Chapter 225

“Hmm.”

Seo-jun looked at the green ball that looked like a chroma key ball in front of him and made a sound of displeasure.

‘It’s greener than I thought.’

There was a chroma key, but unlike the other scenes where there was an opponent, this scene only had Seo-jun. 

Seo-jun had to fight with this green ball and an invisible enemy. 

There was no dialogue and the co-star was an inanimate object.

‘After the CG work, it will be a cool scene, but… the raw footage will look like I’m making a fuss by myself.’

There was no background sound or sound effects. 

An actor who acted alone in a quiet studio.

It was a scene that revealed Seo-jun’s pure acting skills. 

Seo-jun smiled bitterly and fiddled with the round and bright green ball.

Jonathan and Anh Da Ho exchanged worried voices at the sight of Seo-jun, who looked troubled.

“Is this scene hard even for Jun?”

“It’s probably because this is his first time doing a scene with so much CG. Escape had some CG too, but they mostly used zombie mannequins.”

The roles had almost no CG and Over the Rainbow had no CG at all, they brought real audiences to perform. 

Jonathan recalled.

“Shadowman 2 also had little CG in Jun’s scenes.”

“The previous works were the same.”

Anh Da Ho heard that in ‘Evil Spirit’, which he wasn’t in, Lee Ji-seok was with him as a co-star and Director Choi Dae-man used a mechanical device to make a burning talisman. 

The strange wormhole chroma key from ‘Shadowman 1’ long ago was behind him, so he didn’t have to worry about it.

“Don’t worry.”

Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders and spoke after hearing the two’s conversation.

“There are more scenes like this as chroma keys and CG are used in movies, and you can’t leave out scenes like this in superhero movies.”

Seo-jun fiddled with the chroma key ball. 

He touched it thoroughly without missing any spots. 

The soft chroma key ball was squishy.

“Some fantasy movies have actors act alone without a co-star. I can do well too.”

‘And I have abilities.’

Seo-jun decided to use his ability that only he could see.

[(Good/Production) Firefly Goblin’s Light-Low Rank]

It is the light of a goblin born from a firefly lantern.

It shines brightly in the dark.

Production method: 5 minutes of contact

An ability that just shines brightly.

It probably rose from the lowest rank to the low rank because it could be produced.

[0:41]

[0:40]

The time decreased.

Finally, five minutes passed and the ability was activated.

[(Good/Production) Firefly Goblin’s Light-Low Rank is activated.]

The green chroma key ball shone brightly.

***

“We’ll start shooting!”

Jonathan’s voice silenced the studio.

Director Ryan raised his voice, imagining the scene that would be made with CG.

“Ready, action!”

[(Evil) Death Knight’s Swordsmanship-Low Rank is activated.]

Jin Natra opened the door of the temple.

In the middle of the temple was an altar. Jin Natra walked towards the altar.

A shiny white orb floated above the altar with a fancy pattern engraved on it.

It was a time stone.

Jin Natra’s eyes sank coldly as he looked at the time stone on the altar.

Seo-jun’s eyes sank coldly as he looked at the chroma key ball fixed on the altar.

It was an awkward and embarrassing shoot without background sound or CG, but the staff who were used to superhero movies with a lot of CG did their jobs as usual.

Jin Natra reached down in front of the altar that reached his waist.

[(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art-Middle Low Rank is activated.]

[[(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art-Middle Low Rank] rank temporarily decreases.]

[(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art-Low Rank is activated.]

Black shadows swayed and stretched up to Jin Natra’s hand. 

The shadow turned into a sharp sword. 

Jin Natra gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands and stabbed the shiny white time stone without hesitation.

The green chroma key ball and Seo-jun’s sword touched each other.

That’s when something strange happened.

[(Good/Production) Firefly Goblin’s Light-Low Rank is attacked by magic!]

[(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art-Low Rank attacks good energy!]

[(Evil) Death Knight’s Swordsmanship-Low Rank attacks good energy!]

Magic and good energy collided.

Seo-jun frowned at the real shock wave that passed through his hand.

‘I didn’t expect this to happen!’

He thought it would be okay to use both good and evil abilities together, but it seemed not.

The good energy and magic in Seo-jun’s source maintained balance thanks to the help of the Library of Life. 

Seo-jun, who didn’t know that, realized only now that the good energy and magic that left his body were enemies that couldn’t coexist in the same sky.

‘Now that I think about it, I was able to get rid of the remaining magic in the studio with the middle rank angel’s fan.’

That was probably the remnants of magic after using the ability, so there was no notification.

What do I do? Seo-jun, who was holding the sword trembling from the recoil, had that thought for a moment.

‘…But isn’t this a good thing?’

If he thought about it well, it wasn’t a bad thing. 

Seo-jun smiled inwardly with satisfaction at the sight of himself becoming more realistic than before and put more strength into his two hands holding the sword.

It didn’t take him a few seconds to think that.

“Ugh!”

The time stone, the core of Natra planet, had an enormous amount of energy. 

The sword tip was only slightly stabbed, but the white time stone spewed out white energy as if to defend itself.

Jin Natra pushed the sword harder toward the time stone that was shining brightly from the recoil.

The energy turned into wind and shook Jin Natra’s body, who was stabbing the sword. Jin Natra’s hair and cloak fluttered in the energy.

Jin Natra, who opened his eyes slightly in the fierce wind and dazzling light, did not withdraw his sword. 

He ignored the shock wave that was transmitted to his fingertips and pushed the sword harder.

It was scratched a little. 

Jin Natra, who felt like his feet were being pushed back, stepped forward instead.

Jin Natra’s shadow supported Jin Natra’s legs and back.

“Ugh!”

At that moment, when Jin Natra was trying to break the time stone,

“He’s really different as an actor.”

“I can’t do it.”

The staff who were quietly watching Seo-jun’s acting raised their hands. Jonathan and Anh Da Ho were able to shake off their worries.

Seo-jun was immersed in acting despite the green chroma key ball and the wind from the fan far away.

It seemed like they could feel the light and waves of the time stone that were not visible on the monitor.

“I want to see it with CG.”

Everyone nodded at someone’s words.

[(Good/Production) Firefly Goblin’s Light-Low Rank is destroyed by magic!]

Bang!

The light of the time stone, which had been shining white, faded and was finally pierced by the sword.

The winner of the long fight was Jin Natra.

Jin Natra, who had tried his best to break the time stone with all his strength, breathed heavily with his messy hair.

He brushed his hair roughly and looked at the shattered time stone that fell on the altar. He placed the largest piece back on the altar.

Woo woo.

The broken time stone shone white again and slowly floated in the air. But it couldn’t exert its full power. Jin Natra, who was looking at the time stone shining with an unstable white light, gathered the remaining pieces and headed outside the temple.

“Cut, OK!”

At the sound of OK, Seo-jun, who had stopped [(Evil) Death Knight’s Swordsmanship] and [(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art], activated his ability as usual.

[(Good) Middle Rank Angel’s Fan-Middle Rank is activated.]

A warm wind blew and extinguished all the remnants of magic.

‘Hmm. As expected, there is no notification.’

Seo-jun, who had scratched the ball, looked at the chroma key ball that had been stabbed by the sword. 

The firefly-shaped pattern that he had engraved inside the chroma key ball was gone.

‘Well. Thanks to that, I was more immersed.’

Maybe it was an illusion that he thought the firefly goblin was crying.

He felt sorry and wondered what kind of books the library would like as he prepared for the next shoot.

Then, Jonathan, the assistant director, shouted.

“We’ll shoot the bust shot!”

Not only the bust shot, but also the close-up shot was left. Seo-jun clasped his hands and prayed.

‘…Just two more times, please!’

Again, twice more, he had to break the book’s firefly goblin with magic. It seemed like it was crying.

***

“Ready, action!”

The knights and ministers of Natra headed to the royal hall at the sudden summons.

They wondered if Tull Natra, who had been bedridden, had finally recovered or if something else had happened. 

They opened the door of the royal hall with complicated expressions.

The large door opened and a wide and splendid royal hall appeared. 

One of them who had been spitting out their worries stopped walking.

“…Jin?”

The heads of Natra people turned to one place. 

At the end of the royal hall, someone was sitting on the throne that should have been empty.

The boy who became Tull Natra’s son and a successor candidate while not being a Natra person.

It was Jin Natra.

[(Evil) Death Knight’s Swordsmanship-Low Rank is activated.]

A heavy silence flowed throughout the royal hall.

“Get off that seat right now!”

The knight commander who served Tull Natra closest pulled out his sword from the shadow and raised his voice. The knights also raised their swords and spears.

[(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art-Low Rank is activated.]

Jin Natra, who was sitting on the throne, got up and held a black sword.

The wire team staff watched the studio without breathing. 

A small mistake could cause a big accident. 

When Seo-jun Lee attacked the knights, they controlled the wires in order. 

A stuntman pulled by a wire flew to the wall and was buried in a chroma key mat. 

A stuntman who was hit by Seo-jun Lee’s planned attack rolled on the floor. 

Seo-jun Lee and the stuntmen worked well together.

Jin Natra knocked down all the knights with his attack.

“H-how…?”

They couldn’t believe what they saw. 

The ministers thought of something. 

Tull Natra who couldn’t get up from his sickbed and Jin Natra who became stronger.

One of them blurted out something he remembered about forced succession.

“That’s why I told you we should kill him…”

‘Now!’

A minister wearing a wire vest was pulled back. 

It was almost at the same time as Seo-jun Lee turned his head. 

There was no sound of NG. 

The wire team celebrated for finishing this scene perfectly.

Jin Natra looked at Natra people who bowed reluctantly.

He told them about the broken time stone.

They lost their words at his story of breaking not only forced succession but also time stone.

“How dare you touch even time stone! What are you trying to do?!”

“Well.”

Jin Natra played with time stone pieces like toys without caring about their anger, resentment, and fear.

“Revenge?”

Clang clang.

The sound of broken time stone pieces hitting each other echoed in their ears.

Jin Natra said indifferently.

“Due to unstable time stone, Natra’s time will change irregularly. A fast morning, a slow day, an evening that passes in the blink of an eye. And people will age. Much faster than now. Tens of times, hundreds of times.”

Natra people’s hearts sank. 

They knew what he meant without saying more. 

Natra people who lived for hundreds of years would fall into fear without knowing the cause of the sudden change.

“If you want to stabilize Natra,”

Their eyes turned to the white time stone piece in Jin Natra’s hand. 

They needed those pieces to restore Natra to its original state.

Jin Natra smiled thickly at their eyes filled with hatred, anger, and fear.

“Kneel.”

It was not just a meaning of kneeling.

He meant to make him the king.

The knights and ministers closed their eyes tightly. 

They, as well as their families, friends, and this land, were held hostage.

They bit their lips hard enough to bleed, but they had no choice but to kneel in front of the new king for the sake of Natra people who lived their daily lives.

Jin Natra looked at Natra people who bowed and closed his eyes and opened them again. 

His pupils were black as pitch and shone sharply. 

It was a cold gaze that made goosebumps even by passing by.

Jin Natra, who became the king, gave his first order.

“Gather the technicians and scholars.”

It was the beginning of revenge.

“Cut! OK!”