“Googoo-gaga?
Zeno uttered those words as soon as he opened his eyes. From experience, he came to the conclusion that acting cute made his parents love him more—that is if he had any parents in this life.
Somehow, the Ascendants loved making him an orphan.
However, instead of being doted on, he felt a hard slap on the cheek.
His brows furrowed. Right off the bat, he was an abused baby? Should he call child services?
The couple, who looked deathly afraid of him, stepped back.
“I told you!” the man said. “Don’t give money to strangers. This guy must have a weird kink or something.”
“But he looks so pitiful,” the woman said.
The man glared at Zeno one last time before dragging the woman away. “Let’s go.”
Zeno frowned and took in his surroundings. Instead of the usual crib, he was in the middle of the streets. He raised his hands and saw they were that of a grown man.
“Hmm,” he hummed. “So that’s why they ran away.”
It had been a while since he had spawned in the middle of someone’s life, so he just grew accustomed to the practice. Still, he was thankful he didn’t have to act as a baby this time around.
However, there was a clear disadvantage to this type of spawning, too. He had no idea what his subject was like except for the basics. His name. His mission. And…
Well, that was it.
Zeno rummaged through his pockets to look for his phone, frowning when he didn’t feel the familiar object. He also looked for his wallet for any kind of identification, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Money,” he muttered. The one thing humans loved more than protecting their emotions. He didn’t even have any of that!
“Perhaps,” he muttered, remembering how that woman tried to give him money. “Am I a beggar?”
In the middle of his search, the sound of an angry man’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“What do you mean the extra backed out at the last minute?”
He turned to the source and saw what seemed to be a film set just a few feet away from where he was sitting.
“We’ve spent the whole day filming other scenes, and you only bothered to tell me now?” he continued.
Zeno clicked his tongue and shook his head. They were so noisy that he couldn’t concentrate.
“We can shoot it tomorrow, director,” the male assistant said, closing his eyes in preparation for the director’s response.
It was only then that Zeno recognized who he was. It was Man-shik Kim, a director known for his action films and dramas. Due to the realistic nature of these action movies, he was nicknamed ‘The Man’ by the industry.
How did Zeno know all of these? Well, being sick and bedridden for most of his past life made him more acquainted with the entertainment industry.
“They must be filming a new drama,” he muttered to himself.
“Are you stupid?” Man-shik exclaimed, causing the assistant director to flinch. “We are filming an insert scene! The pilot episode is going to air tomorrow night, and this is a scene that has been added by the writer recently.”
The assistant gazed at the ground, unable to respond.
Enraged, Man-shik looked around, muttering under his breath. “Are all staff members useless these days? I swear, the entertainment industry is going to die with others’ incompetence.”
“A-ha!” Zeno exclaimed as he pulled out something from his pocket.
A quarter.
He let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “This can’t even buy me a piece of gum.”
Meanwhile, on the set, everybody was on their toes. They didn’t know what to do as there were no other extras they could contact.
The staff started asking around. “It’s going to be an easy scene. We will provide the script.”
“I am sorry. I cannot act like that,” most of the civilians answered.
In fact, some of them were interested. However, once they saw what kind of role it was, they quickly declined.
Director Man-shik’s expression quickly turned even more sour as the staff members couldn’t recruit an extra. They couldn’t delay this production at all costs, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
The role of the extra was lowly, so he had to look for someone who suited the role. Just then, his eyes strayed toward a man sitting on the flower beds, his hair in different places, all while talking to himself.
Without saying a word, he walked over to the strange man.
“What did I do back then when I didn’t know anything about my subject?” Zeno muttered, trying to recall his past experiences. “Right—the police station.”
However, before he could stand, someone blocked his path.
His brows furrowed as he stared at the man before him.
“Man-shik PD?” he muttered.
The director smirked. “Ah, good. So, it seems that you know who I am.”
“Is there anything you need?” Zeno asked, finally standing.
“You,” he said, pointing directly at Zeno.
“We need an extra for this drama. You’re decent enough to look at but not so outstanding. Plus, you look a little crazy,” he said, inspecting Zeno from head to toe. “Based on your looks and demeanor, you’d be perfect for this role!”
Zeno pursed his lips. He encountered an obstacle not even an hour into his new mission.
“I’m not interested,” he declined, about to move past him.
“I’ll pay you right after,” the director said, capturing Zeno’s attention once more.
“So here,” he continued, shoving a page of the script into Zeno’s hand. “You don’t need to clean up.”
“The dirtier, the better.”