My Scumbag System - Chapter 311

Chapter 311: My Protagonist Privileges May Come With Hidden Fees
I let out a slow breath, feeling the grin spread across my face. The Scumbag System living up to its name—rewarding patience, rewarding cunning, rewarding the willingness to grind in silence while others rushed ahead and crippled their potential.

“Show me the Ensemble tab,” I said, curiosity overriding caution. “I want to see how they’ve progressed.”

The screen shifted with a fluid motion, the combat statistics fading to reveal a new interface. I nearly choked on my own breath when I saw it.

The tab was glowing gold, pulsing with power that hadn’t been there before. Each name was listed in elegant script, accompanied by ranks and titles that seemed to shimmer with contained energy. But what caught my eye—what made my heart stutter in my chest—was the first entry:

Natalia Kuzmina – Rank 10: [COVENANT]

New Title: [The Psychic Sovereign]

Effect: [System Symbiosis]

“What the hell is System Symbiosis?” I asked, and for once, my voice came out steady despite the knot forming in my stomach. This was new. This was different. This wasn’t just a relationship metric anymore.

“It means she’s more than just your girlfriend, Satori,” Nel said, her voice soft but serious, stripped of its usual playful veneer. “She’s your Vassal now. Her soul is tethered to yours through bonds that transcend the physical. If you rise, she rises with you. If you grow stronger, she benefits from your ascension. Your victories feed her power, and her loyalty generates Schema Points that flow directly into your reserves.”

“And if I fall…”

“She falls with me,” I finished the thought, the words tasting like ash on my tongue. “It’s permanent, isn’t it? There’s no undoing this.”

“As permanent as death. Perhaps more so—death can be cheated, under the right circumstances. This bond cannot.” Nel’s voice carried a weight I’d rarely heard from her. “She generates SP for you daily now. She shares a portion of your System authority, limited though it is. Her growth is accelerated by proximity to your power, and her instincts will naturally align with your desires.”

“She’s yours, completely.”

I stared at the glowing text, watching the golden light pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat. A mix of emotions churned in my gut—satisfaction, possessiveness, and something darker that coiled in the depths of my chest. For a split second, guilt flashed through me like lightning, brief and blinding. I owned her. Completely and utterly owned her. Her soul was bound to mine without her knowledge or explicit consent, shackled by bonds that had formed through our journey together—through danger and desire, through secrets shared and futures intertwined.

Had she known what those nights meant? What each confession, each surrender, each moment of vulnerability was building toward? She’d given herself to me, yes, but had she understood the true price?

Then I pushed the guilt down, buried it under layers of pragmatic calculation and cold necessity. This world wasn’t kind to the sentimental. The gods watching our story didn’t care about consent; they cared about entertainment. And the enemies circling—the VHC, the Sanctions Division, whatever forces had destroyed my father—they wouldn’t hesitate to use any weakness against me.

“Good,” I said, and my voice came out colder than I’d expected. “I need her loyalty absolute. I need to know she’ll never betray me, never be turned against me, never be used as a weapon by my enemies.”

“So pragmatic,” Nel murmured. “So ruthlessly practical. The Audience does love watching you rationalize.”

I ignored the jab, scrolling down to see the rest of my conquests listed in descending order:

Emi Aoyama – Rank 5: [DEPENDENT]

The sunshine girl who’d healed my wounds and fed my ego. She was hooked on my validation now, constantly seeking approval, desperate to prove herself worthy of the attention I’d given her. Every compliment was a drug, every moment of recognition a fix she couldn’t live without. Her genuine kindness made her the perfect victim, and her healing abilities made her an invaluable asset.

Skylar Amane – Rank 4: [CONFIDANTE]

The cynical princess had moved past mere intrigue after our kiss on the balcony. She trusted me now—or at least trusted me more than she trusted anyone else, which for Skylar was practically a marriage proposal. Her defences had cracks, and I’d wedged myself into every one of them. The most dangerous thing wasn’t that she believed my lies; it was that she believed my truths.

Pan Soomin – Rank 3: [CONFIDANTE]

The hidden fox spirit was gradually being tamed by my influence. Her feral power and innocent exterior made her a fascinating project—two personalities in one body, one meek and one monstrous, both slowly orienting themselves toward me like flowers seeking sunlight. Her potential was S-Rank if I could unlock it. Her loyalty would be absolute if I could earn it.

Everything was proceeding according to plan. The pieces were falling into place, the board was setting up exactly as I’d envisioned. So why did I feel so uneasy? Why did victory taste like copper on my tongue?

I closed the screens with a flick of my wrist, banishing the golden light back into whatever divine server hosted my soul. “Nel. We need to talk about Apollo.”

The air in the room seemed to thicken, the shadows lengthening despite the steady illumination of the medical equipment. Even the beeping of the heart monitor seemed to slow, as if the universe itself was holding its breath.

“What about our generous sponsor?” Her voice had lost its playful edge, sharpening into something wary, like a predator sensing a trap.

“This isn’t just a game, is it?” I said, fixing my gaze on the empty air where I imagined she might be watching from some cosmic perch. “The ‘Trials.’ The ‘Labors.’ The whole elaborate setup with quests and bonuses and dramatic confrontations.”

I narrowed my eyes, my mind racing through the intricate patterns I’d been too busy surviving to properly analyze until now.

“I’m not just a contestant randomly chosen for your amusement. I’m not just entertainment for bored immortals. I’m being methodically groomed for something specific, aren’t I? Something bigger than all of this.”