The dorms were luckily pretty far away from the school, and it survived, unharmed, in the explosion. We arrived at Cheng Ye's dorm, still conversing.

"Host, the villainess is supposed to commit suicide by lighting up the back of the school on fire. Then she would turn into a ghost, and that signals the beginning of the plot." I said calmly, "However, somehow the villainess didn't die, and the school exploded instead."

"Oh, that?" Cheng Ye scratched his head. "I didn't know she was the villainess of the story, or that she was supposed to die. I promise."

"So you did something." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"Hey," Cheng Ye attempted to defend himself, "I only gave her a tip. She was trying to lit the shack behind the school on fire- but that's green wood and would only create a lot of smoke, see? So I just told her if that if she actually wanted to set the school on fire, she should open the cafeteria gas tanks and light them on fire."

He sounded oddly proud of himself. A vein pulsed in my forehead as I barely stopped myself from giving him a beating. It was like I was his babysitter.

Wait. I suddenly had a very bad premonition. If the villainess had only set fire to the back of the school, then though said section of the school would become off limits, the school itself wouldn't shut down. The principal would try to brush things over and pretend that nothing had happened, only a small accidental fire. School would resume again after a week or so. However, this time, the school had exploded. In that case... wouldn't it shut down?

But then how would the story continue? If it was only the villainess that was the problem, I could have Cheng Ye kill her. However, it wasn't only the villainess that veered off track- everything was off track. The setting literally wasn't there anymore. It had turned into a lump of cinders.

So the future story was completely busted now, I thought. That was the end. The End.

"What were you thinking, Host?" I yelled at him angrily. Are you aware what will happen to me if you fail the tasks and die? I could lose my job, that's what. I only said that inside my head so that he couldn't hear me, of course. Sometimes it hurt to be an extra. A System. Nobody ever understood you.

"Sorry." He muttered, then looked up curiously. "That was a much different tone than usual."

Oh, crap. I forgot my professionalism. I stayed quiet, mentally bashing myself on the head for my mistake. It was silent for a while before Cheng Ye asked another question.

"What do I get if I complete the task?"

The task was pretty much doomed at this point, the ghost being non-existent, but I decided to answer him anyway.

Hmmm... "You don't die?" I offered uncertainly. That was a good question. Usually, hosts would get points and items from the System Shop. It worked like a game: Hosts would get points for completing tasks, but would have points taken off for bad behavior. With their saved up points, they could buy prizes for themselves. It was a good way to handle hosts, but I was too lazy to organize such a thing. Besides, I was pretty sure my boss wouldn't approve of a request to the Finance Division for stuff to fill up the System Shop with.

"No starter pack? No points or System Shop?" Cheng Ye asked, sounding increasingly distressed. I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

Systems with a lot of funding could give out Starter Packs, like in games, and they had overpowered stuff in their shops. Me, I was dirt broke. Even if I cobbled together a System Shop, it wouldn't be much. Maybe it'll have some rice or water so that he won't starve to death in the worst case scenario. If he wanted it that much, I guess I could try.

"What is this?" Cheng Ye said, blankly staring at the sheet of paper hovering in front of his face.

"The System Shop." I read the words on my sheet of paper for him. My handwriting wasn't that bad, I thought absentmindedly. Mother always told me I had beautiful print. Yes. I was half-assing it. He would probably be killed and I would be fired anyway, so it didn't matter.

Cheng Ye tapped on the sheet of paper. It fluttered in the wind.

"Host, do not tap on the System Shop interface." I warned.

Cheng Ye didn't listen to my warning. He clutched at the sheet of paper, forcing me to hold it high over his head. Undaunted, Cheng Ye jumped in order to snatch it out of my hands, only to be defeated by my sharp reflexes. It wasn't easy to be a professional System, I thought to myself, sighing heavily. Please ignore my smirk. I read the content for him,

"You currently have O Points." I read ignoring my silly Host who continued to jump like a frog, "The 0Star System Shop is unlocked. Purchasable items: 1 Bowl of Rice, 1 Bottle of Water, 1 Grape Candy. Prices are all at 1Point."

I stopped, done with my explanation.

"That's all?" Cheng Ye said, not sounding that interested or happy with my statement.

"More items will be unlocked with more stars. Host, please work hard." I said in monotone.

"How many points do I get when I complete the mission?" Cheng Ye asked. I didn't answer, because, of course, I had no idea how much was appropriate. I flipped through my papers, looking for the 'System Shop' section. Nope, couldn't find it. Dratted company, always leaving out stuff that was important. Determining the amount of points was difficult. It would need to be enough to motivate the host, but not enough that it took a significant chunk out of my paycheck. Especially since said paycheck may not even exist anymore. Oh, how I suffer.

Cheng Ye jumped, but I noticed. I scrunched up the paper and put it in my pocket. To Cheng Ye's eyes, it should appear as though the piece of paper had abruptly vanished. He was like a little kid, I thought to myself. The corners of my mouth went up, just a little.

To cure Cheng Ye's boredom, I brought up his stat sheet for him to look at. This was something I prepared in advance, so it was properly coded in and everything. Cheng Ye tried to touch the screen, like he had done with the System Shop interface, but his hand simply passed through. It was formatted according to the official System Guidelines, so there should be no problems there.

The door opened, and in came the old Cheng Ye's roommates. I decided to leave them to it. They were a mess, all in shock- understandable, after their school had gone up in flames. One of them was a real talker- he talked even louder than Jonathan, if you could believe it. And so I decided to duck out.

I disappeared from the world, melting into the surroundings. I opened my eyes, back in the familiar office, with plenty of people still at work. I glanced at the clock. It was nearly midnight. Goodbye, dinner. My boss wasn't there, which was a relief. I had enough of a headache already, what with the villainess still being alive and not turning into a ghost...

Right.

What am I going to do?