Chapter 22
ㄴ I haven't been able to sleep at all lately.
ㄴ My head... is spinning.
ㄴ Mine work isn't even the least bit hard, so I don't know why this is happening.
ㄴ Head Mod☆: Then take the medicine.
ㄴ Head Mod☆: I put it in the marketplace, so why aren't you taking it?
ㄴ ...
ㄴ Ahem!
The dwarves were a race of artisans.
When it came to weapons, armor, and construction, they possessed skills no other race could match.
Perhaps that was why. Dwarves were stubborn.
They were immensely proud of themselves and never bent even a little, so they didn't easily get along with other races.
- Wow~ Are the dwarves still being stubborn?
- Isn't that why they're still outcasts among the races?
- Heh heh, I completely agree!
ㄴ You elven elders, go get some sleep already.
ㄴ We're still better than you.
ㄴ Ugh, the smell of old-man talk is intense.
Of course, not as much as the elves.
Title: Dwarves, Come Here
Author: Head Mod☆
You said your heads hurt.
So why aren't you taking the medicine?
(A cat meme with its face filling the entire screen)
Are you refusing my medicine because you think it's heretical or something, like the church does?
Take some and get better already!
Get better so the gallery can be more active!!
- Ahem, it's not like that...
ㄴ If anything, we believe you. You helped us a great deal during the campaign to reclaim our territory, so why would we doubt you?
ㄴ That's right. It must work.
ㄴ Head Mod☆: Then why aren't you taking it?
ㄴ It's just...
..
.
Taldru: It's because of macho-man culture.
Taldru answered frankly when the dwarves in the gallery hesitated to respond.
Taldru was a gallery user who was familiar with the dwarves, and he candidly explained what went on among them.
Taldru: You could call it pride.
Head Mod☆: What?
Taldru: Our race has lived without taking medicine since long ago.
Taldru: The belief that taking medicine means you're weak is deeply ingrained in us.
So the dwarves I'd told to take it were simply toughing it out without taking it?
On top of that, its effects showed up somewhere else instead.
- Amazing, Amazing, Head Mod's Top Three Medicines...jpg
- There are so many questions, so I'll explain how to take it all at once.
- Reasons Head Mod is fucking adorable...jpg
- We are living in the age of the Head Mod.
If anything, other gallery users were making regular use of it.
But I didn't panic much.
I had a method for times like this.
“Hmm, I didn't want to use this method.”
A method of shaping public opinion that had been used constantly since my previous life and ever since the gallery was founded.
- The reason Tylenol is truly amazing...
- How to solve a headache in one shot...
It was the traditional promotional method—viral marketing.
*
Title: Wow, What Is This, Seriously?
(A picture of someone holding Tylenol in one hand)
The more I look at this, the more amazing it seems.
I didn't take medicine because it felt unmanly, but after taking it, my work efficiency doubled. Damn.
Even the people around me say I'm amazing now and ask what I took.
Upvotes102 Downvotes5
- What's with this upvote ratio?
- Hmm, is this really worth that many upvotes?
- But this is seriously true. The moment you take it, your energy is completely different.
ㄴ Hmm...
ㄴ Still, medicine is a little...
ㄴ Only weak humans take medicine.
ㄴ That's right. It does seem pretty unmanly.
“The reactions are still pretty weak.”
People are naturally suspicious the first time around.
But what is the traditional method—viral marketing?
Its power came from repeated promotion.
Title: This Is Something You'd Definitely Regret Not Knowing...jpg
(A picture of a dwarf warrior flexing his muscles while showing off Tylenol)
This right here is Tylenol.
My head has been hurting a lot lately, and it's been worrying me, but this stuff is the real deal, wouldn't you say?
Take it when your head hurts, and it's over.
It even doubled, no, tripled my training time.
(A picture of a beautiful dwarf woman looking impressed)
(A picture of a beautiful dwarf woman flexing her muscles with him)
(A picture of a beautiful dwarf woman acknowledging Tylenol)
Haha, thanks to it, I even got myself a muscular, beautiful girlfriend.
You should all take one.
Upvotes504 Downvotes482
- Fuck, my eyes! You bastard!!!
- Dwarf Emperor, I really want to punch you.
- Dwarf Emperor, you're a fucking bastard.
- I-is this true?
- You actually dated a woman that beautiful?
- B-but even so, medicine...
ㄴ Author) It's the wise choice. It increases your efficiency.
ㄴ That's true. If I'd taken Tylenol and increased my efficiency, I could have gotten a girlfriend too.
ㄴ W-well... then maybe I should too...?
“Done.”
In the dark storage room, I brought up the gallery and laughed sinisterly.
Posts that would have been dismissed as obvious viral marketing in my previous life worked perfectly on the innocent residents of the Otherworld.
Because no one had ever tried it before.
With all those upvotes, they assumed it must be true, and the reviews swayed public opinion even more easily.
When someone is stubborn, you don't break that stubbornness—you gently change it while leaving it intact.
“Now there's only the final step left.”
But viral marketing doesn't end there.
Taldain: Should I post it now?
Head Mod☆: Go ahead.
Taldain: Understood, brother. Keep your promise.
Through Taldru, I made a new connection.
And this dwarf named Taldain was clearly the final key to making the gallery's traditional marketing—viral posts and the upvote-manipulation squad—succeed.
Head Mod☆: Of course I remember lol.
[Head Mod☆ offers 3 bottles each of White Rum, Gold Rum, and Dark Rum as barter trade items.]
Taldain: So this is the Head Mod's rum...!
Taldain: Thank you! I love you, brother!!!
Head Mod☆: lol Mix them before you drink them.
Taldain: .
Head Mod☆: Hey.
All that remained was Taldain's endorsement—the endorsement of the king of the dwarves.
The dwarves valued macho-man culture and strength over kinship, so the influence of Taldain, who had become their king, went without saying.
Title: Everyone Who Likes Tylenol, How About Hitting Upvote?
(A picture of Tylenol)
I'll start with myself, lol.
The Tylenol even the Dwarf King approves of—surely you ought to take it, right?
Upvotes999+ Downvotes102
[Comments]
- You bastard!!! How dare you impersonate His Majesty here!!!
- Aren't you afraid of Kilgrot's wrath!!!
ㄴ Taldru) That's really me.
ㄴ Your Majesty!!!!!
ㄴ Please forgive us!!!!!
- His Majesty Taldain endorsed it...?
ㄴ Then that's a different story, isn't it?
ㄴ Ahem, actually, I did want to try it at least once.
ㄴ I have to admit, Tylenol is impressive.
[Head Mod's Marketplace ‘Tylenol’ is sold out.]
And the ripple effect was beyond imagination.
Even though I'd stocked a fairly generous quantity, everything sold out within a few minutes.
The effect of viral marketing—the traditional method—was incredible.
“At this rate, no one will have to suffer from headaches, right?”
I figured the dwarves had paid for the fine sword and sleeping light they'd given me.
Just as I was about to wrap things up and turn off the holy sword's light so I could go to sleep, a question post appeared.
Question Post) Head Mod brother, I have something to ask.
(A picture of Tylenol's ingredient label)
There's something called acetaminophen.
I've never heard of anything like that in my entire life. What is it?
- That's right, I was curious about that too.
- Doesn't it sound like the name of a skill?
- It would be perfect as a weapon name.
It seemed that quite a few dwarves were curious about that ingredient.
I was about to go to sleep, but I left a simple reply.
- Head Mod☆: Oh, that's the ingredient in Tylenol.
ㄴ What a strange name.
ㄴ Is there anything we need to be careful about?
“Oh, right. I forgot to mention the precautions.”
Giving them medicine wasn't the end of it.
Taking a whole handful at once wouldn't make it more effective, and Tylenol in particular had one thing they needed to watch out for.
- Head Mod☆: Don't take it with alcohol.
ㄴ .
ㄴ ?
ㄴ What?
ㄴ Aha! You mean don't take it after drinking?
ㄴ So does that mean we should take it before drinking?
ㄴ So you're just saying we should be a little careful! You mean it doesn't harm the body, right?
- Head Mod☆: ㄴㄴ No, just don't take it on days when you drink.
I wrote it without thinking much of it.
It wasn't as though people drank every day.
But I had overlooked something.
The dwarves drank while researching, while forging weapons, and even while working in the mines.
Alcohol was basically water to them.
I didn't know how much dwarves loved alcohol, so I said it lightly.
- Dwaaaagh!!!
- Demon! It's demonic medicine!!!
- Destroy it! Medicine like that must disappear from this world!!!
- War, war!
The dwarves chose alcohol over medicine.
*
ㄴ I haven't been able to sleep at all lately.
ㄴ My head is spinning.
ㄴ Mine work isn't even the least bit hard, so I don't know why this is happening.
ㄴ Head Mod☆: What the ^^ㅣfuck.
Posts exactly identical to the ones at the beginning.
But surprisingly, these were posts that had appeared in the gallery several days later.
The dwarves who had learned the red pill didn't touch the medicine at all.
They'd thrown a fit at the mere statement that they couldn't drink alcohol, and this was the result.
- Lol, over-the-counter medicine is great.
- Yeah, please boycott it like that.
- Lolol, human victory.
- Yummy~~~
Thanks to that, only the people suffering from chronic headaches benefited.
Not a single dwarf bought it.
The headache problem remained as well.
“The crack seems to have gotten bigger lately...”
The crack in the corner of my storage room—the pet lava—had grown larger.
Perhaps because of that, there seemed to be even more groaning posts in the gallery. Was this the limit of viral marketing?
“I think I need to prepare a countermeasure for the crack.”
I had an excellent conversation tool in the form of a shotgun, as well as immunity from browsing the gallery for years, but the other races didn't.
Put bluntly, it wouldn't be strange if something jumped out of there someday.
For now, we weren't at peace after the war; we were in a standoff following our defeat.
The gallery needed its users to stay healthy for it to keep running.
At the very least, I wanted to come up with a way to deal with motion sickness.
I was in the middle of worrying about it alone when...
건전조신: Head Mod, are you in there~?
I got a message from the popular gallery user 건전조신.
Head Mod☆: Gasp.
건전조신: *^^*?
Head Mod☆: May I ask whether you're finally intending to upload a picture, aaaah!!!!!
건전조신: ^^;
It had been nearly a month since the order restricting lewd pictures was issued after the succubus 건전조신's food supply problem had been resolved.
I had wondered if she might finally upload one, but that wasn't why she had contacted me.
건전조신: I have a way to solve the dwarves' headache problem... Would you like to hear it? ㅇ3ㅇ?
If anything, it concerned the dwarf problem I'd been worrying about lately.
Head Mod☆: Oh, you have a way?
건전조신: *^^* Of course!
Intrigued by 건전조신's confident answer, I listened to what she proposed.
Head Mod☆: Oh?
It was an offer I simply couldn't refuse.
The next day.
[Spiritus 500 ml] - 45 Mana Dumplings
*Warning – Races other than dwarves must absolutely not purchase this.
We accept no responsibility even if you die.
A whopping 96% ABV.
I put the strongest liquor in the world on the marketplace.