Chapter 001 Hollywood 1988
Chapter 001: Hollywood 1988
“Hey, Eric, the steaks for table nine.”
“Oh, right.” Eric answered and somewhat awkwardly carried the two steaks over to the couple seated by the window. After finishing, he returned to his original spot and leaned against the counter, continuing to stare blankly into space.
The date was July 13, 1988. It was the third day since his rebirth. The place was an Italian restaurant in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Eric turned his head and looked at the faint reflection in the nearby glass window. About 180 centimeters tall, with sharply defined features, a high nose bridge, and short blond hair—this was who he was now.
A few days ago, Eric had still been in the Magic City on the opposite side of the Pacific in 2014, working as a commercial director. At twenty-four, he had graduated from the directing department of one of China’s most prestigious film academies, determined to become an internationally renowned director. After struggling for ten years, he finally understood how cruel reality was. Despite his solid professional skills, he ended up becoming a well-known commercial director within Shanghai’s industry circles. Well, at least he had become famous in some way, hadn’t he?
He got married at thirty-five. A year later, his son was born. At last, he settled down and packed away his dreams in exchange for formula money. Several years later, during a class reunion, a long-unseen group of classmates forced a stomachful of alcohol into him. Then, amidst memories of the past, he fell into a deep sleep.
Just like the beginning of every horror story—or non-horror story—once he woke up, everything had changed. He discovered that he had returned twenty-five years into the past and become a high school student named Eric Williams. This year, he had just graduated from high school, and...
“Eric, are you alright?” A chubby hand rested on Eric’s shoulder and patted him lightly. Eric turned around and saw the restaurant owner, Jeff Jones.
“Sorry, Jeff. I zoned out again.”
“It’s alright.” Jeff rubbed his hands together, seemingly thinking about how to phrase his words, before continuing, “About Ralph... I’m very sorry. But life has to go on, right? Pull yourself together, Eric.”
Ralph Williams, Eric’s father, had been an excellent Italian chef who had worked at this restaurant for many years. Although his cooking was superb, Ralph had one terrible vice—alcoholism. According to the memories left behind by the body’s original owner, Ralph’s drinking habit might have had something to do with Eric’s mother, whom he had never met. Using a phrase from the future, this was also a man with a story.
The matter itself was simple. One month ago, Ralph died from acute alcohol poisoning caused by excessive drinking.
“Thank you, Jeff. If not for your help, I really wouldn’t know what to do,” Eric said.
After Ralph’s death, Eric’s life had fallen into chaos. Originally, Eric had already applied to the University of California, but Ralph’s death shattered any hope of attending college. Even public universities required around twenty thousand US dollars in tuition per year, not including other expenses.
As Ralph’s employer and friend, Jeff discussed things with Eric, and afterward Eric started working as a waiter in the restaurant. After all, just as Jeff had said, life had to go on.
“Ralph worked here for so many years. This is the least I should do. But I can only help this much. The rest depends on your own efforts.”
Eric nodded gratefully and watched Jeff turn around and leave. Thinking about what Jeff had just said, he fell into deep thought.
Somewhere in the unseen, since some unscrupulous deity had sent him to Hollywood more than twenty years in the past, if he continued living as an unknown restaurant waiter forever, that deity would probably die of anger.
Three days ago, after finally understanding his situation, Eric had been excited for a while. But after the excitement came confusion.
In his previous life, even as one of the top students at a film academy, he had still failed to realize his dreams and ultimately bowed to reality. Let alone now, when he had neither academic credentials nor connections. Even if he went to apply for the lowest-level position at a film company, he might not succeed.
After a long and busy day, Eric drove away from the Italian restaurant. The car was a Ford sedan left behind by his cheap old man. After Ralph died, Eric had once considered selling the car to help with living expenses. But after getting the waiter job, he decided to keep it. After all, America was a country built on wheels. Without a car, many things would be inconvenient.
As he passed a movie theater, Eric noticed a poster for Rambo III displayed at the entrance. Against a backdrop of snowy mountains and helicopters, Sylvester Stallone, in the prime of his career, wore a tank top and showed off muscles capable of making female moviegoers scream.
As if possessed, Eric parked the car in a nearby parking lot. After asking around, he learned that a screening was about to begin, so he bought a ticket and walked into the theater.
Because it was not prime time, only around thirty or forty people occupied the two-hundred-seat screening hall. Eric found his seat and sat down.
Soon, darkness filled the theater. After the opening sequence, the story officially began. Colonel Trautman invited the reclusive Rambo, who was living in Thailand, to carry out a mission in Afghanistan together, but Rambo refused him. After Colonel Trautman was captured, Rambo armed himself once more in order to rescue his friend...
In his previous life, Eric had watched every one of Stallone’s movies, and most of them more than once. The reason he had bought a ticket and entered the theater was because he had remembered Stallone’s experiences, and at the same time remembered his former self.
During those ten years of struggling and clawing his way forward, whenever he wanted to give up, he would use certain inspirational stories to encourage himself. Among them was Stallone’s almost legendary acting career.
The movie continued to play. Eric pulled his scattered thoughts back together and focused on enjoying the film.
Gradually, Eric, who had originally been leaning back comfortably against the seat, straightened up.
Because he had seen this movie before, every time the plot advanced, Eric would subconsciously think about what would happen next. Then, to his astonishment, as he thought about it, the upcoming scenes unfolded clearly in his mind.
In other words, he actually remembered every single shot, every line of dialogue, and even every piece of background music from the entire movie.
Little by little, Eric grew excited. Then he closed his eyes and randomly chose Titanic by James Cameron to recall from memory.
The result was exactly the same.
He could recall every single minute and second of the film.
He tried several more movies he had watched before. The result remained the same.
Thoughts raced through his mind. Eric attempted to recall several movies whose names he had only heard of but never actually watched. This time, the miracle did not happen.
It seemed he only remembered things he had personally seen before.
But that was already enough.
When he had first been reborn, Eric had also considered claiming some future movies as his own. However, having been a professional director in his previous life, he naturally understood how difficult such a thing would be in practice. At most, he could only write a few similar scripts.
But now, after discovering that his mind clearly contained all the memories from his previous life, Eric understood exactly what this meant.
As long as he had the opportunity, he could almost perfectly recreate those classic films he had seen in his previous life.
Because of his excitement, Eric’s cheeks flushed hot in the darkness, and his fingers tingled slightly with numbness.
Finally, Eric could no longer hold back. He slammed heavily against the seat armrest and blurted out, “Holy shit!”
The pain in his palm pulled Eric back to reality. Seeing the dissatisfied looks cast his way by several nearby audience members, Eric gave an awkward smile.
The hundred-minute movie quickly came to an end. Rambo successfully rescued his friend and once again waved his sleeve as he departed, hiding both his achievements and fame.
However, Eric, sitting in the darkness, clearly paid no attention to any of that. His thoughts were racing as he considered countless things.
In his previous life, he had never possessed such a good memory. Like ordinary people, he needed to read an article many times before memorizing it, and listen to a song many times before he could sing it.
Clearly, this was an enormous treasure bestowed upon him by some unscrupulous... no, lovable deity.
Filled with immense ambition to rise to the pinnacle of life, Eric walked out of the theater and hurriedly drove home.
He understood very well that, with such an enormous treasure trove stored inside his mind, if he still failed as miserably as he had in his previous life, then he might as well fill a basin with tap water and drown himself in it.