Tokyo, Japan.
Late at night in a small game development company, the office was quiet as death. The only person still awake was Minamiya Homura, sitting in front of his computer, his hands dancing over the keyboard.
As a software engineer in a game company, working overtime had long become routine. Why was it so silent? Simple—every other programmer in the office had already collapsed, sleeping on the floor or at their desks.
The project they were wrapping up was an online multiplayer life simulation game. In simple terms: a game where players could choose how to live in a simulated world.
The game was nearly complete. Homura was running the final test. As long as no serious bugs popped up, they could finally deliver it to the client.
What if there were still bugs after delivery?
Well… patch updates, of course.
"Ahh… haa…"
Homura yawned deeply. The dim office lighting reflected his tired face off the computer screen.
"I really don't get why the client insisted on this type of project," he muttered, stretching lazily. "A life simulator… do these games still have a market nowadays?"
If this were the early days of online gaming, a life simulator would've been a big hit. But after nearly twenty years of rapid game development in every genre imaginable, this kind of project felt… strange.
"Whatever. Not my problem," he thought, scratching his head in resignation. "My job is just to finish what I was assigned. What happens after that is the operator's headache."
After cracking his stiff neck and stretching a bit more, Homura returned to the final round of testing.
One hour later.
"Finally… done."
Completely slouched in his chair, Homura let out a long breath of relief. His face, peppered with stubble, bore an exhausted but satisfied smile.
Standing up, he stretched again, twisting his neck until it cracked audibly.
Glancing around the room and the "corpses" of his coworkers sprawled everywhere, he chuckled quietly.
"Alright… time to submit this thing."
He uploaded the packaged game file to the client.
"Yeah, there's probably still some bugs hiding in there, but that's what players are for, right?" He grinned as he imagined the angry complaints players would make once they found the leftover glitches.
Finally—sleep.
He dragged out his sleeping bag, his heavy eyelids barely staying open as he collapsed into it.
"This time… I'm sleeping for two whole days…" he muttered, half-asleep.
"…snore… snore…"
"Wait… don't tell me I actually slept for two whole days? No one woke me up?"
Still dazed, Homura murmured to himself as his mind slowly cleared.
"…Hmm? Something feels… off?"
"…"
"!!!"
He shot upright, heart pounding, eyes wide.
A strange ceiling.
A strange room.
He was instantly and completely awake.
Homura sat on an unfamiliar bed, his sleeping bag nowhere in sight. A checkered blanket covered him. The light blue curtains swayed gently by the window. A small potted succulent sat on the windowsill—some kind of plant he didn't recognize.
Near the bed was a closet. Across from it, a desk and chair. On the desk stood a rather expensive-looking PC.
It all seemed simple enough, but… anyone would immediately realize:
This was unmistakably the room of an otaku.
The walls were plastered with posters of anime characters he didn't recognize. A shelf in the corner was lined with detailed figurines. The nearby bookcase overflowed with manga and light novels—though he couldn't read the titles from this angle, their nature was obvious.
"Did… someone bring me home…?" Homura wondered uneasily.
Just then, dizziness hit him. A flood of unfamiliar memories poured into his mind.
He sat dazed for a while before recovering.
Going over the strange new memories, Homura muttered in shock:
"Wait… this… this is the legendary 'isekai'?!"
Falling asleep at work and waking up in another world?
It was cliché, but it seemed real.
Though anxious, Homura forced himself up and walked to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face, then stared into the mirror.
His hand touched the mirror's surface, then his own face.
"This… this really is another world. I look younger, too."
A wry smile spread across his face.
"Well… maybe this isn't so bad. I didn't have much tying me down back home anyway."
With that quiet thought, Homura calmed himself. Life had been lonely and full of ups and downs in his previous world. Compared to that, starting fresh seemed… manageable.
Returning to the room, he sat at the desk and powered on the PC.
While waiting for it to boot, he sifted through the memories of his new life.
"Man… if waking up in another world wasn't shocking enough, this setup is straight out of a dream."
Homura couldn't help but voice his disbelief.
"A house, a younger body, no parental interference—parents always away on business—and the Minamiya family name carries serious weight in this world. This is practically a perfect start!"
His parents were rarely home, it seemed.
For someone used to living alone like him, that was ideal.
As the PC finished booting, Homura immediately opened the browser to confirm some details about this "new world."
Even if his memories were updated, it was still better to double-check reality for himself.
The desktop icons looked familiar, though the names were slightly different.
Instead of QQ or Baidu, there were localized versions—some kind of generic chat client and search engine popular in this world.
He grinned.
"So even in parallel worlds, chat apps still rule everything, huh…"
Searching further, he realized this world—while similar to his own Japan—had a slightly different history and development path.
Japan, as always, was a major cultural power—especially in the entertainment industry. Anime, manga, light novels, games, and music were booming worldwide. Even some works from his previous life existed here… but others were missing, replaced by local creations.
Fascinating.
"I wonder how much I could bring into this world's market…"
The idea excited him.
"Maybe I can spread some of the best works from my old world here. Fill in the gaps in their pop culture…"
A fire lit In his heart. Homura resolved to become a creator—an ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, Novel) master in this new life.
"I'll make my mark here. This world will know the brilliance of what I bring…"
Just as this determination settled in his mind, something flickered at the edge of his vision.
"Huh…? What's that?"
He noticed a strange glowing icon floating silently in the corner of his sight.