章節 7: Prince of Acting (2)
Edited by: Kuro, Lille, Nyxx
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Alec was playing the villain in the TV show Everlasting Bloom. His character was Vincent von Algor. Vincent was cold, calculating, and manipulative, but purpose-driven.
The scene he was acting out was in Vincent's office. The set builders designed the room in a baroque style but there wasn't a lot of furniture so the room seemed a bit odd. It was extravagant enough to see that Vincent was a noble, but plain enough to know that he was poor. With the minimal amount of furniture in the room, people could guess that Vincent had sold a lot of his belongings, only keeping the essential pieces of furniture. The walls were made of carved wood, and the floors had white marble tiles. There was a large window behind the desk.
The director shouted for the crew to get in their place. Alec sat at the desk and was given a cup of tea. The cameras began rolling at the director's cue.
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He was drinking tea at the sleek, ebony desk. His back was straight, up against the back of the wooden chair, with his legs crossed and his cup of tea held near his nose so he could appreciate its aroma. The white teacup was made of porcelain with blue roses trailing along the rim of the cup, while the handle was made of gold. He looked relaxed, but the scene in front of his desk was nowhere near peaceful.
A servant was being brutally punished in front of him. His back was whipped 20 times. Blood dripped on the white marble floor, staining its shine. But even so, Vincent did not wince at the terrible sight, horrific sounds, or bloody smell. He leisurely drank tea and watched as if it was part of his daily routine.
After the whipping, the servant was hunched over on the ground, almost lifeless. His flesh looked as if it were peeling off his back, the blood pooled underneath him. Anyone looking at the scene would shudder at the gruesome sight on the young man's back.
"It's such a shame that a good servant was nothing but a spy." Vincent's deep voice echoed throughout the room. His voice was void of emotions, showing that he didn't care at all. Some could say he even enjoyed the scene in front of him.
The servant, still in pain, shuddered at the man's voice. It was more painful to hear this man's voice than being whipped. It was like his voice was coated in poison, and the listener was only meant to slowly die.
"If you tell me who your Master is, I will let you have a painless death..." His tone seemed forgiving and merciful, but it also implied that either way, the servant was going to die.
When the servant looked up, he saw the man's face that was vacant of any emotions, but his eyes seemed cold and cruel.
The servant trembled, almost biting his tongue off, but his leg was kicked, sending ripples of pain throughout his body. He didn't say a word, but his eyes said loyalty and determination.
"Take good care of my dear servant here."
"Understood!" The guards who were whipping and holding the servant down dragged the limp man out of the room. The man held his head down, gritting his teeth and trying to hold his ground for what was to come.
The camera panned over to Vincent who was relaxing at the desk. He was currently munching on cookies. Contrary to his cold looks, seeing him gracefully eating a cookie was an odd sight with the blood in front of him. Even though the sunlight that shined through the window gave an almost warm feeling, his frigid aura leaked out, making the room cold and dark. He smiled as he watched the servant being dragged out. His face showed absolute madness. It was almost as if he knew this would be the outcome and was all for it.
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"And cut!" The director shouted.
Everyone sighed in relief. Every time Alec played a role, it was bone-chilling. Especially the way he got into his role, the coldness, his aura, it was too powerful for mere mortals.
The director was happy and ran up to Alec. "That was perfect as always Alec!"
"Thank you, Director." It was very polite. He had always been too serious for his own good, but the director didn't mind. He still patted Alec on his back and happily laughed. The Director was quite fond of Alec for reasons he couldn't explain, but he somehow knew that poor Alec was a bit misunderstood.
It would be a couple more scenes until the Light Prince and the rising star Kyle would be making their appearance. In the beginning, the show was giving a little insight into the villain, setting a very dark tone for the show.
They filmed one more scene for the day as they needed some time to edit.
Alec went back into the dressing room, where he had his makeup and outfit taken off with the help of the stylists in charge. When they finished, they left him alone in the dressing room.
He then looked in the mirror. He felt his face was really stiff. This poor child had no idea how to properly smile, show emotions, or even laugh. He could kind of show emotions through acting, but it was very limited and he didn't get the parts to show it off very often. It was Alec's goal to make this body appear more relaxed at least.
As he was thinking that, he heard that horrible dinging sound. He flinched at the sound and felt his heart race. He tried to control his heavy breathing before calling out to System 225.
"System, is there something you need?" Hearing himself being able to ask a question without having to read lines was a blessing. He felt his heartbeat beat a little slower as he calmed down.
[I apologize, Host, I will change the sound of that, but I forgot to tell you your missions so I decided to give it to you now that you are alone.]
'I see, then yes, please tell me my missions.' He said in his thoughts just in case someone decided to walk by.
It had been so long since he had the opportunity to mutually accept missions like this. Before, every time that *ding* sound was heard, he knew it was a dreadful mission he could not reject and had to do immediately.
[Main Mission: Expose the Light Prince.
Side Mission: Become a Famous Actor.
Side Mission: Help Kyle find his true love.
[That is all for now Host.]
'These seem easy enough...'
[Yes, Host, this is an F-ranked world. The easiest and lowest ranking.]
'I can finally do ranked worlds?' When he started going from world to world, he was never notified about rankings. He was told that going to higher-ranked worlds was only for those who became official Hosts.
[Yes, Host. Now that we are detached from the Villian System, I see no harm in telling you about the rankings. The worlds are ranked F-S, which is F, E, D, C, B, A, and then S. S-ranked worlds are extremely powerful and rare, which is why you will only be going to 1 S-ranked world. 2 of each ranked world going all the way up to A will give you the same amount of energy as an S-ranked world. It would be catastrophic to send you into an S-rank world right off the bat, especially since your soul is so weak. You need preparation, experience, and confidence as one wrong move could mean elimination altogether. Anyways, that is why 13 is God System's lucky number...]
System 225 didn't realize this until he decided it was best to become a God System. It was no wonder that the first God System always happily proclaimed that 13 was his lucky number.
'13 huh, what an odd number.'
[13 is seen as bad luck in many worlds, but for us Systems, it's life-changing.]
'Were the worlds I went into before all F-ranked worlds?' He was curious as to what kind of worlds he went to before and after going into the Villian System.
[Yes, the first 100 worlds are F-ranked worlds. Usually, when the Host completes 100 worlds, they are given two options. The first one is going into the Reincarnation Sea, memories wiped, and everything like that. The second one is becoming an official Host. You will be rewarded for completing certain worlds. The higher the rank of the world, the better the reward. After the Villain System took over though, the rankings of the world were completely randomized. One moment, you would be in a D-rank world, in the next moment, it could be an A-ranked world.]
'Luckily for me, I was just following the script.'
[Yes, the only silver lining out of that horrid system.]
'Ah, one more thing, can I go OOC (out of character)?' During his time as a host, he was not allowed to OOC. If someone suspected that he wasn't the original, the System would immediately yank his soul out of his body (and the world) and then they would have to do a world that was similar to make up for it. It happened to him once, so he had first-hand experience of getting his soul yanked out.
[Yes, you are allowed to OOC as we are not restricted by the rules of the Command Center. You must remember though, you have to ease yourself in, like a natural transition so that no one would suspect you.]
'Ohohoho, alright. This is a lot better.' And it lifted a weight off his shoulders. It was nice to finally be himself. He would still follow the original body's dreams, but he didn't want to be cold, expressionless, or rude.
As System 225 and Alec talked, the door opened.
"Alec, are you ready to go?" It was Alec's manager, Damien Wallace.
Alec saw a handsome young man, about 27, with brown hair and green eyes. His manager was the epitome of what you would call manly. A black crisp suit, chiseled jawline, detailed cheekbones, and round-shaped eyes. This man was even blessed with a nice height of 6'3 (190cm). Anyone could tell that he had a god-like figure underneath his clothes. All in all, to Alec, the man screamed dominance. He wondered why Damien decided to become his manager, well, more like a nanny to Alec.
"Okay." Alec gave a nod before following Damien like a duckling following the mother duck.
Seeing Alec waddling behind him, Damien couldn't help but give a smile and use his gentle voice. "What do you want for dinner?" Only Alec was capable of bringing out the warmth from within him.
Damien had been watching Alec so there was no need to compliment the man any more than he already did. Alec was the only person he managed. He was the top actor of their company, Starlight Entertainment, so he was told to manage everything for Alec and Alec only.
His position in the company was a bit weird. Damien became a manager out of boredom. His family was rich so he had nothing to do. His older brothers already inherited the family companies, so he had lots of free time.
Damien didn't want to leech off of them, so he went into one of their companies and became a manager. Well, he was more like a nanny since Alec could not take care of himself at all!
"Sushi." The original Alec and the Host loved sushi with a burning passion. The other thing he enjoyed was ramen. If it were up to him, he would interchangeably eat sushi and ramen every day.
Alec, the host, was a fan of easy-to-eat foods, foods that let him eat with little effort. Sometimes, he got too lazy to chew.
"You had sushi yesterday too, so why don't we eat some curry instead." Damien made amazing spicy curry, honed after years of being Alec's manager.
Alec approved of curry. Curry was good too.
Their conversation was a lot more casual than most would expect. Alec felt a lot more human when he was talking to Damien.
Having a good dinner was the best way to end his day. He couldn't wait to live his life in this new world.
創作者的想法 
MakusCorner
MakusCorner I thought about updating whole arcs at a time, but it's a lot of work and I would only update once a week... Do you think I should do it that way or this way for webnovel?
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