Reborn: I Refuse to Bear My Stepbrother's Pain

My lazy stepbrother, Derek Lane, suddenly becomes the hardest-working person in the village. He cuts weeds, carries buckets of manure, and works the fields. Nothing seems too difficult for him. But while he works, cuts suddenly appear on my hands. The carrying pole rubs my shoulders raw. Even the soles of my feet split open. I have no idea what kind of dark magic he uses, but every injury he suffers is somehow transferred onto me. After spending an entire day laboring under the blazing sun, he remains full of energy. Meanwhile, I collapse from heatstroke. I tell Dad to stop Derek from working in the fields. Instead of listening to me, Dad drags me to the village square and publicly lambasts me in front of all the villagers. He scolds, "You still think you're some spoiled boy who came from the city? Not only are you too lazy to work, but you're even spreading lies that Derek is using black magic!" From that day on, Derek works even harder. But at the same time, I can no longer work in the fields at all with my body covered in injuries. A week later, he's named the village's "Farmer of the Year". Thanks to that title, he earns the chance to head to the city and attend college. As for me, I collapse from exhaustion and die in the cornfield. Wild dogs feed on my remains. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the first day Derek is trying to steal my work points. There are 15 days left until the fall harvest. I have 15 days until I die in that cornfield. I snatch the carrying pole from Derek's hands and say, "I'll handle my own work." Chapter 1 The sound of ripping rang out. I watched as the fabric over my shoulder split open, revealing a fresh crimson gash across my smooth skin. Only then did the reality of being reborn truly sink in. I didn't even bother putting on my shoes before immediately running to the edge of the field. Sure enough, I saw Derek Lane carrying a pole on his shoulder that was loaded with buckets of manure. The pain in my shoulder grew worse. I bit my lower lip hard, unable to make sense of it at all. Even after being given a second chance at life, nothing had changed. Every injury Derek suffered while working was still transferred to my body. My dad, George Zyrus, snatched the pole out of Derek's hands and shoved it into mine. "What kind of older brother are you? Derek has a cold, and you're still making him do farm work." In my previous life, the lazy, good-for-nothing Derek was always claiming he had a headache or a cold every now and then. He stayed in bed every day and refused to work. Dad forced me to do the work of two people, so I had been earning Derek's work points along with my own. But today was markedly different. Derek got out of bed before dawn. While everyone else was still asleep, he carried manure, cut weeds, worked in the fields, and harvested grain. Everyone praised him, saying he was an outstanding young man. While basking in the compliments, he took the opportunity to make a pointed jab at me. He said, "I was only resting before because I was sick. It's not because I'm lazy, like Isaac claimed. Just watch. In just five days, I'll do as much work as the rest of you do in a month." The crowd showered Derek with praise for being so hardworking. No one noticed that I was drenched in sweat, my lips devoid of color. Derek did exactly what he had promised. In just five days, he completed an entire month's worth of farm work. After earning all of his own work points, he even started helping other people with their work. Before long, everyone was praising Derek for his kindness. Meanwhile, because Derek had worked under the blazing sun, his heatstroke was transferred to me. I was left lying in bed, barely clinging to life. Dad barged into my room with several others and yanked me to my feet. "Isaac, stop playing dead! Quit acting like some spoiled boy from the city and get up and work!" The moment those words were spoken, everyone became convinced that I was a lazy bum who wanted to profit from others' hard work. They all spat at me in disgust. On the day Derek returned to the city to attend college after being crowned the Farmer of the Year, I died alone in the fields amid everyone's cheers and celebration. There, wild dogs devoured my body. Now that the heavens had given me a chance to be reborn, I was determined to get to the bottom of everything. I quickly finished loading the manure and said to Derek with a smile, "Go home and get some rest. From now on, I'll take care of all your work for you." Chapter 2 I stared at Derek without blinking, trying to spot anything unusual in his expression. Alas, he gave away nothing. He immediately nodded in agreement, turned around, and left without the slightest hesitation. Dad kept nagging beside us, repeating the same old speech over and over. He insisted that since I was the older brother, I should help Derek out and do more of the work. His words went in one ear and out the other. What truly struck me as strange was Derek's attitude. Would he really let me off that easily? Sure enough, a piercing pain shot through my palm and the web between my thumb and index finger the very next second. It was Derek. I immediately dropped the shoulder pole and went looking for him. Just then, I saw a crowd gathered by the edge of the field. They chattered noisily among themselves. "Derek is working way too hard. It's so hot that none of us even dares to go into the fields, but he's out there anyway." "Exactly. He's not even wearing gloves. He's grabbing the wheat with his bare hands. I've been farming for decades, and even I wouldn't do that." "I swear I just saw his hand get sliced by a sickle, but when I walked over, there wasn't a single wound on it." "Are you sure you weren't seeing things?" I felt my heart sink to my stomach. In an instant, I understood where the wound on my hand had come from. I rushed over and snatched the sickle out of Derek's hand. "Didn't I tell you to go home and rest? Why are you working again?" I tried my best to suppress my anger, but the pain made it impossible to keep a pleasant expression. Unexpectedly, Derek shivered and looked at me with a pitiful expression. He said softly, "Isaac, I fell behind because I was sick before. I just wanted to earn more work points to repay you…" The moment those innocent-sounding but manipulative words left his mouth, the women sitting along the field ridge all sighed about how kind and hardworking Derek was. I couldn't be bothered arguing with him. I simply grabbed the sickle from his hand and started cutting the grass. Derek watched me work with a smile on his face. The coarse grass stalks rubbed my palms raw until they bled. Large beads of sweat poured down my face. Yet Derek, who stood watching under the blazing sun, didn't even look flushed. An hour later, my hands were a bloody mess. I walked over to the edge of the field and gulped down water. I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I was standing beside Derek, I realized my skin had become several shades darker than his. Why? Why was he able to transfer every injury from his work onto me, while nothing I did had any effect on him? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure it out. Just as I was about to get back to work, an agonizing pain spread from my palm up my arm and into my heart. I collapsed heavily onto the ground. Derek raised an eyebrow and said, "Isaac, you're meant to live like some spoiled boy from the city. How could you possibly do the kind of work we country folk do? Let me handle it." My mom, Judith Marsden, came from a more middle-upper-class background. She had studied abroad and had been able to enjoy the finer things in life, so the village folk branded her a privileged snob and despised her. And because I was her son, people mockingly called me "Sir Isaac". When I first came to the countryside, everyone disliked me. It wasn't until they saw that I could endure hardship and work efficiently that they finally started treating me better. Now that Derek had brought it up again, the people around us started whispering among themselves. I struggled to my feet, determined to prove that I wasn't the pampered, sheltered city boy he claimed I was. But in the next instant, Derek crouched down in the field, where no one else could see him, and viciously slashed his own calf with the sickle. I screamed as a burst of unbearable pain hit me, and I crashed to the ground. Derek shot me a taunting look and said, "Isaac, you should just go home." Everyone else panicked and hurriedly carried me to the village clinic. But when the doctor examined my leg, the wound had miraculously disappeared. The blood was still there on my calf, so why had the cut vanished? The doctor frowned and said, "If you don't want to work, you don't have to smear chicken blood on your leg and pretend you're injured." The moment he said that, everyone looked at me even more judgmentally. As soon as I got back, I went straight to Derek. Grabbing him by the collar, I shouted angrily, "Derek, what exactly did you do to me?" Chapter 3 Derek wasn't afraid in the slightest. He threw his head back and laughed. "Isaac, there's nothing you can do to me!" I glared at him. If looks could kill, he would've already been cut into a thousand pieces. His expression darkened. "I don't like the way you're looking at me." Before I could even react, he slapped himself hard across the face. My own cheek instantly burned with pain, and I reflexively let go of his collar. He jeered, "You'll never escape me, Isaac. Get on your knees and apologize. Say you're a worthless mutt. Maybe then I'll let you off." I clenched my fists tightly. I couldn't die here. The first national college entrance examination would be held the very next day. It was my only chance. My maternal grandparents had been falsely accused, and they were still waiting for me to clear their names. I had to get back to the city. Lowering my head to hide the reluctance in my eyes, I dropped to my knees before Derek. My legs, which had stood straight and proud my entire life, buckled with a thud. I said pleadingly, "Derek, please let me off." Derek's unrestrained laughter rang out above my head. He untied his pants and urinated on me. The urine dripped from my hair onto the ground. I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. Still, I didn't lash out. Derek said, "Strip naked and run around the village. Let everyone see how pathetic you are. If you do that, I'll agree to let you work for me from now on." A wave of burning heat rushed to my face and ears due to the sheer humiliation. His outlandish demand made my scalp tingle. His taunting continued. "You won't do it? Then I'll work in the fields every single day, 24 hours a day. I don't need sleep, and I never get tired. The real question is whether you can survive." I bit my lower lip until it bled. But when I thought about my miserable death in my previous life, and my disabled mother still waiting for me to clear my grandparents' names… I dragged my heavy feet forward with great difficulty. My hands felt immensely heavy. It took what felt like half an hour just to undo the buttons on the front of my shirt. There were still quite a few people who were outside enjoying the cool evening air. When they saw me wandering naked through the village, they all cursed me for being shameless. They covered their children's eyes and hurried their wives back into their homes. By the time I reached the end of the village's main street, I had become numb to the humiliation. There was only one thought left in my mind. "Mom is still waiting for me. I have to survive." Derek kept his word. The next day, he stayed home to rest. My body felt perfectly normal. Just as I relaxed and focused on taking the college entrance exam and carefully answered the questions, my right arm suddenly broke. The pen slipped from my hand. My heart skipped a beat. I'd signed up for the exam in secret. So, no one should have known. But before I could think any further, it felt as though someone had punched me hard in the stomach. I collapsed onto the floor. The proctors sent me to the infirmary and notified my family to come pick me up. The moment Dad arrived, he slapped me across the face furiously. He scolded, "How can I have such a shameless son? I was only away for one day, and you had the nerve to run naked through the village. And now you've secretly come to take the college entrance exam? Who gave you the money? Did that crippled mother of yours stow away some money for you? "Hand it over right now!" Dad dragged me to the school gate and beat me viciously. The emotional pain, combined with my old injuries, caused me to pass out on the spot. When I woke up again, I was lying in my own bed. Mom sat beside me. She was crying so hard that she could go blind. "Isaac, I only want you to be healthy and safe. I don't want anything else," she sobbed. Seeing how much Mom cared about me, I thought about what had happened in my previous life. When my body had finally been discovered, everyone else had avoided it in disgust. Only my disabled mom had crawled all the way from home to the fields, lifted me onto her back, and crawled home again. A trail of blood stained the entire path. A throbbing pain pounded at my temples. If I was going to die anyway, I might as well take Derek down with me. In the middle of the night, I took a sickle and pried open the door to Derek's room. Without hesitation, I brought the blade down onto the bed. Chapter 4 But when the blade came down, it hit nothing. The bed was empty! My first instinct was to run. But right at that moment, Derek burst through the doorway with a crowd of people behind him. He said evenly, "I told you all Isaac had gone crazy, but none of you believed me. I've finally recovered enough to do farm work again lately, but he keeps insisting that all my injuries get transferred onto him. "Today, he secretly went to take the college entrance exam without telling anyone. He didn't do well, so he was definitely coming back to take it out on me. Luckily, I warned everyone ahead of time. Otherwise, who knows how he would've framed me next?" Derek wiped away tears that didn't even exist. But when no one was looking, he shot me a smug, provocative smile. Soon, several burly men stepped forward and pinned me down. Amid the chaos, I felt someone grope my butt. My face flushed red with anger and humiliation. Dad was so furious that he slapped me across the face. "Isaac, I thought the worst thing about you was that you were vicious in nature and didn't like your stepbrother. I never imagined you were mentally ill." I glared at him viciously. He had married Mom because she came from a rich family. But the moment Grandpa was overthrown and our whole family was sent to the countryside, he immediately divorced Mom and married a village woman named Sue Fern. Even though Derek wasn't related to him by blood, his class background was politically favorable. So, Dad loved Derek more than he loved me, his own son. And now, he accused me of being vicious. Yet, he seemed to have forgotten that it was he who had broken Mom's leg. "You're old enough now. And with your mental problems, it's time to find you a wife to keep you under control," Dad said. My eyes widened in disbelief. In the countryside, no sane woman would ever marry a man who was labeled mentally ill. Either she had problems of her own, or she'd be an absolute tyrant. In any case, she would never come from a decent family. And once a man got married, he'd lose any chance of shaking off the shackles of responsibility that came with marrying a woman. Although I hadn't done well on this year's college entrance exam, there was always next year, and the year after that. As long as I hadn't gotten married, I still had a chance. With that thought, I didn't hesitate for a second. I dropped to my knees in front of Derek with a thud. I apologized, "Derek, I'm sorry." When he didn't respond, I prostrated myself and banged my head against the ground twice. "I'm sorry. I was only pretending to be sick because I was jealous of you. I was just trying to frame you." Dad stood there with a stormy expression. Gritting my teeth, I picked up the sickle I brought and slashed my own shoulder without holding back. The crowd gasped in shock. My face was deathly pale as I pleaded, "I've realized my mistake. I swear I'll never hurt you again." Only then did Derek nod in satisfaction and step forward to play the good guy. "We should let this go, Dad. He's my brother after all. I can't bear to see this." After the whole farce, everyone in the village thought I was a shameless and malicious man. Only Mom looked at me lying in bed, covered in wounds, with eyes full of sympathy as she silently wept. Even though she hadn't gone outside, she had probably heard all the rumors about me. But I didn't know what else I could do. Three days later, Derek would be named "Farmer of the Year" after working nonstop for half a month and would earn the opportunity to return to the city. It was also the day I would die a miserable death in the fields. Not wanting Mom to grieve over my death, I decided to secretly take her to my grandparents. Although they lived deep in the mountains, at least she wouldn't have to crawl over to collect my body. Mom didn't understand why, but she didn't ask. She obediently followed me. As the night grew darker, I carried Mom on my back and walked forward step by step. Just then, I thought I heard Derek's voice. I gently set Mom down and crouched by the corner of a wall to listen carefully. He was talking to himself. "Isaac, for the life of him, will never figure out the reason that he suffers all my injuries. And that's because…" My eyes flew wide open. So that was it!