Chapter 01

In This Life, I Want an Oscar, Not a Husband

Four years ago.

I received a marriage proposal aboard a cruise ship beneath a bridge over the Han River.

“Ha Eun-rae! Will you marry me?!”

The proposal was nothing short of spectacular, complete with fireworks exploding in the sky and even a full orchestra.

And that wasn’t all.

There were extravagant roses and an equally extravagant diamond ring.

It was a far cry from the simple, quiet proposal I had always dreamed of.

“Eun-rae, I’ll make your wish come true.”

“My wish?”

“Retire from acting, have a baby with me, and live a happy little life together.”

If that had been all he said, I probably wouldn’t have accepted his proposal.

The problem was what he said next.

“You said you wanted a real family, remember?”

A real family.

Those words were what made me accept a proposal that didn’t even suit my taste.

They made me take Kim Do-woon’s hand instead of accepting a role in a film by a promising director.

How ridiculous.

I had fallen for him because of just one sentence.

Four years later.

“The Oscar goes to Director Park!”

That promising director, Park Seo-woo, had won an Oscar in the United States.

The Oscars, one of the most prestigious film awards in the world.

And he had won Best Director, an award that was almost impossible to obtain for a non-English-language film.

Wearing a bow tie, he smiled with a face more handsome and refined than any actor’s.

And standing beside him was Kang Ye-ji, who had earned a Best Actress nomination for the very film I had turned down.

Meanwhile, I—

“Kim Do-woon. You’d better answer me honestly. Did you really sleep with that woman?”

—I had become the protagonist of a third-rate morning soap opera, spouting melodramatic lines like that.

Smoke was billowing from Kim Do-woon’s red sports car, and I was the one responsible for its sorry state.

After following my husband Kim Do-woon from the hotel he had left with another woman all the way to this bridge over the Han River, I had apparently decided to take the car-chase scene to the next level by ramming my own car straight into his sports car.

Kim Do-woon shouted at me, his face twisted with rage.

“Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how much this car costs?! How could you do this?!”

“Are you insane?”

I pointed at the woman sitting in the passenger seat of Kim Do-woon’s sports car, looking exhausted as she searched for her sunglasses.

I knew that woman very well, too.

She was none other than Kang Ye-ji, the top actress who had been plastered all over the news lately because of her attendance at the Oscars.

Kang Ye-ji, who had gone to the Oscars in my place, had now claimed the seat beside my husband as well.

“I asked whether you two slept together.”

I spoke clearly, with the crisp diction that had become second nature to me after years of acting.

Kim Do-woon pointed a finger at me, his face full of irritation.

“Can’t you talk about this somewhere private?! Do you have any idea how valuable Ye-ji is right now? And you have to pull this kind of stunt on a bridge over the Han River…!”

“It’s fine, Do-woon. I’ve already called my manager, so take your time talking things out. I’ll go with my manager.”

Kang Ye-ji rolled down the window, waved her hand dismissively without even showing her face, and spoke as though nothing had happened.

Seeing how unconcerned she was, the anger that had been boiling inside me began to subside instead.

Because Kang Ye-ji looked more comfortable in the seat beside Kim Do-woon than I ever had.

Because Kim Do-woon was more concerned about Kang Ye-ji than he was about me.

Because the two of them seemed so accustomed to all of this.

Where my anger had been, despair and sorrow began to fill the void.

So this is what it feels like.

I had seen countless scenes in dramas and films where someone caught their spouse cheating.

I had even acted in such scenes myself a few times.

Every time, I had wondered which emotion would come first: anger, sadness, or resignation.

But all that speculation had been pointless.

They had all washed over me, one after another, like the incoming and outgoing tides, changing their order each time.

“Why… did you do it?”

I asked, my voice hollow.

Kim Do-woon looked at me as though he couldn’t understand why I would even ask such a question.

The same man who had once begged me to marry him, looking at me as if he loved me more than anything in the world.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“I’m asking because I don’t know…”

Without realizing it, I reached toward his hand.

Kim Do-woon recoiled in disgust and pulled it away.

Of course he did.

I was no longer his family.

In the end… I was alone again.

“She’s more successful than you, prettier than you, comes from a better family than you, and makes more money than you. There’s nothing she lacks. That’s why I told you to take better care of yourself, didn’t I?”

His gaze traveled up and down my outfit: ordinary jeans and a T-shirt.

“When was the last time you even put on makeup?”

“You’re cute even without makeup. It’s a side of you that only I get to see.”

His words from long ago flashed through my mind.

It felt as though a shard of ice had pierced straight through my heart.

“Your husband is the head of a broadcasting network division. Do you have any idea how many beautiful actresses he gets to see every day? Then he comes home to you, wearing an apron and smelling like kimchi stew. You’d kill anyone’s appetite!”

“You’re so much prettier when you’re cooking for me than when you’re acting. You’re my one and only wife.”

The past four years of our marriage seemed to crumble into ashes, leaving nothing behind but a crushing sense of emptiness.

You promised you would give me a real family.

A mother who lived extravagantly. A father who turned into a beast whenever he drank. An older brother who was always chasing after the next big score.

“You must have had such a hard time, Eun-rae.”

You shouldn’t have comforted me like that.

If you hadn’t, I might not have chosen you.

And then I wouldn’t have abandoned acting, the only lifeline I had ever found in my miserable life, just to take your hand.

Just then, a black van pulled up beside us.

The door opened, revealing a familiar face.

Hong Jong-ho.

The man who had once been my manager.

“You know that role is absolutely perfect for you. You can get married later, can’t you?”

He had also been the only person who tried to stop me from giving up acting until the very end.

Hong Jong-ho started to speak to me as I stood there, looking utterly wretched. But when I turned my eyes away, he headed toward the sports car instead.

Then, without warning, he helped Kang Ye-ji, who was suddenly limping, and carried her into the van.

“Manager Hong, could you take me to the hospital? You never know what kind of complications can come from a car accident.”

“Huh? Oh… sure.”

Hong Jong-ho answered awkwardly and shut the van door.

The moment I watched them, I finally understood.

It wasn’t my husband, Kim Do-woon, that I had lost.

By taking Kim Do-woon’s hand, I had lost every opportunity that had once been within my grasp.

The film sets that had made my heart race.

The audiences who had held their breath while watching my face on the big screen.

The hours I had spent with Hong Jong-ho, reading through freshly printed scripts together the moment they arrived.

All of it.

I had given everything up.

For a man like this.

Smack!

I slapped Kim Do-woon across the face and threw the ring off my finger.

When Kim Do-woon saw it, his face twisted in horror.

“Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea how much that diamond ring is worth…?!”

He ran after the ring as it rolled across the road, looking utterly ridiculous.

And then—

A massive cargo truck came barreling straight toward him.

Oh…

He was going to get hit.

Just as I realized that, the truck swerved.

Toward me.

My body was thrown into the air.

The sky seemed to draw closer.

The dark waters of the Han River came into full view.

Everything slowed down, as though time itself had slipped into slow motion.

And that was how I knew, with absolute certainty.

I—

I was going to die.

If there really is another life, I will never choose you again, Kim Do-woon.

At that moment, something suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Search results for ‘Ha Eun-rae’ on Wiki!]

Wiki? That information site celebrities hate the most?

A repository of information that anyone can edit. The kind of place where a celebrity’s most embarrassing moments could be permanently immortalized.

Why was something like that suddenly appearing—

[Ha Eun-rae]

XXXX. XX. XX – XXXX. XX. XX (Died in a traffic accident)

Overview

A South Korean actress.

Career

She first appeared in a supporting role in a successful noir film, attracting attention for a nude scene. She subsequently starred in several dramas and films, but despite her distinctive looks, her choice of projects was criticized as disappointing. Others pointed out that her agency’s promotional strategy did not suit her—

She then hit rock bottom following a debt-related scandal!

…Did this thing seriously have to piss me off even at a time like this?

She later died after deliberately running toward an oncoming vehicle. (Fortunately, the driver suffered only minor injuries, though they reportedly experienced severe trauma. A death that caused an unprecedented amount of trouble for others.)

The only people from the entertainment industry who attended her otherwise empty funeral were Manager Hong Jong-ho and Director Park Seo-woo.

However… even someone like her would eventually be given another chance?

Another chance?

[You have obtained permission to edit the wiki.]

[Would you like to edit the wiki?]

I had no idea what was going on, but—

I refuse to leave behind a humiliating legacy even after I die. And why the hell am I being called a death that inconvenienced everyone?! I’m dying because of Kim Do-woon!

I shouted without hesitation.

“Yes!”