Chapter 71
The cherry blossom season had not yet arrived. The cherry blossom forest outside the floor-to-ceiling window was bare. Fan An simply drew the curtains, out of sight, out of mind.
The hotel room was spacious and bright, the air filled with a faint, fragrant scent. The bed was clean, the carpet soft. The crew had indeed not skimped on the accommodation.
If it weren’t for that extra door on the wall, everything would have been perfect.
The door was locked, on both sides. As long as one lock was not opened, it could perfectly serve as a wall.
Don’t overthink it. Just think of it as a wall, a wall that won’t be opened, Fan An told herself.
Especially, she had to control her second personality. Don’t be seduced by beauty again and cause an incident that would make her main personality unable to show her face.
The girl finished unpacking her luggage and curled up on the sofa to read her script.
After countless days and nights of struggling with the word count, the screenwriter had made major revisions to the original script. While preserving the thrilling atmosphere, she had added a large section of brilliant reasoning. All the actors had to re-memorize their lines.
The good news was, Fan An didn’t have to memorize the reasoning details, because she was the one being arrested.
The bad news was, her screen time had increased dramatically. She was involved in almost every plot point and had to roughly remember everyone’s lines.
Under the dim light, the girl rubbed her temples, took out a pair of glasses and put them on, and read the script in a low voice.
An’an was a very professional person. From the afternoon she checked into the hotel until midnight, she had been reading her script, oblivious to the outside world.
To concentrate, she had also worn headphones. Whenever An’an got dizzy from reading the script, the sound of her ex-boyfriend reading the criminal law in her headphones would instantly wake her up, and she would no longer dare to complain about the script having too many words.
After working hard to memorize the scenes for tomorrow, the dark-haired girl yawned and went to sleep, forgetting to take off her headphones.
…
An’an had a very good night’s sleep. But when she arrived on the set in the morning, she found that the others didn’t seem to have slept very well.
The male lead looked haggard, the female lead had put on two extra layers of concealer, and the other main actors had worried expressions on their faces.
An’an: “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t understand.
Furuya Rei didn’t know either. He had had an online meeting with Public Security last night and had been immersed in it the whole time.
Director Ochi used a megaphone to gather the actors and prepare for filming.
An’an was an expert at one-takes. Her solo scenes almost never needed to be reshot. But when acting with others, it depended on their condition. It couldn’t be helped if she was dragged down and had to reshoot.
“Today’s filming is surprisingly smooth.”
Although the main actors were not in good condition, it just so happened that in the movie, they were being tormented by the villain and were haggard. The genuine fatigue and fear had unintentionally elevated their acting.
Director Ochi nodded repeatedly with satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad. Keep it up.”
During the mid-scene break, Fan An was drinking water from a thermos. A main actor walked over. “Teacher An’an, did you sleep well last night?”
“Not bad,” she replied.
She had slept until dawn. It was just that her headphones had run out of battery. Her ex-boyfriend’s criminal law sleep-aid audio had been on a loop all night, and had become the number one on An’an’s favorite music chart of the year.
“Did you… not hear anything last night?” the actor lowered his voice. “One moment laughing, the next crying, like nails scratching on glass, and also like a wild cat imitating a baby’s cry.”
His description was very spooky, the air filled with a taste of horror and the bizarre.
“No,” An’an shook her head honestly. “I was listening to the criminal law all the time.”
“I listened all night. I was even undergoing labor reform in my dreams,” the girl gave a thumbs-up. “Very educational. Do you want me to send you the link?”
The actor: “…”
He hesitantly asked for the link. It was a popular science program that An’an had liked and saved, titled “Inspector Megure’s Guide to the Law: The Survival Status of Criminals in Beika Town—Three Years to Life Imprisonment.”
Of course, she couldn’t give out her ex-boyfriend’s sleep-aid audio. That was hers.
…
After finishing filming in the evening and returning to the hotel, An’an, just like last night, put on her glasses and headphones and read her script.
In the room next door, Bourbon received a notice from Vermouth for an online meeting tonight and sat in front of his computer for another night.
The next morning, the well-rested girl and the undercover Public Security officer, who was used to a ninety-minute sleep schedule, were refreshed. But the other main actors looked as if their life force had been sucked out, their expressions dazed.
Director Ochi, as usual, used a megaphone to urge the actors to film. “You guys, pull yourselves together!”
Today’s filming was as smooth as yesterday’s. There was a scene between the villain and the protagonist. Before An’an had even released her killing intent, the male lead had an expression as if he were about to die.
His immersion in the role was as if he were really there. The professional actress Miss An was greatly shocked. Is this the cruel workplace competition of the entertainment industry? To think my colleague had been hiding his skills to this extent. Terrifying!
“CUT!” Director Ochi shouted. “One take! Very good!”
“Teacher An’an,” the male lead said, weakly propping himself up with his knees. “Did you sleep well last night?”
This was the second time An’an had been asked this question. She was baffled and shared the video link of “Inspector Megure’s Guide to the Law: The Survival Status of Criminals in Beika Town—Three Years to Life Imprisonment” with the male lead.
A moment later, the female lead also came over. “Teacher An’an, you…”
Her: “Okay, okay. I’ll just send it to the group. Everyone gets a share.”
The girl sent it to the group with one click. She walked over to her part-time detective ex-boyfriend, puzzled, and poked him. “Did you sleep well last night?”
Furuya: “I slept for about ninety minutes. It was okay.”
He had also noticed that the actors were not in the right state.
“It’s strange. Collective insomnia?” the blond Public Security officer guessed.
“I heard from the others that they always hear strange sounds in the middle of the night,” An’an said. “I’ve been wearing headphones and haven’t heard anything. Did you not hear anything either?”
The Working Emperor, who had been in meetings for two whole nights, said, “I’ve also been wearing headphones.”
The two looked at each other.
Furuya: “I don’t have an online meeting tonight. How about we investigate?”
An’an: “OK. Then I won’t listen to the criminal law tonight either.”
Oh no. After she had said it, she realized what she had exposed.
Furuya would not let the girl’s slip-up go. He said meaningfully, “So there’s a recording… was it An’an’s second personality again?”
“Quietly taking over your body and pressing the record button while I’m on a call to lull my girlfriend to sleep—this must not have been done by An’an’s main personality, right?”
Her: “…”
The girl threw caution to the wind. “That’s right. I had a split personality at that time. Do you have a problem with that?”
So cute. How could Furuya have any problem with that?
“Is the criminal law finished?” he said. “I’ll read the police handbook to you next time.”
An’an: Can’t we have some normal bedtime reading?
Even a story about a prince with necrophilia and a princess with food poisoning would be more suitable for a couple’s sleep aid than a police handbook.
And isn’t he a distillery employee? Why is he reading a police handbook?
The girl’s complaints were written in her eyes. Furuya glanced at the crowded set. Unfortunately, now is not a good time to confess.
He was gradually no longer hiding his identity in front of An’an, revealing real details in their conversations.
But… Furuya thought helplessly, Bourbon seemed to have left too deep an impression on the girl. She didn’t think in any other direction at all.
…
Time gradually turned to night. The dark night sky covered the starlight. An’an, as usual, was curled up on the sofa with her glasses on, reading her script. But this time, she had taken off her headphones.
The hands of the clock moved, one tick at a time. At two in the morning, a shrill scream suddenly pierced her eardrums.
It didn’t sound human, more like the wail of a vengeful ghost who had been dead for many years. The dark-haired girl walked to the door and looked through the peephole at the corridor.
The corridor was empty. The lights overhead flickered as if they had a bad connection. Bloody handprints appeared on the walls.
A question mark appeared above An’an’s head. She looked down at her phone.
[Male Lead: It’s happening again! It’s happening again!]
[Female Lead: Ahhh, don’t come over!]
[Actor A: If you’re going to take a life, take the director’s! Don’t take mine!]
[Actor B: I can’t take it anymore! Who on earth booked this hotel?! They didn’t say it was haunted before we came!]
[Amuro Tooru: Doesn’t everyone know? This hotel was once the filming location for a classic supernatural film. The floor where the vengeful ghost resides happens to be the one the crew has booked.]
When a detective makes a move, you know it’s serious. The group chat, which had been a flood of venting, instantly fell silent, as if they had all been muted.
An’an pressed her eye to the peephole again and looked at the wailing corridor.
She let out a soft “tsk” and walked to the second door, the one unique to the connecting room.
Knock, knock.
Before the girl could raise her fist for a third knock, the connecting door was opened. Behind the door, Furuya had a surprised expression. “What’s wrong, Teacher An’an?”
The fist that hadn’t landed on the door landed on Furuya’s arm. An’an said grumpily, “What are you posting in the group chat? Why are you cooperating with the director to scare the actors? Are you a shill hired by the director?”
The surprised expression disappeared. The blond young man leaned against the doorframe and spread his hands. “The director didn’t ask me to. I was just providing a little clue for everyone to see through the truth.”
Because it was the filming location for a supernatural film, the corridor had been installed with mechanisms to enhance the horror atmosphere. And because it was a classic old movie, fans often came on a pilgrimage. The hotel had always maintained and preserved these mechanisms.
With Director Ochi’s fame, it was easy for him to borrow the hotel’s mechanisms and create the illusion that the hotel was haunted.
The motive was also very simple. The haunting incident had caused a panic, and the actors’ negative state happened to fit the script’s design. The filming effect was very good. Director Ochi, who loved to get a good shot his whole life, was getting more and more excited.
A very despicable director. After filming, he would definitely be put in a sack and beaten up by the main actors.
“But why did you get involved?” An’an asked, not understanding Furuya. “What’s in it for you?”
If he wanted to increase his fame as a detective, shouldn’t he have just told the truth instead of just posting a vague, guiding statement in the group chat?
“Benefits? Of course there are.”
Furuya gently took off the girl’s glasses and put them on his own nose.
A rather studious style. He looked not at all out of place in them, like a youthful university student who had just walked out of campus.
Innocent, harmless, without a cunning bone in his body.
However, the words this person spoke were a completely different matter.
“Teacher An’an,” Furuya said, gesturing for her to look at the open door between them. “You were the one who opened the door first.”
Unlike the day he had borrowed her bathroom, the one who had come to the door herself was now her.
“It won’t be so easy to close it again.”
The blond Public Security officer grabbed the girl’s wrist like a hunter who had caught his prey in a trap.
“It’s time to have a proper talk,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. “About us getting back together.”