Chapter 174 (Final)
I’m on standby at the front door, while Mitchell is at the terrace leading to the backyard. Although the cameras aren’t rolling yet, Mitchell is already Logan. He lowers his gaze and scratches the ground with the shovel in his hand. His hopeless eyes are dark and dead, showing no will to live.
“Okay… Action!”
As Director McKenney’s cue sign is heard, I compose myself. Logan, who has been glaring at me for a while, bites his lip and spits out words.
“I thought I told you to get lost.”
“Ah, you did.”
Logan ignores Nathan and goes out to the backyard. Nathan follows Logan, disregarding him. The sound of shoes is buried under the noise of the scraping shovel.
“What are you doing now…”
Nathan looks extremely surprised as he checks the backyard. The dirt floor is dug up all over as if it had been overturned by an excavator. It wasn’t as if he was trying to turn the backyard into scorched earth for a treasure hunt. Perhaps it was something even more important than treasure.
Sure enough, Logan pulls something out from under the mound of dirt. What he dusts off with his hands is a small bone of something that was once alive. Logan throws it, and it falls in front of Nathan’s shoes.
“It shouldn’t be discovered so soon. The capable prosecutor has good instincts.”
Logan, who was being sarcastic, picks up the shovel again. Nathan opens his eyes wide and shouts at Logan.
“You don’t need to confirm it like this. I know that none of the things you did are in the book. The previous test was just a test. Just because you have strong psychopathic tendencies doesn’t mean you actually committed murder. I mean, you don’t need to try to scare me like this.”
Despite Nathan’s chatter, Logan doesn’t even glance at him. Nathan puts down the bag he was holding and walks to Logan.
“If you continue to help us, we’ll let you publish your next book. Of course, we’ll have to minimize parts that might risk imitation and delete parts that cross the line, but other than that, there’s no problem. We’ll even get government approval for you.”
“I have nothing more to write.”
“Isn’t there… content you didn’t write in the book?”
Logan stops what he’s doing. He slowly turns around and looks at Nathan.
“Your father abused you for a long time. Then, in the year you turned eighteen, he suddenly disappeared. He completely vanished. I think that’s the only murder you committed. We won’t make an issue of that…”
“It might be the only liberation.”
Logan goes back to digging the hole. After that, he doesn’t respond to any threats or provocations.
Finally, Nathan gives up and turns around, saying he’ll come back again. As he picks up the bag he put down, Logan’s voice is heard.
“The cases you bring have always been boring, but you weren’t boring.”
Is it permission to take on the case? Or a final compliment?
“…I’ll come again.”
Nathan walks away without asking anything more. Logan continues digging, and Nathan leaves the house. The two never look at each other again.
That was the end of my role.
After that, Logan’s individual shooting continues immediately. Meanwhile, I come to the dressing room and change into a suit of a different color without a tie. My hair is messed up more than before.
The next shoot is the scene where Nathan rushes in after hearing news about Logan.
As soon as the cue sign drops, I run to Logan’s house. In one corner of the living room, there’s a completely burned corpse. They say it’s Logan.
Nathan stands in front of Logan’s corpse, suppressing his rushing emotions. He’s angry and dejected.
“Did you see the remains in the backyard too?”
A detective approaches and asks Nathan. The detective informs him that dozens of remains are scattered in the backyard. He curses at the burned Logan, saying that Logan killed all those people.
“But why did he commit suicide? Did he know we were going to throw him in jail if he didn’t cooperate with the investigation?”
“…Surely not.”
“Well, if he knew that, he would have run away. He’s not the type to think about dying over something like that. That murderous bastard who enjoyed killing others.”
Nathan leaves Logan’s house without answering. For Logan’s last moments, who lived so desperately, to end like this… Sympathy welled up, but strangely, he wasn’t that sad. Because he found a half-smoked cigarette butt and an empty bottle of alcohol on the living room table.
It was quite strange. Logan clearly didn’t drink or smoke.
He walked aimlessly, looking around. He didn’t have a destination, but he moved as far away from Logan’s house as possible. He felt like something was sticking to him, even though no one had called him.
Nathan walked and walked until he stopped in an alley with no sign of people and no light. Then, standing in front of a blocked wall, he suddenly spoke.
“You’re dead.”
When he turned around, there was a man standing there. It was too dark to see his face, but Nathan recognized him at a glance.
“Everyone thinks you’re dead.”
“……”
“And they think everything in the backyard is your doing. Are you okay with that?”
“…So what?”
“It wasn’t you who did it. It was what your father did when he was alive.”
Nathan continued, getting a bit more agitated.
“Why are you trying to take that on yourself?”
“Children always forgive their parents.”
It was what Nathan had said to Logan. Remembering his own slip of the tongue, Nathan bit his lip. His clenched fists trembled, and his tensed neck started to ache.
“Forgiveness and pain are different, Logan. Just because you forgive doesn’t mean the pain disappears. It doesn’t make past misfortunes evaporate either.”
“Why are you interested in my misfortune?”
“You’re already dead.”
“…So?”
“Live a new life.”
“Are you saying you’ll let me go?”
Logan took one step, two steps forward. The steps that were expected to stop at some point didn’t cease until Nathan backed up against the wall. Logan, standing close enough to feel each other’s breath, held a knife to Nathan’s neck. Blood had already formed at the tip of the knife.
Somehow, Nathan felt like his blocked airway had opened. He got wounded, but strangely, he felt relieved.
“Were you happy after killing your father?”
“…What?”
“I was just like you. I was… beaten by my father. My childhood was as hellish as yours. No, it’s still the same. I’m still not free from that guy called father. Even at this age, I’m still living in hell.”
“……”
“I was envious of you… I guess that’s why I followed you. Or maybe I was trying to learn something. Like… murder.”
Nathan tilted his neck, laughing at himself. The knife dug in a little deeper.
“Will you kill me once?”
The wide smile showed no trace of hesitation or lingering attachment. Nathan sincerely wanted death.
“Let’s try living a new life. Like you.”
Logan, with a raised corner of his mouth, brought his face close to Nathan as if he was going to devour him in one bite.
“…Alright.”
Then he raised his hand holding the knife and stabbed down with all his might.
“Cut! That was good.”
It’s the final cut.
The director checked the monitor, and the special makeup artist and staff rushed over to check my neck. Even though it was fake blood and didn’t hurt, Mitchell worried about me.
A little later, the final okay sign was given, and the filming of “Mirror Match” was completely finished.
In terms of the movie’s progression, there’s more content to come after this scene.
The end of “Mirror Match” is…
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
Mitchell shook me out of my daze. Coming to my senses belatedly, I said goodbye to each of the staff members who had worked hard together all this time. There wasn’t any grand dinner party for the last shooting. Instead, I heard that Mitchell had given gifts to all the staff.
After finishing the long goodbyes, I got into Mitchell’s car. The journey of just the two of us, without a driver or bodyguard, had become quite familiar now.
“You worked hard today.”
Mitchell said kindly as he started the car. No longer needing to be mindful of others’ eyes, I held Mitchell’s hand as soon as I got in. Although he didn’t look at me, just the touch of his hand caressing the back of mine made me feel loved. I suddenly realized that Mitchell had always been giving me love.
“You worked hard too, Mitchell.”
“It’s your Hollywood debut. And you did it with me?”
“It’s an honor, Mr. Mitchell Cronenwirth.”
Mitchell chuckled at my playful words.
“Let’s not work for a while and take a rest. We should go to the villa too. Miami.”
“Ah. There.”
“I bought it to properly enjoy with you, but we haven’t been able to enjoy it even once yet.”
“Should we go and play for just a few days? In case another movie comes in…”
“We should rest for at least a couple of months. You were tired from filming.”
“……”
At the mention of being tired, I suddenly remembered what David had said.
“Mitchell originally didn’t want to take on the role of Logan.”
Apparently, Mitchell already knew about Logan from “Mirror Match” even before I showed him the script. Mitchell, who happened to get the script, rejected it on the spot as soon as he saw the content.
I could guess the reason for his rejection. It probably seemed like his own story.
Although “Mirror Match” has a high-quality script, there were too many scenes that could stir up his past, so he rejected it outright. But then he suddenly changed his mind and said he would appear, so it was natural for David to find it strange. Of course, I knew better than anyone why Mitchell chose “Mirror Match” again.
It’s because of me.
He probably readily agreed because I asked him to do it together.
Mitchell was that kind of person, and more.
Come to think of it, Mitchell might have been acting as his past self rather than Logan throughout the filming. He relived his terrible past, revisiting each unhappy memory one by one. How painful it must have been.
The despair that occasionally showed on his face was Mitchell’s own emotion, not Logan’s. I had pulled him back into his misery.
“Yeah. Let’s rest a bit. Let’s rest together. Because it’s been hard.”
But Mitchell,
I’m not sorry to you.
My obsession, your deficiency connected us. Even though I found out how hard you’ve endured, our distortions ultimately attracted each other. So I’m not sorry.
Misfortune came, but what comes is destined to leave.
I hope you understand your misfortune.
The misfortune that came stood before you, bringing me along.
Because we finally met.
Your misfortune was our beginning.
We finally began.
