I was running through the streets and back alleys of the poorest and most dangerous district of Nebula City. Behind me, were a bunch of thugs pursuing me as if I had killed their mom. I'll stop you there I didn't kill their mom, let's just say that I had the worst luck a person could possibly have.

Wait, I am getting ahead of myself, if I don't explain properly you'll be lost and blame the author right? It all started 2 hours ago. I live in the worst place ever, Coldstone district, a place where all sorts of unsavory characters abound, From Drugs lords to Mafia bosses to pimps to petty thieves, well you get the picture.

My name is Samsara Yu 17 years old and I am a high school dropout, yes I know the name is weird. You can thank my parents for that, not that you could find them. They died in my first year of high school from a drug overdose. Rest assured, I am not that sad about it anymore. I knew one day I was gonna find them dead. My father was an immigrant From the Aso continent. He was filled with hope when he arrived in this city but due to his illegal status and the fact that he couldn't find a stable, well-paying job he became a junkie and a shitty human being. As for my dear mother, she was a native of this city. She had a pretty well-off family, but being a rebel she got with my father and drugs. My grandparents knew of me but didn't recognize the spawn of an asshole like my father as family.

After their passing, being alone and without support, I had to quit high school and started working, it's been two years now, I worked at a small coffee in the mid-class part of the city, called the 'Sly Cat Coffee', I didn't get a lot of money from this job but enough to rent an apartment for 500 $ a month in this shit district.

So I was returning from my day job dejected because I had just been fired. The reason you ask? an asshole client demanded it. Who was he? He was a second-generation son of a businessman tycoon worth billions of dollars. He was on a date with a beautiful girl named Mary whom I knew from my high school days and they came to the coffee shop where I waited. You can guess what happened, Mary remembered me from high school and was familiar with me so she started talking to me. It was obviously just pure concern from an ex-classmate. I had dropped out of school so suddenly and as the class chief, she was naturally worried. But mister self-entitled didn't see it that way; Having always been the center of attention since he was small, he was pissed that the girl he had been wooing for the better part of one year 'ignored' him on their first date to talk to a worthless waiter. He didn't cause a scene though, he was too smart for that. He waited after their date and came back with goons to beat me up and ordered the old manager of the coffee shop to fire me.

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I let out a sigh, my clothes were in shambles and I had bruises on a good part of my face. I wasn't exactly the most handsome man but with my mixed heritage features I could be called nice looking but with that beat up, I was like the Frankenstein monster.

'What I am gonna do to pay rent this month, thanks to that asshole I'll soon be homeless'

Finding another job you say? difficult! extremely so, a high school dropout without qualifications like me? I let out a derisive laugh at myself.

As my internal rant continued I forgot to pay attention and in this type of neighborhood it was asking for death. When I shook off my mood I had already landed in a bad situation. I had wandered in a building in construction where I had the habit of coming to think when everything went to shit. Only 35 m from me, were thugs who seemed to be in the midst of a judgment. Voices rose followed by a gunshot then it went silent. One of the thugs was on the ground dead with a bullet in the middle of his brows. I was so stunned that I missed the window to depart before they saw me. Alas it was too late, one of the thugs turned in my direction and...

That's how I landed in the current situation; me running for my life and them pursuing me like enraged bulldogs.

This pursuit lasted for 15 min across the whole block before being stopped by a dead end. I once again cursed my luck. I turned slowly and raised my hand in the air as a sign of surrender and spoke calmly and tentatively.

"Guys I didn't see anything, I wasn't even there."

But those assholes just looked at each other and laughed. One of the thugs came towards me while spitting on the ground.

"You think will believe that? Stupid kid! Did your parents never warn you about wandering in shady places," he asks with a mocking smile.

'Shit they have no intentions of letting me go'

"AAAAH" with a war cry to psych myself I pounced toward him, he didn't even bat an eyelid, he just hit my head with the butt of his gun sending me crashing against a wall. Feeling dizzy I tried to stand up but I heard the sound of a gunshot and blackness descended upon my vision. Before passing out I remember thinking if I am ever reincarnated they owe me the luck of a god with how shitty this life was.

I died for the first time.

******************************************************

As I came to I felt something licking my face, my eyelids trembled and I open my eyes. the cat licking my face was startled and ran away.

Sitting up I observed my surroundings for a bit.

'A dark alley,...how the hell I am here?' then I remembered I was supposed to be dead.

'Is it the afterlife? no, it feels too shitty, maybe hell? No, it looks exactly like the alley where those thugs killed me, it can't be...I am not dead?' I started looking on my body for wounds but there were none at all. my skin seemed even smoother than a newborn. I stood up from surprise and was shocked to see that I didn't wobble. I was steady as I could ever be. I wasn't even feeling weak, on the contrary, I was feeling better than ever. I scrutinized every single part of myself and noticed two things, first my originally skinny and malnourished look disappeared replaced by slim but powerful muscles full of vitality, second, it seem I became taller by 3cm or so, I was 178cm before and now I was 181cm. Plus I wasn't sure but I became more handsome?

I dusted myself and took the road home because even though the changes I awoke to were strange, it wasn't safe to stay here.