Agung's chopsticks froze halfway to his mouth. The steam from the rice swirled around his face, which had gone several shades paler than the white "Panda" shirt he was wearing. He slowly lowered his bowl, looking at the seventeen women around the table with an expression of pure, unadulterated horror.
"**Fourteen?**" he croaked, the word coming out as a strangled squeak. "I knew the supervisor gave me a list of wives, and I thought, 'Okay, that's... a lot of paperwork.' But *fourteen* children? Seriously?"
He leaned back, his chair creaking under the weight of his existential crisis.
"So, let me get this straight," he said, gesturing wildly with a wooden spoon. "While I was back in the real world, literally sweeping the dust off the streets of **Pekalongan** for 1.9 million Rupiah a month, that 'other' version of me was out here essentially building his own private idol group out of his offspring?"
He took a deep breath, trying to steady his hands.
"And for the record," he added, pointing a finger at the group with a sudden spark of local pride, "stop saying I'm from Pemalang. I was *born* there, sure, but I've lived in **Pekalongan** since I was a kid. Don't mix it up! One has the pine forests, the other has the Batik and the best *Soto Tauto* you'll ever eat. I'm a Pekalongan man through and through."
He rubbed his temples, his mind racing.
"Fourteen children..." he muttered to himself. "In Pekalongan, if you have fourteen kids, you don't just need a house, you need a subsidized government housing project and a dedicated school bus. I was struggling to buy a data plan for my Android, and this 'Deadbeat' version of me was over here playing *Love Live: Dynasty Edition*."
The girls exchanged looks. The gravity of the situation was finally sinking in for the "new" Agung.
"Wait," Nico said, her eyes widening as she did the math. "If you were in Pekalongan all that time... who was the guy who was here three years ago? If he wasn't you, and you were sweeping streets... then who were we actually—"
"A glitch! I told you!" Agung groaned, flopping his head onto the table with a dull *thud*. "The operator messed up the sync. It's like when you try to download a game and the save file gets corrupted, so you end up with a level 99 character who has zero items and a confusing backstory. I'm the original file, but I've been overwritten by a jerk!"
He lifted his head just enough to look at Kanata. "Fourteen kids... Kanata, please tell me at least half of them are good sleepers. If they all have the energy of Chika, I'm going to need more than 'Infinite Stamina.' I'm going to need an 'Infinite Patience' DLC."
Chika laughed, though it was a bit shaky. "Well... they *do* like to sing. A lot."
Agung groaned again, his face meeting the table once more. "Great. I'm a street sweeper from Pekalongan who just inherited a choir. This really is a messed-up reincarnation."