"Just who the hell is this guy?" Alex asked himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.
"Is this really me?" he asked as he touched his face and moved his hand, which was enough to let him put aside his suspicions and believe that this was truly him.
In this situation, the only explanation he could come up with was transmigration.
Alex had learned about it in one of the many novels that he had read, and according to what he remembered, it referred to when someone possessed the body of another person.
Thinking about transmigration would definitely explain his situation.
And while it didn't explain just what the deal was with him defying death moments ago or how he was even alive despite having died,.
In this moment, he didn't care about any of it, as he felt his body be consumed in an euphoric sensation like he had never felt before.
His wish had actually come true; some higher being had answered his wishes and given him a second chance, like he wanted.
He still couldn't stop his body from trembling from excitement, but he knew that he needed to calm down.
Which is exactly what he did.
In the novel he had read, transmigration also featured mana and systems, so just to confirm, he decided to say the thing he had always wanted to say at least once in his life before but couldn't because he felt it was too cringeworthy.
But now that he had a justifiable reason, there was nothing stopping him, so he muttered.
"Status Screen"
Even after his words fell, nothing happened; no magical convenient system panel appeared in front of him, and he didn't feel a strange surge of energy out of nowhere.
Alex could feel himself cringing with embarrassment as he thought.
'Never mind, let's never do that again'
Honestly, he was a bit disappointed, as after learning of his transmigration, a part of him was definitely expecting to be able to use magic and swords like in all the novels he used to read.
Sadly, it seems some of his dreams will always remain unfulfilled.
But Alex didn't want to be too ungrateful, and he was just happy to have a working body that didn't require him to use a wheelchair.
Just the idea of not needing a wheel chair was enough for him to almost scream in joy, but he controlled himself.
As nice as all of this was, he knew he lacked information, so the first thing he did was look around the room he was in.
And after a few minutes, he found a black mask, a paper note, and a Glock 22 sitting atop the study table.
That's right, there was a gun in the room.
Alex knew quite a few things about guns since his father was a police officer and used to teach him about firearms since he was interested in them.
The first thing he did was check the cartridge, and surprising him, he found the gun to be full.
All 22 bullets were sitting there in the cartridge waiting to be used, which scared Alex.
Because how did a teenager like him even acquire a weapon, and more importantly, what was he planning to do with it?
To Alex's relief, he found the gun was still in safety mode, meaning he wouldn't accidentally shoot himself, but just to be safe, he put the gun in his pocket because he wasn't sure about his current situation and it was better to be safe than sorry.
Next, he moved his attention towards the paper note on the desk.
It was a very small note, and yet it was extremely unsettling.
___________________________________________________
They saw me, and you're next.
___________________________________________________
The handwriting was immaculate, making it really pleasant to read, but Alex didn't care about that; he was instead concerned about the content of what it said.
"What does that even mean?" he exclaimed in confusion.
'They saw me?
"And more importantly, what did it mean by 'you're next'?"
Slowly, his initial confusion morphed into fear, before a chill ran down his spine as he found cold sweat drip down his face.
''No, don't panic, you idiot; calm down'
He thought, hoping to calm his unsettled nerves.
"Maybe this is just some sick and harmless prank." he tried to convince himself, but even he knew this wasn't the case.
"Ok, let's assume this is real and the original owner of this body was seen."
But by whom, or rather, what exactly?
Just what could possibly be dreadful and harrowing enough to make a teenager kill himself?
And perhaps most importantly, just what did it mean by I'm next?
Did the original owner know I was going to transmigrate into his body?
Was I too about to end up committing suicide in the future, just like the original owner?
"So many questions and mysteries without any explanation."
The letter only had one line, and yet it was enough to completely shift his view of his transmigration.
It had taken almost no time for the initial euphoria to morph into paranoia.
The more he tried to think about it, the more worried he became.
But that wasn't the concerning part, but rather that this was supposed to be the suicide note of a teenager.
Alex had expected to learn more about his circumstances and what had potentially led the boy to do the unthinkable.
But instead, all he found was an ominous quote that left him with more questions than answers
Just what would lead a teenage boy to say something like this in his final message to the world?
Did he know something he doesn't?
At this point, Alex was certain there was more to his situation than what met the eye.
Sadly, he currently has no way of finding any answers.
So he decided to do the only sensible thing and ignore it for now.
After all, the more he thought about the message, the more scared he became, and baseless fear would do nothing but obstruct rational thinking.
The next and last thing on the table was a plain black facemask.
Without even realising it, he put the mask on his face.
Taking a look in the mirror, the black mask paired with his pretty blue eyes really added an air of mystery.
Alex was currently wearing a blue hoodie with plain black pants.
This look, paired with his gun, really made him look like a villain in those old detective movies.
For some reason, Alex found the get-up a bit funny, which caused him to chuckle.
After having a lot of fun posing in front of the mirror, he sat down on the bed.
He was finally convinced that all of this was real.
He really got a second chance at life; he didn't know which divine being was responsible for this or what the deal with the letter was.
But, at least for now, he just wanted to try and be happy.
Now that he had been given a second chance, Alex was determined that no matter what happened, he would make sure to live a life he would never regret and be happy.
However, just when he was making plans for his future,.
The phone of the boy whose body he was currently occupying rang.
He had received a message.
The phone was under the pillow, which is probably why he failed to notice it at first.
But that wasn't important; the important thing was what he saw displayed on his screen. After all, that single message completely altered the course of his second life.