It was ‘his’ father. The man who would have NTR’d his character. Looking at his appearance, he looked exactly like one of those ‘ugly bastards’ you think of at the first instant you hear the two words. Bald, short, overweight and had a dirty smile across his disgusting face. He felt repulsed at the thought calling him ‘father’.

“Ah, Nomura! How’s your wife doing?”

“She’s fine. What do you want?”

The old man was a little caught off-guard by the cold tone of his son but he didn’t pay much attention to it. “Oh, no. I was just wondering… you know… eh, you… aren’t you supposed to go to work…?”

“That’s right but I changed my mind. Is that a problem?”

“No… of course not. Stay here as long as you want.” With an awkward smile, the old man turned around.

“Eh, we hoped to stay for a few days more but as it turned out, we are going to leave right now.”

“Right now? Why? You’ve just come. Why don’t you stay here for a day or two?”

“It can’t be done. I have work to do.”

“I… if that’s the case, how about you leave your daughter-in-law…” The old man wanted to finish but when he saw the look on his son’s face, he couldn’t. He could sense that his son carried an animosity towards him. He didn’t know why but his eyes looked so fierce. He could clearly see the hands trembling, not in fear, and ready to pounce on him.

For an old man like him, it was more of a psychological blow.

He shut down instantly and walked away from him with heavy steps.

Nomura didn’t spare another glance at the worthless man and walked back to his room. His gloomy mood lasted for a few seconds before it was completely replaced by a hopeful one as soon as he saw his wife’s face. With her body half-covered with a thin cover, she was in the bed looking at him with lazy eyes.

“Was it father?” She asked.

Nomura nodded as he closed in on her. Gently ruffling her hair, he said. “Go get everything packed. I have some things left to pick from the farm.”

Sayuri yawned and didn’t say anything in response.

“Also… don’t open the door in any case unless it’s me.”

Sayuri didn’t understand the intent but she didn’t care much.

…

..

It took Nomura approximately twenty minutes to come back. Initially, he went to the farm to pick up some vegetables but the atmosphere and serenity of the place made him introspect. He found that the identity of the original owner of the body had completely been consumed by him. All of a sudden, it became very convenient for him to look at the present world through ‘Nomura’s’ lens.

There was no sense of awkwardness associated with identity left in his mind.

Just then, Nomura heard a familiar voice in his head.

[Congratulations on completing a ‘Scale 0 Reality’!]

[Generating rewards…]

[Ding! You are rewarded with a one-time coupon to use a ‘Scale 0 Self Administrative Authority’!]

[Do you want the rewards right now?]

After a brief moment of confusion, Nomura shook his head. ‘I’ll see it once I go back to my world. Rather, what the heck are these Scale Zer0?’

[Transferring necessary information to the Host…]

A slight headache came to him until it gradually subsided over the next few seconds. As he regained clarity of thoughts, he understood what he wanted to understand. From the information, he could sense that had it not been transferred, he wouldn’t have understood it. Or at least, it would have taken him a lot of time.

At the same time, he also got a clear idea of how this ‘system’ works. To put it briefly, the ‘system’ gives him the power to change reality. This power is, however, temporary. He could only get it once he clears a world. Depending on the type of world he clears, he gets the administrative power to change the reality from the Scale 0-9. 

With ‘Scale 0’ having the least administrative powers and ‘Scale 9’ having the most. Along with that, there are also two kinds of administrative authority - self and collective. The self-administrative authority would be obtained if he clears a world that doesn’t involve him bringing a qualitative change to the world in general. A romcom would be a good example.

On the other hand, the collective administrative authority would be obtained if he clears a world that involves him getting to various places on the world, getting to know several people in different parts of the world, and bringing significant change to the world. This would include most of the fiction dealing with fantasy.

However, it’s much more complicated. Romcoms would generally fall under the category of ‘self’ but what about romance fantasy? Or historical dramas? In most cases, the characters of these genres may bring about a change in the world but does the main plot really care about the world?

How about those urban romance? Could it classify under ‘collective’? Unless nationalism is brought, the plots of these novels stay within their national boundaries.

The confusion is evident when the concept of genres is brought into the thought but what if the concept of genres is disregarded for a few seconds? How about taking an individual fiction and analyzing it?

With the question being - ‘self’ or ‘collective’, it becomes much easier to get a correct answer.

Aside from this, he received another critical information.

‘Open administrative panel.’

—

Privilege: None

Points: 0

—

It was a short but crucial panel. The [Privilege] refers to the change he brings with the administrative authority. As for [Points], it’s something of an ‘extra’. With enough points, he could buy the administrative authorities.

‘It’s interesting how it works but let’s think about it later.’

With that, he went back to his 

…

..

Sayuri wiped off the sweat from her forehead as she looked at the last piece of clothing left to be packed. It was Nomura’s thin top innerwear. She held it and hesitantly brought her face closer to the innerwear. Then, she… sniffed.

A relaxed smile appeared on her face. It wasn’t the first time she was doing this. In fact, she had been fond of his body odor for several years but didn’t dare to express this opinion to him. With a guilty conscience, she thought. ‘If he finds out… he wouldn’t think I’m too perverted, right?’

*Knock*

*Knock*

Sayuri went to the door. 

“Who is it?” She asked, remembering his words to not let anyone other than him enter.

“It’s me.”

Sayuri heard the sound she wanted to hear and opened the door. A bright smile lit up on her face as soon as she saw him.

The couple didn’t waste much time afterward. They left for their hometown in the car.

Along the way, Nomura got a clear sense of the kind of person his wife is. She was gentle and soft-spoken. Her occasional smiles captivated him. In his mind, she was comparable to an angel. He questioned himself if he likes her and thought about his crush back on his world.

And then, he laughed when he realized how shallow his feelings were for her.

‘Perhaps rejection wasn’t a bad thing.’