The young scumbag looked behind him in horror as his goons clenched their throats, but blood spilled uncontrollably, and they fell down while trying to scream for help. But no voice left their throat.

“Don’t make a mistake!” The young scumbag screamed. “My father will not spare you!”

Jacob began understanding his feelings, but the last trace of clarity brought him precious seconds of rational thought.

“And I will not spare him if this case is blamed on me.” He stared at the young scumbag dead in the eye. Jacob’s eyes seemed void of hope and only contained one emotion at present.

Jacob handed him the knife he used for assault and looked at Karen. She flinched away from the young scumbag as his embrace did not give her a sense of security.

“Thank you.”

Jacob walked away toward the park’s exit. Even though he seemed calm, he could finally identify the foreign emotion.

‘Rage? To think I would feel this when I wanted to fight for myself….’

“Thank you?” Karen repeated doubtfully.

The young scumbag looked at their interaction and wondered about all the negative possibilities about what she might have done behind his back. He also had to investigate if she was already being used by his old man for physical services. After all, it was not the first time his old man had done such a thing.

But he remembered Jacob’s threat and said, “Go convince him to not burn the bridges. As long as he stays quiet, this case will be closed.”

Even though he didn’t like what he was saying, he knew he had to do this. Otherwise, his old man would not spare him.

Karen nodded and chased behind Jacob in confusion.

Jacob soon reached the exit of the park. He took one last look behind and noticed Karen’s figure running towards him. Jacob steeled his heart, closed his eyes in determination, and walked forward.

‘This life, I will not be distracted by beauty! I will become the best I can, get the best things I want, all for myself!’

He made an oath to himself.

“Jacob! Stop! Look ahe..”

The screaming woman paused with horror plastered on her face. Her colleague’s body flew across the sky ahead of her, along with the screech of a truck coming to a halt.

***

Jacob got up gasping and opened his eyes in fright. 

“So the dream was real!” he muttered in fear.

It took him a moment to realize where he was. The conference room’s bright lights were glaring at him, and a crowd of serious men in military uniforms sat on the table while Sumei and Bob were standing near the door of the room. Everything felt so weird as if this was an unfamiliar world and he was not supposed to be here. Then he recalled his transmigration.

“Aha.”

It seemed to make sense now. The orb he saw back then might have something to do with what he had just experienced. But did it mean that the people here also saw his situation? Did they also see the memories most recent to his death? Jacob’s heart dropped. 

‘But they don’t seem to look at me as though I am weird, and they’re not even shouting at me for being alien. What is going on?’ His mind was confused. 

Adam noticed the fright in his eyes and then saw confusion envelop him. He felt bad for his actions, but it was the only way. But since it was over and the Orb of Demonic Energy currently being held in Jake’s hands was not reacting, it meant that Jacob had nothing to do with demons. 

“Congratulations Jacob!” He smiled brightly. 

The other soldiers and generals were still unsure of the outcome of the orb’s usage. But Adam’s words gave them confirmation. Their tense faces relaxed slightly, and some even smiled at the boy. 

“Congratulations?” Jacob questioned in doubt. 

‘Did I achieve something here?’ 

He was unaware of the orb’s uses and function since it was explained by Adam after it was used on him. 

“Yes,” Adam nodded. “We have used the Orb of Demonic Energy to confirm that you are not a doppelganger. Now you have nothing to worry about!”

“Aha.” Jacob nodded, now less confused. 

Adam looked at Sumei and said, “It was a false alarm this time, but since it's over, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll inform your grandfather that nothing has happened here, and he does not need to worry about anything.”

Sumei initially smiled, but she visibly paled at the mention of her grandfather. Hurriedly, she shook her head and said, “N-no, there’s no need to say anything to him. I’m sure a man as busy as himself will not need to be disturbed by such a small matter.”

“Small matter?” Adam frowned. “A potential discovery of a doppelganger, and you call it a small matter?” He shook his head. “Sumei, you need to remember this, no news related to demons is a small matter, especially when it concerns a doppelganger. And since he’s part of the military, he already got the news when you reported the discovery of a potential doppelganger.”

“Really?” Sumei paled even further. It didn’t seem like she had anything she wanted to do with her grandfather. But alas, sometimes things are out of our control, and man cannot always bend reality to his will.

Jacob finally understood what happened, and that feeling he felt earlier in his memories once again appeared, this time stronger and clearer.

‘So she accused me of being a doppelganger since I had changed so much. That's why I was brought to the military upon my discharge from the hospital. I had to relive the experience of truck kun killing me.’

He looked at the faces of the people around him and confirmed his suspicion, ‘But they do not seem to have seen my memories. Otherwise, they would not be as calm as they are now.’

He looked at Sumei interacting with Adam and sighed. Her face overlapped with Karen's for a moment, but he shook aside his thoughts.

‘There are two very different people. But she reported to the military that I might be a doppelganger just because I improved a lot quicker than normal people, and my attitude changed. And she didn’t confront me about it.’

Even though he understood her reasons, he did not accept them.

‘Sure, if I was a real doppelganger, I might have silenced her if she chose to confront me. But I’m not a demon and she didn’t confront me. How can I trust my back with this kind of a person?’

He looked at Bob and wondered what role the big guy had to play in this. He didn’t want other people to be added to his little black book of people he didn’t like. In this world, the first person on that list was that D-Ranked hunter who robbed him of a happy childhood.

Then there was Kevin who ruined his peaceful high school. Now there was also Sumei, who accused him of a crime that would leave a bad stain on his record. 

After all, anything related to a doppelganger was bad news. And if somebody accused him of being one, there must be a stronger reason why they did so. Once this gets put in the records, it was likely that anyone with sufficient authority would be able to check up on his past and find out how he changed during this time.

‘They’ll think I got some kind of treasure or special ability that allowed me to evolve from a weakling to my current self. Then a new list of problems will arise due to their greed. ‘

He also observed that Sumei’s family seemed pretty high up in the military. At least her grandpa was one of the upper echelons of the military. 

‘Argh, the list of potential problems just seem to increase.’ Jacob sighed. ‘At least one good that came out of this is that I’m not related to a demon and that I awoke my talent. I remember my system telling me something about it but I guess I can’t peacefully check it with these people around me.’

Sumei and Adam had finished talking at this point. 

“He’s summoning you to Sector 3.” Adam looked at his phone’s message and told Sumei. She shook her head like a startled rabbit. It was clear that with every fiber of her being, she didn’t want to have anything to do with her grandpa. But fate seemed to be against her.

“And I quote: If that brat even thinks of resisting like her foolish parents did, then just drag her there. If the Cold Annihilator cannot do it, then I’ll have the Crazy Samurai Twins make a trip to Sector 7 and get her here!”

Adam had a wry look on his face, and at the mention of the twins, the rest of the military personnel, including Jake, paled. People would not greatly fear a strong person. But when a strong person became crazy and unpredictable, he was something to be feared. Let alone a pair of twins with perfect coordination and insane levels of craziness.

“Send her to her grandpa!” Adam ordered strictly, and two soldiers stood up at the table and saluted him. They came and took away Sumei who tried to struggle in vain. 

“Sir, please! Don’t send me there! It’s a hell hole! Please, sir!” she screamed. Her desperate gaze pleaded with Adam, but the man wasn’t one to retract his orders after giving them. Even though he liked this student of his, she had to bear the price of her actions.

“I don’t know why you’ve hidden yourself in this sector away from your family. But you did this to yourself by reporting the news about Jacob. The entire military gets alerted of news about possible demon sightings, especially due to the recent disturbances. Looks like your grandpa found you out through this.”

“He’s not my grandpa! He’s a murderer! He killed my parents! I’ll die if I go there! Please sir!”

The soldiers had dragged her by the door at this time. They paused and looked at Adam in case he changed his orders. But the man shook his head at them to Sumei’s dismay.

“I know his style. He could not have killed your parents. They were simply unable to survive the challenges they chose to face. And if you don’t want to face the challenges he will make you face, then you know you can always give up.”

Adam turned to look back at the now solemn military group sitting at the table.

“But if I let the Crazy Samurai come here, then some of these people will forever leave the world. I cannot let that happen because of my sake. And I’m not the one calling the shots here anyways.”

Sumei had stopped pleading when Adam mentioned that she could simply quit, and the soldiers took her away.

Jacob and Bob were confused about Adam’s last sentence. If he was not the one calling the shots here, then who was?

“You did the right thing.” A short old man with sparse yet long white hair came inside surrounded by two soldiers. Everyone inside the room stood alert and saluted the person who came inside.

“Colonel!”