Chapter 1 – A Second Life
April 16, 1994
In a spacious apartment in New York, a boy sat quietly at a desk in his room. The apartment itself was comfortable and well furnished, but his room looked like a small battlefield.
Manga sketches were scattered everywhere. Notebooks lay open across the desk, filled with rough drawings and story notes. A few newspapers about finance and investment were stacked carelessly to one side.
The boy sitting in the middle of this mess was Anshul Giri.
At the moment, however, he was not drawing manga or reading about stocks. Instead, he was staring at a thick school textbook.
Anshul sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Damn… why do I still need to study even though I already know everything?" he muttered to himself.
The complaint sounded arrogant, but in his case it was not entirely wrong.
Anshul was not an ordinary ten-year-old child.
He was a reincarnated person.
In his previous life, he had been an engineer who worked a normal office job. Life had been busy and exhausting, filled with endless deadlines and overtime. Eventually, the pressure had caught up to him.
He died from overwork.
However, instead of disappearing completely, he woke up again—reborn in a new life.
This time he was born in 1985, in New York.
Unlike most people, Anshul had retained the memories of his previous life from the moment he was born. Those memories gave him knowledge far beyond what a normal child could possess.
His current family was simple but warm.
His father, Rajesh Giri, was an Indian lawyer working for an investment firm in New York. Recently, Rajesh had been considering moving to San Francisco, where the growing technology industry was creating new opportunities. Many companies were being created there every year, while others collapsed just as quickly.
It was a risky but exciting time.
His mother, Mio Giri, was Japanese and worked as a housewife. She was gentle and supportive, and she often encouraged Anshul's creative interests.
Because of his parents, Anshul was half Indian and half Japanese.
His grandparents lived far away—some in India and some in Japan—but they remained close to the family.
Genetically, Anshul had inherited the best features from both sides. Even at ten years old he already looked unusually handsome. He had black hair, sharp features, and a naturally athletic build.
But his appearance was not the most unusual thing about him.
The most unusual thing was what lay inside his mind.
Memories.
Knowledge.
And the awareness that the future of this world was already known to him.
Anshul leaned back in his chair and glanced at the messy papers on his desk.
Some of the papers contained sketches of a story about a boy who wanted to become the king of pirates.
Others contained notes about companies, technology trends, and future stock market opportunities.
A small smile slowly appeared on his face.
"This world," he murmured quietly.
"I guess I'll rewrite its history."