The heroine failed to save the hero. Again. I opened my eyes, and once again, I was back in senior year of high school. As a background NPC, my resentment was strong enough to fuel a rocket. I stormed past the male lead and slapped him across the face. "Why do you look like you want to die all day long? In the future, you'll have money, power, and a beautiful wife who loves you! What is there to be depressed about?!" "I have taken the SATs ninety-nine times! Every single time I finally get promoted from a minimum-wage intern to a decent salary, you drag me back to high school! Do you know how tragic my life is?!" The boy in the blue and white uniform stared at me, his eyes dark and shadowed with menace. At that exact moment, a floating comment barrage screamed across my vision: [WE ARE DOOMED! You didn't slap the hero! That's the vengeful, psychopathic Villain!] 1 I’m back in senior year. Again. Staring at the familiar classroom and my classmates, I felt nothing but the urge to lay down and rot. The stacks of textbooks and open workbooks on my desk made my vision go black. Does anyone understand the pain of infinitely repeating your senior year? The worst part is, my brain resets every time. I never remember the answers to the tests I’ve taken a hundred times. This means my rebirth is nothing but the pure, unadulterated torture of finals week, on repeat. Even more tragic? The reset always happens right when I grind my way from a $2,000 monthly salary to a comfortable $5,000. I haven't even seen a five-figure paycheck yet, and poof. Instant death. Because the main character doesn't want to live anymore. The whole world gets buried with him. And I’m just one of the unlucky collateral damages. 2 After many resets, I gained self-awareness. I realized I am a "Mob Character" or "Passerby A" in a redemption novel. No name, no lines, just a background texture. The world I live in is a book. Because the heroine keeps failing to "save" the hero, he dies. So the world reboots. Rumor has it the hero is mentally unstable. I just want to say, if you’re sick, go to a hospital! The heroine isn't a therapist! And why does his death have to involve me, a hardworking corporate slave? The protagonists get rich without me. But when they die, they drag me to hell with them. I’m basically being pranked by Fate. "Monthly test results come out tomorrow. Ugh, so annoying." "I bet Sawyer is going to be first place again." "Jenna? You look pale. Are you okay?" My desk mate looked at me with concern. The name Sawyer twitched a nerve in my numb brain. I shot up from my seat. Under my desk mate's shocked gaze, fueled by the rage of a hundred senior years, I marched to the classroom next door. In the last row by the door, a boy was sleeping face down on his desk. The girl next to him looked at me—radiating pure fury—and asked cautiously, "Classmate... can I help you?" I scanned her face. It was the heroine, Lana. The book said she sits next to the hero, Sawyer. Staring at the back of the "hero's" perfect skull, my hands itched. I wanted to crush him. Seeing me staring death daggers at him, Lana hesitated, then nudged the sleeping boy. He lifted his head from his arms, looking annoyed at Lana for disturbing him. Lana pointed at me standing in the doorway and whispered, "Someone's looking for you." The boy in the uniform slowly turned around. Driven by pure resentment, my hand moved faster than my brain. Smack! I slapped him right across the face. Then I exploded. "Sleep? How can you sleep?! Do you have no shame?!" "Because of you, I have to relive this hellish senior year over and over! I have anxiety! I have insomnia!" "I've taken the SATs ninety-nine times! Every time I finally get a raise, you drag me back here!" "Why do I have to suffer because you want to die?" "Don't look at me like that! If you're sick, go to therapy!" "If you don't want to live the good life, I'll slap you until you wake up!" "You look like a corpse all day long! In the future, you have money, power, and a hot wife who loves you! Why would you want to die?!" Lana’s jaw dropped to the floor. The boy I just slapped had a face that defied gravity. Sharp brows, starry eyes, a small beauty mark on a high nose bridge. Noble and cold. Except now, there was a glaring red handprint on that pale, handsome face. He stared at me, his expression dark and shadowy. His eyes were ferocious. Suddenly, strange text floated in front of my eyes: [OMG! Girl, you hit the wrong person! That's Julian! The vindictive, world-destroying Villain!] [It's over! You won't see tomorrow's sun!] [Such heavy resentment. Senior year + Corporate Slave = Maximum Bug. I'd want to kill someone too.] [But that's not the hero! That's the villain, Julian!] My heart stopped. Julian. The "Beautiful, Strong, and Miserable" villain. Wealthy family. Insanely handsome. But his parents were two psychos forced into a business marriage who hated each other. They viewed Julian, the product of their hatred, with disgust. They tortured him growing up. In the book, Julian is a sociopath. He lacks empathy and craves destruction. Later, he gets involved in organized crime. He is ruthless. As an NPC, I only knew the names. I never had screen time with them. I didn't know what they looked like, except for Lana, who becomes a celebrity later. Facing Julian's terrifying gaze, I took a step back. His voice was colder than liquid nitrogen. "You dare hit me? Do you want to die?" When others say this, they're posing. When Julian says it, he's making a schedule. What do I do? What do I do? My brain spun like a hamster wheel on fire. The floating comments seemed to hear my inner scream and offered a solution: [The villain is scary, but he's a pure-hearted simp for love!] [Baby, tell him you're his future wife! He'll spare you!] [Yes, yes! It explains why you were scolding him about the future!] Suppressing my terror, I stood my ground and shouted, "So what if I hit you! I'm your future wife!" "In the future, you beg me to hit you!" Julian sneered, the corner of his lip curling up. "Are you crazy? My wife? You?" "Do you think I'm an idiot?" [Quick! Tell him a secret! The villain has a scar on his inner thigh, he's allergic to shrimp, loves drinking Yakult, and sleeps completely naked!] Bless you, comment section angels. I composed myself and said calmly, "You have a scar on your inner thigh." Julian's pupils shrank. The murderous aura vanished, replaced by shock. I continued, "You're allergic to shrimp. You secretly love drinking Yakult." I added some flavor: "And after we get married, you never wear clothes when you sleep with me. Pants..." Julian shot up from his chair. He clamped his hand over my mouth. His eyes flickered with uncertainty as he scrutinized me. I pulled his hand down. "And when you shower, you like to start by taking off..." He covered my mouth again. I noticed his ears were red. He gritted his teeth. "Shut up!" I went quiet. His long, beautiful eyes were filled with a mix of shame and anger. His lips were pressed into a thin line. The red finger marks on his face gave him a sort of tragic beauty. Faced with the villain's breathtaking face this close up, I was stunned for three seconds. My eyes went wide and sparkly. Julian seemed uncomfortable under my gaze. Suppressing his irritation, he used his other hand to cover my eyes. "Don't look at me like that." "Only a fool would believe that 'future wife' nonsense." "But... considering you claim to be my wife, I'll let the slap slide. But I'm warning you: stay away from the current me." Me: ... Do you really not believe it? You might want to listen to your own heartbeat right now. 3 Julian warned me to stay away. So I did. I avoided him for a week. During that week, I found the real hero, Sawyer. Unlike what I imagined, Sawyer looked gentle and upright, though his brows were always knit with melancholy. I observed him for days. He seemed normal. Not like a mental patient. I was worried. I had no idea how to stop his suicidal tendencies. I really, really didn't want to do senior year again. Sitting on the bleachers, I stared at Sawyer on the basketball court with deep resentment. To onlookers, my gaze probably looked... obsessed. Julian, wearing a basketball jersey, watched me from a distance. His face was cold. After shooting a few three-pointers, he tossed the ball to someone else and walked straight toward me. His tall shadow blocked my view. I looked up. I was mesmerized by his handsomeness for three seconds before I slowly asked, "What?" The storm clouds on Julian's face cleared slightly during those three seconds of my admiration. He crouched down, his tone unkind. "Why are you looking at Sawyer?" I answered instinctively, "Why can't I look?" Julian narrowed his eyes. It made my scalp tingle. He lowered his voice. "You were lying, weren't you?" My heart skipped a beat. "I've never seen you before. You aren't my type." "It's impossible that I liked you first. That means you must have chased me until I gave in." "But you haven't made a single move on me. You don't look like someone in love." "Also, that day you came to find me, my back was to you. The seat I was in used to be Sawyer's. You've been staring at Sawyer for days. So... you were looking for Sawyer that day, weren't you?" Julian’s analysis made my skin crawl. Why is he suddenly Sherlock Holmes?! Right. He's the villain. High IQ is part of the package. Julian stared into my eyes, not missing a single micro-expression. Help me! Comment section fam! [It's here! Don't panic, baby!] [The villain has a kissing kink! He likes to trace the roof of your mouth with his tongue when he's done!] [Yes! And he demands kisses every day. He's a kissing monster.] [Bedroom, kitchen, bar counter, floor-to-ceiling window... he begs you for *** (censored) in every corner.] Hm? Something seems off about this advice? But my nerves were frayed. I didn't have time to think. I blurted it out. "You have a habit when we kiss. At the end, you like to lick the roof of my mouth." After saying it, the heat rushed to my face. I turned beet red. Julian looked slightly stunned. Then he recovered and scoffed. "You can really make things up." His expression changed, as if recalling something disgusting. His eyes went pitch black. "Do you know that I find kissing to be the most repulsive human act?" My survival instincts kicked in. I went all in. "That's because you haven't kissed me yet." "I don't believe you. Let's kiss then." Ripples of emotion stirred in Julian's eyes. His gaze dropped to my lips. On the surface, I looked calm. Inside, I was screaming. What if he actually does it? Do I dodge? If I dodge, I'm exposed. If I don't... I lose my first kiss AND get exposed if he hates it. I hoped Julian would back off. But he just leaned in, inch by inch. My body went rigid. My brain flatlined. Thump. Thump. Thump. In my vision, Julian tilted his head. I could feel his breath on the bridge of my nose. Just centimeters away. My hand twitched. "Hah. Keep dreaming." Julian pulled back abruptly, laughing at my flushed red face. "You thought I'd fall for that?" "Is this how you hooked the future me? I admit, you have some tricks." My tense nerves snapped loose. I was confused. How did I hook him? Tricks? I frowned, thinking. To Julian, my confusion looked like disappointment from a failed scheme. He stood up, looking down at me arrogantly. "Tsk. You like me that much?" "I have a game this weekend. Come bring me water." 4 My beautiful weekend was hijacked just like that. I wanted to refuse, but I had to maintain my character. After lunch, I waited until the hottest part of the day passed before lazily biking to the gym. Surprisingly, it was packed. I spotted Lana, the heroine, in the front row. To figure out why her redemption arc kept failing, I decided to befriend her. I sat in the empty seat next to her and introduced myself. She paused, then smiled back. "Are you here to cheer for Julian?" I recognized the gleam in her eyes. It was the universal look of someone ready for gossip. I nodded. If the heroine is here, the hero must be too. Sure enough, I saw Sawyer in a white jersey. And Julian, wearing a black sports headband, looking fierce. He glared at me. [OMG, Julian has been waiting for our girl! He keeps looking at the stands.] [He says 'stay away,' but gets mad when you actually do. Tsk tsk, what a tsundere puppy.] [By the way, this game is where the villain and hero start their feud. It plants the seed of hatred.] [The heroine's redemption fails because of the villain.] I remembered now. In the plot, Sawyer wins this game. Julian loses, and in the post-game brawl, Sawyer accidentally breaks Julian's hand. Julian, being petty and vengeful, loses face and gets injured. He hates Sawyer forever and sabotages him in the future. The first revenge is causing Sawyer to miss the SATs. Terrifying. But why did the comments say the redemption failed because of Julian? Can you guys be more specific?! Stopping halfway is torture!
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