He suddenly remembers everything.
Despite his good looks and talent, he was let go from his job as a model after he flubbed a small scene. He was devastated, and couldn't move on at all.
The issue was he wasn't quite cut out for acting - he was more comfortable just being himself. But he was eager to find success and fame, so he took a role as a cold boss in a scene.
It didn't go well - he couldn't pull off the character and ended up getting fired.
Cold? Vance wasn't good at acting cold and powerful - it was just not who he was. In fact, he would have been better off acting like a silly baboon, flaunting its butt. But this role was his only chance to advance in his career, and his director took advantage of his failure to fire him on the spot.
For a week or more, Vance wallowed in self-pity, drinking and eating junk food until he lost his hot physique.
It was a real fall from barely-grace for Vance, who went from losing his job and his figure to chatting with a bird in a public park!
"Did you know I got fired by my boss? But damn I was such a good singer," Vance groaned to the bird, which paid him no mind and continued pecking around for food.
His words were slurred and his breath reeked of alcohol. Vance was in a sorry state, and the bird was the only one who would listen to his sad tale. But even the bird seemed uninterested, haha, still.
"And do you know what, birdie?" Vance asked, taking a swig from the bottle of alcohol. "I could have been the face of a magazine. I was so talented, but my boss was jealous of my looks and kicked me out."
Yes, his boss's actions were beyond understanding, and he couldn't find any other explanation for why he had been let go. To be kicked out of the industry, just like he was nothing, was a crushing blow.
He scoffed at the thought, the bitterness evident in his expression. His world had come crashing down, and he didn't know how to pick up the pieces.
When the bird flew away, a drunken Vance stumbled out onto the street, intending on making his way home. His apartment was up for lease, and he planned to use the money to buy more alcohol.
But as he stepped into the street, he was struck by a car, sending him flying through the air. The world around him slowed down, and he could feel his body tumbling as the car sped away. The last thing he saw before everything went black was the horrified face of the driver.
This was the chain of events leading up to the present moment. A series of unfortunate circumstances had led to this moment.
Now, Vance suspected that the man who came into the ward earlier was the one who hit him and he was ready to fiercely look for the man and beat him up for crashing into him with his car but the system again suddenly spoke.
[Would you like to pair your memories with the host's memories?]
That was a question yeah but Vance found it difficult to answer because he was clueless. "Whose memories are you asking about?" he asked, his tone betraying his confusion.
"Just do what you want, I don't care," he muttered, unable to make sense of what was happening.
He closed his eyes, trying to block out the chaos swirling around him as he folded his arms.
As he folded his arms across his chest, he felt a strange soft sensation. Something was off, and in fact, he felt a physical heaviness in his chest. 'Why does my chest seem occupied?'
[Permission granted. Just a warning: the memory pairing process may be painful, but it will only last a short while.]
As the pain began, Vance felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside out. He let out a scream of anguish, unable to contain the agony. "Yaaaaaargh!" he yelled, thrashing around on the bed. The pain was so intense that he thought he might pass out.
As he yelled, he realized that his voice was different. Instead of sounding like the man he had been before he lost consciousness, he sounded like a woman.
He couldn't explain it, but he felt certain that his voice had changed. He ran his hand over his throat, trying to figure out what was happening.
While he was trying to make sense of what was happening, another higher wave of pain struck him, even more intense than the last. He couldn't think about anything else, couldn't focus on anything but the agony coursing through his body.
It was all he could do to endure it, to not give in to the urge to scream and thrash around. All he could do was grit his teeth and try to breathe through the pain. He told himself that it would be over soon, that he just had to hold on a little longer.
[Pairing 18% 19%]
Suddenly, images began to flash before his eyes, as if he were watching a movie in his mind. He saw tiny wriggling shapes that looked like snakes racing through a dark tunnel.
He couldn't make sense of what he was seeing, but he was transfixed by the images. 'Isn't that sperms or something?' he kept staring blankly anyway.
It was like he was experiencing a dream while he was still awake, and he couldn't look away.
The System continued to give a percentage update and it kept increasing as the images flashed by.
[Pairing 59% 60%]
As the images flashed through his mind, it became clear that they were all connected to one central theme: a girl. She was the focus of every scene, and he felt like he was being shown her life story, from beginning to… well, present.
He couldn't understand how it was possible, but he couldn't look away either.
The images kept coming, faster and faster, and he began to feel a connection to the girl. It was like he was living her life, seeing the world through her eyes.
[Pairing 98% 99%]
At last, the images stopped flashing as the System reached 100%. The final image was of the girl stepping in front of a car, deliberately ending her life - suicide!
Vance felt a wave of sad familiarity wash over him, and he realized that she had been unable to achieve her dream of becoming a successful actress just as he wasn't able to rise to fame.
He had experienced her entire life after all. Making it a double sad experience for him, boohoo!
"Pfft, what a weakling," he scoffed at the girl's suicide attempt, but his voice sounded strangely high-pitched and feminine.
He stared at nothing in disbelief. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed, sounding even more like the girl whose memories were now in his memory bank.
He put his hand over his mouth, shocked by the next thing…..