WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Why Do My Dramas Keep Becoming Hits!? ◈
Chapter 45: Fake Madness, Real Madness (6)
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In a pitch-black room where no light entered, the only source of illumination was the bluish glow of a smartphone screen behind blackout curtains.
Under that eerie light, Woo Yeon-hee was curled up in the corner of her bed, looking like a corpse barely clinging to life.
Tangled hair. Hollow cheeks. Sunken eyes. Not a trace remained of the radiant national first love who had once captivated all of Korea.
"...."
Her finger trembled irritably as she scrolled.
Every day of her life had become a hellish cycle of self-torture.
Portal news. Anonymous communities. Even YouTube gossip videos.
She spent all day compulsively searching the internet, reading every word related to her drug scandal as though licking it clean.
[Look at the variety of drugs they found on her, lol. Even a Mexican cartel probably lives healthier than that bitch.]
[It's fucking disgusting how she's trying to crawl back out while testing the waters for a comeback. Stay locked in your room for the rest of your life.]
[Why is a junkie pretending to reflect? Makes me want to puke, so just die already, please.]
[What do they say about faces? Physiognomy is science, lol. Her eyes always gave me the creeps, and now look what happened.]
[Is this a common trait among former child actors? Their mental state falls apart and they go down the drug path. It's exactly the same, seriously.]
[From now on, please only bring us Woo Yeon-hee's obituary news ^^]
[For real, lol. There'll probably be an overdose obituary soon. Give it a year, yeah.]
[It's legendary that she's still alive after taking that much shit, lol. Is she some mystery of the human body?]
The screen was filled with sharp violence, each comment steeped in criticism, mockery, and curses.
Thousands, tens of thousands of hateful comments felt like sharp needles stabbing her all over. Still, she bit her lips until they bled and forced herself to swallow that horrific pain.
Then, as Woo Yeon-hee habitually refreshed the community page, her eyes froze.
[Exclusive: After Her “Period of Reflection,” Woo Yeon-hee Gears Up for a Comeback in Studio Miracle's New Drama?]
"...What?"
Her cracked voice scraped through the room like rusted metal.
Public opinion was already boiling over with fury at the shameless comeback of a drug addict.
Woo Yeon-hee trembled as she read the posts.
She had not even auditioned yet. She had never even given a definite answer that she would do it.
She had not even considered looking at the drama in the first place, so why had an article like this come out?
Was this someone inside Hi-Up? Or someone from Miracle leaking gossip to the press? There was no other answer, but why?
At the end of that tangled confusion, one person suddenly crossed her mind.
"The writer said he absolutely has to see you. He said you have to be Mantis, no matter what. What do you want to do?"
At that moment, the puzzle pieces floating around in her mind clicked together with horrifying perfection.
It had never been a sincere casting offer.
That writer had intended to use a fallen actress as a human shield and stir up the worst possible controversy, all to inflate the drama's buzz.
"...Why are you all fucking with me? Why... why... why...?! Whyyyyy?!"
This exclusive article had to be a rumor deliberately fed to the press by the writer's side to make public outrage explode.
The moment she realized it, the last thread of reason barely holding her together snapped.
#
"Just who the fuck are you, you piece of shit?"
Murderous fury filled Woo Yeon-hee's eyes, as if she were ready to tear the man in front of her apart with her bare hands.
"I'm already fucking miserable without you bastards making things worse. I feel like I'm being bled dry. So why do you keep fucking with me?"
"...."
"Say something. Go on, talk. I only ruined my own body doing drugs. Did I hurt any of you? No! So why? Why?! Why the hell?!"
Her rage burst out like a scream.
"Why are you all so desperate to kill me?!"
"Yeon-hee! Stop, please!"
"W-What are you doing?! Get her off him, now!"
The seminar room descended into chaos in an instant.
Ji Yeon-woo, whose collar was being grabbed and yanked around, looked entirely unbothered.
Gently holding Woo Yeon-hee's trembling hand as she gripped his collar hard enough to tear it, he spoke.
"Ma'am. I think you've seriously misunderstood something."
"Misunderstood? Bullshit."
"Um... I called you here for one reason only. I sincerely wanted to see your acting. I truly have no other intentions."
At that calm, shameless reply, Woo Yeon-hee ground her teeth and growled.
"Stop bullshitting me, you son of a bitch. You think I don't know what you're after? You figured I'm a drug-addicted bitch whose mind has gone to shit, so you'd sweet-talk me and use me for media play."
"...."
"Casting is just an excuse. You want to put a washed-up bitch up front and stir up controversy. Isn't that right? So don't act like you care before I kill you."
"Y-Yeon-hee! Please stop and let's go outside first, okay?!"
Woo Yeon-hee roughly shook off Han Young-soo's hand as though it disgusted her, then let go of Ji Yeon-woo's collar.
There was no point arguing with this lunatic any longer. It would only make her look more ridiculous.
She glared coldly at Ji Yeon-woo and spat out her final words.
"You bastards can beat your own drums and dance to them all you want. I don't give a fuck. But drag my name into this bullshit again and try to play games with it."
"...."
"Then I'll really kill you."
With that icy threat, Woo Yeon-hee turned away without hesitation.
Just as she was about to stride toward the seminar room door, though...
"Back then."
Ji Yeon-woo's calm voice came from behind her.
"I remember when you received the Best Actress award at that ceremony."
At those words, Woo Yeon-hee stopped dead in her tracks as if she had tripped over a stone.
"I was impressed by the acceptance speech you gave onstage."
Straightening his rumpled collar, Ji Yeon-woo continued slowly toward her motionless back.
"You said that an actor was someone who spoke through acting. And that you would express your gratitude for such an undeserved award through the performances you would show in the future."
"...What?"
Woo Yeon-hee's shoulders trembled faintly.
It was the fervent vow she had made before the public during the period when she shone most brilliantly, when she had taken the greatest pride in her own acting.
Without knowing the writer's intentions in bringing up her glamorous past, Woo Yeon-hee held her breath.
"I agree with those words. Whether an actor named Woo Yeon-hee is tormented by unfair rumors or pointed at by others, that actor's true worth can only be proven in front of the camera."
"...."
"So speak through your acting."
When had it begun?
The eyes of everyone looking at her had become coated with dark emotions.
The shallow, vulgar satisfaction of looking down on a fallen top star.
Open disgust toward a drug addict who had rolled to the bottom.
The sense of betrayal from people who felt their former idol had stabbed them in the back, and the terrible distrust that meant they would no longer believe anything that came from her lips.
Even the judges in this seminar room, staring at her with pale faces, were no different.
But that person.
The writer she had wanted to kill only moments ago was an exception.
There was no disgust in his clear eyes. No distrust. Not even the usual pity.
Like an empty camera lens, they held only the pure, transparent anticipation of seeing what “actress Woo Yeon-hee,” standing within the frame, would produce in the next scene.
Those strangely indifferent eyes pierced through the defensive walls Woo Yeon-hee had built layer upon layer.
"...."
"If you want to tear me apart and kill me, don't do it by grabbing my collar like this."
Ji Yeon-woo met her gaze directly with clear eyes that did not waver in the slightest.
"Beat me down in front of that camera. With nothing but your acting."
#
After the storm had swept through the audition room, only ragged breathing occasionally cut through the silence.
Leaning back in a chair, CP Gong Myeong-ho stared at Woo Yeon-hee, who stood before the camera.
'She's completely broken.'
To the experienced producer who had seen it all, her condition looked utterly miserable.
Could someone with such a ruined, unstable mind continue working as an actor?
No, could she even endure ordinary daily life, let alone stand before a camera?
'An actor is someone who must perfectly control and assemble their emotions.'
Woo Yeon-hee's emotional dam was full of holes.
She was like a wild beast that would go mad beyond control at the slightest touch.
The miserable fall of a top star who had once dominated her era did make Gong Myeong-ho feel sorry for her, but that was all.
This was the broadcasting industry, a place driven entirely by capital and results.
Saving her ruined life was not their concern.
Was this audition not the same?
The production team had to find the best possible part, one that fit the role of Mantis perfectly.
And by that standard, Woo Yeon-hee could not possibly be the answer.
The roles that had raised her to her current position had always been ones where she was loved, beautiful, and tearfully yearning.
There was a reason the public had called her the nation's first love and the queen of melodrama.
In other words, the peak of Woo Yeon-hee's acting ability was valid only in those bright, beautiful genres.
But what was Mantis like?
A character soaked in drugs, crawling along the bottom, living with cold madness and violent instability.
Could an actress who had spent her entire career insisting on beautiful performances, like a flower raised in a greenhouse, pull off such a filthy role?
Not a chance.
The result was obvious.
Like the other applicants apart from Seol Jin-a, she would probably produce an even more disastrous result.
'I don't know why the writer dragged her into this, but... this will settle it for sure.'
Gong Myeong-ho and the other judges crossed their arms or leaned back in their chairs as they watched Woo Yeon-hee.
Bearing those distrustful gazes alone, she slowly walked forward.
Then she stopped on the designated acting spot marked with an X of masking tape on the floor.
"All right. If you're ready... begin."
Gong Myeong-ho gave the dry, formal cue, but Woo Yeon-hee did not begin her lines right away.
She merely lowered her head, let both arms hang limp, and stood as still as a corpse.
Three seconds. Four. Five... ten.
A short but tense silence passed.
Director Pyo Won-ho, sitting beside Gong Myeong-ho, muttered, "Just as I thought. She didn't even memorize the lines," and was about to turn on his microphone.
Sliiide...
Woo Yeon-hee's shoulders, which had been slumped forward, twisted grotesquely. Her dangling fingertips began to tremble faintly.
It was not the trembling of simple nerves.
It was an unpleasant spasm, as if tens of thousands of insects were crawling beneath her skin.
With that single movement, a chilling sensation seemed to sweep over the judges, as though the temperature around them had dropped several degrees at once.
Slowly. Very slowly.
She raised her head.
"...."
Gong Myeong-ho's brow twitched faintly as Gong Myeong-ho watched with crossed arms and bored eyes.
Woo Yeon-hee's unfocused eyes, which had been wavering with instability, were gone.
In their place were the pupils of a grotesque lunatic, completely out of focus from being steeped in drugs.
"Ahaha... It itches. Why does it itch so much?"
Woo Yeon-hee's long fingernails began to rake harshly down the back of her neck.
Her grip was merciless enough to leave long, red marks.
As if she did not care what happened to her body, she continued with touches that bordered on self-harm.
'Huh...?'
Then Woo Yeon-hee's unfocused eyes, which had wandered through the air, suddenly fixed in a strange way on an empty corner.
"...Who was that? Who laughed?"
As if irritated by auditory hallucinations mocking and ridiculing her, she looked around in every direction.
"Was it you? You just laughed at me, didn't you? Ahaha... So because I crawled around on the floor a little, you think I'm some fucking worthless bug?"
Her laughter, as if her lungs were full of air, abruptly transformed into icy murderous intent.
"You fucking bastard, don't laugh. Shut up. Shut that mouth before I tear it apart."
At the grotesque sight, even Director Pyo Won-ho, who had been displeased with her, dropped the pen in his hand onto his lap.
This was not merely an imitation based on memorizing a script.
It was the horrific seizure of a drug addict whose brain cells had been destroyed by severe withdrawal.
"...Shut up."
Suddenly, she staggered upright.
Then she walked directly toward Ji Yeon-woo with heavy steps.
People were about to rise, thinking she might start grappling with him again.
Thud!
She slammed her forehead into the table.
At the dull, terrible impact, everyone at the judges' table jolted.
'She's insane. Did she really hit it?!'
That was not even in the script directions. What was she doing?
Despite the judges' panicked reactions as they tried to pull away, she kept smashing her skull against the table.
"Don't laugh."
Bang!
"Shut up."
Bam!
"Don't laugh. I said don't laugh. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."
Bang! Bam!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As though punishing her own body, she repeatedly drove her head down at a speed that looked ready to snap her neck.
Her bloodshot eyes, above her grotesquely heaving shoulders, fiercely followed only Ji Yeon-woo.
Then her violent movements abruptly stopped.
It was a stop so sudden and unnatural that it was like a machine whose fuse had blown.
"...."
As suffocating silence covered the seminar room, her back began to tremble grotesquely while she pressed her reddened forehead against the table.
Then a strange murmur began to leak from between her split lips, stained with blood, like the sound of a broken record player.
"...."
For a moment, the mumbling sounded like escaping air.
"Shut upshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup."
Then it burst forth uncontrollably, fast and relentless, like someone who had lost their mind.
Everyone trembled in shock at that grotesque muttering.
The judges, who had just moments ago pitied Woo Yeon-hee or secretly laughed at her, now stood frozen in horror, having forgotten even how to breathe.
"Shut uuuup!!!"
A piercing death cry that seemed ready to tear apart every bit of air in the room.
Once more, her head drove mercilessly into the table.
BANG!!!
With that, every movement stopped. As if she had never suffered a seizure, she calmly straightened her body.
Then...
Click.
With chillingly calm hands, she opened the cap of the pill bottle in her pocket.
One blue capsule rolling around inside the bottle dropped into her mouth.
Crunch.
In the silence, the capsule breaking apart like an animal bone rang out clearly.
Moving her jaw, she willingly chewed and swallowed the harsh chemical medicine spreading across her tongue.
One second. Two. Three.
"Haaah...."
Her limp spine snapped upright as though high-voltage electricity had run through it.
Her dull, unfocused eyes expanded into blackness, and a languid, ecstatic smile spread across her bloodless face, creating the illusion that blood was dripping from it.
"Ahahahaha...! Heh, kahahahahat! Ahh, good...."
She gripped her own throat and burst into grotesque laughter, then abruptly stopped and lowered her eyes to the floor.
For an instant, Gong Myeong-ho felt the chilling illusion that countless underlings were sprawled at her feet, trembling on the ground.
"It feels like it's eating me up from head to toe.... Ah... Do you think that bastard is in heaven right now, getting high on my drugs? Ah, fuck. They're mine. Drugs bought with my own blood. Thinking about them flowing through that bastard's veins makes my insides tingle so much I'm losing my mind."
Gong Myeong-ho had entirely forgotten that the scene was acting and could only tremble without realizing it, overcome by the vile disgust strangling each breath.
'Is that... human?'
No.
She was not human.
A beast wearing human skin, no, something that could not even be called a beast.
A horrific monster stripped of human reason and even animal instinct.
She was madness itself, unknown and impossible to describe with the shallow words available to Gong Myeong-ho.
"...Break every one of that bastard's arms and legs, then drag him here while he's still alive. I'll cut open his stomach myself and..."
At last, a grotesque curve formed on Woo Yeon-hee's lips.
"I'll squeeze out every last drop of my stuff melted into his intestines."
With those chilling words, the performance ended.
But nobody in the audition room dared to speak.
Director Pyo Won-ho stared blankly into space with his mouth hanging open. Manager Han Young-soo had gone pale and stood frozen, trembling.
The other judges were just as pale, as though they had witnessed a horrific murder before their eyes.
"Huh..."
In that overwhelming, violent silence, Gong Myeong-ho swallowed dryly through a burning throat.
Gong Myeong-ho's head rang in confusion, as though it had been struck by a massive hammer.
'Seol Jin-a's Mantis was a perfect answer...?'
Gong Myeong-ho had been wrong.
That was a terrible misunderstanding, an act of arrogance.
The performance Seol Jin-a had shown was merely the answer created by Gong Myeong-ho's shallow imagination, trapped within the printed words of the script.
And now, by the bloody display before him, the standard for Mantis had been newly established.
'...That actor standing before me.'
Was the one and only absolute standard for Mantis.
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