Chapter 1 - Westeros

The young man simply sorted his stuff: his light gray, rugged backpack contained a few clothes, two manuscripts and a single pen. He didn't intend to take anything else. Picking up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, the young man looked around his small room one last time but didn't feel even an inkling of reluctance.

After all, this is a mental hospital.

The head nurse at the door looked at the handsome young man in front of her. She felt a little pity at his departure but also felt happy for him and whispered softly, "Simon, do you want to say goodbye to everyone?"

- - -

He is now called Simon, Simon Westeros.

His first name remains the same.

However, his last name was changed a month ago because he didn't like this body's original last name, and also because he was looking forward to a fresh start.

Before his rebirth, he had watched Game of Thrones, and the turmoil on the fantasy continent of Westeros, due to the many twists and turns, had left him fascinated. Now that he himself was experiencing such a fantasy, he chose "Westeros" as his new last name.

The novel version of "Game of Thrones" would not be released for another ten years until 1996. As for what George R.R. Martin would name his continent in the future, it was not his concern.

[TL Note: Get used to it bc the author uses a lot of references from the GOT; it's honestly very cheesy but it is what it is.]

[TL Note: Also, I will sandwich the narrative exposition between "- - -" to make it easier to notice.]

- - -

Hearing the head nurse's words, Simon looked at her and shook his head, "That's not necessary."

The two left the small room and came to Dr. Henry Chapman's office. Dr. Henry Chapman was Simon's attending physician and a good-natured, middle-aged man. Inside his office, another middle-aged man was seated. After seeing Simon enter, he introduced himself as John, an employee of Stanford University, who had come to assist Simon with the procedures for his discharge.

- - -

Simon was admitted to this mental hospital nine months ago.

At that time, the tragedy that he suffered from had caused a small sensation.

An inspirational teenager who grew up in a children's orphanage was admitted to Stanford University at the age of 17 and even received a full scholarship. However, less than two months after his admission, he suddenly went crazy.

The diagnosis by Dr. Chapman was that Simon suffered from severe violent schizophrenia. It was difficult to determine the cause since mental illness were many times hereditary and there was no information on his parents. Still, the public believed that the stress Simon had to go through while growing up may have contributed to it. 

However, in reality, the incident was caused by twelve souls suddenly entering the mind of young Simon; in such a situation, who would be able to remain sane?

Through his fragmented memory, he recalled how the young man, on the verge of losing his mind, had frantically destroyed an entire section in Stanford University's library and injured a few people before finally being restrained and being sent off to a mental hospital in Watsonville located in the southern suburbs of San Francisco.

Thinking further back, he recalled his previous life.

He was a young film director from China who had just released his debut film which had been quite successful, domestically. The production company had planned to negotiate with Universal Pictures - one of Hollywood's Big Six - to release the film across the rest of the world. He had also been a part of the negotiating team that had gone to Los Angeles.

Thanks to the prosperity of the Chinese film industry and the growing audience, Hollywood studios also wished to maintain good relations with Chinese filmmakers. As a result, the negotiations went very smoothly.

After reaching an agreement, executives of Universal Pictures invited them to Sun Valley, Idaho to participate in a film and media conference. In addition to the Chinese filmmakers, more than a dozen Hollywood filmmakers also boarded a Boeing 737 from Los Angeles International Airport.

However, within half-an-hour of takeoff, the plane's engine malfunctioned and it crashed during an emergency landing at San Francisco International Airport.

When he had regained consciousness, he was still in San Francisco, however, time had moved him back to 1985. He was also stuck inside a young man's body along with almost a dozen other souls. What followed was nine months in the mental hospital.

He eventually gained control of the body due to inexplicable reasons.

Maybe it was because he was the only foreigner among the dozen souls. Before the crash, he had left the front cabin where executives of Universal Pictures were seated and had gone to the back cabin where his contemporaries from Hollywood were seated to discuss filmmaking with them.

Or maybe it was because he was unwilling to die. After years of struggle, he had finally managed to become a success only for it all to turn into nothing in an instant.

In any case, he became the owner of the young man's body while the other dozen souls, including the body's original owner, fell into dormancy.

However, even though the other souls had turned dormant, he still retained their memories. Although their memories were fragmented, he realized that just the remaining bits of their memories was a huge asset to him.

The dozen souls that remained within his body previously belonged to the elites of Hollywood: top screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, soundtrack artists and producers. These people were actually the main filmmakers behind a recent blockbuster hit of Universal Pictures. In fact, the film's director and lead actor had also been on the plane but they had been in the front cabin during the crash so maybe they had survived.

- - -

After completing the discharge procedures, Simon bid farewell to Dr. Chapman and the nurses before getting into John's car with his backpack as his only luggage.

During the drive, Simon picked up on the fact that John didn't seem to like his errand very much. He dropped Simon off at a nearby bus station in Watsonville, and drove off in a hurry after fulfilling Stanford University's final obligation towards him.

- - -

Around a month before his discharge, Dr. Chapman had talked to Simon a few times about his future plans. Normally, he would have returned to Stanford University. Simon's major had been computer science which was amongst the most popular majors Stanford had to offer. He was from 30 years in the future and was well aware of the many people that had become billionaires thanks to the dot-com bubble of the '90s.

However, Simon chose to drop out without much hesitation.

He was originally a film director, and thanks to the memories of a dozen Hollywood elites in his mind, he, alone, was equal to a top film crew. With such resources at his disposal, there was no reason for him to not go to Hollywood.

As for the dot-com bubble of the '90s, it was not in Simon's character to let go of opportunities that were in front of his eyes. If he could gain some wealth by the '90s, he would naturally be able to participate in the feast of wealth known as the dot-com bubble as an investor.

- - -

Of course, at the moment, standing at a bus station in Watsonville near California's State Route 1 highway, Simon knew that he had a long journey ahead of him.

At the moment, he was just a poor boy with nothing to his name who felt a little grateful that he had qualified for free federal medical insurance. Otherwise, after nine months of treatment, Simon would have had to bear a soaring high medical bill that would have most certainly left him bankrupt.

In the United States, it was an absolute disaster for someone to see a doctor without medical insurance.

After buying a ticket to Los Angeles, Simon was left with just $198 in his wallet. This was the remainder of the money he had earned through summer jobs before his term at Stanford last year.

Some time ago, he had changed his last name which had cost him $200. It mainly involved a small newspaper in Watsonville publishing a name change announcement which was a necessary procedure for Americans to change their names.

Then, he applied for a driver's license at the DMV. The driver's license in the United States was equivalent to a nation-wide ID card and it was also very cheap as the test had cost just $10. Therefore, even though he had never been able to afford a car, Simon had got his driver's license when he had turned 16.

[TL Note: FYI, whenever I write Simon or use any pronouns for him in italics, I'm talking about the original Simon.]

According to his calculations, the money he had left would be enough to guarantee him food and lodging for about a week.

That was enough.

It was easy to find a part-time job in Los Angeles within a week. He had been doing odd jobs since he was 13 which led to him being skilled at many things.

Thinking of him, Simon even felt a touch of sadness. Although the memory he retained was fragmented, he was still able to admire the amazing tenacity of that young man. Simon was sent to a children's orphanage in San Jose at the age of six, but, even as a child, he had been like an untamed beast, stubbornly rejecting adoption applications from many foster families, and had even begun to support himself at the tender age of 13.

Simon couldn't help but wonder what kind of trauma he suffered at the hands of his former family for him to hate the idea of family so deeply. He attempted to recall his memories before the age of six, but only saw some blurry images.

Then.

Simon was surprised to find tears dripping down his face.

He noticed a mother and son, who were also waiting for the bus, looking at him strangely. The young mother even took her son and walked a bit away from him.

Embarrassingly wiping away the tears from his face, Simon realized that even though he had been an ill-fated soul who had lost control over his own body, he still stubbornly refused to recall certain painful memories of his past. Despite being unconscious, he still kept the doors to his memory tightly shut.

Since he didn't want him to see, Simon decided to just forget about it.

Moreover, since he had obtained his body, Simon would definitely make his name shine brighter than anyone else. In his heart, he silently declared this to the young man's soul.

[TL Note: I will mark scene change with "* * *" between the two paragraphs.]

* * *

After waiting for about half-an-hour, the bus finally arrived. Simon allowed the mother and son to get on the bus first before following them inside.

The bus was almost completely full of passengers. Simon went all the way to the back of the bus before finally finding an empty seat in the penultimate row. Next to the empty seat, a woman in a plaid shirt with long brown hair flowing down her shoulders was seated. She seemed to be perusing a thick manuscript bound in A4 paper and making occasional notes on it with her pen.

Putting his old backpack on the luggage rack above, Simon sat down in the empty seat beside her.

Feeling the movement next to her, the woman raised her head to look at Simon before politely nodding at him and returning her attention back to the manuscript.

Simon similarly nodded but his expression was filled with surprise since he recognized the woman.

Kathryn Bigelow.

The first female director in Hollywood's history to win the prestigious Oscar for Best Director. That single achievement alone was enough to leave her mark in the annals of film history.