Rei Kurozane was not what you'd call a hero. He wasn't a chosen one, a genius, or even moderately successful by Earth's standards. No, he was a full-time hikikomori, part-time ramen philosopher, and a permanent resident of the online forums dedicated to cultivation and beast taming novels.
He had a routine. Wake up at 2 PM, microwave leftover takoyaki, browse his favorite webnovel site, argue with trolls in the comment section, and scroll endlessly through gacha roll compilations until 4 AM. And on this particularly fateful day, Rei was doing just that—except today, fate had something absurd in store.
As he downloaded the latest leaked volume of "I Became the Beast God of Nine Realms After Marrying a Dragon Empress in Chapter 1", he was also munching on a double-cheese curry bun he had microwaved a little too long.
It exploded.
Molten cheese shot into his eye, causing him to flail, knocking over his anime figure shelf. In the chaos, he tripped over a body pillow—a rare, collector's edition Yandere Dragon Girl—and fell face-first into his custom-built gaming PC.
But the final blow?
His rogue toaster, which had been resting on top of a manga stack for months, finally slipped. It slid off like a predator sensing weakness.
He looked up.
"No…"
BANG!
The toaster landed directly on the back of his head.
He died instantly.
His last thought?
"I didn't even get to max out my contract beast in Volume 13…"
And then, darkness…