Chapter 2 – The Protagonist In Training
[Item, ‘Random Romance Assistance Option Item Box (Grade: Tutorial) [Quest Exclusive]’ has been used.]
[Congratulations! You have acquired the item, ‘Sweet Love Candy Generator [Quest Exclusive]’.]
“Candy…?”
After reading the system message, I checked the top-left slot of my inventory.
There, instead of the treasure chest icon from before, a heart-shaped container icon had taken its place.
I tapped the icon.
[Sweet Love Candy Generator]
◆ Grade: Tutorial (Level 11)
◆ Category: Decoration
◆ Description: A candy generator that a craftsman, who dreamed of becoming a harem master, made for fun in the early stages of his research… a replica of which was self-produced by the Heroine App. Use the generated candy to win the heart of your desired partner.
◆ Options [-]
1. Candy Generation!
– One candy is automatically generated every 3 hours. Up to 10 candies can be generated, and if the number of candies in the generator is less than 10, it will start generating again.
2. Sweet Gaze?
– The person who eats a candy generated by this item will feel a slight liking and attraction towards the person they looked at the most while eating it. If that person is of the opposite sex, the effect is doubled. The effect lasts for 3 hours and is applied from the moment the candy is finished.
3. Quest Exclusive
– If the quest is abandoned or failed, this item will be retrieved.
– If the quest is successful, this option will be deleted.
“Oh.”
It was a rather peculiar item.
Was I supposed to give this to a heroine and accelerate the capture process?
I nodded.
“…But what am I supposed to do now?”
However, after returning to the main menu, I tilted my head.
There was nothing more to proceed with.
According to the quest, I needed to kiss and go on a date to progress, but there were no elements for that.
The main menu only had ‘Quest’ and ‘My Page’ options, and within those, I could only access ‘Promotion/Rank-Up Quest’ and ‘Inventory.’
There was no ‘Meet a Heroine’ or ‘Story Progression’ menu at all.
I closed the app and reopened it.
[Welcome to the ‘Heroine App’.]
But the result was the same.
Nothing had changed.
“What am I supposed to do in the inventory?”
After going through the app once more, I returned to the inventory and tapped the candy generator icon.
Then, a few buttons appeared on the bottom right of the description.
[Materialize] [Return]…….
“Do I just have to press this to proceed?”
There were five buttons on the bottom right.
Although there were several buttons, only the ‘Materialize’ button could be pressed.
The rest of the buttons were all grayed out and could not be pressed.
I pressed the materialize button.
– Thud
“?”
I was staring at my phone screen, wondering what would happen, when suddenly a heart-shaped container appeared next to me and fell onto the bed with a thud. My eyes widened.
[The item, ‘Sweet Love Candy Generator [Quest Exclusive]’ has been materialized.]
A message also appeared in the Heroine App.
I picked up the heart-shaped container next to me, feeling bewildered.
It was tangible.
I could clearly feel the sensation of touching the container.
It wasn’t a hologram; it was a real object.
“Whoa.”
What is this?
I opened the lid of the container.
Inside, there were 10 heart-shaped red candies wrapped in wrappers.
I looked at the app with a dumbfounded expression.
The app still only showed the message that the candy generator had been materialized.
I unwrapped one of the candies and tasted it.
A sweet taste with a refreshing strawberry scent spread across my tongue.
A container suddenly appeared out of thin air, and there were real candies inside.
“Huh……”
I looked at my phone screen again.
[Materialize] [Return]…….
After tapping the screen to dismiss the message and looking at the buttons, this time the ‘Materialize’ button was grayed out and could not be pressed, while the ‘Return’ button could be pressed.
I carefully tapped the return button.
[The item, ‘Sweet Love Candy Generator [Quest Exclusive]’ has returned to the inventory.]
When I looked to my side, the heart-shaped container had vanished without a trace.
Like magic.
The only thing left was the unwrapped candy in my hand.
– Gulp
When I pressed the ‘Materialize’ button again, a message appeared saying that the item had been materialized, and a heart-shaped container appeared next to me.
When I opened the container, there were 9 candies inside this time.
“Is this for real?”
The shape of the container was the same heart shape as the item I got from the app.
It was clear.
The heart-shaped container next to me right now was the ‘Sweet Love Candy Generator’ item from the Heroine App.
After that, I repeated the materialize and return process several times.
And of course, the result was the same.
Every time I materialized it, the candy generator appeared, and every time I returned it, the candy generator disappeared.
I quickly closed the app and went to the store.
Then, I searched for ‘Heroine App.’
[System: No search results found.]
“……”
This time, I went into the new application list.
That was where I had downloaded the ‘Heroine App.’
“It’s not here.”
But it wasn’t there.
Even when I went into the list of apps I had downloaded, there was no record of having downloaded the Heroine App.
Even when I searched on the internet, there was no information at all.
“Hahahaha……”
And then, I finally understood.
This app was not some dating sim app.
The fact that it knew my name right away at the beginning was not a coincidence.
“And.”
Also, the quest.
The items in the Heroine App were items that could be summoned into reality.
The reason I got the item was as a starting reward for the quest.
The quest was to go on a date and kiss a woman with whom I had never had a relationship. The item was like a support tool given to me to make that process easier.
I was currently a protagonist in training. To be promoted to a level 10 protagonist, I had to complete the quest.
To make it easier to clear the quest, the quest side gave me an item.
But that item could be materialized in reality. And there was no button like ‘Start Game’ in the app. That meant that the use of the item was only possible in reality.
Then, where was the quest?
‘It must be in reality.’
It wasn’t an app that was stuck, but a quest that was being conducted in this reality itself.
“……”
I chuckled as I looked at the app.
It was exactly like the clichés in the trashy novels I usually read.
But that didn’t matter at all.
Whether the phenomenon happening now was a cliché from a trashy novel or not, the important thing was that such a phenomenon was happening to me.
“Alright.”
Since this has happened to me, I will thoroughly exploit this app.
******
Two hours had passed.
I started researching the Heroine App as much as possible.
Of course, I didn’t find out much, but I was able to gain a certain conviction.
The Heroine App was real, and the items obtained from the app could be summoned into reality. Of course, it was still unclear whether the effects of the items were actually applied.
“In addition, the summoning location of the item can be controlled by my will within a radius of 3 meters, and the summoning occurs within 5 seconds after pressing the materialize button……”
I nodded as I organized the facts I had learned in a memo.
Then, I pressed the materialize button on the Heroine App and reached out my hand into the air.
[The item, ‘Sweet Love Candy Generator [Quest Exclusive]’ has been materialized.]
The system message appeared as expected.
After confirming the message, I looked at my hand.
The heart-shaped container was in my hand.
“As expected.”
No matter how many times I tried, the result was the same.
If I imagined the place and time where I wanted the item to be summoned after pressing the materialize button, the item would be summoned there.
The time and radius were not much, but there might be a use for it later.
“I could totally become a magician with this, right?”
Just as I was enjoying myself, my phone suddenly vibrated.
– Vvvvvvvvv-
I checked my phone screen.
[Yoon Yoo-jung Noona]
“Ah.”
After checking the screen, I quickly checked the time.
The current time was 10:22 PM.
“Shit.”
I’m. So. Screwed!
My part-time job started at 10 PM.
Usually, I would go about 15 minutes early to receive the handover leisurely, but I was so engrossed in the ‘Heroine App’ that I didn’t realize how much time had passed.
I quickly answered the phone.
“Hello-.”
“Hey! Why aren’t you here yet!”
Before I could even greet her, a harsh voice came from the other end. I replied apologetically.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I had something really urgent to take care of.”
“Ugh. You should have said something beforehand! Where are you now? How long will it take?”
“Home… about 20 minutes.”
I quickly put on my clothes as I answered. I heard a groan from the other end.
“Ugh. Hey! Because of you, I’m going to be an hour late getting off work.”
“Ah, I’m sorry……”
I bowed my head and apologized.
But, just as I was about to say sorry and move on, I suddenly remembered the quest in the Heroine App.
[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)]
And I added.
“…I’m really sorry. I’ll buy you a nice meal this time.”
