Born Actor (3)
“Here you go, Yewon. Your pasta.”
“Oh, okay…. Th, thank you….”
Once the real performance began, Min Yewon slipped fully into character and stayed there.
She was so demure now that it was impossible to compare her with the girl who, only minutes ago, had been locked in a petty power struggle over who would confess first. Judging purely by the way she treated me, she was just about on par with Cha Eunju on an ordinary day.
The fake emotions manufactured by Born Actor were artificial, sure, but watching her react this convincingly drove home that the buff really did work.
'Still, the way she flips on and off like a switch kind of kills the fun.'
With Suggestion: Hypnosis, at least the target only pretended to be hypnotized while every action was still her own doing — there was a certain satisfaction in claiming the real Cha Eunju. This, on the other hand, was no different from sleeping with a different woman wearing Min Yewon's body. It was practically a temporary handoff of her physical self to a separate personality.
Of course, once it was over, she'd remember all of it as things she herself had done. Suggestion merely steered a person's thoughts and behavior; it couldn't touch their memories.
Which meant every blush, every flustered fumble Min Yewon performed for me right now would, before long, come home to roost as her own personal hall of shame.
'Definitely never using this on the heroines, though.'
Any of them hit once would feel the revulsion a hundred times harder. Even Cha Eunju, the most pliable of the lot, would probably start balking if I kneaded her emotions around this brazenly.
From now on, this was strictly for women like Min Yewon — the kind you could handle with moderate roughness. For villainesses without a shred of sympathy owed to them, this much was more than they deserved.
This was the woman who, for nothing more than money, nearly destroyed Kim Isabel — and then later conspired with Jo Jin-hyun to do the same to me.
Whether or not she personally harbored some enormous malice toward me or Isabel didn't matter. The fact that she was willing to attempt it at all was the point.
If you toy with two human lives, you pay the price. Simple as that.
“It's s-so good, Seonho~! H-how did you even know about a place like this~?”
“Something told me you'd like it. Eat up.”
“O-okay….”
She was thoroughly absorbed in her role as the 'girl who fell in love at first sight,' and it showed — docile as a lamb.
Since I planned on keeping her around until at least tomorrow morning, I'd have my fun with her until then.
Right up until I released the suggestion tomorrow morning, I needed to keep her docile through every means available. Not merely because I knew about her collaboration with Jo Jin-hyun, but to the point where the very thought of defying me became impossible for her to conceive.
Until then, I'd play the boyfriend Min Yewon would fall for. With that thought, I speared a single gnocchi from the plate and brought it up to her face.
“Say ah, Yewon.”
“Wh-wha?!”
“Hurry up. My arm's getting tired.”
“Ah, ahh….”
Embarrassed to be fed directly from my hand, yet dutifully playing along with her 'boyfriend's' little game — that was Min Yewon right now.
She'd only get to smile like this for one more day. So until then, I intended to let her enjoy this 'playing lovers' routine to the absolute fullest.
The Daehyeon Department Store food court.
A man dressed in hiking gear idled around one edge of the court. He shifted spots at regular intervals to avoid catching the staff's eye, but his gaze never wavered from the entrance of an Italian restaurant.
'Lucky bastard. Is he actually out here trying to have a real date?'
Judging by appearances alone, the two had walked into a restaurant that was rather well-suited for winning a woman's favor.
And because he had to surveil that very pair, Jo Jin-hyun was stuck waiting, choking down a half-hearted meal at a nearby fast food joint.
'I knew the guy was hiding something, but st—'
It was nearly two hours later — practically a late dinner — before the familiar light-green hair finally emerged from the restaurant. Just what had they talked about for two whole hours that she was only now crawling out?
Watching from a distance, sunglasses shielding his eyes, Jo Jin-hyun tried to read from their expressions what kind of conversation Lee Seonho and Min Yewon had just shared. And the first scene he witnessed was this: Min Yewon walking out with a bright smile on her face, nothing like the stiff, awkward girl from before.
“That hit the spot, Seonho. But are you sure I shouldn't pay you back for half of—”
“Don't worry about it. This kind of thing's supposed to be covered by whoever's better off.”
'…What is this? She was practically radiating awkwardness just a minute ago.'
And now, out of nowhere, the two of them were chatting away with easy, natural laughter.
Worse, Min Yewon had casually taken Lee Seonho's arm in both hands and pulled it toward her chest. Not just linking arms — skinship that was borderline bold even for a couple who'd only just started dating.
The audacity of it made one thing feel unmistakably clear: her desire to seduce Lee Seonho was genuine, and strong.
“Still feels a little bad just mooching off you….”
“Yeah? Then this might not quite make up for it, but… would you stay with me a little longer tonight?”
“Really? That's all it takes?”
“Mm. That's more than enough.”
'Is this acting? On the surface, it looks damn near sincere.'
She didn't exactly seem bright, but she hadn't struck him as an easy woman, either. Had he misjudged her?
No — it might be too early to call it. There were plenty of people in this world whose whole personality shifted the moment they committed to a performance.
Thinking back to the humiliation of that bitch Jin Soo-rin suddenly changing into a different person just to mock him, it wouldn't be strange if there were a few more human beings out there willing to give their all in order to deceive.
'Better to keep watching for now. however simple-minded she is, she's clearly not the type to throw away a job mid-contract. She's obsessed with money too — she knows better than anyone how much trouble she'd be in if this deal goes sour.'
Still, he couldn't quite shake the faint unease lodged in one corner of his mind, and so Jo Jin-hyun began tailing the pair, careful to stay outside their field of vision.
…And now something's attached itself to us.
I could feel the man in hiking gear — the one loitering around the park in front of Daehyeon Department Store earlier — following behind me and Min Yewon.
Jo Jin-hyun, almost certainly. He wanted to confirm whether Min Yewon was properly reeling me in according to plan.
He seemed to think he was being careful, keeping a decent distance — but since I already knew I was being tailed, even his caution was blindingly obvious.
'Not that he can do anything in the middle of a crowded city.'
He couldn't exactly start shooting in broad daylight downtown, and the closer he got, the more the advantage swung to me and my Ring of Reincarnation.
Besides, Min Yewon was on my side now. When her beloved boyfriend is attacked by an armed thug, surely she isn't going to just stand there.
Though if I had my preference, he'd keep his distance to the very end and stay a spectator. If Jo Jin-hyun died here, my pretext for playing with Min Yewon would grow a lot weaker starting tomorrow.
“S-so where are we going, Seonho~?”
“Hmm. Not many places open at this hour… Want to catch a movie?”
“Oh, yes~! I was just thinking I wanted to see one~!”
Glad you approve. Not that it would have changed the destination if you hadn't.
She was probably imagining the two of them cozying up in a theater for a late-night showing. Sorry, but with Min Yewon needing to be handled as quickly as possible, I had no time for that kind of leisure.
I would be moving us somewhere we could be alone and cozy, of course. Just not somewhere we'd watch a movie and then part ways.
Seoul Residence Suite Hotel
“Let's go in, Yewon.”
“…Huh?”
The moment I steered her toward a reasonably good-value hotel, Min Yewon looked up at me with a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
Even for the role of 'a girl in love with me,' being proposed a hotel on a first date clearly rattled her — I could see the faint tremor in her gaze.
“What are you doing? Not coming in?”
“D-don't you think it's a little early for us to… do this kind of thing?”
“Early? For what. You said you wanted to watch a movie.”
“B-but this is a hotel….”
“Hotels these days all have IPTV, so you can watch movies just fine. If we're watching anyway, isn't lying back on a bed more comfortable than squeezing in between a crowd of strangers? And one night here doesn't cost much more than two movie tickets.”
“I-is that so…?”
Like hell it is. Obviously I was just making things up.
There was no need to spend much effort persuading Min Yewon anyway. The Min Yewon of this moment was playing the role of a lovesick girlfriend who had no choice but to do as I said.
Hers was a situation where even a slightly furrowed brow from me would send her scrambling to force a smile and fall in line.
“Hey. Min Yewon.”
“Y-yeah?!”
“If you don't want to, say so straight. Why are you being so wishy-washy about it?”
“N-no, it's not that I don't want to, it's just… a little sudden….”
“You're the one who said you liked me, so we started dating. Shouldn't that mean you meet me halfway? I even took you somewhere I knew you'd enjoy tonight. Or what — am I not good enough for you?”
“No, no~! O-of course I'd never say you're not good enough~!”
“…Fine, decide for yourself. Either we walk into this hotel together, or you and I end things right here.”
“End things… wha…?”
The instant the words end things left my mouth, Min Yewon stared at me with pupils trembling dozens of times harder than they had at the mention of the hotel.
Deep in character as she was, breaking up with me would be a fate worse than death — which meant, right here, she had no choice but to accept my proposal.
“O-okay…. I, I don't really mind either, so….”
“You don't mind, or you want to?”
“O-of course I want to~! L-let's go, Seonho~!”
That's right. You should want to.
Before long, she'd be wanting to walk into a hotel with me not as 'acting,' but for real.
I was going to make her understand, eventually, that even a hotel room would come to feel like the good old days.
-Click.
“After you, Yewon.”
“Oh, thank you….”
Wh-what do I do? We actually came inside….
We've only known each other three days and we're already at a hotel — no matter how I think about it, isn't that way too fast…?
B-but, if what Seonho says is true, we're really just here to watch a movie, so maybe I'm the one being weird, imagining strange things just because I'm alone with him….
“You must be tired from walking around all day? Want to wash up first?”
“…W-wash up…? But we said we'd watch a movie….”
“Of course we're watching the movie too. But there's a bathroom right there — no reason not to use it. If we're doing this, washing up first and then lying down together is way better. Or what, do you want to lie down next to me smelling like sweat?”
“N-no! N-no, of course th-that's not it~!”
“Or maybe… you'd rather wash together? I don't particularly mind either way.”
“I-I'll go wash up first! W-washing together is, um, m-my heart isn't ready for that yet, so m-maybe later….”
“Sure, sure. I won't push, so take your time. I'll spend that time deciding what movie to watch.”
“O-okay….”
He's… he's not even forcing me to wash together, at least. Thank god.
When he looked angry back in front of the hotel, it scared me a little… b-but that was my fault, so it can't be helped.
Seonho planned to watch a movie here, just the two of us, from the very beginning, and I'm the one who went and said something weird… so of course he'd get upset, yeah.
And it's not like I want him smelling my sweat anyway.
He only suggested the hotel to begin with because he was being considerate — cramped seats pressed shoulder to shoulder are uncomfortable…. Come to think of it, if I hadn't gone and made some weird misunderstanding, Seonho would never have had a reason to be angry in the first place….
'His anger… it's all blown over by now, right?'
I hope it is. I don't really understand men….
Either way, today I just have to go along with whatever Seonho wants. Ah — but what if we lie down on the bed and Seonho suddenly actually wants to… do it…?
Even if I finally got a first boyfriend, I always wanted to take that part slowly, but for some reason, thinking of Seonho as the one keeps making me go back and forth….
'I-I don't know…. If Seonho suddenly asks, I'll think about it then….'
Still, if it were Seonho as my first… I don't think I'd actually mind….