Chapter 2: Have You Ever Killed Someone?

When she came to her senses, she found herself standing on a meadow.

Swaa—

The wind gently stroked her cheeks and hair, reminding her that this was indeed reality. The lush green earth and the sky, clear without a single cloud.

It was certain. Sua was not in a dream.

“…What is this? Did I die again?”

Sua had already experienced reincarnation once before.

Did she die again? No, that time was due to a car accident. There was no reason for her to die this time.

Then, like a lightning bolt, one thought struck her.

“Wait, what happened to my third privilege?”

It was definitely unlocked. What happened to that?

Could this be the end, thrown onto this meadow? What was she supposed to do here? Was she supposed to start a fire? Could her acting privilege be related to setting the meadow on fire?

“…How hard was it to unlock that privilege?”

Swimming, golf, soccer… She had tried every field, and after a lot of effort, she had finally unlocked that privilege. Had something gone wrong? If so, there really was no answer but to die.

After wandering around like a lost child for a while, she finally found something.

It was like a smartphone notification floating in midair.

[‘Time to Act’ has been activated.]

[Audition Script Acting Training]

Low capacity

Lacking basic elements

Sua muttered her thoughts aloud. It was very brief.

“Unintelligible nonsense…”

It was full of stories she couldn’t understand at all.

But humans, as always, focus on what they can grasp first. Soon, Sua’s gaze fixed on the part that said “Audition Script.”

Only then did the memories return.

“That’s right. This isn’t the time for that. My audition!”

What exactly happened?

Had her turn already passed?

Her mind became frantic.

She was determined to leave this place first, but suddenly the text in the notification started expanding downward.

[Audition Script Acting Training]

[Starting.]

“Huh?”

She expressed her confusion, but the notification didn’t respond. It continued to write text as if performing a task without care.

[This is categorized as ‘not a script.’]

[The elements for training are insufficient.]

[Temporarily creating basic elements.]

[…Temporarily extracting a suitable character…]
[…Temporarily extracting a suitable situation…]
[…Temporarily extracting a suitable location…]

As Sua continued to stare blankly, it went on for a while.

Pssh—!

Like puzzle pieces, the world surrounding Sua began to slowly crumble. It turned into an entirely black world before completely transforming into a completely different scenery, seamlessly assembling before her.

A moment later.

When Sua briefly closed and opened her eyes, a tempting smell of food tickled her nose.

In front of her, a familiar back was preparing vegetables.

…The kitchen?

It was definitely the kitchen scene she had just left a moment ago.

The person who had their back to Sua was definitely the head chef, but the problem was, she couldn’t make sense of this situation at all. Was time rewound?

Sua cautiously parted her lips.

“Chef?”

“Ah, yeah. Sua.”

Listening to the voice, it was indeed the head chef she knew. But when he suddenly turned around and met her eyes,

Sua felt a sharp sense of unease, clearly different from before.

Desire.

The head chef’s eyes were filled with some kind of emotion, and Sua instinctively knew it was intense desire.

She had to avoid it.

Her instincts rang the alarm. When Sua unconsciously took a step back,

“Sua.”

The head chef grabbed her wrist firmly.

His grip was strong. Just the touch of his powerful force sent shivers down her spine. Her breath began to quicken.

“…Let go of me.”

“Sua, Sua.”

In the next moment, the head chef strangled Sua by the neck.

Thud!

They both fell to the floor, and the head chef continued to choke Sua. The fear in her heart deepened.

It all happened in an instant.

“Cough, hack…!”

She couldn’t breathe. She might actually die like this.

How did it come to this?

Why was she here, going through this? She couldn’t understand, but there was no time to ponder such things. She had to struggle. If she wanted to live, she had to fight with everything she had. She had to.

“Grrr…!”

This was reality. The pain could only be reality.

She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to die.

Thud! Thud!

Sua swung her arms wildly, hitting the chef’s neck and face. It was useless. It was like hitting a rock with an egg.

Realizing the strikes had no effect, her hands desperately searched the floor. Anything, please. Anything.

Perhaps her desperate prayer reached some force.

Thud.

Finally, something was caught in her hand.

Without a second thought, Sua’s instincts took over. She thrust whatever she was holding with all her strength into the chef’s neck.

Whoosh!

Both of their movements stopped at the same time.

“Huff…!”

The sound burst from Sua’s mouth.

She was shocked to realize that what she had swung was a kitchen knife, and even more so that it had so easily sunk into a human body.

“Gasp… Hah…! Ugh…!”

After pushing the head chef away with her foot, Sua staggered backward until her back hit the wall, pressing her hands tightly against her mouth.

She was going to die. That person was definitely going to die.

Everything was crystal clear.

She could see the head chef desperately squirming to survive, the blood flowing out far more than she had anticipated, his face turning bright red, about to burst, and his eyes bulging out…

After a moment, the head chef’s movements completely stopped.

“Excuse me, excuse me…”

Sua spoke, trembling all over.

“Excuse me…?”

There was no response.

Even when she tapped his shoulder, nothing happened.

*Is he dead? Did he really die?*

*Did I kill him? Me?*

“Ah… Crazy…!”

Sua shuddered in shock.

How did this happen?

She felt wronged. The head chef had tried to kill her first. She had only resisted with all her strength!

Then, the world didn’t even allow Sua the time to process her thoughts.

Ding—

The bell attached to the shop door rang. A customer had arrived.

Sua instinctively jumped to her feet.

She couldn’t be caught.

Her mind was consumed with that thought.

It felt like lightning had struck her brain. Cold sweat dripped down her back. She couldn’t be caught. Never. Absolutely not.

She threw off the blood-stained apron and ran madly toward the front, standing in the way of the customer.

She couldn’t be caught. She repeated it in her mind, countless times.

“G-Good evening. Did you come for a meal?”

It was a restaurant, so of course, they came to eat. Even she thought it was a silly question. But there was no other choice.

“Yes?”

“The ingredients… The ingredients… Um. The ingredients are…”

She couldn’t even speak properly, let alone breathe easily, so Sua clenched her fist and repeatedly hit her chest. Hard.

“All the ingredients are used up. I’m sorry. I think we’ll have to close for the day. Please go home now.”

Even as she trembled, her body covered in cold sweat, the lies just flowed out. She had no choice. She had only resisted. It was unfair to become a murderer like this. It was truly unfair.

When the customer looked at her strangely, Sua forced a smile, trying to appear as natural as possible.

The customer seemed like they were about to leave.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, the customer stopped in their tracks.

She quickly turned around and looked at Sua.

Sua’s heart sank, a cold feeling settling in her chest.

“Why, why, why are you like this?”

“…Is there something strange?”

“Something strange?”

Sua asked with a blank expression, as if her soul had left her body.

Did the kitchen smell like blood?

No, is it my expression that’s the problem?

What if he noticed? What will happen to my life? Am I going to become a murderer at my age and spend my whole life in prison? They say you can’t even easily commit suicide in there. What do I do?

In the whirlwind of thoughts racing through her mind, she heard the customer speak.

“You look like you’re in pain. You should go to the hospital.”

That was all the customer said. He quickly turned and silently walked out of the restaurant.

Sua stared blankly at his retreating figure.

After swallowing a dry gulp, she locked the shop door and even closed the shutter. Only after confirming that it wouldn’t open did she slump down and exhale a long breath.

“Whooo…”

She could breathe now.

But nothing was solved. At first, she tugged at her hair, and later, she scratched her face with her nails.

“What is this? What is going on? What the hell is this?”

She barely made it through this one moment, but what about the next?

The murderer in Sua’s mind was the scum of the earth.

But what about her? Was it really because she was bad that things had turned out this way? The head chef had tried to kill her first. She had only resisted with the thought of wanting to live…!

Is this how she becomes a murderer? Is that it?

…How is she supposed to live from now on?

Her life! What the hell is going to happen?

“I hate this… I hate this…”

Tears began to flow down her face in fear.

“I just wanted to check my aptitude…! What is going on…?!”

How long had she been crying?

How much despair had she felt?

“Ugh…! Haaaa…!”

After crying for a long time, her vision turned white again.

[Audition Script
– Ending acting training.]

[The ‘Future Self’ gauge is at 100%.]
*Your future self appears.

The notification window filled her vision. Before she could even fully process the text, a voice penetrated her ears.

“Sua ?”

A staff member was looking at her intently. They each held one end of the script.

“Sua , can you hear me?”

Sua nodded her head.

It was only after a moment that she understood the situation. What she had just experienced wasn’t real. Immediately, one thought came rushing to her mind.

“Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Thank goodness…”

She gasped for air. It was strange. Even though the chills were still fresh, her body felt dry, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Please follow me. Sua , it’s your turn.”

Sua silently followed the staff member. Still in shock, her legs wobbled slightly.

“…Wow, guiding Sua is not easy.”

“Sorry?”

“She has a unique aura about her. Should I say it’s intimidating?”

“It’s a misunderstanding. I’ve always looked like this.”

She answered briefly. It wasn’t a lie. Right now, she was in a dazed state, and this kind of impression was something she was born with, so there was nothing she could do about it.

Finally, she entered the interview room.

There were five judges.

She didn’t recognize three of them at all, but she did manage to recognize one. The famous writer, Lee Geum-sook, who was known for making hit after hit.

“Please review the script and start acting within one minute.”

Sua silently followed the instructions.

The pile of papers was fairly thick, but it seemed like a bluff. The actual contents were only two lines.

[You accidentally killed someone.]
[Please act freely on this topic.]

Sua’s actions paused for a moment.

She was flustered, but it wasn’t the kind of flustered feeling she had expected.

While the other participants might have been flustered, thinking about how to approach the topic written in the script, Sua’s confusion was completely different.

She was just familiar with it, so it was disorienting.

‘Accidentally killing someone? I just…’

As she desperately tried to recall the vivid memories.

“You need to start within one minute.”

The judge urged once more, right in front of her.

Sua thought for a moment but quickly made her decision.

After all, her third ability was acting. In other words…

‘My life is set on the path of acting. I won’t avoid it.’

There must be a reason her ability was what it was. There had to be something different when trying something in this field. Sua thought to herself as she began to reenact the events she had experienced.

And shortly after.

“….”

Sua was crouching on the floor, shaking.

She had to avoid it.

She awkwardly stood up from her seat.

“…I’ll stop here.”

To be honest, even if they asked her to do more, she couldn’t. The situation she had experienced didn’t exist anymore. This was the best she could do…

The silence lasted longer than she expected.

As the silence stretched, Sua’s thoughts began to swirl in her mind.

‘Ah, I’m going crazy.’

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a mistake.

What did I even do? Is this really the right ability?

Ah, I should’ve checked it at the acting academy. Why did I have these nonsensical expectations…

Sua’s head slowly began to drop lower.

“Sua-ssi.”

Someone called her name. It was the renowned writer, Lee Geum-sook.

Sua couldn’t bring herself to meet her gaze and replied.

“Yes.”

But,

She couldn’t help but raise her head for the next question.

“Have you ever accidentally killed someone?”