Chapter 1

“Owen, are you going to the library? Can you reserve a seat for me?”

The voice of the campus beauty, Josie Young, echoed in my ears.

The malice in her eyes sent chills down my spine.

I had actually gone back to the past.

In the past, my performance was ranked first in our major, and it was guaranteed that I would enroll in the graduate school.

She barely passed her classes, but she tried to retain her image as a top student. That was why she was always targeting me.

I did not mind it at first. But she secretly filmed me scratching myself through my clothes in the library. She accused me of plotting something against her and started a cyberbullying campaign against me.

The university expelled me, and the students believed her rumors about me. No one spoke up for me.

I died from a sudden heart attack due to cyberbullying, but she successfully got into graduate school.

My grandfather could not bear the blow, and he fell into a coma. Our happy family also fell apart because of this.

When I went back to the past, I did not want to repeat history.

I coldly rejected her request. “I’m sorry. I’m not going to the library.”

Josie was surprised. She said in displeasure, “Owen, do you have an issue with me? Is it really so difficult to help me with such a small thing?”

When her coursemates saw her looking hurt, they felt sorry for her. They then glared at me.

“Owen Xander, Josie works so hard every day. Can’t you do her a favor?”

“I really can’t stand people who look down on others just because their grades are good. They think they’re better than everyone! You wouldn’t be anything without your brother, would you?”

I sneered before I turned around to leave.

“Hold on! If you leave, I’ll make sure you don’t stay at this university, let alone get into graduate school.”

I did not turn back.

Josie smoothed the situation over. “Forget it! If he wants to throw his future away, we don’t have to care about him.”

I sneered.

In the past, she scared me so much that I desperately wanted to prove myself, but I fell into the trap of self-justification she set for me. Only then was I framed by her.

This time, I directly avoided contact with her. I wanted to see how she would handle the backlash of her own schemes.

Regarding the spot in the graduate school, she could just take it if she wanted.

After I left the university, I passed the interview for one of the top 500 companies in the world.

When I bought a cake and was about to go back to celebrate, my coursemates blocked me at the entrance of the university.

After they sized me up, they threw the cake at my head.

“All you know is to eat! Josie almost cried, yet you have the nerve to eat a cake?”

“It was a joint experiment that both of you collaborated on. Now that you have secured your spot in the graduate school, you want to hinder Josie’s path? Are you even human?”

I wiped the cream off my face, and I glared at them angrily.

“That experiment didn’t need my participation. Why should I go? Also, am I the one who made her fail the experiment?”

A coursemate scoffed. He patted my face before he grabbed my company ID badge.

“Go help Josie with her experiment now, or I’ll burn your stuff!”

My chest clenched nervously.

“Give it back! I rejected my offer in graduate school. If she wants it, she should fight for it on her own. Can you please not bother me?”

The coursemate snorted and looked at my work ID with contempt in his eyes.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth? We need to have something of yours in our hands as collateral.”

He threw my work ID into the smelly ditch at the side before he raised his phone and filmed me.

Other coursemates watched the show in amusement.

I thought about my future and jumped into the smelly ditch to get it back.

Their laughter exacerbated the humiliation I felt.

“Look, he’s so defiant! Are you going to ask your brother to fail us?”

“Country folk will always be country folk. They just love doing disgusting things like that. So gross!”

The coursemate who was in the lead kicked me into the smelly ditch. A foul smell mixed with mud seeped into my clothes.

“Remember what you said. If Josie doesn’t get into graduate school successfully, I’ll make sure you’re famous!”

I held my work ID tightly as I headed to my room in a daze.

I knew that our coursemates never liked me.

I did not understand it in the past. It was only when I had returned to the past that I understood Josie was the mastermind.

She kept cozying up to our coursemates for the scholarship.

She knew that she could not get a spot in graduate school. She first spread rumors about me among our coursemates that I had made my brother, who was a lecturer, fail them to keep my own grades up and boost my GPA.

Every time someone failed, she would offer fake sympathy and say it was because I had made my brother change their grades.

When our coursemates heard that I was using my brother’s influence in that way, they hated me.

When I was accused in the past, these coursemates, who had always had a grudge against me, took the chance to kick me while I was down.

This time, I wanted to see if she would involve her bootlickers without me getting involved in anything.