon, who had played Detective Im Seung-cheol, spoke up.
“Director, I think you have a phone call?”
“A phone call?”
Now that he mentioned it, he noticed his phone ringing on the table.
“Who on earth is calling at this hour….”
As he placed his drink down and checked the screen, Bae Jin-hwan’s eyes widened.
He then jumped up from his seat to answer the call.
“Ah, yes. This is Director Bae Jin-hwan. Oh, how have you been, Director?”
It was the director of the cultural business department from GH Group.
The one who had generously supported the filming of
Even as a ten-million director, Bae Jin-hwan felt a wave of sobriety wash over him at such an important person’s call.
And then,
“Excuse me? You’re speaking about Seoyeon?”
That was an unexpected request.
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