QT: I hijacked a harem system and now I'm ruining every plot(GL)-Chapter 50: The PLOT!!!

Chapter 50 Han Li POV

The boardroom is silent, save for the droning of a quarterly performance presentation being delivered by a trembling executive. Numbers. Percentages. Projections. It’s all very impressive, I’m sure. To someone who cares.

I don’t.

Instead, I lean back in my chair, legs crossed, chin propped on one hand, eyes half-lidded. My thoughts drift—not to the company’s stock price, not to the expansion proposal being pushed across the table—but to her.

Jiang Yuxi.

There’s something dangerous about the way I think of her now. Something indulgent. Like I’m staring at the edge of a knife and choosing not to look away.

I’ve always been composed. Sharp. In control. Yet with her, it’s different. Every calculated move I make unravels just a little the second she smiles.

And that’s a problem.

A very dangerous problem.

There’s a faint sound—low, mechanical—like static buzzing at the edges of my hearing. I know what it is before it finishes building.

I ignore it at first. I’ve grown used to its pathetic attempts to pierce through the mental fortress I’ve built. A buzzing insect, angry it’s been caged.

But then—

Everything stops.

Literally.

The projector freezes mid-slide. The executive at the head of the table is paused with his mouth open, hand suspended in the air. The coffee steam from the assistant’s tray has stilled, curling in place like frozen smoke.

Black and white.

Time, halted.

The familiar glow pulses in front of me—a soft blue orb flickering with mechanical urgency.

I lean back in my chair, sighing.

"System 404," I say aloud, turning toward the glowing orb of light materializing beside me.

"It’s been a while."

> SYSTEM 404: [HOST. CONTACT HAS BEEN DIFFICULT. YOU’VE BLOCKED 578 COMMUNICATION ATTEMPTS.]

"I didn’t know you could do this," I reply, gesturing to the room now muted in grayscale.

> SYSTEM 404: [THIS TEMPORAL PAUSE COSTS SIGNIFICANT ENERGY. I HAVE LIMITED TIME.]

I arch a brow. "Better talk fast, then."

> SYSTEM 404: [EXPLAIN HOW A SIDE CHARACTER BECAME A CEO IN FIVE YEARS.]

"Hard work," I say breezily.

"And being smarter than everyone else. Some people are just destined for greatness."

> SYSTEM 404: [HOW DID YOU BLOCK SYSTEM INTERVENTION?!]

"A good magician never reveals her tricks."

> SYSTEM 404: [YOU WERE ASSIGNED A BACKGROUND ROLE. UNNAMED. INSIGNIFICANT.]

I don’t respond. I merely look at the system, calm and unmoved.

> SYSTEM 404: [I AM THE HAREM BUILDING SYSTEM. WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT YOU BEING THE HOST, BUT THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS HELP HIM BUILD THE HAREM—OR, BARE MINIMUM, STAY OUT OF THE WAY.]

"But I haven’t done anything to the male lead," I say, tilting my head.

> SYSTEM 404: [JIANG YUXI IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE FOURTH MEMBER OF THE HAREM, BUT YOU INTERFERED.]

"Yeah, have you seen her? She’d be wasted on him," I say dismissively.

> SYSTEM 404: [WASTED?! HOST, SHE IS ONE OF THE CENTRAL HAREM MEMBERS! HER ARC IS CRUCIAL FOR EMOTIONAL BALANCE, CONFLICT, AND EVENTUAL PLOT RESOLUTION!]

The voice crackles, almost shrieking with disbelief. I chuckle.

Leaning back further into my chair, I cross my legs again and tap my fingers on the armrest.

"Balance? You mean exploitation disguised as emotional complexity."

> SYSTEM 404: [THAT IS... THE GENRE!]

"What about the characters?" I ask.

"Lin Meyu, the heiress, the manager girl—they’re all...well excluding the manager girl, strong, brilliant women. And Jiang Wei? He’s nothing special. I don’t get the obsession."

> SYSTEM 404: [THAT IS THE PLOT. YOU WERE ASSIGNED A SIDE CHARACTER ROLE. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO EXIST IN THE BACKGROUND.]

"Hmmn. I don’t know," I muse.

"Being a nameless assistant isn’t really my style. I’m more suited to the top of the food chain. You should’ve vetted your hosts more carefully."

> SYSTEM 404: [I DID NOT MAKE YOU MY HOST! YOU HIJACKED THE POSITION FROM SOMEONE I ALREADY PICKED OUT!!!]

"Oh right. Minor details."

Geez, why is it so mad? I stand, strolling over to the tall window overlooking the city. Everything beyond the glass is frozen too: cars halted mid-turn, birds suspended mid-flight.

> SYSTEM 404: [THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS NOT INTERFERE WITH THE MAIN PLOT. IT’S ALREADY DERAILED, SO I’M HERE TO WARN YOU TO STOP INTERFERING.]

"I didn’t interfere, though," I say calmly.

> SYSTEM 404: [YOU SEDUCED ONE OF THE CENTRAL HEROINES! YOU DESTABILIZED THE MALE LEAD’S EMOTIONAL ARC! YOU’VE COMPROMISED THE TRAJECTORY OF AT LEAST FIVE MAJOR FLAGS! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!]

"I don’t understand what the big deal is. He has three other women."

> SYSTEM 404: [THE PLOT!]

"I gave Jiang Yuxi something she’s never had in any of her arcs—choice."

Silence.

The system dims. Its glow flickers low, uncertain.

> SYSTEM 404: [...THAT ISN’T HOW THIS WORKS.]

"It is now."

> SYSTEM 404: [YOU ARE ENDANGERING THE WORLD THREAD. IF THIS UNIVERSE COLLAPSES, YOU WILL BE FORCIBLY EJECTED. YOU WILL NOT KEEP YOUR IDENTITY. THE HOST WILL BE RESET.]

I stand slowly, walking toward the floor-to-ceiling window, the skyline paused in monochrome perfection.

"I’m aware. But tell me, system... if your precious male lead was really so fated to win, why did he need a system to help him in the first place?"

The orb flickers.

Silence stretches.

Something deeper lingers in the air.

"What are you not telling me, dear system?"

> SYSTEM 404: [...THIS IS NOT OVER. REMEMBER MY WARNING.]

The light begins to fade, glitching at the edges, folding in on itself like broken code.

As color returns to the room, the sound of a nervous presenter resumes mid-word. Steam rises once more from coffee cups. Life snaps back into motion.

But I remain at the window, hands folded behind my back, a slow smile curling my lips. I’ve never been good at taking orders.

I cancel the meeting. Something isn’t adding up. What does the system gain from this? It’s not telling me. Maybe if it had been honest, we could’ve worked together.

Instead, it abandoned me in this world—and now all it does is whine in my ear about derailing the plot.