....
Three week's since the release of [Death Note].
Regal was finally doing the unthinkable - sitting still.
Yep... he was ho, finally.
Not in a studio, nor at a screening or press event. Just ho.
Slouched deep into his couch, controller in hand, he was locked in a fierce ga of Mario Kart with Keanu, who, unlike his usual chilled self, was laser-focused and muttering curse words under his breath.
"Dude—move!" Keanu barked, nudging Regal with his shoulder. "Stop parking your kart on the shortcut. It's evil."
"It's called tactical racing." Regal replied without missing a beat. "You might wanna try it soti, instead of driving like a retiree in a school zone."
From the kitchen, the sharp sound of a knife hitting the chopping board rang out, followed by Seren's voice.
"Both of you... if you yell one more ti, I will confiscate the console and put extra chili in your plate only."
"Love you too, babe!" Keanu called out, still mashing buttons. "What happened to keeping threats out of the kitchen?"
Seren rolled her eyes. "They are not threats. They are promises."
Beside her, Gwendolyn, Regal's girlfriend, stood by the stove, stirring the pot with an amused smirk. "Honestly, fair. After the way you shrieked at that Goomba? You earned it."
"That thing lunged at !" Keanu cried. "Big Sis, back up here!"
Regal snorted. "It was walking in a straight line, bro."
He put the controller down just as the GA OVER screen flashed, Keanu had finally overtaken him at the last second.
"Let it be known." Keanu announced, throwing both arms up. "I am victorious."
Regal looked at him, deadpan. "You cheated."
Keanu blinked. "How?"
"You distracted with your face."
Seren peeked from the kitchen, wiping her hands. "Finally. Peace in this household."
Regal rubbed his eyes and reached for the glass of water on the table. "I am so tired, man. Like... weirdly tired. ntally tired."
Gwendolyn slid onto the arm of the couch, brushing her hand across his shoulder. "You were literally on a press tour last week, got cornered about nepotism, then made a joke about kids writing teacher nas in fake Death Notes, and now you are playing gas all day so of course you are tired."
Keanu nodded. "Yeah, man. You have been running on fus since, like, October."
"Don't remind ." Regal said.
"You two are being dramatic." Seren chid in as she started plating food. "That man's been horizontal for three days straight. He is fine."
Regal gave her a tired glare. "Excuse you. I have had three hours of sleep, two bowls of cereal, and I have blocked Keanu from three shortcut jumps. There is so much I have been doing."
Seren gave him a look and pointed. "See? Still cracking jokes. He is fine. Stop babying him."
She brought the plates over to the table and snapped her fingers at the boys without missing a beat. "Alright, food is ready. And after that, guess who is doing dishes?"
Regal groaned. "Do we get to vote?"
"Nope. It's you and Keanu. Gwen and I are off duty tonight."
"Of course, of course... whatever you say, little sis." Gwendolyn gave a slow, theatrical thumbs-up as she sank into the chair with a smirk.
Keanu blinked, confused. "Wait - ? What did I do?"
"Yep." Regal nodded solemnly.
"You existed." Seren said sweetly as she handed him a plate.
"Haa..." Regal chuckled, shaking his head at her.
Keanu muttered under his breath. "You do realize we are both going down for this, right?"
Regal didn't answer - he just leaned back into the couch with a long, satisfied sigh.
This... isn't actually that bad.
And for the first ti in months, the noise outside, the pressure, the headlines, the industry whispers, could wait.
Soon, the table was set for four. Warm plates, low conversation, and laughter that filled the space between bites.
But as Regal quietly sipped his soup and nodded at sothing Gwendolyn said, a thought lingered just beneath the surface.
This was just the calm before the storm.
Because if everything continued to unfold as it should, the releases, the reveals, the next project already beginning to breathe, then in six months, the storm would arrive.
And not just any storm.
One that would rattle the walls of Hollywood.
A shake-up. A shift. Maybe even a little destruction.
And Regal knew - he would be the center of it.
Not because he wanted chaos... but because the system needed breaking.
And so things only moved when you shoved hard enough.
....
Next Day.
7:23 AM. Regal's phone buzzed relentlessly.
He groaned, half-awake, tapping blindly on the nightstand until he found it.
Three missed calls from Red Studies, and ...two texts from his distributor in Japan.
A voice mo from Gwen: "Don't forget to have breakfast also I left coffee on the counter. Love you... too."
He was up in seconds.
8:11 AM. Conference call. Sothing about the final numbers sails of [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets] book sails from Europe.
Soone ntioned the term 'cult hit', another used 'unpredictable demographic spikes'.
He mostly just nodded, sipping coffee with one hand while scribbling notes with the other.
9:45 AM. Legal call. Sothing about rights clearance for the [Following] special edition Blu-ray. Paperwork Regal didn't even know existed was now sohow his responsibility.
10:32 AM. Quick stop at Gwen's office to return a file she left behind. A kiss on the cheek. A joke. Another reminder that he needed to eat real food.
11:20 AM. On the way to another interview. This one with a foreign film magazine. Pre-approved questions. Nothing dangerous.
He was already tired.
1:00 PM. Lunch.
...and finally he was back to his office.
He sat back in his car. The world was spinning a little.
He looked at the computer monitor in front of him.
"Six months." He muttered.
If it all holds.
If no one flinches.
If the pieces don't collapse.
Then what's coming next?
That would be the real story.
And it hadn't even started yet.
Then there was the system reward, still sitting there, untouched, waiting for him to claim it.
Two releases - [Death Note] and [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets].
But he had made a choice, to hold off on collecting the reward.
He would wait until the fourth week of the film's run.
....
The first, and by far the easiest, thing on Regal's plate now was his next project.
It was already decided.
[The Hangover].
A fun film. Maybe too fun.
There was a real reason behind choosing sothing light this ti. It wasn't random.
It wasn't hard either. He could be relaxed with this one. Loose, free. No ticking clocks breathing down his neck.
Because with [Following] and [Death Note], it had been a war with ti. Every second counted. Every delay felt like a collapse waiting to happen.
But this one?
This was going to be different.
He was going to take his ti.
Because, really, he needed that ti, not for [The Hangover], but for what ca next.
To prepare. To quietly ready himself for what would probably be the most important thing he'd ever touch.
The first live-action [Harry Potter] film.
It was happening.
And these next eight months?
They were going straight into post-production.
Every ounce of focus, every detail, every sleepless night... it all had to go there.
Anything less would hurt the project.
And Regal would not let that happen.
But that wasn't the only storm brewing.
There was sothing else too - sothing bigger.
Marvel.
DC.
He was already in the middle of conversations nobody even knew were happening yet.
He had to keep one eye on the future while keeping the present from burning down.
Because whether he liked it or not...
Things were about to get loud.
....
For now, Regal finally decided to use one of the items that had been sitting idle in his system for quite so ti.
•-------[ITEMS]-------•
» [The Hangover - Movie] x 1
ⓘ User can directly consu the book by clicking on it.
•---------------------•
....
Truth be told, getting his hands on this particular project had not been easy.
In fact, to even see it appear on the [Bulletin Board], Regal had to abuse a system function he had barely touched before.
The [Force Refresh] button.
....
•-----[BULLETIN BOARD]-----•
[Refresh Ti] ([┘]- 00:40:19 )
[Movie Scripts:]
Cats (2019) (Rank: F, Price: 172K EP)
Looper (2012) (Rank: B, Price: 1.15M EP)
Oblivion (2013) (Rank: C, Price: 690K EP)
Ti Trap (2017) (Rank: F, Price: 190K EP)
[Web Novel:]
Worm (Rank: A, Price: 910K EP)
[Books:]
Blindsight by Peter Watts (Rank: B, Price: 510K EP)
[Private Music Album:]
Chelsea Wolfe – Pain Is Beauty (Rank: C, Price: 490K EP)
[Manga:]
BLA! by Tsutomu Nihei (Rank: B, Price: 630K EP)
....
[Force Refresh:] 100K
[Title Token Available:] 1
[Pins Available(⚲):] (in use)
•------------------------•
....
That little 'Force Refresh' button at the bottom?
It was kind of a gamble but Regal didn't mind it...
So... Yeah - he abused the hell out of it.
Click. Click. Burn. Repeat.
Over and over again until, after roughly 2.5 million EP spent, a gem finally appeared: [The Hangover].
Exactly what he was looking for - sothing light, fun, chaotic in a clean way. High energy, low complexity, and hilarious.
But at the ti, he had burned through all his EP just finding it.
So he pinned it... and waited.
It wasn't until the day before the roundtable that he managed to scrape together enough EP to finally buy it.
With both his early series, [Solo Leveling] and [ORV] now finished and no longer farming points, his earnings had slowed for a while.
But with [Lord of the Mysteries] now rolling out?
Regal was farming EP like a man possessed.
He had half a million EP on him now. More than enough.
Now it is ti to calm the item.... [The Hangover].
•-------[ITEMS]-------•
» [The Hangover - Movie] x 1
ⓘ User can directly consu the book by clicking on it.
•--•
» [Title Token] x 1
•---------------------•
One click.
That's all it took.
In a second, the entire screenplay downloaded into his brain like lightning - scenes, pacing, beats, character arcs, the tone. All of it.
And it was... nearly perfect.
Unlike his past two projects, this one didn't need surgery. No heavy rewrites or conceptual tug-of-wars.
This was clean. Tight. Solid.
All he had to do now was make it real - take what now lived vividly in his mind, and bring it to life on screen.
If he could just do that.
Everything else would fall into place.
.
....
[To be continued...]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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