As Roy returned from the convenience store, his gaze dimmed as he walked home.

Lowering his head, he noticed a peculiar sight.

He looked up.

"A monster...?"

"That's right! Because of an excessive love for soda, I'm always with soda, day and night, even bathing with soda. Before I knew it, I became a weird soda person!" The monster shouted. "Soda is a treasure of humanity, everyone should love it! Come, have some soda!"

No wonder it felt familiar.

It resembled a giant cola bottle with limbs.

Though not the first encounter, Roy still felt the urge to ridicule. The reasons for turning into monsters were just too casual. Bad habits, excessive stress, or genetic mutations could lead to transformation, but Roy mostly encountered the former two. And these monsters weren't particularly dangerous.

"Is that so? Well, good luck with that."

Roy sidestepped the soda monster blocking his path and continued walking.

"Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep going... do you think I'd say that just to let you off the hook? Don't underestimate me, take this... guh!"

Bang!

Before the soda monster could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out, followed by what sounded like glass shattering and an explosion.

Without looking back, Roy held a M1911A1, smoke curling from the barrel.

"So noisy."

As he retracted his hand, the gun disassembled into invisible particles, seamlessly merging back into Roy's body. There was no pause, just a fluid motion.

Ignoring the monster he had just dispatched, Roy continued on his way to his lodgings.

...

Currently, Roy lived in a remote area.

About a month ago, Roy, once a corporate slave, was suddenly transformed from an adulthood to youth.

Though there was something akin to a system, it was utterly unreliable. Apart from installing some new hardware and software... collectively termed special abilities... it submerged into obscurity.

With no clues, Roy could only strive to survive in this unfamiliar world. Due to a lack of funds, he eventually settled in the outskirts of a city called Z, recommended by a real estate agent.

Let's introduce this world briefly.

Though somewhat unbelievable, it did indeed belong to the future.

Sometimes Roy wondered what the world would be like in a hundred, two hundred, or a thousand years. Unfortunately, he wouldn't live that long, he could only let his imagination roam.

Now that he had actually arrived in this future world, it wasn't as wonderful as he had imagined.

In this world devoid of national concepts, the eras when nations still existed were termed ancient, suggesting a gap of at least several hundred years.

In summary, this world had undergone two upheavals.

The first was during the ancient era, where large-scale wars, known as World Wars, erupted repeatedly due to land and resource disputes, escalating competition, until the population dwindled drastically. People eventually heeded prophecies, ceased their conflicts, unified official languages and economies through constant adjustments, and formed a unified government.

The second upheaval occurred shortly after the first. Wars among humans left severe aftermaths, with environmental poisoning, rampant harmful organisms, drastic climate changes causing polar ice melting, and rising sea levels flooding many lands.

People had to abandon vast territories and settle on a supercontinent, where they established new civilizations. This supercontinent was divided into 26 megacities, from A to Z, shaping the current landscape.

This was gleaned from historical records Roy had spent some time reading at the library.

"Although human civilization has undergone a series of dramatic changes, it seems peace remains elusive..." Roy pondered. "Perhaps it's because I live on the outskirts, but lately, there seem to be more and more monsters around."

Just as Roy arrived home, he encountered another one.

Today was relatively sparse, usually, there would be one every few steps. Once, on his way home, he counted over thirty. Although they were relatively easy to deal with, taking them down with just one shot, it was undeniably annoying.

After walking for a while, Roy finally reached the front of his apartment.

Because the frequency of monsters appearing in the outskirts of Z City was higher than anywhere else, and not everyone possessed self-defense capabilities like Roy, the number of residents here was minimal.

As a result, the rent, utilities, gas, and other expenses were unbelievably cheap, almost free.

But transportation was a bit of a hassle.

There were no bus or tram stops in this area, and there were no convenience stores or facilities offering convenient services nearby.

As he was about to open the door, he noticed the door next to his was also opening.

Out came a bald man.

"Isn't this Saitama-san? Going out to take out the trash?" Roy greeted him.

"Yeah." Saitama smiled.

"Oh."

Roy had met Saitama for the first time about a month ago.

At that time, just after arriving in this world and being unfamiliar with his abilities and changes in his body, Roy encountered a monster. It was Saitama who happened to pass by and saved him.

But Roy was still confused at that time, so he didn't bother Saitama. It wasn't until he rented this apartment that he realized Saitama was his neighbor. To express his gratitude for Saitama's life-saving favor, Roy visited and treated him a few times, and they became acquainted in the process.

It was said that Saitama was engaging in hero activities for the fun of it, and Roy was reluctantly considered Saitama's first fan.

"By the way, Saitama-san..." Roy mentioned the groceries he had purchased and gestured, "I'm preparing to make sukiyaki with beef. Would you like to join?"

"Oh, sure!" Without hesitation, Saitama agreed.

"Then I'll go ahead and prepare. Saitama-san, just come over when you're ready to eat."

As he lived alone, the place wasn't that big.

It was roughly the size of twelve tatami mats, with a kitchen, bathroom, balcony, and living room all furnished. Lighting and ventilation were not a problem, it was a decent place.

He placed a low table in the living room, took out a portable stove and a can of butane gas, and then brought out a porcelain pot.

Next was preparing the ingredients.

For the soup base, he simply used dashi made from kombu and bonito flakes, mixed with mirin, soy sauce, sake, and sugar to make the sauce.

The ingredients were also quite classic.

Yam noodles, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, komatsuna, baby bok choy, enoki mushrooms, and of course, the hidden gem was the A5 Wagyu beef he specifically purchased from Market A today.

"Come to think of it, this is my first time making this. It looks good though, maybe I do have some talent in cooking after all."

Roy pondered seriously about the possibility of a career change.

"Wow, it smells so good!"

With acquaintances, Saitama was always casual.

After opening the door with a bang, he swaggered in without a care in the world. He had no sense of restraint, as if he were returning to his own home.

Roy paid no mind to it at all.

"Saitama-san, over here." He waved, "The meal is ready, and today, I'm confident I've made delicious food."

"I won't hold back then!" Saitama's eyes lit up, saliva uncontrollably dripping, "Is this premium snowflake beef? So much of it! Damn it... Roy, aren't you like me, without much income? How can you afford such good meat!"

As Saitama eagerly devoured the beef, tears of gratitude streaming down his face, he also questioned Roy's status as a broke person.

"Huh... Saitama-san, I remember telling you about my ability, right? I call it 'Dark Matter."