Jameson got a call from Director Jacob, so he said goodbye to Max and headed to the studio. Max got into his electric car and returned home.
"Welcome back, young master," Tom greeted Max with discipline.
Max smiled, walked inside, changed his clothes, and sat down for lunch. Tom stood nearby, waiting.
"Tom, I've made a decision about my future," Max said as he started eating.
"What have you decided, young master?" Tom asked, a bit shocked, his eyes widening. He thought Max would discuss his future plans months from now, but just days after coming out of the coma, he was already thinking about it. Tom felt proud of Max.
"I'm going to direct movies."
"What… Young master, but…" Tom was stunned.
"But what?" Max raised an eyebrow, looking at Tom.
"Young master, don't you remember your director exam results?"
"No! How did it turn out?" Max asked curiously, wanting to know how the "old" Max had performed.
"If you remembered, you wouldn't even think about making movies," Tom muttered.
"Tell me," Max asked again, seeing Tom standing quietly.
"Your result was completely in the negatives—didn't your friends tell you that?" Tom replied.
"No," Max said, feeling disappointed hearing about his result.
"One moment." Tom opened a video file on his phone and handed it to Max. Max, curious, began watching, wondering what Tom wanted to show him.
Max started watching a five-minute clip. "Act... ion..." Max heard a voice stammering, and he froze, recognizing it as his own from before the coma.
"Brrrrgh...!"
"What... What was that, Xua?" A girl's frightened voice echoed from the video as Max continued to watch.
"Why are you scaring me, get off me, Tim Tim!" another girl shouted in the video, and both girls seemed to be in a panic.
"Wow, the old Max had such 'talent'—he couldn't even hold a camera steady," Max remarked critically, noticing how shaky the footage was and how there wasn't a single perfect shot. Sometimes only half of the body was in the frame, and in other parts, the camera couldn't stay focused for more than a moment.
"Hmm… This was probably the final exam," Max guessed. "All newbies were given a project, and old Max got a horror script—two girls go on an adventure in the jungle and enter a haunted house. It's a good concept for a five-minute clip, but old Max messed it all up."
"Whenever you held a camera, your hands would shake, and you never managed a single perfect shot. When the exam results came, you were so disappointed that you swore off making movies and even broke the camera," Tom explained softly, a little nervous, once the video ended.
After finishing his lunch, Max sat on the sofa. "Something must have happened in the past with the old Max… maybe that's why he had no confidence at all," he thought to himself.
"Young master, do you want to make movies even though you have no memory of your past?" Tom asked. He had thought showing Max the video would jog his memory, but it hadn't.
"Yes, and this morning I even submitted an application to open a studio."
"What... That fast... Young master, take a few days to think it over. This industry has a lot of competition," Tom said, surprised as he looked at Max's determined face.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it." With that, Max headed toward his room.
"You look scared, useless soul," Dolly said in an energetic tone after finishing her sleep.
Max, recognizing the familiar voice, clicked his tongue, thinking, She'll probably trap me in a conversation and get me punished again.
"Why aren't my memories coming back?" he asked, feeling troubled.
"Those memories have been sealed," Dolly replied casually.
Hearing this, Max stared at her, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Why!?"
With a wave of her hand, Dolly conjured a large chair, a mix of silver and gold, that appeared out of thin air. Sitting on it, hovering with the attitude of a queen, she explained, "Your past self was a weak, sorrowful, and unlucky soul. The System decided to seal those memories so that your new self wouldn't be burdened by them while carrying out your mission."
"Will these memories always stay sealed?" Max asked, sitting on the bed. He often felt incomplete, as if the missing memories might fill the void within him.
"The seal will be lifted, but not now," Dolly replied, adjusting her appearance in a mirror she had summoned. "Once the System gives you a mission and you successfully complete it, it will decide how much of your memory to unseal."
"So much confidence in this ugly doll," Max muttered, watching her fix herself in front of the mirror.
"Hmmmm…" Dolly sensed as if someone had just called her ugly, and she shot a glare at Max.
"Well, at least I'll get to know what the old Max's personality was like," Max quickly said, trying to cover up as Dolly stared suspiciously at him.
"Do you need more information, useless?" Dolly snapped her fingers, and a set of clothes in her size appeared in front of her, ready to wear.
"Ugh, enough with all this showing off!" Max grumbled, watching Dolly use magic repeatedly to make herself look more beautiful. She looked cute and beautiful on the outside, but Max's dislike for her attitude made him see her as ugly.
"Are there people who look the same in this world?" Max wondered. On Titan, the country names were almost the same, except for the 'kingdom' part.
Maybe Earth's famous celebrities are here too... if they are, I could make movies with them—easy work and lots of fame. But Dolly's answer shattered his hope.
"No, idiot… Did you really think that just because the country names are similar, Earth faces would be here too?" Dolly smirked. "Let me tell you, there's not even a 1% match between Earth faces and the faces here."
"Well, that's a big problem now! I was planning to cast Earth-lookalike actors for my movie and use it for the System's mission. Now, how am I supposed to find talented actors for a perfect movie?" Max fell into worry.
"Tch… tch… Useless. I have to teach you everything, don't I? What error went wrong in the system to replace the King of Directors' soul with the soul of a useless audience?" Dolly mocked, trying to put him down.
Max ignored Dolly's mocking. Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. What kind of error brought me to this trashy, storyless world? I'd have been happier working in a bar, enjoying good movies for the rest of my life. What bad luck I've got, he thought, feeling frustrated.
"The people here are smart, but why aren't they making good movies?" He could tell from their advanced technology that their intelligence far surpassed Earth's, and yet, this question kept nagging at him.
"Because they don't pay much attention to the entertainment industry," Dolly explained, sitting stylishly on her chair. "The smart ones are too focused on development. The few who show interest just throw together trash, and the rest of the smart people are satisfied watching it."
"That's why their movies are in this state. They don't even know the difference between good and bad films," Max thought with determination. "I'll have to show them that difference with my own movies." A sense of pride filled him as he realized the challenge ahead.