I wake up, take a bath, go to my part-time job, come back home, read web novels, and then play gal games until late, now nearing 3 AM.

This was my life. To an average person, this life seemed incredibly lonely, boring, and a waste of life.

However, I love this life. It has all the things that give me happiness: my gal games and web novels.

Sometimes I feel a little lonely and fearful when I think about the future. After all, the life I'm leading is that of a loser with no friends, and having a girlfriend seems like a distant goal. As you may guess, I'm also a virgin.

Anyway, I'm doing well financially, and I have the best things that keep me busy all day: gal games and web novels. So, I don't feel lonely... or so I thought.

Actually, I feel empty and lonely. I envy the protagonists of gal games and web novels, who have harems of beautiful girls and experience all the glory.

"Oh, I wish I could live in such a fun world too."

I wouldn't even ask to be the protagonist. I'd be fine with being a side character, a mob, or even an elite character's lackey.

Yes, there was a time when I thought like that.

---

"This can't be true!" I, Tatsuya Kurogan, shouted in front of the mirror.

No way! When I woke up and looked at my reflection in the mirror the face of a mob villain from a game I knew well was making the same surprised expression as me.

An evil face was reflected in the transparent mirror. The black hair, dyed with cheap color wax, looked painfully unsightly.

I didn't understand. Well, I did understand but I didn't want to accept it.

"Reincarnated? No, maybe it's more like possession? I have become... Tatsuya Kurogan?"

The answer to my question was right there in the mirror. No matter how I looked at it, it was a character from a game I knew.

I pinched my cheek to see if it was a dream but it hurt as usual.

"It's reality."

It was indeed reality. I had become Tatsuya Kurogan for real. What a shock. What despair. The more I understood the situation the more panic and hopelessness grew within me.

"Of all people, why him...?"

Let me confess. I had indeed desired to be transported to the world of a gal game.

I admit it, and I still haven't forgotten that faint longing even now.

But this... this was not what I wanted. This was not supposed to happen.

Tatsuya Kurogan.

He was an iconic character in the romance simulation RPG "Eternal Bonds: Chronicles of Radiance" series, known for being the fall guy destined to die in every route a pitiful man. And now it seemed I had become him.

---

"Eternal Bonds: Chronicles of Radiance" was one of the best-selling RPG titles in recent years in the domestic market.

It offered a captivating world, a fantasy life set in vast landscapes, an intricate combat system, and a story full of laughter and tears. It was a mix of the fantasy world and a school setting, which was the basic concept of the series.

In this popular title, Tatsuya Kurogan stood out in a peculiar way.

He was a character from the first game of the Eternal Bonds series, known as "Eternal Bonds." He was the mob villain the main characters would face in their first battle.

There were many mob villains, but only this Tatsuya Kurogan was famous and different from others because Tatsuya Kurogan died in every route of the game.

Yes, in every route, he died while other mob villains had at least one route where they survived, but this Tatsuya Kurogan didn't have such a route. He was doomed to die.

In a game like Eternal Bonds, which prided itself on its freedom and showed various aspects of characters depending on the playstyle and faction they belonged to, Tatsuya Kurogan's fate was to "die early" in all routes. His presence became unique in that sense, and on top of that now I had become this Tatsuya Kurogan.

---

Tatsuya Kurogan was weak, comically weak. He had established himself as a gag character.

Tatsuya Kurogan didn't carry any weapons or armor, and he only attacked the three-person party every third turn like some lame, weakling trash mob. Armed with eccentric behavior, he suddenly appeared in front of the protagonist as a mob villain and his action pattern was as follows:

Turn 1 - Put the enemy to sleep with spirit arts (single target).

Turn 2 - Lower the enemy's defense with spirit arts (single target).

Turn 3 - Punch (single target and a pathetic weakling punch).

Turn 4 - Put the enemy to sleep with spirit arts (single target)... and the loop continued.

Do you see it now?

This guy spent two-thirds of his precious combat turns on debuffing and inflicting status effects (single target). Moreover, the punch he prepared so meticulously was ridiculously weak.

Honestly, even if he attacked while the enemy was debuffed, they would be fully healed with the lowest-level healing skill. After spending two turns preparing, he would attack with a move that barely scratched them. It's amazing how weak that was, seriously.

Well, even so, if the battle format was a one-on-one duel, Tatsuya Kurogan might have had a chance as a single weak mob villain to do something. Although he lacked offensive options, the strategy of gradually wearing down the enemy with debuffs and status ailments was not bad.

However, reality was cruel. The protagonist he was facing was in a three-person party, and one of them was a broken healer bearing the name of a saint.

Therefore, there was no chance of victory for a single weak mob. Not even one in a million. He was heading toward the promised defeat.

And so, Tatsuya Kurogan, the annoying, weak trash mob who appeared out of nowhere, was beaten to a pulp by the protagonists and then, like another sudden turn of events was devoured by a true boss enemy who emerged.

Foolishly, he was beaten, devoured, and died.

This was the one and only role of Tatsuya Kurogan in Eternal Bonds. To be exposed in such an embarrassing manner and die – it was quite a relaxing job, indeed. Ha ha.

"Ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha... ugh, ugh..."

I cried. I cried a lot. Knowing my tragic fate in advance only made the feeling of despair well up even more.

"Is this even possible? This is too much, way too much!"

And so, my life in another world began abruptly and in the worst possible role.