System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL]-Chapter 30: My honey’s eyes are too wary, it seems
School ended later than Blake expected.
By the time the final bell rang, the classroom had already started buzzing with noise: chairs scraping, students talking, bags zipping shut. Blake stretched in his seat, his back popping slightly as he stood up.
"Finally," he muttered.
Myles was already standing beside his desk.
Blake slung his bag over his shoulder and followed him out of the classroom.
The hallway was crowded, students moving in every direction. Blake walked beside Myles, glancing around absentmindedly.
The skill was still active.
The floating numbers appeared above people’s heads as they passed.
Blake sighed quietly.
They walked outside together, heading toward the bus stop.
The afternoon air felt cooler now, the sky turning a softer shade as the sun began lowering behind the buildings.
The bus arrived a few minutes later.
They got on and took their usual seats.
Blake slid into the window seat again, leaning his head slightly against the glass.
The bus started moving.
He stared outside.
Pedestrians walked along the sidewalks, some carrying groceries, some talking on their phones, some simply heading home.
The numbers appeared above their heads too.
Blake didn’t even react this time.
Negative.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He watched a woman pushing a stroller pass by the window.
Negative.
A group of middle school students crossing the street.
Negative.
An elderly man walking slowly with a cane.
Negative.
Blake sighed heavily.
’...Seriously, man, this shit is depressing.’
His breath fogged the window slightly.
He rubbed it away with his sleeve.
Myles dislikes everyone.
Not just classmates. Not just teenagers. Literally everyone with no distinction or reccuring pattern.
Children.
Adults.
Even the elderly.
Blake frowned slightly.
’...That’s kind of creepy.’
Not creepy in the sense that he was scared of Myles, but more in the sense that it made him uncomfortable.
Like something was fundamentally wrong.
Who looked at a kid and immediately felt wary?
Blake slowly turned his head.
Myles sat beside him, scrolling through his phone calmly.
His expression was neutral.
Almost bored.
Blake studied him quietly.
The same person who could rest his hand on Blake’s back so naturally this morning... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Was also someone who instinctively disliked literally every human being around him.
Blake exhaled slowly.
’...Man.’
He leaned his head back against the seat.
’I’ve got my work cut out for me.’
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then the bus slowed down.
His stop.
Blake grabbed his bag and stood up.
"See you tomorrow," he said automatically.
Myles glanced up from his phone.
"...Mm."
Blake stepped off the bus.
The doors closed behind him and the bus drove away.
He stood on the sidewalk for a moment, staring after it.
Then he started walking home.
His mind immediately returned to the mission.
"Okay," he muttered to himself.
"Think."
He had to approach this logically.
He couldn’t just randomly shove people toward Myles and hope something worked.
That would probably make things worse.
He needed to understand the mechanics first.
How did the system define a friend?
Blake slowed his pace slightly.
’...Wait a damn second.’
A realization hit him.
He stopped walking entirely.
"...What favorability level counts as a friend?"
Blake blinked.
He had been so focused on the numbers themselves that he hadn’t even thought about the threshold.
Did it start at zero?
Ten?
Twenty?
What if Myles’ version of friendship required something absurd like fifty?
Blake groaned.
’Of course.’
Another unknown variable.
He resumed walking and eventually reached his apartment building.
A few minutes later, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The quiet of the apartment welcomed him.
Blake dropped his bag near the couch and kicked off his shoes.
"Spoon," he said, walking toward the kitchen.
"I have a question."
A familiar window appeared.
[ Please state your inquiry, Dear Host. ]
Blake leaned against the counter.
"What favorability level counts as a friend?"
The system paused for a moment.
Then a new response appeared.
[ The meaning of positive favorability ranges will not be disclosed. ]
Blake blinked.
"...Excuse me? Why? It’s merely about favorability level, like, it should be disclosable!"
Another line appeared.
[ Myles Cortez possesses a complex perception of interpersonal relationships. ]
[ Positive values therefore lack a universally accurate interpretation. ]
Blake stared at the screen.
"So you’re saying..."
He rubbed his forehead.
"You don’t know."
The system ignored that.
More text appeared.
[ However, the meaning of negative favorability levels is considerably more stable. ]
Blake frowned slightly.
"...Alright."
A chart appeared.
[ -100 → -70 : Target will eventually, if not immediately, kill. ]
Blake straightened.
"...Okay."
That escalated quickly.
The next line appeared.
[ -60 → -40 : Target will not hesitate to kill if approached. ]
Blake’s eyebrows lifted.
"...That’s not any different."
Another line appeared.
[ -40 → -20 : Point of no return. Once reaching -20, favorability can only decrease further. ]
Blake froze.
"What?!"
His voice echoed loudly in the apartment.
Blake nearly knocked over the chair behind him.
"-20 is a point of no return?!"
His heart jumped into his throat.
"Are you serious?!"
Because if that was true, then that meant...
Blake’s brain replayed an old memory.
When he failed his first mission, at the very beginning, Myles’ favorability dropped to -15.
Blake grabbed his head.
"I was at -15!"
He paced the kitchen in disbelief.
"That means I was five points away from being permanently doomed!"
He pointed accusingly at the floating system window.
"You could’ve warned me!"
The system remained completely calm.
More text appeared.
[ -10 : Extreme wariness. ]
[ -10 → 0 : Suspicion without full hostility. ]
Blake slowly stopped pacing.
He stared at the numbers again.
Then he leaned against the counter.
"...So basically."
He crossed his arms.
"Myles is extremely wary of everyone."
He thought about the people on the bus earlier.
The children.
The elderly.
Everyone.
Blake rubbed the back of his neck.
"...That’s kind of insane."
He exhaled slowly.
But then another thought surfaced.
Something he had already considered once before.
Myles wasn’t just some quiet, antisocial guy.
He was the ultimate villain, the one who would eventually destroy the world.
Blake stared at the ceiling.
"...Yeah."
That kind of person probably didn’t wake up one day and randomly decide to hate humanity.
There had to be a reason.
A trigger.
Something big enough to break someone that badly.
Blake frowned slightly.
But after a few seconds, he shook his head.
"...Nope."
He opened the fridge.
"I’m not going down that rabbit hole."
He grabbed a container of soup and heated it up.
Five minutes later, he sat at the table eating quietly.
"Focus on the mission," he told himself.
"Friends."
Blake opened his phone.
"If Myles won’t naturally interact with people..."
Then Blake would have to introduce them himself.
He opened a search page and started typing.
"Potential friend candidates..."
He paused.
Then laughed softly.
"Like it’s a job interview."
Still, he started browsing.
Students from nearby schools.
Clubs.
Communities.
Online profiles.
Some people looked promising.
A debate club leader.
"Hmm... confident personality, probably not intimidated easily."
He bookmarked it.
Then another.
A volunteer group organizer.
"Too extroverted maybe, or just too altruistic..."
Scroll.
A quiet art student.
"Maybe?"
Scroll.
Blake rubbed his eyes.
"This is harder than I thought."
He kept scrolling through profiles.
Then, his thumb stopped across the screen.
"...Wait a second."
One particular name caught his attention.
Asher Phoenix.
Blake stared at it.
"...That sounds familiar."
Very familiar.
He leaned back in his chair.
His brain searched through fuzzy memories of the novel he had read.
Then it clicked.
Blake’s eyes widened slightly.
"...Oh."
Asher Phoenix.
The main character of the story.
Blake didn’t remember every detail perfectly.
But that name definitely belonged to someone important.
He stared at the profile for a long moment.
Then suddenly laughed.
"...That’s ironic."
Of all the people he could randomly stumble upon.
"Yeah, that would go great, the hero and the villain becoming besties."
In the original story, those two were destined enemies.
Putting them together intentionally sounded like a terrible idea.
Blake shook his head.
"Nah."
He scrolled past the profile.
"Myles and Asher will probably meet eventually anyway."
But not like this, of course.
Not through Blake playing matchmaker.
"Besides," Blake muttered.
"They’ll meet as their alter egos only. It’d mess everything up if they also met in real life."
Blake closed the page.
He leaned back in his chair again.
The mission still loomed over his head.
"...This is going to be a nightmare."
Outside, the evening slowly settled over the city.
