As Lazar afterwards explained, right now I only had my consciousness in the Dream World. In other words, I was a magical ghost.

It's not the news you hear every day...

Even though I was ready to learn magic and experience the new job as the aforementioned ghost, Lazar said that for this to work, I had to get my body to their world as well.

Understandably, I was sceptical.

Like Lazar, I also liked reading, and most books about inter-dimensional travelling require the protagonist to be dead in order to be reincarnated or transported elsewhere. So I told Lazar right away that there's no way I am doing a harakiri.

Let me tell you, the dream world not only doesn't have telephones and movies, but there's also no ninjas or samurais. I think there are no Japanese people at all because Lazar in front of me was confused when I went into a lenghty explanation of how they looked, their culture, animes and world travelling heroes. In the end I made a daring conclusion that no manga character visited their world so far.

In the end we sat there talking about my world's rich suicide history for a while, because the topic seemed to intrigue the older man.

As he later explained to me, in their world, or at least their country, suicide was not a "thing". People there lived for hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years, so whatever momentary troubles they got themselves into, there was plenty of time to resolve them. As for the people suffering from depression, there were plenty of Mental Healers, who could help people control their unreasonable "urges" to die with magic. A lot of times these patients were quickly healed and lived happy lives. Therefore Lazar wouldn't ask me to kill myself in my world just to come into his world and go straight into the Mental Healing Facility.

When I asked him how I was supposed to bring my body into this world, I got a detailed instructions manual. First of all, as soon as I woke up I had to remember our conversation and then convince myself that this dream was real. This was, of course, very important, because if I went and forgot about the dream or just passed it over as a simple "fantasy", I would have to try again another night. And who knows when I will dream about Lazar again. As he later told me, for him I appeared only once or twice a year, and not every couple days as it seemed to be happening on my side. Thus, we could go in circles forever if every time I woke up I would "forget" my promises to become a first-class employee in the Dream World.

Needless to say, after waking up from this dream the next morning, I was amazed by my own brain's creativity. I kept wondering whether I wasted it's potential when I was still in school. Surely, a mind that cooks up such believable dreams can be considered as extraordinary?

Even though I clearly remember the dream, I couldn't come to terms with the fact that it could be real. Just to consider the possibility would be insane!

However, as I got ready for work, many doubts still lingered in my mind. In the dream, I was completely convinced that everything Lazar was telling me was the truth. I was convinced to the point where I kept doubting myself now, when I was already awake.

But even if I convinced myself of the reality of the dream, the next steps required me to do things, that could negatively impact my future, however dreary and boring it already was.

Firstly, I had to resign from my job and tell everyone, who was close with me, such as friends, family and colleagues, that I was going overseas for work (or some such bullshit). All of it was to prevent people from missing me when I inevitably disappeared.

Lazar explained to me that there are a lot of worlds, some with magic, some without. And as long as creatures living in it have attachments (also known as "baggage"), those attachments won't let you go so easily. Even if you leave your world for another, there will be people sometimes thinking about you, however briefly. Of course, these things can be attributed to disappearances, murders, etc. However, as there is no body, leaving the world means leaving a loose end, so your home universe will still try to drag you back as it cannot fill in the space that you left.

In my expert opinion, that also explains why people summoned into other worlds in novels and mangas are kids, who can be regarded as losers. As they have more resentments to this world and are less attached to it, the world they exist in lets them go more easily. Teenage rebellion against the world can also be regarded as a factor. Those, who have money, happy family or are successful are also more attached to these, often materialistic, sometimes emotional, things.

As for me, I am not a loser, but I am also not a successful person who is satisfied with their life. My parents are now divorced, each living their own lives. I contact my mother maybe once or twice a year. My father... we are rarely in contact, if I am being honest. He drinks and has his own circle of similarly drinking friends. Either way, if I really went overseas, I imagine the contact would be even less frequent. Especially since mother now has a different husband and family. So there shouldn't be many problems on this front. Of course, my parents will still know that I am alive somewhere and will think about me from time to time, but this gap I cannot fill in, so it has to be left as is for now.

My work... Honestly, it's a completely boring office job, however, it pays rather well so if I resign and it turns out that I went insane believing in my own dreams, I won't even have the money to cover a psychiatrist's visits (which, I imagine, I will urgently require, as I am seriously considering doing this thing).

All day at work I was distracted and everyone around me noticed. In the end, I turned in my resignation. I made up the same bullshit explanation about overseas work that Lazar supplied to me. I asked to be let go of as soon as possible as I already "had a contract", so I was only required to show up tomorrow to finish off the paperwork (most workplaces ask you to turn in the resignation in advance, so they can find someone else to pick up the work).

After exiting the office building I felt relief. It's not like my job was completely unbearable, so maybe I was just excited to see whether I would really be able to travel the worlds.

As the hardest part of the instructions manual was done, the rest was easy. The next few days I didn't dream about the other world so I felt some concern. However, I still diligently called my parents, friends and acquaintances to inform them about my changing circumstances. I also didn't forget to pay all of my bills, cancel the rent of the apartment and complete other necessary things that would help in releasing the "baggage". Those few days were spent packing, throwing away stuff and relocating things. Most things I left at my mother's place with the excuse of buying what I needed when I settled at my new workplace.

Then I packed some necessary stuff, such as underwear and socks, made some sandwiches and travelled by train to an unfamiliar destination. The place that I was let out in was called the "Forestfield" station and, as the name suggests, there were mostly only trees around. Lazar told me to arrive there before midnight and wait for a green train to take me to the Dream World.

This location was really remote, there were no people around. Of course, it was also very late, so that was understandable. As I paced around the platform, glancing at the clock every five minutes, I hoped for midnight to arrive quicker. I regretted coming here so early, however, the latest train stopped here just before 9 p.m., so I was also helpless to change anything either way.

Lazar's instructions manual wasn't very detailed. Aside from lessening my baggage and telling me the place and time to be, he didn't explain much of anything. I didn't consider the last instruction of "hoping and believing" to be very practical (even though he assured me of its importance), so it was thrown to the back of my mind. 

As it neared the time, I was getting more and more nervous, hoping for it all to be true, but also being afraid. I was afraid not only of finally confirming my insanity if the train didn't arrive (I had been denying it since childhood, but who really knows whether they are bonkers?) but also of what happened if it was all true and the Dream World really existed.

Even if I somehow arrive there, it's not like I know magic. Lazar said that they need a talent such as myself, however, all I did was sleep. It wasn't like I knew how I got into the other world, or how magic worked to make the residents there not realize that I am a ghost. 

I also didn't know anything about the situation there. From our talks when we were still getting to know each other I got to know that there is a King, who rules the country. However, his rule is very relaxed and all citizens really like him. From Lazar's words, I got the impression that this king is a nice middle-aged uncle, who enjoys an occasional drink when he gets some free time. Who would have thought?

There also exist a lot of Guilds whose members practice different magics. The rulers of these Guilds are called 'Great Magisters', while other members are just Magisters. Well, there are some hierarchies within these Guilds, but I couldn't bother to remember them and Lazar also didn't elaborate much - at the time he still thought I was a normal human being who knew all of this anyway. The main point to remember about these Guilds is that most of them are enemies with each other. They constantly compete, sometimes even fight or declare wars on each other. However, the country is still somewhat peaceful. Each resident knows some magic and can defend themselves; there are even a lot of "hidden masters" among them. Besides, if any Guild decides to behave too outrageously, the King does not hesitate to quickly "discipline" it. As I understand it, as Boch city's Magical Elite Army's Detective I would also be a part of this "Disciplinary Committee". 

As a teenager, I dreamed about becoming a super-villain and taking over the world. Who would have thought that I would ever do police-work?

---

When the clock finally struck midnight and there were no nails left on my hands to gnaw at, I heard a whistle and a familiar noise.

The train has arrived.