1 01 - Regression

"...And I'm back again!" 

A handsome and tall young man sighed as he sat in a luxurious office.

The young man's name is Rowan Mills and he is 20 years old this year. 

He transmigrated to this world where countless urban web novel stories took place and became a third-rate villain who was to be used as a stepping-stone for the protagonists who are also known as 'the chosen ones'.

In the story, his character was a waste of space and would always request his parents for money. Unknown to how the world worked, he spent all day clubbing and playing with women.

In the original work, Rowan liked the first female lead of the story, Laura Crown. To win her, Rowan even tried to fight against the first male lead only to end up deepening their love for each other and get used as a stepping stone by the male lead.

He was quite rational at the start of the story but, as he lost to the protagonist and his plot armour again and again, he lost his rationality.

Although the character in the original story lived to the end, he went crazy and was put in a mental hospital.

'A very clichéd and stupid plot. He was… just stupid…', the soul in Rowan's body thought.

This soul was of a person from modern earth, he was a very normal citizen with nothing special to him other than his ability to read urban web novels.

Fortunately, during his transmigration, to aid him in winning against the protagonists and their plot armour, Rowan received a system called the 'Wishing System'.

It was a system that could help people fulfil their wishes.

Sounds good and powerful, right? Sadly, it had three drawbacks.

First, only one wish could be fulfilled each day.

Second, Rowan could only make wishes for himself, not for others.

For example, if he wished for his parents' good health, there would be no effect but if he wished for his own good health, there would be an effect.

Third, his wish must conform to the Basic Law. It means that it cannot go beyond the limits of an urban novel.

For example, if he wished to live forever or become a cosmic being or be able to do magic...

Oh please, this is an urban novel, not a fantasy one.

Anyhow, despite these restrictions, the system did not lose its power.

Relying on the wondrous ability of the system and his own intelligence, Rowan easily beat all the protagonists, became the ultimate villain and screwed up the storyline enough to mess up the world's balance.

Unable to see the world's balance fall into chaos, the higher beings reversed the time to the start of the story and put a curse on Rowan's system.

Any wish that he made, the enemy would get the double of it.

To put it more bluntly, the wishes he got through the system would be given to the protagonist too. That too, after doubling it.

The more you get, the better for your enemies.

Rowan chuckled, "Are they trying to challenge me and make me fall to these dumb protagonists who confess their love in the last episode or what?"

At this moment, the door opened and a woman with glasses walked in.

"Mr Rowan, Ms Crown has invited you for dinner at the Star Restaurant at 8 pm. What should I reply to her with?"

'Ms. Crown…Oh, Laura, the first female lead of the story. She's talented and one of the most beautiful women in this city.'

The Crown family ran a large hospital in the city but a good amount of equipment there was outdated so, they wanted to buy a new batch of medical equipment but the funds available for that were very low.

'So, Laura invited Rowan for dinner and wanted to purchase some new equipment on credit through the Mills family's relations.'

On this night, Rowan in the original story met Laura for the first time and fell for her at first sight.

Then, the first protagonist appeared and the rest is history.

Rowan nodded excitedly and said, "Uhh, I'm going for dinner then! Please inform Ms. Crown that I will be joining her tonight then."

"Yes, Mr. Rowan!"

At 8 pm exactly, Rowan arrived at the Star Restaurant and met the legendary first heroine, Laura.

Actually, this was not the first time Rowan saw her but he was still at a loss of words. Even after a whole life, she seemed beautiful to him.

With a tall height of about 1.7 meters, a little shorter than Rowan and her well-maintained skin, Laura looked very good. She wore a plain white long dress but exuded elegance.

Seeing Rowan, Laura was also surprised.

She was surprised to see Rowan looking at herself without breaking his focus at all. His gaze did not feel like a perverted stare and did not make her uncomfortable. She was not able to believe that a person who had the reputation of a playboy could look at someone with such sweetness in their eyes,

'Are the rumours wrong or is his real behaviour hidden right now?...Whatever…'

Laura didn't think too much about it and the two exchanged greetings.

Rowan apologized first, "Ms. Crown, I'm sorry for being late."

Laura smiled as she said, "I just arrived and please, Mr. Mills, you're right on time! I haven't ordered yet, what would you like to eat?"

"You're the host, Ms. Crown. Please choose whatever you would like."

"You're too polite. I'll treat you, please order anything you like!"

Unable to shirk her anymore, Rowan took the menu and called the waiter, "Hey!"

"Good evening, sir. May I have your order?"

"Yes, good evening. Please bring me a filet mignon, medium rare, Foie gras for two people... ah, and also bring something warm for the beautiful lady here to drink. Thank you."

Laura, who was sitting opposite Rowan, was very surprised and asked, "Mr. Mills, it might be a coincidence but, all the dishes that you ordered are my favourites!"

Rowan secretly said in his heart, 'Of course, I know everything. You were my wife in my last life, I have seen every mole you have on your body, knowing your favourite food is something small... That is what I would say but now that the time is reversed, it won't be good to say that unless I want an impression of her hand on my cheek, a red colour version. By the way, even her hands are beautiful…'

Rowan smiled slightly and said jokingly, "I just guessed them all but I didn't really expect them to be your favourites, Ms. Crown!"

Laura giggled and said, "You are amazing! But your guess was a little wrong. I like to drink something cold like iced tea rather than something hot!"

Rowan still smiled and continued, "You have a bad stomach right now so, drinking something hot would be better."

Laura's eyes moved slightly, she felt uncomfortable from how precise Rowan's guesses were and asked him, "How do you know that I have a bad stomach? It's a guess again?"

"Not this time." Rowan said calmly, "You have dark circles under your eyes and dry lips! The air conditioner is working perfectly fine, but you are wearing an extra coat. Just now, you touched your abdomen once and many times since we sat down. You obviously feel bloated in your abdomen..."

Rowan said a lot and finally concluded, "So, in short, this is the stomach discomfort caused by irregular diet and staying up late!"

Laura's eyes were surprised now and said, "Wow! Just, Wow! You saw it all so easily, it's amazing! Have you studied medicine too?"

"I haven't learned it, I just know a little bit!" Rowan said modestly.

'Girl, your stomach's grumbling can be heard till here.'

Then, the two chatted while eating the expensive food.

The more they talked, the more surprised Laura got.

'Didn't everyone say that he is an arrogant, rude piece of shit who can do nothing other than spend his parents' money on luxuries and women? How does his personality and everything seem so good now?'

'He can answer anything I ask, he knows everything. Any topic could be picked and he knows about it. Not only medicine, economics, meteorology, he even knows about some philosophical aspects.', Laura thought.

For Laura, this was even more awesome than her two master's degrees.

Rowan smiled at Laura's confused expression.

In his last life, he wished that he would have a superb learning ability and then used a lot of his time to study in depth about various subjects. 

Although his resources and power as the best villain were gone, he still had his memory and knowledge retained from his previous life.

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E/N: Keep in mind, it's an edited mtl. I tried my best to make it readable.