Fake It Till You Fail It

I blinked, doubting my own eyes.

But the moment I refreshed the page, the post was gone.

Now I know—the plagiarism really was connected to them.

Reaching that conclusion didn’t stir much emotion in me. As long as I knew who was responsible, handling it would be easy.

Besides, I had no plans to go home before the college entrance exams. Without me around, they wouldn’t be able to help Clive plagiarize anymore.

I could finally focus on studying.

Or so I thought—until I groggily woke up in the middle of the night to see Atlas Carlisle from the bed next to mine tiptoeing as he sneaked through my notes.

I snapped awake, my voice sharp with anger.

“Dude! What the hell are you doing?!”

Startled, he fumbled and dropped the notebook to the floor.

“The hell are you yelling for? Don’t think I don’t know—you’re the one who copied Clive’s work!

“Sharing a dorm with a plagiarist like you? It’s disgusting!

“Dude, you’re already being nice by not kicking you out. And now you’re here yelling at me? Damn, you really are uneducated.”

Turns out, Clive had deliberately led his followers to dig up my personal information and post it in the comments section.

Within moments, I was drowning in an onslaught of insults!

Even my socials were flooded with harsh comments.

Some guy even stuffed a dead rat into my food delivery!

With no other choice, I turned to Mr. Carmichael.

In my last life, when I was falsely accused of plagiarism, he was the one who stood up for me, rallying my classmates to stand up for me.

Though we ultimately failed back then, he was the only person I could turn to now.

As soon as he learned of my situation, he immediately arranged a private study room for me to prepare for the exams in peace.

I could deal with everything else later.

Finally, that damn Old English essay I had been working on was complete.

The SAT was in two days—all I had to do was write it out on the test paper.

I let out a long breath of relief—only for Clive to drop another bombshell.

[Just a little secret between us,] his latest post read. [I finished my Old English essay!]

The attached photo was a blurred-out notebook page.

But even with the censoring, I recognized the last few lines of the essay immediately.

They were identical to what I had just written!

And worse—his post had gone up 10 minutes before I finished mine!

I completely lost it, ripping my notebook to shreds.

Was I seriously doomed to be plagiarized in every lifetime?

Dammit! I just wanted to give up!

Then, out of nowhere, my teacher called.

[Congratulations, Mr. Witt! You got an early admission to Harvard!]

That meant… I didn’t even have to take the SAT!

Seeing the news, my exhaustion vanished in an instant.

I didn’t know why things changed in this life, and honestly, I didn’t care anymore.

With this guaranteed admission in my hands, I was going to make sure Clive, the serial plagiarist, paid for what he did!

I told no one about my admission or that I wouldn’t be taking the exam.

The night before the test, I revised my essay one last time.

Clive really enjoyed cheating and plagiarising, huh?

Fine. This time, I’d let him steal my work to his heart’s content.

When the final test ended, he was the first to walk out of the hall.

Outside, a massive crowd had gathered, including a few live-streaming influencers.

As soon as he stepped out, they rushed up to him.

“Hey, you look pretty confident! Bet you did great, huh?”

Before he could answer, Geena chimed in.

“Of course! He’s our class genius, our top student! He even guessed the essay topic correctly!”

The livestream chat blew up, full of praise, saying he was definitely getting into Harvard.

Clive grinned in satisfaction—until a group of cops suddenly stormed in and cuffed him on the spot.

“Mr. Smolett, you’ve been reported for involvement in illegal activities. Please come with us and cooperate for the investigation.”