CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO ROCK BOTTOM
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Haruto Saito woke up to the distinct feeling of something crawling on his face.
His first thought: Oh, great. I survived.
His second thought: Wait, what the hell is—
A wet, wriggling sensation moved across his cheek. He opened his eyes.
A fat, slimy bug was sitting right on his nose.
Haruto did what any reasonable man would do.
He screamed.
Flailing wildly, he smacked the bug off and scrambled backward—only to realize he had no idea where he was. Instead of his office chair, he was lying in the middle of a dense forest, surrounded by towering trees and tangled roots. Sunlight barely peeked through the thick canopy above, casting eerie shadows on the damp ground.
And the smell. Oh god, the smell.
Dirt, moss, something vaguely rotten—it was like nature had personally decided to kick him in the lungs.
"Okay," he muttered, forcing himself to breathe. "Not a dream. Definitely not a dream."
Memories hit him like a freight train.
The summoning. The oracle’s verdict. The guards throwing him out of the kingdom like expired milk.
He groaned. "Right. I’m the ‘False Hero.’ Got it. Thanks for that, universe."
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Haruto pushed himself to his feet, brushing dirt off his office clothes. They were already filthy.
"Great. If I don’t die of starvation, I’ll probably die of some medieval disease."
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Step one: Find civilization.
With no clue where he was, he picked a direction at random and started walking.
Step two: Get food.
Ten minutes later, his stomach was already growling. He scoured the underbrush and found a cluster of small, purplish berries.
"These look edible, right?"
Haruto grabbed a handful and popped one in his mouth.
Immediate regret.
It was like chewing on raw soap mixed with battery acid. His eyes watered, and his throat burned as he coughed and spat it out.
"Oh god. Oh no. That was a mistake."
His stomach lurched. He staggered to a tree and barely had time to turn his head before violently vomiting his breakfast—if he even had a breakfast.
He wheezed, wiping his mouth. "Cool. Poison berries. Off to a fantastic start."
Step three: Avoid dying in the dumbest way possible.
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Still dizzy, Haruto continued walking—only to freeze as a deep, guttural growl echoed behind him.
His spine locked up.
Slowly, he turned his head.
A wolf stood about ten feet away. Not a cute, domestic one. No, this thing looked like it had crawled straight out of a nature documentary about apex predators. Its fur was mangy, its eyes piercing yellow, and its teeth sharp enough to snap bones like breadsticks.
Haruto’s brain instantly ran through every possible response.
* Option A: Run.
* Option B: Fight (stupid).
* Option C: Try to tame it with kindness (suicidal).
He chose Option A and bolted.
The wolf snarled and lunged.
Haruto dodged (sort of). He tripped over a root, barely rolling out of the way as the wolf’s claws ripped through the dirt where his head had been.
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Scrambling to his feet, Haruto sprinted blindly through the trees, dodging branches and leaping over roots like his life depended on it. Because, well—it did.
Behind him, the wolf gained ground. Fast.
"C’mon, man! I just got here! Give me at least a tutorial before I die!"
He **burst into a clearing—**and immediately regretted it.
The ground vanished beneath him.
"SHI—!"
Haruto fell.
The air rushed past him as he tumbled down a rocky slope, hitting every possible sharp edge along the way.
THUD!
He landed hard, groaning in pain. His head spun. Everything hurt.
Above him, the wolf skidded to a stop at the cliff’s edge, snarling in frustration. It let out one last growl before turning away, disappearing into the trees.
Haruto wheezed.
"Hah… hah… okay. Cool. That’s fine. I’m fine."
He wasn’t fine.
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As he tried to sit up, his hand sank into something soft.
Confused, he looked down.
The ground beneath him wasn’t solid rock. It was loose, almost like…
CRACK.
The earth collapsed beneath him.
Haruto barely had time to scream before he plummeted into darkness.
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END OF CHAPTER 1
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