Am I Scary to You?

"Baek Ga-yoon. That's enough."

Lee Jeong-han stepped squarely into her path, his face hard as he chided her.

And then—

"Ms. Jung Ga-yoon. You've both given as good as you got, so let's call it even and pretend none of this happened. The shoot has to be finished without incident."

Given as good as they got? At Lee Jeong-han's words, Minji turned to Jung Ga-yoon with a puzzled look. Ga-yoon, still rubbing her neck, caught Minji's wrist—a silent promise to explain later.

"What do you mean, even? Look what she did to my face! Huh?"

"Aish! Enough, I mean it!"

Baek Ga-yoon thrashed as though in the grip of a fit, and Lee Jeong-han, darting anxious glances at Jung Ga-yoon, hauled her into the waiting room.

The lock clicked.

With Baek Ga-yoon shut inside, the corridor settled into quiet. Not that it stayed that way—from behind the door, a voice that could only belong to Baek Ga-yoon went on raging, shrill and vicious.

"What was that? Is it true? No, wait—"

Minji, pressing urgently, caught sight of a staffer standing nearby and cut herself short, tipping her head toward the waiting room.

But Jung Ga-yoon didn't budge. She stayed right there in the corridor and said it plainly. "It's true."

"Hey—"

Minji's warning glance rolled right off her. Left alone, this could easily spread as though it had all been her fault. That much she could not allow.

"Two days ago, on our shoot day, Baek Ga-yoon sunbae strangled me. On the studio rooftop."

"What…?"

The words landed like a bombshell.

"You saw it for yourself just now—the way she put her hands on my throat without a flicker of hesitation."

"Is that really true?"

There was no sneaking past a conversation like this one. The staffer who had been frozen nearby, too awkward to slip away, edged closer with eyes gone wide as saucers.

"Yes."

She answered matter-of-factly, and So-hee, silent at her side until now, sucked in a breath like a swallowed scream.

"No wonder…! That day there was sand, or something like it, stuck in your hair, unni!"

She'd wondered about it at the time, she explained—while touching up the makeup and combing through the disheveled hair, she'd found grains of sand and flecks of concrete—but filming had started right away, and it had slipped her mind entirely.

"Did you two… get physical?"

"What? Besides being strangled—are you hurt anywhere else?"

At So-hee's question, Minji swept a worried gaze over her; the staffer, too, stole a careful, anxious look.

Ga-yoon gave a faint smile. "When she had me by the throat, she pushed, and I cracked my head against the floor. It was swollen at the time. It's fine now."

"Oh, that's awful…"

The staffer's eyes drooped with sympathy.

It was reflex, after all—anyone with hands at their throat pushes back. The scratched face, then, must have come out of that same struggle.

And they had heard it with their own ears, too—Baek Ga-yoon, glaring at Jung Ga-yoon, muttering You're alive? with murder in her voice.

"Hey, kid! What are you doing over there? I told you to bring me the lead cable!"

It was the audio director, come hunting for the youngest staffer, who still hadn't returned despite being sent ages ago.

"Gah! Yes, sir—going!"

"Aigoo. Hurry it up!"

The audio director barked, and the kid scurried off at a dead run.

The corridor quieted once more.

"Unbelievable. Hey, you! If something like that happened, you should've told me right away! Are you okay? Want to sit down for a bit before we head back on set?"

Minji offered the suggestion gently. Ga-yoon had just been roughed up by Baek Ga-yoon again, after all—and that unhesitating, merciless grip at her throat was not the touch of someone who'd done it once or twice.

"I'm fine. We're about to start filming."

And she truly was fine. Ga-yoon shrugged and set off toward the set, Baek Ga-yoon's expression lingering in her memory.

By now Baek Ga-yoon must have pieced together the situation on set and known, coming out, that Ga-yoon hadn't died. And yet the face she'd made at the sight of her—sheer, appalled disbelief.

Worth savoring.

Ga-yoon let the corner of her mouth curl into a furtive smile. Her only regret was that she'd missed the look on Baek Ga-yoon's face at the very first moment she learned her victim still breathed.

Passing out of the waiting-room corridor and onto the set, Minji gasped in admiration.

"Wow—it's like we walked into an awards ceremony!"

The set, dressed as a party hosted by the male lead's company, glittered with extravagance. And the first scene to be filmed there today was the one in which Baek Ga-yoon and Jung Ga-yoon would go head to head.

At some point, the hotel seminar room had transformed into a party scene straight out of the drama. Catering tables, champagne, extras done up in gowns and tailored suits.

"All set?"

After knocking out a few cuts of footage to be used as background, Director Kang made for the balcony, where the villain's attempt on the heroine's life would be filmed.

"Yes. All ready."

With wire work stacked on top of everything else, there was that much more to prepare.

"And the stuntwoman?"

The fall would not be Baek Ga-yoon's to perform; a double had been assigned to take the plunge.

"Standing by."

After checking on the stuntwoman, who had been rehearsing since earlier, Director Kang spotted Jung Ga-yoon already out and waiting, and smiled.

"Actress Jung! Last day of your shoot today, right? Looking forward to working with you."

And then—

"Hey! Someone go get Actress Baek!"

Filming was about to begin. One of the staff sprinted off toward the waiting room.

Script in hand, Jung Ga-yoon went over the scene they were about to shoot. The villain, mid-conversation with the heroine, can no longer contain her rage—she seizes the heroine by the throat and shoves her over the balcony's edge.

How ironic.

Two days ago, Baek Ga-yoon's hands had been around her neck. Today, hers would close around Baek Ga-yoon's.

Jung Ga-yoon looked down at her own hands. It was only acting—and yet she was certain she could pour every last drop of sincerity into it.

Another chance to stretch what remained of her life.

Her fingers drifted up and lightly stroked the skin around her neck. Every glance at the time draining away in real time sharpened the impatience coiling in her chest.

Once today's shoot wrapped, how many days would it buy her? She hoped for something generous—at the very least, enough to settle on her next project. Because this scene was her final one.

Baek Ga-yoon's chronic no-shows and blown call times meant that every one of Ga-yoon's remaining scenes had already been completed.

…

Having gone over everything slated for today, she glanced around the set. Just then, the staffer who'd gone to fetch Baek Ga-yoon returned alone and approached Director Kang, wearing a look of sheer helplessness.

"Actress Baek is asking for more time?"

The director's face crumpled on the spot. "Ha… damn it. I'll go myself."

Director Kang left the set with the staffer trailing after him, and the dozens of extras left behind looked after them, utterly bewildered.

"Please don't leave the set—we'll have you stand by just a moment."

At the assistant director's word, the extras drifted into little clusters and settled down around the room to rest.

"Seriously. Every time I think she can't go lower, she finds another floor."

Beside Jung Ga-yoon, Minji shook her head in disgust. Silently agreeing, Ga-yoon cast a glance toward the waiting room.

Having read today's scene, she had half expected Baek Ga-yoon to come out like this. Even as pure make-believe, having her throat wrapped in these particular hands was bound to feel chilling.

"Let's get ready to shoot."

The staffer who'd followed Director Kang returned with the announcement, and Baek Ga-yoon emerged in the director's wake. The resting extras rose as one and moved to their prearranged blocking; the crew, too, each took up their assigned stations.

"Let's roll!"

"No, Director! I'm telling you, I can't act opposite her!"

She had somehow been coaxed onto the set, but Baek Ga-yoon clearly had no intention of filming. From the monitoring table, Director Kang answered with glacial calm.

"What do you think this is, a school? Am I supposed to patch up your little feud? If you can't separate business from personal, then stay home!"

Director Kang thought of the people who had warned him when he announced he would be working with Baek Ga-yoon, and let out a long, heavy sigh. Her notorious reputation was old news—but dazzled by her money and her name value, he had brushed it all aside. That had been his fatal mistake.

"Ugh, fine! Then at least put in a double for me!"

Baek Ga-yoon had begun throwing an outright absurd tantrum. Supposedly Jung Ga-yoon had clawed up her face—or so the story went. Frankly, he couldn't believe a word of it. A perennial supporting actress from some small agency, no backers to her name, scratching Baek Ga-yoon's face? Unless she dreamed of vanishing from this industry without a whisper, it was beyond impossible.

"Director!"

At Baek Ga-yoon's endless, shameless display, the waiting crew winced and dragged hands down their faces; the extras heaved weary sighs.

"Sunbae."

I can't just stand here and watch this. Jung Ga-yoon, who had been observing in silence, took a step forward and cut in.

Only minutes ago, in front of the waiting room, the woman had had her hands around Ga-yoon's neck, eyes crinkled as she sneered, You're alive?—Ga-yoon had assumed she would never skip the shoot. If she wanted to lash out, fine, lash out. But refusing to film as if terrified, of all things? That was genuinely strange.

"Am I frightening you?"

Jung Ga-yoon closed the distance and whispered, pitched so low that no one but Baek Ga-yoon could possibly hear. What on earth had brought this on, so suddenly?

"Why? Afraid I might really do it? Really strangle you—the way you did to me?"

Well, that might be part of it. But it hardly seemed to be the whole story.

…

A hand's span apart, their eyes locked. There wasn't a shred of fear in Baek Ga-yoon's gaze—it brimmed, edge to edge, with venom.

Ahh. Now I see.

A single thought flashed through her mind.