He opened his eyes to a silent room.

  The pendulum of an antique clock swung soundlessly on the wall, its rhythmic tig absent iillness.

  Naoki bolted upright, gasping for air as if he'd been submerged uer.

  "Where... am I?" he muttered, his voice raspy and disoriented.

  He sed his surroundings, bewildered. The room was rustid sparsely furnished, with a single bed pushed against the wall. The bed creaked beh him as he shifted, the sound amplified in the quiet room. Across from it stood a simple wooden desk, a worn backpack lying haphazardly on top.

  A faded dar hung on the adjat wall, its pages yellowed with age. A wooden cupboard stood in the er, its paint chipped and peeling. A coal stove and an assortment of cookware cluttered the space beside it, a cast iron skillet resting precariously on top of a staismatched ptes.

  The unfamiliar se deepened Naoki's fusion.

  'What happened? Wasn't I just w overtime'?

  He ran a hand through his hair, trying to piece together the fragmented memories that swirled in his mind like a chaotic whirlwind.

  "Ugh... my head."

  A wave of disjointed images aions surged through him, leaving him reeling. Had he...transmigrated?

  After the initial shock subsided, Naoki pieced together the situation. It was true. He had died from exhaustion after five straight days of overtime and found himself reinated in this world. But this wash.

  It was a world where humans coexisted with extraordinary creatures knookémon. They inhabited every er of the globe - the skies, the seas, the nd.

  "The Pokémon world," Naoki whispered, a mixture of awe and disbelief in his voice. He had pyed the games and watched the anime, even fantasizing about living in this carefree world where trainers embarked on adventures with their Pokémon.

  Could he, too, jourhrough this world like Ash Ketchum, catg Pokémon, battling gym leaders, and unraveling the mysteries of this world?

  The thought of esg the daily grind and living life on his own terms thrilled Naoki. He could almost feel the wind in his hair as he imagined himself expl lush forests, sg t mountains, and sailing across vast os. But he quickly tempered his excitement, a sense of forebodiling in his gut.

  This world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. The person he inhabited was also named Naoki, inally from the Paldea region. He had moved to the Hoenn region with his parents, whically passed away from an illness, leaving him orphaned and alone.

  The inal Naoki, disillusioned by their deaths, sold their belongings and drifted aimlessly for years, a wandering soul seeking so solitude. Finally, at twenty, he returo his grandfather's abandoned ran Paldea, where he lived out his remaining days, his spirit withered and his heart heavy with grief.

  Despite living in the world of Pokémon, he never caught one, tent with a solitary existence devoid of panionship or adventure.

  Naoki felt a pang of sadness for this life he ied, a life marked by loss and unfulfilled dreams. He g the clock, its hands indig it was 2:00 AM. His stomach growled, reminding him that the inal Naoki haden dinner. With a silent apology, he rose from the bed, his joints creaking in protest, and grabbed a pack of instant ramen from the backpack.

  He stoked the embers in the coal stove, adding a few pieces of firewood to coax a fme back to life. As the water heated, Naoki rummaged through the cupboards and drawers but found nothing but basic seasonings. The ranch had been ed for years, the fields rown with weeds, the ohriving orchard now a tangle of gnarled branches and fallen fruit.

  He could almost picture the ran its prime - vibrant fields of crops, fruit-den trees, a bustling Pokémon house filled with Miltanks and Wooloos, rows of beehives buzzing with activity, their honeybs dripping with goldear.

  The water began to boil, its steam fogging up the small window above the sink. Just as Naoki opehe ramen packet, a strange message fshed in his mind, its characters glowing with ahereal light.

  Instant Ramen: A low-quality food with little nutritional value. Popur among field workers and travelers due to its ease of preparation.

  Effects unknown.

  Naoki paused, his curiosity piqued. 'What was that'?

  He had never experienced anything like it before. He added the noodles to the boiling water, and as they softened, he tossed in the seasoning packet, its artificial aroma filling the air. He wasn't a great cook, but living alone had taught him the basics of survival.

  As the ramen finished cooking, another message appeared, its text shimmering in his mind's eye.

  Over-Salted Instant Ramen (D-): Low-level food. Due to excessive salt, it has lost any potential bes and only fill the stomach. ing too much may cause thirst. Pokémon with a preference for salty fvors may enjoy it.

  Evaluation: It's bad, but not bad enough to make a Pokémon faint.

  Naoki's eyes widened. He reized this! It was like the cooking interface from a mobile game called "ary Master" developed by his former pany. It ay-to-win game disguised as a cooking simutor, where pyers' dishes granted characters magical abilities and stat boosts based on their rarity, ranging from F- to SSS.

  D- was nothing special, but F- could even inflict debuffs!

  "Is this... my cheat ability?"

  Naoki wondered, a glimmer of hope sparking in his eyes. The mention of Pokémon in the description intrigued him. Could this be his ce to turn his life around, to make a differen this world?

  He scooped the noodles into a chipped bowl and took a tentative bite.His taste buds were assaulted by a wave of salt, the fvor overp any hint of the ramen's inal taste.

  Naoki grimaced. 'Yep, defioo much salt'.

  It was barely edible, but it was the only thing he had. As he forced down the noodles, he pohis newfound power, his mind rag with possibilities.