Fallen Angels (12)

Valentina arrived early the next morning and as she changed into her costume. She swore to herself that she would have such a flawless day that even the system couldn't mock her.

Today her outfit was in a more tattered style. It was a moderately cropped top stained with black and red pigment creeping along the bottom and the neckline. On her bottoms, she had slim-fit pants with a long flowy ribbon-like skirt over it. The skirt also had a stain of black and red and it looked like blood and darkness were creeping up. The ribbons wrapped around her hands were the same red, black, and white color scheme while her sword was stained red.

The usual loose hair was pulled into a stark ponytail and the soft makeup was instead fiercer and smudged to portray her state of constant battling.

Today she was supposed to film several battle scenes by herself as her character descended even more into madness. Thankfully it was very similar choreography to what she did with Shawn.

She quickly thanked her makeup artist before she went to her correct set location. Thankfully, only Sarah Lee and a couple of background actors were there.

"Good morning Director." Valentina bowed her head and greeted.

"Good morning Valentina. I assume you've been briefed and are ready to film?" Sarah Lee asked while glancing at her with a knowing expression.

"Yes ma'am, I'm supposed to portray a fall into madness" Valentina answered.

"Good. These are the men and women you'll be battling today. There's no need for you to learn any additional choreography as they're professionals and will react appropriately to you. What you need to do is focus on conveying the emotion through your expression. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" Valentina replied enthusiastically.

Although she wasn't confident in her acting skills, since she had been doing well so far, she figured it would work out one way or another.

"Good! Let's get started!"

Two hours later

"Valentina, how about we take a break, and you collect yourself? We're looking for a gradual descent into madness and what you're giving us is the flip of a switch. Why don't you take some time to rethink your approach and we'll come back in an hour." Sarah Lee softly said as she watched Valentina's depressed figure head back to the dressing room.

For some reason, the girl had not been able to convey the emotion she was looking for. Although her face was getting paler and more pained as they filmed, it wasn't what she was looking for. She wanted despair that could be felt just by gazing in her eyes, not surface level. But Valentina had not been able to deliver at all and the past two hours had been filled with NGs. She felt that it was time to give her a break before she got mentally stuck in a loop of NGs.

Sighing, Sarah Lee went to find Rio in hopes he could advise the girl since he seemed close to her.

Thankfully, Yuri and Rio had just filmed scenes of Yuri attacking angels as a newly created demon while Rio kept his promise of watching over her.

Watching as he uninterestedly interacted with Yuri who was enthusiastically chatting with him, Sarah Lee marveled at the duplicity of men.

"Rio, a word alone?" she called out to him.

He quietly headed over and looked at her questioningly.

"Miss Salazar seems to have some trouble acting out her next scenes. As her senior do you mind giving her some advice?"

"I'm not an actor," Rio replied coolly.

"If that's how you feel no problem. I can ask Miss Yuri to do the same." Sarah Lee replied nonchalantly.

"What is she having a problem with?" Rio immediately asked.

Laughing internally, Sarah Lee explained the current scene and told him where Valentina had headed. She watched as he immediately headed over without saying a word to her.

Hmph! Not his girlfriend my ass!

***

Valentina was currently beating her head as she sulked on a couch.

[Acting Skills: 40/100]

This was what was holding her back. This failing grade of an acting skill.

She had thought that because she wouldn't have many lines to say, she could get by somehow. But, she had gotten so many NGs today, that her ears were still ringing from all the times the director had said cut.

Additionally, because she had been swinging this sword all throughout the morning her body was aching. Somehow she had held it in and only coughed up blood in the bathroom after the director had released her but now her head was pounding, and she felt faint.

Come on Valentina! You have to pull yourself together and figure this out!

'System, do you have any advice on how to act this out?' Valentina thought.

[Host should do your best to complete the mission and raise the acting skill] the system coldly responded.

Valentina could only bury her head into her hands again. What a useless unhelpful response. Who told her to be transmigrated into an actor's body? She was a marketer okay. A regular person working a job. What the hell did she know about acting? Clearly, the universe was against her. Even her own system was against her! As she writhed on the couch a cool voice interrupted her.

"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be thinking about how to properly act the scene out? What the hell are you doing?"

Valentina looked back and saw that it was Rio. He was in his all-black leather costume while holding two steaming mugs. She couldn't help but look him up and down while internally admiring him.

A tall lean figure that was slightly tanned. Dark hair fell into his face. All leather clothes that highlighted his body's shape, double pierced ears, and red eyes that stared deep into your soul. With long lashes, high cheekbones, and soft-looking lips, she could understand why he was frequently at the top of the most handsome men's list.

She wanted to snarkily reply, but thinking about yesterday and her poor performance today, she couldn't help but be depressed.

He was right. She was supposed to be reviewing her performance today and editing it, but she had come up completely blank.

"How about you ask me nicely and I promise to give you some really good advice." Saying that he shoved a mug in her hand and sat beside her without looking at her.