My girlfriend, Penelope, has no idea that while she’s been busy flirting with her ‘best friend,’ Felix, I’ve systematically dated every single other woman in her inner circle. Tonight, Felix is drunk, draped across Penny’s lap, and grinning as he jokes with me. “Jaxson, you two have been together long enough. It’s time for someone else to have a turn. Why don’t you just sell her to me cheap?” Penny frowned, calling him an idiot, but the hand looped around his waist only tightened. I smiled, intending to ignore the jab, but a neon overlay of text—the damned subtitle track—suddenly appeared across my vision. [The side character is so annoying. He should know better than to hold onto the three heroines. Just move the plot along so we can get to the why-choose romance!] [He's just a plot device. The heroines are only interested in him to make the main male lead jealous. Once the main male lead is pissed enough to leave the country, they’ll discover this side character is cheating on all of them, and they'll send him off to a cartel’s black site to appease the main male lead!] [Serves him right! All three heroines were supposed to be the main male lead’s official pairings, but this interloper, this conqueror, stole them.] [If he knew the main male lead was a reborn character back for revenge, and that the heroines are going to be the ones to send him to the cartel… he'd be crying now!] The captions flashed, sending a spike of dread straight through me. I turned to Penny’s best friend, Felix, and gave him a clear-eyed look. “Sure,” I agreed, my voice even. “Name your price.” 1 Felix Shaw froze, sitting ramrod straight on Penelope Albright’s thighs. He’d only meant to rile me up, as usual, never expecting me to genuinely agree. Penny’s head snapped toward me. Her two best friends, Tori Blake and Kendall "Kenzie" Ashford, looked over with matching expressions of shock. Tori, seated next to me, let out a low, suggestive laugh, her hand sneaking under the table to hook a finger around mine. Kenzie, sitting opposite, was even bolder, casually sliding her foot up my ankle in a silent, calculated invitation. She looked at me with an intensity that felt less like desire and more like a tactical assessment. It was easy to see why Penny loved this silent dance of innuendo with Felix right in front of me. The secret thrill of it was addictive. While Penny was still lost in her ambiguous power play with Felix, I had been silently, strategically carrying on secret affairs with her two friends for months. Any other night, I would be discreetly selecting my lucky lady for the evening. But now, all I could see was the image of myself tied up and facing a battery-powered prod in some jungle black-site. I shivered, shaking Tori’s hand off mine, and giving Kenzie’s leg a clear, dismissive shove with my foot. I glanced up. The caption overlay was pure chaos. “Does the side character have a screw loose? Is he seriously trying to sell his girlfriend secondhand?” “He agreed so fast! So all that simping he did for Penelope was just an act?” “Maybe he’s been planning to dump her and jump straight to the other two all along. He’s a cheating scumbag!” My System, the guide for this hell-mission, was also screeching in my head. “Bro, are you losing it?” “We were so close to completing the Penelope mission! You can’t pull this now! I need that bonus payout, even if you don’t!” I checked the affection scores. Penelope’s score plummeted from 92 to 60. Tori’s and Kenzie’s scores, however, had surged: Tori was now at 93, and Kenzie was at 89. Penelope shot to her feet, her face a storm cloud, nearly sending Felix tumbling to the floor. She glared at me, her voice tight with fury. “What is that supposed to mean? ‘Name your price’?” “Jaxson, what do you take me for? Are you really that desperate for money?” “I am your girlfriend, not a piece of property you can trade or sell!” She demanded an answer, conveniently forgetting that it was her own hand that had been caressing Felix’s waist moments earlier. I crossed my arms and leaned back into the sofa cushions. “Oh, you remember you’re my girlfriend now?” I countered lightly. “You were so deep in that flirt-fest, I thought you two were about to kiss. I figured you’d be happy for me to help you switch boyfriends.” 2 Felix scrambled to his feet to play the mediator. “Jaxson, I was just kidding around with Penny,” he said, all faux sincerity. “You know I’m loose with the ladies; I didn't mean anything by it. Don’t take it seriously.” He poured himself a generous drink and raised the glass with an air of magnanimity. “Here, I’ll take three shots. My apology.” “You’re the bigger man, right? Forgive me?” I looked him dead in the eye. “But I wasn't joking.” “If you like my girlfriend so much, make an offer. What do you think she’s worth? I’m serious about selling her.” If I weren’t publicly restricted to just Penelope as my official girlfriend, I’d have packed all three of them up and given them to him for free. Penelope’s face cycled from scarlet to ashen. My words had clearly wounded her pride. The comment erupted with insults. [I see it now. This scumbag wants to ditch his current partner AND extort money from the main male lead! He’s so materialistic!] [What is the main male lead waiting for? Agree! Take the socialite and make this dirtbag regret everything!] Felix watched me, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. He must have been trying to reconcile my current actions with whatever past life memory he was operating on. He was apologizing, but he hadn't touched the shot glass. I stayed silent, my attention on Tori and Kenzie. The captions were right. As soon as I started putting Felix on the spot, the warmth in their expressions vanished. Their scores hadn’t dropped, but their demeanor had gone instantly cold. Kenzie gave me a chilling warning: “Jaxson, you need to know when to quit.” Tori frowned. “Felix was just making a harmless joke. Don’t be such a sore loser.” Penelope, meanwhile, rushed to shield Felix. “Felix, you don’t have to apologize to him!” She turned, looking down her nose at me, then addressed Felix again. “Since he wants to sell me, agree to it. Whatever the price, I’ll pay it.” Felix’s lips twitched with suppressed delight, but he forced himself to look conflicted. “Fine, Jaxson. This is your call.” “Since you don’t appreciate her, I’ll consider it rescuing a sister. I’m not stealing your girlfriend.” “However, since you’re the one offering Penny to me, you set the price.” He looked resolute. “No matter how high you go, I’ll pay it.” I nodded slowly, scanning Penelope from head to toe, and raised a single index finger to Felix. “One dollar.” 3 “...You said what?” Penelope stared at me, looking utterly bewildered, as if her ears were malfunctioning. Felix’s eyes widened in shock. “Jaxson… are you serious?” “Completely serious,” I repeated, my tone even. “One dollar. Penelope is yours.” Penny’s face was dark with fury. She pulled out her phone, transferred a hundred thousand dollars to me, and bit out a promise. “Jaxson, you initiated this breakup. I hope you don’t regret this later.” I instantly accepted the transfer, and her affection score dropped another significant chunk. Penelope was my first target. Three years ago, needing to hit my mission quota, I took on three notoriously difficult targets at once. When I first met Penelope, her family's rival had kidnapped her, setting her up to be framed. I risked my life to rescue her, then spent three months playing the perfect, groveling nice guy. I finally passed her loyalty test. She formally introduced me as her boyfriend to her inner circle. That’s when I met my other two targets, Tori and Kenzie, and their perpetually adored male bestie, Felix. I quickly realized all three targets were in the same circle. What could I do? The other two would just have to be my secret side pieces. But soon, Penelope’s score began fluctuating wildly. At first, I worried I wasn’t dedicated enough, splitting my energy among three women. I doubled down on my nice-guy act. Then, I overheard Felix advising her. “Pen, don’t take this the wrong way, but that Jaxson guy is clearly a gold-digging dirtbag chasing your family’s money.” “He probably even orchestrated that whole kidnapping, just so he could be the hero and worm his way into the Albright fortune. You need to watch out for him.” Penelope frowned, arguing, “Don’t be ridiculous, he’s not like that.” She defended me, but her score immediately dropped by 20 points. That’s when I realized who the real problem was: Felix. 4 After Penelope and Felix stormed out, the comment was in full celebration. [Congrats to the main male lead for securing Heroine #1!] [That’s my boy! He snagged the elite socialite that easily! Getting the other two should be a breeze now!] [Don’t celebrate too soon. Tori is an A-list actress, and Kenzie’s family runs a powerful syndicate. They won’t be easy. Plus, they’re still obsessed with that scumbag.] [Who cares? Their true love is the main male lead. The side character is just a temporary physical need. They’ll come back to the main male lead eventually.] With Penelope gone, Tori and Kenzie turned their full attention to me. Kenzie’s voice was icy. “Felix has a difficult personality. Don’t hold it against him.” It was a veiled threat: Don't you dare cause him trouble. Kenzie was the syndicate heiress. Of the three, she was the one I feared the most. There were only two outcomes for anyone who crossed her: a tidy death or a very messy one. I knew from the start she was only interested in my body and my looks. She thought she was the one playing the cruel, dominant partner in our forced affair. She had no idea everything was a meticulously planned seduction on my part. This classic, terrifying Queenpin, who practically wrote her own laws, followed the traditional route of an abusive power dynamic. If Felix ever cried to her, I was made to grovel all night, whether it was my fault or not. If anything was wrong with Felix, I was immediately dragged in for blood work or checking my donor eligibility. In her presence, I played the role of the obedient, well-behaved pet, compliant in everything, never resisting. But as long as Penelope was the official girlfriend, Kenzie’s affection score hovered, never climbing very high. The System, however, now chimed that Kenzie’s score had jumped 20 points. She must have noticed her cold tone. Her voice softened slightly. “I know you felt disrespected by the situation. Be a good boy, and I’ll make it up to you later.” Tori’s gaze darted suspiciously between us. Before they could say another word, I quickly stood up from the sofa, made a hasty excuse, and fled the party. When Penelope was the official girlfriend, Tori and Kenzie maintained the necessary secrecy about our relationships. Now that the shield was gone, what would happen if those two started comparing notes? For the sake of my life, I needed to kick these two poison targets out of my system immediately. 5 A few days later, Penelope publicly announced her engagement to Felix, buying three full days of headlines to celebrate the news. The System hadn’t stopped buzzing in my head for days. “Do you realize how low Penelope’s score fell? Do you want your bonus or not?!” I checked my phone. All three women had texted me. Penelope sent an electronic wedding invitation, reminding me that I was the one who would regret this. Tori sent a link to her live reality show, promising a surprise for me during the broadcast. Kenzie scheduled a meeting for that evening, ready to deliver on her "compensation." The System sighed in relief. “Well, at least we still have two targets. Tori and Kenzie’s scores are high. If you just handle this right…” Before it could finish, I opened Kenzie’s chat and fired off a single text: “We’re done.” I immediately scrolled to the delete option, blocked her, and wiped her number. I was about to copy-paste the message to Tori when the System screamed again. “Do not delete! Host, you cannot delete!” “You spent three years on this! Early mornings and late nights, just to cultivate these three women! Now you only have one left, and her score is about to max out. You can’t give up now!” My finger hovered. Tori’s score wasn’t something I had achieved through simple nice-guy tactics. To be honest, walking away felt painful. She was the most difficult one to crack. But my top priority now was to make all their scores hit 0, cut all ties, apply for mission failure before they sent me to the black site, and restart with new targets. The call chime jolted me out of my thoughts. When Tori’s video call popped up, I fumbled. My thumb hit the Delete Contact button. Oh, well. That’s it. I immediately searched for Tori’s reality show. 6 The show was in the middle of a game segment where the losing contestant had to call the first person on their contact list. On the live feed, Tori looked down at her phone, her expression clearly disturbed. She forced a laugh for the camera, attempting to explain. “It hung up automatically… maybe he’s busy.” A young artist next to her, utterly lacking in self-preservation, leaned over and pointed, his tone innocently sincere. “But wait, Tori. The message you sent has a red exclamation mark next to it. It looks like he blocked you.” The entire set fell silent. Tori quickly flipped her phone over. Before the screen went dark, the blazing red exclamation mark and her pet name for me—My Baby—flashed across the camera. The live stream immediately cut out. The director stiffly announced a technical error and suspended the recording. Within minutes, the terms “Tori Blake Blocked,” “Tori’s Civilian Boyfriend,” and “The Red Exclamation Mark” were trending. “Tori is definitely dating! Her pet name for him was ‘Baby’! I have the screenshot!” “I heard a rumor she’d been dating him for a long time and was planning to announce it tonight. To get blocked on live TV? That is epic drama.” Then came the bigger bombshell. Someone recognized me. “Wait a minute, that avatar looks familiar… didn’t Tori call out some gold-digging ex of one of her friends recently? It was the same avatar, I think?” “The scumbag who got cyberbullied? No way! Tori hated that guy!” “Holy sh*t, seriously? I have a feeling there’s a massive scandal coming.” The trending topics were yanked down after just ten minutes. Refreshing the page showed a blank void. Only one person had the power and money to pull that off so fast. Kenzie. An unknown number called. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. I need an explanation.” Kenzie hung up, her voice cold. The phone immediately rang again, two numbers simultaneously competing for my attention: Tori and Penelope. Penelope’s affection score spiked to 99, then dove to a negative number, eventually becoming too unstable to report. The System alarm was blaring at maximum volume. Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. I stood in front of the lock-screen monitor and saw three women standing outside my door.
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