Chapter 7

Translated by Seraphic

Loop 23[1]

●Day 1●

“Other World’s Pincer Master”[2]

This is the title of the annual first ranked novel.

In order to continue this novel, I first have to gain a thorough understanding of it.

The protagonist is a 28-year old salaryman by the name of Hirata.

At the beginning, he dies from overwork.[3]

He then awakens and finds himself standing in a spotlessly white temple.

In his surroundings are the silhouettes of countless people.

While everyone is confused by the circumstances, a goddess descends from heaven.

The goddess begins explaining things to the ones gathered in that place.

It went something along the lines of, this was a punishment.

In their arrogance they disrespected god, and for that, judgement would be inflicted.

That punishment was to be reincarnated in a world where monsters swaggered about.

The goddess read out each person’s crimes one by one and condemned them to the other world.

Hirata’s crime was “destroying a shrine and erecting a condominium in its place.”

It was the assignment Hirata was working on just before his death.

However, it was the duty of the company rather than Hirata’s own responsibility.

He argued that he was just doing as he was told, but the goddess didn’t listen.

He was dropped into the other world…and as faded away, an insect flew by.

When Hirata was young, he had found a dying stag beetle and helped it.

In fact, that stag beetle was a hero who had averted a world crisis and was inducted into the ranks of the divinities for its merits.

Seeing its former benefactor in a pinch, the stag beetle came flying.

The stag beetle was a god. However, it sat near the bottom of the lower ranked gods.

Therefore, it could not circumvent Hirata’s punishment of being dropped into the other world.

However, it could bestow its divine protection.

Even for the condemned, powers could be granted based on the merits they achieved in life.

And thus Hirata, with the power of the stag beetle, began his adventures in the other world.[4]I chose the 350th day because the Completion Boost might last several days.

In the past year, there was a novel on the cumulative ranking that reached completion.

I was watching their point increase, and it didn’t finish in a day.

It took around 5 days until saturation was reached.

I don’t know how much “Other World’s Pincer Master” will reach, but that will give me two weeks to spare.

How much will it grow?

Please increase.

I’m begging you.

I want to leave this room as soon as possible.

With that thought, I pushed the reset button.

[1] Loop 22 skipped in the raws.

Maybe that time they tested the shorter-term loop made last chapter Loop 21 and 22?

[2] Title is literally 異界のハサミ使い (Ikai no Hasami Tsukai), which perhaps more naturally translates to “Other World’s Scissor User.” I chose “Master” over “User” as a reference to the novel Konjiki no Moji Tsukai (“Moji Tsukai” being translated to “Word Master”) seeing as the whole story seems to be a shout-out to various isekai tropes. ハサミ translates to “scissors,” however, it can be used to refer to the mandibles of certain insects.

[3] Karōshi; I’m sure most readers are familiar with the concept, but it’s a relatively common phenomenon for Japanese salarymen to die from causes related to overwork.

[4] Fun fact, “Hirata” can also refer to a stag beetle (Dorcus titanus).

[5] The Japanese name for swallow-tailed butterflies (genus Papilio).

[6] クロバ can refer to the bamboo moth (Artona martini). Incidentally, Hirata and Clover are the names of two large Japanese manufacturing companies….which one might say “oppose” each other….

[7] The name is a reference to Vespula flaviceps, a type of wasp commonly eaten in Japan.

[8] A kabutomushi (beetle) and a kuwagatamushi (stag beetle).