Chapter 067

“Okay, we are starting in five.”

Zavier said, glancing at the crew. The camera, lighting and the sound crew all got ready when they heard his words. The actors that were going to perform in the scene took a deep breath.

It was essential to give everything to each scene to make it as effective as possible. It was a daunting task, especially for the crew.

They needed to take care of every single detail. Just one mistake, and all the hard work is wasted. Just yesterday, one of the scenes involving Ray was ruined because the sound equipment suddenly had an issue.

Although they fixed it later, Zavier and many other crew members felt it was a waste because the retake wasn’t as good as the first one.

Because of accidents like this, they were being very careful.

“Aiden, you understand everything, right? Just relax and give your all.”

Zavier asked in a raised voice as he looked at Aiden, who was standing in the middle, wearing a black suit and an old watch. In the distance behind him, the cinematographer was standing.

This shot will start as Aiden steps into a comic book store. The camera will follow his back before turning to a long-range shot. Just for this particular scene, the crew has rented a small comic book store.

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

Aiden gestured to Zavier to not worry. This was going to be his first shot which would be divided into various parts — Kai entering the comic book store, having a short conversation with the owner of the store and then sitting down to read a comic book with a teenage boy, who he considered as a sort of a friend.

Then, the focus will shift to the conversation as it would give more insight into who Kai actually was.

‘This scene is the only one where Kai actually seems a bit of a normal person.’

Aiden thought, going over the scene again and again in his mind. He hadn’t really experienced ‘Immersion’ in International Grade yet, so there was a bit of scepticism in his heart as to how it would pan out.

He just hoped that everything would go well and he could give a good enough shot.

‘It’s time to be Kai.’

He thought, closing his eyes.

***

[Black Saints|October 13-2015|Act 3|Scene 1|Take 1]

Kai slowly walked up to the comic book store with light steps. Around the street, some people noticed him but just gave him a look before turning away their eyes.

As he entered the comic book store, he took a deep breath and saw that there weren’t a lot of people there. Just some kids were talking among themselves.

Turning his eye away from them, he looked up at the store owner, Todd, who was shocked to see him there.

“Todd, the store’s running well?”

“Hardly. Kids these days aren’t more into comic books than they are in video games.” Todd’s tone carried a tinge of nervousness as he came out of the counter. “So, what can I give you today? A new issue of Sup-“

“My money,” Kai said, smiling at him.

“Mr. August, the store is not running well these days. If I could skip this month-“

“The store is not running well, but you still have money to buy cigarettes. Aren’t they the expensive ones?”

Kai suddenly looked at a cigarette packet on the counter. The odour of it was still in the air.

“That’s just an addiction.”

“You have money for your addiction, not in your life?”

Kai tilted his head and looked hard at Todd, who was already shaking due to the atmosphere building around the store. The kids around the store all stared at Kai, wondering what would happen.

They remembered a time when Kai had beat up someone on the street. The reason was still unknown, but the fight was still in everyone’s minds.

“Think about where your priorities lie, Todd. I’m saying this as a friend of yours and because I don’t want to go through trouble finding a good comic book store in this godforsaken city.” Kai patted his shoulder. Todd was a bit taller than him, but currently, his stature seems to be way smaller than Kai’s. “Now, how long do I have to stand here?”

Todd hastily nodded and ran to the counter to give the bills to Kai. He didn’t even count them, and satisfied, Kai nodded.

“Cut! The scene came out good!”

Zavier’s voice resounded, and the actor playing Todd wiped off the sweat from his forehead. For a while, he felt like he was truly suffocating in the presence of Aiden.

On the other hand, Aiden looked at Zavier, who was smiling while going over the scene on the camera. It seemed like he was very satisfied with the final outcome.

‘It looks like I don’t have to do another take.’

Thinking that Aiden sighed. In the middle of the scene, he felt like he was becoming more and more like Kai, and the feeling stayed with him even after his immersion was over.

‘My immersion has truly gotten stronger.’

Although his immersion was going to be a massive tool for him during the shooting, Aiden also feared that he would be too submerged in the character of Kai at the end of the movie.

‘Let’s just focus on the shooting.’

He thought, pushing his worries to the back of his mind.

***

[Black Saints|October 13-2015|Act 3|Scene 7|Take 3]

The door of the comic book store opened, and a young boy of around 13 walked in, searching for the new batch of comic books that was going to arrive today.

It was at that moment his eyes landed on Kai, who was sitting in one corner, reading a comic book.

Unlike other people, the boy didn’t fear Kai a lot. Though, whenever he would see him, a sense of unease would always be in his heart.

Still, he walked over and sat beside Kai. Just then, Todd walked over and gave a comic to the young kid. It might come off as weird to someone who witnessed the scene for the first time, but the regular customers found nothing strange here. Only this kid received the preferential treatment.

Before he began reading, the kid stared at Kai and said, “My mom had an operation.”

Kai paused the reading before resuming once again.

The kid was unbothered by this and continued to speak, “She’s recovering, although she can’t walk yet. My sister is doing all the housework.”

Kai didn’t say anything and continued to read the comic.

The young kid was unbothered by Kai’s silence. He knew Kai was aware of his mother’s operation and his family’s condition. In fact, Kai seemed to know most of the family living around the street.

Maybe, this was one of the reasons Kai was called the devil of the street. At least the father in the church used to call him that until he couldn’t.

“Can I ask you a question?” Archie suddenly said, and Kai looked at him like he was telling the former to go on.

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

That was a strange question for Kai, and thinking for a bit, he finally broke his silence, “Why do you want to know?”

“My mom said you are a bad person, and I should stay away from you. She said your job is to kill people for your own gains.”

“I’m not a cop, Archie.” Kai chuckled, then got a bit more serious before continuing. “I have killed people, and I will kill more as I go. And yes, it’s for my own gains. But I’m no different than the people you see on TV, talking about how they are doing a lot for the city.”

It took a while for Archie to take in his words. He was both confused and intrigued by it, but Kai had already started flipping through the pages of the comic book.

“How are you not different?”

“We both are people with power, and we do the same thing to maintain it; the ways are different. My way makes me a gangster, and their way makes them a politician. So there’s a thin line separating us that may or may not be there.”

Kai explained, his eyes still scanning the pages of the comic. His ideas were very different from the common people’s, but they got him results. For him, the way didn’t matter until he achieved what he wanted.

“Are you saying politicians are no worse than gangsters?” Archie asked, wanting to hear his viewpoint about all that.

“If anything, I don’t hide anything. The way I see it, politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. Then they disguise their own problems as national concerns. I call it the fool’s trick to fool clowns.”

Kai was calling the common people clowns, but that’s what he truly thought, and it was also the reason he never felt bad about exploiting them. In his mind, every person was exploiting someone, and the world was just becoming more and more like that as time passed.

After saying that, Kai stood up, putting down his comic book on a shelf and stretching his body a bit. Then, he stared down at Archie, who seemed to be thinking more about his words.

“Kid, don’t get into either politics or gangs. Both will eat you alive. Get a job where you can rob a common man legally. That’s the best job, in my view.”

Kai left the comic book store after that while Archie kept thinking about his words – the ideas he presented.

“Cut!”

Zavier’s voice resounded again through the set, and the scene ended.

…

//DreamNote//

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