1 Heaven or Hell?

Some people can't live a normal life, the world of wealth and luxury is mundane and pointless.

I am one of those people, there's nothing more thrilling than living life at the edge of the cliff. The satisfaction brought from managing to survive, nothing can beat that. It makes my heart thump faster than even when the woman of my dream is kissing my lips.

Why would anyone want to live a normal life? It's... boring.

Although I'm blessed to be born into a very fortunate family, I don't want a luxurious life.

All I want is the thrill of battles, nothing more than that. Because of that at 25 years of age, I joined a special force group that focuses on counter-terrorism. My nickname is Beta in this platoon, and the mission should be easy for us.

But we made a huge mistake, a rookie mistake and I paid dearly for it.

~

September 13, 2024.

Jakarta, Indonesia.

The starless night that was supposed to be calming for the souls and guide people to sleep was disturbed, a terrorist attack happened during the day and killed a couple of police divisions that are securing the perimeter.

Citizens are evacuated into a safe area, away from the chaos that was about to happen.

An hour after the evacuation finished, a platoon from the special op was deployed to take down the terrorists that still has unclear motivation. Inside a small hotel that is seized by the terrorist, they held the workers of the hotel hostage.

Everything went wrong when the platoon was exposed and the terrorists fights back.

"Shit! That's some bullshit bad luck!"

"I know, that damn woman can't keep her mouth shut!"

Hiding behind huge pillars across the lobby, five special ops members are taking fire from the terrorists that are on the other side of the lobby. Each of them sprayed their rifles, hoping one of the bullets got lucky enough and hits the special ops.

A moment ago, Charlie peeks at the hostages at the center and one of them notices.

It was a woman that noticed him peeking from behind a huge decorative plant pot. Charlie told her to keep silent by putting his index finger on his lips, but the woman overwhelmed by excitement decided to wave at him and yelped.

Due to that, one of the terrorists saw her waving which then exposes their positions.

Returning fire while taking cover behind the huge marble pillars, Alpha, the leader of the operation saw one of the terrorists pulls a hostage, a middle-aged man that is pale as a blank paper before pointing a handgun right at the side of his face.

"Come out right now or I'm going to shoot this man!" the terrorist shouted loudly.

Upon hearing this, the other four glanced at Alpha for an answer as they would definitely be shot if they got out of their covers. Gritting his teeth, Alpha is in a huge predicament but his mind rumbled when a loud piercing sound echoed in the lobby.

Bang!

Just like that, the terrorist shoots and killed the middle-aged man without a second thought.

Other hostages screamed when they saw the man get shot in the head.

Each one of them is untrained in ludicrous situations, the sight of blood splattering onto them made them scream in absolute horror. It was a familiar sound of work for the five men platoon, but they never get used to it.

Not even a little bit, the vibe around them instantly turns grim.

Realizing that one of the hostages got taken down, Alpha glared at the terrorist before he looks back to his team. "Charlie, close in on them in the count to three, Beta will cover you from the back. Higher-ups want them alive, but let's just keep only one alive shall we?"

Knowing what Alpha meant, Beta and Charlie nodded their heads firmly.

If the other side is ruthless then they can also be ruthless.

With the choking silence overflowing the lobby as the terrorist takes yet another hostage, Alpha counted to three before two of them takes a smoke grenade and a flashbang and threw them to the other side of the lobby.

Fearing that it might be grenades, the terrorists take cover swiftly.

Bang!

Both grenades exploded about five to eight meters away from the terrorists, stunning them and numbing their senses because of that flash of light. The hostages were hit too but it's better for them to be hit by a flashbang rather than die. Alpha takes the hard choice and the team executes it.

"Move! Now!"

Hearing the command, Beta and Charlie immediately sprinted across the lobby.

Delta and Echo cover fire to keep the terrorists down and also buy enough time for Charlie and Beta to close in the distance between them. Through their extensive teamwork, they managed to execute Alpha's plan exactly.

With a handgun in his hand, Beta jumped and roll on the ground before firing a couple of times.

For having to go for hundreds if not thousands of hours just to train his aim, every single shot he fired pierced through the heads of the terrorists cleanly with great precision. Moving targets are not a problem for him, much less stunned targets, it's just easy pickings.

Bang!

Bang!

Four terrorists fall to the ground with a hole in their foreheads, sending them straight to the grim reaper.

Sprinting quickly from the back, Charlie unsheathed two karambit from his waist before he spins them to a fitting position in his hands. Like a fierce tiger, he lunged at the center of the terrorists and started to slash at their vulnerable joints.

None of them realized what was happening before they fall to the ground in pain.

Despite the hot-blooded intense situation they are in, Beta glances at Charlie taking down the terrorists with only karambits. For a brief moment, his eyes flashes almost as if he was marveling at Charlie's swift and precise movement.

One of the terrorists with bleeding ears widened his eyes upon seeing his comrades get taken out.

While glaring at the attackers, the terrorist raises his rifle forward intending to shoot at Charlie. His index finger is already ready to pull back the trigger, it just needs one final push before the bullet is fired.

But even though it's such a dangerous situation, Charlie just stood there with his eyes fixed.

Smoke covers some parts of his body, making him look like a ghost.

As the terrorist blinked out of pain and fear, his eyes becomes even rounder when he saw Charlie is already low below his rifle. It was such a precise and effective movement, the terrorist was surprised as Charlie's move was akin to a fantasy character.

In the next second after that, blood sprayed all over, his fingers were sliced in half horizontally.

"Raargh!! You motherfu-"

Slash!

Charlie didn't even let the terrorist finish his sentence before slicing his throat, he straighten his back and stares at the terrorist deeply into his eyes. Under Charlie's gaze, the terrorist dropped the rifle and grabs his bleeding neck, slowly falling to his knees and dropping to the ground.

Thud!

On the other side, Beta was firing at the remaining terrorists that has recovered.

As he was doing that he was tackled from the side by a terrorist who is bleeding from the ears, the terrorist's eyes are flashing with killing intent as the two of the wrestled on the ground. It didn't take long before a knife gets involved.

Beta saw the terrorist unsheathed a knife and tries to stab him repeatedly.

"Raargh! Die!!" the terrorist shouted while trying his hardest to stab Beta who is minding the knife and trying to defend himself. But it didn't take long before a bullet pierced the terrorist's forehead, Alpha was the one that shot the terrorist before Beta stands up.

Panting roughly he quickly looks around and finds most of the terrorists are neutralized.

Glancing to the side his eyes then saw Charlie handling the last one.

With blood splattered all over the white marble floor, Charlie slowly shifted his eyes to the last one.

Crawling back with immense fear etched in his expression, the terrorist's back hits the wall giving him nowhere else to retreat. Charlie slowly approaches the terrorist with his cold eyes fixed on the terrorist's eyes. Blood covers his black gears, dripping to the ground with a slow rhythm.

It was akin to staring at the angel of death, the terrorist is absolutely terrified.

Grabbing a handgun to the side, the terrorist pointed at his own head instead of Charlie. But in the next second after that, a loud-piercing sound travels through the lobby before a painful scream soon followed.

From the side, Beta shoots right at the terrorist's arm carrying the gun.

Just like that, the terrorists are neutralized with only one of them remaining, groaning and hissing on the ground while holding his shot arm in pain. Tears of pain creep down his face, and his whimpers echo in the lobby.

"Beta, Charlie, Good work! Let's bring these hostages outside and get this night over with"

Just as Alpha was about to turn around and inform the authorities outside that the terrorists have been taken down, his eyes caught Charlie looking at him. "What do you want, Charlie? I know that look you're giving"

"Payback for that fucking woman" Charlie replied with a playful tone.

Sighing to himself, Alpha glanced at the woman to the side who seems to be fine despite the flashbang and smoke grenade, she was the one that exposes their locations. "Do it quickly, I don't want the people outside to see you do it"

Upon hearing this, Charlie smiled under his mask before he glanced at Bravo.

Knowing exactly what he needed to do, Beta went over to the woman and forces her to stand up by the arm. "A-Am I going to be taken out of this hotel? I-I'm scared..." the woman said with teary eyes.

Beta made the woman stand in front of Charlie while still holding her by the arm.

"Yes, ma'am, you're going to be taken to a safer place. But first, I'll need to do something to you, just think of it as a payment for our service and also payment for causing that man to be killed..." Charlie said with his tone becoming heavier the more he talked.

Raising his fist and clenching it tightly, the woman's expression turns pale.

Charlie only gave a smirk under his mask, this is the least he could do for what she did.

Bam!

A moment later.

Delta and Echo helped the woman that got punched in her guts by Charlie alongside the other hostages, they were taken outside and checked by the medics. Inside the hotel, Charlie and Beta opened their masks to take a breather.

"Phew, that almost went badly," Beta said, taking out a cigarette from his pocket.

Upon seeing the cigarette, Charlie shakes his head as he can't believe that Beta brought cigarettes everywhere they go even during missions such as this. Knowing that Charlie is judging him, Beta rebutted, "Hey, the feeling of smoking after killing people is something that you won't understand!"

"I get when people like to smoke after eating, but you're just weird"

"I guess people with a wealthy background like you are all weird" Charlie added and chuckled.

Sneering while giving Charlie a judgmental look, Beta then commented again, "Said the guy who likes to exercise vigorously after every mission like a weirdo. Compared to me, you're the weird one don't you think so?"

"You won't understand even if I told you the reason" Charlie replied while cleaning his karambit.

Pointing at Charlie with his eyebrows raised as if he just found the cure for cancer, Beta exclaimed excitedly, "AHA! Exactly like what I said earlier. You wouldn't get it, so don't fucking judge me and my cigarettes!"

Charlie can only shake his head, ignoring Beta's overreaction to a simple comment.

The place went back to silence again, but Beta can't help but steal a glance at Charlie who is still cleaning his bloodied karambits thoroughly. 'Sigh... wouldn't it be cool if I could be more like him' Beta thought before he takes a glance at the handgun in his hand.

Even though he's trying his hardest, he wasn't able to be like Charlie.

Fighting terrorists with guns only with short melee weapons is just like a dream come true for Beta, he craves a life that is always at the edge of the tusk. But no matter how much he tried, he's not naturally gifted in physique like Charlie.

In order to fight like Charlie, he would need an inhuman reaction. He simply doesn't have that.

What he does have is talent in shooting, but he doesn't like killing from afar. 'I'll just need to accept it I guess, fighting like Charlie is only a pipe dream for me' Beta thought with a dejected sigh, the cigarette suddenly feels better due to the stress.

But just as they both are doing their own thing while waiting for Alpha, they heard a clicking sound.

Upon hearing this both of their eyes instantly widen. Since they were paying back the woman for what she did and their small battering, they forgot to secure the last thing which makes them curse themselves.

Glancing to the side, they saw the terrorist that has his hand shot is already holding a handgun.

Cocking the handgun, the terrorist pointed at both of them with hateful eyes. Panting heavily due to the pain that his body experienced, the terrorist glared at Charlie and Beta as he calmed himself to take the shot.

Signaling to the terrorist to stand down, Charlie unsheathed his knife with his hand on his back.

"Easy... we're not going to hurt you, we're just going to bring you in for questioning"

Instead of listening, the terrorist smiles mockingly before he moved the gun and points it at a terrorist's corpse right beside Beta. Knowing what he was about to do, Charlie immediately bring his hand out and threw the knife right at the terrorist.

But no matter how fast his reflex was, how can a knife beat the speed of a bullet?

"TAKE COV-!!"

Bang!

KABOOM!

The terrorist fired the handgun at another terrorist's corpse which turns out to be equipped with a bomb, Charlie killed him with a karambit so he didn't get mistakenly fired at and exploded earlier. A powerful explosion blasted Charlie and Bravo and the entire lobby into smithereens.

No humans can survive that explosion, not at that distance.

Since the hostages has been completely taken out and brought to safety, they were the only ones inside the hotel alongside the terrorist. Both of them were hit directly by the explosion, their bodies are probably scorched right now.

---

'Hmm...? Where am I?'

'Damn it, Charlie! How can we do a rookie mistake and forget about the last terrorist? I'm probably dead now... if I survived, then how come I don't feel any pain around my body? I should've sustained grievous injuries so that's unlikely'

Waiting for a moment, Ramero saw nothing but complete darkness.

It seems he was a ghost without a body but he can still move his eyes around to see, he can feel them moving along his command. But there was nothing to see, only complete and total darkness.

'Charlie... No, Chris... I hope he survived, he's about ten meters away from that explosion'

Remembering his friend and also his comrade that has gone through the training they have undergone through the classified operation for years, becoming his best friend and even a brother, he hoped that Chris didn't die with him because of that fucker.

But then his mind travels to his family whom he had left to pursue his dream.

Since he wanted to work in the military to join the special force division, he was bound to leave his family as that is just the line of work. He remembered his family not because of having a good relationship with them, no, he has an awful relationship with his family.

It was because his family wanted him to succeed in their family business, a mega-corporation.

Ramero has been living the life that many would deem a dream life, he has all the money in the world and can get any woman he wants. Nothing is stopping him, but he ended that life due to the unexplainable fire inside of him.

Living a comfortable and safe life, that's not what he wanted. He yearns to feel alive.

At the age of twenty-two, he decided to stop the luxurious life and strife to join the military special force of his country. After training for three years and using his contact to be accepted, he was finally able to join the special force at the age of twenty-five.

Of course, his family is not on-board. None of them supported him, not even his own parents.

Ramero soon finds that he had made the right decision, becoming a special force member and doing classified missions makes him feel alive. It was the thrill of life and death that excites him. Moreover, he also desires to prove to his family that he can also be successful and had immense influence through his own path.

During his early days, he trained for the best and was even acknowledged as one of the best.

Many praises his well-rounded ability which is essential for doing the classified missions they are given, he even excels in shooting all kinds of guns. Nobody is his match, he beats every one of his comrades and even the instructors.

It was only hand-to-hand combat that prevents him to be the absolute best.

Although he's at most mediocre in hand-to-hand combat, he's still considered one of the best in the special force due to his ridiculous aim. Something that only a genius in shooting can possess.

But for a family that gauges value through money, he was disregarded and forgotten.

'Damn, I should've just gone with their suggestion. If I did, then maybe I'll live a luxurious life for the rest of my life and not die this early. Go to clubs, play golf, and have many women... sounds pretty good now, not that I haven't had that before though'

Sighing dejectedly, Ramero lets himself drift into the endless darkness.

Although it hurts him for being rejected by his own family due to pursuing something more, he understands why they are being like that. In a world ruled by money, it's fair to gauge the value of someone like him through money.

It's fair, but Ramero's spirit burns for something other than money.

'Fuck the world for revolving around money, if only it revolves around individual prowess... my talent would definitely shine the brightest!' Ramero exclaimed in his thoughts, he wanted to scream but he was voiceless right now.

Just then, he realized that it was only a pipe dream. 'As if there's such a world out there...'

'Hurry up already! Take me to hell, I've killed many people so that's where I belong! God! Angels of Death! Grim Reaper! Anything! At least bring me somewhere, don't leave me hanging like this. Are you a damn woman to be leaving me like this?'

Despite his constant complaining, nothing answered.

But soon enough his eyes were blinded by a radiance of light from the side, he was not able to see what it was before he feel his entire being get sucked into it. 'W-Wooah! Am I going to heaven?! I don't know how but fuck yeah!'

A moment later.

"Eurgh... I take it back, this is definitely not heaven!" Ramero groaned painfully.

Out of some sheer unfortunate miracle, Ramero can feel his own body again but it was under immense pain that he feels like dying again. With great difficulty, he opens his eyes slightly before his vision slowly adjusted from blur.

Soon he realized that he was in some kind of jail cell.

Muffled sounds of grunting and cheering penetrated his ears, jolting his mind awake.

Ramero looks around the cell he was in and now is convinced that he seems to be inside a cramped jail cell, there's nothing except for chains chaining his arms, a bucket, and sand. But then his nose caught a horrifying stench of shit that clouded his mind.

The stench is unbelievably sharp, just like needles literally stabbing his nose.

"Okay... this place can't be hell too, there's no fire or anything but only shit," he mutters while warning to pinch his nose, but he can't. "did I got sent back to life again? But where is this place, it looks ancient."

Wanting to move his body, he finds that he can't as the pain becomes greater. "Unfair!"

"I just got back to life again, but my body is already dying?! Is this the punishment for those killings I did?" Ramero complained, he feels like his entire body is on fire. And it wouldn't be a surprise if he died once again.

Just then, his pupils dilated seeing a transparent red window appear in front of his eyes.

[DING!]

[Scanning the potential recruit's compatibility...]