Escape From the Daytime Drama

Chapter 1

“You vile, awful monster!”

Something wet and heavy hit my cheek with a loud smack. Chunky red liquid trickled down my hair that had been specially styled at an upscale salon in Cheongdam. A pungent, distinctly Korean smell filled my nose.

“You’re going to hell for this. Hell, I say!”

“Stop! Ma’am, we’re going to have to ask you to leave!”

It was three in the afternoon and everyone was busy. I had been in the middle of a business meeting when I heard someone violently yelling my name. I rushed out into the hallway, when…

“Oh…”

I was slapped in the face with kimchi. After the kimchi-wielding middle-aged woman was dragged away by a couple of male colleagues, a chilling silence swept through the hallway.

“M-Ms. Cha? Are you all right?” asked Yujin, one of the assistant managers. Her voice was trembling, and her face was white as a sheet.

The rest of the staff looked just as pale and anxious. They all stiffened at the sight of kimchi juice sliding down my dainty skin, past my haughty upturned eyes.

“I’m fine, Ms. Lee. But I don’t think I can go back to work like this. I’ll have to wash up in the restroom and change.”

I managed to rinse the kimchi juice out of my hair in the restroom sink, but there was nothing I could do about the smelly red stain on my white blouse. From the smell, I could tell that it was aged kimchi. I was sure of it.

Yujin and a few other colleagues followed me into the restroom, tentatively watching as I wiped the traces of kimchi from my face. It was understandable. After all, I was not only the precious youngest daughter of Jechun Group’s chairman, but also the fiancée of Park Eunwoo, the potential future chairman of Daesoo Group. In other words, I was not someone whom a raggedy old woman could attack with kimchi out of nowhere.

“Thanks, but I’m fine,” I said. “You can all go. I just need to get changed.”

“Okay, Ms. Cha. What about our meeting?”

“Carry on without me and leave the minutes on my desk. Oh, and call the security team before I get back.”

Yujin cast another nervous look at me before quickly ushering everyone else out of the restroom. Only then did I let out a heaving sigh.

“This is so much smellier than I thought.”

I’d known this would happen, but being slapped with kimchi turned out to be a lot more humiliating and stinkier than I had imagined. I had fabric freshener and shampoo samples with me just in case, but who would have expected the kimchi to be that fermented? Did this show really use such aged kimchi as a prop? Seriously?

“Ugh, it’s so hard to act in this show…”

Clicking my tongue, I headed for one of the stalls and changed into a sweatshirt I’d brought in advance. After spraying some fabric freshener from my handbag, I did one last check in the mirror. Somehow pulling off a formal skirt and sweatshirt combo with minimal effort, I looked nothing like the woman who was dripping in kimchi juice just a moment ago. That is, except for the stench that not even fabric fresheners could mask.

People might wonder how I just so happened to have an extra change of clothes and fabric freshener in my bag on the very day I was slapped with kimchi. I can’t tell them the truth, but I had known this would happen today. Because I’m Cha Yeryeon, the villainess of this damn daytime drama.

That is why, out of habit, I always mutter to myself, “This is driving me crazy.”

* * *

I was drying my hair in the car on my way home when I suddenly remembered that I’d forgotten one of my lines.

I should have shouted, “Take that woman away!”

In the show, Cha Yeryeon was supposed to feel so insulted by the kimchi slap that she dragged the female lead’s mother outside and yelled at her. Then she turned to the female lead, burning with animosity, and shouted at her.

“Han Seori! How dare you humiliate me! I won’t let you get away with this!”

I should have said that. However, at that moment, I’d been rendered speechless by the texture and smell of the aged kimchi. Then again, I suppose forgetting a few small lines wouldn’t have such scary consequences like last time.

God, I hate this so much.

Hitting the brakes at a red light, I lightly banged my head on the steering wheel.

I’m so sick of this. How long do I have to keep acting in this stupid show?

I recalled the day I first came into this daytime drama two years ago. The moment I opened my eyes and found myself in this world, I had racked my brains looking for an answer.

Who am I, and what I am doing here? Daesoo Group? Jechun Group? Did these conglomerates always exist in South Korea? Since when did Seoul University change its name to Hanguk University? How come all the companies and schools I know are gone? And… Why am I Cha Yeryeon, the youngest daughter of Jechun Group?

In this strange world where everyone addressed me as Cha Yeryeon, a certain theory came to mind, and I began to research this place like crazy. Names like Jechun Group and Daesoo Group were all familiar. The names of everyone in Jechun Group matched the names that I knew. Then I looked into the female lead. The real me was never supposed to exist in this world. In the real world, I was a nameless actress preparing to audition for a small part in the remake of The Flower of Trials.

Here, the audition didn’t exist, let alone the original title. Indeed, I was inside the world of a famous daytime drama called The Flower of Trials. I had desperately hoped to get a part in that show. When I realized that I had become Cha Yeryeon—the role I had planned to audition for—I stayed inside my room all day, crying and screaming.

“This is impossible. It can’t be. It can’t be real!”

As I threw a fit in my room, refusing to eat or drink anything, Cha Yeryeon’s family members all knocked on my door and begged for me to come out.

“Yeryeon! My goodness, what happened? Come out and talk to me. What’s gotten into you?!”

“Cha Yeryeon! It’s me, your brother. Can’t you see, our parents are worried about you? What do you think you’re doing? Come out and at least eat something…”

“Yeryeon, sweetheart, open the door for your old man. Please? Tell me what happened at work today.”

Despite their efforts, I hurled and smashed everything in the room, trying to deny this new reality. At the time, all I wanted was to escape this place and return to my world.

I don’t belong here! I’m not Cha Yeryeon!

After several days of pretty much being holed up in my room, a phone ringtone pierced through the silence. My entire body broke out in goosebumps, as though the temperature had suddenly dropped a few degrees. With wide eyes, I stared at the phone, which had been dropped in a corner of the room. I raised my trembling hands and clamped them over my mouth to hold back my scream.

I swear… I swear it was turned off.

On my first day, I had thrown that phone, shattering the screen until it couldn’t even turn on. I was sure of it. Holding my breath, I was staring at the phone in sheer terror when the ringing stopped, and I heard an unfamiliar female voice in my head.

Ms. Han, you need to hurry. Ms. Han, it’s your engagement party soon. You need to come and get ready.

Screaming, I crossed the messy room on all fours like someone possessed and hurled the phone at the wall. Each time I heard that woman’s voice in my head, I threw the phone again and again, unaware of the shattered screen cutting into my bloody palm, hoping the voice would stop. After several minutes of shrieking and throwing the phone like a lunatic…

“What the… What the hell…”

I was glaring at the now quiet phone, breathing heavily, when the cracked black screen flickered with light and displayed one message, then many.

[Unknown] : Ms. Han, you need to hurry.

[Unknown] : Ms. Han, you need to hurry.

[Unknown] : Ms. Han, you need to hurry.

[Unknown] : Ms. Han, you need to hurry.

[Unknown] : You need to hurry.

[Unknown] : You need to hurry.

[Unknown] : You need to hurry.

[Unknown] : You need to hurry.

[Unknown] : Hurry, Cha Yeryeon.

This was how, in the most hair-raising and terrifying way possible, I learned that this world was not normal. I was inside The Flower of Trials, the show I’d watched hundreds of times in preparation for my audition. And I was none other than the villainess Cha Yeryeon, the role I’d planned to audition for.

Two years had passed since the day I learned I had to live the life of Cha Yeryeon from The Flower of Trials. During those two years, I’d dutifully fulfilled all the tasks originally written for the villainess. I had to because whenever I did anything to deviate from the script, abnormal things would happen like that. Suddenly reminded of that day, I parked on the shoulder of the road and buried my face in my hands. I trembled all over and could hardly breathe.

“Will I ever be able to return to my reality?”

I glanced at my reflection in the rearview mirror. This world wasn’t much different from the reality I’d come from. Even my reflection showed my face, the face I’d always known. That was why I’d sometimes believed I might be able to reclaim my life if I visited my old home or the schools I’d attended. Whenever I tried to escape from my role as Cha Yeryeon, blinded by hope, The Flower of Trials would create bizarre moments like that first time as a cruel reminder.

Go back. You can’t run away from this show. You are Cha Yeryeon. That is the role you need to play. That is your destiny.

Why had this even happened to me? Because I was a nameless actress, desperate to play the role of Cha Yeryeon? How desperate does one need to be for such a nightmare to come true? It was baffling to think I’d actually become Cha Yeryeon just because I wanted to play her on a show so badly. It was like being struck by lightning out of nowhere. I sighed heavily to myself. I had no idea why, but there was nothing I could do. All I could hope for was that I’d be able to go back to my old life once I stayed faithful to my role as Cha Yeryeon and reached the end of the plot.

Yes, I just need to finish this story. Otherwise, I’ll go mad.

* * *

“Oh my, Ms. Yeryeon! What happened? Your hair is wet, and your clothes…”

The housekeeper came running over in alarm as soon as I arrived home.

“Please don’t ask me any questions, Ms. Kim,” I said. “And don’t tell my father I came home like this.”

“If you say so… Oh! You smell like kimchi, Ms. Yeryeon…”

“I spilled some on myself during lunch. I’m just going to shower and head back to work, so don’t mind me.”

Gazing worriedly at me was Ms. Kim, the housekeeper of the mansion Cha Yeryeon lived in. She was a motherly figure who had taken care of Yeryeon ever since she was a little girl, but in the show, Ms. Kim is also someone who discovers Yeryeon’s evil misdeeds. She then tries to prevent her destruction by telling everything to Han Seori, the female lead. Of course, Yeryeon figures out her plans and tampers with the evidence to render Ms. Kim’s testimonies useless.

Ms. Kim, the housekeeper. Fifty-four years old. Kind and friendly. Trusted by everyone in Jechun Group. I need to be careful around her.

I went upstairs to my room, mentally reviewing everything I knew about Ms. Kim.