The first thing I noticed was the pain—dull and distant, like an echo in a canyon.

My body felt heavy, like it didn’t belong to me anymore.

Slowly, I realized I could hear something, too—voices, faint and muffled, as if they were underwater.

For a second, I thought: I did it. I’m finally in another world!

But as the fog of unconsciousness lifted, my excitement fizzled, replaced by confusion.

The voices weren’t speaking some ancient magical language or the exotic dialect of a fantasy kingdom. They were speaking Japanese.

My eyes blinked open, but everything was blurred, too bright, too white. I was lying on my back, staring up at harsh fluorescent lights. A ceiling came into focus, sterile and cold. The unmistakable smell of antiseptic filled the air, and then it hit me.

This isn’t another world... This is a hospital.

“Ugh…”

I groaned, trying to move.

A sharp pain shot through my side, making me wince.

My body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. Not the kind of sensation I expected after getting reincarnated into some epic fantasy adventure.

"He's waking up!"

One of the voices said, closer now.

I turned my head, squinting against the light, and saw two nurses standing over me.

They were wearing plain hospital uniforms, definitely not the armor or robes of magical healers I’d been hoping for.

"How do you feel?"

One of them asked.

"Like... like I got hit by a truck," I muttered, half-expecting the irony of it all to break me into hysterics. But no, there was no magic, no portal. I was still in my world, still in my broken body. The truck hadn't killed me.

It felt like a cruel joke.

I had thrown myself into that truck expecting to die, expecting to wake up in a world where everything was better, brighter, full of purpose. Instead, I had survived—barely—and now I was stuck in this hospital bed with nothing but a shattered dream.

"You were very lucky"

the nurse said as she adjusted the tubes connected to me.

"That truck should’ve killed you."

Stolen novel; please report.

Lucky? I thought bitterly.

If she only knew. I wasn't lucky. I’d been this close to escaping this miserable existence, only to be yanked back at the last second by fate’s cruel hand.

I barely registered the rest of what she said.

Something about surgery, broken ribs, internal injuries. It didn’t matter.

My body would heal, but what about my soul? I was still trapped in this world—the one I had tried so desperately to leave behind.

After what felt like hours, the nurses left me alone.

I stared up at the ceiling, my mind racing. What now?

The whole point of throwing myself in front of that truck was to not end up here.

I had been ready to start fresh, to finally have a life worth living. But no, life just wasn’t done kicking me when I was down.

The dull hum of machines filled the room, broken only by the occasional beep of my heart monitor.

The sterile scent of the hospital was suffocating, and the ache in my body made every movement unbearable.

I was tired, both physically and mentally. Part of me just wanted to give up, to sink into the bed and fade away.

But a more stubborn part of me refused. I hadn’t gone through all this pain for nothing. There had to be something more to this, right? Maybe I had missed something, maybe the gods were testing me.

Yeah, that made sense. All those stories talked about trials and tribulations before the hero’s real journey began.

Maybe this was just step one.

A sharp knock on the door pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts.

A man in a cheap suit walked in, clipboard in hand, looking as bored as someone working at a convenience store checkout. He had the demeanor of someone who had seen too much tragedy and wasn’t impressed anymore.

"Keisuke Mori?"

he asked, glancing at the clipboard, not waiting for my answer.

"I’m Detective Taichi Sasaki. I’m here to ask you about the incident."

I blinked. Detective? Right. The truck. The heroic act.

"Incident?"

I croaked, my voice still weak.

"The accident. Witnesses say you pushed a mother and her child out of the way before getting hit by the truck yourself. A pretty reckless thing to do."

His tone was casual, like we were talking about jaywalking, not me almost dying.

I frowned.

Pushed them out of the way? Did I do that? I couldn’t even remember.

In my mind, I had just thrown myself at the truck, but now that I thought about it… there was that split-second moment. The mother. The kid.

"Are they... okay?"

I asked, unsure why I even cared.

"They’re fine. A little shaken up, but no injuries. Thanks to you."

The Detective scratched something on his clipboard and then looked up, his eyes scanning me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

"Why’d you do it?"

"Do what?"

I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Throw yourself in front of a truck for strangers."

For a second, I considered telling him the truth—that I wasn’t trying to save anyone, I was just trying to die in the most dramatic way possible. But something stopped me.

Maybe it was the way he was looking at me, like he was expecting something more.

So, instead, I shrugged.

"It just... felt like the right thing to do."

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced, but he didn’t push.

"Well, regardless, you’re lucky to be alive. Most people wouldn’t have walked away from something like that."

Walked away? I thought bitterly. More like dragged myself back to the worst version of reality.

After that I felt that he wanted to ask me something more, maybe related to my financial problems or what happened last week with the neighbors, but he probably realized that it was not the right time and after a few moments of awkward silence he left.

I was alone again, and the weight of everything started to sink in.

I had tried to escape, tried to end it all, and instead, I was stuck back where I started—only now, I had the added bonus of broken bones and a body that hurt with every breath.

I stared up again at the ceiling, feeling hollow.

There was no grand adventure waiting for me, no otherworldly kingdom that needed saving.

Just this.

A life I’d tried to leave behind and failed.

I closed my eyes, letting the sound of the heart monitor fill the silence.

Whatever came next, it wasn’t what I had hoped for.