After the Director signaled to take a break, everyone broke out of their character, leaving the set as fast as possible. Some had a harder time than others as two men, one on top of the other's shoulders, struggled to get the costume to unzip, as they tried to free themselves from the heat filled cocoon they were in. After nearly ripping the zipper off, they were free, breathing in the cool air for the first time in hours.

"Great work, everybody. Such exuberance." Yama yelled as he joyfully raised his axe in the air. As he walks toward the two men, he gives them a vigorous high five, sending them tumbling to the ground.

"Yeah, such energy. I feel like I'm back on stage." Yong said.

"If anyone messed up, I'm going to kill them. I'm not doing this scene anymore." Junichi said.

"I don't think this production has the budget for any more takes anyway, so hopefully that was good enough." Wataru said.

"Still, no one better have made any mistakes."

"Junichi, you are the one who can't do a simple slash correctly." Sora said as she demonstrates the proper techniques, nearly stabbing a few of the cast with her prop sword.

As everyone headed for the refreshments or somewhere to relax, Hiro headed straight to the director. The director noticed him from the corner of his eye, ready to sprint the other way. But he was a second too late, as Hiro grabbed him by the shoulder, turning the director to face him.

"Why must we do this in one take, and why am I doing the stunt in the next scene? Shouldn't these types of stunts go to the people that are more, what's the word, expendable?"

"All our stunt doubles have serious injuries, so unfortunately, you're going to have to do it."

As Kenji watches on, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation.

His blood boiled every time Hiro would throw his fits, which occurred often. Kenji struggled to restrain himself from saying anything, being the least experienced in the group and not wanting to cause any trouble.

"Just make the extras do it. Make them earn their paychecks."

But unfortunately, his self-restraint wasn't strong enough.

"What a piece of crap." Kenji said. As the words left his mouth, Ito furrowed his eyebrows, quickly nudging him to shut up. Hiro now turned to his next victim, as the director took that as a chance to take a smoke break.

"What did you say?" Hiro shouted, wanting everyone to hear. But anyone that heard quickly returned to what they were doing, not paying any attention to Hiro. Except for Junichi, who overheard the commotion and rushed over, not wanting to miss out on any action. Hiro and Junichi stood side by side, both using their tall frames to stare down on Kenji and Ito. Hiro stretched out his broad shoulders to cast a shadow over Kenji, trying to make him feel as small as possible. Hiro, along with a few others, was one of the few notable names attached to this project. With most of the show's budget going to them, it gave Hiro plenty of leverage when making what he called "crucial decisions." With little to no power, it left us with a decision to either be blacklisted and out of the job or be happy with the little pay we received.

"It takes a lot of nerve talking to me like that, especially someone like you." Hiro said.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"What does that mean?"

"Look around. I'm the star of this show, and then there's you two, some useless side characters. So do yourself a favor and keep your head down and your mouth shut unless told otherwise." As Kenji stepped forward, Ito grabbed his forearm, stopping him from doing something he might regret later.

"Hey" Sora yelled, overhearing what Hiro said.

Hiro turns around to see who that was. His eyes widened in fear as he saw Sora walking over with her eyes piercing through Hiro. Sora loved the dramatics, deciding to drag her enormous sword as she made her way to the conversation. Hiro and Junichi stared at each other, deciding to move this conversation elsewhere, sprinting in the opposite direction. Sora picks up her sword and gets ready to sprint after them, when the hairstylist moves in front of her trying to fix her hair. "Again, when will you realize you can't tame this beast on my head?"

Ito continues to look down, feeling that Hiro is right. Watching Ito like this only made Kenji more upset. But there's nothing he could do, at least nothing that wouldn't cause them to be fired. As they both watch Hiro and Junichi running for their lives, they could feel giant footsteps as Yama walked over to Ito, never missing a chance to give a pep talk, as he liked to think of himself as the wise father of the cast. Watching out for everybody and offering any life advice he could give, even though most of his advice included living in the wilderness and living off the land to learn true peace and fulfillment. Yama had a bad habit of giving his advice while repeatedly patting the person's back. Leaving most with back pain, as he didn't know his own strength, which was a problem dating back ever since he was an athlete. Before Yama became an actor, he suffered from a career-ending injury that cut his rugby career short. But when he was playing, there wasn't another player close to the size or strength of Yama.

"Why the long face, little one? Has the stress of the workplace overwhelmed you?” Ito opens his mouth to reply when Yama continues before Ito could answer. "It reminds me of what my grandpapa used to tell me "True reflection through meditation is like warm food for mind and soul." Why don't we try it out? There's a nice empty corner by the lights."

Yama put his arm around Ito's shoulder, taking him as he walked to the nearest quiet area before Ito could say anything. Ito stares back at Kenji, resembling a victim in a horror movie being dragged off by a killer. Kenji could only stare at him as they left, unsure of how he would've saved him.

Kenji takes a deep breath and tries to relax. The smell of old coffee cups and food wrappers slowly filled his lungs, making him weirdly hungry. He walks towards the refreshment table, hoping to grab something to eat before they are called back. Narrowly dodging a giant skull moving past him, twisting and turning his way through a constant sea of people moving pieces of the set to their proper place. He reaches the table just in time to see Wataru and Yong finishing up their eating contest. Devouring all the sandwiches available, leaving only crumbs behind. Kenji surveys what food is left, when he notices one last an pan among the sea of crumbs. As he reaches for the an pan, Junichi's shouting caught his attention.

"Why does he get to land the last punch? Shouldn't it go to the strongest character? There must be someone here who agrees." Junichi said as he looked around.

"I agree, which is why I should be the one to do it." Hiro said, both talking as if losing all touch with reality. Kenji can't help but focus on the director as his eyes move from side to side, searching for somewhere to hide. Kenji felt sorry for the director the most. With the amount of stress and constant arguing, the director must've lost about two years of his life by now. Junichi and Hiro's debate became more and more heated while standing right next to Mei, Chung, and Sungwoo, eating their lunches. Their lunch became almost impossible to enjoy with the loud shouting filling their ears. "What a bunch of children. Do they actually think they're the characters they're playing?" Mei said.

"Aren't we all children in this ancient world? Who's to say who we are?" Sungwoo said, answering her rhetorical question, only frustrating her more.

"Is there no one normal around here?" Mei asked, swiftly putting her hand up to Sungwoo, signaling him not to answer.

In the corner of Kenji's eye, he saw a ball of light flying past him. He turns his head, wondering what that could've been. He continues to search, scanning for that same ball of light, when he notices Hiro looking around as well. They soon made eye contact, both squinting their eyes at one another, wondering the same thing. Did he see the same thing?