The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 195 - Hypothetically, the Affection Points Came to Me

—

Will reread the letter.

After committing its contents to memory, he turned on the shower in the bathroom.

As the water ran, he could still faintly feel the lingering coolness from the Blood-Red Mint Essential Oil he had come into contact with earlier.

Though it no longer caused his magical circuits to overclock or made him feel “consumed by desire,” it still left a unique sensation.

And then…

He needed to process the massive joke of “fate” and “clues” in private, away from Shuna’s watchful eyes.

About that letter…

The first thing he thought was that if he didn’t have urgent matters to attend to, he’d head straight to Novice Town to give Eir a good scolding about her atrocious writing skills.

Second…

Well, Leah’s confession had been so intense, and her “reason for falling in love with him” was so perfectly rational after experiencing it firsthand, that it had completely distracted him from critical factors.

If this world truly were a novel, then from a “story logic” perspective, for a girl destined to be a “loser” in the harem, no matter how much he did…

She wouldn’t realistically fall for a disposable villain set to die in a year.

This wasn’t about his lack of confidence.

It was just that, stepping out of the perspective of “Will Hysterm” and looking at it as an experienced former systems designer, he could identify some of the peculiarities from an external viewpoint.

In a world entirely built on “narrative,” it functioned like a romance game with an affection system.

But because of that, such a system would logically only be accessible to the “protagonist.”

The “affection points” tied to the girls would only be triggers activated by the protagonist.

But…

What if…

What if the “protagonist,” as he seemed to observe now…

Had disappeared?

Not just “failing to show up at the right place at the right time,” but potentially a “severe bug” like the character’s model, class, or tag being completely lost.

—Ah, who could forget his old boss hiring programmers for $300 a month who had actually caused such issues before?

In that case, the “affection points” tied to the heroines might have no choice but to flow elsewhere.

Perhaps because of this…

Their “relationships.”

Their “focus.”

Their “affection points.”

Could have shifted to him, a perfectly ordinary “villainous side character.”

For example…

The things he had done in the past…

The first time he cornered Leah against a wall, affection points +10.

Helping Leah overcome the challenge of Gentle Nourishment, affection points +20.

Getting locked in a freezer with Leah and then forcibly taking her blood, affection points +20 (?).

Being Leah’s obedient student and assistant for three years, conducting countless… experiments, affection points +100 (?).

And then, thanks to his terrible mentorship, those points reached a critical threshold, and through certain pressure-triggered events, the affection points turned into “darkness points,” resulting in Leah’s yandere side being unleashed on him.

Thinking back to the Leah he encountered last night—oh, wait, given the timeline, it was two weeks ago now—Will couldn’t help but swallow hard.

“This seems like the most reasonable explanation so far.”

“At least it connects Leah’s situation with Hugh’s absence in some way.”

“Sometimes, you really do need a designer’s mindset to solve problems…”

“But still…”

He watched the water flow down his body, particularly over the spot on his collarbone where Leah had inserted the needle.

It still stung a little.

But in this world, adventurers were tough; no one would be so delicate as to think a minor injury made them “unfit for a bath.”

The pain was so real—it wasn’t just a few damage numbers or a debuff icon under his avatar.

“These are just isolated guesses. There’s no concrete evidence yet.”

As he lathered himself with soap, Will glanced at the ventilation window at the top of the bathroom.

The morning star was visible in the sky.

It dawned on him that it was already nearing evening when he woke up. With autumn setting in, the days were growing shorter.

Morning Star…

Morning Star…!?

The familiar name of his team suddenly sparked an idea in Will’s mind.

“No, no, no! There’s something else—something that might be related. No… it must be related!”

“The earliest clue was…”

“It was…”

“The disappearance of the real Morning Star.”

Though the original story never explained why the team was named that, it was clear…

Hugh didn’t just disappear now!

Even the original team was gone, likely indicating that Shu had vanished a year ago!

And along with him…

Perhaps also…

The friend who co-founded “Morning Star” with him and tragically died during a dungeon expedition due to poor logistics.

Thinking further…

Could it be that Hugh was never part of this story at all?

“If this is a storyline where he doesn’t exist, then how will the story unfold?”

“Damn it, if only I could skip ahead a year! This timeline is so awkward.”

He was currently in a period before the original story officially began—a year filled with vague references to “Hugh and his teammates clashing over the increasingly corrupt dungeon adventuring system,” with no detailed historical events to rely on.

But based on the information he had so far…

The broader “history” hadn’t changed much.

Especially the development of the dungeons—Hysterm’s family was steadily implementing their dungeon commercialization policies, gradually taking control of Entark’s economy, and training rescue teams with military-like discipline.

Ah, the ever-reliable Hysterm family and their ever-reliable patriarch Carver.

Meanwhile, Entark’s royal family, as seen through Treya’s lessons, was rapidly declining.

Along with them, King Edward, whose baldness was so severe that his hair color couldn’t even be passed down, was in poor health.

He hadn’t appeared at any major events in six months, and public speculation about his condition was pessimistic.

According to the original timeline, he would die in one year, three months, and fifteen days—Treya’s constant attention to his health corroborated this.

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His death was one of the most well-documented events in the entire story, with the exact date clearly stated.

Additionally, the novice dungeon in Novice Town was still active—according to the original story, it wouldn’t be conquered for another two months, as a more beginner-friendly dungeon would take its place.

“Thank goodness!”

“Even though the ‘story’ changes drastically with one person’s disappearance, it seems history isn’t so easily altered by the absence of a single individual.”

At least Will could take comfort in the fact that…

Major events unrelated to Hugh should still unfold as planned.

But…

He’d have to tread carefully moving forward.

“It’s fine! No need to panic; the situation is still under control!”

Then, he stepped on a bar of soap.

Perhaps because the slime that was supposed to kill him was water-elemental, he seemed to have a natural weakness to slippery things.

The bathroom erupted with a thunderous crash.

“Will—are you okay?”

Shuna rushed in, only to find Will lying flat on his back, with the soap skidding to a stop at her feet.

“Uh… does this mean something?”