Chapter 2 Deal With The System
1149 Words
Ethan woke to the sound of his Nokia phone's alarm that tinny, obnoxious ringtone he'd deleted years ago. No, not years ago. Twelve years from now.
Marcus Beni was still snoring on the other side of the cramped dorm room they'd been assigned for senior year. Ethan had been planning to move off-campus with Derek in the fall, but the lease hadn't kicked in yet.
He shot upright in bed, heart hammering, and stared at the cramped dorm room around him. Posters on the wallet The Dark Knight, some indie bands he'd forgotten he liked. His roommate Marcus Beni's side of the room was a disaster of textbooks and dirty laundry. The air smelled like cheap ramen.
New York University. Senior year. May 15th, 2014.
"Holy s**t," Ethan breathed. His hands were smooth, unscarred. No gunshot wound in his side. He looked down at himself skinny, unimpressive, wearing a ratty NYU T-shirt he'd gotten at a college fair. He was twenty-two years old again.
[WELCOME BACK, HOST]
The blue screen materialized in front of him, translucent, visible only to his eyes. Text scrolled across it with that same mechanical intensity.
[REBIRTH SUCCESSFUL]
[DATE: MAY 15, 2014]
[HOST STATUS: LEVEL 1]
[AVAILABLE POINTS: 0]
[FIRST QUEST LOADING...]
"This is real." Ethan's voice was different,younger, without the bitterness that had hardened it over years of failure. He touched his face, his arms, confirming his existence. "This is actually real."
The System's voice echoed in his mind, dripping with sarcasm. "Congratulations, you've mastered basic observation. Yes, it's real. You're twenty-two again, with all your memories intact. Try not to waste this gift by being the same doormat you were the first time around."
Ethan stood up, legs shaky, and walked to the mirror above his dresser. The face staring back at him was both familiar and foreign, younger, unmarked by the stress lines and defeat that had carved themselves into his features. But his eyes were different now. Harder. Behind them lurked years of knowledge, betrayal, and fury.
"What happens now?" he asked.
[QUEST INITIALIZING]
[FIRST REVERSAL QUEST: DEFEND YOUR FUTURE]
[OBJECTIVE: Today at 3 PM, Derek will ask to "borrow" your cryptocurrency research notes for his "economics paper." In the original timeline, you agreed. Derek used your research to create the foundation of Crypto shield, the platform he pitched to investors in 2016 and sold for $45 million in 2019.]
[MISSION: Refuse Derek's request and protect your intellectual property]
[REWARD: 100 Points, Skill Unlock: Enhanced Perception Level 1]
[FAILURE: -50 Points, Regression Risk Increased]
[TIME REMAINING: 7 HOURS, 23 Minutes]
Ethan's jaw clenched. Derek. Of course the System would start with Derek. The memories flooded back at 3:00 PM in the library, Derek approaching with that friendly smile, asking for help with a "research paper." Ethan had handed over months of work without question because they were "friends."
"I was such an i***t," Ethan muttered.
"Accurate assessment," the System replied. "You were a people-pleasing doormat who confused being used with being liked. But that's why we're here, isn't it? To fix your spectacular failures."
A knock on the door interrupted them. "Ethan! You awake, man? We're gonna be late for Henderson's lecture."
Marcus Beni, Ethan had forgotten about him. His college roommate who later moved to Seattle after graduation, and they'd lost touch. Good guy, terrible with money, but loyal in a way Derek had never been. Seems the dude was awake from his sleep with all the snoring as Ethan smirked such a guy .
"Yeah, I'm up," Ethan called back. He grabbed clothes from his closet, his mind racing. Seven hours until Derek's betrayal, version one. This time would be different.
The morning passed in a surreal haze. Sitting in Professor Henderson's marketing lecture, Ethan found himself analyzing everything through the lens of future knowledge. Henderson's examples about emerging social media platforms? Ethan knew which ones would dominate and which would crash. The girl in front of him checking f*******: on her laptop? That platform would lose its cultural relevance in less than a decade. The guy beside him taking notes on an iPad? Apple's stock was about to explode.
Everything was an opportunity now. Every conversation, every decision, every interaction was a chance to rewrite his failure into success.
But first, Derek.
At 2:45 PM, Ethan positioned himself at a table in the main library with his laptop open, pretending to work on a paper. His cryptocurrency research notes months of analysis on Bitcoin's potential, blockchain security protocols, and the theoretical framework for a decentralized exchange platform were saved in a folder on his desktop.
In the original timeline, he'd had them in a printed binder that Derek had "borrowed" and never returned.
This time, everything was digital and password-protected. Ethan had spent the lunch hour transferring all his research to an encrypted cloud drive and deleting it from his laptop. The only copy existed in a place Derek couldn't access.
At 2:58 PM, Derek walked into the library.
Ethan's hands tightened on his laptop, years of rage crystallized into cold focus. He forced himself to breathe evenly, to appear casual, to be the Ethan Hayes that Derek expected, naive, eager to help, pathetically grateful for attention.
Derek spotted him and smiled, that easy, charismatic smile that had fooled Ethan for years. He was handsome in that effortless way. Some people had good jawline, styled hair, expensive clothes that somehow never looked try-hard. His father owned a tech consulting firm, and Derek had always had money, connections, and confidence.
"Ethan! Hey, man." Derek slid into the chair across from him, setting down his messenger bag. "I've been looking for you. You got a minute?"
"Sure." Ethan kept his voice neutral, his expression open. Inside, he was counting down the seconds until he could watch Derek's face change.
"So, I'm working on this economics paper about emerging financial technologies," Derek said, leaning forward with practiced sincerity. "Professor Michaels wants something cutting-edge, you know? And I remembered you mentioned you've been researching cryptocurrency stuff. Bitcoin and all that."
"Yeah, I've done some research on it." Ethan's tone was carefully mild.
"That's perfect, man. I was wondering if I could borrow your notes? Just to help me understand the basics, get some sources, maybe quote a few of your insights. I'll give you credit in the bibliography, obviously."
In the original timeline, Ethan had been so flattered that Derek remembered his "boring crypto obsession" that he'd handed over everything immediately. Derek had taken the binder, promised to return it in a week, and Ethan had never seen it again. By the time Ethan realized Derek was building something with his research, it was too late. This time, Ethan let the silence stretch. He watched Derek's confident smile hold steady, watched the expectation in his eyes the absolute certainty that Ethan would say yes.
"No," Ethan said simply.
Derek blinked. "What?”
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