Hugo felt like his brain wasn't working properly. He didn't know whether it was the lingering dizziness from earlier or the scorching lights and dazzling faces at the scene that blurred everything in front of him. His information-processing ability was clearly under severe strain, and he simply couldn't make sense of what was going on. All he could do was passively follow the beautiful emcee's guidance and step down from the stage.
Golden halos, laughing faces, glittering lenses... swarmed in from all directions. This made Hugo instinctively sense that something was wrong. He forcibly pushed all the chaotic thoughts in his mind aside, shoved open the heavy doors with his right shoulder, and stumbled blindly along the carpet back the way he came, dashing into the restroom. He left behind nothing but a fleeing figure to everyone in the banquet hall.
Watching Hugo's panicked back disappear, the banquet hall burst into loud laughter. Discussions erupted in every corner of the room: "Did you see Hugo's tearful expression? Like a little girl who just had her Barbie stolen," "He really thought he won an Oscar," "This is hands down the best moment in the entertainment industry since Reagan stepped down—better than anything in 'Dallas'..."
Those laughs and jeers were all thrown behind Hugo. He didn't have time to figure out what they meant—he needed to find out what on earth was going on. After entering the restroom, Hugo locked himself in a stall, trying to sort through his chaotic thoughts and build a coherent roadmap.
Hugo was very sure that when he got up this morning, it was May 4, 2014. He had met up with his bandmates from "Death Or Glory" and arrived at the performance venue for the official gig. Compared to the countless rock festivals overseas, there had never really been a great original rock festival in China—until the birth of the Midi Music Festival. While it couldn't match the global fame of Woodstock or Rock Am Ring, the Midi Rock Festival was undoubtedly a once-a-year carnival for China's underground rock bands.
"Death Or Glory" had been together for ten years and had always remained obscure. Hugo had long been struggling to make ends meet. Even after countless small-time gigs, the band's situation didn't improve. Later, Hugo got into acting out of interest in performance, but five years in the acting world didn't bring much success either. It wasn't until 2014 that the band finally earned a chance to perform at the Midi Rock Festival. This was a pivotal turning point in Hugo's life—not to mention that "Death Or Glory" was even nominated for Best Live Rock Band of the Year. Regardless of whether they won, the nomination alone was a crucial recognition that could fuel their motivation to keep going.
But right before going on stage, Hugo felt a wave of dizziness, and then… it was lights, stage, audience and then the trophy… the Golden Raspberry Award. Hugo rubbed his cheeks hard. He originally thought he was on the Midi Rock Awards stage, receiving an award on behalf of the band hence the excitement but now it was clear that wasn't the case at all. How did the Midi Rock Awards become the Razzies?
If Hugo remembered correctly, there was only one Golden Raspberry Award globally. It was a parody of the Oscars, awarding the worst films, worst directors, worst actors, and worst actresses paying ironic tribute to media-criticized garbage films. The Razzies were full of entertainment value and watched by the public with a mocking attitude, but for the recipients, it was pure torment—an embarrassment event. That's why in Razzie history, hardly any stars were ever willing to attend the ceremony.
The Golden Raspberry Awards were established in the early 1980s. Hugo remembered this because action star Sylvester Stallone had won the Worst Actor award three times thanks to the "First Blood" series, even becoming the "Worst Actor of the Decade" in the ten-year retrospective awards. So, the twelfth Razzies should've been in the early 1990s—either 1992 or 1993.
From 2014 back to the early 1990s? What the hell was going on—did he time travel? This… this was just too ridiculous!
But... Hugo suddenly looked up, startled. He finally realized what had felt off just now: the man he saw when he first woke up had a Western face. Not just him everyone in the banquet hall had Western faces. This obviously wasn't the Midi Rock Festival. Also, everyone around him was speaking English even Hugo himself was speaking English. In his earlier emotional state, he hadn't noticed. Words just flew out of his mouth naturally. But now that he thought about it, that foreign language ringing in his ears suddenly became clear.
Most importantly, the Midi Rock Festival was held outdoors, not in a hotel. There wasn't even a grand hallway, let alone a banquet hall!
Hugo wanted to rub his cheeks to regain composure but found he was too weak. His head seemed to be starting to ache again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—a series of loud knocks interrupted Hugo's thoughts. "Hugo! Are you okay? You looked terrible out there…" The voice sounded familiar. Hugo thought for a moment and instantly recognized it—it was the first voice he heard after regaining consciousness. Those icy blue eyes floated back into his mind. "I told you not to attend tonight's award ceremony, but you just had to go and ask Ron's opinion…"
Listening to the voice outside, the additional information only made Hugo more confused. He decided to take the initiative and uncover the truth behind all of this. "I… I'm fine." Hugo still wasn't used to it. He had meant to speak in Chinese, but his body reflexively responded in English as if English was his mother tongue.
No wonder, in his earlier emotional state, he hadn't realized people were speaking English, and even his acceptance speech was in English. This was…
"I'm fine," Hugo repeated again not just to reassure the man outside but also to reassure himself, to calm himself down amidst all these bizarre and absurd events. "Who's there?" Hugo cautiously asked.
"Are you nuts? It's me, Joseph—Joseph Gibbs." The man outside the door sounded helpless. He seriously suspected Hugo had been traumatized by the humiliating scene earlier. "Relax, I'm not one of those overexcited reporters. I'm your agent. You don't need to hide from me."
Agent? Hugo bit his lower lip. As his eyes dropped, he saw his broad, slender hand, covered with a thin layer of fine hair. This wasn't his own hand; it looked more like a Westerner's. Hugo touched his cheek. He wanted to rush out and see his face in the mirror, but after hesitating for a moment, he suppressed the urge. He needed to extract more information from this man named Joseph.
"What day is it today?" Hugo asked his first question, and his heart rate instantly accelerated. In his mind, the date "May 4th, 2014" kept flashing over and over again.
"Ten o'clock..." Joseph glanced at his watch and replied, but Hugo rudely interrupted before he could finish the word "forty-five" and directly asked, "I mean, what month and what day?"
Joseph lowered his right hand, the one wearing the watch. "Hugo, are you still high or something? I was wondering why you were acting so weird just now fainting in the restroom, then standing onstage crying like a baby. Today is January 14th, 1992!" Joseph scratched his hair irritably, turning his once neat hairstyle into a bird's nest.
1992. Hugo couldn't help but close his eyes. He really had time-traveled. Was that something to be happy about or frustrated over? Hugo found all sorts of emotions churning inside him, unable to pinpoint a single word to describe it. In novels, don't those who travel through time always get thrilled and then immediately unleash their potential and dominate the world? But now that it was actually happening, Hugo's first reaction was: absurd. He felt like his feet were stepping on cotton, unable to land firmly on solid ground.
"At least Albert Einstein's theory of a time machine leaves some room for possibility." Hugo muttered self-mockingly.
"I told you not to touch any more Big Harry, but you just wouldn't listen..." Joseph's annoyed voice continued outside, but Hugo couldn't understand it. Big Harry? Is that something like Wahaha?
"...Where are we now?" Hugo interrupted Joseph again with another question. He thought of the award ceremony earlier—was that a dream or reality?
Joseph let out a long sigh, a bitter smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. "Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel." The site of the first Academy Awards? Hugo couldn't help but look around, only to realize he was still in the restroom. There was nothing to be seen, and he could only hang his head in frustration.
"You really are still high. I shouldn't have listened to Ron and let you attend tonight's award ceremony. We were trying to shape your Don Quixote-style spirit, but you... sigh, tomorrow the reporters are definitely going to run wild again. You're the first actor in the history of the Golden Raspberry Awards to personally show up at the ceremony to accept the award, and you even..."
Listening to Joseph's words, Hugo recalled his earlier blunder—tearfully accepting a Razzie Award. What a cosmic joke! Definitely something to go down in history. Hugo slapped his own forehead. This time-traveling of his was really dramatic!
Hugo took a deep breath, trying hard to calm himself down, but the sudden time-traveling reality made it hard to accept the environment around him. He could only do his best not to lose control. "Joseph," Hugo opened his mouth again but found his throat dry. Accepting this reality was unbelievably difficult. "You called me Hugo?"
"Fuck, what else do you want me to call you—Mr. Lancaster?" Joseph ran his hand through his hair again in frustration, clearly feeling at a loss in this situation too.
Hugo Lancaster. Hugo finally remembered his current name. He just didn't know who the poor soul he had replaced was.
Joseph was now slapping hard on the restroom stall door, and the "bang bang bang" sound was clearly urging Hugo to come out. Hugo knew he couldn't hide forever. He had to go out eventually. Besides, he hadn't even seen what he looked like after time-traveling. But before he could open the stall door, Joseph's next words left him stunned, frozen on the spot.
"Aren't you coming out yet? How long are you planning to hide in the ladies' restroom?"
Ladies' restroom? This...