Chapter 7
7.
[A one-on-one chat room has been opened!]
Head Mod☆: Hey
FallenNobleDaughter: (Front-facing picture of a pink canopy)
FallenNobleDaughter: (Picture of a pink canopy from above)
FallenNobleDaughter: (Picture of a canopy taken from the floor looking upward)
Head Mod☆: ?
FallenNobleDaughter: Please don't leave. I'm still taking more pictures of the canopy.
I entered the chat because I was curious about the username.
The moment I did, a barrage of canopy photos greeted me before we'd even exchanged greetings, as if she'd been waiting for me.
It was obvious she'd put a great deal of effort into taking them, trying to make them look as bright and cheerful as possible.
There were even pictures she'd taken with the window open, her hair and clothes fluttering in the breeze.
And dynamic shots where she'd thrown herself upward to emphasize the bed's softness.
Head Mod☆: No; I'm not leaving, so calm down a little.
FallenNobleDaughter: ...ㅇ︿ㅇ Really? You're really not going to leave, right?
Head Mod☆: Yeah.
On top of that, each message was strangely pitiful.
But that aside, the bed wasn't merely in good condition; it was incredibly exquisite.
Was she really some noble lady, just as her username suggested?
Head Mod☆: Do you live well? The quality of this bed is no joke ㄷㄷ;
FallenNobleDaughter: Hmph, that's only natural. I'm the daughter of House Ophelia, after all.
Of course, I hope you understand that doesn't mean I'm looking down on you or that I intend to be uncooperative with the trade, okay?
Head Mod☆: Okay;
FallenNobleDaughter: Wait just a little. I'll take and send you more pictures.
Head Mod☆: Ah, no, it's fine, it's fine. I think I've seen enough.
FallenNobleDaughter: Huh?
Actually, I'd already made my decision.
“Bartering is divine, and points are unbeatable.”
The canopy bed FallenNobleDaughter had posted was the quintessential romance-fantasy bed.
A massive bed with room to spare even if I stretched out flat on my back.
The bed's softness had been proven by her throwing her whole body onto it.
If only I could do something about those airy pink curtains, it would be perfect.
“I can trade with her.”
But had this self-proclaimed noble lady thought I would reject it?
FallenNobleDaughter: W-wait a moment!
There really isn't a bed better than this one, you know?
Once you lie down on it, you'll think, Ah, buying this was definitely the right choice. I'm serious!
A flood of desperate messages tried to hold me back.
Before FallenNobleDaughter could send another message, I pressed the trade button, and the system displayed a notification.
[The trade has been completed!]
[1,000 tuna cans have been safely delivered!]
FallenNobleDaughter: O ◇ O Thank you!
Thud!
[Delivery complete.]
“Oooh...”
And an enormous canopy had arrived in one corner of the storage room before my eyes.
Just as I was about to leave the marketplace after finishing the trade, a question suddenly occurred to me.
“But didn't you say it was a three-canopy set at first?”
Yet all the many pictures she'd uploaded showed a single canopy bed photographed in the same room.
Head Mod☆: But where are the other two beds? Why are you only showing me one?
Of course, I didn't need three beds.
When I asked out of pure curiosity, FallenNobleDaughter began panicking like a rat backed into a corner.
FallenNobleDaughter: Ah, well...
Head Mod☆: ?
FallenNobleDaughter: Actually, the other two belong to my father and my younger brother... I'd have to go upstairs to take pictures of them, you know...?
Head Mod☆: Yeah.
FallenNobleDaughter: But magical beasts sometimes wander around that mansion...
FallenNobleDaughter: Do you want to see pictures of the rest of the bedding? Should I go take them now...? ㅠㅠ
“What? Is she trapped?”
Maybe she was in a situation similar to mine.
I could imagine her trembling on the other side of the chat.
If I told her to go, it felt like she might actually leave and never come back, so I hurriedly typed a message.
Head Mod☆: No, no, it's fine. I'm satisfied with this one bed.
FallenNobleDaughter: *^^*
For some reason, I had a feeling we'd be running into each other often from now on.
*
“Wow, this is the best.”
GOAT.
After I tore off the cumbersome curtains, the canopy was the true GOAT itself.
Just lying on its cloudlike softness made me happy without even trying.
And with the gallery window floating in midair, this place was nothing short of heaven.
After the satisfying trade, I browsed the gallery and found it filled with reactions lamenting the end of trading.
-My tuna cans!!!
-I don't know about the trade, but if you're having fun watching things burn, upvote lol
-Why did you reject my straw bed?
-I curse the Head Mod ㅗㅗ May you trip on the road and eat shit
Then I came across a featured post that had drawn an unusually large number of comments and a great deal of attention. The name looked very familiar.
Featured post) I'm a tuna-can tycoon now.
FallenNobleDaughter
(A picture of tuna cans stacked into a tower in one corner of a room)
I sold the canopy that was taking up space in the corner of my room and got a thousand tuna cans. Heheh.
I don't have to worry about food anymore?
Of course, if any of you come visit, I can share a few with you.
Oh, and thank you so much, Head Mod. If you need anything next time, I'll look around and try to find it for you.
You saved my life ovo
(A picture showing only a hand making a V sign)
“Ah, this is going to get me flamed like crazy.”
It was nice that the trade had gone well, but making unnecessary brag posts in the gallery was a strict no-no.
This was a place where cyber-investigation squads and the like would inexplicably dig up every last detail about you.
But contrary to my expectations, the comment section was remarkably clean.
No, there were actually more congratulatory comments.
ㄴ I was worried about you every time, but congratulations!
ㄴ I always felt sorry for her whenever I saw her posts. It's nice to see her finally looking happy, yeah.
ㄴ Wow; that's endgame-tier food, ㄷㄷ Congrats, congrats.
ㄴ Why are the comments here so damn wholesome?
ㄴ No, are you complaining even when we're being wholesome? lol
ㄴ For real, you can't even curse here;;
ㄴ She's genuinely happy, so if I curse her, I just look like an asshole, yeah.
ㄴ If you curse someone who's happy, then you are an asshole, asshole.
The reason was that FallenNobleDaughter's usual gentle way of speaking and her old posts had left an impression on everyone.
-Left alone in a grand mansion / 1 year ago
-I miss my little brother and my dad... / 7 months ago
-I don't have any food left now. Am I really going to die this pointlessly? / 2 weeks ago
The survival journals were so heartbreaking to read that everyone had naturally rallied around her.
ㄴ B-but that was mine, I say!!
ㄴ I'm pissed off!! Why only me!! I'm going to curse the Head Mod, I say!!!
ㄴ Ah, you can't act like this here;;
ㄴ Someone get those elf bastards out of here.
ㄴ Ugh, typical elf trash.
Of course, there were a few gallery users who cursed like this, but they were a tiny minority.
And perhaps because of FallenNobleDaughter's featured post, interest in bartering suddenly increased as well.
-What on earth does the Head Mod not have?
-No matter how many layers we peel back, something new keeps coming out;
-Do you have anything else?
ㄴ Head Mod☆) Most things? I think I can get pretty much anything you guys are talking about, at least.
ㄴ Ah, I was wondering where he was, and here he is doing this.
ㄴ Owner, hurry up and list some new goods!!!
“Is it about time to add a new item?”
I opened the marketplace every morning and evening.
Until then, I had only been selling baguettes, bottled water, and energy drinks, but I decided to add tuna cans.
[Level up! 3→4]
“Besides, mana dumplings have plenty of uses now, too.”
As a result, my point acquisition rate reached Level 4, putting it on an entirely different scale from before.
If I browsed the gallery all day, I could now hope to earn as many as 10,000 points.
[Tuna cans have been registered in the marketplace.]
[Remaining listing slots: 1]
Title: Yep, it's me
I added tuna cans to the marketplace.
Please buy lots and lots.
[99+ comments]
ㄴ MARKET!!! ADDED!!!
ㄴ Damn!! I knew I could trust you!!
ㄴ Is the Head Mod a god? Is the Head Mod a god? Is the Head Mod a god?
ㄴ Ah lol, from now on I'm filling my stomach with tuna cans morning and night lol
As I laughed along with the gallery's explosive reaction, I suddenly noticed that my eyes were getting blurry.
“Come to think of it, this place is really dark.”
The inside of the warehouse was more spacious than I had expected.
But no light came in, making it incredibly dark, and I could feel my eyes suffering from relying entirely on the system's glow.
Good health was essential for browsing the gallery for long periods, after all.
Now that I had obtained a bed through bartering, I naturally began thinking about what to get next.
“Should I get some lighting while I'm at it?”
In an otherworld where mana existed, daily life had naturally advanced by leaps and bounds.
Of course, it had all gone to ruin, but surely there was someone somewhere who would agree to a trade?
[Buying. Selling.]
[What I need: A lamp, lighting]
So I posted the request right away.
[A total of 23 trade requests have come in.]
The system notification responded as if it had been waiting for me.
*
It had only been my first day using the barter system.
I hadn't met many other gallery users yet, but I could tell one thing for certain.
Head Mod☆: The lamp's in good shape. Would tuna cans work as the trade item?
Vincent: Tuna cans will do. But there's something else I want more.
Head Mod☆: Yeah? Is there something else you want?
Vincent: I don't know that myself.
Head Mod☆: ?
My trade partner this time was Vincent, a painter.
Unlike the other traders, this man was quite unusual.
Vincent: My life is painful enough to kill me.
Vincent: I long for something that will burn through it with intensity.
Head Mod☆: No.
A gallery user who had made a name for himself as a brilliant artist before the apocalypse had made a difficult request.
Of course, I could look for another trader, but for some reason, this request didn't feel like trolling.
“Something that will burn through it with intensity...”
I fell into deep thought for a moment.
I naturally began searching my own life for something like that, and it didn't take long for me to remember.
Something like a drug, but not a drug.
Something whose incredible refreshingness would strike my entire body with overwhelming force after just one sip.
Head Mod☆: Okay, I know what you mean.
Vincent: Oh, as expected of the Head Mod. I knew you would solve my troubles. So, what is it?
Head Mod☆: This.
A viciously black, lava-like liquid in a vivid red can.
Head Mod☆: Try drinking Coke.
I had brought Coke into the Otherworld.
*
Featured post) New work on display
Title: People Drinking Coke
(An oil painting of people drinking Coke by the light of lamps in a dark house)
Head Mod. You—and Coke—have awakened me.
Upvotes 99+ Downvotes 0
[99+ comments]
ㄴ Ahh! Vincent's latest work is always worth seeing!
ㄴ We've been waiting for you, maestro hehe
ㄴ Wow ㄷㄷ; the atmosphere is incredible.
ㄴ But what are they all drinking?
ㄴ Their faces are scrunched up, but they're drinking like they crave it.
ㄴ Coke? What's Coke?
ㄴ Isn't that the new product the Head Mod brought out?
ㄴ I heard Sam and the Head Mod bartered this time.
Featured post) Agony and Coke
(A video of Vincent drinking Coke while admiring a breathtaking view from atop a hill)
Upvotes 99+ Downvotes 2
[99+ comments]
ㄴ Wow, the atmosphere is fucking incredible.
ㄴ Where is that background?
ㄴ Sir, but what are you drinking?
ㄴ Coke? There's Coke in this work too.
ㄴ The more I watch it, the more I want to try it too.
ㄴ Looking at his other posts, I hear its refreshingness and sense of liberation woke him from his terrible ennui?
ㄴ Wow, what is that black liquid bubbling over?
ㄴ Can you drink that?
-The Head Mod must guarantee us the right to know too!
-Head Mod, you bastard, are you going to keep doling things out so ambiguously?
-I'm damn curious about that black liquid.
-Head Mod bastard,, won't you release the Coke already,,,!
“What is this now?”
It happened while I was using the fragmented sleep method—sleeping for a total of five hours in separate segments—and had just woken up after the first hour.
Why on earth did everyone know about Coke when I hadn't even listed it in the marketplace?
But that question was answered soon enough.
Featured post) Coke is like the devil's embrace.
Because it was full of irresistible temptation.
But if Coke devours my depression and hatred, I would gladly leap into its embrace.
Upvotes 71 Downvotes 2
[83 comments]
ㄴ What on earth does it taste like?
ㄴ At this point, I'm going crazy wanting to try it.
ㄴ Ah, damn that Head Mod!
“Ah.”
Vincent had made a work centered on Coke and ended up giving it massive publicity.