Marcus stared blankly into the empty dining space, mechanically lifting fork to mouth without tasting a single bite. His reflection gazed back from the darkened window—a young man with classic features, a strong chiseled jawline, thick brown hair with natural volume, and bright blue eyes that stared into nothing.
His mind seemed elsewhere, but in truth, he was listening to every word of the argument exploding in the living room.
"You're a bitch, Mariana! A bitch!" The masculine roar shook the walls, accompanied by stomping feet and crashing objects that scattered the birds outside. "How could you do this to me? How?!"
"I have nothing to explain to you, Nathan!" A woman's voice trembled back. "How can you keep living this aimless life? And you dare call me a bitch? You're the asshole!"
"Shut up!" In the living room stood Nathan—thick brown hair, round boyish face, dark brown eyes burning with frustration. Spittle flew with each word. "I'm not the one whoring around!"
"Whoring around? I've always been loyal to you, Nathan—"
"No, you haven't! You screwed me over! If someone hadn't told me, I never would've known!" Nathan seized a pillow, clutching it with white-knuckled fury. "You really think you can lie to me again?!"
"Nathan—I am loyal to you—but you've been so lost in your 'return to success' fantasy that you've forgotten about me!" Mariana sobbed, trying to explain. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd just done your part—"
"I always do my part, woman!" Nathan hurled the pillow at her. It fell soundlessly to the floor. "I've been doing everything for us, so we can return to our rightful place—"
"Your rightful place," Mariana corrected through her tears. "You're so selfish."
"Ha!" Nathan's laugh was cruel. "I'm selfish? Look at yourself!" He gestured wildly at her.
"I'm done, Nathan." Mariana gripped the suitcase she'd been holding. Her clothes and belongings were already packed inside. "I'm leaving you." She turned toward the door.
"Look at you! Caught red-handed and now you run!" Nathan clapped slowly, mockingly. "If we had an audience, they'd applaud too. 'Oh, look at that woman! Sleeps with her friend's husband, gets caught, and leaves without shame!'"
Mariana's jaw clenched as she stepped toward the door—then froze.
Marcus stood there, watching her.
The daze in his eyes broke her. "Oh, Marcus. I'm so sorry."
"You're leaving, Mom?" His voice cracked.
Mariana wiped her tears and rushed to embrace him. "You must be hurting from all this mess. I'm truly sorry."
"Yeah, look how sorry you are!" Nathan sneered from behind. "Cheating and running off with another man. Real sorry!"
Mariana ignored him, focusing entirely on Marcus. "Yes. I have no choice. I'm doing this for both of us." She held him tighter.
Marcus stood motionless. His mother thought he was devastated by the drama, but his mind was elsewhere. 'I thought they'd just argue like always. Didn't expect her to actually leave,' he mused. 'Since transmigrating into this body, scenes like this happen almost daily. Can't believe tonight's the finale.'
The original Marcus—the son of this broken couple—no longer inhabited this body. His soul had been replaced by another from a different world, one who happened to share the same name.
This Marcus had been a pretty chill guy. An average programmer who spent more time picking up women at bars than writing code. His life had taken a fatal turn when he'd hooked up with a woman at his usual spot. She seemed single, flirted freely, never mentioned a husband. He swore he hadn't known she was married—not that the man cared when he kicked down the hotel room door. One gunshot while Marcus was still in bed, and it was over.
The next moment, he'd awakened here, inside the body of young Marcus Crown—a boy trapped in a broken family. At first, Marcus couldn't accept the truth. But seeing the boy's looks—that "boy next door" appeal—he'd eventually made peace with his new reality.
He looked at his 'mom,' Marianna, and had to admit she was attractive, even at her age. She'd kept herself in shape, and her bright blue eyes held a certain charm. Her blonde hair added to the appeal. In her dress and heels, she could've passed for a model.
He couldn't blame the man who'd taken a fancy to her. Though he really didn't like the fact that she was a cheater. He might've been a playboy in his previous life, but he'd been single with no girlfriend when he'd done those things. And he always made sure the women he pursued were single too—if they weren't, he'd walk away.
Even a playboy like him had morals, even if he wasn't exactly a moral person overall. The last woman he'd hooked up with claimed she was single and wore no ring. Unfortunately, she'd been lying, and that lie had gotten him killed—and ultimately landed him in this situation.
"I'll see you again, Marcus." Marianna smiled sadly, then headed to the door. She paused, looking back at both Marcus and Nathan, before leaving.
Marcus and Nathan exchanged glances, then stepped outside. An SUV waited at the curb—a man helped Marianna with her suitcase. It was Nathan's friend.
"That damn snake. I should've known." Nathan cursed under his breath. His irritation spiked when the man nodded at him.
"Hope you sign the divorce papers, Nathan—" the man started to taunt, but stopped immediately when he saw Nathan grab a rock from the ground.
The man hurried into the SUV. From the side mirror, Nathan could be seen hurling the rock at them.
"Shit!" The man floored it, but the rock still struck the back window with a crack.
Nathan grinned, flipping double birds at the departing car. "Leave, loser!"
Marcus stared at him blankly. 'That word fits you more than anyone else here.'
This guy—the original Marcus's father, Nathan Crown—could be a real asshole. Though Marcus had only been in this world about a week, he'd already learned plenty about Nathan, piecing together his personality from the internet since he didn't have the original Marcus's memories.
Nathan was a "loser" stuck in the past. A past adorned with glory and glittering gold. One that had given him wealth and pride.
That's right. This man had once been successful. He'd started a studio with his friend—Crown & Gold Entertainment Films.
The name came from Nathan's family name and his best friend, Garry Gold—not the friend currently driving off with his wife.
They'd founded the company around 2004.
The studio had a strong start, producing movies that received critical acclaim and box office success.
At first, they'd made average films. Then success came in 2005 with "Against Prejudice," a story about racism and exploitation. The movie broke $40 million.
It gave the studio exposure and connections. After that, they produced several attention-grabbing films: "Silver Hand," "I'm Rich In Family," and three more critically acclaimed movies between 2005 and 2008.
They'd reached million-dollar company status, with their known films earning $40-70 million each. Because of this success, in late 2005, Nathan and Garry relocated from their founding location in Van Nuys to a leased production building in Burbank.
Everything seemed to be going well for the studio. Until late 2008, when everything fell apart.
The films they made became ambitious and over-budget. It started with "Bloom"—a movie that stripped the studio of its charm as they tried playing big studio, expecting to make hundreds of millions, if not billions.
But reality hit differently. It earned a meager $70 million—decent by their standards, except the movie cost $55 million to produce, with another $10-20 million spent on marketing. In the end, the studio lost several million dollars.
Following that failure, they greenlit another big-budget film, but midway through, the investors bailed. Nathan and Garry had to fund it themselves. The movie also lost money.
This led to fights between Nathan and Garry, ultimately splitting the studio.
Nathan kept Crown Entertainment Films. Garry took Gold Studio.
Nathan also kept the Burbank building—at first. Through the financial struggle, though, he had to let it go and relocate the company. The Crown family moved to a middle-class neighborhood in North Hollywood.
Nathan wanted to reclaim his former glory. To make critically acclaimed films again without his former partner.
But he kept losing money and laying off staff, until the only people left weren't those who still believed in Nathan—they were just people expecting paychecks for doing almost nothing.
Nathan had been through hell, while his former friend thrived in Hollywood—making shows for networks, abandoning movies, and surviving.
As for Nathan? He scraped by accepting shady advertising projects for cough corn websites and online casinos.
It was still like that in 2010. And now his wife was leaving him for a rich producer who'd once been a good friend to Nathan.
"Marianna is a bitch. Her new man is a bitch. Everyone is a bitch." Nathan mumbled just loud enough for Marcus to hear, repeating it like a mantra while puffing his cigarette. He dropped it and ground it hard into the pavement with his shoe.
"That includes you, right?" Marcus couldn't help but blurt out.
Nathan turned to him. "You saying something, boy?"
Marcus, despite inhabiting the body of a sixteen-year-old, wasn't afraid. "I mean, you keep saying everyone is a bitch. That would surely include you, right?"
Nathan stared blankly at him. They locked eyes, awkward silence filling the space between them.
Finally, Nathan spoke. "You want to go with your mother, boy?"
Marcus froze. He realized that while he was brave, he was still this poor guy's son. Besides, he had no one else to rely on. He knew for certain his mom's new man wouldn't accept him. With that in mind, he coughed awkwardly. "I was just joking, Dad—"
"I don't have time for your jokes." Nathan cut him off.
"I'm sorry," Marcus said quietly. In truth, he still couldn't take his new "father" seriously.
Why? The man really resembled Adam Sandler from his previous life.
"If you don't want to be homeless, go to your room and study for college or something." Adam—no, Nathan—said seriously. "Your mother might have left me for another man because she's a hasty woman only looking for instant money, but I'm a father with dignity who can still put food on the table and feed you. Especially, I'm responsible for your education."
Marcus was almost touched by that message, but from the look on his father's face, it felt more like he was degrading his mother while lifting himself up. He thought inwardly, 'I can live with that. After all, it's not like my new mom is any better.'
He headed inside and went to his average-looking room. Instead of studying, he tried to sleep, but his mind churned with anxiety about his current situation.
It might not seem dire, but he hated living with such a broken family—financially broken too.
'Must I use my shitty programming knowledge to earn some money?' he wondered. 'This is a parallel world with a Hollywood that seems similar to my previous one, but the works here have different contents and names. The studios here don't look familiar at all, meaning this Hollywood doesn't have the same movies or shows as my previous life.'
'But I'm just a playboy programmer from my previous life. I'm not like those fanfic self-insert protagonists—like that Lucas Knight with his Mind Workshop power who can perfectly recreate memories and remember movies, shows, or songs word for word. I don't have that kind of cheat ability. I can't just write a script from a movie I vaguely remember—there are specific dialogues, scene directions, everything. It's impossible. Those S.I. protagonists really bend logic.' His thoughts spiraled until exhaustion finally pulled him under.
By morning, he woke up with no real intention of studying—he couldn't care less about the notebook sitting on his desk—but then something unexpected happened.
[Daily Quest Triggered]
"What the hell?"
[Daily Quest: Complete Your Math Assignment]
[Reward: 1 Point]