Chance Encounter

After departing from the house, Leon began making his way to the hospital that his father was receiving care from. On the way while he passed through the busy streets, Leon noticed the significant changes in his surroundings compared to his previous life.

Twenty years ago he would walk through this same run down neighborhood, with lights flickering randomly and many people conversing with street vendors, in order to get to his high school. While he was reminiscing he failed to notice the crowd that had gathered in front of him.

This crowd consisted of many different people, but at the core there stood four hoodlums that were starting a fight against a small high school student. This small student had short blonde hair that seemed to give off a light sheen when reflected by the sun, and a handsome face that consisted of two blue eyes that looked tranquil from the outside.

However hidden behind these innocent looking eyes was a burning ambition and desire for greatness. Out of the four hoodlums, the one in the front had long black hair tied into a bun at the back of his neck that covered half of a tattoo. This tattoo was unique in its own right as it was a black hollow star with nothing but a void in its center.

From outside of this group anyone could tell this gangbanger was the leader and felt pity for the young looking kid that had the bad luck of running into these hoodlums.

As the crowd of onlookers glanced at the situation, one of the members behind their leader could be heard.

"You stinking brat! Don't you have eyes? Can you not see you have just offended brother ghost!"

The crowd then came to the realization of who this young man was and became increasingly nervous. Anyone in this part of town knew the identity of the silent and powerful figure in front of them.

Ghost was one of the given nicknames to dangerous higher ranking members of the black star gang that was notorious throughout more than half the city. Their hidden operations consisted of toppling different powers and officials throughout the city, and could be considered a force to be reckoned with considering their secrecy.

Although the lower members of the gang, including these three hoodlums standing behind their leader, could be considered no less than average thugs; the power behind them was great. Therefore even if their positions were low, no one could afford to offend them in fear of their strong background.

As all these events unfolded in front of him, Leon unknowingly walked through the crowd, lost in thought, and bumped into one of the lower ranking gang members. Thinking that Leon was a friend of the high schooler they were about to teach a lesson to, the hoodlum turned around to face him with an evil smirk.

"Who knew this brat had backup as well! Not only is he a dumbass for offending our brother here but is a coward who called for help!"

The other two lower gang members joined in laughter with the third and turned their attention to Leon as well.

After the crude remark of the punk standing in front of him, and the humiliating laughter finally reaching his ears, Leon was anchored back to the present. Instantly the crowd could feel a bone-chilling aura beginning to arise from the handsome youth who had foolishly interrupted the hoodlums. This caused everyone in the crowd to shiver slightly and question who this unknown youth was.

This impending feeling of dread made the three hoodlums unknowingly take a step back, and a small smile from the side of the man known as ghost could be seen for a moment before vanishing.

'This other brat seems to be hiding some type of trump card or else why would I be feeling this sort of power?' Thought the ghost.

As the three hoodlums all came to the same conclusion of uniting against this brat, they regained their arrogance from earlier and began approaching Leon with evil smiles.

After being a business boss who had some ties to the underground business world for nearly fifteen years, Leon had his fair share of street brawls. In the face of this oncoming danger that would make a normal person curse their existence, Leon couldn't help but smirk for a moment before regaining his previous icy and heartless expression.

'How long has it been since I last had a good street fight!' He thought while thinking back to the days when no one would approach a boss such as himself.

Once the hoodlums had entered the space three meters away from Leon, they pulled out brass knuckles in order to completely trash the brat in front of them. Unknowingly, while they had taken their eyes off him to prepare their weapons, Leon had already vanished.

When their gazes settled back on the space the brat was standing merely two seconds ago, a look of confusion spread through their faces.

'Don't tell me this fucking brat already ran away in that short of time! I guess we scared the shit out of him before we could even make a move!'

While basking in self pride because of these thoughts, the three hoodlums dropped their guard, and were surprised by a leg flashing in front of their eyes when they turned back around towards their leader.

"Dumbasses... Who would take their eyes off of their opponent in the beginning of a fight?" Leon sighed.

Deriving all his experience in street fights from his future self, Leon already felt pity for the morons standing in front of his presence. By utilizing their stupidity, Leon arrived behind the hoodlums and delivered a round house kick straight to the back of their heads.

Even he was surprised when all three of them suddenly turned around with smug expressions, but soon these faces were turned into a distorted bloody mess. The bodies of these three wretches crashed into the brick wall bordering the streets and fell unconscious.

The onlookers in the crowd were stunned by the performance and couldn't surmise whether the previous impact or shock from seeing the youth behind them rendered them in this state.

When landing back on the ground Leon found a great amount of pain residing in his right leg after the kick.

'Shit! I forgot that this body is too frail to handle such massive impacts. I'll need to train my body back up from the beginning...'

While pondering on this dilemma and coming to a conclusion that blood, sweat, and tears would be shed in the near future in order to become stronger. Leon felt annoyed with what awaited him and let out a sigh.

However, the thought of his previous failures in his last life continued to drive him forward. His vengeance he had sworn gave him immense anger that would help him endure such grueling tasks.

As Leon turned back around to swagger through the crowd in order to get to the hospital his father was at, he was suddenly stopped. In front of his path the leader of the three hoodlums known as Ghost blocked his exit.

'What the fuck does this guy want now?'

Slightly annoyed by the continuous obstacles presented on his way to visit his father, Leon cursed under his breath at his misfortunes.

"It seems you are slightly capable. I suppose this stroll through the outer territory isn't as boring as I thought it would be."

As Ghost finished this statement a wide grin could be seen on his scarred face giving him a murderous expression. Leon was no longer in the mood to continue playing immortal combat in real life and decided to question the extra annoyance now in front of him.

"What gang do you belong to kid? You don't look a day over twenty and you're trying to pick a fight with me? Go back to your little hideout before I crush your ass too." Waved off Leon.

After this remark Ghost was rendered speechless and let out a small chuckle.

'This brat is either very strong and confident, or an idiot.'

After composing himself, Ghost then answered Leon's questions in a mocking manner, "Apparently this great one before me has no recognition of my position. I hope this young master allows me to introduce myself properly."

After uttering these sarcastic pleasantries he then bowed while amusing even himself by his performance. As he bowed his head Leon recognized the star tattoo located on the gang leader's neck which cause a surge of memories to resurface.

When Leon was in his mid-twenties he had multiple dealings with this black star gang and held them in a favorable light due to the continuous flow of business between his group and theirs'. Many struggles had been easily snuffed out by hiring these covert gangsters in his previous life's endeavors.

It was also the same gang his once brother had hired in order to cripple his power and brought him to his knees the day he died. Suddenly, a thought appeared in Leon's mind which caused his previous annoyed expression to vanish completely.

'If I can conquer this gang and turn them into my subordinates not only would my rise to power be a much simpler task, but it would also strip away one of the assets that bastard would use against me in the future.'

Content with this new plan that would help to solidify his dominance in the future; Leon was even more determined to put this devilish plot into fruition.