“Lenoch, wake up!”

Despite the rough shout that shook his eardrums, he rubbed his eyes and tossed and turned, unable to open them.

It was an unconscious action, but the voice did not repeat itself.

Slap!

With a fierce impact that felt like his jaw might fall off, he rolled off the bed and his eyes snapped open.

A burly, hairy giant with a murderous aura emanating from his face was glaring down at him with bloodshot eyes.

The giant growled lowly, pressing his face with the boots he was wearing.

“It’s work time. Run to the parts room immediately. Got it?”

“…Yes, sir.”

His voice was hoarse, surprising even himself.

As soon as he heard the answer, the giant strode out of the room.

Only then did he find the time to clutch his stinging cheek and look around.

A narrow room filled with simple beds covered in filthy sheets. About ten people were looking at him with disdainful eyes.

“Stupid fool. Sleeping away without even knowing the supervisor was here…”

“Leave him be. You know he doesn’t have much time left. That’s probably why the supervisor just slapped him and let it go.”

“Indeed, if they beat him up, he might really die.”

They whispered among themselves and then stood up, disappearing somewhere, leaving him behind.

Listening blankly to their words, he finally raised his hands and felt his own body.

A body so thin that he could feel his ribs, arms as slender as twigs, and calves with visible veins.

The body beneath his head was entirely different from the one he remembered all his life, a sickly body that wouldn’t be surprising if it collapsed at any moment.

“…….”

Staggering to his feet, he stood in front of a small mirror hanging in the corner of the musty room and realized everything.

The image of the young man clutching his swollen cheek in the cracked mirror was eerily similar to the third character he had created beyond the monitor.

“Lenoch, was it?”

A character created solely for the enjoyment of the game, without any meaning or value.

The insignificant body he hadn’t even bothered to name properly was now all he had.

Lenoch was thus thrown into a new world without a single complaint.

Awakening

Boom!

“Move quickly!”

The supervisor shouted at the top of his lungs as he busily moved around the vast parts room.

Poorly assembled metal parts tumbled on the endlessly running conveyor belt.

“It’s almost time for the union members to collect the products. How long do you plan to dawdle?”

As the hairy giant barked orders at the workers with bloodshot eyes, the hands of those standing in front of the belt moved a little faster.

Not satisfied with that, the giant swung a small whip in his hand, lashing two or three nearby workers before finally turning his back.

“If you don’t meet the deadline, you’d better be prepared! I have no intention of letting trash that can’t even meet their quota sleep!!”

Standing at a distance, Lenoch turned his gaze back to the metal piece in his hand.

Three days had passed since he had awakened in this nameless parts factory, known as the “factory.”

He still knew nothing, but Lenoch had astonishingly quickly adapted to the monotonous routine of the factory.

He woke up before sunrise, worked until he was on the verge of collapse, and received a bowl of gruel worse than food waste before sleeping.

The labor that consumed the entire day involved assembling scattered metal parts and placing them on the conveyor belt.

There was nothing Lenoch could do but accept this monotonous and grueling routine that required no understanding.

Even if he tried to ask something, the workers around him stubbornly refused to talk to him.

It was only a day ago that he realized the way they looked at him was no different from looking at a dead corpse.

“Huff, huff…”

In the parts room, where ventilation was inadequate, the workers’ sweat and stench mixed and spread as steam, lingering on the ceiling.

Just the inability to breathe fresh air quickly exhausted Lenoch’s body, and heat spread through him.

If nothing else, the sense of alienation from this body, so different from his former self, tormented Lenoch intensely.

The hellish, grueling labor that felt like he might collapse at any moment continued for over ten hours without rest.

The fortunate thing was that even if Lenoch occasionally stopped assembling parts, the others did not scold him.

The supervisor merely clicked his tongue at Lenoch’s pale face, seemingly unwilling to waste labor on a dying body.

From the moment Lenoch realized this, he managed to endure the work hours by slyly taking advantage of it.

After the seemingly endless work hours ended, Lenoch received a bowl of thin gruel as scheduled, devoured it quickly, and lay down to sleep.

He closed his eyes, staring at the dark ceiling, but his consciousness remained clear.

It was insomnia.

“Damn it…”

It had been three days since he last slept properly.

Lenoch had a rough idea of where this severe insomnia came from.

It was one of the many penalties he had attached when setting up his character. Insomnia, which had reached the level of a trait, was tormenting him.

The more depressing fact was that insomnia was not the only penalty attached to this body.

Various diseases and symptoms that inherently weakened his body were consuming and dragging Lenoch down.

How long could he endure?

What was certain was that the time given to him was not long.

The thought that this extremely weakened body could endure long in the harsh working environment did not occur to him.

After three days of contemplation, the conclusion had been clear from the start.

‘I have to escape from here.’

Whether he withered away in the factory or was caught and died while escaping, it would be the same ending for Lenoch.

He had no intention of making the stench-filled parts room his grave.

The somewhat fortunate point was that not everything was unfavorable to Lenoch.

Perhaps because he was already treated as a dying person, the level of control over Lenoch was less compared to other workers, and the other workers didn’t pay much attention to his actions.

If he could use this point well to understand the structure of the factory, it might be possible to devise an escape route.

Moreover, the most important thing was that this body wasn’t merely useless and weak.

If Lenoch’s body in this world carried penalties like insomnia, then conversely, it also possessed Lenoch’s talents.

The magical talent infused by adding all kinds of bad traits. The potential filled to the limit was dormant within Lenoch’s body.

If he could somehow awaken that talent, escaping from this factory wouldn’t be an entirely impossible story.

“…….”

Lenoch knew.

That in this situation, driven to the extreme both mentally and physically by grueling labor and insomnia, the fact that he was calmly organizing the situation and making plans was evidence that he was a completely different person from before.

The self he knew wasn’t the kind of person who could maintain rationality in such a situation.

It was likely the result of the mental talents like composure, concentration, and boldness that he had filled in when creating the character.

Back then, he had merely invested in the mental abilities necessary for a magician, but as a result, it was acting as the driving force that allowed Lenoch, who had stayed up for three days and nights, to maintain his sanity.

Lenoch didn’t believe in the romantic notion that human mental abilities depended on the soul. Rational thinking, a calm mind, and logical reasoning were all talents of the brain, a part of the body.

The mental strength that allowed him to maintain composure now was undoubtedly a part of the talents possessed by this weak body.

Recognizing that it was Lenoch’s talent, not the self who pressed the character creation button, would be the first step to overcoming the current situation.

Until he escaped from this hellish factory, he wouldn’t let his guard down for even a moment.

Lenoch thus forced himself to close his eyes, whipping himself into action.