NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Death (1)
The moon hung high in the night sky, a solitary eye overseeing the quiet world below. At the side of a lonely road, a convenience store glowed brightly, a stark contrast against the darkness. Outside, a young man in his mid-twenties sat slurping instant noodles. His appearance was unremarkable, neither handsome nor unattractive, but his shabby clothes gave him a worn, ragged look. This was Adrian.
Adrian stared at the half-empty cup of noodles in front of him, his thoughts drifting. *"One cup really isn't enough. I need at least two to feel even semi-full. Pfft, I'm late on rent and I can't even afford a proper meal."* He muttered to himself as he stood up, "I shouldn't have trusted that filthy bitch."
The 'filthy bitch' he referred to was his ex-fiancée. Adrian, once the youngest member of a wealthy and noble family, had been engaged to a beautiful woman he met in college. Their relationship seemed perfect; they were planning their wedding and a future together. But, as with all good things, it ended abruptly and tragically.
After his parents' sudden death, Adrian thought his misfortunes would cease. But just days before the wedding, overjoyed and too trusting, he was tricked into signing over his inheritance to his older brother, with whom he had a strained relationship. On the day of the wedding, Adrian arrived to discover his fiancée marrying his brother instead. Betrayed and broken, Adrian confronted them, but when he realized his inheritance was also gone, he fainted from the shock.
When he came to, he found himself cast out of his family home, left with nothing but the clothes on his back. Adrian sold his belongings to pay rent and barely scrape by. He tried to find work, but every door was mysteriously closed to him, likely due to his brother's influence.
As Adrian wandered through these dark thoughts, he absentmindedly crossed the road. Suddenly, a bright light caught his eye—a truck barreling straight towards him. Instinctively, Adrian leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the truck. "MOTHERFUCKER! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" he shouted angrily, standing and brushing himself off.
To his shock, the truck came to a sudden halt. Adrian's heart raced as the truck started reversing towards him. *"Fuck!"* he muttered, realizing the danger. He sprinted into a nearby alley, hoping to lose the truck there. The alley was narrow, with high walls on either side, and Adrian ran as deep into it as he could. Reaching a dead end, he turned to look back, his breath coming in quick gasps.
He watched as the truck stopped at the alley's entrance. The door slammed shut, and Adrian's heart sank. *'Did he really get out? Why isn't he running away after almost killing me?'* Adrian thought, panic rising.
A figure emerged from the truck, walking slowly towards him. The man wore a cowboy hat and country attire, his face oddly unrecognizable despite the dim light. Adrian, trapped and terrified, tried to assert control over the situation. "Have you come to apologize? You almost killed me back there. You're lucky I'm not a hot-tempered person, or you wouldn't be standing there safely right now."
The man said nothing, his silence unnerving. Adrian tried to sound more casual, desperate to diffuse the tension. "When you almost hit me, I thought of Truck-kun, you know, the famous truck that always gets people... Ha ha ha." His laughter was forced, trailing off awkwardly as the man remained unresponsive.
Then, without warning, the man pulled out a gun. Adrian's eyes widened in horror. "Don't come any closer! What are you doing? Did my brother send you? Please, don't kill me!" Despite his miserable circumstances and the countless times he'd wished for death, faced with the reality of it, Adrian realized he wanted to live. He wanted revenge, to prove he could rise from the ashes of his ruined life.
But all he could do was shout, "FUCK YOUUU!!!!!!" as the man pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed in the narrow alley, and Adrian's body crumpled to the ground, blood pooling from a hole in his forehead. The man calmly returned to his truck, leaving Adrian's lifeless body behind.
And that was the end of Adrian's story. Or so he thought.