Chapter 219: During filming?

Filming was called off for the day.

Then Kyler and Yu Myeong put their heads together and began revising the latter half of the screenplay.

"Anthropologists sometimes live alongside minority tribes for months at a time to observe them. But I once read that the people who actually speak to them and welcome them into the community are often outsiders within the tribe themselves, rather than members of the mainstream."

"That makes sense. Those with an established position would probably be more guarded around outsiders, and they wouldn't have as much free time as people on the fringes."

"Apparently, there have been cases where researchers relied on distorted information provided by those outsiders, which ended up biasing their conclusions."

"I can see how that would happen. But why bring that up...?"

"Hetty is an outsider too."

A shiver ran down Kyler's spine.

He could almost grasp Yu Myeong's meaning. The idea hovered tantalizingly close, just beyond his reach.

"Then..."

"If As hands over the eye containing only Hetty's information, wouldn't Terka assume it represented the average human? But Hetty—"

"Falls far outside the norm...!"

Kyler hurriedly scribbled something into the screenplay.

"If that information differs from what the Avikans expect from a colony...!"

"Exactly. They're sending anthropologists to several planets and will eventually choose only one of them as their colony. Under ordinary circumstances, humans would make excellent ingredients for their elixir, but Hetty's data would be—"

"Different. Hetty would be unsuitable as an ingredient for the pleasure elixir the Avikans want."

"Right. To preserve the world where Hetty's music can still be heard, As offers Hetty herself as the sacrifice. If the plan succeeds, the lamb won't be roasted. She'll live on, running freely through the meadow."

"A true sacrificial lamb... Even her name fits perfectly, as though it had been planned from the beginning!"

Yu Myeong smiled.

Kyler's face had flushed with excitement again.

Kyler had once possessed a pristine, almost saintly image, but lately he often revealed a much more human side of himself.

And he looked far happier and more alive that way.

"One thing still bothers me. They'll want the results of the 'additional research,' and they can't simply abandon the anthropologist they sent out. Avikan will try to retrieve As again."

"Then how about this?"

Yu Myeong whispered something to him, and another thrill passed over Kyler's face.

Should I hand him the director's chair...?

Yu Myeong was not considering the acting alone.

His suggestion accounted for the composition of the scene, the most intuitive way to direct it, and even the emotional trajectory of the climax.

If he weren't such an extraordinary actor, I would sincerely urge him to try directing.

And so the revised screenplay was completed.

?"Hello, Director!"

"Welcome, Miley."

Miley Filon.

The star of Philosophia, Kyler's first commercial film and a massive hit, had arrived on set.

Her eyes tilted slightly upward, and a beauty mark sat just beneath her left eyebrow. She was a devastatingly attractive woman with the seductive, vibrant appeal of a pinup girl.

She gave the opposite impression from Natalie, whose beauty was intelligent and sophisticated.

Yet in Philosophia, Kyler had shocked audiences by portraying her as a woman who rose from selling her body to become the greatest philosopher of her age.

Miley Filon had been an unknown nineteen year old actress at the time.

Beneath her glamorous appearance and youth, Kyler had recognized a peculiar and profound inner world. By combining those qualities, he had created a captivating character.

"Thank you for agreeing to make a cameo."

"Oh, no. Repaying my debt to you only accounts for about thirty percent of why I accepted, so you don't need to thank me."

"Ha ha. And the remaining seventy percent?"

"I've received an offer for a project, and I heard the actor they're trying to cast opposite me was working on your film. So I came to take a look. That's the other seventy percent."

Her peculiar manner of speaking had not changed.

Someone being considered as her costar...

Derek? Natalie?

Surely not Yu Myeong?

"Your scene isn't for a while yet. Didn't anyone tell you the schedule had changed?"

"They did. I just came early to watch."

"I see. Make yourself comfortable."

Miley walked over to where the script supervisor sat and dropped onto the floor with a thump.

The youngest writer, who had been handling the script notes, jumped in surprise when an unexpected star plopped down right beside her.

"Hi."

"Gasp... H hello!"

"Want an autograph?"

"Yes, please!"

Her behavior clashed so sharply with her appearance that it instantly dissolved the tension around her. It was one of her specialties.

Having quickly won over the youngest staff member, Miley pulled a handful of candy from her pocket, placed it in the woman's hands, and asked,

"What's the atmosphere like on set?"

"It's perfect. Everyone gets along incredibly well! Wow... You're really beautiful up close."

"Thank you! But I thought my scene was originally scheduled for this morning. They told me it had been pushed back to the afternoon. Did the earlier scenes run over?"

"Ah... Yes. The screenplay was changed during filming."

"During filming? Did something happen?"

The youngest writer stood at the very bottom of the set's hierarchy.

Enchanted by the easy friendliness of a celebrity from its very top, she readily began to explain.

"The lead actor tried performing the scene and said the emotional progression didn't feel right, so he revised the screenplay with the director."

"During filming?"

"Yes."

Miley was genuinely surprised.

He was still practically a rookie in Hollywood, with little name recognition. An actor like that had stopped filming to object to the screenplay?

There was no way a director would simply accept that—

Oh, right. This is Director Kyler.

Even when he had filmed with her as a complete unknown, he had encouraged her to voice her opinions without reservation.

But even if the director was willing to tolerate it... could the crew truly have no complaints?

Crew members generally despised delays.

And a rookie actor offering unsolicited opinions to a renowned director like Kyler was the sort of thing that could make older crew members clutch the backs of their necks in disbelief.

Maybe this girl is just too young to understand?

But the expressions of the other staff members were far too peaceful for that explanation to hold.

There was none of the murderous tension that ordinarily filled a set when filming fell behind schedule.

Miley grew increasingly curious about both the "revised screenplay" and the "lead actor" who had somehow turned the crew into such docile sheep.

?"The division of information between the two eyes hasn't changed, so we'll resume from the following shot."

"Yes, Director!"

The crane was repositioned according to the storyboard, while the lighting crew and reflector operators hurried into place.

Miley Filon watched while sucking on a piece of candy. When Erhi entered the frame, an intrigued expression crossed her face.

What? Is that one an actor too...?

Then "he" appeared.

Miley had been an avid viewer of Casting Boat as well.

His presence seemed far more dangerous in person than it had on television.

Oh... He's got a great atmosphere.

After giving a few instructions, Kyler returned to the director's station.

The camera began rolling.

"Ha ha. Humans may still be primitive, but every now and then they display a peculiar creativity. Perhaps maintaining my imitation for so long caused some of it to rub off on me."

It was the final line from the previous shot.

As explained that he had attempted to separate Hetty's information from the data on the rest of humanity and had succeeded.

Then the newly revised material began.

"I gave them the eye containing your information."

"Only mine...?"

"Their goal is to extract human emotions and manufacture an elixir from them."

As explained Avikan's intentions to Hetty.

Terror spread across her face when she learned that they regarded humans as nothing more than raw materials.

"But Hetty, you're different from an ordinary human. In a sense, I gave them distorted data."

"I am...? I don't really understand..."

When told that humanity's survival now depended upon her information, Hetty asked the question with dazed eyes.

As gazed at her as though engraving her into his memory and answered without hesitation.

"You are. Based on your data, humanity will be judged unsuitable as an ingredient for their elixir."

"...And what if it isn't?"

"Then it can't be helped. This was the gamble with the highest probability of success. If I had given them the other eye, Earth would almost certainly have become Avikan's next colony."

A gamble he had been forced to make.

Hetty felt almost relieved that he had gambled with all of humanity.

It seemed better than if he had tried to save only her.

But one concern occurred to her.

"But you told them you still had 'research' left to complete. Won't they come back for you?"

At those words, As looked at Hetty.

For a long moment.

With emotions deeper than ever before.

At that instant, Hetty understood instinctively.

The emotion he was revealing now was not an imitation.

"As, are you... That expression you're making..."

"Hetty, stay here for a moment. I'm going to get a glass of water."

"...All right."

He headed toward the kitchen.

Just as she had said, they could return for him at any moment.

There was something he had to do.

Something that had to be done swiftly and precisely, so that even if they were still watching the house, they would have no time to interfere.

The final card left in his hand.

Only by playing it could he complete the strongest possible hand and win the gamble.

He felt sorry for Hetty, but...

Miley sucked in a sharp breath at what As did next.

Thrust—

He took a paring knife from the kitchen and drove it straight into his remaining unbandaged eye.

Gasp...!

Miley squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again.

The illusion dissolved back into reality.

His hand was merely shaped as though gripping a knife. Since he could not actually stab his eye, the blade would presumably be added in postproduction.

But the movement from drawing the knife to plunging it in had been flawless.

The eye stretched wide as he watched the blade approach without blinking.

The way his facial muscles contorted as he clenched his teeth, suppressing any sound that Hetty might hear while the blade pierced the soft gelatinous tissue.

The blood visible between his compressed lips as he twisted the knife once to ensure the eye was completely destroyed.

"......"

Everyone on set shuddered and squeezed their eyes shut.

A faint groan finally escaped him.

Hetty heard it and rushed into the kitchen. The moment she saw him, she screamed.

"As!"

"Shh... It's all right, Hetty."

"All right? H how can this... What did you... Ah... Ahhh... A hospital. We need to go to a hospital..."

"It's all right. Shh... Just give me a moment..."

As gasped for breath, his face twisted in pain.

Hetty's hands trembled violently as she stood there, not knowing what to do.

"Ugh... It does hurt a little more than when they used the suction device... But an Avikan won't die from this, so don't worry. And it can't be treated. I need to destroy it completely..."

"As, why... Why would you do something like this...?"

"This was my final card. After giving them the distorted information, I had to destroy the accurate data. If it remained intact, they would eventually come to retrieve it."

The man who had always observed and copied everything through his eyes had now lost both of them.

"I'm blind now. Will you still love me like this?"

"As... How can you say something so ridiculous...?"

At the most hopeless moment, he offered her a confession.

Hetty finally broke down and sobbed.

"Why... Why would you go this far for me...?"

"I began to want to protect the values you've struggled so hard to preserve. You're the first human who ever taught me what these 'emotions' are."

"......"

"And your music too. Even the audience who will hear it."

As smiled within his world of darkness.

"Because I love your sound, and I love the way you continue pursuing it without giving up."

Sometimes humans threw away their lives for beliefs that seemed insignificant.

Sometimes they devoted their entire existence to things they could never possess.

And sometimes they willingly sacrificed themselves for someone else.

What As learned from Hetty was not only human emotion.

It was also human foolishness.

But that foolishness was what made humanity beautiful.

It was what made life radiant.

?Miley Filon sat frozen.

The youngest staff member beside her tapped the top actress, who now felt slightly more approachable, and spoke with pride.

"He's incredible, isn't he?"

Incredible? This is far beyond anything that ordinary word could describe!

She had already thought him remarkable when she watched the broadcast.

But after witnessing him act in person, she realized that what he had shown on Casting Boat was only the tip of the iceberg.

That actor... Wow...

She swallowed as she imagined what it would feel like to perform opposite him.

Someone nudged her.

"Hey, kid."

"Huh? Derek! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Derek and Miley knew each other well.

Even during Philosophia, Derek had frequently visited Kyler's set. Miley Filon had been nineteen and brimming with talent, and he had called her "kid" while offering her advice on various matters.

Now she was a twenty five year old actress constantly described as "devastatingly seductive," yet he still called her a child.

"You're appearing in my scene later, aren't you?"

"Yes. I came to watch the lead actor perform, and wow... One hundred percent—no, one hundred and twenty percent! Is he actually insane? How can anyone act like that?"

Derek clicked his tongue.

"Don't come sniffing around to test the waters. That actor is far beyond your league."

"I wasn't testing anything..."

"Quiet. And you'd better perform properly later. I'm going to see how much you've improved."

"But I'm a precious cameo..."

Derek steadied himself after the chills Yu Myeong's performance had sent through him and prepared for Terka's final scene.