September's weather had a mind of its own.

One moment there was sunlight, the next the sky was choked with thick clouds.

Abner Clawford lounged in his secondhand antique shop, scrolling through a web novel on his phone. Dull thunder rolled in from the distance. He glanced up at the ceiling, sensing a heavy downpour was coming.

He got up, shut the glass door, then settled back into his old nanmu wood armchair—the one that had been with him for years—and focused on reading again.

Outside, the storm hit in full. Rain hammered on the ground, wind howled past the windows, thunder now crashing right overhead. But none of it seemed to bother Abner in the slightest.

No one would show up in this kind of weather anyway. He might as well enjoy the quiet.

He was so caught up in the story that he didn’t even notice a mosquito feasting on his forehead.

From up near the ceiling, a flower-patterned spider silently dropped toward him on a silk thread. Quick as lightning, it snapped up the mosquito and began its meal.

Then —BOOM!

A deafening thunderclap split the air.

The spider froze. Abner jolted upright, startled by the explosion. Feeling something squirming on his forehead, he reacted on instinct.

Smack!

His palm landed hard.

The spider, mid-meal, was instantly flattened.

Abner thought he’d just killed a regular bug. He didn’t expect to have just smashed a spider spirit that had cultivated for thousands of years.

A faint white fluid oozed from the crushed spider’s body. Unseen, it seeped into the fresh bite on his forehead.

Suddenly, dizziness washed over him. He raised his hand. Sticky spider remains clung to his palm.

It was that same spider. The one that had lived in his shop’s corner forever, spinning webs, minding its business.

The old shop was packed with everything from dusty paintings and old scrolls to wood carvings and porcelain. Called an antique shop, but more like a junk trove.

Cobwebs weren’t unusual. He’d even welcomed them. Spiders, especially ones nicknamed “lucky crawlers,” were considered good omens. So he let it stay.

He’d always been the quiet type. Didn’t like bothering with small things.

Over time, that spider had become part of the shop’s landscape. Man and spider, peacefully coexisting.

Now, seeing the ruined remains on his hand, Abner’s stomach rolled.

Then a sharp pain stabbed his forehead. His vision spun. The world around him faded, and he collapsed.

When he came to, he was standing in the middle of a bleak, empty plain.

No one in sight. Just a massive spider, crawling slowly across the ground.

“No way... that’s the damn flower spider I just smashed?”Abner Clawford blinked in disbelief. The spider in front of him was way bigger than any normal one.

Scratching his head, he muttered, “Did I just get isekai’d… with a damn spider? This can’t be real.”

He stepped forward and nudged the oversized spider with his foot. “Hey, what’re you doing here too?”

The flower-patterned spider, about the size of a soup bowl, suddenly stood upright like a little person.

Its round eyes glared at him, voice sharp, “Thanks to you! You slapped me dead. That’s why I’m here. And now you're asking questions like you’re the victim?”

Abner was momentarily speechless. He forced an awkward smile. “Uh… so where are we? Don’t tell me this is some other world?”

The spider snorted and tapped the empty air with a front leg. “Other world? What the hell’s in that thick skull of yours? This is your consciousness, idiot.”

“If it weren’t for that broken inner core, I’d suck your soul dry right now.”

Abner paled fast. Waving both hands, he stammered, “Easy there, spider bro! I didn’t know one slap would cause this mess. Blame that damn mosquito…”

“It’s spider lady!” she snapped, shooting out a bit of silk that stuck right to Abner’s nose. “I’ve cultivated for over a millennium. Who are you calling ‘bro’?”

Grumbling inside, Abner figured she was touchy about titles. He gingerly peeled the silk away and tried buttering her up. “My bad, spider lady. But you said this is my mind… so what’s going on exactly?”

“You smashed my core with your Iron Palm of Death or whatever you call that slap,” she growled. “Bits of my inner core got into you through that mosquito bite. Now I’m stuck in your body.”

“What?!” Abner staggered back, panicked. “Don’t tell me you’re… trying to take my body? Am I even still me?”

He patted himself down in a frenzy, like he expected his limbs to suddenly not be his.

The spider did a little wriggle, almost shy. “With my power now? I couldn’t possess you even if I wanted to. But maybe… give me another year or so…”

Abner sighed in relief. Thank the heavens she wasn’t strong enough yet. Otherwise, he might’ve already been her puppet.

He slapped on a goofy grin. “Gracious and beautiful spider fairy… you really plan on living in my head forever? Don’t you wanna… I dunno, stretch your legs out there? The world’s kinda fun.”

Before he finished, the spider jumped and landed square on his head.

A thread of silk shot out, latching onto his hair. In moments, she slid down, facing him directly.

He froze like a statue, feeling a chill all over.

“Look at you, scared of your own shadow,” she scoffed. “Go where? My body’s gone, thanks to you. Do you even realize how long I worked for this? Nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine years! Just one more and I’d be ascending. At least I’d have a human form! But you ruined everything with that one damn smack!”

Abner stared at his palm, muttering to himself, “Was my slap really that powerful?”