The Preliminary Protagonist

White letters appeared against a black background. The moment I touched the screen, the welcoming message for the Heroine App vanished, replaced by a new one.

“Protagonist registration?”

Hmm. It was probably something like creating a new character or ID. With that half-hearted thought, I tapped the Yes button.

A message announced that registration was underway, followed by a brief loading period. I waited quietly, staring at my phone. The loading finished faster than I expected.

“That’s a bit grandiose.”

The registration had gone ridiculously smoothly. I let out a small snort and moved to tap the screen again.

Huh?

But right then, a single question flashed through my mind.

Now that I think about it, how did it know my name?

I stared at the message. My real name was clearly written there. It was also strange that registration had finished without me entering anything—just pressing Yes. Normally these things asked for an ID, or at the very least a nickname…

Must be linked to another account.

Still, the doubt vanished as quickly as it had appeared. These days, big sites usually had their accounts well connected anyway. My tiny brain wasn’t equipped to suspect anything more. I tapped the screen and moved past the message.

“Preliminary Protagonist?”

If you’re the protagonist, you’re the protagonist—so what the hell is a preliminary one?

Hmm. Looked like this was the tutorial. I quietly tapped the screen.

- Pop!

“Oh.”

The dark background disappeared, replaced by a cute yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠refined design that looked exactly like a modern game app. Not bad at all. But because it was still the tutorial, the screen only had one menu available: Quest.

I tapped the Quest button.

There were four choices inside the quest menu. Out of those, only one was selectable. Guess I should just follow instructions. I tapped the Promotion Quest button.

This time, I could see the quest I needed to complete.

“This is it.”

There was only one quest. Its title read ‘Preliminary Protagonist’ → ‘10th Class Protagonist.’ I tapped the title.

- Pop!

Detailed information about the quest filled the screen. I scrolled through the description.

“Hmm?”

Confusion crossed my face as I read the quest description. What the hell? Date a girl and kiss her? It was completely unexpected.

“Ah…! Now that I think about it, this app.”

Its name was the Heroine App. The question mark on my face faded as I remembered the title and finally understood. Just like the name suggested, this application seemed to be some kind of dating-sim app.

That’s not bad at all.

I read the quest one more time, carefully. I didn’t dislike dating sims. My name is Cheon Jinhyun. After an all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, and military service, I was now living as a part-timer. Sadly I never took the engineering college route, and I didn’t even know the first syllable of the word “dating.” The last time anything romantic happened to me was back in fifth grade when I held hands with a girl from my class on the way to school. A truly legendary, empty life.

To someone like me, a “dating sim” was like rain in a drought. Dating beautiful 2D heroines was a divine gift to this generation.

“Hmm. I wonder what the heroines will look like. Will they be pretty?”

When the message ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Do you accept the quest? appeared, I tapped Yes without the slightest hesitation. A sly smile spread across my face as I imagined what kind of heroines might appear.

“Okay.”

I used the back button to return to the first screen. When the Heroine App’s main menu appeared, a new menu labeled My Page had been added.

When I tapped the My Page menu, two options appeared. Just like the quest menu, one was still locked, while the Inventory option sat right below it.

“Inventory, huh.”

Tapping the Inventory menu brought up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a screen full of slots, exactly as the name implied. Five columns, five rows—twenty-five slots total. Something was written at the top of the inventory.

“An item came in.”

This had to be the starting reward. I looked back at the slots. Out of the twenty-five, only the top-left one was filled. The icon looked like a treasure chest. I tapped the slot with the treasure chest icon.

“There’s a lot written here, but……”

In the end, it wasn’t anything special. After reading it carefully, it was just another random box like the ones that pop up in every other mobile game. I looked at the Use button beneath the box.

“I hope something good comes out.”

According to the description, the grade was fixed, but performance could still vary wildly. I’d never had great gacha luck. I still remembered struggling in other games because of it. These days almost every game had probability-based draws, yet they stayed popular precisely because of that strange addictive thrill.

I wondered what my luck would be like in this one.

“Here we gooo~~!”

With my heart pounding, I tapped the Use button.