Chapter 12
#12. Gacha
From the old, worn-out floor covering and yellowed wallpaper to the rooftop-room view of Seoul's high-rise skyline visible in the distance between the old villas outside the window.
A familiar sight.
It was my home, a rooftop room with a deposit of 1 million won and monthly rent of only 200,000 won.
“I really did come back.”
Until moments ago, I had been in a pointlessly spacious, terrifyingly dark cavern, and now I was back home in an instant...
In the blink of an eye? No, I hadn't even blinked.
At some point, I was simply in my home.
As if that were only natural.
Ding-
“...What kind of app is this?”
I took out my phone at the familiar notification sound.
[☆Congratulations on your first match, Kang Hyunwoo!☆]
[Affection Change]
[Iris Lumeria Baiart Phelledia 1♡ → 85♡]
[Bond Level Change]
[Iris Lumeria Baiart Phelledia Lv.0 → Lv.1]
[300 Love Coins have been awarded as a reward]
[An additional reward commemorating your first match has been awarded]
[Congratulations on becoming an official customer]
[The Shop function has been unlocked]
[The Mailbox function has been unlocked]
As expected, so many things popped up that they filled the phone screen.
“What is all this?”
It was pretty cluttered, but when I slowly read everything one by one, none of it was incomprehensible.
I set aside things like Iris's affection and bond level for now. Treating them as no different from a simple dating sim felt unpleasant with Iris's warmth still lingering on my hand.
“...Can I go back to Iris?”
Fortunately, the match history remained, so I could view Iris's profile.
[Name: Iris Lumeria Baiart Phelledia
Age: 524
Race: High Elf
Affiliation: EB-17
Occupation: Archmage
Disposition: Benevolent ruler, pacifist, devoted, vegetarian······]
[Time remaining until rematch: 167:58:45]
“A week left.”
I hadn't expected to be able to rematch immediately, but even so, wasn't a week a little too long?
[Tip. You can reduce the rematch time by using a special item]
The tip appeared at just the right time and was useful, but it didn't tell me what kind of item it meant.
“Maybe it's in the shop?”
The shop, which had been locked before I met Iris, was now open.
[The products sold in the shop change every time, so if you see something you need, we recommend that you don't miss it]
“A random shop?”
There weren't many types of products. About ten, maybe?
“Iron Sword 200 Coins, Basic Alchemy Package 500 Coins, Basic Swordsmanship Book 550 Coins, Lowest-Grade Health Potion 600 Coins, Lowest-Grade Mana Potion 600 Coins, Random Top Actress Pussy-Licking Ticket 800 Coins...? What the hell is this??”
My head was spinning.
Even if I gave everything else a pass, what on earth was a random top actress pussy-licking ticket?
I didn't have 800 coins anyway, so I couldn't buy it, but I pressed it because I at least wanted to hear an explanation.
[Random Top Actress Pussy-Licking Ticket]
[Grade: Common]
[When an actress surpasses a certain standard based on the overall assessment of her works' box-office performance, level of appearance fees, awards, and popularity, you will be granted the opportunity to lick her pussy]
“...Huh.”
Were these people actually insane?
This pussy-licking ticket, despite costing 800 coins, had one serious flaw.
First, you couldn't set the age range.
There were famous actresses in their twenties and thirties, but there were also plenty who were over forty.
“Ugh...!”
“Fuck, just imagining it made me feel filthy.”
“I'm never buying that.”
I swiped it aside and looked at the remaining products.
Most of the products were exactly what their names suggested, so they weren't particularly interesting, but there were exactly two that caught my eye.
“An AR (Augmented Reality) Pass and a Random Box.”
The AR pass was something that made me want to buy it from the description alone.
With it, I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of taking out my phone every time I used the dating app.
It was a product that added convenience, like the status windows in novels, and it cost only 500 coins.
Of course, all my money amounted to just 300 coins...
“Damn capitalism...”
It felt as though bloody tears were flowing, but there was nothing I could do right now.
When I forcibly turned my head away, I noticed the random boxes decorating one corner of the shop.
Each one cost only 50 coins, but you had no idea what would come out. There wasn't even an odds table.
“...It won't give me something like toilet paper, will it?”
The price was definitely cheap.
Even I, a dirt-poor beggar with only 300 coins, could buy one six times. But my intuition was telling me that buying one would be insane.
I could almost see 300 coins evaporating into thin air right before my eyes.
“Let's first check what I received with all those various rewards while I was in that other world.”
I only needed 200 more coins to buy the AR pass.
Hoping like hell that the reward would be coins, I opened the mailbox.
[Mailbox]
Starter Package x1
Golden Random Box x1
“Oh.”
There were no coins in sight, but something that looked far better had appeared.
A package, and even a random box with the modifier ‘Golden’ attached to it.
“This place has great service.”
But one star because it tore me away from Iris without warning.
Anyway, I decided to open the Starter Package first without wasting any more time.
I pressed the button to claim the Starter Package.
Ding-
[Would you like to open the Starter Package?]
[※Warning, an opened package cannot be restored]
“Talk about unnecessary scare tactics.”
It was such a stock phrase that game companies practically spammed it, so it didn't make much of an impression on me.
Without any real hesitation, I immediately pressed the open button.
Pop!
Along with an effect of a burst of pure white light, the package box opened.
This really does feel like I bought a package in a game.
[Starter Package]
[Beginner Equipment Set x1]
[Random Skill Acquisition Ticket x1]
[10 Inventory Slots]
[500 Coins]
“Yes, this is it!”
It was a list that made an exclamation leap out of me the moment I saw it. I had been prepared to bow in every direction if it gave me even 200 coins, but it had given me a full 500.
On top of that, there was an equipment set and skill acquisition ticket that made my heart race just from their names, plus an inventory—the pièce de résistance of any status window!
This was the most substantial Starter Package I'd seen in all twenty-one years of my life.
“Let's buy the AR pass first.”
I still didn't know when the products in the shop would change.
If I wasted time drawing equipment or skills and missed the AR pass, all I could do would be to sit on the floor and sob.
[Would you like to purchase the AR Pass?]
[500 Coins]
[Y/N]
Without hesitation, I immediately pressed the yes button.
[The AR Pass has been confirmed]
[The Otherworld Dating App is performing an update]
[You cannot use the app while the update is in progress]
[Estimated update time: 00:00:10]
[Update in progress…]
[Update complete]
As the final message appeared, my phone screen turned off. Immediately afterward, a familiar screen appeared before my eyes.
“...This is amazing.”
─────
[Otherworld Dating App]
[Match]
[Shop]
[Profile]
[Mailbox]
─────
It was surprising enough that a status window like the ones I'd seen in web novels had appeared before my eyes, but I didn't even have to touch it one by one.
Of course, it wasn't that touch no longer worked; an additional function had been added that moved the UI according to what I imagined.
For a feature that cost only 500 coins, it was absurdly generous.
“Talk about foresight.”
The biggest advantage was that it could handle an unforeseen accident in which I couldn't use my phone or might have lost it.
I'd only bought a single item, but my heart felt as full as if I'd just had a bowl of gukbap on a freezing winter day.
This was why it was good when everything was handed out generously, like a market vendor's hospitality.
Honestly, I would have been happy even if the package had contained nothing but coins, but I wouldn't have felt nearly as good as I did now.
Since it had come up, I decided to open the Beginner Equipment Set and Random Skill Acquisition Ticket from our generous package.
[Would you like to use the Beginner Equipment Set?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
[Before using the Beginner Equipment Set, please select your desired class]
Class?
[Warrior]
[Archer]
[Mage]
[Assassin]
[Blacksmith]
[Priest]
˙
˙
˙
˙
“Damn, it's thorough.”
I was planning to take the mage route.
With the buffs the app had given me, and an 8th-Circle archmage as my teacher, would I be crazy enough to choose something else?
Naturally, the moment I saw the Beginner Equipment Set and Random Skill Acquisition Ticket, I hoped something mage-related would come out.
'If something like an axe came out of the equipment set, it'd go straight to Karrot Market.'
Mage-related weapons and artifacts weren't things someone like me, with no connections, could easily obtain. Even if I had the money, acquiring them required going through several complicated procedures.
[You have selected Mage]
[Basic mage equipment has been stored in your inventory]
With my expectations maxed out, I opened my inventory.
[Inventory]
[Assistant Monocle]
[Magic Ring]
[Wooden Wand]
There were three pieces of equipment in the inventory in total.
[Assistant Monocle]
[Grade: Rare]
[Visualizes the flow of magical power]
[Magic Ring]
[Grade: Rare]
[Slightly increases the power of magic]
[Wooden Wand]
[Grade: Rare]
[Casting time is slightly reduced, and the power of magic is slightly increased]
I'm the kind of person whose emotions have run dry and who has no tears left.
“I feel like I'm really about to cry.”
All I could say was that this was insane.
Every piece of equipment was ridiculous. Beginner Equipment Set? They called it beginner equipment, but every single item would cost several thousand if I tried to buy it at a department store. Even having the money wouldn't mean I could purchase them whenever I wanted.
I just didn't know exactly what it meant for this monocle to visualize the flow of magical power.
"Hmm... Even after putting it on, I can't tell what's different."
On the outside, it was simply a stylish monocle.
Still, judging by the fact that it was Rare grade like the other equipment, it definitely had to be useful for something.
I could test its exact performance later, so for now, I decided to open the Random Skill Acquisition Ticket.
[Would you like to use the Random Skill Acquisition Ticket?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
[It has been confirmed that your first match has been completed]
[The grade of the Random Skill Acquisition Ticket is increasing]
...What?
[It has been confirmed that you selected the Mage class from the Beginner Equipment Set]
[The pool has been narrowed to mage-exclusive skills]
[In progress……]
I was dazed by this sudden, absurdly exciting situation for only a moment.
[Weakness Insight]
[Grade: Epic]
[You can identify weaknesses]
At the screen that appeared before my eyes, I screamed so loudly that the house nearly came down.
Until the person downstairs banged on my front door over and over, complaining that I was being noisy.
#12. Gacha