Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

At least this time, Tristan didn't have to wait two days for the answer.

[Help me convince Diana Swallow to be the lead actress in my next movie. It's got to be her! If not her… it will be so, so much worse. I will give you her contacts.]

Tristan read the message again in slight disbelief.

The name Diana Swallow felt vaguely familiar. A quick search told him she was a moderately famous actress with a stereotypical "tall, blond, thin, and beautiful" image. She usually played tragic roles in sad movies.

There wasn't anything particularly special about Diana, except for a few scandals with supposed drug use, and a slight air of melancholy coming from her even on photos where she was smiling for the cameras.

Frowning, Tristan began typing his response.

[You want me to do the convincing? This will only look weird. I'm not one of your workers, and not Diana's friend or even an acquaintance. I can repay you in some other way—a promotion, perhaps?]

[I know how it will look like, Hayes. Do you think I'm that dense? But I already sent my HR person to convince her… I even talked to her myself! She refused as soon as she read the summary of the script. All I know is that it's not about the money or prestige. Hell, her own personal assistant tried to convince her to take the role.]

Tristan could almost imagine Ilom spitting out the words like acid.

If that was any other man, Tristan would've thought that Ilom had a crush on the actress. But Ilom seemed like a person who feared people too much to have crushes on anyone.

[Let's say I do that, Mr. Ilom. Can you actually help with my problem, though?]

[Yes! I don't care how, but get her on board for me, and I will arrange for you a great place for your concert. There's The Ballad stadium. It can host 20 thousand people, and the manager owes me… plenty. I can make him give you a slot next month. But Diana comes first!

I will give you her contacts.]

That was even better than Tristan's previous venue. It could still not work out, but at least Tristan could try this.

Besides, he was a pro at convincing people.

[Alright, Mr. Ilom. It's a deal—but I will need the movie script summary, too.]

[I will send it.]

[And one more question, Mr. Ilom—do you have a brother?]

There wasn't an immediate reply. Tristan wondered if Ilom had escaped the conversation whatsoever.

Maybe asking was a mistake.

With a shrug, Tristan went to get himself a drink (non-alcoholic), and while he was at it, a sandwich. When he returned to the laptop, there was a new message.

[I don't know what possessed you to ask, but fucking forget that thing, Hayes. For your own sake.]

This basically confirmed it.

Tristan wondered since he first met Damien, but could ask only now.

Damien "Sea Devil" with an unknown surname and Asher Ilom. They had nothing in common except looking like twins. Because they were, apparently.

'I don't need to dig into this anymore. I have plenty of leverage on Damien already, and this probably won't help me to deal with Ilom.'

Tristan huffed. He was still curious, though. This was too similar to his own situation, while being drastically different.

'Alright, I might ask Damien next time, when there's a good opportunity. Hm. Can I make it a task?..'

It refused to add. Tristan added two other tasks instead.

[New task: convince Diana Swallow to take part in Asher Ilom's next movie. Value: 100.]

[New task: get a new venue for your concert until the end of next month. Value: 500.]

Both tasks went into the "Pop-star" category.

Tristan finished eating his sandwich and shook the crumbs off his knees.

'Time to roll. Research first, then finding this Diana. I only have a few days if I want to get into the timeline.'

***

The script for Ilom's next movie was unfinished and unnamed, but what Tristan got was enough to give him an impression.

The main character was a depressed secretary who had descended to the very bottom of substance abuse and reckless behavior. However, she meets a homeless child, and through helping him with his own problems, also finds in herself to recover from addiction and build a better life.

It was a movie with a clear message of hope. Tristan thought that having the protagonist be a woman was a bad idea, but it wasn't like he was a movie critic.

Ilom also told Tristan the words of Diana's last refusal—one that was personally to him.

"This is a nice fairytale you want me to take part in. Ask someone more naïve, though."

That gave Tristan at least some insight into her character.

In the morning, he sent her an invitation to meet and talk. He hesitated about telling the reason for the conversation, but eventually added that it was about Ilom's movie. Tristan feared that otherwise Diana or her PA would refuse outright.

Now at least Diana's PA will be on Tristan's side.

***

Next morning.

Diana agreed to meet Tristan in her own house. Her territory, her living room with clinically clean walls and bleak modern-style furniture.

She was sitting in a wicker chair, smoking a long cigarette with a sweet fruit smell. Diana was dressed in a casual light gray blouse and pants, but she made even those simple items look good.

Diana made melancholy look good. And she was reeking of melancholy.

Tristan could read it in the line of her mouth and eyes. Melancholy was her resting expression.

She only lifted her eyes at Tristan when he sat opposite of her. Behind him, Diana's PA quietly left the room and closed the door, but Tristan heard the other woman's footsteps stop almost immediately.

'She's listening in. Out of curiosity, or to interfere if she feels the need to?'

Tristan glanced between the two women another time. With his recent talent, String Theory, he could see a green-blue line between them. By this point, he knew that blue color represented loyalty, and green went for friendship.

There were very few blue or green strings coming from Diana. There were very few strings at all.

"His manager, himself, and now a completely unaffiliated person… Whom else Ilom will send to hound my doorstep after I refuse, Mr. Gemello?" Diana asked instead of greeting.

Tristan smiled back at her, unaffected by the prickliness.

"Honestly? I think if he could send art police to bring you to him, he totally would've. But maybe, say, mafia?"

Tristan chuckled, showing that it was only a joke. In the light of recent revelations, it sounded like a real possibility.

Diana smiled with a corner of her mouth and took another drag of her cigarette.

Tristan noticed her eyes being slightly bloodshot. A hangover?

"The answer is still no, though. I don't know why you are helping Ilom, Mr. Gemello, but you can use that effort to convince him to find another actress."

"I might," Tristan said honestly. "But I still want to talk with you first. If you don't mind. At the very least, you seem like a person who is interesting to talk with."

Tristan was laying his charm thickly by this point. He could tell it was working a little, because Diana looked at him curiously, and appeared to be more alive than before.

The melancholy didn't disappear, though.

"Such a flatterer," Diana said. "I don't see you convincing me, unless the movie script changes drastically. Which it won't, or so Ilom told me already. He was very adamant about his vision of the movie."

Tristan nodded. He understood as much.

Even if he managed to just press on her with his charm and his hypnotizing voice, it will be all for nothing if Diana changed her mind a week later when Tristan was out of her sight.

To convince her truly, he had to first find why she was against this in the first place.

"Why do you disagree with the script so much, if you don't mind me asking, Ms. Swallow? Actually, may I call you Diana instead?"

"Why not? You may. As for your question… I'm sure Ilom told you already."

"Alright. Then I should ask a better question instead. What's your problem with fairytales?"

Diana frowned.

"They are just way too naïve. They make people forget what world they live in and do foolish things."

"Good things happen in the real world, though. Even miracles sometimes."

Diana stared at Tristan searchingly for a moment.

"Is that what you really believe in? Well, I'm not one to judge. But it's a statistical improbability."

Tristan remembered what he read about the woman on the news, and pieces began to fall together. It was only a vague idea at that point, though.

A shot in the dark. But Tristan was a great shot.

"You think that if Ilom's story happened in real life, the protagonist wouldn't have reached the happy ending, Diana? If that protagonist was a real person… someone like you, even?"