I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 149: Ghostbusting Actress (2)

The set was filled with dreariness befitting the set of a horror film. Just the extras dressed as ghosts were enough for Kang Ra-Eun to shrink in fear. However, the heads, hands, feet and other mannequin body parts made to look grotesque through special make-up also did their part. Just seeing them was scary enough, but her fear was amplified by several folds because they were hung up in the air.

Ra-Eun expressed annoyance in her head.

‘Is there a need to make it look so real?’

Of course there was; the film would be bad-mouthed by the audience, saying that it looked terrible if it didn’t look real. Ra-Eun knew it very well, but still cursed the special make-up team.

‘I didn’t know Korea’s special make-up game was this good.’

She should be proud, but the quality only bit her in the ass.

Ra-Eun finally managed to enter her waiting room while shuddering.

“...!”

As soon as she opened the door, she did her absolute best to suppress the scream that was about to leave her mouth. As someone with zero tolerance for anything horror-related, Ra-Eun couldn’t help but be surprised by a long, drooped wig and a white robe that female ghosts normally wore. They were displayed right in front of the waiting room entrance.

However, Shin Yu-Bin and Ryu Ha-Yeon, who had entered the waiting room with her, did not react as sensitively as she had. Rather, they were perfectly calm. They just accepted it as something that would be in a horror film set.

Ra-Eun looked back and forth at Yu-Bin and Ha-Yeon.

“Doesn’t that scare you?” she asked.

“Huh? Over something like that?”

“It’s just a prop.”

Ra-Eun wasn’t able to discern if their horror tolerance was far too high, or if she was far too weak against horror. She held in her sigh as she looked at props similar to this that were laid out all over the set. She then realized this was going to be a difficult shoot.

***

The general synopsis of Shuttered?

was very simple. The story began with a bunch of friends, who had been friends since high school, deciding to hold a test of courage in a shuttered general hospital.

The character Song Hye-Mi, played by Seo Tae-Yeon, was the daughter of a shaman. Ra-Eun’s character Hwang Tae-Yeong, Hye-Mi’s best friend, had no such special setting like Hye-Mi who had inherited powerful spiritual abilities; she was just tough and had great leadership skills. She also had a powerful will to act and phenomenal physical prowess due to her experience as a track & field athlete in high school.

Ra-Eun was focused on scenes #3 and 4-2 while getting her make-up done. She had highlighted all of her lines, which were mostly screams and heavy breathing.

‘They’re all just noises.’

They were easy to memorize, but Ra-Eun could tell that the scenes that would be shot today were highly out of the ordinary.

Just then, the make-up artist said to her, “You’re frowning too much, Ra-Eun. Could you relax a little?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

She unconsciously frowned every time she read through her script. People who saw her misunderstood that she was focused enough to immerse herself into the script simply by reading it. However, the difference between how she was outside and inside was enormous.

***

Unlike Director Yoon Tae-Yoon who was obsessed with the tiniest of details, Director Choi Yong-Woon let things slide as long as it did not greatly disturb the production, even if they were slightly bothersome. He considered such things as part of the natural filmmaking process. In Director Yoon’s case, he wouldn’t have let such things slide and would have demanded another take.

The two directors were completely different. Ra-Eun had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the switch in directors with completely different styles without even a year having passed, but it wasn’t impossible to do. Rather, there were far more other things that she was preoccupied with for her to even worry about having to adjust to a new director’s style.

“...”

Ra-Eun was lost for words as she stared at the ghost wig on the camera. Why was there a wig on a camera? It was to give detail that the camera was the ghost’s point of view. If the ghost’s hair was long, then its hair would obviously come into its own field of view.

‘I can’t face the camera today for some reason.’

Ra-Eun was in the vicinity, watching the other actors perform. Her turn had finally arrived.

“Are you ready, Ra-Eun?”

“...Yes.”

They first decided to shoot the scene where she entered the shuttered hospital. The air felt dreary, possibly because it was the middle of the night. It was currently 2:30 AM; they did not have to shoot past midnight since they were far in the outskirts of the city, but Director Choi chose this timeframe regardless because he wanted to make the atmosphere look as gloomy as possible.

Ra-Eun took a deep breath with a backpack on and a flashlight in hand.

‘I’m just entering the hospital, so there won’t be any ghost jumpscares yet, right?’

All of this was supposed to be written in the script, but like the director had said during the meeting, the jumpscare portions had not been added in the scripts. Hence, Ra-Eun was even more nervous.

Once she heard the signal, she forced her frozen legs forward and slowly walked toward the hospital. Even the clap of the slate was enough for Ra-Eun’s shoulders to flinch.

“...H-Hye-Mi. Are you there?”

Ra-Eun subtly trembled in the darkness. Her eyes were violently shaking, and her lips were shut tight. She had perfectly recreated the textbook look of a female character in a horror film. Director Choi was impressed by Ra-Eun’s performance as he watched her live through the screen.

“I’d felt this during the audition, but she’s really good at acting scared.”

“I agree. Doesn’t it feel far more lifelike than what she’d shown us during the audition?”

“I’d think she was actually scared if I didn’t know any better.”

Director Choi had been right on the mark. This was not an act; it was real. Ra-Eun was scared out of her mind right now. She was so scared that every single hair on her body was standing up. Even with all the staff members around her, she couldn’t help feeling scared. Not just that, she had no idea what was waiting for her across the entrance of that shuttered hospital.

‘This isn’t some variety show horror special!’

Ra-Eun couldn’t even watch things like that because she was so scared. She even instantly changed channels as soon as guests or show hosts brought up horror stories. She was a coward among cowards.

“Hye-Mi! Won-Jong! Ji-Hun!”

She entered the hospital while calling the names of her friends who had gone into the shuttered hospital for the test of courage. Just then...

Flash!

A blue light sparked like lightning and illuminated a drenched female ghost. This of course was not in the script. Ra-Eun was frightened as soon as she saw the ghost.

Kyaaaaa—!

She screamed in a pitch so high that it would put sopranos to shame. Her scream emanated throughout the set. She had reacted in exactly the way that Director Choi had wanted.

“Cut! That was an amazing performance, Ra-Eun!”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. Tae-Yeon didn’t get scared in the slightest from the same thing, so we had to retake the scene five times. But you managed to do it in just a single take. I was worried that you also wouldn’t get scared.”

After experiencing it for herself, Tae-Yeon had thought the jumpscare was too old-fashioned. However, no matter how old-fashioned it was, any kind of jumpscare was extremely effective on Ra-Eun.

Ra-Eun replied with an awkward smile as the staff members were praising her, “I don’t like doing retakes, so... I screamed as loud as I could on purpose.”

She was making an appeal to everyone that it was simply an act, and that she hadn’t been scared in the slightest.

***

Ra-Eun had entered the shuttered hospital. She felt less scared since there were cameras everywhere, but it was only in a relative sense; it did not mean that she wasn’t scared.

‘I think I get why celebrities get scared out of their wits in variety show horror specials now.’

Even if there were cameras, her feet wouldn\'t listen to her when she thought that she was walking all alone in this dark hallway. However, she couldn’t just say that she couldn’t do it because she was too scared. She forced herself to take another step.

Spatter—

She heard something as dust fell down from above.

“...!”

As soon as she realized that, her body moved before her eyes.

Smack!

Her defensive instincts unconsciously activated, and she punched the object that had fallen from above before she had realized it. She belatedly checked what she had punched. It was a voodoo doll with a knife stabbed in its stomach.

Director Choi yelled “Cut!” from behind. “Ra-Eun. That isn’t there for you to punch. You might get hurt if you do something like that. You just need to scream like you did last time.”

“I-I see. I’m sorry.”

Her fear had gone beyond tolerable levels, causing her fists to act before her sense of reason.

Gyeeeee—!

After reaching Ward A of the shuttered hospital, a man dressed as a ghost ran toward Ra-Eun while screaming. Ra-Eun held in her scream and ended up swinging her fist again. It barely managed to stop right in front of the extra’s nose.

“H-Huff...!”

The extra dressed as a ghost ended up being the scared one and fell on his butt. Director Choi and the other staff members laughed awkwardly.

“Shall we take a short break? It’s past midnight, so I understand that you’re tired.”

“I... think that’s a good idea. I’m sorry,” Ra-Eun apologized.

It was not only to the staff members, but the extra who she had almost punched as well. Despite all this, Director Choi was still very satisfied with her performance. Ra-Eun had screamed to no end until they had gotten to the current scene, so it was still a great success in his eyes.

Director Choi said jokingly to Ra-Eun during the break, “I bet a ton of program directors will want to work with you once the film is released. I’ve worked with tons of actresses, but you’re the first one I’ve seen with such extreme reactions.”

He said so while laughing. Ra-Eun felt bad for him, but she was not at all in the mood to laugh right now.