I Slapped the Villain After 99 Rebirths Chapter 01
After the male lead’s suicide, the female lead’s redemption mission ended in failure again.
The whole story reset to the start.
Opening my eyes once more, I was back in my junior year of high school.
As an irrelevant background character with no connection to the main plot, my resentment had reached its limit.
Walking past the male lead, I slapped him across the face.
“Quit the pathetic act! You’ll have money, fame, and a beautiful wife who loves you! What do you even have to be depressed about?”
“I’ve taken the SAT ninety-nine times! Every time I finally claw my way from minimum wage to six figures, you drag me back to junior year! You think you’re worse off than me?”
The boy in the green and gold varsity jacket stared at me, his eyes dark and brooding.
Just then, a live chat popped up in front of my eyes, the messages screaming:
[Oh no! You just slapped the face of the vengeful, ruthless villain!]
—
I was back in junior year.
Staring at the familiar classroom and classmates from my memory, I felt utter despair.
The towering stacks of textbooks and the open workbooks made everything go dark before my eyes.
Who could understand the pain and hopelessness of endlessly repeating exam prep?
The worst part was having my memory wiped clean every reset.
I could never remember any of the knowledge I’d reviewed or the SATs I’d taken, which meant my rebirth brought me nothing but the torture of high school all over again.
What made me even more bitter was the timing of each reset. It always happened right after I finally made it from minimum wage to a six-figure salary.
Before I could even touch that five-figure monthly paycheck, I was dead.
One click, and I was dead, all because the main character didn’t want to live anymore.
And the whole world had to crash and burn with him.
I shot up from my seat.
Ignoring my deskmate’s shocked stare, I stormed off to the next classroom, fueled by the rage of being dragged back to junior year again.
At the back of the room, by the door, a boy sat slumped over his desk, asleep.
The girl next to him looked at me, radiating fury, and cautiously asked, “Hey… can I help you?”
I recognized her face, Olivia Green, the female lead.
In the book, she was supposed to be the male lead Benjamin Thompson’s deskmate.
Olivia hesitated when she saw me glaring at the sleeping boy, then finally reached over and shook him awake.
The boy in the varsity jacket slowly turned around.
Driven by pure resentment, my hand moved before my brain could stop it. Crack! Right across his face.
The words poured out of me in a flood, “Sleeping?! How dare you sleep? Because of you, I’m stuck in this miserable junior year hell, too anxious to sleep myself!”
“I’ve taken the SAT ninety-nine times! Every time I finally claw my way to a six-figure income, you pull me back to high school!”
“Why should I suffer just because you want to die?”
“What are you staring at? If you’re sick, go see a doctor.”
“You don’t want to enjoy a good life? Fine, I’ll slap some sense into you.”
“Quit the mopey act! You’ll have money, power, and a beautiful wife who loves you! What’s there to die for?”
Olivia stared at me, completely stunned.
The boy I’d hit had strikingly beautiful features, sharp brows and bright eyes, with a small mole on his high nose bridge. He looked refined yet cold.
And right now, a bright red handprint stood out vividly against his pale, handsome face.
The boy’s eyes were overcast and fierce as he stared back at me.
Suddenly, bizarre live chat messages appeared before my eyes:
[OMG girl! That’s Joseph Morales you just hit! The future unhinged villain who never forgets a grudge!]
[You’re doomed! You won’t see tomorrow’s sun!]
[That’s some serious resentment. Junior year stress plus adult burnout is a broken combo. Honestly? I’d also be driven to the edge too.]
[But that’s not the male lead! That’s the villain, Joseph Morales!]
My stomach dropped as I read the chat.
Joseph Morales. The textbook definition of a beautiful, tragic villain.
Born into privilege, rich and gorgeous, he was a complete sociopath in the book.
Later, he’d step into the dark side of crypto and cybercrime, becoming someone people feared.
As a background character, I only knew the names of the leads and key supporting roles.
I’d never had any interaction with them or any scenes of my own. I had no idea what they looked like, except for Olivia, who became a famous actress.
Facing Joseph’s icy, menacing stare, I instinctively took a step back, my blood running cold.
He looked at me, his voice icy, “You struck me. What were you thinking?”
