Earphones, mankinds way of letting you know that the world's gone to the dogs.
Joey saw them everywhere as a kid, he never knew why until he started wearing them too
You could listen to music all by yourself, completely by yourself and there would be nobody to listen with you
Alone on purpose, that feeling so opposite yet similar to loneliness, was something the modern man craved for.
I drown out the world with sounds, it's better than facing my problems
Joey thought to himself, carrying groceries and other essentials back from the store.
Surely there would be no interruptions, right?
Joey learned the hard way that people who want to escape don't somehow get isekai'd or transmigrated into other fantastical worlds where everything is neat and simple
I really don't want to think about my future, or the lack of anything going on with my life
But trying to not think of something ends up making you think of that thing.
And so, Joey began to ponder reflect about his massive problem.
But just as he was about to develop as a person, he hit the jackpot of a lifetime
"Where the fuck am I?" Joey's face clenched, like how teenagers do when they judge you.
The guy in the lab coat threw his hands up with a wide smile on his face, it was clear that he had got what he wanted
"I did it-" he said breathless and sweating "I DID it!"
"Good job, who are you and why am I in some musty basement" Joey said
I was on the sidewalk a moment ago, how does a man just appear into a basement? And who is this happy chap?
The boy wiped his forehead and pointed
"You.. are a summon, a summon from another world"
A dream come true, the end of all character development and the beginning of a true story
One about the real things people want in life, harems and magic powers
Atleast that's what Joey thought, he was in disbelief. He started to treat the situation as if he were a novel character
"Please tell me, you're joking. I can't handle all this man." Joey dropped the groceries, they made a light thud as they hit the ground.
The boy in the lab coat began pacing himself back and forth around the room, his hands together up to his mouth.
He's pondering his problems, how fun. So this world isn't happy-go-lucky power fantasy, got it.
As the man gathered himself, Joey did a quick runthrough of all the fantasy media he's consumed before.
The rooms kinda dark, I'm surrounded by machines and wires, is that the smell of copper?
Joey looked at the guys clothes, a plain white lab coat, a dark brown vest and brown pants could also be made out in the darkness
He figured there should be atleast some technological progress if that's what the machines indicated.
It's also clear that the "summoning" is a major breakthrough alone just by the amount of disbelief and surprise this lab coat basement-dweller was giving out.
This was what he was good at, observing and concluding from his environment.
But putting 2 and 2 together has lost its place in society, and Joey learned quickly that his talent- if that's what you could call it- had no place in his future.
But no more! Mankind is free in the realm of Isekai! Free to do morally questionable acts!
Free to avoid responsibility and set out on a noble journey to kill off some random demon king!
Joey took a deep breath, reminding himself that he will temporarily or permanently have to put his original world's matters to the side at the moment
Now is the time to ask questions, not answer them. I have no duties here! No future! I am free!
"Um, is there a light in this room? I'm kind of finding it hard to see" Joey tried to politely ask, even though the boy was about his age.
The boy stopped in his tracks and remembered Joey existed, he snapped his fingers out of habit.
"Yes! Yes, one second." He began ruffling through boxes in the corner of the room
Joey heard the sound of a click, and yellow flickering slowly filled the room, before stabilizing a dim light about three feet about his head.
The light had lit up the room in an odd way, like water refracting light as it entered a pool or a body of water, different places were more lit up than the others.
His brain was blasted with pattern recognition, things familiar but not quite the same from his memory.
The "light switch" was a carved rock shapes like a cube about 1 foot in length, covered in dimly glowling yellow patterns all over.
These yellow patterns went all over the walls before reaching the light in the center of the ceiling.
A crystal-shaped rock, with the light flowing out of the cracks in it, Joey figured that was the reason the lighting was uneven.
"Genius, right?" The enthusiastic voice spoke, the boy felt more and more like someone his age, but did he do all this?
"What?" Joey turned around, but to his surprise, he looked into a mirror.
A weird, warped and slightly nerdy mirror.
They stared at each other for a whole minute, the man and his mirror, changing expressions to see if the other would do the same.
Before finally settling on a steeled model look, like they were in zoolander or something.
"You look familiar... Do I know you?" Joey was the first to break the silence.
"My hair looks different, and I don't wear those types of clothes" the mirror pointed out
The Joey-man had a taper, the Boy-mirror did not, his hair wasn't styled.
The basement life must be serious if he doesn't care about his hair to this extent
"Obviously, I literally live in a different world."
"Makes sense"
The mirrored man molded his expression into a friendly one, and stuck out his hand.
"My name's Joseph, Joseph Butler." The Joseph-mirror expected a handshake and the courteous name-giving social interaction.
Which was normal in any normal situation where two people meet.
This situation is nothing but abnormal!
The Joey-man shook his hand "name's Joseph Butler, but everyone calls me Joey"