Chapter 1 |
Knock, knock, knock!
A sharp rap on the wooden door echoed in the young man's ears, followed by a gruff, insistent voice. "Matthew, the director and the lead actress are on set. The whole crew's waiting for you. You've got fifteen minutes to get ready."
The voice added grimly, "If you're not out in fifteen minutes, I swear to God, I'll come in there and kill you."
The words buzzed through his ears and drilled into his mind. Matthew struggled to open his eyes, but his lids felt glued shut. Only when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps retreating down the hall did he finally manage, with immense effort, to pry one eye open.
It was black as ink and filled with dazed confusion.
His dark eye swept across the room, and a single thought instantly formed: "I've definitely never been in this place before."
He was lying on his back on a wooden floor, the door to his left.
The moment he realized he was in an unfamiliar place, a flood of information rushed into his mind. Two completely different sets of memories, like films playing over each other on a single screen, intertwined into a chaotic jumble, making him clutch his head in pain.
Gradually, the confusion in his eyes faded and his vision cleared. He pushed himself up slowly, steadying himself with a hand on a nearby chair.
The man in the mirror, clad only in trousers, stood about six-foot-one with a well-defined, toned upper body. He had dark brown hair framing a face with a high-bridged nose and deep-set eyes. His features were so sharply chiseled they looked as if they had been carved with a blade. Aside from the inky black eyes, he could find nothing in this reflection that remotely resembled his former self.
Staring at his reflection, he bit down hard on his lip. The sharp sting of pain confirmed this was real. After standing there in a stupor for a good five minutes, he finally began to process that something truly unbelievable had happened to him.
His last true memory was crystal clear: he'd been on a construction site, breaking up cement under a scorching sun. He remembered wiping sweat from his brow and taking a desperate gulp of water just as a coworker's sledgehammer swung wide and came crashing down on his face. After that, everything went black.
So that was it, then? The end of twenty miserable years of life.
He had been born in a poor, forgotten village in the mountains. Family poverty had forced him to work since he was a child. At eighteen, his long-suffering parents passed away, leaving him to fend for himself. He was the epitome of a man with no future—no education, no knowledge, no skills. His only option was the back-breaking labor of a construction site, hauling bricks and smashing concrete. And before he could save a dime or take a single step up the social ladder, he died.
Ending that miserable life to start anew... maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. The thought surfaced on its own as he recalled the endless hardship of his previous existence.
Except this new life didn't seem to be an improvement.
Standing before the mirror, he tapped his firm, handsome face, reassuring himself that this was no dream.
The young man in the mirror was named Matthew Horner. It seemed he had been reincarnated, a strange fate he'd only ever read about in stories.
Fortunately, the original Matthew Horner—who had presumably gone off to meet Hades... no, in this country, it would be the Christian God—had left behind a decent collection of memories.
But as these memories flashed through his mind, his—or rather, Matthew's—face twitched.
The original Matthew Horner hailed from the slums of Texas. Born in 1980, he was now just nineteen years old. That meant the current year was 1999, right on the cusp of the new millennium.
In his nineteen years, Matthew Horner had dropped out of middle school and was practically illiterate. He couldn't read a newspaper or a book, his grammar was atrocious, and his writing was nonexistent. At least he could understand spoken English.
A man like that could hardly be expected to make a decent living.
So, naturally, Matthew's job history was a string of low-wage gigs: delivering newspapers and milk, washing cars, scrubbing dishes in restaurants, and, after getting his license, working as a driver. For a while, he'd even ended up swinging a sledgehammer on a construction site.
Late last year, he'd been foolish enough to let someone convince him that his good looks and physique were star material, and he'd packed up and moved to Los Angeles to become an actor.
It was that same agent who brought him here, to this makeshift studio in a converted house in Los Angeles, where he had abruptly collapsed in the dressing room.
Matthew sighed. The memories confirmed it: he was in Los Angeles.
He glanced around the room. From the posters on the walls to the papers scattered on a small table, any text was just a meaningless scramble of letters to him.
Matthew grabbed the chair and sank into it with a frown, continuing to sift through the chaotic memories in his mind.
The mental resources left behind by his predecessor were meager, to say the least.
He'd been uneducated in his past life, and he was uneducated in this one. The irony was, back then he'd at least known some basic English. Now, he was completely illiterate. On top of it all, the original Matthew had rashly quit his job and followed some shady character here, blindly chasing a dream of Hollywood stardom.
Wait, what's my role in this movie?
Matthew shot to his feet, remembering what the man at the door had said.
A jolt of excitement shot through him. The man had said the director and the lead actress were waiting for him—the male lead.
This could be a lot of money, right?
His mind immediately jumped to all those young movie stars who shot to fame overnight, becoming sensations in Hollywood and across the globe.
He may not have been educated, but he'd seen his share of Hollywood blockbusters. He used to download them to unwind after a long day of work, so he recognized a few of the big stars.
He loved the "Transformers" movies, for instance, and he vividly remembered how the lead actress, Megan Fox, had become an overnight sensation.
Matthew couldn't contain his excitement. He crept to the door, eased it open, and peeked out.
The room outside was much larger than his dressing room and lavishly decorated. Half a dozen people were bustling around a large black camera. Opposite the camera was a long, cream-colored sofa where two people stood talking.
They were a middle-aged man and a beautiful woman.
Matthew's gaze immediately fixed on the woman. She had long, straight blonde hair. "The director and the lead actress?" he wondered.
Matthew thought it would be incredible to act opposite such a stunning woman.
A smile spread across his face. Maybe his predecessor wasn't a total loser after all. This job he'd landed seemed pretty damn good.
"Is this my path to the top of Hollywood?" The thought flashed through his mind, easing the unease he felt about his new reality.
He remembered reading articles on his smartphone back in his old life. You didn't need a formal education to become an actor. Plenty of Hollywood stars hadn't even finished high school, yet they'd become massive successes. Could this be his chance?
He was here now, and this was his reality. There was no point in complaining. He had to adapt, and fast.
Just then, the blonde woman turned her head, her eyes catching his in the crack of the door. She gave him a small, seductive smile and tilted her head.
Matthew gave an awkward nod, then quickly shut the door. He retreated back into the room, scratching his head as he tried to pull up any memories about the film he was supposed to be shooting.
Filming was about to begin. He had to figure out what this movie was about, or he'd blow his big chance at a leading role.
The moment the thought crossed his mind, the color drained from Matthew's face. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead and trickled down his cheeks as a wave of panic washed over him.
He let out a shaky breath and turned his head, trying to focus on something else. His eyes landed on a red bag sitting on the vanity.
It was a kit the crew had prepared for him. The bag was unzipped, and peeking through the opening, he could clearly see tissues, towels, condoms... and several "tools" of a kind he'd only ever seen in pictures online.
The realization hit him like a physical blow. Matthew collapsed onto the chair in front of the vanity, completely speechless.
The "movie" he was about to star in was an adult film. And he was the leading man.
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