I Don’t Want to Play Villains Anymore - Chapter 30
While taking a short break
Buram’s limitations make it difficult to continue the production of the villain’s diary.
Of course, I’m a genius who has surpassed the limits of common sense. Anyway.
In short, there are times when it feels like it’s broken.
Dad and Mom insist that we shouldn’t go to the amusement park, but I told them I would accept the C-shape that came in.
It feels a bit strange, but that’s how it turned out.
“That’s my victory, right?”
“Yeah. Who could beat you with that stubbornness…”
Dad sighed and moved towards the filming location.
“Oh. Is this where I’ll sh**t my C-shape… production?”
What is this?
The production set was more extravagant than the party.
No, to be precise, it was too extravagant.
A rainbow-colored banner stretched to the ceiling, and glittering stickers were stuck all over the floor like confetti.
The background was a green grass field and a blue sky, but even that was glossy.
‘Isn’t this more surreal than the party?’
I peeked around the set from the entrance. There were three cameras, two camera operators, and a total of five cameras, including a backup one.
The lights were extravagant too. How many are they planning to blast at Ral’s face?
Even on the set, some equipment was ready to launch something.
“I warned you about this. Haneul came.”
Smiling, Dad handed me the script.
The script was highlighted with phrases like ‘lively and cheerful like an idol.’
I stared silently at the highlighted script for a while. ‘Lively and cheerful like an idol.’
…Huh?
Like an idol.
Lively.
Cheerful.
It’s precisely qualities I’ve never had once in my life.
Even the name of the carbonated drink I’m holding is “Sparkle Pang Pang.”
It’s not a snack but sounds like a magical girl battle name.
It feels like if I drink it, I’ll change into a rainbow.
“I’m supposed to… do this?”
Dad nodded with a smile.
“You signed the contract, right? Just looking at the pay.”
“…How much was it?”
“That’s a secret.”
His smiling face became irritating.
I quietly, very quietly turned my head.
Facing front, I looked at the giant pink slushy model in the center of the set.
Three meters wide. Two and a half meters tall.
I need to go up there.
That’s supposed to be the main attraction of this C-shape.
The background was a colorful meadow, and bubbles popped from the machinery without a hitch.
Above it, the lights spun and sparkled, while someone was playing sound effects like ‘Lovely Pang Pang~ Cherry Pang Pang~’ through the speakers.
‘…Are you telling me to dance up there?’
What kind of torture is this?
At that moment, a staff member approached.
“Haneul! Please wear this costume!”
It was a bright-colored dress with fluorescent ribbons.
And… a headpiece. Star-shaped. Sparkling.
“Am I… really wearing this?”
“Yes! You’ll look so cute!”
The staff sister answered with genuine excitement.
I smiled quietly.
If they think Ral is cute, they might think that’s enough.
I get it.
Just act.
Even before a world that hopes for Ral to be cute, I’m a thorough actress.
.
.
.
.
No.
I can’t become an actress in this world.
“Father. This isn’t it.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Our family has money. I hope you learn from this and don’t just accept advertising for the money.”
Dad gently nudged me towards the production set.
In front of Ral was only Buram, smiling brightly as the C-shape director.
“Please! Haneul! I was really impressed by your acting… There’s nothing fresh or cute about it…”
That’s because I hate that.
…I wanted to respond, but the director’s eyes sparkled.
“…Yes.”
“The villain’s diary you participated in this time is the peak of that acting! So I planned this advertisement, dreaming of Haneul’s image transformation!”
The director’s eyes were sparkling.
That was a look of ‘ambition’ and ‘ideals’ combined, commonly called passionate eyes, but…
For some reason, Ral seemed to be a sign of exhaustion.
I quietly nodded.
However, my inner thoughts were quite complicated.
‘Image transformation’?
What does that even mean?
I haven’t even fixed my image yet.
This world starts with cute and bright being set as the ‘default.’
What goes beyond it is called transformation, and exceeding it is called a breakthrough.
But for me, that is just ‘going back.’
“Nowadays, when people think of Haneul, they think of deep emotions, cold expressions, things like that, right? So this C-shape—! It’s completely the opposite! Bright, fresh, cute, like sunshine!”
He drew a circle in the air with his palm.
Inside that circle, it seemed like pink speech bubbles and rainbow-colored backgrounds were flying around crazily.
“Haneul contains two worlds in those eyes. It can be frighteningly emotional and pure like an angel at the same time! We will let people recognize that second side!”
I remained silent.
‘Letting them recognize’…
That remark was quite unpleasant, wasn’t it?
No, to be precise.
It means that someone wants to impose an image that Ral didn’t select onto her face.
I hated that.
“Haneul! Would you like to watch the footage before the production starts?”
I lightly nodded, and the screen turned on immediately.
Unidentifiable animation surrounded the background, and round-faced cartoon characters jumped around.
The color palette was green, fluorescent, yellow, mint, orange, sky blue… the emotional fatigue hit me hard.
The background music was thumping electronic music, and—
[Sparkle~ Pang Pang~ On a sparkling day~ Just this one is perfect!]
I almost involuntarily closed my eyes.
‘I messed up.’
And at the end of the vocal line.
The girl’s voice sounded familiar with an oddly familiar pronunciation and accent.
That would be the voice of Ral.
“Haneul! Do you hear this? This is the main highlight of the C-shape! It’s really spot on!”
“…”
I took a deep breath and quietly closed my lips.
Yeah. This is work. I’m an actress.
But I should say something.
“…But…”
“Yes! Haneul?”
I tilted my head slightly and spoke very cautiously.
“Does it have to be… like this?”
The director’s face stiffened slightly.
“Oh, of course… No, I mean, Haneul. This is the overall vibe. The details are adjustable. You can try anything freely!”
It was a lie.
His pupils were already gazing at a completed picture.
In that picture, I was just a pretty and lively ‘tool.’
A ‘girl’ wearing cute clothes, drinking carbonated drinks, and smiling.
“Well then, we’ll get started right away! Starting with the costume fitting!”
As I was being led as if dragged to the costume room, I glanced up at the ceiling.
There hung the rainbow banner.
[Superstar of the Year, Baek Ha-neul!]
I muttered to myself.
“Sparkling is for drinks, not for Ral.”
Soon, I stood in front of the mirror, and the stylist began placing the rainbow hairpin in my hair.
Then, suddenly, a scene popped into my mind.
A lonely, party-like room, among it was Suha sharpening scissors in a corner.
There were no rainbows, nor cuteness.
But what was undoubtedly there—
“I acted happily, d*mn it…”
“Haneul, please smile!”
The staff shouted.
I smiled. Very brightly.
.
.
.
.
Director Hwang Seok-seong looked at Haneul as she entered the set, quietly admiring her.
“…As expected. She’s a pro.”
Director Hwang Seok-seong, with his arms crossed in front of the monitor, quietly breathed in.
What unfurled before his eyes was a set that could spike up your bl**d sugar just by looking at it.
Haneul, on top of the slushy decoration, was smiling with a carbonated bottle in hand.
It was real.
It didn’t feel fake.
Smiling, shaking, and again smiling.
“Sparkle Pang Pang~! The day sparkles! Shine like sunshine~!”
Haneul was digesting that nonsensical line so naturally.
‘Genius.’
That kind of admiration has become too common to feel fresh.
This was… close to ‘dangerous.’
He kept his eyebrows still, staring at the screen.
“Okay, let’s go for another round! Camera 2, prepare!”
The lights turned up a notch. The colors in the set dramatically increased in vibrancy.
Yet.
Even in that light, Haneul’s face was not simply that of a ‘cute child.’
That expression.
The corners of her mouth were perfectly curled up.
Her eyebrows were slightly raised, and her pupils were perfectly facing forward.
Everything was exquisitely calculated as if predestined.
‘She’s smiling, but it isn’t genuine.’
It felt like a—
mask with a smiling face.
‘This girl, just how far is she calculating?’
Perfectly beautiful in all angles.
As if she had perfectly realized the ‘idol’ she was asked to be.
Hwang Seok-seong lightly touched the back of his neck.
Cold sweat reached the tips of his fingers.
“Wow!”
The scene erupted in applause.
“Good! This is it! Haneul, right now the expression looks great!”
However, Director Hwang Seok-seong quietly repeated the phrase in his mind.
“That expression. That expression… it’s so good that it’s frightening.”
Haneul slowly stepped down from the slushy.
When a staff member reached out to help her, she calmly said, “I’m fine,” and stood there alone.
Even as her small sneakers touched the ground, Haneul’s expression did not waver.
“…As expected. She’s a pro.”
That statement was closer to a warning than admiration.
This girl acts.
But that acting is not a simple role play—
It’s a technique that breaks boundaries.
Even in an advertisement meant to be cute, Haneul creates a ‘paradox of cuteness.’
What this girl is truly expressing cannot be understood just by watching the screen.
Yet.
That’s exactly why.
People become unknowingly addicted, and the staff hold their breaths.
Only after turning off the camera did Hwang Seok-seong slowly close his eyes.
This girl quietly touched upon something that adults utterly missed.
And everyone remained unaware of it, smiling.
‘I guess this girl would have succeeded whether she became an idol or did anything else…’
So surely, as an actress by profession, she would excel in that too.
Hwang Seok-seong decided to raise his expectations regarding the villain’s diary a little more.