The Second Chance of Reincarnator

The pendulum pulled towards a dark alleyway, tucked between two buildings, and Kael stopped in the entrance of it.

He saw some shady-looking people huddled in the alleyway—sitting on the ground, huddled around a flickering fire, and some were smoking cigarettes.

The pendulum's necklace was wrapped around Kael's middle finger, and the pendulum itself was swinging back and forth, as if pulled by an unseen force.

"…I'd rather not die here."

Kael crouched on the ground, the cobblestone touching his knees, and he opened his backpack—he took the black bottle, put it inside his trouser's pocket, and put his box of matches in his coat's chest pocket.

He then closed the backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and followed the swinging pendulum towards the alleyway.

The eyes under the dirty faces watched his every move with suspicion, and the ones sitting on the ground stretched out their legs.

"…Excuse me."

Kael walked over their legs, avoided the ones huddled around a fire, and went deeper into the alleyway—but then the pendulum started pulling towards a door.

It was a door of a dilapidated building—it was an apartment building for the poor—and wasn't a place anyone would willingly live in.

However, at least the windows weren't shattered and kept the cold air out of the apartments.

Kael entered the building—a staircase led upwards—and he followed the pendulum to the second floor.

It pulled towards the second door on the left, and Kael then put the pendulum inside his backpack so that Kang wouldn't see it.

He didn't want Kang to know that it took Mystic for him to find him, as it might come as suspicious, and he didn't want to alert him.

Knock! Knock!

Kael knocked on the door.

…

Knock! Knock!

"Urgh…"

A man opened his eyes, lying on the couch with bottles of alcohol scattered around him, and he turned his dead fish eyes to the door.

"Who is it?"

Kang asked.

"It's Kael Mizuchi! I met you in Arina's villa. I am Soul's brother, and I heard that you've been living here for a while!"

'What the hell is he doing here? He heard that I've been living here? From whom?'

Kang stepped on the trash covering the floor, causing a loud crunching noise beneath his feet, and went to the door.

He peered through the peephole and saw a familiar face staring back at him.

"Eeek!"

Kang dropped on the ground and backed away from the door until his back crashed against a drawer with a thud.

'Soul… No, I remember him having a twin brother. I-I think I met him briefly back on Earth, but I really don't have much recollection of him.'

Kang moved back to the door, looked through the peephole, and then turned on the knob to open it slowly.

He looked through the gap at Kael and asked.

"W-what're you doing here?"

"I want to talk about my brother. May I enter?"

Kael asked.

"…Uh, fine."

Kang left the door open and walked back inside the apartment, scratching the back of his messy hair.

Kael pinched his nose as the foul odor wafted into his nose and looked around the messy apartment.

"I heard you moved out of Pouring Foam Inn. When did you do that?"

Kael asked.

"Yesterday…"

Kang said and sat down on the couch with a heavy look.

'Yesterday?! How is it possible for the room to be so messy if he moved here today? Was it already messy when he moved in or what?'

Kael wondered in surprise, closed the door, and found himself a chair to sit on—but he had to remove the dirty clothes from it first and then sat down.

"You came back as the sole survivor of the Rav'akari attack and just moved instantly out. Is that correct?"

Kael asked.

"…Yeah, sure. What did you want to talk about?"

Kang asked and held his head—he had a throbbing headache that was threatening to split his head.

"Where did my brother die? I came here to retrieve his corpse, and I'd like to know where it happened."

Kael said.

"…Go back home, Kael."

Kang said tiredly, leaned back on the couch, and put his feet on the table.

"Let the Corpse Collectors do that. It is their fucking job, after all."

"I cannot wait for my brother to turn into food. I just want you to point the way."

Kael said.

"…"

Kang scratched his head, groaned in annoyance, and took some pills for his headache.

"Ants Village—we went there because apparently there were some bandits over there kidnapping and killing travelers. This chapter was uploaded by the team at M|VLEMPYR.

"We never got to do that job, as Rav'akari attacked us the moment we arrived over there…"

Kang said.

'Ants Village…'

Kael nodded, looked at him, and asked.

"How did my brother die?"

"I am not in the mood to talk. Leave my apartment, please. I have a killer headache."

He turned his back on Kael, lay on the couch on his side, and rubbed his temples to try to ease up the headache.

Kael's gaze was cold as ice—he didn't show it to him though—and he asked with a pleading voice.

"Please, Kang. I just need to know because I haven't been able to think about anything else. Tell me what happened in Ants Village."

"…It's better for you not to know about what happened."

Kang said with a choked voice.

"How did you survive? Did you run away?"

Kael asked.

"…They let me live…"

"Why did they let you live?"

"They made me watch what they were doing to them… I couldn't do anything."

Kang looked at the couch's backrest, tears flowing out of his eyes, and when he closed his eyes, he saw flashing images.

"…Argh. Every time I close my eyes, I see it. I see them suffer. They let me live so I would never forget what they did to them.

"Poor Arina… If only I could forget."

Kang choked on his words and sobbed silently.

"What happened?"

Kael stood up, approached him silently, and asked.

Kang bit his lips, wiped the tears off his eyes, and started talking.