Gamer Superstar - Chapter 150: [Bonus Chapter ] 150 - The end of the magic
Throughout the week, my focus was solely on improving my acting level in order to get the part in the sitcom that Laura was starring in.
Even Selena knew that even though Bailando was very successful, if I got that role, it would be a huge step forward for my career and my future.
She told me that there were several party houses that wanted me to do shows in ‘La Mission’ so that I could sing Bailando, but that she turned them all down to give me more time to practice acting.
So I focused on that, the only other thing I did besides practicing acting was going to classes, whether they were normal classes, dancing or singing, or editing the videos I would be posting this week.
Aside from the time I spent doing these things, the rest of my time was focused on acting.
By the end of my first Acting class of the week, my skill had finally reached Lv 20 and I’d made great progress towards leveling up again, so when I got home and continued practicing, the skill went up to Lv 21!
The next day I felt like I had made a lot of progress, but it still wasn’t enough to level up.
In the next acting class, I got two more levels, bringing me up to Lv 23!
By this time, everyone in the class had realized that I had a “talent” for acting.
Especially since I started as a complete novice in Acting and was now better than most of the other students.
It’s worth mentioning something I noticed with the skill levels during this time.
I was currently at Lv 23, which meant that I already had the experience of someone with 3 years and 6 months of practice in Acting.
But I noticed that there were other people in the class who had been studying acting for much longer, but who weren’t as high level as me, which started to confuse me.
So to try to understand this, I started to focus on these people during class, trying to understand their process and their training and their thinking, and I realized something fundamental.
The people who were 100% focused on the class and really dedicated to learning and improving, like Laura and a small group of other students, actually had acting levels that seemed to correspond to the amount of time they had practiced.
On the other hand, students who had been practicing for 6 years and still had skills around Lv 20 were the people who weren’t giving it 100% in practice to learn as much as possible, or even dedicating themselves to practicing when they got home.
This showed that the time I estimated for the skill level was correct, but only if I considered someone of average talent who practiced with 100% dedication.
If the person was less dedicated or had little talent in that area, even if he practiced for 10 years, his skill would probably not go beyond Lvl 19.
On the other hand, people with high talents can practice for much less time and have very high skill levels.
So my Lvl 23 was much more representative than I thought.
And considering that it was around Lv 23 in Singing and Guitar that I started recording my songs, it made sense.
Just to be on the safe side, I wanted to get my skill up to Lv 25 before I took the test for Jack, and apparently the teacher noticed my dedication and was interested to see how far I could go, and he focused a lot on my development.
One thing I noticed was that after the fight I had with Trevor, Charlie was a little distant from me for a few days, but then started trying to get closer.
But since Laura was clinging to me all the time, she practically acted as a barrier.
Not that I minded, I didn’t want to push Laura away just because of another girl.
“So have you taped the pilot yet?” I asked Laura as we left drama class.
When she heard that, she froze a little and looked away, trying to hide something.
“What is it?” I asked suspiciously.
“The taping is today…” She said as she ran a finger through her hair, starting to curl it and look around.
“Really?! That’s cool!” I said excitedly.
“Yeah… I wanted to ask you something…” She said embarrassed.
“No problem, I can come with you.” I replied.
Hearing this, Laura froze and looked at me startled. “Really?!” She asked.
“Yeah…” I replied laughing. “I noticed that you still get anxious when you have to perform, right? If you want, I can come and help you calm down, but I just won’t be able to perform with you this time, okay?”
“No problem, no problem…thank you Noah!” she said excitedly as she gave me a hug.
I hugged her back and we walked to the parking lot.
Since I was going to have to take her, and I wasn’t expecting it, I hadn’t brought my other helmet with me, so I would have to go home and get it before I took her to the shoot.
Just like last time, she’d be waiting for me at school and I’d be back in a few minutes to pick her up.
Honestly, even though I needed time to practice my acting, I had a card up my sleeve that I could use there that could be very useful to me.
[MP: 150/150]
Yes, my mana had recovered to 100%, which meant that I had another 2 minutes of [Observation] to use on something.
I could use it on a singer to improve my level of singing, guitar, or even stage presence, but since I wanted to get this role, if I went to the set with her and they let me watch, I could observe an actor with that skill at a high level and learn as much as possible!
So for me, wasting my afternoon practicing to take Laura to the set wasn’t a waste of time, it was more of an investment.
Since I was going to take her to the shoot, I went home, told my mom I wouldn’t be back that afternoon, and changed.
When I arrived at school, Laura had also changed into something she had brought from home for the occasion, and we went to the shoot together.
The location was the same as Laura’s test, but now it would be in one of the movie studios.
It was easy to get in because Laura was registered, so we were on the set within a few minutes.
The problem was when we got to the reception.
“I’m sorry, but the escort must wait outside, only the actors and crew of the program can enter”. The receptionist said with an apologetic voice.
As soon as she said that, I was disappointed to think that I might not be able to use my skill on anyone…
As soon as Laura heard this, she started to get nervous, thinking about performing alone again…
From what I could tell, it was quite possible that she had a lot of trauma from something that had happened in the past, especially when I thought about a 17 year old girl going to an acting audition on her own, without her parents…
But it wasn’t my place to pry into something she obviously didn’t feel comfortable opening up about.
Just when we thought there was no other way to resolve this, the woman who had auditioned Laura walked onto the set.
“Ms. Parker!” The receptionist greeted her respectfully, causing the woman to look forward and nod at the receptionist.
When she looked at Laura and me, she was slightly surprised.
“Is there a problem?” She asked, looking between us and the receptionist.
“No Ms. Parker, I was just letting you know that the escort must wait in the escort waiting room and that only actors are allowed on the set.” The receptionist explained.
Seeing that Laura was already getting nervous and that her escort was me, the woman called Ms. Parker thought for a few seconds and shook her head.
“Let the boy in too, he’s auditioning for one of the characters next week, it might be good to let him observe the filming.” She said as she waved at us and walked towards the set.
This was great news!
When the receptionist heard this, she was surprised, but didn’t ask any more questions and just cleared the way for us to enter and explained the route we should take.
Since Laura was going to be an actress in the show, she had to go backstage to get her makeup and costume on.
I, on the other hand, was only going to observe, so I entered the set and found a place to sit.
When I entered the place, I was surprised by the sight I saw.
It reminded me a lot of some sitcoms I used to watch when I was younger in my previous world, with those houses that looked real on camera, but were actually just open houses on the other side for taping.
“What a strange feeling…” I commented as I looked at it.
“It’s like part of the magic of television is gone, isn’t it?” A man in his forties commented from my side.
Surprised, I looked over and saw that he was wearing a standard dad outfit, a dress shirt and denim shorts.
From his appearance, I assumed that he, like me, was the chaperone of an actor, possibly a child actor, who had to stay on the set to give the child emotional support.
“Sort of…” I replied. I replied. “But at the same time, it looks even more interesting, which makes me wonder how they get such good angles to shoot it and make it really look like a house.”
Hearing my answer, the man raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Yeah, when you think about it, it seems like some of the magic comes back.”
“Are you a new actor?” He asked.