(All characters are over 18 years old)
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In a rundown wooden house, Chishiya Shuntaro rubbed his head and opened his eyes.
"...Where am I?"
He slowly got up from the bed, his muscles still stiff.
Scanning his surroundings, Chishiya took in the unfamiliar space.
The room was roughly 20 square meters, furnished with a wooden bed and a simple wooden table.
An oil lamp flickered on the table, doing its best to illuminate the dim environment.
Wooden boxes were stacked in the corner, filled with some water and dry bread.
"I… got reincarnated?"
Chishiya used to be a hardcore anime fan—until the age of sixteen.
After entering high school, he buried himself in books.
Majoring in Financial Management in college, he helped wealthy clients invest.
Thanks to his unique insight, he was scouted by a major investor at twenty and started his own financial firm.
Then came the drinking party. And then came the dump truck.
Head-on collision.
Next thing he knew, he woke up here.
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
Back to the pre-modern era in one night?
Complete downgrade.
"But seriously, where even is this place?"
Chishiya rubbed his temple and stood up from the wooden bed.
He opened the door.
A blast of cold wind hit him.
What met his eyes was a pitch-black cave.
Blue minerals embedded in the walls gave off a faint glow.
The air was damp and smelled... disturbingly like bat guano.
Huh?
Don't tell me I got kidnapped and dumped in a coal mine?
Click, click...
A strange sound echoed in the cave.
It sounded like chewing.
Chishiya turned his head.
Behind the wooden house, a massive pink dragon lay curled up, gnawing on a black corpse.
The corpse didn't look remotely alive.
It looked like a wolf.
"Eh???"
Man and dragon locked eyes.
"This can't be right. Let's try this again."
Chishiya calmly closed the door, then opened it again.
".…"
Still there. Giant pink dragon. Front and center.
"Fuck!"
Chishiya turned and bolted.
He made it two steps before the dragon reached out and grabbed his ankle, lifting him clean off the ground.
"Chishiya, you're finally awake! Rim is hungry!"
The dragon spoke, in a girl's voice.
Chishiya: "???"
Then, a voice echoed inside his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on arriving in this world.]
[The Underground Labyrinth Enterprise System has been unlocked!]
[You are now the administrator of this underground labyrinth.]
[Labyrinth Demon(Majin): Rim has been bound to you.]
...What the hell is going on?
[Attempting to explain the current situation to the Host in simple terms.]
[This underground labyrinth contains rich resources and a complex ecosystem.]
[You can think of it as a farm, just in another world.]
[The Host is now the farm's—ahem—labyrinth's owner.]
'Owner?'
'Then maybe tell it to put me down first?! I'm about to throw up!'
Pah…
As if on cue, Rim loosened her grip.
Chishiya dropped like a sack of bricks.
Ugh...
He rubbed his lower back, wincing.
That hurt like hell...
Any lower and he'd be singing soprano.
"So what can you do, System?"
Chishiya groaned as he got back to his feet and communicated with the voice in his head.
[This system assists the Host in managing the underground labyrinth.]
[Functions include, but are not limited to:]
[Placing monsters, minerals, herbs, traps, special rooms, ecological systems, etc...]
As he looked through the menu the system projected, Chishiya didn't get all the details, but he got the gist.
The labyrinth was the farm.
The system was the farm's AI.
Monsters, minerals, resources—these were the crops.
"Pull up the labyrinth's detailed info."
[Received.]
[Current Labyrinth Level: 1]
[Upgrade Requirement: 500,000 Reputation Points]
[Monsters: Dogs, bats, fish-men, insects, slimes]
[Minerals: Low-grade magic crystals, iron ore, copper ore, rare metals...]
[Herbs: Healing Grass (Low-grade)]
[Ecosystem: Cave Ecology]
–Hint:
[Host can unlock new features by gaining reputation points.]
[Recruit core employees to gain special staff skills.]
"Special staff skills?"
As Chishiya pondered, the pink dragon in front of him began to morph.
From a towering beast to a pink-haired little girl with dragon horns.
"Hey… Chishiya… Rim is hungry! She needs food!"
"Hungry!"
She bit his arm.
"Ow! What the hell?!"
Chishiya clenched his teeth and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.
He lifted her like a misbehaving cat.
[Labyrinth Demon energy level critically low. Please replenish immediately.]
[Failure to do so may result in a rampage.]
"Rampage?!"
Chishiya froze.
A status window popped up in front of him.
[Name: Rim]
[Title: Gluttonous Dragon/Demon(Majin) ]
[Energy: 1%]
[Labyrinth Resource Production Speed: Halted]
"Resource production speed? What does that even mean?"
Still holding Rim, Chishiya walked back into the house.
He pulled out some bread and water from a large box in the corner and handed them to her.
[The Labyrinth Demon is a direct reflection of the underground labyrinth.]
[Her energy level mirrors the labyrinth's energy.]
[In short: she is the labyrinth, and the labyrinth is her.]
[Managing her = managing the labyrinth.]
Huh?
Chishiya blinked several times, question marks practically floating above his head.
He turned to look at Rim.
She licked her fingers and shoved the last bit of bread into her mouth.
Then she looked up at him with those big, sparkly eyes.
"Chishiya, Rim's still not full."
"…."
[Energy: 3%]
[Labyrinth Resource Production Speed: Halted]
[Core Employees: 0]
Chishiya: "...Great. We're starting from zero."
---
Inside the wooden house, Rim lay fast asleep on the bed.
Chishiya sat in a chair across from her, watching her exaggerated sleeping pose and letting out a long sigh.
He had thought he was finally reaching the peak of his life.
And just like that, he got thrown back to square one.
When the hell will I get to live that peaceful, money-making, lie-flat life?
Chishiya rubbed his aching head.
He didn't know the customs.
He had no staff.
No money.
All he had left...
Was this labyrinth.
(To be continued.)