It was when I was resting on my bed, playing Genshin Impact, back in our squad’s barracks that one of my team finally spoke up.

“Why’d you kill the kid?” the marksman, Jennings, said suddenly.

I paused the game I was playing on my cell phone and looked over at him. Not only him, but all the others were also looking at me keenly, waiting for an answer.

“Well…” I started, not knowing what to really say. “He didn’t answer any of my questions so I assumed he was working with them. And I didn’t want to take the risk of letting him go. What if he harboured a grudge against us later and tried to seek revenge?” I said.

A moment of silence passed as my squad mulled over my answer.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Jennings said again. They were all trained to think with their brains rather than their hearts so I expected them all to understand that. “But then why do you look so… unperturbed… relaxed... right now?”

Huh?

I raised an eyebrow at his question. “Because I am,” I said simply. “It’s not like it’s the first time I had to do something like this y’know?”

“That’s my point!” he said, holding his head in his hands. “How can you continue in the military after all this!? It’s almost like you enjoy it!”

I looked at my squad nodding along to Jennings’ concerns and decided to tell them the truth.

“I do.”

“What?” he replied immediately. “What do you mean, ‘I do’?”

I sighed and turned off my phone as I sat up to have this difficult conversation with them. “I haven’t really ever told you my reasons for joining the military, have I?” I asked.

Jennings shook his head.

“Cool job, stable job, fairly good pay, amazing friends, and the respect from almost everyone,” I said, listing all the normal answers. “Those makeup about one percent of the reasons.”

“The other ninety-nine percent?” he asked.

“Sixty percent of it would be to serve my country. I love my country and I’d die a thousand deaths before I let any harm befall it.”

“The other thirty-nine percent?” he asked again.

“I love war,” I said simply and everyone stilled, looking at me aghast. “I love war, and just chaos in general,” I continued. “I hate to see my comrades die, and my main reason is still ‘to protect my country’, but the only reason I’ve stayed sane until now… is because I love my job and all that it brings with it.”

I looked at everyone's faces and could almost see the gears turning in their heads, pondering over what I had said.

“Anyway, I’ll be going to sleep now. Wake me if anything comes up,” I said, sliding under my covers and closing my eyes.

Little did I know… That was going to be my last day on Earth.

---

When my eyes opened, I was no longer in my barracks. In fact, looking around now, I didn’t know where I was at all. I tried looking for any exits, but all around me, as far as my eye could see, was only a white expanse of nothingness.

Either this was a really elaborate prank, or I was somehow captured by the enemy and this was some kind of enhanced white room torture.

“Um… Hello?” I said, trying to walk around a little bit and call out to someone. It was only when I took the first step that I realized… I was completely naked, except for my underwear. “Well, at least they have the decency to leave me with my underwear,” I said to no one in particular.

I continued walking a little bit more, in only one direction. At least as straight in one direction as I could. There was absolutely nothing in this room that I could use as a reference point. Not even a corner, or a wall, or a light source… Actually, how the hell was there even light here!? It didn’t look like there were any light bulbs, or that the walls were emitting light. I looked up and it didn’t even look like there was a ceiling. Just empty whiteness everywhere.

It was when I was observing my surroundings that I finally heard a voice.

“Who are you!?” the voice sounded panicked and surprised.

I looked back and saw a man with white hair and golden eyes wearing a typical black suit, just standing there with a confused look on his face.

“What?” I asked, confused. Shouldn’t he know who I am? I assumed he was the one that brought me here.

“Who are you? How did you get here!?” he asked more questions.

“Fuck if I know. I just woke up here with my underwear on. Who the hell are you!?” I questioned back, slightly irritated.

“Huh!?” he said, sounding more confused every minute. “Wait, let me check,” he said and a floating blue screen came down in front of him.

I raised my eyebrows. That technology… It was almost like something out of a sci-fi movie. Making holograms that you can interact with so easily… This had to be a dream.

“There aren’t any deliveries scheduled for this time…” The man continued, rubbing his chin. “You’re a human right?” he asked.

I looked at him in a ‘you’ve gotta be shitting me’ way. “No shit, I’m a human, ya fuckin retard,” I replied. “What other species of animals are intelligent enough to talk like this?!”

“Well, there’s Animates, I guess,” he answered, going back to his blue screen.

Animates!? What the fuck was this guy on about?

“Ay!” I called out to him as I walked towards him. He looked at me. “So there are two conclusions I came to. I was either sedated in my sleep and this is some kind of weird torture to make me spill information,” I said, hold up a finger. “Or I’m dead and this is some kind of a purgatory,” I finished, raising my second finger.

“Well…” he said. “Your deduction skills are fairly good.”

“Thank you,” I thanked him for the compliment. “Now which of the two is correct?” I asked.

“Hmm… Wait just a sec and I’ll let you know,” he replied.

I decided to allow him. He has been treating me well until now so I guess it’s only fair I do the same.

“Yeah, ight,” I said and waited.

---

After what seemed like almost six hours, he finally spoke. “Let me just start off by saying, I’m sorry,” he said, bowing his head and placing a hand on his heart.

“What happened?” I asked, deciding to hear him out at least.

He straightened up again. “This may be hard to believe, but the situation right now is similar to the purgatory one you suspected,” the man said.

“Can you please explain everything more clearly?” I asked.

“Of course,” he answered and began. “First of all, you may call me Admin. I am sort of like the administrator of your universe.”

“As you can imagine, that is extremely difficult for me to believe,” I said.

“Yes, I understand, but at this point, I have no idea how to prove it so you are going to have to take my word for it,” he replied.

“Fuck it, whatever,” I said, shrugging. “Just continue.”

He nodded. “The universe that I manage – which is basically the universe you come from – is one of the most advanced civilizations that exists,” he said.

“So let me guess,” I said. “There are other universes with other administrators and because of a mistake, I’m now dead. Correct?”

“Well… correct for the first half. You are not exactly ‘dead’. You were just caught up in a ‘transmigration’,” he said, making hand quotes. Seeing my bewildered look, he kept going. “Yes, it’s exactly like the ones you read in the so-called ‘manga’ and ‘light novels’ back on Earth.”

“No fucking way,” I whispered under my breath. I still didn’t know whether to believe all he was saying or not, but I was having fun at the moment so why not?

“Now, as cliche as it sounds, the last scheduled delivery was actually meant for a few Japanese high schoolers – don’t ask why; the reason is something convoluted that ties in with the first-ever relationship between humans and administrators. But when deliveries happen, there’s one catch,” he explained.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“Whenever something on Earth gets sent out for delivery, it uses a special circuit circle. You guys like to call it a magic circle. The name is of no concern. But the circuit circle not only delivers whatever it is meant for, but it extends as a cylinder until the ends of a universe, sort of like a line extending on a plane. So anything human that is on the exact opposite side of the Earth also gets delivered. Normally, the chances are infinitesimal… But this time…” he trailed off.

“It was me,” I finished off.

He nodded apologetically.

“So can you send me back?” I asked.

“Not after you already know this much. Sorry,” he said.

“Can’t you just erase my memories? You are ‘God’ after all if I’m not mistaken,” I argued.

“Even if I am, human memory manipulation is extremely complicated and usually forbidden unless the process is to wipe the entire brain,” he answered.

I sighed. If this was a prank, I give it a 10/10. I wouldn’t even be angry, this is very impressive.

“So what now?” I asked, wanting to know what my options were.

“The only thing that is possible now is for me to transfer you with the other high school students and give you an extra superpower of your choosing, as compensation,” he offered.

“UUUUUUUGH!” I groaned loudly. “MAN, I was just starting to enjoy my life!” I screamed at no one in particular. I had just become leader of the D.A.S.! Why did I have to go now!? “Fucking hell.” I brought my hand up and massaged my head. “Fine, I’ll take it.” I didn’t really have any other choice.

“Great! I’m really sorry once again,” he said as he started typing onto his blue screen. “What superpowers would you like?”

“Unconditional immortality and Unconditional time manipulation,” I said.

He looked taken aback for a moment before shaking his head. “I cannot do that. All living things must die at some point and time control is not allowed even to administrators,” he said.

“Wha… That’s not fair! You never told me that earlier. As compensation, I now want three superpowers,” I replied, smiling at him.

He smiled back. “You’re quite a shrewd one, aren’t you, Tony Roth?” he said. “Very well, I’ll grant you three superpowers. But make sure they’re reasonable, please,” he requested.

Ah, it looks like he learned from his mistake quickly. “Alright,” I began. “For the first one, I want full access to my internet on Earth through my phone which never dies, or breaks, or malfunctions, forever.”

He nodded as he did something on the blue screen. “Very well. I’ll turn your cell phone into a mythical class item. But there will be a restriction. You will not be able to contact anyone on Earth, though.”

“How about posting questions on websites like Reddit or Quora?” I asked.

“I’ll allow two per day as long as you don’t mention anything about another world.”

That was fair enough. “For my second one, I want to be able to summon an infinite amount of ammunition, and an infinite amount of anything even remotely related to any military, no restrictions. And I mean, if I wanted to summon an HK416, and it’s loaded magazines, they’d be in my hands instantly. If I wanted to summon a military transport aircraft, it’d appear with a full tank of fuel in front of me.”

“Hmm… That’s extremely overpowered... but doable. But I don’t know if I should,” he replied, looking at me with sharp eyes.

“I promise not to abuse the power,” I said to him. And I fully intended to keep that promise. I had read a lot of isekai manga and LNs back on Earth. Therefore, I was also familiar with the ‘evil kingdom’ trope. I wasn’t going to trust anyone easily.

He stared at me for a while. “I could be doing something I regret here, but I’ll trust my instincts and allow it,” he said, going back to doing stuff on the blue screen.

“Thank you,” I said, honestly elated that he allowed this. “For my third power, I want to be able to conceal my powers and make myself look weak while having a passive effect of never losing my free will,” I said.

“Oh, that’s very easy to do,” he said. “Done.”

“Thank you very much,” I replied, bowing a little bit.

“No, no. After all, it was originally my fault for allowing something like this to happen. Please be careful in your next world,” he said.

“Can I ask one more favour of you?” I asked him.

“Hmm?”

“Can you deliver me with my original military fatigues on?” I asked. “The one that the normal troops use with the flag on the sleeves?”

“Sure. I don’t mind,” he said, and my vision instantly blurred as I felt like I was falling backwards.

---

“Welcome, heroes, to our great empire!” I heard the cliche line as I woke up.

I opened my eyes and sighed in relief as I saw myself wearing my lovely dark green military digital camo. I loved this uniform. It was comfortable and looked cool as hell.

“Eh? What? What’s happening?” I heard whispers coming from around me. I gazed around and saw almost twenty, maybe twenty-five Japanese boys and girls wearing what looked like a school uniform. It seemed like everyone was on the floor right now, scattered around and I was some distance behind their group.

“Excuse me? What are we doing here?” someone – a student, presumably – closer to who I assumed was the ‘king’, asked.

“I am King Samuel Feld of the Feld Empire. Oh, heroes, with great sacrifice, we have summoned you here to request your assistance with defeating the evil lord of this continent,” the king said.

I hated kings and monarchies. Unless I was the king. But otherwise, I hated it.

Ahead of me, the students were slowly standing up and I decided to do so also. As I expected, I didn’t draw much attention from around me, but there were still some confused looks from people who had bothered to look around and survey their surroundings.

I also glanced around the room I was in and observed it. It was a gigantic, almost palace-like room with many pillars. We were also surrounded by tired-looking nuns and priests and behind them, hidden in the shadows, stood soldiers with their swords drawn. Looks like they’re prepared in case shit goes sideways, huh. The only windows I could see looked like they were twenty meters up near the roof and it seemed like there were three doors. Two on each wall on either side of the king, and one giant door on the wall on the other side of where the king was seated. Now that I looked at the king, there were also two women standing beside him.

“What?” the guy who spoke earlier spoke again. “That’s…” he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

I shoved my hand in my pocket and thought of a combat knife. Instantly, I felt a warm feeling flowing through my chest and my arm, and not a second later, I felt the cool touch of metal on my fingers.

“Please, our saviours,” someone said. This time it was the woman standing on the left side of the king. She looked to be around twenty or so years old so I guess a couple of years younger than me. “I understand that this must be very unexpected and very uncomfortable to you all… We deeply apologize for the inconvenience, but we beg you, please help us! We are desperate and only asking for your help as a final resort,” she said and bowed.

I noticed she was dressed much more splendidly than the nuns around us. Maybe she was royalty too?

I decided that this was a good time to speak up. I doubt these kids understood what they were getting themselves into, not that I really cared all that much.

“And what do we get in return?” I asked and immediately all eyes fell on me. Murmurs started going through the group of students that looked at me with inquisitive eyes. Interestingly enough, it just struck me that even though we were speaking different languages, I could hear everyone talking in perfect English.

“You may have what you ask for! Any amount of riches and luxury in return for helping us with our problem!” the king said with a smile.

“And what if we ask to be sent back?” I inquired.

“I’m sorry.” It was the other woman that stood to the right of the king that spoke this time. “The spell that we used only allows us to return you once the goal has been fulfilled,” she said.

“Hmm…” I hummed. “That’s pretty selfish, don’t you guys think?” I said to the students in front of me which began another round of murmurs. “Not to mention how convenient that is for you,” I added. The king’s eyes widened for a split second before going back to normal.

“We understand that you may be suspicious but I assure you, our intentions are truly genuine,” the right-side woman spoke again. “And even if we try anything untoward, you are all heroes with great power. We cannot possibly bring you harm,” she explained with a smile.

And that’s how I knew it was a trap. They’d never tell us that unless it was to give us a false sense of security. If they were really unable to bring us harm, they’d have already done something to gain control over us.

“I think we should help them, everyone,” someone from the front said. It was most likely the popular guy in the class. “I think it’s our moral responsibility to help our fellow humans.”

“Yeah totally! After all, we’re heroes!” another guy beside him said.

And one by one, all the other students started agreeing with them.

“Um… excuse me?” I heard a faint voice call out to me. I turned my attention to the girl that called out to me. She had long black hair and wore glasses that hid her feline-like eyes. What stood out to me the most though were her peculiar earrings. They looked like small swords that pointed down and hung from her ears.

“Hmm?” I asked.

“Those clothes… You’re an army person?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m a soldier,” I answered. "And I assume you’re all Japanese students?” I asked.

“Y-Yes,” she replied timidly.

Our conversation was cut short when the king spoke once again. “Everyone! Please call out ‘rank’ and you will be able to see your status,” he said.

‘Rank,’ I thought to myself and a blue screen popped up in front of me. I widened my eyes as I read what it said.

Tony Roth | 2276
Black Zone Operative
Internet | Military | Conceal

It said my name, and the number 2276. That was probably my level or something of the sort. What surprised me the most was what was under that. Black Zone Operative. For some reason, it said my real job. It was interesting that it was so specific, but it also made sense that it didn’t just say ‘soldier’. I wasn’t really a soldier. I assumed the internet, military, and conceal were my powers.

“What you should see on your Rank plate should be your name, your power level, your job, and your powers,” the woman on the left explained. She gestured to a priest and he stepped up, to stand beside her. He held a cushion with something that looked like a glass plate on it. “Please step up and place your hand on this device so we may record your progress in the future,” she said.

No way in hell I was revealing anything to them.

I thought to myself to conceal my name as ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and right in front of my eyes, the name on the screen changed. I thought to cancel conceal and it instantly went back to the way it was.

This was perfect!

Conceal: Peter Bell, 53. What job could I choose that they wouldn’t suspect? Below average soldier, I thought. And no powers.

All the values on my Rank card looked different now.

“Oh my!” came a surprised voice from the front. “Otherworldly heroes really are something else! Such a high level, and an amazing power!” the woman was saying.

Interesting… I wonder what that guy’s level was. I glanced at the girl beside me.

“Yo,” I called on in a low voice and she turned her head to look at me. “What’s your level?” I asked.

“Eh?” she looked at me surprised. “Uh…” she said, hesitating.

“I’ll tell you mine. It’s fifty-three,” I said, trying to establish rapport with her.

“Oh! Uh… Mine is 112,” she said with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Huh!?” I raised my eyebrows in genuine surprise. Well, I guess it made sense that it was quite low. Mine was probably so high because of the gruelling military training and had so much experience… but still, I would expect at least about 500 from a high school student. “Wow, yours is high!” I said to her, making her smile a little bit.

As the line of students progressed, another loud voice drew my attention. “Hah! What a loser, Urata! Your job is ‘cook’!?” A boy shouted as he and a group of four other students laughed. 

Wait a second… Why would he choose ‘cook’ as his job? Unless… Maybe these guys didn’t have the liberty to choose their powers as I did.

“Even in another world, you stay as a loser! Kill yourself, you retard!” he said laughing all the while. 

Ah, the usual school bullying. My brain reeled back to my school days when I was bullied just like this… The only difference was that I actually fought back, no matter what happened to me. This was why I had absolutely no sympathy for people who just took it all and didn’t fight back.

“Will the last person please come forward?” I heard and saw one of the women looking straight at me.

Following her announcement, all the others also looked at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure,” I said and walked up to the priest looking guy and placed my hand on the glass-like rectangle. It glowed blue and words appeared on the top.

Peter Bell | 53
Below average soldier
Null

“Level fifty-three!?” the woman exclaimed loudly. The entire room stilled. “Ah, I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized as she realized her mistake. “I wasn’t supposed to say that loudly.”

“Is this bad?” I asked, knowing full well these were absolutely shitty stats.

“The minimum level for a hero is at least one hundred.” It was the king who explained this time. “You being fifty-three means you’re not even as strong as the strongest adventurer,” he said in a scornful tone. I had no doubt that he resented me over what I had said about the summoning that they did. And seeing me as so ‘incompetent’ probably just made him hate me more over the perceived loss of sacrifice.

“Moreover, your job is ‘below average soldier’ and you also have no powers. You are really no use to us. I’m sorry,” the woman said. I looked at the other woman standing to the right of the king to notice her reaction, but she merely stood there silently smirking, not saying a word.

“Hahaha, what the hell old man!? You’re even weaker than us!” the bully from earlier yelled out as he laughed, his friends laughing along with him.

Ah, immature kids. How nice it must be…

The king sighed. “We will give you some money and let you leave the palace. You’re of no help to us like this,” he said.

This was actually exactly what I wanted, but I decided to play innocent and said, “you’re kicking me out?”

“Mr. Bell, we are merely allowing you to go on your own way. We do not wish for any harm to befall you and with your level, you are of no help to us,” the king said. “In fact, you may even hinder our progress. That is why, we are compensating you so that you may at least start your life here and be able to live here until the evil lord is defeated by the heroes,” he ended.

I nodded. That was actually a very good explanation, and I would’ve bought it, if not for the subtle disdain on the priest’s face.

“Alright, that’s fair, I guess,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Sorry for not being of any use to you.” I decided to play it safe for now. There was no point in vilifying the royalty at this moment.

“Very well,” the talkative woman said to me. “Please follow me, and I will guide you to the town and help you find suitable accommodations,” she said and extended her hand towards one of the smaller doors.

I nodded and followed her.

---