In the middle of a busy day, a man sat staring at his monitor. The glare of the screen reflected off his glasses as his fingers clacked away on the keyboard with one hand, while the other held a cup of coffee he sipped from between tasks.
As he pressed a key, a prompt echoed from his computer's speakers:
"Congratulations, Adventurer. You have completed the quest. Would you like to begin the 'Eternal Throne' Hidden Quest? A new world awaits you. Would you like to enter? [Yes] [No]"
He clicked [Yes].
Suddenly, a deep bass sound-like a wormhole tearing open-roared from his speakers. A bright flash burst from the monitor.
"Agh-!" He shielded his eyes from the blinding light.
Then... silence.
The screen faded. He lowered his hand, blinked a few times, then sighed and looked at his keyboard.
"Huh. Damn... I need to fix that missing part. It was almost perfect."
He stretched with a long groan. "Mmm... it's tiring. It's late. I need to go home now."
Jim packed his things, shut everything down, and rushed out the door.
---
Walking down the quiet road, thoughts stirred in his mind.
> "My life's not great, but not bad either... Back then, I struggled a lot just to get here. But now that I've finally achieved something, my parents are gone. Who do I share this with now?"
He looked up at the stars, bitter wind brushing his face.
> "Mother... Father... Sorry I'm late. If only you were alive, maybe we'd celebrate this together. Maybe I wouldn't feel so damn alone."
> "I don't even know if I'm happy about this success or just... hollow. But at least, I have no regrets. If there's a next life... I hope I can have some kind of adventure. Like in those mangas and manhwas I read. Maybe it's fiction, but... escaping reality like that? That's something I always wanted."
He smiled faintly to himself.
The night was cold and still, when something caught his eye-a kitten, right in the middle of the road.
> "How cute-wait! It's dangerous there, little guy!"
He looked left, then right. No vehicles in sight.
> "Good, no cars. I'll get you out of there."
He hurried toward the kitten.
But then-
HONK!
A roaring truck surged forward from the bend, its horn blaring.
His instincts kicked in. He dove out of the way, the rush of wind and blinding headlights passing just inches from his body.
He collapsed on the side of the road, heart pounding, soaked in sweat, trembling.
> "H-huuh...! Damn it!"
"God, I swear I was just joking. I didn't mean that whole 'I want to be isekai'd' thing... Don't take it seriously, please!"
---
A few minutes later.
Jim sat on the bus, panting quietly, the kitten curled up inside his half-open bag-peacefully asleep.
The adrenaline was fading. The exhaustion of overnight work weighed heavy on his eyelids.
> "Man... even almost dying couldn't keep me awake. I'm dead tired."
He yawned.
> "Maybe a short nap. It's a one-hour ride anyway... I'll wake before my stop."
He leaned back, let his eyes drift shut, the hum of the road and distant vehicle sounds soothing his mind.
---
Then it changed.
No engine. No bus.
Instead-
Clop. Clop. Clop.
The sound of hooves on stone.
The scent of fresh wind and forest.
The rocking of a carriage.
His eyes snapped open.
> "...Huh? I overslept?"
He blinked. Looked around. Looked out the window.
Everything was different. The bus was gone. The world had changed.
> "What the hell... Where am I? Is this a dream?"
He looked at his hands, touched his face, checked his clothes.
> "Wait... this is..."
Something was off. Something deeply wrong.
> "No. I'm not dreaming. I'm Jinn. I've always been Jinn. I've lived here my whole life... I'm even on my way to apply at a guild today."
But something gnawed at the back of his mind. A whisper. A fragment of something else.
> "Then... why do I remember everything? That man. The office. The coffee. The truck. The word 'game developer'-there's no such thing in this world... and yet I know what it is."
Pain shot through his head-sharp, piercing.
> "Nnghh-!"
A rush of memories flooded in. Emotions. Scenes. Life.
Then it stopped.
Breathing hard, she-no, he-sat frozen.
> "It's done... I remember everything now."
> "I was Jim. A game developer in his 40s."
"And I am Jinn. A guild academy graduate at 19, sent on assignment."
He leaned back, numb.
"Both of them... both are me."
"This isn't a dream. Neither world is fake. I'm not sure if I actually died... but I know I've been reincarnated."
---
Narrator (internal voice):
In the middle of the road, the man once called Jim-now known as Jinn-sat quietly, trying to process the impossible.
"Why was I reincarnated?"
"Did I really die?"
"What happened to the kitten I was planning to adopt? Is it alive?"
So many questions. No answers.
But for now, only one thing remained:
Preparing for her new job...
As a receptionist.