Min Jae scanned the mystical scrolls in front of him, squinting like a grandpa trying to read the fine print on a prescription bottle. These scrolls would bestow upon him the powers he needed for his new gig as "The Cameraman," a title that sounded like he should be working on a low-budget documentary rather than manipulating reality and filming it like a terrorist magician on crack.
With a lot of careful consideration and a sigh that echoed like a deflating balloon, he picked the first scroll and tossed aside the others from the top row with the grace of someone discarding takeout menus.
His first rejected option, "Creator's Supremacy," was supposed to make him more powerful than the most powerful person in any situation. Sounded great until Min realized it came with more strings attached than a marionette at a puppet show. For one, he had no clue what the power system in his new world was like. Was it powered by magic? Biceps? The number of cats you owned?
Plus, in a group fight with opponents of equal strength, he'd just be a little stronger than the strongest person, which was about as useful as a sword in a gunfight. Nope, next!
The second option was 'Edit', which let him mess with the minds of up to five people at a time, making them hallucinate or forget things. But it had a nasty little catch: people with strong mental strength, or 'psyche', would just laugh it off like a bad joke. Min thought, "Great, so I can mess with the village idiot but not the evil mastermind. Pass!"
"Hey, Story God!" Min called out to the deity who was lying on the throne,
"What? Have you finally decided, or are you just here to waste more of my popcorn?" the deity replied, looking utterly bored as she shoved another handful of imaginary popcorn into her mouth.
"Also, I'm not a God," she corrected, wiping invisible butter from her lips. "God is like, way above me. I'm more like the underpaid, no... unpaid, overworked higher manager of the divine bureaucracy." She said this with a level of self-awareness that almost made Min feel sorry for her. Key word, 'Almost'.
Min had about a thousand questions after that little revelation, but he decided to shelve them for now. There was only so much existential crisis one could handle before lunch, or breakfast since he died in midnight. "I just wanted to know more about 'Psyche,' because, you know, that could be important."
The deity rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't roll right out of her head. "Psyche is your mental strength, like your brain's CPU. The better it is, the better you can handle magic. But if it's overloaded, you'll be stuck like a computer trying to run an 8K video on dial-up, but way more dangerous because... you know...
it's in your brain." She pointed a finger at her brain like she was explaining it to a 5 year old.
"And by the way," she continued, rolling her eyes again like a teenager explaining why Wi-Fi is important, "Mana from your world, is more fancied as Ether here, and is also needed in magic. Which in your new world, we call it EtherCraft because we're more fancier like that." She sighed dramatically, as if even explaining this was beneath her job description.
Min nodded sagely, pretending to understand everything, which he didn't. But at least now he could make a somewhat informed decision. "Alright, I'll take Studio, Scriptwriter, and Enhanced Cognition," he declared, picking his scrolls with all the confidence of someone choosing toppings for a pizza.
The skills he didn't choose in the middle row were 'Spotlight' and 'Plot Armor'. Spotlight sounded like a great way to be the life of any party, by making sure no one else was, or make anyone else the star. But it was limited to 'where the scenario allows', which was vague enough to make Min nervous.
Plot Armor, on the other hand, was like giving someone else an extra life in a video game, but again, with limitations. Min wasn't about to hand out invincibility like party favors.
So, he chose 'Scriptwriter' because, let's face it, controlling people's actions like a puppeteer sounded way more fun than being a glorified spotlight operator.
And for the bottom row? The choice was obvious. Enhanced Cognition was the big-brainer (pun totally intended). After all, having a fast brain that he could turn on and off at will sounded like the ultimate cheat code. Plus, who wouldn't want to speed up their cognitive abilities without worrying about frying their brain like an overworked laptop? And he could even comprehend and store more info?
With his final choices made, Min turned to the deity, who looked like she had finally run out of popcorn. "Yeah, I choose these as my final skills," he announced, puffing up his chest like he had just solved world hunger.
The deity, still lying on the throne, waved her hand, and the rejected scrolls vanished like they'd been sent to the magical equivalent of a recycling bin. "You sure took your sweet time," she said mockingly, though her smile was starting to get on Min's nerves. He kept his mouth shut, because, let's be real, arguing with a divine being, even a self-proclaimed underling, never ends well.
"Double check to make sure you picked the right thing," she said, her voice suddenly serious, as if they were now discussing nuclear launch codes. "Once you choose, there's no going back."
Min gave the scrolls a once-over, triple-checking like a guy trying to avoid the dreaded "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" mistake. His first choice, 'Studio', was all about creating his own personal alternate dimension—a Workspace where he could do whatever he wanted, even alter his own body. The only catch? He couldn't actually attack anyone who he summoned into his Studio. Bummer.
Of course, he could still attack them by his own strength, but studio can at most, confine them.
His second choice, 'Scriptwriter,' allowed him to create contracts that people had to follow like actors in his written script. The downside? They had to agree to it first, which could be a bit of a snag. But he figured he could work his charm when needed.
Finally, he chose 'Enhanced Cognition', because having the mental prowess of a supercomputer with the ability to turn it on and off sounded like a dream come true. The other two options, 'Ether Talent' and 'Psyche Talent,' sounded cool, but they weren't quite as versatile as a brain that could practically calculate the meaning of life before breakfast.
"Yeah, I'm sticking with these," Min said, standing in a tall pose like he'd just won the lottery.
"Good for you," the deity said with the enthusiasm of someone who had just been handed a tax audit, yes without any enthusiasm.
"Now, let's get down to the details you may never come across. First, your title as 'The Cameraman' comes with a quirk - 'Cameraman Never Dies', It just means that you won't die while you are in your cameraman form. But don't get cocky, because you're not immortal. You can still get hurt, like, a lot.
Also, there are two other Cameramens to be sent, and you're 'The' Cameraman because, well, you were first. Just don't worry about them betraying you, because they can't, it's company policy."
Min frowned, thinking about how he'd rather not have coworkers, especially in a job that involved interdimensional reality TV. But before he could complain, the deity dropped another bombshell.
"Oh, and one more thing," she added, her tone suddenly serious. "Remember when I said God is a being above me? Well, there are pretty powerful beings who call themselves gods in your world, they are still below me, just so you are not confused. And you can become one of the self-proclaimed gods in your new world if you play your cards right."
"Wait, what?" Min's jaw nearly hit the floor, but before he could process that info dump, the ground beneath him cracked open like a poorly baked cake. He plummeted into darkness with all the grace of a cat being shoved into a bath.
[A Ridiculously Dramatic Birth Later]1
Min's first experience in his new life was a blinding light that hurt his eyes and made him want to crawl back into wherever he'd just come from. His ears picked up the sound of happy chatter and crying, which was annoying because he wasn't the one doing it. And then, bam! Something soft and fluffy hit his mouth and a fluid came through. The taste was... familiar?
"Milk? Seriously?" Min thought, barely able to open his eyes. "What am I, a baby? Oh, wait..."
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, this time, there were at least three volumes of 'How to understand women': he was, indeed, a baby again. His first meal in this new world was warm, creamy, and humiliating.
But at least it was better than the poison that had killed him the last time. So, he gulped it down like an adult bodybuilder crazy for protein, preparing for whatever ridiculousness awaited him in this bizarre new life.