Sitting in the living room with a cigar he'd taken from the villain's belongings, Moya took a long drag and let the smoke drift out, briefly veiling his handsome face. Aside from a faint twitch of his brows, his expression showed no change. Just that, the longer he listened to the voice in his head, the clearer one thing became: this system was utterly useless.
It didn't give him any abilities nor a single item, and definitely no cheats. Other than the so-called 'plot'—where he was supposed to be the villain's loyal sidekick whose death would spark the hero's revenge arc—it had nothing going for it. But that was pointless now, since he'd already killed the villain and had zero plans of ever meeting the hero. The only saving grace was that, even after transmigrating, he'd retained his ability—the power to push things away from him.
He still remembered the day he awakened this. He was fifteen.
His mom was screaming, crying, and hurling whatever she could grab. His dad was drunk and wouldn't listen. Just days after giving birth, his mom had discovered her husband was cheating with some much younger woman from his job. The fight exploded in the kitchen.
There were sounds of furniture slamming and plates breaking. Then something (he couldn't remember anymore) came flying towards him and his baby brother. A wave of nausea hit him and in the next instant, everything around him was pushed away. Not that it could be explained scientifically. Nothing about it was logical. Roughly ten feet surrounding him was leveled to the ground.
Moya was still too young and didn't know how to react. So for a long while, he just stood there, as still as a statue, colors draining from his face. Heck, even adults would probably freeze, too.
It was then that the air fluctuated at a certain corner and then three people materialized out of thin air—two males and one female. Must be teleportation, right? The fifteen-year-old Moya understood this in his head but he struggled to accept it in his heart and he trembled in fear.
"Kid, what's your name?" asked a man nearly two meters tall, muscles bulging so much his suit buttons looked ready to pop. He wore a benign smile, his multi-colored eyes locked onto him.
"M-Moya. Moya Totanya."
When he tried to hide his baby brother behind him, that's when he noticed something was off. Everything around them had stopped. His parents and even the baby… all frozen mid-motion. Time seemed to have stopped. Only the four of them weren't affected. Later, he found out it was the tall guy's ability.
Long story short, he had awakened and people on the Surface weren't supposed to know anything about it. They told him he'd have to leave, to go somewhere, to a place others like him lived. Oh, and that everyone who knew him would forget he ever existed. In short, they will erase any and all memories of people about him.
Not that he had much of a choice because whether he liked it or not, they would still take him. It was just a matter of willingness. Because not only was he now harmful to normal people, the fact that he had awakened was something no one must know under any circumstances. But he still made a condition nonetheless: he'd only go if they promised to take care of his baby brother and send him updates at least once a month.
They agreed.
• • •
[Host! Hoooooooooooost! Are you even listening?]
Clarity returned to Moya's eyes.
"Of course, I am. You're angry I killed the villain, ruined the plot, going OOC, and for going against this world's narrative. I get it." He said as he put what was left of the cigar to the tray. "But system, I suddenly have an idea. Wanna hear it?"
[No! Don't wanna! Don't wanna hear it at all! Waaaaaaaah! Host, you're so evil. Even the previous host wasn't as difficult as you. Sure, something's wrong with his head, and sometimes I wonder how he even survived that long, but at least he followed the plot. But you… Waaaaaaaaaaah! What's the main system going to say about this, huh? I'm doomed! I'm doomed!]
Despite the System's protests, Moya stood up anyway and made his way to a specific room on the second floor, using the memories he had inherited from the original owner as a guide.
Inside the closet, he immediately found a robot. He picked it up, carried it to the bed, and sat down beside it. The original owner had clearly placed great importance to it, but it was long broken and no longer functional. He didn't know why this thing was so important as so many parts of the memory were missing, but out of respect and gratitude for taking over that guy's body, he planned on fulfilling his wishes, caring for all the things he cared for, and maybe try continuing his hobbies. Because Moya didn't really have a dream.
That guy's name was identical to his own—so, from now on, he decided to refer to him as Moya 1.0. He had been half-human, half-Zerg, and often used his tail in both combat and mating. But what was more surprising was the guy's hobby. Moya 1.0 liked live-streaming, (something he also did in his previous life), and Moya 1.0 was actually quite famous in the Star Stream. This was also that guy's secret source of income, something Moya planned on continuing.
And… contrary to what the System had claimed, he hadn't actually been very loyal to the villain. In fact, he harbored deep resentment. But he brushed those thoughts aside for the time being and called out to the system. The latter immediately had a bad feeling.
"As your host, I command you to live inside this thing from now on." He pointed to the robot. "I also took the liberty of giving you a name. Starting today, you will be called Rusty." This was because the robot was a little rusty.
[System: ???]
"And starting tomorrow, you're going to be my camera man and social media manager. Who knows? If you do a good job, I might cooperate with you and not go OOC anymore. Wutcho think?"
[System: !!!]
For now, Moya's goal has been to earn a lot of money to leave the planet, fulfill Moya 1.0's wishes, and probably just continue live streaming. He had so many things to do.