My name's Matthew De Villion.
Matt for short.
I'm 15 years old and a Grade 10.
student at Vandeloz University's Junior High.
Yeah, I know. Vandeloz University sounds pretty fancy, and it is.
It's one of the most prestigious institutions here in the Philippines.
How did I end up here?
Simple.
It's because of a little thing called: Connections.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an idiot. I get high grades without needing to stay up all night.
But so do plenty of other kids, some even way smarter than me.
But guess what? They're stuck in overcrowded public schools, memorizing outdated textbooks.
It's all because my family is rich.
My dad's a venture capitalist
My mom's A real estate mogul.
My older brother is an executive at some tech company.
And my older sister is the President of a giant pharmaceutical company in the US.
I could keep listing many of my other relatives but we'd be here all day.
The point is:
We're rich and pretty powerful.
Funny thing though?
Despite all that, no one really knows who we are.
And we prefer it that way.
If you're imagining I live the dream life: the yachts, the private jets, the endless shopping sprees, you're not wrong.
But here's the truth is:
I'm not rich.
My family is.
We're simply privileged.
Mom and Dad made sure we never forgot that.
When we were little, they "cut us off" for months at a time.
Basically simulated poverty.
Turns out, it was just a family tradition, a way of teaching us not to take anything for granted.
It's been that way for generations.
According to my uncle, our fortune started way back in 1888, through farming crops.
The details are vague.
Uncle's not really good at providing details.
As for me?
I'm pretty average.
5'7, dark brown hair, and a pretty decent physique.
And because of the luxury wrapped around my life, it's kinda boring sometimes.
Well I guess that's just really how it is.