[Owen POV]
In the middle of the night, at the Montecito courtyard.
Elena stood behind me and asked, "Are you sure you're doing it?"
I picked up the esper serum and said, "Yeah. I'm going to do it."
This time, I wanted to awaken myself.
Elena, Michael, and all of the cultivators were there to help bask my brain with Qi as I was transforming myself.
Everyone was tense. No one dared to breathe wrong.
Elena helped inject the serum into the back of my neck. I sat cross-legged and meditated while using my own Qi first. I told Elena only to intervene when my Qi was depleted.
"Wait… what?"
One minute in, the serum was gone.
Everyone was confused, including myself.
"What happened? Did it fail?" Michael asked worriedly.
"I'm not sure." I tried to sense the changes in my brain. "I think my brain has evolved like the rest, but why was the transformation so quick?"
"Who cares about that? Did you get anything?" Michael asked again.
I closed my eyes as I sensed my ability. Then, I got really disappointed.
"Tier 0 Puppetry skill."
"Zero?!" Elena was shocked.
I would need some strings to activate my ability. It had no difference from the things I could do now.
It was an extremely weak ability.
I sighed and muttered, "I should've waited."
"Maybe it will be better in the upper levels?" Gael asked. He tried to copy it, but he couldn't sense it.
"This usually works," he muttered.
"Performance issues. It's not uncommon," I said teasingly.
I finally realized what the others said about the ability to grow with cultivation.
I poured some Qi into the section of my brain which had awakened, and I think, in just a couple of days, I could bring it to level 1.
…
–Jack Kennedy–
Two days have passed since we watched the movies.
As Claire invited some reporters to the test screening, there were a lot of articles that came out, talking about the movies.
"Buyout offer? From who?" I was intrigued when Claire told me about it.
"Turner Company. They are offering 100 million for the entire studio. But when they realized we were 200 million in debt, they retracted the offer," Claire said.
"Victor D'Andre also wants to make an offer. He wants you to come to his office," Claire said.
I grimaced and tapped the table rhythmically. "No, there's no need to work with Victor D'Andre. In fact, if you receive any gifts from him, let me know before you open it."
Claire felt gossipy. "What? Did he lace his gift with something dangerous?"
"Yup," I replied casually.
Claire was stunned speechless now.
"Oh, by the way, what do you feel about erotic thrillers?" she asked.
I looked at her weirdly. She scratched her cheek and said, "I'm not asking because I want to make conversation with you about it. There's a director who wants to sell his film."
"Is it good?" I asked. I didn't really care about who the director was.
Claire shrugged and said, "I didn't see it yet. I have a meeting with him today. He made it for 50 grand, so we might be able to buy it cheap."
"I'll leave it to you then. If the story's too much, don't buy it since we're building a brand right now."
She nodded and left.
Soon after, the casting director for my movie entered my office. I was mostly here because of him.
He was a skinny middle-aged man with a bald head. He wore glasses and dressed neatly.
"I got Jeremy Renner for the lead as you want. Also, I've narrowed down the female lead and the female antagonist to eight people. I've already set up the final audition tomorrow, so you should come and pick them."
"Craig. Slow down," I told him.
As I looked at the actresses' pictures, I saw some familiar faces there.
"Halley Fox and Pam Anderson. They are the ones with N.V.—"
Craig interjected, "They have quit the agency after the humiliating meeting. Since Julie Nelson became a wanted person, the agency has crumbled down."
He added something intriguing, "Vought, the other main partner, turned her head to politics instead. She moved to Washington to organize a campaign for a senator, leaving Hollywood."
I rubbed my chin, wondering if Nelson was also a demonic being.
"Did you test their fitness levels like I told you?" I asked.
Basically, I asked the actresses to run a marathon, jump through hurdles, and walk a plank to see their stability and stamina.
It was a really bizarre experience for them—and for Craig, who handled everything.
"Yes. They have slightly above-average stamina, and they're quite flexible. I told them about the fight sequences—they're open-minded about it," Craig added.
I nodded and asked, "What about her? Why does a famous person want to join my production?"
Craig was confused. "Jaime Pressly isn't a famous person. She's a model—although she did appear in a Baywatch episode."
I remembered her from My Name Is Earl back in my world. The show started even before I was born, but I binged it with some friends during the lockdown.
Taking a second look at the headshot, I said, "She doesn't fit either of the roles, but I think she can nail it as the crazy ex-girlfriend."
My action movie plot was simple. An office worker suddenly received a pair of sunglasses in the mail from his old college roommate.
When he wore them, countless national secrets—data banks from the CIA, FBI, and NSA—were uploaded directly into his brain, together with a complete set of martial arts skills.
He was excited at first, then a CIA agent—the heroine—came to kill him. He only survived because he didn't know what was happening, and the girl realized he was just a victim, not a co-conspirator.
The government was using the glasses to build an army of spies. However, there was one major flaw in the technology.
Everyone who underwent the upload would lose their consciousness, only turning into robots.
So he was hunted by the CIA while the girl became a rogue agent who tried to help him.
It was a simple enough premise for a DTV action movie.
"I'll use the dreamscape to make final preparations before shooting it."
I was doodling on my notepad when I saw two women in leather jackets and jeans flashing a badge at an employee through the glass window of my office.
The employee pointed in my direction, and the two women walked with purpose toward me.
One of them had short hair, with one side shaved. Freckles dotted her face, and she wore a cross earring on her right ear.
The other had long black hair and was wearing an eyepatch on her left eye. The black-haired one was pretty cute.
They knocked on the door and entered politely.
"Mr. Kennedy. We're from the FBI. We need to talk," the eyepatch girl said.
I just nodded and turned my attention back to the script after saying, "Come in and have a seat."
They waited for me to finish reading before the shaved-haired girl said, "Mr. Kennedy, we have sources that said—"
"Aren't you going to introduce yourselves first?" I turned to her, clasping my hands together on the desk.
They glanced subtly at each other.
"I'm Jessi," the eyepatch girl said.
"I'm James," the shaved-haired girl said.
I looked at them with disbelief and said, "Really? You took your names from Pokémon—? I couldn't be bothered. Why are you here?"
"Pokémon?" James was confused. I guess the franchise was just starting out.
"We have a few questions about Julie Nelson," eyepatch Jessi said, placing the picture of Nelson on my table.
"I don't really know anything about her since I met her only once. But ask the questions anyway," I said casually.
My senses became alert as I felt energy gathering in Jessi's eyes. James was also doing something.
"Why did you turn her away at your meeting?" James asked while Jessi concentrated.
I leaned back and said, "She was acting like a pimp. I hated that. And there's this really thick unpleasantness emanating from her."
Jessi glanced at James and nodded slightly.
'Is she determining whether someone is lying?' I tried to guess what her ability was. She gave off the aura of an esper—a naturally awakened one.
"What kind of unpleasantness?" James asked again.
I pretended not to be bothered and said, "There's this smell of sulfur. She cracked my table with a punch. She groped one of the girls' tits and slapped another's ass, saying they were spoiled milk. Just general unpleasantness."
"Sulfur? You could detect that?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded. "Everyone could detect that. Ask Claire, she'll tell you the same thing."
They nodded and whispered to each other. I could hear it, but I pretended I couldn't.
James asked again, "How did you know about the existence of the SRU?"
That was it—the purpose of them coming here.
"I'm friends with Adrian Cross," I replied ambiguously.
Adrian had crossed paths with the SRU before, so in telling them I was friends with him, they were supposed to make the connection on their own. So technically, I wasn't lying about it.
"Did you warn Julie Nelson in any way before the SRU took action?" James asked; her tone became more interrogative.
I nodded and said casually, "I did. I told her she's going to be in trouble if she keeps prostituting girls, blackmailing execs, and stealing money from her own talents."
Jessi suddenly slammed my table and stood up abruptly, saying loudly, "Why would you warn her about the SRU coming?!"
"Hold on," I said calmly, holding my palm out to gesture 'wait a second,' and then continued, "I didn't tell her about the SRU. I told her she's going to get investigated if she keeps that up."
"Patr—Jessi, please sit back down," James told her, slightly wary.
Jessi sighed and said, "Sorry. I must've lost my temper there for a second."
"It's fine. I don't really care," I replied casually. "Do you girls have any more questions? If not, I want to get back to work."
"Yeah. We're sorry for taking your time. Thank you for cooperating with us." James stood up and left with Jessi.
As they left, I walked to where James was sitting before and looked underneath my table—the place where she'd touched for quite some time.
There was a sigil there. I wasn't sure what of yet.
"Interesting," I muttered. The sigil was made from a couple of witches' runes. It seemed that the SRU had more secrets than I thought.
I studied the sigil. It was made with Ring runes—which signified connection—Flight runes, which signified travel, and Crossroad. Then, I read a couple of Elder Futhark runes that seemed to absorb sound from the surroundings.
'Eavesdropping sigil? Am I being monitored?'
Instead of being worried, I was excited to tease them. So that night, I popped some porno onto the tv and then left the office.
…
A month and a half had passed by pretty quickly as I was shooting the movie.
The first two weeks, I trained Jeremy Renner, Halley Fox, and Pam Anderson for their fight scenes in the film.
All three of them were eager to do it. They were all broke actors, so when I paid them $100,000 each for the roles, it was like a dream come true for all of them.
I even offered $50,000 more if they could do their own stunts, which they accepted very quickly. Jeremy Renner had some martial arts training, so he was quick to adapt to the fight scenes.
The movie production had started, and after one month, we were not even halfway through wrapping up principal photography. It might take me until November before the movie is finished.
The other two films were faster than this action movie. The kid's Halloween movie was already finished.
It had some Goosebumps vibes, but I added a few songs—since one of the characters was a bard—which made it really enjoyable to watch for the teenage demographic, and even for some adults too.
It was shot with a $2.8 million budget, and it took only thirty days to finish.
Deck the Dads—the Christmas movie—was also wrapping up production.
I kept moving back and forth between the three projects, making sure of their quality.
Claire said Fantastical Halloween could enter theatres too since it was really catchy and had great morals in the story.
But Disney was going to release the live-action 101 Dalmatians movie, so we couldn't pry into the Halloween slot that easily. Therefore, it would only have a limited release in theatres.
It would drop a week after 101 Dalmatians premiered.
Speaking of movies in theatres, two of our films were already playing.
Swingers had already been out for a month, and Hold On Tight was in its second week.
The title "Swingers" sounded like a porn movie to some people when it came out in 1996.
The word "swingers" had (and still has) strong sexual connotations—usually referring to couples who swap partners—which could easily mislead audiences unfamiliar with the indie film scene.
The movie was renamed for the more mainstream release after a thorough discussion with Jon Favreau and Doug Liman.
I showed them the data from the public interviews we did, and most people thought the movie was a softcore film at first. That was the main reason they changed their minds.
It was just a minor change, but it worked really well to break into the mainstream market instead of staying in the indie circuit.
The movie was now called Big Swing, and it opened with twenty million on its first weekend.
In the second week, it brought in another seventeen million, then twelve million on the third, and eight million on the fourth.
By the end of its first month, it had already earned fifty-seven million dollars at the box office.
With just an eight-million production budget and ten million for P&A, Big Swing turned out to be a huge win for everyone involved.
Two weeks after Swingers dropped, Hold On Tight hit theatres too, following a quick three-week marketing push and a last-minute trailer drop.
It opened even bigger—twenty-five million in its first weekend, and twenty-three in the second.
The film had strong word of mouth, a great soundtrack, and a lot of funny, heartfelt moments that made it a crowd favorite.
Families kept coming back to see it again—especially the tween girls who had fallen for the Scott Michael character in the movie.
Both Big Swing and Hold On Tight earned an A– CinemaScore, which meant audiences loved them.
The name Owen Chase had become synonymous with the teen heartthrob image in just two weeks.
The marketing team leaned into it, using clips of me singing Imagination—a soft, emotional song I wrote for the film—and the goofy Assumption Song from one of the funniest scenes.
During the press tours, the director couldn't stop talking about how both songs were improvised on set, calling me a "once-in-a-generation talent who can write, sing, and act."
Payne told one interviewer, "We wanted to use a ready-made song, so Owen would just have to sing a cover.
But we didn't really have the budget. So he said, 'I'll write the song.' I thought he was messing around at first… but he did write the song. A really… catchy song."
Lisa Kudrow, Steve Carell, Sarah Michelle Gellar—everyone was praising me in their interviews. They talked about the wonderful time they had filming the movie together.
The media ate it up, which brought even more attention to the film.
I released Imagination as a single under my name, and it became an instant hit—playing on every teen radio station across the country.
It wasn't just a song anymore—it was a cultural moment.
When I performed it live on talk shows, audiences screamed like I was some kind of pop star instead of a film actor.
Magazine covers started calling me "The Next Big Thing" and "Hollywood's Triple Threat." Even Entertainment Weekly ran a feature titled Who Is Owen Chase?
Although the movie had only been in theaters for two weeks, it felt like the culmination of everything that had happened from the beginning of the year.
The Sixth Sense became a worldwide phenomenon, my prestige film winning at TIFF, and now this movie becoming a hit too.
Serpent Son will be released in December, as George wanted to try his hand at the Oscar. He already started campaigning for it with the money he made from the Sixth Sense.
Sitting in my study room inside my house, I sighed as I saw Claire's request for the DTV movie again.
She both loves and hates the movies I made. It was too good for DTV. That meant, the DTV branch was still losing money.
My pen floated on the air using my Tier 1 Puppetry skill where I no longer needed any strings to control the objects. I used the pen to sign the documents on the papers.
"What can I do for the DTV? Maybe something brainless?" I thought in frustration.
"Should I really do the erotic thriller thing?" I pursed my lips with dissatisfaction of even coming out with that idea.
I turned to the left, and saw an action figure lying down on a chair– a GI Joe that Micheal bought just for fun.
"Hmm… What do you think of Joe?" I held my hand to it, and the doll shivered for a few seconds before it jumped and stood on its own two feet.
It raised its hands up a couple of times, seemingly to gesture something.
I laughed and said, "I forgot you can't speak yet. Although, the movement is becoming more fluid now."
My puppetry ability has become stronger, and I almost reached tier 2. I used it creatively by inputting commands into the puppets, so it could move autonomously at times.
My eyes suddenly widened as I thought of something.
"Wait. I can do this."
I picked up a camcorder from the shelf and began filming the action figure.
"If I timed it right, I can do stop-motion animation with these skills."
There was one stop-motion show that was really famous right now.
The kids show– Pingu.
As long as it has a good story, I could market the videos to the kids and pre-school market.
"Although, I'm going to need a good script for it. And, I cannot invite anyone into the creation, so it will be harder for me to create it… Should I use the sect members for it?"
I had awakened almost everyone in the sect right now. Only two people were not yet espers.
One of them has the molding ability– which basically means he's a 3D printer. His ability worked really well for creating weapons, but I think he could create the puppets I needed too.
I remembered growing up, I watched a lot of shows on Youtube with my niece and nephew. They were considered youtube shows in my 2025 era, but it's different in the 90s.
Suddenly, I received a call from Micheal.
"What are you doing? I'm downstairs waiting for you. Aren't you going to meet Spielberg today?"
"Oh right." I put the camera down and then left in a hurry.