Ch.420[Episode 420] Heroes of Legend

Now, if I had to describe this situation in one word, it would be “chaos.”

Imagine going up to someone and saying this:

“I was taking a break during a trailer shoot when suddenly bandits attacked. Then a blue vortex appeared in the sky, and a one-eyed knight came riding out of it on a ferry boat and caved in the bandit leader’s skull. I’m serious!”

What would their reaction be?

Eight or nine out of ten people might think you’ve lost your mind.

But that also means one out of ten might actually listen or even be genuinely interested.

“Unbelievable…!”

And here, the director filming the trailer was that one person out of ten.

He absolutely loved this chaotic situation.

Nothing was going according to plan.

Until now, the director had wanted everything under his control.

That’s why the occasional mistakes that slipped through bothered him so much.

But what if things went completely beyond his control… or rather, what if events unfolded in ways he couldn’t even predict?

When that thought struck him, the director’s eyes opened to a new world.

He had finally broken free from his narrow perspective and taken a step forward.

The director sat cross-legged right where he was.

He felt he needed some meditation to fully absorb this revelation.

“…Where am I?”

While the director was lost in his own world, Sir Dominic looked around.

The ferry boat he had been riding was now in pieces, and beneath his backside was a man decorated head to toe in feathers.

Sir Dominic unconsciously removed the man’s mask.

Somehow, a familiar face was revealed.

Sir Dominic couldn’t quite remember where he knew this face from, but he felt he had seen it somewhere before.

Sir Dominic had actually seen him in back alleys, every time I’m Not Little was attacked by thieves, but Sir Dominic couldn’t properly remember him.

Perhaps the man simply lacked character presence.

Anyway, Sir Dominic put the mask back on the bandit leader’s face and looked around again.

Sir Dominic realized he was in a forest.

This was obvious because trees were growing densely all around.

Though he couldn’t identify the types of trees, just recognizing it as a forest was a significant achievement.

Of course, that wasn’t all Sir Dominic noticed.

He also realized there were many people around.

“That’s fortunate. At least there are people I can ask for directions.”

Sir Dominic sighed with relief.

This place was much better than the space filled with nonsensical Easter eggs he’d been in before, or the world with nothing but a black background and fluorescent text.

With that thought, Sir Dominic jumped to his feet and dusted himself off.

Then he approached the nearest person and began asking questions.

“Excuse me. I am Sir Dominic of Feralant.”

“Oh, yes! I know you! I really enjoyed your movie!”

“Movie?”

“Weren’t you in that film ‘Repayment’ by Mountain Bridge Marsh Films? I was so moved by that movie that I changed my career path to filmmaking! It’s an honor to meet you!”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Your acting was a bit robotic, but… no, never mind! Who am I to criticize a great actor…”

Sir Dominic couldn’t recall such a thing, but suddenly remembered a script that Wang-i, an executive at Mountain Bridge Marsh, had brought him in the past.

It seemed Wang-i, still attached to that script, had made a movie starring an android containing Sir Dominic’s information without his permission.

The casual way they committed illegal acts truly lived up to the Mountain Bridge Marsh name…

Anyway, Sir Dominic shook hands with the flustered staff member and continued asking questions.

“So, where is this place, and what were you doing here?”

“Oh, that? This is a forest in Gacha Land City Park. It’s usually a recreational area, but today we’ve rented it for a trailer shoot.”

“Trailer?”

“Yes. Have you heard of Heroes of Legend? It’s absolutely God-tier!”

Sir Dominic was relieved to learn he was in Gacha Land.

It seemed he had successfully returned from that chaotic space.

“Heroes of Legend, you say.”

Sir Dominic had heard this name before.

It was an AOS mode, if he remembered correctly.

It was quite popular, along with the FPS mode.

“A trailer for such a game? Don’t trailers usually come out before release? I thought Heroes of Legend was already released.”

“Oh, you know about it. Actually, this is a different trailer. More precisely, it’s for version 2.0. The game is being almost completely revamped, so we’re shooting a new trailer.”

“Hmm.”

Sir Dominic stroked his chin thoughtfully at the staff member’s words.

A trailer, huh.

Come to think of it, he remembered there was an “expandability” category in the tier evaluation.

Until now, Sir Dominic had passed the tier evaluations based on his achievements, making this category practically meaningless, but relying on such luck seemed unconscionable.

Ultimately, Sir Dominic thought he needed to pass the evaluation to reach 5-star status.

To do that, he would need to fulfill the objectives for each category.

Sir Dominic tried to recall the 5-star expandability requirement.

“There must be at least a GOTY-level multimedia product such as a game, movie, or drama where this character is the protagonist…”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

Sir Dominic had finally remembered the 5-star expandability requirement.

After pondering briefly, he asked the staff member about the movie.

“Do you happen to know how well the movie ‘Repayment’ performed?”

“Well… I think about ten million people saw it.”

Ten million!

Sir Dominic couldn’t grasp what ten million people meant.

Would that qualify as GOTY-level?

“Is that considered GOTY-level?”

“If it had won some awards, maybe…”

The staff member’s voice trailed off at Sir Dominic’s question.

It seemed the movie hadn’t won any awards and thus didn’t qualify as GOTY-level. That’s what Sir Dominic thought.

So there are no easy paths after all.

Sir Dominic shook his head at this realization.

…

“Oh my god.”

In a secluded part of the forest, the junior camera crew member who had been thinking about filming some mushrooms to get familiar with the camera exclaimed in amazement.

To be precise, he was repeatedly rewinding and playing the footage he had just captured, uttering exclamations of admiration.

“So this is what they call a once-in-a-lifetime shot.”

The junior said this as he played the video again.

The footage, which began with the blue vortex in the sky, captured Sir Dominic falling from the vortex with the ferry boat.

Then it showed Sir Dominic landing on the bandit leader’s head, the ferry boat shattering into pieces, and finally the stunned reactions of people afterward.

“I wish I could save this somehow…”

The junior let out a regretful sigh.

This camera was shared by the camera team.

After borrowing it, he was supposed to delete all footage and return it to its original state.

“It’s such a shame to delete this…”

The junior continued to lament the inevitable deletion of this footage.

“Right, the director will want me to delete it since it’s different from our direction. Yes, I should delete it.”

The junior muttered this as he exited the video and clicked on the menu.

Just as he selected the video and was about to delete it—

“Wait, what video are you talking about deleting?”

“Aah! You scared me!”

The director had appeared behind the junior.

“Oh, it’s nothing special. I just filmed what happened earlier…”

The junior turned around like a tense new recruit and looked at the director.

Then he gave the director a puzzled look.

The director’s eyes were sparkling with unusual intensity.

“You filmed what happened earlier…”

“I, I was about to delete it! You don’t need to worry—”

“Is it interesting?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking if the footage is interesting.”

The director asked the junior if the footage was interesting.

“It is interesting. But it’s a bit different from our direction so far—”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

The director said this as he took the camera from the junior.

Then he played the footage the junior had captured.

It certainly wasn’t the perfect, polished footage the director had been aiming for until now, but the director’s expression was radiant.

With this single video, he had found the direction for this trailer.

“…We’ll have to scrap all the other footage.”

“What?”

“Let’s make this video our main focus. And let’s try to recruit Sir Dominic.”

The director said this and then shouted at the junior.

“Quickly go and see if Sir Dominic is still here. Ask if he’d be interested in working with us. At least buy us some time by telling him we want him as the protagonist for this trailer. I’ll come soon to help convince him.”

The director told the junior whatever came to mind.

“What? Okay.”

The junior didn’t fully understand the director’s words, but he got that he needed to go find Sir Dominic.

“If you understand, move now! Time is of the essence!”

“Yes!”

The director shouted at the junior who was still acting dazed.

Only then did the junior sprint toward where Sir Dominic was.

The director looked at the footage once more and muttered.

“This concept… it’s going to work!”

The director’s eyes were shining more brightly than ever before.