Selina and Minseok, who weren’t in great moods due to their roles, collectively sighed as they looked out of the windows. They were already inside the ‘mansion’ where they were going to be burned.
“This sucks,” Selina muttered. “I wanted to wear a white coat.”
“At least you have some lines sprinkled throughout the movie,” Minseok grumbled. “I only have one line—’help us.’ Do you think that’s fair?”
Selina scowled at him and focused outside the window once more. It seemed they were finally done with the dialogue part, but she could still see them discussing even from afar.
“What are they talking about?” she whispered to herself.
“Is Zeno Han actually a genius actor?”
“Don’t you think it’s strange that he’s already gotten two roles in major productions, and it hasn’t even been an entire month since his career started?”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it.”
“What the—,” Rex muttered. “Is he an underground actor or something?”
“I don’t think so,” Luli said. “He has never acted before.”
Rex was silent for a moment before scoffing. “That’s got to be a lie.”
Meanwhile, Chaewon PD observed Zeno from afar. He was eating the fruits from the snack table now. She had granted them some rest time before they started filming the more ‘dangerous’ parts of the movie. .
She turned to Jiho, who was grumbling under his breath. “Is Zeno Han signed with our company yet?”
“I hope he isn’t,” Jiho muttered, causing the experienced PD to turn to him with raised eyebrows.
“What was that?”
Jiho cleared his throat. “I don’t think so, PD,” he answered. “I heard from Joohyuk that they hadn’t talked.”
“Hmm,” Chaewon hummed, placing her hand under her chin. “Anyway, are the doctors around already? The real ones.”
Jiho pursed his lips before nodding. “Yes, they are on the boat,” he lied.
“Good,” Chaewon said. “Then, go ahead and set everything up so we can finally film the fire scene while the sun appears golden.”
Jiho stood from his seat. “Yes, PD.”
Meanwhile, Zeno sat on a big rock not too far away from the scene. He wanted to eat his fruits in peace while thinking of strategies to decrease his meter back to the mediocre one.
“Debt is an option,” he muttered.
“Should I lose my friends?”
“But that would be too cruel, wouldn’t it?”
Just then, he felt someone sit next to him, causing his brows to furrow. He turned to the side and saw Ian looking at him with a small smile.
“You’re interesting, you know that?” Ian started off.
Zeno continued eating his fruits while staring at the horizon. “How so?”
Ian shrugged, leaning against his palms. “I don’t know. It just seems you don’t want to be here.”
Zeno turned to Ian. “How did you know?”
Ian couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. “So, you really don’t want to be here?”
Zeno sighed.
“Why not?” Ian asked.
“Because I’m straying away from my goals,” he answered, referring to his meter.
Ian paused for a while, looking at the side of Zeno’s face. It was at that moment that he found his skin to be quite smooth. What kind of foundation was he wearing?
However, aside from the curiosity of Zeno’s skin care and makeup, he also related a lot to what Zeno had said.
“I think we’re on the same page,” Ian said, sounding sadder than he had intended.
“Huh?” Zeno asked, confused. Was he a Rennis, too?
“I don’t think so, though,” Zeno muttered. “It looks like you’re enjoying this a lot more than I am.”
Ian turned to him with slightly wide eyes, waiting for him to elaborate.
“You’re good at acting, and you present yourself well. Honestly, you might present yourself too well—to the point you want to please all people without taking yourself into account. That might be the reason why you feel like you’re straying from your goals.”
“You should act to portray, not to please.”
“In that case, we’re very different. Trust me.”
There was a huge difference between them.
Ian Seo was just burnt out.
Zeno wanted to get burnt with how hard this mission was.
A small smile appeared on Ian’s lips. “No one has ever told me that,” he said in a tone that Zeno knew all too well.
His eyes widened. Oh, no. He definitely didn’t need a new friend.
“You’re the first person to ever make me feel this way since I became an actor.”
Zeno pursed his lips. It was even worse than he thought. Just how fragile was Ian Seo’s heart?
“That’s not what—”
Ian cut him off. “I’ll take your words into account,” he said, standing from the big rock. Then, he patted Zeno’s shoulder. “You’re a good man, Zeno. I hope we can become friends.”
[+1 Public Perception. Friend request from A-list actor.]
[Notable Meter: 15%]
[Penalty Quest: Make the filming go as smoothly as possible. Make sure it ends on time.]
[+5% for delayed filming]
Zeno angrily munched on the banana as he stood. “Seriously,” he muttered.
“Everyone!” Chaewon PD exclaimed through her megaphone again, making the actors gather at the clearing.
The firefighters were already on standby while the arsonists, led by Jiho, were behind the building. The camera and sound man designated to film inside the mansion also went to their areas.
“If something happens, tell my wife and children I love them,” said the cameraman to the sound guy.
The sound guy chuckled. “Come on, man. Nothing’s going to happen.”
The cameraman sighed. “Why would they opt for a natural fire for this filming?”
“We shouldn’t have lost rock, paper, scissors,” the sound guy said.
Zeno inspected the mansion, dread forming in the pit of his stomach. The Ascendants had a cruel sense of humor. Penalty Quests made things harder for Rennis, yet at the same time, they were designed to help the humans around them.
If they had given him a mission to make the filming as smooth as possible, then Zeno could only infer one thing.
“Let the fire show begin!” Chaewon PD exclaimed.