The Reincarnated Villainous Young Master's Guide to Happiness

Outside a research facility, two men emerged into the dead of night, their footsteps echoing faintly.

"Agh, I'm so tired. Boss has been giving us hell ever since the outbreak. What time is it?"

"Hm, if you take a cab, you should get back before midnight."

"Screw that. The cab drivers are charging ten for every mile at this hour. I'm better off walking at this rate."

"There, there. I can give you a ride back. Clark! You coming?"

Clark, the third man, fiddled with his pocket, a groan escaping him.

"You guys go ahead. I forgot my phone back in the lab."

He re-entered the facility, retrieving his phone from his lab coat pocket. As he prepared to leave, he noticed a light still on in Laboratory C. Only one person worked there late without being told.

He found Dr. Neo Overland hunched over a microscope, muttering intently.

"Neo? Aren't you going home?"

"No," Neo replied, "The trial vaccine I was working on just finished cultivating. I need to check its reaction to the virus."

Clark sighed. Dr. Neo Overland, a medical genius who'd become world-famous, was also a relentless workaholic. He was about to work himself to death.

Upon closer inspection, Neo looked terrible: rumpled lab coat, disheveled hair, pale and waxy skin, and eyes dulled by exhaustion. "Dude, you look like shit."

Neo's lips twitched. "Thank you for your astounding observation, Clark. If you were going to come in here and insult me, then at least make yourself useful and hand me another petri dish from the fridge."

Clark snapped, "It also won't stop if you're dead."

Neo flinched, then nodded. "Good."

Left alone, Neo stared at his successful serum, a rare smile on his face. A sharp pain shot through his head, and dizziness overwhelmed him. The last thing he remembered was the laboratory floor rushing up to meet him.

All was black. Until he opened his eyes to a lavish bedroom, knowing he was back. Back to the beginning. Back to his first life as Nazareth Everette Odum.