A tall young man sat in front of the TV, his eyes locked on a football match that was heading straight for disaster.
"Shoot! Shoot, you blind idiot! They pay you all that money and you don’t even have a foot to kick with?"
His voice rose with every missed chance.
"One goal and a hundred wasted opportunities, and then they call him the star of the team."
He gripped the remote so hard it felt like he was about to smash it.
"I’m going to have a heart attack before the second half is even over."
He finally turned the TV off, leaving the room in dim light broken only by the bedside lamp.
He tried playing video games for a while to vent his anger, but that only made it worse.
"You idiots. Even a blind man with no arms would play better than you."
He muttered to himself, trying to calm down.
"Calm down, Loki. Don’t let other people’s stupidity ruin your night."
He decided to read instead.
He sat in front of a shelf piled with novels, flipping through titles without any real enthusiasm. Most of them hadn’t left any impression on him.
His hand suddenly stopped on a cover he didn’t remember buying.
He picked it up and read the title: *"A Hero in a Cruel World."*
He stared at it for a moment as if the name itself was provoking him. He flipped through the pages quickly, then closed it.
"After seven years of reading novels, I can tell a failure from the first page."
He tossed it aside without hesitation.
The next moment, a light with no clear source burst forth. The room filled with an invisible force that violently dragged his body toward where the novel had fallen.
He tried to grab onto something, anything, but his hands found only air before the void swallowed him.
"What is that disgusting smell? Something heavy is pressing on me."
He lifted his head with difficulty and saw a strange-looking creature standing over him, its jaws heading straight for his neck.
His body moved before he could think. His fist shot out and connected with the creature’s head. It dropped to the ground, lifeless.
He stood frozen, staring at his hand as if it wasn’t his.
He didn’t understand where that speed or that strength had come from.
He pinched his arm hard and felt pain.
So it wasn’t a dream.
He looked around: dense trees, ground covered in wild grass. The air was cold and pure, it even stung his chest. Nothing like the polluted air of his city.
It didn’t take him long to reach the only logical conclusion.
"I got pulled into that novel."
He laughed involuntarily. A dry laugh, closer to venting than to amusement.
"It was supposed to be a novel I knew. Or at least had one piece of information about. But no. It had to be a novel I’ve never read."
His thoughts were cut off by a faint flicker of light that formed in front of him into a transparent window hanging in the air.
[Possession Complete.]
He stared at it, stunned. He didn’t understand the phrase, but he noticed the words kept appearing without him summoning them:
[Scanning host status...]
[Scan complete.]
[Identity: Unavailable.]
[Name: Loki.]
He paused at his name. "...Loki?"
He touched his chest with a trembling hand. At least that hadn’t changed.
A small sense of relief came, only to vanish with the next line:
[Main Objective]
[Survive.]
"A stupid joke."
He waited for more details, anything to clarify where he was or what his goal was, but the window didn’t move.
"Where am I? What is this place? Who are you, anyway?"
No reply came. He frowned. "Can you even hear me?"
A new window appeared, as if in a delayed response:
[Host-related information found.]
[Display information?]
[Yes][No]
He chose [Yes] without hesitation. The window disappeared, replaced by other words:
[Relation to the protagonist in this world: Closest friend.]
He froze. Closest friend. To which character?
Before he could process the question, one last sentence appeared, colder than the ones before:
[Warning: The current host is not the original owner of this body.]
A heavy silence fell.
He looked at his hands, then at his whole body, as if seeing it for the first time.
"So... this body isn’t mine."
No answer appeared.
Loki stood alone. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know whose body he was inhabiting. And he didn’t even know who this "central character" was that the system said he was closest friends with.
But he understood one thing with certainty: this world wasn’t normal. And somewhere, there was a person he didn’t know, expecting him to be their closest friend.
He thought for a moment about the beast he’d dropped with a single punch, and instinct told him that this strength had to be measurable somehow.
"If there’s a minimum for strength, there must be a window that displays it."
He spoke the thought aloud: "Status Window."
To his surprise, the system responded this time. A welcome message appeared that seemed purely automatic:
Welcome, New Host
[Host Body Information]
Name: Loki
Identity: Closest friend of the protagonist, "Kaiden"
Original Role in the Story: Side character. Known for making others laugh, and later sacrifices himself to save the protagonist.
Body Condition: Healthy. No injuries.
Relation to Events: Very close to the protagonist’s inner circle. Knows his secrets.
[Host Status: Loki]
Level: Novice
HP: 100/100
Strength: E
Stamina: E
Intelligence: D
Agility: D
Inner Energy: E??
[Special Trait]
"Social Mask"— An innate ability of the host body to easily gain others’ trust.
"Unknown to Fate"— You have no prior knowledge of this novel’s events. Every step will be a real adventure.
Warning:This system does not grant you knowledge of the story, a map, or future hints.
Loki read every line slowly, then pressed his lips into a smile he hadn’t intended.
A side character. Who sacrifices himself to save the protagonist.
"But didn’t you just say you don’t give any future hints?"
Silence.
"Oh. So that’s what the author wrote, then."
He looked at the creature lying beside him, then at the palm of the hand that had just dropped it.
"I am not obligated to follow what someone wrote for me."