After Trusting My Future Self's Three Messages, I Became Everyone's Villain

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 thengoing 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 trainI'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 ishow 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?"

2: 2

The confirmation receipt for the successful payment flashed through my mind, and I froze

Could it really be like my future self said, a network glitch, the online payment not going through?

I yanked out my phone and pulled up the screen showing the transfer had gone through.

Mr. Butler, I clearly already paid. Isn't this the school's mistake?

But the advisor let out a cold snort, arms crossed, glaring at me.

I looked at your file earlier and figured your family was struggling and couldn't cover tuition. I was even going to file an appeal with the school on your behalf.

Just now I was only testing how you'd react. I never expected you to be this shameless!

If you didn't pay, you didn't pay, but you go and pin it on the school, faking a transfer screenshot to trick people. We don't take con artists like you!

Panicking, I called the bank right away, but customer service answered in a flat, indifferent voice.

That transfer of yours ran into a network problem and was returned to the original account. Where it went after that has nothing to do with the bank.

But staring at the zero balance, no matter how I argued, they wouldn't admit a thing.

The warning from my future self came back to me, and in that instant I was sick with regret.

I was just about to open my mouth and plead with the school when my parents' call came through.

Honey, the school says you didn't pay your tuition, they want to expel you!

If you used that money, you should have at least told us!

Right now the most important thing is getting the tuition paid. We just borrowed some from relatives, we'll transfer it to the school right away!

So before coming to find me, the advisor had already called home.

The shame was almost too much to bear, but to hold on to my spot, all I could do for now was use this money to put out the fire.

Remembering my future self's warning, I quickly told my parents,

Don't transfer it online, bring cash and come by train!

It was a huge sum, so of course my parents were careful, and they agreed at once.

In my last life I'd brought the cash myself and something had gone wrong,

but this time the two of them would look out for each other, and there was no way anyone would get the chance to swap it!

When we rushed to the school first thing the next morning, we didn't waste a single second and went straight into the finance office.

Watching my mother pull the tightly wrapped cash, folded up in a handkerchief, out of the cloth pouch sealed at her waist, I finally let out a breath.

At least this time nothing could go wrong. Worst case, I'd work hard this semester and pay my parents back every cent.

Seeing how carefully they handled it, the advisor sighed too and shot me a glare.

Your parents have it so hard, and you had the nerve to spend that tuition on your own, and lie to the school on top of it!

If it weren't for the sake of these two, we would never take a student like you!

I felt wronged, but this was no time to argue, so I hurried, full of gratitude, to open the handkerchief.

But the next second, the whole room fell dead silent

The tuition, wrapped up so carefully, had turned into fake funeral money again!

3: 3

The pity in the advisor's eyes flipped to fury in an instant. He flung the fake funeral money down in front of us.

"And here I felt sorry for you, thought you were honest, decent people. I even spoke up for you in front of the higher-ups, held off till today so you could still pay. And the whole lot of you gang up to make a fool of me. I guess con artists breed true."

Mom and Dad went blank too. Her voice was shaking.

"That's not right! We did exactly what our girl told us. I guarded that money the whole way, her father handled anyone who came near, I never said a word to a soul. That money we borrowed, how could it turn into dead-man's money?"

My head rang, and cold spread through me.

I remembered how careful I'd been last time, too, and someone had still switched it on me.

I'd listened to my future self, posted it online, and gotten called a thief who'd robbed her own family. Plenty of people said a poor mountain girl who'd never seen that much money before had obviously blown it herself, then pinned it on the train staff.

Public opinion poured fuel on the fire until I was the rat everyone wanted dead.

No one would lend us a cent after that, which was why Mom and Dad had turned to a loan shark, and that was what got them killed.

Remembering the village bully's smug, ugly face from that other life, I forced myself calm.

This time I was going to prove I was innocent.

I'd just picked up my phone to call the police when the familiar warning sounded again.

"The cops won't help. Mom and Dad can't explain a thing. Hurry, post it online and ask for witnesses! You didn't listen last time and it cost you dearly. Are you really going to walk right back into it?"

Mom and Dad clutched my hand, tears streaming down their faces.

"We honestly didn't see how the money got switched. Young people all love the internet these days. Why don't you ask online, see if anyone saw anything?"

I hesitated. Then I thought of that venomous curl at the corner of my future self's mouth right before I died, and I gritted my teeth and dialed.

The police came fast, and they came through.

Seeing Mom and Dad's plain clothes, the officer looked even more outraged.

"Someone had their eye on money like yours? Are those people even human? Don't worry, we'll get you justice as quick as we can!"

Seeing that I'd dared call the police to clear my own name, the advisor finally cooled off and gave me one more week to raise the tuition.

I breathed out. Mom and Dad and I squeezed under a bridge for three nights. On the fourth day, right in the middle of class, the officer came and cut in, cold this time.

The second I stepped out of the classroom, the advisor was waiting, face dark, in front of my trembling parents.

The officer pulled out the full surveillance from the train.

"To get your lost money back fast, our whole team worked overtime for three days straight, no sleep, going through every video. Turns out they were already carrying fake funeral money when they walked into the station! And here we thought you were honest people, wanted to lend a hand. This is how you repay us, trying to con even us!"

In the footage from the station plaza, Mom and Dad opened the handkerchief and checked it once before boarding.

The money inside really was a stack of gaudy fake funeral bills.

I froze

That money came from relatives Mom and Dad had scraped it together from. How could it be funeral money?

And they'd always been so proud of me, the only college student the village had ever produced. There was no way they'd joke around with my tuition.

But there were no cameras back in the village, and no matter how we explained it, the officer wouldn't believe a word. In the end he chewed us out, face like stone, and said not pressing charges was already a courtesy.

And the school, seeing that even the police had been fooled, moved straight to expel me with a single notice.

Mom and Dad were nearly in tears, and they couldn't hold back the blame.

"We told you to go online and find someone to help, and you wouldn't listen. Now the officer's set the story in stone, and nobody'll lend us money at all! You get expelled before you even set foot in college. How are we supposed to hold our heads up back home?"

Bitterness filled me, but all I could do was plant myself outside the principal's office, hoping to trade on how hard I'd fought to get into college for one more chance, to earn the tuition working and pay it back later.

But just as I raised my hand to knock, my future self's cold laugh sounded in my ear again.

"You think the school still trusts you? Right now, no one but Mom and Dad will truly help you! Send them back to the village to figure something out. People there are simple and kind. Maybe they'll believe you one last time!"

I remembered how last time I'd listened to my future self, pushed the pressure onto Mom and Dad, and that was what caused the final tragedy.

This time, even if I never got to go to college, I would not get my parents killed.

I went straight down to the bridge to find them, wanting to go home together. Worst case, I'd re-study another year.

But the moment I got there, I saw them, faces tight with panic, dialing the village bully's number

4: 4

Harry, I need the money for something urgent. The interestcould you knock it down a little?

Cold sweat broke out over me. I lunged and slammed the phone shut.

I can quit school. That call, never!

Before my parents could argue, my future self was already shrieking in my ear.

Kay Maxwell, don't push your luck!

Without your parents borrowing that money, how do you think you stay in school?

Do you have any idea how much it costs me, on my end, to send a single message to you?

I'm doing all this to change our fate, and you're this ungrateful?

I remembered the last life, how Harry Finch beat my parents to death because we couldn't pay him back in time.

I remembered walking home to find them lying in a pool of blood. My heart clenched, and I refused, hard, inside my own head.

Force them to borrow now and you're sending them straight to their deaths!

They're your parents too. Why are you so set on getting us killed?

You say you're scraping by on delivery gigs now, but everything you wear is designer. Why lie to me?

She went quiet for a long moment. In the end she only said one cold thing.

You'll regret this!

I had no time for her. I grabbed my parents' hands and headed for the station, ready to go home and re-study, but they blocked me.

Kay, you're the whole village's hope. If you slink home like this, our family will never live it down!

Harry's no good man, but he wouldn't actually kill anyone, would he?

We'll swallow our pride and borrow the money. At least you'll keep your footing in college, and there's still a future in that!

But the sight of how they died last life ran through me like ice. I shook my head at once.

We go home first. Hold out one year and I can test into somewhere even better!

We'd just cleared the underpass when my advisor and a crowd of classmates cut us off, faces tight with anger.

Look what you've done! You get expelled and drag down the school's name, and now the whole internet is cursing us!

She pulled out her phone. On the screen was a video from the train I'd taken to enroll, of me eating a piece of designer chocolate.

The caption was worse.

A mountain girl who can afford luxury chocolate her first week of college. Where's the money coming from?

Before I could explain, the advisor scoffed and put her phone away.

I looked it up. One little square of that brand runs over a hundred dollars. How does someone at your level afford that?

It's obvious. You blew the original tuition on luxuries, your family couldn't come up with more, so you had your parents put on an act with you!

Today we're going to livestream your fraud and clear the school's name!

The classmates watching were just as worked up.

Dressing all country-poor on purpose to milk sympathy, when she's a flat-out con artist!

Conning the school now over vanity means conning more people later. Scum like this can't be allowed to stay!

There was nothing I could say to defend myself.

That chocolate had come from the well-dressed young man in the seat beside me, who'd shared a piece with me.

At the time I thought I'd escaped last life's nightmare, so I let my guard down and ate one.

Someone posted it online, and just like that I was the rat everyone wanted to stomp again!

Worse still, this time I'd schemed so carefully to avoid posting anything, and I still couldn't outrun getting piled on online.

With all their phones already up and livestreaming, I had no time to explain. I just shielded my parents and tried to push out through the crowd.

I'd barely gone a few steps when a sleazy figure blocked my way.

You borrow my money and you think you can run? No chance!

I looked up. It was Harry Finch!

I froze and turned to my parents, but they were shaking their heads just as hard.

We never borrowed anything from him!

A sly little smile tugged at the corner of Harry's mouth.

Still playing dumb? You know exactly how dirt-poor everyone in that village is!

After Kay Maxwell lost the money the first time, you went door to door begging. Nobody had any to spare,

so they handed you what they'd borrowed from me and shifted their debts onto the Maxwell name.

Add it all up and you owe me a hundred thousand now. Pay up, fast!

Or your daughter works it off with her body!

It hit me at once. He'd seen the outrage online and come to shake me down while I was cornered.

But what made my chest seize was this.

I'd done everything I could to dodge last life's pitfalls, and somehow, round and round, they'd all come true on me again!

I was still working out how to shake this thug when my future self's mad laughter rang in my ears again.

You think crossing me gets you a happy ending? Dream on!

Harry had already drawn a knife to force me into it, and my parents rushed to plant themselves in front of me.

But I would never let last life's tragedy play out again. I shoved them back and faced Harry's vicious sneer head-on.

This all started because of me. You cheap little thug, extortion and blackmail is all you've got!

Taken for a challenge, Harry burned with rage in an instant and drove the knife straight at me.

In that split second I looked to the people around me for help on instinct, and saw only one cold face after another, teachers and classmates alike.

A disgusting con artist like you should be wiped off the face of the earth!

It stung, but right now all I could do was protect my parents.

In the very instant I shoved them clear, it came to me in a flash.

So this was why my future self wanted to hurt us!

I let out a shout, dodged the blade, and clamped down on Harry's wrist with everything I had.

Hold on. I know where that borrowed money went. I'll pay you back!