I woke up with a head that felt like it had been stomped by a herd of buffalo.
"Ughhh..."
My eyes slowly opened, and the first thing I saw was... a wooden ceiling.
Hard bed.
Weird smell.
Weird clothes.
And then—
"OH NO, THIS ISN'T A DREAM!!"
I instantly sat up—zombie-rising-from-the-grave style.
My breathing sped up. My eyes bulged.
"THIS IS REAL? SERIOUSLY?!"
Suddenly, the wooden door creaked open, and in walked a young woman wearing an apron and some kind of witchy nurse outfit.
She carried a tray full of tiny bottles and—oh no—a sweet, sincere smile.
"Good morning. Are you feeling alright? You looked really exhausted... Oh, and this box... is it yours?"
She pointed to a black suitcase sitting in the corner.
That suitcase... MY SUITCASE??!?
I stared at it like it was a long-lost best friend.
"Y-yeah, that's mine! That's my suitcase!" I blurted out without thinking.
"Alright then. Here are your vitamins. Try to rest, I'll check on you later this afternoon," she said with a kind smile.
Then she left.
As soon as the door shut...
I grabbed my head.
"WHAT EVEN IS THIS?!?!"
I swear this feels like a prank from the universe itself.
I just fell asleep on a plane. JUST SLEPT.
No turbulence. No explosions. No falling meteors. And when I woke up... TADAA~ alternate universe!
I've read isekai manga, watched isekai anime, played isekai games—
And they always start with a truck, a sacrifice ritual, or some embarrassingly stupid death.
BUT THIS??
JUST SLEEPING?!?!
"Okay, okay, calm down, Aria..."
Usually in games or anime, you can open a status screen, right?
I gave it a shot, with hope in my heart.
"STATUS OPEN!"
...
"PROFILE!"
...
"MENU! INVENTORY! SYSTEM COMMAND!"
...
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! NOTHING'S POPPING UP?!?"
I wanted to throw a pillow, but I was afraid the nurse would walk in and label me "mentally unstable."
"Okay. So basically, from corporate slave, I've been promoted to... royal slave?"
Fantastic. Job upgrade: from 9 to 5 → till I die.
The next morning, the nurse came back with warm water and something that looked suspiciously like Minecraft porridge.
"Are you feeling any better?" she asked while checking my temperature.
I nodded weakly.
But curiosity was bubbling inside me, so I asked, "Umm... by the way, in this world... is there like, you know, skills? Or magic or something?"
She tilted her head. "Skills? What are 'skills'? I've never heard of that... But magic? Of course. Doesn't everyone know a little magic?"
I froze.
Magic... IS REAL?!
My brain was still buffering.
Lucid dream? Nope.
Simulation? No way.
VR? Way too high-res.
Dream? THERE'S NO DREAM THAT LEAVES YOU THIS SORE!
The nurse stood up and quietly shut the door.
"I'll come back this afternoon. Please rest."
And there I was.
Sitting.
Alone.
In a foreign world.
With a suitcase...
And a future that made zero sense.
One thing I knew for sure—
I needed coffee.