A monitor reflected the world. A whole new world existed inside of that small and rectangular frame. Even ordinary life without anything special would become a film if a certain part of it was sliced out in a rectangular fashion. Slicing. Direction was the act of creating a world unto itself by slicing from another world to create a story.

“Uhm….”

Sora became silent and looked at the monitor. The close up of the camera was taking in the full view of Hochul’s uneasy face. The droplets of sweat on his face reflected the light off the ceiling lights, and the dry lips uttered an even dryer voice. The hand he raised with difficulty lost its trajectory and returned to its original place as the expression turned darker by the moment. As the expression turned darker and darker and was about to disappear completely, Sora barely shouted ‘cut’, while holding back the urge to shout hooray.

“Good!”

There was nothing else she could say other than that. Adding any adverbs would undervalue the ‘goodness’ of it. It was simply good. That was enough.

Despite the ‘cut’ sound, Hochul’s expression did not loosen. Just like how it was impossible to stop suddenly after a full sprint due to momentum, his expression, which was approaching full nervousness, was maintained as though his face was waxed.

“Good job.”

It was Maru’s voice that broke that wax. Hochul shut his eyes and sighed with complex emotions. The backrest...