Vincent grabbed Mikhail by the scruff, his hazel eyes overflowing with fury and betrayal. He yelled, "Why did you launder money to those drug lords?!"
Mikhail calmly looked down at his childhood friend. He lifted his hands up gently, and silently peeled off Vincent's fingers from the shirt one by one.
"I did what I had to do," Mikhail spoke with finality in his deep voice. He didn't want to have this conversation right now at this busy street filled with people. He could already feel their questioning gazes on them.
"What do you mean, 'had to do'?!" Vincent shouted out unrelentingly, demanding to be answered. "Why? For what reason!"
"Why are you asking for the obvious? Of course it's for the profit I can make from it. Don't you know how much I make every day now? Didn't you investigate clearly?" Mikhail said, trying to brush him off and make him leave him alone. If that guy's subordinates saw him with a policeman, they might think I sold them out. Then they will kill his childhood friend to keep their secrets.
Vincent looked at him in disbelief. Why did this happen? Where did his reliable friend go? Why did he change into this?
Mikhail looked at him emotionlessly and turned to leave. Before he walked even three steps, he heard Vincent call out urgently, "Wait!"
Not turning back even once, he lowered his eyes to hide his emotions, and prayed that his best friend would be okay.
"Cut!" the director shouted in satisfaction. "That scene was perfect! Nice job, Ira, Jason!"
The people filling the streets stopped walking the other direction and made their way to the movie crew. They had excited faces, as compared to the disinterested expressions they had on a second ago, from working with the Film Emperor Ira. This was a once in a lifetime chance to meet him in person, when he rarely ever acts in movies like this one.
Ira almost immediately stopped his act as a collected businessman and smiled arrogantly. 'Of course I would do a good job, I am the Film Emperor. Nobody can beat me in my acting skills.' he mused, taking the compliment as an already proven knowledge everyone should know.
"That's to be expected." Ira said as a matter of fact, his pitch black eyes brimming with haughtiness.
"Thank you for the compliment, but I still need more improvements." Jason said humbly, his smile gentle and friendly.
"Especially you Jason, that expression of righteous indignation was impeccable. Not a single thing I can point out to correct." the director said appreciatively for his modesty.
Ira furrowed his brows in irritation. 'What did he mean by 'especially'? More than me? How? Isn't that guy just acting like a hypocrite?!' he thought, feeling insulted to be compared to a newbie.
"What do you mean, especially? Isn't he just acting like a hypocrite right now? I acted better than him in this scene! What did he do other than yelling out like a retard?!" Ira questioned the director, filled with genuine confusion.
The director, thinking Ira was just stirring up trouble out of nothing again, just ignored him to start working with the scriptwriter and adjust the next scenes.
Looking at the back of the director, Ira felt affronted for him ignoring his question. 'How could he ignore me?' he thought, his frown growing deeper.
'It's all this guys fault! Why is he laughing at me? Did I do something wrong!' Ira pondered in rising impatience for people's attitudes toward him today.
Jason looked at him, amused that this arrogant, narcissistic guy could actually be ignored. Everyone he saw would either look at Ira with fear or respect, which he thought was for his family background, when it was actually because he was extremely petty. If you said one wrong thing about him and he catches you, you would be suppressed the next day before you knew what was happening.
Ira glared angrily at this amateur that he had to act with, like they were best buddies in this movie. Why did they even choose this guy for such an important role? What were they thinking?
"Just you wait." Ira gritted out through grinding teeth and sharply turned away, pride deeply ingrained in his bones, and a temper larger than a diva. His flaming red hair added to his already passionate character, shaping his outward appearance into a fiery spitfire with a giant ego. Even if his inner personality was horrible, his ostentatiously beautiful features made people not able to dislike him that much.
Jason stared at Ira's retreating figure with deep eyes, his thoughts unknown about the film emperor's threat. He then glanced at a nearby window, saw his reflection, and then looked away with slightly clenched fists, eyes glinting with determination.
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Later, because of Jason's and Ira's clashing personalities, Ira's initial dislike of him became more and more concentrated. With Ira suppressing Jason in the entertainment circle using his family background as the young master of an old, rich oil company, and Jason having better acting skills from his past life's 40 years of acting experience, whenever they met they would argue heatedly, or at least Ira did. Jason never took this 'kid' seriously. If they were going to fight, they should just compete with their acting skills. Why do other unnecessary things?
Whenever Ira thought he won the argument from Jason's silence and smirked triumphantly, he would look at the other's unconcerned face and become annoyed again, thinking Jason thought he looked like a jumping clown doing small tricks. He would then fight the other more fervently, which created a vicious cycle he couldn't see nor avoid.
This lasted until the director couldn't take it anymore. The reason was, the hostility Ira had for Jason was leaking into his act, and it was holding back the filming from continuing with his repeated NGs.
"Cut!" the director yelled, exasperated, "Ira, you're supposed to be looking at Jason with an expression of selflessness and resolution! Why are looking at him like he's your sworn enemy!"
"I'm sorry..." Ira muttered out with reluctance, knowing that he was holding the production of the movie with his own problems.
He said it so quietly that nobody besides Jason, who was right next to him, heard him. The director, thinking he was cursing him under his breath or something similar, ran his hands through his graying hair with irritation. Waving his hand to the cameraman to signal him get ready, he shouted, "Start!"
"No, you aren't my friend anymore... you're just a criminal." Vincent said, like he finally accepted his friend wasn't who he used to be. His eyes were lost and hopeless, and his voice came out barely audible. He slowly turned around to go back to the banquet he came to, to investigate his friend after finally finding his whereabouts. His hands clenched around the present he was going to give to Mikhail, almost crushing it.
Mikhail stared at the back of his friend, his eyes deep with pondering and his face with no expression. Slowly, his face became resolute, like he was promising something silently, like he was determined to protect something. Glancing one last time at the sad and angry back of the policeman, he also turned around to walk away to the dark hallway of the hotel, his back looking lonely, but unwavering. The two figures going separate ways, one wearing a black tuxedo and going into the darkness and one wearing a white suit, walking into the light. They looked like the title of the movie, Separated Paths.
"Cut!" a satisfied voice bellowed out when the scene had finished, "We're done for today. Pack up."
The extras in the hotel started taking off their costumes, the cameraman took down the cameras, and Ira and Jason turned back to look at each other. Ira was smiling with pride and Jason was looking at him acting like a child with slight envy.
'When I was his age in my last life I was forced to grow up and mature from the need for more money. My siblings relied on me after our parents died. If only I came back a bit earlier I could have saved...' Jason deliberated with regret, but then shook his head to clear those dark thoughts away. 'Right now, all I need to do is quickly get famous using my future knowledge. Then I won't need to worry about anything.'
When Ira smugly glanced over at him to see his expression, all he saw was Jason looking at him with regret and shaking his head like he was disappointed with something. Feeling judged, Ira growled, "What are you looking at me like that for?"
Snapping away from his thoughts, Jason answered, "It's nothing."
He then turned and walked away, coming up with plans to make more money for his sibling's tuition and living expenses, missing the aggrieved and vengeful emotions flashing in Ira's eyes.
Afterwards, the movie was finished smoothly. Ira didn't let his personal feelings affect his work anymore. When the crew invited him to the celebration banquet, he agreed with little enthusiasm, not wanting to see that new star act like a hypocrite and judge him.
Coming to the party, he was dressed in a flashy red suit with a black tie. Ira's figure was slim, muscular, and flamboyant. His lips were raised in a proud smirk that conveyed his satisfaction from the attention he got. Ira's gleaming black eyes were slightly raised at the corners, making him look like an arrogant red fox.
Right after he arrived, Jason stepped in, his smile gentle and pleasing. He had jet black hair and hazel eyes and was wearing a black suit with a black tie. Even if his outfit was plain, it didn't distract people from his outstanding bearing and appearance that made him comfortable to look at.
Trying to ignore him, Ira started walking away with the purpose of finding the director and then leaving after saying a few words. What stopped him was seeing his sister Scarlett, dressed in a white gown, walking in his direction. Eyes slightly widened with faint confusion, Ira was busy guessing the reason why she came here to this party. Was it to congratulate him? Why else? But doesn't she like to ignore me?
He was thinking this until she strode right past him, not noticing him at all, her whole attention focused behind him. On that bastard, Jason.
"Jason, what a coincidence. I didn't know you would come. Why didn't you tell me?" Scarlett said, pouting audibly.
Jason turned to look at her in unpleasant surprise, thinking, 'How did this stalker find out I would be here?'
"How did you get invited here?" Jason questioned, his brows almost invisibly furrowing and his smile faintly twitching and becoming discernibly fake.
"Of course it's because my brother was invited, look, he's over there." Scarlett pointed out with a cutesy voice, glancing toward her annoying brother before staring back at him. That blockhead always went sister this, sister that, always irritating her.
Jason glanced between the two siblings, finding the resemblance. They both had red hair and black foxy eyes. The only difference was their types of arrogance. Scarlett looked at everyone she thought was below her with contempt, but Ira would only disregard them with disinterest. At least, Jason thought Ira was more bearable than this woman who always practically plastered herself onto him every time they met.
Scarlett reached for Jason's arm and grabbed it, shoving it in the middle of her chest. She looked at him, batting her eyes, and whined, "Why didn't you call me by that number I gave you last time?"
Pulling his arm away gently, Jason was trying to think of excuses he could give to this arrogant young miss, when someone beside them pouted jealously, "Sister, what are you doing? Why are you actually talking to this guy? How can you ignore me again?"
Scarlett rolled her eyes in annoyance, thinking disdainfully, 'Here he goes again...'
"Why don't you ever listen to me? I told you not to talk to these gigolo-like men! Just looking at his face, you can tell he can dupe young girls into spending their money on him! You should be more cautious..." Ira nagged endlessly, sounding like a mother hen. All he was missing was the 'young lady' parents use to call to their daughters when lecturing them.
"Ira, what right are you using to lecture me with?! I'm older than you by three minutes! You should call me elder sister!" Scarlett argued back with impatience. Why does he always act like this with me? And he's even doing it in front of the person I fell in love with!
They argued back and forth in front of Jason, who was at first confused, but then slowly smiled in amusement. Stepping back quietly, he left unnoticed by them. He didn't want to stay with them, even if these new attitudes made him entertained. He still found them extremely annoying when they were alone with him.
By the time Scarlett perceived he was gone, he had already disappeared from their sights, making her angry and Ira joyful. Finally, that bastard left. At least he is tactful.
While the celebration party ended on a comical note, a storm was silently brewing between the Empire's and the Clermont's, the rival oil company of Empire Oils. A giant oil reserve was found and an auction was going to start with the highest bidder getting a major chunk of it. The Clermont's were desperate to get it, their business having a never-before-seen crisis with only an incompetent leader to solve their problems. They felt that this reserve would revive their swiftly dying company and make their family prosper.
Even though they were the largest and most successful oil company in the country, the Empire's also wanted this big slice of cake.They had already decided on the bid number and were confident that they would win, after buying information that suggested the Clermont's didn't have enough funds and had a lower budget than them.
When the CEO of the Clermont family saw the Empire's relaxed attitudes when asked about the auction in parties, he started to get anxious. Pacing back and forth in his messy office, the middle aged man kept thinking up plans he could put in place to win the bid. The date of the auction was getting closer and closer. If he couldn't think of anything to do by then, he could only cry and file for bankruptcy. Extremely distressed, he thought of a desperate measure.
Completely unaware of the impending danger, Ira continued to carefreely do his usual practices, suppressing people with his lackeys and acting for his fans. Right now, though, he was boredly scrolling a social media page, looking at the latest entertainment news. Glancing at the uninteresting titles, Ira yawned from the lack of variety. Starlett goes into XX hotel with a new lover, Popular TV host is caught doing XX drugs at home, blah. blah. blah.
He was about to turn off his phone when he caught a name he didn't want to see. Jason Zellers stars in XX movie as the male lead? In a blockbuster? Huh...
Ira looked at the words absentmindedly, thinking, 'Jason.... male lead..... blockbuster.....? Huh?!'
He sat up quickly and loudly, knocking his leg onto the coffee table with a resounding bang. Hissing softly, Ira cradled his leg and became infuriated. His brows furrowed tightly and his teeth were gritted harshly. He threw the glass cup from the table against the wall and bellowed, "Mark!!! What is this about?!"
Rapid footsteps echoed behind the door to his room. A man who looked to be in his upper twenties barged into the room, gasping slightly. He looked to his young master and bowed, "Yes, young master. What is your command?"
Raising his phone up and pointing at the screen, Ira questioned in rage, "What is this piece of news about? Didn't I ask you to do a good job?!"
Carefully looking through the words on the screen, Mark widened his blue eyes in surprise. How did this new star even get that role, when even big name actors were vying for it?
"Yes, young master, I did all of your instruction as you asked me to." Even if he was surprised, Mark briskly calmed down and answered Ira. Having been trained to be his confidant since young, he was educated to be more calm than his master in crisis so he could give him accurate advice. His father served the Empires like that, just like his grandfather and great grandfather did as well.
"Well then, why is he still getting roles?!" Ira asked uncomprehending, his lackey always did the best job implementing his instructions. Why did he mess up now?
"I don't know, young master, he most likely got it through luck. That or he has superior acting skills." Mark said in an even tone, already used to his young master's temper tantrums.
Thinking of that irritating humble face he always wore after displaying amazing acting skills, Ira refused to admit that he was that good. It could only mean he got it through luck. Erasing the thought that said he was acting stupid again, Ira waved Mark away to ponder on his own. Contemplating how to irk that vexing person he came up with the idea to act with him again and suppress him with his mighty acting talent. Acting straight away, he called his parents to get a role in the blockbuster movie as the villain obstructing the protagonist which he thought was more cool than the 'gentle' crown prince, the vicious, cold, and ambitious general who contends with the prince to seize the throne.
Getting his father's promise to get him the role, he hung up on them after saying goodbye. He then called his sister, who should be done with her salon appointment by now, to go out to eat. Hearing her not agree to go with him, Ira was suspicious of her excessive annoyance, which was more than usual, and a male's voice in the background. Did I interrupt her with someone? Who? That bastard Jason?
Going to a hidden app in his phone, he quickly opened it and a GPS tracker showing his sister's location was on the screen. Don't think it's excessive, they were constantly in danger from hailing from a rich family in an extremely competitive industry. Even he is being tracked by his parents right now.
Racing relentlessly to the location in his red Lamborghini he uses to drag race with his friends, Ira was slightly worried but mostly angry. How can she meet with a man in private? Doesn't she have any awareness of how beautiful she is? What if he was lustful and couldn't control his hands? What would she do then?
Arriving at the location the GPS was showing, he stared at a dark alleyway in the middle of a sparsely populated road. Feeling increasingly perturbed, he got out of the car cautiously, his hands resting on the pocketknife in his jeans. He walked into the alleyway checking his phone occasionally to see if he was going in the right direction. When he finally got there, he looked up to see Jason holding his sister's phone confusedly.
Ira stared at him in alarm, thinking he did something to his sister. He snarled out, "Jason, what did you do to my Scarlett!?"
Looking to the side, Jason glanced at him in shock. Where did he come from? Why was he asking about that stalker? Like I would know what happened to her.
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, beyond confused and more irritated. Whenever he meets him, he's always jumping to conclusions and yelling provocations. He isn't fond of these kinds of impulsive and rash types of people.
"Why are you holding my sister's phone then, if you 'don't know what I'm talking about'? Ira questioned sarcastically, voice practically dripping with venom.
"This is your sister's phone?" Jason asked, confused once more. Why is her phone here, a block away from my apartment?
"Yes, so give it to me and tell me where she is!" Ira demanded forcefully, his intentions righteous, but conduct nefarious.
Before they could argue more, they both felt a pain in the back of their neck. Falling unconscious, two figures caught them before they fell on the concrete ground. They discussed to each other, guessing which one was the young master of the Empire family. Looking closely at them for the description they were given, a young man, in this area, holding a phone, and extremely handsome, that felt bewildered. They agreed to take them both back to their employer after a short talk. Carrying them like sacks of potatoes, they tied them up and threw them in the back of the van they drove here.
When Ira woke up, he was in a large, dark room he could barely see in. He blinked his eyes to clear his bleariness, and looked around the warehouse in a daze. He noticed he was handcuffed to a metal bar connected to the wall and there were two more people in the same situation as him. He recognized them as his sister and Jason, and his calm was instantly shattered. He wouldn't be this panicked if it was just him, but now that he saw his sister, he was anxious enough to throttle someone.
They had woken up before him and were looking around the warehouse and at the people entering the room. He realized that it was their business rivals who kidnapped them, the Clermont's. He could discern so when he saw the person who looked like the leader of the people here, was the CEO he knew from photos his parents forced him to memorize, Richard Clermont.
"Did you call them and send them the photos? Make sure to make them extra anxious. We can't have them delay giving us the information until after the bid today. Tell them we will kill one of them if they don't give it to us in ten minutes." Richard spoke with a hurried tone, carrying a sense of urgency from hesitating to do this until now. He felt he couldn't back out now that he started this.
"Yes, sir." One of the three men spoke, going out to do as instructed.
"The rest of you watch them." He ordered once again, worried they might escape.
One of the men laughed in ridicule, saying with confidence, "Sir, we did as you ordered and handcuffed them to the building. They're not professionally trained or lockpicking masters. How will they even escape?"
Thinking he made sense, he nodded and agreed passively, "Yes, they're just youngsters. They don't know anything about this. Just leave them to work on more important matters."
With that, they all left, leaving a baffled Jason, an infuriated Ira, and a scared Scarlett. Jason was baffled because he was wondering why he was even here, Ira was infuriated that they had the audacity to kidnap him and his beloved sister, and Scarlett was afraid they would kill her. They looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Ira then remembered the kidnapping lessons his instructors taught him about lockpicking when you were handcuffed. If he had a bobby pin it would be perfect. He could free his sister and escape unscathed. Ira completely forgot about Jason right beside him, only considering his and Scarlett's safety.
"Sister, do you have a bobby pin? If you do, can I have it?" Ira asked hopefully, looking anxiously at her.
Scarlett nodded in bewilderment, not knowing why he asked this at such a time. Reaching in her pocket, she handed it to him.
Slowly unlocking his and her handcuffs in six minutes, Ira was already planning an escape plan for then to implement. From the time ticking by so fast, droplets of sweat formed on his forehead. Staring at them doing that, Jason waited patiently for his turn to get free. When it didn't happen, he squinted at them in anger, and questioned in exasperation, "Why aren't you unlocking mine?"
Snapping out of his thought, Ira looked at him in surprise, and reluctantly started lockpicking his handcuff. When they were finally free, the door opened. Freezing in fear, they hurriedly acted like they were still handcuffed.
Two people came in, the guy who looked down on them for not being 'lockpicking masters' and Richard. They both looked completely angered and Richard was especially wrathful and hysterical.
"They actually disagreed and went ahead and won the bid. Sir, what should we do?" the man asked anxiously, hoping his boss had a solution.
"What else do we do?! Kill these useless bastards!" Richard shouted, extremely irrational from losing his only hope of living a lavish lifestyle and cursing him to own large debts and live as a street rat anyone can squash, like his enemies, who were waiting for exactly this moment to get revenge on him.
Grabbing his hand gun, he pointed it toward the children of that arrogant, lofty couple who looked down at him and kicked him while he was down. Impulsively he aimed toward the red haired brat who looked like that as***** who laughed smugly after he called him after the bid.
When Ira perceived the gun was pointed towards him, his brain went blank and he couldn't move. For some reason, his hands moved to the side and grabbed something, trying to use it as a shield. Looking at his hands in shock, he was confused. He realized he was trying to use Jason as a shield. Horror made its way on his face and he tried to stop, but he couldn't. He could only barely pull himself away, making his hands fail to pull Jason strong enough. But he was already looking at him in disbelief and anger.
Ira didn't have the mind to care for that as he was shot in the chest. Falling to his knees, he glanced towards his beloved sister's blaming face as she looked at him in disgust and incredulity. Feeling heartbroken and despairing, his despondent eyes were dimming slowly, filling with desolate emotions. I didn't do that myself, you have to believe me.... Don't hate me.... Someone else was moving my arms.... How.... Why....?
Thud
