Chapter 1

I jolted awake when I heard the sound of crashing metal coming from the other side of the door.

The pain of being burned to death was still fresh in my memory. But when I lifted my hand, I saw that my body was completely unharmed. For a moment, I felt dazed.

Had I… been reborn?

I was still in shock, but the constant sound of things being smashed outside interrupted my thoughts. Feeling rather confused, I opened the door—just in time to see the stupid grin on Stuart Harper's face as he ran up to me, eagerly fishing for praise.

"Benny, I'm tearing out that layer of foam! The apartment's way bigger now. I'll let you have half of the extra space."

The horrific memories of my previous life came flooding back at once, and I nearly snorted right at him.

The last time around, I'd put a stop to it immediately and explained to Stuart what insulation was for. But he didn't pay the least bit of attention to what I said, of course. He even asked me if I'd been scammed into believing that.

It wasn't until our landlord, Donald Ferguson, found out about what Stuart had done and tried to kick him out that he panicked. He got on his knees and begged me for help, saying that he was clueless about these things. He claimed he was just trying to do something nice and that he would never make such a mistake again.

Feeling sorry for him, I pleaded with Mr. Ferguson on his behalf. When he claimed his allowance wasn't enough to cover the compensation, I helped him out by paying half of it as well.

Stuart was moved to tears. He said I was his only friend in this world. I figured that it would be nice to have a friend while living abroad. Eventually, we became inseparable.

However, he seriously lacked even the most basic of life skills. I was constantly forced to clean up his messes for him. In time, I got tired of doing that.

I'd originally planned to find the opportunity to talk things out with him, but before I could, I came down with a fever. When he found out, he eagerly came back with an electric slow cooker, saying that he would cook for me and take care of me.

I never thought the electric slow cooker would result in my death.

Stuart, the friend I'd treated with nothing but the utmost sincerity, turned out to be a foolish yet wicked jackal.

After I died, to avoid being held accountable for what had happened, Stuart pinned all the blame on me. He even started livestreaming, putting on a brave front for the audience.

"My housemate set the apartment on fire while cooking. The fire was only put out in time because I called the fire department. And now, I'm forced to compensate the landlord on his behalf. But it's fine! After all, I'm just your average sweet, brave, and responsible guy."

The online community swiftly stuck up for him. They cursed me out, calling me a stupid and vicious menace who deserved to die. Who knew what other kind of calamity I would've brought to society if I'd carried on living?

They even looked into my background. After unearthing my parents' company, they initiated boycotts against it. My parents had already been deeply in grief over my death. The company's bankruptcy only made things worse, and they both passed away soon after.

Meanwhile, Stuart was able to ride this wave of publicity and become an internet celebrity, building his fame by stepping on the dead bodies of my entire family.

This time around, after seeing Stuart's disgusting face again, I felt nothing but bitter loathing. I wanted him to pay for everything he'd done in my previous life.

Perhaps because I stayed silent for too long, Stuart thought I was objecting to his decision.

He grew wary and questioned me, "Why are you looking at me like that? This so-called insulation is just a layer of foam, used for scaming people by filling out the space. It's just shoddy construction work. You don't seriously think it's useful, do you?"

The workers who were smashing into the walls nearby were a little stunned. Even their gazes flickered. They never expected Stuart to be that dumb.

I didn't stop him as I had in my previous life. I simply studied him with a faint, unreadable smile, saying, "It's none of my business whether you decide to smash into the walls, but have you informed Mr. Ferguson about this?"