Starting Over From Scratch
In a different sense entirely, I found myself thinking the being in front of me had lost its mind.
"Then what were you originally?"
"Huh?"
"Weren't you a possessor too? You failed your goal and became a System, didn't you?"
The System seemed at a loss for words, staring blankly for a moment before it nodded.
"Yes."
"What?"
"To be precise, yes. I became a System because I couldn't debut."
...Then what was this?
"And you're telling me you have zero intention of taking over my body? Seriously?"
The System nodded vigorously.
"Even though I never debuted, being like this is so much more comfortable! I don't have to try to achieve anything, and I don't have to grind just to make a living!"
Was this thing being serious?
"I guess you could say living as a System and helping other people is more fun than living as a human?"
Well, I couldn't understand it — but everyone had their own way of living. Then again, I wasn't even sure you could call that a way of living. Was it even a life?
"Are you really okay with that?"
"Yes, I told you I'm fine with it."
The System answered in a cheerful voice.
"Besides, even if you take over a body, it doesn't fully become yours."
"What?"
"After you enter a body, you have to complete a newly generated goal before it fully becomes yours. Fail, and you get kicked out again and become a System. That's how it works."
Which meant that even if you became a System and stole a body, failing the next goal would turn you back into a System all over again. In a way, it was cruel. That also meant there could be Systems who'd repeated this cycle over and over.
"You're not one of those, are you?"
"Of course not!"
When I asked with a suspicious look, the System waved its hands frantically.
"I already told you. I don't want to do anything like that. I chose to live as a System because I just want a comfortable life. I have no interest in having a human body."
Could I trust it?
I shook my head.
Don't trust it. Not so easily.
I couldn't put my faith in this thing. I still didn't know what it really was. Maybe it really had come to help me, just like it said. But I couldn't rule out the possibility that it was lying. If its explanation was true, there were types who'd cycled between being a System and a human over and over — and those would be capable of far more sophisticated lies.
"I can't trust you."
The bright smile faded from the System's lips.
"Still?"
"'Still'?"
Trusting something right after it had stabbed you in the back once was just stupid.
"How am I supposed to trust you?"
Won Ji-an chimed in from beside me.
"He's right. We can't trust you. We have no way of knowing if what you're saying is true — or how much of it is truth and how much is a lie."
When neither of us opened up, the System looked defeated.
"That's not fair."
"Why not?"
"I came here to help you. I genuinely wanted to put you on a flower path, to protect you from those insane villains. I'm an angel who came to save you..."
I was at a loss for words.
Did it just call itself an angel?
"We're leaving."
"Huh?"
"I'm tired."
The System looked deflated. Won Ji-an started to turn away coldly, then glanced back, as if something tugged at him. But that, too, could just be an act to soften us up.
"Let's go."
I grabbed Won Ji-an's arm and pulled him along.
We returned to the room. The System had shifted from human form back into a formless presence. The moment we got back, I opened the safe — I needed to write down everything the System had told us.
A chime rang out. A System window popped up. It was a quest.
A quest...?
A quest, out of nowhere. I blinked, completely lost.
Give the System a compliment (0/10)
Reward:100G, Gacha Ticket ×1
What was this supposed to be?
"I just said I wouldn't trust you."
More than that — the quest it was handing out after showing up out of nowhere was just... giving compliments? Ten of them, no less.
"I'm not doing it."
The System trembled.
You're not going to?
"That's right."
What's so hard about a compliment? You just have to say it. There's a reward, too!
"I already told you. I don't trust you."
For all I knew, this quest was a ploy to get closer to me, only to stab me in the back again.
I told you I have no interest in your body!
Yeah, right. I wasn't buying it.
If it had a human mind, it was only natural that it'd covet a human body as well. Any being that had once possessed a body would instinctively crave one of its own — something it could move freely. And Do Won-woo, in particular, had the highest-tier looks in a society this obsessed with appearance. Sure, in the original novel he'd been hit with every possible stroke of narrative sabotage — but this world no longer followed the novel's plot. If you had a body with a face that handsome, you'd want to take it by any means necessary.
But it had no greed? It just wanted to help?
Could a perfectly altruistic being even exist in this world?
"Whatever you say from now on, whatever quest you give me — I'm not doing it. So don't try anything stupid."
I shut the System window coldly. Silence followed.
"......"
"......"
Had I been too harsh? The thought crossed my mind, but my heart didn't budge. A System wasn't something you could trust to begin with.
Fine. You don't need me, is that it? Then I'll disappear.
The System that had only just appeared suddenly declared it was leaving.
But I won't just leave.
Wait. What did that mean...?
I'll reset every ability you currently have.
I shot up from the bed before I even realized it.
"What the hell are you talking about."
Won Ji-an looked just as stunned, at a complete loss.
If you don't want me, I'll leave. But these abilities — you got them through the System, didn't you?
The System's voice rippled with spite.
I'll take every ability you gained through the System with me.
Goodbye. Adios. It was fun. Our brief little memories together.
And with that, before I could even grab hold of it, the System vanished completely.
The moment I came to my senses, I realized my body had changed. Something vital had been drained away. The instant I understood what it was, a silent scream nearly tore out of me.
Oh, no. Don't tell me.
Taking every ability I'd gained through the System meant... every bit of vocal and dance skill I'd built up through the System had reverted to what it originally was.
Back to the starting village...
My legs gave out, and I sank onto the bed. Won Ji-an was so shocked he'd lost his words, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
"W-what do we do?"
I covered my eyes with my hand.
"I don't know."
Which meant every stat I'd suffered through hell to build up had been reset. I didn't even know how to describe what I was feeling. Curses I'd never even thought in my entire life started pouring through my mind.
"Are you okay?"
Won Ji-an leaned in, checking my face. Of course I wasn't okay.
"It feels like everything's been stolen from me."
Did this even make sense?
"That bastard. It's definitely the original System. It came here to screw me over."
"H-hey, it might not be..."
The moment I heard Won Ji-an trying to talk me down, I shot to my feet.
"If it's not, then why the hell did it take abilities it didn't even give me? If it's a completely different being from the previous System, what right does it have?"
My head was throbbing. This wasn't some small problem. My abilities being reset meant I'd gone back to the novel's original setup: hopeless Do Won-woo. Worst dancer. Worst singer. The only thing going for him was his face — a cursed set of stats, through and through.
"Shit..."
I buried my head in the mattress and despaired.
"Why would it take that? Is it insane?"
It was true that I'd received a buff from the System that let me raise my stats more efficiently while practicing. But I hadn't raised those stats through the System's power alone. A certain amount of my own effort had gone into it.
"I want to file a complaint somewhere right now."
I might have looked relatively calm on the outside, but inside I was boiling over. My head felt like it was going to explode trying to figure out how to salvage this. My dance and vocal skills had reverted to their cursed starting state, and the System had vanished without a trace.
It was telling me to go get completely fucked.
It had called itself a good System, but it was way more unhinged than the previous one. At least that one hadn't yanked my abilities away in the middle of a survival show. Why? Because once it took over, that body would be the one it inhabited. But this one had no interest in my body. So it didn't give a damn what happened to my abilities.
And it still pulled this?
"Won-woo, are you okay? Just calm down first..."
I couldn't even hear Won Ji-an worrying about my mental state beside me.
"We're about to debut, and I've just been stripped completely naked?"
In game terms, it was like having your character reset right before the boss fight.
"Hahahaha..."
All I could do was laugh. If I debuted like this, with my skills at zero, I'd be a laughingstock. That much was obvious. People would pile on, asking why I'd gotten worse than I was during the survival show, and I'd be mocked just like in the original novel.
"Just... close your eyes and do what the System wants. If you just give it ten compliments..."
"I can't do that."
I shook my head at his words.
"Then I'll be at its mercy from now on. Like it's got something on me, without even knowing what it wants or why."
Won Ji-an's face darkened.
"Th-that's true, but... we're about to debut. We don't have time. If you just grit your teeth and do what it wants this once..."
I was wavering too, I couldn't deny it — but I had no intention of bending.
"Once you taste convenience, you can never go back."
My mind was already made up.
"I'll raise my stats again through my own effort alone. So that thing can never threaten me like this a second time."
I'd sworn I wouldn't be led around by anyone.
"We're starting over from the beginning."