The world faded to black. Jack doesn't know where he was or what had happened. All he was experiencing right now was the sensation of floating in space, feeling weightless in the middle of a vast black void.

Is this...death? Jack thought. Is he experiencing death right now?

He couldn't quite remember what had happened moments before. The sudden shock must have messed with his short-term memory. In fact, he couldn't quite think straight either. His mind was a complete haze. Every bit of memory that represented his very identity seemed to drift apart further and further until they are dissolved into the void.

He saw a bright light in the far distance. He seemed drawn to it. He wanted to go there. He didn't care where it's going to lead him, he just wanted to go there. He felt as though his body was being tugged towards the light.

But then something else tugged him back, pulling him away from the light. It dragged him further and further away from the light and into something even stranger. A wave of panic slammed into him as he was being dragged and tossed like a ragdoll.

Then, all of a sudden, everything went still. He was now in the middle of a field of darkness, only this time there was a spotlight shining down upon him.

With that, Jack's sense of self finally returned to him. He cautiously tried to look around to get a bearing of his surroundings. He was still in his hospital gown. He was currently sitting in a chair. There was a rectangular table in front of him and across from that was another chair. It felt as though he was in some sort of interrogation room in the middle of nowhere.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." A voice suddenly spoke from the darkness. "Another dumbass just bit the dust. How unfortunate."

Jack felt a pang of nervousness upon hearing that strange voice, but was also too dignified to not speak back.

"Hey! Who are you calling a dumbass?" Jack replied loudly.

As if in response, the owner of the voice stepped into the light with Jack, revealing his true form. What Jack saw was something truly bizarre.

It was a man in a black business suit with a purple bowtie and white gloves. However, instead of a normal head, this person had a head of a truck! Not a full-sized truck, but a scaled-down version of a truck so that its size was approximated to be that of a regular person's head. In short, this guy had a goddamn miniature truck for a head.

"You are the dumbass, Mr. Slater. That's what I just called you," the truck-headed being said. He could tell Jack was completely flabbergasted by his appearance and decided to respond accordingly. "I know, I know. I look quite handsome, don't I? People say it's the suit, but I think I could pull the look off with any outfit."

"What the-... who the hell are you?"

"Who am I? Who am I?! I'll tell you who I am!" The truck-headed man does a dancing flourish as he spoke in a grandiose tone. "I am the controller who bends the laws of physics to my whim! I am the lord who has the universe answer my every beck-and-call! I am the administrator of all that is both known and unknown! I am the one...the only...Master of Reality!!!" He then took a seat on the chair opposite to Jack. "But you can simply call me...Truck-kun."

Jack couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter at that revelation. "Truck-kun? Your name is Truck-kun? What are you, a mascot for a Japanese commercial?"

"If I do remember correctly, you're the one who was stupid enough to die while getting ran over by one of my kind, so don't you act all high and mighty on me, dumbass."

Suddenly, a collection of memories rushed back to him. That's right. He remembered that he was dying of cancer. He remembered that he had friends like Steve and Alex and that they are getting engaged. He remembered that he confessed to someone he liked and that her name was Claire. He remembered making a mad dash through the streets to get to the office to hook up with her. He remembered getting hit by an incoming truck. He remembered all of it now.

"What? I'm dead?!"

"You should have looked both ways before crossing the street. Though, to be honest, it was trucking hilarious watching you run down the street like a maniac simply on the promise of getting it on." Truck-kun belly-laughed as he recalled the events. Though his truck-like face doesn't really show any expression per se, his emotion was deciphered from his tone of voice well enough. "I can't believe how you've screwed yourself over like that! It's like you can't wait for the cancer to kill you, so you leapt in front of a truck instead! Oh, the irony! That right there was absolute comedy gold!"

Jack's face went ghastly pale. He felt as though his world was imploding right before his very eyes. He couldn't even begin to believe the shit luck that was given to him. He finally had the one chance to make love with the girl of his dreams. He finally had the one chance to not die a virgin. And he fucking blew it.

"No...NO!" Jack was clawing at his head, trying to cope with his mistake with intense repeated denial. "No, no, no, no, NO! NOOOOO!" He got up from the chair and started banging at the table with his fists. "This can't be! I've gotten so close! Why does it have to be taken from me?! WHYYYYY?!" He dropped to the floor and rolled around while hugging his knees, forming a sort of cocoon around himself as he wept bitter tears. "This is a dream. That's what it is. This is all just a dream. I just need to stay here and doing nothing until I wake up."

Truck-kun sighed sympathetically as he stared at Jack's pitiful state. "Come on, get up. Stop beating yourself over it. What's done is done."

Jack then immediately sprung up from the ground and grabbed Truck-kun by the shoulders. "Hey, Truck guy! You said you're a master of reality or whatever! You can get me back there, right?! Bring me back from the dead?!" He shook Truck-kun violently as he begged him. "Please, I want to live again! Give me one more night before I go! Just one more night, I promise! Please!"

Truck-kun shoved him away. "Let go of me! I'm not going to bring you back to life."

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't want to."

Jack went down on his knees and begged. "Please, I'll do anything! I'll even apologize for what I've said earlier! You are quite a handsome truck person! In fact, I think I remember my dad owning one of you guys and he said you guys are quite reliable! Good suspension and storage space and all that! It totally made up for the terrible gas mileage!"

"Thanks for the flattery, but you can save your breath. I'm not bringing you back to life no matter what you tell me. That's just not how life works. Life doesn't move backwards, it moves forward, you know what I mean?"

"PLEASE!!!" Jack yelled as he clung onto Truck-kun's sleeve.

"Oh, shut up!" Feeling annoyed, Truck-kun gave Jack a hard kick in the chest, causing him to finally stop his pleading.

Jack slumped to the ground. Slowly but surely, he was starting to grasp the reality of the situation he's in. He was now officially dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

He felt painfully empty. He remembered all his friends, family, and Claire. They are now gone from him, beyond his reach. He'll never be able to say goodbye to them. He was left without closure. He hated himself for saying that closure was overrated. He wished he could turn back time and do things differently. He wished he wasn't so stupid. But what's done is done and it can't be undone. All he could do now was to lie on the ground, curl up like a caterpillar, and cry.

"Hey...hey, buddy. Cheer up." Truck-kun said, kneeling down next to Jack. "I've never said that it's the end of the road for you. I only said that you can only move forwards, not backwards."

Jack suppressed his sniffles and got up from the floor. "So that's it? I'm either going to heaven or hell? I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't go to church that often-"

"What?! No! I'm not here to take you to either of those places. Who do you think I am?"

"Umm, I don't know. You said you are a master of reality and what not, so I assumed you were some sort of God-"

Truck-kun immediately covered his mouth shut with his hand. "Woah, there. Keep quiet, my friend. Umm...we don't use that word around here. The G-word, I mean. It's the forbidden word. Don't ask why." He removed his hand from Jack's mouth, allowing him to speak.

"Umm, okay," Jack remarked curiously. "Well, if you're not here to take me to either of those places, then why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to administer your transfer to another world?"

Jack thought he might have misheard him. "Wait, I didn't quite catch that. Did you just say...'another world'?"

"That's right! You heard me correctly! You, Jack Slater, are getting isekai'd, baby!"