The System

May 31, 2006, early morning.

In a park in Halifax City, Nova Scotia, Canada.

"Coo~ coo~"

Several fat wild pigeons called out as they searched for food on the grass.

"Rustle~ rustle~"

The leaves of the maple trees in the park made a soothing sound as a gentle breeze passed through them.

"Ugh..." But a human groan of pain interrupted the beautiful scene.

A man slowly awoke on a park bench, his brows tightly furrowed as though he had a splitting headache.

The man stood over six feet tall. He wore expensive jeans and a white shirt, while his shoes and socks were long gone, leaving him barefoot.

He had short blond hair, sharply defined features, and a three-dimensional face.

But he was rather thin.

He opened his blue eyes and sat up in a daze, looking around.

The bench stood in the center of the rectangular park, with one-way streets in front and behind it. Joggers passed by from time to time.

"Sniff, sniff... ugh..."

Immediately afterward, he smelled the strong reek of alcohol coming from his own body.

It made him feel a little sick.

Then, a vast amount of memories began flooding into his mind.

The body's name was William Russell.

He had just celebrated his nineteenth birthday and had gone to a nightclub to party without telling his family or classmates.

Because of his drunkenness, the memories came in fragmented flashes before finally fading into complete darkness, lasting until he awoke just now.

"Looks like..."

William analyzed the situation and said, "The previous owner seems to have died suddenly from drinking too much."

After learning the cause of death, William did not stop reading the memories. Instead, he remained silent.

His ancestors had been nobles who immigrated to Canada from Britain in the nineteenth century. Even by the middle of the twentieth century, the family's savings had still been substantial.

But beginning with his father, the family's circumstances had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

The Russell Family had originally owned dozens of factories and companies, but because of his father's reckless spending, only a lumber-processing plant remained.

They also owed two years of property taxes.

That remarkable father had died of lung cancer two years earlier, leaving behind several hundred thousand dollars in savings and the only remaining seaside villa.

And what about the previous William?

Like his father, he had spent countless sums of money enjoying life.

But he had one advantage over his father...

William had been accepted into the local business university, St. Mary's University, without relying on connections or money.

Unfortunately, the guy was a typical playboy who never paid attention to exercising.

Although the law in this province considered someone an adult only after they turned nineteen, William had already tried everything he could at the age of fourteen.

Now that he had finally turned nineteen and could drink openly, of course he had gone out to have fun with his worthless friends.

And then he died.

A perfect example of what it meant when people said, "If you don't court death, you won't die."

As for his mother, all he knew was that she had died during a difficult childbirth. He had no further memories of her.

"Skrrr—!"

Suddenly, the sound of screeching brakes came from the street opposite the bench.

"Hm?" The noise drew William's attention.

A black Mercedes sedan had pulled over carelessly at the side of the one-way street.

The driver's door opened, and a burly man nearly two meters tall stepped out.

The man wore a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, as if he had hurried out of his house.

Because of his age, his short hair and bushy beard were streaked with a great deal of white. He also had a slight belly.

His slightly wrinkled face carried an expression of anger and worry.

Andre Kapushkin Ostrovsky.

The instant William saw him, the name automatically surfaced in his mind, along with the emotions he held toward him.

Andre was his only remaining "relative."

A relative with no blood relation.

This long-named old man from the Warrior Nation had been a member of a KGB training unit in his youth. After retiring due to injury, he had gotten involved with the mafia.

When he had been driven into a corner, William's grandfather had saved him, allowing him to escape death.

Afterward, Andre had become the loyal bodyguard of the Russell Family.

William only remembered that his grandfather had died when he was six or seven.

His father had spent every day doing nothing useful and certainly had never cared about the child.

In the end, Andre had taken care of William's every need—food, drink, bodily functions, and sleep. He had even driven him to and from school.

Perhaps feeling sorry for this child who had no mother and an irresponsible father, Andre had been exceptionally indulgent toward William, treating this son who was not his own as his own child.

That had led to the previous William becoming the way he was.

To correct William, all Andre could do was advise and teach him.

Unfortunately, none of it had worked.

However, after the Russell Family began declining to its current state, Andre was the only person still by William's side.

Andre hurried over to the dazed William, grabbed him by the collar with his left hand, and raised his right hand as if he wanted to slap the boy.

But he could not bring himself to do it.

"Hey..."

Andre finally sighed, released William, and reprimanded him in accented English:

"I don't care if you go to a nightclub with your classmates, but you didn't come home all night. Do you know how worried I was?

"Ah! William!"

Afterward, as if he had known from the beginning that William would never change, Andre helplessly shook his head, turned toward the car, and said:

"All right, hurry up and come home with me."

"Huh? Yes."

William came to his senses and hurried after him, saying, "I'm sorry. I won't do this again."

?

Andre turned around in surprise, then smiled with relief. "You're only good at saying things like that. Hurry up and get in the car."

"Yes." William answered and opened the front passenger door before sitting down.

Andre drove away before attracting the police's attention, heading toward the seaside.

In the car, William looked at the scenery along the street.

He felt that transmigrating into this world was not bad.

He had plenty of savings, a seaside villa, and even a burly "bodyguard."

Moreover, judging from his reflection in the rearview mirror, he was quite handsome. He should be able to live a very good life.

But...

[Auxiliary system loading...

1%...

10%...]

A toneless voice suddenly rang beside his ear, startling the relaxed William.

He confirmed that it was not an auditory hallucination because the progress had never stopped.

System? What is this? William could not help asking himself inwardly.

Before William could continue wondering, the system spoke again:

[100%, loading successful.

Host, hello. This system will assist the host in dealing with future threats.

Please listen carefully.]

?

Although William still could not make heads or tails of it, he did not interrupt the so-called system.

[This world has been detected to possess supernatural phenomena and entities whose existence will continue to increase.

Without human intervention, they will reach their peak in seventeen years. All living things, even the Earth itself, will be destroyed.]

Heh.