I didn't wake up in a gilded throne room.
There were no goddesses. No summoned heroes. No glowing stats or dramatic voiceovers.
Just… a janitor's closet.
Dusty. Cramped. Smelled like wet socks and lemon polish.
I blinked at the stained walls, then at the glowing prompt in front of me.
[Welcome to the Maintenance-Class System!]
Job Assigned: Janitor (Probationary)
Perks Unlocked: Mop Mastery I, Grime Sense, Squeaky Clean Aura
Objective: Keep it tidy. Stay out of trouble.
"Did I get isekai'd into a cleaning sim…?"
I checked my hands. No sword. No magic. Just a mop.
A literal wooden mop—frayed at the ends and dripping with sudsy water.
This couldn't be right.
One minute I was in my tiny apartment, arguing with a cockroach about who owned the kitchen. The next, I was being told to sweep an ancient magic academy. No demons. No dragons. Just dirt.
[Daily Task: Sanitize the West Wing Lavatories.]
Reward: +1 Mop Proficiency
Penalty: Smell.
Awesome.
I sighed, grabbed the mop, and pushed open the closet door.
The hallway was absurdly grand. Marble floors, floating lanterns, stained-glass ceilings. Students in embroidered robes drifted past, talking about spell matrices and bloodline rituals.
No one noticed me.
Good. That's how I liked it.
"Hey, background NPC," I muttered to myself, "let's just keep our head down and wipe some floors."
That's when it happened.
Room 3-B. Supposedly sealed. Allegedly cursed. Definitely dusty.
The door creaked open on its own.
A chill ran down my spine. A faint whisper echoed from inside: "Only the destined shall enter…"
Yeah, okay, janitor duty didn't pay enough for this.
But there was mold on the doorknob. I had standards.
"Quick in, quick out," I told myself.
I stepped inside—and immediately tripped over something. Something metal.
A sword. Long. Black. Glowing red lines pulsed along its blade.
It hummed like a broken refrigerator and reeked of ancient evil.
[Cursed Relic Detected: Abyssfang, Devourer of Hope]
Warning: Do Not Touch. Seriously. Don't.
…You Touched It.
[Passive Skill Activated: Cleanse Curse (Level 1)]
Curse Removed. Blade Polished.
Final Boss Recognition: 3%
"…Oops?"
Outside the door, someone gasped.
I turned slowly.
Three students stood in the hallway, frozen. One held a glowing relic scanner, another clutched a half-burned scroll, and the third looked like she'd just swallowed a live frog.
"You…" the noble girl breathed, eyes wide.
I raised a hand. "Uh. I can explain."
She took a shaky step back. "No signature. No chant. And the relic... obeyed him."
"I just wiped off the dust—"
"Dust doesn't just vanish like that."
The scanner started beeping erratically. The boy holding it stared at me in horror.
"That reading… It matches the anomaly from the Forbidden Vault incident three years ago."
"What vault?" I asked.
They didn't answer.
Instead, they slowly backed away, then turned and bolted down the corridor.
One whispered, just loud enough to echo:
"He's not active yet… We need to tell someone—but not the wrong person. What if he's listening?"
I stood alone in the hallway, still holding the mop.
"…Did I just get cursed for doing my job?