* * *
At last, the day arrived. Because CG filming was required, the schedule had been pulled forward significantly.
‘The final episode....’
The transition from Episode 15 to Episode 16—the very mont Yeomga and Seoryeong finally faced each other. A strange anticipation and heavy tension hung in the air on the set as preparations went on.
‘Professor is staying inside the van.’
Whether she was holding her emotions in check or not, the professor did not co out of the van. Straw mats were spread over the dirt ground, red cloths were tied to the bamboo that had been planted, and throughout it all I quietly watched the scene unfold.
‘A gut ritual Yeomga prepared herself....’
The thought that she had compressed all of her long-standing resentnt into this mont suddenly made my body feel heavy.
Yeomga—the opponent I had to fight.
I recalled Yeomga as we had analyzed her during earlier conversations with the professor.
‘We were just filming scenes where Seoryeong went to the marketplace with Myungdo until recently, so I thought it would be hard to grab the emotions.’
Instead, comparing that set with the current one made it easier to imrse myself emotionally.
Because the straw mat spread in the marketplace and the mat laid out for Yeomga’s ritual were the sa. Seeing the rough mat sared with dirt, it felt as if Geum Bitgang’s voice was echoing by my ear.
“I couldn’t possibly allow a world like this to keep running peacefully.”
Did Yeomga’s child have been a daughter, or a son? Would they have had an upright disposition like Myungdo, or been willful like Seoryeong?
‘I don’t know.’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t possibly know. Because that child...
‘...died.’
They no longer existed in this world. What they might have liked or disliked, what they might have been good at or bad at—those were things that would remain unknowable forever.
If Yeomga’s child had been there in the marketplace where Seoryeong and Myungdo walked together, where would they have run first? Maybe they would have gone to the fruit vendor to haggle, or perhaps bought an ornant that suited Yeomga and handed it to her.
‘But that never happens.’
In a world where Seoryeong and Myungdo shared bright smiles, Yeomga and Yeomga’s child were foreign matter—things that could not exist.
So for a day, a year, ten years... for a span of ti as vast as eternity, Yeomga must have been filled with the desire to swallow all of it whole.
‘The ti Seoryeong and Myungdo shared might have been the very monts Yeomga wanted to give her child....’
A mountain path where the water was clear and beautiful, trees beneath the rain, the sound of a waterwheel, the wide-open sky, the air at dawn.
The figures of staff mbers moving past blurred. And Seoryeong’s past lives flashed by like a panorama.
Even Seoryeong—who had buried her resolve toward death in her heart alongside Jeongan—had days when she wanted to live so badly it felt like she might die.
‘Did Yeomga really not know that beauty....’
She must have known. There must have been monts in life when unbearable joy suddenly pierced straight through Yeomga’s heart.
When the wind blew just as it had beneath the sky she once shared with the person she loved, when the wild berries they shared tasted especially sweet.
Yeomga must have felt miserable knowing she could never give any of that to her child.
Ding-.
「Hidden Mission: A Perfect Understanding of the Cast」
You’ve reached the level of understanding not only yourself, but even your counterpart! All works ultimately touch upon our own lives. By understanding the people closest to you, you can create a more vivid character. Perfect imrsion achieved.
[A new skill has been created]
C
A status window appeared. The ritual set was finally complete.
“Yeoreum, shall we go?”
A stage that seed prepared just for had been built. I nodded. At last, it was the mont to face Yeomga.
Emotions surged violently. My throat began to ache from the rasping, clawing shouts I tore out. The sound of the kkwaenggwari and the pipes I’d heard on set rang loudly in my ears.
For a mont, I could no longer feel the gravity of the world. The cara lens felt distant, the microphone disappeared from view, and everything was focused solely on Yeomga.
Everything was blurred. Only Yeomga before was vivid in this instant.
I had the illusion that I was no longer a being with my feet planted in this world, but sothing floating loosely above it.
How much ti passed like that. As I lay collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, soone approached. Black shoes entered my field of vision. When I looked up at the person who slowly knelt down, I saw Geum Bitgang wearing a strange expression.
“...”
“...”
We faced each other in silence for a mont. Sweat stread down both of us from the back-to-back shoots. Geum Bitgang spoke first.
“You did well.”
“...”
“Seoryeong.”
At that mont, the status window appeared before once more.
[Seventh Title] has been granted.
▶Hidden Reward
[Lucky point]
10,000p
[Na: Han Yeoreum]
Level: 530,000
Titles: Dok Gomin’s Muse / So Yesol’s Muse / Iconic Rookie / Pi Chaewon / Acting-Type Rookie / Visual-Type / Seoryeong
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