Chapter 15 - Camera Lens

Chapter 15 - Camera Lens

translator: xiin

editors: celtic & juurensha

Wu Jin, who had been busy listening attentively to the lecture, froze.

There was a sudden silence in the classroom, and countless lines of sight swept his way.

The cameraman focused the lens on Wu Jin, quickly panning left and right to take in the situation from the corner of his eyes––

The two teammates Caesar and Zoe, who had just been energetically disparaging coquettish men, were now instantly as quiet as chickens, the two of them sitting up straight with their hands on their knees like attentive and obedient little students.

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of change on their expressions as one of them prodded Wu Jin’s calf.

Wu Jin’s conditioned reflex kicked in, and he leapt up, “……”

The youth seen through the lens was obviously nervous, his amber eyes clouded with a confused haze, eyelashes fluttering as he refocused and strived to maintain his calm.

Even the crowd of straight men in the training room felt their hearts speed up a bit.

Light blossomed in Ying Xiangxiang’s eyes, “Let us give some encouragement to Student Wu.”

Applause rang out in the room. Caesar retracted his foot, his expression full of the joy of ‘other people’s misfortune had nothing to do with him’. His clapping was especially gleeful.

Wu Jin obediently stepped up to the podium, the back of his figure appearing like a small animal that was clutching tightly at its tail.

The bandages that served as teaching aids for the demonstration lay there quietly on the podium. Wu Jin replayed the procedure from the video in his head, then unraveled a section of bandages, placing it against his elbow in front of the camera––

His sleeves were rolled up, his pale, tender arms glowing a porcelain white. Three of the fingers from his left hand were used to pin one end of the bandage in place, while the other end was left to dangle, hanging messily around his arm.

Based on what was taught in the survival course, Wu Jin strictly adhered to his newly learned knowledge of first aid. He kept pressure on the ‘wound’, ensuring that it was held higher than the joint, then angled his arm so that it would be caught just between the light and the camera lens. The sunshine streaming through the window formed a dust-speckled line between the bandages, the youth’s elbow, and his delicate profile. Wu Jin squinted slightly as he looked up, his gaze pausing at the camera’s position in a seemingly accidental move just before the lens cut––

“Stop.” Ying Xiangxiang stopped the timer.

The entire training room seemed to suddenly come back to life.

Caesar’s eyeballs almost dropped from their sockets in shock. “––Damn, Little Witch is amazing!”

Zoe nodded and followed up with, “What did they say when they signed him… His appearance is too competitive.” He paused, then added, “However, he still suffers from a lack of experience.”

This was already Zoe’s second time participating in the Crosson Show, and he had come this time for the sake of making a debut. He had a very thorough understanding of many of the debut criteria, and was essentially very different from Caesar who was a simple minded individual who only knew ‘damn’, ‘looks good’, and ‘really damn attractive’.

However, the majority of trainees in the training room were similar to Caesar and were full of nothing but awe towards Wu Jin’s demonstration.

For example, Red was holding a terminal with a pinhole camera and typing noisily in the back row, “Hey, not bad! Boss, did you see––What? I’m risking expulsion just for the sake of passing on the course materials for the boss. Why is it that you guys are the ones watching instead?!”

On the podium, Ying Xiangxiang replayed Wu Jin’s video, a small smile on her face, “Student Little Witch, guess, what grade can I give you for your performance just now?”

Wu Jin estimated cautiously, “…B?”

Ying Xiangxiang nodded, “You guessed right, B.”

There was an uproar amongst the students under the podium.

Ying Xiangxiang snapped her fingers, and three assistants rushed up in a hurry, cutting the scenes onto various screens.

“At 46 seconds, 1 minute 12 seconds, 1 minute 36 seconds, the focus of the lens was very much not on point. Keep in mind that in any scenario where wounds are being dressed, the injury should occupy over 90% of your attention. The dressing wasn’t completed quick enough, and the movements dragged on and weren’t very clear. The positioning was good enough to qualify, but&#k2013;&#k2013;”

Ying Xiangxiang spoke very fast, but she paused at this moment, “If you pay attention to the audience, you will find that most people’s eyes were locked onto your face.”

Wu Jin was stunned.

“This is both your strength and also your weakness.” Ying Xiangxiang said, “If your sense of presence can’t surpass your appearance, no matter what you do––dressing wounds, shooting, or hiding, all the audience will see is your face. 2 minutes 58 seconds, near the end. When I look at this shot, the first thought in my mind is of a young choir boy with satiny pale skin, not a high-profile survival show contestant who can attract the attention of millions of people.”

“In the survival show, you need to first come across as a conqueror. Only when you are strong and powerful will you be worth following.” Ying Xiangxiang’s words slowed down, and she reverted back to her usual smile. “Go back and try to discover your sense of the lens again. Alright, next. Contestant 299763, Wei Yan.”

When Wu Jin returned back to his seat, Zoe helped him pull out his chair.

Caesar stared at him for a long time. He had originally thought that his teammate would have taken a psychological hit, but Wu Jin unexpectedly seemed to be practically shining with reverence. “Teacher Ying is so amazing!”

Zoe nodded emotionally.

Caesar still didn’t understand, “What did she say just now?”

Zoe: “……”

Caesar cried, “How come Little Witch only got a B? Shouldn’t he get an S just for being born so attractive? What kind of logic is this?!”

Zoe, despairingly, “… Trainees who have only graduated from kindergarten are too terrible…”

On the platform, the only S-level trainee, the human-shaped weapon Wei Yan was currently carrying out his performance expressionlessly.

Ying Xiangxiang hesitated between B and C for a long time and could almost feel a headache incoming––

Wei Yan hadn’t interacted with the camera at all. During the full three minutes of shooting, only the top of his head could be seen on the screen. Finally, Ying Xiangxiang assigned him extra homework, which was to go back and watch at least three movies.

“Was his code cut incorrectly when they modified his genes?” Caesar was still muttering as Wei Yan stepped off the podium, “Speaking of which, Little Witch, we’re in the same dorm as him…”

The trainees were called up one after the other. As Ying Xiangxiang evaluated each trainee’s performance, Wu Jin’s copy of the class handouts were soon covered with camera scene drafts and notes.

––Only the strong were worth following.

Wu Jin stared at a line of text on the handouts and kept the evaluations in mind as he re-watched the instructional video.

If one ignored the embarrassment of his coquettish performance towards the camera at the end, Silver Thread Roll battle team’s Thin Water’s performance was very much on point. Wu Jin cycled back and forth repeatedly through the entire scene of him bandaging his wound in the middle and soon broke down the entire process. After that, he carefully poked Zoe who was beside him.

Zoe turned and was met with Wu Jin’s eyes that were sparkling like little crystals.

Taking advantage of the fact that Ying Xiangxiang was giving a B-ranked trainee instructions on how to adjust the gap in his positioning, Wu Jin quickly imitated the standard actions he had just seen in the video.

His movements were no worse than Thin Water’s.

Zoe’s mouth dropped open, and he looked amazed––In that instant, he almost thought that it was Thin Water who had popped out of the video. But he soon shook his head.

“His style doesn’t suit you.” Zoe tried to organize his thoughts into words, “Of course, it’s hard for a rookie to find something that suits them. Before that, you need to look at better examples.”

The two-hour course was soon over.

It wasn’t possible for all five hundred trainees to go up on stage one by one in order to demonstrate, so Ying Xiangxiang limited herself to only calling up A to C rank trainees.

According to Zoe, the trainee rating might not necessarily represent the trainee’s strength, but there was definitely a positive correlation between their rating and the amount of time they spent on camera in the program.

Wu Jin seriously suspected that the big boss had stuck to D rank in order to avoid the camera and make it easy for him to skip class.

Coupled with having Red help him sign in, it was an absolutely foolproof method…

After class, Wu Jin queued up to find the off-stage staff and obtain his practice props. He was especially conspicuous when sandwiched amidst a group of burly, muscular men.

While he waited, he was continuously approached by other trainees, most of whom were extremely curious about Wu Jin.

Wu Jin even encountered a trainee named Leika who he had met during the audition.

After reuniting a week later, Leika was still as enthusiastic as ever.

“Oh right, contestant Wu, I wasn’t able to find that main dance position you mentioned last time…”

Wu Jin’s ears reddened, and he made a show of saying seriously, “I’ve decided to switch to the assault position.”

“Assault position! What a coincidence!” Leika was very excited, “It looks like we can train together in the future! Is it really okay to change over from the main… main dance position? You’ll have to learn everything from scratch.”

Wu Jin nodded quickly, “It’s not a problem––”

A surge of people crowded around the program staff; Wu Jin said his goodbyes to Leika and disappeared out the door to the classroom.

In the staff dining hall, Caesar had originally wanted to save Wu Jin a seat, but he unexpectedly discovered that the name of his teammate had already appeared on the punch-out screen.

“Not in the dining hall, not in the dorm, strange…” Caesar ordered three steaks and sat down, chuckling when his gaze met with a big guy opposite him who had settled down with two big buckets of rice.

Crosson Show, North Tower, 2nd floor shooting range.

The venue was empty when Wu Jin pushed open the door.

Wu Jin quickly tore through his dinner, then took over one of the machine guns.

He pulled the bright silver aiming compensator out of his pocket and mounted it onto the body of the machine gun.

The first week of the Crosson Show’s courses focused on scouting the environment, survival skills, and camera performance, all of which made the South Tower’s holographic training room very popular. The trainees all flocked that way, leaving the North Tower shooting range deserted.

Wu Jin didn’t know how long he could monopolize the shooting range.

On the aiming compensator, Wu Jin’s best score was still recorded––12 deviation compensation units.

Wu Jin dimmed the lights slightly to imitate the lighting environment of the weather forecast for two days later––a rainy day.

The dull sound of gunshots could be heard in the training room.

The rhythm was monotonous and dull, the dim light making people drowsy. Even so, the sound of gunfire never stopped.

From outside, the buzzing sound of the electric current was interspersed with the sound of a conversation.

Someone was heading towards the training room.

“You really aren’t going to bring the cat this time?” The other party was helpless, “I’ve said it before. Your treatment isn’t over yet.”

“No need.”

“Fine then… I heard that Wei Yan is there too?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I also heard Silly Red say that you slept with Wei Yan’s roommate.”

“……”

“Brother Wei, it’s fine if you don’t bring the cat. What about a hamster? It won’t take up space! You can just switch to a new one if you flatten it!”

“……”

Wei Shi’s movements suddenly came to a halt.

The other party cried, “Who’s shooting? Is it a heavy machine gun? This speed, they shouldn’t be handicapped, right––Ah, Brother Wei, Brother Wei, what about a rabbit? They’re silly and slow and don’t require any care. You can even toss it to Silly Red to take care of if you don’t want to feed it––”

“I’m hanging up.”

Wei Shi no longer continued this nonsense conversation and opened the door to the training room.

Wu Jin had just set down the heavy machine gun and was rubbing his sore right shoulder. He was in deep thought as he pondered the bandage still wrapped around his arm.

The position of the gun screen became his temporary lens as he tried to scrabble for improvement according to Ying Xiangxiang’s suggestions.

At least, until a long shadow that had been stretched out by the dim lighting landed on him––

Wu Jin looked up and exclaimed in surprise, “Big Brother!”

He jumped up as he spoke. His left arm was still wrapped in a messy tangle of bandages, making him look like a rabbit mummy.

Wei Shi raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, “I saw your video.”

Wu Jin was bewildered, “What…”

Wei Shi reached out and gestured for him to pass the bandage over.

Wu Jin’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“What Ying Xiangxiang says, only listen to half of her advice at most.”

Wu Jin accepted the bandage and demonstrated for Wu Jin. Beneath his rolled-up sleeves, his left arm was muscular, like a roughly carved marble relief. He quickly secured the bandage to his left elbow, biting the extra end with his teeth––over six scenes from Thin Water’s instructional video had been omitted.

But it still made Wu Jin hold his breath––

The man’s eyes were careless, and the deep-set contours of his eyes cast shadows that seemed insulated from light. He clearly stood there under the lights yet somehow seemed to drive away any illumination. He never looked towards the ‘camera’ from beginning to end, his eyes fixed on his left elbow, his eyelids raised slightly in a chilling way that made people shudder.

Wei Shi didn’t seem like a contestant. Instead, he was like a beast that was about to enact his vengeance.

Inspiration flashed through Wu Jin’s mind.

“Did you see it clearly?” Wei Shi stopped his movements and slowly opened his mouth to speak, looking down from his higher vantage point at Wu Jin, who was still standing in his shadow.

Juurensha: Wei Shi already has a rabbit therapy animal, okay other guy on the phone? Even if it’s a Little Witch rabbit spirit….

Celtic: and he won’t be tossing his rabbit spirit to Red to take care of.

xiin: … because he’s already taking care of it~

announcement: VEN & SURPRISE will be switching to 1 release/week for the next month or so. some RL things have come up and i’ll be a little busy. i didn’t want to stop releases completely, so it’s going to be back to weekly for now. SAHRJ will still be released daily – will let you all know if that needs to change temporarily, too. thanks for understanding! – xiin