INVSD 07

Chapter 07

“Okay. Go.”

Geum Sa-ra waved her hand dismissively, ordering him out. But Lee Jeong-han still had to do his job as a manager.

“Um, when should I tell them to schedule Actress Baek’s next shoot?”

“Tsk!”

Geum Sa-ra clicked her tongue and waved her hand irritably, as if this was not the time to talk about such things.

Swallowing a sigh, Lee Jeong-han bowed his head and left the CEO’s office.

“You didn’t even check properly!”

Once the two of them were alone in the office, Geum Sa-ra scolded Baek Ga-yoon.

Baek Ga-yoon sat there with a pale face, deep in thought.

Seeing her daughter like that, Geum Sa-ra sighed and continued.

“Right. It’s not easy to kill someone, either. I was the one who blindly believed that my fragile daughter had actually killed someone with her own hands without checking further.”

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

Geum Sa-ra muttered rapidly, then suddenly clapped her hands.

“Isn’t this actually a good thing? It’s as if it never happened, honey!”

While Geum Sa-ra celebrated, Baek Ga-yoon sighed and shook her head.

She’s alive? Does that even make sense?

Then did she get up on her own and go to the shoot? There was no way she could have looked well enough to film.

“Anyway, calm down and finish filming! Good grief! You nearly gave me a heart attack. Just go home and rest today. Let the swelling in your wounds go down a little. Okay?”

When Geum Sa-ra asked again if she understood, Baek Ga-yoon merely nodded and got up.

For now, she needed somewhere she could be alone.

As soon as Baek Ga-yoon returned home, she sat down in front of the mirror.

“Hey. Do you know what happened?”

She had barely spoken when black shadows began to writhe behind Baek Ga-yoon’s reflection in the mirror.

Those evil spirits might know what had happened.

Baek Ga-yoon had been making deals with them since she was young. Their numbers seemed to have increased over time, but since they had never caused her any particular harm, she had never paid much attention to them.

The largest shadow among them rose and approached her.

Kreeek, kreeeek—

As the shadow drew closer, red letters appeared across the mirror, as though they had been violently scribbled there with lipstick.

[Jung Ga-yoon, survived]

A hollow laugh escaped her.

She really survived without dying?

“How?”

Baek Ga-yoon’s face twisted horribly. The wounds Jung Ga-yoon had left on her face contorted with it, sending another wave of pain through her and making her even more irritated.

[Small evil spirit, attached, deal]

Baek Ga-yoon stared at the words floating on the mirror, trembling. Then she swept everything off the vanity.

Crash!

Various cosmetics, perfume bottles, and decorations spilled onto the floor with a loud clatter.

“Aaaah!”

Of course, Baek Ga-yoon did not care how loud the noise was or how messy the room had become. She was too busy seething with rage.

“A deal! She made a deal?”

Just as she had gained acting ability in exchange for committing all kinds of evil deeds, Jung Ga-yoon had extended her life in exchange for evil deeds.

It was unbelievable.

“I’m not the only one who can do that, am I?”

Baek Ga-yoon demanded an answer from the shadow in the mirror.

But there was no response.

“Ugh! This is so frustrating!”

She hated the fact that she could not properly communicate with those evil spirits.

She roughly swept her hair back and sighed.

Jung Ga-yoon survived.

That meant she would have to see Jung Ga-yoon as soon as she went to the set. Of course, whether Jung Ga-yoon confronted her or not, Baek Ga-yoon intended to deny everything.

It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable facing Jung Ga-yoon.

It was Jung Ga-yoon’s very existence that made her uncomfortable.

To Baek Ga-yoon, Jung Ga-yoon was a source of anxiety.

A ticking time bomb.

She had acted on impulse, but she had been relieved that she had managed to kill her this time.

Would she get another chance?

Probably not.

There was no way she would get another opportunity to kill Jung Ga-yoon without anyone finding out. If Jung Ga-yoon had even a little common sense, she would not be alone anymore.

“Calm down. Just calm down.”

Baek Ga-yoon took a deep breath, slowly inhaling and exhaling as she tried to settle her anxiety.

No one knew that Jung Ga-yoon—not Baek Ga-yoon—was Geum Sa-ra’s biological daughter.

As long as Baek Ga-yoon never revealed it, no one would ever know.

“Right. No one knows.”

She muttered it like a spell.

But there was one problem.

She knew.

She knew the truth.

They said that a guilty person was always afraid of being caught.

Her entire body began to tremble.

She walked over to the small safe in the corner of the dressing room, placed her finger on the scanner, and opened it.

Beep-beep—click.

Inside the safe, she took out an envelope containing a paternity test.

It was the test between Baek Ga-yoon and Geum Sa-ra.

The result was negative.

Then she took out another document.

While filming The Conditions of Inheritance, she had secretly taken a strand of Jung Ga-yoon’s hair.

It was the paternity test between Jung Ga-yoon and Geum Sa-ra.

The result was a 99.9% match.

“Ha…… fuck.”

Baek Ga-yoon cursed under her breath as she clenched her fist.

The thin document crumpled miserably in her grip.

Meanwhile, the large evil spirit watching from behind Baek Ga-yoon clicked its tongue in disappointment.

Then it began swatting away the small evil spirits attached to Baek Ga-yoon one by one.

It took a great deal of energy and effort to drive them all away, so it had simply left them alone until now.

It had never expected Jung Ga-yoon to take one of them.

Now, it was almost jealous of the small evil spirit that Jung Ga-yoon had taken.

For someone who had already died once, receiving ‘evil’ in exchange for her life would actually make things much easier.

What was easy about it?

The evil spirits had once been human themselves.

They had died for various reasons and remained in this world because of their lingering resentment.

As they stayed in this world and watched living humans, a desire to become human again began to grow inside them.

I want to live again.

I want to take over a human body, feel everything again, and live.

Unable to resist that desire, the evil spirits attached themselves to humans and lived through them.

Always watching for a chance to take over their bodies.

Communicating with living humans was not easy, either.

With Baek Ga-yoon, they had tried various methods before finally learning how to communicate through the mirror.

But Jung Ga-yoon had already died once, which meant the connection between her body and soul was weak enough for her to communicate with an evil spirit.

And if the evil spirit simply gobbled up the ‘evil’ Jung Ga-yoon gave it and continued growing stronger, it would soon be able to take over its human host’s body.

What a shame.

Such a terrible shame.

It had been right on the verge of taking over Baek Ga-yoon’s body itself.

To take over the body of a living human, it first had to break that person’s soul.

And the strongest method was murder.

By having Baek Ga-yoon kill Jung Ga-yoon this time, it had intended to take over Baek Ga-yoon’s body.

But now that chance had slipped away.

Still, the opportunity was not completely gone.

The evil spirit silently looked down at Baek Ga-yoon, who was trembling with anxiety while clutching the paternity test results.

Another chance will come.

The set of The Conditions of Inheritance was running nonstop.

The final episodes, 11 and 12, were scheduled to air the following weekend.

Meanwhile, Baek Ga-yoon had taken a day off because of the injuries on her face.

Since they had already filmed every scene that did not involve Baek Ga-yoon, today was a day when she absolutely had to appear.

She was the female lead and had a lot of screen time, so it would be a huge problem if she refused to film.

With the drama nearing its end, they had no choice but to coax and persuade her into coming to work.

Today’s shoot was taking place in a seminar room at a hotel.

When Baek Ga-yoon arrived at the set, Director Kang, the main director of The Conditions of Inheritance, greeted her with a smile.

“Oh, our leading lady. Is your face feeling a little better?”

“No. The swelling hasn’t gone down yet.”

Even though an actress young enough to be his daughter had cut him off so bluntly, Director Kang only laughed good-naturedly, though he was probably cursing inwardly.

Her makeup covered most of it, but her skin was still visibly swollen and uneven.

“Hahaha. I’ll make sure we pay extra attention to it when we edit. Technology is pretty good these days, you know.”

Even without such technology, he had to coax and soothe her for now.

And sure enough, the moment Director Kang said he would take special care with her, Baek Ga-yoon’s stiff expression visibly softened.

“I’ll get ready and come out soon.”

Baek Ga-yoon answered curtly before leaving the set and heading toward the waiting room.

The way she was escorted to her waiting room looked almost like a VIP procession.

The coordinator carrying her outfit quickly stepped aside with a bow, while her manager, who had gone ahead, opened the door for her.

“Hello, senior.”

At that moment, Jung Ga-yoon opened the door of the waiting room across from her and greeted her.

“……!”

Baek Ga-yoon’s eyes widened in shock.

She could not take her eyes off Jung Ga-yoon.

Jung Ga-yoon did not look away, either.

She met Baek Ga-yoon’s gaze head-on.

Baek Ga-yoon stared at her for a moment, then scrunched up the tip of her nose and muttered,

“Right. I wanted to see it with my own eyes.”

She strode forward and suddenly grabbed Jung Ga-yoon by the throat with one hand.

“Whoa! What are you doing!?”

Min-ji was horrified and immediately pulled Baek Ga-yoon away from Jung Ga-yoon.

“Good grief…… Hey, Baek Ga-yoon!”

Lee Jeong-han grabbed Baek Ga-yoon by the arm, looking like she had caused another incident.

One of the staff members who had been running around preparing the set witnessed what had happened and stopped in his tracks.

Still held by Lee Jeong-han, Baek Ga-yoon curled only the corners of her lips upward and muttered,

“You really are alive.”