While I was still processing everything, the masked man suddenly reached up and tore off his white mask, flinging it to the side.
The moment he did, I finally got a clear look at his face.
And my entire world tilted.
What the fuck?
I felt my body lock up completely. I couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't even breathe properly.
Because the man lying there on the ground, the serial killer who'd been all over the news, wasn't some random psychopath.
It was Klein.
Klein Walden.
Rocky's younger brother.
My best friend's brother.
No way. This couldn't be real.
How was this possible?
I'd met Klein before, sure, but only a few times. Usually when Rocky dragged him along to my apartment.
We barely talked. He was always the quiet type. Reserved. Almost awkwardly so. He'd answer questions with one or two words and that was it.
But he never seemed dangerous. Just... introverted. Maybe a little strange, but harmless.
And now I was supposed to believe he'd been out here stabbing people to death?
It didn't make sense.
I remembered him mentioning once that he wanted to be a salesman. I'd thought it was kind of random at the time, but I didn't think much of it.
But now?
Now it felt different. Sinister, even.
What if that wasn't just some innocent career goal? What if he'd planned it from the start? Blend in as a salesman, use it as a disguise while he went around killing people.
The more I thought about it, the more horrifyingly plausible it seemed.
Then, suddenly, while I was still lost in thought, Klein stopped groaning.
He went completely still.
Slowly, he spread both arms out flat against the pavement, like he was surrendering to the sky. Then he turned his head toward me, blood streaking down from his forehead.
"Michael," he said quietly.
I looked down at him but didn't respond.
He stared at me for a moment longer, then asked, "How did you... do that?"
What?
That threw me off.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Fight like that," he said, almost sounding amazed despite the pain. "Where'd you learn that? That was... actually pretty cool."
I just stared at him.
Was he serious right now? Did I hit him too hard? Maybe I gave him a concussion or scrambled his brain or something.
I should've been more careful.
But that didn't matter right now.
"Klein," I said slowly, my voice harder than I intended. "What have you done? Look at yourself. Look at what you've become."
I didn't really want to ask him that. Honestly, I didn't want to talk to him at all. But something inside me needed to understand. Needed to know how someone I'd met, someone who seemed so normal, could turn into this.
Klein's face twisted into a grin, and then he started laughing.
Not a normal laugh. It was broken. Maniac. Like something inside him had shattered a long time ago and he'd just been holding the pieces together.
"Hahahaha... Michael, that's a great question," he said between breaths. "I ask myself that sometimes too... how the hell did it come to this?"
His laughter faded into something quieter. Sadder.
Then, almost too quietly for me to hear, he muttered, "Maybe because of... him."
Him?
Who was he talking about?
Rocky?
I leaned in slightly. "Who? Do you mean Roc—"
"Anyway, Michael," Klein cut me off, his voice suddenly sharp and urgent. "You need to run. Right now."
What?
Before I could even ask what he meant, three gunshots tore through the air.
**Bang.**
**Bang.**
**Bang.**
For a second, I didn't understand. My body just felt... wrong. Like something was off but my brain hadn't caught up yet.
Then I looked down.
My stomach.
Three holes. Blood spreading fast across my shirt, warm and wet, pouring out onto the ground beneath me.
Oh god.
A system notification appeared in my vision, hovering there like it was mocking me.
[Host, the allotted time given to you has been completed! You will be transmigrated to the previous world in 30 seconds!]
My legs buckled.
I hit the ground hard, the impact sending shockwaves of pain radiating through my entire body.
And then the real pain came.
It felt like my insides were being torn apart. Like someone had lit a fire in my gut and it was spreading, burning through everything. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
I screamed.
It ripped out of me before I could stop it, loud and raw and desperate.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
My vision went white at the edges. My head felt like it was going to explode. Every nerve in my body was screaming along with me.
I couldn't focus. Couldn't do anything except feel the unbearable agony tearing through me.
Just a few more seconds.
I bit down hard on my lip, the taste of blood mixing with the pain. I forced myself to stop screaming, to hold on.
Just hold on.
When I finally stopped screaming, Klein's voice rang out from somewhere nearby. "Told you! You should've... run!"
Screw him.
I didn't even look in his direction. All my focus was on enduring the next few seconds. Finding out who shot me? Why they did it? None of that mattered right now. The pain was too much. It consumed everything.
When the countdown hit ten seconds, John suddenly appeared next to me. He was clapping, slow and deliberate, like he'd just watched some kind of show.
"Well done, kid," he said with a slight smile. "You handled that better than I expected."
I glanced up at him through blurred vision but couldn't respond. My jaw was clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack. Blood from my bitten lip mixed with the coppery taste already flooding my mouth.
As I stared at his face, struggling to stay conscious, something nagged at the back of my mind.
His face.
Why hadn't I noticed before?
He looked like someone. Not just anyone. Someone specific.
A character from "Parallel World Vigilante." My favorite manga.
The resemblance was subtle but unmistakable now that I was really looking. He had the same sharp features. The same calculating eyes.
He looked like the main villain.
The name escaped my lips in barely a whisper, almost involuntary.
"Astaroth..."
Something shifted.
For the first time since I'd met him, John's expression actually changed. His eyes widened slightly. Just for an instant. A flicker of something, surprise maybe, or recognition, before his usual calm mask settled back into place.
But I'd seen it.
Then the world went dark.
---
I jolted awake, my heart racing as I stared at an unfamiliar ceiling.
This wasn't the same room.
The ceiling was different. The walls were different. Everything was different from where I'd first woken up in this world.
I pushed myself up on the bed, which was surprisingly soft and way bigger than the one from before. A king-size bed, actually.
I quickly looked around, trying to figure out where I was now.
The room was huge, but weirdly empty. There were only three things in here besides the bed I was sitting on. A massive wardrobe that looked expensive, a bookshelf against one wall, and a giant TV mounted in the center of the room.
That was it. Nothing else.
"What the hell?" I muttered.
The room had so much space, but it felt abandoned. Like someone had started furnishing it and then just gave up halfway through.
But that wasn't even the worst part.
The place was absolutely disgusting.
There were food wrappers scattered everywhere. Half-eaten meals rotting on the floor. Cigarette butts ground into the carpet. The smell hit me all at once, and I had to cover my nose.
"Oh God, that's nasty."
The worst smell was coming from the bed itself. Like someone hadn't changed the sheets in months. Maybe years.
Fuck, what the heck is going on here?
"Where the hell am I?" I said out loud.
I quickly jumped off the bed and almost slipped on a chip wrapper. My arms flailed as I caught my balance at the last second.
"Screw this disgusting room."
I needed to get out of here. Now.
I started walking toward the door, stepping carefully around the trash on the floor. But just as I got close, a sharp pain suddenly exploded through my head.
"Ahh!" I pressed my hands against my temples. It felt like someone was driving a nail straight through my skull. The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt before, even worse than getting shot.
For a few seconds, I couldn't move. I just stood there, frozen, waiting for it to pass.
Finally, the pain started to fade and I could breathe again. "What was that..."
But before I could finish the sentence, something else hit me. Memories. Thousands of them, flooding into my brain all at once like water bursting through a broken dam.
The pain from before was nothing compared to this.
"AAARGHHH!"
This time I screamed for real. No holding back. It felt like my brain was being crushed in a vice, like someone was trying to squeeze my entire mind through a tiny hole.
My legs gave out completely. I hit the floor hard, my whole body shaking uncontrollably. The memories kept coming, wave after wave, each one bringing fresh agony.
I thought I was going to die. Again. For real this time.
"ARGHHH!" The scream ripped from my throat, raw and desperate.
Images flashed through my mind at impossible speeds. Thoughts, emotions, experiences that weren't mine. I saw faces I didn't recognize, places I'd never been, and felt emotions I'd never experienced.
This body's previous owner had lived through so much. Triumphs and failures, love and loss, all of it crashing into my brain at once. The confusion mixed with the pain made everything worse.
It went on for what felt like forever, but was probably only a minute. Then, suddenly, it stopped.
The pain vanished instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. I could breathe again, think again, but I was completely exhausted.
I stayed there on the trash-covered floor, gasping for air like I'd just run a marathon.
"What... the hell... was that?" I panted.
Those memories. They felt so real, but they weren't mine. Or were they now?
A holographic screen suddenly popped up in front of my face.
[I am extremely sorry, Host!]