Rebirth: Childhood friend of the heroine

The house was dark and wet, the light from a flickering lamp barely reaching the group of men. Around a single figure, a dozen gang members stood, their eyes cold and unfeeling.

The man in the middle, on his knees, was beaten badly—his face swollen, and his long black hair clung to his bruised skin, damp with sweat and blood.

His eyes remained unfocused. No shock, no regret....just nothing. He expected something like this to happen. However, he never thought he would get caught this soon.

"Why Ceaser, why?" From the middle of the group, a bald man with a few Latin letters written over his shaved head and wearing a black suit, spoke up.

"Why did you betray me? I gave your everything. Money, women, weapons...everything. You were my best man, yet you...just why?"

The man, Ceaser, slowly lifted his head; through the curtain of his hair, he looked at the man who long ago adopted him from the streets of Cuba.

The man who taught him to handle a gun before he even learned how to ride cycle. The man who pushed him to the world of crime rather than a school.

"You...gave me everything Parker, except for freedom." Spitting blood on the ground, Ceaser replied.

Parker, the leader of the gang for which Ceaser worked for fifteen years, grimly replied,

"A dog should only know how to listen to its owner and wag its tail."

Ceaser chuckled, "You heard that from a movie, right? Cuz' I am sure I said the same thing to your wife last night-"

*Tah*

A bullet penetrated his shoulder and Ceaser grimaced in pain. It wasn't the first bullet he has been shot with but each one of them stung like a bi*ch.

"Just kill him, boss. He is now wasting our time."

Hearing that voice, Ceaser raised his eyes and locked on those blue ones.

"Ben? Ah!" Now he realizes how he got caught here. His sworn brother and the only person Ceaser believed in the whole gang. The person for whom Ceaser once took a bullet...actually betrayed him, huh?

Wow...what a shit world is this?

With his head leaning down, Ceaser chuckled. This was great. How can he forget that if his parents never became his ally, then this homeless dude whom Ceaser met after joining the gang can never take his side?

Soon, a cold metal pressed against his head as Parker's voice arrived, "Raise your head, a**h*le. I wanna see how you look with despair on your face."

With a grin, Ceaser raised his face. His eyes were closed, and a happy smile stretched his lips—but what caught Parker's attention was that small thread pressed between his lips.

"Fuck!" The realisation dawned upon the bald man a moment earlier before it happened.

The night sky was torn apart by a deafening explosion, flames roaring as they consumed the old house where Caesar once lived. The blast shattered windows from nearby buildings, and the ground trembled under the sheer force. Thick smoke billowed into the air, curling into the night like a sinister omen.

Every gang member who came along, Parker and Ben, died in that incident. And the one who was behind the blast....well, he died with a happy smile on his face.

...

...

..

.

"Heh? Is this happening with me as well?" Sitting on a chair, Ceaser opened his eyes and looked around. It was dark, completely. No sign of life or anything around it could be spotted.

Ceaser tried moving his body but found himself chained up. There was no doubt he died, and considering the place he currently was, he assumed this was those cliche reincarnation things which he read in those novels.

"Helllllo? Is anyone there? Should I pretend to be shocked to get a response?"

Ceaser looked around, got nothing else to do after all.

He had no remorse for dying. He had no one to return to. No wife or girlfriend, no children, no parents, no close friends. He just lived as a contract killer for the past fifteen years.

He was the best in what he did. There were no failed cases, and he never got caught. Yes, there were times when he got involved in confrontations, but he got out of those incidents unscathed most of the time.

Then why did he die? Simple. He wished for a normal life.

He couldn't have disappeared since Parker has numerous ways of searching up those on whom he has invested. Microchips, men around the world, people in government and whatnot.

Ceaser did all those tasks which were humanly impossible for a single person to accomplish and hoped that he would let him go. But it seems Ceaser asked for too much.

"Blegh! Whatever..." Hanging his head down, Ceaser closed his eyes and gave himself some much-needed rest.

However, it seems the deities also don't want him to rest.

[You have suffered, but this isn't the end of your journey.]

A voice, neither male nor female, resonated across the space. Ceaser was unable to discern where it came from nor did he care about it.

Throwing his head back, he called out, "Tell me you are sending my soul into some peaceful and beautiful world so I can go on simple adventures and make myself a harem of cute women."

[But is that what you truly want?]

Ceaser frowned, "What do you mean?"

[Living in a peaceful world where you don't need to kill living beings and spend your life farming the countryside...I don't think you will be able to lead such a life.]

Ceaser's frown deepened, "You don't know me, then how can you pass a judgement like that?"

[Oh, I know everything about you. The only time you feel alive is not when you wander around with women or have fun with your friends. The only time you can feel your heart is when your blade slices the flesh of a living entity.]

Ceaser took a strong gulp and leaned back in his seat. He couldn't muster up the strength to rebuke that sentence.

Even after running away from the world of crime, he didn't know if he could have escaped his reality. Through the years, he has slowly turned into someone he would have avoided matching eyes when he was homeless.

"What do I have to do?"

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A/N:- Save the story.