The apples at the fruit stall were large, plump, and bright red, looking extremely appetizing.
The stall owner behind them was a middle-aged man wearing a short black jacket open at the front and a black headscarf. There was a fierce scar on his face, and he did not look particularly easy to talk to.
“Hey, kid. Buying appas?”
Gojo Satoru raised a hand and picked up an apple from the stall. He pinched it between his fingers. The flesh was firm and springy, full of juice.
Without asking the stall owner’s permission, Gojo simply took a bite.
Sweet-and-tart juice burst across his tongue, fragrant and fresh. It tasted even better than the strawberry cake he usually ate.
“Mmm. Not bad.”
Gojo narrowed his eyes and nodded in satisfaction, then prepared to go look somewhere else.
“Hey!”
“You brat, you dare steal from me?!”
The fruit stall owner noticed what Gojo had done. His eyes went wide, glaring with fury.
As he spoke, he was about to charge out from behind the stall, looking ready to teach him a lesson.
“Ah.”
Gojo raised an eyebrow. “Then I really am sorry.”
He dug a few coins out of his pocket and casually tossed them onto the stall.
The coins landed with a crisp clink.
After doing that, Gojo continued munching on the “appa” as he turned to leave. But once the owner saw the coins clearly, he only grew angrier.
This guy had pulled some bits of metal from who knew where and wanted to pass them off as money? Absolutely outrageous!
“You bastard, pay properly!”
The fruit stall owner raised his fist and charged at Gojo.
“So he’s set to be the hot-tempered type?”
Gojo muttered.
The fruit stall owner’s fist rapidly closed in. Yet just as it was about to land on Gojo, it could not move any closer no matter what.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
The fruit stall owner stared in shock at Gojo, who was right in front of him, only to discover that no matter how much strength he used, he could not advance another inch, much less touch him.
The eerie sight was truly astonishing.
Just then, the fruit stall owner saw two patrolling guards walking over not far away and hurriedly shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Guards! Someone’s robbing me over here!”
“Tch.”
Gojo watched as the two guards’ attention was drawn over and they started walking this way.
Without the slightest panic, he took the last bite of the appa. Then, while the fruit stall owner was shouting to the guards, he stuffed the core into the man’s breast pocket and gave it a light pat.
“Bye-bye.”
With that, Gojo’s figure flashed and swiftly vanished into the crowd.
He still wanted to look around this interesting illusion some more. He had no intention of wasting his time here.
In the blink of an eye, Gojo appeared at the corner of a narrow alley.
Standing in the alley, he listened to the hurried footsteps passing outside and could not help laughing.
“Didn’t expect the NPCs in this illusion to be so dedicated.”
Once the noise outside disappeared, Gojo strolled out again at an unhurried pace.
Before long, he had appeared several streets away.
The encounter just now had made him even more interested in this illusion.
This time, he planned to go take a look at those oddly shaped Demi-Humans.
“Dog-type Demi-Humans, huh? They don’t feel all that cute.”
“You bastard!”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
The Demi-Human whose head Gojo was rubbing roared loudly, humiliated. He bared sharp canine teeth, looking as if he wanted to eat Gojo alive.
“Dogs who like baring their teeth won’t be popular, you know.”
Smiling faintly, Gojo ran out of sight in no time while the Demi-Human chased after him from behind.
Not long after, when Gojo appeared again, he was already inside a blacksmith’s shop.
He had not been inside for long before the blacksmith, bare-chested and wearing a heavy apron, rushed out in fury while swinging a hammer.
All that was left for him was the sight of Gojo’s figure gradually receding into the distance.
The same sort of scene repeated for a while.
General stores, bookstores, inns…
Wherever Gojo went, everything was thrown into chaos.
After several disturbances in a row, Gojo gained a deeper understanding of this world’s “reality.”
Whether it was the taste of food, the feel of objects, or the emotional fluctuations of the people, everything was absurdly real.
He leaned against a large tree and tugged down his sunglasses, revealing his ice-blue Six Eyes. The patterns on his irises were clearly visible.
His gaze swept over everything around him, yet there was still no trace of cursed energy.
For the first time, that “absolute blankness” made doubt stir in him.
He had seen countless sophisticated illusions and domains. Even an innate domain, capable of simulating reality and revealing a person’s inner world, would leave traces of cursed energy in the details.
Even then, it could only display an extremely limited slice of reality.
But this “world” was ridiculously real. Whether it was touch, taste, or the emotional fluctuations of the people just now, they were indistinguishable from reality.
That was something an innate domain absolutely could not accomplish.
“Could it really not be an illusion?” Gojo lightly tapped his fingers against the wall, his brows faintly furrowing. “But if it isn’t an illusion, then what is it? That so-called ‘world travel’?”
He murmured to himself, his tone carrying a hint of seriousness. “This so-called ‘world travel’ is far more interesting than I imagined.”
And then there was that strange system that could pop up notifications about “popularity.”
If he really had come to a brand-new world, and this was not some illusion brought about by the influence of a cursed technique, then the way he investigated it would need to change a little.
Before, he had thought it was an illusion, so he had acted very casually.
But he was not someone who liked causing trouble for ordinary people.
“For now, I’ll treat this place as a real world.”
“And if this is a real world, then not having money won’t do.”
Gojo patted his pockets. Inside were only a few yen coins left over from buying drinks, clearly useless in this world.
Stealing was out.
Working was even less worth considering.
“What a troublesome problem.”
Though Gojo said that, judging by the smiling eyes beneath his sunglasses, it clearly was not any real difficulty for him.
[TWENTY-FOUR HOURS REMAIN UNTIL THIS WORLD’S PROTAGONIST, NATSUKI SUBARU, ARRIVES.]
[SIDE CHARACTER, PLEASE PREPARE TO WELCOME THE PROTAGONIST AND WORK HARD TO GAIN POPULARITY.]
“There it is again.”
Seeing the words “SIDE CHARACTER” appear before his eyes, Gojo ruffled his white hair.
“Calling me a side character really is underestimating me.”
“And there are still twenty-four hours left. Looks like I can look forward to this.”
T/N: bro caused chaos the instant he arrived :sob:
This is a fan translation of 综漫，五条悟根本不承认自己是配角 by 超级爆更战士 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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