Chapter 2:

The End Of a Soul

Life Retry


May 24/2023

2000 Global News Channel. The morning news attracted the attention of everyone in the world because of a tragedy that happened yesterday.

A female reporter began to address yesterdays incident.

"SOUTH KOREA - A private aircraft belonging to a popular musician was hijacked by a ruffian who harbors deep hatred towards the musician.

We will not reveal the name of the musician due to the request from his manager.

We believe his objective was to murder the musician by crashing down the airplane with the musician inside it. It was a suicide mission that would make one self question whether the ruffian was sane or not.

We are not able to discern the reason which led this man to harbor such hatred to the musician that motivated him to commit this act or how he gained the information regarding the private jet and the musician's scheduled departure to Japan.

However, miraculously, the musician was absent on the plane since he was using public airlines. The private aircraft was operated by one of the private pilots hired by the musician to send him back in fear of the hassle that the public airlines will be filled with his fans.

The private airplane however was successfully hijacked and crashed mercilessly into Tokyo, resulting in the abrupt end of the ruffian, the pilot and numerous citizens.

We from the Global News Channel offer our sincere condolences towards the friends and family of the victims in this evil act."

____________

The news channel, after offering sincere condolences, started showing photos and brief information regarding the victims in a slideshow.

Many people who were watching the news channel became anxious for their own safety and pitied the families of the victims.

Some were crying and mourned because among the victims there are people who are important to them. The emotion they are feeling after their dear friend or family left them abruptly and in such a brutal way is something no one wishes to feel or have other people feel.

The names one by one passed and the feeling of sorrow continued to grow. After a while, a few final names appeared along with photos and brief descriptions of them to conclude the phase of paying final respects to the victims.

"Yusof Harim. Age 30. Gender, Male. Nationality, Malaysian. Cause of death : Impaled by reinforced concrete. "

When Yusof's part popped up, some people were slightly disgusted, however they stayed silent because it is not polite to disgrace the dead.

After one made a declaration to become a better man. Yusof Harim, met a sudden and unfulfilling end.

____________

Not everyone believes in reincarnation. It is supernatural, and cannot be proved possible by any means. Some say it is purely fictional and believing in fiction is an extremely dumb thing to do.

It is written in various books that reincarnation is a gift to those who deserve a second chance by God. It is also written that those who are reincarnated by god receive abilities from the god that can be honed to match the power of the god that reincarnated them.

Naturally people believe it is all just a piece of fiction to entertain young ones. However in a distant world, these 'fictions' are the Supreme Order.

____________

In a dark expanse, a space unknown to anything, there exists a being. Its features are unreadable due to the lack of visibility in the space.

The only thing that is able to be discerned is a small sphere that was about the size a basketball. It was in front of the being.

The sphere slowly emitted a small light, as it started to play some sort of animation. The animation is a telling of a certain person's life.

____________

It is seen that this person was a boy born in a normal family and was given lots of love growing up, he had a good relationship with his people around him and they all felt easy around him too, he lived a normal school life studying diligently and graduated university safely. It was smooth sailing.

Although there were some sorrowful moments, it did not change the fact that the person was living happily from his childhood until his university graduation.

It was what happened next that intrigued the being.

 Even with his good results, he was unable to find any decent work anywhere, this led him to be depressed and only did small time jobs with unsatisfactory pay.

Slowly, he pushed everyone away because he thinks himself to be useless to society. He treated everyone around him rudely and before he knew it, he had no one anymore. At least that's what he thinks.

In his depression, he found out about the Japanese cartoons and culture. He made this his retreat from his struggling life and immersed himself in it. After a while, he decided without thinking that he would find a life in that place.

He learned the language and studied the culture in order for him to fit in. After that,  he used all of his savings to emigrate to Japan. Leaving everything behind. In hopes of starting a better life.

It was a desperate decision he made without thinking much about the future.

As soon as he arrived in Tokyo, he saw a big city. He had this feeling of hope where he can start from square 1. He quickly did all the steps to start a life by renting a run down apartment with the money he got left and slept in it. He had hope, and for a long time, he felt a little happy.

However it was a fleeting emotion.

He was able to find work easily since there were a lot of people who needed help, however he was treated coldly by many people around him. He didn't know the reason at first but came to realize after a few weeks doing small jobs.

It was because he was an immigrant, people around him believed that this filth that came to this country did nothing good except to destroy the landscape and steal the resources.

He was stealing what rightfully should be belonging to the Japanese citizens.

This got to him, but he had nowhere to go anymore, his bank account was empty so he couldn't afford the ticket back home. No- even if he could go back home, what is waiting for him there? Nothing.

He made himself believe that.

At some point, he was able to get a stable job at a small firm run by one person, Yusuke Anakata.

Unlike other people, Yusuke treated him like a friend right off the bat.

"Doesn't matter where you're from. You're willing to give me a hand, that's why you're here right? And I appreciate it. Ah I'll pay you of course." Yusuke's voice came from the sphere.

That didn't faze the person. If anything, he just felt happy to get a job and kept all his feelings of regret to himself. He was able to treat Yusuke as a close friend but that's as far as it goes.

4 years later, he was able to release all the feelings buried in his heart. Yusuke comforts him, telling him that he is also happy to have a friend in this place.

The person felt... Warm.. like all the ice in his heart melted away. He was tired of being held back by own past. That was the moment he wanted to start living life better.

Unfortunately shortly after, they were killed when an airplane crashed onto their workplace.

The sphere turned dark, as if showing the video had ended.

____________

The life of this man caught the interest of the being that was witnessing it.

"Yusof Harim" A deep voice mumbled and echoed throughout the dark expanse.

Yes. The life that the being witnessed on the sphere was Yusof's life.

He was interested in his life. Even though he was starting well, the difficulties of the modern world later hit him and made his life stale. He didn't give up and tried to stand up though knocked down time and time again. He was treated badly but he put up with it and managed to pull through.

Although he tried to act strong, he still succumbed to his regret living an unfulfilling life.

The being sees himself in Yusof.

"Yusuke Anakata" the being spoke Yusuke's name and the voice echoed throughout the darkness

Yusuke was the only person who accepted Yusof. He was also the one who comforted Yusof, who was lost in his buried feelings.

The friendship between Yusof and Yusuke, brought back memories of the being's past.

A good friend, he once had..

The being remembered something sad from the past.

He seemingly made a decision.

A short while after, a ball of yellow light appeared. It was a ball of lightning, the light illuminated the space and slightly revealed the being. The being looked like a human male except he had two yellow horns visible on his forehead, his left hand was under the ball of lightning, no other features can be distinguished beside that.

He had a sullen look on his face.

"Yusof Harim, I have failed in many ways to save the world... and to save my friend. Now he has obtained a new weapon. His goal to harm the world.. Is one step closer to fruition."

"His weapon. Is one that is too powerful.. and it is one.."

"One only you can defeat"

After the Being declared that with his deep voice, the ball of lightning flew into the globe that was playing Yusof's life like a movie.

"I bestow upon you my power and a second chance in life. In return, succeed where I have failed.."

"..And become the person to him that I wasn't."

"Live"

After the being's declaration, the space glowed brightly as if something amazing had just happened.

Indeed, an amazing event has just happened.

The life of Yusof Harim who had met an abrupt end, will be started again.

The Legendary Tale of Yusof Harim. It Begins Now.

____________

Cold.

This feeling is something that I- Yusof Harim am not used to. Despite living in Japan for almost a decade, I still cannot get used to the low temperatures during winter, my body has not adapted to it. Since I was raised in the part of the earth where it's hot all day, it is only natural that sudden exposure to a different climate would make me feel uncomfortable.

However this cold isn't going away, I can only see darkness, I cannot smell anything, All I can feel is-

Cold.

I wonder what happened to me. Let me remember.

I was talking with Yusuke about my life and all my regrets, he then gave me courage and made me get over all my insecurities to that point. Then we went back to the office when suddenly something loud came and tilted the building, and then a few moments later the other side had another loud explosion, I only remember that far.

Ah.. I'm dead.

I was lost in my life for years, living in regret. Just when I was able to regain myself, I died. I hope at least Yusuke survived so he can continue the business remembering me while crying like a baby. Yeah I can totally imagine that.

Still. It's a shame that I wasn't able to become a better man after I declared it.. I never even had a girlfriend.

That was embarrassing, I lived a really unfulfilling life. Oh well.. When it's time for my next life, I hope the will from this soul will send the message to my next life.

I want to tell the next me to live life to the fullest. Work harder, never give up, seize every chance, leave no regrets.

And yes. Become a better man.

I was really rude to people all around me when I was alive because during my dark times, I felt very awkward around them and blurted out things unnecessarily. No, not just my dark times, I have been awkward since I was born.

I hope in the next life I will be more comfortable to socialize and treat people with more kindness.

I hope I'll be able to find a cute girlfriend, most preferably a kind and cute lovey-dovey type, she can be strict and stronger than me too. I don't mind at all.

Ah, that reminded me of myself during high school there was a girl exactly with the personality I described that I had a crush on. I never actually talked to her because I'm really shy and that I'll probably scare her or make her hate me.

Then after we graduated she was confessed by another man and she accepted him. I wish I had his courage… I think even if I did I'll probably get rejected because I am not that good-looking.

This is getting really depressing.

Maybe in my next life I'll be gifted with some cool powers and I'll go on a journey while honing my skills and helping everyone in need. Ah, I'm just copying stories that I read in novels.

All my wishes aside. I am really disappointed in myself that I lived a very unfulfilling life. I don't even have much to reminisce about, because there aren't many memorable moments in my life.

I'm hopeful. My next life. Will be better.

Thinking that, my mind was calm.

While being lost in my calmness, I heard a voice echoed, it turns out I still have my sense of hearing.

"..succeed where I have failed.."

The voice was a deep male voice. He's telling me to succeed where he has failed. What is he saying?

Blinding light suddenly appeared before me. I don't have a sense of pain in this state but if I did I'm sure that light is bright enough to make me go blind.

It just gets brighter and brighter until my vision is pure white. I am unable to resist it, I don't know if this means my soul will be going to heaven. I really doubt that though. I'm not really innocent, I've done some really bad things.

"Live"

Huh? The voice is telling me to live. I don't understand, I'm dead already.

The light just gets brighter and brighter until it fully consumes me.

The last thing I thought before the light completely consumed me was.

I hope I live my next life as a better person.

____________

It was bright and my eyes were hurting even when they're closed.

It was so noisy my ears couldn't ignore it.

I can feel my back touching the ground.

I taste dirt in my mouth.

Something smelled really awful that it forced me to be conscious.

From this you can tell I am laying down on the ground. I don't feel the sun much on my stomach or legs which means I am still wearing some clothes.

Something smelled really awful above me, it was sniffing me like I'm roadkill ready to be eaten by passing animals. It got so unbearable I opened my eyes.

The same time I opened my eyes, a being which I assume is an animal, licked my left eyeball. It was absolutely disgusting that I jolted up in surprise to see what that was.

It was probably also alarmed that I made sudden movements that it ran away immediately. From where I am, I can see that it was a boar.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked myself out loud. I looked around. All trees, all green, some rocks and dirt.

I pressed my body all around, it's still me. Yusof, I still have my grown body, I do feel a bit younger and it still feels like me.

No no no no, I'm definitely sure I died, and my body is supposed to be transported back to Malaysia or something.

Why am I in the middle of a forest?