【？？？】
【？？？？？】
【Holy shit!!! Sis, you're insane!!!】
【Oh no! Are you gonna go to jail for this?】
【Hurry! Buy a lottery ticket before you get locked up—we’ll split the money!】
【Hold on, let me search if there’s any news about Tong Yang, the genius from a humble background, ending up in jail】
【But what does this have to do with the suicide case?】
Studying to Get Rich: 【He was pushed.】
【HOLY SHT!!!!】
【WHAT THE HELL????】
【Pushed off??】
【That’s terrifying!】
【Where’s the victim now?】
Tong Yang took another photo of Sun Ye and sent it to the group.
Studying to Get Rich: 【The killer vanished without a trace, just like before. No surveillance caught them. They appeared out of nowhere, killed, and disappeared again. That’s why it was ruled a suicide.】
【Glasses dude looks traumatized】
【So you didn’t just stand by after all】
【My sis talks tough but has a soft heart, tsk tsk】
【Did you find any clues?】
Studying to Get Rich: 【He wouldn’t talk, but I have a theory.】
【Spill it】
【(Ears perked】
Studying to Get Rich: 【I joined a group chat created two years in the future, meaning my timeline overlaps with yours in some way. Normally, past and future timelines can’t coexist. But if I can sync with you through this group, others might have methods to sync with my timeline too.】
【Silently typing a question mark (sorry, genius, my brain’s fried】
【I kinda get it… but also don’t?】
【Can you dumb it down? All this “your time, our time” stuff is making my head spin】
【Are you saying the killer’s from a different timeline?】
【Damn, this is getting sci-fi】
Studying to Get Rich: 【The person who killed me looked identical to my mom, who died seven years ago. Plus, their bizarre appearances and disappearances… I think they’re from another timeline or… another dimension.】
【Multiverse? Parallel universes?】
【HOLY SHT! Parallel universe assassins?!】
【I once read a theory: two intelligent civilizations can’t coexist—war is inevitable until one is wiped out】
【If humans ever discover another intelligent species, it’d be terrifying】
【But the ocean can’t have just one fish… unless it’s alone in a tank】
【The multiverse theory always freaked me out…】
Studying to Get Rich: 【Humans are the only known intelligent species because we haven’t discovered others yet. Take our overlapping timelines—science can’t explain it. If they’re from another timeline or dimension, it means they found us before we found them.】
【Jesus…】
【Help, I wanna leave the group】
【I’m just a regular college kid, spare me】
【Let’s just call the cops! Let the authorities handle this】
【The world would descend into chaos. Plus, after Tong Yang killed the attacker, only we remembered the news about her. Everyone else’s memories were erased. We’d probably get thrown in a psych ward.】
【If parallel universes exist, how do we prove we’re from the same one?】
The group fell into eerie silence.
Studying to Get Rich: 【Your timeline shifts based on my actions, meaning we share the same space but different times. The future, though? No guarantees.】
【I’m terrified but also weirdly pumped】
【So the bakery murder, Tong Yang’s death, the high school fall, and the upcoming school attack—all the killers are from another timeline or dimension? That’s why they vanish?】
Studying to Get Rich: 【Yeah. Their bodies probably disappear within three minutes too.】
【So… Tong Yang won’t go to jail?】
【They’re not even “people” in the normal sense. More like monster invaders】
【No guilt then! Tong Yang, you’re a hero! Saving lives earns you karma points!】
Studying to Get Rich: 【What I’m about to say next might be even scarier.】
【Go on】
【(Ears perked】
【After corpses and multiverse theory, what could possibly scare me now?!】
Studying to Get Rich: 【Take Glasses Guy’s death. Any thoughts?】
【Just that the invaders are evil! Targeting high schoolers before exams?】
【Fair. If I got killed before finals, my rage would haunt the world】
【What kind of thoughts are you looking for, Tong Yang?】
Studying to Get Rich: 【The difference between the bakery murder, my death… and this case.】
【Difference?】
【What difference? Both were labeled suicides because the killers left no trace】
【Sorry, my brain’s empty. Just tell us, sis】
Studying to Get Rich: 【Tch】
【(I’m dead weight】
【(I’m dead weight】
【(I’m dead weight】
【(I’m dead weight】
Studying to Get Rich: 【If killers leave no evidence, cases get labeled suicides. So what about all the other “suicides” and “accidents” over the years? Could they be murders too? Maybe the unsolved cases are just the tip of the iceberg.】
【Holy sht…】
【AAAAAHHHH HELP! Goosebumps everywhere!】
【I take it back… this is next-level terrifying?!】
【We’re doomed. It’s broad daylight but I feel chills】
【I’m seriously leaving this group…】
【(Hugging my fictional crush—if he jumped out of the screen, he’d slaughter anyone who came near me!】
Tong Yang still hadn’t told them about her ability to enter time loops. Though they’d helped her, she didn’t fully trust them yet.
【Tong Yang, what’s your plan?】
【If the invaders aren’t after you, just protect yourself and your family】
【Don’t turn into some self-sacrificing hero! You can’t save everyone!】
【(Takes a drag. Too many novels with martyrs—I swear Tong Yang’s about to go full justice warrior】
【No way! This isn’t over. If Tong Yang dies, we’re all screwed】
Studying to Get Rich: 【I’m not an idiot. Finish college, help where I can. Pay me if you’re rich; if you’re broke, work like a dog and pay me later. Then maybe I’ll consider it.】
【Okay, that’s… acceptable】
【Earn cash, save lives, save the world—three birds with one stone!】
【But stay safe, Tong Yang. Don’t get killed】
Studying is for Making Money: ["As the startup fund for the plan, send me 50 so I can treat myself and the second incident victim to lunch. I'm starving."]
["Damn, no wonder they say genius and madness are two sides of the same coin. How can you still think about eating at a time like this?"]
["I'm Inukai Tooru's Dog transferred 50 to Studying is for Making Money with a note: Sister Tong, from now on, I'm your number one lackey."]
["Money from otakus is so easy to scam. What if this is a fraud?"]
Tong Yang unapologetically accepted the transfer and replied: ["Help me check if there have been any changes to the June 7th terrorist attack case."]
The butterfly effect was unpredictable—if this could incidentally solve a troublesome matter, all the better.
"Have you calmed down yet?" Tong Yang glanced at the trembling boy beside her.
Sun Ye shook his head violently. "That was too terrifying..."
The girl's corpse on the rooftop had completely vanished, along with the bloodstains on the ground and the blood on Tong Yang's clothes, as if nothing had ever happened.
But while physical traces could disappear, the fear etched into their minds remained.
What’s more, Sun Ye knew with absolute certainty that he had been pushed off the sixth floor and died—only to inexplicably wake up moments before his death, watching Tong Yang stab the perpetrator to death, then witnessing the perpetrator slowly fade away. For someone raised on nine years of compulsory education, this was a bit too much to process.
Tong Yang clicked her tongue impatiently. "In short, here’s the situation: you died, I went back in time and saved you, so now you owe me your life. From now on, you’ll work your ass off to earn a lot of money to repay me. You can’t tell anyone who isn’t already in the know, or I’ll use the time loop to go back and kill you before the words leave your mouth. Understood?"
Sun Ye seemed a little afraid of her, shrinking back as he mumbled, "I understand..."
"How much do you need, roughly?" Sun Ye asked cautiously.
Tong Yang gave him a once-over. "Since it’s your first time, I’ll give you a friends-and-family discount—20,000, no interest. You have ten years after graduating high school to pay me back. Installments are acceptable."
"Okay..." Sun Ye took her words as gospel, slowly fishing out fifty cents from his pocket. "I bought a pen, so I only have fifty cents left. Here, take it. And… can you not tell my parents? I swear I’ll earn the money to pay you back."
Tong Yang rolled her eyes, took the fifty cents, and opened her phone’s memo app to jot down: Sun Ye owes 20,000, has repaid 0.50, remaining balance: 19,999.50.
"While you’re repaying the debt, you’ll obey my every command like an ox or horse. Depending on your performance, I might reduce what you owe."
"Really?" Sun Ye’s eyes lit up. "I’ll do my best!"
"Let’s go eat."
"But I don’t have any money..."
"My treat."
Tong Yang slung her backpack over her shoulder as her phone buzzed with a few group messages.
Sun Ye trailed behind her, still uneasy. "Tong Yang… this kind of thing won’t happen to me again, right? It’s too horrifying."
Tong Yang ignored him and opened the group chat.
["Uh… I kinda feel bad for Glasses Guy. The victim list for the June 7th terrorist attack has one more name now."]
[Image.jpg]
["Sigh."]
"Tong Yang, thank you for saving me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even have the chance to take the college entrance exam. My parents would be devastated."
Tong Yang smirked. "Don’t celebrate too soon."
She turned her phone around and held it up to Sun Ye’s face.
"Look. On the June 7th death list, isn’t that you next to Chu Shiyu?"
