Chapter 1

With a self-deprecating chuckle, I muttered softly, and curious gazes flew my way. Of course, when a perfectly normal-looking man starts muttering to himself, people can't help but look. Even though the gazes gathered, everyone was busy drinking, so they only glanced over briefly, and no one tried to take my drink or stop me.

No matter how many gazes gathered, with my brain muddled by alcohol, I couldn't stop muttering happily.

Lee Haneul, 25 years old, wrote a long, profanity-laden post on a community forum after a new male character was added to a mobile game, and then died of a heart attack. No matter how many great writers you bring in, they couldn't come up with a more ridiculous sentence.

The beginning of my obsession was nothing special. It was just that one autumn day when I was discharged from the military, I learned about a new mobile game. It wasn't a coincidence but rather a fateful encounter, so I, with my buzz cut, downloaded the game without hesitation.

This mobile collection game, "Heroines' Chronicle," was clearly designed to target hardcore fans. Eighty percent of the game characters were female, and the few male characters were mostly 3★ or lower, used as material.

A turn-based RPG mobile game where you build a party with sleek female characters and collect revealing skins. It was a game that, no matter how thick-skinned you were, you couldn't call a masterpiece. Various bugs, server crashes, ranking errors, and canceled events—

However, one thing was certain. Everyone agreed that it was a masterpiece of art.

The game poured everything into its illustrations and character modeling, targeting otaku. By the time the server crashed, users were more interested in the special illustrations and apology skins posted as compensation than angry.

Even though collecting only the apology skins could fill your main and secondary parties, it was still a pain, but what did it matter? When the server crashed in winter, they gave out Santa girl skins, and in summer, they gave out bikini skins.

The problem was the balance team, which was worse than the art team's toes. Or, looking at what these guys did, there might not even be a balance team in the company.

A new character, stronger than a bunny girl, a nurse, a Santa girl, a cowgirl, and a bikini, in a limited-time pickup event!

The developers' generosity was as thick as their belly fat, so every time a new character was added, their stats were bloated. Some people liked it because the characters' chests got bigger, but that was a minority opinion.

‘Save my Erica, you bastards!’

‘I raised her with love and buried her with performance.’

‘I spent all my money, and the next day, a better version appeared. What the hell?’

‘They’re both 5★, but their stats differ by one star. Is that normal?’

If there's a cute female character, there will be a hardcore fan. Who would welcome a perfect upper-tier version of a character they cherished, which would overturn the ranking board? Of course, I didn't get angry.

I wasn't the type to hang on to a single character; I was a collector who used real money to gather rare characters.

If a stronger Serika came out, I would get both. If the main tank 0-tier changed, I would get that one too. I threw myself into the game like I was diving into a stream, not just a drizzle.

I spent my salary, cut back on my gourmet travel hobby, and used the money for clothes to roll gacha. My hobby was mobile games, and my specialty was posting strategies for optimizing decks with new characters, earning me the title of "top black cow."

Ah, it was a pretty good life.

Until the last patch.

The characters in "Heroines' Chronicle" were graded by the number of stars. The minimum was 1★, and the maximum was 5★. Even if everyone upgraded to 6★ max level, the stat differences based on their initial stars couldn't be overcome. Especially, the new characters had higher stats, making the balance ridiculous.

The problematic patch was a new character event. A new character starting at 6★ and upgrading to 7★—what would happen to the existing characters?

From the hardcore fans called "XX moms" to strategy enthusiasts like me, everyone raised their voices in criticism. They typed with one hand and checked their wallets with the other.

No matter how much they cursed, the new character had to be drawn because it would be incredibly strong. Everyone must have thought the same. That's why these guys kept repeating such patches.

After the patch, my hand moved to the payment window without hesitation, though I regretted it. I had the strategy site I usually used open and pressed my smartphone.

A few touches, and 10,000, 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 won disappeared into thin air. Damn, you bastards—

Was it just bad luck, or was the 6★ rarer than the 5★? After spending 850,000 won, I finally saw the shimmering rainbow star. 4★ and below were silver, 5★ were gold, and 6★ were rainbow.

No, but the expected value on the forum was 1,000,000 won, so I saved 150,000 won. The game had no gacha ceiling or developer's mother.

Lightning flashed, and a star from the sky wrapped around the character's blurry silhouette. A high-quality animation, like a magical girl transformation scene, with radiant blonde hair, porcelain skin, clear and sparkling blue eyes, and a sweet voice coming from the speakers.

The 6★ pickup character, which would break the balance, finally descended into my account.

With one problem.

“Why, a male character…?”

※

The guys who tried to sell a reverse bunny girl skin with nipples because the summer bikini skin was censored. Where did these guys get the idea of gender equality? While pondering this, they wrote 5,700-character thank-you punches 100 times a day using macros and died of a heart attack.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the world of "Heroines' Chronicle."

More precisely, it was a mixed world of "Heroines' Chronicle" and other RPG settings.

That wasn't really important.

Radiant blonde hair, porcelain skin, clear and sparkling blue eyes, broad shoulders, a sculpted body, and instead of large breasts, large muscles. Honestly, the body was perfect, and I was confident I could survive anywhere with this body.

The muscular body was so powerful that it was hard to guess how much it reflected the game's stats. I could leave finger marks on a rock by clenching my fists in gauntlets, but I couldn't even guess how many kgf of grip strength I had. Wearing armor and a helmet like pajamas, carrying a large shield and a mace, I could run at full speed without tiring, as fast as a carriage.

How great it would have been to have this body in the modern world.

With a handsome face, I could have easily become a model or a TV personality. A strong, healthy, and beautiful muscular body. If I had this appearance in the modern world, I could have had a fan club even as an ordinary person, living a very easy and comfortable life.

Of course, even in a fantasy world, this appearance wasn't useless.

From the waitresses who gave me extra meat when I only ordered soup to the senior adventurers who helped me when I was lost, the number of times I benefited from my appearance over 10 years was countless.

Yes, 10 years.

In this damn fantasy world, I rolled on the ground for 10 years with a strong body and a weak mind. A weak office worker who couldn't even twist a chicken's neck became a veteran warrior, smashing orc heads with a mace.

—Life somehow works out.

I survived thanks to my amazing looks and stat-boosted body, but I suffered a lot mentally. I became so used to it that I couldn't even joke about broken bones sticking out of my limbs.

Still, I didn't want to spend my whole life in a war zone. Now that I was famous as an adventurer, I planned to make a fortune and retire to a good location, running a farm or an inn, as adventurers often say.

That's what I thought until she appeared.

“Wow, look at that tall tower. I was a bit worried about the first generation, but to have this implemented, are they really torturing aliens or something?”

A woman in clean and elegant chainmail, with porcelain skin and well-maintained long hair, contrasting with the dirty medieval peasants.

“Oh, there are so many NPCs. …Ah! I shouldn't use that word directly. Hmm, I'll definitely start role-playing!”

And an internet streamer, with a semi-transparent camera circling her head.

“Hmm, this is the city of adventurers famous for the Tower of the Sky!”

After 10 years in a fantasy world with no dreams or hopes,

the first quest began.