Adam Baek landed with a thud. He saw stars, and felt his head spin from the whiplash. As he adjusted to his bearings, he quickly stood up to find… a kid. A young teenager, at oldest, holding his arm out, as if he had been the one who had gotten in the way of Adam.
Adam made to stand up, when the kid quickly motioned for him to stay down. Moments later, out of his vision, there was a sudden explosion. Then, just above Adam’s head, a jagged piece of metal the size of a knife sprouted from the wall, impaling the air above his head. He felt his legs go weak, and he collapsed back onto his rear. He had almost died. Had he been on the field when the explosion happened, or even if he had been standing up just then, he would not be alive.
“Get up”
Adam’s head suddenly whipped sideways as the kid in front of him smacked him in the face. He snapped out of his stupor.
“Are you crazy?! Why would you…”
“Adam Baek. Private, investigator, ”
Adam jolted a bit in shock. How did this child know his name? And despite his appearance, his voice was filled with the authority of someone with experience beyond his year.
“You certainly took your time getting here”
“Look kid, you saved my butt, but who are you? Also would you happen to know where terminal five is, because I need to meet…”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Adam’s head snapped back as the kid slapped him again.
“Stop prattling on about nothing. I’ld think that a professional private investigator would be more disciplined, but anyone working on their own has got to lack something. Have some sense. You nearly died back there.”
“Are… Are you supposed to be my partner?”
The ‘kid’ sneered at him, and roughly attempted to pull him up(as short as he was, he managed to pull Adam up to his knees, and then the kid promptly stopped trying to pull him up and let Adam fall back down).
“Lets get you to work.”
…
Adam sat in the back of the car, as the ‘kid’ drove. The scene was almost comical, with a small figure barely able to see over the dashboard driving, while a grown adult sat in the back silently, almost like a chastised child. After a while, Adam spoke up.
“Uh… so sir, if it’s not a bother, could I ask-”
The ‘kid’ pulled the car into a parking lot and turned around and scowled.
“My name? Or my stature? Because you nearly died a few seconds ago, so don’t you think there are things of more importance right now?”
“W-well that was just circumstantial, right? There was clearly something wrong with the engine to cause that explosion, and shrapnel goes every which way after an explosion as well, so…”
“And you don’t think that the fact an ‘isekai’ happened seconds before had no bearing on the situation?”
Adam stopped speaking stunned, and the silence that followed clearly accentuated his partner’s next words.
“The Isekai initiative knows that you’re on track to try and solve it, so until you die, or it is solved, your life will be hell. Welcome to your new reality, kid.”