Chapter Six(6)

People in the '80s had it much easier. Affording a house like this now, especially with Mom's income, would take months of continuous work.

But back in Grandpa's time, it was relatively simple. The house wasn't too big or too small—just the right size for a small family. But with today's economy, a place like this would drown us in debt just for a month's rent.

"I'm here," I said as I stepped into the kitchen.

"Mmm-hmm," Mom replied, her mouth full, but she still pointed toward the food on the counter.

"Thanks," I said, grabbing it and digging in.

I might not need to eat, but that doesn't mean my body can't process food. In fact, it absorbs everything I eat and converts it into energy, storing it for later.

I may not rely on it, but even my body understands the concept of "better safe than sorry."

"What were you doing all this time?" Mom asked once she swallowed.

"I'm building an app for people to find work online. If it takes off, we could charge service fees and make nearly a million dollars a year—or even more," I said with a grin.

This universe was turning out far better for me. For some reason, freelancing didn't exist here. I had searched high and low, but there was nothing.

So, as a sensible reincarnate, it was my duty to fill that gap—and make a fortune in the process. I planned to create the most user-friendly freelancing platform and dominate the market before anyone else even thought of it.

As for how I learned to code? Easy. With my intellect, it wasn't hard at all. The real challenge was finding good learning resources.

Thankfully, the Resource Dimension had exactly what I needed. Since knowledge itself is a resource, I got access to programming books—not just from this universe but from several others.

So when I say I learned to code, I mean I mastered every existing programming language, both human and alien-made.

I didn't know when or where they'd all come in handy, but I preferred to be prepared. After extensive practice on Mom's laptop, I could confidently say I was among the top ten programmers in the world—probably around eighth place.

Everyone here could create an AI, and I wasn't quite at that level yet. But this freelancing app was just my first step.

This world lacked a proper search engine—no Google equivalent. Stark Industries would eventually create something similar, but for now, they were focused on weapons and tech.

That gave me time to fill the void before they did. I planned to introduce all the conveniences of my old Earth here.

Whatever happened after that, I didn't care. Mom and I were already immortal, and I had bigger plans to grow even stronger.

"Is that even possible?" Mom asked, looking confused.

"It's simple. Companies post job requests, and professionals or freelancers worldwide accept them, complete the work, get paid, and I take a service fee," I explained.

"That sounds amazing! Why don't we already have this?" she asked, clearly more excited than expected.

I didn't blame her—if a platform like this had existed, she wouldn't have struggled so much to find work. Here, making money still required the traditional grind.

"I know, right? But it'll take time before it really starts making money," I admitted.

The platform's success depended on publicity. I could spread the word for free, but without a real advertising budget, it wouldn't reach enough people. Still, I was willing to wait a year for it to gain traction.

"See my baby, becoming the man of the house," Mom said, hugging me and kissing my forehead.

"Mom!" I groaned in embarrassment, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. If my plans worked, I wouldn't just be the man of the house—I'd be the richest man in the world.

And I wouldn't stop at freelancing and search engines. This universe had comics, sure, but aside from Deadpool's antics, no one had even heard of manga or anime. That was unacceptable. If I had to, I'd start my own animation studio.

Wait—what if I created Crunchyroll here and made people pay for it?

Another way to make money.