American Football: King of the Bay Area

Chapter 376: Chapter 373: Ad Shoot

He surveyed the spacious, brightly lit room. On one side, a sprawling modern cityscape stretched out to the horizon; on the other, a lush, dense forest flourished. For a moment, he felt an acute sense of his own insignificance, humbled before nature. In the next, he felt as if he were standing on top of the world, looking down on everything.

He took a deep breath of fresh air, and his entire chest felt invigorated.

Standing off to the side, Lech quietly watched Lu Ke, taking in the excitement and thrill in his expression. He nodded to himself, satisfied. He knew Lu Ke would like it here.

“This is your home now,” Lech said with a smile, before going into the details. “I’ve already arranged for a housekeeper. She’ll come by to clean every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday after ten in the morning. You won’t have to worry about cleaning or upkeep.”

The schedule was a testament to Lech’s thoroughness. By ten in the morning, Lu Ke would usually have already left for the training facility. Even on the rare occasion he was resting at home, the timing meant his sleep wouldn’t be disturbed.

“If you ever have a party or something comes up and you need to cancel the next day’s cleaning, just let me know a day in advance. I’ll leave her contact information for you so you can reach her directly.” Lech had clearly considered every scenario. “Also, I’ve already handled the house security. They’re coming tomorrow to install alarms and surveillance cameras.”

“Surveillance cameras?” Lu Ke looked surprised. ‘I’m just a rookie, not some top superstar. Aren’t surveillance cameras a bit of an exaggeration?’

“The paparazzi will do anything for a story. The best-case scenario is that we’ll never need them,” Lech said, having his own reasons, especially after the string of negative press bombshells surrounding Ben Roethlisberger. He had to be more cautious. “Don’t worry, it won’t affect your private life. They’ll just be installed around the perimeter of the house.”

Looking at the dead-serious expression on Lech’s face, Lu Ke felt like he was having trouble keeping up.

Lech chuckled softly and patted Lu Ke’s shoulder. Without further explanation, he changed the subject. “For now, go unpack your things, get your room sorted out, and familiarize yourself with your new place. If anything is too tedious or tiring, just set it aside. You can deal with it tomorrow or another day. What makes a house a home is the mark you leave on it, little by little, day by day.”

Lu Ke laughed cheerfully. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this afternoon’s job. But shooting a commercial isn’t exactly manual labor, is it? It’s just striking a few poses for the camera. No need to be so concerned. You’re acting like I’m about to join a Bear Grylls expedition, worrying that I’ll be too tired.”

In response to the lighthearted jab, Lech simply tucked his chin in a knowing way. Without arguing, he just smiled and said, “You go get busy. I need to sit down and rest for a bit. I’m getting old. Can’t stand for too long.”

It was the first day of the bye week, but Lu Ke’s life hadn’t slowed down at all. Instead, he had shifted into a different kind of busy mode.

In the morning, he moved into his brand-new home. In the afternoon, Lu Ke was scheduled for the first round of his advertising campaign with Under Armour.

Three weeks prior, Lu Ke had finalized his contract with Under Armour, landing the first endorsement deal of his life.

But with the regular season in full swing, Lu Ke hadn’t been able to find any time for the Under Armour shoots. The main task was a photoshoot for print ads, as well as filming a short video to officially announce that he had joined the Under Armour family.

Tomorrow, Lu Ke had a series of interviews lined up with magazines, radio stations, and newspapers, along with some photoshoots for magazine features. Part of it was an official interview with the NFL, which solidified his standing in the league as a rookie quarterback. The other part was due to the bright spotlight that came with a 5-1 record, putting him even more in the public eye.

The morning after that, Under Armour would hold an official press conference to formally announce Lu Ke’s arrival.

Within a short sixty-hour window, Lu Ke’s schedule was already packed to the brim, leaving him no time to catch his breath.

This frantic, tight, and overwhelming schedule wasn’t a case of rushing for quick gains; it was simply a matter of time management.

This was the San Francisco 49ers’ bye week, which was meant to give the team a chance to relax and recuperate. But the sheer volume of work surrounding Lu Ke was too much to handle otherwise.

Other rookies had two months before the preseason to handle the preliminary work of entering the league, but Lu Ke, who was thrust into the spotlight just before the regular season, had no such luxury. If Lech and the San Francisco 49ers’ general manager, Trent Balk, hadn’t kept clear heads and run interference, the workload would have drowned him during the regular season.

Now that the bye week had finally arrived, all that accumulated work came flooding in.

But to ensure Lu Ke had enough time to rest and to avoid disrupting his training schedule and preparation for the following week, Lech crammed as much work as possible into the first half of the bye week. The second half was reserved for Lu Ke to properly relax and recharge without any further interruptions. Ultimately, the games and his training were what mattered most.

And so, Lu Ke found himself facing the most grueling period of his career since joining the Professional Alliance.

…

「At two in the afternoon」

Accompanied by Lech, Lu Ke arrived at a photo studio in the Castro District.

It was an abandoned warehouse. The exterior was nothing but dusty, gray concrete walls. Even the derelict pickup truck in the adjacent parking lot was covered in a thick layer of dust, looking like it had been sitting there for a century. Inside, a glance upward revealed exposed pipes and graffiti that covered every wall, creating a casual, artistic, street-style vibe.

It immediately made Lu Ke think of where Candice worked. So this was the kind of place where those stunning, high-fashion photos were created. The strong, post-modern decor perfectly captured the freedom and spontaneity of artistic creation.

From that point on, everything entered a completely unfamiliar phase. If the morning had been busy, this was a true trip down the rabbit hole from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

A photoshoot, it turned out, wasn’t as simple as a model striking a pose in front of a camera and a photographer pressing the shutter.

Before any pictures were taken, just wardrobe and makeup took at least thirty minutes—and for a female model, three hours would have been normal. On top of that, the photographer had to meter and adjust the lighting, decide on the theme for the shoot, position the backdrop, and consult with the model. All these professional procedures took a huge amount of time.

Once the shoot began, it was clear that just standing still and posing wasn’t nearly enough. To capture the right inspiration for a specific shot, the photographer might have the model hold a single pose for three, even five minutes, while making tiny, incremental adjustments. The main thing was that in the process of artistic creation, these “adjustments” weren’t mathematical.

“More intensity in your eyes, more… turn toward me just a little. Good. A little more, a little more. Wait, too much. Go back a bit. Still not enough in the eyes. More. Sharper. Find that game-day focus. No, no, a killer instinct! I need a killer instinct… Not a frown, a killer instinct, a killer instinct…”

“Straighten your posture. Abs in, chest out, stand tall… Come on, come on, chin up five degrees, just five degrees is enough… Pull your arm back a little, and at the same time, press your shoulder back. Imagine a March breeze rustling through a field of wheat. Just a slight, slight press back is all I need…”

‘Standing in front of the camera, Lu Ke felt like his body was no longer his own; he had completely lost control. He understood each of the photographer’s words individually, but strung together, they made no sense. What did “more intensity in your eyes” even mean? How was he supposed to measure five degrees? And what exactly did it mean to “stand tall”?’

Lu Ke wasn’t sure how to project a “killer instinct,” but he was pretty sure that if this kept up, he was going to develop a very real one.

He had thought holding a static pose was the hard part. The minute adjustments were impossible to control, and he couldn’t even begin to understand the photographer’s instructions. A dynamic, action pose, he figured, would surely be easier. But Lu Ke quickly learned he had been too young, too naive.

“Run! That’s it, from left to right. Do it again, run back… Start your throwing motion. No, no, don’t actually release the ball! Freeze at the exact moment it’s about to leave your hand… That pose doesn’t look good. Do it like a slow-motion replay. Give me that powerful, long-pass motion, like you’re drawing a bow. Chest out more, widen your stance a little… Yes, good! Get your whole body into it. Give me some energy! Give me some sunshine! The eyes! Don’t forget the eyes!”

Lu Ke clenched his jaw tightly. He had a strong feeling that in the next second, he might just smash the football right in the photographer’s face.

This wasn’t a photoshoot. It was pure torture.

Now, Lu Ke finally understood what Lech had meant.

A photoshoot was definitely physical labor. In the span of a single hour, they hadn’t even finished the first outfit. At one point, Lu Ke was sweating so profusely that he had to change into a fresh set of clothes, forcing them to start over.

By comparison, Lu Ke would have rather gone for an hour-long run or done passing drills for an hour. An hour in the studio felt longer and more grueling than a century. He had a newfound and immense respect for Candice’s job; this was definitely not something an ordinary person could do.

It was true what they said: every profession has its own expertise. He belonged on a football field, not in a photo studio.

After seventy long minutes, the shoot for the first outfit finally ended. Drenched in sweat, looking as if he’d just been pulled from a lake, Lu Ke dragged his exhausted body to the rest area. He was meant to take a short break before diving into the shoot for the second outfit.

And that was when Lu Ke saw Stephen Curry sitting in the rest area.