Sudden changes requiring an action scene left Rosalyn’s bodyguards—the stunt actors—completely bewildered.
It was only natural.
Action sequences required a great deal of time to coordinate.
Without proper preparation, the scene wouldn’t come out clean, and accidents could easily occur.
‘Sure, she’s unexpectedly strong, but action sequences are different. I mean, a girl like that...’
The actors playing Rosalyn’s guards were white stunt actors brought in from Japan.
Naturally, being sent flying by the small Seoyeon was considered either an accident—
Or a lapse in their own focus.
“Actress Ju Seoyeon will be able to shorten that preparation time significantly.”
Of course, the Korean staff who had seen <Hyper Action Star> reacted as if it were obvious.
The Japanese staff, however, looked a bit confused.
Seoyeon had crawled around comically in variety shows, but she hadn’t exactly shown off any real action-acting skills before.
“And Jiyeon.”
After roughly blocking out the scene, Director Baek Min called Jiyeon over.
“Improvisation is fine, but stick to the script.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t ad-lib at all, but what’s the point of having a script then?”
Baek Min’s tone wasn’t particularly sharp.
Even so, Lee Jiyeon flinched and lowered her head.
Because he was absolutely right.
This time, at least, the lines themselves had stayed faithful to the script, even if the tone had shifted a bit, so it had been allowed.
If even the lines had been improvised, she might have gotten scolded more harshly.
‘I need to be careful.’
Jiyeon let out a sigh as she turned to look in Stella’s direction.
‘But I didn’t have a choice.’
At the time, it had been the only way to keep up with Stella’s acting.
It felt like when she had first experienced Seoyeon’s acting—
Facing it head-on left her frozen.
Jiyeon usually didn’t improvise this much in other dramas.
‘I need to find a proper way to work with the script...’
While Jiyeon was preoccupied with thoughts about her performance—
“We’ll be filming this hallway scene as a long take.”
Stella was giving instructions to the stunt actors.
Since Stella could speak both Japanese and English fluently, she was the perfect liaison.
“We’ll practice it... Hmm, let’s try it once first. But is this really going to work?”
Stella smiled playfully, but the stunt actors still looked concerned.
“Can you tell that girl not to get too carried away with the action? Someone could get hurt.”
The white actor spoke rather politely, but Stella tilted her head as if she’d heard something ridiculous.
“Wait—don’t you guys watch YouTube?”
“What?”
“Ahaha, never mind. I guess it’s faster to experience it firsthand. But didn’t you already get thrown earlier?”
“I wasn’t thrown—I stumbled. My footing got tangled up.”
The white actor firmly denied the incident, as if his pride had been hurt.
Having grown up surrounded by American men, Stella could tell right away that his pride had taken a serious blow.
“Look at my build. Do you think someone like her could throw me? She’s definitely stronger than expected, but that’s all it was.”
Apparently, he was quite experienced as a stunt actor.
And the idea of being thrown by a small Asian girl was simply unacceptable to him.
It wasn’t in his words, but his expression and gaze said it all.
Stella could sense it clearly—
Because she’d seen that look her entire life.
Stella touched her finger to her lips and smiled.
‘Now this is what real racism looks like.’
Chuckling softly, Stella decided to play along with the macho actor.
“Seoyeon.”
“Yes?”
“The stunt actor says it’s fine, so he wants you to go all out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. He’s looking forward to it. He seems pretty excited.”
Seoyeon nodded at Stella’s kind translation.
She’d been worried the actors might refuse after what happened earlier, but luckily, that wasn’t the case.
‘He’s clearly trained.’
Not just from lifting weights—he probably practiced martial arts or something similar.
Seoyeon nodded in admiration at the stunt actor’s well-toned, practical physique.
Seeing that made her want to learn martial arts too.
She’d have to look into it later.
“First, you come in like this, and I’ll dodge this way...”
Seoyeon lightly rehearsed with the stunt actors.
The basic movements.
But it was so basic that the stunt actors frowned.
This wasn’t proper action choreography.
To add an action sequence without an action director present was absurd to begin with.
“So, something like this? Let’s just give it a try.”
“?”
Seoyeon abruptly ended her explanation, as if she’d run out of things to say.
Wait, that’s it?
The movements weren’t even fully decided!
“Anyway, let’s just try it once since it’s practice.”
Stella translated Seoyeon’s words.
The lead stunt actor frowned at Seoyeon’s apparent lack of respect for action scenes.
“Fine, let’s do it. If action scenes are really that easy, I guess we’d all be grateful.”
And Stella—
“Apparently, action scenes are so easy it’s great,” she translated.
“Really?”
Of course, action scenes weren’t easy.
You had to act while conveying emotion.
‘Maybe I didn’t explain properly?’
Perhaps not.
But Seoyeon had trained extensively at Korea’s top action school, “Cheonghong Action Academy.”
In other words, she could make it work.
“Alright, here I go.”
Even if it was just practice, Seoyeon decided to give it her all.
She took a deep breath and stepped toward the hallway entrance.
Standing in her way were Rosalyn’s guards.
Slowly, she closed her eyes.
Seoyeon was already deeply immersed in her role as “Kasugayama Yuina.”
Method acting.
Connecting to the character’s emotions was simple now.
She just had to reattach the threads.
So—
Slowly—
“......”
She opened her eyes.
Her crimson eyes glinted in the dimly lit hallway.
“!!!”
The stunt actors felt their bodies freeze.
The aura Seoyeon projected earlier while breaking through the door was nothing like this.
Back then, it felt like something was off.
But now, she was Kasugayama Yuina.
‘Wait—do I need to act too?’
They hesitated.
Despite it being a rehearsal, they suddenly felt like they weren’t just playing roles—they had become Rosalyn’s bodyguards.
Her performance was anything but ordinary.
These actors had worked in Japan for years, but they had never seen acting like this.
One step.
Another step.
Yuina approached.
The actors, despite being flustered, moved as professionals should—following their assigned movements.
Seoyeon’s instructions had been simple:
Who should move where.
Who should attack first.
How she would counter.
But could it really go that smoothly?
But—
The first bodyguard’s hand reaching toward Yuina sliced through empty air.
Yuina evaded it with ease, hooking her leg to trip him as if in passing.
The next attacker swung a short sponge stick.
A mock dagger, essentially.
Yuina deflected it with another sponge stick in her hand, spun halfway around, and struck the attacker’s side with her elbow.
Even though it was just acting, and there was no actual force, the impact left the attacker breathless and sent him flying.
More guards rushed in, wielding sponge sticks meant to resemble Japanese swords.
Yuina nimbly dodged them, and before anyone realized what was happening, bodies were soaring through the air.
‘Huh?’
One of the actors who had hit the floor without even managing a proper breakfall looked up at Seoyeon in a daze.
Seoyeon, now standing at the door where Rosalyn was supposed to be, wore a slightly dissatisfied expression.
“This isn’t quite right.”
The actors lying on the floor stared up at her.
The moves Seoyeon had just shown—executed exactly as planned.
No, more than that—their bodies hurt.
It looked so casual, almost lazy, but what the hell just happened?
“I think we’ll need to run it a few more times.”
They didn’t understand Korean, but judging by Seoyeon’s expression and tone, they could guess what she meant.
『She plans to keep doing this until she’s satisfied?』
『Oh, Jesus...』
Seeing the stunt actors’ frightened faces, Stella chuckled quietly.
‘Wait—doesn’t this scene end with me getting slapped by Yuina?’
Suddenly, her blood ran cold.
Like Seoyeon, Stella’s strength lay in emotional acting.
And that also meant she was acutely aware of its pitfalls.
When you get too immersed in the role, emotions seep into the movements.
For example, when delivering a slap—or anything similar.
A mental image of a punching machine briefly flashed through Stella’s mind.
“Um~, Director? Would it be okay if we made a slight change to the final scene?”
“No.”
The director’s firm response left Stella tense for the first time in ages.
*****
"Great job, everyone! That’s a wrap for today’s shoot!"
Filming finished late into the night.
They’d spent far too much time perfecting the action sequences.
Honestly, the fact that they’d managed to shoot everything in a single day was impressive in itself.
"I really want to see Seoyeon showcase her full action performance."
"Won’t we see it properly in Mine?"
"Isn’t that coming out on OTT next year?"
"Yeah, and thank God it’s a series, not a movie. GH Group is pouring everything into it."
"Still, our movie can hold its own now. We’ve got Stella as a cameo, don’t we?"
"True. I mean, considering how expensive she is... Whew. She really worked hard today."
Stella had been slapped no fewer than five times during today’s shoot.
Fortunately, once Seoyeon was aware that she was supposed to slap her, she had enough control to make sure Stella’s head didn’t go flying like a baseball off a bat.
But a slap was still a slap.
"...Huh, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) I wonder if those NGs were intentional."
"They weren’t... Sorry."
For the record, the one apologizing was Jiyeon.
She had caused the NGs—not Seoyeon, not Stella.
Even so, the final take turned out fine.
Stella, now icing her slightly swollen cheek, looked mildly exasperated.
What a mess for just one cameo appearance.
"Heh, I wanted to mess with you a bit, like you did in the drama."
Stella had planned to give Seoyeon a hard time—nothing serious, just playful revenge.
But it felt like she’d failed.
Still, she had to admit it was kind of fun.
This was the first time she’d ever had to ‘act out’ getting slapped so many times.
"So, are you heading back now?"
Seoyeon asked Stella, her concern evident.
After all, she had slapped the "Fairy of the Century" five whole times.
"Yeah, of course. Are you sad to see me go?"
"Not really."
"Wow, you’re so heartless!"
Stella laughed, then glanced toward Seohui.
Seohui had been looking like she had something to say for a while now.
"I’m looking forward to seeing how this scene turns out in the movie. It was fun."
"I... learned a lot today."
"Really? That makes me happy."
Stella smiled, then shifted her gaze back to Seoyeon.
The more she looked, the more she saw how similar they were.
And yet, there was something fundamentally different about Seoyeon.
Even now, Seoyeon stood out so vividly to her.
The others, despite acting alongside her, still appeared somewhat blurred.
"If we’d had more time today, I wanted to ask you a few things..."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Anyway, I’ve got to go. My dad’s waiting for me. Oh, but first—let me have a quick chat with her."
Only then did Seoyeon notice the way Seohui was staring at Stella.
What was that about?
"It’s nothing big—just a couple of questions."
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
Seohui waved casually and followed Stella out.
What the heck could she want to ask Stella?
Apparently, Jiyeon was wondering the same thing.
"Seoyeon, did Seohui mention anything to you?"
"Nope."
"She seemed a little off during the shoot."
"Yeah, she was unusually quiet today."
"...I still can’t get used to you calling her by name like that."
"I’m still being polite. I just dropped the honorifics."
The two of them exchanged guesses while watching Stella and Seohui disappear.
There was definitely something mysterious about that interaction.
"Ah, Seoyeon."
Director Baekmin approached them as they speculated.
The two hurriedly bowed in greeting.
"No need for that. Jiyeon, you did well today. Ad-libs are your strength, but don’t forget—the script is the priority."
"Yes, sir!"
"And Seoyeon—you’ve pretty much wrapped up all your major scenes today."
"Oh, okay."
"Only the final showdown with Sangsoo is left."
Hearing that, Sangsoo—who was standing nearby—visibly flinched.
Considering what he’d witnessed today, he had every reason to be nervous.
"After that, Jiyeon and Seohui will take the lead for most of the remaining scenes. Seoyeon, you can take it easy for now... though I doubt anyone’s going to leave you alone."
The reason they’d come all the way to Japan to film was simple—snow.
They needed the snowy scenery and the perfect mansion for Michiko’s estate.
Since Yuina had no reason to set foot in Michiko’s mansion, Seoyeon’s scenes were mostly done.
"Jiyeon, you’ll need to start preparing seriously now. We’re heading into the important scenes."
"Important scenes?"
Seoyeon flipped through the script in her head.
What were Jiyeon and Seohui filming next?
"The kiss scene."
At those words, countless galaxies exploded behind Seoyeon’s eyes.
Her consciousness was sucked into the black hole of embarrassment.