Chapter 15. Friendship, Effort, Victory
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"Be human, be human, be human..."
"Tsk, failed again."
Dio took off the fully immersive device from his head, his face grim as he recalled what had happened in the fully immersive world.
There was one thing Shuhei Morita wasn't wrong about. The vampire model he reprogrammed wasn't something an average person could handle.
During the auditions before the official filming, Dio had been kicked out of the immersive state multiple times because his subconscious couldn't adapt to the vampire model.
Despite being a parallel counterpart, there were still differences between Dio (in this world) and Dio (in the JOJO world).
It's like Diego and Dio. Even though they are both Dio and both evil, Diego wasn't as completely evil as Dio.
"I... deeply regret my past life... Because I grew up in poverty, it gave me this unnecessary ambition. Poisoning the benefactor who raised me to seize his wealth... What kind of foolishness did I commit!?"
Although in Phantom Blood, Dio's confession to Jonathan was purely for self-preservation, exploiting Jonathan's kindness to kill him when he let his guard down. When Speedwagon revealed his scheme, he also pointed out that Dio's evil wasn't like those who grew up in slums and had to become bad to survive.
Dio's evil was innate!
Speedwagon himself was the perfect counterexample. Even without the same support from the Joestar family, he entrusted his life to Jonathan after their fateful encounter, which started with him trying to rob Jonathan and nearly getting kicked in the groin.
Moved by Jonathan's restraint, thinking even people like them might have families who care for them, Speedwagon decided to devote himself to Jonathan. He even transferred his vast oil fortune to Joseph, Jonathan's grandson.
So, Speedwagon, who had a similar background but made different choices, was sure of Dio's nature. However, like Diego, Dio's evil was influenced by his environment.
If his mother hadn't died early, and if he wasn't raised by Dario Brando, Dio might have used less aggressive methods to achieve his goals.
In essence, it was a difference between an evil value of 8 and 9. This small difference made it impossible for him to control the vampire model like Dio in JOJO, instead being controlled by the Stone Mask, like most ordinary vampires in JOJO.
"I, Dio, succumb to such minor guilt!?"
As Dio thought about this upon returning to reality, Jonathan's voice reached his ears after he took off the fully immersive device.
"Dio, are you practicing the model again?"
"Mr. Morita said this vampire model is very difficult, so we have more time to practice and get familiar with it. There's no need to rush."
This dialogue, similar to the script world, created a disorienting blend of illusion and reality.
—No wonder full immersion is so popular.
—Pucci was right; being an immersive actor might indeed be more lucrative than being a lawyer, even if I can find legal loopholes.
The disorientation lasted only a moment. The difference between 19th-century London and modern Japan was too significant to linger. Instead, it strengthened Dio's resolve to switch careers.
"This rhetoric only works on kids like you, JOJO."
"I like the nickname JOJO, but that's not my name..."
Without letting Jonathan finish, Dio, who had put the fully immersive device back on, ended the topic quickly: "You must have heard, right?"
"Your cousin invested a lot of money in making Phantom Blood. If she can spend so much without blinking, what's stopping her from hiring better actors to replace us?"
Deciding to step into the immersive field, building a good relationship with Jonathan and the Joestar family became crucial. However, personal improvement was still paramount.
Building a relationship with the Joestar family was just to leverage their resources to accelerate his growth as an immersive actor and quickly gain fame in this new field. Neglecting his own growth for relationships would be counterproductive!
"After all, unlike you, JOJO, I don't have a cousin who's our boss."
With that, Dio ignored Jonathan's response and immersed himself back into the script world.
Victory, then dominance!
It's that simple, and that's what Dio aimed to do!
That's why Dio could achieve things that surprised even the experienced Akiyuki Shinbo and Shuhei Morita. It wasn't just his innate talent as a parallel counterpart and chosen actor. It was also his effort and sweat that far surpassed ordinary people.
Now, Dio was merely showcasing the results of his fully harnessed talent.
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