Su Chen realized something was wrong when his phone refused to unlock with his fingerprint.
"…Rude."
He stared at the screen, tried again, and failed again. After the third attempt, the phone locked him out completely.
That was when he noticed the hands holding it.
Too slim. Too young. No faint calluses from years of keyboard abuse.
Su Chen slowly raised his head and looked around.
A small rented apartment. A single bed. A desk cluttered with unfamiliar textbooks instead of manga volumes. The walls were clean but cheap, the kind landlords bragged about while charging extra.
This was not his room.
More importantly—
This was not his world.
"…I finally stayed up all night reading novels," Su Chen muttered, rubbing his face, "and this is how reality rewards me?"
There was no truck. No lightning. No dramatic last words.
Just a clean, quiet transmigration into a parallel world he knew absolutely nothing about.
No plot knowledge.
No future memories.
No cheats—at least none he could feel.
Classic hardcore mode.
Before he could panic, memories began surfacing naturally, like files opening on their own.
This body's owner was also named Su Chen. Eighteen years old. A high school student living alone in a rented apartment. Ordinary grades. Ordinary life.
Very ordinary.
The memories merged smoothly. No pain. No resistance.
Su Chen sat on the edge of the bed, digesting everything with the calm of someone who had read far too many transmigration stories to scream about it.
"Alright," he said, nodding to himself. "Parallel world. New life. Same name. Acceptable."
Then he noticed something else.
The world was… off.
Brands he didn't recognize. Business models that felt outdated. Technologies that existed, but were used inefficiently.
To an otaku?
This was paradise.
To a former business-minded novel reader who had spent years consuming stories about capital, markets, and empires?
This was a gold mine.
"…So many gaps," Su Chen murmured, eyes lighting up. "If I don't start a business here, I'd be insulting capitalism."
He leaned back, already mentally sketching plans—platforms, investments, monopolies that hadn't been invented yet.
That was when—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Su Chen froze.
He frowned at the door.
"I didn't order transmigration DLC," he said cautiously. "Who's this part for?"
The knocking came again, firmer this time.
With a sigh, Su Chen stood up and opened the door.
Outside stood a middle-aged couple, their clothes simple but dignified. Behind them were two men in black suits who looked completely out of place in this cheap apartment corridor.
The woman's eyes reddened the moment she saw him.
"Chen'er…"
Su Chen blinked.
Ah.
There it was.
The same old melodramatic show.
Lost child. Regret-filled parents. Fate finally knocking at the door—literally.
The man stepped forward, voice restrained.
"We are from the Su family."
Su Chen's eyebrow lifted slightly.
The Su family.
As the largest family in the region, their name alone carried weight even to an ordinary student like the original owner.
"We lost you years ago," the woman said, her voice trembling. "After so long… we finally found you."
Su Chen leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"You people move fast," he said lightly. "I just woke up."
The bodyguards stiffened. The man frowned. The woman hesitated.
"You're… not surprised?" the man asked.
Su Chen smiled faintly.
"Surprised? A little," he admitted. "Emotionally invested? Not really."
Inside, he felt nothing.
No excitement. No resentment. No longing.
These emotions belonged to the body, not him.
But the memories stirred—faint, lingering.
A child's loneliness.
A quiet wish to belong.
A question that was never answered.
Su Chen sighed softly.
"…Alright," he said after a moment.
Everyone looked at him.
"I'll go with you," he continued calmly. "Not because of blood, or family drama."
The woman's eyes shone.
"But because," Su Chen added, shrugging, "this body probably wants some closure."
The man studied him deeply, as if seeing him for the first time.
"You can think it over," he said. "The Su family is not small."
"I know," Su Chen replied. "Largest family and all that."
The bodyguards' eyes widened slightly.
Su Chen stepped back inside, grabbed his jacket, and slipped on his shoes.
"Let's go," he said casually. "If nothing else, I'm curious."
Curious about a new world.
Curious about a powerful family.
And very curious about how much business potential this parallel world was hiding.
As he walked down the narrow staircase with the Su family behind him, Su Chen's expression remained calm.