LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 95
First of all, it was just simple curiosity.
Seo-yeon’s class president, Gil Da-hyun, was not really a fan of thrillers.
But!
“Are you going to see [The Chaser] today?”
“Huh?”
“It was shot by Joo Seo-yeon.”
Curiosity sparked from a classmate’s words.
The truth is, Gil Da-hyun didn’t watch much media due to his studies.
TV, YouTube, dramas, movies, animations—those kinds of things.
He only occasionally caught a movie now and then.
“Hey, you were amazing in the ghost scene at the festival.”
“Well, yes…”
The ghost performance that Seo-yeon showcased at the festival.
To be honest, Gil Da-hyun hadn’t really seen it properly.
He’d been too busy managing things.
But later, when he heard the stories—
“You guys are crazy?”
“I almost had a heart attack!”
It was enough to make such statements arise.
What on earth had happened?
Deep down, Gil Da-hyun felt a bit regretful for not experiencing the haunted house himself.
Was that why?
“Sure. Let’s see it.”
He readily decided to watch the movie with his friends.
And.
Right today.
“?”
With a puzzled expression, he noticed Seo-yeon’s radius of two meters.
Daringly, no one dared to approach her.
Knowing it was just a role, still, her impression was overwhelming.
“Uh, hey, Seo-yeon?”
The classmates who finally got to greet her trembled at the corners of their mouths.
‘Is that really Seo-yeon? Is she acting?’
They wanted to ask, but realized how foolish that question would sound.
So much so that Cha Seo-ah had ruled over horror for two hours in the movie.
‘No way, is that why Seo-yeon has that expressionless face?’
‘Surely not.’
That kind of doubt even crossed his mind.
Plus, Seo-yeon’s red eyes bothered him.
‘They’re not red right now, but…’
Do they sometimes turn red?
Is it her physique?
Such questions crossed his mind, overlapping with Cha Seo-ah’s face.
‘I might not be able to go to the convenience store for a while.’
‘Ah, true.’
The image of Seo-yeon holding a red fire axe merged with the one from the movie.
It was that striking.
Cha Seo-ah, chasing a victim.
“Um…”
When Seo-yeon spoke up, the students’ gazes drifted away slowly.
“Uh…”
They were distancing themselves again.
Feeling embarrassed?
“Oh no, it’s not like I’m avoiding you or anything.”
“Then…”
“It’s just a movie, right?”
Even if they said that, their bodies were being honest.
No one could manage to make eye contact with Seo-yeon.
No, it wasn’t that their gazes didn’t go to her at all.
All of the students’ eyes were focused on Seo-yeon.
The axe and hammer that Cha Seo-ah held in the movie.
Every single murder weapon still fresh in memory.
‘She’s empty-handed.’
The students’ eyes seemed to whisper that.
The distance they had finally gotten close to felt like a great cliff now.
‘Hmm…’
Watching that, Seo-yeon thought.
‘… I guess I should take a break from making friends for a while.’
Seo-yeon felt a little down.
When actors leave a strong impression with their roles, it influences the public, and that’s exactly what was happening now.
She could only hope that [Dream Future] would help offset this image well.
Seo-yeon thought.
‘What to do?’
‘You talk to her!’
‘Just need a little mental preparation.’
Naturally, the students looking at Seo-yeon were fidgeting.
Among them was Gil Da-hyun.
‘Ah.’
He wanted to speak to her.
But unlike others, it wasn’t out of fear.
Not to comfort her.
Quite the opposite.
He just genuinely wanted to chat as a fan.
‘Wow, she really is an actress.’
This was the first time Gil Da-hyun had seen Seo-yeon act properly.
What he had seen so far was just on variety shows and ads for [Dream Future].
But movie Seo-yeon was completely different.
She was terrifying, sending chills down his spine for two hours.
That experience was undeniably dizzying, but at the same time, it gave Gil Da-hyun a new thrill.
It opened up a new world for him.
‘Later, I must tell her I enjoyed it. Ah, I have to watch [Dream Future] too.’
He made a mental note to catch every movie or drama with Seo-yeon in it.
*
Word of mouth is like a wave.
And before long, that wave can turn into a tide, then a tsunami.
[The Chaser] was just like that.
“Wow, I just watched [The Chaser], and it blew my mind. It’s seriously been so long since a proper Korean thriller came out.”
The first to say such things was Han Bong-sik, who was nearing 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube.
“It’s a spoiler, so I can’t say much. But the culprit is short and a woman, okay? Not gender discrimination, just the vibe.”
Han Bong-sik explained a scene from the movie.
“It’s common for ghosts to be women in horror films, right? Especially in the East, so it includes those emotional aspects. It’s scary.”
– So much drama, lol
– I watched it, and that’s exactly how it felt, for real.
– Is it really that good?
– Yup, it’s that good.
“The culprit has her reasons. She has a backstory, and it plays into her character. But just because there’s a reason doesn’t mean she’s pitiable!!!”
Han Bong-sik had a look of fervor over the movie he had watched.
Cha Seo-ah was definitely a woman deserving of pity.
But pity was the last thing she deserved for her brutality.
“You must see this for yourself. This will definitely hit a million views. It has to!”
Han Bong-sik shouted, putting his reputation on the line.
If it doesn’t hit ten million, it’s nonsense!
The Korean thriller film market would die!!!!
And thus, he exclaimed in an uproar.
That was the first wave.
“[The Chaser] is that fun?”
“Hmm, should I give it a shot?”
It started with interest.
“I spent half the movie with my eyes closed.”
“What a waste, it really wasn’t a joke.”
“It’s not that it wasn’t fun, it was just so scary. But it was still enjoyable.”
That’s how intrigued audiences began to flock to theaters.
With Korean films faltering recently, it was impossible not to focus on a suddenly successful work.
“Honestly, it’s overhyped.”
“Try not finding it fun after watching it.”
People usually don’t care much about which actors are in a film.
Most regular folks only remember actor names if they’re really established.
Among them, Joo Seo-yeon was an unfamiliar name.
She held nostalgic memories, a presence on variety shows.
She’d recently appeared in dramas but with minimal importance.
So, ‘which actor played Cha Seo-ah’ wasn’t of much concern.
Thus, when the movie began, they encountered the actor without preconceptions.
Experiencing that intensity for the first time.
Sitting in their seats.
Cha Seo-ah appears amidst pouring rain.
Her emotionless manner as she disposes of a body.
People are filled with dread as if recalling a psychopath.
A being that looked human yet was an abomination.
“Detectives, do you work at the police station nearby?”
“Oh, I see. Then, if I call, you’ll come right away? How long does it usually take? You can come instantly, right?”
Cha Seo-ah’s calm voice resonates through the theater.
The audience already knew who the culprit was.
In the first scene facing the two detectives, Cha Seo-ah asked lightly as if passing by.
At that moment, no background music played.
“Then why are you curious about that?”
The detective seemed to sense it and asked back.
Then, casually replying, Cha Seo-ah responded.
The tension maintained in the silence until she got on the bus to leave.
Even though it was an ordinary conversation, the audience couldn’t avert their eyes from every word Cha Seo-ah uttered.
Her smile during the dialogue was oddly awkward.
That awkwardness invoked discomfort, and the discomfort turned into terror due to Cha Seo-ah’s ensuing actions.
“Wait, what did we do wrong? Why!!”
As the victim screamed, Cha Seo-ah remained silent.
She merely gazed at them, as if enjoying their reactions.
Or perhaps, looking for some answer.
“I don’t know.”
“Damn it, what the….”
Before the sentence even finished, an axe embedded itself in a person’s head.
That scene wasn’t shown outright.
But the chilling sound alone made the audience jump.
“That bastard!!”
Detective Im Seung-cheol burst through the door late, angered, and chased after Cha Seo-ah.
Of all times to be empty-handed right after disposing of the weapon.
He chased her as she ran away over the window.
The chasing scene continued.
The audience unconsciously tightened their grips.
Cha Seo-ah exhibited no fear in her actions.
Though she was being chased, she kept glancing at Im Seung-cheol.
Then, just as she spotted a dropped steel pipe, she turned and swung it at Im Seung-cheol’s head.
Thwack!!
His body staggered back and fell.
As she pulled out the cutter knife from her pocket, the sound of approaching footsteps made her turn.
“I’m, I’m fine. She went that way. Over there!”
With blood-splattered face, Im Seung-cheol shouted desperately to Detective Seo Kwang-il, who had just arrived.
But Seo Kwang-il bowed his head.
It was already too late to chase her.
Besides, Im Seung-cheol was heavily bleeding. It seemed his head got smashed by the steel pipe.
“I’m a damn failure for letting her slip. I… I…”
Tears mixed with his blood were visible.
His voice was filled with grievance and anguish.
The audience empathized with him.
Focusing on his performance made them even angrier at Cha Seo-ah.
Im Seung-cheol and Seo Kwang-il persevered onward, following the leads of their prime suspect, Cha Seo-ah, piece by piece.
In that process, Cha Seo-ah’s past revealed itself.
The traces of what made her a murderer.
“Excuse me? Abuse?”
“Oh, it seems she was abused by her parents.”
A resident of the neighborhood reported it, but it turned out Cha Seo-ah continued to be raised by her parents for quite a while afterward.
“Emotion-expression incapacity?”
“Yes. Patient Cha Seo-ah can’t truly feel emotions. She doesn’t know how to express them.”
The doctor’s words overlapped, moving in the direction of her next target.
That being, her final victim.
Han Ye-hwa, who had kindly spoken to Cha Seo-ah at the convenience store.
She stalked her, knocked her out, and slowly dragged her away.
Usually, Cha Seo-ah would have killed right there.
But her hand hesitated for a moment.
Humanity or morality.
As if something forgotten came to mind.
The audience thought Cha Seo-ah felt that when she looked at Han Ye-hwa.
“I get a pain here when I see you.”
But Cha Seo-ah looked down at Han Ye-hwa, fully taped in blue, and said.
She was purely curious.
“Don’t know? Well, of course, how would you?”
Cha Seo-ah mumbled and fiddled with the tools.
Hammer, saw, axe.
The tools she painstakingly acquired.
“My heart feels weird. Very hot, so, so… I don’t know how to express it. What should I say? Should I laugh or cry? Am I angry? Or is it injustice?”
She knew the names of her emotions.
But she didn’t know how to express them or whether she was feeling them correctly.
Anger towards Han Ye-hwa, who had treated her kindly.
Isn’t it strange?
To feel anger towards someone kind.
And thus.
Or perhaps because of that.
She didn’t want to kill her so simply.
It wasn’t about humanity or morality, something grand and noble.
It just felt too wasteful to kill her.
Han Ye-hwa triggered something in Cha Seo-ah’s heart.
What could that be?
She was filled with pure questions.
She wanted to know, and she thought that if she killed her like everyone else, she wouldn’t get that chance.
“Isn’t it weird?”
Past moments of Cha Seo-ah flickered on the screen.
Like a flickering light.
Abuse from her parents.
Bullying from classmates.
With each memory, the sound of a beating heart echoed through the audience.
As she held the hammer and approached.
“Stop right now, you murderer!”
Detective Seo Kwang-il burst in, breaking down Cha Seo-ah’s door.
“Hah.”
With blood-stained hammer in hand, Cha Seo-ah tilted her head.
As if reflecting her mood.
Holding their breath, the audience gazed at the full screen showing Cha Seo-ah’s face.
Soon, Cha Seo-ah’s lips twisted into a smirk.
“Oh, I get it now.”
As she exhaled, Cha Seo-ah spoke.
“This feels fucking awful.”
Cha Seo-ah stepped towards Detective Seo Kwang-il, brandishing the hammer.
She approached a man who was twice her size without an ounce of fear.