Chapter 3: I Want to Defect and Become European

Just as Kyren was scrolling through the group chat logs—the ones he'd missed while unconscious—his thumb paused mid-swipe.

"Luo Tianyi was the first to check in today."

Check-in?

He blinked at the message. This interdimensional chat group had a check-in feature? Really? That felt oddly mundane compared to the insanity of hopping dimensions. Still, before he could wrap his head around it, the chat erupted.

"Ahh!! Tianyi-chan, how did you even find the check-in button?!"

That came from Kagamine Rin, her avatar practically vibrating with digital shock.

"It's right there in the app bar," Tianyi replied, nonchalantly.

"Tianyi-chan always has a sixth sense for these things…"

Kyren tilted his head. It was just a check-in feature—was Rin really that surprised?

Curiosity got the better of him, and he tapped the check-in button. What he saw nearly made him spit out the imaginary drink he wasn't holding.

Group Check-In:

The first person to check in each day earns one spin of the "Lucky Wheel."

Lucky Wheel? What is this, a gacha game?

With a sigh, he opened the feature. A colorful wheel bloomed across his screen, reminiscent of those carnival-style prize wheels you'd see in old game shows. But the prizes?

90% of the wheel was pure disappointment—"Thanks for playing!", "Better luck next time!", "Come back tomorrow!" The remaining 9% were random, mundane items like LoveLive! soundtrack CDs, lyric sheets, and music scores—stuff you could normally download in seconds back in his world.

But the final 1%... now that was something else.

[Idol Mastermind] – Title: Grants world-class idol skills for five minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours. Passive effect: Increases popularity and growth of your idol group by 20%.

Kyren started.

Was he… in a video game now? This title screamed "overpowered RPG buff." And yet, in this surreal chat room that had already defined the boundaries of time and space, it suddenly didn't seem impossible.

He found himself oddly fixated on LoveLive! CDs and sheet music, too. Back home, they would've been forgettable—things you could Google in minutes. But here, inside the LoveLive! universe itself, resources were limited. And for someone like him, who loved the series but had the musical talent of a tone-deaf rock, those sheets were priceless.

The system was cruelly clever. It dangled what you needed the most only when you were desperate enough to care. He could practically feel it teasing him: "Come on, Kyren. Try for the first check-in tomorrow. Spin the wheel. Maybe you'll get lucky…"

And maybe, just maybe, he'd win that 1% dream—Idol Mastermind. With that title, he could become an actual producer. In the LoveLive! world, where idols were all students, experience and exposure were everything. That buff could turn even a clumsy amateur into a legitimate force. For five minutes, at least.

Of course, reality hit just as fast as fantasy bloomed.

Kyren's luck? Historically awful. If life were a gacha banner, he lived permanently in the "No-Rare-Zone." The best he'd ever pulled in luck-based events was a consolation prize. He hadn't even sniffed third place before.

Still, a guy could dream.

As if the universe had been reading his mind, another message appeared just below the check-in instructions:

"Aside from the daily first check-in reward, users who check in 15 consecutive days will receive an 'Asian' title bonus, which slightly increases their chances of winning physical items. A full 30-day streak grants one bonus spin plus the coveted 'European Emperor' title—guaranteed to win a prize."

Kyren couldn't help but laugh aloud.

This insane group chat had categorized luck into regional tiers—"African" for the hopelessly unlucky, "Asian" for average folk, "European" for the fortunates, and "European Emperor" for the untouchable elite. He knew two unofficial extremes, too: the utterly doomed "African Chieftain" and the mythical "Martian," whose luck defied reason entirely.

Maybe he should suggest those as actual titles.

Smirking, he typed nothing—but somehow, a new message appeared in his chatbox:

"Host's suggestion was acknowledged. 'African Chieftain' and 'Martian' titles added. Bonus spin awarded."

He yelped and nearly flung his phone across the room.

"What the hell? I didn't even type that!"

But when he looked back at the screen, the message was gone. Nothing in the input field. Nothing in the chat. And yet… the spin button beneath the Lucky Wheel had turned red, glowing invitingly. The counter now read: Spins: 1.

He wasn't hallucinating.

Still, even the optimist, Kyren didn't dwell too hard on the impossibility. He'd always lived by the motto: If you're already here, you might as well enjoy the ride.

He turned his focus back to the spinning wheel. Luck had never been his strong suit. Someone once joked in a past chat group that if a game depended on luck, you should either wash your face daily or stop washing your hands altogether—rituals to "cheat" the RNG gods. He'd laughed back then. Luck was chaos, no matter what charms or routines you practiced.

But now? Staring down the glowing prize wheel, desperate for even a scrap of advantage?

Kyren muttered under his breath.

"I want to defect. Just this once… let me be European."

Luck doesn't bend to logic. No matter how much you spend, how much you pray, how long you wait. The gacha gods give and take as they please.

"Luck is lawless. Whales can't buy fate. The world is European—except for you."

That was how people described Kyren's record of catastrophic misfortune. But not today.

"Damn it," he growled. "I will cheat fate this time."

He slammed the spin button.

The wheel began to spin, its golden needle flicking past segments like a heartbeat. Kyren's breath caught. He clasped his hands, eyes never leaving the screen.

"Oh great Jade Emperor, merciful Buddha, celestial Queen Mother of the West—whoever's out there! Let me win. Just once. I'll burn three sticks of incense at your temple the moment I get back—cross my heart!"

So focused was he, he didn't notice the figure quietly standing at the infirmary door.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Minami Maki—the chairwoman of Otonokizaka Academy—watched in silence, her expression unreadable.

She'd come down personally the moment she'd heard there was a man on campus. In an all-girls academy, even a rumor like that was enough to cause chaos.

Abandoning her paperwork mid-task, Maki had followed the report to the school infirmary. But now that she stood here, she hesitated. How should she even talk to him?

It had been years since she'd spoken to a boy—any boy near her daughter's age, at least. After graduating university, she married Kotori's father and soon after became principal of her alma mater. Life since then has been… orderly. Predictable. Female.

But this?

This wasn't in the handbook.

And yet, behind the door, a boy was whispering fervent prayers to the gods of luck, unaware that the moment fate decided to listen… it might just be in the form of a woman like her.

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