Rewind With A Superstar System

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Careless by NEFFEX>

... 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Emily noticed that Von’s hair was missing a lot of chunks, and his scalp was even bleeding, the red mixing with the water poured on him. Her eyes went wide in horror.

"Wait. Did you really pull out your hair for reals!?" Emily gasped.

Von was just about to explain to her that it was fine when he suddenly got a notification in his head.

Ding!

[Skill: Immersion (A+) Deactivated]

[Duration: 6:44]

[Cost: 350 EXP]

[Time Left To Quest Failure: 1 day: 4 hours: 37 minutes]

Von panicked seeing the translucent purple screen hovering in his vision. At first, he was completely confused about what it meant.

But after a few seconds, everything snapped into place.

"We have to act fast!" Von announced all of a sudden with urgency.

Max and Emily immediately gave him confused stares.

"Act fast how?" Max asked, lowering the heavy camera to the floor. "The shoot is done, bro. We got the footage."

"Von, you’re bleeding," Emily added with deep worry. She stepped closer, reaching out to inspect his scalp. "You should get first aid immediately."

Von shook his head, trying to step past her. "Don’t worry about me, Em. It’s something minor. We need to post the video before tomorrow midnight. Max, show me the camera. Do we need to do a second—"

"No!" Emily stopped Von before he could complete his sentence. She stepped right in front of him, blocking his path with an unyielding glare.

"You need to receive treatment for that cut on your head right now. And you are not doing anything else until that happens. Do you understand me?"

Von’s tense face instantly melted. A strange, cold chill ran down his body hearing Emily’s strict words.

He felt like he didn’t have any choice but to comply.

"Okay... Thank you."

Max raised an eyebrow at the bizarrely submissive response, but he didn’t say anything as they all walked back inside the mansion.

They went straight to Von’s master bedroom. Emily grabbed the medical kit from the and sat Von down on the edge of the mattress.

She carefully cleaned the blood from his scalp with an antiseptic wipe, her fingers gently moving through his messy hair to apply a small, secure bandage over the torn skin.

To ease his tension, she even gave his scalp a gentle massage for about a few minutes until she was finally satisfied with her work.

Afterward, Von went into the bathroom to take a hot shower and wash the freezing fake rain off his body. He changed into a fresh, dry pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

When he walked back out, he looked much better. He climbed onto the large bed, letting out an exhausted sigh as he leaned back against the headboard. Emily and Max were standing over him, discussing the next steps.

Emily turned to Max and crossed her arms. "He’s a bit fine now. I’m no doctor, but his head is faring pretty well for someone who literally pulled his own hair out by the roots."

Max shook his head in disbelief, looking down at Von. "Bro really took acting a music video to the next level. It was terrifying to watch not gonna lie. It’ll really hurt if I can’t do a good job editing what he intended to show."

Emily sighed in tiredness, picking up her tablet from the nightstand. "Well, you two can get to work on the computer. I’ll be going—"

"Why?"

Von, who had been completely quiet this whole time, suddenly interrupted her. His voice was fast and panicked, making Max turn and stare at him in surprise.

The sudden, intense stares from both of them were so overwhelming for Von that he stammered.

"Uh... I meant, where were you going?" Von quickly corrected himself. "We have about twenty-eight hours to be entirely done with the video. So, uh we’ll need your company... I mean, your help."

"Really?" Emily touched her chin in thought. "I don’t know how to edit, Von."

"Just stay," he insisted.

Emily hesitated for a second before taking a seat on the edge of the bed right next to him.

The moment she sat down, she felt a sudden, warm touch. Von had unconsciously reached out with his right hand, wrapping his arm firmly around her waist to pull her slightly closer.

Emily blinked in surprise, but seeing the deep exhaustion in his eyes, she didn’t say anything to push him away.

"Twenty-eight hours?!!" Max yelled, meanwhile, entirely focused on the deadline Von had just dropped.

"Bro, are you insane? You know I have to track Aura’s face onto the puddle reflection and TVs just like you envisioned. There’s also the rough cutting, the color grading, the rendering, the audio syncing, and so much other stuff! Von, even professional teams take at least three weeks just to edit a video of this scale. And you expect me to be done in a day?"

Von held Emily’s waist a little tighter, his thumb drawing absentminded circles on her jeans as his mind raced.

Max made a very good point. The workload was almost impossible for a normal person. But the System didn’t leave him with any choice. Failure meant losing his eyesight. Hopefully, he could speed things up drastically with his new [Director’s Eye] skill.

"I’ve told you I’ll help you," Von said firmly, looking at his cameraman.

"Trust me, you’ll spot things much easier. I know exactly what it needs to look like. We just have to stay awake for twenty-eight hours straight, and we’ll be done."

Max fixed Von with a heavy, deadpan stare that spoke volumes about his annoyance. But looking at the serious expression on Von’s face, he knew he couldn’t argue further.

"Fine," Max groaned, grabbing his hard drive. "Leave Emily alone and let’s get started then."

It was then Von realized exactly what he was doing. He looked down and saw his arm wrapped securely around his manager’s waist. A blush immediately appeared on his face