Chapter 1: I Have a Childhood Friend in This New Life
Ren Watanabe died from overwork—of course, that was in his previous life.
In his past life, he was a fresh graduate who landed a 996 job right out of college. A 996 schedule would have been tolerable, but his boss always made him stay late after official overtime hours, even on weekends. He only had one proper day off each month. [Note: 996 means from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 6 days a week.]
As a new graduate, he was easily swayed by his boss's empty promises, believing that hard work would eventually pay off—that once he finished his tasks, he'd get a raise and a promotion. Instead, he was buried under an endless pile of work.
"Finish your work and you'll get a promotion and a raise"—but what if the work never ends?
So Ren died from exhaustion, quietly and unnoticed.
"Damn, I was so busy I didn't even have time to jerk off. Life after graduation really went downhill."
Ren had had enough of that shitty boss and life. Back in college, he still had time to masturbate, but after starting work, he was too exhausted to even feel any desire. Day after day, he lived like a zombie—no friends, no girlfriend.
Now, reborn into a new life, he swore he would never repeat the same mistakes. Let someone else work the 996 grind—he wasn't going to put up with it anymore.
But after briefly collecting his thoughts, Ren froze.
He had regained memories of his past life after experiencing a massive shock. And what was that shock? His parents had passed away early, and the grandmother who raised him had also lived out her natural lifespan and departed this world.
Back in college, Ren had read all sorts of isekai novels and knew that protagonists often came from orphanages. But when it happened to him, it still hurt. In his past life, he was an orphan too, so he had really wanted a normal family and parents.
But the dead could not be brought back to life. His past experiences kept him from drowning in sorrow. What he needed to do now was fulfill the wishes of his parents and grandmother and live out the life they had wanted for him.
With mixed emotions, Ren sighed and continued sorting out his current situation.
After his family passed away, they left him a two-story house with a small forty-square-meter yard, along with one million yen in savings. At least he didn't have to worry about survival in the short term.
"How did I end up in Japan?"
Ren scratched his head as he looked at the cash in the drawer and the familiar yet unfamiliar writing in the books. Well, Japan it is—he should just be grateful to be alive after working himself to death.
Although one million yen sounded like a lot, it was only about 7 thousand dollars. If he only considered food and drink…
Ren remembered that during college, 70 dollar a month was enough to eat—though the cost was being constantly malnourished, a condition he never recovered from before he worked himself to death a year later.
Even accounting for differences in cost of living, one million yen would last him quite a while.
With a place to live and no immediate worries about food or shelter—plus being back in the most carefree period of youth—it was already a pretty good start.
Ren had learned to be content with his lot and was fairly satisfied with his current situation. Then he glanced at the mirror beside him.
"Holy crap, is that a carbon copy of Chris Evans in the mirror? Oh, it's just me. Never mind then."
Seeing that he remained just as handsome and unchanged from his previous life, Ren breathed a sigh of relief. If he had awakened memories of his past life but was stuck with a different face, he would have felt quite uncomfortable.
[Ding!]
Right at that moment, Ren heard the sound he had been longing for.
Since the heavens had granted him a second chance at life, it only made sense that they would provide him with a cheat ability. If he had to struggle desperately for survival after crossing into another world, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of transmigrating?
[Detected that the host died from overwork in previous life. The Slacker Life System is at your service. This system is dedicated to providing the host with a leisurely and carefree life without requiring any effort.]
[Ding! Detected that the host has survived another difficult day. Assets increased by one million yen.]
[Please rest assured, the source of funds is safe and reliable, can be used without worries, and will never attract attention from banks. The system has already taken care of everything.]
"?"
Before Ren could even figure out what his accompanying system did, it had already rattled off a bunch of information. Then his phone chimed with a text message notification. He glanced at it - the system had automatically opened a bank account for him containing a cool one million yen. A bank card had also mysteriously appeared on the table, with the password being his most frequently used payment code.
Are you for real?
His assets had doubled without him lifting a finger. Ren couldn't help but get excited - one million yen was what he used to earn through backbreaking work over an entire year, and now he had made it in just one day!?
Absolutely fantastic!
Besides this straightforward praise, Ren couldn't think of any other words to express his admiration. If he could leave a review, he would definitely give the system five stars.
Then Ren tried to communicate with the system, only to discover that it didn't have a chat function, it would only mercilessly distribute rewards for him to enjoy life.
Kinda considerate, actually.
Ren put away the bank card, grabbed his phone and keys, and prepared to go out spending. Having experienced both poverty and exhaustion, he was determined to indulge in some serious retail therapy now that he had money, especially since he was feeling hungry.
He went to KFC and, even though it wasn't Crazy Thursday, boldly ordered two portions of popcorn chicken, two servings of fries, two burgers, and two cups of ice-cold Coke, an extravagance that could stuff a pig to death.
After successfully paying and watching the numbers in his account change, Ren dismissed his final doubts. This was truly safe and reliable, and he could use the money without worries.
[Ding. Detected that the host is eating. Has converted the consumed energy into the host's physical fitness to prevent weight gain from overeating.]
Even while eating, the system was active. Ren only felt a warm sensation throughout his body after the meal, as if a warm current was flowing through him, giving him the illusion that he could punch an ox to death with one blow.
Is this really meant to let him live a carefree, laid-back life? Binge eating not only doesn't make him gain weight but also improves his physical fitness—absolutely invincible.
Ren liked this kind of system and the wonderful life that was about to come.
While eating, Ren noticed something that differed from the common sense of his previous life: weren't there way too many people with colorful hair here?
Watching passersby outside the shop with white, yellow, green, red, brown, and other multicolored hair, Ren saw dozens of hair colors in just the short time it took to eat.
Well, even though the hair colors were a bit strange, they didn't seem out of place at all. Maybe this was just a characteristic of this different world.
After watching for a while, Ren dismissed his doubts and continued sorting through his memories, both from his previous life and the present one.
In this life, aside from family, his memories included several figures he was on good terms with, and among them, the most noteworthy was...
I actually have a childhood friend?!
Ren, who was eating fries, froze for a moment. In this life, he had a childhood friend he was very close with. She was the same age as him, a beautiful girl with long pink hair, but she had gone to study abroad in England.
What was her name again?
Ah, right, it's Chihaya Anon.
Ren vaguely had some impression of this name, not because she was his childhood friend, but because of memories from his previous life. However, he couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it before—the memory was a bit hazy.
Unable to figure it out, Ren gave up on thinking about it. No matter what, she was his childhood friend now.
But why did she go study abroad?
Ren sifted through the memories related to his childhood friend and finally pinpointed the reason. His childhood friend was the type to take an inch and run a mile, and she was also somewhat vain. She believed that studying abroad would elevate her social status and make her more admired and popular. On a whim, after a few exclamations from former classmates, she decided to study overseas.
Her ability to take action was maxed out, no doubt about it, but it felt like there might be something wrong with her brain.
Ren found himself somewhat impressed by his childhood friend—at least he wouldn't go abroad for such a reason.
Pulling his thoughts back, now that he didn't have to worry about food, drink, or shelter, what kind of laid-back life should he, having been reborn, lead?
To be honest, Ren felt a bit lost. He reflected on the regrets from his previous life, thinking about the things he had wanted to do but couldn't due to various constraints. In the end, he set his goal as finding a girlfriend first.
Doing a rough calculation, he had been single for forty years. This was no ordinary wizard—more like a saint-level mage.
So, sorry, Miss Five Fingers, I'm going to cheat on you.