He was totally shocked by what he saw in the mirror.
It was indeed his reflection, but he could hardly believe it was him.
The man in the mirror was still himself, yet he looked like an upgraded version—like comparing an NPC to a main character in a game.
No matter how handsome an NPC was, it would always pale in comparison to a protagonist, who was carefully designed and sculpted to perfection.
And right now? He was the protagonist
He felt exactly like that. He had always considered himself decently attractive, the kind of guy people would casually call "good-looking" in passing. But standing in front of his current self, he felt embarrassed to even mention his past appearance. It was like comparing a rusted bicycle to a luxury sports car.
His ocean-blue eyes had undergone a mysterious transformation. Before, they resembled the calm, shallow sea of the human world—pleasant, but ordinary. Now, they gleamed like the boundless ocean of a divine realm. Mysterious. Deep. Dazzling.
His facial features had been subtly refined to the point where even the tiniest alteration might ruin the overall harmony of his face. It was beauty crafted at a near divine level.
His skin had a soft, healthy glow—a rosy luster that looked smooth enough to bounce light off. Not a single blemish, mark, or even an open pore remained. Even skincare ads would have to use his face as the new gold standard.
And his body had transformed in ways that left him stunned.
His height had increased as well, now towering confidently over six feet. He could faintly see the shadow of six-pack abs beneath the loose robe, and defined mermaid lines drew subtle curves at his waist like chiseled artwork.
He was stunned. Awed. Low-key jealous of himself. And at the same time, deeply appreciative.
Finally, he let out a long breath and consoled himself. "At least it's still me...
If someone else had received this upgrade, he might have wished for a second transmigration out of sheer envy. Good looks were already a cheat—this was practically a divine buff.
"This is the rhythm of becoming a male god," he thought, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
After laughing like a maniac for a while, drunk on his own beauty.
He suddenly coughed and glanced around in embarrassment.
Luckily, no one had witnessed his wretched display. Otherwise, the male god persona he had barely begun to construct would have been destroyed before it even had a chance to form.
He wrapped himself in a bathrobe and returned to his suite, but as he passed the edge of the bed, something red caught his eye—peeking out from underneath.
He paused. curiously walked towards that and was stunned when he saw that it was... actually a woman's underwear.
His heart skipped a beat, he hurriedly tossed the blanket aside, and what came into view made his brain short-circuit.
A bright red plum blossom stained the white sheets.
He stood there stupidly.
His mind went blank for a few seconds before it finally rebooted. He frantically scrolled through his memories, trying to find the missing frames.
After going through his memories, he vaguely remembered a woman stumbling next to him before he blacked out.
At that time, he didn't think much about it.
Nor could he—it was the very moment he got transported.
But now...
Did that mean she had come along too?
And they slept together?!
Which itself isn't a big deal, stuff like that happen between men and woman. And he is in America right now and this kind of thing is very common,
BUT!!!
It was her first time!!
Her first time.
Even worse... she was the first woman in both of his lives!
His moral compass—which had mostly been decorative in his previous life—suddenly surged to the forefront. He couldn't just pretend nothing happened. Even if he didn't remember a thing, his conscience wouldn't let him run from this.
He clenched his fists.
He had to find that woman.
He racked his brain, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall her face, voice, or even the color of her hair. It was like someone had deleted the entire night from his memory.
He let out a sigh that came from the depths of his soul.
He finally became a man, and he didn't remember anything about the process and even who the woman was.
He sat at the edge of the bed, crying without tears.
After thinking about it for a while, he decided to let it go temporarily. If he kept stressing about it, he'd lose his mind.
Besides, this was America. If you had money, there was almost nothing you couldn't do.
He could easily find her using the hotel's security cameras. He just needed to figure out when she left, get her room number, and start from there.
But something still bugged him.
Shouldn't she have cried? Screamed? Hit him with a shoe?
She lost her first time and just... left?
Quietly?
Without even waking him up?
He frowned deeply.
What kind of brain circuit does this woman have?
Unable to understand her logic, he gave up. "Forget it... I'll deal with it later."
He dragged himself into a plush chair and exhaled heavily.
The adrenaline from his earlier discovery had finally worn off, leaving him with enough peace to start processing the bigger picture, and the knowledge about this strange new world slowly settled in his mind.
The countries that gained independence in our world still did so here, though for varying reasons—as if a mysterious wheel of fate was controlling everything, preventing history from deviating too much.
But things were definitely different.
In this world, while the U.S. remained a major power, it was no longer the unrivaled global hegemon. No nation stood unchallenged. To prevent any single superpower from dominating the world stage, various countries had banded together and formed powerful alliances.
There were a total of seven major alliances that controlled the world's affairs:
American Bloc
Members: U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and other Latin American nations.
Russia & Post-Soviet Bloc
Members: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian nations.
European Union (EU)
Members: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, and other European nations.
East Asian Alliance
Members: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (semi-independent), Vietnam, and other East Asian nations.
South Asian & Southeast Asian Alliance
Members: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other regional nations.
Middle Eastern Bloc
Members: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Egypt, Turkey, and other regional nations.
African Union
Members: Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, and other African nations.
These blocs reshaped the world order, resulting in earth-shaking changes across the global economy, technology, and culture. Almost every country was wealthier and more stable than in his previous world. Prosperity and development were the common thread connecting nations.
The United Nations played a much larger and more active role here, stepping in with real power to manage peace, distribute aid, and maintain balance. As a result, food, clean water, and medicine were widely accessible. Hunger, disease, and inequality had been dramatically reduced.
But peace came with a cost.
Without wars or external threats to drive rapid innovation, technological advancement had noticeably slowed. This world was about 10 to 20 years behind his old one in certain sectors. Smartphones, AI, and cloud computing lagged by nearly a decade.
Streaming platforms like Netflix or Spotify didn't exist yet. Social media was underdeveloped. There was no Bitcoin, no blockchain boom, and many major tech companies hadn't even been founded yet.
Many top technology companies had yet to be formed, and even if they existed, they still struggled to dominate.
Sure, corporations like Amazing, Goodle, Pineapple, and Macrosoft did exist—but they hadn't yet launched their breakthrough products and were still clawing for relevance. Other regional companies filled the gaps in their place, taking over sectors where tech giants were supposed to dominate.
The biggest underdog was the entertainment industry.
Perhaps due to long-term peace and prosperity, people had more leisure time and emotional bandwidth to dive into entertainment, and their demand for cultural and entertainment content had grown exponentially.
As a result, the entertainment industry here was far ahead of ours, wielding significant power and influence on the world stage.
It held genuine power on the world stage. Celebrities were not just idolized—they were revered. Influential. Practically power figures.
Hollywood still existed and was still strong, but it no longer held a monopoly on global pop culture. Countries had fiercely invested in their local industries, nurturing their own stars, movies, dramas, and music scenes.
Oddly, many globally famous works—blockbuster movies, bestselling albums, viral trends—either didn't exist yet or hadn't gained traction. They were gathering dust, waiting for the right spark to ignite them.
Even more bizarre, many celebrities we know of either didn't exist or were still struggling to rise.
The timeline seemed jumbled, like fate had taken a deck of destiny cards and reshuffled them at random. With some celebrities who should've been aging gracefully were still young—or hadn't even debuted yet.
There were so many differences, large and small. Some he noticed immediately, others he'd uncover slowly over time.
After finally gaining a general understanding of this version of Earth, he exhaled again—this time more deeply—and leaned back into the chair.
His thoughts wandered briefly toward the future. This world was ripe with opportunity.
Especially for someone like him.
And speaking of opportunity...
His eyes flicked toward the two unopened prizes still hovering in his system interface.
It was time to check them out.
After a moment of hesitation, he clicked on the golden paper icon hovering before him.
With a shimmer of light, a real sheet of paper materialized in his hand. It felt heavy—high quality.
He unfolded it and was greeted by a sleek, formal-looking document: a share transfer agreement, already signed and notarized.
That meant it was legally binding.
Curious, he quickly scanned through the document.
The moment he saw the company name and the number of shares, his body stiffened.
w(ﾟДﾟ)w.
He blinked once. Then again. Slowly, like a machine rebooting after a system crash.
"…What?"
He scratched his head in confusion.
¯\(°_o)/¯.
Roch Industries?Never heard of it.
He wasn't sure whether he had just struck gold or received a useless dud.
He had just pretended to be shocked. (〜￣▽￣)〜.
It seemed like his acting skills were still good.
The agreement stated that he now owned 5% of Roch Industries. But without knowing the company's worth, it was impossible to tell whether that meant anything.
He immediately picked up his phone and searched for "Roch Industries" online.
The results left him puzzled. There was barely anything—just some vague business registry links and a plain website that looked like it had been designed by a sleepy intern in 2006 without any real details.
He frowned.
' A company at this age without a proper website? Even a second-rate startup has a decent online presence. This must be a crappy company.'
He couldn't help but complain. 'What kind of crappy company has the system rewarded me with?'
With no other choice, he decided to ask the system.
He cleared his throat and with great majesty decided to confront the system." Lord system, can you please tell me about this company."
[Of course, Host.]
The system replied coolly.
He blinked. That was... way too fast. He was speechless about this matter-of-factly reply.
His lips twitched. "Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"
[You didn't ask, Host.]ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
He swore he heard a trace of disdain in the system's tone, but he had no evidence.
He let out a long sigh. "Forget it."
The night is still young—Ahem! Life is still long.
[But you don't have sufficient permission to unlock this information yet.]
After hearing the reply, his eye twitched. He couldn't help but want to strangle this system.
What's the difference between this and not telling me anything?!
He clenched his fists. "Fine. Fine! From now on, if I ask you anything again, I'll...I'll ... I'll be a dog!"
After swearing the poisonous oath, he turned to the last prize.
Given how the first two rewards were, this one certainly wouldn't be simple, even though he currently doesn't know the value of shares, but his gut told him they wouldn't be worthless.
He clicked on the gun-and-shield badge, and, just like before, blinding light filled the room before vanishing.
But, instead of receiving a physical item, a new system window appeared before him, filled with information.
The moment he clicked it, the system's pleasant yet mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
[Congratulations, Host, on acquiring Arcanum Security Company.]
He blinked.
That was it?
No fanfare? No backstory? No explanation?
Just... it's a security company?
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
And just like that, he forgot his earlier oath about never asking the system anything again.
"Arghh! Are you kidding me?!"
"At least tell me something about it! A document? A keycard? A company brochure?!"
He waited a whole minute. The system finally decided to answer in that same nonchalant tone:
[Don't worry, Host. Someone from the security company will contact you soon regarding the ownership. As for the information—find out yourself.]ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
He stared blankly at the air in front of him.
For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
His new system was powerful, yes. But it was also... a jerk.
(End of Chapter)