[Hyde POV]
The next morning, at breakfast with the Forman's family.
"So you're really going to Funland today?" Eric asked, smiling excitedly. "Maybe I can go too. I'll bring Donna."
Mrs Forman served the eggs and waffles before sitting down on the seat next to mine. "Eric. Honey. Don't bother Steven when he's going on a date."
"That's true." I agreed with Mrs Forman. "You and Donna will just get in the way."
Eric was taken aback. "Hey. We're not going to get in the way."
Mrs Forman ignored Eric and turned to me, asking, "Do you need any money for the date? Oh, we should go buy you some new shoes."
"I have money… and shoes… It will be nice if you can pack me some snacks. I don't really like the food there."
Eric agreed with me and said, "Yeah. The food there sucks. It tastes like plastic."
"What tastes like plastic?" Red entered through the sliding door, just coming back from hitting a squirrel with a BB gun.
He placed his weapon on the table and grabbed the newspaper. Eric told him casually, "The food at Funland."
Red gave Eric a disappointed look. "Aren't you a little too old to go to that place?"
Baffled, Eric glanced at me and said, "He's the one going. Not me."
"You? Why? Shouldn't you be at work?" Red asked with a serious expression.
I grinned and said, "Of course I'm playing hooky from work. Who wants to work all year long?"
Red furrowed his eyebrows, his gaze murderous.
Eric quickly whispered to me, "Hyde. Run before he catches you."
Mrs Forman interjected, "Oh. Steven. I can make you a snack if you're going. That way you don't have to eat the food there."
"It's fine Mrs Forman. I'll eat before I go there." I rejected her politely.
I smiled and said, "Oh yeah. Red. I need a rep to go to the race for me tomorrow. It will be in Milwaukee, so it's a day trip."
"Milwaukee? What race?" Mrs Forman was curious.
"The Midwest Open. It's a semi-pro race. USAC affiliated." Eric answered before I could. He grinned and added, "It will be airing on Channel 5. I saw the commercial yesterday."
Red turned to me and asked, "Why aren't you going?"
I just shrugged. I didn't feel like going there and wasting the entire day since I have a lot to do. And if the festival needed me, I could be here.
Mrs Forman helped me. "Red, you'll start working next week. We can go to the race together and have some fun!"
He grimaced instantly and said, "See. Now you have pulled me into the trap."
"What trap? Red, do you not want to go to the race with me? Why? Am I bothering you?" Mrs Forman asked angrily.
I chuckled and said, "Kaboom. The landmine exploded."
"Red!" Mrs Forman snapped. Red gave me a dirty look.
Eric and I quickly ran away from the kitchen. I hopped into the Chevelle and drove to pick up Talia from her house.
However, she wasn't even up yet by the time I got there. Megan opened the door and was really confused when she saw me.
"Didn't she tell you that we're going to Funland today?" I asked Megan.
She shook her head and said, "No. I was asleep when she came back home. Wait here, I'll go wake her up."
As she was going to the bedroom, she paused in her steps and turned to me. "In the meantime, make yourself at home."
"Sure." I said and turned on the TV to watch some morning cartoons, sitting on the living room couch.
Five minutes later, Megan came out from Talia's room and told me, "So she's not waking up. It might be difficult. And it may take one or two hours before she can get ready."
I raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, "Does she not want to go? She told me to bring her there."
"... She doesn't. Well. Not in the morning anyway. I'm going to go to work, so… why don't you leave first, and when she wakes up, she'll give you a call?" Megan asked, batting her eyes nervously.
I shrugged and said, "Well. Tell her that if she doesn't want to go, that's fine. I don't really like Funland anyway."
Megan snickered and said, "I told you she's difficult."
"More like. Really random."
She called me an hour later, saying, "Sorry. I was too excited last night. I can't sleep till the morning."
"Pfft." I held back my laughter and said, "It doesn't matter. We still on for dinner?"
"No. I have a fever. I just want to stay in today."
"Oh. Okay then. Do you have any medicine?"
"Yeah. Megan has it."
Her tone softened as I asked her that. "See you tomorrow."
"Alright. See you tomorrow."
As I cut the call, I called the auto shop and asked for Megan.
"My sister has a fever?" She was surprised.
"Yeah. You can go home early if you want." I told her.
Megan grumbled and said, "She doesn't lie about this stuff… Alright. I'll go back home now."
…
Before I went home, I stopped by the marketing office.
Leslie was waiting for me there. Her hair tied up into a ponytail, and she wore a woman's suit.
"Sir."
"Leslie. That suit looks great on you."
"Thank you for your generous gift. It's hard to imagine a professional suit to fit this well."
It's a plaid suit and she paired it with a brown undershirt.
"You need to upgrade your wardrobe if you're going to be dealing with artist managers and important people." I told her directly.
She nodded and said, "I'll be sure to do that."
"Put it in the company expenses. I don't mind."
She was taken aback and giggled slightly. "Now, most of the band members are coming tomorrow. I already picked out their accommodation and reserved the hotel rooms for them."
Inside the file she gave me, she had already organized everything for the event.
"The main problem is, the stage." Her eyes flickered with concern. "No one has experience in handling this new level of technology–"
I stopped her with my hand and said, "That's why this is important. We're going to be the first one. And, we'll let the musicians promote this place to the others."
Putting the folders down, I interlocked my fingers and asked her, "Have you set up the interviews ?"
"Yes sir. I do admire your commitment to rebuilding this town." She said with a glimmer of admiration in her eyes.
Taken aback, I said with a deadpan voice, "What are you talking about?"
She just smiled without answering.
"Ah. By the way, is Dustin going to summer camp?" I asked.
Leslie was taken aback. She shook her head and said, "No. He doesn't want to go."
She sighed and said, "Besides. Summer camps around here are too dangerous. A few kids got seriously injured last year because of neglect."
I thought about it and said, "Why don't we open up a summer camp?"
Leslie blinked slowly.
I added, "We can coordinate with college or high school. Give the students extra credit if they become the facilitator for two weeks. That way, only one or two professionals are needed."
Leslie nodded and said, "I'll check if we can buy a bankrupt camp or a piece of land near the lake."
"Nice."
"There's also another factor to take notice of." Leslie said flatly. "You don't have a lot of money left."
"Fuck."
…
Eric sneered as he learned about the situation. "So, your fake girlfriend blew you off? Surely there must be a mistake."
I scowled and said, "She said she has a fever."
"Yeah. Sure sure." Eric nodded, being sarcastic with me.
We were hanging out by ourselves as the others had plans. Donna, Fez, and Jackie went to the mall together. Kelso went out with Laurie.
I had to suffer hanging out with Forman here.
'Oh. My internet's back.' I saw the notification and was thankful. My setting right now was in Japan.
I checked their delivery apps and saw something intriguing.
"Hey, how do you feel about crabs?"
"Crabs?" Eric furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me warily. "You're not trying to make me walk sideways or bury me at the beach, right?"
"There's no beach here. That's the only reason I'm not doing that." I sneered.
"Well… I like crab cakes." He replied.
"I'm talking about King Crab."
Eric was taken aback. He shrugged and said, "I don't know. Never saw one before."
'That made sense. It's a premium product after all. It's impossible to get without going to Alaska.'
I decided to buy three of the giant crabs. It's the Red King Crab imported from Japan. Using the AEON delivery app, I would get the crab within the hour.
Fruits were also a priority. Apples, watermelon, strawberries, and honeydew. I bought different kinds of vegetables and also cooked condiments while I was using the app.
Since it's summer, it's the perfect time to do something I never did before.
I went to my room to edit the movie while waiting for the delivery to arrive. It came exactly an hour later. I picked up the large polystyrene ice box and placed it in my system storage, removing any traces that it was from Japan.
"Otherwise, Red will kill me. He fought them before."
Getting out of the side door and pretending I just came home, I brought the box inside the house.
Mrs Forman was still sulking with Red.
"For the last time Kitty. It's not that I don't want you to go. I don't want to go! Not that I don't want to go, with you!" He explained with frustration.
"Dont lie Red Forman. You always want to go somewhere without me! The only reason you don't want to go, is because I want to go with you– Oh hey Steven."
Mrs Forman stopped arguing and was interested in the boxes. "What is that?"
"A monster." I smirked. "Ah, I also have some fruits."
Red looked at me weirdly and said, "You always bring home fruits."
"Don't complain Red. You're no longer stopped-up because you ate a lot of those fruits." Mrs Forman scolded him.
"Me too." I shared, which made Red uncomfortable.
The midwest has too many cheese based recipes. Sometimes I get constipated because of it. I read somewhere that moving the bowels daily would improve my mental health therefore… the fruits.
I placed the box on top of the table.
"Can I open it?" Mrs Forman asked with intrigue.
"Yeah sure."
She used a scissor to cut the rope and opened the box. It had dry ice inside, cold air seeped through the gap before the monster inside was revealed. The large, 70 cm wide crab appeared to be greeting Mrs Forman.
"Ah!" She yelped immediately. "What kind of monster is that?!"
Red peeked inside the box and was startled too. "What in the world did you bring home this time? Are these crabs?"
"It's gigantic!" Mrs Forman was in disbelief.
I laughed and said, "It's Alaskan King Crab. It's premium crab. We should have it for dinner tonight."
"Dinner? How do we cook it?" Mrs Forman looked at the crab with apprehension.
"It's pre-cooked, so it's either boiling it or steaming it. I bought some stuff to make shabu-shabu with it."
"Shabu what?" Red looked at me with disbelief.
I chuckled and said, "Just wait."
Eric came from the basement and saw the crab. "AHH! Giant spiders!" He screamed and ran away.
Red rubbed his head in frustration as he saw Eric's reaction.
At dinner, the king crab was a bit hit. Even Donna came over to taste it as Eric called her.
I pulled the meaty, juicy meat from the crab shell with a spoon and ate it just like that.
"It's freaking awesome." I muttered.
Donna devoured two legs and asked Eric, "Are you eating that?"
He just cracked open his crab legs. He pulled his plate away warily and said, "Yes! I'm eating it!"
I used a scissor to cut off the shell and dipped the meat in butter.
Mrs Forman widened her eyes in amazement as she tasted it. "Oh, this is much better than crab cakes!"
…
After dinner, I returned to my editing progress in my bedroom. With a cup of coffee and some snacks, I sat on the computer for 3 hours straight, just to edit the footage together into an amateurish-looking movie.
In the 70s standard, it already was an okay film. But I wanted it to be better than just 'okay'.
[12 hours left before new episode]
'It's three in the morning so I guess the episode will start around 3 in the afternoon tomorrow.'
I let go of the mouse and stretched my back.
Sighing loudly, I rubbed my face in frustration and said, "Movies take too long to get returns. Unless I pump out a few of them at once like Roger Corman, I might need to wait months before seeing the money."
"Wait. I haven't drawn the random items yet."
I used 10 rating points at once to get 10 items from the system store.
[Mouth gag x1]
[Gutter Rolling Machine x1]
[BMW 3 Series x1]
[Dancing Lesson DVD set x1]
[Baby Shark Costume x1]
[Similac Gold Baby Formula x10]
[Tanning bed x1]
[Bulletproof security door x1]
[6 people Luxury Cedar Sauna. X1]
[Massage Gun x2]
"Oh. I got some useful stuff here. One… weird, but the rest were quite good."
I took out one of the massage guns and used it on my shoulder.
"Ah. This hits the spot."
My blood rushed into my brain. I closed my eyes and slept as I massaged my shoulders with the massage gun.
"I need something fast… to get some money quickly… So I guess I should make a B-movie."
That was my last thought before I fell asleep.
Originally, the B-movies was the second movie in a double feature.
That's why they were called B-movies. It wasn't something that attracted people to theater. It was just there to make some money and disappear.
Roger Corman's famous movie, A Little Shop of Horror, took 3 days to shoot. He was saving money because he shot it on a set that's going to be torn down– something from another movie.
The legendary director was famous for his B-movies productions and his budget saving skills. Shooting two movies at the same time when they need to get a permit to shoot in a foreign country.
Reusing sets, extras, actors continuously.
Some famous directors started from a Roger Corman production. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, and Jonathan Demme.
The next morning, as I woke up, I cracked open a can of coffee and downed it immediately as I walked to the computer.
"I need to figure out the best way for me to get cash."
The best thing to do is a horror flick. It's always in demand, and it doesn't overlap with the Sci-fi genre so Star Wars ascension into the legendary level won't interfere as much.
I skipped breakfast to brainstorm ideas for the movie. Mr and Mrs Forman went to Milwaukee to watch the race together.
They drove out early in the morning in Red's Corolla. It's a 3 hour drive to get there. They would come home after dinner.
"We have the whole house to ourselves." Eric said excitedly as his parents left.
"Must be nice to have an empty house and a girlfriend." I said sarcastically.
He showed a toothy grin and said, "It's not my fault you can't hold on to a girl."
"Say another word, I'm going to tell Bob you're inviting Donna here when your parents aren't around."
"Okay. Sorry." Eric apologized half-heartedly. I rolled my eyes and yawned afterward.
"What are you doing today?" Eric asked.
"I'm trying to make another movie. A vampire movie."
"That's great!" His eyes widened slightly and his lips curled up. "I love vampire movies! They always show extra nudity there."
"I agree." I nodded slightly.
"So, are you going to hire PlayPen models?" He asked sleazily.
I knew a couple productions which did that. Mostly B-movies that wanted the actress to be comfortable with showing their bodies.
It's literally the era of exploitation movies right now.
"No. I'm going to try to make it real scary." I chuckled.
Eric jeered and said, "Put some boobies in there you bitch. Otherwise no one will watch the movie."
"Eh." I shrugged nonchalantly.
I went back to my room and began planning for the movie.
"The props… luckily I have the props from the gacha prize. Fangs, contact lenses. Ah, the most important part. Actors."
I thought about it and mumbled, "I guess I need to find new ones. If I put the actors in a B-movie, it would hurt their careers– Wait, this is the 70s."
It was easier for an actor to hide their track record in this era. Since there's no digital footprints that could haunt them forever.
'Stallone did a cheap softcore flick before Rocky. It didn't stop him.'
"So I guess, my next project, shall be horror."
…
That evening, in the basement. All of my guy friends were hanging around, watching TV together.
I checked the countdown, and there's half an hour left before the new episode starts.
'Hopefully it will end quickly. I don't want it to interfere with the next two days of the festival.'
Eric ate a popsicle and asked, "Hyde. Do you want to go to a bar?"
"Bar? Do you have fake ids?" I asked.
"I do!" Kelso showed the fake IDs to us. It's badly made, and looks incredibly fake.
I have my fake ID with me, which looked really authentic. Kelso was already 18, so he didn't really need the fake ID.
"Let's go to the bar!" Fez said excitedly.
I nodded and we all went together in Eric's Vista Cruiser.
Eric asked, "Do you think I can get Blue Oyster Cult to sign my record tomorrow?"
"If you buy the backstage pass, maybe." I sneered.
"That cost like 50 bucks." He sighed in frustration. "I mean, I still have money, but it seems like such a waste. I'll just wait in line tomorrow."
Leslie took my suggestion and discussed with the bands to set up for a signing tent. But it's only for an hour. If Eric went there late, he might not get it signed.
Fez asked, "Will there be candy at the festival?"
"A lot." I smirked.
Eric said, "There's cotton candy, apple candy, donuts,... why am I listing it out?"
"Because you're a sucker." Kelso mocked Eric.
We arrived at the bar, and I realized that the countdown was almost over.
'I guess it's starting here.'
The bouncer at the front of the bar took one look at us and let us get inside.
I walked in first, Kelso behind me, then Eric, lastly Fez.
"All right. They didn't even check our fake I.D.'s." Eric said excitedly.
Fez was annoyed. And I wasted a whole day thinking up my fake name."
I mocked him, "Yeah. Sorry, "Pez."" Then I smiled and said, "Let's drink."
We walked to the counter together. The bartender there asked Kelso, "So, fellas, school let out early?"
Kelso laughed and said, "Yeah. We're just…"
Eric interjected quickly, "Kelso, shut up!"
Kelso's face froze slightly and he stammered. "Uh, I mean, no. No, we're old. We're workers. We're all construction workers." Kelso glanced around and said, "Hey, fellas, did you see that brick today? Whoo!"
The bartender replied, "Relax, guys. It's "Serve a Minor Night" at the old "Don't Have a Liquor License" Saloon."
He turned to me and scrunched his face slightly. "You look familiar. Do I know you?"
I replied, "I should hope so... Dad."
(Read up to chapter 170 on my patreon.
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