My Dating Sim Really Does Have Problems

Yu Luo won a spot in the beta test for the romance game Heartbeat Curve.

If she maxed out any male lead's affection during the trial, she would get a permanent privilege: ten guaranteed SSR pulls in any game published by the company.

In a narrow, gloomy alley, the stench of blood hung thick in the air.

Seeing a destitute child huddled in the corner, barely breathing, Yu Luo struggled to pick up a broom and hit the bully with a spinning strike.

The bully toppled into a puddle of filthy water, numbers above his head rapidly ticking down: -1, -2, -5, -7.

His affection was dropping? Who cares, she only needed to get one person to a hundred percent.

Yu Luo landed another punch, then crouched in front of the injured boy.

After a long while, he still didn't respond.

She had no choice but to take the last few candies from her pocket and coax him: "Don't be scared. Have some candy."

You couldn't spend real money during the beta, and coins were in desperately short supply.

Yu Luo completed a mountain of quests just to buy a pitiful white-flour bun, which she pressed into Zhong Ke's hands.

She lamented that this wasn't an otome romance game at all, but a poverty-stricken orphan-raising simulator.

But why didn't this kid smile or talk?

That night, Yu Luo angrily deleted the game. "What a lousy game. I've played all day and his affection hasn't gone up at all."

At three in the morning: "It really hasn't gone up at all? I don't believe it."

His affection really hadn't increased, but it seemed like a System glitch had added a ton of coins to her account.

Because she was fiercely protective, Yu Luo often saw handsome boys with -1, -1, -2, -7 floating over their heads.

As time passed in the game, the extremely negative values slowly turned positive. Somehow, Yu Luo maxed out the affection of the other four male leads.

But Zhong Ke was already eighteen, having started out at five, and nothing had ever appeared over his head.

Yu Luo gave up for good and never opened the game again.

Two years later, with the game about to shut down, Yu Luo logged in again, her feelings complicated.

Her coins, once in the triple digits, had grown so numerous she couldn't see the end of the number, which even wrapped around the screen.

Zhong Ke was dressed in funereal black, but... the brightly colored candy in his hands clashed with the oppressive palette.

The young man held the candy out to her.

In a hoarse voice, he said, "I'll give you everything you want. Please don't come back to see me again, okay?"

Theme: No dream of love is ever in vain.