The Otherworld I Reincarnated Into Was a Slum: Starting a Slow Life from Rock Bottom - The Beginning Was a Mistake

# I stood in a completely white, empty space. No matter where I looked, everything was white and my eyes hurt from the brightness. (Ah, I'm dead.) While feeling dazed, I recalled what happened just before arriving here. (My life was so pathetic.) Born to toxic parents, I had endured unnecessary hardships my entire life. The sense of discomfort I felt from the moment I became conscious solidified into certainty when I was in elementary school. I thought not getting meals, toys, or clothes was normal, but other children weren't like that. I was always bullied for being hungry and wearing dirty clothes, but my parents never helped me. When I tried to tell them, they got angry instead. Since I didn't receive any financial support, I looked for a high school that waived tuition and worked part-time jobs constantly. I couldn't let my grades slip, so I sacrificed sleep to study. My memories of high school consisted only of studying and part-time work—I never experienced youth like a normal high school student. I attended university on a scholarship, doing part-time work the entire time. The stylish classmates ignored me, and I didn't even have time or energy to make friends. For four years, I was desperately focused on maintaining the same lifestyle. After graduation, I managed to get employed at a reasonably successful company, though not a large one. I studied for certifications to increase my salary and worked hard to pay back my student loans. I cut my household expenses, repaid the loans little by little, and was finally able to start saving. Just when I thought I could finally enjoy life, it happened. As I reflected on this pathetic life, suddenly the space in front of me lit up brilliantly. The light was so blinding that I closed my eyes, but it quickly faded and was replaced by a strange presence. When I carefully opened my eyes, there was an uncle figure in a prostrate position before me. A blonde, muscular man wearing something like a white toga. "I sincerely apologize for this." The uncle seemed to be apologizing to me. I couldn't think of any reason for this, but I couldn't just ignore it, so I was wondering what to do when the uncle began to speak. "A subordinate's mistake is also a superior's mistake. Normally, something like this shouldn't happen, but since it has occurred, I must take responsibility for it." It seemed a subordinate had made a mistake somehow, and it appeared to be related to me. I didn't know what mistake they'd made, but since I was already dead, I thought it didn't matter. "To confuse souls—that's a mistake even a new employee wouldn't make. And then to drop it during transport... It's so terrible that I've come here to apologize as the superior." I didn't understand what he was saying... After asking the uncle to explain in detail, step by step, I understood why he felt compelled to prostrate himself. The uncle's explanation went something like this: Just before arriving in this white space, I had gotten caught up in trouble. It was related to my toxic parents. Even though I'd barely contacted them since graduating university, they suddenly showed up at my house. I had a much younger sister, and they were demanding that I pay for her university tuition. Unlike me, my sister had been spoiled by our parents and had become a self-centered person prone to tantrums whenever things didn't go her way. Since I'd left home right after high school, I hadn't spent much time with my sister, but she had grown up watching our parents' behavior and seemed to think of me as some kind of servant. This time, she'd demanded to attend an expensive girls' academy, and when my parents couldn't afford it, they ordered me to pay for it. Of course, I refused. But my sister wasn't someone who gave up easily. She refused to listen until her wishes were granted and would continue wailing until I gave in. I explained that my sister wouldn't pass the entrance exam even before the tuition issue, but she wouldn't listen. Our parents wouldn't help since they sided with her. Whenever I said anything, they blamed me for not being a good older sister. I'd reached my limit. I was fed up with parents who didn't love me and a selfish, arrogant sister who only complained. I made a serious mistake by refusing her very harshly. My sister had a tantrum and started throwing everything in the room. When I grabbed her hand to stop her, we ended up fighting. My angry parents joined in, and my increasingly worked-up sister hit me with something hard. I thought it was getting serious and ran out of the room, but they caught up to me on the outside stairs. As we struggled, my sister and I tumbled down the stairs together. That's all I remember, but apparently that's when the uncle's subordinate made their mistake. My sister was supposed to die, but due to a mix-up, they collected my soul instead—I was merely unconscious, not dead. After that, they were supposed to take the collected soul to where it's managed, but they dropped it along the way. "So it fell into this place?" I asked. "Not exactly, but something close to that," the uncle replied. "Um, what's the problem with that?" "The problem is that this place isn't under the jurisdiction of Earth's world." I was surprised that souls were being managed, but I hadn't expected there to be jurisdictional boundaries. I never would have learned this without dying. "Since it's a soul that wasn't supposed to die, if we get it to where it's being managed, you should be able to return to your body properly." "So if we go to where it's being managed now, I can come back to life?" "That's the problem—like I said, this place has different jurisdiction than Earth. You could come back to life in this world, but you can't return to Earth." "Not even to Japan, but not even to Earth? That's pretty harsh... Isn't there anything we can do?" "There's nothing we can do. When I dropped it, it was affected by this world's influence, so even if I wanted to send it back, I can't." Well, this is something that can't be helped. If that's the case, I'll just have to give up on going back and live my life in this new world instead.

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Name: The Otherworld I Reincarnated Into Was a Slum: Starting a Slow Life from Rock Bottom
Author: Novelia

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