Chapter 1: Anywhere but Here
“Help me, Truck-kun, you’re my only hope,” were Simon’s final words before he stepped out into traffic on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.
It was a quick but messy end as he transformed from a 29-year-old man into an impromptu speed bump for the eighteen-wheeler barreling down the street. The driver slammed on the brakes the instant he saw what was happening, but he would never stop in time.
For Simon, the most challenging part had been figuring out which street near his parent’s house was the busiest. He’d considered jumping off a bridge instead, but he was afraid of heights, and it was easier to let someone else kill him. Doing it this way was just the perfect otaku ending for his hikikomori life.
He’d been a shut-in for years, spurning the constant disappointment of real people and playing games to avoid messy social interactions as the world passed him by. It had been like this since he’d gotten laid off and moved back in with his parents a couple years ago. His friends said he was stuck in a rut, but they didn’t get it.
They were too busy with girlfriends or careers of their own to see how he’d steadily simplified his life to focus on the essential things. One by one, they drifted off, giving up the online games they’d played together for so long. Simon didn’t care, though; once they were gone, he didn’t miss them.
Too many Isekai light novels had convinced him that his only salvation was in another world. Even if the odds of such things were slim, it was still worth betting his life on. While he might not have been good with Excel or showing up for work on time, after spending thousands of hours fighting every monster under the sun, he was sure that he could save the world from the demon king, stop the undead army, or whatever another world might need help with. He’d be glad to do it, too, in exchange for a few busty friends and some great food along the way.
As Simon saw it, the worst-case scenario was that instead of waking up in another world with an overpowered skill or two, he’d just disappear. Stupid concepts like heaven or hell couldn’t be real, so either option worked for him.
Anything would be better than this tedious, mundane existence. He was tired of his mother failing to understand that working retail was beneath him, and no matter how many rare achievements he attached to his resume, none of the game design jobs he applied to ever called him back.
Moments after he felt the weight of the steel bumper force him underneath the truck’s unforgiving wheels, Simon peeled himself off the cool marble floor of an antechamber decorated with mosaics and marble statuary. He smiled for the first time in weeks at the sight.