Lunch break.
I finished the lunch Yu Inna had prepared and headed outside. To be honest, there was a minor incident where she tried to follow me, thinking I was going to the restroom, but when I said I was going to see the Student Council President, she just smiled and let me go.
The fact that she didn't try to stop me from going to see the Student Council President—despite how wary she'd been of her, calling her a femme fatale and whatnot—was proof that the Queen matter was urgent.
But when I tried to meet the President, they said she'd already left before then. Wondering where someone who should be at school had gone, I was told she'd gone out for external business.
If it's external business, it can't be helped. At a company, if they tell you to go, you have to go. Right now, it just happened to be a school instead of a company. But that aside.
"Who are you?"
I asked as I looked at the woman who was kindly answering my question. The woman, who was maintaining a neat appearance in black, fiddled with her white necktie.
"My apologies for the late greeting. My name is Chae Iwon. I'd like to say I'm in charge of the Student Council President's secretarial duties, but officially, I'm the Vice President."
Vice President?
If there's a student council, it's only natural there'd be a Vice President.
I just thought there were too many characters. Including myself: an idol, Inna, the Student Council President, and now a Vice President?
If I include the two who seemed fairly close to the protagonist, that already made seven.
It was a number I could barely accept because there were DLC heroines, but if it had come to this, there was a high probability that the student council members were heroines too.
As I was trying to figure out what kind of dating sim this was through the heroines, a sudden realization flashed through my mind.
'Wait. Who was it that I figured out was a DLC heroine?'
My clever head instantly remembered which woman had approached me with the word DLC attached to her. ...And that she was now a character who had lost the DLC label and was nothing but a villain.
So did that mean there were no DLCs? Heroines related to works focused on sexual violence or fantasy battle genres had to be somewhere, and if DLCs were included too, the world would become too vast. But put another way, maybe the world could only be filled out by including the DLC personnel as well.
The lies the Queen had left behind had confused me, who still didn't know much about this world, but when I looked at the woman standing before me, waiting only to speak, my eyes widened greatly.
[Chae Iwon]
[Event Heroine (Mission)]
[Ability: Help]
"Huh?"
"Is something wrong?"
Perhaps worried that I had suddenly made a sound of confusion, she approached me, but all I could see was the ability called Help.
An ability that looked this useless? Perhaps because there had been a one-year period, all the heroines I had encountered so far had excellent utility in their abilities, but there probably wasn't another ability as difficult to utilize as Help.
That aside, a mission for an Event Heroine? If what I'd experienced last time was correct, a system window would appear soon.
[You have found one more Event Heroine. This event is a mission.]
[If you approach a heroine recklessly and try to enter or resolve her character scenario, you may not be able to enter it until you graduate. Approach that heroine indirectly through the means of a mission. Even if you cannot find the mission of the heroine you want, do not be disappointed. An entirely unexpected mission may become the key to reaching your desired heroine's scenario.]
Looking at that text, I could tell one thing. The counseling event had been somewhat helpful, but I probably wouldn't use this heroine's event.
I couldn't let myself get captured here, and there was no reason to go around entering other people's scenarios for no reason. So I wanted to just brush it off thinking, 'So there's an event like this,' but my eyes saw a new window appearing.
[Mission List #1 - Every night at school, I hear strange music. It seems to be coming from the music room. Could you please look into it? {This is a mission that can connect you with one of the music department heroines}]
[#2 - No matter how hard I try, I can't enter the running race because of pressure from my seniors. I wish the student council would help. {This is a mission that can let you capture athletic department heroines}]
[#3 - Delinquents are beating me up; I'd appreciate some help. {Once this mission is successful, it becomes possible to capture outcast and delinquent heroines from that point on.}]
I hadn't known missions would come out like this. If this were a real game, these would be choices I'd find quite fun. Choosing the side you liked and continuously taking missions like that.
There were probably factors not listed here, but to successfully resolve these missions, you'd need a certain level of stats.
Perhaps because I had experience working in games before, my sharp mind quickly found the system elements related to these missions.
While the protagonist had elements that allowed them to raise 'stats,' I, who should be a heroine in this world, lacked any stat-related elements.
'This is unfair.'
From the perspective that problem-solving was left to the protagonist, it made sense that I didn't have stat-related system elements,
but if I considered a starting point that seemed delayed by a year, it might be difficult to keep the protagonist—who presumably had to compete for endings—in check since I'd be inferior in strength.
If they were going to give the protagonist special treatment, wouldn't fairness demand they give me some too?
[Recommended Mission #4 - My mother seems to have fallen for some strange scam lately. Is this something the student council could help with too? {This connects you to heroines outside the school.}]
As if reading my thoughts, the system window belatedly displayed an additional window. A mission telling me to go outside rather than dealing with something happening inside the school.
Was this the mission that would lead me to the Queen? Today she had rushed off and disappeared, but there was a good chance she had been preparing to expand her influence outside the school even before today.
A system that only improves when I point out the problems myself. For a game system, it was quite smart, but since this was reality where I had to live, it was rather slow to reflect changes. I should appreciate the fact that it listened to my complaints to some degree, though.
"If you're in pain, shall I guide you to the infirmary? The school nurse is a very kind person, so if you make up a suitable excuse, she'll help you stay lying in bed."
Perhaps because I'd been thinking about the mission and extracting a sort of compensation from the system, or because I'd remained silent in front of this woman for too long, she spoke in a rather worried tone.
The friendly acquaintance that had existed between the Student Council President and me. She might be worrying whether I was sick because she already knew about that...
I probably couldn't bring up the mission in this atmosphere. The choices appearing before me weren't shackles forcing my actions. They merely suggested paths I could walk.
As such, even if I chose an option that benefited me, it wasn't immediately reflected. I had to create the situation to voice that choice myself.
"No, it's not that. I just thought about how busy the President must be, working without even having lunch, and tears clouded my vision..."
I wasn't such an emotional person that I would cry worrying about the Student Council President, who had my ideal type's looks but whom I'd barely spoken to, yet tears naturally flowed from my eyes.
It was thinking about how much I'd suffer if I didn't do the mission the system recommended that made the tears come naturally.
Falling for my acting—which would have made me a ten-million-view actress had I been an actress—the woman who was the Vice President took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped my tears. "So you were a fan of the President too!" she said, gripping my hand tightly.
I hadn't expected this. I tried to pull my hand away, but like most heroines, this woman was stronger than me.
Most heroines possessed superpowers, so I understood why their physical abilities surpassed those of normal people I knew. But what I couldn't understand was why I didn't receive those benefits.
I had a superpower. I held the same role as the heroines. I shared several traits with those who had excellent physical abilities, yet my strength was weaker than that of ordinary heroines. If a being like the Queen tried to subdue me by force, I'd have no choice but to be defeated.
[Awakening Rate 0.4%]
It was probably because, unlike others, my superpower wasn't fully unlocked. As I was lamenting my lack of physical ability for a moment, the Vice President's eyes sparkled like a child's.
"I knew you were a comrade."
A comrade? Could she be a player who had entered the game like me? But that thought was immediately resolved by what followed.
"Thinking about how hard the Student Council President works, any student enjoying a peaceful school life thanks to her efforts would tear up. As expected of someone who was close to her before. You recognize the President's efforts. Even though it would be enough if she came in at 8, she arrives at dawn and stays locked in there looking at documents even during break times. Her passion and effort to understand her fellow students always leave me in awe. If I become Student Council President after she graduates, I worry whether I can be like her..."
She just saw me as a member of the President's fan club.
Come to think of it, even the protagonist Kim Haneul only suspected I had come to this world; she wasn't certain. I hadn't said anything, so how would this woman know I came from outside? Unless she had mind-reading abilities, she wouldn't know.
While more or less accepting that, I briefly cut off the woman's mouth, which threatened to keep running on and on, and spoke.
"I want to help the President; is there anything I can assist with?"
"Hmm..."
Unlike her talkative self from before, the Vice President crossed her arms and pondered seriously. Evidence that she was about to say something she couldn't easily tell an ordinary person.
Since she already saw me as a comrade who liked the same person, she'd probably give a positive answer.
"There are four requests sent by students... but whether I can show them to you..."
The exact same number of requests I'd heard. Her words leaned more negative than expected, but I wasn't too worried.
"I just thought the President's workload looked too heavy, so I wanted to help lighten it a bit..."
"I knew it? You don't want to pry into other students' private lives; you just want to work for the Student Council President as a sort of mercenary, right? Then just this once, to see if you work well, I'll entrust you with one of the requests that came to us."
What followed went smoothly. Even though I hadn't separately designated a mission, she gave me the 4th mission the system had recommended.
The content about a mother seeming to fall for a strange scam. Honestly, it wasn't like I could solve it just by going.
"For the Student Council President!"
Even if I failed this time, I could just not take missions later, so I accepted the mission as the system recommended and returned to my classroom. Though formally carrying out this mission would have to wait until after school.