Chapter 1 – Episode 1 – The Prospective Protagonist
White letters appeared on a black background.
When I touched the screen, a message welcoming me to the Heroine App disappeared, and a new message appeared.
[It has been confirmed that this is your first time using the ‘Heroine App’.]
[Would you like to register as the protagonist?]
“Register as the protagonist?”
Hmm.
It’s probably something like creating a new character or ID.
Thinking roughly, I touched the ‘Yes’ button.
[You have approved the protagonist registration.]
[Registration is in progress. – 0%]
Along with the message that registration was in progress, a short loading time began.
I waited, staring at my phone.
The loading progressed faster than I expected.
[Registration is in progress. – 100%]
[Registration is complete.]
[Congratulations on becoming the protagonist of this world, ‘Chun Jinhyun’.]
“How grand.”
The registration process was very easy.
I chuckled and tried to touch the screen again.
‘Huh?’
But at that moment, a question suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Come to think of it, how did it know my name?’
I looked at the message. My real name was clearly written there.
I hadn’t entered anything, and it was strange that the registration was complete just by pressing the ‘Yes’ button.
Usually, it would ask for an ID or at least a nickname…
‘Maybe it’s linked to another ID.’
But the question quickly faded.
These days, IDs from major sites were well-connected. My meager brain was too insignificant to suspect anything.
I touched the screen to move past the message.
[Welcome again to the Heroine App, ‘Chun Jinhyun’.]
[Your current rank is ‘Prospective Protagonist’.]
“Prospective Protagonist?”
If you’re a protagonist, you’re just a protagonist, so what’s a prospective protagonist?
[As a ‘Prospective Protagonist,’ ‘Chun Jinhyun,’ the only function you can currently use is quests.]
[We recommend clearing quests to raise your rank.]
Hmm.
It seemed like this was a tutorial.
I quietly touched the screen.
– *Pop*!
“Oh.”
Then, the dark background disappeared, and a background with a cute yet sophisticated design, like a modern game application, appeared before my eyes.
The design is pretty good.
But maybe because it was still the tutorial, there was only one menu on the screen, labeled ‘Quest.’
I touched the ‘Quest’ button.
[1. (Not yet unlocked.)]
[2. (Not yet unlocked.)]
[3. (Not yet unlocked.)]
[4. Rank Up/Level Up Quest]
There were four options in the quest menu. Among them, only one option was available for me to choose.
I should just do as I’m told for now.
I touched the ‘Rank Up/Level Up Quest’ button.
Then, I found the quest I had to complete this time.
“Is this it.”
There was only one quest. A quest titled ‘Prospective Protagonist’ → ‘Level 10 Protagonist.’
I touched the title of the quest.
– *Pop*
Detailed information about the quest appeared on the screen. I read through the explanation.
——————————————————————————-
[Rank Up/Level Up Quest: ‘Prospective Protagonist’ → ‘Level 10 Protagonist’]
– You have been selected as a candidate for the world’s protagonist. Prove whether you have the qualifications and value to become the protagonist.
◆ How to Achieve the Quest
– Fulfill all the conditions below.
1. Go on a date with a woman you have never dated before within 3 days (0 / 1)
2. Kiss a woman you have never dated before within 1 week (0 / 1)
3. However, professional women are excluded (0 / 2)
◆ Quest Reward (Starting Reward)
1. Obtain ‘Random Romance Support Option Item Box (Rank: Tutorial) [Quest Exclusive]’
◆ Quest Reward (Achievement Reward)
1. Rank up to ‘Level 10 Protagonist’
2. Obtain ‘Random Romance Support Option Item Box (Rank: Level 10)’
——————————————————————————-
“Huh?”
A question mark appeared on my face as I read the quest description.
What is this?
Go on a date with a woman and kiss her? It was an unexpected quest.
“Ah…! Come to think of it, this app.”
It was called the ‘Heroine App.’
I was questioning with a puzzled look on my face, but I understood after remembering the name of the app.
As the name ‘Heroine App’ suggests, this application… seemed to be a dating sim-like application.
‘That’s not bad.’
I read the quest again in detail.
I didn’t dislike dating sims.
I, Chun Jinhyun.
I had gone through middle school, high school, and the military, and now I was working part-time.
Unfortunately, I didn’t go down the engineering path, and I didn’t know the first thing about ‘romance.’ The last time I had a ‘thing’ with someone was in the 5th grade when I held hands with a girl in my class while walking to school. I was living a legendary life.
For me, a ‘dating sim’ was like rain in a drought.
Dating pretty 2D female characters was like a gift from God to this new generation.
“Hmm. I wonder what the heroines will be like. Will they be pretty?”
To the question of whether I would accept the quest, I touched the ‘Yes’ button without hesitation.
I imagined what kind of heroines would appear, with a sly smile on my face.
[You have accepted the quest. The quest start reward will be provided.]
[The ‘My Page’ menu and the ‘Inventory’ submenu have been unlocked.]
[Please check the provided rewards.]
“Okay.”
I used the back button to return to the very first screen.
When I returned to the main menu of the Heroine App, a new menu, ‘My Page,’ had been added, which wasn’t there before.
[1. (Not yet unlocked.)]
[2. Inventory]
When I touched the My Page menu, two options appeared.
Like when I touched the quest menu, there was a menu that was not yet unlocked, and below it, the menu called ‘Inventory’ caught my eye.
“Inventory, huh.”
When I touched the Inventory menu, a screen with several blocks lined up, befitting its name, appeared.
Five rows horizontally and five rows vertically, for a total of 25 blocks.
Something was written at the top of the inventory.
——————————————————————————-
[Heroine App – My Page – Inventory]
◆ Coins Owned: 0
◆ Items Stored: 01 / 25
– [Random Romance Support Option Item Box (Rank: Tutorial) [Quest Exclusive]]
——————————————————————————-
“An item came in.”
It seemed like this was the quest start reward. I looked at the blocks again.
Among the 25 blocks, only the block at the top left was filled. It was an icon shaped like a treasure chest.
I touched the block filled with the treasure chest icon.
[Random Romance Support Option Item Box (Rank: Tutorial) [Quest Exclusive]]
◆ Rank: Tutorial (Level 11)
◆ Category: Gambling Item
◆ Description: A mysterious random box that can only be obtained in the ‘Prospective Protagonist’ → ‘Level 10 Protagonist’ rank-up quest. When used, you can obtain one random tutorial-rank item with a romance support option that can help with the quest.
◆ Options [-]
1. Random Acquisition!
– When used, you can obtain one item with a random romance support option.
– The box is destroyed upon use.
2. Rank: Tutorial
– When used, the item you obtain will always be a tutorial-rank item.
3. Quest Exclusive
– When used, only items that can help with the quest will appear through a mysterious force.
– If you give up or fail the quest, the item will be collected.
– When used, the item that appears also has the quest-exclusive option.
– If you succeed in the quest, the option will be deleted.
“There’s a lot written, but…”
In reality, it’s nothing special. After reading it carefully, it was an item like a random box that often appears in various mobile games.
I looked at the ‘Use’ button at the bottom of the box.
“I hope something good comes out.”
According to the description, it seemed like a box that only produced items of a certain rank, but there would definitely be differences in performance among them.
I had never been particularly lucky with gacha.
That’s why I had a hard time playing other games. These days, there are hardly any games that don’t have probability-based gacha.
Nevertheless, the reason why such games are popular is because of the strange fun that probability-based gacha has.
I wondered what my gacha luck would be like in this game.
“Let’s gooo~!”
With a pounding heart, I touched the ‘Use’ button.
