Background to Main Lead

Elena Holdsworth stood over me, looking down with a cold sneer on her face.

"Let me tell you, A... Ai–whatever-your-name-is..."

She cut herself off, drawing a blank.

Silence hung for three full seconds.

"It's Aiden," I offered helpfully.

Elena immediately frowned in disgust. "What a trashy name."

After a pause, she continued, "Honestly, if I weren't doing this to stick up for Brock, I wouldn't waste a single word on a guy like you."

I just nodded, looking completely understanding of where she was coming from. After all, she was the female lead in this story. Why would she bother remembering the name of a random extra? In her eyes, I probably didn't even qualify as background filler.

I was reincarnated into this world straight from birth, only to realize I had landed inside an old-school, ultra-dramatic romance novel.

The plot revolved around a self-made, impoverished male lead and his angst-ridden love stories with the heiresses of the city's four most powerful families. I, on the other hand, was just a throwaway line in the background: [Ever since Brock Larsson transferred here, the former top student was permanently pushed into second place.]

Yep, I was that permanent runner-up.

Except I believe in taking my fate into my own hands. I spent ten years in my past life and ten years in this one, which meant I had been studying for twenty solid years.

The top spot in the grade was going to be mine, no matter what. So while everyone else got sucked into high school romance, I ground through stack after stack of exam prep books.

The entire school might've been going wild chasing after the four heiresses and the guys banded together to alienate Brock, but I was studying.

As those four heiresses fell for Brock one by one, hugging him in the pouring rain on the track field, confessing their love on the roof, and holding hands in secret between the library stacks, I kept cranking out practice exams without missing a beat.

They loved passionately, while I studied with absolute inner peace.

That was until the midterm results were finally posted and my name was plastered right at the very top of the leaderboard.

Elena leaned in close, her tone dripping with hostility. "Do you have any idea that because you stole Brock's top rank, he couldn't sleep a single wink all night?"

She backed me into a corner, exuding the heavy, overbearing aura typical of a spoiled heiress. "He works so hard and strives so relentlessly for success. Why are you targeting him like this?"

I couldn't help but interrupt her.

"Excuse me, but as far as I remember, Brock ranked 84th overall on this exam. Aside from me, there are literally eighty-two other people ahead of him."

Elena froze for half a second before exploding in anger. "It doesn't matter! The top spot belongs to Brock! The only reason he dropped to 84th is because you stole his position, so it's your fault!"

I was genuinely amazed by her Olympic-level mental gymnastics.

Before I could say another word, she shoved me into the school storage closet. The heavy iron door slammed shut with a sharp, echoing click of the lock.

"Consider yourself locked in here for three days to teach you a lesson," her voice carried through the door, filled with arrogant contempt.

"It's time you learned your place. Who gave you the right to steal first place?"

After Elena's footsteps faded away, I looked around the dim storage space, packed with broken desks, chairs, and dusty sports gear. Just as I was figuring out the best way to break out, my encrypted phone began to ring.

"Aiden! Top of the grade again? That’s my boy!" My dad's booming voice burst through the receiver.

"Your uncles were so thrilled when they heard the news that they lined up a hundred cases of high-grade explosives, just waiting for you to come home and blow them up for a proper celebration!

"Oh, by the way, do you want your mom to swing by and pick you up? She just picked up a rare, customized firearm recently. It's an absolute beauty."