Chapter 127: Being an Actor is Hard!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 127: Being an Actor is Hard!
While I was busy mastering the basics of magic with Yvette, winter break arrived.
I had been looking forward to a scandalous hot spring getaway like our summer trip, but that damn civil servant couldn't even use her winter vacation properly. As a result, I had no choice but to spend my break idling away while squeezing Yvette’s breasts and thighs.
Or so I thought.
“Th-that is, well... I heard there’s a tokusatsu shoot. Right...?”
Morian, who had become incredibly cautious around me and was riddled with guilt, asked tentatively, unable to meet my eyes.
I’d heard she was very busy lately because some platform or whatever was doing well. Looking at the faint dark circles under her eyes, it seemed she hadn't been sleeping much.
“I don’t remember that.”
“But you received the Green Brachiosaurus Beta XII from the director.”
Morian spoke firmly. I realized she wasn't making a suggestion; she was simply stating a fact.
“I don’t watch that childish stuff anymore. No new episodes are coming out anyway. These days, kids just play games together.”
“The director said it hasn't come out because she went into secluded training to re-verify the setting and continue the sequel. She said she’d keep her promise to increase the role of the Green Brachiosaurus Beta...”
Morian began explaining to me, checking her notes several times as if she couldn't quite remember the details herself.
“I’m not a kid anymore. I have no intention of filming just to get some toy. Besides, I’m swamped with magic lessons, violin lessons, and basic training for the Solar Divine Art.”
“Ugh... You don't like it either, Yong-hwan? It’s a villain role, so I thought it might be a bit boring. Then I’ll tell the director it’s a no...”
Morian picked up her phone as if she had no choice.
“Wait.”
“Huh...?”
The Purple Pot Snow Woman Sister looked at me, her obscenely large breasts swaying.
“A villain? Like, an executive level?”
Morian looked at her notepad, flustered. Then she nodded.
***
For kids our age, transforming dinosaur robots were even more popular than dinosaur robots that dinosaurs rode. Since they tacked on so many subtitles for the sequels under the main title, everyone called them by different names, but one thing was certain: it was a tokusatsu series popular with both boys and girls.
If even Ophelia, let alone Iris, knew about it to some extent, it could be considered a friend that protected our childhood innocence and time.
The upcoming one was the 13th sequel, and considering that ‘XII S’ was the designation attached to the robot's name in the previous work, it was easy to deduce.
I had been throwing a fit about not doing it because I’d likely just be playing some kid whining, “Help me~!” But being offered the role of an evil executive? How could I resist that?
Even better, the filming would only take a week, and it was all for me. It seemed worth a shot. As soon as I arrived at the set, I pushed through the crowd of people claiming to be directors—who looked like total beggars—and entered the waiting room, where I found a familiar elf.
“Luinal?”
“Oh? Yong-hwan!”
It was Luinal Sil, the pretty movie actress with a white bob and red eyes. The movie she filmed with me last time was doing great in theaters, so her value must have skyrocketed. It was surprising to see her participating in a tokusatsu show, a route usually taken by idols transitioning into acting.
“What is the famous actress Luinal Sil doing here?”
“Hahaha, you shouldn't tease me like that!”
Luinal greeted me warmly, stretching my cheeks left and right.
“Sit, sit. They said a great child actor was coming, and it turns out it was you, Yong-hwan?”
I sat boldly on her thighs as she sat in the chair, leaning my neck against her chest and looking up at her.
“Ngh...! Not there...”
Her embarrassment was cute. Should I say she was somewhat pure compared to the people who were only thinking about devouring me?
“What’s your role, Luinal?”
“Me? I’m the Green Brachiosaurus Beta Synchronizer...”
I couldn't understand why they would cast a movie actress who acts like she's popular but lacks real fame for the lead role of the Green Brachiosaurus Beta.
“Oh? You’re both here! Long time no see, Yong-hwan. And you too, Ms. Luinal. You two seem to get along very well, perhaps because you filmed a movie together.”
The director sat across from us with a gentle smile.
“You said you’d cast a very famous and talented actress for the Green Brachiosaurus Beta lead.”
I had to protest this. Luinal looked down at me with a betrayed expression, but a contract was a contract.
“Ms. Luinal is more than enough. Her current movie is doing incredibly well. She’s even filmed all the action scenes...”
The director tentatively expressed her opinion. Seeing her make excuses to me as if she were truly wronged made me feel a bit sorry for her. I looked at Luinal.
“...Really?”
“I was promoted to semi-A-Rank this time...”
I didn't know if actors had ranks, but seeing Luinal’s pouting face as she looked at me, it seemed she was quite a big deal.
“Hmm... Since Luinal is pretty, I’ll let it slide!”
“You mischievous brat...”
It seemed she was easily swayed by being called pretty. The women in this world were so easy it was a problem.
Seeing her kneading my cheeks, she seemed extremely satisfied with my comment.
***
“Hmph? So, you’re saying you failed. It’s surprising that we lost three Great Generals on such a tiny planet.”
I spat out the lines like a flat-chested villainess. If they had made me wear something high-cut and revealing, I would have run away, but it was just a tailcoat-style outfit, likely meant to satisfy those with specific fetishes.
A brown-haired sister who looked like a magician was kneeling before me. The script said I should grind my heel into her head here, and I glanced around to see if I should actually do it.
“I am sorry, it was my blunder...”
“I have no desire to use an incompetent person like you as my adjutant... but since you know the most about this planet, I shall spare your life as a special mercy.”
Whether it was the humiliation of having her head stepped on by a brat, the villain sister began to tremble. I didn't know what this was supposed to mean for a children's tokusatsu show, but I lightly lifted her chin with the tip of my foot.
“If you are to be my adjutant, do not disappoint me again. For I can incinerate that pathetic life of yours at any moment.”
Apparently, my role in this tokusatsu was a fire-attribute mage.
Anyway, that was the entrance scene.
“Green Brachiosaurus Beta...!”
Then there was a scene where I lost a battle against the Green Brachiosaurus Beta and, unable to contain my rage, I bent the whip I carried.
“...I don't like this backwater planet.”
And then a scene showing subtle emotions while stranded on a deserted island after being hit by an attack from Luinal, who had self-destructed during the battle with the Green Brachiosaurus Beta.
It was a story full of clichés where I, playing a normally ill-tempered brat who couldn't use magic, received help from Luinal.
Scenes like refusing the enemy's pity only to sob while eating grilled fish after starving for days, or feeling strange emotions toward Luinal as she cared for me when I had a fever. Or trying to persuade the hero of justice piloting the Green Brachiosaurus Beta to defect by promising wealth and power. It was all very predictable.
“...Next time, we are enemies.”
A scene was even added where I spoke bitterly to Luinal while watching the rescue ship arrive.
I had only read the beginning of the script, but seeing how things were going, I wondered if I was becoming a regular cast member. When I checked the rest, it seemed the crazy bitch of a director was determined to put me in the next work as well.
“Director! This isn't the end?”
“It is the end, of course! But if our Yong-hwan likes it... I’ve prepared it so you can appear in the next work too! Here’s the new script...”
“No, thank you.”
“No, just read it once...”
“No, thank you.”
“Please, just once...”
“No, thank you.”
Our director was trying to pull a fast one, but I managed to escape with my mature handling of the situation. Trying to sell a 'sexy villain boy' character—the director seemed out of her mind.
The role wasn't an incompetent and foolish evil executive, but a charismatic one who used wit and ability to corner the protagonists multiple times, showing off his competence. So, I had no choice but to work diligently as an actor for the duration of this project.
With Morian’s private secretary attached to me, the week-long shoot wasn't too difficult. I didn't appear in every episode, and since there were almost no direct combat roles, it mostly consisted of me talking to myself and making motions as if I were using magic. If I hadn't read the script, I wouldn't have even had a clue what my role was.
Talking to a wall for three hours, the director saying "Okay, okay," I was only terrified of what on earth was actually happening.