Ding!
"Please come back."
"Sure will."
Keal stepped out of the manga store, in his hands a collection of books stacked in perfection.
Standing in front of the shop for a while, he sniffed the book, allowing the new scent to linger in his nose for a while.
'Ahhh~ nothing beats the smell of new books.' He pulled his face back a bit. 'Now I just have to get home and finish them all before work tomorrow.'
Just the mention of that word stirred his stomach a bit.
Having to wake up every morning during weekdays to attend to his job was exhausting enough as it is.
Not to mention the pay was extremely small as well.
Sigh.
'If only I could just drop dead right now, that would be better than having to go to work.'
"Yo! Watch out!!!"
A voice echoed from the side.
It was then followed by tires scraping the ground and horns honking repeatedly.
Keal turned his gaze to the side, noticing the out-of-control truck speeding toward his location.
Acting quickly, he leaped out of the way, his body crashing to the ground as the truck collided with the bookstore.
The window shattered, and the sound of people screaming echoed.
A smile formed on Keal's face when he realized he was somehow still alive.
Or so he thought.
In the blink of an eye, he found himself in a different world, surrounded by white fog and beautiful insects flying all around.
From where he was, he could see what looked to be a throne a few feet away from him.
And on that throne was a woman, her face covered by the fog.
Her dress glowed with radiance, as though it were alive.
'Dude…'
Keal looked at the ground for a while and then poked it, making sure he wasn't in some kind of dream.
'Where the hell am I?'
"You're in heaven, dear one."
The woman sitting atop the throne answered for him.
"Oh." Keal sat upright. "So I died?"
"Yes, you did. But you seem awfully calm about it."
"Why, of course, because you're going to send me back! What the hell do you mean I am in heaven?! How could I have possibly died?!!!" Keal pointed at the woman.
"Ah— Don't raise your voice at me, do you have any idea who I am? I am the goddess of the heavens; show some respect."
Keal sighed, "Yeah, okay, my bad, I apologize."
"Thank you."
"So, how do you plan to send me back to my world? I have some books I still need to finish, and this whole situation is killing the mood," he said with a deadpan-ish look.
The goddess was silent for a while.
"I can understand your reason, and I truly do sympathize with you. If anything, I owe you an explanation."
With a single movement of a hand, the goddess presented a screen before Keal, showing the moment he leaped out of the way before the truck could hit him.
"There was an error on my part. Before you dodged getting hit, I may have acted rashly and registered you as dead."
"What?"
"I—in my defense, no one has ever dodged the white truck before. I assumed it was over for you the moment it lost control."
"So you killed me…"
"...Y-yes."
"...."
"B-but you don't have to worry; even if I can't send you back to your world, you have the option to reincarnate into another. There are multiple options for you to pick from; choose any one you want!"
As she swung her arm to the right, Keal was encircled by several screens, all of them facing away from him.
"We normally don't offer this to wandering souls, but I can make an exception this time. Just pick whichever you want, and I promise you won't regret it."
Arms folded, Keal turned his gaze to the screen.
He was dead; there was nothing more he could do about it.
Plus, he never really liked his former world to begin with.
This might be a good opportunity to start something new with his life.
'Imagine I reincarnate as the son of some powerful tyrant, or maybe even the lone male in an elf kingdom…'
He chuckled outwardly.
His options were many, so the chances of him reincarnating as anything less were second to none.
Reading a lot of webnovels, he was quite familiar with the setup.
"Here, I pick this one."
Keal pointed at the golden screen.
Since it was the only screen with a different color among all the others with silver layouts, it had to be particularly noteworthy.
"A-are you sure?" asked the goddess, her voice obviously shaking. "There are other choices you can pick from."
'Reverse psychology, eh… I know how this works.'
With confidence, he responded,
"Yes, I know, but this is what I want."
The goddess sighed out loud, "Very well, you have chosen to reincarnate as a new experimental creature by the god of creation."
'Eh? What is that?'
"For picking such a bad choice, I will tweak a few things to make life easier for you in your new world. Additionally, I'll grant you a chance to make a single wish."
Before Keal, a white orb presented itself. It was radiating with mana.
"Make any wish, and it will be done."
Keal stared at the orb for a while.
'Was I tripping, or did she say I was going to reincarnate as an experimental loser? First, she kills me for apparently no reason, then she insults me? Like hell I'll let that slide.'
He looked at her, her face still hidden.
'Sitting there all high and mighty, I bet she thinks she didn't do anything wrong because she's a goddess. That's it, I have made up my mind.'
Keal pointed to the orb and decided.
"I wish for you to become my slave in whatever world I reincarnate into."
Silence took over.
Both sides stared hard and for a long time.
Next—
"You bastard! You've ruined my life!!!"
Before Keal could fully see her reaction, a bright light blinded him.
[Congratulations, you have reincarnated.]