"Hm, let's see." Walking through the market at 11 am after realizing my empty pantry, I started looking for something cheap and tasty to eat for the rest of the week.

It was still Wednesday, but my savings were run out. You know, being poor sucks.

"Instant noodles are $1 a pack with three. If I eat one of these a day, can I survive until I get my salary next week?" But I had no other option. I took four packets of instant noodles and put them in the shopping basket.

Then I walked around the market for a while, just admiring what I couldn't afford. Seeing a woman with her cart full of extravagant things was enough to make me leave.

I paid with my remaining money and left the market.

Many cars, including luxury cars, were parked. My bicycle was there. Although I have a driver's license, I had to sell my car at the end of last year to help pay my mother's medical bills.

This was not a big deal; it was to save my mother... But she died, and I lost all my money.

Since she was the only one who worked, I was left destitute after her death since no one in my family wanted to shelter me or help me financially. You see, I am still only 18 years old.

"You've got to be kidding me." As soon as I got on my bike, I felt the tire slowly deflate. I then got off and looked at the tire; it had a big cut. "How am I going to get home now? Walking?" I lived a great distance away from here.

But I had no other option.

Pushing the bicycle, it took me almost two hours to get home. It was a distant and poor neighborhood where more humble families lived. I had to leave the house I lived in with my mother, and this was the cheapest place I could find.

I found it on a very dubious website, but it worked out. The big problem was that the house was old.

Not only old but it was infested with rats and insects. No matter how much I cleaned it up, they would not go away. They hide under the floor and inside the wall. They mostly appear at night.

Since I don't have much furniture besides a couch, my bed, and some old appliances, the mice are usually free to roam around the house.

And when I opened the house door, one of the rats was there. It was startled by the door's creaking and entered into one of the holes in the wall.

"Haaa~~ I'm home." I always say that even though I live alone. The living room and kitchen were in the same room. I threw my sweatshirt on the couch, went to the kitchen, and put the shopping bag in the sink.

I put the noodles in the cupboard and then went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and noticed a lot of dark circles under my eyes; I hadn't been able to sleep very well last night.

I had a fever and also quite a headache.

"I need to cut my hair, but I don't have enough money." I messed up my black hair a little. My eyes, which were light green, were focused on the mirror above the sink as I thought about what to do.

I have to change my life. I couldn't go on living like this.

Should I look for a new job? Wait, but aren't I already doing that?

Should I start a Youtuber career and try to earn money somehow? No, that's silly.

After I washed my face, I left the bathroom and went up the old stairs to the second floor, where I had two rooms. One of the rooms was empty, and there was another room, mine. My room had little furniture, as I had said.

Only a bed and an old closet I brought from my old house. The owner of the house let me take it. She was pretty kind.

"Okay, I think I'll take a shower now. After that I'll try again to go after a new job." I opened the closet and grabbed a pair of long pants and a basic black shirt. But something caught my attention.

"Was that here before?" In one of the drawers, I noticed that it had the page of a book sticking out. I got this closet two months ago when I moved into this place, but I don't remember it being here.

"Hm? That's..." After I opened the drawer, I found some books. They were Japanese manga and novels. Some were old, and some looked recent. Many different works like:

DxD, Re: Zero, Konosuba, Danmachi, Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Sword art Online, and many other mangas. Not just in one drawer, but in all of them. There were even some works that I had never heard of.

I was not an otaku even though I had watched some animes in my life.

"Maybe this was from the closet owner's son?" But even when I lived with my mother and we used this closet, I don't remember having these things in these drawers.

Since moving out, I have never opened the drawers since I keep my underwear elsewhere.

"Someone put this here while I was moving? Maybe that's it... But why? This is so weird."

I continued putting all the manga and novels on the bed to look at them. They were all well preserved. However, one book that looked much like an LN caught my attention.

On the cover, it was written in English.

"A message from God."

I looked at that "Light Novel" and couldn't remember any work with that name. Primarily since below the title was written "Author: God," Is this some joke? A person using the pseudonym God? That's funny.

I then picked up the novel and opened the first page. On the first page was written huge and in bold letters "WELCOME TO THE SUMMON SYSTEM." Just then, those letters glowed.

I thought I was going crazy, but those letters were glowing! And after all that glow, the book started to catch fire in my hands.

"WAAA!" I screamed and threw the book off the floor. Afraid that the house would start on fire, I grabbed my blanket and started hitting the book to make the fire disappear. And it disappeared, but along with the book.

No mark was left on the floor that a book had been burned. There had been no ash left from the burned pages.

"What the fuck was that?" I said as I looked startled at the spot the book burned. And then I started to break into a cold sweat as I felt something slowly creep up my leg. I couldn't move.

It was like a hand that was slowly caressing me. It went up my thighs, down my back... I couldn't look back.

And then an intense headache came suddenly. It was as if someone had driven a metal stake through my brain.

"Arrrgh!" I screamed in pain and held my head. My legs wobbled, and I crouched down.

With the intense pain, I felt dizzy and lost control of my body, falling to the ground. I lay there, unable to move, staring at the old ceiling of my room. 'Am I going to die or something?' A smile appeared on my face.

Then I lost consciousness and felt a soft breeze hit me through the bedroom window.