There was nothing.
No pain. No breath. No sound.
Just darkness.
Then
A flicker.
> [ SYSTEM BOOTING… ]
[ VILLAIN BROKER SYSTEM – NEURAL SYNC IN PROGRESS ]
[ HOST: ZEPHYR JIN – STATUS: DECEASED ]
[ TIME OF DEATH CONFIRMED. SEQUENCE: REBIRTH… ]
Zephyr's eyes snapped open.
He gasped, his lungs suddenly felt full like drowning in air.
The light above him was too bright.
It took him a second to realize he was lying on a couch. It was made of cheap leather.
Fluorescent lights buzzed above his head. The ceiling was stained.
The room smelled like burnt coffee, sweat and old plastic.
He sat up slowly.
Pain shot through his spine. His ribs ached. But he was breathing and alive.
He looked down.
His hand feet were neither shackled nor chained. His hands looked younger, slimmer and they also didn't have any scars.
He stood up and wobbled in the room.
It was a small office with only one desk, two rolling chairs and one dusty whiteboard hanging on the wall behind him.
He knew this place.
It was the backroom of his first startup's office when he just started with no funding and no revenue. Just a dream and unpaid interns.
Zephyr stumbled to the desk and yanked open the drawer.
It was an old flip phone. He flipped it open.
July 17, 2025. Twenty years ago.
He stared at the screen for a long time. The date burned into his mind.
Then a new voice filled the room. It sounded cold and mechanical.
> [ VILLAIN BROKER SYSTEM ONLINE. WELCOME, ZEPHYR JIN. ]
[ YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS THE SOLE HOST OF THIS SYSTEM. ]
[ OBJECTIVE: DOMINATE. DESTROY. OWN. ]
[ MORALITY DISABLED. ETHICS DISABLED. CONSEQUENCES… IRRELEVANT. ]
Zephyr didn't move.
The room was silent again. Just the hum of the lights, and the sound of his own breathing.
He looked at his hands.
Then at the dusty whiteboard in front of him.
And he started to laugh.
Zephyr stood in front of the whiteboard, staring at his own handwriting.
Half-erased formulas, crude growth targets and list of five investor names, three of whom would later betray him, were written on the board.
It hadn't been touched yet. They were still in the stage where hope was louder than math.
He turned to the desk and flipped open the dusty laptop.
Still logged in.
He opened the email client. There were no unread messages. Then he looked at the calendar.
It hit him again.
July 17, 2025.
He took a slow breath.
That date wasn't random.
It was three weeks before his first company went under.
Three weeks before the chaos, panic, debt and lawsuits. He received silence from investors who'd once promised everything.
He remembered the breakdown clearly. His team crumbled. More than half the interns quit. He burned through the last of his savings on a pivot that never worked.
He reached for the phone again and started scrolling through the contacts.
There they were.
Rook – then just a cocky developer with zero filter and brilliant code.
Mira Lang – a communications major with no ethics and too much charm.
Lin Suyin – listed under a different name. She hadn't married him yet.
Zephyr sat down slowly. The chair creaked under his weight.
He pressed his fingers to his temples.
The memories were all there.
Every deal, betrayal and disaster.He remembered everything.
And now, he had a chance to watch it happen again this time with the ability to change it.
The system notification broke the silence.
> [ SYSTEM UPDATE: FULL MEMORY SYNC COMPLETE. FUTURE EVENTS LOGGED. ]
[ SYSTEM HINT: 97.2% OF ALL FORMER ALLIES WILL BECOME FUTURE ENEMIES. ]
[ RECOMMENDATION: PRE-EMPTIVE STRATEGY INITIATED. ]
Zephyr closed his eyes, exhaled slowly and then opened his eyes.
Colder.
Clearer.
He wasn't here to correct his mistakes.
He was here to erase them.