“Sia? Are you sick? We have to move to the next filming location.”
She looked so exhausted that even after he tried waking her for quite a while, there was no response. Only then did she barely open her eyes and stare straight at him.
“......”
But Sia’s expression was a little strange. With her lips slightly parted, she blankly scanned her surroundings, looking half out of her mind.
“Are you really not feeling well?”
“...Manager Hyunseok.”
“Huh?”
A slightly trembling voice slipped out of her mouth.
“Are you okay?”
Nod.
Her reaction was a beat too slow.
He was worried, but they were pressed for time, so Hyunseok took Sia and headed for the car.
“We got a ton of presents at the office again today. Your birthday’s coming up soon.”
The bulky and miscellaneous stuff had been packed separately and sent to Sia’s home, while the expensive gifts and those from long-time fans were loaded into the car.
Rustle.
A little later, as he heard the sound of her checking through the presents and letters, Hyunseok glanced at Sia in the rearview mirror.
‘Huh?’
What’s this about? She’s not the type to open that kind of thing in the car—
“Ugh...”
“...?”
“Hic...”
SCREEEECH!
Hyunseok slammed on the brakes.
“Sia! What’s wrong! What happened!”
She—his actress—had burst into tears.
“Unnie? Are you okay?”
“What is it? Some anti-fan sent it? The office should have checked everything!”
Seeing Sia clutching a letter and shedding tears, everyone panicked.
Even if she got a letter full of curses, at most she’d sneer and toss it—she was absolutely not someone who would cry like this.
“...They said they like me.”
“Huh?”
After crying for quite a while, she finally opened her mouth.
“They said... they like me.”
“......”
“They said... because of me... they’re happy... hic...”
Every staff member in the car wore a dumbfounded expression.
Did she eat something weird today?
So right now... she was crying over a fan letter? Not anyone else, but Sia Lee of all people? That Sia Lee?
“They said... thank you for existing in this world...”
With those words, Sia started sobbing all over again.
In the end, that day’s shoot was canceled. She couldn’t film with her eyes all swollen.
After that, she started sending replies to fans and even made small return gifts herself to send to them.
****
System
Repay your fans’ hearts!
Mission cleared! Reward points will be granted.
Name: Sia Lee (Camilla)
Agility: B Stamina: B+
Looks: S+ Acting: C (EX)
Singing: C (A) Talent: B (A+)
Remaining Points: 2
Trait: Copy – You can replicate the acting ability Camilla possessed exactly. (Until you awaken your own acting ability, we recommend using the Copy trait.)
“Hmmm.”
Getting a reward on top of everything. Nice.
A smile naturally curved at Sia’s lips. It was something she’d done purely because she wanted to.
Writing replies to fans and sending gifts—it had been an extremely enjoyable thing to do, quest or not.
When she had first fully awakened in this world, she’d been very thrown off, but she was adapting better than she’d expected.
The single biggest help was that system right there.
It was thanks to the system that someone like her, who didn’t know the first thing about acting, could still live as an actress without any glaring issues.
System
As a reward for having your soul swapped, a system has been provided.
Thanks to this trait called “Copy,” she could display exactly the level of acting ability the old Sia Lee had shown.
“EX in acting, huh.”
What she had right now herself was only a measly C. When would she be able to overcome that gap and no longer have to use this Copy trait?
Sia dumped all her remaining points into Acting. Not that she thought she’d be able to feel much of a difference, but still.
“Oh my! Sia!”
As Sia was walking down the broadcasting station hallway, someone quickly came up to her. A woman who looked a year or two older than her spoke with a very delighted face.
“I heard you shot a phone commercial this time, Sia.”
She was someone in her memories. Han Heeju. A junior actress who had appeared with her in a drama a few times and had gotten her face fairly well-known to the public.
“That was originally supposed to be my gig.”
The woman’s face was still full of smiles, but her eyes suddenly flashed sharply.
“And it was the same with that fridge commercial last time... You really have a knack for it, don’t you? The way you keep snatching things away. I wonder what the reason is.”
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly. Her tone was clearly picking a fight.
“Is it your agency’s clout? Or maybe you’ve got something going on with the client on the side? I heard last time you and the client were at a hotel—”
“Why do you think?”
She didn’t need her Copy trait for this kind of thing.
She’d watched Sia in this world handle things like this more times than she could count.
Sia stepped right up to Han Heeju and flashed her a bright smile.
“Because we’re not in the same league.”
“What?”
“In acting, popularity, even looks—you’re out of your league, that’s why you keep losing gigs.”
“Sia, what are you...!”
“Just like actors have tiers, commercials have tiers too. Didn’t you know?”
Her smile grew a little cooler.
“You should have realized this time that there’s a limit to how far meeting the client separately over and over to land a commercial will take you.”
“You...!”
Han Heeju’s hand shot up.
“Can you handle it?”
But that hand couldn’t reach all the way.
“You know my asking price better than anyone. You sure you can handle it?”
Han Heeju’s hand shook with anger, trembling, but in the end she had no choice but to lower her arm.
SMACK!
In that moment, her head snapped to the side. Sia’s hand had landed squarely across her cheek.
“I can handle it.”
With a deep smile hanging on her lips, Sia brought her face even closer.
“You see what you want to see. Where do you get off talking about hotels? Just because you’re like that, you think everyone else is too?”
“......”
“Junior, at least pick your targets before you start something.”
“You!”
“For the record.”
Sia waved the phone in her hand.
“I have this habit of recording my conversations by default.”
“......!”
“You’re the one who clearly started this. You know that, right? I always welcome a public-opinion battle.”
Leaving the fuming Han Heeju behind, Sia strolled away, utterly relaxed.
****
“Sia, good work today.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll come pick you up at eight tomorrow.”
Nod.
Seeing her off, Manager Hyunseok watched Sia step into the entrance of her apartment.
She took the elevator, got off on the 17th floor—her floor—and suddenly froze.
System Emergency Quest Triggered!
Eliminate the intruder!
Someone who has held a grudge against you for a long time has broken in. If you leave this person alone, your life will continue to be in danger.
Battle with the enemy?
Y
N
System Emergency Quest Triggered!
If no choice is made within 20 seconds, battle will automatically begin.
20, 19, 18......
“So it’s today, huh?”
Sia could easily guess who had broken into her apartment. It was a situation she’d seen countless times.
That man, her father.
It was honestly strange. The security in this apartment building was strict—how had he even gotten in?
System Emergency Quest Triggered!
5, 4......
“Yes.”
Sia pressed the Y button before the 20 seconds were up.
She had no intention of running.
Even if she ran this time, just as the system said, that man would keep posing a threat to her life.
Sia hadn’t just sat still all this time either. She’d been constantly trying to track the man down.
It would have been idiotic to just sit and wait for him to come kill her.
But even asking around, she’d never been able to find his trail. She’d even moved to an apartment with better security, but it seemed the result hadn’t changed in the end.
Beep-beep-beep!
She punched in the password and stepped inside, and thick darkness greeted her. The sensor light at the entrance didn’t come on like usual, as if it had gone out.
Sia walked in without much reaction.
As expected, the house was a mess. As if someone had torn the place apart looking for anything they could sell.
“Feels good, huh. Living alone in a nice place like this.”
A strange voice suddenly bored into her ears.
Sia slowly turned her head.
Someone °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was standing by the window. Even in the darkness, the man in his early fifties had a presence that stood out clearly.
The knife in his hand glinted especially sharp.
“Ha! Fuck! You’re not even surprised.”
Seeing Sia’s calm expression, a hollow laugh slipped out of the man’s mouth.
But Sia herself was the one who felt dumbfounded. Was he hoping she’d tremble in fear or something?
“You’re always such a piece of shit. Tch!”
Sia’s gaze refused to leave the man. So this was her real father...
It was almost bizarre how nothing stirred inside her. She’d thought there might be at least some kind of pull of blood, but instead she just felt heavy and conflicted.
Maybe it was because she’d seen Sia Lee—no, herself—die in this man’s hands too many times.
Rather than “father,” he just looked like a familiar killer standing in front of her.
“Fuck!”
Knife in hand, the man strode toward her.
System Emergency Quest Triggered!
Please choose an option.
At that moment, the system alert popped up again.
‘Knew it would.’
This had happened before too. When a stalker had come after her, she’d been able to subdue him easily with the system’s help.
- Subdue the enemy.
Thinking that subduing him should come first, she selected option 2 without hesitation.
“W-what the hell!”
Right away, the man walking toward her froze. Holding the knife out, he couldn’t move a muscle.
“W-what is this!”
He shouted in a panic, voice cracking. Sia watched him for a moment, then raised her phone.
“Hey, Sia.”
“B... brother...”
“Sia?”
“H-help...”
“Sia! What’s happening!”
“Call... call the police... ugh...”
“Sia! Sia Lee!”
Click.
Her manager would take care of the rest now... Sia set the phone down and slowly walked toward the man.
“Y-you... you! What are you doing! What did you do! What did you do to me!”
“What do you think. You’re screwed, that’s what.”
“What! You crazy bitch! Undo this right now!”
She’d wondered if, maybe, just maybe, something inside her would stir even a little. But as expected, all it did was make her feel even filthier.
Sia stepped right up to the knife he was holding out.
STAB.
“Y-you!”
Watching the man’s shocked face, Sia grinned. The deeper the wound, the heavier his crime would be counted, wouldn’t it?
WEEEOOOWEEEOO—!
Right on cue, the sound she’d wanted to hear came from outside.
Sia collapsed straight down onto the floor. As she watched the man’s pupils shake nonstop, her smile deepened at the corners of her lips.
With his complexion turning pale as if he’d seen a ghost, that image of him was the last thing she saw before she let go of the last of her consciousness.
