1 CHAPTER 1: Life After Death? Wow! So Original!

The Wild Hunt. A European folktale of a parade of evil spirits that traveled through the cold night air, leaving behind their rushing screams of terror and sin a path of wrought and despair.

Such was the story behind the moniker of a notorious criminal who ruled the underground of a concrete jungle of vice. Born in the darkness of capitalism with no one to care for him, he would rise to become a monster of the system that had birthed him.

He rallied people under his banner through the pain of his fist and the fear inflicted by his gaze. He accumulated wealth through the exploitation of unfortunate people and the very laws that were supposed to protect them.

He made friends with other like-minded individuals. He reveled in the splendor of his ill-gotten gains. He was a hedonist through and through. A villain beyond forgiveness.

He justified his actions through a number of logical arguments. If he didn't do it, someone else would've gladly taken his place. He was simply making the most of the environment afforded to him.

He spat out a countless number of justifications for his villainy, but there was one he was particularly fond of.

『Strength is truth』

Those who possessed any semblance of wealth looked down upon those who had none. Therefore, they branded those in poverty as undesirable. What would the poor do? Revolt against the rich with stones and cardboard beds?

Those who wished to enjoy their lives looked down upon burdens that would hinder their joy. Therefore, burdens like unwanted children were quickly disposed of. What would the orphaned do? Cry to their non-existent guardians?

The truth was defined by those who had the means to shape the image they wished for it to be. That was the reality 『Wild Hunt』 had settled to lead his life with, and that he did, from the age of four until seventy years later.

…

..

.

𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋… 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋… 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋...

In a quiet room only filled with the occasional noise of a heart monitor attached to a decrepit old man, the once mighty and feared『Wild Hunt』now currently rested weakly on a hospital bed. Nearing the end of his life.

The old man was a shell of his former self. Where once he was covered in opulent accessories upon a robust and muscular frame, he was now withering with only a common hospital gown to clothe his weak and naked self.

He had it all, or at least he liked to believe he did so. Riches. Power. Influence. There was nothing that he couldn't obtain with the strength he had achieved through the following of his personal philosophy.

And yet, at the end of his life, he had nothing. His riches were now gone, squandered on a futile hope to extend his ending lifespan.

His 'friends' had forgotten him, having long since abandoned him the moment he could no longer afford their companionship.

His 'subordinates' were no longer by his side, having been freed by his collar of fear when he had lost the strength to reign them in.

And his family, he had no one to call as such. Having turned away any and all lovers he may have once had, and rejecting any children he may have fathered with them. Just as his unknown parents did to him so long ago.

At the end of the path of villainy and self-revenge against the city that coldly rejected him, there was nothing but emptiness.

𝙒𝙃𝙄𝙎𝙋𝙀𝙍… 𝙒𝙃𝙄𝙎𝙋𝙀𝙍… 𝙒𝙃𝙄𝙎𝙋𝙀𝙍...

Weakly turning his head to the right, 『Wild Hunt』faintly made out the whisperings and murmurings of people just outside his room. The voices of the hospital's nurses, no doubt discussing about him.

Perhaps they were accosting him with insults. Wishes that he would croak sooner rather than later. Wanting to rid the responsibility of caring for a bastard like him as soon as possible.

For the old『Wild Hunt』he would have inflicted unimaginable fear on the women who dared to insult him like that, but the criminal was now simply tired, long having accepted that he deserved all the hatred from his accrued sins.

『Wild Hunt』began to contemplate as death neared him. The impermanence of his accomplishments. The hollow afterglow of his self-revenge. They all felt meaningless for him as he bathed under the twilight of his existence.

Why now? Why did he suddenly regret all that he had done? He wasn't forced to become a criminal, he did it of his own volition. He couldn't deny that he didn't enjoy what came from his cruelty, such as the lust and satisfaction of his greed. So why? Why did he regret being a villain?

Maybe it was because he was alone… maybe because there was no one to ease him into the glaring abyss of the beyond… maybe… maybe…

"Because no one was glad I existed"

Continuing to stare at the door where the nurses continued to gossip about him without checking up on his well-being,『Wild Hunt』finally discovered why he had felt so empty after all he had done.

Validation. That was all he wished for. From the moment he looked upon the giant streets of the metropolis of a parentless child, to looking down upon the common folk from his throne of blood and gold, not once had there been a person who genuinely thanked him for entering their lives.

𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋… 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋… 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙋...

Instantly, memories surged into the old man's consciousness. A pathetic and weak student cried under his heel, but his friends continued to stand up for him. In their eyes, a whelp such as the one he trampled on had meaning in their eyes that surmounted their fear.

A tired and crippled veteran stood defiantly against him as his children hid behind his wheelchair. Even as the children shook under his gaze, they continued to hold true to the trust they placed in their father.

Many more scenes played out in his mind. The commonality linking them all was that they were people whose existences were appreciated, not scorned like himself.

And interlaced atop all those memories were moments where he too held the possibility of being the same as all those people.

Except, he was too afraid to take the leap, to forsake the easy path and tread on the difficult journey of good. It was far easier to fall than to struggle and to break than mend and repair.

What if he had taken the other abandoned children under his wing? What if he treated his subordinates kindly? What if he let go of the transgressions of his victims against him?

Who would be his friends if he sought out genuine companionship? Who would stick by him to the end? Who were the ones who genuinely loved him from the bottom of their hearts?

𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃… 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃… 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃...

But, as if the world wanted to deprive him of a single moment of peace through enlightenment『Wild Hunt』began to cough violently, breaking his mind out of the immersion it had been placed under.

Blood poured out of his mouth like buckshot, and his lungs ached in pain as if they were being torn to shreds under his bout of coughing.

The door to his lonely room was opened, and nurses and doctors flooded in to observe his last moments.

Their eyes were cold, and all they focused on was confirming that he would soon perish. In the pain of his body from his failing body, and the pain of his heart upon realizing what he wanted at the end of his life,『Wild Hunt』began to feel free.

His ears no longer received the sounds of his suffering. His touch didn't receive the sensations of his cold and sterilized bedsheets. His eyes no longer exchanged the cold gazes of the last people he saw. He was simply free from it all.

In the brief moment between life and death,『Wild Hunt』...a child who simply wished to be loved uttered one last string of words.

"If I could do it all again… I want to be kind…"

…

..

.

"Urgh…"

Scrunching up his face with immense discomfort, a young man began to wake from a deep slumber, struggling to move his body in a pile of clutter and disorganization.

Across the floor, his long head of blonde hair was left disheveled. Covered beneath baggy clothes chosen for comfort over style, the youth's emaciated body was hidden from immediate view.

Slowly opening his eyes,『Wild Hunt』awakened to a ceiling that was far different from the whiteness of the hospital he had become accustomed to in his twilight years.

"Where am I?"

Wishing to turn his head,『Wild Hunt』prepared to muster all the strength he could to make even the slightest of movement, but much to his surprise, he had easily done so with little struggle.

"Hm?"

Having been shocked by the sudden ease he had been able to maneuver his head, something he had not been able to do in years,『Wild Hunt』felt a strange rushing sensation begin to feel his mind.

'This ease of movement. This lack of straining. It's… as if I've become younger…'

Wanting to confirm this theory『Wild Hunt』immediately tried to get up. As if to answer the countless questions that began to flood his mind, his body had gotten up easily. Something he hadn't been able to do in nearly a decade.

But just as he was about to revel in the realization of his current situation, great dizziness struck his mind, causing『Wild Hunt』 to fall over.

𝙏𝙃𝙐𝙈𝙋

Striking the ground, a rush of pain flooded through his senses, but the most suffering was in his head. Along with the dizziness that continued to stay after his sudden rise from rest, a great aching began to torture his mind.

"What the hell?"

Jumbled messes of information began to clash with one another, breaking down any semblance of identity or reason into non-existence.

But as if to further add to his torment, the once quiet surroundings immediately began to become noisy with the arrival of a bell noise.

𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙂… 𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙂… 𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙂...

It was something『Wild Hunt』recognized. The chime of a front door's bell. For a moment he was confused as to why such a bell would be placed in a hospital, but his thoughts were suddenly invaded with other information. The bell was ringing because this was his home.

"My… home?"

『Wild Hunt』no longer had a home. He had sold it to cover his increasing medical bills in his old life, and yet, the idea wasn't completely rejected by him. It felt too familiar and right for him to even consider rejecting it as false.

"Urgh…"

Regardless,『Wild Hunt』wished for the ringing to cease, so he picked himself up once more and began to make his way to the front door to reclaim the quiet he needed to process everything that was happening.

His body moved as if it was accustomed to the layout of the house, but as far as he remembered, he had never been in this place before.

The surroundings were beyond messy. The architecture of the place was evidently crafted with care and expertise but had fallen into dismay under a lack of proper care.

Soon, the front door was in sight. Just a few more steps and the annoying ringing of the doorbell would cease entirely.

But just before『Wild Hunt』could reach for the door, his eyes turned towards something that caught his attention. A mirror. It was tall enough to show a person in their entirety.

With the way it was fitted near the door and beside the shoe rack, it was meant to give the owner of the house the ability to look over their attire and personage before leaving the premises of their home.

But for『Wild Hunt』it currently serves another purpose. To inform him of the truth that had been alluding to him all this time.

'This isn't my body…'

𝙏𝙃𝙐𝙈𝙋

With the realization striking him like a tidal wave,『Wild Hunt』lost all the strength in his legs to support his body.

With the sound of his body collapsing to the ground having reached the front door, a loud and concerned voice immediately reacted upon hearing it.

"Leon?! What happened?! Leon?!"

It was both familiar and not familiar to the struggling young man who was suffering under some kind of unknown pain in his mind and body. Like a building pressure that was trying to escape through a tight hatch.

Soon, the doors unlocked and revealed the owner of the concerned voice to『Wild Hunt』. A beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair like his own. Her eyes were a gentle green, and her figure was both shapely and fit.

But just before『Wild Hunt』could make any more observations of the beautiful woman, she uttered words that finally broke free all the mounting tension that had tried so hard to be released in his mind and body.

"My son!-"

In an instant,『Wild Hunt』... Leon finally remembered everything that his mind had forgotten. Both in his current life and in his previous.

Where once he was a feared metropolitan criminal known as『Wild Hunt』, in this life he was the distant son of a famed attorney known as Ada Greenfield. Leon Greenfield.

To summarize who Leon Greenfield was in a single word, it would be reclusive. The young man held great fear for the outside world, believing himself to be most safe in isolation, even in regard to his mother who had raised him by herself for so long.

So he hid himself inside a gloomy mansion that his mother provided for him. All his needs would be delivered to his front porch, and outside of the occasional check-ups his mother would have on him through the door of the mansion, Leon rarely had any contact with the outside world.

He held no hobbies nor held any particular interest. He simply wasted away in the mansion whilst fearing all that existed beyond its walls.

It was a life that greatly confused the mind that had just awakened the memories of『Wild Hunt』who was the complete opposite of Leon.

Why? In the turbulent stream of memories『Wild Hunt』finally found his answer. One that particularly unnerved him in spite of his absurd life as a criminal.

『New yearly census puts the male-to-female global population ratio at 1:10』

『National Congress to vote on new laws concerning male protection after horrifying sexual assault scandal against male students』

『10 most desired traits among men by women. How do I get myself a cute and submissive boyfriend?』

The world『Wild Hunt』now lived in through Leon Greenfield was a world of reversed chastity. Where women not only became the dominant sex in the population but in behavior and relationships as well.

"..."

"Leon? Leon?!"

Having received all this information at once, the young man failed to respond to his mother who was calling out to him.

Unable to simply bear the brunt of everything that had just happened to him, Leon Greenfield fainted in weakness. Something that he would've never done in his past as a hardened villain.

"Leon!"

'What the hell kind of situation did I end up in?'