The neon signs above the ramen shop flickered like they couldn't decide if they still had a job to do.
Kaoru Itsuki slouched beneath them, hoodie pulled over his head, hands deep in the pockets of a jacket that hadn't known warmth in years. A half-eaten convenience store sandwich dangled from his fingers, forgotten as he stared up at the night sky.
"Two stars tonight. Lucky me."
He took a bite. It tasted like wet cardboard and vague regret. He chewed anyway. That was the thing about life-you didn't have to like it to keep going.
It was just habit by now.
He was 24. Technically. In reality, Kaoru felt more like a burned-out
80-year-old. No dreams. No goals.
No family. No friends. Just the late-night shift at a warehouse, a bunk-bed apartment with someone who snored like a dying chainsaw, and a mountain of apathy stacked taller than his student debt.
But as he turned the corner toward the train station, something off caught his eye.
The world... glitched.
Not like a metaphor. Not like some
"I'm tired and seeing things" moment. No, the streetlamp above him flickered, split in half, rewound, then looped again. The noise of traffic vanished. The wind paused mid-gust. A cat leapt from a trash can—and hovered in midair.
Everything went silent.
Then he heard it.
A voice. Genderless, emotionless.
Digital.
[You have been selected.]
[Reconstructing world... loading failed.]
[Stabilizer found. Designation:
Kaoru Itsuki.]
[You are now the World Weaver.]
He blinked.
"…Huh?"
Then the world exploded.
He gasped.
His body felt like it had been smashed through twenty walls and rewired with loose magic cables. When Kaoru opened his eyes, he was lying on cold stone— moss-covered, cracked, and glowing faintly with veins of blue light.
It wasn't a street.
It wasn't Japan.
He was in some kind of... ruined cathedral?
Huge stained glass windows stretched overhead, shattered and filled with swirling mist. Floating rocks hovered just outside the broken arches, and faint stars blinked in the endless twilight beyond. The walls were carved with runes that pulsed like they were alive.
And in the center of it all—a circle.
A summoning circle.
Kaoru sat up. His hands were different. Smoother. Lighter. His hoodie was gone, replaced with what looked like a stitched leather tunic and black gloves that fit too well.
A glowing interface blinked in front of him:
Welcome, World Weaver.
Status: Level O
Class: Unranked
Power: None
Skill: Legacy Catalyst [Passive] - Locked
"This has to be a joke."
He stood slowly, testing his limbs.
No pain. No injuries. Just confusion stacked on top of more confusion.
He waved at the screen. "Close."
It obeyed.
Kaoru looked around the ruined church, trying to piece things together.
Was this a dream?
A game?
A mental breakdown?
Then he saw the bodies.
Three of them. Young. Armor.
Capes. Weapons. Classic "isekai hero" types. One girl. Two guys. All laid out like they'd been thrown against the walls.
A fourth body was slumped at the far end of the cathedral, near a blackened altar. It looked older. Burned. Charred black bones poking out of shattered plate mail.
He took a cautious step forward.
Runes glowed beneath his feet.
Another interface popped up.
[Summoning Failed.]
[Heroes incompatible. Stabilizer forcibly integrated.]
[World data corrupted. Syncing...
18%]
Kaoru rubbed his face. "Fantastic.
I wasn't even the first choice."
The altar cracked. Then split open like something inside it had taken offense.
A massive, golden eye opened beneath the floor. Just one eye— huge, ancient, and staring straight at him.
It blinked.
And whispered in a voice that echoed in every direction:
"You are not a hero. You are not chosen. You are not blessed."
Kaoru sighed. "Okay, now we're speaking my language."
"You are the last mistake this world can afford."
Then the eye closed.
A sudden pulse of energy surged through the room, and Kaoru's knees buckled. Information rushed into his brain like a
waterfall-images, names, battles, deaths. Not memories. Fragments.
Like he had lived before.
Hundreds of times.
[Legacy Catalyst activated.]
A final message appeared:
You are the World Weaver.
You will not fight like a hero.
You will build. You will remember. You will fail. You will rebuild.
And when all others fall-you will remain.
Kaoru blinked as the light faded.
The runes dimmed. The room fell quiet again.
He looked down at his hands.
Trembling. Not from fear.
From familiarity.
"…How many times have I been here?"
No one answered.
But he already knew the truth.
This wasn't his first time in this world.
It wouldn't be the last.
And for the first time in any life...
He wasn't going to play by the rules.