Chapter 1 - Seeing a Movie (1/2)
At six o’clock in the evening, there was a long queue at the entrance of New Century Cinema.
In twos and threes, couples and office workers alike all lined up at the cinema’s doors, chatting about movies while waiting to purchase their tickets.
This cinema was part of the nation’s largest chain of movie theaters; there was a number of them in every city. In order to allow the audience a more hands-on and enjoyable experience, the cinema recently released a new way of seeing movies.
To simply put it, they would insert the audience’s brain waves into the movie and give them cannon fodder roles. As passersby, they could experience the movie first-hand.
If they displayed an outstanding performance and received a high grade, the cinema would once again release the movie with their performance attached.
Immersing themselves into a film was much more exhilarating than just sitting down and watching it.
This new way of viewing immediately blew up.
Romance movies were the most popular; schoolgirls and boys all wanted to be together with their Gods and Goddesses.
Even if it was a rare piece of bad film, people still wished to go in and experience it. After all, they could backtrack and forcibly reverse the bad plot. Once their grade was high enough, the movie could be shown again, and the box office record would be exceeded.
However, horror movies were the exception–nobody was interested in it.
Currently, the cinema was the place where practically every student and office worker would gather once they were finished with school or work.
Everybody wanted to reverse the plot; everybody wanted to change from cannon fodder to protagonist.
At the entrance of the cinema, Su Min and his roommates huddled together.
It was the first time they were going to experience this new way of “seeing” a film. Only, Su Min’s roommates wanted to play in a romance movie while he wanted to play in a horror movie.
That’s right, a horror movie.
Knowing what Su Min wanted to do, his two roommates tried to persuade him otherwise. One roommate said, “Su Min, do you really want to experience a horror movie? Once you’re in, it might scare you to death. It’s better to go to the literary film and date, like us.”
The other roommate picked up with, “Exactly, exactly. Look at the theater for the horror movie. Up ‘till now, I haven’t seen anybody go in. Let’s just go play in the Mary Sue film together, okay?”
The two earnestly advised.
Because the fright level wasn’t yet determined, nobody had tried to experience a horror movie. If by any chance a problem occurred during a scare, the cinema would have to compensate for the damages.
Even before the advancement of movie watching, there were people who had been frightened to death because of horror films. Now that they could immerse their whole mind into it, wouldn’t it be a thousand times more terrifying?
“It’s alright,” Su Min said, “It’s just a horror movie.”
His roommates saw that he was set firm on his decision and no longer tried to advise him. They sighed, then parted ways to buy tickets for the romance film.
Romance and horror were two vastly different genres, so they each have their own designated ticket booth.
After Su Min handed over his ID, the cashier gave him the ticket. On it were the words “University Thriller”.
It looked no different from an ordinary movie ticket.
Su Min could see the poster for “University Thriller” at the end of the hall. The background showed a school with several starring actors trying to escape from the inside. On the top was the movie’s name, its font dripping with blood.
En… It should be a bad movie.
Not only was it bad, it was also a horror featuring ghosts. No wonder everybody chose to watch it the normal way instead.
The cashier reminded him, “To experience the horror movie, you must first sign an agreement.”
She handed him the form.
Su Min read it. It stated that one: people with heart disease were not permitted to enter the movie, and two: if the audience member was truly afraid and couldn’t take it anymore, they could notify the cinema and be pulled out.
That was reasonable enough.
Real information was required when buying tickets. The cinema used that information to scan the database for a suitable role.
It was also possible to add to the script. If a person had a specific request in mind, they could pay extra to customize the role for, say, someone more wealthy and well-off.
If not, they would begin as an ordinary cannon fodder. The main reason why nobody wanted to experience a horror movie was because its cannon fodders usually only survive for a mere three minutes.
Su Min signed his name and handed the form back to the cashier. He followed a staff member to the designated theater and, to his surprise, found that he was the only one there.
“Am I really the only one?” he asked.
“Yes, you are, sir,” the staff replied.
Su Min let out a sigh in his heart. It wasn’t often that he could have a whole theater to himself.
“Mr. Su, if you are afraid, you can press this button, and we will immediately come to get you out. Right now, you are the first person to experience a horror movie.”
Su Min nodded, “Okay, I know.”
The staff looked at his unperturbed appearance and was a little amazed. “After you enter, the cinema will give you the script, and the information for your role will appear in your mind. If you complete the script, you can come out in advance and see if the storyline was changed. If it did, you can then act accordingly to the situation.”
He looked at the boy in front of him, wondering why such a good looking student would choose a horror movie of all things. Indeed, you couldn’t judge a person by their appearance.
I hope this horror movie will not scare him too much.
The information the staff gave was released on Weibo1.
Su Min knew that if he successfully altered the bad ending, the rerelease of the movie would be shown, and he would become one of the actors.
The staff slightly smiled. “I wish you a pleasant experience.”
After he left, Su Min put on the headset. In front of him was a big screen showcasing the words “University Thriller”.
The details regarding this movie had also appeared before on Weibo.
In order to preserve the mysterious vibe, the director had kept his lips sealed about the movie’s content. All that was known was that after the university experienced a supernatural phenomenon, the protagonist and secondary protagonist got dragged along for the ride.
Of course, that was something anyone with an average IQ could guess.
The director was actually someone very famous in the industry, but he was only well-known for his literary films. He could’ve continued being overpraised in the circle but instead, he chose to change paths and shoot horror movies. One by one, they were stomped on in the streets2.
During the shooting of the first horror movie, all the hot young idols took it as a big cake3 and ate it up.
Then, the movie succeeded…in becoming a target for rotten tomatoes4.
When the selection of actors for the second movie began, everyone felt that the bad hit was accidental, and therefore, still went to eat the cake.
Then, it was cold again.
“University Thriller” was the fourth one. This time, not many actors wanted to take on this cake, so the director had no choice but to work with mostly new actors.
This movie was released at the same time the new way of viewing came out. Su Min could be considered to be one of the first few to see it.
It was also the first time he was going to experience a horror film, so he didn’t know what to expect.
A message appeared before his eyes: [Hello, Su Min. Are you ready to enter and experience “University Thriller”?]
“Yes, I’m ready.”
The next moment, his vision faded into darkness.
It was unknown how much time passed after he fell into a slumber. The lights in the theater gradually dimmed, painting the entire hall with darkness, and the movie began to play.
The words on the big screen radiated a faint, indistinctive glow.
Inside the men’s dormitory.
Due to the school’s regulations, lights had to be turned off at 11 P.M. It was now 11:50. Outside, the balcony was pitch black.
Suddenly, there was a glow in the dorm room, and Su Min was stimulated to wake up.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in front of a mirror with the lights turned off. Laying on the counter was a red candle, its flame swaying in an eerie, intangible manner.