Prologue

The sun is setting, I’ll have enough time for a raid or two. I think to myself as I close my blinds.

I boot up Caverns & Wyverns Online. My character is almost maxed out, the only things I’ve yet to do are get a few artefact drops and grind my cooking and serving skills to 99.

I que up for the mission finder, and continue grinding my skills up. I’ve done the math, to level both of my skills to the max it’ll take me around 30 hours of gameplay to level them, assuming perfect inputs of course.

The queue pops up.

Another low level raid, well we do have a few new players, I’ll join to help them get through this, it can be pretty tough the first time.

Upon joining the raid I ask if they’ve done this before, to which I’m told that they haven’t done it.

It’s still fresh in my mind what it was like to start out, this was one of the major barriers keeping players from making it to the rest of the game, the bosses' unintuitive mechanics and odd animations put people off. But I try my best to help the new players through, trying to make their experience a positive one.

It’s tough, and we get wiped a few times, but we prevail in the end. I say "gg" in chat, and quickly realise that I underestimated my sleepiness, and I turn the game off and head to bed.

The morning light manages to find the perfect angle to shine in my eyes, waking me up.

7 minutes before my alarm, huh.

Begrudgingly getting up and brushing my teeth, I prepare for my day ahead, working as a nine to five office worker.

Walking to work has always been enjoyable, seeing the neighbour’s cats lounging about, and the hustle and bustle of the city. Stopping to pet them for a while before continuing always brightened up the day.

Over the years my routine has solidified, always walking the same path, getting the same coffee, and greeting the same people with their own rigid routine.

Suddenly the daily routine is shattered, my route is blocked by construction work.

I’ll just take the other route.

It may seem sad, but this slight change in my daily routine excites me, I’ve never really paid attention to these parts of the city.

I’m pulled away from my newfound thoughts as the screeching of tires assault my ears. A truck is coming right at me, and won’t have the time to stop. At the last minute I manage to force my body to dive to the side, barely escaping what most likely would have been my untimely death.

You’re not going to isekai me today,Truck-kun.

Adrenaline pumping in my veins, I get up and inspect myself for any damage.

Everything seems fine except for a dirtied suit.

The truck seems to have kept on going, so I keep on going as well.

The workday is uneventful, as usual.

At my current rate it’ll take me three days to max my character out.

Upon entering my apartment I quickly discard excess clothing and head on to boot up my computer and Caverns & Wyverns Online. I’m stopped in my tracks by the leaderboard, the top players' accounts have disappeared. Searching their names up in the player index I find nothing.

That’s odd, playing this game was their life. Why would they delete their accounts?

But the plan remains the same, grind skills, do raids. And that is what I do for the rest of the day, going to bed late at night.

The weekend couldn’t come sooner. I’ll finally get to max my character.

Those are my last thoughts before falling asleep.

“Hello… Are you awake?” An unfamiliar voice calls out to me.

Groggily waking up I take in my surroundings, but there are no surroundings to take in except for a woman with a notebook in her hands sitting on a bean bag chair with a television positioned a nice viewing distance away.

“Where am I, and who are you?” I say defensively.

“Well, you’re dead. Honestly this is kind of my fault, you were supposed to die earlier but you survived somehow”.

“Is this like an isekai? Are you going to give me some fantastical powers and have me go kill a demon king”?

“About that, everything is kinda done already. The demon king is slain, the portal to the underworld is closed and the unholy rituals have been stopped. ” She says with a shrug.

Staring into the void is the only thing on my mind now as my understanding of the situation is shattered.

The woman seems to be deep in thought, until her eyes suddenly light up. “I know what we’re going to do with you! I’m sending you into the same world that I sent the others to, but instead of amazing powers, I’m going to set you up with a few women”.

Her words don’t really sit well with me. “Excuse me, do I get a say in this”?

“Nope my realm my choice, but let’s spice this up a bit. You’re going to have three different women to choose from, but only one of them you’ll be happy with.”

“So if I choose wrong I’ll just be sad for the rest of my life”?

“Oh good point.” She begins scribbling something down in her notebook. “I made it so that one of them is going to kill you down the line if you choose her, and now only one of them will leave you sad”

“I don’t know if that makes it any better”.

“Too bad, you really only have yourself to blame, you gave me the idea after all”. She says as she waves her hand and a portal appears beside me. “I’ve been waiting for some prime entertainment, and I’m expecting a great romcom from you. Now get going I don’t have all day”

Seeing no better option I shake my head and walk in.

I didn’t even get to max my character out.