When he opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
The first thing that caught his eye was a luxurious chandelier, the kind you’d only see on TV.
“What the…?” Nam Baek-soo jumped up in confusion, looking around flustered.
“Wha— What the…?”
In one corner, a burly man with a menacing look was watering a plant, carefully tending to each leaf with surprising professionalism.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, a breathtakingly beautiful woman was playing the piano. The music wasn’t what Baek-soo expected—it was a song he knew by the hard rock band ‘Satan’ called “Fall into Hell.”
For all her delicate appearance, her taste was exceedingly eccentric, and the music clashed strangely with the ornate atmosphere of the room, giving Baek-soo a surreal feeling.
It was definitely a bizarre place.
“Surely… I must have passed out… because of that strange woman…”
“Woke up, did you?”
“…Strange woman?”
“Strange woman? Didn’t I introduce myself already?”
“…Wait, when?”
“Tsk, were you unconscious?”
“You knocked me out!”
A very brazen woman had suddenly appeared, beaten him up, and kidnapped him, and yet now acted as if everything was perfectly fine.
“What, never mind that. Why did you kidnap me?”
“I didn’t kidnap you. I just picked you up quietly. It’s unfortunate I couldn’t consult you about coming along, but this was clearly voluntary.”
“…That’s still kidnapping… Never mind, I’m leaving.”
Baek-soo felt a deeply unsettling sensation wash over him. Staying in this strange place any longer felt dangerous, so he quickly tried to make his escape.
“As long as you’re fine with being reported immediately?”
“Reported? For what?”
“You, aren’t you working some voice phishing gig or something? From what I heard, you have quite the record. We recorded your criminal activities so thoroughly.”
“You… you crazy…”
If she hadn’t caught him off guard with this leverage, and worse, as a monster he would face much harsher penalties in Liberti compared to humans. Not to mention the menacing fists he’d have to deal with first.
If the special investigation squad didn’t kill him, this woman very well might.
He was truly between a rock and a hard place.
“Anyway, why did you bring me here?”
“It wasn’t my idea. Personally, I have no interest in trash like you.”
“…After dragging me here yourself, calling me harsh names seems a bit much.”
“That’s not harsh enough. Half-breed disgrace—doing voice phishing? Just commit suicide for the good of society, would you?”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but Baek-soo couldn’t find the words to rebut her. While his life hadn’t been what he wanted, the fact remained he currently was trash.
But there was no reason to endure such one-sided condemnation, even from someone holding his weaknesses hostage.
“You—”
Before Baek-soo could retort, the door burst open and someone entered.
It was an imposing elderly gentleman.
“The Master has arrived.”
As soon as the elder finished speaking, the two people previously busy with their own tasks approached. The intimidating man with the terrifying aura and the alluring young lady both stepped toward where they were standing.
The odd woman who had been berating Baek-soo also dropped down to one knee, aligning herself with the others.
Baek-soo felt startled but quickly mimicked them, kneeling awkwardly. Even he wasn’t clueless enough to stand out in such a peculiar situation.
At that moment, a child entered through the door.
It was a cute girl, around seven years old. She was dressed in a Gothic Lolita-style black dress, neatly paired with proper shoes.
But she wasn’t an ordinary girl. Two small horns protruded from her head, and a playful tail swayed from her bottom, indicating she was a monster.
“Snap!”
With a flick of her finger, a huge chair entered. It was far too large to be an ordinary chair.
Could that be… a throne? And where on earth did they find a chair like that?
“Alright.”
While Baek-soo was stunned, two workers placed down the throne and disappeared. Satisfied, the girl hopped onto the throne. Her legs dangled, too short to touch the ground.
“Miss, I shall bring you some tea.”
“Tea? No, Cocoa!”
“Cocoa, coming up!”
“Good.”
The girl happily swayed her feet as she sipped the sweet cocoa delivered neatly. There she was, clearly delighted by the chocolate drink, while the odd woman reported to her from the side.
“Mission completed, Master.”
“Great job, Yuna. So, is this him?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The woman who had just spewed venom moments earlier now bowed respectfully to the little girl.
It was a peculiar situation. The term “Master”? Could this kid really be the Master?
It was all so absurd that it felt like some hidden camera show, but Baek-soo couldn’t make sense of it.
“Nam Baek-soo. Half-human. Voice phishing scammer. 25 years old. Lives with a sister.”
The girl methodically recited his personal details before standing and pointing at him with two fingers.
Her haughty and arrogant expression looked oddly out of place on her cute young face. With two little horns on her head and such an expression, any hint of grandeur was completely lost.
“You, be my subordinate!”
This was ridiculous. Baek-soo had to leave right now. He’d had enough of playing around with this child’s game.
Though he had weaknesses in her hands, his desire to escape this place quickly overruled everything else. He didn’t see any point in responding and tried to walk away.
“Wham.”
“Ughh…”
When the girl stomped her foot, an immense pressure began to bear down on him. Even Baek-soo, who was quite sturdy, found it difficult to endure.
“Someone talks to you, you should at least reply.”
“Ugh, you crazy…”
The immense pressure from above flattened him to the floor, leaving him utterly crushed. The girl approached with dainty steps, lifting his chin slowly with her small hand.
With an extremely haughty look, she stared at him for a while.
“Reforming scum is one of our organization’s major activities. There is no choice for you.”
Secret society Half Blood’s leader, Code Number 0: Woohee.
“Otherwise, just die here.”
Woohee’s only interest was reforming half-breeds who couldn’t adjust to society.
For the first time in his life, Baek-soo felt the fear of death from a mere child.
In the early part of the story, Baek-soo is dragged to Half Blood by Yuna as if kidnapped. This is the scene where he’s forcibly recruited.
It’s the first scene that gathers all the Half Blood members and one I’ve been looking forward to.
Being a scene centered around a child made me a bit nervous.
Even if this young actress carried the show with hard work, there can be fluctuations in child actor performances.
But our young actress delivered a standout performance as expected.
“Indeed, I thought this might be a tricky scene to entrust to a child.”
Mr. Seo Jin-seob is clearly satisfied and keeps affectionately patting the young actress’s head.
If anything, he might’ve been more worried than me. As the butler Sebass to Woohee, they’d appear together often.
Mr. Seo Jin-seob is known to criticize heavily if his costar’s acting doesn’t impress, but his current demeanor suggests this scene turned out well.
“But where did you learn that expression?”
“What expression?”
“The arrogant downward gaze, as if declaring the difference in our heights.”
“That one? It was Yoo-a. She often makes that expression.”
“Ah, so that explains the familiar vibe.”
Indeed, it seems to be a Yoo-a inspired expression. Given that Yoo-a is known for her haughty demeanor, it appears the young actress has chosen a good benchmark.
“Hm, yes, Yoo-a has that sort of gaze. It carries an air of arrogance?”
“Who does? You’re the one chasing everyone away with that look, especially the men.”
“That’s natural. There’s only one real man for me.”
“And that’s exactly why she behaves that way.”
Though, seeing Moon Suyeon seize the opportunity to tease like this gives me another headache. It feels like déjà vu from ‘Gold Rush, Joseon’.
But, I’ve grown and can now pretend I didn’t hear those kinds of things.
Even if they’re making little sarcastic remarks, they’re just fairies in their own ways.
Compared to genuine rivalries among other actresses, this is quite cute. Yes yes, our filming set is running smoothly.
With the child actress leading the charge, all the actors were working at full capacity, efficiently progressing through the scenes.
From Baek-soo’s adaptation to Half Blood and his good relationships with other members to the scene where he goes on missions with Yuna to solve monster-related crimes.
Through these events, he encounters Jeon Woo-chi and works together to tackle such crimes.
The shooting is going very smoothly.
“Hello! Hello!”
And around this timeframe, our clumsy one joined the scene.
Due to an important concert event, his schedule was delayed, leading to his slightly late arrival.
“Sorry for the delay!”
“No problem. You arrived according to the schedule. Welcome.”
“I’ll work hard. Thank you in advance.”
The first thing the actor did upon joining was apologize and greet everyone. He personally approached the actors, as well as the PMC staff who were present.
Although everything had been planned in advance and other actors approved his late arrival, no one really minds such considerate behavior.
“PMC does good work.”
“They stick to basics, that’s all.”
“True? But more people neglect even that than you’d expect.”
“True, but still…”
“Right.”
“Their company name is PMC, so their naming ability isn’t great, right?”
“Still, it’s kind of amusing. Fans seem to respond well.”
Our clumsy actor might be a bucket that leaks everywhere at home, but it seems he didn’t let anything slip while out in public.
Even though it leaks quite a bit inside, as long as you stick to the basics, you’re unlikely to receive heavy criticism.
Frankly, family is complicated. It’s okay for me to criticize, but having others criticize feels different.
But seeing him handle himself commendably is somewhat reassuring.
“Still, does he act well?”
However, this is a film set where acting is just as important as any other part, including manners.
Of course, he already passed auditions separately, arranged by Director Nam and Chun Yu-ah, but since I hadn’t seen his performance myself, I was a bit worried.
Considering the high-quality acting in this project, even a slight flaw would stand out.
Especially when we have child actors running around the set. Such situations are relatively rare.
It can be overly harsh for acting rookies.
And in his upcoming first scene, we’ll finally get to see his acting abilities directly.
