With help from the staff, Yoo-Jin climbed down into the rice paddy beside the asphalt road.

When Yoo-Jin stopped in front of the overturned car, Chief Choi Hee-Do, the makeup artist who had followed behind her, gave a careful warning.

"Miss Yoo-Jin. The fake glass attached with the special makeup can come off easily, so please be careful."

The scene Yoo-Jin was about to film showed the protagonist, Han Bit-Na, screaming after being in a rollover accident, with shards of glass embedded in her face. Because of that, Yoo-Jin already had special effects makeup applied, with fake glass pieces attached to her forehead.

"Yes, Ms. Choi."

Holding the glass in place, Yoo-Jin climbed into the overturned vehicle.

"Alright, we're closing the door."

The production staff shut the open car door. Afterward, they tied a broom to a long pole and erased the staff's footprints stamped into the dirt.

The lighting team checked the reflector boards and lighting angles, then gave the signal. "Mr. Yeo, we're ready."

Director Yeo Ik-Hwan picked up the megaphone. "Alright, we're starting filming, so everyone stay quiet. Joon-Soo, start the water truck first."

"Yes, sir."

When a production staff member gave the signal, the drivers of the water trucks started their motors.

Whirrr.

As the pump motors of the water trucks roared to life, water began spraying from the hoses into the sky. The streams of water that shot high into the air began scattering down over the overturned vehicle like a heavy shower.

Splash, splash!

The moment the scene looked like a torrential downpour, Yeo Ik-Hwan grabbed the megaphone and shouted. "She Was Beautiful, first shoot! Stay focused, everyone. Scene 10. Take one. Ready~ action!"

With Yeo Ik-Hwan's loud shout, the first filming of She Was Beautiful began.

***

Through the narrow gap of the slightly open rear door of the upside-down vehicle, Yoo-Jin's left hand stretched out. Her trembling left hand struggled as it slowly pushed the door open.

Screech.

With a grating scrape that scratched at the ears, the rear door of the overturned van began to open. And the moment the door opened halfway, Yoo-Jin started crawling out through the gap.

Splatch.

Splatch.

As Yoo-Jin crawled forward, pressing her hands against the mud-soaked ground filled with puddles, muddy water splashed everywhere and stained her clothes. On top of that, the rain pouring over her head caused the fake blood painted into her hair to melt and run down, dyeing her white dress red.

Even as her entire body became soaked and filthy with mud and blood, Yoo-Jin didn't blink once, vividly portraying the state of someone immediately after an accident.

Impressed by Yoo-Jin's professionalism, Yeo Ik-Hwan let out a small exclamation and immediately gave a signal. At that moment, the camera zoomed in on Yoo-Jin's face. Her eyes reflected on the monitor had no focus at all, just like someone who had truly lost their senses right after a real accident.

-Ha, this is no joke.

Seeing Yoo-Jin's acting for the first time through the monitor, Yeo Ik-Hwan clenched his fist with an excited expression.

At that moment, focus slowly began to return to Yoo-Jin's eyes, and she started making a sound.

『Ah... ah... ah...』

As if the shock had robbed her of proper speech, Yoo-Jin babbled like a baby. Then, the melted fake blood slid down and covered Yoo-Jin's right eye.

Drip.

Yoo-Jin's hand began to tremble violently as she slowly raised it to her forehead. The moment her hand touched the shard of glass from the special effects makeup, confusion, terror, and fear began to spread across Yoo-Jin's face all at once.

『Ah... ah...』

Letting out a groan through a voice that barely came out, Yoo-Jin crawled forward on her knees toward the shattered side mirror.

Splat.

Splat.

Muddy water splashed as Yoo-Jin pushed the right side of her face close to the mirror. That's when large tears suddenly streamed down from both of Yoo-Jin's eyes without warning. And right after that, a tearing scream burst from Yoo-Jin's mouth.

『Ahhhhhhhh!』

It was such a vivid, raw cry that it sounded like the voice of someone who had lost everything, echoing throughout the set. The emotion of pain was so palpable that goosebumps rose and hearts began to pound.

Because of that, even the staff trembled slightly, unable to take their eyes off Yoo-Jin's performance.

At that moment, Yeo Ik-Hwan muttered to himself as he watched the monitor.

"As expected of Jung Yoo-Jin. She's on a different level."

In truth, ordinary actors couldn't even shed tears easily. After all, the camera was right in front of them, and countless staff members were watching them. So most actors usually relied on artificial tears to perform crying scenes.

However, Yoo-Jin had completely immersed herself in the role of Han Bit-Na in She Was Beautiful, sobbing and screaming as tears poured from her eyes. As a result, Yoo-Jin portrayed more vividly than anyone the extreme despair, fear, and sense of loss felt by Han Bit-Na, who had successfully debuted with Angel Wings.

Because of that, Yeo Ik-Hwan didn't hold back his praise for Yoo-Jin.

"Whew. I want to keep watching, but I'd better call it a cut now. At this rate someone's going to get hurt."

Worried about the screaming Yoo-Jin, Yeo Ik-Hwan grabbed the megaphone. At the same time, I and the staff began preparing to clap.

At that moment, Yoo-Jin suddenly started an unexpected ad-lib. After screaming for a long time, Yoo-Jin suddenly rolled her eyes back until only the whites showed.

Just as everyone stared with their mouths hanging open in shock, Yoo-Jin suddenly let all the strength leave her body and began collapsing forward while still on her knees.

'Huh?'

Right now, a shard of fake glass was attached to the right side of Yoo-Jin's forehead. If she fell forward like this, she could be badly injured by the glass, so I was about to urgently call out her name.

Yet, faster than that, Yoo-Jin barely turned her head to the left as she collapsed. The dizzying moment passed, but the danger wasn't over yet. Yoo-Jin's left cheek plunged straight into a small puddle.

Splash.

The pooled water scattered in every direction.

Startled, Yeo Ik-Hwan jumped to his feet. "Cu-cut! Miss Yoo-Jin!! What are you doing? Hurry and check if Miss Yoo-Jin is okay!"

Even if it was just a puddle, sand and dirt were mixed in, so it could scratch her face. And if the lead actress injured her face, filming could be delayed again. Because of that, Yeo Ik-Hwan was practically shouting in panic.

The startled staff hurried over to Yoo-Jin. And I was already running toward her as fast as I could.

***

"Miss Yoo-Jin. Are you okay?"

Yoo-Jin, who had her face buried in muddy water, slowly raised her body with help from the staff who had rushed over. Because of the mud and fake blood running down her face, Yoo-Jin couldn't open her eyes and simply grinned with her mouth hanging open.

"Hehe. Yes. I'm okay... really. Ptoo, ptoo!"

Muddy water and fake blood had mixed into her mouth, so she kept spitting as she spoke.

As soon as I arrived, I asked the staff for permission and stepped closer to Yoo-Jin. "Sorry. Just a moment please."

"Yeah. Chief Jung. Alright."

The staff stepped aside. I looked at Yoo-Jin, who still had her eyes closed.

"Yoo-Jin. Are you really okay?" I asked.

Yoo-Jin spoke with her eyes still shut. "Come on. I said I'm fine. Other than swallowing a bit of dirt... I'm okay."

"How is that okay? Your face is a mess. Keep your eyes closed for a second."

While I had been running over, Yeo Ik-Hwan had finally called "okay," so the special effects makeup was no longer needed. So first, I carefully removed the fake shard of glass that had been glued to the right side of her forehead.

Tap.

The fake glass piece popped loose from the special makeup and fell away.

Next, I held out my hand toward a staff member. "Can I get some water? Bottled water, please."

A staff member handed me a two-liter bottle. "Ah, here you go."

"Thank you."

After taking the bottle, I carefully washed the mud off Yoo-Jin's dirt-covered face.

Trickle, trickle.

As I rinsed the dirt away with bottled water, I checked to see if Yoo-Jin had any injuries on her face. Then, I noticed small grains of sand and tiny pebbles embedded in her left cheek. Not in her skin, but clearly stuck in something that looked like wax.

"W-What is this?"

Just then, Yoo-Jin opened her eyes slightly and made a peace sign with her left hand. "Bulletproof makeup. I thought I might get hurt while acting, so I had the special makeup applied extra thick. It's dark anyway, so no one will really notice. Isn't Ms. Choi amazing for her skills?"

Yoo-Jin raised her left hand and firmly swept across her left cheek. A groove about three millimeters deep appeared where her fingers passed. It wasn't ordinary commercial makeup, but a product made by mixing special materials used by film special effects teams, applied thickly to protect her face.

At that moment, the strength drained from my legs, and I sank down onto the muddy ground. "Sigh... You scared me."

Just then, Yoo-Jin spoke quietly in a voice only I could hear. "Now you know how I felt earlier when you said you were going to do the stunt, right?"

I had no choice but to nod. "Hah, alright, I admit it. I was wrong. So you planned this as revenge from the beginning?"

Yoo-Jin snorted with a faint smile and shook her head. "Come on, there's no way. If I really wanted revenge, I would've called Miso the moment you did that stunt."

My response slipped out instinctively. "I won't do stunts recklessly again. Just don't tell Miso."

"Pfft. I'm kidding. How worried would Miso be if she heard something like that? I won't tell her."

"Then why did you go this far?"

Yoo-Jin widened her eyes.

"CK Entertainment is aiming at our project, so I thought I should work even harder. I'm the lead actress, I can't just sit around doing nothing."

Yoo-Jin said she had acted with complete sincerity against CK Entertainment. The more successful the project became, the more trouble CK Entertainment would be in. I was deeply grateful to Yoo-Jin for knowing her place and fighting alongside me.

Still, this wasn't the way to do it.

"But even so, what if your makeup had come off and you actually injured your face? Did you think about how long filming would've been delayed? Huh?"

"Come on, I tested it once before filming. And do you think I didn't know filming would get delayed if I got hurt? Why do you think I used bulletproof makeup? And... When I planted my face in the puddle, I held myself up with my waist so my face wouldn't hit the ground. Like this."

Yoo-Jin pointed to her waist, saying that after doing planks for a long time lately, her core muscles had become incredibly strong. The clearly defined erector spinae muscles running along both sides of her spine stood out boldly, making a powerful statement.

"Got it. But next time something like this happens, tell me in advance. See Mr. Yeo over there turning pale?"

I pointed toward Yeo Ik-Hwan in the distance. Yeo Ik-Hwan had stood up from the director's chair and was staring blankly as if he had been the one in the car accident.

"Our director's a great actor too."

"Hey, Miss Yoo-Jin. You're the one who's good at acting. That man actually lost his soul for a moment. Hurry up and signal that you're okay."

Yoo-Jin stuck out her tongue and then suddenly sprang to her feet, waving her hand energetically. "I'm okay! Don't worry! I'm not hurt at all!"

When Yoo-Jin signaled that she was fine, Yeo Ik-Hwan collapsed back into the director's chair with a face that looked like ten years had just been shaved off his lifespan.

For a moment, the other staff members glanced around awkwardly, then they began clapping.

Clap clap clap.

Yoo-Jin casually bowed in thanks. In that instant, the applause quickly turned into cheers that filled the entire filming set.

"Our lead actress is going this intense from the very first shoot?"

"Wow. There's a reason everyone keeps praising Jung Yoo-Jin."

"Miss Yoo-Jin, still... give us a heads-up next time. My heart almost stopped."

"Seriously. I thought Miss Yoo-Jin had actually come here after getting into a car accident."

With Yoo-Jin's successful start, the filming set of She Was Beautiful was buzzing with excitement.

***

"Oppa, I'm going to wash up for a bit."

"Okay."

Yoo-Jin headed toward the showers with help from the staff. Since my clothes were also dirty, I was about to head toward the men's shower room as well.

Just then, President Shin Jong-Ki and Managing Director Lee Eun-Joo, who had been standing at one side of the set, beckoned to me.

"Chief Jung! Come here for a second."

Thinking it might be something urgent, I hurried over to the two of them.

Shin Jong-Ki raised his thumb and spoke. "Chief Jung. Miss Yoo-Jin's acting is still just as impressive."

"Well, she's Yoo-Jin."

Yoo-Jin was the lead actress of Hwaranjeon, which recorded a forty percent viewership ratings. On top of that, she was the actress leading Korea's biggest box office hits, the acting genius. More than all those titles, simply saying "because she's Yoo-Jin" was now enough to explain her acting.

"True. It is Jung Yoo-Jin we're talking about."

"But why did you call me over? I should probably go wash up too..."

"Ah, today you solved the manpower issue on set and even saved someone who was about to die, didn't you? I was thinking about how to repay you and came up with a good idea, so I called you over. Especially drawing a line against CK—even for you, Chief Jung, that couldn't have been an easy decision."

"A reward? It's fine. CK Entertainment stabbing us in the back just made me angry. That's all."

CK Entertainment had targeted She Was Beautiful, but it wasn't only LT Entertainment's problem. Since President Son Hyung-Tae of CK Entertainment had interfered with Yoo-Jin's first lead role, I was personally involved as well.

However, Shin Jong-Ki thought differently.

"Three hundred theaters. That's my reward."

"Three hundred theaters? What do you mean?"

"Our LT Entertainment will expand by another three hundred theaters. So including those screens, I'll assign as many screens as possible to She Was Beautiful."

Last month, LT Entertainment ranked first in distribution revenue. Nevertheless, CK Entertainment still ranked first in number of screens. CK Entertainment owned 1,300 screens, while LT Entertainment had 1,000. However, if 300 more were added, the two companies would end up with nearly the same number of screens.

"Wait a minute. Three hundred screens... that would make it almost the same as CK Entertainment."

Shin Jong-Ki smiled. "That's right. I just finished a phone call with the representative of CineScreen, the fourth-largest theater company, about acquiring them. I'll probably meet their president this week to sign the merger agreement, and we'll announce it next week. If you and Miss Yoo-Jin are working this hard, how can I just sit around doing nothing?"

My mouth fell open at Shin Jong-Ki's plan. After all, this was a project that would cost hundreds of billions of won.

'No, at least several hundred billion.'

"Why? Is that not enough?" Shin Jong-Ki asked.

"Ah, no. If anything, it feels like too much. I'm fine, so please don't push yourself."

I was worried that if LT Entertainment's management performance dropped, it might affect the succession.

However, Shin Jong-Ki smiled and shook his head. "No, it's fine. We've already made a net profit, so now it's time to bulk up through investment and aim for bigger results. Anyway, the way I see it, since we've already made CK Entertainment our enemy, I'll make up for any reduction in screens allocated to Hoop actors. So Chief Jung, you focus only on the film. Got it?"

Shin Jong-Ki was declaring that he would support every film I made. It wasn't an easy decision, but there was only one thing I could say to someone who always trusted me.

"I'll do my best, sir."

At that moment, Shin Jong-Ki's face brightened.

***

Filming, which had started at 6 p.m., continued nonstop until 10 p.m., with everyone grabbing sandwiches for dinner. Inspired by Yoo-Jin's soul-pouring performance, the supporting actors also threw themselves into their roles without holding anything back.

And at 11 p.m., everyone gathered at a nearby restaurant called Cheon-Nyeon Hanwoo in Gyeongju.

Shizzle.

Premium Hanwoo sizzled on the grill as it browned. Everyone swallowed hard, and Yeo Ik-Hwan stood up holding a glass of soda.

"Everyone, fill your glasses with soda."

Everyone poured soda instead of soju.

"You all worked hard today. Our filming schedule is tight, so we can't drink until the end of May. But please do eat plenty of meat and let's crush those guys who tried to mess with us at the Bucheon International Film Festival!"

"Yes, sir!"

Yeo Ik-Hwan then turned toward Shin Jong-Ki.

"And Mr. Shin, thank you sincerely for hosting this dinner tonight."

"Not at all. Just make a great film."

"Yes, sir."

"Alright then, everyone— to She Was Beautiful!"

"To it!"

As Yeo Ik-Hwan raised his glass, everyone lifted their glasses together in a toast.

Just then, Yeo Ik-Hwan looked at me. "Chief Jung, you should say a few words too. If it weren't for you today, this movie might've been finished before it even started. Anyway, give us a toast."

I waved my hands in refusal, but the staff suddenly started chanting together.

"Jung Yoon-Ho!"

"Jung Yoon-Ho!"

At that moment, even Yoo-Jin egged me on from beside me. "Oppa, get up and say something."

In the end, I had no choice but to stand up with my glass of soda. Right then, the phones of the staff gathered at the She Was Beautiful dinner began buzzing all at once.

Buzz~

Yeo Ik-Hwan grumbled and spoke to everyone. "Hey, everyone should've turned their phones off."

"Sorry!"

"Sorry!"

As soon as they heard him, the staff hurried to switch their phones to silent. But when phones started ringing like this all at once, it usually meant one thing. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

'Something must have happened.'

My phone was ringing too, so I was about to check what was going on.

Just then, Lee Eun-Joo spoke before I could. "Mr. Jung, you've become a complete star."

'Me? A star? What on earth had happened this time?'