Chapter 1: "Life"

Nineteen years ago I was reincarnated in this world, when I unexpectedly died in my other world. I thought I was reincarnated in a fantasy world, but I was only reincarnated in a world similar to mine.

My life in this world until I turned 18 was average, even though family work is a curious thing, I didn't get into such things. Because I am from another world, and I died at the age of 24, my childhood was too easy, I was even considered a genius.

I learned to read and write when I was barely 3 years old, which made everyone think I was a genius. I decided to demonstrate most of my knowledge just on a whim, I don't want to spend all my time in this world pretending to be a brat.

I didn't have too many complications in my life, I got too many awards for being someone smart, but to no avail.

When I was just 15 years old, in school they gave all of us students a form, in which they asked us; What do I want to do when I become an adult?

I never took that kind of thing seriously, since I knew what job I would take as soon as I left school, so, downplaying the importance of this question, I put the first thing that came to my mind.

---

1- What do I want to do when I become an adult?

R.- Draw manga, become a mangaka. 

--- 

I can't consider myself an otaku, neither in this life nor in the next. I don't despise the work that these people do, much less in my situation, since in this life I was born Japanese. 

The reason why being a mangaka was the first thing that came to my mind was because I saw an interesting anime on TV, my father thought I liked that kind of thing and ended up buying all the volumes of the manga on which the anime was based.

The manga was called "Chou Hiro Densetsu", or "The Legend of the Super Hero". The reason I said, "It was called," is because now that I'm 19 years old, that manga and the anime flopped. 

To cut to the chase, I never expected that question on that form that I asked when I was 15 would doom me in a certain way. 

Three years after answering that question, I decided not to go to college, well, not that I had a choice to go either. 

When I turned 18, something appeared before me that I never thought would appear...my golden finger, my trap in this world. 

The cheat I received was a system, that took my deepest dream, and the system would adapt to that dream... but the system considered the answer I wrote 3 years ago to be my biggest dream... 

==== 

[You have received the Mangaka system!]

[Embark on the laborious work of drawing manga, making your thoughts come true and capturing them on a sheet of paper!

All sales of your manga will give you 2SP (System Points). With your SP you can buy manga which you can draw, including skills to help you improve your art and more].

====

The moment I received "Golden Finger" I decided that the rest didn't matter, so I dedicated this time to drawing manga... which is not so easy.

I could have used any plot or story from my other world, but after more than 10 years, the memories of my other life became blurred. With the appearance of the system everything changed, the system offered me; Money, fame, and power. Everything one could want in life, but it came at a price. The only way to get all that was to draw manga and have someone buy it.

Although the system offered me the opportunity to directly buy the manga from my other life so I could recreate them, unfortunately, that cost SP, and to get SP I needed someone to buy my manga, and for someone to buy my manga I needed to publish it and to publish it I needed it to be accepted by a manga publisher...

Tomorrow was my birthday, so I can officially say that it's been two years since I started drawing manga, but the reality is harsh. 

In two years I only managed to get one of the manga I wrote and drew accepted in a publishing house, I could only do one decent work in so long... Rome wasn't built in a single day, but it's been two years.

I just don't have the talent for this kind of thing, and I went through too many things to be able to devote myself to drawing manga.

Of all the manga I took to a publisher, only my manga [Sanemi] managed to get accepted, but it was canceled after two months of publication... it was canceled yesterday, for having too low sales.

Just yesterday they called me to tell me, they felt it wasn't worth having a meeting for a matter like this. They also said I could pick up all the rights to my manga and those legal matters.

It was to be expected, but the way they told me frustrated me too much;

"Hello, I'm talking to Kuma-san regarding the cancellation of your manga." Said a voice came through the phone, with a monotone.

Kuma was the pseudonym I chose as a manga artist, putting my real name would only embarrass me.

"Yes, it's me." I replied calmly.

"We thank you for these two long months working with us, but we regret to tell you that Sanemi was among the worst failures of the publishing house.

The company regrets not being able to arrange a meeting to discuss this, but this was a unanimous decision.

On behalf of Weekly Shonen Cognac Publishing, thank you very much for working with us!" Said that voice, then hung up.

I never failed in any delivery, I never delivered any chapter late or with mistakes, but still, I failed. Two months was the maximum I could get as a Mangaka.

I even feel empathy for the author of that manga I read when I was little... What was his name? It doesn't really matter.

...

"It was all for nothing, and now I don't even want to go home." I muttered as I walked back to my apartment.

Life is hard, but there's not much to do about it, not at this point. I knew ahead of time that this wasn't going to work out, which is why I got a job at a restaurant as a waiter during the evenings.

Right, because I failed as a mangaka, I received a degree in my system...

====

-Status-

Host: [Ichijo Funamoto (Kuma)]

Title: [Failed Mangaka].

STR: 5 (Average adult: 7)

VIT: 4 (Average adult: 6)

DEX: 2 (Average adult: 5)

INT: 6 (Average adult: 5)

CHA: 2 (Average adult: 3)

AGI: 3 (Average adult: 4)

[SP: 100]

-Skills-

[Drawing (Apprentice)]

[Writing (Novice)]

[Cooking (Apprentice)]

-Storage-

[N/A]

-Works/Mangas-

[Sanemi - 50 sales]

==== 

[Failed Mangaka: Despite all your efforts you didn't manage to reach stardom as a professional mangaka, but the constant effort gave you experience in this job.

Life is hard, and entertainment is complicated... Keep up the effort!

+ You get more favorable treatment from other artists.

"Friendly relations between artists are good."]

====

Arriving at my apartment, I saw a note on my door;

[Dear "Ichijo-san", if you do not pay your rent arrears you will be evicted from the apartments.

-Sincerely, the owner of the apartments, Ryuu].

At least they didn't kick me out while I was away, how nice.

I live in an apartment, my father found this place after I left home, and talked the owner of this building into giving me a cheaper price. Despite being a lousy son, my dad still takes care of me...

'Was it really a good idea to have run away from home?' I questioned myself.

I didn't really run away from home, I just had a friendly discussion with my father about what I wanted to do with my life. My father supported me in what I wanted to do, so why do I say I ran away from home?

I just ran away from my responsibilities, from my family business, and now it's my younger brother who has to take over.

'Wow, I'm really a bad person...'.

I feel bad for my brother, but feeling bad won't fix anything, I've already left home, and I can't just go back like it's nothing.

"The best thing would be to rest and think about this tomorrow." I muttered, as I opened the door and walked in.

The apartment I live in is somewhat cozy, but my being lazy and lazy doesn't solve anything. The apartment includes a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom, everything an adult could dream of.

And all this for only 7,000 Yen, it's a bargain!

Even though everything was a mess, for two months I barely had time to clean my apartment, so there was too much junk accumulated all over the apartment.

"I'll clean it up later." I mumbled, ignoring all the trash, and heading towards my room.

My room looked cleaner compared to the whole apartment, and this is because this is where I drew manga.

"If only they had waited another month... the story would have gotten interesting..." I muttered unconsciously.

If a story doesn't get interesting from the first chapter, it's really not worth reading, that's something I always thought about in my former life, but now that I see what life is like behind it all, I can only insult my otherworldly self.

Near my bed was all the drawing material that the publisher gave me as a gift, for being the mangaka with the most promising manga of the month. Pure shit!

Although I can only thank them mentally for not asking me to return everything they gave me, they even gave me all the copies of the magazines where the chapters of my manga came out, unfortunately, it wasn't popular enough for the publisher to turn it into a single volume.

"I barely have enough money to make ends meet, and now I have to pay rent..."

Was it really a good choice to have taken this path? I still have a second chance, but for that, I'll have to give up all my dignity.

Wait, do I even have dignity?

My name is completely tarnished within the manga world, I doubt any publisher would ever decide to publish any of my work.

-Brrr-

-Brrr-

... My phone started ringing, someone was calling me.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I answered the call;

"Hello, this is Funamoto, who is this?". I asked.

"It makes me sad that you don't occupy your last name formally...it's me, your father, I heard that you failed...again, if you want you can come home.

I can send some of my subordinates to pick you up, I won't tell you anything if you come back." Said a somewhat tired voice from the other side.

It was my father, Mr. Ichijo, the leader of a group of Yakuza. 

"Don't worry, I decided to take this path, I won't go back home until I manage to become successful... that was what I promised you, you and my mother." I replied. 

"That promise? I understand I can't force you to go back, but I recently got a call from the landlord of the apartments where you live, he told me you owe three months' rent, do you want me to pay it for you?" My father asked. 

"That's fine that way, I'll manage." I replied. 

"I understand...see you later." He said, then hung up. 

After that call, I just lay on my futon, closing my eyes, hoping for a better tomorrow. 

"... I don't have any money, and I don't want to go to work today either." I mumbled as I stared at the ceiling. "Should I call my boss and tell him I feel bad? I don't make too much money at that job anyway." 

'Why couldn't I have chosen something like a painter or musician instead of being a mangaka?' I questioned myself internally. 

Feeling a bit depressed now, grabbing my phone again, I called my boss, telling him I couldn't come to work today... and he wasn't very understanding; 

"I don't care if you feel bad! If you don't come to work tonight, I'll fire you!". 

I didn't have a formal contract, so I couldn't complain if I got fired, but now that doesn't matter, I still have my job left during the mornings, serving as a cashier in a supermarket. 

What am I supposed to do now? Nothing, I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to let everything flow...