Worse outcome is the "yes, but..." result
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7-9 is a success, but in a way the player didn't fully expect:

> On a 7–9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.

- **hard bargain** — "yes you can do it, but you have to do X beforehand" or "you can do it, but it will lead to Y" (the player can choose to pay the price)
- **ugly choice** — "yes you did it, now you must choose between X and Y" (the player must choose one of two bad things)
- **worse outcome** — "yes you did it, but you suffer the following consequences" (no choice here, just make a GM move)

So the "worse outcome" is a success — the PC does what he/she wanted to do — but with unexpected (usually bad) consequences.