After Retirement, I Got Rehired and Gained a Bootleg Childhood Friend

[Blurb archived! Scroll down for a surprise. Updates will follow the rankings for now.]

(1)

Yes, as you can see, I'm dead.

But not completely dead.

Because the second I died unexpectedly, I got bound to a System.

It said it could give me another chance.

But the price was saving the world.

Me: No thanks. I don't really want to live, either.

(2)

Just kidding. If you can live, who wants to die?

I still have two childhood friends who are an absolute handful!

Let's skip the details in between. Anyway, I survived.

One day, I went out to buy milk tea, opened the door, and saw my blond childhood friend, who'd been away on a business trip for three days.

The kid even acted like he didn't know me.

Me: Well, look at that. The world's turned upside down.

(3)

[Ding! A bug has been detected in the source world. Reemployment invitation sent to Agent 04.]

[Host, please confirm your mission as soon as possible. If the source world is destroyed, all branch worlds will disappear along with it.]

And so, I was forced out of retirement and rehired.

If I didn't go, everyone was doomed.

The mission list on my panel was longer than my life expectancy.

Right in front of me were two bottles of fake liquor with faces identical to my childhood friends.

As a sickly weakling, I was a little helpless.

Me: A solo tour through another world? That sounds awful.

[Note:]

The main story is told in third person. I'm terrible at writing blurbs.

It starts with transmigration, and our protagonist comes face-to-face with Zero, who looks just like their childhood friends.

Little Si Bai's original world is a parallel world where some people switch between red and black. The source world refers to the original, primary world.

Little Si Bai is very clever and the mastermind type, though the author might not be.

I'll add more if I think of anything.

Theme: Love is the unique romance shared by kindred spirits.