Rio ended up not getting his nipples pierced, much to her sadness. After renegotiating her down to 6 piercings, he got two additional piercings in his ear and one on his nose.
Fortunately, once he dropped her at his apartment and began pestering her about what happened, he was dragged to the Platinum Building for skipping several meetings as his manager could be heard yelling at him through his phone. As he began leaving his apartment, she handed him the credit card.
“What’s this? You want to be my sugar mommy?”
“You think you’re so funny. Give that to Roman.”
“...we’ll talk about this when I get back. Order delivery if you’re hungry.”
“Whatever. Bye.”
Slamming the door shut, Valentina winced from the pain in her stomach. Although she had activated the scent-healing effect, it still hurt.
Sitting on the bed in the guest room, she finally dealt with the system notifications that had been bothering her.
“Yo system. Where’s my reward for the variety show? Weren’t you trying to give it to me earlier?”
[…The host is mistaken. Although the host has completed filming, the show has not been released yet, so the reward cannot be given.]
“Nope. I remember the task saying complete filming, not released. I’ve completed my show, so give me my reward. As a matter of fact, you owe me a reward for my red carpet appearance, too. Where is it?” Valentina replied rudely, not backing down in the slightest.
[Although the host presented a look on the red carpet that was better received than Aaliayahs, due to the controversy of the subsequent incident, the host did not quite meet the requirement of the task as most publications glossed over your outfit to highlight the incident.]
“True or false, did at least ten publications speak about me and my outfit? If so, give me my reward. If you dare lie to me, I don’t mind pulling up the articles and counting them myself.” Valentina asked in a deceptively calm tone.
To be honest, she was in a horrible mood. It was partially because the bed wasn’t as comfortable as she had gotten used to, the pain in her stomach at an impulsive decision, but mainly because of the situation with Kaiser.
Although it felt silly to fight with Kaiser when, in reality, he was correct that he was doing a lot to help her, and it would have been easier to just bow her head and apologize to continue getting benefits, she didn’t want to.
Call it pride or greed or stupidity, but she didn’t want such a thing being held over her head. She would rather suffer and struggle from the bottom up than willingly put herself in a situation where someone could hold their help over her each time they were upset.
Besides, didn’t she have this system? Since it had so much to say before when things were easy, it should do some heavy lifting now that she had fallen out with Kaiser.
As she was mentally slandering the system, it gave her a reply.
[The host has followed the letter of the task but not the spirit. However, due to separating from the external entity, this system will consider the tasks completed and give you a reward.]
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Ding!]
[Sub-Task Completed – Complete a Variety Show With the Fallen Angels]
[Reward 1 Time Use Vocal Skill Card has been received]
[Sub-Task Completed – Impress on the Red Carpet]
[Reward Body Hair Modification Effect has been received]
[Activate reward now?]
“You really don’t like him, I see.” She lightly commented on the system’s behavior of continuing to not like Kaiser yet rewarding her for being in conflict with him.
Seeing as it didn’t respond, she shrugged and didn’t forget to threaten the system.
“Whatever. As long as you continue acting obediently, I will properly do my tasks with no problem. And cheer up: once my contract with Kaiser about Luca is up, we probably won’t have any contact with him again. We’ll probably have to figure out another way to break the contract with Black Rock. So make sure you do your part properly and give me relevant tasks. Otherwise, it’s your loss.”
[…….]
“Anyway, give me my rewards and a description, please.”
[1 Time Use Vocal Skill Card: a vocal card that allows you to sing with a singing value of 100/100]
[Body Hair Modification Effect - can be used in a variety of ways. It can allow the host to change the hair color, length, and density on every part of the body where hair grows. Hair can be grown or removed entirely for the duration you specify.]
“Everywhere?”
[Everywhere.]
“Like a yeti level everywhere? Mammoth level everywhere?”
[Yes]
“Impressive.” Her eyes couldn’t help but sparkle, and she immediately wanted to try it out.
Valentina walked over to the hallway bathroom, making sure to lock the door.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she mentally commanded the system.
‘Ruby red hair please’
It was a gradual process, but slowly, her hair turned a bright ruby red that could not be achieved without several rounds of bleach.
Grabbing the ends of her hair, she marveled at the color and the fact that there was really no damage.
[There will be no damage to your hair, regardless of the color chosen.]
“Quiet, please. Let’s try platinum blonde.”
“Orange.”
“Purple.”
“Blue”
“Half white, half black buzzcut.”
Observing all the changes to her hair, she couldn’t help but be pleased.
“This will be really good for hiding my identity when I go out.”
No matter the color she called out, her hair color changed accordingly.
Excited, she finally did the one thing she really wanted to try.
“Golden brown hair everywhere. 5 inches thick. Like Chewbacca.”
As she instructed the system, there was a pause before long hairs began growing all over her body. Feeling it tickled as her body became furry, she couldn’t help but laugh as she looked in the mirror. She looked like a monster.
“Make it sky blue with purple polka dots.”
As the hair covering her entire body changed once more, she admired herself in the mirror before giggling in a silly manner.
“Okay, okay. Give me green hair, remove all the hair on my body from the neck down, the fine hairs on my face, nose hairs, ear hairs, and tweak my eyebrows like so.
As her hair transformed into a green that reminded her of Luca’s eyes, she felt sad all of a sudden.
Not having fun anymore, she quickly changed her hair to black and exited the bathroom.
She ordered an early dinner and holed herself up in the guest room to do some administrative tasks. Ordering a cleaning company to throw away everything in her apartment and to wipe it up well, as well as emailing the leasing office.
Once she was done, she felt mentally exhausted but insisted on reading through the script once more.
But, as she lay on the bed, she felt somewhat out of place. Usually, by this time, she would be eating dinner with Luca before putting him to bed.
Thinking about Luca, she wanted to call him, and as if he heard her thoughts, her phone began ringing, and a photo of her and Luca showed up.
Calming herself down, she answered his phone and saw his fluffy red cheeks as he smiled cutely at her.
“Auntie Val.”
Hearing his little voice, her face softened.
“Hi, my little baby nugget. Are you in bed?”
“Yes. I ate my dinner, brushed my teeth, and put on my green pajamas.” Luca raised his tablet, and she could see through the crooked angle that he was in bed.
“Good job.”
“Will you tell me a story before I go to sleep? About the cowardly lion?”
“Of course. Once upon a time, there was a cowardly lion…”
As she softly spoke to him, Luca placed the tablet on the bed before cuddling with his pillow and staring at her. As his eyes began to close, she lowered her voice until he fell asleep.
Smiling at the cute face and the flushed, chubby cheeks, she ended the call. As soon as she ended it, Kaiser’s number began calling her.
Seeing it, she quickly ended the call before throwing the phone to the side. Nope. Not now.
As she wanted to sleep, the system gave her another message.
[Once hosts complete one more task, the system will level up to provide hosts with clearer guidance to complete the wishes of this body.]
“Sounds like you’re just trying to fix your loopholes because I bullied you a little,” Valentina grumbled.
[…….]
Seeing the system not respond, Valentina figured she was right and snorted.
“I’ve already made it clear to you. If you don’t mess with me and be honest, I will be honest with you and complete everything assigned. If you mess with me, I will be disrespectful and show no mercy. Behave wisely.”
Yawning once more, Valentina fell into a fitful sleep.