He had always been an ordinary man. In his past life, he had never stood out for his intelligence or ambition. He worked as an office employee in a small, uninspiring company, spending his days typing on a keyboard, mindlessly following his boss's instructions, and dreaming about what his life could have been if he had just been a little smarter, a little luckier.
What he did have, however, was an obsessive passion for three things: movies, finance, and technology. He spent his nights watching classic films, reading books on investment strategies, and following the stock market, convinced that if he had the right opportunities, he could have built something great. But reality was cruel—he was just a spectator in a world where others took the stage.
On a rainy November night, after watching a late screening of an old classic, he stepped onto the street, lost in thought. He never heard the sound of the approaching car. He never saw the headlights piercing through the downpour. The impact was sudden. His body flew through the air before crashing onto the cold asphalt. His breath stopped. His vision blurred. Pain exploded through his being before everything went dark.
He died on the spot.
But that wasn't the end.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in bed, staring at a wooden ceiling. His head ached, his limbs felt strange—stronger, younger. Panic surged through him, but then, as if a switch had been flipped, memories poured into his mind.
James Carter, thirteen years old. It was 1980.
He gasped, sitting up in shock. A mirror on the dresser reflected a face he had never seen before but instantly recognized as his own. He was a boy again, reborn into the body of a teenager in the past. His memories remained intact, crystal clear, and sharper than ever. The knowledge of the future, decades of technological advancements, market trends, and cinematic masterpieces—he remembered everything.
He took deep breaths, trying to process it all. He lived in California, in a modest house with his mother, a woman who had him at sixteen. His grandparents helped raise him, and his father—an aristocrat from Britain—had passed away before he was born.
James gripped the sheets. This wasn't just a second chance; this was a golden opportunity. With his knowledge, he could change everything. He could rise to the top, dominate Hollywood, amass untold wealth, and shape the world itself.
A slow grin spread across his face.
He knew the future.
And this time, he would take it for himself.