….

  December 2nd, 2009.

  .

  The movie set was alive with restless and disarrayed movements.

  It was a modest produ, a mid-budget film of a sed-time lead actor and a senior director who had a hit-and-miss career.

  The crew moved hurriedly, adjusting lights, rearranging props, and shouting instrus to ahin earshot.

  "Extras, take your positions!" The young assistant director instructed while the director was discussing something with the ematographer behind the camera lens.

  As if on cue, a handful of people in business attire moved to their designated spots.

  Among them was a young man who stood out - not because of anything dramatic, but because he carried himself with a quiet ease and uedness.

  His name was Regal Seraphsail - 23 years old.

  o him, another extra stationed himself he doid and straight-backed like someone pying the part of a junior employee fresh out of college.

  Regal, however, remaiill, his sharp gaze roving over the room as he tried to take it all in.

  No one had bothered to expin mu or the other extras.

  They had been given simple instrus - stay in character, stay in pce, ahe se happen around them.

  With the ss he had overheard and the setup around him, Regal pieced together the basics.

  The setup was simple - the lead actor would walk into a bank, scouting the location for aual heist.

  For the extras, it wasn't about stealing the se.

  They were just there to make the background feel real - faces that would fsh by for maybe three seds when the lead stepped through the door.

  Regal let out a small sigh.

  That was fine by him.

  All he wanted was to finish this quickly and leave.

  Soon, the camera began rolling uhe director's instrus.

  Oake.

  Two takes.

  By the third, the director cpped his hands. "Cut! That's a for today!"

  The crew exhaled collectively, the frantiergy dissipating as quickly as it had built. The extras were ushered off to return their rented es, one by one receiving the payment they had agreed to.

  As Regal tucked the crisp bills into his back pocket, a hand cpped his shoulder. "So, first day o, how was it?"

  He turo see a familiar face.

  It was Darren, a friend from his uy days.

  Just like him, Darren also dropped out in his final year, and it was through him that Regal had his gig.

  "It was fine." Regal replied, his tone casual.

  "Fine, huh?" Darren grinned. "So, you ing baorrow?"

  Regal shook his head, a small shrug apanying the gesture. "Nah. I just wao see what it's like on a real set. That's all."

  "Your call. Hit me up if you ever want migs like this." Darren started walking off, throwing a wave over his shoulder.

  "Thanks, man!" Regal called after him before turning toward the public transport.

  The night air hit him with a faint chill as he walked to the bus stop.

  Moments ter, the bus pulled up.

  Regal climbed aboard, tossed a few s into the fare box, and slid into a seat by the back window.

  He pressed his temple against the cool gss, eyes half-closed, watg the city lights blur into streaks as the bus jerked forward.

  Buzzzz–!

  His phone buzzed again.

  Regal g it, irritation flickering across his sharp features. Another notification.

  He tapped the s and saw it was still 'Cryball'.

  Another banal che message - 'Still alive, I hope?'He smirked faintly and typed back.

  'Busy. Call you ter' before sliding the devito his jacket pocket.

  Then, something flickered.

  His sharp blue eyes so it - a faint outline, hanging midair.

  To anyone passing by, he might have looked like he was zoning out.

  But Regal wasn't.

  The real reason behind why he was suddenly accepted to work o rather than roaming around studios to hunt for opportunities as a writer like he always did is because this…

  The translut blue s hovered in front of him, glowing faintly, casting shadows across his tired face.

  ?----------?

  [Be a part of a film set for a day!] ?

  「Ding! The user has fulfilled the prerequisite for system activation」

  「Does the user wish to activate the system?」

  [Y/N]

  ?----------?

  The first time it appeared, he had chalked it up to stress or too much s time in front of his puter.

  However, that theory sted all of five seds because the s didn't go away.

  Ever.

  It followed him everywhere, like an annoying gnat but quieter and glowing.

  Eventually, he stopped questioning it.

  Not because it wasn't bizarre, it absolutely was, but because by that time he had already experienced and accepted something even stranger.

  Transmigration.

  The word still hit like a cold spsh of water, a reminder of how his old life, against all his wild imagination had ended in the least ematic ossible.

  It wasn't a heroic sacrifio tearful farewells, not even a moment to process it.

  Just, poof… lights off and curtains down.

  Yet, here he was, still alive.

  Regal Seraphsail.

  Same name, different timeline.

  New packaging, though.

  This wasn't some magical realm ons and knights or a futuristic utopia with gaxy-spanning empires, nor was it a world of epic battles, t mechs, or superpowers.

  Nope.

  It was Earth.

  Or something annoyingly close to his old yet distin fasating ways.

  It was as if someone had taken his life, hit rewind, and decided to have different people leading to remix a few parts of history for kicks.

  Also, it is the year 2009 in its st month.

  So approximately fourteen years into the past, in a world eerily familiar yet undeniably skewed.

  His eyes flicked to the floating s again.

  Regal mentally clicked on [Y].

  Then the system began to shift as new sentences and words formed on the blue s like a video game panel.

  All the while, Regal's eyes didn't flinch even once.

  ?---?

  「Successfully Activating The [Inkfinity Dex] System」

  「?...Processing Sign-In Bonus…?」

  「Ding! Skill Upgrade: [Director] - [Novice] –> [Advanced]」

  「Ding! Ultimate Skill Unlocked : [Insight]」

  「Ding! Token Acquired : [Search Card]」

  「Ding! 1.5 Million EP credited」

  ?---?

  ….this.

  It is gonna take a while.

  Regal sighed, still g up with everything happening in front of him.

  ….

  When the bus finally came to a halt, he stepped off and started the nine-minute walk to his small fifth-floor apartment.

  Onside, he quickly freshened up, grabbed a light snack, and headed back out.

  Time for the night shift at the venieore, his part-time job.

  Gotta feed himself, right?

  On his way, he kept fiddling with the system to explore it more during any spare moment he could steal.

  ….

  day.

  With this, two days had passed since Regal woke up in this world.

  The first day had been a blur of fusion, trying to piece together his memories, make sense of the system, and survive the night shift at his part-time job.

  While the sed day ent o before heading back to the venieore.

  Regret lingered. Wasting the entire first day still stung.

  By the time he called Darren to check fs on anythied to a 'real' movie set, all opportunities had dried up. It was out of his hands.

  Today, however, Regal had talked the store owner into giving him a m shift instead. Now, freshly returned from work, he prepared himself for what came .

  The tdown was nearing its end.

  In just a few miwelve hours would have passed since he activated the system after his stint on a movie set.

  That twelve-hour mark?

  It was crucial.

  Why? You will see soon enough.

  Now, as for the name of the system he had awakened?

  [Inkfinity Dex].

  Its purpose and funs are simple.

  Everything.

  Every set of skills and source of eai he had ever loved about in his old world - scripts, novels, poems, ics, even those embarrassing fanfics he secretly binge-read on weekends.

  The good, the bad, the painfully ge-worthy. All of it.

  Every story he had ever - read, watched, heard, nored was sitting at his fiips.

  For someone like him, who had a borderline obsessive love for filmmaking, this was the jackpot.

  So, as he sed the glowi on the s, his lips curved into a half-smirk.

  This was a dream e true, wasn't it?

  A gift straight out of the heavens, tailored just for him.

  Regal exhaled sharply, leaning his head back against the wall. "Yeah, sure. Every script at my fiips. Yet here I am, in 2009, broke, fused, and still… sihanks, universe. Really ."

  But even as the sarcasm rolled off his tongue, his gaze sharpened.

  True, this wasn't the a-packed adventure of swords, spaceships, ic he had read about in tless transmigration and reination novels.

  But he had never wished for those things.

  What life had taught him, in no uain terms, was this - you don't get to pick your cards.

  You just figure out how to win with the hand you're dealt.

  And Regal Seraphsail?

  He was going to be a storyteller.

  So, if the world wao hand him bnk pages, he would write his own damn story.

  "Two more minutes for the refresh... I hope that pin or whatever works like the system mentioned."

  Regal muttered under his breath, his gaze shifting once again to the s.

  ?-----[INDEX]-----?

  [Name:] Regal Seraphsail

  [Items]

  [Skill Slots]

  [Bulletin Board]

  ? [EP Avaible : 1.5 Million]

  ? [Bulletin Board] ([┘]- 00:02:48 )

  ?----------------?

  .

  ….

  [To be tinued…]

  ★─────??★??─────★

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