The Giant Falls, and So Does the Mood
“Yesterday was better…”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
I sat down on a chair left out on the set and rested my chin on my hand. It was the afternoon after I’d stayed up late gaming the night before. So, about twelve hours since I’d died a heroic death in Outwind and gotten absolutely roasted by the reverse-bet viewers?
Right now I was at a shoot for a personal schedule. I let out a small yawn and looked around the set with sleepy eyes.
“I told you not to do it like that! Ha~ Why are you like this?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“You don’t want to film?”
“That’s not it!”
A pot-bellied man wearing a red cap was rolling up a stack of papers and scolding a young male staff member. The guy doing the scolding was the PD in charge of today’s entire ad campaign.
“When are they starting?”
“Hmm, should I go get coffee?”
“Doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon, does it?”
Every time I came to a set as a model, I was reminded of one thing: the atmosphere on a filming set was exactly like Summoner’s Rift. When things were good, they were really good and the results came out perfectly. But when things were bad, the air itself turned hostile and nothing came out right. This was clearly the latter case.
Still, whatever. Just like in League, I just had to do my job well regardless of the mood. There wasn’t anyone here who could say anything to me anyway. All I had to do was follow the directing and take the pictures, right?
“I’ll go get coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
But it was a bit annoying that they still hadn’t started. Roselia must have thought it would take a while too, because she went off to buy coffee. Once I was left alone, I pulled out my phone. Since I had some time, I figured I’d check the community and look up what game I should play next.
‘...This bastard.’
Why were there so many malicious comments today? It wasn’t like the community talked about me twenty-four seven, but compared to my viewer count, the amount of posts was pretty significant. And most of them were negative. Well, it was an anonymous community… so I guess they were just talking shit.
I kept pressing the downvote button and occasionally left some defending comments. Then—
“Here’s your coffee.”
“Ah, it’s cold!”
I flinched at the sudden cold sensation against my face. Roselia had snuck up and was pressing an iced Americano to my cheek.
“My makeup’s going to come off.”
“We’ll fix it later anyway. Here, cup holder.”
“Ugh… thanks.”
Even while I sipped the coffee Roselia handed me, the set remained noisy. The fact that the PD wasn’t just scolding the guy for a moment but was still going at it suggested something had actually happened.
“Roselia.”
“Yeah?”
Our Roselia remained calm even in this kind of atmosphere. Well, as a former army officer, she was probably more used to this kind of tension than anything.
“Why is he acting like that?”
“Ah~ Apparently the youngest staff member made a mistake.”
She wasn’t the type to just sit back and do nothing, though. True to her sociable nature, she must have grabbed one of the staff while getting coffee and asked what was going on.
“He’s scolding the youngest that harshly?”
“The guy’s a bit…”
Roselia wrinkled her nose in that exaggerated way of hers, clearly expressing her dislike.
“Even if you’re going to scold someone, you should do it after the shoot is over… Where’s the corporate director?”
The current shoot was for a product ad from a major corporation. Normally the person from the company in charge of oversight should have been visible, but I couldn’t see them anywhere.
“There. The company person.”
At that, Roselia pointed at the PD who was still angrily scolding the staff.
“That guy?”
“He’s the director’s younger brother. Apparently he’s quite skilled.”
This was ridiculous. I crossed my legs again and rested my chin on my hand. This was my only schedule today, so I’d been planning to go home afterward and do a surprise stream. Instead I was stuck watching them nitpick a new employee all day.
“I’ll go talk to him.”
“Would you?”
“It’s not that hard.”
When Roselia decided it had dragged on too long, she shrugged and strode forward with purpose.
“Excuse me~ Are you out of your mind~? Hmm? Newbie~?”
By then the PD had changed his scolding pattern and was tapping the youngest staff member on the shoulder while being sarcastic. When Roselia approached, he finally lowered his hand and gave her a friendly smile.
“Yes? Ah, I’m sorry. It’s just that our situation…”
“I understand, but things like that can be handled after we finish filming first…”
“Please wait just a moment. At this rate today’s shoot…”
We were outsiders, so the PD was at least maintaining some politeness, but the conversation didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I took a sip of my coffee while watching, then stood up.
“Um, Miss Model…”
Click, click.
When I got up and started walking, a staff member tried to stop me, but I walked right past. Model Ahyeon can’t hear very well.
“No, Manager, we have our own rules on this set. I understand, but we need you to be a little more understanding…”
Click.
The heels I wore for the shoot made sharp sounds as I walked. The director who had been talking with Roselia turned his gaze toward me. Still a bit far. Two more steps.
Click, click.
As I moved forward, Roselia quietly stepped aside. She usually acted like a nanny, taking care of everything, but because of her military background she always yielded in these kinds of business situations.
“PD-nim.”
I looked at the PD for a moment. He was a little shorter than average, so with my heels on I was literally looking down at him.
“W-what is it?”
Maybe he felt the pressure, because the PD faltered. Well, if we actually fought I’d probably lose, but appearance still carried weight.
“Aren’t we filming?”
“Ah, no~ That’s… tsk… To be honest, we have our own rules too.”
But the hesitation only lasted a second. The PD’s face turned bright red at the thought of being talked down to by a model much younger than him, and he started explaining everything.
“I’m sorry, but the set operates as a very tight system. If we don’t catch mistakes like this immediately, it will affect the rest of the shoot…”
Bla bla bla. There were a lot of things I wanted to say to this PD who kept rambling on without any intention of backing down. I came all the way here to film, but instead I’ve been listening to yelling all day with no progress. Am I just here as a spectator? This is the most ridiculous bullshit I’ve ever seen. If you don’t want to film then just half-ass it. Stop ruining the whole damn atmosphere…
‘...is what the comprehensive gaming VTuber Wayo would say.’
But the model Kim Ahyeon, who learned from our respected teacher Han Seonghwa, only needed to say two things in a situation like this.
“Roselia, let’s go.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
We’re not filming, you idiot~
“What?! Where are you going!”
“I came here as a favor to a friend, but I can’t work under these conditions.”
Penalty fee? Or whatever. Honestly, I doubted they’d even try to make me pay. The director’s brother? Even if he was an executive, wasn’t he just a contract worker? I got in the car and made a phone call.
[Hello?]
And no, he wasn’t the only one with connections. I’d been in the social scene for seventeen years since I was six years old. Plus, today was a bit of a special case.
“I can’t do the shoot. Why is it such a shitshow over there?”
[What…?]
A low, deep voice came through the phone.