Chapter 124
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: New Inspiration
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Morning at Melody's mansion.
After thrusting into every hole Melody had to offer throughout the night, I'd only managed about three hours of actual sleep.
Of course, I felt some fatigue, but it wasn't enough to make my body feel heavy.
I finished a warm shower and got dressed.
Just then, as I passed through the living room.
Melody, whom I'd assumed was still in bed, was sitting on the sofa.
'She really does look like her.'
For a split second, the image of Susan Burns—no, Susan Downey—that I'd looked up on my smartphone yesterday overlapped with her.
"J-Joe... be careful out there..."
Her stamina was impressive enough to acknowledge, especially considering her age.
I lightly tapped Melody's cheek and said,
"I'm off to shoot. Head home on your own. Shower before you go. I'll call you, so behave and wait until then. Got it?"
Her face flushed with embarrassment, Melody replied in a small voice.
"Y-Yes..."
Jennifer Morgan, handcuffed and locked in a holding cell.
She sat quietly, listening to the conversation between the sheriff and deputy coming from outside.
- Sh-Sheriff, the victim's wounds and condition don't make sense for murder...
- Oh! Damn it, Candle! Shut your mouth. Who said I didn't know that? For God's sake, not now... Sigh... We haven't even started the interrogation yet.
While the sheriff stepped out to report to his superiors.
Jennifer coaxed Deputy Candle into revealing the details of the case.
The unidentified body found by the Morgan sisters in the mountains turned out to be the innkeeper they'd visited.
The corpse was badly mutilated, but his face was still recognizable.
Estimated time of death: two or three days before Jennifer's arrest.
Cause: A wound running from the right chest to the left abdomen, as if attacked by a massive bear.
Notable detail: Some internal organs were missing from the body.
"...Ha. I really have no idea."
Thud-.
Jennifer, who had stood up to inspect the cell, banged her head against the bars.
The sheriff had taken Candle outside, so no more conversation drifted in.
"Cut! Let's move straight to the interrogation scene!"
And then.
In the interrogation with Jennifer, the sheriff gained nothing and scratched his head in frustration.
She'd been caught due to suspicious behavior snooping around the inn rooms, but there was zero evidence pinpointing her as the 'killer' beyond that.
No motive, no murder weapon—nothing.
To top it off, the CCTV at the inn entrance was just a dummy camera.
"This is driving me crazy. What kind of lunatic..."
No matter how much he pondered and investigated, the only scenario he could imagine was someone moving the bear-mauled innkeeper's body there.
He couldn't guess the reason at all.
With that agonizing expression on the sheriff's face as the final shot.
"Cut! Okay! Good take. Moving sets—next scene right away."
While the set was being prepped, director Steven Hojer approached me.
"Now it's your grand entrance for real. Just the silhouette today, of course. Haha. Come on, get in front of the camera!"
He clapped once, shot me an expectant look, and headed to the monitors.
With makeup done, I slowly entered the set.
The production crew, props team, lighting, makeup, wardrobe—over a hundred staff in their roles.
Plus extras and numerous background actors.
The Paranormal set was always bustling like a marketplace when not actively shooting.
"C-Cut...!"
But right now.
Even after the director called cut, the set was deathly silent.
The cameras still framed the actors, the slate untouched.
A massive silence descended, as if time itself had frozen.
The cinematographer holding the camera, the audio tech, the watching actors.
Everyone stood dumbfounded, joining the hush.
One person surveying the set.
Jennifer was truly electrified.
'How... with just voice and silhouette...'
Having watched Jung Woo-jin since his first audition, Jennifer had asked the director for headphones to experience his acting more vividly.
She watched the director's monitor and listened to his voice directly.
The scene itself was ordinary.
Villains conspiring in pitch-black darkness where nothing was visible.
The kind of device to build viewer curiosity and tension before the antagonists fully appear.
It was a cliché, mundane-to-the-point-of-trite scene...
- Lu Han is dead... They displayed his body at the inn.
With the report from what seemed a villainous underling, the camera lit the hulking figure slouched in a chair, chin propped.
More precisely, his silhouette.
Shot from the upper right, shrouded in shadow—indistinct identity, just the outline visible.
The giant didn't twitch at the report.
Doubting if he was even alive.
He finally moved five full seconds after the monitor illuminated him.
Releasing his chin, leaning back, then he spoke.
- Why state the obvious?
His voice echoed like from a cave, eerie as if rising from the abyss.
Another three seconds of silence.
- Did you think those stinking beast cubs would meekly return the body?
Tap, tick-tack, tap-.
The gloomy voice with rhythmic cadence.
Paired with finger-tapping sounds.
Jennifer couldn't resist the chills erupting over her skin.
A symphony of sounds that plunged moods into melancholy dread, like a 'forge'.
Perfectly calculated rhythm and tone.
'How, how did he...'
He infused tremendous tension into a potentially ridiculous scene.
Jennifer glimpsed the pinnacle of acting she pursued in Jung Woo-jin's transformation of the mundane into chilling art.
'I can't be trapped in a mold...'
Wiping unnoticed tears, Jennifer slowly began clapping.
Clap, claap-.
The hypnotized crowd snapped awake, applauding the actor who'd unveiled new acting horizons.
Clap clap clap clap clap clap-.
Meanwhile.
Director Steven Hojer, trembling hand lifting his glasses, muttered the same word blankly.
"As expected. As expected, as expected..."
Jennifer, who'd been keeping her distance like she was sulking, suddenly approached me again.
No—rushed at me.
Eyes wide to an unsettling degree, she shoved her face close and said,
"W-Woo-jin! Woo-jin! That earlier thing... intentional? Right?"
Her words tumbled out fast and choppy, but I could guess what she meant.
"...Yeah."
"G-Genius! Insane. W-Woo-jin. Can you explain that to me in more detail...?"
"Hm..."
It wasn't anything special.
If anything, I'd added rhythm to the lines—precedents existed aplenty in acting.
Besides.
Everyone agrees the same line feels worlds apart depending on who's delivering it.
A simple greeting differs vastly in elegant British accent versus Bollywood English—obvious, really.
In that vein.
Practicing acting at home, I'd tried some new approaches, liked them, and debuted them here.
To elaborate.
I leveraged 'Refined British English Pronunciation (B)' coveted from Baek Hee-jin, applying unique intonations to certain words.
At the same time, inspired by musical syncopation, I slightly delayed stressing specific words.
Flicking the chair with my nail was impromptu, synced to those syncopations.
'Wait, come to think of it...'
Jennifer Weisz's condition, which I'd shelved since it made no sense.
⤷ 1st: Provide new inspiration to 'Jennifer Weisz'.
⤷ 2nd: Fulfill 1st condition first.
⤷ 3rd: Fulfill 2nd condition first.
Providing new inspiration.
'Maybe.'
This situation was what it meant.
"Th-The unique tone on key words, the slight off-beat pull in pronunciation, those elements—I get the gist, but I want to know for sure!"
Jennifer's eyes gleamed brighter than I'd ever seen.
'Come to think of it, Catherine said something similar.'
When we started Paranormal, even a tiny hint skyrocketed her skills.
This woman before me.
Among everyone I'd seen, she wielded the highest-grade talents.
Just listing hers: minimum A+.
'Astonishing Dexterity (A+)', 'Innate Vocal Cord Flexibility (A+)', 'Astonishing Vocal Fundamentals (A+)'.
Perhaps she too possessed.
'Inconceivable Acting Prowess (S)'.
An S-grade acting talent, unawakened due to inexperience and lack of inspiring figures.
Her insight catching most of my intent made it almost certain.
I smiled at Jennifer.
"Jennifer, shooting's not over yet. I'll explain in detail after."
It was time to infuse her with new inspiration.