Chapter 1My Replacement Brother

The year I turned eight, my brother Leo fell from the scaffolding of an abandoned construction site. I’d sprinted over and become his human cushion.

He walked away without a scratch. I ended up with a brain injury, a vegetable.

The year I turned eighteen, I finally woke up. But for the inheritance of a girl who wasn't even family, my brother pushed me from that same rooftop, leaving me to splatter on the concrete below.

But I was reborn. And this time, I could see the live comments floating in mid-air:

[THE MALE LEAD IS REBORN AT AGE EIGHT! LAST TIME, HE FELL FROM THE FIFTH FLOOR AND PUT THE SIDE CHARACTER IN A COMA. THIS TIME, HE'S TRYING THE SIXTH. LET'S SEE IF HE CAN KILL HER OUTRIGHT!]

[ONCE THE SIDE CHARACTER IS DEAD, THE MALE LEAD CAN BRING THE HEROINE HOME FROM THE ORPHANAGE TO TAKE HER PLACE! THIS TIME, NO ONE CAN STOP THEIR TWISTED STEP-SIBLING ROMANCE AS THEY INHERIT THE BILLIONAIRE'S FORTUNE AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!]

Is that so?

I tilted my head, a slow smile spreading across my face as I mouthed a silent message to my brother, who was now plummeting through the air.

"Brother, if you die, I'll find someone to replace you, too."

* * *

I had just rounded the street corner when a frantic scream ripped through the quiet air, slamming into my eardrums.

“Faye! Help me!”

I looked up. There, on the skeletal frame of the derelict building, was Leo, teetering on the edge of the sixth-floor scaffolding with half his body hanging over the abyss.

His face was ghostly pale. One hand gripped a rusted steel pipe behind him, his knuckles white and twisted from the strain. With his other hand, he waved at me, a desperate, flailing gesture.

If I hadn't been reborn…

If I hadn't seen the comments flickering beside him…

I would have stupidly run to save him all over again.

In my last life, I took the full impact of his fall. A spike of searing pain, followed by a decade of limitless, suffocating darkness. When I finally woke up at eighteen, I wasn't greeted by a new beginning, but by Leo's monstrous grin and the sweetly poisonous whispers of Mia, the girl he’d brought home.

“Push her, Leo,” she’d urged. “Then the family fortune is all yours!”

And now, here he was. Leo seemed a little too confident in his “protagonist plot armor.”

But hey, the stage was set. Who was I, the lowly side character, to refuse my part?

I cleared my throat and pitched my voice high with panic. “Leo! Don’t move!”

I threw myself forward, deliberately stumbling toward the patch of ground directly beneath him. As my foot caught on uneven ground, I sent a loose rock skittering right into the center of his landing zone. I scrambled back up, my movements clumsy and frantic, every step feeling like I was wading through cotton, as if my legs could give out at any moment. A babble of panicked cries spilled from my lips.

“Leo… just hold on… I’m coming… don’t be scared…”

As I lurched forward, another comment scrolled across my vision:

[THE MALE LEAD'S ACTING IS TOP-TIER! THE SIDE CHARACTER TOTALLY FELL FOR IT!]

[LMAO, JUMP ALREADY! KILL HER SO WE CAN BRING OUR HEROINE HOME! MIA IS WAY MORE LIKEABLE. SHE'LL REPLACE FAYE IN HER PARENTS' HEARTS IN NO TIME!]

[PLUS, THEY'LL SAVE A DECADE OF MEDICAL BILLS. THEY CAN BUY OUR HEROINE A NEW PURSE WITH THAT CASH!]

A smirk played on my lips. My eyes locked onto a spot about two feet away from Leo’s direct fall line—an old, open drainage ditch. It was filled with construction debris, but it would make a perfect cushion.

It was also the stage for the most important performance of my new life.

I’m not heading to the afterlife today. Let’s give that ticket to their precious male lead.

I just hope they don’t cry too hard when it happens.

Leo, however, clearly hadn't expected me to be so slow; I still hadn't reached the spot directly beneath him. His composure was cracking, the carefully crafted terror on his face melting into raw impatience. He even had the energy to scream at me.

“Faye, what the hell are you doing? Hurry up!”

And in the next instant…

CRACK.

The rotted plank beneath his feet gave way without warning.

“AHHH!”

This time, his scream was gut-wrenchingly real. As he plunged downward, his hands scrabbled instinctively, catching hold of another rusty pipe. The sharp, flaking metal tore a long gash in his sleeve, and blood began to well up immediately.

Pure panic finally took him. His eyes, sharp and venomous, shot toward me. “Hurry! One more step! Right there! Don’t move! I’m jumping now!”

I instantly obeyed, planting my feet on the ground and nodding frantically, tears streaming down my face. “I’m here, Leo! I’m ready!”

He let go.

The moment he leaped, I threw myself sideways, rolling hard. My back slammed into the pile of broken concrete and rubble in the ditch. A split second after the resounding THUD of his body hitting the ground, I heard the distinct, sickening snap of bone.

Ignoring the shooting pains across my own body, I pushed myself up and looked at Leo.

He’d gotten lucky. His head had met a small, sharp stone on the concrete, and a dark stain of blood was already blooming around him. He stared at me, his eyes wide with horror and utter disbelief.

The live comments had gone silent, then erupted in confusion:

[WHAT HAPPENED? HOW DID SHE DODGE?!]

[WHAT ABOUT THE MALE LEAD?? HE CAN’T DIE!]

I stared into Leo’s unfocused eyes until his eyelids fluttered and closed, then slowly uncurled my fists.

I let out a long breath. As the sound of distant shouts reached my ears, I closed my eyes.

Oh, brother.

Even if you die.

I’ll find someone to replace you.