It was a new week.
Zeno woke up to the blaring sound of his alarm and the blinking red notification in the corner of his vision that simply read.
[New Mission Unlocked: Finish Scene 72 in One Take]
[Upgrade Romance to A-]
He stared at it for a good five seconds before pursing his lips.
Seriously?
He rolled over and grabbed the script off his nightstand, flipping straight to Scene 72. His eyes scanned the lines with increasing suspicion, his brows slowly drawing together in horror.
Zeno sat up.
“Did they plan this?” he asked aloud.
There was no answer—except for the echo of his own disbelief.
Why was his system so obsessed with upgrading his romance? Were they in need of entertainment?
That dream he had yesterday didn’t help one bit, either. It had been a while since he dreamed about it, and this felt like the cherry on top.
Still grumbling under his breath, he got dressed, ignoring the glowing quest banner still floating cheerfully in his periphery.
***
They were on their way back to the set.
Despite the heavy shadow Victor had left behind, the production of Ninth Circle inevitably pushed forward just like Zeno had predicted. Raya and her son were still safe and sound. He asked for updates from time to time, which she gladly responded to.
Meanwhile, Victor’s trial was underway, his name scrubbed off trailers and posters, and sponsors, too, had quietly stepped away.
While it wasn’t over yet, public favor had tilted toward the victims of the production.
So, they were back.
Jace, sitting beside Zeno in the truck, was vibrating in his seat. “They added lines!” he said, shaking Zeno’s arm. “I actually have more lines now! I need to treat Devon. Which do you think he would like?”
“The new steakhouse near my unit? I think that’s alright.”
Zeno pursed his lips. That was a very high-end restaurant. Not that it mattered. Jace could definitely afford it. Zeno let Jace excitedly speak while he focused his gaze out of the window.
After a while, they finally arrived at the set.
Despite it appearing similar to the last one, it still felt different.
It was a subtle but noticeable change. Without Victor pacing the halls or whispering behind monitors, the entire place felt breathable.
People smiled more. Laughter without inhibitions was heard all around.
Zeno, too, was being more freely greeted by the staff.
“Zeno, welcome back!”
“Great work at the tournament!”
“Zeno, man. You sure are good at everything.”
Even the light tech gave him a thumbs up. Somewhere behind the racks, a makeup artist waved at him.
Jace whistled under his breath. “You’ve ascended, damn. Well, without your courage, Victor wouldn’t have been kicked out of the production.”
From the corner of Zeno’s eye, he caught Sangwon leaning against the scaffolding, arms crossed and glare dialed to maximum. Zeno met his eyes with a faint, blank stare. He didn’t flinch or react. He simply gave a curt nod and kept walking.
Whatever floated Sangwon’s boat.
But then, something stranger happened, one that made him suspicious.
Billy approached him.
Billy had been avoiding him since the end of Lucy’s Game, so this was new.
Just then, he reached out his hand, showing a perfectly roasted sweet potato half-wrapped in foil.
Zeno stared at it with narrowed eyes.
Billy extended it wordlessly.
“What is this?”
Billy shoved it into Zeno’s hands and quickly power-walked away without saying a word.
Zeno looked down at the gift in his palms, then at Jace, who had already taken out his phone to document the moment.
“What was that?” Jace exclaimed.
“I don’t know,” Zeno muttered, tossing it toward him. Despite his love for sweet potatoes, he didn’t want to be poisoned. “Have it.”
With that, he walked toward the men’s makeup room, where everything was ready for him.
Inside, Misha was already in costume when she saw Zeno walk in.
She froze. Immediately, a flush crept up her neck and exploded across her face. She quickly looked away, fanning herself with the corner of her script.
Zeno walked past her. In fact, he didn’t even see her at all.
Through that whole hour, Misha continued catching glances at Zeno, but the latter was just sleeping. He was still recovering from the lack of sleep brought by the GoG tournament.
After a while, the two emerged from the set, ready for their scene of the day.
Scene 72.
The take Zeno needed to nail only once. He knew the scene number sounded too important, but he wanted to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. However, as he skimmed through the script, it was proven right.
Scene 72 was the kissing scene between Desperate #25 and Desperate #1—his and Misha’s character.
The other cast members were already waiting on the side, wanting to watch the scene in the very front row. Billy was there, too. Again, strange.
Zeno would have no problem if this were a normal kiss. However, it was a hard, dramatic, emotionally charged kiss that had a lot of angst. He had to execute that with Misha in just a single take.
Seriously, were the Ascendants perverts for wanting to upgrade his romance aspect every single time?
At that moment, Zeno thought back to the last time he kissed someone.
Ah. That was…
A lifetime ago.
Literally.
In his last life as Sanjae, you could already imagine he didn’t kiss anyone. He was too sick to do so anyway.
However, he had done it before. After all, he had around five wives. Not all at the same time, though! He wasn’t that kind of man.
Anyway, the point was—he wasn’t new to kissing.
He had five hundred years of muscle memory stored somewhere in his soul. However, it had genuinely been a while. Still, he wanted to finish this scene in one take, so he rolled his shoulders and looked Misha in the eyes.
Strangely, there was still a flush of red on her cheeks and neck that hadn’t left since the two of them greeted each other.
Devon, excited for the first scene of the day, lifted the megaphone to his lips.
“Scene 72! Lights, Camera, Action!”