In the morning, at a film shooting location in the wilderness, Job stretched lazily as he walked out of the collective dormitory.
With sleepy eyes, he fumbled around the sink for his toothbrush and toothpaste, then began brushing his teeth lazily.
"Hey Job, you're using my toothbrush."
Halfway through brushing, someone patted Job on the shoulder from behind. Job slightly woke up and took the toothbrush out of his mouth, looked at it carefully, then handed it back to the person.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"It's fine. It's not worth much anyway. By the way, how are you adjusting to this life?"
"This life? What do you mean?" Job didn't quite understand.
...
...
"You know, life as a background extra. You were once pretty famous, after all."
The person who spoke to Job in the morning was also a background actor in the crew.
They had a slightly higher status than the regular extras but still didn't have it easy.
Unlike Job, this person hadn't had the same luck. He had been struggling at the bottom for a long time.
Listening to the other person, Job seemed to have already become quite calm about it.
He replied, "It's nothing about getting used to it, I'm just doing what I love. I love acting, and I'm willing to give everything up for it."
In fact, Job could have given up his acting career after the car accident, and worked as a behind-the-scenes staff member or even opened a shop to become a store owner.
His life would have been much more stable.
But he chose to continue being an actor, perhaps because of his fame, he didn't want to give up so easily, so he spent all his savings to try to repair his face.
However, the scars on his face were too deep, and with the technology of the time, complete repair was almost impossible.
After spending all his money with no improvement, his status was nowhere near what it used to be. Now, he could only stay in a shared dorm with other background actors, waiting for work at any time.
In fact, whether at work or during breaks, people would sometimes look at him with strange eyes, occasionally whispering behind his back.
Even worse, some people would show expressions of schadenfreude.
There are always those who find happiness in the misfortune of others.
At first, he couldn't accept it and was down for a long time, but now he had gotten used to it. Even when people rudely brought up his scars, he was indifferent. The only regret he had was not being able to advance in his acting career.
But, speaking of it, he had earned a bit of money recently.
The motion capture script he shot for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment a little over six months ago earned him a meager salary for playing a third-rate actor in a leading role. For him at this point, it was like a lifeline.
So, now he didn't have to stay in this shared dorm room. With a little extra money, the crew could arrange a relatively clean and private room for him to rest.
But he didn't think it was necessary. After all, his part in this movie wasn't much, and he would finish his work in about a month, so it didn't seem worth spending extra money on a better living environment.
He had once been wealthy, and then fallen into poverty.
It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back from luxury to frugality. After being rich, falling into poverty again made him realize a lot of things and made him cherish every penny he earned.
The toothbrush and toothpaste he bought were cheap products.
"Hey, actually, I still envy you, Job. You at least had your glory days. Just unlucky."
The person who spoke sighed, but didn't really feel sorry. There was a bit of… satisfaction in his tone.
Look at you now. A former big star now stuck in the same circle with us? Being a big star isn't that impressive, it's just luck. And the unlucky ones are just like Job.
Job could hear the faint sarcasm in the other person's words, but he had become very calm and just smiled, saying, "Yeah, just not lucky."
"Hey hey hey! The show starts in 10 minutes! Everyone, get dressed and ready! Hurry up and gather!"
Just then, the assistant director's angry voice echoed outside.
For these background actors, the assistant director could scold them freely, and this loud voice was perfectly normal. He didn't think there was any problem with it.
Job noticed that his toothbrush had fallen to the ground, and the sink was piled with other people's toothpaste and toothbrushes. It was a mess.
Job hesitated for a moment, then picked up his toothbrush, rinsed it under the tap, quickly brushed his teeth, and immediately put on his costume and walked out.
"This guy is still so serious. Why is he so serious? Now he's just playing a small supporting role. Does he really think he's still that big star?"
A few people watching Job walk out of the room were slightly annoyed. They thought Job was trying too hard to stand out.
"Guess it's just the attitude of a former big star. It's hard to change something like that."
"Yeah, I guess..."
Today, just like usual, Job followed the villain around, happily playing the role of a henchman.
His acting skills were indeed impeccable. They were the result of solid practice and effort.
Sometimes his acting would even outshine some of the more important supporting roles, drawing attention to his small part.
In the same background actor level, people would mock him but wouldn't go overboard. After all, they were all just trying to make a living and couldn't really go too far.
But the more established main supporting roles, who already had some status, obviously didn't like it when Job's small moments of brilliance took attention away from them.
You get your moments of glory, but that just overshadows our shine.
What's going on here?
So, as always, a familiar scene unfolded in the crew.
During the shoot, someone would deliberately trip Job up, and at lunch, someone would accidentally knock over his lunchbox. These people would usually just apologize briefly, and the incident would be forgotten.
Job, on the other hand, acted like it didn't bother him at all, not taking these petty tricks to heart.
Even while eating, he was thinking about his upcoming performances and how to prepare better for each scene.
In his glorious past, he had neglected these important things, thinking he could just keep riding the wave of fame, even if his acting wasn't perfect.
But now, he had to focus on mastering the basics.
If his lunch was knocked over, he'd just go get a new one. If someone tripped him up, he'd just reshoot the scene. If the director or assistant director scolded him, he'd brush it off. What mattered most was immersing himself in the performance.
The more he did this, the more people grew dissatisfied with him.
Suddenly, Job remembered something: wasn't the game Metal Gear released recently?
Too bad the shooting base was so far from the city, and the communication wasn't that great, so he had no idea how the game was doing. He just hoped he didn't ruin such a big-budget project.
Before he joined the project, he didn't know how expensive the game was to make.
After finishing his part, he learned that the development and promotion of Metal Gear cost over $200 million, and to break even, they would need to sell at least five million copies.
This really shocked him. He never realized video games could cost so much to make.
It was even more than most movie production costs.
Then, he started to worry whether his performance could live up to a game developed with such a large investment.
But it was clear his worries were unnecessary.
There wasn't much drama happening in his current crew.
However, outside in the world of the internet, many places were going crazy over the release of Metal Gear.