The Price of a Single Glance
"Hey, oppa. Look at that woman over there."
"...You mean the lady standing in front of the bargain sale corner?"
"Haa... Minus thirty thousand points. Look at this. And you still think you can handle university life without me?"
...Excuse me? What the hell did I do wrong to lose thirty thousand points instead of just three?
"Looking at your face, it seems like you have no idea what you did wrong. But the very act of looking at another woman is the mistake!"
What am I even hearing right now...? I didn't even talk to her. I just glanced at an auntie who was more than fifty meters away, where I could barely make out her features. Is that a crime? Why not just blind me completely while you're at it? At this rate I might as well be playing kick-the-can in the jungle yelling "Iku!" This isn't protecting me; it's turning me into a blindfolded servant. And besides...
"Arin, you were the one who told me to look...?"
"Idiot! If I tell you to look, why would you actually look? If I told you to kiss me right here, would you do that too?! ...Wait, that actually sounds pretty good♡"
Huuuuh!!! Someone please take this crazy girl away before I lose my mind!
---------------
Today was Saturday. With March starting, the late winter chill had eased off a bit. It was a bright weekend afternoon, the kind where you could already feel the early spring energy of new sprouts and the fresh start of a new semester.
And here I was, dragged out to the department store by my cousin Kim Arin, who had claimed Saturday as part of the "weekend date rights" that had been half-forcibly established after I declared I would start university life. From the earlier situation, you can probably guess that while it was technically a date, the surface reason was my social rehabilitation therapy. That meant I was being subjected to something like an exam...
"Haa... Already minus seventy thousand points, oppa? This is exactly why I opposed you going to university!"
Kim Arin sighed dramatically, emphasizing the absurd number. She puffed out her chest—which was so large it might as well have been the same as a phone number—and struck a pose that screamed 'Oppa needs me to protect him after all!' I couldn't help but sigh along with her.
"Haa... Arin. Honestly, as a man, my common sense is a little—"
"Not a little. A lot."
"Y-yeah, sure. It's true that I'm seriously lacking, but isn't this too much of a stretch? You said being with you would give me plus one hundred thousand points, but just because women around me look at me I lose a hundred thousand, and then because my shoulder brushed against another woman in a crowded elevator I lose forty thousand, and now you told me to look but when I did you dock me thirty thousand? That's basically telling me to just stay locked up at home!"
It wasn't even "a single touch could be fatal" territory. In the packed elevator on a weekend, the moment my shoulder touched someone else's she glared at me and started yelling. And the way other women looked at me wasn't something I could control anyway!
"Yes, exactly, oppa! If you just stay home, I'll feed you, put you to bed, wash your clothes... I'll do everything for you, okay?"
I think something weird slipped in there, but I'll pretend I didn't hear it. This girl basically just wants to confine me, doesn't she?
"No can do, Arin. Your oppa is a grown adult now, you know? I'm really grateful for everything you and Aunt have done for me until now, but I think I need to stand on my own two feet as a person!"
Of course, I wasn't entirely sure if they'd been taking care of me or raising me like livestock. In my heart I wanted to shout "No confinement play!" and smack her on the head to enforce some justice, but with that cute face of hers she'd probably respond with 'Huh? You hit me, oppa? If you feel the same way I do, that means we're one now♡ Yap yap♡' and then deliver a real nuclear punch that would split my skull open. So I kept my words as gentle as possible while trying to persuade her.
No, wait. Am I playing a dating sim right now? Or am I a Dark Souls speedrunner who spends all day rolling on the floor with no stamina? Every single choice makes my heart pound so hard I'm going to have a heart attack. And not the heart-fluttering kind filled with love—the kind packed with skulls where one wrong choice shows you a You're dead screen!
"Why do you insist on standing on your own two feet? You're not thinking of leaving me for some other woman to do this and that with, are you? We kissed, you said you liked me, we're on a date right now..."
"Th-that's not it so stop!"
The moment Kim Arin started channeling a rapper, her eyes gradually losing focus in that terrifying way, I quickly cast the "stop" spell. See? Where the hell is the heart-fluttering dating sim in any of this!
"If that's not it, then what's the reason?"
The truth was that I wanted to do this and that with Han Seol-a, whom I'd run into the day before, but saying that here would only lead to a bad ending. Time to mix in a harmless white lie and gloss over it.
"For the Arin I like..."
I don't love her, but I do like her. She's cute, isn't she?
"I'll buy you snacks..."
I've always wanted a cute little sister like Kim Arin. Wanting to buy snacks for my little sister is the truth, yep.
"Since we're going to the same university anyway, I thought it might be nice to buy us matching outfits?"
"M-matching outfits? Are you talking about couple tees?!"
Not couple tees, department tees. As in, faculty T-shirts. But they were still matching outfits, so maybe it would barely pass?
"Hic... And here I was not even realizing how oppa felt... One hundred points—no, plus one million points! I hereby permit oppa's university life!"
Um, excuse me? Even if you don't permit it, I'm still going to university, you know? Watching Kim Arin tear up at my bright red lie, I found myself wondering, 'Maybe out of all the heroines, Arin was actually the easiest one to conquer...?'
"Right, since we're here, we should start preparing for oppa's university life properly. Let's go match our outfits first!"
Wiping away emotional tears, Kim Arin grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the area where clothes were hanging. Ooh! Is this finally a proper dating-sim shopping event? I'm excited!
...Said the idiot who was me five minutes ago.
It took exactly five minutes to plunge my previously pounding heart—which had been thrilled at the prospect of a pink-tinted dating-sim event—straight into the abyss.
The place Kim Arin led me to was the men's clothing section. Naturally, as a man, it was a space I was familiar with.
No, more accurately, it was a space I used to be familiar with...
My eyes were rotting away at the sight of all the fluttering lace in front of me. Oh, were you disappointed that the tops and pants had hot-gay-looking lace on them? If only it were that simple.
In my original world, I'd been a shut-in who only played dating sims all day. How much could I possibly know about fashion? Lacy decorations on the wrists, necklines, or pant hems? Or those tight triangular underwear on display that looked like they'd make our little friend scream "J-just kill me!" if worn instead of breathable trunks that protected his health? Those were things I could probably handle if I closed my eyes tight. Even when I went down to the countryside for New Year's wearing nothing but combat fatigues because picking real clothes was too annoying, I could still wear stuff like that.
So what exactly was making my face rot like this?
It was...
"Oh my~ Our valued... I mean, dear customer~ You have as good an eye as your handsome face suggests~ The product you're looking at is our store's bestseller. Its key feature is that it attaches as softly as a feather without irritating protruding nipples, and we've increased the volume to improve coverage so even customers with larger areolas can wear it without worry. This is our Nipple Patch! Additionally, the outer surface features lace designed by a famous designer that evokes a seductive black rose, making it perfect as a fashion item as well..."
Gyaaaaah! Stop explaining, you crazy hot-gay salesperson! My "how do you do" demands unrepressed freedom, thank you very much?!
Nipple Patch. In other words, in the original world, it was something women wore to cover their nipples when putting on revealing clothes like off-shoulder tops or swimsuits instead of a bra.
Yes, women. Not men—women!
Yet here those same nipple patches—already bad enough if they just covered the nipples—were proudly displayed in the men's clothing section with nauseating black-rose-evoking lace that made my head spin just looking at them! And it wasn't just one or two. They were taking up entire display corners in every store like the bra section in a women's lingerie shop.
"How about it, customer~ Would you like to try one on? The fitting room is in the center of the store, so please let me know if the size doesn't fit~"
"N-no thanks. I won't be trying it on!"
In my heart I wanted to hurl the damn nipple patch to the floor, channel the green hero monster from Earth, rip off my top and scream "My nipples demand freedom, gyaaaaah!" in a fit of rage. But I barely held it in. Besides, why would something that's basically a sticker even have sizes?
Whew... Right. This is a world where gender roles are reversed. I need to get used to it.
Of course, that didn't mean I would ever wear one of those lacy hot-gay nipple patches.
Even though I tried to control my expression, I must have failed. The sales clerk walked away muttering something that was supposed to be quiet but was perfectly audible: 'Looks like a rag and won't even buy anything, hmph...!' I could see the back of her head as she left.
"Ugh, should I smack her or what? More importantly, where the hell is Arin?"
She'd been stuck to my side like a leech when we rode the escalator up. But after seeing the colorful nightmare of nipple patches, her face had turned bright red. She'd said "O-oppa, I need to use the restroom..." with an innocent expression that matched her appearance, then disappeared. That was twenty minutes ago, and there was still no sign of her coming back.
"Maybe I should call her..."
"Huh? Seulgi!"
A familiar voice calling my name. In this world, the only familiar voices were Kim Arin's, Kim Seon-a's, and...
"Seol-a noona?"
When I turned toward the voice, I saw Han Seol-a—the one who had saved me from that convenience store clerk yesterday—waving as she approached.
"What a surprise running into you here, Seulgi."
She came right up to me and smiled brightly as if delighted to see me. That perfectly sweet, innocent smile from another world almost made me smile back, but I barely stopped myself. After what happened yesterday, I couldn't just smile carelessly again!
"Did you come shopping before starting university life too, noona? What a coincidence~"
Since it was none other than Han Seol-a, I added a slight eye-smile to my words. She responded with a soft chuckle.
"Hehe~ You're right. What a coincidence indeed~"
Warning! The favorability of the romanceable heroine, Han Seol-a, has exceeded 99%.
(※Caution. If a heroine's favorability exceeds 99%, she may exhibit extreme behaviors including obsession, suspicion, and violence. This can extend to serious actions toward the player and surrounding characters as well.)
Confirmed that player Kim Seulgi has conquered 0 heroines. The special reward 'Heroine Favorability Alarm' and its accompanying warning message will not be transmitted to player Kim Seulgi.