After I join a new company, I keep running into problems—not from people, but from the company's equipment.

The fingerprint scanner fails to recognize me every single time, and I have to submit a manual attendance appeal almost daily.

When I ask the admin to change the device, they respond with thinly veiled sarcasm. "Everyone else clocks in just fine. Why are you the only one with so many issues?"

The air vent above my desk blasts cold air directly at me. My hands and feet are freezing every day.

I ask to switch seats. My manager looks at me like I am making things up. "Everyone else sits there without a problem. How come the AC only blows cold air when you sit there?"

One strange incident after another makes it impossible for me to function at work.

When I get home, I complain to my boyfriend and say I want to quit. He shuts down the thought immediately.

"You're making almost 60 thousand dollars a year before benefits, with weekends off and paid leave. Where are you going to find a job like that?"

I think about it and realize he isn't wrong.

Just as I decide to stick it out, the company elevator malfunctions. I fall from the 33rd floor and die.

In my final moments, I can't understand it—why does every piece of equipment in the company seem to target me alone?

All the devices are newly installed. All my coworkers are people I have just met. I have no grudges with anyone. There's no reason for someone to sabotage me from behind the scenes.

When I open my eyes again, I am back at the company.

It's my very first day on the job.

"Welcome to the company, Emma Lane. Your fingerprint has been registered. Remember to clock in when you arrive and leave," Zoe Porter from the administration department said as she handed me my employee badge.

I froze for a brief moment.

Memories from my previous life came rushing back—memories of being tormented, again and again, by the company itself.

The same day, in my last life, marked the beginning of my nightmare.

On my very first day, everything in the office seemed to target me, and only me.

The fingerprint scanner would flash an error every time it tried to read my print. Every day, I had to bother my coworkers to manually correct my attendance record.

When I finally went to the admin to request a different scanner, the clerk snapped impatiently, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Everyone else can clock in just fine. Why are you the only one with problems?"

At my desk, the air vent blasted freezing air nonstop. In the dead of winter, my hands and feet were numb from the cold.

I could no longer take it and asked my manager, Sam Tucker, to change my seat. He looked annoyed and scoffed. "Other people sit here with no issues. How come the AC only blows cold air when you sit here?"

One bizarre incident after another made it impossible for me to function at work. My supervisors thought I was exaggerating, while my coworkers thought I was dramatic and unstable.

In the end, I could only go home and vent to my boyfriend, Adam Hawkins, telling him I wanted to quit.

He brushed it off without hesitation. "There's no way all that weird stuff is real. You're probably just stressed and overthinking things. Besides, you're making almost 60 thousand dollars a year before benefits, with weekends off and paid leave. Where are you going to find a job like that?"

After thinking it over, I decided to endure it and stay.

I never made it to the next week.

The very next morning, as I was leaving work, the elevator suddenly dropped. I fell to my death from the 33rd floor.

I died with my eyes open.

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't understand why any of this had happened.

But I was given another chance, for I had come back to life.

This time, I was determined to uncover the truth behind every one of those so-called accidents.

Thinking this, I handed my badge back to Zoe in the admin department.

"Zoe, my fingerprints are a bit faint. Could you register all ten fingers for me? That way, I won't have trouble clocking in and having to keep bothering you."

Zoe paused, then smiled and took the badge, reopening the fingerprint registration system.

I took a deep breath and pressed my right index finger firmly onto the screen, making sure the entire fingerprint area was fully covered.

A beep sounded, followed by the confirmation that the registration was successful. Only then did I relax.

This time, I registered all ten fingers, carefully adjusting the pressure and angle to what should have been optimal. I hoped the system would finally recognize me properly.

Seeing how serious I was, Zoe joked, "You're the first one to do all ten fingers. But Emma, relax. The company's system is imported. It won't malfunction."

I smiled, thanked her, and went straight to the fingerprint scanner at the company's entrance.

I wiped my hands, then placed my index finger on the scanner.

"Fingerprint recognition error. Please try again."

The moment I heard it, a chill ran down my spine. Goosebumps rose on my arms.

"How is it still doing this?" I muttered.

Unwilling to accept it, I switched fingers and tried again.

"Fingerprint recognition error. Please try again."

"Fingerprint recognition error. Please try again."

I tested all ten fingers. The result was still the same error messages in that robotic tone.

I stared at the scanner. The glaring red text on the screen felt like a pair of eyes staring straight back at me. The error tone sounded almost like mockery.

I clenched my fists, feeling frustration and fear twist together in my chest.

Everything had worked perfectly when I registered my fingerprints in the admin department. Why did it fail the moment I reached the clock-in machine?

Was I really about to relive the same nightmare as my last life?

While I stood there frozen, several coworkers glanced over. A few even stepped forward kindly, asking if I needed help.

As I watched them gather, an idea formed in my mind.

I apologized timidly. "I am the new hire, Emma Lane. I'm sorry to bother you, but the fingerprint scanner just won't recognize me."

A male colleague volunteered immediately. "Let me try mine."

The moment he placed his hand on the scanner, it registered successfully.

They assumed my angle was wrong and asked me to try again.

I nodded and, in front of them, tried clocking in with all ten fingers. Every attempt failed.

"I just registered all ten fingers with Zoe, but it still doesn't work. Could this machine be faulty?" I asked, deliberately raising my voice so everyone nearby could hear.

In my previous life, I had always dealt with this alone in silence. That was why everyone thought I was making trouble out of nothing.

This time, I wanted witnesses.

Just then, Zoe noticed the crowd and walked over.

"What's going on? Why is everyone gathered around the clock-in machine?" she asked.

I immediately demonstrated again in front of her.

Zoe looked at the error message on the screen and frowned. "It's probably broken. I'll submit a request to replace it. Don't worry about clocking in for now. Wait until the new machine arrives."

I thought that once the machine was replaced, everything would finally be okay.

After the clock-in issue was temporarily resolved, I walked to my workstation.

The moment I sat down, a chill crawled up the back of my neck.

I jerked my head up and looked at the air vent above me. Cold air blasted straight down, and I sneezed several times in a row.

Anna Underwood, who sat nearby, turned at the sound. After glancing at what I was wearing, she spoke with the same well-meaning concern she had shown in my last life. "Even if the office has air conditioning, it's easy to catch a chill on the way to work. You should dress a bit warmer."

I sniffed, forcing myself to endure the cold. "Anna, do you feel like the office temperature is a little low today?"

She reached up and tested the air above her own seat. "It's warm. It's always this temperature. Besides, this is a central system. Every vent should be the same."

The moment she finished speaking, I stood up. "Anna, could I trouble you for a few minutes? Can you sit at my desk and help me check the temperature?"

She looked puzzled, but still sat down in my chair.

In my previous life, I had only gone to her seat to test the air myself. The airflow there really had been warm. This time, I wanted her to feel the cold air at my desk firsthand so that I could apply to change seats.

What she said next hit me like a blow to the head.

"There's nothing wrong with your seat. It's warm air."

"What? That's impossible. It was cold just now."

Instinctively, I raised my hand to test it myself. What I felt was warm air.

I froze up.

Unwilling to accept it, I sat back down in my chair. The familiar blast of cold air immediately returned, making me shiver.

Upon seeing how agitated I looked, Anna asked with concern, "Emma, are you okay? Have you not been resting well lately? Could it be nerves?"

I refused to believe it. I went to other coworkers' desks and compared them again and again. Every one of them had warm air blowing at them. The moment I sat back down at my own seat, it turned cold.

The sheer strangeness of it made my scalp prickle. I snapped my head up at the vent and shouted, "Why is it only blowing cold air on me? Why only me? This is ridiculous!"

My behavior started to draw looks, and the others began to think there was something wrong with me.

"She's so young. Why does she act like a lunatic?"

"This is a company, not a shelter. How do they hire people like this?"

"She must be trying to cause trouble. First, the clock-in machine, and now, the air conditioner. She's making the whole office miserable."

The murmurs spread through the room and eventually reached management.

Mr. Tucker frowned and asked, "Emma, what are you doing? It's your first day. Instead of working, you're making a scene at your desk?"

I quickly pointed at the vent. "Mr. Tucker, the air blowing at my desk is cold. Wherever I sit, it blows cold air. I'm not making this up."

Hearing that, he walked over, stood under the vent, and tested the airflow with his hand. Then, his expression darkened.

"There is no cold air. It's warm. Everyone else sits here without any issues. How is it that the air turns cold only when you sit here?" His voice hardened. "If you keep causing trouble, don't bother coming in tomorrow."