Chapter 1

Lotteries, I wonder if you know of such things .

In my country, Japan, the small ones can earn you 100 000 yen, and the big ones can earn you several hundreds of millions of yen, with low probability

There are so many lucky billionaires produced each year, but lucky ones such as them were probably no longer in this country anymore

“Goddammit, I told no one but my parents, so how the hell do those money zombies get wind of this…”

One of those lucky ones, Shino Kazura, was driving in a family car he bought when he won, along a quiet country road in the early summer, cursing all along the way

It all began about a month before

He was on the way back home from work as usual, walking by the supermarket where he usually stops by to buy dinner, when a lottery ticket counter caught his eye, and he casually tried dropping in

Then, right there he saw…

“Lotto 6 now on sale! The carryover is now 4 200 000 yen!!”

…written in big, friendly letters on a poster

“If I win this, my life as a salaryman could be over after just a short three years . Living the easy life at 25 would be nice, huh”

As those dreams crossed his mind, he also thought that even if he didn’t win, it could make for a good joke material, so he tried buying one

However, Kazura thought it won’t make an interesting story if he bought only one, so he bought ten

In other words, if he alone becomes the winner, he would get almost all the carryover of 4 billion yen, that kind of stupid purchase

“I never thought I would really win the 4 billion, though”

Yes, he hit the jackpot with that stupid purchase, and accomplished the feat of being the winner of 4 billion yen

Kazura confirmed the winning number on the night of the lottery, spending a whole hour making sure the number on his ticket matches the winning number published on the internet, and passing the night gazing at his lottery ticket while rolling around in his narrow apartment

Then, it was time to work as usual, and he was about to put his arm into the sleeve of his usual suit when he realized

“I don’t need to go to work…”

Once he realized that, he contacted his company at once for a sick leave

He once again confirmed the number on his ticket matches the winning number, locked his room tight, and hid the ticket in a crack under the refrigerator

From that day until the day of the payout, he spent the time in his room defending the refrigerator, and when the day of the payout came, he called a taxi, went to the bank, and cashed the payouts

Just like that, he deposited his 4 billion in payouts to the bank

After cashing the payouts, he went to work

“Because I’m going to take over my parents’ small town factory, I’m resigning from this company”

That was what he reported to his boss as he submitted his resignation

The boss worried whether he was training him too strictly, but Kazura said

“My parents are already old, and the work of managing the factory was too hard on their bodies, so they told me they wanted me to go back home”

When he explained that way, his boss seemed to understand and warmly said, “that looks tough, but keep at it . If anything happens come talk to me”

By the way, his parents’ factory was by now almost non-operational, and they would do things like using the money they had saved up to travel or loan a field to plant a hobby garden

Afterwards, he spent the one month stipulated by law before resignation to hand over work and deal with unfinished business, and retired amicably on the next day

He subsequently received over 50 phone calls a day from unheard-of religious groups, somewhat shady-sounding volunteer groups, and friends he never seen since grade school, contacting him asking for money

Moreover, every day and night zombies who somehow got wind of his windfall would come knocking on his room door . He got tired of this and decided to leave his apartment

Greatly embarrassed, he consulted his parents

“There’s a residence in the Gunma mountains handed down in the family, so how about hiding there? When we visited it 30 years ago it didn’t seem too rundown, the pillars and roof were fine as well . Also, we want to go out and play so put 100 million in our account will you”

He thought that nobody would find him in a place like that, so he could hide there for a while

Also, he deposited 500 million yen in his parents’ account

2 days later the key to the residence arrived by express delivery, and Kazura immediately fled his apartment

“I can’t see the building anywhere… The car navigation says the address is around here, though”

30 minutes of driving along mountain roads and 10 minutes of following the car navigation along a narrow dirt road later, a one-story residence came into view

Gravel was spread around the front of the house, and there were almost no weeds growing, it looked well groomed

Bamboo forest spread out in all direction, making a rustling sound as the wind blew on it

“Ooh—, so this is it . It’s doing pretty well for something left alone for 30 years”

He stopped his car on the gravel, got off, and checked the residence out . The building seemed tidier than he expected

He unlocked the house with the key and peeked in, it doesn’t seem to need sweeping and can be lived in as it is

It really didn’t look like it had been left alone for 30 years

“I wonder why is it so tidy . Maybe good houses simply do well even when left alone”

Even while having a slightly eerie impression, Kazura strolled inside the house . In the innermost part of the house he discovered a room with double doors that open outwards, locked with a padlock

“Eeeh…, why is there a padlocked room inside the house…”

Still having ominous apprehension, he tried touching the padlock, and it suddenly crumbled with a “bakii!” sound

Kazura let out a shameful scream and stepped back, the padlock which should have fallen to the floor vanished without a trace

“… this is one of those, right? If I open this door I’ll vanish just like that . There is a way to open it though”

With that Kazura took a rope from his car and tied it on the doorknob, and while clinging to a pillar 10 meters away, he pulled the rope with all his strength

When he pulled on the rope the door easily opened with a creak, and an ordinary 6-tatami matted room appeared inside

Still hanging on the pillar, Kazura let out a small murmur, “… . dammit …”, then he went inside the room, sighing and hanging his head in shame

“What the hell, it’s just an ordinary 6-tata… . ooor not…”

As he went inside and looked up, there was no trace of the 6-tatami room he saw earlier, but instead a cold stone-paved passage, with walls and roof also covered in stone

Confused, he looked back . What he saw there was the double doors hanging open, and beyond that, just a wide room paved with stone

“Eh? What the, did I get spirited away? Wait… huh!?”

He went back the way he came, and the moment he crossed the double doors, the scenery in Kazura’s vision immediately turned back into the residence he was in

Then he crossed the doors again, and he was back in the stone-paved passage

“Oooh, this is cool…”

Like that, he went back and forth between the residence and the stone passage several times, then he noticed and looked at the soles of his feet

“… . I should fetch my shoes from the entrance”

His socks were heavily stained by the dirt from the stone passage