Capítulo 58: Threats
After Valentina left the audition room, she quickly changed back into her regular clothes before standing outside. She needed to figure out how to get back home. Just as she was about to call a taxi.
"Miss Valentina?" A voice quietly called her name. Looking over, she noticed the car that brought her quietly parked off to the side. Thankfully she recognized the driver who brought her so she quickly entered the vehicle.
"Where to Miss Valentina?" the driver asked her.
"Back to the house-, actually would you be able to take me to my apartment? It's located at xxxx"
"Of course."
As the car quietly drove off, Valentina sat anxiously refreshing her email for any updates on the audition. Since she finally had some free time outside of the house, she should get more things for her stay at the Grayson house.
Once they arrived, she checked her mail and took the time to relax first. It was her first time being alone in her own space and she really appreciated it. After lazing about, she made herself a quick meal of ramen. Unfortunately, all the fresh ingredients in her apartment had gone bad so she thoroughly cleaned out her fridge, and then the rest of her house. She then packed some extra clothes from her closet and some special spices from her kitchen. By the time she was done, she had a suitcase full of goods that she had to lug down the stairs.
Thankfully, since it was late in the evening, there was nobody around to see her and she quietly collapsed in the back seat of the vehicle, completely out of breath.
The drive back to the Grayson's passed by in a flash and before she knew it she was walking into the house and dragging her suitcase inside. Surprisingly Kaiser was still home instead of being in the office or whatever he did during the day. He and Luca were settled into the living room each doing their own thing. When she walked in, Luca immediately ran to hug her while Kaiser silently grabbed her suitcase and took it upstairs.
She quietly sat down to relax but could not help looking at her phone every few seconds. She was feeling anxious about the audition and hoped she would get a call confirming if she got the role or if she should move on and try out for another role.
Suddenly her phone rang, and she noticed that it was an unknown number calling. Although she usually didn't pick those up, she quickly accepted the call.
"Hello?" Valentina cautiously answered it.
"Is this Valentina Salazar?" a familiar voice asked. It was director Brian Loewe.
"Yes, it is!"
"Congratulations Miss Salazar on your new role. We found that you were the best candidate out of everybody we saw and heard good things from our staff members. We'll be sending over the paperwork so please have it signed and returned ASAP if the terms are acceptable to you. Additionally, The opening ceremony to formally announce all the cast members is in a week and filming begins right after that. We'll send the details to your email. I look forward to seeing you then!"
"Thank you, director!"
"Of course. Have a good night Miss Valentina. I look forward to working with you."
"Good night."
The call cut off and Valentina looked at her phone in disbelief. She had actually succeeded. This was the first role that she had actively won for herself as Valentina, and she felt so proud and happy.
"Did you get the role?" Kaiser asked calmly. He had come back down the stairs at some point and was just quietly observing her.
"Yes, I did!" Valentina squealed. Without thinking it through, she immediately threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.
Kaiser wrapped his large arms around her slender figure picking her up and spinning her around. As he buried his face into her hair, he could smell the familiar sweet scent that always seemed to waft into his nose anytime he was around her.
"Congratulations Valentina," Kaiser murmured into her hair.
He felt her arms tighten around him before they started to pound weekly at his sides. Gently releasing her, Valentina collapsed to the floor while panting.
"Can't. Breathe." Valentina panted. Kaiser's hug felt as if a bear was holding her. Before she could recover her breath, Luca slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Laughing, Valentina wrapped her arms around the little nugget, holding him tight while pressing kisses to his head. He felt soft and warm and had a light milky scent. The two held each other tightly for a while before slowly separating.
"Congrats Auntie Val!" Luca congratulated her with a bright smile on his face.
"Thank you my little nugget!" She couldn't help but pinch his fluffy cheeks.
Valentina felt so happy, she didn't know what to do with herself. Giddy with joy, she quickly went to her room to get her laptop to fill out the paperwork before the director changed his mind. In the email, the director sent her a more finalized script, details on the opening ceremony, as well as the currently chosen cast members. As she was reading through the cast list, a name caught her attention.
Aaliyah Salazar – Female Lead.
Her mood immediately plummeted.
Honestly, since their encounter at the mall, she hadn't thought about Aaliyah or the rest of the Salazar family at all. She had shoved them into the dark corners of her mind and hoped to never encounter them. But now she had no choice.
It seemed that her dear sister had gotten the role of the female lead, and she would have to act alongside her. Her mood suddenly dropped at the realization, and she became very nervous. Despite the bad blood between them, Aaliyah was one of the top up-and-coming artists that the company poured lots of resources into. She had acted in many movies and dramas and was on track to win quite a few awards this year including best newcomer actress.
It would be the first time the two of them would interact with each other and she didn't want to be ridiculed because of her poor acting skills or compared to Aaliyah. It made her hesitant to accept the role, but she couldn't back down just because she didn't want conflict.
"System what's my acknowledgement status."
[Acknowledgment needed until next level: 80/100]
[Reward: 1 Lucky Draw and Peaches and Cream Complexion Effect]
Wait a minute. Valentina double-checked the reward and wanted to smack herself.
"Is there any guarantee that the lucky draw will improve my acting skills?"
System: […]
Seeing the system being silent, Valentina felt the urge to somehow beat the system up. She had been going on the assumption that the lucky draw would give her something that would increase her acting skills like the previous reward, but what if it didn't? Judging from the silence, it seemed that it might not be the case.
"My dear system, is there any guarantee that the lucky draw will directly increase my acting skill?" Valentina asked it in the sweetest voice she could manage.
[…the lucky draw will provide the host with a skill that will benefit the host as the host continues acting. There is no guarantee that the skill drawn will directly improve the host's acting skills.]
Valentina: "…."
So you mean to tell her that she had been slaving away with no guarantee of improvement in her acting? This was her fault. She had thought that since everything was going well, this system was on her side and would continually help her out. But she had to remember that this was the trash system that made her body weak and cough up blood daily as soon as she exerted herself. If the system thought that she just go along with it. Heh. It could just continue to dream on!
"System, think carefully. Are you sure there's no way to change the reward to improve my acting skill? No way at all? After all, you're so powerful and strong. Aren't you the system to help me get revenge as a cannon fodder villainess? Can't you change it?" Valentina tried sweet-talking the system.
[The rewards are locked according to the task. ] The system calmly replied.
Seeing that the system didn't want to cave in, Valentina simply smiled to herself.
"Aren't you being too unflexible with me? Here I am being cannon fodder. My family doesn't love me. I have no friends and I cough up blood daily. Yet, I haven't even complained. I have done everything I'm supposed to do. Yet here you are expecting me to get revenge with this shitty 40/100 acting score. You've seen me practicing day in and day out and this score hasn't even budged a single inch. Don't you think it's unfair? Do you want Aaliyah to embarrass me on set? Shall I just cancel this role and live like a lazy bum? I already cough up blood daily so it's not like my health can get worse than it is. Do you want me to give up?" Valentina immediately began talking like a hooligan. She remembered that if she squeezed the system enough, it would come up with a solution.
When the system heard the threats coming from its host, it was temporarily speechless. Still it reluctantly answered.
[…The rewards are locked according to the task. ....Normally, they cannot be changed.]
Hearing the answer that was full of hesitation, Valentina grinned.
"Well, this is not a normal situation. Directly change the reward into something beneficial to increasing my acting score." Valentina directly ordered it.
The system: […..]
"Why are you hesitating? Do you think I won't directly reject this role and any future ones? I'll let you know now; I'll give up on acting and directly laze around in the Grayson household. I'm sure if I ask Kaiser, he'll hire me as Luca's nanny, and I can rake in enough money to live a comfortable life." Valentina threatened it again.
The system: […..] What had it done to deserve this kind of host?
[The lucky draw and Peaches and Cream Complexion Effect will be extremely beneficial to the host in the future. The lucky draw can result in a variety of skills and effects that will benefit the host in the future. Recommending host to keep the same rewards.]
"Your opinion is irrelevant. The future is the future. What I need now is something to improve my acting. Are you changing it or am I announcing my retirement from acting?
The system: […..]. Fine. It was its fault that it had ended up with an unreasonable host.
[Ding!]
[First Main Task has been modified!]
[Gain the acknowledgement of 110 people]
[Reward: Emotional Facial Expressions]
[Time Limit Remaining: 20 days]
[Task has been automatically accepted]
"Good. Now was that so hard? I'm assuming this is similar to emotional body language?"
[...Correct.]
Sensing the petulant tone, Valentina immediately scolded it.
"There's no need to be short with me after all this is beneficial to the goal. Also, don't you have any shame? I distinctly remember that it was supposed to be two rewards and 100 people before? Why the sudden change?"
[…Changing the rewards of a task requires a penalty in rewards]
"Are you lying to me?"
[...No. ]
"Is that right? Well, good job. Next time you can just skip the argument and just do what I want." Valentina said with a happy smile. Ignoring the system now that she had gotten what she wanted, she began planning her next move.
The System: [.....] There would be a next time?
After getting what she needed from it, Valentina directly ignored the system. Now that her reward was settled, she still needed well around 30 people to acknowledge her. Her only hope now was if her promotional material from Spring Love aired before the time that the filming would start for her new role.
Unless she could somehow get a new role that would air before next week as well but that was basically asking for the impossible.
She checked her email just in case but no such luck. However, she caught an email that she had missed. It was from Director Sarah Lee and had been sent this morning.
Miss Valentina Salazar,
I apologize for the lack of contact. The team and I have been quite busy doing the promo for this video and getting everything edited and submitted for multiple award shows this year. Today is the final day of the countdown and the first music video will be released on all platforms at midnight.
We plan on making a post and will naturally be tagging you on social media. As part of our contract, please repost it as well. Thank you so much for your hard work and I hope we cross paths and get to work together once more.
- Sarah Lee, Fallen Angels, and Production Crew
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