ubles. [Hyde POV] In the basement. Fez was pacing by the shower. Donna bit her nails and shook her leg on the couch. I sat on my green chair, stewing quietly as I held back my anger. After touching Donna's boob, the realization that my dad wanted to rejoin my life was looming on my mind. It made me really annoyed. Kelso walked in with his dumb grin and said, "Guess who just hooked up with Pam Macy after the concert?" "I don't know. Everyone?" I said sarcastically. "No. Me!" Kelso was excited. "Yeah, we did it in the van, in her living room, and on her parent's bed." "She doesn't have her own bed?" Donna scofed slightly. "God, why is everyone so prickly tonight? This is a great night!" Kelso was taken aback by the responses. "Maybe for you, you son of a bitch." Fez cursed at him. "You know what you all need? To relax." Kelso said firmly. A minute later, all of us sat together in a circle and passed around the blunt. The living room was smoky, and all of us were smiling.Fez picked up the Playpen magazine and began reading it again. He scowled slightly and said, "Jackie didn't give me the time of the day. I hate this stupid magazine." He was taken aback by his own words and hugged the magazine, "Oh, no, I didn't mean it. I love you." I read another magazine and snickered, "Hey, Fez. Check this out." I read the article out loud. "Tight pants turn a man's derriere into a lady's dream. And an open shirt shows a sexy chest and an irresistible joie de vivre." "Really?" Fez grabbed the magazine from me and smiled. "I always thought my joie de vivre was in my pants." Donna looked at us with disgust and said, "Okay, I can't believe I'm asking you guys this, but if any of you losers had a girlfriend, would you still look at those magazines?" Kelso said confidently, "Hey, I had two girlfriends and a little action on the side and I still looked at those magazines." "You had action on the side? Who?" I asked. He snickered, "You don't know her. She went to Sacred Heart." Donna looked at Kelso with disdain and turned to us, "Okay. Anybody here have an opinion, who's not a skeevy pig?" "I'm glad you asked, Donna." Fez replied. "If I had Jackie, I would never look at those magazines." He paused and thought about it, "Unless she's on the phone… or went shopping or took a short nap."I looked at Fez with disbelief before turning to the girl. "Look, Donna. This is just the way guys are, okay?" I glanced at my magazine and added, "I mean, if Forman was actually dating the "Naughty Campus Co-eds", he'd be locked in a bathroom, looking at naked pictures of you." Donna looked revolted. Kelso grinned and said, "He's right, so…" He leaned forward and asked, "Are there naked pictures of you?" Donna pushed him off the couch and began pounding him. "My leg!" Kelso screamed in pain. I laughed and said, "Hey, knee him in the groin!" She swung her leg and kneed Kelso in his crotch immediately. "Oh, my God! She did it!" I laughed in satisfaction and returned to the magazine. Kelso stood up and ran away hurriedly. Eric came down the basement and saw Donna. "Oh god." Donna saw him and froze. Then, she left hurriedly. Eric came to the couch and sat on Donna's previous seat. I burst out laughing at Eric and said, "You dumbass." "Okay! So I'm a collector. So what?" Eric complained. "She should've… expected this." He lowered his head in defeat. Fez laughed again and said, "Don't worry Eric. When Donna dumps you, you'll have the naughty campus co-eds to keep you company.""Shut up Fez!" Eric stood up and stomped away angrily. Fez and I burst out laughing. Suddenly, Jackie entered the basement through the side door. "Steven~" She called to me afectionately. "Oh no. She's here to get your joie de vivre." Fez whimpered slightly. I stood up and ran away to my bedroom. "STEVEN!" Jackie called me angrily. "I'm just here to talk!" … I slept really well that night and woke up around noon. When I came out of the room and got to the kitchen to get some cofee, Mrs Forman interjected and said, "We ran out of cofee. Why don't I make you some cocoa instead." "I can make it myself Mrs Forman–" "Nonsense. Just sit down over there." She made the cocoa and put it in front of me. I drank and read the newspaper. The front page headline read, [FESTIVAL DRAWS RECORD CROWDS TO POINT PLACE] There was a picture of me singing on stage, taken by a shaky camera that showed almost nothing except for my bandages on my arm and my sunglasses."There's a mention of you singing at the concert last night. Now why didn't you tell me that? I would've stayed for the concert." Mrs Forman said supportively. I shrugged and smiled. "I don't plan it. It just happened." She smiled slightly, her expression turned slightly cautious. She asked, "So how's your cocoa?" I replied casually, "Chocolatey good, thanks." She said quickly. "That's good, 'cause I think your father has really changed. He is not the same man I used to know, and the marshmallows make it extra good." I sighed and said, "Well, at least you knew him, Mrs Forman, 'cause I never did." "Okay, well, here's your chance. Maybe now you can make some new, happy memories. Wouldn't that be wonderful?" "No." I replied instantly. "He made his choice, Mrs Forman. I'm not going to foolishly hold out hope that he really has changed." I sipped my cocoa and said, "I'm almost an adult. He wasn't there when I needed him the most. But you did. You, Mr Forman, and even Eric. You are my family. Not him." "Aww." Mrs Forman melted slightly, her voice turned teary. "If that's what you really want, I'm not going to bring it up again…" She paused and whispered, "Today." I threw my hands up in disbelief. Laurie came to the kitchen, with crazy hair and makeup that wasn't fully removed from her face.She groaned and said, "Mom. I need cofee." "We're out of cofee honey. How about some juice?" Mrs Forman asked her carefully. "And also a shower." "Ugh. What is that fishy smell?" I scowled instantly. "Shut up! I was eating fish last night!" Laurie was embarrassed and she stomped away angrily. Mrs Forman laughed awkwardly and said, "So Steven. What do you have planned for today?" "Well. I'm going to meet with Leslie at the ofice. I'll stay there till late tonight, so you don't have to wait for me." … When I arrived at the ofice, I realized Leslie had seriously undersold the situation. No wonder she was calling me, asking when I would get there. I was only expecting her, but the lobby was packed with people waiting for me. Two people from the town government—Mr. Burkhart and the mayor himself. More than ten local business owners were gathered around the couches, all talking loudly amongst themselves. Bruce was there too, along with Jonathan Price, the head of the distribution company. Megan and Tyrell stood near the back wall. Amy and Linda were almost hidden behind everyone else, though I still spotted them immediately.Meanwhile, Max was running around the ofice carrying cofee cups like his life depended on it. The moment I walked inside, every pair of eyes landed on me. "…Um. What's going on?" I asked cautiously. Leslie approached me immediately. "They all want to meet with you." She lowered her voice slightly. "Come to your ofice first before they corner you out here." "Good idea." I nodded quickly before looking at my own people. "Amy, Linda, Megan, Tyrell. Come with me." My tiny ofice immediately became crowded after everyone entered. Even Linda was there despite yesterday technically being her last day. Linda nervously handed me a report sheet. "Um… I'm just here to report the photobooth earnings." She adjusted her glasses anxiously. "I already deposited everything into the company account. The booth made $8,800 over the two days." "Nice." I nodded approvingly. "You already took your cut, right?" "What?" Linda blinked rapidly. "No. I get a cut too? I already took the salary." "You worked ten hours a day for twenty bucks an hour." I shrugged casually. "That's a four hundred dollars salary. Then you get five percent of the booth profit." I grabbed the calculator beside Leslie's desk and pressed a few buttons. "There's around thirty-four hundred dollars in profit there." I tore a check out casually. "So your cut is four hundred forty dollars."Linda stared at the check with disbelief. I gave her six hundred dollars instead of only four-forty. "I added a little bonus too." I handed it to her with a grin. "So remember us when you become some big-shot accountant working in Chicago." Her eyes became slightly teary. "Thank you, Steven." From cursing out her fate in the rain, now she has a steady job, repaired her relationship with her friends, and even bought a new car. Linda's eyes had truly changed since the day I met her. Megan suddenly remembered something and told Linda, "Oh right. Once our Chicago ofice opens, you should come visit us there." Linda's eyes widened instantly. "You're opening an ofice in Chicago?" Amy looked at me nervously. "Are you moving, Steven?" "No." I shook my head. "I'm staying here. The Chicago ofice is just a branch." Amy visibly relaxed after hearing that. I turned toward her. "So how much did you make?" "Um…" She tried to stay humble and immediately failed. "Not as much as you, obviously. But I sold almost all my necklaces." She excitedly took out a bundle of cash. "I made around two thousand dollars!" Linda was surprised by the numbers. Amy had made more than Linda since she owned her own business. "And this," Amy continued proudly, "is the lotion and sunscreen money. There's another thousand dollars here." "Great." I took the cash and handed her two hundred-dollar bills back. "Congratulations. After me, you're probably the highest earning highschooler in the town. Well, after me of course." Amy immediately pretended to look smug. "I knew it. One day, I'm going to surpass you, so don't get too comfortable up on your throne." I snorted in amusement. Then Leslie calmly decided to destroy her confidence. "The company made approximately four hundred fifty thousand dollars during the festival." The room instantly went silent. Amy slowly lowered the cash in her hands. Linda looked like she stopped breathing. Leslie continued speaking professionally. "That includes food sales, merchandise, clothing, alcohol, ticket revenue, and vendor percentages." "What?" Amy looked completely shaken. Megan crossed her arms proudly. "We also sold every car we brought to the festival. Fifty-two there, and another twenty at the dealership afterward." She smirked slightly. "People who lost the Mustang auction apparently didn't want to leave empty-handed." Tyrell jumped into the conversation and slid the report to my table. "Four hundred twenty thousand after deductions and the dealership profit alone was around three hundred fifty grand this weekend." Tyrell said proudly. "We can survive three months instead of the two months we predicted." Megan narrowed her eyes at him instantly. "I want to say that." She mumbled to herself. Then she turned toward Leslie with a fake innocent smile. "So what was the festival cost again?" Leslie became quiet for a moment before answering. "Approximately four hundred forty thousand dollars." Megan immediately smirked like she had just won an argument. "So Steven only has ten grand in profit?" "That's pure profit." Leslie said confidently. "We now own the stage systems, porta-potties, prefab cabins, tents, generators, speaker arrays, lighting equipment, and most of the infrastructure needed for future events." She adjusted her glasses slightly. "If we remove the one-time infrastructure purchases, projected profit increases by over two hundred fifty thousand dollars in this summer alone. We already got two clients waiting outside." Amy's soul almost visibly left her body as she heard all of the discussions. I leaned back in my chair and grinned at her. "So… you're still planning to surpass me?" Amy regained consciousness just long enough to answer. "No. I kinda want to marry you now." She paused thoughtfully. "So… wanna get married?" I smirked. "You're too late. I'm already engaged…To my work." Amy looked devastated for half a second. "Ah." She groaned dramatically.Then we both chuckled together. Meanwhile, Leslie, Megan, and Tyrell were subtly glaring at one another like rival generals fighting over territory. It honestly looked like they'd quietly developed some kind of unspoken competition while I wasn't paying attention. Linda kept quiet as she was self-conscious of being the only one who would leave the company while everyone else was working hard to build it. Then Leslie suddenly turned toward Amy. "You." She pointed directly at her. "Do you want to become my assistant?" Amy blinked rapidly. "Excuse me?" My eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, Amy. You should absolutely take the ofer." "What?!" Amy panicked slightly. "I'm still in high school!" "It's summer." Leslie shut her down instantly. "And I see potential in you." She crossed her arms. Leslie added, "If you truly want to become Steven's rival someday, you should start learning now." Amy thought about it with complete seriousness. Then she nodded firmly. "I want to become your assistant." "Great." I smirked slightly. Then reality suddenly hit me."Wait. Doesn't that mean your hut has no employees left now? Damn… except for Leo." … The mayor cleared his throat loudly after the conference room finally settled down. Since everyone wanted answers at once, I ended up gathering them all together in the conference room instead of talking individually. "Steven…" the mayor began warmly as he stood up. "On behalf of Point Place, I'd like to thank you for everything you've done for this town over the weekend." I immediately raised an eyebrow. A few people laughed softly. He added, "You brought thousands of visitors into town, generated business growth, and gave this community one of the most successful weekends we've had in years." Bruce leaned closer to me and muttered under his breath. "He's buttering you up." "I know." I whispered back. The mayor continued without missing a beat. "The town council is currently discussing ways we can support future events. Potential tax incentives, permit accommodations, tourism partnerships—" "In exchange for what?" Bruce interrupted casually. The room became quieter immediately. Bruce's status in this room was much higher than the mayor's, and everybody knew it. The mayor forced out a diplomatic smile. "Well… naturally, we'd like Mr. Hyde to continue investing in Point Place." One businessman immediately added, "And we'd like him to continue making us money." The room erupted into small laughs and nods of agreement. The mayor quickly took a plaque from beside the table. "And furthermore, the town council would like to present you with an Outstanding Citizen Award for your contributions to Point Place." I stared at the plaque silently for several seconds. "…Seriously?" Jack Burkhart sighed tiredly and rubbed his forehead. "He's not twelve." He glanced at the mayor. "You're making him uncomfortable." The mayor awkwardly coughed into his fist. Bruce immediately jumped in again. "Well, Kenosha is prepared to ofer him a two-year residential tax exemption if he relocates operations there." Burkhart was shocked. The mayor answered almost instantly. "We're prepared to ofer three." The room suddenly became very interested. I laughed awkwardly and raised both hands. "Gentlemen, please. I only allow beautiful women to fight over me." The room burst into laughter. Even the mayor chuckled weakly. "We'll talk later." I told both of them. I pointed toward the crowd afterward. "Alright. What does everybody else want?" A petite woman wearing an overly conservative Victorian-style dress immediately stood up. "I would like to know if events like this are going to continue happening in our town." "Yes." I answered instantly. She looked genuinely horrified by the response. "That festival brought drug addicts into Point Place! I saw a lot of people smoking the devil's grass in the field." "And customers!" a diner owner immediately snapped back. "My store was completely filled in the past two days. I sold more plates during the festival weekend than I did the last 6 months combined." "People were drinking in public!" an older man barked. "So was half this town." a bar owner shot back instantly. The room exploded into overlapping arguments. One older woman pointed at me accusingly. "My daughter came home dressed like a hussy after attending your concert!" I threw my hands up in disbelief. "And my clothing store sold out for the first time in two years because of that concert!" a younger businesswoman argued back. "Why are you blaming him for the way your daughter was dressing? Maybe she's a whore!" "What did you say?!" Another woman crossed her arms tightly. "What about safety? Thousands of strangers came into town!" "The Red Cross reported less injuries than in the football season," Leslie calmly interjected. "That's not the point!" the prudish woman snapped again. "What if rapists start coming here because of these concerts?!" She gasped and whispered, "Or the Negros…" That was the point where my patience finally died. "Alright, shut the fuck up." The room instantly fell silent. Everyone stared at me in complete shock. I pointed toward the crowd irritably. "This isn't a town council meeting." I snapped. "I'm not a politician. If you want to complain about morality and teenagers dancing, go yell at city hall." The silence somehow became even more awkward. "If you have actual concerns about logistics, security, trafic, or planning, then fine. We can discuss that." I gestured toward the door. "But if you're here just to whine about girls wearing skirts and people drinking beer at a concert, then get the hell out." "Steven." Leslie grabbed my arm before I escalated further. Then she immediately stepped forward and addressed the room professionally. "He's rude, but he's not entirely wrong." She adjusted her glasses calmly. "Concerns regarding public safety and municipal planning can absolutely be discussed with us and the town council later." She looked around the room carefully. "But if you're here purely to argue about morality, this meeting is over for you." A surprising number of people actually looked embarrassed after that. Leslie crossed her arms and continued speaking before anyone could interrupt her. "Six months ago, this town lost one of its biggest factories." Her voice remained calm, but noticeably sharper now. "People were losing jobs. Businesses were struggling. Some shops on Main Street were weeks away from shutting down completely." The room became quieter. "And this weekend?" She gestured toward everyone in the conference room. "Hotels were full. Restaurants were overflowing. Local stores sold out inventory. Teenagers earned money. Small businesses made profits again." Even some of the conservative people avoided eye contact after hearing that. "You don't have to like rock music." Leslie continued firmly. "You don't have to like how teenagers dress. You don't even have to attend the festival." "But a lot of families in this town benefited from it." "The diner owners benefited. The gas stations benefited. The motels benefited. The bars benefited. The local vendors benefited." She glanced toward Amy and Linda. "Even high school students made more money in two days than they normally would in months." Leslie adjusted her glasses again and delivered the final blow calmly. "So unless someone here has a better plan to bring twenty thousand people and hundreds of thousands of dollars into Point Place…" She looked directly at the prudish woman. "I suggest showing at least a little appreciation before criticizing the people trying to help this town." The room went completely silent after that. Even Bruce looked impressed. "Hoo. Hyde. Give her to me." "No." I rejected him immediately. Chapter 114: Illegal. [Hyde POV] A few people stayed behind to discuss important issues such as trafic, overbooked hotel rooms, and the lack of infrastructure in town if these concerts were going to become a common thing. It took a couple more hours before the meeting was finally done. I groaned and sat down on the chair with my legs up on the conference table. "That's so tiring." Max gave me a cup of cofee and massaged my shoulders slightly. "You've worked really hard, boss." I nodded and said, "Yeah. I need a reward." "But the meeting isn't over yet." Bruce said with a childish grin. A young man in his mid-thirties entered the conference room. I stood up immediately and shook hands with him. "This is our first time meeting. Bruce hired me to lead the company. I'm the general manager of the newly rebranded American International Pictures, Jonathan Price." He looked a little like Sebastian Stan, but with long hair and a thick mustache. He also wore brown sunglasses, the same as me. "Nice to meet you, Jonathan. I'm Steven Hyde." I introduced myself too. "Have a seat. Do you want some cofee?" "Oh no. I already drank four cups of cofee today." He rejected politely. "You have really great cofee here." "Thanks. It's French press." Max was happy and bounced slightly. I sipped on the cofee and asked, "So. What do you honestly think about Bruce buying the company?" "Hey. Why is that your first question?" Bruce complained immediately. "Honestly?" Jonathan shrugged slightly. "I think it's the stupidest thing he's ever done. He has no experience running a company, much less a distribution company." "He has no background in business, nor does he know how to market a product." Jonathan was being really truthful without even minding Bruce's feelings. "However, he's really confident about it. I'm guessing you have something to do with that." Jonathan glanced toward me behind the sunglasses. "So I'm just going to take my time and see if you're worth that sort of confidence." I chuckled and said, "Honestly, I'm even bafled by it myself. But since I'm a partner, I have to give my best to the company." Jonathan chuckled softly. Bruce interjected, fully annoyed. "Why don't we talk about Kentucky Fried Movie? And Encounter too! We need to send something to the theaters soon." Jonathan nodded and said, "I think Kentucky Fried Movie is an excellent spoof movie. It's funny, distasteful, and the test screenings showed that younger audiences are really enjoying the skits in the film." "So we can proceed with the theatrical prints." He said immediately. I nodded slightly and said, "I'll handle the prints." Jonathan looked slightly taken aback. "I'm sorry to ask this, but which lab are you using? Print quality afects box ofice returns quite a bit." "It's a Kodak-afiliated lab in Indonesia." I replied casually. "I can get it cheap and fast. The quality is comparable to the ones in theaters right now." Maybe it could even be better since it was made in 2025. I already talked to the company about this. I added, "They ofered us two choices. First, they'll deliver the prints after they finish the entire bulk order. So for eight hundred prints, it'll take around two months to get them all." "Or, they can deliver every finished batch of one hundred prints separately. They charge more for delivery, but we can get the first hundred prints in just ten days." Jonathan widened his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought. "It's definitely better to get the first hundred prints immediately. We're not going to need all eight hundred at once anyway." He nodded slowly. "And ten days for one hundred prints is actually really fast." Bruce interjected, "We can get the prints for Texas Chainsaw Massacre too." "About that." Jonathan immediately spoke up. "Editing the movie without the creator's permission is actually illegal." "What?" Both Bruce and I were surprised. "But we own it." Bruce said cautiously. "That actually makes it okay." Jonathan shrugged casually. "I just want to remind you not to do that again. We can get into really big trouble if you do that carelessly." Both of us breathed in relief. "So, two hundred prints for Kentucky Fried Movie. One hundred fifty for Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And two hundred more for Encounter." Jonathan wrote it down on a piece of paper. "How much is the cost per print?" He asked me. "Twenty-five hundred." I replied. "That's actually very competitive." He said while calculating the numbers on his notepad. I handed him a calculator to make his job easier. "It comes to around 1.375 million dollars." He nodded slightly. "How about the delivery?" "Thousand dollars per shipment." I explained. "Ah, they can print multiple movies at once. So we can get one hundred, one hundred, and one hundred together. The thousand dollars is just for the delivery itself." "That's actually pretty good." Jonathan nodded slightly. Bruce added, "The price is higher than normal. But considering the eficiency and the fast printing time, it's actually quite good. We don't have to wait months to get the first print ready." A normal 1977 print would cost around 1000-2000 dollars depending on the lab. If it's a rush job, it could spike up to 3000-4000 dollars. Even a rush job would take at least 20 days. Getting the prints in 10 days was worth that sort of pricing. Jonathan took out a checkbook and began writing the numbers there. "I'll handle the international payment, so just put it in the company account." I told him. I could access the company account online so I could transfer it straight to my Paypal account later on. Jonathan nodded and gave me the finished check. "I'll come by in two weeks to check the print quality." "Is Kentucky Fried the only movie we have right now?" I asked curiously. "Yes." Jonathan let out a beleaguered sigh. "Bruce fired all of the people responsible for acquisitions, so we basically have to start from scratch." "Well, they kept picking trashy movies." Bruce argued defensively. "We still have to release Tentacles and Empire of the Ants from the acquisition." I already checked the numbers before. Tentacles would actually make a pretty nifty profit at the box office. Somewhere around ten to twenty million dollars. The actual figure wasn't fully known since B-movies rarely had accurate public records for their box office numbers. But with a production budget of around one million dollars and marketing costs of roughly one and a half million, the movie would still generate a healthy profit for both us and the filmmakers. The prints for Tentacles were already finished, so the movie had already started showing in theaters. We held thirty-five percent of the profits since we carried the distribution risk upfront. And profits would only be calculated after we recouped the marketing and printing costs first. Empire of the Ants was a diferent story though. That movie was trash visually. It only made around 2.5 million dollars against a one million dollar production budget and another million spent on marketing. After the theaters took their cut, we'd barely make anything back from it. "We don't have the prints ready for Empire of the Ants yet." I looked toward Jonathan. "Why don't I see if I can improve the movie a little?" "Again, that's illegal." Jonathan immediately replied. I looked at him in disbelief and explained, "I'm only adjusting the sound design to improve the suspense. Then you can show the new cut to the filmmaker and see if they approve it. I'm not changing the storyline." Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "…Fine." He sighed tiredly. "Do it within one week. We still need time to print the movie too, so we don't have much time left." "Got it." I grinned. Bruce interjected and said, "Enough about that. I want to know when we're going to put Encounter into the theater? Shannon called me every single day, wanting to know the update." I grimaced slightly and said, "The movie's done. But I still recommend that we wait. Star Wars is extremely huge right now." Jonathan added, "But it's a different audience. It can still be risky, since there's a lot of movies that come out in the summer." I thought about it and said, "Why don't we hold a test screening for it?" "Great!" Bruce was excited. "I'll call Shannon to come here to Point Place." … I didn't go home after the meeting. Instead, I took out the film-to-digital machine from my system storage and began digitizing the movie; Empire of the Ants. Everyone else had already gone home since it was dinner time. I stayed alone in the office and began editing the sound of the movie. I also rejected the talent manager's offer to let me debut as a rock star. I already had a lot to do. I wasn't going to add going on tours to my list. "The low-shrill hum of the ants is too much. It works for a short time, but it ruins the ending scenes." The audio in the movie was especially terrible. It took me hours just to bring it to a passable level. "I'll do two versions. One with only audio and sound editing. Another one with added stock footage and replaced ant footage." I tried adding some footage from a National Geographic documentary at the start of the movie. A swarm of ants devouring everything from scorpions, snakes, grasshoppers, lizards, and even caterpillars. It created a much stronger opening for the movie and immediately gave it a sense of eeriness. There was also a scene where an army of ants crawled across the docks toward a ship. They used miniatures for the ant march, so it didn't look that bad. But once they got onto the ship, there's only an ant shadow instead of actual ants. The visual effects were truly low-budget, and honestly, they looked terrible. I decided to contact one of my YouTube editors since he specialized in VFX in college. Although, now he had to work with YouTubers to make a living. I told him to try fixing the fifteen-second footage. [Editor: I can do it. But why? This is a movie from fifty years ago.] [Me: Just for fun. I want to know if the movie would be better if they had modern technology back then.] [Editor: Like a research project? I can run it through AI. Sora can probably handle it pretty quickly. Then I'll overlap the actual actors into the footage.] [Me: Sure. Just don't change the footage itself. Only improve the VFX.] [Editor: Give me two days. No, just one is enough.] My smile suddenly disappeared. "…Why am I even editing this movie myself?" I muttered tiredly. "Can't I just outsource the hard part?" After finishing Empire of the Ants, I began digitizing Kentucky Fried Movie and cleaned up the audio there too. It didn't need much editing since it was mostly comedy skits. I only fixed the sound a little bit. Then I sent the films to the lab for theatrical printing. Three hundred prints cost me only seventy-five thousand dollars. I added two hundred more prints for Texas Chainsaw Massacre and another three hundred for Encounter. "Since the print cost is relatively cheap, I might as well keep extras in storage in case the movies become hits and additional prints are needed." Eight hundred prints cost me around two hundred thousand dollars in total. I paid upfront since I still hadn't cashed Jonathan's check yet. "Alright. Now I just need to wait for the ant movie to finish." My stomach suddenly gurgled. It was already midnight, and I hadn't even eaten dinner yet. Getting into my Chevelle, I drove back to the Formans' house and entered the kitchen. Mrs Forman had set aside some food for me in the fridge. She made pork chops tonight. I heated them up on the stove and began eating alone when Laurie suddenly tried sneaking out of the house. She was wearing skimpy clothes, blue eyeshadow, and bright red lipstick. "Oh, where are you going, you hussy?" I asked teasingly. Laurie glared at me and made a mocking face. "I have a party to go to tonight. Let me borrow your car." "Like hell I'm letting you borrow it." I grimaced. "Take Forman's car." "I can't find the keys. I'm pretty sure he brought them upstairs with him before going to sleep." She complained. "I'm not giving you my car." I said firmly. "Come on." Laurie rolled her eyes dramatically. "Give me your car and I'll bring you to the party. It's full of college students, so there's gonna be a lot of drunk girls there. Drunk… and loose." I scowled slightly. "I don't want to go to your frat party. And also, you're starting work tomorrow. Shouldn't you be sleeping already?" "What are you? My father?" Laurie mocked immediately. "No. I am." Red suddenly appeared by the kitchen doorway. Laurie turned around with a face full of shock. "Daddy?!" "Steven. Did you just get home?" Red walked toward me and asked. "Yeah. I had to prepare the movies for printing and send them to the lab." I replied casually. Red nodded approvingly before turning toward Laurie. "See? That's what being an adult looks like. Working hard and actually taking your job seriously." "But Daddy—" Laurie tried arguing, but Red immediately cut her off. "Go upstairs, wash that makeup off your face, and go to sleep! You start working at Price Mart at eight tomorrow morning!" "UGH!" Laurie stomped her foot angrily. "I don't want to work at Price Mart! It's so lame!" "Well, you have to do something." Red snapped back. "You stay out partying all night and waste the entire morning sleeping. So it's either Price Mart or you find another job!" "Ughhh!" Laurie groaned in frustration before immediately taking it out on me. "This is all your fault! Daddy never forced me to do anything before!" "That's why you flunked out of college and became an unemployed degenerate." I replied casually while eating my pork chop. I smirked slightly and teased, "Besides, having some money is good. Maybe you can buy your own car and move out too." Laurie went silent for a moment as the realization hit her. "Okay! I'll work as a cashier, but only until I find another job!" she declared rebelliously before storming back to her room. Red sat down beside me and asked quietly, "Are you staying out all day because of your father?" "He's not my father anymore." I replied. "Kitty's gonna get sad seeing you cut off your own family. Someone who's actually trying to make amends." Red hid his own concern behind Kitty again. I chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Red. When I was little, my parents left me at the mall. They were both drunk." I paused briefly before continuing. "I had to walk ten miles home in the blistering heat. Wearing shoes with holes in them." Red listened quietly. "Then I ran into a pack of wild dogs and got chased by all of them. One of them even bit my leg. Do you remember that?" "Yeah." Red chuckled faintly. "You were limping for a month." I smiled slightly. "While I was curled up on the ground trying to fight those dogs off, I realized something. I had nobody I could rely on except myself. That's how I survived until now." Red's expression froze slightly. "You're not alone anymore." He spoke more softly now. "You have… Kitty. Eric…" "Oh yeah. Eric." I laughed quietly. "You wanna hear another story?" "Sure." Red sighed slightly. "After my dad left, my mom became a complete mess. So I was hungry all the time. I didn't even have money to buy lunch at school." I stared down at my plate. "So you know what I did?" "What?" He sighed and asked. "I stole Eric's lunch money." Red immediately looked shocked. "You did that?" "Yeah. Not once or twice either. I did it for two straight weeks." My voice cracked slightly. "I was too hungry. I didn't have a choice." I swallowed hard before continuing, forcing out a smile. "One day, while I was trying to steal it again, Eric caught me." I laughed weakly. "And then… he just looked away." My eyes became watery and I snifled quietly. But I held on and did not let myself break. "I stopped after that. A few weeks later, I couldn't handle it anymore and finally asked him why he never got angry at me." I smiled bitterly. "He told me…. he already knew from the very first day." Red stayed completely silent. "Then he showed me his GI Joe lunchbox and said…" My chin trembled slightly. "'My dad bought this for me. So he don't really need the lunch money back.'" I lowered my gaze and laughed shakily. "I felt so ashamed, Red." "You were a kid." Red comforted me immediately. "You were desperate." "Yeah. I was a kid." I nodded slowly. "And the only person who looked out for me… was another kid." I smiled faintly through the tears. "A snotty little brat with missing front teeth who treated me kinder than most adults ever did." I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. "Eric even called me to come eat at his house. And Mrs Forman would always cook me the best food ever." I forced a smile again and said, "So, Red. I'm not angry anymore. And I'm not ashamed of myself anymore either." I stared quietly at the kitchen table. "But now he comes back?" My voice became slightly angry. "Why?" I looked toward Red directly. "When I don't need him anymore?" The kitchen became completely silent. "If he really wanted to come back and be a good father…" My voice cracked again. "Then he should've come back for the little kid." I swallowed hard. "The one getting bitten by dogs while crying for his dad to save him." Red went silent for a bit. And he suddenly patted me on the head. "If you don't want to see your dad, then you don't have to see him anymore. I'll talk to him and make sure he leaves you alone." he sighed and stood up. "Now, finish your meal and go to bed." He ordered. "Aye-aye sir." I replied jokingly and went to wash my plate.
