A Soldier Adrift: An Isekai Story

“Fucking shit, never thought Ned would be right about this.”

Another world.

Being transported into another world was absurd no matter how you looked at it. Such a concept would only exist in something fictional like novels and comics. He remembered a particular soldier back at boot camp named Ned. Before he died, Ned was fascinated and had an obsession with the term “Isekai.” Back then, he viewed Ned as crazy when he tried to persuade him that there was another world different from theirs. Ned claimed it as factual while he viewed such a thing as childish, yet he was forced to listen to his constant rambling, much to his despair, especially when he went over his favorite novels. Ironically, he found himself in the same situation that Ned would die to experience that is to say he did die.

But why him? He honestly didn't know. He wasn't special or anything that could call the attention of a god if there were such a thing.

He recalled Ned’s information: that before being isekai’d, they would experience something akin to purgatory where a god or goddess would meet them before, well, the isekai. He did not experience such a thing. He drifted into the darkness and woke up in an unfamiliar place.

When he looked at his reflection in the bathroom, he was less surprised to see that his appearance was nowhere near his old one back on Earth. In the reflection was a young man, possibly still in his teenage years, with jet-black hair and dark eyes to complement his looks. He would be considered a model if he had this face back on Earth. That also explained why his voice sounded strange, it was younger and higher pitch compared to his old one.

Looking at the time once more, ten minutes had passed since his realization. He wondered when his supposed parents would arrive. Strangely, he was nervous about meeting them; after all, he was a body snatcher who had just taken away their original son from them.

Guilty? It would be a lie to say he wasn’t. There was guilt, but not too much to say it would affect him emotionally. Such aspects as familial love were still unknown to him.

Fortunately, he still had most of the boy’s memories from his early years to where he was now. However, the problem was that it was too messy. Each time he tried to remember a specific memory, a sharp pain in his head would occur that would last quite a while.

Rubbing his stomach, he felt slightly hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since he woke up. Guessing how he was hospitalized, he assumed the boy’s body hadn’t eaten anything for a while. His stomach was empty.

Looking towards the small table, he tried to find out if there were any crackers or any kind of food to fill his stomach for a while. While he could just call for room service or a nurse to fetch him food, he decided not to. He wasn’t that starved just yet.

He found that the luck from his previous life remained in this life. He grumbled at the fact that he couldn’t find any food in the drawers.

‘Maybe I should call room service after all.’

His decision on the matter was abruptly cut short as a short, audible beep rang throughout the room. His head snapped in the direction of the noise, and the door slowly began to open.

Two people stood at the door. One was a rather middle-aged man with noticeable white hair around his well-combed black hair, and the other was a rather pretty woman with white hair who he assumed to be the same age or younger than the man. One noticeable thing he observed was what they were wearing. It appeared to be formal and expensive from its appearance.

When the woman’s eyes met his, there was a spark he could see in her eyes. She gasped and began running towards him. That caught him off guard, so he instinctively tried to back away from her, but he couldn’t escape the inevitable bone-crushing hug.

“JASON! IMISSEDYOUSOMUCH! DOYOUKNOWHOWWORRIEDIWASWHENIFOUNDOUTYOUWEREINACOMA...” The woman continued her relentless cries and shouts with her firm hold on him. He could see that her snot was drifting onto his shirt.

'Have some dignity woman' He held himself to look annoyed. He assumed that these two people were his parents.  

While he did appreciate the concern the woman gave him. It was too much and...painful

‘Damn, this woman is strong.’ He couldn't even move a single muscle. Literally.

Also, everything the woman, his mother, said was incomprehensible. He couldn’t understand a single thing aside from the word “coma.”

His mother continued. Thankfully, she slowed down a bit, and he could finally understand some of what she was saying.

Apparently, the boy had been in a coma for almost a week now, most likely because of a fight a week ago. He tried to search for it in his new memories but once again found nothing. The boy's memories were in shambles, and some were missing, so he couldn’t find the right context of what happened.

While his mother continued to cry in his arms and still not letting go, he looked at the man in front of them, who was not budging an inch and had his gaze firmly set on him. They both stared at each other for quite some time before the man spoke.

“I think that’s enough, Margarette. Jason seems uncomfortable.”

‘And also in pain,’ he inwardly added before the woman began to squeeze the life out of him.

His mother suddenly turned her head towards the man, pouting. “Why should I? Don’t you see our son needs our love and support? We haven’t seen him, and he hasn’t seen us, for a week, Edward. Can’t you see he is suffering?”

His father’s gaze was set firmly on her. He could see a slight tension between them. If he were to guess, they were fighting which was in the best interest of their son, him. It looked like neither of them was gonna back off. It all came to an end when another person joined the room.

“Mr. Edward’s right. Jason here is still recovering. It’s better to restrain your undeniable affection for him, Mrs. Margarette.”

His mother appeared to consider the doctor’s word as she slowly let go, though her slumped shoulders and pout testified to her protest against the decision. Nevertheless, she followed the doctor’s instructions.

“You followed the doctor’s instructions but not mine?” His father asked his mother, who looked away from him, still pouting.

He shifted his attention to the doctor who looked at him with an unreadable expression.

“Mr. Jason" Dr. Poe started, saying his name "I’ve seen your reports on your body. Luckily for you, your condition appears stable aside from your apparent amnesia—”

“Wait, our son has amnesia?!” And there went his mother's reaction after hearing the bombshell the doctor dropped on them.

He winced at the loudness of her voice. 'Sheesh, woman, can’t you be overly expressive?'

“Honey, don’t you think it’s rude to interrupt Dr. Poe while he is talking?”

At least his dad was the more reasonable one, though he could have shown some hint of concern on his face, but not as expressive as his mother.

Dr. Poe was caught off guard by the sudden interruption of his mother but quickly composed himself.

“That was something.” He coughed before continuing. “Mr. Jason, I’m going to ask you a question. Do you perhaps feel any nausea or headaches?”

He opened his mouth for a quick second before closing it.

‘Am I going to talk about the sudden headache I experienced?’ he questioned himself. He contemplated for a while before giving an answer.

“No.”

“I see.” The doctor then began touching his tablet again. “Very well then, I’ll meet you back soon, Mr. Jason.”

‘That’s all?’ he blinked. That was quite a fast check-up.

“Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Kenhart, please see me in the office. I have rather important business to discuss with you,” the doctor called to the two who had been silent till now.

“Is it about our son?” his father questioned.

“Yes, apparently so,” the doctor answered, stating the obvious.

His mother seemed hesitant, looking back at him and the doctor, but his father placed a hand on her shoulder, which took all that hesitation away. Before leaving, she gave another hug to him, which he did nothing to reciprocate. To his relief, the hug this time was quick compared to before.

After watching them leave, he realized he had forgotten something important.

‘I should have told them to bring food.’