Chapter 14
Director Yamanaka stood before the gravestone.
He was in mourning, mourning his good friend, Director Matsuzaka.
“Who would have thought that our last conversation would be our last goodbye.”
Director Yamanaka looked wistfully at his call history with Director Matsuzaka. During his final call with him, Director Yamanaka had recommended a new actress.
“I knew it then. This girl was no small fry,” Director Yamanaka thought with a pang of sympathy. “Thank goodness I recommended her to you. Otherwise, wouldn’t I be the one lying in that coffin right now?”
Compared to Director Matsuzaka’s fate, Director Yamanaka suddenly felt that the incident where his own male lead was scared witless, hiding in a hospital and refusing to come out, thus delaying the filming of Broken-Winged Angel: The Devilish Young Master’s Fierce Love, was not worth mentioning. At least his people were still alive!
“In Beika Town, being alive is more important than anything,” Director Yamanaka said, patting the gravestone as if it were Director Matsuzaka’s shoulder.
“But then again, you’ve pretty much ruined her acting career. With public opinion being what it is, what director would dare invite her to their set?” Director Yamanaka shook his head.
His regret was tinged with a hint of schadenfreude. Director Yamanaka still remembered the embarrassment of being frightened by a mere rookie actress.
Hmph, that’s what you get for not respecting your seniors! If you have the guts, come audition again! I definitely won’t be scared this time!
A hand silently rested on Director Yamanaka’s shoulder.
“I’ve found you,” a ghostly voice whispered in his ear, like a snake slithering into his ear canal.
Director Yamanaka: “AAAAAAAH! I WAS WRONG! MISS FAN AN, YOU’RE A MAGNANIMOUS PERSON, PLEASE SPARE ME, AAAAAH!”
The middle-aged man shrieked, as if a swarm of flying cockroaches were performing a mating dance in front of him. Tears and snot covered his face.
The person who had approached, hearing his pleas for mercy, not only didn’t let go but grabbed Director Yamanaka’s hand with even greater fervor. “You know how to contact her, don’t you? Quick, give me her contact information!”
Director Yamanaka finally calmed down and took a closer look.
“Isn’t this Director Kawamura?” He scared me to death, Director Yamanaka thought, still shaken. “Are you here to pay your respects to Director Matsuzaka?”
“I am not.” Director Kawamura, his face pale and his dark circles prominent, held up a shopping bag filled with joss paper, candles, rice and chopsticks, an apple and a small knife, and paper and a pencil. “I’m here to conduct a séance.”
He planned to first light the candles and burn the joss paper, then peel an apple in front of a mirror at midnight, stick chopsticks into a bowl of rice, and sit on Director Matsuzaka’s gravestone to summon a spirit with a pen.
Director Yamanaka: Did you two have an unsettled feud or some lingering affection?
Why go to such lengths?! The man hasn’t even been dead for a full week!
“I don’t care what price I have to pay,” Director Kawamura said with feverish obsession. “I’d even dance like a shaman, as long as Director Matsuzaka gives me Miss Fan An’s contact information.”
“I’ve been agonizing over a role for a TV drama I’m preparing for half a year now,” Director Kawamura said, the dark circles under his eyes standing out.
“Until I saw ‘The Evil Spirit in the Pitch Black.’ Truly Director Matsuzaka’s magnum opus. He must have sacrificed his life to a demon to be able to cast such an excellent actress like Suspect An, who can deliver such a natural performance.”
Director Kawamura excitedly pointed to the front page of the Beika Daily. He was completely mesmerized.
“If I can’t invite Miss Fan An to my set, my virtue, along with my entire life, will be ruined.”
Director Kawamura suddenly pulled out a shovel hidden behind his back.
Director Yamanaka: You even brought grave-digging tools???
Director Yamanaka was so shocked by Director Kawamura’s thorough preparations that he quickly shoved his phone into his hands. “I have Miss Fan An’s number! I have it!”
The shovel and joss paper were tossed aside. Director Kawamura impatiently dialed Fan An’s number.
“It’s not going through,” he said, looking up, his eyes turning incredibly fierce. “Did you do something despicable and get yourself blocked?”
How could that be? Director Yamanaka thought, It shouldn’t be. Although I was a bit of a scoundrel, Miss Fan An is a very easygoing person. How could she block me over a small disagreement?
Director Yamanaka took his phone back and dialed again.
Him: “…”
Him: “Uh, her phone service has been suspended due to non-payment.”
…
“Hiro,” Fan An asked, puzzled, as she lay on the floor of the apartment living room, searching through the newspaper for jobs. “Why isn’t anyone contacting me? I’ve sent out so many resumes.”
Hiromitsu Morofushi said tactfully, “Is it possible that many people have tried to contact you?”
“It’s just that your phone service is suspended, so you can’t receive any calls.”
So that’s it. The dark-haired girl had a sudden realization.
She felt no remorse whatsoever. Anyone who truly needs to reach me wouldn’t be defeated by a trivial setback like a suspended service. They must not have been sincere enough.
Emotionally, Hiromitsu didn’t want to crush her spirits.
Rationally, he really wanted to say: There’s only one situation where someone looking for you would voluntarily top up your phone credit—when Inspector Megure signs off on it, the police department reimburses the cost, and they need to deliver an arrest warrant to Suspect An.
Ring, ring, ring!
Fan An and Hiromitsu’s gazes simultaneously focused on the ringing phone.
Fan An: “A sincere person has arrived.”
Hiromitsu: “A call from Inspector Megure?”
Fan An: My respected Crime Mentor, isn’t your relationship with the police a little too ambiguous? Why are you always thinking about them?
Shaking her head, she answered the phone. “Hello, this is Suspect An.”
Hiromitsu: “…”
Doesn’t that mean she believed it was Inspector Megure even more than I did?
“Huh? Director Kawamura? Yes, this is Fan An. ‘Fan’ as in ‘to commit a crime,’ and ‘An’ as in half of ‘to commit a crime’.”
(T/N: Her explanation is a pun. 犯案 (fàn’àn) means “to commit a crime.” Her name is 犯安 (Fàn Ān).)
“Invite me to join your cast?” The girl’s eyes lit up. “No audition, just join directly? Okay, okay! I can report for duty anytime.”
She hung up the phone and announced to Hiromitsu, “I have a new job!”
Hiromitsu Morofushi, police academy graduate, undercover Public Security agent, a member of a group with a high degree of knowledge about fraud prevention, was wary. “Could it be a phone scam?”
The dark-haired girl gave him a clever thumbs-up. “This is why I don’t top up my phone credit.”
Would a phone scammer top up someone’s phone for them? Absolutely not!
Not topping up her phone wasn’t a sign of poverty. She was just a tiny bit more fraud-aware than others.
Director Kawamura was, of course, not a phone scammer. In order not to lose contact with the dream actress he had worked so hard to cast, he had paid for a two-year phone plan for Fan An in one go.
“I’ve been waiting for you!” The moment she arrived, Director Kawamura urgently shoved a script into Fan An’s hands. “Come, come, memorize your lines. I’ll go over the scene with you later.”
The director was showing her such favor. The girl immediately summoned all her concentration and began to seriously read the script.
To be honest, she was ashamed of her lack of acting experience.
The first time, she had auditioned for the female lead in Director Yamanaka’s idol drama, Broken-Winged Angel: The Devilish Young Master’s Fierce Love, scared the male lead out of his wits, and failed spectacularly.
The second time, she had played the role of the evil spirit in Director Matsuzaka’s The Evil Spirit in the Pitch Black. She only had ten minutes of screen time. Director Matsuzaka had said he wanted to add a flashback scene for her later, but the entire cast and crew had already returned to dust, and there was no follow-up.
This was her third time in front of a camera. What should she do? Was it really okay to just act naturally?
The dark-haired girl nervously read the script. In the distance, someone was watching her.
“That’s the woman who stole my role?” a young man with bleached-blond highlights asked, dissatisfied.
“My dear star, you’re the third male lead,” his agent said, trying to reason with him. “The company worked hard to get you into this cast. Just act well. The market is tough for celebrities right now. You need some solid work under your belt for me to fight for resources for you.”
The blond young man knew what his agent meant. A celebrity like him needed a good project to prove himself.
Director Kawamura had a reputation for quality. This police procedural drama was his passion project. The blond’s agency had invested a significant amount in the show just to get him a role.
“What’s the use of being the third male lead? I’ll just be overshadowed by the first and second male leads,” the blond said with a look of disgust.
He wasn’t famous enough to compete for the first or second male lead roles. What the blond wanted was the villain role in this police procedural.
Director Kawamura was filming an episodic series. Each case had its own culprit, and it wasn’t until the very end that the protagonists would discover a mastermind pulling all the strings.
The mastermind didn’t have much screen time, but their part of the script was undoubtedly the climax of the entire show. It could be said that this character was Director Kawamura’s true love; even the main characters were just supporting players.
The blond desperately wanted the role of the mastermind. He had a premonition that this character would be a huge hit!
“Impossible,” Director Kawamura had flatly refused the blond’s agent. “He’s an investor’s pick. Getting him the third male lead role is fine, but the mastermind role is impossible.”
The blond still wanted to pester him. He had read the script; the mastermind’s part really wasn’t that big. In terms of his status, he was qualified.
Besides, he had the right look—the currently popular androgynous pretty-boy type. His smile was sinister and had a villainous charm!
Director Kawamura: Although the mastermind role was designed to be played by either a man or a woman, a eunuch won’t do. It really won’t do.
The director had rejected all the investor-recommended candidates. He had filmed the other actors’ scenes while desperately searching. Finally, his hard work had paid off.
The blond critically sized up the girl sitting on a small stool next to Director Kawamura, listening to him explain the scene.
A rookie actress, not signed to any agency, who had come to the set all alone, without an agent or an assistant. The words “weak, helpless, and easy to bully” were practically written on her face.
The only thing to be wary of was her face. It was dazzlingly beautiful. If the blond had seen her at a talent show or a modeling audition, not admitting defeat immediately would have been an act of self-humiliation.
But this was a film set, a police procedural that relied heavily on acting, the one place in the entertainment industry that was least welcoming to beautiful but talentless “vases.”
“Buy some online trolls for her,” the blond instructed his agent. “Say she got the role without an audition, and that she’s suspected of having an improper relationship with the director—no need for proof, just post her picture in the papers and the reporters will know how to spin it.”
“It’s okay to spend a little more money. Smear her to death! Accuse her of using connections, of having nothing but looks and no talent, of single-handedly lowering the quality of the production. Make it as nasty as possible,” the blond urged his agent. “Go now!”
The agent had just left when the director called out, “Third male lead, come over and run the scene.”
The blond’s eyes lit up. Here’s my chance!
He walked over and flashed a friendly smile at the girl. “I haven’t seen you before. I love taking care of newcomers. It’s a pleasure to work with you.”
Another senior. The dark-haired girl quickly greeted him. “It’s a pleasure to work with you.”
Hmph, she’s quite polite, the blond thought with disdain. Where’s her villainous aura? Director Kawamura must be out of his mind.
The third male lead, played by the blond, had only one scene with the mastermind: the police officer, Male Lead #3, stumbles upon the mastermind’s murder scene and is shot dead.
In the show, this was the mastermind’s first appearance, her grand opening ceremony paved with the bloody red carpet of Male Lead #3’s death.
This was another reason why the blond was so displeased with Fan An—his death was her opening act. How could he accept that?
‘I’ll let the entire crew see her make a fool of herself,’ the blond thought, a smirk playing on his lips.
An’an stood before the camera and took a deep breath.
She still got nervous easily, but she wasn’t the same person she was at her first audition. The method her senior had taught her for relieving tension was very effective.
Male Lead #3 was originally written as a reckless police officer. However, since the blond was an investor’s pick, Director Kawamura had turned a blind eye and allowed him to play the character as a very bad-tempered police officer.
The blond had never gotten into character so quickly.
All he had to do was channel the anger he felt when he learned that his desired role had been stolen. The rage welled up inside him. He was now a super bad-tempered police officer!
BANG!
The blond kicked open the warehouse door. His anger made him look particularly formidable. The muscles he had built in the gym twitched, as if he could deliver a devastating blow to the mastermind at any moment, each punch landing with brutal force.
Outside the shot, Director Kawamura frowned slightly, but the blond’s acting wasn’t too over the top, so he didn’t call “cut.”
“Wow, he looks so fierce,” the screenwriter said nervously. “If the mastermind’s presence is overshadowed by the third male lead, the scene will look terrible.”
The actress playing the mastermind was just a girl, a rookie. Would it really be okay?
In the empty warehouse, a pale overhead light was the only source of illumination, lighting up the scene in the frame.
The warehouse door was kicked open. Dust flew everywhere. With a hiss, a spray of blood splattered across the wall.
Warm blood splashed onto her face. The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl raised her hand, her thumb wiping away the glaring streak of blood on her cheek.
Her movements were slow and meticulous, completely unshaken by the corpse lying in a pool of blood beside her.
This image looked exactly like a nonchalant serial killer.
“A rare guest.”
She sighed lightly and raised the muzzle of her gun.
BANG!
The dark muzzle of the gun was reflected in the blond’s pupils. He instinctively dove forward, his nose hitting the ground, the pain making him see stars.
“CUT!” Director Kawamura shouted. “Third male lead, what are you dodging for?”
The blond shouted back, “She’s trying to kill me!”
Director Kawamura: “She’s supposed to kill you.”
Blond: “Then why can’t I dodge? I don’t want to die!”
It was only after he shouted this that he realized the entire crew was staring at him, with the expression one would use to look at an idiot.
The blond suddenly came to his senses.
He was acting just now, wasn’t he…
Because they were just running the scene to let the rookie actress get a feel for it, the prop gun wasn’t loaded. That “BANG!” was just the girl’s own sound effect.
So embarrassing!
The blond, trying to salvage his celebrity pride, forced a laugh. “I was just thinking, you know, I should take care of the newcomer. See? She got into character so well.”
Director Kawamura couldn’t be bothered with him. He turned to An’an, his expression changing completely. He said amiably, “Oh, that was wonderful! You didn’t disappoint my expectations at all. Are you tired? Do you want some water? If you need anything, just ask my assistant…”
He was a director with considerable experience, yet he was fawning over a rookie actress. The blond gritted his teeth.
He saw his agent returning and felt a surge of vicious pleasure.
“How did the task I gave you go?” the blond asked.
The agent said hesitantly, “It’s done. Many media outlets were willing to take the hit piece. After all, we’re paying well, and she’s a newcomer with no connections.”
“There’s only one exception,” the agent said, confused. “The Beika Daily refuses to take it, no matter how much we offer.”
The editor-in-chief of the Beika Daily had seen Fan An’s photo and, without another word, had asked the blond’s agent to leave.
“You and your celebrity clearly aren’t readers of our paper,” the editor-in-chief had said, pointing a finger. “Do you have any idea how many days this person has dominated our front page?”
“Adding more money is useless. This is non-negotiable,” the editor-in-chief had said, ruthlessly kicking the agent out and slamming the door.
“If she appears in our paper again, the number one rival of our advisor, Mr. Suzuki, won’t be the Kaitou Kid anymore!”