The heat was unbearable, and the fan had given up trying. Adrian sat cross-legged on the dusty condo floor, sweat beading at his temples, a cheap ballpen hanging from his lips. The small whiteboard leaned against a chair leg, cluttered with ideas scratched in messy handwriting.
**VOICEMAIL: FATHER — 1min 27s**
**MOOD: restrained grief, no tears.**
**SHOT LENGTH: one take, 4min 10s**
Across from him, Joms sprawled on the worn-out couch, poking at his tablet. "Alright," he said between mouthfuls of pancit canton. "That part where the dad says 'I'm proud of you'? Tone it *down*. Too cheesy. Sounds like an ad for adult diapers."
Adrian rolled his eyes. "It's meant to land emotionally."
"Yeah, and it will — but not if you punch the audience in the face with it. People cry when you whisper, not when you scream."
That shut Adrian up for a moment. He hated that Joms was right.
They'd spent the last two days holed up in the condo — refining the concept, finalizing the father's voicemail, blocking camera positions using pillows and a laundry basket as stand-ins. The camera was tested, the lights duct-taped to the ceiling fan with prayer and desperation, and the audio gear had been jury-rigged to a desk mic stand made from an old selfie stick and a bag of coins.
Adrian had storyboarded every second in his head. He wasn't just trying to make something watchable — he was trying to make something that would hit *hard*.
"Let's rehearse the read one more time," Adrian said. "This time, less 'tito reading a sermon,' more like a dad who means well but doesn't know how to say what he really wants."
Joms sighed and pressed record on his phone. "If this goes viral, I want credit as 'voiceover tito.'"
Then came a knock at the door.
Joms frowned. "That's weird. I didn't order anything."
He stood up and opened the door. A round, sweaty guy with thick glasses and an oversized Uniqlo hoodie stood in the hallway, carrying a battered laptop and a plastic bag of fish crackers.
"Hoy!" Joms lit up. "Kai! You didn't tell me you were dropping by."
Kai grinned awkwardly. "My landlord changed the Wi-Fi password again and I had three ranked losses in a row. Can I crash here for a bit?"
Kairos Tobias — everyone just called him **Kai** or **K2** — was a walking contradiction. Broke, socially awkward, built like a beanbag, but with the instincts of a savant. He could beat you in DOTA, edit your vlog into a cinematic masterpiece, and still have time to lecture you about aspect ratios.
"Yo, you're the LA guy, right?" Kai said, pointing a cheesy finger at Adrian. "The body-swap guy Joms was talking about?"
Adrian smirked. "That's one way to put it."
Joms handed him a bottle of lukewarm water. "We're working on a short film. Want to sit in?"
"Short film?" Kai perked up. "What's the premise?"
Adrian explained the concept quickly — the voicemail, the single take, the emotional payoff. Kai listened in total silence, then said:
"Okay. First of all, killer concept. But don't shoot it wide."
Adrian blinked. "What?"
Kai pulled out his laptop and opened a rough timeline in Premiere Pro. "If you frame it too wide, you lose the micro-emotions. Keep it medium-close or close-up. That way, when you react — the twitch, the breath, the flinch — it all becomes intimate. Feels real."
Adrian raised an eyebrow. "You edit?"
Kai shrugged. "I breathe, don't I?"
"And you're planning to upload it, right?" Kai added. "Start with **YouTube** — longer-form, higher retention. Then make a cut-down version for **Facebook** — catch that emotional-scrolling crowd. And maybe tease a reaction thread on **Twitter** to get traction. If you drop it on a Thursday, you ride the weekend wave."
Joms blinked. "Wait. You're a social media guy too?"
"No," Kai said flatly. "I'm just broke and online 19 hours a day."
Adrian leaned back and let out a laugh — the first real one in days. "Well, I guess we have an editor now."
Kai grinned, cheeks puffing slightly. "Payment is accepted in pizza or leftover spaghetti."
Joms tossed him the plastic-wrapped Jollibee pack from the fridge. "Sold."
---
**\[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – TEAM UPDATE]**
→ *New Team Member Added: Kairos "K2" Tobias*
→ *Role: Video Editing, Audio Sync, Social Strategy (YouTube/Facebook/Twitter)*
→ *Passive Buff: +15% Viral Potential upon upload if edited by Kai*
→ *New Resource Unlocked: 2015 Social Media Viral Tactics Toolkit*
---
That night, the three of them stayed up late, refining the voicemail script, rehearsing takes, testing mic placements, and debating whether or not to use ambient noise.
At some point, Joms turned serious and said, "You really think this will work?"
Adrian didn't hesitate. "I have to."
Kai, with fish cracker dust on his fingers, nodded. "Well then... let's make something painful."(End Chapter)