Finally arriving at work, Rhys thanked the driver and payed, preparing himself for the day. Hopefully, it'll go as smooth as the day before, if not, better.
Activating okay smile, and his master listener skill, he made his way through the building, into his office. With a cool down of thirty minutes, he would have to wait throughout multiple intervals of the day to use master listener, so in a way him staying behind and getting to level up his skills is a blessing.
"You're nearly through with the quota of smiles! It's nearly evolved! And here I thought because you failed such a basic tutorial, you wouldn't be anything." Kane commented, putting Rhys into a bit of a sour mood.
"You didn't need to add that last part." he mentally spat out, already knowing that he failed. Kane only laughed at him, and rested onto his head.
"Well, it's true! If you didn't fail yesterday you could of clear the tutorial in two hours, you know tutorials are easy, right? You might even have to face the hidden target or corrupt lead now!" Kane informed, thinking that Rhys already forgot about it.
Rhys froze for a second. Of course he remembered the female lead, but what hidden target?
"Didn't you realise the system said you have three targets when you first came? Hidden targets are optional, but once you meet them you're forced to win them over as well." Kane explained, sighing to himself.
"Isn't this suppose to be a tutorial? Why is it so hard!" Rhys whined, only to hear Kane click his tongue.
"It's not difficult, you just managed to fail in every way possible!" Hearing that irked Rhys, but he chose to settle down and ignore it. He already made up his mind to clear this tutorial smoothly, and so what if there's a hidden target! He'll clear them too.
"How do hidden targets work?" He asked, turning on his computer. Although he was going to leave soon, he at least wanted to look busy in case anyone were to bother him.
"That's the spirit! When you first arrive you'll get an information dump on how many targets there are in total, whether someone is a hidden target or not you'll find out eventually. You can either make eye contact with them, or meet all the other non-hidden targets first and clear them."
"Secondly, since these hidden targets are optional, the system will give you a bonus for going out of your way to capture them, so think of this as a game where you get all the stars instead of one or two!" With that explained, he went back to sleep a top Rhys' head.
"I wonder if I should just find the female lead first and stab her in the back." Rhys thought for a moment, before remembering his humanity. Although the system made the female lead seem terrible, it wasn't their fault. The world had been corrupted, and it was his job to fix it? Wait, how did seducing men fix it?!
A few hours passed before it was finally time for break, coincidentally getting lost and finding Aaron and Theodore along the way.
"I'm still mad at you for forcing me to search all over this large building just so you could play a cliche got lost move!" Kane hissed, his body tired from floating around so much.
"Do you want me to clear this tutorial or not?" Rhys bickered with him back and forth in his mind, while still keeping his composure.
"Aaron, Theo! I'm so glad I found you, I got lost around the way, I'm so sorry!" Rhys pretended, acting his skill crocodile tears. It's a good thing this worked on the targets, as it really did look fake.
And just like that, Theodore's affection rose to thirty-nine, and Aaron's to forty. He was so thankful for the system's generous tutorial, now that he'd learn how much harder it would be in the future from Kane excessively saying the tutorial was free affection points.
"Would you mind if I went with you, I'm on break at the moment, I promise I won't be a bother!" He batted his eyes, wiping away his tears with tissues he prepacked.
"Host, you're scaring me. Just yesterday you were so opposed and now you're like a rookie actor trying for his one chance of spotlight!" Kane commented, causing him to hear a string of curses from Rhys' mind.
"Shut up! I'm doing this because I don't want to meet the capture target. If I keep using my skills I don't need to get physical, right? I also don't need to conquer him if I don't make eye contact!" Rhys stated, almost hysteric.
"You've put a lot of thought into this, host. But what are you going to do? Just avoid the contact with everyone?" Kane questioned, only to hear a yes from Rhys.
"Let's go. I was going to the film set." Theodore informed, although his voice was cold and stern he had a slight blush on his cheeks as he began to pull at Rhys' sleeve.
"Ew!" Rhys mentally cringed, he wasn't trying to be physical, isn't this practically hand holding?!
"It's not that bad host. For someone whose sure they're straight you give off a lot of homose-" before Kane could finish, Rhys cut him off.
"I told you I'm straight! This is only for the tutorial!" He whined, causing Kane to roll his eyes. He was aware that he needed to complete 100 worlds after this, right? With higher difficulty? Well, he'll know sooner or later.
Reaching the film set on the opposite side of the building, it didn't take long for people to notice Theodore pulling on Rhys' sleeve, considering how much they stood out.
Perfect! Rhys thought. He could use his okay smile skill with this many people around. Activating it, he smiled at the actors on set, and the workers around while they made their way through.
Finally! He did it. "Okay smile skill reached level (5). Requirements met, now evolving." The pop up screen read, causing another one to pop up.
"Okay smile now smile, host is able to smile in a less creepy and normal manner. Charms one target for three minutes. Using this skill repeatedly allows host to level it up."
"Congratulations, host! Just fifty more smiles and you'll reach the next level of smile." Rhys grumbled. That was barely anything different?! And why couldn't he just start with smile instead of a creepy smile, what a cheap system! And why is the next level up so much?!
"Don't blame the system, host! If you want to be a good host, then you need to put in effort." Kane replied, only making Rhys a bit more upset.
However, Rhys was soon brought back to reality as he heard a shrill voice. "Theodore, why are you holding his hand?" A small woman with a beautiful face asked.
As he made eye contact with her, he got the brief information on her. Alyssa Hox, the female lead of the world. She acted like the crybaby type while sweet and kind to the male leads.
He internally cringed at the sound of her voice. It was just so high pitched. There had been plenty of singers approaching him to collaborate when he played the piano, but none could reach notes as high as her voice.
"And here I thought the system was cruel for insulting her in the information dump." Kane muttered to himself as he listened to Rhys' insults towards her.
Looking up at Theodore, Rhys saw his face in a small blush, obvious to him that the female lead had already a little bit of influence on him, considering that she became an upcoming actress through him.
"This is Rhys, he's on his break helping me right now." Theodore coughed, letting go of Rhys' hand and straightening himself.
The woman's eyes widened for a second, but it seemed like only Rhys had noticed. "What's wrong with her?" Rhys questioned.
"Remember that no one else other than the female lead will notice the change in your appearance? Or the fact you got a system hint saying she bullied you?" He responded, only to hear another from question Rhys.
"Did it say those things? I don't remember." Huffing, Kane sat on Rhys' shoulder and glared at him. He just had to get a good for nothing host! One that failed a super easy tutorial, doesn't pay attention, but then suddenly gets super good at acting and strategies?! Just how confusing was he! Not to mention he's cruel!
"I'm Rhys, nice to meet you!" He smiled, reaching his hand out for the woman. Murmurs in the background slowly became louder.
Cheering, "Nice one, host!" Kane stuck his small tongue out at the female lead. Seriously, just what did the system have against the women here Rhys wondered.
"N..Nice to meet you." The woman stuttered as she slowly reached her hand out to shake his. It looks like she couldn't act like some big shot with Theodore and Aaron were around.
"You're really pretty, I'm so envious!" Rhys said with a bright smile, though his tone didn't match one bit. This went unknown to the targets, though, who were too focused on getting their own hearts to calm down.
The woman took a step back and smiled her best smile, before telling him the same. It was obvious she didn't like him.
"Would I be able to use my victim card knowing that she's bullied me?" Rhys asked. Kane perked up excited for some drama before thinking about it thoroughly.
"Although she has bullied you Theodore and Aaron don't know, if you suddenly told them after acting so nice, it's not possible. You should of used it when you first saw her." Kane said, a frown appearing on his face.
"Oh well." Rhys thought, trying to find another idea before a voice called out towards him, more specifically, Theodore.
"Yo, wassup bro!" The voice yelled and suddenly a figured appeared and jumped onto Theodore. Rhys couldn't see his front, but from behind he had dark brown hair in a messy fashion.
"Mister Nathan, I suggest you get off Mister Theodore, even if you're childhood friends he's still the CEO." Oh shit, Rhys thought after hearing that.
This just smells of hidden target. There's no way the author would make a no name a romantic interest for the perfect female lead! Turning around, Rhys position himself to be behind Aaron, hugging him.
"I absolutely can't make eye contact with him. Do me a favour and block his eyes out for me, since he can't see you." Rhys told Kane.
How cruel! Now Rhys was using him like some sort of blindfold, Kane thought as he begrudgingly covered Nathan's eyes with his body. "I want a better host!" He cried.
Realising what he just did, Rhys released Aaron with a slight blush. "I-I'm sorry! I was just surprised." He stammered out. Curse himself, he's straight! Why the hell is this affecting him so much?
Just like that, Aaron's affection points raised from forty to forty-seven, score! Seems like physical touch did do a lot.
Shaking off the man who jumped him, Theodore looked over to Rhys and asked if he was okay, panic evident in his voice.
Alyssa, seeing this was angered. How could this man dare get in her way again! She wasn't seeing things, right?!
"I'll kill you." She mouthed to Rhys, before running off to greet the man named Nathan, putting on her innocent act once more. At the moment, he really wanted to vomit in his own mouth.
"You know host, if you cleared the capture target you'd get a bonus." Kane yelled out while still clinging to Nathan's face. The scene was quite ridiculous and funny in Rhys' eyes.
"No way! Maybe next time, but I'm done with this stupid tutorial! I even had to hug someone! My purity!" He mentally screeched, crying for himself.
"Oh trust me, host, you won't be pure for long. Especially in the harder worlds." Kane tsk'd, causing Rhys to internally argue with him once more.
"Just cover that guy's eyes! I'll finish and capture the two right now!" Rhys snapped, wrapping his arms around Theodore's muscular one.
"Theo, I'm fine! Sorry for worrying you, I was just a bit shocked!" Rhys said as he used both his crocodile tears and newly evolved smile skill, charming him.
"And you too, Aaron, I'm sorry for startling you!" He tried to seem as innocent as possible. He soon saw his affection raise, Theodore now at forty-nine, and Aaron at forty-eight.
"Don't think I'm okay with this just because I'm touching them!" Rhys said to Kane as he continued.
"Recently some things have happened so loud noises scare me." He whimpered, looking in Alyssa's direction, hoping she got the hint.
Taking the bait, she stopped sucking up to Nathan and interrupted them. "I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope whatever loud noise is troubling you will stop." She said, gritting her teeth at the end, basically telling to shut up.
"I do hope so too! It's annoyingly loud, shrill, and my poor ears can't take its constant screaming, too bad it's a broken and ugly old thing, but my friend who loves it just won't throw it away." He retorted, shutting her up, causing Nathan to laugh.
"That sounds so specific, my bad! You must be a good friend for keeping such an annoying thing around." He commented, not knowing the true meaning, causing Alyssa to go red.
"Right?!" Rhys exclaimed, light holding onto Theodore's arm. It was now or never, he was going to finish this tutorial.
"I'm so sorry, even though I followed you both here it seems I've caused you to worry, I promise not to bother you next time, Theo." By now the tears had dried, but his eyes still looked a bit cloudy and red from how much he used his skill the night before.
"It's alright." He blushed, about to pull away when Rhys grabbed onto his hand. Grinning at him, he grew closer and gave a small hug, mentally crying.
"I hate this! No, I hate that I don't hate it to the point of vomiting! What is the system doing to my brain?" Rhys whined, only for Kane to tease him back.
"The only thing we do to your brain is take away your memories, I told you that you were homosexual."
"I'm not!" Rhys yelled out in his head as he continued his act. Turning around to Aaron, he gave him a light hug as well, in order to not lose affection.
"Are your eyes red because of that?" Aaron questioned, a slight blush adorning his face. Thank goodness he noticed, now he can take advantage of it!
"Yes, I've been a bit scared of loud sounds lately and was a bit on edge last night after a scary movie, my bad." He laughed it off as his affection was raised.
Aaron was now at fifty-nine, and Theodore at sixty-two. Just how many points did a light hug even give?
"I've been telling you from the start, host! The tutorial is impossible to fail with just some physical touches, if you gave them both a kiss yesterday you would of been done you good for nothing!"
Taking a deep breath, he mentally prepared himself. If this was truth then a light kiss on the cheek! As he gave a quick peck to both Aaron and Theodore, he grinned, ready to return.
Affection ninety-nine and affection one hundred. Wait, what?! It was supposed to be over!
"Maybe I overestimated how much affection a kiss would give, still, forty isn't bad! You only need to give each three kisses!" Kane quickly spat out, scared of what Rhys was going to do to him.
Giving a quick smile at Aaron, and lightly touching his hand, he felt a sharp pang around his head.
Suddenly, he was transported back to the room he saw the day before when he died, and sighed of relief before yelling at Kane.
"You said one kiss! One kiss! You damn good for nothing system! Disgusting! Do you have mouthwash in here? Hand sanitiser? I'm suing!" Rhys cried out as he frantically searched the room, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"We don't have a bathroom like normal humans since the host doesn't need one, but there are tooth brushes, don't you want to see the rewards first though?" Kane asked, laughing at how panicked Rhys was.
As he shouted a no, Kane only snickered harder. "For someone stressing over how straight they are, and how disgusting that was, you sure do have a heavy blush, Rhys." He muttered to himself.