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 edge and the neckline.
On her bottom, she had slim-fit pants with a long, flowy ribbon-like skirt over them.
The skirt also had a stain of black and red, and it looked like blood and darkness were creeping up on the fabric.
She also had ribbons wrapped around her hands that were the same red, black, and white color scheme, while her previously white prop sword was stained red.
The usual loose blond wig was pulled into a stark ponytail, and the soft makeup was replaced with a darker and smudged look to portray her state of constantly being in battle and weariness.
Today, she was supposed to film several battle scenes by herself as her character descended even more into madness.
Thankfully, it had very similar choreography to what she did with Shawn, so she wasn't too concerned about it.
She quickly thanked her makeup artist before she went to her correct set location, and 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 that Valentina couldn't understand.
"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 into her eyes, not surface-level sadness.
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 who's quite close with her, 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. I'm sure Yuri will relish the opportunity to teach Valentina something." 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 while trying to cheer herself up.
[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?"
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 reply snarkily, but thinking about the couch incident 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 somehow improve 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, Rio shoved a mug in her hand and sat beside her without looking at her.