Edward looked at Tomie, a peculiar glint flashing in his eyes. To be honest, he truly hadn't expected Tomie to make such a choice but on second thought, it was perfectly in line with her personality.
After all, for someone like Tomie, this sort of decision was almost natural. She had already died countless times, so by now, pain and fear probably didn't even count as "pain" to her anymore.
And so, with Edward's silent approval, the steel pipe came crashing down from above and pierced straight through Tomie's body. The actress playing Tsukiko's role instinctively widened her eyes in horror and disbelief. Edward knew the actress had slightly broken character, but her reaction fit the atmosphere so well that he didn't call for a retake.
After filming that scene, the plot of the movie quietly began to shift.
The next scene showed Tsukiko having dinner with her parents to celebrate her birthday. During the meal, however, her parents brought up her deceased elder sister—Tomie. This instantly soured Tsukiko's mood. Just then, a knock sounded on the door. Puzzled, Tsukiko asked who it was, only to hear her sister Tomie's voice answering from outside.
Everyone knew that once a person died, they could not come back to life—let alone someone like Tomie, who had been dead for over a year. Tsukiko's heart instantly filled with terror.
But her parents didn't seem to have any notion that "the dead can't return." Instead, they cheerfully opened the door and welcomed Tomie in.
Edward found this particularly intriguing. Before the parents opened the door, Tomie had been standing just outside, unable to come in no matter what she did. But the moment they opened it, she was suddenly able to enter.
That detail sparked an idea in Edward's mind.
In certain folklore and horror stories, there were ghosts and spirits that could not enter a person's home without permission—no matter how thin the door was, it might as well have been a barrier. Perhaps Tomie's behavior here drew inspiration from that same idea. But once Tsukiko's parents willingly opened the door, an irreversible change took place.
Back inside the house, Tomie's charm immediately took effect. Her presence was intoxicating, mesmerizing her parents completely until they could no longer even recognize that the daughter before them was no longer human.
Only Tsukiko remained sober-minded—and pitifully so.
Edward thought that the phrase "ignorance is bliss" was the most fitting description for Tsukiko's parents, yet Tsukiko herself remained painfully clear-headed. And as the story went on, she began to uncover even more terrifying aspects of her resurrected sister.
"Boss, about that special effect—don't you think…" Zoroark's face twisted slightly as she listened to Edward describe the visual effect he wanted. Combined with Tomie's unnervingly beautiful face, it created an intense sense of wrongness, an uncanny, uncomfortable feeling.
"Do it exactly like that," Edward said, waving his hand dismissively. "That's the essence of Tomie's design. If we change it, it won't feel right." He then fell silent, lost in thought as he watched the footage.
In this scene, Tsukiko's close friend eats a rice ball contaminated with Tomie's blood, becomes infected, and is parasitized by Tomie—turning into a monster. But to emphasize the horror even more, Edward decided to add an extra shot showing even Pokémon being infected and parasitized.
Once that segment was completed, the entire movie took on an even more grotesque and twisted tone—freakish centipedes made of human heads, gigantic Tomies, and floating head-shaped balloons. Many of the crew members began to feel both physically and mentally uneasy.
But when the enormous Tomie opened her mouth and vomited out countless Tomie-like slugs, the atmosphere reached its nightmarish peak.
"Uh… Boss, are you sure this is supposed to be a horror film?" Zoroark couldn't help asking. Edward nodded firmly. Of course it was a horror film—pure horror, the purest form of it. Though admittedly, it did carry a rather peculiar style.
Yet this strange and uncanny aesthetic reminded Edward of something else.
In his previous life, there had been a film that was also classified as horror—specifically a Western-style gore film. Despite its low budget, it had achieved massive success, spawning an iconic franchise that went on to release sequel after sequel, becoming a cult classic beloved by fans around the world.
Though some of the later entries suffered from forced plot twists and weaker logic, the series as a whole remained highly rated. Edward himself had been quite fond of it.
Saw.
The Saw franchise was one of the most resilient IPs in horror history. While most movie series ended after three or four installments, Saw had reached ten films—and given its enduring popularity, there was still potential for more in the future.
Of course, Fast & Furious had just as many sequels, but that wasn't Edward's kind of movie. He had no interest in making something like that.
"I remember before I crossed over, the final Fast & Furious movie had already released its first part, but the second half hadn't come out yet," Edward murmured, rubbing his chin. "Not that I really care. It was fun at first, but it got formulaic fast. The whole 'family' thing got so exaggerated it's almost a meme now. Say 'family' once and all problems magically disappear."
Edward chuckled. Perhaps after finishing his The Grudge series, he would start working on a Saw remake. The first few Saw films were true classics—especially the first one, which even carried moral and psychological undertones. It wouldn't be too hard to get it past the censors, he figured.
Having made up his mind about his next project, Edward returned to supervising the filming of Tomie Unlimited. Once that wrapped up, he'd immediately begin the Sherlock Holmes series again. He wanted to release the next season as soon as possible—not only to earn money, but also to appease his increasingly impatient fans.
Lately, the fan letters urging him to resume Sherlock Holmes had piled up to ridiculous levels. If he weren't a billionaire, his house would probably already be surrounded by obsessed fans demanding an update.
"All right, Tomie Unlimited —wrap it up!" Edward shouted. The set erupted into cheers, and the staff members smiled with relief. Tomie, however, looked disappointed, almost as if she hadn't had enough fun. Her expression made Edward both amused and helpless.
"Tomie, once editing's done, would you like to come watch your film?" Edward asked with a smile. Tomie shook her head, glancing wistfully at the actress who played Tsukiko. She felt that if she'd had just a few more lines with her, the poor girl's mental state might have completely collapsed.
Unfortunately, the shoot was already over.
"Boss, you really do know my story well," Tomie said with a teasing smile.
Edward chuckled. "Of course I do. Not only do I know it—I know it better than anyone."
Originally, Tomie still had some limits, some weaknesses that made her defeat possible. But as her story continued, she had become almost unstoppable. Even if you burned her to ashes, she could still find a way to survive. Death had long since lost meaning for her.
"Tomie, it's about time you head back. Business at the amusement park's been dropping ever since you left," Edward said. He wasn't exaggerating—her absence had genuinely affected revenue.
The haunted house still operated as usual, but without Tomie's fanbase visiting, attendance had noticeably declined.
"Hmph. Greedy capitalist—you should be strung up on a streetlight," Tomie muttered before heading back to the haunted house.
Edward couldn't help laughing. That girl was something else—she even knew phrases like that.
"Ah, whatever," he said, shaking his head. There were still other matters to handle.
According to Zoroark, a message had come from the Petalburg Forest. One of the staff members stationed at the art gallery there wanted to take leave. Since that employee was under Edward's direct management, he'd have to personally approve it. That message reminded him of that almost-forgotten place.
"So, The Ring has finally finished its run?" Edward checked his phone and saw the official notice. That was expected—after all, Tomie had taken over three months to film, largely because of Tomie herself.
She often went off-script or played around too much, which constantly threw her co-stars off. Some became so enchanted or unnerved by her presence that they couldn't act properly, resulting in numerous retakes.
"Well, the fear points reached seven hundred and thirty thousand. Not bad—though it's a shame it didn't hit eight hundred thousand. Still, that's enough for seven regular draws… or one combined targeted draw." Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
The box office for The Ring had been solid, but he didn't particularly care. For him, the true thrill came from the lottery draws.
His system allowed two modes of lottery:
[Normal Draws: One spin per chance, completely random.]
[Targeted Draw: Consumes six normal draws to perform one targeted spin.]
Purely by quantity, the normal draw seemed more cost-effective but given the unpredictability, Edward leaned toward the second option.
"Hmm…" he mused, thinking about his hospital project. He'd been quite pleased with it, though it had faced some resistance. The facility now had medical pods capable of developing drugs, but it still wasn't enough.
"Forget it," he decided. "Let's do one fused targeted draw and choose the medical system."
Lately, he'd been contemplating a new film centered on a hospital setting. His discussions with Cord had made him realize that even in this world, counterfeit drugs existed—cheap and ineffective, but often the only option for people who couldn't afford the real thing. These people weren't criminals; they just wanted to live.
The thought weighed on him.
He wanted to do something for them.
His charity foundation was already doing well, but he knew it wasn't enough. It mainly helped those in extreme poverty—but there were still many who struggled silently just below that threshold.
"Targeted draw: Medical Development System. And one normal draw," Edward declared.
[Congratulations! You have obtained: High-Precision CT Scanner Blueprint]
[You have obtained: Lens Language (Master) Fragment ×2]
Edward blinked. "Oh? So the targeted draw gets a 'congratulations,' but the normal one doesn't? What the heck?"
He checked the descriptions.
[High-Precision CT Scanner: A revolutionary scanner capable of full-body imaging with pinpoint accuracy. Detects every lesion with near-zero radiation risk. Constructing it requires rare materials.
[Lens Language (Master) Fragment: Collect ten fragments to gain a complete Master-Level Lens Language Skill, allowing you to reach the world's pinnacle of film direction.]
"I see…" Edward muttered. The second reward could wait—he'd gather fragments over time. The first, however, caught his full interest.
He knew a bit about hospital machinery. Most medical scanners were highly specialized—MRI for the head, endoscopes for the stomach or intestines, etc. Some even required patients to be hospitalized for deep scans. All of them had one thing in common: they were outrageously expensive.
That was one of the biggest reasons ordinary people avoided hospitals—the costs were terrifying. Even basic checkups could drain someone's savings.
"This one's expensive to build, sure," Edward sighed, "but at least it's cheap to operate. Just electricity, printing paper, and some maintenance."
He skimmed through the blueprint and winced at the material requirements—tons of gold, apparently used as conductive material. "No wonder it costs a fortune…"
He sent the blueprint to Kennedy, and as the system promised, it came with a fully registered patent, saving him a ton of trouble.
"President, I'll start calculating production costs immediately," Kennedy said, equally astonished but efficient as ever.
Edward sighed. "Not easy, huh? But if this thing gets made, hospital fees could drop significantly."
And that, he thought with a faint smile, would bring him one step closer to the goal he truly cared about.
(End of Chapter)