…
In the packed subway, where passengers clung to poles and railings to steady themselves against the train's speed, a young man muttered under his breath, his voice barely a whisper.
"Man, I wanna die."
No one around him reacted; no one heard him over the quiet murmur of the train, broken only by the soft taps of phones and the occasional conversation.
A minute later, he spoke again, still unheard by those nearby.
"Err… In case any gods heard that, I was speaking figuratively. I'm pretty fine being alive, thanks," he murmured jokingly.
Silence filled the train, but the young man's thoughts raced on.
'I said that… but, I wonder, how bad would dying be?' he thought, gazing out the window. 'No more early mornings, no more endless classes, no stressing about whether I'll land a job, or about working nonstop until I'm old… Kind of tempting when I think of it that way, huh?'
But then, he shook his head. 'No… death is pretty scary. If there's a God listening, please ignore me; it's just exhaustion talking. I don't actually want to die, so no need to fulfill that wish… winning the lottery, on the other hand…'
Lost in his rambling inner monologue, he let his mind wander, using it as a distraction from the stuffy air on the subway, counting down the minutes until his station appeared.
After what felt like an eternity, he was finally freed from the subway's cramped confines. Squeezing his way out, he left behind the envious gazes of those who still had more stops to endure
As he hit the streets, he made his way toward his apartment, eagerly anticipating the rest he deserved after a grueling day at university. While he did, his eyes wandered over the crowd around him—people lost in their own worlds, some looking just as drained, if not more so, than he was.
Most of them, in this case, were middle-aged men and women.
"Damn." As he caught sight of that, the thought of life after graduation settled heavily on him, causing him to let out a long sigh.
'Study day and night just to then work day and night… Truly, a brilliant future ahead.' He groaned and scratched his hair annoyedly, trying to drive his thoughts elsewhere.
While he was having those thoughts, he approached a crosswalk as the light turned green, signaling him to pass.
Just as he was about to step off the curb, though, the light abruptly switched to red, causing him to pause and step back.
'The fuck? That was way too quick… Is the light malfunctioning?' he thought, frowning.
-Swoosh!-
Then, out of nowhere, a blur shot past the spot he had been about to step onto.
-Boom!-
By the time he turned to look, he saw a truck had slammed into a nearby building, sending up clouds of smoke, and causing a chill to run down his spine.
"Damn… I almost died." He said with a trembling voice as he observed the collision with wide eyes.
He then looked up at the sky with a wary grin. "That was a coincidence… right? If it wasn't, maybe throw in some lottery numbers next time?" he muttered, glancing around as if expecting to spot a cloud shaped like a bearded man.
After a few seconds, however, he shook his head and turned to look at the accident, some people could be seen coming in and out, trying to put out the fire and whoever had been inside it.
However, after a few minutes of observing, he decided to leave. Although he had almost died, there was nothing that could be done about it—just another reason to appreciate life a bit more.
And like that, his journey to his apartment resumed, now equipped with a neat anecdote to tell his parents or highly unlikely-to-be-born children in the future.
As he was passing by a construction site, however…
-Clang!-
A heavy metal beam crashed to the ground right behind him, mere inches from flattening him.
He turned slowly, staring at the fallen beam in shock.
"...The heck?"
Once again, he looked around, half-convinced something strange was happening.
One accident was one thing, but two accidents?! That was… two things.
'I'm hilarious,' he thought with a dumb grin, trying to ignore his racing heartbeat after the close call.
However, seeing nothing unusual around—aside from a few worried construction workers staring at him, dumbfounded—he shook his head and kept walking. He briefly considered suing the construction company but quickly dismissed it since that would be way too much hassle.
A few blocks later, he finally arrived at his apartment, safe and sound. Though he was still shaken from the two near-death experiences, he reassured himself it would make for a good story someday—a reminder of how close he'd brushed with the edge.
-Click…-
"Phew...."
As he closed the door behind him, a wave of relief washed over him, the quiet of his apartment wrapping him in a comforting calm. He let out a long sigh, finally feeling at ease.
At last, he was no longer in mortal danger.
After a few moments to settle his nerves, he sank onto the couch, letting himself relax as the day's tension began to melt away.
"What a da—"
Sadly, he never got to finish his sentence, as just then, a plane crashed directly into his apartment, crushing him instantly.
…
°
°
°
|At that moment, in the reincarnation Bureau…|
…
"Oh, come on!" A man with wings on his back wearing a suit shouted as he slammed his hands down onto the desk, frustration clear in his tone.
His partner, a woman also dressed in a suit and with wings on her back seated nearby, raised an eyebrow after hearing his voice raise. "Another one?"
"Yeah, what the hell?!" he shouted, running a hand through his hair exasperatedly.
She sighed, squinting off into the distance. "I'm starting to think these so-called mistakes the Gods keep making across the multiverse aren't really accidents…"
"I know, right? Thousands of "accidental" deaths in just this week alone! At this point, it's too regular to be a coincidence."
She massaged her temples in resignation. "Ugh… Let's hope whatever's causing them to make all these mistakes clears up soon."
The man looked at her with skepticism. "Think that'll happen?"
She didn't hesitate a second to shake her head. "No, but we've got a job to do. Just hand this new one a system from the stock and move on."
"You're right… Alright, let's see." The man pulled a box from under his desk and rummaged through it.
-Rustle…-
In the end, after looking thoroughly for around five seconds, he pulled out a dark cube with ominous, red cracks running across its surface and put it in front of his face, before grimacing at its sight.
"Oh, no..."
"What is—oh..." his partner went wide-eyed as she saw the cube.
Once the surprise settled for both, they froze for quite a few seconds, exchanging uncertain glances between one another and at the ominous cube.
However, after a tense moment, eventually, the woman managed to muster a question.
"Is there really nothing else left?"
The man shook his head with a grim look. "No."
"…"
"…"
The silence ensued once again, with neither saying anything and simply staring at each other impassively.
Until the woman averted her gaze and waved at her partner dismissively.
"Just… give it to him."
The man pursed his lips, seemingly experiencing complex emotions.
Ultimately, however, he relented. "Yeah, too bad for him, but we're not going through the hassle of making a new one just for him."
He then looked at the cube in his hand. "Besides, it's not like this one's weaker than the others… It's just a bit more… troublesome."
"Right, it's not like we're trying to get rid of it." The woman said as she sneered.
The man smiled weakly. "Yeah…"
"..."
"..."
However, his guilty demeanor disappeared pretty quickly in the next second. "Well, off it goes."
-Pop!-
With that, he crushed the cube in his hand, brushing off his palms before returning to his paperwork.
After a brief silence, though, his partner broke in.
"Not a word of this to the boss."
"Certainly."
…
°
°
°
|Somewhere else, an unknown amount of time later…|
…
"H-huh? Where am I?" The youth from earlier awoke to a jolting sensation, the floor trembling beneath him.
Like lightning, he shot upright, frantically looking around. The strangeness of his situation made his heart pound wildly.
'What the…?'
As his eyes adjusted, his heartbeat only grew faster. He realized he was in some kind of moving jail, surrounded by men, women, and children, all with expressions of despair.
He blinked in disbelief at the ominous scene around him. Looking through the bars, he tried to make sense of what had happened and who had captured him.
But it only got worse when he saw what lay beyond the bars.
"What a haul we got this time!"
"You said it!"
"Let's celebrate by drinking ourselves stupid tonight!"
"Ohhh!!"
Outside the jail cart, several rough-looking men with weapons laughed loudly, their expressions disturbingly gleeful. They looked every bit the stereotypical bandits—leather armor, swords, bad hygiene, and twisted smirks.
A realization dawned on him as he pieced things together. He was trapped with a terrified crowd, and beyond the bars were bandits escorting the cart along a forested path.
If this wasn't a classic situation of captives on their way to be sold, he didn't know what it was.
He had no idea how he'd ended up here—or how any of this was even possible, considering he'd been in his apartment before waking up here. But that wasn't his focus right now.
First, he needed to find a way out of here before he was sold off to who knew what kind of terrible fate.
However, as his mind blurred, racing through his options and sizing up the others around him, something strange happened.
[Ding!]
A glowing, translucent screen appeared before him, accompanied by a cheerful chime.
"…?"
Only to then, have a set of words materialize on the screen.
▸[It seems I've been unleashed upon a new world… Good, I was itching of boredom.]
"Huh?"
…
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-To be Continued-
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(A/N: Ah yes, a talking system, shake in disgust... or fear, if you have talkingsystemphobia, for he is here to stay and make for a fun or annoying dynamic. Honestly, no idea how you bunch will react to it, but I don't care, I'm too far gone to give up on this idea of mine.)