Chapter 212: This source is a fact.

"Yes, Olivia."

The moment he smiled brightly, Natalie's heart lurched.

Yu Myeong was unquestionably a remarkably compelling actor, someone she had wanted to perform alongside, but he had never possessed this kind of lethal allure. The man before her now was As Predator, a being who had analyzed human patterns down to the smallest detail and used them to ensnare the eyes of others.

And the overwhelming emotion that seemed ready to burst through her heart belonged not to Natalie the actress, but to Olivia Predator.

Even though this was their very first scene, the intoxicating allure radiating from him quickly immersed her in the role of Olivia.

Then her next line welled up inside her.

She was not reciting a line she had memorized. It rose like a viscous desire from the darkest depths of herself, a part she never wanted anyone to see, filling its vessel and spilling over in an instant.

"You don't have to do that in front of me."

"......"

"I'm always on your side, As. You're my little brother."

She waited in anticipation.

The kind, gentle air draped over him vanished in an instant.

Her skin prickled.

As his indifferent eyes, stripped of all feigned warmth, stared at her, despair and ecstasy crossed within Olivia's heart.

Even though I love him this much, he feels nothing for me.

But I'm the only one who knows the real As. I can never give that up...

Licking every trace of that sweet despair from her tongue, she pleaded once more.

"Yes, you have to keep hiding it in front of everyone else. You can't let your guard down even a little, no matter who you're with, not even Mom and Dad. But I'm different. I'll make sure to cure your illness, so just hold on a little longer until then, all right?"

"Are you...really all right with it?"

"Of course. You can trust me. You can relax in front of me. Show me everything."

At those words, As tilted his head ever so slightly, perhaps five degrees.

A faint curiosity.

Then...an inscrutable blankness, entirely different from the expressionlessness he had shown before, slowly settled across his face.

...!

It felt as though she had stepped into a predator's cage.

His gaze swept over her without emotion, seeing her as nothing more than a slab of meat.

Her body began to tremble.

Elizabeth...? Was this the sensation Natalie had experienced while performing on Casting Boat as Elizabeth, bound by Martin and awaiting death?

No...this was something more instinctive. The fear of encountering a predator from a higher level of the food chain...

Rustle—

Olivia took an involuntary step backward. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

She tried to say something, but the pressure crushing her made it feel as though no voice would emerge.

Her fierce desire to possess him failed to overcome that primal terror and froze solid in an instant.

Then he smiled.

Warmth filled his face again as he looked at her.

Only then did she feel as though her blocked airway had opened, and she gasped for breath.

"As if you're all right."

Smiling, he stroked Olivia's hair.

And from somewhere within Olivia, Natalie thought,

This isn't Yu Myeong. He really is As...

Then she realized.

Hetty had several scenes in which she faced As in that state.

From the first moment she saw an As so suffocating that merely standing beside him felt unbearable, Erhi had apparently delivered every line clearly despite trembling from head to toe.

So this is what he meant when he said Erhi Dever was no ordinary person...

Natalie quietly lowered her dizzy eyes.

?Derek gave Yu Myeong a light slap on the back.

Yu Myeong turned and stared at him for three full seconds before a smile appeared on his lips a beat too late.

It lasted only a moment, but the expression was colder than usual.

"Are you possessed or something?"

"What? Oh..."

"Immersion is all well and good, but when you acted on Casting Boat, I thought you were exceptionally good at switching in and out. Maybe you're different with a feature film?"

"No, this has never happened before... Things have been a little strange lately."

"Maybe the role fits you too well."

Miho had often been disappearing from his sight lately.

She said that because they were in Hollywood, she had been visiting various film sets. Yet with Miho gone, Yu Myeong found himself thinking about her even more.

All the years they had spent together. The many events they had gone through.

How had Miho felt each time?

Whenever he thought about it, he felt himself being drawn even more deeply into the role of As.

"...After watching for the past few days, I keep thinking I should have found some way to be here from the beginning."

"You were busy."

"Even so, this was more important. I have a feeling this film may become a turning point for me too. From now on, I'm going to come to the set as often as possible."

"Most of Terca's scenes are concentrated in the middle and latter parts, so your filming is still a long way off."

"I think I need to see As often if I'm going to create Terca."

Terca.

An alien from Avican, As's home planet.

He belonged to the same species as As, yet stood at the opposite extreme. When Yu Myeong read the character, he thought it would be a difficult role for anyone but Derek McCurdy to handle.

Who besides Derek could convey the majesty of a predator who overwhelmed ordinary humans while also projecting enough force not to be overshadowed by Yu Myeong's As?

"I'm looking forward to it."

Yu Myeong smiled.

"By the way, public opinion is starting to look troubling. I think Pavle may be involved."

"Pavle?"

"The production company behind the film George and Owen are making. Their publicity teams play dirty, and George is the face of the company, so he has plenty of influence."

"Oh, really?"

Despite Derek's concern, Yu Myeong did not seem particularly bothered.

Yu Seok had looked tormented for a while by all the gossip articles about Yu Myeong, but lately, ease had returned to his face. He was bursting with energy, almost as though he had gone back to his days as Manager Moon.

"I think the President has something in mind. Don't worry too much."

"Hmm...there's something devious about your President."

Derek said this while glancing toward Phoebe.

Did Yu Myeong know Phoebe Taylor's true identity? Derek had no intention of telling him.

He had promised not to interfere, but more importantly, Derek had little interest in Yu Myeong's private life, whatever it might be, so long as no one tried to belittle his acting ability.

Anyone with eyes wouldn't criticize his acting.

?"Cut. No good."

It was the twelfth failed take.

Both the director and the lead actor wore expressions as though they had bitten into something foul. No matter how much the director might be king on a film set, someone of Owen's stature was not obligated to bow and scrape at every word.

The staff also looked toward the director with weary expressions that seemed to ask what was wrong when the take had looked perfectly fine.

"There, I need an expression that combines more pain and joy..."

"Director, give ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) me precise direction. I'm getting tired too."

George flinched when he saw how tightly Owen's usually affable face had stiffened.

Owen was a top actor whom George had only barely managed to lure in by pulling out the script he had kept in reserve as his greatest weapon and stoking Owen's competitive feelings toward Derek.

Objectively, Owen's performance was not bad.

The problem was...

I can't get their acting out of my head. Yu Myeong's, or Derek McCurdy's.

He could not shake the regretful thought that either of them would have brought Peace, the protagonist of this script, to life brilliantly.

Owen Whitfield unquestionably possessed the commanding aura of a leading man who seized every gaze. Yet instead of becoming the role, he had a tendency to reshape the role to suit himself.

This won't work...

Why did every good thing go to Kyler?

The first time one of their films had opened on the same date, George had gone to see Kyler's movie on opening day.

He could still vividly remember the chills that had swept through his entire body when he saw Miley Philon in Philosophia.

But Kyler's next film had been merely average.

Kyler spouted nonsense about making films "to fit the actor." His movies varied wildly between enormous hits and modest successes, yet his reputation continued to rise as people praised him as an "artistic" director who wrote "custom tailored scripts."

It's all marketing, damn it.

Thanks to that absurd concept being packaged so effectively, the number of actors who wanted to appear in a Kyler film at least once only continued to grow.

Derek McCurdy, who had rejected George's proposals several times, was now following Kyler around like a devoted puppy.

And what kind of ridiculous luck had allowed Yu Myeong to suddenly appear on Casting Boat?

Lucky bastard.

George had wagered a great deal this time.

Yu Myeong might have demonstrated extraordinary acting ability, but in Hollywood, he was not even important enough to count as a rookie.

An audition show winner?

That certainly created attention, but it also meant just as many people were watching him with narrowed, skeptical eyes.

So George had planned an orthodox response to Kyler's unconventional path.

He would take the finest script he had carefully preserved, cast a top actor, and push it forward as a blockbuster.

His attempt to cast Derek McCurdy had failed, but Owen Whitfield had been an excellent alternative.

Owen had never once failed at the box office. In blockbusters that shifted rapidly from one scene to the next and needed to seize the audience's attention instantly, he was considered unmatched.

Then why did George keep comparing him to Yu Myeong or Derek every time he watched him act?

George crushed the script in his fist.

"I'm sorry, Owen. I don't think this script brings out your appeal properly. Let's revise it before we continue."

"...All right. I was starting to think the script was a little flat too."

George forced himself to smile at Owen's sulky response.

The script isn't flat. You simply can't bring it to life.

Thinking that, he began altering the screenplay he had once considered his masterpiece.

And then,

he began pressuring Pavle's publicity team even harder.

More. Tear down Mimicry more. Tear down its lead actor.

Hit the public with phrases that would make them pause and question him: "actor who specializes in audition shows," "Asian actor," and anything else they could use.

And as those endless "doubts" continued to spread, someone else was also smiling in satisfaction.

?"Here's the source."

"...May I check it?"

"Go ahead."

Phoebe snatched the USB drive Yu Seok slid toward her.

Her gleaming eyes flashed like those of a cat pursuing prey.

Whirr—

The laptop made a sound as it read the USB drive.

With a rapid tapping of keys, she clicked the single file inside. One hand remained clamped around the connection between the laptop and the USB drive, as though afraid someone might steal it away.

The video showed Yu Myeong acting.

Dressed in clothing resembling that of an East Asian historical drama, he was performing with great effort. The language was incomprehensible to her, but translated subtitles appeared on the screen.

Phoebe flinched when she saw it.

Even without understanding a word of the dialogue, she could tell.

The acting was terrible.

"Is this...an old video of him acting in Korea?"

"That's right. It'll lend enormous credibility to the theory that Shin Yu Myeong's acting ability was fabricated."

"Why on earth would you give me something like this? Is there some problem with his contract?"

"That's none of your concern, Miss Taylor."

She slammed the table.

"I saw his incredible acting ability with my own eyes. Whatever kind of acting he did in the past, I know what he's capable of now. If I write an article using this source, it will be false."

"It wouldn't be false. This source is factual."

"No. The moment I know for a fact that it no longer reflects the truth, publishing it as though it does would make it false."

Yu Seok gave a quiet laugh.

"Since when did paparazzi have consciences?"

"I'm a journalist. I chase stories that make money, and I enjoy selling information for cash, but I don't write articles based on things that never happened."

A taut silence stretched between them.

Just as I thought. She's my kind of person.

Using one barbarian to subdue another.

After deciding to hire a paparazzo to fight the media vultures, Yu Seok had chosen his target with extreme care.

Paparazzi had long since become synonymous with gutter journalism, but even among them, there were some who possessed a certain degree of journalistic integrity.

Someone willing to break the law to investigate and sell articles for enormous sums, yet who still retained a personal code of professional ethics.

And someone whose soul still had enough life in it to be moved by the rare discovery of something genuine.

In other words, someone with a soul much like Moon Yu Seok's own.

Now she was baring her teeth at him with a growl.

Her combat ability was first class too.

He managed to influence her that much already.

Yu Seok had assigned Phoebe to Yu Myeong because he had been certain Yu Myeong would affect her somehow, but it had happened faster than expected.

When it came to his "acting ability," she already seemed to harbor not the slightest doubt.

In truth, it did not matter whether she released the file under her own name or passed it to someone else.

Either outcome fell within his calculations.

Seeing that Yu Seok did not look remotely flustered, the suspicion in Phoebe's eyes slowly began to fade.

She seemed to have realized there was something more to this.

Yu Seok smiled and made her an offer.

"Then if you don't intend to write the article yourself, you may as well earn some pocket money. Pass it to an outlet willing to season it heavily."

"Don't tell me this is...a fabricated video. Was he deliberately acting badly?"

"...It isn't fabricated. He was playing that kind of role."

The video was still running.

It showed a performance from Rival, the play within the drama Entertainment Studies.

"Acting badly."

It was footage from the day Lee Gyu Seong had left the set under the pretense of illness and Yu Myeong had briefly served as his stand in.