Chapter 580

〈 Chapter 580 〉 Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 10

After a light breakfast at the hotel, we arrived at Busan Station. Amidst the bustling crowd from early morning, Yuna called her parents to check in.

“Yes, yes. I stayed at the hotel and now I’m at Busan Station. I’ll let you know once I buy the ticket and confirm the arrival time… Sorry, they worry too much.”

“Don’t worry. It’s natural for your parents to be concerned about Yuna. Will they come to meet you at Shin Seoul Station?”

“No way.”

“Nope. I read the omens, and we’ll just raise suspicion if we’re seen together at the station. So let’s split up starting from Shin Seoul Station.”

My firm statement made Yuna’s expression momentarily stiffen.

“Am I being abandoned? Is this what they call a ‘food dump’…?”

“Don’t say things that can be misinterpreted by others.”

I heard murmurs from passersby nearby. With added unfriendly glances from foreigners, I wrapped my arm around Yuna’s waist and whispered into her ear.

“If you pull another prank like that, I’ll show you what kind of tricks I can do right in front of everyone.”

“…Yes.”

Your fingertips were almost brushing against Yuna’s left breast. Of course, no one noticed. Yuna’s face turned red as she bowed her head deeply.

“I have things to do from Shin Seoul onward. I need to secure an office and lodging.”

“Isn’t everything already arranged?”

“There haven’t been any talks about Oracle Studio entering Korea, right? Nothing has been prepared beforehand. I’ll have to handle local procurement myself.”

The location of the office and lodging is obviously predetermined. As the tutorial progresses, you arrive at a certain place and form a fated contract with the protagonist.

“It won’t change anything even if Yuna is here.”

If you try to make a contract elsewhere, all sorts of trouble will arise. Instead of wasting time, it’s far more efficient to follow the events and secure an office.

“I should change the lodging though.”

While the original lodging might help with events involving the main heroine, I know of a better place. Considering what I plan to do next, this lodging would be much more suitable.

“Power is meant to be used…hehe.”

“What did you just say?”

“Pretending not to hear after listening so clearly.”

“…That’s because you keep muttering cryptic things to yourself.”

Yuna stuck out her lips. I patted her waist.

“That’s me giving you something to look forward to. Once we secure the lodging, we’ll have our daily tasks there. We have about 17 hours left?”

“…”

Yuna fell silent again. Her fidgeting hands suggested she was thinking about how to explain her overnight stay to her parents.

“…Would they believe me if I tell them I’m participating in an academy vacation training camp?”

“Ho ho, Yuna has reached the stage of adulthood. Lying to your parents to spend the night with a man.”

“But it’ll be almost midnight after 17 hours.”

“There’s no rule saying it has to be at night. Going out during the day is fine, right? If you say you’re studying, they won’t suspect a thing.”

“Oh.”

Yuna covered her face with both hands.

“Ho ho. If Yuna wants to see me in the evening, I can always make time.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Yuna lightly clenched her fists. She’ll probably spend the train ride thinking about how to make her overnight stay seem less awkward.

“Then let’s go board the train. While we’re on the way…shall we take a quick look at the special ability users in Korea?”

“…You’re only looking for women, right?”

Caught red-handed. But I didn’t deny it.

“Yuna.”

I whispered into her cheek.

“The choice is yours.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll be part of the same squad, so your opinion matters, doesn’t it?”

Of course, we’ll end up rolling around in bed together later. I swallowed the rest of my words as we boarded the train together.

* * *

“Actually, whatever I say, Yuna will likely agree.”

Yuna is forgiving.

Even though she knows I’m openly checking out female special ability users in Korea, especially focusing on women, she doesn’t say a word and just looks at me.

“<Heaven's Decree>, <Wild Night>, <Kimchi Reaper Mk.2>…”

Each name makes Yuna flinch. They’re all B~A ranked female special ability users, quite attractive ones at that.

“Never seen them before.”

They’re definitely DLC-added hero teammates. While heroines are the main focus for romancing, you don’t necessarily need to form your final squad entirely from heroines to clear the game.

Heroines can reach SSS rank relationships, but DLC characters might behave differently. I carefully examined the new faces while ignoring the familiar ones.

“Hmm…”

<Menu>

I opened my status window. The following conversation won’t be heard by Yuna, who will think I’m deep in thought.

“They’re all decent enough…”

He subtly changed the topic. When the room title changed to “Choosing Food at the Buffet,” the chat exploded.

[NuriVillageGalbitang] : Can non-heroine parties tackle the final boss?


[SupremeMadDog] : Male character party go go go


[HeartIsStill20s] : How about a villain party?

“I’m going to romance all 16 heroines anyway.”

As long as the system is open, I can freely converse with the viewers. I wanted to seriously discuss with the person holding the camera toward me, but he didn’t offer any advice.

Do whatever you want from start to finish.

He respected my choices. In return, I decided not to recruit any male characters. Therefore, I firmly stated:

“The squad must consist of heroines or heroine-related females.”

With the priority set to heroines, people seemed disappointed yet anticipatory.

How will I approach the heroines after sending Yuna away? Based on his knowledge, I have a guidebook to follow, so I’m not worried, but their perspectives might differ.

Seok Harang go go go go go go

Naturally, following the order, shouldn’t it be Park Ra-on? Or maybe Kim Nori?

How about twisting the storyline and approaching heroines who join later?

The chat exploded with everyone’s favorite heroines. Among them, someone stood out with overwhelming presence, even using voice donations to express their opinions.

[NuriVillageGalbitang] : Let’s go for Nuri sisters’ rice bowl!

“<Undine>? Kim Gaon?”

Kim Nori’s twin sister. Depending on the route, she becomes a villain monster but can be saved. Recruiting her as an ally requires some tricky conditions…

“Oh, hold on a sec.”

Thinking of it, I immediately searched for Undine. Surprisingly, the information differed from what I knew from the original story.

“<Undine> is two people?”

There’s a DLC character!

She’s the mentor who passed down her alternate name to Kim Gaon.

The Nuri family’s backstory is too dark, so they added an older sister figure.

“…Hmm. She’s Russian?”

Because Kim Gaon is a hero active in Russia.

Oh

Oh oh

Laugh…jk, sry!

Someone tried to spoil the plot, making their mouth itch. Although tempted to reveal everything, I held back my laughter.

“Her name is Anastasha? Correct.”

???

Correct draw lol

“Let’s add her to the list. Thanks for the tip.”

He paid attention to the relationship with Light Blade, but I have no reason to. I silently repeated Undine’s name and checked another woman.

“Currently accessible heroines…hold on.”

I pulled up the list first. Excluding the executives, which of the ten heroines can I approach easily?

Park Ra-on. She’ll come find me if I post an ad.

Kim Nori. I’ll meet her if I go to the park at night.

Su Ri. As Yuna’s friend, Yuna can introduce us.

“Who isn’t available right now…?”

Hikari. Trapped in Daejeon’s basement, but I don’t have the power to rescue her.

Xiao Lin. A divine ruler in China.

Aruel. Likely wandering around Europe.

Cheon Gaeul. The main villain of Chapter 1, lurking underground in Guro, Seoul. Going alone would be suicide.

“Then two in Shin Seoul.”

Yun Yuhwa and Baek Hee-a.

The pillars of industry and politics are quite different from the young women in their early twenties I knew.

“Yun Yuhwa is one year older, and Baek Hee-a is one year younger?”

The protagonist is 26 years old. Therefore, Yun Yuhwa is 27, and Baek Hee-a is (nominally) 25. The oldest, Cheon Gaeul, is definitely 3-

“Hmm. There’s someone else in Busan right now.”

Seok Harang. Still an S-rank in 2025, Korea’s sole S-rank.

Even with many new special ability users added through DLC, the number of S-ranks remains two. The only consolation is that the number of B~A ranks has increased.

“…Among these three, I should be able to romance, er, approach one right now.”

My muttered words caused chaos in the chat again. People were provoked by my outright declaration.

Turn the train around!! lol

They’re probably hiding somewhere. How do you plan to approach them?

Won’t revealing your identity result in your followers attacking and causing a game over? You should be careful until at least April.

“Revealing my identity would lead to that.”

Being controlled by <Tattooist> is inevitable. Then I’d get squid ink dumped on my head, forced to wear a mukbang costume, and enhance the Tattooist’s special abilities to SS level.

“Controlled by tattoos to become a living energy source for other girls’ magic powers?”

Thus, the Tattooist would obtain the Cube and brainwash all of South Korea, ruling the hidden world until December 25 when Seongju arrives. Until then, the Tattooist would reign as the empress of Korea’s hidden world, spreading chaos before eventually falling.

“So, approach without revealing your identity and romance them. Of course, not immediately. Unlike Yuna, these aren’t easy conquests.”

Heroine numbers: Yun Yuhwa is 7, Baek Hee-a is 10. Practically speaking, their difficulty levels are similar. Executive members and spirits are separate cases, but human heroines are generally like that.

“Probably at least a week’s worth of groundwork before I can approach them…”

Same goes for Seok Harang, whose heroine number is 13. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages in approach, but choosing one means slightly alienating the others.

Representative of the hero community, Seok Harang.

Representative of industry, Yun Yuhwa.

Representative of politics, Baek Hee-a.

These three heroines in their mid-20s essentially divide Korea into thirds. While cooperating under the evil giant Sun Icheol’s umbrella, they each pursue different ideals, secretly competing and scheming against each other.

“Before they engage in pillow talk…or catfights, they’re technically enemies.”

Simultaneously pursuing all three carries too much risk. Unless the game fully kicks off in March and the protagonist’s group starts making significant moves, trying to spread my influence everywhere beforehand could lead to serious consequences.

“So…who should I contact first?”