Chapter 1From Love to Leverage

After I failed to conquer three male leads, the System was about to delete me.

Suddenly, it was forcibly logged out.

【Hello, Host. I am Advanced System 001, and my mission success rate is a perfect one hundred percent. To maintain that record, you will now restart your missions with those three failed targets.】

A pained sob escaped my lips. “...I can’t grovel anymore. I really, truly can’t.”

001 let out a cold laugh. 【Grovel? Screw grovelling. If anyone refuses to love you, I’ll just kill them.】

I blinked. “Huh?”

* * *

My body was dumped on a muddy mountain path. Disembodied, I watched as wild beasts tore me apart, leaving nothing but a pile of clean-picked bones.

As my spirit floated in the air, I was pulled back into the stark white space of the System.

A blue orb of light bobbed before me, shaking in disappointment.

【Regrettably, Host, you have failed three consecutive conquest missions. According to the Transmigration Codex, as your System, I have the right to proceed with your deletion.】

I didn't argue.

After three catastrophic failures, I had lost all hope. The three targets were worse than the last, each one a special brand of asshole, and I’d been forced to cater to them, to cast aside my dignity and act like some pathetic, fawning dog.

If I resisted, my old system would hit me with electric shocks or seize control of my body. In the end, it always led to a gruesome death without even a proper corpse to show for it.

Now, hearing the sentence passed down, I just felt… tired.

I didn't even have the will to beg for my life.

Giving up completely, I lay down on the pristine white floor to enjoy my final moments.

【Deletion countdown commencing. 3… 2…】

Before it could say ‘1’, the blue orb vanished from my sight. In its place hovered a golden orb, noticeably larger and more brilliant than my old system.

It gave me a polite, almost imperceptible nod.

【Greetings, Host 739. I am System 001. Due to the one-hundred-percent failure rate of you and your assigned system, I will be taking over your case from this point forward.】

I sat up. “Take me over for what? I’m about to be deleted. A new system can’t change that.”

001’s tone was chillingly indifferent. 【Your case is an extreme outlier. Such a perfect record of failure is a rarity even within our Transmigration Division. Therefore, I have filed a petition to cancel your deletion. We will be deleting your previous system instead.】

My lips trembled. “Deleting…”

Good riddance!

I almost laughed out loud.

But then it hit me. If 001 was taking over, it meant I had to go back. Back to the missions, back to the grovelling. The despair of that thought quickly extinguished the joy of hearing my old system was getting scrapped.

“You know what? Just kill me.” I flopped back onto the floor, my voice thick with a misery I couldn't hide. “I really don’t want to be a doormat for some guy again. Doormats get walked all over and end up with nothing.”

To my surprise, 001 cried out, a note of genuine shock in its synthesized voice.

【That’s how your previous system made you complete your missions?!】

I was taken aback. “How else? If I didn’t play along, it would electrocute me or hit me with psychic attacks. At this point, I think I have PTSD from just looking at men.”

The memory of all that bitterness and pain washed over me, and I started to sob, the tears flowing freely.

“I really can’t grovel anymore…”

001 went silent for a moment before letting out that same, cold laugh.

【Grovel? Screw grovelling. If anyone dares not to fall in love with you, I’ll kill them.】

“Uh…”

Dude, is that even allowed?