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[Shut-in Angel]: "Of course it's weird! Oh, and for roasted mutton, add extra cumin, thanks."
[Old Mage]: "@Shepherd, so? Can you? I'll pay in coins or points."
[Shut-in Angel]: "Azern, you're not serious, are you?"
[Old Mage]: "A little hungry."
[Saeko]: "The newbie's awfully quiet."
[Bad Woman]: "Maybe he's busy looking through the group files. The stuff Gabriel uploaded should keep him busy for a while."
They were right—Rosen was digging through the files.
There were more than he expected, each with a neat title.
First: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, linked to [Old Mage], real name Frieren.Second: Chainsaw Man, linked to [Bad Woman], real name Makima.Third: One Punch Man, linked to [Blizzard of Hell], B-class rank one esper, real name Fubuki.Last: Highschool of the Dead, linked to [Saeko], real name Saeko Busujima.
Rosen raised a brow. Since when could chat groups upload anime directly?
And if Makima's "Gabriel" was the same Gabriel from Gabriel DropOut… well, that nickname "Shut-in Angel" made sense.
If her world could upload anime, it was perfectly logical.
Rosen—now stripped of his "prophet" advantage—found it fascinating. Maybe Gabriel was the real lucky one here.
The files ended with a red-labeled text document:"All works sourced from online searches—please refer to actual reality for accuracy."
It even included notes from Gabriel and the others speculating on why "2D characters" existed in reality.
Their conclusion: the works matched them because those worlds were inherently special.
The universe was infinite. Outside each layer of reality, countless other universes were connected by "neural links." If information from one world leaked, it could travel through these links to another.
Over time, drifting scraps of information could be captured by a mind in another universe—someone would get an idea and write a story, creating an entirely new fictional setting.
Even back on his original Earth, Rosen had seen heated online debates about this theory. If parallel worlds existed, he'd have to agree—it was plausible.
Gabriel's world, apparently close to those universes, could collect their data.
And his Earth? Even stranger—it had Gabriel's world inside it.
So… did that make him the real 3D human?
Well, the conclusion could be flipped just as easily—just like those debates about 2D, 3D, and 4D existence.
Humans called their world "3D," while a flat surface belonged to "2D." For 2D beings, a 3D creature would be unimaginably more advanced.
But as three-dimensional beings, how could humans possibly know if a "four-dimensional world" exists beyond our own?
Thinking too far down that road would only get him stuck in an endless loop.
Rosen cut himself off from overthinking.
He casually clicked on one of the works uploaded to the group's shared files.
Well, well—this one even had an opening song.
He slid the progress bar forward, took a peek at the middle of the episode, and noticed some parts had been chopped out or covered with thick beams of holy light and heavy mosaic censoring.
Most of it seemed to be stuff involving personal privacy.
Other than that, the plot wasn't much different from what he remembered.
Alright, then. Probably time to actually interact with these group members.
But… how should he introduce himself?
With Gabriel—the "real-world human" here—around, flexing with spoilers was definitely off the table.
And every one of those works had a big fat watermark saying, "All content is fictional. Please refer to real life for accuracy."
That basically meant each member's real-life experiences weren't directly connected to the storylines.
In fact, you could probably call them "fanworks."
Once Rosen sorted out his thoughts, he decided he'd approach them as just an ordinary guy.
[Shepherd: "@Old Mage, I don't sell mutton, and 'Shepherd' is just a username."]
"..."
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