This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After topping off her energy, Rita used the [VIP Pass] she'd drawn from the gacha to skip the line and re-enter Defend the Gacha at the 15th Month Theme Park.

She didn't want to waste even a second.

This time, her performance was even better than at March Theme Park. She wasn't just clearing paths—she was actually managing to kill other players. Several times.

Unfortunately, her final score didn't measure up. The player power gap here wasn't as wide, so her performance didn't carry the same weight.

Still, after ninety minutes of grinding, Rita got what she came for.

[Defend the Gacha Rankings]

[1st Place: BS-Rita – Paths Cleared: 12]

...

[1st Place Reward: 9 Bonus Gacha Spins]

...

[BS-Rita has entered the Global Rankings – Personal Best Recorded – Rewards Upgraded]

[Congratulations, BS-Rita: 1/3 Premium Gacha Token Obtained (Remaining: 4)]

...

Second shard in hand. Only four left.

Rita opened her palm. Five new items sat quietly inside.

They were all drawn from this round's gacha. Exclusive-use items for Defend the Gacha mode.

Two [Attack Skill Slots], three [Defense Skill Slots], and two [Healing Skill Slots].

Why risk jumping into some unfamiliar new project with unknown rules, when she could just keep running this one?

With these tools, she was ready to take on July Theme Park.

...

23:10

Rita stood at the starting grid of July Theme Park's Defend the Gacha.

It wasn't enough. Not enough gift packs, not enough players.

She thought of the dwindling number of premium token fragments and started to panic.

Rita opened the battlefield chat.

[BS-Rita]: No one at July Theme Park's Defend the Gacha?

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: ?

[BS-Rita]: Hurry, join Defend the Gacha, get your revenge, move fast!

[Lania Kaia · Pine Bloom]: Frenzied Shark, quick, this is your chance.

[Marmang · Crab]: Frenzied Shark, hurry, don't miss it.

Rita: "..."

That scumbag Marmang Crab. She'd bet her divine talent that bastard wasn't coming.

March Theme Park, 15th Month Theme Park—it didn't matter. Every player who had joined her in Defend the Gacha wasn't saying a single word about how busted her setup was.

Was it to hide how precious the gacha machine really was? Or just that spiteful "if I can't win, nobody can" energy?

[BS-Rita]: [Cat's Ideal]

[BS-Rita]: Yep, still in my hands

[BS-Rita]: No way, come on—it's July Theme Park

[BS-Rita]: Ugh, Demon King… I can't even with you

Since entering the game, Rita had never typed this much in battlefield chat. She was genuinely desperate.

There were probably only three premium tokens available in this whole area. You think that's normal loot?!

...

Drummer sat at a dining table slurping noodles, using BS-Rita's hysterical battlefield chatter as seasoning.

Exactly as expected. When there's nothing on the line, BS-Rita avoids conflict and trouble like the plague. But once the rewards are worth it? She'd throw herself into a meat grinder.

Across from him, the Captain stared at a row of tiny game booths and asked, "You're not going?"

Drummer recalled everything his March Theme Park projection had endured and visibly winced. "Nah. That gameplay experience was straight trash."

The Captain said nothing more.

Seven minutes passed. Player slots filled. Still no gift packs.

Rita was losing it.

[BS-Rita]: Divine Game sucks

[BS-Rita]: I've walked this road alone

[BS-Rita]: No one has my back

[BS-Rita]: Nobody believed in me—and yet here I am, carrying the team

[BS-Rita]: BS-Rita, oh BS-Rita... so fierce, so unkillable. Do you even value your own life?

Watching from afar, B8017913 whispered, "...Is she okay?"

Rita replied, "Please schedule 'Learn to Appease Fans' on page one of my daily planner. I still have hope."

B8017913: "..."

Five minutes later, the game finally had a full lineup—gift packs included.

Defend the Gacha at July Theme Park was harder. Only one skill slot, one item slot. And you had to survive two full minutes just to move a single tile.

Rita immediately activated [Wasted Time Guide], stacking buffs from 48 hours of non-stop gaming.

Still not enough.

She used [Owl Got Lost] to erase the cooldown on Wasted Time Guide, then used it a second time.

Same fifty buffs, but with both instances stacked, the bonuses hit absurd levels.

When her time-stop ended, she slotted in her strongest defensive skills: [Bedtime Story], [Absurd Tale], and [Hit Me If You Can]. These were her trump cards—her reason for daring to step into July Theme Park.

Still, she stayed cautious. The moment she entered, she used an item to swap one of her attack skills for a gift pack's [Stonehide] trait—50 hits of pure damage immunity. Nearly identical to her own [Mysterious Power].

Then she did what she did best: slung that oversized gacha machine on her back and took cover.

Topping the hate list yet again, she began creeping forward one tile at a time.

With [Hit Me If You Can] covering for slipups—even if a corner of her Blocks body poked out from under the gacha—it wasn't fatal.

And if her HP dropped to 0%, she just used [Moment Reversal] to swap health with a gift pack blocking her path.

This time, she scored multiple kills. Her progress was faster than ever.

Naturally, battlefield chat exploded—coded curses, snide remarks, backhanded mockery. Anyone who'd ever played with BS-Rita knew the pain.

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: I'm gonna be sick

[Marmang · Banban]: Crab! So that's why you didn't come?! You knew?!

[Tingo · JE]: This is disgusting. Where do I file a complaint?

[Tingo · JE]: I knew something was off when Marmang Crab suddenly flew me here, said he was helping me get revenge. Bastard.

[Winter Sea · Ember]: Did I hallucinate, or did that gift pack's feathers just explode?

[Tingo · JE]: You saw right.

[Tingo · Autumn Deer]: Don't tell me y'all can't even kill a ninth-tier?

[Verdant Whisper · Windrush]: Don't tell me y'all can't even kill a ninth-tier?

[Lania Kaia · Pine Bloom]: Don't tell me y'all can't even kill a ninth-tier?

[Lania Kaia · Mistblade]: Ugh. Demon King.

[Marmang · Crab]: Ugh. Demon King.

[Winter Sea · Frenzied Shark]: Did you kill her then?!

[Marmang · Crab]: Yeah? Did you?!

[Marmang · Banban]: ...Can you at least get the seahorse off your back first?!