Provisional Protagonist

“Candy…?”

I read the system message and immediately checked the top-left slot of my inventory.

Where the treasure chest icon had been just moments ago, a heart-shaped container icon now sat in its place.

I tapped the icon.

“Whoa.”

It was a pretty interesting item.

Was I supposed to give this to a heroine and use it to push the capture forward?

I nodded to myself.

“…But what am I supposed to do now?”

Returning to the main menu, I tilted my head in confusion.

There was nothing left to progress with.

According to the quest, I needed to kiss and go on a date to make any headway, but there were no options for that.

The main menu only had ‘Quest’ and ‘My Page.’ Inside those, the only accessible sections were ‘Promotion Quest’ and ‘Inventory.’

There was no ‘Meet a Heroine’ or ‘Story Progression’ menu at all.

I closed the app and reopened it.

But the result was the same. Nothing had changed.

“Maybe I need to do something in the inventory.”

After circling through the app once more and returning to the inventory, I tapped the candy generator icon again.

Several buttons appeared in the bottom-right corner of the description.

[Materialize] [Return]…….

“So I just have to press this to make progress?”

There were five buttons in the bottom-right corner.

Although multiple buttons existed, only the ‘Materialize’ button could be pressed. The rest were all grayed out and unusable.

I tapped the Materialize button.

- Thud

“Huh?”

I had been staring at the phone screen wondering what would happen when, suddenly, a heart-shaped container appeared beside me and dropped onto the bed with a soft thud. My eyes widened in surprise.

A message also popped up on the Heroine App.

Still feeling dazed, I picked up the heart-shaped container beside me.

It had physical weight. I could clearly feel the sensation of touching it.

It wasn’t a hologram. It was a real, tangible object.

“Holy shit.”

What the hell was this?

I opened the lid of the container.

Inside were ten heart-shaped red candies, each individually wrapped.

I stared at the app with a dumbfounded expression.

The only thing displayed was the message confirming that the candy generator had been materialized.

I unwrapped one of the candies and popped it into my mouth.

A sweet strawberry flavor spread across my tongue, tangy and delicious.

A container had suddenly appeared out of thin air, and inside it were real candies.

“Wow…”

I looked back at the phone screen.

[Materialize] [Return]…….

When I swiped past the message and looked at the buttons again, the ‘Materialize’ button was now grayed out and unusable, while the Return button had become active.

I carefully tapped the Return button.

When I looked to the side, the heart-shaped container had vanished without a trace.

It was like magic.

The only thing that remained was the single unwrapped candy still in my hand.

- Gulp

When I pressed the Materialize button again, the message appeared once more, and the heart-shaped container materialized beside me.

When I opened it, there were now nine candies inside.

“Is this for real?”

The shape of the container was identical to the heart-shaped icon of the item I’d obtained from the app.

It was clear.

This heart-shaped container next to me was the Heroine App’s item, the Sweet Love Candy Generator.

After that, I repeated the materialize and return process several more times.

And of course, the result was the same every time.

Whenever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I materialized it, the candy generator appeared. Whenever I returned it, the candy generator disappeared.

I quickly closed the app and opened the store.

Then I searched for ‘Heroine App.’

“……”

Next, I checked the new applications list.

This was where I had originally downloaded the Heroine App.

“It’s gone.”

But it wasn’t there.

Even when I checked my download history, there was no record of me ever downloading the Heroine App.

I searched the internet as well, but there was zero information about it.

“Hahaha……”

Only then did I finally understand.

This wasn’t some ordinary dating sim app.

The fact that it had known my name from the very beginning wasn’t a coincidence.

“And.”

The quest as well.

The items from the Heroine App were objects that could be summoned into reality.

The reason I had received the item was as a starting reward for the quest.

The quest was to go on a date and kiss a woman I had never dated before. The item was essentially a support tool given to me to make that process easier.

Right now, I was a provisional protagonist. To advance to 10th Class Protagonist, I had to complete the quest.

The app had given me the item to make clearing the quest easier.

And that item could be materialized in reality. There was no “Start Game” button in the app. In other words, the item could only be used in the real world.

So where exactly was the quest supposed to take place?

‘In reality, obviously.’

It wasn’t that the app was stuck with no way to progress. The quest had been meant to be carried out in this very reality from the beginning.

“……”

I looked at the app and let out a small chuckle.

It was the perfect cliché from one of those trashy web novels I used to read.

But none of that mattered.

Whether this phenomenon was a cliché from a trashy novel or not, the important thing was that it was happening to me.

“Alright.”

Since something like this had happened to me, I was going to make full use of this app.

******

Two hours passed.

I began researching the Heroine App as thoroughly as possible.

Of course, I didn’t learn much, but I was able to confirm a few key facts.

The Heroine App was real, and the items obtained from it could be summoned into reality. Whether their effects actually worked was still unknown, though.

“In addition, the summoning location can be controlled at will within a 3-meter radius, and the item appears within 5 seconds of pressing the materialize button……”

I organized my findings in a memo app and nodded.

Then I pressed the materialize button on the Heroine App and reached out into the air.

The system message appeared as expected.

I looked down at my hand.

The heart-shaped container was now resting in my palm.

“Just as I thought.”

No matter how many times I tried, the result was the same.

If I pressed the materialize button while imagining a specific location and time, the item would appear there.

The range and timing weren’t that long, but it might come in handy later.

“I could seriously become a magician with this.”

Just as I was enjoying myself, my phone suddenly started vibrating.

- Vrrrrrrrr-

I checked the screen.

[ Yoon Yujeong Noona ]

“Ah.”

I quickly glanced at the time.

It was currently 10:22 PM.

“Fuck.”

I was screwed!

My part-time shift started at 10 PM.

Normally I would arrive about fifteen minutes early to take over the shift comfortably, but I had been so absorbed in the Heroine App that I completely lost track of time.

I hurriedly answered the call.

“Hello—”

“Hey! Why aren’t you here yet?!”

Before I could even greet her, a sharp voice came through the speaker. I replied apologetically.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Something urgent came up.”

“Ugh. Then you should’ve told me in advance! Where are you? How long until you get here?”

“I’m at home… about twenty minutes.”

I answered while quickly throwing on my clothes. A frustrated groan came from the other end.

“Ugh. Hey! Because of you, I’m gonna be an hour late getting off work.”

“I’m really sorry……”

I instinctively lowered my head even though she couldn’t see me.

Just as I was about to end the call with a simple apology, I suddenly remembered the Heroine App quest.

And then I added,

“…I’m really sorry. I’ll treat you to a nice meal next time.”