"What... is this...?"
Half-asleep, Jingu Yō felt something wet and sticky licking his face.
"Could it be... some cute girl?"
Lost in delusion, Jingu Yō slowly opened his dazed eyes, only to find—not the girl of his dreams—but a dog's face in front of him.
A white Labrador retriever, noticing that its master had woken up, wagged its tail even more energetically and diligently continued to lick Jingu Yō's face.
"Ah, it's just you, JOJO..."
Disappointed, Jingu Yō pushed JOJO's head away to stop the licking. Supporting himself with one hand on the floor, he managed to sit up and leaned against the side of the bed.
"Awooo..."
As if unhappy about being pushed away, JOJO let out a soft whine, circled in place twice while wagging its tail, and finally sat obediently beside Jingu Yō, panting with its tongue out.
"Alright, alright. Thanks for waking me up. I'll fix you something to eat in a bit."
Jingu Yō forced a smile as he rubbed JOJO's head.
He pressed his other hand to his forehead. The pain and agony from earlier still lingered, stirring a quiet panic in his heart.
This had never happened before. Not even when he first reincarnated in the hospital did he feel any discomfort, as if the drug-abusing history of this body had been wiped clean.
His pitch-black eyes slowly grew hollow as he stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, terrified that he might actually have some terminal illness.
Reincarnating into a body fated to die—one with a terminal disease—was probably no one's ideal. No matter how luxurious or wealthy this new life might be, it would be meaningless if it were fleeting.
"Don't tell me that so-called old man let me live on my own because he knew this body wouldn't last long...!"
Jingu Yō couldn't help thinking so.
Ever since his reincarnation, he had avoided his family and moved out. No matter how busy his father was, he was still his biological son—no decent parent would just ignore that. And yet, the man had silently allowed him to live in a luxury condo in Chiyoda and drive a Ferrari FXX. That level of freedom was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.
And the excuse that he couldn't be found? That was even more laughable. As a core figure of one of the zaibatsu secretly controlling Japan's national lifeline, it was impossible for his father to "lose track" of him. Jingu Yō wouldn't be surprised if he had someone tailing him 24/7.
"I'll go to the hospital tomorrow for a proper checkup. If I really do have something, I'd rather be prepared."
Letting out a soft sigh, Jingu Yō rubbed his still-aching head and stood up from the floor.
"Come on, JOJO. Time for your meal..."
Calling his loyal dog, Jingu Yō stumbled out of the bedroom toward the kitchen downstairs. After preparing JOJO's meal, he found himself once again staring at the completely empty refrigerator.
He stiffly lifted his head toward the clock hanging in the living room—it was 9 PM.
Which meant he had been unconscious for a full three hours.
"Looks like my plan to go out and buy groceries failed again..."
Sighing once more, Jingu Yō felt that he had sighed too many times today. They say sighing makes you age faster—he'd better watch himself from now on.
"Tomorrow. I have to go out and buy food tomorrow."
He resolved firmly. Having experienced a second life, he understood the weight of it. People often say there's no medicine for regret—but for him, this was as close as it gets. To continue living half-heartedly would be an insult to this miracle.
In his previous life, Jingu Yō had been scrawny. During his growth years, he would skip meals just to get an extra half hour in a Chinese internet café. It stunted his development. Now that he had a second chance, there was no way he'd go back to eating instant noodles every day. Even if this new body looked strong, it still had its age. He needed vegetables. Fruits. Real food.
"Guess it's instant noodles again tonight. I'll order some fitness equipment tomorrow too. The house is big enough. There's a spare room downstairs—perfect for working out."
Even if he did have some terminal illness, proper exercise might help him fight it. Wasn't that what the internet always said?
He quickly and skillfully prepared his "dinner" again, returned to the bedroom, and sat down in front of the still-powered-on computer. Just as he was about to look up some anime to watch, he froze.
When he first woke up, all his attention had been on his body, so he didn't notice it. But now, with his focus back on anime—he finally realized something was different. Something in his brain had changed.
"This... this is it? The legendary cheat power!?"
Jingu Yō quickly calmed himself. He had read far too many webnovels and light novels. He was a veteran reader—this kind of development didn't scare him.
It felt like his brain had become a computer. Like plastic, moldable memory he could now control at will. He could effortlessly pull up information from his mind—like opening a hard drive. And what was stored there? An intricate, dense archive of every anime, manga, novel, game he had ever seen or hadn't seen—down to soundtrack sheets, staff credits, and more.
But this world's anime and that of his original world were different. Yet all that information was now in his head. Could this really be a coincidence?
The realization made Jingu Yō shudder. Coincidence? It was far too neat. He had always believed that within randomness lies inevitability. Maybe his reincarnation was no accident—maybe it had to happen.
Shaking the unanswerable questions out of his head, he called out cautiously: "System?"
In his past world, system-based stories were all the rage. And his brain right now—it definitely looked like one.
But no voice answered. No cute A.I. girl, not even a cold mechanical tone.
All the data was just there in his brain. No tasks. No leveling. Like a beautiful naked woman standing before him, freely offering herself—there for him to plunder.
He thought for a moment. That earlier blackout—perhaps it was his brain's self-protection, shutting down to buffer the massive influx of memory.
The sheer amount of data didn't worry him. The human brain was a vast and mysterious thing. Compared to its capacity, this was nothing.
"Maybe I was abducted by aliens?"
Ever since waking up from reincarnation, he had wondered about the cause. Was it random? A god's joke? An alien experiment?
Before, he had no clues. But now, with this altered brain, he had a hypothesis.
It didn't feel like some sudden accident. That wouldn't explain the mental changes. And the idea of a "god's prank" didn't quite sit right either—he couldn't imagine divine beings being that trendy. Most plausible explanation? Aliens.
"Maybe they abducted me, ran some tests, wiped my memory, and dumped me in another timeline? My brain's transformation—could it be a kind of neural processor?"
The more he thought about it, the more convincing it felt. Jingu Yō could only comfort himself with such thoughts.
He often found it odd—why do reincarnators never question why they reincarnated? Living thoughtlessly was just plain foolish.
If a god had reincarnated him, that confirmed divinity's existence. That would mean he'd better show some reverence from now on. But living in self-indulgent ignorance? That was just begging for something bad to happen.
"But... as long as I don't have some grand mission or need to grind a system to level up... I'm good with that."
Stretching his arms, Jingu Yō sounded a little pleased.
"Still need to go to the hospital tomorrow, though. Gotta know if there's anything wrong with me."
Muttering to himself, Jingu Yō admitted it—now that he had a second chance at life, he was even more afraid of dying.
He raised his head, eyes fixed on the monitor before him. His heart was beginning to stir. He tried to distract himself, suppressing the wild joy rising within him. Because he knew—
His wildest dreams...
Might just be within reach.