Chapter : 02
“Father!”
“……”
“P-Please… spare me!”
Tears streamed endlessly from the eyes of a young woman who looked to be in her late teens.
Her desperate pleas for mercy were heartbreaking, yet the man looking at her showed not the slightest trace of emotion.
No—there was one emotion.
Contempt.
A cold, merciless contempt directed solely at her.
“Take her away.”
“F-Father!”
The moment the order left his lips, several knights stepped forward and seized her.
Even as they dragged her across the ground, she continued to beg for her life.
But no one listened.
Not the knights.
Not anyone else.
Everyone watching her wore the same expression.
Disdain.
Mockery.
A moment later, someone approached her.
A young man in his early twenties.
“Brother!”
His gaze toward her was just as cold.
“I-I was wrong!”
“……”
He stared silently at the girl, who had practically buried her head into the ground as she begged for forgiveness.
Then, without a word, he drew the sword hanging at his waist.
And then—
“Pleas—!”
Thrust!
Damn!
Sia’s eyes snapped open.
Her hand flew straight to her chest.
Thump. Thump.
Feeling her heart still beating steadily, she let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
At least today it wasn’t the guillotine.
Should I even be happy about that?
She let out a short sigh.
Her thoughts drifted back to the first time she had experienced this phenomenon.
I was… five years old back then, wasn’t I?
The day everything happened.
The day she first saw a ghost.
Mom…
Her mother had died right beside her.
That day, she watched her mother look at her with eyes that were both sorrowful and strangely relieved before disappearing forever.
From that day onward…
Sia could see ghosts.
Fine.
Being able to see ghosts was one thing.
But what the hell is this?
This strange phenomenon had started around the same time.
Not long after her mother’s death.
It’s not a dream.
She wasn’t dreaming.
Whenever she closed her eyes, it would happen from time to time.
As though she were being pulled into another world, an entirely different reality unfolded before her.
The very first scene I ever saw…
Thrust!
…was someone being stabbed with a sword.
Just like now.
My heart…
No.
That woman’s heart.
The horrifying sensation was so vivid it felt as though Sia herself had possessed the woman’s body.
Even after opening her eyes, she couldn’t speak for quite some time.
That had been the beginning.
Ever since then, whenever she closed her eyes, she would occasionally be dragged into that strange world.
And every time…
She watched the exact same life repeat itself.
In that world, Sia was always the same woman.
A noblewoman who appeared to live in a medieval era.
That woman could be summed up in a single word.
Dark.
Utterly gloomy.
She barely spoke.
Her expression was perpetually miserable.
Yet despite that, she possessed an absurdly strong sense of aristocratic pride and couldn’t tolerate being ignored or looked down upon.
Whenever she became angry, she would scream first and then lash out at everyone around her.
At first, Sia had found her unbearably irritating.
Because every single ending was exactly the same.
Death.
Killed by the man who seemed to be her older brother.
Killed by the man who appeared to be her father.
Or dragged to the guillotine, where countless spectators watched as her head was cleanly severed.
That feeling…
…was truly horrifying.
Although Sia had witnessed that death countless times, she still couldn’t get used to those final moments.
She had shouted over and over again.
Please, stop dying.
Try living differently for once!
Every time the woman died, she would be sent back into the past and forced to relive the exact same life.
Sia’s irritation had gradually turned into pity.
Perhaps it was because she always entered the woman’s body as though possessing her and watched every moment of that life unfold firsthand.
Little by little…
She found herself wishing for the woman’s happiness.
But—
Thrust!
Today…
The woman died once again.
Damn it…
During a short break between filming, Sia had closed her eyes for a moment only to be dragged back into that strange world.
She cursed under her breath repeatedly.
She felt awful.
“Unni, are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?”
Ji-hyun, who had recently finished clearing out her grandmother’s house, hurried over with a worried expression.
Overlaying Ji-hyun’s face was the memory of her tearfully thanking Sia after discovering nearly thirty million won buried beneath the persimmon tree.
She had cried for days after realizing her grandmother, despite living in poverty, had saved all that money without spending it because she intended to leave it to her.
“…Yeah.”
“It was a nightmare.”
“Look at all that sweat. Let me fix your makeup.”
“Okay.”
Sia closed her eyes, feeling Ji-hyun’s familiar touch.
“……!”
But only moments later, she abruptly opened them again.
“Unni?”
“……”
“What’s wrong?”
Ji-hyun looked alarmed as Sia’s face became even paler.
But Sia couldn’t answer.
W-What…?
The moment she closed her eyes…
The vision continued exactly where it had left off.
This has never happened before…
Normally, after experiencing the phenomenon once, it wouldn’t return for several days.
But this time…
The instant she shut her eyes, she was back there again.
Was it because the woman had died?
This time Sia wasn’t inside the woman’s body.
She floated in midair, watching everything from above.
Then…
The dead woman lying in a pool of blood slowly met Sia’s gaze.
“……”
Sia froze.
Those eyes…
They were overflowing with resentment.
And sorrow.
She couldn’t erase that expression from her face for a long time.
“Hey… Sia.”
“What?”
“Try getting some sleep.”
“I’m fine.”
I’m not fine…
Manager Hyun-seok forced an awkward smile.
Sia was sitting there with bloodshot eyes opened as wide as possible.
It looked downright eerie.
Ever since entering the waiting room, he’d been telling her to get some rest.
Yet every time he did…
She widened her eyes even more.
Her eyes were already naturally large.
Now they looked almost frightening.
“The next scene won’t be for over an hour.”
“I know.”
“Then sleep.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Fine.
Suit yourself.
Unable to persuade her, Hyun-seok simply shook his head.
He had no idea why she was acting this way today.
Sia couldn’t exactly explain what she was going through.
So she simply suffered in silence.
I want to close my eyes too.
I want to sleep!
They had been filming all night.
She knew better than anyone how precious these short breaks were.
But…
Today…
She felt like she absolutely shouldn’t.
She remembered the dead woman’s final look.
Eyes filled with resentment and sorrow.
She sighed softly.
I’d rather play jacks with ghosts whose heads are split open.
She never wanted to see those eyes again.
She had spent years surrounded by ghosts.
She had seen more horrifying sights than most people could imagine.
Yet she had never once been afraid of ghosts.
Because she knew…
Unless someone succumbed to fear, ghosts rarely had the power to physically harm the living.
But…
Why?
The moment she saw that dead woman’s resentful gaze…
A chill had run down her spine.
It wasn’t as though this was the first time she’d seen the woman die.
Then why?
Something was different today.
It felt…
As though the woman had been looking directly at her.
Sia never wanted to see those eyes again.
Her heart pounded wildly.
It felt as though countless sharp needles were pricking every inch of her body.
Sympathy?
No.
She did feel frustrated by the woman’s life.
She pitied her.
But not enough for it to hurt this much.
She had watched—
No.
Experienced—
The woman’s death countless times over the past twenty years.
Why would it suddenly affect her now?
Still…
That final look.
She couldn’t get it out of her mind.
Damn it…
You should’ve just lived a better life.
“Three members of a family were found dead in an apartment in Daegu today. Authorities believe Mr. A, who had been struggling with severe financial hardship, killed his wife and six-year-old son before taking his own life…”
“How awful…”
The news echoed through the waiting room.
Everyone naturally turned toward the television as it covered the tragic story.
Standing beside Sia, Manager Hyun-seok clicked his tongue sympathetically.
“……”
Sia also looked at the television.
The screen showed the tiny basement apartment where the family had died.
The cramped, impoverished room made it painfully obvious how desperate their situation had been.
“They must’ve been suffering so much…”
“So that makes it okay?”
“Huh?”
Hyun-seok froze at the quiet voice beside him.
“Then he should’ve died alone.”
Sia kept her eyes fixed on the television.
Her expression remained calm.
So did her voice.
But Hyun-seok suddenly remembered something.
“S-Sia…”
“What did the child ever do wrong?”
“Yeah…”
Wanting to turn the television off immediately, Hyun-seok searched frantically for the remote.
He couldn’t find it.
“At least that man had the decency to die with them.”
Seeing Sia let out a faint, bitter laugh…
Hyun-seok simply unplugged the television altogether.
Then he turned back toward her awkwardly.
Sia was still staring at the now-black screen.
“Sia, are you—”
“Miss Sia, we’re ready for you.”
Just then, a staff member entered the waiting room.
Phew…
Sia let out a quiet sigh.
Only then did she finally look away from the television and slowly stand.
This isn’t good…
Suppressing another sigh, she headed toward the set.
She had a really bad feeling about today.
Maybe it was because she had spent so many years around ghosts.
Sometimes…
She would simply know.
A strong intuition that something was about to go wrong.
And whenever she felt that way…
Something always happened.
Big or small.
Days like this…
She would much rather go home and sleep.
“Are both of you ready?”
Today’s shoot was for a romantic comedy.
The story centered on a handsome, capable young CEO and his secretary.
It wasn’t even a difficult scene.
She only had to accompany the male lead to a party and attentively care for him as his secretary.
Creeeak…
Creak?
While filming a scene where she checked which foods the picky male lead couldn’t eat…
Sia looked up at the unfamiliar sound.
“AAAAAH!”
“Sia!”
The instant she raised her head—
People screamed.
“……!”
Sia looked up at the luxurious chandelier crashing down toward her.
No—
At the ghost clinging to it.
And then…
Everything went black.
