Chapter 1: Survive!

Tokyo, Taito Ward.

He was groggy, hearing the sound of car horns from afar, now distant, now near; it was noisy enough to make him feel a bit restless, preventing him from falling back asleep.

He opened his eyes, looked around, and couldn't help but be stunned.

White walls with peeling paint, a narrow window, a low ceiling; he was lying on a somewhat uneven wooden floor, and the sunlight shining through the window made the dust in the air clearly visible.

"What happened? Where am I?"

He was utterly confused about everything around him. Just then, a tidal wave of memories began to surge in his mind, appearing before his eyes like a revolving lantern, making him realize all at once that he had transmigrated.

Akiwara Yuto, from Hokkaido, abandoned by his parents as a child, grew up in a suburban Fuli Academy, and came to Tokyo after graduating from high school.

In the year he arrived in Tokyo, the central bank of Japan adjusted its financial policy, actively popping the economic bubble.

A large number of companies announced bankruptcy, and those that hadn't were carrying out large-scale layoffs.

After exhausting his savings and failing to find a suitable job, Akiwara Yuto, facing a major turning point in his life, took sleeping pills in pain and unwillingness.

But he didn't expect... his identity would be inherited by someone else.

Looking at the strange appearance in the mirror, the current "Akiwara Yuto" was so surprised he couldn't speak; he widened his eyes, never dreaming he would encounter a plot like this from a novel.

Of course, after acquiring this identity, he had to face all the problems that came with it—especially the financial crisis.

He saw the bill on the table and realized that if he couldn't pay the rent within two weeks, he might be kicked out of the house by the landlord or the agency, forced to wander in parks, under bridges, and by the river.

This meant he would lose stable housing and proof of credit, and could only survive by doing odd jobs and picking up trash along the street.

Even more terrifying, once he fell into such a vicious cycle, he would be stuck at the bottom of society...

"What should I do?"

Thinking of a solution, he stood up from the floor and began to pace back and forth in the narrow apartment.

At the same time, he dug deep into the memories of this body to see if there were any ways to solve it.

Judging from the original owner's memories, there were only two viable paths at present.

One was to try the employment agency and wait to be introduced to a job. The second was to call the Fuli Academy in Hokkaido for help and seek assistance from acquaintances.

But in fact, neither of these paths was very feasible.

The employment agencies were now packed with white-collar workers who had experienced the wave of layoffs, all starting with university degrees; as a high school graduate, he had no competitive advantage.

If he sought help from the Fuli Academy, he could probably ask if there was work at a ranch or farm, but did he really want to go to Hokkaido to herd cattle and farm?

Seeing no way out, he couldn't help but feel a bit desperate.

At this moment, a part of his memory that surfaced in his mind surprised him.

The political figures of this era seemed to be people he had never heard of in his past life, and he had no impression of these literary works in the textbooks either.

You see, in his past life, he was a Master of Literature from a top national university, and his research direction was East Asian literature. Because of his coursework, he had read some classic Japanese literary works.

But in the original owner's memories, there wasn't even a trace of these works.

This made him strange; could it be that he had come to a parallel world?

He decided to verify it further; if that were really the case, then perhaps he could try this method?

Thinking of this, Akiwara Yuto changed his clothes and walked down the stairs to the management office on the first floor.

Upon seeing the apartment manager, he said politely, "Sorry to bother you, but may I borrow the recent newspapers?"

The apartment manager was a man about 1.6 meters tall and around 50 years old; he looked at Akiwara Yuto in surprise after hearing his voice.

In his impression, this Mr. Akiwara often didn't even say hello when they met, yet now he was actually asking to borrow newspapers with such a sincere attitude.

He thought about it and felt it was just a small matter, so he opened the drawer, took out a large stack of newspapers, and handed them to him.

"No problem, just return them when you're done reading."

Akiwara Yuto took the newspapers, thanked the manager, returned to his room with them, and began to read through them carefully.

After reading for a while, he finally confirmed that this was indeed a parallel world. From political figures to entertainment stars, not a single one matched, but other than that, cultural customs and other aspects were not much different.

He was a bit lost for a moment, his mood complex for a while, but then he thought of his current predicament and decided to solve this problem first.

He calmed his mind and thought about the idea he just had.

Since he was in a parallel world, could he obtain writing fees to solve the current financial crisis by submitting the works he knew from his past life?

Although doing so was a bit "shameless," he was about to end up on the streets, so where would he find the time to consider moral issues?

He was very proactive; after confirming his goal, he immediately dug out paper and a pen from the corner, spread them on the small square table, and pondered what would be best to write.

To submit to a publishing house, it was best to write something relatively easy to understand.

How about a mystery novel?

According to the original owner's memories, mystery novels were still popular in this world, even holding an extraordinary status; not only did they have a long history, but they also had a broad mass base.

However, there was another problem: the number of mystery novels he had read and still remembered was limited, and most were modern; which one should he choose?

There were two weeks left until rent was due, but submitting to a publisher also took time, so it was best to finish the work within a week.

After pondering for a long time, he wrote the words "Honkaku," "Henkaku," and "Social" on the manuscript paper.

Then he drew a circle around the word "Henkaku," organized his thoughts, and began to write haltingly.

As he wrote, he kept recalling the content of the original work, and in the middle, he wasted several sheets of manuscript paper because he wasn't used to the Japanese habit of writing vertically from right to left.

It took him a full week to restore this manuscript, and even so, the details could not be the same as the original.

After finishing the manuscript, he went to a nearby bookstore and obtained information about publishing houses from the clerk. After analyzing, he chose "Tokyo Literature" from the Man-Tan Society as his target for submission.

That night, he made a phone call and scheduled an appointment for three o'clock the next afternoon.

During this period, Akiwara Yuto practiced the questions he might encounter during the submission in front of the mirror and also sent his clothes to the coin laundry for cleaning.

Since his academic background and age were his fatal flaws, he had to package himself in terms of appearance and speech to ensure he could leave a good impression on the editor.

All preparations were made; hopefully, tomorrow's submission would go smoothly!