I Don’t Want to Play Villains Anymore - Chapter 44

I’m glad it’s not a nuisance.

The video begins silently, with subtitles over a black screen.

[Han Dae-yeo is not a school.]

With the subtitles, a low bass begins to play. The sound is close to a horror movie, gripping the ears.

Simultaneously, a deep male voice overlays. It is cold and quiet, as if foretelling something.

“Since order is everything, female fans.”

Scene transition. It is the ‘school gate.’

A serene close-up. Like breaking the silence, the school gate opens with a ‘clank’ and slowly swings open. A dark corridor contrasts with the vast external sky.

The camera looks up from knee height, capturing the silhouette of someone in uniform.

A shimmering silver hair. The uniform’s fabric slightly flutters in the wind. Light does not shine on the child’s face, creating a shadow.

The audience instinctively knows.

‘That’s Baek Ha-neul.’

But there is no name. Only the silhouette.

The following transitions are quick and tight. A professional quality that one would not believe belongs to a high school student.

Silhouettes of two figures walking towards each other at the end of the hallway. Two burams soaring towards each other from the lawn.

A cafeteria tray fluttering in slow motion. A classroom chair crashing through the window, shattering the glass.

And then.

Silence.

In the middle of a dark gymnasium.

The camera zooms in rapidly from the center. There stands only one person.

Lee Jun-seong. His back is clearly visible.

Tight close-up.

He closes his eyes — at the exact moment with the bass dropping, he opens them.

Bang.

At that instant, the video suddenly flips the colors.

Scenes that were laying in monochrome unite to explode into color. Fight scenes, shots of legs wrapping around opponents, fists approaching the camera.

Following it is slow-motion action shots.

A fist passes in front of the eyes, a fast-paced slow motion. A judo technique flipping the uniform collar. The sound of sneakers thudding down.

On the rooftop with flags fluttering, a 1:5 composition. Words falling from someone’s mouth.

“To beat that kid, you have to stake your life.”

Following is silence.

Breathless editing. In the midst of it stands the silhouette of Baek Cheong-ha alone.

And then, a heavy footstep shaking the ground.

Step.

Lee Jun-seong appears from around the corner into the middle of the hallway.

Positioning in a base stance. Shoulders down, body bent, quietly he says.

“I came today to settle that.”

The final scene.

A body soaring, breaking through the classroom ceiling. A kick driven away.

And as it lands on the floor, bl**d splattering. A fight seamlessly captured without any slow-motion transitions.

Bang, bang, bang — the editing cuts to the rhythm like a beat.

And then, over a black screen.

“Hah. You think you can beat me?”

Filled with arrogance and endless self-belief, a girl’s voice rings out.

[The Age of Fighting]

The video ends.

“Ugh… It should be fine…?”

Click.

At the moment the mouse button is pressed, the silent video swallowed her breath and flew into the world. A dark room, a barely filled urban space, the third opened energy vortex.

In front of the monitor, Ha Ji-woo still held the shadows under her eyes.

“Hah… I’m nervous…”

What she uploaded wasn’t just a simple teaser video.

It was the culmination of a week’s worth of sweat and labor.

A crystallization of shamelessness to recruit Haneul.

A 1 minute 32 seconds war record containing the ‘best’ created after countless trials and errors.

“This… the best I can do right now.”

On the timeline, dozens of intertwined clips and subtitle tracks. The viewing burden may be heavy, but Ji-woo knows.

How many breaths it took to cut and paste each of those clips.

How, for a single scene, she sliced Haneul’s saturated movements down to the seconds.

And for the moment Baek Cheong-ha, the character, appears, she searched through almost 5,000 soundtracks to pick which background music would be the ‘coolest’.

And the longest task was the phrase displayed after the final black screen.

[The Age of Fighting. Starting June 2nd.]

She pondered over that sentence for two hours.

“Starting” sounded too humble,

“Coming” felt too common.

Finally, she chose “Starting” because this video was the true starting point of everything.

“…Please go well. Please.”

After pressing the upload button, Ji-woo quietly leaned back in her chair. Her spine clicked. A dry scream burst forth from behind her.

The last Tylenol she took was in the morning.

Her eyes were bleary, and her hands were numb.

Yet her eyes were wide awake.

In the cold room, colder than the dawn air, she grasped her blanket tighter.

And refreshed her YouTube channel.

“…Views 7.”

As soon as she uploaded it, someone had already viewed it.

On Ha Ji-woo’s YouTube channel ‘Moonlight! Film’, the subscribers numbered 38. Ji-woo wanted to believe she was one of them.

“Wow… That’s amazing.”

In just a few moments, a comment appeared.

– Wow… Is this really a high school drama?

Ji-woo put her hand on her chin, stopping scrolling.

Before she finished reading that comment.

12 likes attached.

And below it.

– This looks so clean. Who made this?

– Who’s the director of this film? I’m really curious.

– The camera work is insane lol.

No one’s name was mentioned.

As per Haneul’s request, only Haneul’s silhouette appeared, and of course, no names were included.

But Ji-woo did not write her name anywhere in the video either.

“I just wanted to show it.”

She hoped this work would be appreciated for its content, not for its name.

What should be evaluated wasn’t herself but the work she created.

“Hah… still scary.”

With trembling hands, she took a sip of water and refreshed again.

Likes 27.

One new comment.

Real-time reactions were pouring in.

And then,

Vroom—

“Whoa! What the…!”

Her phone vibrated. Ji-woo jumped and looked at the screen.

[Talented Haneul: I saw it.]

“……”

Her heart was racing.

And immediately came a second message.

[Talented Haneul: It’s not bad, right?]

Ji-woo quietly hugged her phone.

She didn’t want to make any sound. She just slowly inhaled and then exhaled…

Feeling her heart’s first created wave spreading within.

And then.

She refreshed YouTube again.

Comments 21.

‘The Age of Fighting’ began to enter the world.

Silently. Quietly but brilliantly.

Ji-woo had passed that breath this time with meaning.

Da-da-da…!

Countless comments came up, and the views rose dramatically.

If Ji-woo had known the impact her video would cause, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep.

It was the best attention that could be gained without any notice.

I arrived at school early after a long time.

Usually, I would be a little late after buying convenience store snacks and milk.

But today was different.

“…Uploaded at 9 o’clock. 210,000 views… Ha Ji-woo. What have you done?”

“I didn’t do anything!!! This is unfair, Haneul!!!”

Ha Ji-woo’s teaser was a hit.

No, calling it a hit was an understatement.

“It’s amazing that a teaser uploaded on such a small channel with no prior notice…”

The fact that the views were coming in was already surprising, but surpassing 200,000 views?

Given the fact that it was currently gaining traction through word of mouth, it would likely rise even further.

Fans now guessed everything just by looking at the silhouette.

[Isn’t that the silhouette of Baek Ha-neul?]

– No way lol she wouldn’t come back with this.

– But how many people have silver hair, right?

– It must be a wig, you idiot.

[Why does she look pretty just as a silhouette?]

– Crazy, what a rich and stunning image…

– Ugh.

[But the fight scene with the two guys in the middle was crazy. Not student level lol.]

– The camera work is top notch.

– Where did they find this sound? It’s amazing.

What a commotion.

“I told you I didn’t!”

Ha Ji-woo said, almost in tears, with her arms flailing halfway bent over the desk.

Ji-woo’s characteristic flustered hand motions were proof of her sincerity, but it was insufficient to stop the teasing.

“Are you… really not doing it?”

Should I poke her a little?

I asked casually. As the aura of a villain sneaked in, Ji-woo seemed to sense it and flinched.

“I told you! Really!! Not in the subtitles, not in the description, not in the title, not in the tags! Not even the common term silver hair!!”

“But is it gonna become ‘Baek Ha-neul’ in the trending topics?”

“…d*mn. The fans just figured it out.”

Ji-woo plopped down in front of me.

“No really. It’s a big hit. I didn’t expect this kind of reaction…! I just thought it looked cool, so I uploaded it. Really.”

“You seem touched to see your name in the trending topics, huh?”

“…Hahaha… No way…”

Ji-woo turned away with eyes that seemed to be caught, as if she was caught eating rice cake soup.

What a target.

“I thought, among such comments, words like ‘You will come out from there’ were running around.”

“…Exactly. The fans are scary.”

I closed my mouth.

New comment notifications still popped up on Ji-woo’s phone screen.

[A girl walking in that style is insane lol, what charisma.]

[Wow is this really a high school drama? The videography is insane.]

[What a composition. Did this really get filmed like this?]

[???? This is really Ha-neul.]

I quietly turned off the screen.

“…But.”

“Huh?”

“She looked pretty.”

Ji-woo flinched and looked at me.

Her eyes were curious about what I would say, but more than that, they were half scared.

“Really. The editing was good.”

“…Haneul… can I cry?”

“No, you’re going to cry soon.”

Suddenly, Ji-woo slammed her desk and yelled.

“It must look super cool! I told you this could be my comeback teaser!! Right now, the number of subscribers on my YouTube channel has exceeded 10,000!! For real!! I’m a high school channel! A high school YouTube channel!!”

Someone who kept referring to this as a dream said that.

“You like that the most, don’t you?”

“…I don’t dislike it.”

Ji-woo sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes.

I found that slightly amusing.

And also a bit… relieved.

‘Now everyone will know about the comeback.’

It wasn’t just a guess.

That teaser, those compositions, that lighting, and those edits…

That they were all made for the sentence “Baek Ha-neul has made her comeback.”

Ji-woo exhibited her whole self without ever mentioning my name.

I had such…

An odd liking for her.

Rather, I was grateful.

“Alright. Now it’s truly beginning.”

“Huh?”

Ji-woo looked at me.

I picked up my phone again and turned the screen on.

At the bottom of the rapidly accumulating comments, staring at the black thumbnail of [The Age of Fighting], I murmured.

“Now really, it’s time to show me as I am.”

“How cool my comeback was.”

Ji-woo’s eyes sparkled before mine.

“…Is it okay to be excited?”

I nodded.

And then looked out the window.

The sunshine was clear.

The sky was so blue it felt transparent.

The clouds were gently scattered, as if they would float away soon.

“Wow. It’s such great weather for a comeback.”

“Haneul?”

From somewhere in my heart, the great spirit of my past flowed out.

As if it existed solely for this moment.