CH 1

Screaming echoed here and there. As the stone walls collapsed, heavy boulders hit the floor with a thump, thump sound. However, even during this urgent moment, Ayra could not tear his gaze off the other person let alone think of running away.

This was not because the other’s flaming red hair and eyes were so impressive; it was not because the person looked so handsome, smiling so coolly without a hint of anxiety or fear in the face of impending disaster. When Ayra falteringly retreated backwards, the other’s muscular forearms gripped quickly, like a snake, and painfully at his. The look the other sent Ayra’s way was smoldering and bright like a solar flare. 1

“You’ll croak if you go there.” 2 His unconcerned voice fell weightlessly from his lips.

Ayra noted that this wasn’t the best situation to do this, but he checked Janus’s status window as if he were possessed. Before he knew it, a pebble fell out and floated nervously around Ayra.

Soon, Janus’ status window manifested next to his head.

<Janus Rehzedt>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magical Attack: ???

Level of affection: 1 ♡

‘Level of Affection: 1? Only 1?’

As Ayra stared at the status window, Janus’s eyes followed his line of sight. At first, he seemed as if he was looking for something beyond Ayra, but then his eyes focused on the empty air the status window should be. His red eyes narrowed and glowed chillingly from time to time.

And something worse than the strong earthquake around them or his opponent’s dismal favorability rating of 1 had appeared. It was neither a status window nor an alert.

‘This… Wasn’t I only able to see the stats? Why am I suddenly faced with multiple choices?’

But, wait a moment, what’s this ‘ending’?…Bad Ending?

Recalling the joyful times they had together, Ayra stared blankly at the man in front of him. Janus smiled, sharp white teeth gleaming, and gave a long chuckle; his red eyes narrowed in crooked lines. His gaze was glassy, like a reptile.

‘…..What the heck is this?’

Ayra, disoriented, closed his eyes tightly shut and opened them again. His eyes were so strained that he thought he might’ve seen a phantasm. His sore and throbbing body, as if he had been beaten by several people, had also played a part in that judgment. However, no matter how many times he blinked, the round thing on his chest did not disappear. It was about the size of two adult fists clasped together, round, smooth, and translucent.

If that was all, then he might have simply just wondered who had placed this lump on him, but this pebble had eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Its nose was poked into the stone, its eyes were black dots, and its mouth was drawn in the shape of a ㅅ. Ayra blinked his eyes a few times more, the pebble blinked along. Slowly wracking his brains, Ayra made a few guesses, ‘A demon beast? Magic golem? Hallucination? Some other apparition?’

Ayra doubted his eyes. The pebble began manifesting floating letters on its body, right below its mouth.

‘Hi’? English!? Ayra, who wondered if he was now just simply seeing things, raised his hand to rub at his eyes. When he groaned, someone approached from far away, so he raised his head. As his blurred vision cleared, he could see Shinjae, his younger mage colleague.

“Ayra, have you come to your senses? How’s your body?”

“Shinjae……” Ayra wanted to ask if he could also see that strange creature, but something caught his eye. His pupils widened–the stone thing adopted a worried face, and a strange window floated next to his colleague’s head. No matter how much he closed and opened his eyes, that window didn’t disappear.

<Shinjae>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magic Attack: ???

??:??? ♡

No matter how he looked at it, it closely resembled the user interface of–a status window–of a game he had once enjoyed.

***

He was a reincarnator named Solar Xing Ayra.

To be exact, he was the second son of the Solar family who had lived through a previous life on Earth for 20 suns; unfortunately, he ended that life in a car crash. The situation now felt exactly like a fantasy novel; in this second life–the life he’s living now–he had spent a childhood submerged in anguish, receiving the uncomprehending gazes of the people around him. They had constantly wondered why he was such a glum child.

‘Why was I born with the memories of my previous life? Was I perhaps given a special destiny? Am I……the protagonist?’

Spoiler: he was not. At the age of six, he entered the maze-like Labyrinth, the city of magicians where prospective mages would gather; The place was crowded with reincarnators and transmigrators.

In Labyrinth, when someone started to utter the syllable ‘trans’ for transmigrator or ‘re’ for reincarnator, the following conversation would be rampant with discovered similarities and communal commiseration. 

‘I’m actually a reincarnator……’

‘Oh, you too? I’m a transmigrator. Does anyone here know Zerkhamara?’

‘I’m looking for mages from Garganti! Join our regional alumni association!’

‘Everyone should call me ‘hyungnim.’ 3 I’m 40 years old.’

‘You grasshoppers that haven’t had the blood from the womb dry on your heads yet. I’ve come here after living to see my granddaughter and grandson.’

‘Be quiet, little ones. This master 4 has seen over 300 years pass by.’

‘What a fucking mess. If one’s born again, then the number of years you’ve lived should need to start accumulating again.’

‘You punk, don’t speak informally to your elders.’

‘You want to fight right now?’

Amidst the childish magicians who insisted that their adult age should garner them esteem, Ayra remained calmly silent.

In reality, none of these people were given any special destinies. The reason why so many reincarnators and transmigrators crowded there was because an insane dragon must have poked a hole through the dimensional wall.5 To summarize, a considerable number of these now-mages and Ayra passed through that dimensional hole.

As there was an overflow of transmigrated or reincarnated people in this world, traces of different dimensions could be found here and there. It was clear that even this city’s name, “Labyrinth” was named by a reincarnator or transmigrator.

In that respect, the status window in front of Ayra wasn’t entirely incomprehensible or out of place.

The transparent pebble that had been continuously flashing ‘Hi,’ like an electronic panel or the status window floating beside Shinjae’s, my comrade’s, head had clearly adopted some cultural elements that could be found on Earth. However, he had no idea why these things had appeared. Ayra grabbed his throbbing head and traced his scattered memories.

Labyrinth.

The city of magicians–literally a labyrinth. It was a notorious place where it was rumored that those who entered would never leave again, but the city was like paradise on earth for magicians. Ayra shared those opinions; he had lived there for over 20 years (ever since he was six years old).

Had it not been for the urgent news that all of his family members died in a wagon accident, he would have lived there until he died.

Upon hearing the news that was like a bolt from the blue, Ayra stopped his research in a hurry and ran off to his estate with his classmate, Shinjae. Since they were his second family, and further he had been separated from his family for so long, Ayra thought that his grief wouldn’t be so consuming. Was it a subconscious shock? Throughout the funeral, his condition worsened, and he collapsed on the last day of the ceremony while watching over the family tomb’s construction.

And then, after waking up, he was met with an abnormal phenomenon.

“As soon as the funeral finished, you collapsed and fell deathly ill.” Shinjae, worried, put his hand on Ayra’s forehead and was reassured that the fever had finally gone down. Ayra sat up with a hoarse moan; the strange thing on his chest rolled down and started floating in the air like a soap bubble.

Shinjae, pointing with a finger, asked, “By the way, what’s that?”

Ayra had wondered if it was some apparition that only his eyes could see, but if Shinje could also perceive it–it must be more real than an apparition. ‘WoW’ was emblazoned over the body of the unidentified object; Shinje was curious at the unfamiliar symbols he had never seen before.

Ayra glanced quickly at the status window that still floated by his head. In that short time, he quickly made a decision and began to speak calmly, “It’s an artificial spirit I made as an experiment.”

“Now that you say it, the craftsmanship–how round it is…even the way magic is interwoven in its make is totally your style.”

At Shinje’s words, Ayra looked closely at the spirit’s body floating in front of him. Those words were definitely true. The appearance was to his taste, and the interwoven magic method was similar to his crafting style. And the way it used English such as ‘Hi’ or ‘WoW.’ Wasn’t the status window UI (user interface) the same as the game he checked 365 days a year without fail in his previous life?

However, no matter how hard he thought, Ayra had no memories of making this thing? Ayra held his throbbing forehead. Even if he tried to retrace his memories, all that was there were vaguely negative recollections that were painful, tiresome, disgusting, unpleasant, and despairing…

At that moment, a new window appeared in front of him.

Hello Master. Pleased to meet you! ^o^ 6

I am the cute GM spirit who will help with Master’s overflowing dreams: <Adventure in another world!> and <Happy estate management!>. I’m very happy to be with Master from now on. Hurrah!

First, could you please give me a name before we begin?

Enter name ____________ 

What’s this? An introduction screen…that wouldn’t seem out of place…if this were  a video game?

TL: I’m here with another game (ish) novel! If you check my other novels, you can probably see that these are my guilty pleasures. Thanks for joining me! I’m planning on releasing a lot of chapters at first and then evening out the schedule as I go.

Also: Janus Rehzedt — I had a horrible time choosing how to romanize this.

Some choice suggestions from the translator chat: Janus Rejected/Janus Lecher.