Part 1Stuck In A One Man Harem

I had spent two grueling months running myself ragged on these godforsaken missions.

And there I was, sitting in the velvet shadows of a private VIP lounge, slipping a six-carat diamond proposal ring onto my finger for the eighth time.

I smiled to myself, thinking, This is it. I’ve got these boys wrapped around my finger. Easy money.

But when I pulled up the system interface, the progress bar was sitting at a flat, mocking zero percent.

I completely lost my mind. I mass-texted all eight love interests at once: Is your love even real, or is it just a copy-paste job? You don't care about me at all!

That very night, a pair of strong hands pressed a chloroform-soaked cloth over my face. I blacked out, waking up locked in a pitch-black room.

Beside me, a man loomed in the darkness, his jaw clenched, his voice dripping with venom.

"Baby," he growled, "you let me propose to you eight times. I thought it was some kind of twisted foreplay. I had no idea you were just face-blind."

Adam Peterson wrapped his arms around my waist, his breath hot against my skin. "You can't tell us apart with our clothes on? Fine. Let's see if you recognize me with them off."

* * *

In the lightless bedroom, Adam's lips slammed onto mine.

My brain stalled. The only thing registering in my vision was the pale, sculpted curve of his abdominal muscles shifting in the dark.

Adam seemed entirely out of patience. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, his teeth grazing my skin in a sharp, possessive bite.

"Do you see me now? Do you know who I am?"

His voice carried a dangerous, upward tilt at the end, his eyes flashing with raw irritation.

My focus was completely shattered. I couldn't even form words.

I tried to roll over and bolt, but Adam let out a low hum, hooking his fingers around my ankle and dragging me back under him.

He pinned me down, a solid, immovable weight.

Panic clawed its way up my throat.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

This was supposed to be a cozy, reverse-harem dating sim where I was the pampered main character. How the hell did I end up in a dark, obsessive captivity novel?

Just two months ago, I was standing on the rooftop of my office building, screaming curses at my boss after he denied my raise. In my blind fury, I took a step too far and tumbled off the edge.

When I woke up, a cold, mechanical System informed me it had saved my life—for a price.

"Host," the voice had droned in my head, "because the original protagonist was incompetent and failed her missions, you have been brought in as the stabilizer. You must successfully capture the hearts of this world's eight male leads before you can return to reality."

At the time, my heart skipped a beat.

Did "success" mean early retirement, unlimited wealth, and getting rid of an annoying boss forever?

With visions of a billion-dollar payout dancing in my head, I readily agreed.

And so, for two months, I threw myself into the role of a professional siren.

Every single day was a blur of outfit changes, sweet-talking, shifting venues, and more sweet-talking.

It was a non-stop, exhausting cycle.

To be fair, at first, it felt like playing a real-life otome game. It was actually kind of fun.

But after two solid months of it, my brain was completely fried.

I couldn't even remember the names of the eight male leads. I could barely distinguish them by their personal styles, and I almost called them by the wrong names multiple times.

Eventually, I gave up trying to keep track and just called every single one of them "Babe."

They were all incredibly sweet, wildly clingy, and practically threw money at me. Within a month, I was dripping in Prada and driving a custom Lamborghini.

I secretly congratulated myself on being a natural-born player.

Riding that high, I decided to push for the finish line and drop hints about marriage.

The boys took the bait beautifully. Each one of them bought a massive, glittering rock and dropped to one knee to propose.

When I got home that night, my smile was practically splitting my face. The mission was as good as done, and I had walked away with eight priceless diamond rings.

Licking my lips in anticipation, I opened the system interface to check my progress.

And saw that big, fat, humiliating zero.