Chapter 1


The world is overflowing with light novels, animations, web novels, and plenty of otaku.

I was one of those otaku, happily enjoying my leisure life for a time.

One day, out of the blue, I had a thought.

“Huh? Can’t I also be reincarnated?”

You know those common clichés in reincarnation stories, right?

Suddenly throwing a fit over the plot of a popular web novel, writing a 5,700-character complaint, and bam! Next thing you know, I’m reincarnated.

Or pointing out illogical elements and getting told, “Then you do it,” before being reincarnated in a burst of white light.

Or randomly dying, then waking up and saying, “This ceiling looks unfamiliar.” Just like that, bam! Reincarnated.

When seeing those reincarnation stories, it seems like there are at least two worlds, right?

One is the Earth where I originally lived, and the other is the world within the web novel or game I’m put into.

So what if the world I’m living in right now could also be a world from a web novel?!

If my logic is correct, then I should be able to be reincarnated too.

“Ha━! I’m a genius after all!”

Wait, is this really something that came out of my head?

My friends always called me a goldfish in terms of IQ and said I was definitely an idiot.

But what if, in reality, I’m a huge genius!?

No, wait. Maybe there are already a few who have successfully reincarnated.

Lately, reading comments on web novels, there are plenty of idiots whining about great stories just because they don’t like something.

Could it be that they’re pretending to be stupid while secretly building up to reincarnation?

If they genuinely don’t know anything, then they’re just plain silly.

“Ugh… The world is vast.”

Who knew there would be so many geniuses out there!?

I can’t let this slide. From now on, I’ll start building up my own path to reincarnation.

With that in mind, I’m going to binge-read the number one web novel.

I need to find a story that’s filled with the fantasy of reincarnating into another world.

After all, the currently top-ranked novel has tags like Academy, Fantasy, and Otherworld, so that should work!

As mentioned earlier, there are many ways to reincarnate, but since I don’t want to die, I’ll just write a 5,700-character comment instead.

And thus began my efforts for reincarnation.

First step.

First of all, I binge-read the novel I was about to reincarnate into.

If the story wasn’t fun, I might have to grit my teeth and struggle through it, but since it’s the top-ranked story, it flowed easily.

“Oh crap. Look at the protagonist being so frustrating. Just kill them already; why save them? If you do that, they’ll come back stronger!”

Honestly, as I kept reading, the original goal of my reincarnation started to slip my mind, it was just that fun.

At this rate, I might forget my original intention, so…

Whap!

I slapped my cheek.

“Get it together!”

The impact of a number one story is truly insane.

Just from reading a few chapters, I got so drawn in!

“You lack effort!”

I said to myself, reflecting in the black screen of my phone.

Yeah. I was right.

I’m lacking effort so much that it’s ridiculous.

I need to strive even harder!

Anyway, I completed my binge-read, so the first step is done.

Now, onto the second step.

It’s time to write comments!

As I reflected on it while binge-reading, this novel is really fun!

There’s no way it’s number one for no reason because I got completely absorbed!

The writing is genuinely good; there truly isn’t anything to mock.

But if I want to reincarnate, I have to write a critical comment.

[Isekai Reincarnation: Author, I can’t understand the protagonist’s actions. I can’t say exactly why, but anyway, I don’t get it. You know I’m not doing this because I want to reincarnate, right?]

[Isekai Reincarnation: Haha, the protagonist really is such a pushover. If I were the author, there’s no way I’d do it like that, haha!]

While writing comments each time a chapter came out, I noticed that many people were voicing similar thoughts in the early comments, criticizing the story. However, as the story progressed, those comments faded more and more.

The advance team has already gone ahead to finish everything up, so I need to reincarnate quickly too!

Thus, my efforts for reincarnation began.

At first, I carefully crafted each comment, but as time went on, I began to write more carelessly due to running out of ideas.

[Isekai Reincarnation: Hey, that’s not how it works! The author must be a reincarnation noob.]

[Isekai Reincarnation: I feel like reincarnating. I want to reincarnate so bad. I want to reincarnate! I want to reincarnate! I want to reincarnate! I want to reincarnate!]

And so, two years passed.

I invested a full two years into this.

It’s only natural to show this level of sincerity to be granted reincarnation, right?

But as I went on, I got so lazy midway that I just started using macros.

A macro of my own creation.

It would automatically combine words into comments when I typed them.

[Isekai Reincarnation: ??Re☆incarnation?? Currently reincarnating$$ All members surviving☜☜ Clear 100% proof ※ ?This man does it for free? Extras available ¥ Specific Conditions §§ Truly a top-notch reincarnation§§★★@@@ Immediate Reincarnation]

It turned out something like that.

It was something I roughly picked up from the internet, just changing the content.

But who cares?

If you’re Korean, you should understand it, even if it’s a jumbled mess.

Every time a new chapter came up, I watched as my macro wrote the comments while slurping ramen.

Then, on the day it marked the two-year point…

Finally, my efforts bore fruit.

[Mint Chocolate Master: Damn it! Cut it out, you crazy bastard!]

As soon as that comment appeared, I hurriedly got out of bed and sat in front of my computer.

Kneeling on the chair, I closed my eyes, joined my hands together, and prayed with reverence.

When I opened my eyes again…

“Yatta!!!!!!!!!”

I had succeeded in reincarnation.

*

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself not facing an unfamiliar ceiling… but standing alone in a room.

“Darn it. That line about an unfamiliar ceiling is a classic trope. They’re not going to let me skip that?”

The author totally crossed the line, but anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.

If I’ve really reincarnated, then the first thing I should try is…

Feeling my heart race, I boldly yelled the magical words.

“Status!”

I spread my hands in the air and exclaimed grandly.

Then, with a pop, a translucent blue panel appeared in front of me, just like in webtoons.

[ Information ]

Name: Luke

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Grade: 1st Year

Magical Power: 0 / 0

[ Skills ]

Inventory (F)

[ Stats ]

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 0

Stamina: 10

Stat Points: 0

What’s with this golden ratio of stats?

And why is my intelligence 0 even though I’m so smart?

Is this a setup error or what?

And this isn’t the only weird thing going on, is it?

If I delve into my genius brain, I remember that the character named Luke was never mentioned in the story.

Doesn’t that mean I’m lower than an extra?

“Wow. I was a genius on Earth, but here I am just a loser?”

How embarrassing.

This isn’t just simple loser territory; it’s pretty evident from the skill I just saw.

‘How did I get into the academy with only one skill: Inventory?’

I can guess that among the 200 people in this academy, this Luke character is probably dead last.

‘But now, that’s me?’

Yikes.

And on top of that, in a world where magic prevails, my magical power is 0.

It’s not that I’ve exhausted all my magic; my maximum magical power is 0, meaning I was born as a magical power-deprived loser.

The story I reincarnated into says, “Commoners became heroes in the academy.” Both swordsmen and mages exist, but even the swordsman uses magic to throw sword energy. It seems like a convenient setting from the author.

“I guess to make reincarnating interesting, a handicap like this is necessary.”

Indeed, the character I reincarnated into is a magic-less one, but

I turned my gaze around the room.

In this cramped little room, more suited to a small dormitory, white wallpaper was all I could see.

There was a tiny bed that could barely fit a single person lying down, and a desk that took up half the remaining space.

“Is this a dormitory?”

In the novel I reincarnated into, the academy is solely meritocratic.

Classes are divided by skill level, and even the dorms are split by strength.

Furthermore, only the bottom 10 in this academy are put in what’s called the “Jogatun Dormitory,” which only got mentioned once when the dorms were described in the story’s early stages.

Naturally, it was mentioned just once, so there’s no concrete description of the Jogatun Dormitory. Even having read the entire novel, there was no way to know what it looked like.

But seeing it with my own eyes after reincarnating…

“Wow, it really looks terrible.”

How does anyone live here?

If it were me, I would’ve dropped out ages ago, tsk tsk.

Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.

Today marks a momentous day when my two years of effort are rewarded!

I’ve seen my status and succeeded in reincarnation!

I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Dear author, I’m about to show you my epic dance of joy!”

Talking to myself in the empty room, I began to shake my hips.

Knock knock.

At that moment, I heard someone knocking on the dormitory door.

‘Who dares interrupt my joyful dance?’

Knock knock.

Since I didn’t respond, I heard the knock once more.

This time, accompanied by a voice.

“Is Luke in here? This is Reina from the student council. I have urgent matters to discuss.”

Right now, I could care less about any urgent matters; shaking my hips was way more important.

I should just ignore it.

“I can feel movement inside, but I wonder why there’s no response? I’ll be coming in.”

I heard the sound of the doorknob turning and the door creaking open.

“There you are, Luke. What on earth are you━━.”

The girl who introduced herself as Reina paused mid-sentence, staring at my enthusiastic hip movements.

Regardless of what she thought, I kept shaking my hips.