THE LOUD SOUND of a phone ringing woke Hayden up from his deep sleep. Believe it or not, it was already the twenty-ninth time that his phone rang. Hayden would like to commend the long patience of the other person, if not him, as the recipient of the persistent call.
Still with his eyes close, Hayden reached out his hands to search for the missing phone within his bed and before the call would be missed again, Hayden was able to answer it, letting the phone hang on top of his right ear.
"Yes?" he groggily asked.
"Yes?! YES?! Oh yes, for fvck's sake, you'll be damned if you're late, brother Hayden!"
That high-pitched female voice on the other side of the phone was enough to completely wake up Hayden; he wasn't able to hear everything the other was trying to say, as in the first words, he was jolted from the bed like a frightened cat. His phone, where the horrifying shrill came from, was pitifully thrown, innocently lying on top of his ear.
"Oh damn, that hurts!"
Hayden had no choice but to sit up on the bed and scratch his right ear to soothe the pain. His other hand picked up his fallen phone out of the bed. What was amusing was that the phone was still a handful away from his ear but he could already hear the loud scoldings of his assistant.
So instead of putting the phone beside his ear, Hayden decided to rise from the bed with his phone, which fortunately did not break after being thrown away.
"Why didn't you wake me up, Lulu?" Hayden asked his system through their mental connection.
"You need to have enough sleep to maintain your skin. Plus, it wasn't this system's fault for not sleeping early," the system quickly retorted.
The hands that were about to lift his shirt hung as his mouth twitched, itching to retort back. Although it hadn't been that long since he had the system, Hayden could now understand what character his own system has, so he held himself and just proceeded with removing his loose shirt.
Even when he was still the female Artemis, he was used to sleeping with only a pair of big, loose shirts and underwear so even now, he only wears a shirt and a boxer brief. As for the original's usual sleepwear, Artemis didn't bother since no one would mind that.
"Not checking the surveillance? After all, this is the main reason why you end up sleeping late, right?" System Lulu initiated asking.
Hayden was really curious if he might have met his system in one of his reincarnations and if he had made the system's life in it so hard that it was now being hard on him in return.
The system may not open it or deny it but Hayden is hundred and ten percent sure that his cute system Lulu, has some hidden animosity with him.
"Let's do that later. I really have to hurry now or I would really be damned." Hayden was referring to his assistant's warning. "Or maybe you can just do it for me, no?"
"Nope. I wasn't paid for this." The system was quick to say no.
"What? You are getting paid?"
System Lulu scoffed. "Of course. I am not doing free labor here, you know. And there is no free thing in the world or there will be no balance."
"Then what is your salary? You know, if what I receive are merit points that I can use in the system store and for ranking up, what about your salary?" Hayden curiously asked.
"We systems don't need merit points because we are not sentient beings like you. We are what you call, in your world, systems that are artificially created by the main system. But unlike those soulless robots, we also have our own free will, which gives us freedom in a different sense. So instead of merit, what we wanted to receive were credit points, which we can use for upgrades as well as to buy some things from the system mall."
"I want to live my system life better than everyone else, so why would I let myself work harder when I can earn CP (credit points) more easily, right?" System Lulu said proudly, that Hayden could imagine it raising its chin to the heavens.
And it made Hayden feel itchy and want to scratch its chin like a coy cat. Unfortunately, he can't see the cute figure of the system, or he would not hesitate to do it.
"Wow, what amazing life goals! I also want that kind," Hayden dreamily said.
"Yes. But host, before you envy mine, how about you focus on your current life?" System Lulu kindly reminded him, pulling him back to reality.
Before he could mutter a curse, he once again heard his assistant's voice. But different from a while ago, Assistant Axia was more calm, although there was still some urgency in her voice.
"Brother Hayden, please move faster. Just take a bath and wear more comfortable clothes. I have already bought your breakfast. I will be waiting for you in the parking lot. Just please make it fast, okay, brother Hayden?"
And it seems like Assistant Axia realized she was the only one talking; she no longer waited for Hayden's agreement and she finally ended the call. If not for the sound created by Hayden's movement that was transmitted on the other side of the phone, Assistant Axia would think that her brother Hayden would have fallen back to sleep.
Left with no choice, Hayden did as he was told.
The pitiful phone was once again thrown on the bed as Hayden walked towards the bathroom inside his room. Hayden might be a man now, but the clean freak within him will never change, so despite being hurried, he still made sure to wash his body cleanly.
It took him less than thirty minutes to be finished, and when he came out of the bathroom wearing only a bathrobe, he was hearing his phone ringing. That was undoubtedly his assistant, who couldn't wait for him because he had taken his time bathing.
He could only dress in a hurry. Thankfully, he was no longer a woman who needed to put on make-up and dress herself up or Assistant Axia would pull him out of his house.
Speaking of women, Hayden was still adjusting to his new body. It wasn't really easy to get used to taking a bath, cleaning his body, and seeing some parts that he wasn't used to seeing; what more about touching them?
If not for his own strong will, he might never take a bath.
After wearing simple black jeans and a navy blue sweater, he took his phone and key before he came out of his penthouse.
Since the original has been crowned as a film emperor for more than a decade now, he has been saving too much money in the bank. So owning a penthouse was not too much. After all, it wasn't the only property that the original owner owned.
Aside from the penthouse he currently lives in, there was also another penthouse on top of the original's own company that no one knows about. There were also some villas that the original bought from different cities, not only in the country but also outside the country.
Every time he has work outside the country, the original will buy a villa to live in because he wasn't used to living in some place that he didn't own or living with other people.
Hayden Collins is obviously a very wealthy man with lots of property and money, and in all honesty, he doesn't need to work anymore for his entire lifetime. But he didn't stop because acting became a part of his life.
He was still six years old when Hayden started his acting career as a child star. And since then, his career as a child actor has never faltered, and the more he grows, the more his career flourishes.
If he were to earn his current wealth in his teens, he might be able to stop acting now, but because he's been doing this since childhood, Hayden can no longer feel complete if he's not acting.
Comparing his life in his last reincarnation with the original's, Artemis thinks that his life was much better. After all, despite the fact that Hayden Collin's life was only a simulation created by the main system, Artemis could say that the original's life is very lonesome.
Putting his shoes on the original, Artemis himself will feel lonely living this way. Artemis may have had a harder life experience, but it brought a sense of life to it. It was hard yet fulfilling, especially since he wasn't alone in that world because he still had some close friends with whom he could find comfort.
"Brother Hayden! You're finally down! Quick, come in!" Assistant Axia excitedly welcomed him.
If not for his red eyes, either because she was about to cry or because she had cried, Hayden would think that the little assistant was really happy to have him.
Feeling guilty, Hayden swiftly entered the car and Assistant Axia closed the door as soon as she spotted him inside the nanny car. When the driver heard the closing of the car's door, he also instantly started the car.
"Brother Hayden..." Assistant Axia pitifully called him out.
Hayden wanted to ignore the stare of his assistant and focus on opening the food package that was in his seat but how could he when the assistant's eyes were so intent that they could almost bore holes in his body?
In the end, Hayden can only sigh and massage his temple in surrender.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, okay? I was so busy rereading the whole script last night that I forgot about the time. When I realized it was late at night, I had already finished the whole script. I won't do it again next time so let me pass the guilt now, okay?" Hayden said, even taking an 'I surrender' stance.
"Wow. Way to go, Mr. Film Emperor. What a natural liar." Hayden could hear the sarcasm in the system's tone but he ignored it.
He himself knows that he was too quick to think of that excuse. Yes, Hayden brainwashed his mind into thinking that what he said was an excuse and not a lie.
After all, he couldn't speak the truth that the reason for his late sleep was because he was in a heated discussion with his little system about Sinclair Anders and his probability of becoming an outsider like him.
Even the system won't allow him to do that. And with this, Hayden was satisfied with himself and how witty he is to outsmart the system.
Anyway, it wasn't only because he was trying to be smart. To be honest, Hayden just didn't know how to explain things to the assistant in a more professional way.
And maybe if he was given time to fabricate his lies to perfection, he would be able to create a more feasible and acceptable excuse. Unfortunately, he wasn't given enough time so in order to save face, he spilled the first words that came to mind.
But if he was given a chance, what he wanted to say was a mixture of the truth and some self-fabricated lies that weren't far from the truth. Since the truth itself is too magical, it may end up unbelievable once he speaks of it.
It was because last night, Hayden was discussing with his system their move towards Sinclair Anders. Since their first scene of filming, Hayden has been hundred percent sure that Sinclair Anders is an outsider like him.
But the system couldn't detect anything with how low his current rank was, and the answer from the main system hasn't arrived yet. Also, despite the system's cold character, it wasn't the type to believe things without proof and Hayden, who was watching the surveillance camera that he allowed to tail the suspected outsider, couldn't find any fault with the person aside from his gut feeling.
He was so focused on defending his hypothesis that Hayden forgot about the time. If not for the system's kind reminder, Hayden would have continued to debate with the system.
Although the system could hear his host's thoughts, because he didn't want to bother with the silly host, System Lulu decided to shut his mouth and let his host's nose reach the heavens.
"Please don't repeat it again, okay, Brother Hayden? I was really going mad with panic when the manager kept on asking me, where were you since you'll be late with the advertising commercial that you have to take this morning. I think I am now traumatized by the manager…" Assistant Axia said, crying.
Hayden awkwardly laughed and used his other hand, which was free of the sandwich from the food package that Assistant Axia prepared for him, to pat her on the shoulder.
Hayden was about to speak some coaxing words when he was stopped by the surprised and amazed look of Axia on him. Even the hand patting her as well as his mouth, which was munching on the tasty homemade sandwich, were stopped.
"What?" he asked.
Assistant Axia's mouth curled first in an amazed smile before she happily said, "You are really changing now, Brother Hayden! You can even smile now and say some encouraging words. Let's not forget that you also said sorry to me."
When Hayden heard that, he was stoned from his seat. "System! I didn't forget that there were no OCC rules, right? There wasn't, right?"
"Worry not, host. You didn't forget it wrong."
That made Hayden sigh in his heart. Then, like what he did was really normal, he proceeded to eat his specially made food.
"Is it bad?" Hayden asked back.
Axia shook her head in a hurry. "Please don't get me wrong, Brother Hayden! The current you is better but I am not saying your old self is bad either. It was just too sudden, and when I tried to share it with the manager, he didn't believe me. So for the past few days, I have been observing you to gather some evidence to show the manager. That's all, brother!"
"Well, I believe you."
Axia blossomed a smile upon hearing that so she continued on his babbles and Hayden happily listened while enjoying the food and drinks that Assistant Axia had prepared for him.
"By the way, Brother Hayden. We are now heading to SinAnd Ventures Technology instead of the commercial site. Before you came down, the manager called to me again to announce that the company had moved the commercial filming to another schedule."
"Is that so? Then what scenes are we going to take now?" Hayden asked while sipping on the avocado smoothie.
"I think it was the scenes from five to eight, then fifteen to nineteen. Once you finish them all, then Brother Hayden will be free for the whole afternoon. But later at night, Brother Hayden needs to go to the company because the manager and the president wanted to talk with you about something."
That earned Hayden's curiosity. "What is that something?"
Axia shook his head in answer and Hayden didn't pursue the matter. It was then that the system once again talked in his head.
"By the way, host. This day will be your first encounter with the female lead. Because all your current scenes that need to be taken will be with the female lead—"
"Ah! Brother Hayden!"
Because of the words the system had spoken, Hayden was too shock that he subconsciously coughed up the smoothie in his mouth. And as the person who was physically presented in front of Hayden instead of the system's holographic image, it was the unlucky assistant who received the special debuff.
Luckily, they were already at the station. So after assuring that Axia was okay, Hayden has to go alone to the simulated studio that their production team rented.
Just from looking at it from the outside, the title of the biggest filming site was well-deserved for SinAnd Ventures Technology. In terms of land mass, it was as big as the largest airport back in his last world. Added to the fact that it was a two-story tall and wide building, the scope was twice as large.
It wasn't only the great infrastructure itself that made it well-known. It was because SinAnd Ventures Technology was the only technology company in the world that had been venturing with an advanced technology system that they could now incorporate AI-simulated systems.
The best proof of that was that SinAnd Ventures Technology was also the only company to have an AI-simulated filming site that every production crew would love to work on. The first floor of the SinAnd Ventures Technology building was solely for these filming studios. The second floor was the company's main floor, which focuses not only on AI-simulated technologies but also all high-tech-related projects.
Being the biggest filming site in the world, together with its high-techness in all senses, renting a studio costs a million dollars a month so most production crews who can manage to rent one are those with a bigger investment and sponsors. And maybe some wealthy and rich directors who already earned enough money from winning awards every year.
When Hayden entered the door for guests, a worker from the tech company assisted him to the front desk, where a female worker asked for some details related to his visit.
"These workers were professionals," Hayden commented in his head after seeing how proficient they were in assisting him.
Not boasting but he was really famous and he was used to people lurching at him once they saw him but these two, aside from some shock and surprise when they saw him, could still act professionally, which is really commendable in any way.
Very worthy of the male lead's company. And yes, SinAnd Ventures technology is none other than the male lead, Sin Anderson's company. Actually, this was only one of his companies under his conglomerate company, SinAnd Ventures Corp.
"Here's your ID pass, Mr. Collins. Since your team will be using our company for three months, this ID pass will expire once the time is up and can no longer be used inside the studio or in all the materials within the company building. Because of Mr. Collin's VVIP identity, you can use this card to enter any part of the building's first floor at your will. So make sure to not lose it and always bring it with you every time you come into our building."
With his resting face, Hayden accepted a black card with only the company's logo and a golden inscripture of the company's name. Behind it, there was only his name inscribed in golden color as well, with a special set of numbers below which might be the code for his own pass.
Hayden slightly nodded at the lady and spouted a thank you before he turned his back and walked towards another entrance, where he had to swipe his ID pass to enter. He didn't need any assistance to find their crew's rented studio because he already received the studio number from the director.
And according to the original's memory, this wasn't the first time he worked in the studio so he was already familiar with the places around.