#25
-Bbirong bbirong!Bbirong bbirong!
-Bbirong bbirong!
Wonwoo slowly regained his hazy consciousness at the sound of the system’s alarm, which sounded harsher than usual.
‘Haa… I must have dozed off.’
His eyes felt dry all the way to the sockets. Wonwoo struggled to sit up, unable to even lift his eyelids. It seemed he had fallen asleep the moment his tension eased, with a full stomach and a warm back. Wonwoo justified the brief rest and picked up his phone.
[23:58 May 8th]
I slept for almost four hours….
As he calculated the time, Wonwoo realized the quest completion time the system had mentioned was almost up. Sure enough, a flood of messages from the system had arrived.
[User ‘Wonwoo’, you must wake up! ヽ（≧ㅁ≦）ノ]
[Wake up! Rise for victory!]
“So that’s why the alarm was so loud, to give me a morning call.”
According to his original plan, he was supposed to get home, wash up, and organize the day's events in a diary or a private blog post. However, a sudden wave of anxiety and a headache had made him postpone everything and fall asleep.
Thanks to that, Wonwoo swiped his thumb across his phone screen with a slightly clearer head and a lighter heart.
[Beginning QUEST guidance for user ‘Wonwoo’.]
[The hidden completion condition for the ‘It Was That Moment Back Then!’] QUEST was unlocked at 23:59!]
[Comparing and analyzing user ‘Wonwoo’s’ first May 8th and second May 8th.]
[■□■□….]
[Completion Condition: Encounter the sudden gate generated on Dangsan Railway Bridge! Achieved!]
[Encounter the octopus-type monster that appeared from the A-rank gate! Achieved!]
[Meet a South Korean S-rank Esper! Achieved!]
[Witness the situation where an A-rank gate fuses to become an AA-rank gate! Achieved!]
[Succeed in raiding the gate! Achieved!]
“…I don’t even need to organize anything, I can just copy this down.”
The message displayed by the system was no different from a summary of what Wonwoo had done throughout May 8th. And looking at the message like this felt strange.
So much really happened….
[‘It Was That Moment Back Then!’ QUEST completion achieved!]
[A round of applause for user ‘Wonwoo’, who faced numerous situations and moved forward while reenacting May 8th! o((>ω< ))o]
[Guide Wonwoo, who suddenly faced a dangerous A-rank gate, safely raided the gate with the best S-class Esper! (•̀ω•́)v]
[User ‘Wonwoo’ has now taken the first step with the Espers to prevent the world’s destruction! ♪(^∇^*)]
There were more exclamation points than usual, and the emoticons seemed particularly energetic. Could it be trying to comfort him after he’d been so down before falling asleep? That thought crossed his mind about the system, which was not only suspicious but whose motives for approaching him were hard to guess.
As if to drive a nail into such thoughts, the system began to pour out a series of encouraging messages.
[A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…! (∼￣▽￣)∼]
[The panacea for Espers, the pro-vitality booster….]
[No, let’s just charge straight ahead toward becoming an S-class Guide! (•̀ω•́)✧]
“…S-class Guide? They have class like Espers?”
[…Could it be that I haven’t explained Guide class? (⊙o⊙)]
Wonwoo nodded, and the system spouted two or three emoticons filled with an expression of panic.
[‘It Was That Moment Back Then!’ QUEST 100% achieved! (⊙◇<)]
“You’re changing the subject like this? Again?”
The continuous look of surprise was kind of cute… wait, what am I thinking. Wonwoo shook his head to dispel the wicked thought.
[A reward will be provided to user ‘Wonwoo’ for excellently completing the first QUEST!]
A reward…! Yes, the highlight of a QUEST is, more than anything, the reward. He didn’t know what kind of reward it would provide after suddenly giving him a QUEST in reality, not a game, but Wonwoo waited for the following message with a fluttering heart.
[For user ‘Wonwoo’ who has met a South Korean S-class Esper, a special SYSTEM will be unlocked as a QUEST reward! (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ]
“System… unlocked?”
[…■□■□■]
[User ‘Wonwoo’s’ Guide Ability SYSTEM is now open!]
[A SYSTEM application will be installed under the SYSTEM’s authority.]
His phone vibrated more intensely than usual, the screen turning off and on repeatedly. As Wonwoo, flustered by the sudden situation, was examining his phone, muttering “Uh, uh…,” a new message appeared.
[A special SYSTEM for the world’s only Guide, ‘Wonwoo’!]
[A SYSTEM that allows you to see various information at a glance! Introducing! (∩^o^)⊃━☆]
Before he could even feel bewildered, messages from the system poured in.
[To use the SYSTEM, user ‘Wonwoo’s’ Guide class will be assessed.]
[□■□■….]
[User ‘Wonwoo’s’ current Guide class is C.]
[*The higher the Guide class, the wider the range of the SYSTEM user ‘Wonwoo’ can utilize!]
[C-class Guide ability, ‘Heart-pounding♥ Relationship with Espers’ unlocked!]
[User ‘Wonwoo’ can now check the favorability with Espers through the ‘SYSTEM’! (o゜▽゜)o☆]
[The higher the favorability, the higher the guiding efficiency! The Esper’s abilities also go UP!]
[For better guiding! Work hard to build up favorability with the Espers! (o > ▽<)o☆]
“favorability…? What, how do I see that?”
[Information about Espers, including favorability, can be viewed by entering the following commands in the chat message!]
[‘View favorability’, ‘View Esper Stats’, ‘View Heart Count’]
Following the system’s guidance, Wonwoo carefully pressed each letter to type the chat message. He was then horrified by the message that filled his phone, displaying the Espers’ favorability statuses.
[S-rank Esper Han Jinho]
favorability: 35%
Status: Thinking about user ‘Wonwoo’! (≧∀≦)
♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-rank Esper Shin Yonghyun]
favorability: 10%
Status: favorability must reach a certain level to view this content.
♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-rank Esper !@#$%]
favorability: 0%
Status: favorability must reach a certain level to view this content.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[S-rank Esper ^&*\]
favorability: 0%
Status: favorability must reach a certain level to view this content.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
“What is this… a dating sim game! And what’s with these hearts!”
[A dating sim game, you say! This is user ‘Wonwoo’s’ ability!]
“My, my ability? Wasn’t my ability guiding? Wasn’t it being a buffer? Did I unknowingly become a gamer…?”
[Actually… it’s more of a joint♥ability between me, the SYSTEM, and Wonwoo.]
[Anyway, isn’t the power of love and hearts the first step to saving the world? ♪(^∇^*)]
[The more hearts you collect, the symbol of favorability, user ‘Wonwoo’s’ rank goes UP! The Esper’s abilities go UP! Everyone goes UP!]
[By collecting hearts like this, you take one step closer to preventing the world’s destruction!]
“The class you mentioned earlier, was it this?”
[Yes, that’s right! Espers have classes, so wouldn’t it be disappointing if the world’s only guide didn’t have one!]
[Furthermore! The Guide’s class is a ‘growth-type class’ like a level! ( •̀ω•́)✧]
[Collect hearts and fill up the favorability to dash☆full☆speed☆ahead towards becoming an S-class Guide!]
It doesn’t give me a moment to get sentimental or wallow in sad emotions…. Overwhelmed by the flood of new information, Wonwoo quickly scanned the messages the system had poured out and the favorability stats that appeared from the command he had entered.
“That, Jinho-ssi… why is his favorability so high? And what’s with this status….”
On top of that, he’s thinking about me? What on earth is this cheesy line? Wonwoo felt a strange sense of embarrassment and cleared his throat unnecessarily with a “ahem, ahem.”
“And Chief Shin Yonghyun has two hearts already…. What on earth are the conditions for getting them? Is favorability calculated in hearts?”
With that question in mind, Wonwoo scanned various parts of the message. Then, he read a certain line and screamed in shock without realizing it.
“To, to get a heart… I have to ki, ki, kiss?! Has this system finally gone crazy?!”
Then he threw his phone, which he didn’t have the courage to face, onto the bed.
-Bbirong bbirong!
“I don’t know, I’m not looking! Isn’t just holding hands enough! A ki, kiss… no, a hug should be fine! And a kiss isn’t… isn’t the end?”
A kiss? With Chief Shin Yonghyun and Esper Han Jinho? And… that? Wonwoo’s face turned pale as he rubbed his face with his hands.
Just declaring, ‘I am a Guide!’ already seemed implausible and suspicious. It would be stranger for them to have accepted it so nonchalantly.
Still, he could let that slide as a fortunate coincidence. But it didn't end there. Now he had to say, ‘To guide, I need to kiss you, Chief, or more accurately, you, Esper!’….
Wonwoo thought he would rather bite his tongue and die than say ‘How about a kiss with me?’ in front of Yonghyun and Jinho.
-Bbii-rooo-ong….
“Ah, no… why does the alarm sound so dejected? You think I’m going to look again just because of that?”
-Bbiii…rooo…ing….
Wonwoo bit his lip and picked up his phone as if picking up a rag with his index finger and thumb. At this rate, the system seemed ready to wail all night with its alarm sound.
Should he have guessed when he heard talk of vitality drinks and what not? Wonwoo bit his lip hard and, bracing himself, looked at his phone screen again.
But no matter how much he steeled his heart, the text on the phone screen did not get erased or disappear as Wonwoo wished.
[Hearts can be obtained by satisfying the conditions below!
-Make eye contact for over 1 minute (Cooldown: 5 days)
-Have physical contact for over 5 minutes (Cooldown: 4 days)
-Press lips against lips for over 1 minute (Cooldown: 3 days)
…….]
“It’s, it’s late… should I just sleep? Haha.”
As the level of intimacy required got progressively higher, Wonwoo squeezed his eyes shut instead of turning off the screen.
And that night, Wonwoo had a dream where he was about to give Yonghyun a peck on the cheek in front of a giant octopus monster, only to be slapped by Jinho, who tearfully exclaimed, ‘How could you, with him, when I’m your destiny…!’
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