Opening his eyes, Jin squinted at the harsh sun above him. Confused as to why nothing hurt—and why it was suddenly daylight—he sat up slowly, noticing the dusty dirt road beneath him. His heart started to race. On both sides of the road were tall pine trees, lavender-blue skies, and twin arching silver rainbows.
Jumping to his feet, Jin spun around, patting himself down. Everything was… Everything was… he was…
He was in Sintas Galleia!
“Fucking yes! Yes!”
Coming back to Japan had been his dream, but this? This was better. He was in Sintas Galleia! Him. His socially inept, forever-disregarded, middle-child self, born to a pair of idiot parents who loved each other too much.
Goodbye family! Goodbye internship! Goodbye single life! Hello red-hot mage and endless adventures!
He was free!
Feeling his face and then his arms, Jin’s excitement faltered. His in-game character was supposed to be tall, beefy, and tanned. His clothes matched the muted aesthetic of the game world, but he was still… him. Scrawny, pale, and distinctly unimpressive.
Jin squealed, marching in place.
“What do muscles matter,” he said to himself, “when I’m in Sintas Galleia?!”
He tried to school his expression into something neutral—just in case a passing merchant traveler mistook him for a lunatic. That lasted about two seconds before he gave up.
Logic. He needed logic. Did he? Maybe. First, he had to check if anything else had come through with him. Magic outside the game was frowned upon, and things like computers or mobile phones definitely didn’t exist here.
He searched his surroundings but saw no sign of his phone. Disappointing. He could’ve sold it to the Mage’s Tower and pocketed a few hundred gold. Not that he needed it anymore. He was here.
Which brought him to his next thought: how was he here?
Had his real body… died? The light novels he used to read came to mind, but he’d never actually expected to transmigrate somewhere. They’d been on the train… The screech of brakes, the sound of metal scraping… He hadn’t buckled his seatbelt.
Oh.
So that was it, then. His real body must have died. He didn’t believe in heaven, but waking up in Sintas Galleia, where he was rich and famous? This was heaven. His parents had two other sons; they’d be fine. A little awkward if his mom went into his room and found his stash of manga, but… not his problem anymore.
“Okay,” Jin muttered to himself, hands on his hips. “Nothing came through, my clothes changed, and I’m still me.”
Proving who he was. That would be the key. If his player ID still worked, he could access all his riches. Buy a new hearthstone. Never swing a mining pick again. Yes. Perfect.
But first, he needed an interface. Every character had a backpack, even the beginners.
Jin patted himself down again, turning in circles to check his back. Nothing.
“Open backpack!”
Nothing.
“Backpack?”
Still nothing.
“Show backpack? Open inventory?”
Not even a beep.
“What kind of budget system is this?!” he yelled, kicking at the dirt road. The effort left him lightheaded, and his foot throbbed like he’d just punted a lamppost.
Never doing that again.
Jin sank to the shoulder of the road, exhausted. A horrible new thought crept in, gnawing at the edges of his excitement.
Could he die here?
Potions, healing spells, revivals—they were for characters. But he wasn’t really his character, was he? If he died, would he go back to his real body? And what if that body was… cremated?
A chill ran down his spine.
And where was his husband?!
Surely Acshellis would have sensed a “strange disturbance” and come to his rescue. He always knew where to find him in the game. Shouldn’t he have swept in by now? Jin’s stomach dropped as another thought struck.
Would Acshellis even recognize him?
Panicking, Jin checked his stomach. Smooth. No magical mark, no bump. Thank God.
Still, this was stingy, even for this game. Where were his “endless adventures”? Lying down in the dirt wasn’t part of the plan. He flopped sideways, closing his eyes. Maybe he’d just rest a moment.
The sound of voices pulled him back.
Climbing to his feet, Jin peeked down the road—and immediately wished he hadn’t. He turned, hoping to slink away unnoticed.
“Shibuya!” someone yelled.
Cursing the system again, Jin froze. If his backpack worked, he could’ve downed an invisibility potion and disappeared. Instead, he stood there, stuck, as the ‘babies’ he’d claimed to his husband he “had to meet” ran up the road toward him.
They all looked just as they did in the real world. Shin reached him first, and Jin braced for a punch, but instead, Shin pulled him into a brief hug before bombarding him with questions.
“Man! You’re okay! What the hell? Where are we? What happened to the train? I can’t find my phone. Do you have yours? Why’s the sky so weird? Where even are we?”
Jin sighed. They were dumb. Dumber than usual. Ripping the band-aid off seemed the best option.
“I think we’re in the game.”
Shin blinked.
“What game?”
Jin groaned. “The one you were logging into when the train crashed? Silver rainbows? Lavender skies? This dirt path? Any of this ringing a bell?”
Ugh. Stupid people were stupid. His reply blunt and mocking
“Doesn’t any of this seem familiar? You guys were logging on when the train crashed. Silver rainbows, undeveloped land, this dirt path and these trees… ringing any bells?”
Shun started laughing
“Good one, man. But seriously, do you have your phone? I need to get a ride out of here”
Jin crossed his arms
“If I had a phone I would have called for help. Nothing came through other than us. There’s no phone. There’s no help coming. We’re not even in our own time anymore”
Shin’s laughter turned nervous
“Come on, man. You’re being creepy. It’s just a dumb game. No one takes that stuff seriously… apart from you. Where’s your phone?”
“I don’t have one. None of us have one”
“Dude, stop joking around”
Feeling that he’d done his civic duty, Jin dropped his arms and shrugged
“You can think I’m joking if you like, but I’m not. This road should lead to town, I’m going to walk to town. You guys can do whatever you want”
Sidestepping Shin, Jin started walking. Shin jogging up and grabbing his arm
“Man… you’re joking right? You… you can’t leave us here”
Jin wanted to jerk his arm out of Shin’s hold, then his brain reminded him of his earlier thought. Right in front of him were five other people from the same world as him. Five. He didn’t know if he could live in the game. He didn’t know if potions and revivals worked. However… in front of him were five people he didn’t particularly care about. If this was his heaven, then why did he have to share it? And with them?
He needed research subjects. He wanted to stay in the world forever… and if he wasn’t putting himself in danger, that’d make all of that sooooo much easier.
Straining a smile, Jin put on his very best personality and patted Shin’s shoulder
“Alright. Alright. We’re all in this mess together. Still, this road should lead to town. These woods are home to low level wolves, and we have no weapons or gear. We can talk about it on the way to town”
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