Chapter 437: He Really Paid Too Much
By all logic, if Steven pulled something like this, most of the people standing here would have turned around and walked away on the spot—without giving him even a shred of face.
Unfortunately, there was one fatal problem.
He was offering way too much.
Setting aside the way he threw LMD around as if money were nothing more than scrap paper, just the promise of those miraculous medicines in his possession—or his offer to help treat severe Oripathy cases that even Rhodes Island struggled to handle—was more than enough to tempt anyone.
And when you added in the mindset of "if we're suffering, at least we're suffering together", the operators who had raised their hands could only swallow their complaints and keep them bottled up inside.
After all, most of them were supporting roles. Their screen time wouldn't amount to much anyway.
The one whose face darkened instantly—clearly about to step forward and reason things out with Steven—was Gavial.
But just as she opened her mouth, Steven grabbed her, clamped a hand over her mouth, and physically muted her.
"Alright, everyone, go collect your costumes now," Steven announced smoothly. "These are specially made outfits I had rushed out overnight. They're expensive, so please take good care of them."
He pointed to the costumes he'd had Czarny work overtime to produce. This was the first time Steven truly understood the terrifying power of capital.
The moment the boss gave the order, everything was completed within hours—from design to production—without him needing to wait at all. All he had to do was pick them up.
And even then, Czarny had been worried the turnaround might not be fast enough to satisfy him, repeatedly promising to be quicker and better next time.
Silently marveling at the might of money, Steven took advantage of the actors selecting their costumes to glance at the crocodile girl he was still restraining—her mouth covered, completely unable to speak.
She'd already tried to bite his fingers hard with her teeth. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to use the crocodilian death roll, so the actual damage she could inflict was limited.
Even so, the dissatisfaction and rage in her eyes were clearly nearing critical mass.
To avoid being instantly taken out by an enraged crocodile girl, Steven cautiously released his hand and gave her a placating look.
"Well, uh… as one of the leads in this film, if you've got complaints, it might be better not to voice them in front of so many people," he said gently. "Can't you learn a thing or two from Specter over there? She's also a main character."
He pointed to Specter, who was nearby wearing a fluffy shark-head mascot costume, and continued trying to soothe the furious crocodile.
"She's insane. Am I insane?" Gavial shot back, glaring at him.
She never imagined that when she'd agreed to play a role in this legendary disaster of a movie, she'd end up being one of the main protagonists.
Being a protagonist meant she'd have to act like a clown for hours in this cinematic pile of trash—and then get pointed at and laughed at afterward.
"How can you say that?" Steven said with a forced smile. "If there's anything you're unhappy about, we can talk it over, right? Worst case, we can change the script."
Steven kept smiling mainly because—at least for now—Rhodes Island only had one crocodile like her. He'd heard that male members of Gavial's race tended to show stronger crocodilian traits, and he would have liked to find one—
But unfortunately, there just wasn't one available.
There is a lizardman on Rhodes Island—but a crocodile and a lizard were still very different things.
"Change it?" Gavial snapped. "I'd rather burn this thing to the ground so no one can pick it up later as some kind of cursed cult scripture. You know how ridiculous this is, right?"
She didn't even need to bring up scenes like charging into a race with a chainsaw and chasing down competitors, sawing apart anyone who fell behind. Just the protagonist's name alone was already enough to make her lose it completely.
'Crocodile Chibi.'
What kind of sick joke was that?!
How was a cutesy name like that supposed to match such a brutal, unhinged role?!
She was going to throw up.
"That won't do," Steven said with a grin. "You agreed to this yourself—I didn't force you. I've heard your complaints loud and clear, though. Worst case, I'll compensate you afterward. How about that?"
Steven smiled even wider. Hearing Gavial say all this out loud only made it funnier. But now that everything was already locked in, swapping actors was clearly impossible. The only thing he could do was ask her to tough it out for now.
"Compensation… you…" Gavial clenched her fist, nearly launching herself at Steven with a full-force charge to turn him into the next piece of meat on the chopping block.
But when she thought about what he had promised her—and how important that promise was—she forcibly calmed herself down.
Compared to her homeland… compared to all the people on this land still suffering from Oripathy, this bit of humiliation and loss of face was nothing.
She was making a massive profit from this deal.
Glaring at Steven with poorly concealed resentment, Gavial finally sighed and walked over to the pile of costumes. She picked up the protagonist's outfit—a green crocodile pajama suit—and went off to find somewhere to try it on.
As for Specter—who had already fully changed into a shark onesie, complete with an absurdly adorable shark hood—the sight alone made Gavial want to crawl into a hole and die.
This was too embarrassing.
Just kill her already.
Steven, meanwhile, stood where he was, calmly enduring the murderous gazes of the temporary actors he'd dragged into this mess. From start to finish, he wore the same relaxed, unfazed smile.
It was only when Ceobe—hugging a bone-shaped pillow—trotted over to him that his expression softened slightly, the practiced smile finally fading.
"Mr. Steve," Ceobe asked, blinking her wide, innocent eyes and tilting her head, "Amiya and I wanted to ask… do we really just need to hug Kal'tsit's leg later? That's it? It's okay even if we don't act very well?"
For a deal that involved eating freely all day long, Ceobe was admittedly a little suspicious.
"No worries, no worries," Steven said, clenching his fist encouragingly. "I trust you two completely. Just act like your usual selves. After all—"
He smiled warmly at her.
"You're playing a silly dog. You're perfectly typecast for this kind of role."
<+>
Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1].
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 521: Is That Something a Normal Person Would Say?[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/152281351?collection=55713[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/152281351?collection=55713
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/152281351?collection=55713
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/55713?view=condensed