I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

Han Se-ah stepped forward boldly, leading our party members and Ice Cross Knights while holding Charlotte's coordinate transmission device-

Her shoulders slumped in just 3 minutes.

"As the title says, I'm not running away but determining roulette contents through fan cafe polls~ ...Wait, what kind of penalty is this?"

[Han Se-ah's broadcast title has changed!]

[Han Se-ah Fan Cafe - Updating Penalty Roulette! Sorry T_T]

Though she tried testing reactions and kept the girls' meeting contents secret, she couldn't run from the 3.3 million won penalty roulette - this was inevitable.

Floor 60's boss monster hadn't even been discovered, let alone defeated. So we had to move to the Harpy Kingdom on floor 50 and use gates to climb up. Rather than waste time walking up 10 floors from 50 to 60, we had to ride merchant supply wagons.

In other words, we faced nearly half a day of travel by wagon - and during such downtime, how could Han Se-ah's penalties not come up?

"Aegyo is one thing but shouting spell incantations loudly when using magic, yelling heroic lines at boss monsters... what's this? Confessing to Roland?"

As she quietly started her stream and checked the fan cafe, the posts were even more chaotic than usual. Though normally tamer than the forum, today the fan cafe was like hell's gates had opened with people going crazy.

The penalties were brutal, seemingly punishing her for not showing the girls' meeting. Ignoring the nonsense that didn't get upvoted, examining the top-voted penalties revealed truly outrageous suggestions.

[Vote! Selecting penalties for the roulette!]

1. Full spell incantations when using magic (loud enough for Roland to hear) [3882]

2. Talk to boss monsters in dramatic hero style like traditional fantasy [3276]

3. Confess to Roland and reset if rejected (no reset if accepted) [2993]

4. Teach party members (including Roland) Zero Two dance and film it [2643]

5. Show inventory to Magic Tower geezers and cooperate with experiments [2321]

...

¨

˙

Heroes Chronicle-related penalties had naturally pushed out old ones like aegyo, horror games, sexy dancing and various exercises.

The top ones were somewhat entertaining, reasonable and realistic. Lower down were unrealistic but still popular ones, like defeating floor 60 boss with only Magic Missile, or selling boss loot to the Empire instead of Magic Tower...

People really do get most creative when torturing others.

Without unlimited multiple voting, barring dark horse surprises the top penalties would make it into the roulette. Of course, negotiations about what percentage each penalty would take still remained.

"Hey, Roland."

"Hm?"

"Aren't you curious what we talked about yesterday?"

As I thought this while pretending to doze against the rattling wagon wall while web surfing, Grace rested her head on my shoulder.

I worried the armor might be uncomfortable, but she found a good spot on a wider section. Her gray eyes looked up at me obliquely, full of mischief as usual.

Glancing around, I saw Irene and Katie subtly nodding at Grace. Yesterday, they must have discussed something.

"Honestly, I am curious."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Really?"

Grace giggled at my answer and squirmed closer. She pressed against my side and brought her face near my ear.

With the Ice Cross Knights in other wagons, we had the cargo space to ourselves, making her head-tilting look quite bewitching.

Then she whispered in my ear as if she never meant to keep it secret:

"She didn't say much. Hanna seems shy and wouldn't open up completely. You know what? Hanna's surprisingly good with alcohol?"

'Not good with alcohol - as a player, intoxication debuffs probably don't affect her.'

"But I heard something interesting. Well, more like noticed it."

At her words about noticing Han Se-ah's secret, my eyes naturally checked Han Se-ah's broadcast camera. Fortunately it was filming her discussing the penalty roulette, not us.

Since I wanted to tease Han Se-ah, not expose private matters and ruin her broadcast, I grew cautious.

"You know what? Actually Hanna..."

What bomb would drop? Had she discovered Han Se-ah watching our nighttime activities? Did she think Han Se-ah was a shy pervert, or something that would tarnish her hero dignity? As I turned my head slowly toward Grace with such worries, she whispered in my ear as if about to kiss it:

"She likes Roland."

"...?"

What do you mean Grace...

Did I seem that dense?

※

During our journey to floor 60, Grace didn't realize Han Se-ah was a player and vanish into data fragments, nor discover she'd filmed our intimate moments with an invisible camera drone.

She'd just fallen for Grace's probing questions at the drinking session. Though the system and camera weren't exposed, everything else seemed revealed. Like how Han Se-ah lurked nearby when Grace or Katie entered my quarters?

The one fortunate thing was that they thought Han Se-ah's feelings were love, not lust. Even for a hero, unrequited love was better than being known for one-night stands with party members for sexual release... right?

The secret revealed after such buildup was so anticlimactic that I considered questioning kind-hearted Irene for details. But we arrived at floor 60 first.

"Which direction should we start exploring?"

"Hmm, is there any organized information?"

"Northern trainee commanders and mercenaries mostly went north and east. West saw the fewest people. South is ambiguous. Not as crowded as north, but adventurer parties headed there after seeing how north and east went."

While we bought and enhanced equipment with regular stones, the Ice Cross Knights hadn't been idle - Alisa's briefing flowed smoothly.

Befitting a noble's child, she must have contacted people handling the northern trainee commanders. The twenty men behind her gaped in awe seeing her competently track the movements of northern commanders rather than mere adventurers or mercenaries.

Without Alisa, this knight order of noble spare sons truly could've passed for country mercenaries.

"So which way should we go?"

"Hmm... do you know why the trainee commanders gathered north and east?"

"From what I heard, it was because of an ogre that appeared the first day. Like, I overheard mercenaries talking at a bar about believing the enemy army would be where ogres appear."

The knights who'd gathered rumors answered Han Se-ah's casual questions diligently, like how Alisa prepared data.

But with no real boss monster hints besides Imperial trainee commanders following superstition, we also struggled to decide.

...Though something seemed odd. Shouldn't the player be getting hints by now?

"Hard with no information. Do we really just guess?"

"Should we trust Katie's intuition this time?"

"Mine?"

With no clues, the decision fell to the hero party - specifically party leader Han Se-ah. Though she glanced at me subtly, I had no good ideas either and looked away.

Beyond the cardinal directions, endless green plains stretched in all eight compass points. Monsters appeared randomly without warning. As everyone whispered discussions about having to rely on luck without game system hints, the gate grew noisy.

We'd moved aside briefly for other gate users while debating direction, when people came running desperately from the distant plains.

"Hey, stop there!"

"What's happening!"

"D-demon, the Demon Lord's General, they're coming!"

Blood-covered and terrified, they shouted information crucial to players.