127. Actors
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There are times when a person gains a realization in an instant.
Ah, this isn’t it.
Ah, I think I’ve ended up somewhere weird.
That was exactly how Seo Arin felt right now.
Shuffle-shuffle—
Dragged along by a fellow actor’s hand, the place she arrived at was a club that was dark, unlike the bright daytime.
A thump-thump beat was shaking the building, but there wasn’t a single person dancing.
“Where are we even going? Why did we come to a club?”
“Stop talking and follow me. I’ll introduce you to a good person.”
Her gut feeling was bad, but Seo Arin had no choice but to follow Hong Seon-a.
Because it might just be a feeling, and if anything happened, she could always slip out—that was the thought underlying it.
‘I have that kind of strength.’
It was the confidence a level 37 Summoner could have.
“Here.”
Where Hong Seon-a led her was a VVIP private room.
The moment she opened the door, thick smoke made her frown.
“Guys, I brought her.”
“Huh? Who’s this? Isn’t this the famous Seo Arin?”
“Ooh, you really brought her?”
“Wow, she’s prettier in person than on screen!”
Liquor bottles strewn about, a filthy table.
Someone lying down and smoking, someone sleeping on the floor like a drunk, and so on.
They said that when people are flustered, words don’t come out, right?
That was Seo Arin right now.
‘I came along without thinking, just following Seon-a but…’
Even she hadn’t expected a mess like this to be waiting.
But more than anything, what was most flustering was—
‘They’re all faces I know?’
All six people there were fairly well-known celebrities.
Fwoooosh—
“Who came?”
At that moment, a male actor came out of the bathroom, and Seo Arin’s eyes met his.
“S-senior Gu Yeon-seung?”
That made seven.
One more had been added.
“Arin? I heard you were coming, but you really came?”
“I told you I’d bring her, Senior Gu.”
From behind, Hong Seon-a made a meaningful smile.
“Won’t Bok-chul like this?”
“Where is Bok-chul?”
“He said he needed to take a dump, so he went to the bathroom.”
Standing stiff like a sack of barley that had been set down, Seo Arin wondered what this situation even was.
“Sit. Since you came, we should at least drink.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Even if it was dark in here, outside was still clearly daytime—drinking?
More than that, she felt something off, so Seo Arin drew a line.
“Seon-a. Have fun. Sorry, but I’m going to go.”
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“That’s right, Ms. Seo Arin. Since you came all the way here, have at least one drink. Or do you want to take a hit of marijuana?”
“Pardon?”
Seo Arin was dumbfounded, but she quickly regained her composure.
“No, I can’t smoke.”
“This isn’t a cigarette. Or at least drink—”
“I can’t drink either.”
“Fucking bullshit, crazy bitch. When Senior Gu recommends it like this, at least pretend to drink, damn it.”
For a moment, Seo Arin doubted her own ears.
‘What bitch?’
Hong Seon-a’s mouth had been rough, but she’d never once been sworn at.
But the Hong Seon-a of right now was different.
As if her face up until now had been a lie, she looked at Seo Arin and curled her lips into a grin.
No—“grin” was too beautiful a word.
That was clearly a sneer.
“You fucking bitch, I smiled and played along with you a little, so you really thought you could look at me like I’m a joke?”
Seo Arin turned around instinctively instead of answering.
The players who’d been crawling around on the floor had regained their senses at some point and were blocking the exit.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Can’t you tell? We’re blocking you so you can’t leave.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why? Haha, everyone who comes here says the same thing. They don’t know why they fell into a trap. Ah—maybe it’s because my acting is so damn good?”
She’d been unsure until just now, but Hong Seon-a’s attitude made it clear.
She’d fallen into a trap.
Seo Arin glanced around at the actors.
Their expressions and eyes felt lecherous.
‘They’re all in on it.’
Seo Arin’s gaze naturally shifted to Gu Yeon-seung.
He was the oldest here and a senior—if it was a trap, it was highly likely it had been carried out under his lead.
And sure enough—
“Hehe, Ms. Seo Arin. Looking at me like that won’t help. You’ve noticed, but we’re all in on it.”
Maybe he mistook her gaze for a signal asking for help, because he volunteered it.
In that instant, a way to get out of this crisis flickered through Seo Arin’s mind.
‘Ah… maybe…’
She didn’t know if it would work, but she had to try.
Seo Arin’s expression quickly changed into that of a frightened puppy.
“W-why are you doing this to me?”
As if he found it cute, Gu Yeon-seung smiled.
“There are no personal feelings. You could call it a survival strategy we naturally learned in order to live.”
“What do you mean?”
“Players die by half every Round, right? Maybe even more than that. But haven’t you ever thought this?”
Gu Yeon-seung grinned.
“That it’s a waste—the items of players who vanish.”
“…….”
“Isn’t it? I think it’s such a waste. All the gold and items they’ve obtained—those all vanish and disappear. Even shit gets used as fertilizer, but the items those guys have don’t become any fertilizer at all; they just evaporate. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be good if, like fertilizer, they were used for other players?”
Seo Arin belatedly realized their goal.
“So… if a player is going to vanish anyway, we should extort their items? Is that it?”
“Ohh, did you put some points into Intelligence? You already understand. The other actors don’t get it even when I say it like this.”
“Other actors? You did this not just to me, but to other actors too?”
“Of course. Unfortunately, Ms. Seo Arin, you’re only the 33rd victim. Already, 32 seniors, juniors, and fellow celebrities before you have handed over their items to us and left.”
She hadn’t known.
Seo Arin collapsed onto the sofa with a look like she’d been struck in the back of the head.
“T-then that means you killed fellow celebrities…?”
“That’s right. We killed them all. Don’t worry. Ms. Seo Arin, you’ll follow soon too.”
“Ah….”
With a shocked expression, Seo Arin covered her face and hunched down.
At the same time, she secretly summoned two Fairies under the table.
As if they hadn’t noticed anything at all, the actors there snickered.
“If you hand over all your items quietly, we’ll send you off without pain. But if you act uncooperative, we have no choice but to use force.”
“W-why are you doing this? Why go as far as killing fellow actors…?”
“Why? There are many reasons. First, fellow celebrities in the same line of work are easy to stab in the back. Second, having good items increases the chances of surviving the next Round. Third, like I said earlier, it’s a waste for items to vanish. Fourth, we realized that to survive, you can’t be picky about means and methods. Fifth, surprisingly, it’s fun.”
“…….”
“When would we ever get to threaten and kill people? We always lived watching people’s eyes, conscious of fans—how could we ever do something this stimulating?”
“They’re colleagues… They’re not strangers, they’re peers and seniors and juniors who act together…”
“Ahh, Ms. Seo Arin—you were famous from the start, so you don’t know, do you? What it feels like to climb up from the very bottom.”
At some point, Gu Yeon-seung’s smile disappeared.
“You don’t know what the life of a theater actor scrambling to survive penniless is like, right? You don’t know what it’s like to live a gutter-like reality as an aspiring actor, staring only at an uncertain future where you might someday ‘make it,’ right? I know. I’ve experienced it all, and I’m the case who made it through hard effort.”
“…….”
“But if the dream you barely achieved got smashed in an instant, how would you feel? A world going to ruin, no hope of long-term work like dramas or films, having to survive by filming variety shows like a clown or doing commercials? A life with a deadline where all you can do is worry whether you can endure the next Round? That would be truly despairing and hollow, wouldn’t it?”
“…….”
“The people here are all those kinds of people. People on the verge of losing the jobs they barely achieved. People who were sincere about acting but were betrayed by effort. So what can we do? Only struggle to survive. Surviving even by trampling others is the only strategy remaining players can use.”
“…….”
“And just in time, a stage was prepared that’s perfect for trampling others, wasn’t it? You can even learn a cheat skill like Trace Erasure. So how could we not kill? If we reduce the number of fellow actors, celebrities become rarer and naturally our value shoots up. Our real-world value goes up, and we secure items to use in the other world—where is there a better two-birds-with-one-stone than this? Keh keh.”
“…….”
There were many things she could argue, but Seo Arin stayed silent and focused on acting.
She trembled as if she were terrified and scared.
As if she would use all the acting she’d learned for this very moment, she acted with everything she had.
“So… you’re going to take my items and kill me?”
“Of course.”
Seo Arin let out a smile that looked almost like enlightenment.
“Th-this is a prank show, right? A new variety program? Or YouTube? Someone please say it’s a joke.”
“Kikik, this bitch still hasn’t come to her senses?”
Hong Seon-a mocked her as she approached Seo Arin.
Smack—
A slap landed immediately, blood spraying as Seo Arin’s head snapped to the side.
Judging by the force in that palm, it couldn’t possibly be a joke.
“Hey, you fucking bitch. Do we look like we’re joking? Do I need to cut off a finger so you’ll grasp the situation?”
“Hey, what finger? There’s a better method than that.”
When the men around them made lecherous smiles, Hong Seon-a grimaced in disgust.
“Seriously, men—if a face is even a little decent, that’s all you think about? This is all plastic surgery anyway.”
“Does just anyone get plastic surgery? The base has to be pretty.”
“And even if it’s plastic surgery—so what? Keh keh, as long as it tastes good, that’s all that matters.”
Even amid the snickering mockery, Seo Arin curled up and endured.
Acting a face that was humiliating and resentful, yet at the same time filled with fear, she waited for her chance.
Gu Yeon-seung went, “Tsk—” and quieted the room.
“You guys. Why are you scaring her already? Ms. Seo Arin? Don’t worry. If you just hand over all your items, I’ll kill you nicely. I’ll take responsibility and block those guys so they can’t touch you.”
“…….”
“What? Looking at your face, you don’t like that? Isn’t handing over your items and dying nicely better than being treated rough like a rag and then dying?”
“……I-if I really give you my items, you’ll send me off nicely?”
“Yes. Ah, right—but there’s something I didn’t say.”
“What is it…?”
“You know Jang Bok-chul, right? He likes Ms. Seo Arin a lot. He even said on the media that you’re his ideal type. That’s why when he heard Ms. Seo Arin was coming, he was really looking forward to it.”
“…….”
“So just do what he wants one time. You can do that much before you die, right?”
“What are you—”
“Poor guy, right? That he was a nobody actor, then ‘made it’ by surviving not as an actor but as a player. That kind of guy pointed to Ms. Seo Arin as his ideal type, and you can’t even do that much for him? You’re going to die anyway, so before you go, you grant one person’s wish—then it’s good for everyone, right? Isn’t it?”
“…….”
“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as you’ll do it. Not that you have a choice anyway.”
“…….”
“And don’t even think about resisting. You can see how many we are, right? When Bok-chul comes, we’ll be nine. Everyone’s level 35 or higher. I heard Ms. Seo Arin is 37, but you can’t beat us, can you?”
“P-please spare me. I-I was wrong.”
Seo Arin showed tears as she rubbed her hands together.
A look of belatedly facing reality.
A fishy laugh leaked from the actors’ mouths.
“I’m telling you, they all end up like this. Please spare me, I’ll never do it again, I was wrong. No—if you’re going to beg for your life, shouldn’t you hand over the items first?”
“I’ll give them. I’ll give them.”
Seo Arin pretended to take items out of her inventory, then glanced around.
Now.
This moment of them letting their guard down was her chance.
‘Equip!’
With the trigger word, Seo Arin’s body was wrapped in equipment.
Tsss—
Before people could even react to the sudden arming, the Fairies who’d been waiting came out from under the table.
Then those cute little things fired beams of light straight at Gu Yeon-seung.
Ssssszzzt—!
“Guaaaaaargh!”
With the sound of flesh burning, Gu Yeon-seung screamed.
He’d managed to block with his arm—if he’d been even a little later, his eyeball would’ve burned.
“You fucking bitch! Get her!”
Before Gu Yeon-seung even finished shouting, the actors were already equipping their gear.
At that sight, Seo Arin was startled inside.
‘They reacted fast.’
It seemed they’d anticipated she might resist.
Quickly summoning a Golem, Seo Arin shoved aside the male actor standing by the door first.
Bam—!
“Urk!”
When a 1.5-meter Golem that had appeared out of nowhere rammed him with its whole body, the man slammed straight into the wall.
Seo Arin grabbed the doorknob without hesitation and threw the door open.
She’d never intended to fight them head-on in the first place.
She only meant to look for an opening and escape.
‘Good—now if I just get out quickly—!’
But before she could even step over the threshold—
Shrrrlalalak—
Black chains coiled around Seo Arin’s body.
“You fucking bitch, where do you think you’re running.”
The owner of the chains was Gu Yeon-seung.
Up to now, not a single celebrity had ever escaped the reach of his hands as a dark mage.
“Fuck, you think I’ve only dealt with bitches like you once or twice? You all, acting like you’re players, always think up ways to resist. I thought you were different, fuck—I totally fell for a woman’s tears.”
“Ghk!”
Seo Arin tried to command the Fairies, but only then did she realize, seeing the message that said it was impossible.
They’d already been destroyed by Gu Yeon-seung’s black arrow.
Crash—!
The Golem, too, had been shattered by the players and had returned to a pile of stones.
‘Ah… what do I do? All my summons are dead.’
To summon them again, she had to wait a ten-minute cooldown.
In a situation where every second was critical, there was no way she had that kind of time.
“What? Try summoning again, then. Ah—looks like you can’t because of the cooldown?”
“…….”
“Then I can play with you as much as I want now, huh?”
“Hyung-nim, we said we’d yield her to Bok-chul.”
“I changed my mind. We can’t wait until Bok-chul comes when we don’t know when she’ll summon again.”
With murderous eyes, Gu Yeon-seung ordered his colleagues.
“Men, get ready. Let’s show this fucking bitch what humiliation is.”
“Heh heh, sounds good.”
“I’ve been waiting for this.”
The male actors stepped forward with lecherous smiles, and Hong Seon-a retreated with a smirk.
Seeing the men grabbing her limbs, despair swallowed Seo Arin.
‘Ah, like this…’
Absurdly, her escape plan failed.
With no hole to slip through, her vision went dark.
That was when.
Step, step—
Someone entered through the open door.
The actors’ gazes gathered in one place.
A familiar face—Jang Bok-chul.
“Huh? Bok-chul! Here’s the Seo Arin you like—”
The actors lit up, then their expressions stiffened again.
Because behind him stood a masked assailant wearing a white mask.
“Who….”
Before they could even ask who he was, Jang Bok-chul’s head snapped down with a limp twist.
A corpse.
The masked assailant had appeared carrying none other than Jang Bok-chul’s corpse.
“Jang Bok-chul—that bastard’s your friend, right?”
Thud—
When he let go, Jang Bok-chul sprawled limply.
“Y-you, who are you?!”
“Looks like it.”
When the masked assailant waved his hand, the corpse disappeared without a trace.
Trace Erasure.
“I wondered why it smelled like trash. So you were all gathered here.”
“We’re asking who you a—!”
In an instant, Gu Yeon-seung swallowed his words.
So did the other actors.
Silence fell as if time had stopped.
There was no need to ask who he was.
Because in the masked assailant’s hand, a gigantic scythe was now being held.