Masterpieces Require Sacrifice (2)
“How do I look?”
“The collar feels a bit too stiff.”
“Oh, in that case, let’s go for something more relaxed. Focus on elegant draping with comfortable tailoring and a white inner layer for accent… It creates this effortless highlight. How about this?”
“Hmm…”
On the morning of the shoot, Aislinn Lewis stood before a full-length mirror, getting help from the coordinator.
She wasn’t the type to indulge in false humility. She knew full well that her natural looks played into her popularity.
It was just another talent, like being born with a gift for singing or dancing—something versatile and useful.
But the reflection staring back at her now satisfied her in a slightly different way than usual.
Aislinn made up her mind.
“It’s good.”
“Stunning!”
The coordinator from her agency clapped with professional poise.
Of course, her face still screamed confusion: Why do I have to come all the way to Korea for this? And why this early-morning hassle for a mere cameo?
Not that there was any need to explain.
-If you want to have a positive influence on someone, just do it. No excuses.
-That’s all it takes.
Kang Min himself had said it. Anyone who wanted to make a “positive impact” could just do it.
The words had struck her deep.
And Aislinn interpreted it to mean she could pursue him as boldly as she liked.
“Absolutely not, I’m thinking.”
“Shut up and drive, agent.”
“Yes, ma’am…”
As her manager grumbled and hit the accelerator, Aislinn quietly flipped through the documents.
She’d memorized everyone involved in today’s small shoot. But none of them were her match.
The stars today would be Kang Min and her.
That was enough.
‘No matter how crazy it got, that woman in the hospital room spent ten years doing nothing.’
Aislinn let out a soft scoff.
She had no reason to be that pathetic.
She tilted her head toward the mirror and flashed a grin. Charming, even to her own eyes—manager’s fake gag be damned.
‘One day. That’s all I need.’
Aislinn was certain.
One day to captivate the entire set and shut up that idiot who’d spewed nonsense on the Broadway stage.
It was the kind of confidence no one could argue with.
“Holy shit…”
“Aislinn Lewis for real? What the hell is she doing in Korea?”
“That scandal was legit? Come on, their excuse about going to Broadway to learn acting from each other is a stretch.”
“Even if it was, she wouldn’t come to Korea.”
“Yeah, true…”
On shoot day, the ten support staff dispatched to Die to Live were barely regaining their sanity.
That meeting had felt like witnessing something utterly bizarre—beyond acrobatics or magic, almost supernatural.
But planning and shooting were separate realms, right?
Then Aislinn arrived, smiling and greeting everyone, and the set fell silent.
There were many ways to gauge an actor’s caliber, but famous directors often spoke of a unique presence, an aura.
At that level, she was practically a monster.
They muttered blankly.
“…She’ll devour the whole scene just by standing there.”
“Yeah.”
“Using that for a cameo? Total mismatch, no matter who you ask.”
It wasn’t just the skeptical support team. Staff and even directors felt it instinctively from her casual rehearsal.
She was on another level.
Brimming with motivation for some reason, which only amplified her glow.
Even Harry Gordon looked stunned, like, ‘Was she always this good?’
That explained why no one could easily point out the subtle dip in performance quality.
[Damn it. This is my case! Why the hell are you butting in!]
[Oh? If you were doing a good job, why would I interfere, ‘detective agency’?]
[Detectives are legal in Korea now too, you yankee bastard!]
[I know.]
[…….]
Early in the shoot, the drama pulled a twist.
These guys, seen as the heroine’s tenacious revenge targets’ underlings, were revealed as detectives investigating the ghost chaos and murders.
They bicker but share info and pursue leads, inching toward the truth.
[Hmm… So the illegitimate daughter of Cheonhwa Group was last heard from here.]
[Not important info… Not important, but… it nags at me somehow…]
But the actors handling this crucial turning point were falling short.
Kim Ho-jin, as a stuntman, minimized lines under a mask anyway. His strengths would shine in the action later.
Harry Gordon, though, was overacting, his skill not fully unleashed.
It was like a wolf tensing up in a lion’s territory—instinctively wary of awkwardness when another actor joined.
That’s where caliber gaps showed.
Aislinn shrugged as if expecting it, glancing at PD Han Ye-seul.
‘You wanna shove her out of frame without stealing focus? Good luck with that.’
The set mostly agreed.
The only one who wouldn’t be overshadowed on camera was Kang Min. They’d have to cut her lead-level screen time separately.
But Aislinn wasn’t lead-level.
So wasn’t the storyboard flawed from the start?
Doubtful eyes turned to the PD.
Even the support team, cowed by the “three-hour meeting,” straightened up a bit. Just flashy on paper, lacking substance after all.
Just as they regained their smugness—
“Scrap it. Let’s redo.”
Han Ye-seul declared casually.
As Harry Gordon glanced around awkwardly, she called for Kang Min.
“Scene 368, let’s set the mood first.”
“Passing the buck?”
“Just do it. It’s not for me.”
“I’ll brew three coffees.”
“Fine.”
“‘Gurk’ or ‘Keurk’?”
“‘Keurhk,’ leaning into flustered emotion.”
“Think it’ll work?”
“We’ll match it.”
“Cut on?”
“Climax upshot. Forward before.”
“Got it.”
…?
No one understood the bizarre, heavily abbreviated exchange.
Not even the DP.
But soon, understanding became irrelevant.
The moment Kang Min jumped into the scene ahead of schedule, the atmosphere flipped.
Clap clap.
It started with applause.
Kang Min—no, the ghost—clapped with an impressed expression.
Harry Gordon and Kim Ho-jin’s blank faces naturally amplified the bewilderment.
[Impressive. You found the decisive clue in just thirty-three tries… Well, ‘decisive’ might be a stretch.]
Scene 368—
Harry Gordon snapped into actor mode, pulling a weapon from his coat.
Yelling at the dazed Kim Ho-jin:
[What’re you doing, agency! He’s suspicious! Take him down!]
[Kuh!]
The agency man charges, drawing not his familiar fencing sword but a dagger. Drilled relentlessly by twenty burly trainers, his honed moves rivaled his fencing prowess.
The ‘yankee’ joins with brass knuckles. Harry Gordon had real stunt chops, not pro-level but solid.
To make a good scene, the ghost had to fluidly deflect their attacks with overwhelming presence.
Everyone sighed, expecting dozens of retakes.
But for Kang Min, who’d leveled up recently, it was no big deal.
[Hm, wasn’t planning to fight.]
Both detectives flew back simultaneously.
As the DP blinked, the ghost smirked and stepped forward mockingly.
[Let’s see if we can talk first.]
Aislinn wondered if she’d still been underestimating actor Kang Min.
[Wh-what are you…!]
[The person you’ve been looking for.]
[Person? You call yourself a person? After all that shit you pulled…!]
[Hm, I still think of myself that way. Intent matters, right?]
[You trash…!]
Harry Gordon’s acting was on fire.
Far beyond what Aislinn had gauged.
Not a misjudgment. Kang Min’s ghost, effortlessly poised even post-action frenzy, naturally elevated him.
An unmissable gap in caliber.
Or dissonance—
The fallen detectives, outsiders too, realize it isn’t human. Infusing the scene with raw life.
A human acting a ghost with zero post-processing. Even Aislinn momentarily lost words at the uncanny realism.
The ‘yankee’ lashes out desperately.
[Why…! Why flaunt the murders and display the bodies like trophies…!]
[So you’d come investigate and disrupt my contractor.]
[What?!]
[Ah, listen even if you don’t get it. I’m giving you a clue. I don’t care how it rolls.]
The ghost crouched low.
Overlapping with the ghost’s prior goofy antics.
-Looks like I gotta jump.
-I’m not crazy. Here’s my psych eval.
-Hup, just those two. Sneak in and snag that USB.
-Eh, how about another sandwich instead?
His emotions were exaggerated: big laughs, shrugs for regret.
But his eyes never joined in. People realize it late.
Because now, the ghost smiled genuinely for the first time in the story.
[Detective, ever felt that on a day off? Wanting to do something, but nothing matters, so even pointless stuff exhausts you, and you just close your eyes? That feeling.]
[…What bullshit.]
[It’s profoundly sad, detective. Eternal? Even sadder. Homo ludens, right? Can’t call a human joyless.]
[…….]
[That’s my motive. Pure curiosity.]
The ghost grins slyly.
The chaebol bastard betrayed by family, dies.
That betrayal.
Rage.
Self-loathing.
If revenge born of all that succeeds—fine. He’d applaud joy, nostalgia, or even emptiness.
But far better if it crumbles unfulfilled.
[Revenge.]
Discarding all emotions, memories, humanity for revenge.
The kind where you’d gladly say ‘yes’ to abandoning everything.
The ghost speaks in moved tones.
[If it fails utterly, how do you think she meets her end? What words, emotions, regrets?]
[You… maniac.]
[Yes, she might say that. Realizing too late I blocked her. Hate me more. Die hating, gaining nothing.]
[…….]
[Isn’t it a brilliant tragedy…!]
The detective can’t grasp the mad ghost’s words. Nor who ‘she’ is.
Clues insufficient yet.
But he resolves.
Instinctively certain.
He’ll reach that face someday.
Can reach it.
Even as consciousness fades, conviction holds.
Dying reveals: this death isn’t final.
Past screams weren’t meaningless.
Black curtain exists. Victims too.
Thus—
[…….]
Eyes dim, will endures. Onlookers stare blankly.
Then the heroine—Hye-yeon—appears.
[Something wrong?]
[Nah, nothing much.]
The ghost smiles.
[Just interference in your revenge, as usual.]
The woman eyes the fallen detectives, eyes widening blankly.
[What?]
[…No, nothing. Those guys, why, uh.]
[They were a nuisance.]
[Nuisance.]
[Yes.]
[…….]
[What?]
[…No, my mistake. Getting sick of these bastards.]
[Same. Sandwich?]
[No.]
[Oh well.]
Ghost laughs. Woman hesitates, then laughs.
Silence remains.
“Cut.”
Only after Han Ye-seul shook her head did reality snap back. Breath-holders exhaled.
Support team slumped again as staff swapped dazed looks—the tough scene done in two takes.
Chaos erupted. Meanwhile, the ghost became Kang Min, helping Harry Gordon up.
“You good, Harry?”
“Huh? Uh…”
“Great job, buddy. Perfect scene.”
“Y-yeah…”
Harry Gordon looked dazed.
Aislinn got it.
In sports dance, they say if one partner’s skill is insanely superior, the other feels their body pulling off miracles involuntarily.
Harry must’ve felt that. Even she’d been overwhelmed briefly.
But euphoria followed.
‘Even Harry Gordon’s way below him.’
Not bad.
Partners worthy of that acting? Limited.
Those who could comprehend it? Limited.
But she could.
Aislinn clenched her fist.
‘I can keep up.’
Share the stage?
She’d lag a bit but hold her own, not dragged.
Thus, deep bonds with him? Exclusive club.
Aislinn grinned confidently at Han Ye-seul.
Game on. Whatever role the PD had planned, it wouldn’t be easy now.
Han Ye-seul spoke calmly.
“Tension was perfect, so for you, Lewis-ssi, I want the opposite vibe. Might be tough, but we decided it’s essential in the meeting—”
“No problem. Anything goes.”
“…Great, saves persuasion time.”
“?”
Confident Aislinn felt a faint chill.
And—
Four days later,
Billboards blared the preview for Die to Live episode 13.
Not rare, so passersby glanced casually—then froze.
Onlookers blinked blankly; others looked up and halted too.
That impactful: the ‘ghost’ with a sincere smile.
"If it fails utterly, how do you think she meets her end?"
"What words, emotions, regrets?"
"Isn’t it a brilliant tragedy…?!"
PD Han Ye-seul and Shim Yu-hyeon’s touch perfected the set-stealer.
No needless flair—just raw acting amplified into street-stopping magnetism.
“What the…?”
“Episode 13! Die to Live 13!”
“Damn, they went all out.”
“Gotta watch live.”
Impact junkies buzzed.
Massive impact. Flow.
…But the next hit dwarfed it.
-Smack!
“?”
“?”
Scene shift.
A masked figure gets whacked with kimchi by a poised foreigner in killer outfit, sneering old-school villain cliché.
[“Disappointing, detective. Another failure.”]
[“J-just one more chance…!”]
[“Don’t you know excuses are sin?”]
?
Silence fell.
Even cars pulled over hazardously, staring blankly.
Quiet hung heavy.
‘Uh, um…’
What the hell was episode 13 about…?