Chapter 2: Gacha
Chapter 2: Gacha
"Kuuuk..."
I opened my eyes along with a fatigue that throbbed through my entire body.
"Where is...?"
Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling before my eyes, I hastily pushed my body up.
Was it because I had forced a hard march without eating properly?
It felt like the muscles in my body were screaming.
"Lie down. Your body is not fully healed yet."
A small, delicate hand gently pressed down on my chest as I tried to force myself up.
Turning my head slightly to look to the side, I saw the smile of a woman with her grey hair tied back in a round bun, gazing down at me with golden eyes.
Why was seeing another person for the first time in three days so welcoming?
"Here, take another sip of water."
"Gkul-kkeuk... gkul-kkeuk... Thank you."
The woman even carefully poured the water into my mouth.
For someone who had clearly saved me given the circumstances to take care of me to this extent...
I was truly grateful.
"I will definitely repay this favor. I will do whatever task you order me to do!"
"Huhut. Thank you. However, a man shouldn't say such things carelessly. I might not mind, but other people will misunderstand those words."
Why did her soft smile put a person so much at ease?
[There is a target that can be added to the party]
As I was looking at her like that, a system window popped up in front of my eyes.
Seeing that she could be added to my party since I awakened the B-factor, it was certain that she had awakened the A-factor.
"Hoo? I thought it was strange for a man to wander around alone, but you were a commander. Indeed, there's no way those Fortress bastards would let a man wander around freely. Where did all of your party members go?"
She must have also seen a window pop up showing that she could join a party, as she recognized at a glance that I was an Awakener.
By the way, other party members?
There was no way such a thing existed.
Because I was not a person of this world.
However, even if I suddenly said I came from another world, she wouldn't believe me.
"I don't remember."
In times like this, let's use the amnesia chance.
I put my hand on my head as if feeling a headache and spoke.
"Is that so. You lost your memories from the shock of losing all your party members. Poor thing."
Golden eyes looked at me pityingly.
"Wait here for just a moment."
She stepped away for a moment and soon approached holding bread.
"It seems you haven't eaten properly for several days, so eat even this and perk up."
"Thank you so much. By the way, what is your name?"
"I am called Eunhwa."
Eunhwa... It was a name I was hearing for the first time.
Well, the demo play was roughly just the protagonist's party killing mutants in the beginning and a simple explanation of the world view ending there.
It would be strange to know the name of a person living outside the Fortress.
Anyway, it was a name that suited her silver hair.
"That's a pretty name."
"... Do you go around saying that to other women as well? Be careful, especially when you don't have party members."
"?? Yes."
Why did she keep telling me to be careful of women?
'Is it because it's a world where women are stronger?'
Only women awaken the A-factor. Naturally, on average, women have no choice but to be stronger.
That's probably why she seemed to worry about me so much.
I began to eat the bread Eunhwa brought me.
The soft wheat bread felt like it was melting smoothly in my mouth. It seemed like only a little sugar was added, but for it to be this delicious.
I began stuffing the bread Eunhwa brought into my mouth frantically.
*
Ujeok-ujeok.
Eunhwa really liked the man in front of her who was deliciously eating the bread she made herself.
She had often seen women living outside the Fortress like herself, but it had been far too long since she saw a man.
After mutants appeared, the number of men began to plummet for unknown reasons.
It was natural that unless it was inside the Fortress, men couldn't even be seen.
"May I ask what your name is?"
"Umul-umul... gkul-kkeuk... I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself to my savior first... but I was so hungry I forgot. My name is Kim Junhyuk."
"Kim Junhyuk... That's a good name."
Eunhwa smiled.
"Thank you. By the way, could I know where this place is?"
"This is my house. I want to take you to the Fortress... but it is too far and rough to get there, so doing it alone seems beyond my ability. If you wait a few months, my friends will come visit. I will take you there then."
"I am grateful enough just that you saved me, so waiting a few months is totally fine."
Eunhwa looked at Kim Junhyuk and wore a satisfied smile.
What a cute and lovely child he was.
If it were up to her heart, she wanted to keep living together at her house... but she must not.
There was nothing as ugly as holding a man captive here out of one's own greed.
Why had she left the Fortress?
Wasn't it because she disliked the upper echelon who cared about nothing but their own safety?
"Ah... By the way, by any chance... Ah, never mind. Forget it."
Kim Junhyuk, whom she was looking at so fondly, suddenly stared into empty space and began fidgeting nervously.
To be so defenseless in front of a woman.
'Enduring it isn't an easy task either.'
Eunhwa suppressed the desire to pounce on him right then and there, and asked Kim Junhyuk with a gentle smile.
"Is something the matter? You can speak comfortably."
"That is... by any chance, could you form a party with me?"
"A party..."
Normally, a party request from a man would have made her happy, but not right now.
Once joining the party of a B-factor, they become unable to inflict damage on each other.
Leaving or expulsion is free, but even that requires a week of time.
In other words, Kim Junhyuk's party request right now meant that he could not trust her and wanted to be protected by the power of the party system, so she couldn't help but feel a bit bitter.
"Let us do so."
[Would you like to join Kim Junhyuk-nim's party?]
Eunhwa pressed YES without hesitation.
Even if it was a party request applied because the opponent couldn't trust her, it was a male commander's party.
There was no reason whatsoever to decline.
*
☆Tutorial Start! Put Eunhwa into your party!☆
Reward: 3,000 Jewels
While eating bread, I almost choked and spat out what was in my mouth at the window that popped up before my eyes.
I suffered like crazy for three days, and only now comes the tutorial?!
If you're going to do this, let me do it when I first dropped into this world!
Either way, for now, I tried sending a party join request to Eunhwa.
['Eunhwa' has been added to the party members]
Eunhwa accepted my request so easily.
'This actually works.'
To accept a party request so easily.
If my memory serves me right, accepting a party request wasn't such an easy thing.
Because leaving a party requires a week of time, people personally forming a party almost never happens.
Because it's standard for most commanders to form parties with Awakeners sent by headquarters.
[Tutorial Quest Completed!]
[Reward Acquired]
[Awakener Recruitment Unlocked]
[Daily Reward Acquired]
As I made Eunhwa my party member like that, various messages popped up.
Among them, what caught my attention was Awakener Recruitment.
This was clearly the gacha system from the game.
However, I couldn't figure out in what manner this operated.
In the game, I just had to pull characters and organize my squad on my own, but...
Now that it became reality instead of a game, I didn't even have a clue what kind of system it was.
'But how do I view it?'
Pat!
While I was worrying about what to do, a window popped up in front of my eyes like a hologram.
As if looking at a smartphone screen, an all-too-familiar screen unfolded before my eyes.
'There's even a pick-up event?!'
There was even a pick-up event.
What kind of absurd nonsense is this?
First, I checked my current Jewels. There were a total of 3,100 Jewels.
Since it's 300 Jewels per 1 pull, the usual 10-pull is 3,000 Jewels.
It was an amount that allowed exactly one 10-pull.
'Does that mean the daily reward is 100 Jewels?!'
100 Jewels a day, what am I supposed to do with this pittance?
If there were at least a cash shop, I could spend real money to pull characters.
'Wait, there IS a cash shop...'
On the screen floating before my eyes, there was indeed a cash shop. But what good did that do when I had no money?
Even worse, it didn't even seem like something bought with money I knew.
'She is pretty though.'
I looked at the character featured on the pick-up screen.
A woman with attractive blonde hair and a teardrop mole under her eye.
A cold city woman type of character wearing a dress uniform made me feel the urge to pull, but I held back.
The flexing gacha-luck mindset of thinking I'd pull a character with just a single 10-pull wouldn't be of any help here.
'Eora?'
First, as I looked around to see what features existed, a guaranteed first-timer character pull caught my eye.
In this game, characters aren't divided by tiers/rarities. Instead, the pull pool contained various growth materials and equipment.
Looking at the gacha pool, I saw that the name of the currently featured pick-up character was also included.
'Let's do it right away.'
What I had to do right now was expand my party size as much as possible.
To protect myself in this ruined world, increasing my party members would be the only way.
Without hesitation, I pressed the beginner gacha.
I didn't know in what way characters were summoned, but... let's just pull first!
Among the nine white lights, a single golden light shone brilliantly into my eyes.
[Commander, you must not slack off]
Along with the voice heard upon pulling, the character appeared right before my eyes... was not what happened.
It merely let me hear the voice, and nothing happened.
'Let's wait.'
I didn't know what manner it operated in, but I decided to wait for now.
Because all kinds of level-up materials and growth resources had entered my inventory normally.
*
Kwa-ang-!!
"Damn it! Commander-nim! We must retreat!"
"N-No! If this operation fails, it will bring shame upon our family! Failing such an easy task! Just what kind of useless fools are you people?!"
"Kueuk...!"
Renata, her blonde hair swaying, couldn't even catch her breath under the attacks of the intermediate mutants.
"Take this...!!"
Tudududu-!!!
She fired bullets mercilessly, but there were just way too many of them.
Of all things, what a mess this was because of an incompetent commander.
They were a veteran squad with experience clearing intermediate Hives several times already.
However, right now they were driven into a corner due to the commander's wrong judgment.
Originally, their tactic was hit-and-run.
They had operated the squad by quickly eliminating a group of mutants and then fleeing the scene.
Yet, for some out-of-the-blue reason, a rookie commander from Valterion, one of the Five Families of the Fortress, didn't like that method.
She just kept shouting to charge.
This was the result.
Without proper reconnaissance, they failed to deal with the Howler that summoned surrounding mutants in time, getting surrounded on all sides.
"I will remove the silencer!"
Renata removed the silencer fitted on her gun.
Ta-ang! Tang!
Once the silencer was removed, mutants began to fall with sounds like thunderclaps, but it was not enough.
Even if it was a gun exclusively for Awakeners, there was a limit.
It wasn't for nothing that humans still hadn't reclaimed the world outside the Fortress.
"Kkyaaah!"
"Commander-!!"
Looking toward the place where the scream came from, the sight of the commander surrounded by mutants caught her eyes.
She would be fine for now.
Because while a B-factor cannot gain strong power, they can gain the HP of the A-factors belonging to the party.
Kwa-ang-!!
"Kkyaak!!"
Even now she was screaming, but the blue barrier spread around her clearly showed the fact that she still had HP remaining.
"Retreat... Retreat!! Let's run away right now... Hurry!! Kkyaak!!"
To order a retreat only at this moment.
Escaping from here without any sacrifices was impossible.
'Still, I have to keep the commander alive.'
Renata made a firm resolve and spoke to the other squad members.
"I will cover the rear. Everyone, take the commander and run!"
"But if you do that..."
"Go quickly! Before more mutants gather!"
"Got it. Make sure you stay alive. We'll bring reinforcements."
"Yeah."
Kwang! Kwa-ang!!
Another squad member's Unique Skill was activated, beginning to blast open a path.
Chwararak-!
Whether the commander also used Renata's Unique Skill, multiple guns began floating into the air around her.
Dududududu-!!
Following Renata's will, the firearms began spewing fire.
"Over here!!"
Renata began drawing the mutants' attention by spraying bullets in all directions.
The mutants began chasing after Renata.
Thanks to that, the commander and the other squad members were able to escape safely.
"Heok... heok... Where am I..."
Renata was also somehow able to escape, but she too began wandering aimlessly, utterly lost.
