I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

The morning after Han Se-ah tried using me - an NPC in a virtual reality game - to masturbate but "accidentally" failed to reset the day.

Being both a professional streamer and natural entertainer, she logged in looking composed after sorting out her feelings overnight. As her hidden quest window had indicated, a gate appeared on the previously empty cave wall with text stating this much time had passed, so this cold should now belong to you.

Though ironically, the magic armor piece granting that "cold" slept peacefully in Han Se-ah's inventory before being gifted to Katie.

"Inside there was this huge wolf made of mana stones. Just getting close, the cold it gave off felt like it could tear your skin."

"Really? ...Ugh, I should have seen that with my own eyes!"

After that came a natural return. Rather than wandering the snowfields for days, we found the dungeon surprisingly quickly and got what we wanted. The retired adventurer trio's grins stretched wide as they drove first the dog sleds then the carriage, feeling they'd earned easy gold.

Katie beamed at receiving her ancestors' treasure, Grace and Irene smiled at our safe return, and Olek and Alisa grinned too, perhaps having made progress while waiting.

Only Han Se-ah occasionally shot complex looks my way. She cleverly kept the camera away when doing so, avoiding viewer suspicion. Seeing those looks, I felt the first step of my plan had succeeded.

"So Roland grabbed it in a headlock, and when I controlled mana to melt it, there was this flash of light and it turned into this armor piece."

"Oh, ohh... Were there, were there any other unusual things?"

"Hmm... Oh! The wolf kept moving in a pattern, and Roland said it seemed like it would stop if you inserted a sword following House Wesley's swordsmanship."

Unless I'd gone insane, I was definitely a man from the 21st century before virtual reality games existed. Whether that ditzy Goddess put me here or was protecting me after I arrived for some reason, I'd gone from human to game NPC.

To escape being an NPC and return to reality, I needed to cooperate with Han Se-ah to reach the end of this game - specifically the tower's top and defeat the Demon King there.

For me this was a matter of life - or more precisely soul. But for Han Se-ah it was just a game to stream. Though broadcasting wasn't trivial to a streamer, at least she wouldn't lose her soul from quitting a virtual reality game.

Consider the worst case scenario: What if Han Se-ah quit streaming and stopped playing due to something like an obsessive stalker harassing a pretty female streamer? I'd have to live in this medieval fantasy world where people shit in streets and peasants keep livestock in their homes.

'It's different from when I had no hope or clues and gave up. Watching the internet, I know I want to return to modern society.'

So to prevent such misfortune, I needed to tell Han Se-ah my situation.

I couldn't just say "Hi Hanna, or rather Han Se-ah. I'm actually human trapped in this game as a dimensional traveler, please save me." I had to give hints very slowly. I couldn't risk her panicking and deleting the game, causing me to cease existing.

This had to happen gradually. First getting an odd feeling, then growing suspicious, then finally realizing the truth but reacting with "I thought so..."

This was the best plan I could devise, not being particularly skilled with human psychology. Instead of gambling everything on a single revelation, giving time to process the shock.

If the world worked like a game fantasy novel, I'd have to act accordingly. Subtly hint at my situation to Han Se-ah, cooperate to defeat the Demon King, then wish to the Goddess for a happy ending returning to reality with my women.

"But how do we use this armor piece?"

"Um... maybe show it to the stone dwarves? They're craftsmen, they might know something?"

"True, they can extract mysterious magic to enhance equipment with special enhancement stones. But I should show father first."

"Ah right. There might be records somewhere."

As I thought this while resting my head against the carriage wall, the vibrations gradually faded. We must be reaching Margrave Sibedev's territory - we should return to the tower soon after leaving the Empire.

※

As if heaven itself took my side, everything after went smoothly.

The retired adventurer trio left with their payment, planning to compose songs praising House Wesley. The reassembled Ice Cross Knights eagerly welcomed the casually proposed contract to "join monster army subjugation up to floor 60."

I'd succeeded in giving Han Se-ah hints according to my rough plan, recruited the Ice Cross Knights for the Goddess's quest, and secured Katie's enhancement item.

Meanwhile as we traveled north in the Empire, mages and knights who broke through the blocked tower reached floor 59 in an unstoppable advance.

"They've already gotten that far?!"

"Floor 59? That means floor 60 with the boss monster is next?"

"Yeah. Imperial knights came flooding in and broke through."

Ellis shared this shocking news when we visited the guild after returning to the Empire.

Wasn't the tower blocking gates between floors to stop our rapid advance the main reason we went north? And before that, there was that evil scheme randomly kidnapping people to process into dark magic crystals.

From kind baker Johanna who helped me as a novice adventurer to some noble house's knights whose names I'd forgotten. Though Han Se-ah's quick progress revealed the kidnapping mechanism and prevented more victims, the incident had unexpected consequences.

"Don't be shocked, but this was directly ordered by the Empire's Empress herself!"

"Em...press?"

The incident had disturbed the continent's ruler.

Evil dark magic kidnapping commoners and nobles alike. In other words, without magical defenses, even a kingdom's princess or empire's empress could be equally kidnapped... and the two high ladies had completely opposite reactions.

Though Bradamante, a natural 6★ like me, expressed condolences for all victims, the suddenly appeared Empire's Empress Charlotte took this as a challenge to the Empire and personally ordered a conquest.

I didn't know what methods the Empress used to push knights into the Kingdom or what political diplomacy occurred, but one reality was clear.

"Hey, if we'd been a bit later, would imperial knights have stolen the floor 60 boss from adventurers?"

-Holy shit you can't let your guard down for a second in this world lololololol

-Wow if we'd waited for rainbows in the snow without knowing about the dungeon under town we'd have gotten robbed

-But if it's an Empress not Emperor in the Empire, isn't she 6★ too?

-Kingdom has Princess Knight and Empire has Empress, perfect character balance but then what's Roland?

-Please Empress specialty equipment leather armor and whip please Empress specialty equipment leather armor and whip please Empress specialty equipment leather armor and whip please Empress specialty equipment leather armor and whip

[Born and Raised SM Queen donated 10,000 won!]

Kingdom Princess, Empire Queen, wandering teacher - perfect balance?

[Blade Queen Whip Queen Night Queen donated 50,000 won!]

So the Queen's dress is bondage dress?

"Why are you all calling the Empress a Queen? I get your preferences but don't fixate too much. We might lose the boss monster and you care about an Empress we haven't even seen? Though you'd probably say yes if I asked that."

While Han Se-ah who knew her viewers well controlled the chatting growing louder and assessed the situation, I approached and tapped her shoulder.

No special reason - she just had bribes for Ellis in her inventory.

"But I care more about gate rights to steal boss monsters and gold shuttles from the Magic Tower-eek!?"

"Oh my, how startling."

"...You okay, Hanna?"

I hadn't expected such an intense reaction.

She jumped as if a bug had crawled under her clothes from a simple shoulder tap, even biting her tongue in unprecedented shock. Ellis giggled at how cute it was while viewers seemed eager to edit and remix the high-pitched sound.

I did take things slowly, right?