Video

[What Is Tower Anon Doing Here?]

(Screenshot.JPG)

Hunter Gallery's featured post.

There, the post I'd written in Fish Gallery, along with the comment reactions, had been reposted exactly as they were.

ㄴ Hahahahahahaha

ㄴ Ah, what are you doing there, Tower Anon bro? lol

ㄴ So you had a fish-tank hobby, huh.

ㄴ You ditched Hunter Gallery?

ㄴㄴ No returns. Please take good care of him in Fish Gallery.

ㄴ But why isn't he trolling over there???

ㄴㄴ Maybe he was being careful because that place is a clean gallery too, like Plant Gallery lol.

People were amazed simply that I, who had already become a known name, had posted there.

ㄴ The reactions from the old-timers over there are even funnier lol.

ㄴ “It looks a little fierce for a marimo,” they say, lol.

ㄴ No, anybody can tell that thing with eyes is obviously just a mob??

ㄴ So what is that thing really?? Is it actually a mob?

ㄴ Fact) If Tower Anon says it's a marimo, then it's a marimo.

ㄴ Sea urchin.

ㄴㄴ Sea urchin.... “Seong-gye”? What, is that Yi Seong-gye or something?

ㄴ Actually, it's Yi Bang-won.

ㄴㄴ Actually, it's Yi Bang-won's war hammer.

ㄴㄴ This is where the cringe overkill starts.

ㄴ Actually, it's Yi Sejong.

ㄴㄴ Does this bastard think Sejong's surname is Yi or something?

ㄴㄴ The surname is Yi, you idiot.

ㄴㄴ Seriously, all I can do is sigh.

And there were even people curious about the identity of the black marimo I'd posted.

There were all kinds of people.

“No, you bastards....”

Even though it got featured and drew the attention I wanted, I didn't feel happy at all.

“When I post on Hunter Gallery! Nobody! clicks it!”

“They screenshot my post, get it into featured posts, and collect the comments?!” My resentment surged and I thumped my chest.

ㄴ This made Monthly Best.

“What?”

I hurried to Monthly Best and checked the post. Sure enough, there really was a post titled [Grinning Marimo....]

“Hey! This isn't the original either!”

The post on Monthly Best was a Smiley Gallery post that had captured the Hunter Gallery featured post, which had captured the post I'd written in Fish Gallery.

The three-layer framed structure made me dizzy.

Overcome with resentment, I wrote up an appeal to show the people in Hunter Gallery.

[I know I'm whining and that it's annoying to look at, but this is literally the exact same post I already put up two hours ago, at the same time, with the same content. It's completely identical, and back then it got zero recommendations and was buried—so why did this one make it all the way to Monthly Best? Sorry for the rant, but I'm already depressed because something bad happened to me personally, and seeing this too makes me feel so wronged that it feels like nothing is going right for me lately.]

ㄴ You didn't even post on Hunter Gallery?

ㄴ(Author): I deleted it because it had no views.

ㄴ Lol, idiot.

“Huff, huff....”

Too angry to breathe, they say, and it was true. I collapsed onto the floor from lack of breath.

“…?”

Chohogi approached worriedly and checked my face, glancing at me as if asking what was wrong. I suddenly felt a wave of shame.

[The sandworm clicks its tongue.]

[The sandworm recommends eliminating that evil minion.]

“Th-that can't happen.”

If the gallery disappeared, I might die writhing from withdrawal symptoms.

[The sandworm advises that beyond that little window are real people, real experiences, and a real world.]

“Hey, you watch YouTube too! What's the difference between you and me!”

[….]

“Besides, my usage time has been going down lately.”

I opened the app that showed my usage time.

[Gallery app usage time this week: 46 hours]

[2 hours less than last week!]

“See!”

[The sandworm points out that internet usage on a computer was not included.]

“I-I barely use the computer, so it probably isn't much different.”

[……]

“Besides, the wider world is inside the internet. Truth is inside the internet too. My friends....”

For some reason, the more I spoke, the more miserable I felt. I stopped making excuses and decided to just brazen it out.

Without the galleries, I wouldn't have awakened, and I wouldn't have met my friends either. There was nothing wrong.

Since it came to mind, I logged into Mage Gallery too.

[I brought over a newbie post, you know.]

(A meme image of a Smiley Gallery post that had captured a Hunter Gallery post that had captured a Fish Gallery post.jpg)

ㄴ Beetle: So this is that thing they call a framed composition, huh.

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: So what is that thing, really? A mob?

ㄴ Fridge: I've never seen that mob before. Where'd you pick it up?

ㄴ Fridge: I want to see it too.

ㄴ Pkkatju: So you can even tame mobs now, huh, you know? I want to raise a dragon, you know.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(88K.8K8): It's not a mob, just a black mage.

ㄴ Fridge: ?

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: ?

ㄴ Beetle: ?

ㄴ Pkkatju: The sixth mage, you say? Another newbie joined, you know?

“Ah, had I not mentioned the black mage?”

ㄴ Fridge: Yup.

ㄴ Beetle: You did say the 40th-floor boss was a black mage. You just didn't say you brought it home.

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: No, how would you even bring a boss out of the Tower? Is that possible?

“Then I guess I didn't upload the battle video either....”

I finally realized my mistake. Sometimes I'd save information that felt too early to reveal and release it later, but I must have forgotten in the meantime.

“Things have changed a lot again.”

In the meantime, I'd met Shin Seha in real life too. I'd even invited four people to the showcase. I now had a pretty strong sense of inner closeness with them.

Though I doubted those people felt the same inner closeness toward me. I'd always been oddly timid about that sort of thing.

Still, it didn't seem like anyone harbored ill will toward me. At this point, there didn't seem to be any need to hide information. I decided to upload the video.

“All right, upload.”

I opened the gallery's post window and pressed the attach-video button. Of course, I edited out any direct shots of my face or body.

In any case, aside from MagicIsFirepower, everyone already knew my face and name, so there wasn't really any need to edit it.

“I'll surprise them at an offline meetup later.”

If they learned my identity now, the surprise at the later meetup would be less impactful. I was impressed by my own thoughtful consideration.

It was when I uploaded the file and pressed the post button.

[The file is too large. (Limit 20MB)]

“What?”

I couldn't believe my eyes.

20 megabytes? In this day and age?

No, these days even photos can be that big.

What made it even more infuriating was that when that error popped up, everything I'd written was deleted and I had to start over from scratch.

“What the hell is this site spending its server fees on?”

I slammed the desk.

They called themselves Korea's largest internet community, yet their server health was stuck ten years in the past.

I really should block the ads with AdBlock and put the site admins in their place. Even if they begged me to watch the ads now, no chance.

“Even compressed.... it still exceeds 20 megabytes.”

Thinking about it, this seemed to happen every time I uploaded a video before too. I finally remembered how I'd once cut videos into short clips and turned them into GIFs just to get them uploaded.

I sighed and turned the battle video into a GIF, distilling it down to the highlights.

After a long struggle, I finally managed to post it. Most of the scenes had been cut out, but you could still tell how the black mage ended up trapped in my flask.

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: You fight really tough....

ㄴ Beetle: Fight with a little more care;; I was seriously shocked when I saw your leg get cut off.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(44G.4G4): It's sand anyway, so it doesn't hurt and regenerates.

ㄴ Beetle: No, that's not the issue.... Sigh, what do we do with this guy?

ㄴ Fridge: I didn't know you were fighting like this....

ㄴ Fridge: Is there really any reason to go this far?

ㄴ Pkkatju: This is way too dangerous, you know.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(44G.4G4): Why is everyone freaking out like this???

ㄴ Beetle: Suddenly I feel guilty about my behavior.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(44G.4G4): What behavior?????

ㄴ Beetle: Everything. Starting to leave comments. You awakened after seeing that.

ㄴ Fridge: You definitely need some counseling.

ㄴ Beetle: Agreed.

ㄴ Pkkatju: Is it really necessary to climb the Tower to this extent?

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: But it regenerates and there's no pain anyway, right? If you're fine with it, then what's the problem?

ㄴ Fridge: Trash.

ㄴ Beetle: Trash.

ㄴ Pkkatju: Trash, you know.

ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: ???????

“… Was the visual shock a bit too much?”

The reactions from people who hadn't acted like this before were bewildering. I guess the scene where I cut off my leg and used it as a bomb had too much impact.

For me, since I could turn most of my body into sand, it wasn't a big deal, but I did think it could definitely be shocking to others.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(33G.3G3): Anyway, that's not the important part—look at the black-mage flask.

ㄴ Beetle: No, I think what's happening right now is the most important thing.

ㄴ Fridge: Yeah, much more important than some black mage.

“Wait, Fridge too?”

I'd thought this person would absolutely show strong interest in the black mage, so it was unexpected.

“Man.... I even went to the trouble of uploading a video, but the reaction is pretty lukewarm.”

I scratched my head and closed Mage Gallery. I'd just wanted to brag a little about the black mage, but everyone had focused on the wrong points.

Between the featured post theft earlier and this, my gallery-posting just wasn't going my way today.

“Huh?”

Then my phone rang. The caller was the broker guy.

“Hello?”

[I'm calling about the First Edition sale from last time.]

“Ah, the ten-piece limited edition? Did it sell well?”

[Of course we had more applicants than we could handle. They were all big shots, too.]

But the broker's voice didn't sound very happy. I could hear him sigh through the phone.

[The problem was the process of selecting the numbers.]

“Couldn't you just pick them in order of who has the most money and influence?”

[Of course we did that. It was a headache making a ranking most people could accept, but we managed to put one together somehow.]

“And then?”

[One person raised an objection.]

Somehow, I had a feeling I knew who it was.

[It was DemiGod. He strongly expressed his displeasure at not being given No. 1.]

“Couldn't you just give it to him?”

[I'd like to! But with Saudi royalty, the World Hunter Association, and even the White House already lined up, how could we do that?]

“Still, he's the number one hunter. If it's hunter gear, then saying it goes to first place....”

[The problem is that the World Hunter Association lined up as an organization.]

[If the organization a hunter belongs to ranks behind the individual hunter, it would look strange.]

“Hmm.... The others don't have any complaints?”

[I can't say they have no complaints, but there won't be anyone protesting like DemiGod.]

“Then we only need to handle that one person.”

[… You don't mean you're planning to act like you did when former association chairman Park Sang-cheol was in office, do you?]

“No, I just thought of an even better way. A way DemiGod, that attention-seeking bastard, would go crazy over.”