Maru returned to his place and calmed his breathing. Although Hochul was glaring at him, glaring didn’t do damage.

“Don’t make a mistake. We’re going to start the shoot now, so get yourself together. Get your breathing together and… cue.”

Hochul softened his lips and got his emotions together before coming over to him and grabbing his shoulder. His fingers were tense. He even pinched slightly as though to ‘put Maru in his place’. There was a slight pain from Maru’s shoulder.

“You heard what I said, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Just do as I say. If you do this well, I’ll pull you up in the next round. Trust me.”

That was a mistake on Hochul’s part. There was no such line as ‘just do as I say’. However, since the director didn’t cut them off, there was no need for Maru to mind about that. The judgement was the director’s worth. As long as he wasn’t given the signal to stop, he would continue acting.

He pulled his chin inwards and looked at Hochul. At this very moment, Hochul was a ray of light to him. It might be false hope, but he couldn’t help but be charmed by it. He was the one that might be able to turn team member 1’s desires into reality.

Actions required motivation, and motivation required emotion. It was important to pick out the emotion that was precisely between the boiling emotions and the uneasiness...