"Who am I?"
[ Zenith Clothing Store]
On the balcony of the villa, Azkar was still smiling like an idiot, totally ignoring the princess until he finally came to his senses.
He pondered about what to do next; everything was happening perfectly. Now, he could focus on his training and address his emotions, which were really being a bother.
"Your Majesty, can I stay here tonight?" he said, his smile intact, as a poker face wouldn't cut it.
Alena didn't inquire about the reason; she also saw an opportunity to investigate him, so she agreed.
"Okay, for tonight, you can stay here in my villa as a guest," she said.
"Give him a guest room, and if he asks for something, provide it in the room," she said, as if speaking to the air. Behind her, a shadow appeared out of nowhere.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the shadow replied.
"See you in the morning, Your Majesty." After this, he left with the shadow. Upon seeing her face, he recognized her as Maria, one of the receptionists.
There's a reason he didn't go home—concerns for his safety. Sleeping here poses no problem, and he has system protection while sleeping, ensuring everything will be okay.
Entering the room, he discovered a bed that was quite spacious for a single person. Closing the door, he removed his coat and placed it beside the bed before lying down. Closing his eyes, he concentrated, entering his consciousness space.
In this space, he could only see numbers floating from top to bottom. Snapping his fingers, the space changed, and he created a white room.
This time, he opted not to create a throne. Instead, he sat in the room, deep in thought. This place lacked the concept of time, allowing him the freedom to take as much time as he needed. When he left this space, he would wake up at the same time he entered.
Without the need to concern himself with mind attributes to sustain this place, he began to contemplate why he had come to this space.
[Azkar Pov]
He had three questions for himself, and he would find their answers in this place before commencing his training.
First question?
"Who am I?"
This is my second life, and honestly, I myself don't know how I got this second chance. But if I think carefully, let's start with my first life. When I was 5 years old, I was selected for a government experiment.
I can clearly remember every second of my life. When I was selected for the government experiment, they told my mother and father that I had a serious illness and promised a cure. Despite this, my parents did not want to let me go because they knew I didn't have any illness. They tried everything to keep me from the government, but in the end, they died in a car accident.
I was not able to understand anything at that time; I was just a 5-year-old child, after all. But then, the government selected me for the experiment after my parents died, making it clear that my parents were murdered so they could take me to their experiment program.
When I remembered and saw my parents in my memories, they were crying because they couldn't do anything for their only child. Now, I understand they died protecting me from the government.
It's nearly impossible for a normal person to remember every detail of their life history, but he can recall everything clearly due to his ability.
When they took me to their experiment program, for three years, they provided me with education like a normal child, along with other children. At the age of 8, I met my first friend, as we didn't have names in the facility. We preferred calling each other by nicknames—I called him Ricky, and he liked to call me Vance, which is the name I'm using right now for my second identity.
Ricky and I were good friends, akin to brothers, as I didn't have any familial relationships. We became like family to each other during that time. Soon, our friend circle expanded, welcoming three more children into our group.
So, we were five friends—Ricky, Vance, Amy, Mori, and Anna. Three boys and two girls, we had a good time living like a family. We used to talk about comics, anime, novels, and study together, as the government informed us about our purpose: to save humanity and be heroes.
Our bond became so strong that even blood relatives couldn't compare. I remember what I said to Ricky at that time.
=Flashback=
"You know, Ricky, I'll be a hero, and one day I'll do everything to protect my people, and then I'll marry Anna, and we can live together," my younger self said.
"You idiot, we have been living together for 5 years, and you didn't even tell her about your feelings," Ricky, who was older than me, responded like a big brother.
"I'll tell her when we go outside of this hero academy," my younger self said with a bright smile.
Both of them were talking, but Anna was listening from outside of the room, and her face turned as red as a tomato. She thought, "Idiot."
=Flashback End=
Like this, everything and our happiness continued, but I was so innocent at that time. I didn't understand the fact that this was not a hero academy; it was a hellish experiment facility.
After consuming many novels, manga, anime, and movies, my younger self began to feel like the main character of some kind of novel. However, everything came to an end when we turned 15 years old.
=Flashback=
"Hey, do you really not want to tell Anna about your feelings?" Ricky asked.
"No, I'll tell her when we leave this academy," my younger self replied.
RING! RING! RING!
[[Attention students, your final exam will be held in groups. We'll announce the details on your smartwatches.]]
Young Azkar checked his smartwatch and found that his five friends were in the same exam group. Seeing this, all five of them became happy.
But at that time, I was not aware that it was not a good thing. It was like a curse that I'll never be able to forget in my life.
They headed toward the room appointed for the exam. When they arrived, it was completely white—everything, except for the children's hair, was white because their exam uniforms were also white.
When 100 children entered the room, the entrance gate locked, as if there was nothing there in the first place. Now, there was nothing connecting the children to the outside world, not even a single window.
"Hey, Ricky, I have a bad feeling about this situation," my younger self said.
"Don't worry; we'll be just fine," Ricky reassured, but he was the most tense person in our group at that time.
Amy, Mori, Anna came close to Ricky and me. They were about to ask why the exam hadn't started yet, but before they could do something, their nightmare began with the announcement.
[[Attention, test subjects, this is going to be the final announcement. Listen carefully.]]
[[In this white room, there are a total of 100 children, and in the span of 1 month's time, only 1 survivor can leave this room.]]
[[You will be given a fair chance, so take a look at your bracelet.]]
[[You can see 10 points displayed on your smartwatch; these are your survival points, as everyone starts with 10 points.]]
[[You can survive a day with your 10 points. You can gain points from other test subjects after eliminating them.]]
[[In this white room, there are a total of 1000 points available. If you want to eat something, you have to buy it with survivor points, so do your best to survive.]]
[[You can purchase food 48 hours after the test starts.]]
This was the voice they always heard in the form of notifications, and now it was saying they had to kill each other to survive.
"Ricky, what should we do?" my younger self's face turned completely pale.
"Everyone, come here to the corner of the room," Ricky said with a solemn face.
The five of them gathered in the corner of the room, and Anna and Amy were crying because they understood that they would die soon.
Mori and Ricky looked at my younger self and said, "We have to survive, so Vance, no matter what happens."
Young Azkar, looking at his brother, whom he knew very well, smiled and said, "Don't worry, Ricky, we will."
Then, young Azkar looked at the most important person in his life, the one he loved more than himself. She had blonde hair, slightly blue eyes, and she was 16 years old, one year older than me. Her name was Anna.
I wanted to stare at her for my whole life, but she was crying, and it broke a part of my heart. However, I made up my mind—I would do everything for her to survive. At that time, all I wanted from God was her safety, even if it meant losing my own life.
[4 days later in the white room]
Young Azkar's whole body is stained red with blood because of the white clothes he's wearing. He bathes in blood because 30 children have already died due to the food.
He looks around, and all that can be seen in the middle of the room are dead bodies.
"Hey, Vance, come here; Anna is not feeling well," my younger self heard, his heart skipping a beat.
When he came to the corner of the room, he had a water bottle in his hand. This is why he was dyed red in blood—to get this water.
He saw Anna lying in the corner of the room, her face already pale because she was dying.
When young Azkar saw this, he began to cry. I was not that weak to cry easily, but after seeing Anna dying, I couldn't control myself from crying. This is the point where my emotions began to leave me.
"What happened to her, Ricky? Is she hungry? I have something for her," Azkar took out half a piece of bread, which had blood on one corner, and he gave her the bread along with the water bottle.
Seeing this, his friends sighed; they knew he hadn't eaten anything in the whole two days, so he could save something for her to eat and survive.
"Come here, Vance," Anna called young Azkar.
"What happened to you? I... I..." he began to cry.
"Don't cry, dummy," she said.
"But you're..." young Azkar wanted to say something, but Anna stopped him.
"Don't worry about me so much; I'm fine," she said with a smile.
It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen on her face. I would never be able to forget that face; even while she was dying, she still smiled so I could not worry about her.
"Come here, hug me, dummy, when you're going to propose to me," she said with teary eyes.
"I... I just..." young Azkar was about to say something when Anna hugged him like she never wanted him to leave her.
As he hugged her, Azkar started crying because he felt like he was about to lose everything.
"Don't cry, dummy. I love you," Anna said with teary eyes.
"I... I love you too. Please don't leave me," he said with teary eyes.
"Please promise me you'll survive this, Vance," Anna said.
"I... I'm sorry, Anna, but I can't," he was about to say something, but Anna stopped him.
"I know, dummy. Don't worry about me, just survive this. Love you," she said, and her body began to lose its vitality.
Young Azkar felt like she had left him, but he continued crying and hugging her as if he never wanted to leave her again. He hugged her throughout the night and cried.
In the morning, he found out that she had not eaten anything either because she wanted him to survive. She had stored everything in one place, as if she knew that if she didn't do this, Azkar would die before her.
At the end of the day, my two friends died during this time while fighting for food—it was Mori and Amy. Only Ricky and I survived until the last, doing everything we could.
[30th day of the experiment]
At the end of the day, Ricky said to me, "You know, Vance, you're my only family left in this world, and for this, I'm sorry, but you have to survive, my little brother." He knocked young Azkar unconscious.
He didn't want him to see him dying by suicide, so at the end, Ricky died by committing suicide using a bone as a knife.
When young Azkar woke up, he saw his older brother's lifeless body. He understood everything; his eyes cried blood tears, and everything felt like hell. But after some thinking, he did not say anything, not even questioned anything to anyone.
=Flashback End=
He remembered the answer to the question he asked himself before, "Who am I?" After reflecting on everything that happened until the end of his second life, he survived, and now he understands who he was.
"I'm a survivor."
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[Author Note: This chapter is lengthy because I wanted to delve into his past life with several flashbacks. As a bonus, I've made this chapter longer to ensure that everything can be understood within this chapter alone. Feel free to comment if you appreciate longer chapters as occasional bonuses.]