Chapter 12
#12. Gacha
The old, worn-out flooring, the yellowed wallpaper, even the view from my rooftop room, with Seoul's nighttime high-rises visible in the distance between old villas outside the window.
It was a familiar sight.
It was my home, which cost only a 1-million-won deposit and 200,000 won in monthly rent.
“I really did come back.”
Until just moments ago, I'd been in a cavern that was pointlessly spacious and fucking dark, but in an instant, I'd returned to my own home...
In the blink of an eye? No, I hadn't even blinked.
I had simply been in my home from one moment to the next.
As though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Ding-
“...What the hell is this app?”
I took out my phone at the sound of the familiar notification.
[☆Congratulations on Kang Hyunwoo's first match!☆]
[Affection change]
[Iris Lemeria Baiart Peledia 1♡ → 85♡]
[Bond level change]
[Iris Lemeria Baiart Peledia Lv.0 → Lv.1]
[300 Love Coins have been awarded as a reward]
[An additional reward has been awarded to commemorate your first match]
[Congratulations on becoming an official customer]
[Shop function unlocked]
[Mailbox function unlocked]
Sure enough, so many things had popped up that they filled the phone screen.
“What is all this?”
It was fairly cluttered, but when I slowly read through everything one by one, none of it was incomprehensible.
I set aside things like Iris's affection and bond level for now. The warmth of Iris still lingering in my hand made it unpleasant to regard them as nothing more than elements from a simple dating sim.
“...Can't I go back to Iris?”
Fortunately, the match record remained, so I could view Iris's profile.
[Name: Iris Lemeria Baiart Peledia]
[Age: 524]
[Race: High Elf]
[Affiliation: EB-17]
[Occupation: Archmage]
[Disposition: Sage ruler, pacifist, devoted, vegetarian······]
[Time remaining until rematch: 167:58:45]
“A week left.”
I hadn't expected to be able to rematch right away, 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 had appeared at just the right moment and was useful, but it didn't tell me what item I needed.
“Maybe it's in the shop?”
The shop, which had been locked before I met Iris, was now open.
[The shop's merchandise changes every time, so if you see something you need, don't miss it]
“So it's a random shop?”
There weren't that many kinds of merchandise. About ten, maybe?
“Iron Sword, 200 coins; Basic Alchemy Package, 500 coins; Basic Swordsmanship Manual, 550 coins; Lowest-Grade Health Potion, 600 coins; Lowest-Grade Mana Potion, 600 coins; Top Actress Random Pussy-Licking Ticket, 800 coins...? What the hell is this??”
My head began to spin.
Even if I accepted everything else, what the hell was a Top Actress Random Pussy-Licking Ticket?
I didn't have 800 coins to buy it anyway, but I tapped it because I wanted to at least hear its explanation.
[Top Actress Random Pussy-Licking Ticket]
[Rank: Common]
[We offer you the opportunity to lick the pussy of an actress who exceeds a certain threshold when evaluated overall by the box-office performance of her works, the level of her appearance fees, her award history, and her popularity]
“...Huh.”
Were these people seriously fucking insane?
This pussy-licking ticket had a serious flaw despite costing 800 coins.
First of all, there was no way to fix the age range.
There were famous actresses in their twenties and thirties, but there were also plenty who were over forty.
“Urgh...!”
“Fuck... Just imagining it made me feel sick.”
“I'm never buying it.”
I moved it aside and looked at the remaining merchandise.
Most of the products were exactly what their names suggested, so there wasn't much interesting about them. But there were two.
Two things caught my eye.
“The AR (Augmented Reality) Ticket and the Random Box.”
The AR Ticket was something whose description alone made me desperately want to buy it.
With this, I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of taking out my phone every time I used the dating app.
It was an item that added convenience like the status windows in novels, and it cost only 500 coins.
Of course, all I had was 300 coins...
“Damn capitalism...”
It felt as though tears of blood were flowing, but there was nothing I could do about it right now.
When I forcibly turned my head away, my eyes landed on the Random Box decorating one corner of the shop.
Each one cost only 50 coins, but there was no telling what would come out. There wasn't even a probability table.
“...It's not going to give me something like toilet paper, is it?”
The price was certainly cheap.
Even I, a dirt-poor loser with only 300 coins, could buy six of them. But my instincts were telling me that buying one would be insane.
I could practically see 300 coins evaporating into thin air before my eyes.
“I'll check the things I received as those whatever rewards over there first.”
I only needed 200 more coins to buy the AR Ticket.
Hoping the rewards would be coins, I opened the mailbox.
[Mailbox]
Starter Package x1
Golden Random Box x1
“Oh.”
I couldn't see any coins, but something that looked much better than coins had appeared.
An entire package, plus a Random Box with the modifier ‘Golden’ attached to its name.
“This place has great service.”
But one star for tearing me away from Iris.
Anyway, I decided to open the Starter Package first without delaying any longer.
I pressed the button to receive the Starter Package.
Ding-
[Would you like to open the Starter Package?]
[※Warning: Once opened, a package cannot be undone]
“They're needlessly trying to scare me.”
It was a phrase game companies practically spammed, so it didn't make much of an impression on me.
Without giving it much thought, I immediately pressed the open button.
Pop!
The package box opened amid an effect of bursting white light.
This really did feel like buying a package in a game.
[Starter Package]
[Beginner's Equipment Set x1]
[Skill Acquisition Ticket x1]
[10-slot Inventory]
[500 Coins]
“That's more like it!”
It was a list that made an exclamation escape me the moment I saw it. I'd been planning to bow in all four directions even if it gave me only 200 coins, but it had given me 500.
On top of that, there was an equipment set and skill acquisition ticket that made my heart pound just from their names, as well as an inventory—the crowning touch of any status window!
This was the first Starter Package in my entire twenty-one years of life with such solid contents.
“Let's buy the AR Ticket first.”
I still didn't know when the shop's merchandise changed.
If I missed the AR Ticket because I foolishly spent my coins rolling for equipment or skills, all I could do would be to sit on the floor and bawl.
[Would you like to purchase the AR Ticket?]
[500 Coins]
[Y/N]
Without hesitation, I immediately pressed the Yes button.
[AR Ticket confirmed]
[The Otherworld Dating App is updating]
[The app cannot be used while the update is in progress]
[Estimated update time: 00:00:10]
[Update in progress…]
[Update complete]
As the final message appeared, the phone screen went dark. Immediately afterward, a familiar screen appeared before my eyes.
“...This is amazing.”
─────
[Otherworld Dating App]
[Matching]
[Shop]
[Profile]
[Mailbox]
─────
It was surprising enough that a status window from a web novel had appeared before my eyes, but I didn't even need to touch each item individually.
Of course, it wasn't that touch input stopped working; the option to move the UI according to my imagination had simply been added.
It was far too generous for a feature that cost only 500 coins.
“Talk about foresight.”
The biggest advantage was that it could handle unforeseen accidents in which I couldn't use my phone or might have lost it.
I'd only bought a single item, but I felt as reassured as if I'd just downed a bowl of gukbap on a freezing winter day.
This was why it was good when businesses had the generosity of a traditional market.
Honestly, even if the package had contained nothing but coins, I would have been happy, but I wouldn't have felt as good as I did now.
Since I was on the subject, I decided to open the Beginner's Equipment Set and Skill Acquisition Ticket from our generous package.
[Would you like to use the Beginner's Equipment Set?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
[Before using the Beginner's Equipment Set, please select your desired class]
Class?
[Warrior]
[Archer]
[Mage]
[Assassin]
[Blacksmith]
[Priest]
˙
˙
˙
˙
“Damn, that's considerate.”
I was planning to take the mage route.
With the buffs the app had given me and an 8th-Circle archmage as my master, I'd have to be insane to choose anything else.
Naturally, the moment I saw the Beginner's Equipment Set and Skill Acquisition Ticket, I hoped they would produce something mage-related.
'If it had given me something like an axe in the equipment set, I'd have sent it straight to Carrot Market.'
Weapons and artifacts related to mages weren't things someone without connections like me could easily obtain. Even if I had the money, I would have to go through all sorts of complicated procedures to get them.
[You have selected Mage]
[The mage's basic equipment has been stored in your inventory]
Filled with anticipation, I opened my inventory.
[Inventory]
[Assistant Monocle]
[Magic Ring]
[Wooden Wand]
There were three pieces of equipment in my inventory in total.
[Assistant Monocle]
[Rank: Rare]
[Visualizes the flow of mana]
[Magic Ring]
[Rank: Rare]
[Spell power increases slightly]
[Wooden Wand]
[Rank: Rare]
[Casting time is reduced slightly, and spell power increases slightly]
I was a person so emotionally dried up that I couldn't even cry.
“I feel like I'm actually going to cry.”
All I could say was that it was insane.
Every piece of equipment was absurd. Beginner's Equipment Set? It was called beginner's equipment, but every item would cost several thousand at a department store. And even with the money, I couldn't just buy them.
However, I wasn't sure exactly what it meant for the monocle to visualize the flow of mana.
"Hmm... I can't tell what's different even after putting it on."
On the surface, it was just a sleekly designed monocle.
Still, judging by the fact that it was Rare rank like the other equipment, it clearly had to be useful for something.
I could test its exact performance later, so for now, I decided to open the Skill Acquisition Ticket.
[Would you like to use the Skill Acquisition Ticket?]
[Y/N]
[Y]
[The first match has been completed]
[The Skill Acquisition Ticket's rank will increase]
...What?
[We have confirmed that you selected the Mage class from the Beginner's Equipment Set]
[The pool has been narrowed to mage-exclusive skills]
[In progress……]
For a moment, I was left dumbfounded by this sudden, insanely fun hidden-camera-prank-like situation.
[Weakness Insight]
[Rank: Epic]
[Allows you to identify weaknesses]
I screamed so loudly that the house itself seemed ready to shake apart.
Until the downstairs neighbor banged on my front door because I was being noisy.