The camera lens stared at her like a judgmental god.
Lina stared back.
Her makeup was light but sharp, applied by a professional who'd said, "You've got those rare eyes—the ones that speak even when you don't."
Her outfit was custom-selected: clean-cut, urban edge—intended to brand her as "mysterious but real." A rookie's image crafted to disrupt a predictable market.
It was her first official gig under Pulse Talent Management: a minimalist concept commercial for a high-end audio brand.
She didn't have lines.
She didn't need them.
They wanted her expression.
And for a girl who had spent years masking her pain, revealing just enough had become an unexpected weapon.
---
"Quiet on set!"
"Lights—up."
"Camera—rolling."
"Scene One. Take One."
Click.
She exhaled slowly.
The music started in the background—a soft, pulsing rhythm that was meant to match a heartbeat.
The director whispered, "You're standing at the edge of a memory. Let the audience feel it."
Lina let her shoulders fall just slightly.
Her fingers flexed, then stilled.
She looked forward—but not at the lens.
Beyond it.
As if seeing someone she missed deeply.
And the silence between frames pulsed with something unspoken.
---
The director dropped his clipboard.
"…That's it. That's the one."
---
An hour later, the crew was whispering her name.
Some called it beginner's luck.
Others said she had "presence."
Karis, who had come to observe from the shadows, simply nodded and left halfway through.
Lina knew what that meant.
Approval.
---
[System Alert: Task Complete – First Filming Successfully Executed]
[Reward: 40,000 credits transferred to Shadow Account]
[New Skill Acquired: "Emotional Transference" (Lv. 1)]
> +15% effectiveness in non-verbal performances. Boosts resonance with viewers during visual storytelling.
[System Update: Minor Media Attention Detected.]
[Tag Gained: "One to Watch"]
[Confidence Level: 61% ↑]
[Stress Level: Low-Moderate. Emotional Suppression Detected.]
[AI Companion: Monitoring for burnout. Encouraging stabilization.]
---
She sat outside the studio afterward, legs crossed on a bench in the fading afternoon light, sipping bottled water.
Kael's name flashed across her phone screen.
> Kael: Saw a leaked still from your shoot.
You look like someone with secrets.
…I approve.
She replied after a minute.
> Lina: Maybe I am someone with secrets.
You'd be the first to know.
> Kael: Not the first.
But I'd like to be the last.
She stared at the message for a long time.
Then tucked the phone away.
---
Back at her apartment, she removed her shoes slowly, her body aching from being still in front of people for so long.
It was strange, how being seen could be more exhausting than running.
The System chimed.
[Lina Vale, you did well.]
[Note: Growth is not always in the magnitude of action, but in the quiet refusal to run.]
[No tasks for today. Rest mode initiated. You deserve it.]
She blinked.
The System rarely praised her like that.
She whispered softly to the air.
"…Thank you."
---
Meanwhile, in a private skyscraper lounge cloaked by tinted glass, Kael Montrevé scrolled through security footage—low-quality clips of the filming studio taken from one of his surveillance contracts.
"She's starting to shine," murmured the man beside him—Kael's younger cousin, Levan, a known information broker with a too-wide smile.
Kael's eyes never left the screen.
"She's not shining," he said quietly. "She's surviving beautifully."
And that, to him, was far more dangerous.
---
System Log: Lina Vale
Industry Status: Rising Rookie
Public Interest: Mild but fast-growing
Kael Observation Level: High
Affection Score — Kael: 4.6 / 5 ↑
New Skill: Emotional Transference Lv. 1
Confidence Level: 61% ↑
Influence: Increasing
Envy Detection: Minor Hostility Detected Among Pulse Recruits
---
End of Chapter 16
---