For the remaining days until the shoot, Aren remained silent, no news of him making the headlines.
Currently, he was staying inside a hotel provided by the production team of To Your Heart for the cast. His room was on the top floor along with Leon, Gisha, and other supporting actors.
Today being the first day of the shoot, Aren booked a cab, travelling to the shooting location.
The timing given to him was two hours later than Leon and Gisha, shooting their individual scenes first.
The shooting location was a high school newly built by the government; however, it was yet to begin its function. The agents representing the school had approached the AxisPlay platform executives to use their school in the drama.
This would create hype about the school, getting students to choose this newly built school to get admission into. It was also rumored that they had paid the AxisPlay executives for the same reason.
Well, the director was happy with the new, clean, and empty high school they could make use of.
Right now, sitting in the cab idly, Aren decided to invest his spare fame points.
He had been occasionally receiving one or two fame points throughout the month; however, he didn't care to check or invest them.
He was fully engrossed in gym training with John and having a fulfilling diet.
He dumped all the fame points in Acting without even checking the amount or his status window.
He then summoned the status window to check his stats.
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Name –> Aren Frost
Age –> 22
Appearance –> C[–] —> B[–]
Acting –> C —> B[–]
Charm –> D —> D[+]
Fame –> D [–] —> D
Athleticism –> D [+] —> C [–]
Reputation –> E [–] —> E
Hidden Stat (locked)
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Aren studied his status window carefully while sitting in the cab. He noticed the changes in the appearance, and a satisfied smile crept up on his lips. He had jumped a whole level.
'That hellish gym training, diet, and skin care paid off, it seems.'
He had spent a huge amount of money on those things; however, that amount now seemed like chump change since he had received 8 million Sierra for his role in the second season.
He was also satisfied with his acting stat being as good as his appearance.
Aren was in the body of a former idol, famous for his good looks.
Aren had been the visual of Ventage when they debuted; his looks were considered the best among the members of Ventage, gaining him a large fanbase at first.
However, he couldn't please the fans due to his young age and inexperience. Moreover, he was lacking in skills, so his looks couldn't make the fans stay on his side forever. And once the rumors of his bad reputation spread, the fans of other members of Ventage began targeting Aren and his fans, making Aren's fans retreat in defeat.
Aren also seemed to have become gloomy after that phase, not taking care of his appearance as he once used to. This led to people forgetting just how handsome he was at his peak.
However, now Aren was going to give them a reminder, and show them the power of John's hellish gym training, diet, and good skin care.
The status screen shimmered and displayed the updated panel.
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Name –> Aren Frost
Age –> 22
Appearance –> B[–]
Acting –> B[–]
Charm –> D[+]
Fame –> D
Athleticism –> C [–]
Reputation –> E
Hidden Stat (locked)
----------------------------------
After a while, Aren reached the shooting location, the school named 'Neville Star High.'
Aren got out of the cab, his mask and cap still on. He went and greeted the director, Mikhail, the writer, Cleo Morris, and the other crew members.
He didn't remove his cap and mask, letting his change in appearance remain a surprise for later.
However, they could still notice the obvious changes in his body size and definition.
Still, they would never expect this massive of a change, right?
No one had seen his face after the day of his debut shoot.
He had arrived late last night at the hotel, not giving any chance for Leon or Gisha to come and greet him.
This location was more than a hundred kilometers away from his shabby apartment room. Actually, that city was one of the cheapest to live in.
Even the first season of To Your Heart was shot in that city for the same reason; to save costs.
However, now with the increased budget, they could shoot in expensive locations.
However, old habits die hard. Even now they had taken money from the school to feature the school building in the drama, saving on costs.
Well, Aren had gotten his chunk of the pie in the form of 8 million Sierra. He was the highest-paid member of the crew. Even the director, the writer, and the lead, Leon, couldn't compete with him even if they combined their fees.
Aren had truly been bold in negotiations, knowing that he held the power and AxisPlay had the money to spare. He knew he was irreplaceable, enabling him to ask for such a high fees despite being the second lead of the drama.
Currently, he was getting his makeup done in the makeup room. The makeup room was created inside one of the empty classrooms of the school building. And since there were many spare classrooms to use, the actors got their own rooms to sit and get their makeup done while they waited for their scenes to come.
After his makeup was done, he was made to wear the outfit required for his first scene.
He studied the script until he was called for his scene. He had mostly memorized the dialogues thanks to his high-level acting stat. It was pretty easy for him to memorize dialogues within a few minutes.
Moreover, he was suddenly familiar with shooting concepts as if he had been acting for a long time.
In the script of the second season, the first few episodes would show the backstory of Shin and the female lead's character named Nataly.
The scenes progressed from Nataly's perspective at first. She and Leo had been childhood friends, living in the same neighborhood; however, her father was suddenly transferred to a new city, forcing Nataly to transfer schools in her senior year, also known as 12th grade.
Gisha was right now shooting the scenes of Nataly's arrival in the new school and getting to know her classmates.
Aren's character was supposed to make an entrance around the middle of the first episode.
According to the previous script that the writer had written, Shin was supposed to be a topper and introvert who would like Nataly, the new transfer student, but wouldn't be able to express his love. Later, he was supposed to be rejected by Nataly when he proposed to her, making him chase after her more obsessively.
Aren knew that this role would surely be detrimental to his career, so he requested changes.