2. Start of a Business Empire and a Gift Long Overdue. (RW)

Disclaimer: The story takes place in an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. So people may be born early, some may be born a few years later or maybe not at all.

This gives me more freedom to write characters as I want, also the characters in my story are obviously not an accurate portrayal of their characters.

Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment story set in Urban Hollywood with some Fantasy elements because of the system's shenanigans so please don't take it too seriously.

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Opening Author's Note: I know people will be disappointed that this ain't the next but rewrote the 2nd chapter of this story and added too many details that I feel like you guys would be missing out if you didn't read this.

So please go through it and let me know how the new chapter 2 turned out. Also I changed the style to be in 3rd person so it flows better now there is no transition from 1st person to 3rd person.

The previous chapter 2 was 2.5k words this new one is over 5.8k words. So it's a complete overhaul, it's not the same. When I post the next chapter I will delete this chapter and put it in place of the previous chapter 2.

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Recap of previous chapter –

Our protagonist, Devon Shaw, died after being hit by a bus in the year 2023, he was in his 40s. He got reborn into the past and despite feeling cheated out of his life and dreams, he reluctantly accepted his second chance.

Now called Mark Spencer in his new life he made up his mind to pursue his dreams and become the greatest director ever in Hollywood and that would only be the beginning of his journey.

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~ Mark's POV ~

(The Flashback Tangent Continues)

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After having a serious conversation with his dad about his dream, he remembered telling him about his ideas for upcoming books in further detail. He remembered deciding to do so because he wanted his dad to realize that this book wasn't just a fluke.

Or even a one-time miracle. So he told him about his future plans; after all, he wanted his dad to help him publish this book. It was so he could finally start earning some cash because being back in the past and knowing so many different ways to earn a bank, yet still having to hold back, was killing him.

It was because of this that he thought about revealing his plans for his upcoming books, as it would make his dad take his proposition much more seriously. Not that the man ever treated him with kid gloves, but he didn't want to take any chances, as this was important for his future.

He planned on publishing his books under a pen name, which he thought about using in the future as his "Showbiz" name when he debuted as a director; the pen name was Marc Spector.

Yup, he was a Marvel fanboy through and through; it was because of his mother, who bought him various Marvel comic books in his childhood and even went with him to see every movie when it came out. She really was a nerd at heart, and so was he.

Anyways, he told him about his ideas for his upcoming books and how he wanted to write a murder mystery novel about a kind-hearted woman who befriended a rich aging mystery novelist and after his death believed herself to be his killer.

He told him that it was a plot he had drummed up after being inspired by the works of Agatha Christie. He knew it would need much work and lots of medical and technical research, but he was eager to learn more on the subject so he could make a better story.

His next work was birthed by his childhood obsession with dinosaurs, which got its muse after reading The Andromeda Strain - a book that deals with the aftermath of a biological weaponry research program gone wrong. This gave him the idea of DNA strains and cloning.

It finally culminated in him having the bizarre idea of writing a novel where humans have actually harvested the DNA of dinosaurs from ancient parasites, which were found by paleontologists to be well-preserved in amber.

From which they had decided to create a "zoo" out of all things they could ever think about creating. They ended up creating a theme park—Jurassic Park—a bizarre choice for a business indeed. But one that was explained by his love for zoos and animal attractions.

Yes, folks, he was indeed talking about writing Jurassic Park. But he didn't stop there, as there was one more: a story based on one of his favorite video games franchises.

He told Harvey, his dad, about how he got the idea to write a zombie survival horror novel dealing with ancient plagues, viruses and parasites centered around an evil corporation with the top-down view of an umbrella as its logo of all things.

Yup, it was the Umbrella Corporation, and Mark was talking about creating Resident Evil; well, he had already created it, actually as this was just a flashback playing out on his mind. All these writing projects were what kept him busy in his preteen and early teenage years, from ages 11 to 14.

But he didn't just focus on writing books; instead, he decided to capitalize on his genius intellect, so he furthered his knowledge and understanding in the fields of economics and finance.

He did so with the intention and hope that it would help him in making better use of his future knowledge of the financial markets and their crisis' to grow his capital.

After all, if he wanted to stop Disney in its tracks from ruining Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, Then he had to buy them before Disney even thought to or even had the chance to do so, and for that, he was gonna need a shit ton of money and quick.

Finally coming out of this tangent of thought, he realized what had happened: 'Damn it, I went off on a tangent again.'

Thankfully, all four of the novels that he had published to date had a successful run. They all went on to become New York Times bestsellers, ranked at the top of their genre lists, bringing him and his parents' immense joy and pride.

He was very happy that Ben 10 was his number-one bestseller, with over 22 million copies sold worldwide. It is his most liked and bought book, and it was obvious to see why with its simplistic storyline and the captivating artwork of the aliens.

But what really helped, especially, was the superhero theme, cleverly veiled behind the guise of a coming-of-age adventure sci-fi.

The story of a young kid who could transform into different aliens and go on adventures was very well liked by the kids and young adults who dream of going on adventures themselves.

It was simply a formula designed for success.

His second best-selling novel, to his own surprise, wasn't Jurassic Park; the Dino Park-themed novel was actually 4th on his list of bestsellers with a total of 6.7 million copies sold. Now that he thought about it, it was most likely because it was his most recent work, but still, he expected it to catch up with the others.

His third best-selling novel was "Knives Out: A Murder Mystery," with over 9 million copies sold worldwide. It was especially well received amongst the British readers, according to the sales statistics.

His second bestseller was actually "Resident Evil: Outbreak in Raccoon City," with over 17 million copies sold worldwide. When he had decided to adapt this video game franchise into a novel, he never expected it to become such a big hit.

But he could also understand why it was so well received. He had given the readers and horror enthusiasts new kinds of zombies to rave about, rather than just plain old stumbling slow poke zombies.

He introduced different kinds of zombies, including jumpers, crawlers, spitters and even the special bioweapon named – Nemesis, who squared off against the main protagonist. The dual-shotgun-wielding certified badass – Alice.

Resident Evil was a hit with both male and female readers; the supporting cast of characters was also a big hit with his audiences; and with a varied cast of different ethnicities, there was something for everyone.

He remembered the small party they threw to celebrate his success with a few close family friends, and they had a backyard wood-fired pizza party.

He had already written and published four well-received novels by an astonishing age of just 14, with over millions of copies sold for each novel, worldwide.

If he just counted the authors' royalties alone, he was already a multi-millionaire, but he never let the success go to his head. His father, Harvey, had always taught him an important life lesson; one of them was –

"Always celebrate your successes, but never let them become your arrogance, because arrogance is a poison that blinds people and hinders them from truly becoming successful."

He was a wise one; his dad, after all, being a well-known lawyer in New York City had allowed him to see the true darkness people hide in their hearts.

His father just compounded what he already knew from his past life, like how important a close-knit friend circle can be, about how to choose his friends, etc.

Something new that he learned from his father was how to influence them to become better at subtlety so that he would also benefit from it, at least indirectly.

(The Flashback Tangent Ends)

'F**k, I lost myself in my thoughts once again.' He thought to himself as he sat on his desk, looking at the file he had been working on for the past few months.

After preparing for years and learning about different things, he had built up a portfolio of stuff he would like to invest in and why. He had also prepared a plan for the business that he wanted to start with the money he had earned till now.

The business he had in mind was a real estate company; he would need a good manager who he could trust to run his company's day-to-day operations. So he could continue his studies and writing unimpeded, but he knew he needed to talk with his dad first.

Knock x3

"Dad?" He was outside his dad's study, psyching himself up for this meeting.

"Come on in, Mark," he heard his voice call him in.

He saw that his father was just lounging on his chair with a pleasant smile on his face, relaxing with a glass of wine after a long day.

"Dad, I have something for you." He had a poker face, trying to calm down his nerves.

"What is it, son? You look a little nervous." He asked, as even though Mark had a pretty solid poker face, his old man could read his face after having been around him for so long.

"Feeling like it." Mark replied truthfully that the manager he needed and the other holes in his plan would need to be filled in by his dad.

Despite being a TV show director and having some experience in leadership, he had never run a business before. He knew himself well enough to accept his weaknesses and work on them.

But to do that he will need his father to believe in him, he hoped that the file he had made about his business plan and investment choices helps instill that confidence in him.

"Sit down. What do you have for me?" He asked as he gestured for him to take a seat.

"Well, dad, you know how I've already saved up around 60 mils. I was thinking rather than just keeping it in Treasury bills and real estate." He turned over the file in his hands and put it in front of him.

"I want to use that money to start my own business and invest in some riskier but higher-yielding options. I hope for it to function as both a Real Estate Development company and a Venture Capital firm."

Hmm, why not just separate the two?

"Huh.."

"I'm no businessman, son. But if you separate the two and hire specialists for each, the separated entities would function more efficiently, don't you think?" He asked, analyzing the scene before.

"It would, but then it would mean that I would need to hire even more people and need to have at least two trustworthy people for the two companies to make sure that they don't screw me."

"Language." He said, chiding him for losing his cool.

"Sorry, dad." He replied, though internally thinking how to swing this idea.

"So, how can I help?" He asked with that patient smile of his that just always put him at ease, knowing that Harvey Spencer, New York's finest lawyer, was on his side.

"Well, Uncle Steve and his army of lawyers were definitely a great addition in helping me not be sc- I mean not be taken advantage of by that publishing company."

"I'm sorry about that, kiddo. I didn't think Shelly would do you like that; I really thought she was my friend. I guess I just didn't know her well enough." He had a forlorn look on his face at losing a long-time friend, and for letting his kid see the ugly side of life so early.

"It's all water under the bridge, dad; greed just blinds people sometimes. I need your help with connecting me to the right people for this business I want to start up."

"Aren't you already earning quite well with the land you bought up in Silicon Valley? I heard the land price over there just keeps rising." He was a little concerned that maybe his son might be taking unnecessary risks because he was too bored.

He still remembered how he had begged him to make his mother agree with signing up their 13-year-old for some martial arts lessons.

She didn't really see the appeal in it, but Mark raised some good points, and he was signed up, but not for sparring, only learning self-defense and body training.

"I did, but I want to buy even more. My investment of 15 million has already grown to 26 in just a year and a half. Dad, just imagine if I had invested everything; also, so many new IT companies are being founded there."

And what a kicker that revelation had been, his son who was not even 13 was already making millions from his smart investment, but the young buck didn't want to stop there.

Now he wanted to start his own business, but he had learned with Mark that he shouldn't judge too soon and keep his mind open to new ideas and developments.

"If I invest a few hundred thousands in a startup, and it becomes the next big thing in IT, then I wouldn't ever have to worry about money. But that's just idealistic thinking; what I need right now is a team of people around me who can execute my vision."

He couldn't help but nod in agreement, 'he knows where he is lacking and doesn't hesitate to ask for help. I guess that is one of his better qualities, but he can also be very bullheaded, just like me and Diane, he-he.'

"I knew that the land and property value of Silicon Valley would rise; after all, it is the beating heart of the American IT industry. Now, I need a team of financial advisors, business managers and VCs who can help me take the next step."

"Hmm, I do want to help you, but unfortunately, I don't really run with people in those sectors. At least they aren't people I would trust your company with, but don't worry, Steve should have a few names for you."

"Thanks, dad." He said, grateful for not having to go at this alone.

"It's no big deal. Wait, I will fax Steve these papers, hmm, you included the kind of people you need and even an estimated amount of how many. You did well, now let me take care of this."

"Thanks dad, good night. I will leave you to it then."

"Hmm." He just hummed and kept reading the file.

Mark stood up and left happy that his father wasn't against him being more proactive with his money. There were many companies which he was interested in, some of which had been established and some that were yet to be.

But he wanted to set up his business now and start investing so he could be ready to capitalize when these companies would be founded, and he could be their Angel investor.

The companies that immediately came to mind were Sun, TSMC and the Magnificent Seven.

These are the seven stocks that have led the stock market to a steady upward rise and are the best thing to invest one's money into – Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla.

Four out of them are trillion-dollar companies, and the best thing was that none of them have become publicly traded or launched their IPO yet.

So he still had time to accumulate more wealth and be ready when the IPOs are launched, or when they're looking for a VC or when they are ready to throw in the towel and give up.

He would gladly buy it up from them, and then hire them instead with premium salaries to work on the project they thought would fail but ends up a success.

For now, he would bid his time and for a reply from his dad about Uncle Steve. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait too long and was flown that very week to LA to meet his uncle. There when he met him, he explained the why and how of his plan to start a business.

Thankfully, his uncle was very supportive of his dreams and took him to meet up with a few individuals who were trustworthy and could help make Mark's dreams of creating a business empire a reality.

The first man his uncle introduced him to was a man named Nicholas Crown, and the rest is history. He was only a few years older than him, but Mark could tell at first glance that this man was going places.

Nicholas was tech-savvy and very flexible, so when Mark told him about himself, about the money he had saved up and how he had invested it till now.

Nic immediately advised him that they should leave just enough money needed to cover their first year of business operations and invest the rest.

An advice that worked wonders as Mark saw near 80% return on investment in their first year of working together. Even though Mark couldn't be there, Nic would always carry out his orders to the T and make sure that business was running smoothly.

The duo built Crown Ventures (C.V) and Crown Estates (C.E) from the ground up, yes he named it after Nicholas because he wanted to be a shadow owner and didn't want to be directly connected to these businesses.

So, Nic would serve as his representative and for this he was being paid a hefty salary and a small percentage of stake in the companies. Though Mark planned on renaming them to Eidolon Ventures & Eidolon Estates later on to fit with the brand he will be creating and signed this contingency on paper.

Seeing Mark's generosity he recommended and brought in another friend of his, Daisy Shah. She became his co-head and managed Eidolon Estates while Nic focused on the venture side of business.

Through Daisy, Mark started building office spaces, upscale cul-de-sacs and even communal living spaces like dorms. All these rental properties brought in a lot of cash inflow that he reinvested into the business.

After all, the larger the investment, the better the returns.

Through building a business in the Silicon Valley he was or at least his people were right at the place at the right time to capitalize on his knowledge of the future.

His first big buck was made through investing in Cisco Systems - they were the pioneers of the LAN.

Even though they weren't publicly traded yet through his tip, Nicholas was able to get them a 45% stake for just a few million dollars that changed history and lives, unknown to him as he was still diligently at work writing the prequel to the first volume of Ben 10.

His investment had allowed Cisco Systems to flourish from the very beginning, not be bogged down and potentially be mired in lawsuits due to theft of the software, hardware designs, and other intellectual properties from Stanford University.

They were able to pay to get access to Stanford's router software and even two computer boards that served as a boon for them, as this development had taken nearly 2 years to happen whereas only the few months it took this time because of Mark's investment.

Even though his stake of ownership in Cisco Systems wasn't locked, it would be slowly diluted over time. He wasn't worried, as he was already at 45%. If he decided to put up more capital at later stages of financing, he could easily make sure that he would at least end up with a 22% stake in the company.

Now, he just needed to make sure it was not a one-time wonder, but just the first in a string of successful investment deals that Crown would close for him.

But also, he wasn't just focused on IT, as Eidolon Estates was doing really well as well, as in just their first year of business. They came to own over 175 rental properties in and around Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose and Campbell and had brought in $6.3 million in rent and $45 million in property sales.

Though his investments weren't just tied up in IT, even though those would be giving him one of the best returns, He also wanted to be part of companies that would be part of the "Fortune 500," and just buying stakes in IT companies was a risky undertaking even with his foresight.

He had only mentioned Costco to him in passing, but Nicholas was somehow able to get hold of Jim and Jeffrey, the co-founders of Costco.

He was successful in selling them on the idea of bringing in Eidolon Estates as a partner from whom they could rent warehouses and save costs to focus more on capturing a larger market share.

He invested $25 million at the beginning to show his sincerity and became a co-owner of the brand before it went public the next year. But he didn't stop there after buying a stake in Costco he remembered the other big retail and wholesale outlets.

Home Depot was his next target, after the increased expansion of The Home Depot in the mid-1980s. It created financial difficulties for the company, with earnings falling by 42% and debt rising to around $200 million. These financial difficulties also caused the stock price to fall.

This was where he came in as an angel investor with his $70 million investment, helping to stabilize the business along with an executive non-involvement clause, promising that he would allow them full autonomy for at least a decade in exchange for a 20% locked-in stake in the business.

After buying a stake into two of the biggest retail and wholesale outlets, he decided to move on to the healthcare industry. And he didn't even bother trying to go after the biggest name in the retail outlet business, A.K.A. Walmart. Why? Well, it's because it is a family-owned and run business.

Nic instead advised him to invest in United Health Care Corporation; according to him, the management was excellent, and it seemed like the company would grow. It was founded in 1977 to purchase Charter Med and create a network-based health plan for seniors.

It had recently become a publicly traded company in 1984, so he bought in as early as he could and kept raising his stake in the company.

After doing this for 2 years together, Mark felt like he could trust Crown to not f*ck him over unless he checked in on him every week. He believed he could be even less hands-on and free up some time to shift his focus on something new.

It was 1986, and he felt like he could try something new here, so he suggested the creation of a Think Tank where they would employ a team of inventors, scientists and engineers who would basically innovate and find ways to turn his ideas into a reality.

He named this Think Tank – Engineering Marvels, to safeguard himself and not let his idea's leak outside; he had Nic make them all sign NDA's if they wanted to join.

And why wouldn't people join them? The pay was lucrative, and the freedom to choose their own project from a list of options or even suggest their own for review and feasibility analysis was something not seen very often.

But the thing that made them the numero uno as the place of work was their promise to share royalty with the inventor or team of inventors involved in a project.

The list Mark had curated for them included a wide range of product ideas as well as problems that, if solved, would lead to profitable products: room fresheners, face masks, plastic alternatives, improved electric kettles, etc.

The patents from these inventions would be another source of revenue for him until he decided to sell them on his own. He didn't really want to get into it now, as it would require too much of an investment of time and money.

Time that he couldn't afford because he was going to a university. He wanted to study filmmaking at a reputable institution; he knew he could wing it and directly head into Hollywood with just his previous life's education and experience.

But he wouldn't have a valid reason to explain his knowledge and skills about the subject, so he decided to first graduate with a couple degrees in filmmaking— Direction, cinematography, editing and screenplay writing.

Though he faced a big challenge at home, that was convincing his mother to allow him to pursue a career in Hollywood as a film director. Even though he was very independent and mature, his mother had seen Hollywood ruin the lives of a lot of good people.

So, understandably, she was very strongly against it because he was already very successful as an author and as a businessman. She was of the opinion that he didn't need to dirty his conscience by exposing himself to the cesspool of sex, drugs and debauchery that is Hollywood.

He couldn't refute it, as she wasn't wrong; it was all true. The rumored casting couch, the manipulation of box office numbers, the lack of privacy, the destruction of one's public image because of studio politics, the sexual offenders and child predators not being prosecuted due to a lack of witnesses and evidence, etc.

But still, it was his dream, and he couldn't just give up on it like that. So after a lot of requests and promises to his mom about not doing drugs or indulging in excess alcohol, he was finally given permission to pursue his dream.

He knew his dad had been a huge factor in making Mom agree to his decision. Fortunately enough, his dad had always been very supportive of his dreams and ambitions from a young age. He was glad to have both of them as his parents in this life.

He had already completed his high school course early on, at the age of 14, and had spent the last two years writing and building up wealth through his businesses.

Now, he decided to take a break from it and focus on his education, so at just 16 years old, he got admitted to arguably one of the best places to study the art of filming.

He decided to pursue multiple courses at the same time, as he wanted to keep himself anonymous. Going as far as to pay a sizable donation just to keep his face hidden and be registered with his pen name – Marc Spector.

Furthermore, he decided to get masters in multiple degrees, namely directing, cinematography, editing and screenwriting, from the New York Film Academy.

But he didn't just study; he also kept writing his novels on the side to keep himself engaged in some form of creative work. In the four years that he was studying at NYFA, his writing speed obviously went down.

But he still managed to write two new novels - The Boys and The Invincible—and also wrote the sequels to his older works like Ben 10, Knives Out and Jurassic Park. At that time, Nic was able to close a huge deal based on his tip; TSMC was looking for an investor.

Nic, along with a few executives at Sun, decided to agree to this deal as Nic would be providing the funds and all they had to do was transfer their production technology, and license intellectual property in exchange for a joint 27.5 percent stake in TSMC, divided in a 3:2 ratio with him taking the bigger share.

With the closing of this deal, Mark became a stake holder of TSMC, which will be considered the world's second-most valuable semiconductor company and the world's largest dedicated independent "pure-play" semiconductor foundry.

While studying and writing, he didn't forget to socialize and make friends to help with his journey later on in his career and life. He had made six very close friends whom he could say he came to trust explicitly.

He tested them, obviously but without their knowledge, of course, to check their character traits, personalities, and behaviors. After going through nearly 40 people, he chose six of them because they showed the traits that he was looking for in his future friends and coworkers.

Loyalty, understanding, a good work ethic, flexible morals, willingness to compromise, the ability to stay calm and collected under pressure and not be offended over small things, etc.

In this period, he also got acquainted with some people from Dark Horse Comics who were interested in making his novels into comic books.

They were especially enthusiastic about Ben 10 as even though it was one of his earliest works it was also one the most iconic, with almost constant pictures of the alien transformations every few pages along with cool sci-fi gadgets.

Having different alien planets and societies being displayed in its story and with it already having a well established image base it would be the easiest to adapt into a comic book.

After getting into contact with his team of lawyers regarding this business. They finally came to a deal which he was satisfied with. He sold the comic book adaptation rights of Ben 10, Invincible and The Boys to Dark Horse comics for 4 years to test the market and see the feedback for the readers.

He got a nice sum of $9 million in total for all three books. He knew he could have gotten more if he had extended the time period, but he had other plans, and he would be publishing his own comic books in a few years if it went through.

Using some of his profits through his investments, novels and the sale of comic book adaptation rights, he bought plots of land and rental properties in and around the state of California and New York as he felt bad just letting the money sit there.

These two states were among the highest in terms of rate of increase in rent and property value. So he knew he would only get richer by using his modified version of the Kiyosaki method.

In one of the plots near the outskirts of LA, he had already begun to put together a little surprise that would be helpful in his rise through the ranks of Hollywood.

An elegant estate was being built upon the site, but if all went according to plan, it wouldn't even be used for a couple of years now. The only reason he even chose to build it so soon was because of the cheap labor and relatively cheaper raw materials.

By the time he was ready to graduate his initial investment of around $124 million grew to a little over $415 million and this was only his real estate business and didn't take into consideration the value of his stakes in various future Fortune 500 companies.

He was pretty satisfied with this already, as the age of the internet hadn't even properly started yet, and he knew which companies would later go on to become trillion-dollar giants, so money was never a worry in his mind.

He just needed to gather enough capital to establish a small film studio along with his friends, and have enough left over to shoot at least two or three films. In case one of them fails at the box office, with his future knowledge, it's rare, but it's not impossible, and I always liked to play it safe.

Fortunately with hard work and future knowledge he had more than succeeded in creating this seed capital that would be needed to start his own studio and first few of his films.

It would be his first time directing a feature film so he wasn't sure he would succeed on his very first try. So he planned to film either a low budget horror movie or low budget comedy movie.

He was doing great in his second shot at life, but suddenly things changed abruptly once again. He had completely forgotten about it, thinking that it would never. But just like any gift that's long overdue it came with no warnings.

It happened on the day of his graduation.

It was the 9th of April, and he had just graduated from the New York Film Academy with honors and could be seen celebrating in one of their friends' houses that was near campus.

There was cheap booze that he wouldn't be touching and subpar music being played by a few people who had formed a band in the second year.

He was just there to keep his friends company and was not drinking—not that he would partake in it, as it would mean taking off his mask, and also because he was their driver.

He was just humming along to some forgetful 80s song, when suddenly his life changed for the second time. It would be only later that he would find out that it was the culmination of all his actions till now, when he finally graduated from NYFA.

He somehow completed a criterion and cemented his path in this world, as the system finally acknowledged his achievements and activated with some fanfare.

[Calculating Achievements]

[Scanning host's intent and aspirations]

[Selecting the optimal system to suit the host's needs]

[Selection completed]

[System chosen: Head-Hunting (Hollywood ver. 2.1a)]

[System Awakening process initiated, please stand by]

[1%...33%...69%...100%]

*Ding*

[Hollywood: Head-hunting System Online]

'Really? Why? Why now? F**k it, might as well roll with it, it seems I finally got my system; well, it's better late than never.' He felt a little annoyed at it taking this long, but he was also doubting if he would even need it as he was already doing so well in life.

'Hopefully it's not one of those, where I will be forced to do weird missions and get punished for failing or for not accepting a mission that doesn't feel right to me.' He kept grumbling, as he could feel his mood souring.

'I really like being in control of my life and decisions. Please, God, I hope this system doesn't suck ass.' Mark prayed not to be fucked over by the system with his fingers crossed under the table.

"Sorry guys, but we need to head out. There is a change of plans. I need to get up early tomorrow for my flight, as I've decided to head over to LA tomorrow to check if all the preparations are being properly carried out." He said in an apologetic tone, having to rain on their parade.

"I will have to see if any changes need to be made to our current plan. If I do make any changes, you guys will get a call saying the same, either through me or Evelyn." Mark said it loudly, trying to be heard over the music from the in-house band.

After getting nods of agreement from his friends, they went outside and swiftly hailed a cab. He dropped them off at their rooms and made his way to his modest 1-bedroom apartment, where he was pretending to live on rent.

It was actually his own, as it was bought through Crown Estates. After entering, he directly headed in for a shower, as he bathed in the cold shower rain. Finally, in the comfort and security of his temporary home, he decided to check out what his system was all about.

{Author's note: Here we see just glimpses of Mark creating the foundation of business empire. He graduated from NYFA with masters in multiple degrees in filmmaking and got a gift that was long overdue. He finally activates his system.

Guys this is a WARNING because from this point on, his journey in Hollywood will be shown in detail with good focus on character development and background reveal. So the pacing of the story will slow down.

Also I am a first time amateur author and English is my third language. So please if you find any mistakes or have some suggestions please write them down in the comment section. Please share your feedback in your review. Thank you for taking your time to read my work.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. I hope you all have a beautiful day

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 3 days}