“Agh… my head hurts like hell.”
A faint groan slipped from the young man's lips. He instinctively raised a hand to clutch his head. The dull, throbbing pain felt like someone was pounding the inside of his skull with a tiny hammer, making him knit his brows tightly before slowly trying to open his eyes.
His eyelids felt as heavy as if they were weighed down with sand, and the instant he cracked them open, the entire world was replaced by blinding white light.
“Shit, my eyes…”
He blinked rapidly several times, tears welling up from the brightness stabbing into his eyes. His body automatically squinted, trying to adjust to the light.
“What hospital is this? Why are the lights so damn bright?”
He murmured softly to himself, his mind still dazed and confused. The last image before he lost consciousness was blurry, but the first thought that surfaced was, “The medical bill.”
Then, all of a sudden, a line from a movie he'd watched floated into his mind.
“It’s so bright…”
He chuckled quietly at his own mental joke, even though he still had no idea what was going on.
“You’re awake.”
A voice came from behind him.
It was an older man's voice, warm and polite. Listening to it made him think of a kind old man next door more than anything supernatural.
The young man flinched slightly before turning toward the voice—and promptly recoiled so hard he nearly lost his balance.
“What the hell?”
The exclamation slipped out naturally.
In front of him was not a doctor, not a nurse, and not the white ceiling of a hospital room.
It was “light.”
A blinding white mass of light shaped vaguely like a human, wearing something that looked like flowing clothes. The details were nearly impossible to see, swallowed up by the radiance.
He instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes and squinted through the glare.
“You seem to have quite a few questions. Go ahead and ask.”
The light spoke as if it were smiling.
“Um… do I still have to pay the medical bill?”
An odd silence spread through the space for a moment.
“Er… that probably isn’t what you really wanted to know, is it? But if it is, I can answer. You probably don’t have to pay it anymore. Do you still think this is a hospital?”
With that, the light gestured to the side.
The young man pulled himself together, drew a deep breath, and looked around.
There was no bed, no wall, no floor, and no ceiling.
There was nothing at all.
Only him and the radiant being before him.
Everything else was an endless white void, as if the entire world had been erased until nothing remained but a blank sheet of paper.
In truth, from the moment he turned around and saw this glowing life-form, he had known deep down that something was wrong.
But because he had initially assumed he was in a hospital—and because images of a massive bill kept circling through his head—he had blurted out that stupid question first.
“I don’t have to guess, do I? This is just like the plot of a novel or anime, right?”
He asked bluntly, his voice tinged with both hesitation and amusement.
“That’s exactly what you understand it to be. According to what your world calls a novel plot. You understand things quickly.”
“I usually don’t understand things quickly.” He gave a dry smile. “I just browse the web a lot. Whenever I have free time, I get hooked on reading. It’s fun. Some protagonists are insanely irritating—stupid at first, then they get reincarnated in another world. Most of them come from… uh, never mind.”
He laughed to cover it up.
“They go to another world and start out pathetic, then become ridiculously overpowered later. They enter gates to save the world. In some stories, the protagonist is poor, gets dumped by his girlfriend, and receives some kind of immortal-cultivator system. Later on, they barely sympathize with anyone and act like the coolest guy alive.”
He rambled on like someone finally letting out years of pent-up opinions.
The light listened quietly before speaking.
“Then let’s get to the point. Yes. You’re going to be reincarnated in another world, in another dimension.”
He had already more or less guessed it, but hearing the confirmation made his heart start pounding harder without him realizing it.
“But I’m not exactly a good person. I didn’t save the nation or help children cross the street every day. Why do I get special treatment like this?”
He asked the question seriously.
His voice held both curiosity and excitement he was trying hard to suppress.
“We need an ordinary person,” the light replied simply. “Does a world of only good people really exist? Or one of only evil people? Even in the darkness of night, there are stars. Even in the brightness of morning, shadows remain. We only hope you won’t lean too far toward the wrong side.”
The words sounded grand.
The young man fell silent for a moment before thinking to himself,
‘But you’re so blindingly white I can barely keep my eyes open.’
“There are other colors within this light. You simply can’t see them. Have you never searched for things on what you call the internet?”
He froze.
“As I said, I can read minds. You’ve read plenty of novels, haven’t you? Didn’t you catch on?”
‘Heh. Showing off, too.’
“I can show off a lot more than that.”
“I think you should stop reading my mind and just answer me instead. Otherwise, whenever I think of something, you’ll answer it all day. Some things are just thoughts, you know.”
The light chuckled softly.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way. Now, let’s get to the real subject. We’re going to send you to be born in our world. That world is far less advanced than the one you came from. If I had to compare it to something, it would be like an ancient era transitioning into the medieval era. There are kingdoms, wars, and social classes.”
Its tone grew more serious.
“We chose you because of the good deed you performed on the last day of your life. You may not think it was anything significant, but for us, it was enough. We want you to use the knowledge you enjoy researching to help develop that world.”
The young man fell silent.
The last day of his life.
Something flashed through his mind, but it was too blurry to grasp.
“Um, yes, I do research a lot. But honestly, I look things up because I don’t understand them, so I watch the same things over and over. Basically, I’m an idiot.”
He spoke frankly.
“But will magic be hard to learn?”
The light was silent for a moment.
“I don’t remember telling you that there was magic.”
“You just said you could tell I’ve read a lot of novels, didn’t you?”
“Ahem. Anyway, magic does exist. There are also several other races, all with intelligence. Since you’ve read so many novels, I don’t need to explain everything in detail. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”
The light paused briefly.
“We’ll send you into a body, along with one talent.”
His heart gave a jolt.
“I don’t have to be a hero who defeats the Demon Lord, do I? And what about the body's original owner? What happened to him?”
He asked this in the most serious tone he had used since the conversation began.
“You don’t have to be a hero, but there will certainly be bad people. If you have the ability, what you do is up to you. As for the body's original owner, his soul has returned to our embrace.”
The voice was calm, serene, and absolute.
“Don’t ask any more questions. Continue learning after you wake up in that body. We’re sending you now.”
“Then can I ask one last question?”
“What is it now?”
“What should I call you?”
A brief silence followed.
“I alone created this world. You may call me whatever you like. Choose whatever you think is appropriate.”
The young man smiled faintly.
“See you again, the god.”
Suddenly, the white light began to tremble.
Whoosh—
His body vanished into the void.
Only a solitary light remained suspended in the limitless expanse.
“I thought he’d come up with a cooler name. I got my hopes up for nothing.”
A faint mutter rang out before even that voice slowly faded away.