Chapter 1 - Hollywood, 1988

"Hey, Eric, steak for table nine."

"Oh, okay," Eric said, clumsily delivering the two steaks to the couple next to the window. He got back to his original leaning position against the counter and continued to be in a daze.

It was July 13th, 1988, at an Italian restaurant, in Los Angeles, North Hollywood. Eric turned and stared at the glass window ahead. The reflection of a young man about one meter eighty centimeters tall, with an angular face, an aquiline nose, and short golden hair stared back. That was his new appearance.

Three days ago, Eric was still living across the Pacific Ocean, in 2014. He was a 44-year-old advertising director. He wanted to be an internationally recognized director and struggled on his path for ten years. However, the reality was too cruel and he realized that the ones who made it weren't necessarily the diligent ones. He married at 35, had a son the following year, and finally settled down. At a class reunion, a few years later, he drank too much while reminiscing with his friends whom he had not seen for a long time.

Waking up the next day, he found himself 25 years in the past, in the body of an eighteen-year-old named Eric Williams, a fresh high school graduate.

"Eric, are you okay?" A chubby hand patted his shoulder. Eric turned to see the restaurant owner, Jeff Jones.

"I'm sorry, Jeff, I got distracted."

"Never mind." Jeff rubbed his hands, seemingly trying to find the words. "About Ralph, I'm sorry, but life goes on, you know? Come on, Eric."

Ralph Williams, Eric's father, was a very good chef. He'd been making Italian dishes at this restaurant for many years. However, Ralph had a nasty alcohol addiction. This addiction finally led to his death about a month ago via alcohol poisoning. According to the memories of the original Eric, Ralph's hobby was intricately related to the mother he had never met.

"Thank you for your help, Jeff. I truly don't know how I can repay you." Eric said.

Following Ralph's death, Eric's life was thrown into chaos. Although Eric had applied to the University of California, with his father's passing, his hopes came crashing down. Even as a public institution, the tuition fee needed was still about 20,000$ a year, not including other expenses. As Ralph's boss and friend, Jeff talked it out with Eric who then began to work as a waiter in his restaurant. As Jeff said, life went on.

"Ralph worked here for so many years, it's a given I'd help. But I can only do so much, and you'll have to rely on your efforts for the rest." Jeff said.

Eric nodded in gratitude. Jeff then left, and the young man went back to his thoughts. Since an unscrupulous God had sent him to Hollywood, twenty years in the past, if he remained a waiter, that deity would certainly feel frustrated.

After three days of analyzing his situation, Eric toned down his initial confusion and finally resigned himself to the new reality. In his past life, despite graduating from a famous film academy's direction department with solid professional knowledge, he did not get to achieve his dream. Right now, he had neither a diploma nor a background, and even if he went and applied for a bottom job in a movie company, he might not succeed.

After a busy day in the Italian restaurant, Eric drove away in the cheap Ford Sedan that his father had owned. He initially wanted to sell the car to pay for his school fees but kept it in the end. After all, the United States of America was known as the land on wheels, without a car, it wasn't exactly convenient.

Driving past a cinema theater, Eric saw a Rambo 3 poster plastered close to the entrance. Under the snow-capped mountains, a helicopter in the background, the young Stallone and his muscles were enough to make any proper female fan squeal.

Without much thought, Eric parked his car in the parking lot nearby and inquired about the movie. When he was told that screening would start soon, he bought himself a ticket and went inside.

As it was still early, there were only about thirty to forty people in the theater. Eric found his seat and sat down.

Soon, the lights went off. After the screen titles, the movie officially started:

Colonel Sam Trautman asked Rambo, who lived in seclusion in Thailand, to go to Afghanistan to carry out the task together, but Rambo rejected him. After the Colonel was captured, Rambo once again arms up to save his good friend…

In the past, Eric had watched most movies Stallone had starred in, more than once. The reason why he bought a ticket, was because he remembered Stallone's experiences as well as his own former self's. In the ten years that he struggled, whenever he wanted to give up, he would use some of the more inspirational stories of Sylvester Stallone's to motivate himself.

As the movie continued, Eric's swirling thoughts faded, and he focused on enjoying the show. Gradually, he relaxed his body and leaned back into his seat. Because he had seen the movie before, whenever the plot advanced, Eric would subconsciously remember what would happen next, and then, something hit him.

It was as if, the whole movie, every shot, every line, even every melody, had been engraved in his mind.

Eric suppressed his excitement, closed his eyes, chose one of Cameron's movie, Titanic, and realized the result was still the same: he could recall every minute of it. Trying several other movies again, it was still the case. His thoughts were swirling, and Eric tried to remember movies whose name he had heard but hadn't seen. As expected, it didn't work. It seemed like he could only remember those he had seen, but it was enough.

When he had just been reborn, Eric thought that he could use his past knowledge to produce some movies. But as someone who used to be a professional director, he also knew how difficult that would be, he could only write something similar to the original at best. But now, his memory from his past life was clearer than ever, and Eric knew what it meant. As long as the conditions were met, he would be able to replicate those classic movies down to the last details.

Eric was so excited that his cheeks flushed red and his fingers went numb. He finally couldn't hold it in anymore and heavily slapped his chair's armrest and blurted out: "DAMN!"

The pain coming from his palm brought Eric back to reality. Looking around the theater, several people in the audience were glaring at him, and he could only smile in embarrassment. The one hundred minutes of the film was soon over. Rambo rescued his friend by a hair's breadth again, faithful to the franchise habits.

Eric hadn't realized at first because he was too excited, but he didn't have such a great memory in the past. Earlier, he had to read an article many times to be able to recite it, and also listen to a song many times to be able to sing it. This newly acquired ability must be the work of an unscrupulous… er, compassionate god.

Holding onto this newfound hope to make it to the pinnacle, Eric drove home in a rush. With such a superhuman ability, if he still failed miserably, he might as well drown himself to death.