REBORN RICH WITH A SYSTEM

Chapter 1

“Argh!”

A piercing scream rang out inside a small, stuffy, and filthy room. A man lay on the bed, clutching his head.

Outside, the voices of children shouting over one another filled the air, creating a terrible racket.

“Shut up!” he yelled as he opened his eyes.

However, the moment his eyes were fully open, he was shocked by what he saw around him. He was supposed to be in a luxurious, spacious bedroom, not in a place like this—a place that was barely even worthy of being called a room. It looked more like an animal cage.

Slowly, his gaze traveled downward, examining his own body. Instead of the silk pajamas he usually wore, he was dressed in a worn-out pair of loose boxers and a T-shirt with several tears around the neckline.

“Why am I here?!”

Knock! Knock!

The door was knocked on, followed by the sound of small footsteps entering the room. A boy of about ten years old stepped inside. His skin was dark and grimy.

The boy froze in surprise when he looked toward the bed.

“Huh? Big Brother?! Big Brother Raven, you're awake?” He stood there, his face filled with fear.

The boy cautiously approached the bed after placing a small package on the table beside the old mattress. His little hand reached out to touch Raven's forehead, but Raven immediately slapped it away.

“What do you want, huh?”

“I-I just, Big Brother…”

“Argh! You?”

“Leo, Big Brother.”

“Leo?” Raven repeated. The name sounded familiar, but he still couldn't understand why he was in this place.

Raven looked around once more, then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

This was his room, but why did it look like this?

His gaze then landed on a calendar featuring a candidate from the Red Party, hanging on the wall. July 4 was circled. His eyes widened when he noticed the year printed on it: 2004.

“What happened?” Raven muttered.

He clutched his aching head again, desperately trying to remember what had happened. The last thing he could recall was having dinner with his second wife, Elisa, and his best friend, Alvin.

His head felt as though it were spinning.

“The last thing I remember… Elisa gave me something to drink, and afterward, I collapsed onto the floor. Then I…”

Raven clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. His jaw tightened as he finally realized that Elisa and Alvin had poisoned him. They had been having an affair behind his back, and with his death, all his wealth would fall into Elisa's hands.

“Damn them! How dare they make a fool of me after everything I've done for her?” he cursed inwardly.

His thoughts continued to race, his gaze growing increasingly sharp. He had lost his first wife, Laila, as well as his mother and younger siblings at the orphanage. Only twenty years later had he discovered that Elisa was the mastermind behind the deaths of the people closest to him.

Back then, he had lived in a village with his first wife, Laila, whom he had married just six months earlier. Laila had died by suicide, while his mother and younger siblings at the orphanage had perished in a fire while trying to protect the orphanage from being forcibly seized.

At the time, he had been drowning in hundreds of millions of rupiah in gambling debts owed to loan sharks in his village. Whenever he came home drunk, he would lose his temper and force his mother, Aisyah, and his wife, Laila, to give him money. Eventually, he even put the orphanage up as collateral.

One day, a woman from the city offered him a substantial sum of money on one condition: he had to marry her.

That woman was Elisa. She was heavily pregnant at the time, and no one knew who the man responsible for her pregnancy was. She was looking for a substitute groom to cover up her disgrace.

Back then, Raven had refused the offer. Although he had always treated Laila cruelly and unfairly, he still didn't want to marry Elisa. He refused to become a mere pawn in someone else's scheme to conceal their shame, even though he desperately needed the money.

What Raven had never known was that Elisa had resorted to underhanded tactics. Through other people's hands, she had arranged for Laila to be harmed and had the orphanage where he lived set ablaze. As a result, Raven lost both his home and the last remnants of hope in his life.

Elisa eventually came to him with an offer of help, extending her hand when he had nothing left. In the end, Raven agreed to marry her.

Over time, love began to grow in his heart. He moved to the city, built a business using capital provided by Elisa's parents, and eventually achieved tremendous success. His business empire expanded rapidly, making him one of the wealthiest men in the country.

But who would have thought that Elisa had never genuinely loved him? She had secretly maintained a relationship with his best friend, and together, they had eventually plotted his murder.

“Am I already dead?” Raven wondered aloud.

He pinched his arm, and the pain was unmistakable. This wasn't a dream. It was real.

He wasn't dead. Instead, he was back in his old room at the orphanage where he had once lived. He had returned to the past, twenty-two years earlier, when he was still young.

Slowly, Raven got out of bed and pulled the curtains aside. It was scorching hot outside. The sun was almost directly overhead, and the dry season had arrived. Dust swirled across the yard.

A rectangular mirror hung on the wall, which was made of rotting wood riddled with termite holes. Raven approached it.

His face from twenty-two years ago was clearly reflected in the glass. He was thin, with prominent bones, yet still quite handsome. Perhaps that was why Elisa had chosen him in the first place.

“I'm still alive. Just you wait, Elisa and Alvin. If we ever cross paths again in this life, I'll destroy you both.”

Raven continued staring at his reflection until a small voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Big Brother Raven…”

Raven turned around. “Yes?”

“Thank goodness you're awake, Big Brother. I brought you some food. You should eat first,” Leo said, holding out the package he had brought earlier.

Raven didn't respond.

Leo then rushed out of the room and shouted toward his siblings, who were playing in the yard.

“Big Brother Raven is awake!! He's finally opened his eyes!!”

Hearing the boy's loud announcement, a group of other children came running inside.

They were all filthy, their skin darkened by the scorching sun, and their bodies carried the unmistakable smell of being out in the heat all day.

“Alhamdulillah, Big Brother! You're not dead!”

“Big Brother Raven is all right!”

They shouted joyfully, but the moment their eyes met Raven's, they fell silent. They lowered their heads and trembled in fear.

“Big Brother Raven…” one of his younger siblings called out timidly.

There was a reason they were so afraid of him. In the past, he had been a gambler, a drunkard, and a hot-tempered man.

“I'll get you some water, Big Brother,” another child offered before quickly running off to fetch a drink.

Not long afterward, the child returned with a glass of water and handed it to Raven.

“Big Brother, here's your medicine. Mother said that once you woke up, you should eat first and then take this,” Leo added, placing a single Paramex tablet in Raven's hand.

Raven opened the package he was holding. Inside were two pieces of cold fried tofu.

As he took a bite, several pairs of little eyes watched him while the children swallowed nervously.

“Have you all eaten?” Raven asked.

“Our stomachs are still full, Big Brother,” they answered together, even though their eyes never left the tofu in Raven's hand.

Raven said nothing more. His heart felt as though it were being squeezed painfully as he took in the sight before him.

These children were living in poverty. Their bodies were thin and malnourished, and their clothes were worn-out and inadequate. Yet, despite having so little, they still put him first.

They had brought him food, water, and medicine. They had worried about his condition and were genuinely concerned for him. All of them had been overjoyed simply because he had regained consciousness.

Raven felt an even deeper sense of regret for everything he had done in the past.

Suddenly, the ring on his finger began to tighten, as though it were binding itself to him. His entire body grew hot, and a screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Profound regret, as deep as the ocean, detected.]

Life Regret System successfully installed. Synchronization complete.

First Mission Activated: Save Your Wife, Laila, who is about to jump into the river.

Time Remaining: 4 hours and 25 seconds.

Reward: US$1,000 in cash.