A Quiet Life Denied

Adrian Cross never believed in justice—only in settling scores. When he returned home from years in the special forces, he found his adoptive father, John Rico, and his two younger brothers slaughtered in betrayal. Their killers walked free, shielded by power and corruption.

Adrian didn’t mourn. He didn’t hesitate. He hunted them down, one by one, until there was no one left to kill.

And when his revenge was complete, so was his purpose. He died that night, bleeding out with no regrets.

But death wasn’t the end.

He woke up in the body of Franz Kafka—a college student in a world he recognized. It was the setting of Requiem of Two Worlds, a novel he had read back in high school. A cliché power-fantasy story where the protagonist built a harem while rising to the top.

But Franz Kafka wasn’t in the original story. He wasn’t a villain, a side character, or even a name mentioned in passing. He simply didn’t exist.

None of it mattered. Nothing ever did.

His past life was over, his revenge fulfilled. Now, he was just a man with no purpose, drifting in a world that wasn’t his own.