From Janitor To God: The System Chose Me

“Ethan , get in here now! The coffee machine’s jammed again… and watch the floor, it’s still wet with your mop water!”

The voice boomed through the hallway like a slap, sharp and demeaning. Ethan froze mid-swipe. The mop handle trembled in his hands.

He stared at the tall, frosted-glass doors ahead. Behind them, the Brooks Corp quarterly investor meeting was happening in full swing. Suits, Heels, Laughter and Money.

And in the center of it all… her.

His wife.

No—the woman who used him and threw him away like trash.

“Ethan ! Now!” the voice barked again. Mr. Brooks , his father-in-law. Or more accurately, his master.

Ethan swallowed hard. The bitter taste in his mouth wasn’t from the coffee machine, it was from months of humiliation he had been forced to swallow.

He rolled the mop bucket aside, wiped his hands on his stained jumpsuit, and pushed the doors open.

Dozens of heads turned. Conversations died. A few chuckled while Some looked at him like he was a stain on their polished floor.

But her eyes—Lena ’s—were the coldest of them all.

She didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even fake surprise.

She looked straight through him. As if he was no one. As if they hadn’t once shared a bed, a dream, a future.

As if he wasn’t the man who built the very system this company was now celebrating.

“Who’s that?” an investor near the front asked, frowning.

Lena crossed her legs, her diamond anklet glinting under the table. “Maintenance,” she said quickly, her voice calm and flat

“Ignore him.”

Ethan felt something twist deep in his chest. Like someone had jammed a crowbar between his ribs and was slowly pulling.

Maintenance?

He stepped forward wordlessly, kneeling in front of the coffee machine. He focused on the wires, sensors, tubes—anything to keep from looking up at their sneers.

He used to be one of them. Now he was below them. His legally wedded wife called him maintenance, a nobody. The fear of woman is truly the beginning of wisdom.

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Mr. Brooks said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “He couldn’t code his way into success, but at least he can still fix machines. Must be muscle memory.”

Laughter rippled around the table.

Ethan said nothing, Infact he dared not. His fingers moved with quiet efficiency. He didn’t need to think. He’d built this logic board. His logic. His design. His brain was in every wire of this machine. But no one in that room knew. Or cared.

To them, he was just the janitor.

The machine hissed to life.

Ethan reached to close the panel when a voice stopped him.

“Oops.”

Hot liquid splashed across his chest, Scalding and Sticky. It dripped from his collar to his stomach, soaking through.

Ethan ’s breath caught.

He looked up.

A tall investor in a navy-blue suit held an empty cup, smirking down at him.

“You gonna sue me for burns, janitor?” the man sneered. “Or maybe cry? Want a hug?”

Ethan gritted his teeth. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” the man said, pointing to his shoes. “You got some on my Oxfords. Wipe it. With your sleeve.”

Ethan blinked.

Holymotherfucking airballs! How bad could this get daily?!

Was this real?

The man leaned in. “Or better yet… use your tongue.”

Ethan quickly raised his eyes and gritted his teeth with clenched fists.

A quiet gasp echoed across the room. A few chuckles followed.

“Takashi,” Lena said softly. Hesitant. Like she was trying to sound decent. “Don’t—”

“Don’t what?” Nathan cut in, laughing. “He’s the janitor, right? I’m giving him a job to match his status.”

Ethan didn’t move. Staring at the man who wasn’t just an investor but also the one fucking his wife still with the audacity of asking him to clean his shoes with his tongue

He could feel every eye locked on him, Mockingly and Waiting.

He stared at the shoe. The brown stain. The shine of leather and his reflection.

His fists tightened. His pride screamed.

But louder than that… was silence. Lena ’s silence.

She looked away. Again and obviously cared less what happened to him.

Ethan felt something snap inside him.

Slowly, like his soul was dragging against glass, he bent down.

His lips hovered inches above the shoe.

Just two years ago, he was giving a MIT AI Conference on innovation. Now, he was about to lick coffee off the footwear of the man his wife sucked his cock.

What happened to your dreams, Ethan ?

What happened to changing the world?

Was this what love cost you?

He closed his eyes.

And lowered his tongue and did what was required of him or else face the consequences.

The room fell deathly quiet.

Ethan stood slowly, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

Nathan smiled like a man who’d just won a bet. “Very obedient. Maybe you can serve drinks at the launch party tonight.”

Mr. Brooks chuckled. “Not a bad idea. Ethan , grab a tray. Stand at the door like the good servant you are.” Mr. Brooks was always disgusted by just the presence of Ethan but they still didn’t let him go. They locked him in their grasp.

Ethan didn’t reply.

But something inside him twisted tighter than ever before.

His voice cracked as he finally asked, “Tonight’s launch… it’s about the NexusCore, right?”

Brooks raised a brow. “Yes. So?”

“That’s my invention.”

The words weren’t loud. But they fell like thunder in the room.

Silence.

Until Nathan burst out laughing. “Yours? You? Don’t flatter yourself, fool.”

Ethan stood his ground. His heart was thundering in his chest. “I submitted the prototype. I filed the documents. It was mine before I ever came here.”

Brooks ’s smile turned dark. “You signed your rights away in your contract. I made sure of that.”

Ethan froze.

He remembered. He had signed it, though they deceived him . Back then, all he wanted was a chance. Approval. A pat on the back. Lena ’s father had offered a deal—and Ethan , the fool, took it.

Desperate and blind

But now… robbed.

***

It was night time.

The grand launch hall glittered with lights and clinking glasses. Camera flashes popped and Applause thundered.

Ethan stood in the back, holding a tray of champagne. The NexusCore—his creation—spun proudly on its pedestal, bathed in a soft neon glow.

On stage, Lena laughed beside Takashi. Her hand rested on his chest. Her lips brushed his cheek.

Ethan watched, frozen in the shadows and absolutely Forgotten.

Humiliated.

He was the ghost of a genius. A king reduced to a clown.

He knelt again, this time to wipe another spill from the floor.

He didn’t even feel the tears anymore. What was the point?

But then—

A sharp buzz hit his brain.

Everything blurred.

He clutched his head as a cold blue light flashed before his eyes.

Words blinked across his vision:

[SYSTEM REBOOTED]

[GOD-LEVEL DOMINATION AI DETECTED]

[ACTIVATING INTERFACE…]

Ethan gasped. “W-What the hell…?”

Then a voice echoed inside his skull—calm, commanding.

[Welcome, Ethan .]

[Time to reclaim everything.]