I became the laughingstock of the entire school after I was soundly rejected by both the school bully and the school heartthrob.

However, little did they know that I was only humiliating myself for the sake of a mission. After all, why would I say no to a mission like that when I would earn a reward of one million dollars from the system?

That very night, I sent a love letter I had copied off the internet to the entire student body.

Both the jock and the school heartthrob were shocked when they found out.

Rejection

"Lily! Where are you? Come and watch the drama!" After dinner, my roommate, Hailey Glenn, sent me a message on WhatsApp.

I tapped on the picture.

As the photo blew up, I saw a girl standing in the center of a heart made of candles while holding a bouquet of white roses. There was also a crowd surrounding her.

Based on the scenery, this picture was taken at the football field opposite the lecture hall.

"I heard that she is going to confess to Caleb!" I could feel Hailey's enthusiasm even through the screen. "God, she's so brave."

I agreed with that sentiment. Caleb Johnson was famous for his aloofness. Hence, confessing to him was basically an act of self-flagellation.

Hailey called me when I didn't respond immediately.

Honestly, I would've joined in on the gossip fest if I weren't the person starring in it.

I hung up the call and looked up at Caleb. The latter's expression was calm.

"Who is she? She's so brave!"

"She seems to be Lily Rosetta, the school's valedictorian! Didn't she give a speech as the outstanding freshman representative on the first day?"

"Is she a bookworm? Does she not look at herself in the mirror?"

"I think she'd look pretty if she cleaned herself up."

"Who cares how pretty she is? Can she ever hope to compare to the school belle? Have you forgotten how Caleb had rejected her, too?"

"Oh, shut up. I've seen her cozying up to Caleb lately. I've seen them chatting away quite often."

…

The crowd kept growing. Most of them were here to watch the drama. A few of them would even holler for Caleb to say yes.

Caleb stood across from me as he leaned against a streetlight. He lit a cigarette and looked at me with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

He looked as if he were just a passerby like everyone else.

I noticed that he had no intention of responding to my confession through the haze. Then, I glanced at the time.

It was now 8:28 p.m.

'There's only two minutes left,' I thought.

"Just reject me already." I rubbed my temples, truly not expecting Caleb to drag things out. "I still have another place to get to."

Just as I finished speaking, a figure pushed through the crowd and walked up to me.

Then, she snatched the flowers from my hands and threw them onto the ground.

It was my other roommate, Janice Wyvern.

"Lily, I know you are an outstanding person, but how can you be so insensitive? Have you ever thought about how Caleb would feel when you made such a huge scene? Confessing is about expressing your feelings, not demanding a relationship.

"What you're doing is no different from guilt tripping!"

I couldn't help but note her hypocrisy upon hearing her words. After all, she had also confessed to Caleb just a few days ago.

Yes, she was the school belle who had gotten rejected a few days ago.

'Thank God the wrapping wasn't damaged,' I thought as I gingerly picked up the bouquet from the ground. Then, I thanked Janice before running toward the library.

I arrived at the library just in the nick of time. The clock glowed a blazing 8:30 p.m., and I knew that the school heartthrob, Andrew Wills, would pass by here.

I wished he would get on with it.

"I like you."

Shortly after, Andrew walked out of the library holding a few books. I jogged up to him and handed him the bouquet.

To make sure he would reject me as soon as possible, I even deliberately turned the bouquet to show him the ruined flowers instead.

"Me?" He hesitated a little.

I cut him off and said, "We never met before."

"Then…" He fell into thought.

"I'm a normal person with a functioning pair of eyes. Don't worry. I'm just attracted to your face."

"Yeah, no?" Andrew was shocked.

I was satisfied when I heard him say the word "no."

Confessing to the Whole School

"I understand." I covered my mouth, trying to will up some crocodile tears after being rejected. However, I couldn't help but burst into triumphant cackles when I heard the system notification.

"Congratulations, you've unlocked a side quest. You will be rewarded two million for this quest!" said the system.

'If one confession is worth one million, then confessing to 8 billion people would—'

"Do have some shame!" The system quickly nipped my idea in the bud and added a line in small text. "There's a limit of 10 million."

When I heard this, I knew right then that money was where it mattered. Love? I couldn't survive off love, could I?

…

Back in the dorm, Melissa was talking to Hailey about something. When she saw me walk in, she immediately stomped over to me. Hailey tried to stop her, but the latter shoved her away.

Then, Melissa grabbed my collar and snarled, "Lily, do you know that you've ruined our reputation?"

I was stunned by her words. After all, I was the one who got rejected, so what does that have to do with her? Why was she bringing collective honor into this?

However, I swiftly recalled that the author of this novel was wearing such ridiculous plot armor that it was likely the author was brainless, too. If I took that into consideration, incidents like these weren't all that surprising.

Everyone tended to treat the protagonist with blind devotion. Frankly, it was quite ridiculous, but this was my life now.

The novel world I was in was a rather straightforward one as the whole world basically revolved around the female lead. People were either with her or against her.

Once I learned that I had transmigrated into the vicious villainess, I decisively chose to focus on raking in the cash rather than in romance.

When I first started out, the system only gave two measly options.

One was to pursue Caleb, who was also the male lead of this story. If I succeeded, the system would grant any one of my wishes.

My second option was to pursue Andrew, the second male lead. The reward for winning his heart was a chance to return to my original world.

The money was just a side quest and was placed there for laughs. In a twisted novel world like this one, people grew up thinking that confessing to someone was basically asking for social suicide.

Yet, each rejection came with a compensation of one million dollars.

Still, one's reputation would get worse each time they confessed. In the end, they would just end up becoming a pariah.

Fortunately, I was built different. I didn't care for such things because I had absolutely no shame.

After all, why would I care about my reputation when I was already a villainess?

"I like you," I said calmly. There wasn't even a sliver of rage in my heart as I smiled at her. I picked my nails, blew on them, and coyly met her gaze.

Her face turned bright red, and I could basically feel the heat wafting off it from where I was standing.

"W-What I mean to say is that you should pay more attention in the future…" she valiantly continued.

"I like you," I repeated with a roguish smirk.

Melissa clammed up and fled to her bed before pulling the curtain shut. After a moment, I heard her muffled voice through the curtains, still laced with embarrassment. "There is no future between us! You should just give up!"

I didn't mind getting rejected once more. If anything, I was on cloud nine as I listened to the system broadcast. Nevertheless, something was bothering me. What I was doing right now wasn't efficient enough.

So, I found a random confession template online and sent it to all the students via Instagram.

The system immediately called me out for cheating when I did that.

"Ah, you don't get it." I waved my hand in dismissal. "Confession is about sincerity, not form."

…

The counselor called me into his office the very next day.

"Explain yourself." He pushed his phone toward me, his face stone cold.

I looked at it and was amazed by how many complaints there were about me.

"I'm doing a research project." I handed him the thesis I had managed to churn out overnight. The title was "Love Patterns in the Internet Era."

"I want to investigate how the internet has affected relationships, especially when it comes to dating culture and building platonic relationships. I also wanted to look into how love is expressed during this technologically advanced era.

"I wanted to understand whether the internet…" I sold him a scientific-sounding bullshit.

The counsellor could only stare at me, utterly stunned after listening to my explanation. Then, he pushed his glasses up and parted his lips to interrupt me before I could confuse him further.

I knew what he was about to ask, so I smoothly interjected, "My confessions to Caleb and Andrew were meant to serve as a control group."

A New Era

"But you're only a freshman." The counselor was at a loss for words. In the end, he decided to roll with it and started flipping through my thesis.

I knew he wouldn't be able to find any fault with the paper. After all, I'd basically copied and pasted my graduation thesis from my original world onto those stacks of paper. My original thesis had even been published in a journal.

The counselor let out a weary sigh and shot me a complicated look after reading through it several times. "You should focus your energy on your major."

"I understand." I nodded obediently.

However, I still needed someone to step in and help me smooth things over. After our conversation, I had a feeling that the counselor would do just fine.

So, I added, "I plan to publish this paper. When that happens, I'll put your name in the supervisor section."

"Published?" A glint flashed in his eyes.

It was challenging to publish a thesis in both worlds. After all, my paper had to be excellent, and I had to be lucky enough for the panel to find my paper pleasing.

I had lucked out in my last life. However, I was confident that my chances of getting this thesis published would be much higher now that I had the money reward buff.

The counselor was grinning from ear to ear before he dismissed me, telling me to focus on my studies while he would explain things to the board.

…

When I walked out of the office, I found Caleb leaning against the windowsill as he waited for me.

When our eyes met, he pressed his tongue against his cheek, let out a scoff, and started clapping. "I'm part of your control group, huh? How wonderful."

I didn't want to waste my time dealing with him. So, I walked past him and straight toward the library.

Alas, my bad luck caught up with me as I reached the corner of the second floor. I saw Janice walking together with Andrew, followed by their posse.

I had planned to avoid them. Sadly, a girl behind Janice saw me before I could do so and said, "Hey, you're Lily, right?"

The girl ran up and stared at me like I was some kind of rare specimen. "You made such a huge mess. I guess you're about to be expelled."

"Lily, I'm sorry." Janice stepped forward, lowering her head as she played the innocent lamb. "If I had known you cared so much about love, I shouldn't have… You wouldn't have caused such a big disaster."

Janice really was a master with words as she managed to twist every single word into a weapon against me.

"Your family worked so hard to raise you. How could it all be ruined over something like this? It's all my fault." As she spoke, she even squeezed out a couple of tears.

"It's fine." I gave her a cheeky smile. "This is a blessing in disguise. Who knows, the school might even commend me for my efforts!"

When Janice heard my words, she almost burst out laughing and thought that I was out of my mind.

"Commend you for what? For bravely pursuing love? Are they going to build you a statue on campus as well?"

I tapped on my chin as I mulled over her words before nodding. "That's not impossible."

This time, Janice really couldn't hold it in anymore. She laughed so hard that she started honking like a goose.

Andrew didn't say a single word from start to finish. He just stood there blankly like a wooden dummy.

I figured that this would happen. After all, this novel was written around 2007. Although people had started using the internet for business, it was still in its early stages. Most people weren't as involved in the Internet just yet.

So, the potential of social platforms wasn't realized until much later.

This was a golden opportunity.

I fell into deep thought as I browsed through the cluttered online shopping websites.

At this stage, people were more or less familiar with online merchant websites. So, I would have to take a different path if I wanted to succeed.

In that case, my only option was to focus on a niche by integrating existing resources. I would have to look into the consumers' food, housing, and transportation choices before developing a business plan that would attract them.

Then, I'd be able to turn their favorable impression of the service I provide into an instinctive and only choice.

A draft of my business proposal had been drawn up while I was still deep in thought. However, I quickly ran into a snag as I couldn't help but wonder whether my plan was achievable as of right now.

I was so immersed in my brainstorming session that I didn't notice someone had already come up behind me.

"How ambitious." The person standing behind me was a middle-aged man in his 50s.

He smiled as he examined the framework I had written and remarked, "However, ideas without a solid foundation often end up in shambles."