The cloudy sky blanketed the city. Rain poured down, tapping the roofs of old apartment buildings lined along narrow streets. In a neglected corner of the city, inside a small fourth-floor apartment room, a young man sat in silence, staring at a phone screen cracked at the bottom-left corner.
His name was Takuya Minami, 17 years old, a senior high school student. His grades were average. He didn't have many friends. He had only one hobby: playing gacha games.
"Come on, just give me one SSR girl," Takuya muttered.
He clicked his tongue in frustration, having already spent nearly 15,000 yen on this gacha event and still hadn't gotten the new character he wanted.
This was the final pull he could afford.
"Please! Just give me beautiful Nagumi," he whispered, closing his eyes and praying.
Takuya's heart beat faster. He didn't want to open his eyes. But part of him knew he had to. Hoping that the name "Nagumi" would appear.
"Please! Just this once is enough."
Takuya opened his eyes.
No golden light greeted him from the gacha result.
The 15,000 yen he had spent — wasted.
He didn't get the cute elf girl character with the tiny body and sword — the one he had been chasing. And he had already spent 90% of his money.
Takuya placed his phone on the table.
"Am I truly cursed by the Gacha God?" he groaned, clenching his hand into a fist.
He stood up and walked toward the door.
He stood there for a long moment, staring at it.
"Damn it!" shouted Takuya.
BAAM!
Takuya punched his apartment door as hard as he could. He winced, his right hand trembling.
"Damn it!" he shouted again, even louder. "Damn it!"
He hit the door five more times. The noise was loud. The floor vibrated, and blood dripped from his knuckles.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! If you hate me, come say it to my face!" someone from the next apartment shouted. "Sounds like you don't like me."
Takuya ignored the voice.
He slowly stepped back and collapsed onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his shabby apartment.
He had chosen this crappy apartment to save on living expenses. The rest of his money, of course, went to gacha. Takuya was addicted to gacha games. He had even skipped school for four days just to roll more pulls.
It sounded stupid, but Takuya really was that dumb.
"Damn. Damn. Damn."
Takuya was furious. This time, it wasn't just his living expenses he had spent — he had also used money meant for books and tutoring. All with the hope of getting the character he had been waiting for the past two months.
But the result was garbage.
Takuya closed his eyes, gripping his swollen right hand, bruised from punching the door.
"Come out, you bastard!" someone shouted from outside.
It was the same man who had yelled at Takuya earlier. Now he was standing right in front of Takuya's apartment door. The two were not on good terms. They had even gotten into a fight once — just from making eye contact.
That time, Takuya had already spent
35,000 yen on gacha, and the outcome was miserable. His emotions were unstable, and when they made eye contact, Takuya cursed at the man, leading to a fight.
But this time, Takuya ignored it.
He sat up and grabbed his phone again. He opened the game, but his mood hadn't improved.
"Stupid game," he muttered.
His thumb hovered over the game icon.
Then the "uninstall" option appeared.
Takuya was about to tap it, but stopped halfway.
"I should've never played this stupid game in the first place," he mumbled.
He put the phone back down.
Just as he was about to close his eyes, something strange happened.
A bright light appeared from the floor.
Panicked, Takuya stood up and tried to run, but it was too late.
A few seconds later, the light vanished. But the floor beneath his feet… had changed.
Takuya raised his head. When he looked forward, his eyes widened.
What he saw was completely different.
"Where is this?"
At that moment, a screen appeared in front of his face.
It looked just like something out of a game.
[GACHA SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[WELCOME, HERO!]
Tap...
Takuya stood frozen, stunned.
He had no idea what was happening.