"Sorry, but we can’t offer you the job. You don’t have the five years of experience we’re looking for."
Another rejection.
I walked out of the company building with a bitter smile.
When I was a child, my parents and I would eat dinner while watching TV.
On the TV,
"Today’s special guest is the world’s richest man, Damien Roth!" the host announced. "Mr. Roth, what’s the secret to your success?"
Damien smiled confidently.
"I studied hard, graduated from a top university, joined a great company, and eventually became its CEO."
My mother gently patted my head.
"See, Kevin? If you study hard, you’ll become successful one day too."
Back then, I believed every word.
Now...
I wish I could go back and tell my younger self
"Mom... that’s a lie."
"People like him didn’t succeed because they studied harder. They succeeded because they started miles ahead of us"
My name is Kevin Miller.
I spent my entire childhood studying.
While other kids played, made friends, and built memories, I buried myself in textbooks. I ranked first from kindergarten all the way to graduating as the top student of the best university in the country.
I thought good grades guaranteed a good future.
Reality proved otherwise.
Companies didn’t care about my grades.
They wanted "experience".
They wanted "connections".
I had neither.
During university, I barely had any friends. The only people who talked to me were classmates who needed help with assignments.
One of them was "Cedric".
He skipped classes, barely studied, and always borrowed my notes a week before exams.
I used to worry about his future.
Now...
He’s my manager.
Not because he was smarter than me.
But because the CEO happens to be his father’s close friend.
After countless rejections, I had no choice but to accept a low-level office job. The salary wasn’t enough, so I worked a night shift after my nine-to-five just to survive.
Even then, I refused to give up.
For ten years, I poured everything I had into the company.
Countless sleepless nights.
Countless sacrifices.
Finally, after months of research, I completed a project that could earn the company millions.
I smiled as I looked at the finished report.
This was it.
The promotion I had chased for ten long years was finally within reach.
The next morning, the moment I stepped into the office, a familiar voice echoed across the room.
"Oi, Mr. Topper! Over here!"
Cedric leaned back in his chair with a smug grin, his voice dripping with mockery.
I forced a polite smile.
"What is it, Manager?"
He tossed a thick stack of files onto my desk.
"We’ve got a mountain of paperwork today. Looks like you’ll have to work overtime again."
Without waiting for my response, he turned around and walked straight into his office.
I could only sigh.
’Another long night...’
✦ ✦ ✦
Hours passed.
By the time the workday ended, employees began leaving one after another, wishing each other good night as they headed home.
Soon, the once-busy office fell silent.
I stretched my stiff shoulders before pouring myself an absurd amount of coffee.
Tonight’s overtime would be brutal.
Still, overtime paid extra.
I needed every penny I could get.
After emptying the cup in one go, I immediately regretted it.
’’...I need to use the bathroom.’’
I hurried to the restroom.
A few minutes later, I returned to my desk
Only to find Cedric standing beside it.
I blinked.
"Manager? I thought you’d already gone home."
Cedric turned around with an unusually friendly smile.
"There you are, Kevin." He chuckled.
"How many times have I told you? When no one else is around, just call me Cedric."
A chill ran down my spine.
"Since when was this bastard ever this nice to me?"
"What’s he planning?"
Cedric casually slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Well... I suddenly realized I have plenty of free time tonight." His smile widened. "So you don’t have to work overtime after all. Go home and get some rest."
"..."
Something felt off.
Very off.
Before I could question him, Cedric grabbed my shoulder and practically pushed me toward the exit.
"Go on. Don’t waste the evening."
Still confused, I packed my belongings and left the office.
Since I suddenly had free time, I decided to head straight to my night-shift part-time job instead.
Completely unaware...
That the moment I walked out of the building, Cedric returned to my desk.
The next morning, Kevin was in big trouble. His project that he spent 10 years making was missing. He searched his part-time workplace and also his office, but it was nowhere to be found. Then he asked Cedric if he had seen a blue-colored project file on his desk.
"Hmmm... Blue-colored, right? I think I saw the cleaner shredding a blue-colored file this morning in the paper shredder," Cedric said.
Kevin felt like the sky had fallen upon his head. He immediately ran towards the shredder machine’s dustbin. As he opened the bin, his heart started beating harder and harder. And he saw it the blue-colored file, the very one he had been using. If that’s here, it means the entire file was destroyed.
"Shit, shit, shit! The file... it’s gone. Damn it, my 10 years... my 10 years are gone like that." Kevin fell onto the ground on his back, tears coming out of his eyes one by one.
"My sleepless nights, my burning eyes... it was all for nothing," Kevin said and cried.
After some time, Kevin accepted reality and went to work. "Crying won’t give my project back." Kevin took a deep breath, his eyes returned to normal, and he started working again.
After a month, suddenly Cedric got promoted. It was very sudden. It had nothing to do with me. "I just need to deliver these files to him, and my work for today is done."
Kevin went to Cedric’s office. Cedric wasn’t there at the moment, so Kevin just put the files on the table and was about to leave when suddenly a file caught his eye. He picked up the file, and the moment he read it, the sky once again fell upon him because what the file contained was the very same project that Kevin had made by spending 10 years.
"Right... that night Cedric was standing in front of my desk. It was dark, so I didn’t see what he did. Now I know he stole my project," Kevin imagined that night’s scene.
Kevin ground his teeth in anger. That bastard, he stole my project, and today his promotion must have happened because of my project.
At that moment, Cedric came back to his room and saw Kevin holding the file.
"What are you doing with my file? How dare you look at my file?" Cedric freaked out and quickly took the file from Kevin.
In the heat of the moment, Kevin lost his mind and punched Cedric in the face.
"Bastard! You stole my lifelong project! My sleepless nights... you took all of it!" Kevin shouted and tried to throw another punch, but Cedric was much buffer than Kevin, who had never even participated in any sports competition. So Cedric pushed Kevin out of the room.
"You lost your mind studying all day with those owl eyes of yours," Cedric smiled and called for security, saying Kevin had tried to steal the company’s important files.
The security caught Kevin and kicked him out of the company entrance.
"Don’t touch me! That bastard Cedric, he stole my project! Please listen to me! That project that got him promoted, it’s mine! He stole it from me!"
No one listened to Kevin.
After that, I lost my mind.
"My project, my promotion, Cedric stole it all."
This is what I kept mumbling. I didn’t care about my surroundings. I was walking in the middle of the road like a zombie. And suddenly, a huge truck came at high speed from the dark road and crashed into me.
I died.
But I don’t know how, but the next moment I woke up in this new body, in this new world. Now my name is Aster Vale, and in this life I’ll just slack off. No hard work, no expectations, no suffering.
I’ll live a lazy life.