002 is good-looking but otherwise useless.

"Hu— Hu— Ha— Did I… did I not die?"

Gulping large breaths of air filled with the scent of cherry blossoms, Kamiyagawa felt the air rush satisfyingly into his lungs. It seemed as if he had awakened from a nightmare, and he reopened his eyes.

At this moment, he was sprawled on the ground in a twisted position, his white shirt soaked with cold sweat and clinging to his skin.

The evening sunshine was warm and gentle, and the cherry blossom forest was still in full bloom. The sun had not actually set.

Upon looking around, both the mysterious wooden Divine Cabinet and the horrific headless JK had vanished without a trace.

All the terrifying sights from just a moment ago seemed to have been part of an experience within a "game".

The game was over, and everything had returned to normal.

Not far away, two high school girls, who had been walking home together, stood staring at Kamiyagawa with surprise and confusion; after whispering to each other for a moment, they quickly walked away hand in hand.

"Looks like I've been mistaken for a strange person. But, to be honest, a JK with a head is much cuter than one without one."

Struggling to act nonchalant, Kamiyagawa got up from the ground and expressionlessly dusted off the dirt and cherry blossom petals that were stuck to his clothes. Compared to before he entered the game world, he now had an additional book in his hands.

It was ancient and tattered.

It was the very item he had chosen during the game, The Five Thunderbolt Method.

Seeing that the two high school girls had already walked far away and there was no one else around, Kamiyagawa attempted to form the hand gesture of the Five Thunder Finger.

Pipi papa—

Dense, blue electric arcs that resembled static electricity flickered incessantly around him.

The Taoist Five Thunder appeared in this world!

Even if it was in its most juvenile version.

This was enough to show that the game Strange Tales was no trivial matter. Not only could the items obtained in the game materialize in the real world, but the skills learned in the game could also be used in reality.

If one kept playing this game, collecting enough items and skills for personal use, one's life could certainly fast-forward to a bright future!

"Perhaps this Strange Tales game really is a windfall for transmigrators."

Kamiyagawa stopped using the Thunder Method and once again felt the mental disintegration and exhaustion.

Shaking his head, he carefully put the tattered The Five Thunderbolt Method book into his backpack, planning to try to study it after he got home in the evening. He then took out his phone and saw the bright red characters for "Deceased" on the screen.

"May you bloom into riches, what a crappy game. Putting an unbeatable monster right next to the newbie spawn point, I don't know which idiot designed it, just disgusting."

"Also, the moment the future Ghost God Master was born, to be strangled to death by a passing headless JK, is that even possible? If my game character is that weak, don't start off giving me such a high title, you bastard!"

Kamiyagawa, with a look of displeasure, lightly tapped the phone screen, and a message popped up—

[Substitute Paper Person has been consumed, current stock is 0, refresh time is 12 hours.]

"Substitute Paper Person?"

Kamiyagawa looked down and discovered a palm-sized white paper person had appeared at his feet.

The paper person's head was drooping, and it looked so fragile it seemed like it would separate from the torso at any moment.

"Was it this thing that died for me once?"

Kamiyagawa picked up the paper person, examined it for a while, and then silently stuffed it into his pocket.

Afterward, he tapped the phone screen again, the text disappeared, and a new [Personal Information] page showed up.

[Name: Kamiyagawa]

[Strength: 3]

[Agility: 4]

[Constitution: 3]

[Charm: 8]

[Spirit Art: 0]

[Passive Skills: None]

[Active Skills: Five Thunder Righteous Method - Incomplete]

"Apart from being good-looking, I'm completely useless," Kamiyagawa said, shaking his head in resignation, "Speaking of which, what's the use of having a high Charm in this game? To date female ghosts?"

After closing the [Personal Information], the [Start Game] button reappeared.

It seemed that Strange Tales allowed players to start without a Substitute Paper Person.

But naturally, Kamiyagawa was not going to press the start button. He exited the game immediately: "I'll wait earnestly for now, and 12 hours later, I'll be a new man."

With the game being so eerie, if he really died in the game without a Substitute Paper Person, who would he be able to complain to?

Kamiyagawa pocketed his phone and, walking along the school path littered with cherry blossom petals, left the school grounds.

...

The sun dipped below the horizon, and the streetlights dimly came to life.

Around 6:40 p.m., Kamiyagawa arrived at a convenience store near the school.

The sausage cooker on the counter turned quietly, the Kanto stew bubbled, and on the other side, gum and X-book 003 were neatly arranged.

This was where Kamiyagawa worked part-time.

Today the manager was not in, and only a young and robust male clerk was counting the inventory.

Kamiyagawa remembered this male clerk's name was Okamura…

Okamura what? It didn't matter.

"Hey there, Kamiya-kun, right on time," greeted Okamura warmly, reaching out to pat Kamiyagawa on the shoulder as if they were old buddies.

Pop!

At the moment Okamura's hand was about to touch Kamiyagawa, a violent blue spark burst forth.

The burly clerk shuddered in fright and quickly retracted his hand, "What... what is that?"

"Static electricity, just static electricity," Kamiyagawa glanced at his shoulder.

He hadn't actively used the Five Thunder Finger just now; the charge on his body was probably just the residual electricity from performing the Thunder Method earlier.

"Can static electricity be that dazzling..." Okamura scratched his head, "And, isn't it spring?"

"Oh, then it's not static electricity. It's a kind of supernatural force that transcends nature."

"Haha, Kamiya-kun, you're really funny."

"Indeed, ow," Kamiyagawa laughed casually at Okamura, then turned and headed to the employee changing room to change into his work uniform.

Today was Kamiyagawa's fourth day as a part-time worker.

Before this, he had never tried earning money on his own.

Of course, the "he" here refers to the original owner of this body.

Because a week ago, this good-looking but otherwise useless body still belonged to its original owner.

And now, the soul occupying this body is a brand new one, coming from Guangdong Province in the neighboring great country.

Since the original owner was mentioned, let's talk about his story—

The original Kamiyagawa was weak in character, somewhat solitary, had few friends, was indecisive and aimless, drifting through life aimlessly.

His grades weren't good, his physical fitness was poor, and he had no noteworthy talents.

He was akin to a very handsome Nobita Nobi without Doraemon.

Kamiyagawa had lived with his father since his parents' divorce when he was young.

Unfortunately, his father was a terrible person.

He was an alcoholic and gambler who would borrow heavily from loan sharks after losing all his money, never fulfilling the responsibilities of a father.

It was probably the beginning of last year when Kamiyagawa's father did the most decent thing in his life for his son—

He died.

It was an accidental car crash.

Japanese people are generally keen on buying insurance, even someone like Kamiyagawa's father had it.

His accidental death brought Kamiyagawa, the sole beneficiary of the insurance, nearly 10 million yen in accidental death compensation.

Of this 10 million, 8 million was used to pay off the usurious loans.

It avoided the burden of a son having to pay off the father's debts.

And the remaining 2 million yen was wholly owned by Kamiyagawa.

But really, 2 million yen isn't much.

Considering the tuition and various expenses for Karin High School where Kamiyagawa currently studies, which is a public high school, requires almost 600,000 a year.

Even if he scrimped and saved, that 2 million yen would likely not last until graduation from university.

Therefore, the Cantonese-speaking "Kamiyagawa," after crossing over and taking some time to adapt to his new identity, roughly calculated his financial situation and immediately decided to work part-time to supplement the household income.

Let's return to the topic of the original owner.

A week ago, the original owner had his first confession of love.

He was politely and kindly handed a rejection by the girl.

With such an attractive face that scored an 8 in charm, being rejected by a female high school student of the same age could only mean that the original owner's life was a bit of a failure.

After being rejected, the original owner was filled with sorrow and pain; reflecting on the hurt, he chose to explode, and that night, committed suicide by swallowing sleeping pills.

That's when the brand-new "Kamiyagawa" made his comeback by borrowing the body.

All in all, looking back on the original owner's life experiences of over a decade, it could be summarized in eight characters—

Pity for his misfortune, anger at his failure to strive.

...

Kamiyagawa's shift at the convenience store was from 7 pm to 10 pm from Monday to Friday.

His wages were paid weekly, with an hourly pay of 1,000 yen, and his everyday work was mostly busy and bland.

After working straight until 10 pm, Kamiyagawa clocked out on time.

After changing back into his school uniform in the employee changing room, he picked up a 450-yen chicken bento from the store shelf and heated it in the microwave.

This was an unwritten rule of the convenience store, as well as one of the perks for the workers there.

Every day's expired bento, bread, sandwiches, and other food items needed to be discarded.

Once deemed destined for disposal, the staff for the day could consume them freely, or even take them home in parts.

It was akin to including dinner in the job's benefits.

For Kamiyagawa, living alone with not enough money, this perk was pretty nice.

After taking his time to finish the bento in the store, Kamiyagawa picked up his bag and left.

"Kamiya-kun, see you tomorrow!" Okamura, who had to continue working the night shift, called out to him from behind.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

He stepped outside the store.

The night breeze of early spring was surprisingly chilly.

In tonight's sky, there was neither moon nor stars, only the city's lights and neon signs numbly shining.

Kamiyagawa smacked his lips, the taste of the not-so-great chicken bento lingering in his mouth:

"Another day gone by, huh."