2026-05-08 21:53:31Ethan Hayes stumbled through the dark Brooklyn alley, his hand pressed against the gunshot wound in his side. Blood seeped through his fingers, warm and sticky, soaking into his cheap dress shirt. The mugger had disappeared into the night with his wallet not that there was anything in it worth taking.
2:00am. Dying alone behind a dumpster.
He collapsed against the grimy metal, his legs giving out. The pavement was cold beneath him, littered with broken glass and garbage. His phone lay shattered three feet away, screen cracked beyond repair. Even if he could reach it, who would he call?Not Sophia. She was probably with Derek right now - in the apartment Ethan still paid rent because breaking the lease would've cost more than he had.
The memory hit him like a second bullet walking in early from his shift at the warehouse, hearing her laughter from the bedroom. He'd pushed open the door to find his girlfriend of years beneath his best friend, both of them freezing mid-motion. Derek's smug grin. Sophia's defiant stare, no guilt in her eyes.
"You were never going to amount to anything anyway," she'd said, pulling the sheets around herself. "Derek has ambition."
Ethan's vision blurred, though he couldn't tell if it was from blood loss or rage. His breath came in short, painful gasps. The wound in his side throbbed with each heartbeat, and he could feel his pulse weakening.
At least dying meant he'd stop feeling like this.
His mind drifted to this morning. Was it still today? Amanda Torres had called him into her office at the tech startup where he'd worked as a junior developer in the past . He'd actually been excited, thinking maybe she'd finally noticed his proposal for streamlining their data architecture.
"We're letting you go, Ethan." Her voice had been clinical, bored even. She hadn't looked up from her laptop. "Your performance hasn't met our standards."
He stood there, stunned. "But the Anderson project I solved the integration issue that was delaying launch by weeks."
"Derek solved that." She'd finally met his eyes, her expression cold. "He explained how you'd been taking credit for his work. We don't tolerate that here."
Derek. Again. His former best friend had joined the company months ago, all smiles and brotherhood, asking Ethan to show him the ropes. Ethan had tried to cut Derek off after the affair. Tried. But loneliness is louder than pride, and when Derek came back apologizing, Ethan let him in again. He had been stupid enough to share everything: his code, his ideas, his strategies.
It wasn't the first time. Derek had been stealing from him for years — big ideas and small ones alike. Even over petty things. Every time Ethan trusted him, Derek took whatever he could use and left Ethan holding the bag. This time, he had taken credit for the Anderson project integration that Ethan had solved, the one that was supposed to be Ethan's breakthrough. Amanda believed Derek without question.
The firing had been yesterday, actually. Time feels meaningless now.
Ethan coughed, tasting copper. His father's voice echoed in his head, that same disgusted tone from their last phone call years ago. "You're thirty-one and working in a warehouse? Your brother runs his own firm. What the hell happened to you, Ethan? You were supposed to be the smart one."
"I'm trying, Dad. I've been working on a startup idea.
"Everyone has a startup idea. Winners execute. You're just making excuses like always. His father hadn't answered his calls since.
The alley spun around him. Ethan's eyelids grew heavy, his body going numb. He thought about the investor meeting last week, the one that had taken him months to secure. He'd practiced his pitch a hundred times, refined every slide of his presentation.
Derek had been there. "Supporting you, bro," he'd said with that easy smile.
Ethan had watched in horror as Derek stood up mid-presentation and apologized to the investors. "I'm sorry, gentlemen. Ethan's struggling with some personal issues. Let me show you the real vision for this platform." Then Derek had proceeded to pitch Ethan's exact idea: the cryptocurrency exchange with AI-driven security features as his own concept.
The investors loved it. Loved Derek's confidence, his polish, his connections. They'd dismissed Ethan with polite handshakes and headed to lunch with Derek.
"You'll thank me someday," Derek had whispered as he passed Ethan in the hallway. "You're not cut out for this. I'm doing you a favor."
Ethan's chest tightened, each breath more difficult than the last. Thirty-four years old. No money, no family who cared, no friends, no future. He'd been so focused on survival paying rent, keeping food on the table that he'd let everyone take from him. His ideas, his girlfriend, his dignity.
The stars above the alley were barely visible through the light pollution and his fading vision. If he could do it all again, he'd do it differently. He'd see Derek's betrayal coming. He'd protect his ideas, build his empire, make them all regret underestimating him.
His eyelids fluttered closed.
"If I could just... one more chance..."
The world went black, and Ethan Hayes died believing he'd failed at everything that mattered.
But in the darkness, something stirred.
A faint blue light flickered at the edge of his consciousness, growing brighter, accompanied by a sound like a computer booting up. Text began to scroll across his dying vision sharp, clinical, impossible.
[SCANNING HOST CANDIDATE...]
[REGRET LEVEL: CRITICAL]
[POTENTIAL FOR REVERSAL: HIGH]
[EMOTIONAL FUEL: SUFFICIENT]
[INITIALIZING REGRET REVERSAL SYSTEM...]
The pain in Ethan's chest vanished. The cold pavement beneath him disappeared. He floated in a void between existence and oblivion, watching the blue screen expand before him like a window into another reality.
[SYSTEM ACTIVATION COMPLETE]
A voice echoed through the emptiness mechanical yet somehow sarcastic, like an AI that had read too many self-help books and decided humans were mostly idiots.
"Well, well. Another failure bleeding out in an alley. How original."
Ethan tried to speak but had no mouth, no body. He was consciousness without form, rage without outlet.
The voice continued, "Ethan Hayes. Thirty-four years old. Cause of death: gunshot wound from a mugging. Underlying causes: catastrophic life decisions, inability to recognize betrayal, and frankly pathetic self-esteem. Tell me, did you actually think Derek was your friend, or were you just that desperate?"
If Ethan could have screamed, he would have. Instead, his fury manifested as a pulse of energy in the void.
"Good. You can still feel anger. That's useful." The blue screen shifted, displaying his life in brutal snapshots every betrayal, every humiliation, every moment he'd been too weak to fight back. "You died with nothing. No legacy, no revenge, no satisfaction. Just regret."
The images froze on Derek's face, that smug smile as he stole Ethan's presentation.
"I'm offering you a deal, Ethan Hayes. A second chance. Reversal of your pathetic timeline."
The screen changed, showing new text:
[REGRET REVERSAL SYSTEM]
[PURPOSE: Transform host from failure to dominator]
[METHOD: Return to optimal restart point with future knowledge]
[COST: Complete assigned reversal quests]
"I can send you back," the System said. "Before Sophia's betrayal. Before Derek destroyed you. Before you became this." The screen showed Ethan's corpse in the alley, alone and forgotten. "Back to age twenty-two, with twelve years of future knowledge and abilities you'll unlock through completing quests."
Ethan's consciousness surged forward, desperate, demanding.
"The catch?" The System's laugh was cold. "You don't get to just live better. You have to publicly humiliate everyone who wronged you. Reclaim what they stole. Each success earns points to upgrade your abilities. Fail too many quests, and you return to this moment dying in an alley like a background character nobody remembers."
A contract materialized in the void, glowing with otherworldly light:
[REGRET REVERSAL CONTRACT]
[TERMS:]
[1. Host returns to age 22, May 15th, 2014]
[2. Host retains all memories of original timeline]
[3. Host must complete Reversal Quests assigned by System]
[4. Success grants points, skills, and resources]
[5. Failure returns Host to moment of death]
[ACCEPT: YES / NO]
"Choose quickly," the System said. "Your corpse is getting cold, and I have other candidates who might actually appreciate this opportunity."
Ethan didn't hesitate. Years ago, he'd been twenty-two, fresh out of college, standing at every crossroads that had led to his destruction. He knew when Sophia would cheat. When Derek would betray him. When Amanda Torres would fire him. He knew which startups would explode, which investments would pay off, which opportunities he'd been too scared or stupid to seize.
This time, he'd take everything.
His consciousness reached out and mentally selected YES.
The void exploded with blue light, and Ethan felt his existence being pulled backward through time itself, the System's final words echoing in his ears:
"Try not to die like a side character this time, Host. I'm betting on you to be entertaining, at least.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 9: The Calculated Courtship
Few days after rejecting Sophia at the coffee shop, Ethan sat in Professor Henderson's marketing lecture and felt her eyes boring into the back of his head.She'd been staring at him for the entire class period; he didn't need to turn around to know it. Enhanced Perception tracked the weight of her gaze like a physical pressure, cataloging every shift in her attention, every time she glanced away and then back.The old Ethan would have been flattered.The reborn Ethan knew exactly what it meant: confusion had transformed into challenge, and Sophia Chen didn't like being dismissed."Someone's persistent," the System observed as the lecture ended. "She's looked at you forty-seven times in the past ninety minutes. That's obsessive territory."Ethan packed his laptop slowly, deliberately taking his time while the classroom emptied around him. Through his peripheral vision, he watched Sophia hesitate by the door, saw her grip tighten on her Prada bag (the fake one she thought no one could
Chapter 8: The Viper's Smile
Ethan's pitch to Castellano had ended with a handshake and a business card—no commitments, no promises, but the old man's eyes had gleamed with something that looked like respect. "We'll be in touch, Mr. Hayes," he'd said, and Ethan knew that meant he'd passed the test.For now.He rode the subway back to campus in a daze, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. The meeting had gone better than he'd dared hope, but it had also painted a target on his back. Castellano didn't forget people who interested him, and interest could be either salvation or destruction.The System had been quiet since he'd left the tower, which was somehow more unsettling than its usual sarcasm.By the time Ethan reached the East Village apartment he shared with Derek, it was nearly 2 PM. He climbed three flights of stairs in the walkup building, the hallway smelling like curry and someone's perpetual weed habit, and unlocked the door to their cramped two-bedroom…Derek was sprawled on their secondhand co
Chapter 7
They finished dinner with lighter conversation, Chloe telling terrible art school jokes and Ethan actually relaxing for the first time since waking up in 2014. He paid the bill over her protests, leaving a generous tip that made her give him a suspicious look."Since when do you tip 30%?" she asked as they walked toward the subway."Since I realized money is just a tool," Ethan said. "And that waiter worked his ass off for minimum wage. He earned it."Chloe looped her arm through his as they walked, the gesture They finished dinner with lighter conversation, Chloe telling terrible art school jokes and Ethan actually relaxing for the first time since waking up in 2014. He paid the bill over her protests, leaving a generous tip that made her give him a suspicious look.Chloe looped her arm through his as they walked, the gesture casual and comfortable. "I like this version of you. Less stressed, more... present.""I'm working on it," Ethan said, and meant it. They took the train back to
Chapter 6: Queens Roots and Wall Street Shadows
" Some weeks later, Ethan hauled the last box into the East Village walk-up. Derek had secured the rent-controlled unit through his father's connections—just like in the original timeline. Marcus Beni had helped carry boxes, then clapped him on the shoulder with a 'Don't let that guy walk all over you, man.' Now Ethan was officially Derek's roommate. Perfect. Closer access made the trap easier to set."The subway rattled toward Queens, and Ethan watched Manhattan's skyline recede through scratched windows. He'd taken the 7 train a thousand times in his first life, but tonight felt different he was choosing to go back instead of running away from where he'd started.Chloe Rivera had picked a small Italian place in Astoria, the kind of neighborhood spot where the owner knew your name and the pasta was made fresh daily. It was the opposite of the pretentious Manhattan restaurants Ethan would eventually conquer, and that's exactly why it mattered."You're being sentimental," the System ob
Chapter 5
She was younger than Ethan remembered, thirty-six instead of forty-eight, but she carried the same predatory confidence. Tailored black suit, designer heels, dark hair pulled into a severe bun. She moved through the park like she owned it, her gaze finding Ethan immediately."Ethan Hayes." Amanda sat down beside him without invitation, crossing her legs and studying him with unnerving intensity. "You're harder to track down than I expected for a college senior.""Should I be flattered or concerned?" Ethan kept his voice neutral, his posture relaxed despite the tension coiling in his muscles."Depends on how smart you are." Amanda smiled, and it didn't reach her eyes. "I work for Titanium Capital Management. We identify promising talent early, before they graduate into the market. I've been watching you." Lies, Titanium didn't recruit college students, they poached established traders. Amanda was fishing, testing him and Ethan's Enhanced Perception caught the slight tell in her body la
Chapter 4: Coffee Shop Reversal
The Campus Grind buzzed with its usual morning chaos—espresso machines hissing, students cramming for exams, the smell of burnt coffee mixing with cinnamon pastries. Ethan sat at a corner table with perfect sightlines to the entrance, laptop open to a fake economics paper while his mind ran through the script he'd memorized years ago.10:13 AM. Two minutes until Sophia Chen walked through that door and ruined the next few years of his life. Except this time, the story had a different ending."You're nervous." The System's voice cut through his thoughts, clinical and amused. "Heart rate elevated. Palms sweating. She's just a girl, Host.""She's not just a girl," Ethan muttered under his breath, pretending to type. "She's years of my life I'll never get back. She's the reason I believed love was real while she was fucking my friend in our apartment.""Semantics. In two minutes, she's just another obstacle to eliminate."Ethan's jaw clenched, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. The r
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