Chapter 4

"When he comes back, I'm going to teach him a real lesson!" Linda fumed.

Allison slowly shook her head. Even she hadn't expected that Ronan would actually steal something.

"Mom, don't be angry." Allison tried to comfort her.

"Mom… did he really cut ties with us for good?" Denise asked.

"Cut ties? Where would he live? He doesn't have a penny to his name. Who would believe a childish stunt like that?" Linda never took the severance agreement seriously.

"Well, when he comes back, we can't let him off easy," Carmen added. "I still don't understand how our family ended up with someone like him."

"Mom, Dad, Sisters… what about the marriage with the Reinman family?" Thomas asked, hiding his glee behind a worried expression.

"Don't worry, Thomas. I'll make sure he marries the Reinman heiress." Linda stroked his hair. "My precious boy shouldn't have to settle for anyone right now."

"Exactly. You're the future of this family," Bella said. "When it's time, we'll make sure you marry someone truly beautiful. A wife we can be proud of."

Thomas blinked his pure, harmless eyes. "No matter how pretty they are, none of them can compare to Mom and my sisters."

The sisters laughed happily, and Linda showered him with more praise.

The family went downstairs for dinner in cheerful harmony.

…

After leaving the Vance house, Ronan drew in a deep breath. This was what freedom tasted like.

He walked for over twenty minutes before reaching the bus stop and boarding a bus back to campus. As always, he sat by the window, watching the dazzling night lights and the stream of bustling pedestrians.

He never imagined that after drifting for so long as a ghost in his past life, he would get a second chance to live. It still felt like a dream.

Thinking back on all the disgusting things Thomas had done to him… he couldn't finish recounting them even in a day or two.

He vividly remembered Denise's treasured pair of shoes. He'd watched with his own eyes as Thomas secretly took them to give to some girl. When Denise discovered the shoes missing, she exploded with rage. Thomas immediately pointed at him, claiming he had stolen them.

He begged again and again, explaining that Thomas had framed him—Thomas was the one who gave them away.

But Denise didn't believe him. She beat him harshly and made him stand outside as punishment until midnight.

Later, when Dominic, Linda, and the other sisters found out, they scolded and beat him again until his palms were bleeding. That had happened right when he was preparing for the SATs.

Meanwhile, Thomas watched with glee, flashing him the middle finger every time the others weren't looking.

And that was only one incident. There were countless others.

He became the useless, uneducated son in his family's eyes—a boy who would never amount to anything.

Now, looking back, Ronan found it all ridiculous.

Since fate had given him a second life, he intended to cherish it.

From here on, he relied only on himself.

It was 2011. He was a freshman majoring in Software Engineering at Galois University of Technology—one of the country's top institutions.

When choosing his major, he had considered the Vance family business, thinking that once he graduated, he could share some of the burden.

He had even identified potential future development paths for the company. They'd felt immature at the time, but considering what he knew about the next decade of national trends, his judgment back then had actually been accurate.

Now, thinking about it only made him feel naïve.

He'd done well academically, earning a four-hundred-dollar scholarship that year.

'I gave them three hundred earlier. I've only got one hundred left,' Ronan thought as he looked out the window.

One hundred dollars was enough for a month's living expenses. But it was also his entire savings. He couldn't stop working part-time.

He understood future trends better than anyone. He had to start a business.

"Since they don't value me, so be it…" He went over his plans in his mind.

By the end of 2010, Valenaeia's internet penetration rate had reached 34.3%. One-third of the population was online. From passing one hundred million users in 2005 to then, the growth had been nearly a hundred million users per year.

By 2023, penetration would reach a staggering 80%. Everyone would have at least one smartphone—many with two. But here, in 2010, at the tail end of the 3G era and the dawn of 4G, no one truly knew what the future held.

The industries that would emerge from the internet were countless. Entirely new markets were waiting to be born.

Of course, those were long-term goals. With his entire net worth sitting at one hundred dollars, those dreams were castles in the air for now.

The first step in entrepreneurship had to be practical—at the very least, he needed next month's living expenses.

He lived in Dorm 108. When he reached the door, he heard yelling inside, "Damn it! Two grenades almost took me out—they're rushing A! You two, get to B!"

He pushed the door open. His three roommates were playing a popular shooter game, completely absorbed.

For tech students, especially those in the computer science department, a personal computer was essential.

Though, most of the time, they used theirs to watch movies and play games.

"Ronan, where'd you go?" the chubby boy nearest the door asked. His name was Dennis Reed—rich family, eldest in their dorm.

"Just walked around." Ronan smiled.

"Ronan, come play a couple rounds?" Dennis waved him over.

"No, I've got something to do. You guys go ahead." Ronan sat at the desk under his bunk and turned on his computer.

This computer used to belong to his eldest sister, Allison. It still worked fine—she had just dropped it and left spiderweb-like cracks across the screen. She had tossed it aside and bought a new one. He took the discarded machine back.

Its specs were impressive—even better than Dennis's expensive computer.

He made a mental note: once he made money, he would give Allison a proper repayment.

Cutting ties meant cutting them cleanly.

Ronan powered on the laptop. He planned to develop a simple campus "delivery-and-pickup" app. With what he'd learned so far, he couldn't build a full-featured app yet, but a basic version was well within his capabilities.

Though only a freshman, he was already studying second-year coursework with his mentor and had even helped develop software for a project.

He'd noticed a common problem—many students were too lazy to even go out for meals. They often asked roommates to bring food back for them. But constantly relying on others wasn't convenient.

Since he worked at a dedicated serving window in the dining hall, many students already asked him to help bring food back in exchange for a small delivery fee.

Once the software was done, he would post it on the campus forum. Students could send him requests directly. Business should be good.

And best of all, it required no upfront cost—just the price of one meal at a time.

After earning some money, he could refine it into a full-fledged food delivery app.

"Who's Ronan?" a student called from the doorway.

"I am," Ronan answered.

The student gave him a jealous, envious look. "There's a beautiful girl outside looking for you."