Become a Star

CH 184

{Make me a list of male actors in their twenties or thirties who are incredibly talented at acting.}



After walking past the street lined with various stores, Selena arrived at a parking lot and opened a car door. As she got inside, Selena immediately gave orders to her secretary.



{Should I include Dustin Evan in the list?}



The secretary asked seriously as soon as Selena got settled in the car. Not only did she know of Selena and Dustin’s relationship, but Dustin Evan was one of the best actors in his twenties in the US.



However, Selena sighed as soon as she heard that name.



{No, don’t put that nuisance on the list. He doesn’t have the image I’m looking for, and his acting skills aren’t up to the standards.}



{Then, I will select the actors and make a list based on your evaluation of Mr. Evan.}



The secretary responded that she would look for actors who would give better performances than Dustin Evan. Selena nodded in agreement.



It wasn’t that Dustin was bad at acting. He just couldn’t reach Ilya’s expectations.



Most importantly, Dustin’s healthy and cheerful image didn’t match Lloyd, the main character of Confession of White.



Furthermore, Dustin’s acting was not outstanding enough to overwrite his cemented image.



Selena told her secretary to exclude Dustin since his compatibility was somewhat questionable to play the main character. Still, in truth, they would only be able to find a handful of actors in their twenties or thirties with better acting skills than Dustin.



She tried to think of some candidates at the top of her mind but quickly shook her head. There was no way Ilya wouldn’t have considered those actors already. Nevertheless, to convince her, he advised Selena to find an actor to play Lloyd, signifying that the actors she had thought of were already a miss.



The task of finding an actor, first and foremost, wasn’t going to be easy. Selena had a foreboding that it might even be more challenging than getting the rights from Ilya.



{Don’t search for just English-speaking actors. Look into the European and Asian industries as well,} Selena said.



She was then about to add that they should look not only for famous actors but also lesser-known people, along with those acting in theaters and musicals. However, Selena closed her mouth without a word. If they went that far, the range of actors they would have to check would be too broad. So, for now, that would remain as their last resort. They had to focus on the main candidates first.



{Is there a specific image you want from the actor?}



On the other hand, the secretary seemed to want to reduce the scope of the investigation even by a little because it was still too vast right now.



{A young man in his twenties or thirties with a beautiful appearance, but with pale skin as white as possible so that he looks sickly but sharp. We want him to look like he could be brutally cruel at one moment, but the next second makes the audience feel sympathetic for him.}



Selena explained her image of Lloyd. It was very difficult for her to define and describe the main character of Confession of White.



He was tough to pin down because of his wide range of emotions. Behind Lloyd’s vulnerable look hid a violent beast, so he couldn’t be judged by his appearance.



Strangely enough, even though he was a human with the face of an angel making a deal with the devil, the readers couldn’t help but feel pity and love for Lloyd.



{Basically, a sickly yet beautiful and tender beast.}



But if Selena had to summarize the character in a single sentence, there was nothing more accurate than this. And even though she hadn’t said much, those who had read Confession of White would easily understand the meaning.



{Ah! Could it be Lloyd?}



{Shush!}



Even if the driver and secretary were the only ones who could hear her, Selena planned to make this a highly confidential subject.



{It took a lot of effort and Teacher Ilya’s cooperation to get this rare opportunity. You must be as careful as possible,} Selena warned them.



{I understand.}



The secretary did not know that Ilya Turner was actually L. Dmítri. Thus, she understood Selena’s statement as Ilya acting as the intermediary between Selena and L.



However, the secretary already had a hard time breathing. They had the burdensome task of finding an appropriate Lloyd while being pressured by the two big shots of the literary world—Ilya Turner and L. Dmítri.



Seeing her secretary sighing in despair, Selena chuckled and pulled out her phone. They still had a long way to go, but it felt like she had overcome a hurdle today.



Now that she had some spare time, Selena was reminded of Dustin and went on his social media for the first time in a few days.



He seemed to be doing fine recently, but she still had to check it out every once in a while to feel truly relieved. According to what she had heard, he didn’t attend parties these days and was doing well, but she couldn’t know for sure.



Selena didn’t feel good about constantly nagging Dustin on his social media every time she opened it either.



However, she couldn’t help but meddle when she saw Dustin since he seemed more immature than her younger brother, who was only ten years old. So when she suddenly realized that she was acting like a nagging older sister, she stopped commenting on Dustin’s social media and even stopped checking it entirely nowadays.



{Hm?}



Selena tilted her head when she saw the posts uploaded while she hadn’t been checking Dustin’s social media.



Needless to say, Dustin hadn’t been meeting his frivolous friends, nor did he drink alcohol. Instead, he seemed to have become very close with the Asian actor, his co-star in their latest film.



The people Dustin called his friends were people from his school days whom he had stayed in contact with to this day. As the friends of friends started joining them, the group only grew larger and larger. However, Dustin’s friendships with each person became shallower as time went by.



Selena also knew a bit about Dustin’s friends from school, but they weren’t close enough for her to judge them.



All she knew was that they were wealthy enough to attend a prestigious private school and were moderately smart people. It was also true that their friendship with Dustin used to be sincere, and there was no reason to doubt them in the past.



However, as the years went by, Dustin was the only one to have maintained his innocence to this day.



There were obviously some people who were good friends to Dustin. However, many others were hanging around Dustin and ruining his life. Examples of such ‘friends’ were: a failed businessman who tried to start a business as soon as they graduated from university, an unemployed carefree person, a person with a bankrupt family business, and a person with a messed-up personal life from constant marriages and divorces. 



As she watched Dustin’s old friends clinging onto him and gnawing away at the innocent young man, Selena got upset and worried for him, which in turn got her angry at herself.



So just as she felt like she needed to keep her distance from Dustin, he started hanging out with someone other than his existing group of friends, a piece of news she welcomed with open arms.



Dustin was popular and well-received by older actors but had no friends among the male actors of his generation as they weren’t at ease and were cautious of each other.



So if Dustin got close to an unfamiliar oriental actor, she had no reason to interfere with them as long as this stranger was a decent human being.



Needless to say, that was only the case if this person indeed was a decent human being and was worthy enough to be Dustin’s friend.



{What’s going on?}



However, when reading Dustin’s posts now, Selena felt an inexplicable sense of unease.



The first thing that felt off was a photo of Dustin in a coffee shop with paparazzi in the background. Selena often got sick of paparazzi as well whenever she saw them hanging around Dustin. So nothing felt wrong with Dustin taking a picture leisurely inside the shop with the paparazzi outside.







The caption didn’t make much sense at first glance. It was just a joke that this ‘Genie’ saw the paparazzi as a horde of zombies and wanted to throw Dustin as a sacrifice to run away on his own.



But it left a bad taste in Selena’s mouth.



{Who does he think he is to use Dustin as a sacrifice? Besides, isn’t he a horrible friend if he’s thinking of escaping alone?}



And now, she was imagining the situation in her head. As Selena got more and more irritated, she moved on to the next post with a sigh.



All of Dustin’s posts were pictures and stories with this person called Genie.



It was good news that Dustin was enjoying himself every day while filming, but Selena could see his dependence on this Genie increasing in intensity by the day.