The afterglow lasted all of ten seconds. Asher rolled off me, sated, and the next sound I heard wasn’t a whispered endearment, but the shrill, digital scream of the System in my head. 【Host, Affection Level has dropped from 99% to 60%! He is clearly unsatisfied with your performance.】 A knot of anxiety tightened in my gut. I spent the next three days spiraling, obsessing, trying to figure out how to improve my technique. And then I heard him, bragging to his friends. “Leah has no idea I can control her progress meter. “It’s like training a dog. She’s good, I bump up the affection level as a reward. She messes up, I drop it to force a course correction. “The first time we slept together? I didn’t get off, so I tanked the score to sixty percent. “I guarantee you, right now, she’s at home researching how to serve me better next time.” 1 A wave of boorish laughter echoed from the private room. I stood frozen in the hallway, a chill seeping into my bones that had nothing to do with the club’s air conditioning. Just three days ago, I was living in a fantasy, convinced my mission was about to succeed. Asher’s affection for me had hit 99%. I was on the one-yard line, a single step away from victory. That night, Asher had held me close, his voice a low rumble. “Leah, I want you.” He’d said that a union of body and soul was the highest expression of love. I’d nodded, compliant, and let myself fall into the rhythm of his movements. It was painful, but I was happy. This new layer of intimacy, I thought, would be the final push I needed to complete the mission and go home. I never imagined it. The moment it was over, Asher’s Affection Level plummeted to 60%. Barely a passing grade. I was baffled, assuming my inexperience had disappointed him. But it was never about me. It was about his control. Inside the booth, the laughter continued. I could hear his friends jeering. “When it comes to training women, Ash is the master. With a cheat code like that, how could Leah not be wrapped around your finger?” “Naturally,” Asher said, his voice thick with arrogance. “These mission girls… they’ll do anything to get that score to one hundred percent. “Take the other night. All I did was frown at her plain white underwear and dial down the affection. Next time? Bet you anything she’ll be in black lace, desperate to please me.” “Damn, dude, that’s genius! You’re a fucking legend, Ash!” “Oh, it wasn’t his idea,” a feminine voice purred next to him. She giggled, a sweet, sharp sound. “I’m the one who told Asher that if you want total control over a woman, you have to crush her emotionally. Make her doubt herself. Then, right when she’s about to break, you give her a little taste of sweetness. She’ll be putty in your hands.” “You’re a clever one, aren’t you?” Asher’s voice was laced with a syrupy affection I’d never heard him use with me. He was talking to the girl on his lap. He’d mentioned her before. Tessa. Lithe body, sultry eyes. The club’s infamous, untouchable VIP hostess. The room erupted in catcalls. “Look at you, Ash, a girl on each arm. You’ve got it made.” “Leah? Don’t make me laugh. She’s a clumsy amateur.” He pulled Tessa closer, his fingers tracing patterns on her skin. “This… this is what it’s really about.” Tessa leaned into him, tapping his chest playfully. “Liar. Then why are you still with her? Am I not enough fun for you?” “I need a wife. A well-behaved pet,” he said, without a hint of shame. “Besides, she’s been trying to complete this mission for so long, I almost feel sorry for her.” He looked down at Tessa, his eyes dark with a raw hunger. “But when it comes to what I want? I’ll always choose a little devil like you.” The two of them tangled together, drawing more hoots from the peanut gallery. “Ash, you’re playing with fire. Aren’t you afraid Leah will just give up?” “Impossible,” Asher said, his confidence absolute. “Every time she gets close to quitting, I just crank the affection back up to ninety-nine percent. With just one point to go, how could she ever walk away? “I’ll keep her dangling like that forever. Always one step away. Always mine to command.” 2 A suffocating weight pressed down on my chest. Asher was right. To get the affection to 100%, I would have done anything. I was so desperate to go home. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The doctors gave me two months. Then, the System’s invitation appeared: complete a ‘mission’ in this alternate world, and I could return to my own, fully healed. I agreed without a second thought. I was a drowning woman, and this was my driftwood. I threw my entire being into the mission. Anything to raise Asher’s affection level. I swallowed my pride, sanded down my edges, and reshaped myself into the woman I thought he wanted. For three years, every time the score dropped, I would frantically replay every moment, searching for my mistake. I would correct, verify, and adjust. If the number ticked back up, I knew I’d done the right thing. That was how I became his perfect girlfriend. That was how I clawed my way to 99%. This time was no different. I thought if I just studied up, if I could just make him happy in bed, I could win back his affection. So I dedicated myself to it. I watched porn, read erotica, and even bought textbooks. The Joy of Sex, The Hite Report, Guide to Getting It On… I approached sex like a research project. But books weren't enough. I came to the club tonight to observe, to learn how men and women flirted and connected in the wild. And then, walking past that private room, I heard everything. 3 I had come to the club to learn the art of seduction. Now, my intentions had changed. Wiping the tears from my face, I summoned the System for the first time in ages. “System, I want to go home. Help me forfeit the mission.” That single, overheard conversation had made one thing brutally clear: I would never, ever succeed with Asher. He was dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, and I was the donkey, mindlessly chasing it. Better to go back and spend my last two months with my parents than stay here and be his plaything. But my decision was met with a screech of digital protest. 【Forfeit? Are you insane?! You’re ranked number one out of this entire batch of Hosts!】 I was stunned. “Number one?” 【That’s right! I was counting on your success bonus to fund my retirement! If you quit now, what am I supposed to do?】 “Wait, I don’t understand.” I pulled up my mission panel, checking the numbers again. “Asher’s affection is at sixty percent. How can that possibly be number one?” The System scoffed. 【Who said the rankings are based on the final affection level? That’s an outdated, unscientific metric from the old systems.】 【Every mission has a different difficulty. Some targets start at ninety percent, others start in the negatives. Using a flat one-hundred percent as the goal for everyone is obviously unfair.】 【So, the new-generation Systems evolved. We now use affection volatility as the primary standard. The greater the fluctuation, the greater the emotional impact you’re having on the target.】 【And you, my dear Host, your affection level has been a rollercoaster. Constantly up and down. It proves that he is obsessed with you, fixated, unable to make up his mind.】 【That is true success!】 “…” It took me a moment to process the System’s corporate-speak. But I understood. It was precisely because Asher could manipulate my score at will that my data was so erratic. So volatile. He thought he was training a dog. But he had accidentally played right into the System’s new rules, rocketing me to the top of the leaderboard. A bitter, beautiful irony. A lifeline in the wreckage. Sensing my change of heart, the System pressed its advantage. 【Host, every one-percent change in affection, up or down, adds one point to your score. The rules state that two thousand points is a successful mission. Five thousand points gets you a ten-million-dollar cash bonus! We split it, fifty-fifty!】 【Right now, you’re only six hundred and sixty-six points away from that five thousand! Are you really going to throw away that kind of money?】 I asked carefully, “Are you saying I already succeeded? That I could have gone home, healthy, and you didn’t tell me?” The System had the decency to sound sheepish. 【Well, I wanted the bonus, too. And you’re so talented! You shot to the top of the charts in record time. Any system would be tempted!】 【I’m begging you, Host. Just a little more effort. Six hundred and sixty-six points is nothing for you!】 A fire ignited in my chest. Amid the surging emotions, I found a new, cold clarity. “Seventy-thirty. I get seven million, you get three. Agree, and I’ll keep going.” 【You… you…】 “Think carefully before you answer. If you hadn’t hidden the truth, I would have been home long ago. Why would I stay here and take another second of this abuse for your sake?” The System sputtered, stammered, and finally let out a long, theatrical wail. 【Fine! You drive a hard bargain! I’m being robbed blind by a ruthless capitalist!】
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