I Don’t Want to Play Villains Anymore - Chapter 34

You are completely opposite to me.

“…It’s perfect.”

Gong Mu-heon chuckled.

Before the screen in the monitor turned off, he was already leaning back in his chair, the corners of his mouth raised.

It was a smile of ‘satisfaction.’

It wasn’t just a compliment like, the scene created by the child is excellent.

It was that rare thrill of having just created something that had never been properly done even after filming hundreds of pieces in life.

Gong Mu-heon’s eyes seemed to be looking at something beyond the monitor while still facing it.

His gaze seemed to suggest that he was seeing the potential of a monster beyond the five-year-old actor.

However, the gaze that looked at that smile was entirely different.

“…Director.”

Jang Seo-yoon, the writer standing next to him, spoke up.

Her voice was low and suppressed.

But within it, there was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling mixed in.

“That child… is still five years old.”

Gong Mu-heon turned his head.

His eyebrows slightly lifted—like he was asking out of courtesy.

“And so?”

“Are you really saying that after having that child perform like that at five years old?”

Jang Seo-yoon narrowed her eyes.

Gong Mu-heon’s smile didn’t fade.

Rather, as if he found those words even more amusing, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“You wrote the script, didn’t you?”

“I… at least until the child is seven…”

“That’s what it is.”

Gong Mu-heon leaned further back in his chair.

Trying to act indifferent, but that indifference was sharp in some way.

“After all, she is an actress. Acting is just acting. Age doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter.”

Jang Seo-yoon’s pupils shook.

“Even adults collapse if they push through those emotions. But that child… that child is…”

“Look at Haneul. Her talent shines brighter and more brilliantly than during Yeomra or Narae. It’s as if she’s sprouted wings only now that she’s playing a villain.”

She pressed her lips tightly together.

There was something she wanted to say next.

‘I feel like it would become an insult.’

But at that moment, she couldn’t bring herself to say it, thinking that she might insult that child’s performance, which was always beautifully precarious.

Gong Mu-heon, observing that silence with interest, crossed his arms.

“So I’m asking. After all that, do you have any regrets?”

“…A bit.”

“Then that’s good.”

He slowly rose from his seat.

The chair wheels creaked as he pushed back.

“I just found it… strange.”

Jang Seo-yoon said quietly.

“The child was acting, but at some point, I stopped hearing ‘acting.’ It was frightening.”

At that moment, Gong Mu-heon paused again.

And he slowly nodded.

“That’s right. That’s Haneul’s charm. It was maximized this time through Suha.”

He smiled slowly.

However, that smile was a bit sharper than before.

“So we must use Haneul, whether for artistry, box office, or even public criticism.”

With that statement, Jang Seo-yoon said nothing.

In fact, Haneul, who was acting the villain, exuded a different kind of charisma than the other roles she had taken on.

She simply stared quietly at the monitor.

Inside the dark screen, a half-lit classroom.

Within it, the blurry figure of a five-year-old girl stepping out the door, holding a bl**d-stained kn*fe.

That back view somehow seemed more distant than any adult.

And deep in the writer’s heart, a very small sense of guilt began to settle slowly.

“Phew… Is this the final scene?”

It had been a week since they finished Suha’s highlight, the ‘m*rder scene of the distance’.

This was the last scene of the child actress Suha.

‘If I sh**t this, will my first lead in this life also come to an end…?’

The drama ‘Evil Diary’ was structured with about the first three episodes focusing on the story of child actress Suha.

The remaining nine episodes focused on the story of Hyun-do, an adult figure who goes to catch the grown Suha.

However, since Suha is a female, fitting an adult scene was somewhat problematic…

So for nine episodes, the adult Suha barely makes an appearance. Child actress Suha has more screen time.

In other words, one could say this was her officially assigned first lead in this life.

“Haneul, are you here?”

“Oh, Director.”

I sat up abruptly.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, even just from his presence.

That was because of the last scene.

The final moment.

I tightly clenched the script with my small hands.

Even though I had read and memorized this scene dozens of times, the tightening feeling that this scene would truly mark the end came all at once.

“This scene is hard.”

Director Gong Mu-heon said quietly.

His tone was calm, but there was a strange nuance within it.

It didn’t simply mean, ‘it’s a difficult scene to act.’

It was a question of whether the actor could emotionally bear it.

“No, I can do this.”

I answered firmly.

I made sure to eliminate any wavering in that single word, clearly.

It felt somewhat heavy.

This was a scene where I had to mock and satirize the current situation, quite different from the other scenes where I merely played a psycho.

This is indeed the last moment for Suha, the ‘arrest of Suha’ scene.

‘But I can’t just give in to this.’

Although it was my first lead role… it was also Baek Ha-neul’s first time playing a villain.

It had to be different from playing the other roles.

It had to flourish.

Me.

Baek Ha-neul.

Evil.

“Haneul, are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Good.”

Now, let’s pour everything out.

For a moment, it feels like there’s no Baek Ha-neul, only Han Suha.

***

At the park.

The late afternoon sunshine was streaming in diagonally through the trees.

Ordinary families, couples taking walks, the laughter of children playing.

Everything felt peaceful.

However, among it all.

“Hansuha.”

Hyun-do approached carefully under the tree shade.

The small fallen leaves under his feet rustled softly.

A shadow.

A child kneeling by the sandbox in the playground, holding a doll.

In a pale shirt with silver hair.

There was faint dust on the left sleeve, and her right hand was firmly gripping the doll’s neck.

“Let’s go back now.”

Hyun-do’s voice was cold yet cautious.

Suha gently patted the doll’s head and looked up.

A bright smile.

She waved her hand at Hyun-do as if beckoning with her sandy hand.

“Are you not coming, Uncle?”

“Suha.”

“Uncle, did I lose in tag just now?”

The child laughed, raising the last syllable.

Her smile was innocent, but her eyes had stopped being sincere for a long time.

“Let’s go now.”

Hyun-do reached out his hand.

Suha paused for a moment.

But clutching the doll tightly, she stood slowly.

Suha quietly turned her head and looked up at Hyun-do.

Click.

Handcuffs were fastened onto her small wrists.

Her hands were so tiny that it could be said they just hung on her.

The sunlight brushed against the edges of her hair.

While her eyes contained innocent watery hues, somewhere in that gaze was a distinct darkness unfit for a child.

“But, Uncle.”

She spoke softly, her voice quieter than a whisper.

“Can the law of the Republic of Korea… k*ll me?”

At those words, Hyun-do paused.

His demeanor, which had been unfazed by countless criminals and any merciless beings, briefly wavered.

She was just a child.

Only five years old.

At the age where one should be playing with sand in their mouth, she had killed a man.

She had planned, executed, and fled… that face showed no signs of regret at all.

And yet, at the same time, she was incredibly intelligent.

She understood very well.

Where the limit lay for her entitled ‘exemption’ from crime.

Hyun-do slowly took a breath and spoke.

“You know too much.”

Suha was such a child.

A child who could recite the names of organs in her body just to k*ll one person.

Even when she cut an eraser in half, she would measure it perfectly.

A genius, but above all, a pure evil child.

Suha smiled brightly.

And she tilted her head as she muttered softly.

“That’s because the adults taught me best.”

Then she raised her voice again with clarity and a cheerful laugh.

“I’m smart, you know. I remember. Crimes committed by minors under ten are not subject to punishment… Isn’t that right?! Even under one year old, there’s a sentence reduction event!”

Giggling, Suha jumped up and down.

Those words weren’t just simple threats.

It was the attitude of a child simply stating obvious facts.

Hyun-do couldn’t say another word.

Suha lifted her handcuffed hands and cutely waved them.

“Uncle, I’m still at an age where I won’t go to prison.”

With a bright smile, she proudly said, as if she were bragging.

That visage looked so ‘childlike’—

Hyun-do was momentarily speechless.

Just moments ago, she had stabbed the heart of a man and cut off his life.

She had fled, deceived citizens, and even came up with plans to evade the police.

Now that child looked like a kid who just scored 100 points on a math test.

“Isn’t that right? Minors, especially juvenile delinquents, don’t go to prison.”

Suha nodded to herself as if confirming her own words.

“If there’s any counseling I need to go through, I can just go. I’ll be out soon. And then, I can live again.”

At those words, Hyun-do slowly closed his lips.

“No matter how angry you get, the world can’t punish me.”

“……..”

“So if I’m ‘evil’ now, that’s the responsibility of the adults.”

The air grew heavy at her words.

Suha continued to look at Hyun-do with clear eyes.

It was not innocence.

It was a monologue with 100% purity.

Words that emerged from a heart so cold it could even frighten itself.

“But still.”

She lightly shook her handcuffed wrists and smiled again.

“Adults just look at this and say ‘it’s scary.’ It’s really fascinating, right?”

Hyun-do could only listen to her words until the end without uttering a response.

Instead, he quietly gazed at her, reflecting inwardly.

‘What am I fighting against right now?’

Suha, smiling brightly, climbed into the back door of the police car.

And through the window, she murmured like a final worker.

“This is just the beginning, Uncle.”

“When I become an adult, will you come to catch me again?”

Just before the police car door closed, Suha tilted her head slightly and said.

Sitting with her handcuffed hands placed firmly on her knees, she looked just like an innocent child.

But with that single line, the entire atmosphere froze again.

Hyun-do felt as if he was frozen in place.

Only a few seconds passed.

Her tone was innocent, and her smile was bright, but contained within it was a clear threat.

“That’s right. There will really be a true adult. One who is smarter and scarier… someone who even the law can’t stop.”

Suha nodded, as if she were booking her future.

“And if I reappear then, you must definitely come.”

Hyun-do tightly closed his lips and quietly gazed at Suha.

“Soon, right?”

“…Soon, because you were the first person to recognize ‘who I am.’”

Clank.

The police car door slowly closed, and the child’s smile gradually faded into the shadows.

Shortly after, the siren wailed, and the car started moving.

Watching her figure retreat, Hyun-do muttered to himself, like a curse.

“…Wait for me.”

***

Finally, you will be caught.

<Evil Diary> End.