I Decided To Look Around Some More.
But There Wasn't Much To See It Was Exactly How I Remembered It To Be; A Broken Down Basement Where Only A Miniscule Amount Of Sun Light Came In.
And A Basement Where The Scent Of Drugs Was Overflowing To The Point It Could Be Smelt From The Outside.
This Truly Was A Memorable Scene.
But This Scene Didn't Bring Any Happy Or Pleasent Feelings They Rather Brought Unlpleasent And Repulsive Feelings As I Looked At The Basement.
It Seems I Had Gone Back 10 Years And Some Months To When I Was About 13 Years Old, Before I Had Killed My Father And Went To The Otherworld.
I Observed My Reflection In The Mirror Just To Be Sure.
I Saw A Boy Who Was Skinny Enough To The Point His Ribcage Showed, And About 140cm To 150cm In Height.
He Had Messy Hair That Grew Till His Shoulders And A Face That Was Beautiful Enough To Be Mistaken As A Girl.
He Even Had Purple Eyes That Were Inherited By His Mother.
Perhaps Because I Didn't Remember How I Looked In The Past That Vividly But I Thought About The Features As Though They Were Someone Else's Thus I Talked About Myself In Third Person.
I Was Smaller And Younger Than I Recalled But Above All I Had Much Gloomier Expression Than I Remember.
It Was An Unpleasant Look.
Clicking My Tongue, I Checked My Status Window Out Of Habit But Something Weird Occured It Was Different Than Before.
< Level 1 >
Body: 0.59
Dexterity: 1.35
Mana: 0.18
Spirit: 1.12
*0 Fragment of Growth
This Status Had Many Things Missing And Even The Stats Were Different In This One.
But What I Was Most Suprised About Was That My Status Window Appeared In This World.
This Was Something Far From Expected...
Maybe Because Of The Regression Stone This Happened But I Couldn't Understand Why Would It Change My Status Window...
I Was About To Let Out Sigh Due To Me Being Tired From Thinking About This For So Long But I Stopped Myself And Decided To Check The Functions Of This New Status Window For It Possibly Having Some Clue To Solve This Dilemma.
This Ability Was Much Different Than My Previous One Unlike In My Previous Ability Where A Random Stat Would Go Up Every Time I Level Up In This One There Was Something Called A Fragment Of Growth Which You Would Get From Special Achievements Or Quests Or Sometimes From Leveling Up.
After Checking All Of The Functions I Could Use But I Still Couldn't Find A Clue As To Why My Ability Changed So As I Was About To Close The Status Window I Saw Something.
[Inherit]
It Was A Function Different Than The Others Not Only It Wasn't In A Gray Deactivated Colour But A White Selectable Color.
Maybe...?
One Hypothesis Crossed My Mind As I Saw The Word 'Inherit' This Hypothesis Would Be Proven Correct If The Word Inherit Meant What I Thought.
Ignoring The Loud Pounding In My Chest, I Selected The Option.
Then Unlike The Usual Blue Window, A Strange Red Window Appeared.
[ On your 2nd playthrough, one of your skills from the 1st playthrough can be inherited. ]
[ One of the following skills can be inherited. ]
(1) < Blessing Of Fire >
Classification: General
Grade: B
(2) < Supreme Martial Arts >
Classification: Mortal
Grade: C
(3) < Needle Shower >
Classification: Magic
Grade: B
(4) < Phase Change >
Classification: Ability
Grade: D
Skills That I Could Choose From Unfolded Before My Eyes.
These Skills Were Classified From General, Ability, Magic, And Mortal.
But There Were Many Problems Until Now Like How This System Type Ability Called This The Second Playthrough Not The Second Plotline And How These Abilities Weren't There With Me In The First Plotline.
There Were Many Things I Couldn't Understand But For Now I Thought It Would Be For The Best If I Chose A Skill.
But There Was Problem In Choosing A Skill I Didn't Know Which Would Be Most Beneficial Thus I Decided To Determine Which One To Choose From The Minimal Information Given Like Grades, Classification, And Name.
I Couldn't Help But Use Any Opportunity Given To Me To The Fullest.
I Thought Perhaps My Revenge Could Come A Little Sooner Than I Thought.
While I Was Lost In Thought I Heard The Noise Of Banging.
Bang-Bang-!
"Choi Noah! Come Out Right Now!"
It Was My Father's Voice. Like A Dog That Had Been Trained For A Long Time, My Body Reacted Reflexively Before Anything Else.
"I'll Be Right There!"
As Soon As I Opened The Door And Was About To Run Out I Saw My Reflection In The Mirror Right Next To Me.
In The Mirror, It Showed A Boy Smiling Brightly As If He Had Met The Person He Wanted To The Most.
* * * * * * * *
Guangcheng District. In Other Words, 'The City of Light.'
The Name Of This District Would Make You Think That This Is The Most Beautiful And Serene Place But It's The Exact Opposite It's Actually One Of The World's Most Lawless Areas.
The Origin Of The Name Was Also Because The Lights From The Slums That Were Built Along The Mountain Looked Like A Large Fortress When Viewed From The City At Night.
This Is A Place Filled With Criminals Trying To Avoid The Eyes Of Policeman.
As Such My Father Is Also No Ordinary Person.
He Was Working For One Of The Worlds Biggest Drug Cartels' Turbak Brotherhood'.
* * *
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
For This Reason, Even In Guangcheng District Where Power Is Everything He Was Able To Survive For An Extremely Long Time.
The Same Father Was Now Looking At Me.
"Noah."
But It Seems My Father Has Forgotten His Own Son's Name Well It's Truly Understandable From Him But It Doesn't Really Matter If A Dead Person Doesn't Remember Someone's Name.
Even If He's Forgotten My Name If He Is Calling Me By My First Name He Probably Wants Me To Do Something Unreasonable.
He Was A Father Who Would Use My Identity As A Child For His Various Activities. For Example, Delivering Drugs To Avoid Check-Ups Or Leaking False Information To The Police Who Were Looking For Him After All Who Wouldn't Believe A Child Who Doesn't Have Any Reason To Lie.
"There's Something I Want You To Do"
Sure Enough, As I Thought He Wants Me To Run An Errand.
Now Such Things Seemed Insignificant But I Still Wanted To Hear Him Out.
"What Should I Do?"
Recalling My Memories Of The Past, I Tried To Make A Frightened Expression.
But It Was Extremely Hard Due To Being So Long Since I Made A Frightened Expression So My Facial Muscles Were Moving A Little Awkwardly.
However, He Only Said What He Had To Say As If He Wasn't Interested In Such Acting.
"Take This First"
He Stuck Out A Brown Paper Bag. I Thought It Was A Drug Delivery But It Was Heavier Than I Had Thought When I Received It-
And I Could Also Feel The Hard Touch Of Metal Over The Thin Bag.
"Go To Hairy's House"
As Soon As I Heard Him Say That, I Recalled Him Say Something Similar In My Past Life But He Was Named Gray.
So I Wondered Why He Called Him Hairy And Not Gray.
After Wards, I Lamented Over Why Did He Call Him Hairy Not Gray But Nothing Came To Mind
I Knew Gray Was A Police Officer Who Was Investigating The Turbak Brotherhood And Had Infiltrated Their Organization.
Naturally, The Organization Caught Wind Of This And Was Going To Eliminate Him.
And As A Result I Who Couldn't Be A Subject To Legal Punishment Was Mobilized To Kill Him.
Thinking About It Now, I May Have To Thank My Bastard Of A Father.
Because Of This Event, I Was Able To Find My Motivation To Kill My Father And Thus Travel To The Otherworld.
But It Still Didn't Make Sense Why He Called Him Hairy But This Wasn't The Time To Be Lost In Thought Thus I Decided To Stop Thinking Over This Too Much.
Then Hiding My Innermost Thoughts, I Asked Casually.
"What Should I Do There?"
"There's A Handgun In The Bag. It's A Gun With Weak Recoil, So You Can Handle It Easily. So Go Now And Kill Hairy With That Gun"
What? A Handgun And Not A Dagger Or A Knife.
This Isn't The Weapon He Gave Me In My Previous Life Well Truly This Life Has Many Unexpected Things But It's Truly A Much More Exciting Thing This Way.
Then Instead Of Answering Him I Took The Handgun Out Of The Bag And Looked At It. The Sleek Automatic Handgun Caught My Eye.
This Tool Was A Much Better One Than The Previous Even Though Both Of Them Were Basic.
When I Was Looking At The Handgun Without Saying A Word, Perhaps Because My Father Had Misunderstood Me, But He Added In A Tone That Seemed As Though It Were To Reassure Me.
"If You Kill Hairy, I'll Let You Meet Helena"
Again Who Is He Talking About?
But He Isn't A Person To Forget This Many Peoples Names.
I Think He Was Talking About My Mom?
But I Couldn't Be Sure So It Took Me A While To Respond.
"...Mom?"
He Said That Before In My Previous Life But It Was If I Killed Gray Not Hairy.
I Think I Know Why It's Hairy And Not Gray-
But I'm Not Fully Sure Yet.
"Yeah. The Reason Why Helena Suddenly Disappeared Was Because Of Hairy's Harassment. Don't You Know His Temper? So If You Take Care Of This Well, Your Mom Will Be Able To Come Back Without Worry."
"..."
In Fact, I Could Roughly Guess Where My Mother Was. Probably Rotting Somewhere In An Unknown Hill.
Even If In My Past Life Gray Said That Nobody Killed Her It Was Probably My Father And His Organization.
Why Do I Think So?
Because My Mother Stole His Money But That Money Wasn't Only His It Was Also The Organization's.
She Was Probably Tortured Cruelly Too.
In My Past Life, I Didn't Get The Chance To Destroy This Organization But This Time I Totally Will Make It Crumble From The Ground Up Even If I Have To Delay My Travel To The Otherworld.
I Was So Happy To Get This Chance To The Point I Was Going To Lose Control And Laugh But Giving All My Strength To My Lips That Crept Up, I Replied.
"Okay, You Can Count On Me."
"Yes. I'm Proud Of You! Your Mother Will Be Too; To See You Like This... By The Way Do, You Know How To Use A Gun?"
Perhaps He Was Afraid That Things Might Go Wrong, He Was Looking At Me With Uncertainty. So I Reassured Him With A Big And Confident Smile.
"Of Course. Do You Want Me To Show You?"
I Grasped The Handgun With Both Hands But As Expected The Weight Of The Gun Was A Quite Hard To Hold For The Body Of A Child.
"Oh! You're Pretty Good! When Did Learn How To Hold A Gun?"
He Looked Quite Pleased, Perhaps Due To My Posture Being Passable.
Just Like That, I Turned And Pointed The Gun Towards Him.
"W-Wait A Minute! You Can't Carelessly Point A Gun Towards People Like That!"
"Really? Hmm...But Can I Try Shooting It Once As Practice?"
"What?"
"It Might Not Hurt If You Get Hit Lightly"
"Y-You Crazy Punk!"
Bang-!
It Simply Happened In An Instant.
He Tried To Accelerate And Dodge The Bullet.
"Keuk!"
But No Matter How Fast A Person Was, Could A Person Be Faster Than A Bullet? Yes, But He Wasn't Thus He Fell On To The Floor Bleeding.
"...Y-You Punk! I'll Kill You!"
He Tried To Force Himself To Stand Up While Holding The Area Where He Had Been Shot But Failed Miserably.
Bang-!
"Kueaak!"
I Shot Him One More Time-This Time On The Other Leg So He Could Lay Down Peacefully.
Looking At Him In Such A State, I Was Reminded Of The Old Days.
In The Past, It Had Been Me Who Was In This Position.
I Approached My Father Who Was Wailing Like He Was About To Cry. And, With A Different Attitude Than Before, He Begged Me.
"Heuk! Noah! Why Are You Doing This...? How Can A Son Shoot His Father?"
His Eyes Shook Pitifully. It Was A Familiar Expression Which People Would Make When They Saw Me.
As I Thought, A Bullet Truly Done Wonders; It Was Like A Single Bullet Was Better Than A Hundred Words.
"Come To Think Of It, I Remember What Father Used To Say Whenever You Hit Me"
Click-
I Checked The Bullet Chamber. Well, There Were More Than Enough To Make His Death Extremely Painful.
"I Think...What Father Said At That Time...The Law Of The World Was You Do What The Strong Tell You To Do"
"Noah...?"
His Face Wad Colored With Fear And He Also Had A Little Hope In His Eyes But That Also Turned Into Fear And Despair.
I Had Always Liked To Watch The Dramatic Changes In People's Faces After all The Detail In The Story Of Life Was Far Too Much.
"Hmm...No Matter How I Look At It, I Think I'm Stronger Than Father"
"Th-That's..."
"Yeah, Why Did You Abuse Me When You're Weaker Than Me? Why Are Not Following The Law Of The World Father?"
"H-Hold On, Noah! I'll Explain Everything..."
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
It Sounded Like He Wanted To Say Something But I Couldn't Be Bothered To Listen So I Shot One Bullet On His Arm Then Another Bullet For The Other Arm Then I Shot One Of His Lungs.
He's Not Dead Yet But In About 15 Minutes Or So He'll Die And It Will Be One Of The Most Painful Way To Die After All He Deserves To Die Painfully.
(About 15 Minutes Later)
My Father Breathed His Last Breath.
"Ha, Refreshing"
I Felt Extremely Refreshed After Seeing Him Squirm For The Past Fifteen Minutes.
Now I Just Have To Wait For The Otherworld Travel Screen.
"Hmm..."
It Isn't Appearing; Maybe I Have To Wait A Bit Longer.
Well, For Now, I'll Just Shoot Him A Bit More To Entertain Myself.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
So I Put A Bit More Bullets Into His Body Until It Became Like A Punctured Tea Bag.
And As A Result, Some Messages Poped Up But They Weren't The Ones I Wanted.
[Level Has Risen]
[Level Has Risen]
[Gained A Fragment Of Growth]
What? Why Did I Level Up? I Didn't Kill A Monster.
"Hmm..."
Maybe It's Because My Ability Is Different But-
If I Think About It There Is Only One Answer For All Of These Discrepancies.
It Seems That I Am In An Alternate Timeline.
That Might Explain Why My Name Is Different But My Experiences Are The Same.
Maybe In This Timeline, Something Caused My Name To Change To Noah Instead Of Theo Well Whatever The Case It Seems That I Won't Be Able To Go To The Otherworld.
As I Was Lost In Thoughts An Achievement Title Came.
[Gained Achievement Title "Immoral"]
[ Next selectable skill will vary depending on your achievements. ]
"Hmm?"
This Was An Unexpected Outcome.
Even If My Ability Was Different Before I Still Had An Achievements In It...
But I Didn't Gain This Achievement Before I Wonder Why?
I'll See Its Description Maybe It Has A Clue As To Why I Didn't Gain It Before.
< Immoral >
Trait: Bad Karma
Description: To Kill Even The One Who Gave Birth To You... What An Irredeemable Villain You Are!
I Guess I Wasn't Able To Gain It Due To Me Not Having A Status Window In This World.
Well, At Least I Know I'm Following The Correct Path For A Villain.
For Now, There Are Many Things That Need To Be Done
First I Need To Gather Information About The Differences Between This World And My Previous World.
Then Secondly I Need A Plan To Get Stronger For What I Can Tell I Have To Kill Humans To Level Up And Then Use The Gained Growth Fragments To Increase My Stats.
And Third I Need To Destroy The Drug Organization But For That, I Need Power, Influence, And Information So It Comes Last.
After Finishing Making A Rough Plan For The Future And Then Organizing My Thoughts I Became Famished.
Looking At My Current State It Looked Like I Had Been Starved For At Least A Week.
I Went To Look Around For Food And Then I Found A Cold Sandwich And Coke In The Fridge.
After Putting The Sandwich In The Microwave, I Activated My Status Window.
The List Of Inheritable Skills That I Didn't Have The Chance To Choose Due To My Father's Interruption Were Displayed Again.
[ On your 2nd playthrough, one of your skills from the 1st playthrough can be inherited. ]
[ One of the following skills can be inherited. ]
1) < Blessing Of Fire >
Classification: General
Grade: B
(2) < Supreme Martial Arts >
Classification: Mortal
Grade: C
(3) < Needle Shower >
Classification: Magic
Grade: B
(4) < Phase Change >
Classification: Ability
Grade: D
"Well I Guess I Should Finish This Matter"
I Tried To Imagine What Type Of Skill It Would Be By Thinking About The Name And Classification.
Thus I Thought Blessing Of Fire Would Be A Buff Type Of Ability And Supreme Martial Arts Would Probably Be Just Martial Arts These Two Wouldn't Really Be Needn't So I Eliminated Them From The Possible Options.
Then Needle Shower Is Magic And From Its Name, I Could Derive That It Would Most Likely Be A AOE Attack Which Useful But Not That Useful.
Lastly, There Was The Skill Phase Change From Its Name I Couldn't Drive Much Besides It Possibly Allowing You To Change Your Body From Solid To Another State Of Matter Like Liquid Or Gas Which Would Be Very Useful In Fights.
Thus I Choose Phase Change.
[You've Learned Skill Phase Change]
When I Learned The Skill, The Method Of Using It Was Engraved In My Mind And Body.
And Above The List That Was Completely Empty, A Skill Had Appeared.
"Great"
Looking At The Window Which Now Had A Skill I Felt A Sense Of Satisfaction.
And My Hypothesis About What This Skill Is Was Completely Right And Its Grade Really Didn't Matter.
"This Skill May Be Only D-Rank But..."
For Me, It Will Be A More Powerful Weapon Than Any Other.