**Chapter 1: The Weight of Being Abandoned**
Earth in the 21st century had reached a quiet, peaceful equilibrium. Advanced technology eliminated most basic hardships, giving people the luxury to seek warmth, family connections, and deeper emotional bonds. But society's safety nets rarely catch those who deliberately slip between the cracks.
In the shadows of New York City, far removed from the pristine neon towers, stood a dilapidated apartment building in the slums. Inside a cramped, dim room lived a man whose very existence was defined by detachment.
His name was William.
Looking at him now—a physically weak, exhausted man in his early thirties with a bloated belly, sunken eyes, and shallow breathing—it was impossible to imagine the boy he used to be.
William’s childhood had been bright. Born into a wealthy family, he was showered with love and lacked for nothing. Warm meals, gentle smiles, and quiet evenings with his parents formed the bedrock of his world. But prosperity built on trust is fragile.
When William was twelve, his father’s close business partner betrayed him, draining the company's assets and saddling the family with staggering liabilities. Almost overnight, their lives shattered. The luxury vanished, replaced by screaming arguments behind closed doors and the relentless, violent banging of debt collectors on their front door. The home that once felt like a sanctuary became a prison of fear.
The breaking point arrived two years later.
Fourteen-year-old William woke up to a suffocating silence. Walking down the hallway, he found his father’s room. His father had committed suicide, choosing death over the shame of ruin.
The tragedy broke his mother completely. She became a ghost in her own house, unable to negotiate with the collectors, unable to handle the grief, and worst of all, unable to look William in the eyes without seeing the shadow of the man who had abandoned them.
Then, she vanished too.
William remembered the morning she left. He had walked into the kitchen to find a single envelope resting on the table. As he unfolded the paper, the remaining warmth in his world drained away, leaving his face pale and cold.
> *"My child, we were so happy once. We lived a comfortable life, but after your father lost everything, happiness became a distant memory. Even then, I thought we could survive it together. But when he died, it felt as though my soul left with him. I don't know how to live anymore, and I don't know how to face you. The debt collectors will come for us again, so I am running away. I cannot take you with me—they would track us down too easily.*
> *As a final gift, I am giving you the deed to a small, hidden apartment in another city. Go there and live. Goodbye, William."*
>
William had stood in that empty kitchen, the note trembling in his hand. He didn't know whether to scream, cry, or laugh at the absurdity of a mother abandoning her fourteen-year-old child under the guise of a "gift."
He didn't wait for the collectors to arrive. He packed a few clothes into an old backpack and walked to the front door. Before stepping out, he turned back one last time to look at the ruined house where his happiness had died.
He moved to the small slum apartment in New York and cut himself off from the world. For nearly two decades, William lived like a machine. He worked tireless, backbreaking overtime at low-tier jobs just to afford cheap food and rent, using physical exhaustion as a drug to keep memories at bay. He built high walls around his heart, ensuring no one could ever get close enough to abandon him again.
Now, lying on his thin mattress in the quiet apartment, his overworked, neglected body was finally giving out. His chest felt impossibly heavy, and every breath required immense effort.
As his vision began to blur into blackness, William stared at the cracked ceiling, feeling neither fear nor regret—only a profound, hollow weariness. He was ready for the quiet.
He did not know that his story was far from over, or that his next life would force him to play the role of the very thing he hated most: a villain destined to destroy everything around him.