A perpetually unfortunate fellow faces a cascade of bad luck throughout his existence—bombing exams, drawing the worst military posts, acquiring a lemon of a vehicle, and suffering workplace bullying. After a particularly harsh dressing-down from his boss, he stumbles into a corner market intoxicated and asks the shopkeeper to pick some lottery digits. With his final five dollars, he purchases five identical tickets.
By some cosmic joke, he lands the second-place lottery prize—roughly $300,000—but the store clerk murders him before he can collect his winnings. In the afterlife, he encounters a death deity who proposes rebirth with his memories preserved, on the condition he never discloses his previous existence. He agrees and activates a "reincarnation randomizer" that will determine his new identity.....