Chapter 2: NEW JOB
Hari usually woke up early in the morning, but today he didn't open his eyes until eleven. He lay still for a while, feeling tired and gloomy. The dream from the previous night lingered in his mind, and he had no desire to think about it. Dreams were dreams. Dwelling on a bad one would only spoil the day, and he had enough problems in real life without adding imaginary ones.
He finally got out of bed, bathed, and decided to visit the thattukada—a small street-food shop near his apartment. A hot breakfast might help him feel human again.
Unfortunately, when he arrived, the shop was already closed.
Hari stared at it for a moment, as if his disappointment might somehow force the shutters open. His stomach growled. With no other choice, he headed for the nearest restaurant, about five hundred metres away.
As he began walking, a red trucksan approached from the opposite direction.
Hari stopped.
Last night's dream... trucksan... This is my chance to become an overpowered MC.
He closed his eyes and waited, bracing himself for the transportation accident that would surely send him into another world. If the universe wanted to follow the usual rules of fantasy stories, this was his moment.
"VROOM."
The trucksan roared past him.
Hari opened one eye, then the other. He was still standing on the road, perfectly alive. As usual, the trucksan had failed to notice him and continued on its way. It seemed to be searching for Chinese and Japanese people instead.
Hari's disappointment quickly turned into anger. He glared after the departing vehicle, mentally directing his complaints at the transmigration god.
What kind of racist behaviour is this? Why do those people get transported to another world while I'm left here?
Apparently, even his dreams had not been enough to earn him a proper transmigration.
With that grievance added to the rest of his troubles, Hari continued to the restaurant. He ordered his favourite breakfast: idli and sambar. The soft idlis, soaked in spicy sambar, were exactly what he needed. For a little while, the warmth of the food and the familiar taste pushed his worries aside. He ate, felt somewhat better, and returned to his apartment.
There, he began packing his clothes and books. If he was going back to the village, he might as well start preparing instead of sitting around feeling sorry for himself.
His phone rang.
The call was from home.
"Hello."
"Hello, Dad."
"Son, I have some happy news."
Hari paused. His father rarely announced happy news without a reason, and Hari could think of several possibilities.
"Did my brother get promoted again?"
"No."
"Did the soap opera Mom's been watching for ten years finally end?"
"No. She said it's only halfway done."
Hari could practically hear the familiar disappointment in that answer.
"Did you win the lottery?"
"No, but you did."
"What?"
"You got a job interview at the PSC—the Public Service Commission."
"Oh... whaaat?"
For a moment, Hari had nothing else to say.
"....."
"Dad, I told you to stop drinking in the morning. It's bad for your health."
"I didn't. I'll send you a picture on WhatsApp."
"Okay, Dad, I'll call you later."
Hari ended the call and immediately checked WhatsApp. There was the picture. His father had told the truth.
Hari stared at the message, reading it again to make sure he had understood correctly. At first, he felt numb, as though his mind had stopped working. Then the news hit him all at once. Happiness surged through him like electricity.
A PSC interview.
After all those examinations, all those years of studying, and all the times he had tried to convince himself that his dream was over, he had finally received a chance. The secure life he had imagined seemed close enough to touch. Perhaps his efforts had not been wasted after all.
He wanted to tell someone immediately. His friends had shared the difficult years with him, and he needed to share this moment with them, too.
Hari hurried out of his apartment and headed for a friend's place. When he reached the lift, however, he found that it was out of order.
"Of course," he thought. "Why would anything be easy today?"
He turned toward the stairs and started climbing. His excitement carried him forward. He was already imagining the conversation he would have with his friend, how he would announce the news, and how they might celebrate.
Then, as he reached the stairs, someone pushed him.
Hari lost his balance.
He tumbled down the entire flight, unable to stop himself. Pain burst through his body as he struck the steps. By the time he reached the bottom, every bone seemed to be screaming. Hot blood ran from his head down over his nose and lips.
His vision turned red.
Then it went dark.
For a few minutes, there was nothing he could make sense of. Somewhere in the distance, he heard an ambulance. People were talking around him, their voices blurred and indistinct. He tried to understand what they were saying, but the sounds seemed to drift away from him.
Everything blurred again.
...
...
...
"AHEM."
"AHEM."
Hari opened his eyes.
He was in a white room. The place was unfamiliar, and he couldn't feel his body properly. Across from him stood a young man who appeared to be about his age. The man wore a white suit and smiled at him as if they were meeting for an ordinary appointment.
Hari immediately seized on the most obvious explanation.
"Are you a doctor? Can you save me? Is my body okay? I feel nothing... I didn't marry yet... I am still a virgin. Doctor, please save me... I feel nothing."
The young man cleared his throat.
"AHEM... PLEASE DON'T BE SHOCKED. YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD."
"What???"
Hari stared at him. He had only just received news of a job interview. He had barely had time to celebrate it, and now someone was telling him he was dead.
"I just got a job... I am still a virgin. God, why me again?"
The words came out in a rush. His hopes of getting a secure job, marrying a beautiful girl, and building the life he had wanted all seemed to have collapsed just when they were within reach.
The young man continued as if he had not heard the complaint.
"ACTUALLY, THIS IS A BLESSING. WE DECIDED TO FULFILL YOUR DREAM ABOUT TRANSMIGRATING."
"But that was before I got the job... Give me my life back."
"SORRY, YOUR BODY IS ALREADY BURIED."
Hari felt as if his hopes had been buried along with it. He tried to take in what he was hearing, but one detail kept returning to him: he had felt someone push him on the stairs. That push was the reason he had died.
He looked directly at the young man.
"Did you guys kill me?"
"YES, ACTUALLY, WE WANTED YOUR DEATH TO BE PAINLESS... SO WE SENT A TRUCKSAN. HOWEVER, HE MISSED YOU."
Hari said nothing for a moment. The explanation did not make his situation any better.
"ACTUALLY, YOU ONLY HAD THREE MORE YEARS LEFT TO LIVE. BUT NOW YOU'VE GOT A GOLDEN CHANCE JUST BY SACRIFICING THOSE YEARS."
"..."
Hari wanted to curse at him. He wanted to shout, demand answers, and ask what kind of god arranged someone's death because of a dream about transmigration. But he suspected that losing his temper would accomplish nothing. He was already dead, and the man in front of him seemed far too comfortable with that fact.
He thought of his family. He trusted that his brother would protect them, and that their grief over losing him would fade after a few years. It hurt to think about, but there was nothing he could do for them now.
He needed to focus on the future. If he was going to be forced into this situation, he had better learn as much as possible from the person responsible.
"Are you God?"
"YES, I AM. ALSO, YESTERDAY'S EXAMINATION WAS CONDUCTED UNDER MY SUPERVISION. NOW YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS: REBIRTH IN ONE OF THE BABY WORLDS, OR TRANSMIGRATION INTO A YOUNG WORLD AS A DIVINE EMPLOYEE."
Hari frowned.
"Baby world? Young world? Are you making fun of me?"
"ACTUALLY, WE USE THESE TERMS FOR SIMPLICITY. THE WORLD WITH A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF MANA IS CALLED A BABY WORLD. YOUR EARTH IS PLACED AT THE EDGE OF A BABY WORLD. WHEN THE CORE OF THE WORLD REACHES A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MANA, THE FIRST CATACLYSM WILL START. EVERY STAR AND PLANET UNDER THIS WORLD WILL BEGIN TO PRODUCE MANA. EVERY LIFE FORM WILL MUTATE. THESE WORLDS ARE CALLED YOUNG WORLDS. WE SEND DIVINE EMPLOYEES TO MAINTAIN THESE WORLDS. THERE ARE TWO OTHER TYPES OF WORLDS: OLD WORLDS AND DIVINE WORLDS. YOU DON'T HAVE SECURITY CLEARANCE TO KNOW ABOUT THEM."
Hari tried to sort through the explanation. Mana, a world's core, a cataclysm, and life forms mutating—none of it sounded like the kind of information a person was supposed to receive after dying. Still, he had to admit that it was more useful than being told to accept his fate without an explanation.
"What will I get from being a divine employee?"
"YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CYCLE OF REBIRTH. AND ONLY DIVINE EMPLOYEES HAVE A CHANCE TO BECOME REAL GODS."
Hari considered the options. Rebirth sounded like starting over from the beginning, possibly without his memories or personality. The person born again might have his soul, but would that person truly be him if everything that made him Hari disappeared?
Transmigration seemed like the better choice. He could keep being himself and, if the god was telling the truth, might even have a chance to become a real god one day.
Something about the situation felt incomplete, as though he had forgotten an important detail. He couldn't quite remember what it was, and the god was waiting for his answer.
"Okay, I select transmigration."
The god's smile widened. He opened a transparent screen and moved it toward Hari. Strange tantric words were inscribed across its surface.
"THEN PLEASE TOUCH HERE."
Hari touched the marked place with his soul. A tantric diagram formed where he made contact, then sank into his soul and disappeared.
"ARE YOU READY TO TRANSMIGRATE?"
"Yes, I am."
"I WISH YOU SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE TRAINING PHASE AND BECOMING A NEW DIVINE EMPLOYEE... UNLIKE THE LAST CANDIDATE."
At last, Hari remembered the detail he had forgotten.
Zhang Wei.
The candidate who had won the examination.
"What happened to Zhang Wei?"
"HE FAILED THE TRAINING MISSION."
Hari felt a fresh wave of unease.
"What happens if we fail the training mission?"
"YOU WILL DIE FOREVER."
"What... No one told me!"
"GOODBYE."
"DING."
"TRANSMIGRATION STARTING... 10... 9... 8... 2... 1."
"TRANSMIGRATING 47th CANDIDATE HARI TO HIRUDA PLANET."
As his consciousness began to fade, Hari tried to process everything that had happened. He had spent years striving for a government job, believing it was the surest path to security and happiness. Then, just when he had finally received a chance, his life had ended and he had been offered a different kind of future—one that carried the risk of permanent death.
Zhang Wei's failure remained in his thoughts. If the previous candidate had failed the training mission, what chance did Hari have? The prospect of dying forever was terrifying, especially when he had only just learned that the danger existed. But there was no turning back now.
As his surroundings began to shift, fear mingled with excitement. He was about to enter a world beyond anything he had imagined, a place where mana and cataclysms were real and where his choices might lead to something extraordinary—or end his existence for good.
The last thing he remembered before everything dissolved into blinding light was the god's final words echoing in his mind:
"LUCK IS ALSO A STRENGTH."
Hari clung to that thought. Perhaps, in this new life, luck would finally be on his side.
His old life had come to an end.
A new, unimaginable adventure was about to begin.