Angel Smile 240 Scene 240

After returning from the audition, Yeo Ri was finally able to rest and bury herself inside her blankets.

Gun had ushered her to the barely-furnished living room, where they made themselves comfortable on the sofa with their blankets and pillows cus.h.i.+oning them.

It was almost 9 p.m., the time when a certain supernatural-mystery-romance drama would air, and this episode in particular, was a special one to them.

It was Yeo Ri's first appearance as an actress. Although it was a small role, Gun was very excited to see his sister in action.

While Gun was trying to configure how to record the episode, Yeo Ri was busy staring at her phone.

She was receiving plenty of support from her friends, who were also waiting for the episode. Texts flooded her screen, and Min Chae, in particular, was going around advertising the episode to everyone she knew.

However, Yeo Ri barely paid attention to the chats, simply replying with an appropriate answer every once in a while.

Instead, she was putting all her focus on setting up a social media account on one of the most popular platforms on the web. She had asked Park Soo Yeon about it earlier, and the woman had given her the green light, on the proviso that Yeo Ri would have to run each post by a company personnel—or her manager, Kwon Tae Yang—before posting anything. The president hadn't intended to be so controlling, but they had to monitor her posts properly since Yeo Ri's career was still in its infant stages.

Yeo Ri had always wanted one before—a place to post all her photos and selfies she had once loved to take—but she didn't have a phone for that, and after she actually got her own phone, Yeo Ri wasn't in the right heads.p.a.ce for it. It was only recently that she finally opened up to the idea once again.

'It's starting! It's starting! It's starting!' Min Chae texted. Yeo Ri could feel the girl's excitement through her phone, which made her smile.

Finally, she managed to complete her profile and selected a profile picture. Since this was an official celebrity account, Yeo Ri would have to wait for a while before she would be allowed to 'follow' her real life friends' accounts, lest her popularity might affect them. After she finished setting up her social media account, she forwarded the username and pa.s.sword to Secretary Kwon, who would be in charge of monitoring her content.

Gun nudged the girl as the two main characters of the drama came into frame. Yeo Ri had immediately recognised them since they had worked together for a few days.

The episode opened with a dialogue between the two main characters as they inch closer to the ultimate finale. The lead this time had sent them to a girls' school where a disappearance had taken place, and they had taken up the job to investigate it.

Finally, a glimpse of Yeo Ri could be seen eight minutes into the episode. She stood behind a building, looking far away. A special filter had been added on her to produce an eerie pale blue hue to signify her role as a ghost.

"You're pretty even when you're a ghost," Gun complimented. A huge smile hung on his face proudly, happy to see his baby sister thrive.

"Oppa, you're too happy. People might think you're the one who appeared in the show instead of me," Yeo Ri laughed at her brother's silly reaction. No matter how soft he was towards her, this was also her first time seeing her brother smile from ear to ear. It was much more interesting to watch his reaction rather than the actual drama, she mused.

"Wait!" The heroine called out as the ghastly on-screen Yeo Ri disappeared around the corner of the school hallways.

Opening up a group chat between her, Min Chae, and Jang Mi, Yeo Ri finally decided to reply to Min Chae's flurry of texts.

'I thought my makeup was scary, but they made me look scarier after editing,' she wrote.

The two ever-loving friends quickly shot back, saying that she still looked beautiful even with ghost makeup on. Min Chae had even condemned her best friend for her words. 'If you think that's scary, wait until you see my last attempt at applying makeup... now that's scary!' She responded, reminiscing about her botched makeover a few months prior. 'So much for a high school debut,' she added.

The on-screen Yeo Ri had an unearthly quality to her thanks to the special effects and makeup. If anything, she looked like a sad fairy rather than a wretched ghost.

As the story progressed, Yeo Ri absentmindedly wondered if she should contact Won. She had his number saved, but she hesitated to contact him.

"...Who's that?" Gun asked, glancing at his sister who was hovering her thumb over her smartphone screen. 'Won', the ID was named.

"Who's this 'Won' person? Is it a guy? How did you meet him? Is he bothering you?" Gun fired in succession, a grim and disapproving gaze crumpling his face.

Yeo Ri sighed inwardly, knowing that this would happen. "He's a coworker. We're friends," she briefly explained.

"'He'?" Gun immediately focused on the word. "So it's a guy?" He frowned, "He's not bothering you, is he?"

"Oppa, you're too protective. He's not," Yeo Ri smiled helplessly.

"You can never be too sure, Yeo Ri-ah," Gun said sternly. "All men other than your Oppa are all wolves."

"What about Hyuk-oppa?" Yeo Ri blinked her eyes innocently. Hyuk was her 'Oppa' too, wasn't he?

As she had expected, his face soured. With a tightly scrunching forehead, he spat, "He's the worst of them all." No matter what, he still couldn't accept their relations.h.i.+p; it was wrong—and most importantly, that beast did not deserve to be with his pure and lovely Yeo Ri.

"...Hehe." Yeo Ri could only laugh. In the end, she out away her phone, deciding not to contact the idol. At least not with her real phone number, anyways.

The two quietened down, focusing on the screen once more.

"—She went that way!" The heroine called out. The two leads branched away at the intersecting hallways, one following Ghost Yeo Ri while the other trying to evade the flurry of evil ghosts chasing after them. Yeo Ri remembered filming the scene, but most of the extras playing the ghosts had different filming days than her so it was her first time seeing them.

Soon enough, the episode reached its climax. The heroine finally caught up to the ghost, and convinced her to tell the truth so that she could pa.s.s on peacefully.

"We were best friends..."

Yeo Ri's soft voice could be heard as the ghost told the supernatural heroine her story. Her tearful, weak voice complimented her forlorn expression, making her seem more melancholic than scary.

A series of flashbacks appeared. It was the girl Yeo Ri was playing, 'Da Hee', and the person who had murdered her, 'Yu Na'. From being best friends up until the last moment, the watchers could see how their relations.h.i.+p degraded as Yu Na's jealousy towards Da Hee grew.

Finally, the scene moved to the girls' bathroom where Da Hee and Yu Na was having a conversation.

"—With the recommendation letter from the professor, I think I'll be able to make it in. Isn't it great?" Da Hee said joyously as she fixed her hair in front of the mirror.

Yu Na, who was currently was.h.i.+ng her hands at the sink, paused. She clenched her jaw, a trace of envy flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes. Why is she always the one who had everything, when she was born with nothing, the girl thought begrudgingly.

"The professor said she's waiting for m—" Before she could finish her words, the hairpin she had been trying to pin her hair with was suddenly s.n.a.t.c.hed out of her hand. "Y-Yu Na..?"

Da Hee stared wide-eyed at her friend who was holding her hairpin threateningly as if it was a weapon. "Yu—aaaaaah!"

Without any forewarning, Yu Na stabbed the hairpin into the other girl's neck. The stabbed girl faltered and collapsed on the floor, a disbelieving look crossing her eyes.

Gun, watching the scene, flinched. He held his sister tightly, glancing at her pristine, clean neck as if to make sure. He knew it was just acting, but he couldn't help but be worried.

"Wow, it looks so real," Yeo Ri commented. Yeo Ri could feel her brother's anxiousness, and so she leaned closer to him.

Though, for her, it wasn't as scary-looking while she was filming it, what with the tubes and the obviously fake bags of blood pumping and splattering everywhere. Even her wound wasn't real—it was prosthetics that took over an hour to apply. The weapon, too, was just a simple, easily breakable prop.

—Yu Na ruthlessly pulled out the hairpin from her friend's neck, letting the blood quickly spill out and pool on the floor.

"—!" Yu Na gasped, as if finally realising what she had done. Panic filled her eyes as she tremblingly dropped the murder weapon. "D-Da Hee! Da Hee-ah?! I-I'm—what do I do?!" Guilt rushed into her brain as she felt the brunt of her reckless act of aggression.

As Da Hee felt her life drain out of her body, she opened her mouth as if wanting to speak. However, her throat had been punctured and no proper words could come out. The last thing she saw before dying had been her friend's guilt-filled visage.

A few more scenes flashed, showing the girl's life after the murder. Yu Na, unwilling to be convicted as a murderer, had her parents cover up her deed, and both the body and the murder weapon was immediately disposed of by someone they had hired.

And so, the on-screen Yeo Ri finished recounting her tale to the heroine. "I don't know what to do," she sobbed. On one hand, she loved her friend, but on the other hand, her friend's betrayal had pained her greatly.

Yeo Ri's ability to cry on cue had earned her praises from the director and the crew, and watching herself back on the screen, she could see why.

Tears streamed down Da Hee's cheeks, her eyes reflecting the pain she was carrying deep inside uer heart. Not even the blood staining her clothes could smear her beautiful soul.

Gun patted his sister's head, frowning ever-so-slightly. It always broke his heart when she cried, and seeing her cry on TV brought out the same effect.

"Was filming this hard?" He asked gently.

"It was okay. It was just for a few days, after all. It's pretty fun, actually," she replied, smiling at her brother's concerned look.

"I should come with you next time," he muttered. He hadn't been able to accompany Yeo Ri due to school and work, and he even contemplated taking several days off just so he could go with her. Of course, the girl forbade him from doing so, as her shoots weren't as important as his education.

"At least for the night shoots," he added. Since Yeo Ri was still a young girl, it was not good for her to he out late. However, some of her scenes had to be filmed under the covers of the night sky. While he had no intentions of stopping Yeo Ri from pursuing her dreams, he was still worried for her safety when she had to go out to film in those kinds of random conditions.

Finally, after a gut-wrenching confrontation with the murderer, the arc concluded. Ghost Yeo Ri was safely sent away, her murderer was captured, and once again, the two leads cracked another mystery and saved the day.

"That was a good episode," Gun remarked with a smile. Although he hadn't seen any other episodes of the show, he thought it was good only due to the sole reason that his baby sister was featured in it.

"What do you think about my performance?" Yeo Ri asked, tilting her head and staring at her brother with glittering, hopeful eyes.

Gun smiled dotingly, patting her head. "Good job, Yeo Ri-ah. You're a really good actress. I'm so proud of you!"

"Hehe." Receiving the praise she wanted to hear, Yeo Ri's eyes curved into crescents. She smiled genuinely towards Gun.

Gun matched her smile with one of his own. Burying his nose affectionately in her hair, he sighed, "From now on, things will only get better."

"Yes," Yeo Ri nodded, sighing in content as she laid in her brother's arm.

Life was so good to her lately.

—How frightening.