Chapter 1

1: 1

Right before freshman orientation, I was about to pay my tuition on my phone when a familiar voice sounded in my ear.

"Whatever you do, don't pay tuition online. It won't reach the school because of a network glitch. Take cash and pay in person!"

It was me, ten years from now, sending a warning back—

Because my tuition never posted, I got expelled, and my future turned from top-university student into food-delivery driver.

I did exactly as I was told, boarding the train with the cash clutched to my chest, not daring to make contact with a soul the whole way.

But when I got to school, the cash I'd been holding against me had turned into a stack of fake funeral money!

Just as I was about to call the police, my future self spoke again.

"Too much time will have passed by then—going to the cops won't help. Post online right now and call for witnesses!"

I quickly put up a post asking for help, only to be branded a deadbeat lying to dodge her tuition, and the whole internet piled on me.

So I tried to promise the school I'd work to pay the tuition back, and my future self stopped me instantly.

"Don't be an idiot, the school doesn't trust you anymore!

Call your parents right now, they'll figure something out!"

Sure enough, an hour later, the tuition posted.

I had barely let out a breath when, a week later, came the news that my parents had been beaten to death by the village bully—

It turned out they'd taken a loan-shark loan from him to pay my tuition, been cheated out of a hundred thousand, couldn't repay it, and it got them killed.

And so the whole internet turned on me, saying I'd blown my tuition on a good time, killed my own parents, and lied to the school on top of it.

Not only was I expelled, the village bully tracked me down, degraded me, and killed me too, and even in death I carried the name of a swindler.

Just before my consciousness slipped away, I saw my future self in fine clothes, coldly raising a wine glass toward me.

"A woman that stupid deserves to disappear!"

But she and I were one and the same. If she killed me, she'd disappear too, so why would she lie to me?

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day my future self first sent word to me…

…

I was in the middle of tapping at my phone when a shiver ran through me.

The moment I saw the transfer screen for the school, I realized I'd been reborn!

Those four digits looked light enough, but they were a full quarter of my parents' harvest, and with living expenses on top, it was no small expense for our family.

They'd scraped it together from every corner just to make up the sum,

hoping I, the first person in the village to ever make it out to college, would do us proud.

Remembering the tragedy of my last life, I hurried to wipe the cold sweat from my forehead and quickly ran through the transfer.

Sure enough, the next second, that familiar warning sounded in my ear again.

But this time, I wasn't the naive girl I'd been in my last life—

I'd always believed my future self, wanting a better life, would never set me up.

I never imagined the schemes she pushed on me again and again would get my whole family killed.

Especially the cash on the train—I'd touched no one but the ticket taker, and still the cash turned into fake funeral money.

I listened to her and posted about it online, and the users said I must have blown the money in private

and dumped the blame on a worker, that I was a shameless swindler.

So I became public enemy number one, which led straight to the tragedy that followed.

I didn't know why she kept lying to me, but I decided to act like I hadn't heard, and in a few taps the transfer went through.

Looking at the receipt, I finally let out a breath—

Let's see what my future self can pull now!

Sure enough, a long sigh came into my ear.

"You're young, you don't understand how cruel the world is—how can you still be this stubborn?

When you go to register, you'll get what's coming to you!"

Remembering the way she'd viciously cursed me right before I died, I couldn't be bothered to answer her.

This time the train ride had none of the tension of my last life, and I finally made it to school to register, happy and light.

But the second I reached my dorm, my advisor cornered me outside the door.

"Kay Maxwell, your tuition still isn't paid. How can you go back to your room and sleep?"