[Where should we go now?]
- Just a little longer…. Can you stay with me?
- Want to go eat ramen together?
- It’s late today, so I’ll call you tomorrow.
I picked number 3 earlier. But it said I failed the character route.
“Team Leader, I’m telling you, you have to go eat ramen?”
“Why do I have to eat ramen?”
“You’ve never played a Romance Simulation Game before?”
I’d never played one.
“Isn’t it something every guy tries at least once?”
Really? Was this that important?
This time, I chose the second option.
[Hehe. I’m really good at making ramen.]
[You’re heading to her house.]
Suddenly, the 2D character says she’s good at making ramen. I don’t know what meaning this ramen has, but I can feel the atmosphere around me getting excited.
“Team Leader, this is all linked, so you need to think carefully.”
Linked? Linked how?
No, more importantly, why am I even playing this?
[I’ll cook ramen in no time. I wonder if there’s any leftover rice.]
[Would you like to sit and wait?]
[You sit on the chair and wait for ramen. Soon, she brings out deliciously cooked ramen.]
- Why are we eating ramen at this hour?
- Gonna lose muscle mass, get lost.
This time, there are only two dialogue choices.
Behind me, I see Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho clutching their stomachs, laughing.
I thought the second choice might hurt her feelings, so I chose the first.
[You said you wanted to eat ramen… Was it just a joke…?]
[She runs out of the house.]
- Good, now I can go home and work my biceps.
- No, maybe hitting triceps is better than biceps?
Again, just two choices.
I picked the first, and my character went home to work out, bringing the game to an end.
“Puhuhuhup.”
“Puht.”
Kim Inho and Kim Taeyang start laughing.
What the—this is totally boring! Honestly, a game needs to have some tension or thrill.
If you could turn things around with strategy or tactics, that’d be something. But this? A few dialogue windows, pick one, and she gets upset or storms off.
“Ah, so even our Team Leader can’t do everything.”
Kim Taeyang wiggles his lips, mocking me.
“There’s gotta be something even Team Leader can’t do.”
Even the usually reserved Kim Inho is provoking me.
“Team Leader. Let me show you.”
Kim Taeyang changes seats.
He starts skipping through the dialogues, making choices at incredible speed.
Was he always this fast with his hands?
The ramen choice comes up again.
He also chooses to eat ramen, and his character goes to the woman’s house.
[You sit on the chair and wait for ramen. Soon, she brings out deliciously cooked ramen.]
- Looks delicious.
- Can’t wait to eat.
- Ramen is ▦▦ ▦ ▦▦▦
- ▦▦… Shall we ▦▦▦?
Huh? These are different from my choices.
And why is there mosaic censorship in the choices?
[Geez, you little troublemaker.]
[Game play has switched to age 27+ content.]
“……”
What is going on? Not 15+, not 19+, but 27+?
What’s the standard for this? And why is Taeyang looking at me with that smug face?
“This is how you do it.”
“So the dialogue choices are automatically generated based on the player’s decisions?”
“That’s the key to conquering the game. Before, the choices were always the same because of the same algorithm, but Romance Simulation Game creates augmented effects just like reality….”
So, basically, it’s all pointless. Yeah, I did think about picking the muscle loss option.
But so what.
What changes if you’re good at this? It’s not like you get money, or honor.
“I’d rather do Weight Training than waste time on this.”
“Running away, are you?”
Is this guy nuts…?
“Team Leader. There are times when a man shouldn’t back down.”
Unbelievable.
Honestly, this is a waste of time and energy.
Doing Weight Training instead would make my life better.
“Actually, Team Leader, I did think you were a bit weird.”
Kim Taeyang smiles knowingly.
“I heard you’ve never even had a girlfriend….”
I can’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
I cross my legs in the chair and give a mocking shrug.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
How did he know?
I was dragged to another world and fought to survive, so where would I find the time to leisurely date someone?
If I set my mind to it, I could get one any time. It’s just that I have things to do now.
“Wow, you’ve got it all wrong! The Su-won Casanova, King Uija Lee Hyunbin—who do you think I am?”
“Team Leader. This is all linked to SNS automatically.”
“I don’t even use SNS.”
They say SNS is a waste of life. I agree.
“You have a linked SNS account, Team Leader.”
No way. I don’t use SNS.
But when Kim Taeyang shows me on his phone, there’s an SNS account in my name.
[Lee Hyunbin’s Romance Simulation Game, First Playthrough. Achieved Age 12+ Ending]
There’s even a post automatically uploaded.
“Lee Seoyeon…!”
There’s only one guy who’d make an account in my name.
└Oh, the delivery guy’s a romance expert now?
└Romance masters are hot these days. Bragging about your romance level is peak popular-kid stuff now.
└But delivery guy, 12+ ending for real?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Don’t you go over 8+ just by holding hands?
└Isn’t he from Cheonghak-dong or something?
Ugh, this is pissing me off.
If I get serious, of course I can get an 18+ or above ending.
“Phew, that’s it.”
I make Kim Taeyang get up from the seat.
Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho, shoved to the back, stare tensely at the monitor.
I put on the VR Goggles, redo the biometric authentication, and log in.
There’s nothing I can’t do.
From a senior high schooler, to a Hero who united the continent—that’s me.
.
.
.
[Lee Hyunbin’s Romance Simulation Game, Second Playthrough. Achieved Age 8+ Ending]
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└At this rate, isn’t he playing a fighting game in a romance game?
└I think I’m getting dizzyIthinkI’mgettingdizzyIthinkI’mgettingdizzyIthinkI’mgettingdizzy
└I believe it. You’re a member of the Solo Troops.
I gave a nice massage to Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho, who were rolling on the floor holding their stomachs.
Ah, don’t get me wrong.
I was just worried the kids suddenly got sick, so I gave them a massage.
This isn’t my fault.
Honestly, isn’t it a rule that when you get sent to another world as a Hero, you automatically get a harem?
But all that was around me were muscle-brained machos.
Not a single woman could be found. That’s not my fault. The environment was just bad.
[Lee Hyunbin’s Romance Simulation Game, Fourteenth Playthrough. Achieved Age 10+ Ending]
Damn it.
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How do you even get that kind of ending?
└Maybe he actually hates women?
└I’m Jamwon-dong Hagis. There’s not a woman who hasn’t dumped me, people?
└The comment above is pathetic
└You crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Sigh. I take a deep breath and look at the screen again.
On the screen, there are many silhouetted characters. Only one is unlocked for me.
The first Date partner. Kim Hyojin.
Known as Ramen Girl.
I think I’d been misunderstanding things all along.
Just thinking it was some dating sim game. That what was in front of me was just 2D.
It’s dangerous to look through prejudiced eyes.
You fail to see the truth, and end up clinging to illusions.
I opened my eyes.
And in a deeper sense, I truly opened my eyes.
[Didn’t you have a busy Training Room schedule today?]
My lovely girl says.
Now I can see.
There’s warmth in the way she asks so carefully.
[I’m fine. We can go next time.]
She says it’s fine, but it’s not. She wants to be with me now, not next time.
My 15th playthrough is different from my 14th.
The gray background slowly regains its color.
- Let’s go hit biceps together.
- How much can you squat, bench, and deadlift? Under 500 is a bit…
- Kim Hyojin, dumbbells suit you better than a handbag.
[Lee Hyunbin’s Romance Simulation Game, Fifteenth Playthrough. Achieved Age 11+ Ending]
└God exists, and he just left his game log.
└Teacher, you must have a reason for this….
└This is driving me crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I’m going nuts.
Truthfully, I don’t care about these romance games. But Taeyang’s “you can’t do it” keeps echoing in my ears.
This time, I really opened my heart. The character felt livelier, more human. But there was still a problem.
“What do you say on a Date….”
Never done it. That kind of thing.
I’ve gone out slaying monsters with women, but never actually gone on a Date. So I have no idea what to say.
If only there was an example—but this damn game generates messages based on the player’s biometric reactions. It’s hopeless.
I don’t want to quit because it feels like admitting defeat.
“Old man, still at it?”
“No, I’m just bored. Nothing else to do.”
Karin looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Bored, and this is what you do?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve been glued to the game for two days straight, you know?”
“Huh?”
No way.
But when I check the date, turns out there are times when that happens.
I’d already been playing for 26 hours.
“Seriously, you really hate losing, old man.”
“Hey, what do you take me for? I’m not interested in this. I just wanted to check out modern civilization’s wonders.”
It’s not a lie. Really.
After spending more than ten years in another world, I need to adapt to modern civilization.
Damn it.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“When you go on a Date—wait, don’t get me wrong. I’m asking because a Hunter friend of mine wanted to know.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What do people usually do on Dates? Wait, you’ve never dated either, so I’m asking the wrong person.”
Now that I think about it, this kid’s as pitiful as me.
“What’s with you? Are you making fun of me, old man?”
“Do you know?”
“Hmph, do you think I’m like you?”
She’s into romance? At her age? Well, I guess kids these days date early.
But still—did she know something I didn’t?
“Going out to eat is a given, isn’t it?”
“What do you eat?”
“Uh, hmm… A place with good atmosphere, and big portions?”
Suspicious.
“And then?”
“And then?”
“What comes after?”
“Uh, d-d-Dessert, right?”
“And after that?”
“Uh, then dinner?”
Forget it. I shouldn’t have asked.
Just then, something flashed through my mind.
Maybe for other girls it’s different, but with Karin, just giving her food would make it the best Date. No one hates being fed.
Even Taeyang succeeded with ramen.
That night, I got the best ending.
“Good morning!”
“You’re here?”
Early in the morning, Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho arrived at the Training Room.
Usually, Team Leader Lee Hyunbin would wake them up at dawn, but yesterday and today were different.
“Is Team Leader not coming out today, either?”
“He was playing Romance Master all night yesterday, wasn’t he?”
“Wasn’t that a bit much?”
Kim Inho said, sounding worried.
A big Raid is coming up soon. One that’s a matter of pride for two Guilds.
All the hard training lately was for this high-grade Dungeon Raid.
The difference between a Mid-Rank Dungeon and a high-rank one is huge.
But contrary to Kim Inho’s worries, Kim Taeyang scrolled through SNS, and his eyes went wide.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Team Leader cleared it?”
Kim Taeyang looked like he’d been smacked upside the head.
Just in a day or two.
The Team Leader who always got 12+, 8+ bad endings when most people end with the 19+ episode.
[Congratulations. Lee Hyunbin’s Romance Simulation Game, Fifty-Second Playthrough. Achieved Age 99+ Ending!!!]
└Hey, is this for real?!
└We need to hear from the character’s point of view.
└Teacher. What brought on this sudden change of heart?
└From 8+ to 99+ in one day? Was 99+ even a thing?
Kim Taeyang was dumbfounded. How did this totally dense Team Leader go from not even 19+, but all the way to 99?
Just then, the door opened and Kim Inho came in.
“Oh, Team Leader.”
“Oh, you’re both here.”
Both?
Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho saw the Team Leader sit right at the computer and put on the VR Goggles.
The two of them saw the Team Leader skip through the dialogues like a pro, totally different from a few days ago.
He definitely seemed more experienced now, and the dialogue looked normal, too.
[She asks you for a meal Date.]
“Oooh.”
Kim Inho was impressed at Kim Hyojin’s reaction, the Romance Master’s main target. This wasn’t the Team Leader from before.
But then the dialogue suddenly got weird.
- Do you want food?
- How much Training have you done today?
- Since when did you dare make requests of me?
“Uh…?”
The Kim Hyojin on the monitor was nothing like the character Taeyang played.
Arms and legs indistinguishable from her bulging muscles, an enormous frame.
Kim Hyojin appeared striking a bodybuilder pose, with the kind of V-taper physique you’d only see in American comics.
“Good. Looks like you worked hard again today. You may eat.”
[Thank you, Teacher.]
[She chugs a Protein Supplement.]
The Team Leader crossed his legs and coolly drank a Protein Supplement.
Kim Inho and Kim Taeyang’s pupils began to tremble as if an earthquake had hit.
This was nothing like the dating sim atmosphere they knew.
Instead of a heroine, she was turning into a warrior. And so, the 99+ ending arrived.
After finishing the game, the Team Leader took off the VR Goggles and smiled.
“Game or reality, it’s all the same. When I thought about it.”
A chill ran down their spines.
“Love. All you need is love. Just like how I train you because I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Something was wrong.
“So, we’ve rested a few days, huh? Let’s start again. Let’s work on our love.”
An S-Rank had become an S.