Chapter 1

Name: Tang Ze Xianyi

Gender: Male

Age: 22

Occupation: Metropolitan Police Department Inspector

This is the general situation Tang Ze found himself in after arriving in this world.

Fortunately, his handsome, fair face remained unchanged, and his name had only changed from a full name to a surname, with "Xianyi" added as his given name.

He was exactly the same as his former self; otherwise, Tang Ze would have been worried about developing a split personality.

After all, facing a stranger's face every day, who knows if his sanity would hold up.

Being transported to a parallel version of himself made it easier to accept.

In his previous life, he was an art teacher, a single man who enjoyed watching anime and mystery stories. One day, he woke up to find himself in this world.

To be honest, after understanding the situation in this world, Tang Ze was extremely satisfied with the career choice of his parallel self.

As a professional police officer, his parallel self was a true academic genius.

He graduated from the Law Department of Tokyo University, passed the national civil service examination in one go while still a student, and was the top graduate at the Police University.

One could say he was part of the Career Group.

Simply put, he was outstanding.

At this point, Tang Ze wanted to give a big shoutout to his parallel self.

After all, the civil service examination of this country is one of the most difficult to pass.

Let's use a squirrel to illustrate.

Out of the 220,000 police officers in the country, only 500 are part of the Career Group. This comparison should give you an idea of how difficult it is to pass such an exam.

And his parallel self managed to do it, ensuring a bright future.

If you're still not convinced, consider Detective Kogoro Mouri from "Detective Conan," who is also part of the Career Group.

Of course, based on his promotion speed, the unreliable Police Chief of Gunma Prefecture, Taro Yamamura, from "Detective Conan" is likely also part of the Career Group.

As a member of the Career Group, you start at a high level, get promoted quickly, and almost all members become high-ranking officials. Even someone as disgraceful as Taro Yamamura gets promoted faster than non-Career Group members.

After three months of basic training and nine months of practical work at a police station, you can be promoted to Inspector.

This life winner completely calmed Tang Ze's initial unease after his transportation.

The memories in his mind allowed him to handle familiar people and situations with ease. Although he had been transported, his situation was good, and he didn't have to worry about making a living.

After all, the Japanese economy in the 1990s was not doing well, and the decade following the Plaza Accord was even called the "Lost Decade."

One could say that his predecessor had secured the most stable job during the worst period.

In Japan, the salary and benefits for police officers are very generous. Even a new recruit earns more than the average company employee.

For high school graduates, the salary is about 1.9 million yen, 2 million yen for those with a junior college degree, 2.3 million yen for university graduates, and the average company employee earns 1.98 million yen.

This is just the first year. After that, the monthly salary increases by 70,000 to 100,000 yen annually.

Additionally, there are two bonuses each year, totaling about five months' salary.

In other words, a new police officer's total annual income, including bonuses, is nearly 4 million yen. For a university graduate who hasn't experienced the harsh realities of society, this basically avoids future hardships.

The reason Tang Ze was motivated to work hard was also due to the economic downturn.

Without the traditional starting point of having parents to rely on, his parallel self's hometown was in Shangchuan Town, Shangchuan District, Hokkaido, where his family had operated a hot spring inn for generations.

His grandfather's name was Tang Shou. To marry his grandmother, he agreed to the condition set by his mother-in-law and became a son-in-law, inheriting the hot spring inn.

Emmm...

Maybe it's because the first character in both names is "Tang"?

Anyway, when the old man changed his name, it seemed like there was no pressure. He just added "Ze" in the middle of Tang Shou, becoming Tang Ze Shou, which made no real difference.

Moreover, the timeline didn't quite match. In this world, Tang Ze seemed to have been born earlier, almost a generation earlier. This could be attributed to the differences in the world, but fortunately, his parents remained the same.

According to Tang Ze's own memories, in his original world, his grandmother was Japanese and married into the family, while in this world, his grandfather stayed.

Perhaps it was because his grandmother's dowry included an ancestral hot spring that couldn't be moved.

Emmm...

In any case, in the years before, the Tang family's hot spring was very profitable.

Located at the foot of Daisetsuzan National Park, those years saw a large number of tourists who were generous with their spending.

However, the good times didn't last. In his predecessor's second year of high school, the Japanese economy took a nosedive, making it increasingly difficult for the family to run the hot spring inn.

Even though his parents were frugal and didn't spend much beyond daily expenses, the hot spring inn had been struggling for years.

Even by 1996, the business hadn't improved much. During peak seasons, there was some income, but it was barely enough to get by.

After all, with so many unemployed and suicides, who had the interest to soak in hot springs?

In this era, due to Japan's fixed exchange rate with the US dollar (360:1), the cost of living was extremely high. Meat and vegetables were very expensive.

Many men took on debt to support their families, leading to countless divorces and the emergence of many women turning to prostitution.

So even though the family grew some vegetables and raised some poultry, life was very frugal.

After all, Hokkaido wasn't yet a tourist destination, and with a small population, it couldn't compare to bustling cities like Tokyo.

It was during this time that his parallel self began to study hard, and the family spent a lot of money on his education.

In this era, Japan practiced a relaxed education system, and to get into a good university, one needed to attend cram schools because some essential knowledge wasn't taught in high school.

His predecessor was originally a mediocre student, but after the family crisis, he transformed into a diligent and serious top student.

With the support of his family and scholarships, he successfully graduated from the Law Department of Tokyo University, passed the civil service examination in one go, and became an elite member of the Career Group.

Now, Tang Ze could finally support the family.

From the memories, his parallel self was much stronger than him, setting goals from high school and achieving them, even supporting the family.

But he never expected to suddenly switch places. He wondered if the other person had also been transported to his world.

For this, Tang Ze could only hope that it was the case, so that even in a parallel world, they would still be supporting their own parents.

Given that he had directly obtained the memories after transportation, the other self should also have obtained his memories. In that case, being a translator and improving their lives would be sufficient.

The reason his predecessor chose the police as a career was also because of the excellent benefits in this era.

In addition to the salary, unmarried police officers were required to live in single dormitories provided by the police, with free utilities and a free, delicious cafeteria, meaning all expenses were covered.

This meant that as a single police officer, your daily expenses would be almost zero.

Additionally, every two years, you could receive a new, custom-made, high-quality suit for free.

In other words, if you didn't spend recklessly, by the age of 30, a police officer could have savings of 15 to 20 million yen.

Depending on the police role, there were various allowances, such as patrol allowances for patrol officers and traffic regulation allowances for traffic police.

For detectives, there were even more, including call-out allowances and night special operation allowances for working late.

Given these conditions, how could his predecessor not work hard to become a god of studies and join the police Career Group?

———————

PS: 22-year-old Inspectors do exist. The protagonist's birthday is set later, so he is still 22 after graduation. The Career Group is indeed that exceptional.

(This point is from a post by the admin of the Anmitsu Tou bar, which includes a diagram of the promotion times for different types of Japanese police officers.)

Additionally, for those who have seen "Bakemonogatari," the character Araragi Koyomi became an Inspector at 23 after graduating from university, and his sister joined the police as a Patrol Officer while still in high school.

The background of the protagonist's family and the era took a long time to set up.

The descriptions of the Japanese police are thanks to the posts by the admin of the Shinran bar, who provided a lot of information.

As a meticulous person, I can only say I did my best. If there are any inaccuracies, please refer to the changes in this parallel world.

This chapter took as long to write as three regular chapters. Additionally, the situation in the Detective Conan world is different, so some institutional settings will be modified to advance the plot. Please refer to this book for all details.