Sidenote: you will still need one, but by the end of the guide you should only need to deal with this process once per year, assuming nothing changes.
So, if you're like me you used ProtonVPN as a way to get around the most recent DMM block beginning in August of 2023.
Of course, you can't always have your cake & eat it too. So, what Proton did, some months later: no more server choices even with their already limited country selection for free users, and no more split tunneling either.
That's what most people think at least. Me, personally, I found a solution.