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The stone corridor stretched ahead of Kenji, dimly lit by torches that probably hadn't been changed since the dungeon's grand opening. Water dripped somewhere in the distance. Honestly, it was kind of annoying. His sneakers squeaked against the damp floor with each step, the sound echoing off the walls like a tiny rubber orchestra.
Kenji slumped against the wall and gave himself exactly three minutes to feel sorry for himself. His hair was a complete disaster, his school uniform was dirty from the fall, and his glasses sat crooked on his face. He probably looked like a homeless person cosplaying as a student.
"They just... left me," he muttered, adjusting his glasses with one finger. The chain on his wrists clinked with the movement. "Didn't even look back."
A rat scurried past, its tiny feet making little scratching sounds. Kenji watched it disappear into a crack in the wall and sighed deeply. "Great. Even the rats have somewhere better to be."
But then something shifted in his chest. Not some mystical awakening or the stirring of ancient power. Just the familiar burn of embarrassment slowly transforming into anger. The same feeling he got when kids at school pretended not to hear him trying to join their conversations at lunch.
"You know what?" he said to the empty corridor, his voice cracking slightly on the higher notes because puberty was apparently an ongoing project. "Forget those guys. Forget their stupid... their whole thing with each other. All that making out and showing off. I don't need them."
He pushed off the wall and started walking deeper into the dungeon, trying to make his footsteps sound more confident than he felt. The chains made it difficult to look cool, but he tried anyway.
"They looked at me," he continued, his voice getting a bit stronger as he warmed up to his internal monologue, "and they saw... well, okay, they probably saw exactly what I am. A nobody. The background character who gets two lines in episode three." He paused, clearing his throat and dropping his voice to what he thought sounded more intimidating. "But what they failed to perceive was the dormant power that lies within this vessel."
A spider dropped from the ceiling directly onto his shoulder.
"GYAAAAH!" Kenji yelped and frantically brushed it off, doing a little dance that involved way too much flailing. The spider hit the ground and scurried away, probably judging him.
He caught his breath, then felt immediately guilty. "Sorry, Spider-sama," he whispered to the darkness where it had disappeared. "We're both just trying to survive down here, right? It's not personal."
He kept walking, his confidence slowly rebuilding as he addressed the empty dungeon. "They gave me 'Minor Environmental Adjustment' and laughed. Literally laughed in my face. But joke's on them. I bet this skill is actually super rare and powerful, and they're too stupid to realize it. That's how it always works in manga. The protagonist gets the mysterious power nobody understands, then later it turns out to be god-tier."
He stopped and turned to address a particularly dark corner, pointing at it dramatically. "Yeah, I was nice to them. I shared my lunch with Yamada even when Mom didn't pack enough. I let him copy my homework. I listened to Sakura complain about her dating problems for HOURS." His voice got a bit higher and more strained. "And when it mattered, they just... they didn't even think about me. Not once."
The shadow didn't respond, obviously, but Kenji nodded anyway like it had agreed with him.
"Exactly. You get it, Shadow-san. Trust is for protagonists with plot armor. And I..." He paused dramatically, trying to think of something that sounded cool and edgy. "I need to level up my cynicism stat. Maybe respec into the jaded loner build."
A low growling sound came from somewhere ahead. Kenji's heart immediately started pounding against his ribs like it was trying to escape, but he tried to play it cool. He was having a villain origin story moment. Couldn't ruin it by being scared.
A slime emerged from the shadows. It was basically a big blue jello blob with one unblinking eye, wobbling in his direction with all the menace of a particularly aggressive pudding cup. Was it threatening? Or was that just how slimes moved? Probably just how they moved.
"So," Kenji said, his voice shaking only a little bit (okay, maybe more than a little), "you dare to challenge the awakening darkness within my... my corrupted soul?"
The slime made a "blorp" sound. Its eye stared at him with what might have been curiosity or complete indifference. Hard to tell with slimes.
"Right. Okay. You're just a slime. But still!" He pointed dramatically at it with both hands, which was less impressive when his wrists were chained together. "This is my villain origin story! Your defeat will mark the beginning of my journey into... into the abyss of power!"
The slime's pseudopod swung toward him with all the speed and grace of a lazy windshield wiper on the slowest setting. Kenji threw himself to the side anyway, because better safe than sorry, crashing into the wall with his shoulder.
"Ow! I mean... too slow!" he declared, scrambling to his feet. His hair was now sticking up at weird angles from the impact, which he told himself looked intimidating and edgy rather than like he'd been electrocuted. Very dark. Very mysterious. Very "don't mess with me."
The slime turned to face him again with the speed of continental drift. Its single eye seemed... bored? Could slimes even be bored? Did they have enough brain cells for that?
"I can see your true power," Kenji announced, trying to sound ominous and failing spectacularly. "You're not just any slime. You're... uh..." He studied it for a moment, squinting in the dim torchlight. It was exactly as unremarkable as every other slime he'd seen in games. Blue. Jiggly. Existing. "You're clearly the boss of Level One! The tutorial end boss!"
The slime moved toward him again, this time a little faster. Maybe walking speed now instead of grandpa-at-the-mall speed.
Kenji circled around it, trying to look tactical and strategic. In his head, this was an intense battle of wits and reflexes, like something from an action movie. In reality, he was basically playing a very slow, very sad game of tag with animated jello while wearing chains.
"Behold!" he shouted, making what he desperately hoped looked like a martial arts pose he'd seen in an anime once. "The forbidden technique passed down through my bloodline for generations!"
He lunged forward, aiming for what he assumed was the slime's weak point (the eye? The center? Who knew?), and immediately slipped on the damp floor. His feet went out from under him like someone had yanked a rug, and he crashed face-first into the stone, scraping his palms and chin.
"Ow ow ow OW!"
The slime made a concerned-sounding blorp, actually pausing its advance.
Kenji rolled over onto his back, spitting out dust and possibly some small pebbles. His palms stung. His chin hurt. His pride was absolutely demolished. "That was just... testing your reflexes. Obviously."
He tried again, this time attempting some kind of spinning kick he'd seen in an anime whose name he couldn't remember. His foot went right through the slime's body with a wet SCHLORP sound, which, in hindsight, made perfect sense since it was literally made of liquid. He lost his balance immediately, windmilling his arms like a broken helicopter before falling backward into a puddle with a splash.
The slime approached him slowly, its movement somehow conveying awkward sympathy. Like it felt bad for him. Great. Even the tutorial monster pitied him.
"This is it," Kenji panted, staring up at the dark ceiling covered in cobwebs and probably mold. His wet uniform clung to his back. "This is actually how I'm going to die. Killed by a tutorial monster. The weakest enemy in the game." He laughed bitterly. "God, I hope nobody ever finds my browser history. Please, just delete everything. Format the hard drive."
The slime loomed over him, raising what might have been a pseudopod or might have just been part of its body moving. Hard to tell. Then it very gently poked his arm.
It felt like being touched by a cool, damp washcloth fresh from the fridge.
Kenji immediately assumed this was some kind of deadly attack. His brain, always helpful in crisis situations, started playing a funeral march.
"Oh no," he gasped, genuine fear creeping into his voice. "This is it. I'm dying. Alone in a dungeon, killed by what's probably the strongest slime in existence. They'll find my skeleton and laugh. 'Look, he died to a slime. What a loser.'"
The slime, seeming to realize he wasn't going to fight back or even move, settled down next to him with a contented blorp. It felt weirdly comfortable. Like a beanbag chair made of Jell-O.
"Mom," Kenji whispered, his voice cracking with genuine emotion now. Tears started forming at the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry I never did the dishes without being asked three times. And I'm sorry about that time I used your expensive shampoo because mine ran out. The bottle said it was for damaged hair and I thought... I thought it might help."
The slime made soft, sympathetic gurgling sounds. Like it was listening.
"Dad, I'm sorry I never got good at anything you could brag about to your coworkers." A tear rolled down his cheek, mixing with the dungeon water. "I know you wanted me to play sports or get good grades or... literally anything. But I tried. I really did try."
A small part of the slime patted his shoulder gently. Kenji, in his emotional state, interpreted this as the creature savoring his final moments before the kill.
"Yamada," he continued, more tears coming now. His nose was running. He probably looked pathetic. "Even though you guys left me behind, I... I had fun hanging out with you. Remember when we tried to beat that one boss for six hours straight and kept dying? Your mom kept bringing us snacks. She was really nice. Also really hot, but that's beside the point."
The slime had now settled more or less on his chest, its weight feeling like one of those weighted blankets that were supposed to help with anxiety. Except this one was made of dungeon jello.
"And to whoever might have maybe liked me someday," Kenji whispered, his voice getting smaller and more broken. "I'm sorry I was too weird and awkward to ever find out. I always thought maybe in high school, or college, or... somewhere, eventually, I'd figure out how to talk to people without saying something embarrassing. Maybe I'd get cool. Maybe I'd get confident."
He closed his eyes, tears leaking out from under his eyelids. "I wanted to get better at stuff. Maybe learn to cook something that wasn't microwaved instant ramen. Maybe write a story that didn't suck. Maybe just... be someone people didn't forget about the second I left the room."
The slime was vibrating gently now, making a sound like a cat purring. Weirdly comforting.
"I'm sorry I wasn't the protagonist," Kenji breathed, his voice barely audible. "I really thought... I mean, getting transported to another world, that's supposed to be my thing, right? Weird loner kids like me are supposed to become heroes. The chosen ones. But I guess I'm just..."
And then something inside Kenji broke.