Chapter 551
Chapter 551
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 551
Chapter Title: Common Sense Alteration (2)
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It was the era of Japanese colonial rule.
Yoon Ok-bun, the daughter of Yoon Soon-ja, felt a complex mix of love and hatred toward her mother.
Her mother went from house to house as a housemaid, handling chores for others. But in truth, Ok-bun knew her real profession was prostitution, even at a young age. Every night, Soon-ja left home reeking of powder. She always returned with tasty snacks and fruit, but Ok-bun couldn't bring herself to welcome her.
It was all because of those damned Japanese.
A Japanese soldier had raped her virgin mother and abandoned her. As a result, Soon-ja had to raise a child alone... and regrettably, the only work she could find was selling her body. At the market, they whispered, "That bitch spreads her legs for the Japs." At factories, "She's carrying a Jap's bastard child." No one would hire her amid the finger-pointing.
"Ok-bun's mom is a whore!"
"Ok-bun's gonna follow her mom's footsteps!"
Yet men eager to buy the services of Soon-ja, now a prostitute, were plentiful. Her beauty was exceptional enough to tempt even Japanese soldiers. Thanks to that, the mother and daughter managed to scrape by. Now they faced finger-pointing as a whore and her daughter, but at least they survived.
"It's all your parents' fault!"
"Your parents made you like this!"
For Ok-bun, it was utterly unjust.
Who would want to get raped? Soon-ja was the victim. But the neighbors despised her. "She's been defiled by a Jap," they said—no one would accept her mother. Then behind her back, they urged her to sell her body. And now this was the mockery they hurled. To Ok-bun, Japanese and Koreans alike were all the same trash.
Disgusting men who offered no help but secretly hoped she'd grow up so the mother-daughter pair could both become whores. Rage boiled to the top of her head. But they lacked money to leave the neighborhood. In the end, to earn that money, she'd have to sell her body too. Sensing this, the local adults slyly approached Ok-bun.
"Wow, Ok-bun, you've grown so much. At this age, it's time to start repaying your mom, right?"
"Huh? Ok-bun, don't you feel sorry for your mom working alone?"
If things continued like this, she might become a whore too.
Ok-bun seriously contemplated running away.
"Ahh... Ok-bun, sob... I'm sorry..."
"M-Mom."
"Your mom... your mom is worthless, I'm sorry..."
"Mommm!"
But just before she resolved to run away... Yoon Soon-ja died.
The cause was a sexually transmitted disease. Ok-bun resented the world.
"Sigh, she should've moderated how she earned her keep."
"Tsk tsk. Died like the filthy whore she was."
But she couldn't just give up on life. The ones at fault were those damned Japanese and Koreans—why should I, who suffered my whole life, be the one to choose death? It was too unfair to die like this. Ok-bun dreamed of revenge. The man who raped her mother, the men who drove her to prostitution, the men who mocked her, the men who pushed her to death, men, men, men...
She wanted revenge on men.
And Ok-bun knew how.
"No, but they say Ayako from Cheongmi-gwan is so beautiful."
"Don't even start. Her voice alone is killer."
"Still, isn't she just a gisaeng?"
"Hey, watch your mouth—that's dangerous talk! She's not a gisaeng, she's a singer! Don't you know all the rich old folks are head over heels for Ayako these days? Japs and Koreans alike are going crazy!"
"But I heard she's actually Korean..."
"Alright, alright, enough chit-chat. Back to work."
The frail Soon-ja lived as a prostitute and met a miserable end... but Ayako was different. A woman who knew how to toy with filthy, lowlife men. They said you had to blow a month's salary just to see her smile? Dozens of men had gone bankrupt over their obsession with her. The idol of all men... Ok-bun resolved to become Ayako.
-Hiiiing
"W-What the hell is this bitch?!"
And so, she sought out a Japanese man.
A few days earlier, she'd bumped into him by chance—Ryuga Hayato, the Japanese man who'd hurled insults at her. A noble from the mainland, he had the power to turn her into the 'idol' of foolish men. That's why she planned to offer herself to him. By sacrificing herself, she'd become an artist rivaling Ayako and rise above men.
"Thank you for stopping."
"......Are you Japanese?"
"I have business with the person inside the carriage."
Ok-bun, sacrificing herself for revenge.
Ryuga Hayato, intrigued by her.
Sera Yamada, his fiancée.
The tangled tale of these three was the movie Idol.
A romance film set in the Japanese colonial era between a Korean and a Japanese. It tossed in a bit of criticism against male superiority, mixed in some nationalist pride with independence fighters, and tried to mash everything together to please all tastes—that was the original Idol.
"D-Deok-bae... think this through, this is seriously bad."
"Is it that awful?"
"It's controversy bait just looking at it!"
I could understand why the agency was freaking out.
A rookie director already on edge...
What? The lead is an idol alum?
No matter that the role is an artist—even so, which movie casts an idol as the star? From team leader to department head, they all tried to talk me out of it. But still, I had to star in Idol. The main heroine playing the main heroine role, sub-heroine as sub-heroine. How could I pass that up?
I dug in my heels.
"Fine, I'll talk to the director about revising the script."
"......Revising the script?"
"I've got eyes too. Shooting this as-is is guaranteed flop—why would anyone? I'll beg the director to change it, and if he refuses, I'll drop it."
"Good thinking! If he says no, just ignore him!"
I pushed hard and got the script revised.
To make 'Common Sense Alteration' work most effectively.
"T-That's way too steamy romance, isn't it? The tone's all off..."
"Director, you know the saying 'chasing two rabbits and catching none'? That's Idol right now. Half-assed like this, it'll be bland and pointless."
"I know that, but..."
"Bury controversy with more controversy."
"Pardon?"
"Better to go big than tiptoe around it. Ramp up the skin, pack in the bed scenes, focus purely on the characters instead of era drama. Investors love that, audiences too. We need a box-office hit."
"Ahem..."
"You wanna end your directing career on this one?"
"......No way."
Ryuga Hayato, the loser nursing an inferiority complex toward his dead brother—I gifted him Yoon Ok-bun as a toy. The original Ryuga was kind and gentle... but that's no fun. The new Ryuga was no gentle man to Ok-bun. He was a monstrous figure consumed by resentment.
# 17. Ryuga Hayato's Room / Lunch
Ok-bun glares coldly at Ryuga; Ryuga smirks mockingly at her.
Ok-bun hesitates long, then undresses.
Ok-bun is fully nude.
Ryuga: ...Not bad for a Chosun bitch.
Ok-bun (biting her lip).
Ryuga: Beautiful.
Ok-bun (stares silently at Ryuga).
Ryuga: You'll devote everything to me?
Ok-bun (nods).
Ryuga: In return, make you a singer?
Ok-bun: Please.
Ryuga: You know what that means?
Ok-bun: I do.
Ryuga stands and approaches Ok-bun.
Ok-bun stares straight ahead, ignoring Ryuga's presence.
Ryuga (touching her sex): This too.
Ok-bun (no reaction).
Ryuga (kneading her breasts): This too.
Ok-bun (no reaction to the end).
Ryuga (stroking her lips): This is mine now too.
Ok-bun: Yes. All of it is yours.
Ryuga (caressing her sex): Means I can do this.
Ok-bun (biting her lip): It's fine. I've prepared myself.
Ryuga (smirking): Oh? Prepared, huh?
Ryuga roughly caresses Ok-bun's sex.
Ok-bun struggles to endure.
Ryuga checks her hymen.
Ryuga: You... you're a virgin?
Ok-bun: Yes.
Ryuga: Thought you were filthy, but you've kept yourself pure.
Ok-bun (glares silently at Ryuga).
Ryuga: Suck it. You made my fingers sticky.
Ryuga extends his fingers to Ok-bun.
Ok-bun obeys his command.
Ryuga: Yumiko.
Ok-bun: ......Pardon?
Ryuga: Yumiko Hayato. That's your name from today.
Ok-bun (wiping her lips): Understood.
Ok-bun (apologizes to her mother in her heart).
It was a script teetering on dangerous rather than merely edgy... but they just pretend during filming anyway. The rookie director assured Siwoo and Yi Ye-ji that only her back would show, no worries. There was some minor uproar, but they finished the script reading smoothly.
But when shooting day dawned, everything changed.
"A-Are you insane?! Strip naked?! Are you in your right mind?!"
"Hey! How else do you shoot a nude scene—with clothes on?!"
"W-What?!"
"It's a full-frontal scene—how do you film clothed?!"
"What... what nonsense..."
"Ye-ji, why's your manager acting up?"
"S-Sunbae... Th-this is weird, right? Director? At the reading, he said we'd block it out... and just fake it!"
"What? Fake it? Ye-ji, you think movies are a joke?"
"Fuck... Min-joo sunbae, that's why I said don't baby her."
"Oh, Deok-bae, am I the weird one?"
"No, she's pulling idol privilege."
"N-No! It's you all and the director who's weird!"
It was total chaos from day one.