Promotion to 10th Class Protagonist

"Okay."

I looked over the string of messages that followed and tapped the screen. A clean, simple management window for normal heroines appeared.

So this is how you check on registered heroines?

I tapped the View Details button next to the name Kang Sujeong.

"Whoa."

The moment I tapped View Details, a full profile on Kang Sujeong popped up on the screen. I scrolled through the information.

"No way… her Affection dropped by one while I was reading."

I clicked my tongue after checking Kang Sujeong’s Affection. It had been 09 while I was reading through the heroine setup list, but it had already fallen to 08. It was probably because of how I’d acted toward her when she came down earlier.

"Still, her Fated Connection went up by one… Anyway, what’s this stat information about?"

Curious, I tapped the + button next to the Basic Physical Evaluation.

"So that’s how it works."

I was a little surprised by how detailed the stats were.

"But… Kang Sujeong’s Appearance and Figure are overwhelmingly high."

Her stats were unusual. Compared to her other physical abilities, her Appearance and Figure scores were overwhelmingly higher. Without those two, her average physical ability would have stayed in the early twenties, but thanks to them it had been pulled up into the thirties.

"Let’s check the mental stats next."

I pressed the - button next to the physical stats to close the detailed view, then tapped the + button beside the mental evaluation.

"Hmm. Well, nothing too special."

Just like with the physical stats, a detailed breakdown of Kang Sujeong’s mental abilities appeared. The mental category included things like Focus, Charisma, Charm, and many others. Her only standout mental stat was Charm in the mid-to-late forties; everything else hovered between the late twenties and early thirties.

This basically means she’s an appearance one-trick, doesn’t it?

She had clearly superior looks, figure, and charm compared to the average person, but the rest of her stats seemed to sit at completely ordinary levels. Put nicely, she had outstanding appearance. Put harshly, she had nothing but her appearance. Well, I still didn’t know exactly what the difference between 20 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and 30 points meant, so I couldn’t jump to conclusions yet. I did acknowledge that her looks and body were far above average, though.

"…Should I move on?"

There wasn’t anything else particularly noteworthy besides Charm, so I was about to press the - button. But then a question occurred to me.

"…Hm. I wonder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if I can raise the stats?"

I stopped my hand before hitting the button and instead tapped the Charm stat.

"Aha."

So this was what the coins were for.

"But damn, it’s expensive…"

I had only received 500 coins as a celebration for reaching 10th Class Protagonist, yet raising a stat by one point cost 70 coins.

"Hmm… what about Affection?"

This time I tapped Kang Sujeong’s Affection value.

"Oh, it works…?"

I hadn’t expected it to, but Affection could be raised too. And the price was cheap. Maybe because Charm was already in the forties while Affection was still in the single digits.

"Should I test it?"

I decided to raise her Affection a little as an experiment.

"Hmm. Looks like the cost changes every ten points."

Raising it from 8 to 10 had only cost 5 coins per point, but once it entered the teens, each point cost 10 coins. I decided to keep spending until I had exactly 400 coins left.

"Phew."

With this, Kang Sujeong’s Affection, which had been scraping the bottom, had reached a somewhat respectable number. Considering her friend Jang Yehwa’s Affection was at 13, this felt like a pretty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠decent value. If I raised it seven more points from here, it would match Yoon Yujeong’s level.

"I get the general idea now."

After raising Affection to 19, I went on to tap Kang Sujeong’s Fated Connection, Sexual Desire, Appetite, and Fatigue as well. Unfortunately, it seemed Fated Connection couldn’t be raised with coins.

Just what is Fated Connection, anyway…

I returned to the main menu.

"But where do I even earn coins?"

It looked like the core of this Heroine App was the coins. If I could raise stats with them, it meant I could do pretty much anything with them. That meant there had to be a way to obtain them…

"It’s probably through quests, right?"

I tapped the Quest menu.

Previously there had only been the Promotion/Advancement Quest, but after ranking up, a new Daily Quest submenu had appeared. I tapped Daily Quest. Just like when I first entered the normal heroine menu, another message blocked my view.

"Oh. Nice."

I read the message with satisfaction. As expected, the way to earn coins was through quests.

"What…?"

I reflexively spoke out loud at the following line. If I didn’t complete the daily quests, I could lose my protagonist qualification? That was completely unexpected. I quickly looked at the screen.

"Huh."

It looked like I had to complete three daily quests per day.

"Still… it’s less than I thought… right?"

If it had been more than three I would have been in trouble, but three seemed manageable. I decided to test one of the three categories and selected Basic Physical.

….

"…Is this for real?"

Cancel that. Three daily quests was actually a huge amount. Ten kilometers, fifty pull-ups, and five thousand jump ropes? The basic units themselves were ridiculous.

And the rewards are stingy too…

"I can only do three pull-ups max…"

And that was when I gave it everything I had. I kept scrolling through the quests. There were tons of them under Basic Physical, but every single one was difficult and time-consuming.

"Huu."

I let out a sigh and moved on to the Basic Mental daily quests.

….

"Hmm."

These were at least doable. But both the physical and mental daily quests generally ate up a ridiculous amount of time. It was almost funny that the 30-minute meditation quest felt like the most realistic one.

"Then the only one left is Heroine…"

Finally, I moved on to the Heroine daily quests. The moment I clicked the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Heroine list, a bunch of daily quests unfolded across the screen.

"Hmm…"

There were also quite a few relatively normal-sounding quests. I kept scrolling down.