Chapter 3: Rules
Dan Woo felt his intoxication wither as the red moon bled into the sky. A cold wind suddenly devoured all the surrounding warmth as he came to understand his situation.
Was he an Ascendant?
The question came to him.
That couldn’t be, could it?
In his story, it was when the red moon rose that the anomalous emerged with the tide. Along with them came all kinds of bizarre things that happened to the world.
This was the descent of the Eerie Domain.
Dan couldn’t help but feel his heart quadruple its beating. Not only did he have a countdown on his life, but he was also walking bait for the anomalous.
No. If he was an Ascendant, he should have an ability, shouldn’t he?
He tried to feel for anything within his body, yet there was nothing apart from the screen before him.
Was the Acting System his Ascendant ability?
He turned back to the countdown.
He needed to deal with the countdown first. It didn’t matter whether he was an Ascendant or not. If he didn’t finish his character portrayal, he would be dead either way.
"Lee Hyun Ju! Can you call Eun Soo?"
Lee Hyun Ju, who had been slowly trying to calm herself, was startled by Dan Woo’s sudden outburst.
"You want me to call Eun Soo?"
Dan Woo nodded quickly.
"...After your little walkout, do you think she’ll even answer?"
"Could you... pretty please?"
Lee Hyun Ju sighed before finally pulling up PD Eun Soo’s number and placing the call.
The tone rang for a few seconds before the other end picked up.
"Hello?"
Before Lee Hyun Ju could get a word in, Dan Woo snatched up the phone.
"This is Dan Woo, and first of all, I would love to give you my humblest apology. I know walking out of the script reading session was quite unprofessional, but... my emotions got the better of me."
The line went silent for a second before an answer came from the other side.
"Will this be an issue for the rest of the project?"
"No! No! Not at all. Today’s storm-out was because I went too deep into the character that I felt I was the character, and that’s why I have a proposition."
"A proposition?"
"Yes. I felt like I really understand the surface level of the character, but I also want to do some deeper analysis through method acting. Will this be okay?"
"Care to elaborate more?"
"Of course. I see that nowadays many people use social media to promote their products through skits. Maybe we could do the same."
The line went silent for another second. Clearly, the other end was digesting his words.
Then, finally—
"If you can make sure that you maintain character integrity while not giving away the majority of the plot, then do whatever you can. As for the resources..."
"Thank you very much, PD Eun Soo-nim. I promise not to let you down."
"...Dan Woo-ssi, I know that you’re an upcoming talent, but please do maintain your professional boundaries. If there are any issues with the cast members in your personal life, please don’t bring them to the set..."
"Of course. I understand."
The call suddenly cut off.
Dan Woo turned to Lee Hyun Ju.
"I need a location to shoot a skit. Now."
"A skit?... Now? Dan, tomorrow is also a day, and everyone is tired from your antics. And you’re also pretty bu—"
"Let me stop you right there, Lee Hyun Ju. I need to write, record, and post this skit before midnight. Otherwise..."
"You really want us to pluck the stars for you. Look at the sky, Dan. It’s quite late. Where are we going to find a writer and an editor right now? Even a good cameraman."
"Don’t worry. Just trust me. My life literally depends on this."
Dan Woo said, plastering the most genuine smile he could.
Lee Hyun Ju studied Dan Woo for a few seconds. A wave of fear and desperation was practically oozing off him.
Finally, she relented.
Dan Woo was ecstatic at the thought.
From the nature of the system, he understood why his countdown had more hours that day. It was because he had portrayed a character, even though it had only been a table reading.
He imagined that the incomplete portrayal was because the scene had not been fully realized through cameras and such, or because it lacked a decent audience, as the audience had only been the production cast and crew.
He pondered over how he could portray the character fully when the idea of using short-video platforms to create skits that aligned with the character came to him.
Now he just needed to write the script for the skit.
He was a writer, after all.
But when he began scribbling down an idea for the script—
[Error]
[Error]
[Host cannot produce his own characters.]
[Host cannot produce his own characters.]
The message ran through his mind, bringing his improving mood right back to earth.
He had already been planning for characters from his previous works, and maybe even new ones that he could produce and use as a means of sustenance for this system.
But now he found out that he couldn’t even use his own writing skills to supplement his ability?
He felt himself spiraling at the implications before he tried to steady himself.
"Are you alright, Dan?" Lee Hyun Ju asked, noticing his distressed expression.
"I... am okay."
"You don’t have to struggle, Dan. We’re all tired. If you can’t think of something—"
"Nooo!" Dan Woo suddenly interjected.
The van went silent as Dan sank back into his thoughts, trying to find a way to portray the character.
...Ad-libs.
The idea came to mind.
There was one case where an actor didn’t need to follow the script, and that was when a scene called for improvisation.
Now all he needed to do was find a way to carry out said improvisation.
What if he did a kind of montage where he picked out sections of the script expressing a theme of lost love?
He would just use enough of the script to create something like visual notes or letters marking his journey through the story.
He immediately got to work and found that the system didn’t react to that plan.
Skimming over the script was tiring, but as he had an intimate knowledge of it and a rather clear view of his character, he was able to pluck out about eight scenes that could showcase the character’s journey in a subtle way while not giving too much away.
The group then found three nice spots to film the visual letters, and after Lee Hyun Ju and Oh Se Young helped Dan get ready, they began filming using their phones.
Dan used the ⓘ section of his system to gain better insights into how to portray his character. From line delivery to subtle acting through body movement and expressions, he learned how to show a complex concoction of emotions rather than simply what the surface-level text required of him.
He even understood how to portray subtext through his acting.
The more he went through the videos, the better he found his acting was becoming.
Yet as the red moon beamed down on him, the colder and eerier the world became.
Though his body grew more and more tense, his acting didn’t worsen.
In fact, it got even better.
He pulled at the heartstrings of his own crew, and soon enough he was done.
When filming finished, he tried to do some light editing himself, but he wasn’t really skilled in that area—especially not on a phone.
Oh Se Young jumped in, helping give the skits a rough polish.
Once it was done, Dan immediately posted them to a new account dedicated to his character.
Dan was happy to see his countdown go from a few hours to a few days.
He now had five days until his next devouring.
Yet oddly enough, he received no rewards.
He looked at the character tab to see if there was anything missing for his reward.
[Character Name: Lee Woo Je]
[Portrayal: Good]
{Performance Tension: B-
Character Understanding: A+
Subtle Acting: C+
Line Delivery: B
Evaluation: B
Reward: Pending}
Reward pending?
After all he had done, wasn’t he supposed to get something?
He exhaled as he prepared to go home when suddenly—
"Hello, we are back! It’s Lee Hyun Ju, giving you a glimpse at—"
Lee Hyun Ju had taken out her phone and started recording a vlog?
"Hellooo, this is Oh Se Young, and—"
Oh Se Young also took out her phone and started recording a video.
"Lee Hyun Ju," Dan Woo tried to call out to the woman.
"Oh Se Young!"
He cried out to both of them.
Suddenly, everyone around the area stopped moving.
Every single one of them froze mid-motion before taking out their phones and beginning to record videos.
Even drivers who had been on the road, moving on their way somewhere, stopped and took out their phones before starting to record.
This...
A wave of cold energy and a scent that Dan Woo could not explain wafted toward him.
He went to the two women, trying to shake them awake, yet they remained glued to their routine.
The incessant buzzing of everyone around him trying to create a social media hook, vlog, livestream, or whatever they were doing grew into an almost torrential roar, driving him nearly mad with its uncanniness.
He tried to take the hands of the two women and go back to the van when it all stopped.
An eerie, almost tangible silence descended.
Then all the people around him turned toward him in unison, almost like a synchronized hive mind.
"You have trespassed upon our domain."
The crowd suddenly spoke in an eerie, hypnotically synchronized voice.
Dan Woo, noticing what was happening, immediately got into the van, pulling the hypnotized Kim Hwi Gwi out of his seat, and started driving toward his home.
He was dealing with an anomaly.
The roads were filled with people stopping in place, barely giving him room to maneuver, yet he didn’t care for traffic rules. He drove off-road, hitting traffic signs as he went.
Yet wherever he drove, the eyes of the crowd were always on him.
Dan Woo continued on until, after what felt like an eternity of driving, he was back at his apartment complex.
He scrambled out of the van and hurried toward his building, yet everyone he met looked at him with that same uncanny stare.
He ran up the stairs until he made it to his apartment, punching in his passcode and opening the door.
The moment it opened, a spew of mist spilled forth onto him.
The apartment—and everything around it—was engulfed by the mist.
Dan Woo was left confused by what was happening.
Had he run into another anomaly, or was this the same one?
Then suddenly, his system glowed before him.
[To enter your domain, you need to present your sacrifice.]
"Sacrifice? What sacrifice?"
Dan Woo was perplexed as to what he was supposed to present.
Was he supposed to carry out another ritual, or was there something more to it?
Then he saw a small red dot on the Character Tab.
When he clicked it, he saw a mask-like object hovering over the window with the name Lee woo je beneath it.
He cautiously extended his hand toward it.
Suddenly, it materialized in his grasp.
He gazed at the oddly shaped mask, but before he could react, it quickly flew up and attached itself to his face.
[Congratulations on your devouring.]
A voice echoed through the mist as it slowly disappeared, revealing a home that was quite different from the one Dan Woo had woken up in that morning.
It looked almost exactly like the home he had designed for Lee woo je.
His system flared to life once more.
[Ding]
[Reward: Second Lead Syndrome]
"Second Lead Syndrome? What did that mean?"