Chapter 1

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That’s how it was.

Despite my mood, the weather that day was terrible.

Caught in a storm that was too violent even for a spring tempest, the view from the car was extremely limited.

Still, I continued to drive.

Today is the end of March.

The exhilaration of overcoming the delivery hell concentrated at the end of the fiscal year was impossible to hide.

I hurried home despite the bad weather because staying at the office wouldn’t make me feel like the work was really over.

With this heavy rain, I had no energy to stop at a convenience store; I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

All I had to do was cross the mountains to arrive.

“Ah, finally it’s over.”

My deflated state of mind slipped out in words.

I was about to be free from work for a while.

This year, unusually, all tasks were completed neatly, and there were no ongoing projects that would carry over to the next fiscal year.

It felt like a significant milestone, almost a turning point in my life.

If I were to disappear right now, the inconvenience to the company would be minimal.

I was in such a high mood that I even entertained the thought of something as dangerous as that.

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Yes, at that moment, I had completed the highest workload in my career and was experiencing an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

“What should I do for fun?”

Starting tomorrow, I planned to fully utilize my accumulated paid leave and compensatory time off to enjoy a long vacation.

Basically, I would just stay at home, lounging around and enjoying secondary entertainment like manga and games.

I know it might seem like a questionable hobby for a single man in his 30s, but it’s the most fun for me, so there’s nothing I can do about it.

Secondary entertainment—anime, games, manga, novels, and more—immersing myself in worlds different from reality through various media is the ultimate form of entertainment.

Thinking about the pile of works in my room, I continued to press the accelerator, smiling to myself in a creepy way.

The increasingly heavy rain and thunder, instead of heightening my sense of danger, only fueled my exhilaration.

“Hah, hahahaha, ahahahaha—!!”

It was as if the atmosphere was becoming otherworldly, and I, high from the fatigue of days of work and the sense of liberation, opened my eyes wide and let out a high-pitched laugh.

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At the same time, a bolt of lightning struck right in front of me, and even the sudden braking was too late. I flew into the space that opened up, now a blinding white.

There, my consciousness was cut off.