Chapter 135
“Is this a casting offer?”
I asked as if nothing were wrong.
But the moment I said it, I regretted it. If I’d guessed wrong, nothing could be more embarrassing.
If I’d gotten ahead of myself, I might have to turn back time.
“…!”
The middle-aged man’s face went pale with shock.
Looking at that expression, it seemed I wouldn’t need to turn back time.
It seemed my guess had been right after all.
So my talent really couldn’t be hidden.
National singer, reincarnation of Michael Jackson, idol of the battlefield. New labels for my name flashed through my head.
Of course, it was all thanks to items, but using items was a skill too.
The man introduced himself as PD Park and handed me a business card.
“I guarantee it—you’ll be a star. No, you have to be! Wasting talent like this is a national loss!”
He gave a fervent speech, getting so worked up he was spraying spit everywhere.
“I’ve been in broadcasting for twenty years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. An audition show? King of Mask Singer? You could go on any program and clean up. Wherever you go, people would be on their feet applauding.”
“Hmm….”
I nodded, savoring the praise.
I barely managed to hold back my grin, then finally couldn’t and covered my mouth with my hand.
My reaction made PD Park even more excited as he kept talking.
“Honestly, these days you can’t just sing well… But you’ve got the visuals too. We can tell a story around it—like, a surprising voice that no one would expect from such a young-looking face.”
“Am I really that amazing? I’m not sure….”
I tilted my head as if I didn’t know what he meant.
“Of course you are! Leave it to me—I’ll make you a star. Where are your parents? I’ll go meet them right away….”
PD Park took out his phone.
I finally came to my senses. I guess I’d gotten a little too carried away.
Naturally, I had no intention of debuting as a singer or celebrity.
Not now, and not ever.
I raised my hand to stop him.
“I’m good.”
“Huh?”
PD Park wore a baffled expression.
“I’ll have to decline.”
“Why not? Do you know what kind of opportunity this is?”
“I’m way too busy.”
Climbing the Tower, selling items, posting in the gallery.
There couldn’t be anyone busier than me.
“And my mom told me not to follow strangers.”
“Ah, I’m not some weirdo. See? I’ve even got a business card.”
“I heard that’s a pretty common scam too.”
PD Park shouted, looking wronged, but I had already made up my mind.
I turned on my heel coolly.
“Wait! At least give me your contact information…!”
I heard his voice behind me, but I didn’t look back and left the karaoke room immediately.
***
After getting home, I sat down at my computer right away and moved the video over.
The video had my face completely hidden. I fell into thought for a moment.
“Yeah, uploading it as-is is probably a bad idea.”
Of course, uploading it unchanged would probably get a better reaction.
My body was obviously a child’s.
As the PD had said earlier, it would be far more effective than simply singing well.
But I didn’t want to provide even the slightest clue that could reveal my real identity.
After some thought, I decided to upload only the voice track.
“Hmm, it still sounds perfect on a second listen.”
Even just the extracted audio had plenty of impact.
I imagined people’s reactions and pressed the write button in the Hunter Gallery.
“Wait.”
But just as I was about to attach the file, my hand stopped.
There was one problem.
This voice was way too feminine.
No, it was just straight-up a woman’s voice.
I’d never revealed my gender in the gallery before.
At most, people had speculated about it in the Wizard Gallery, where I’d shown my clone.
In the Hunter Gallery, I was probably seen as a man.
And then I upload it after singing in this clear, feminine voice?
“The reaction would be huge….”
The problem was that the reaction clearly wouldn’t be entirely positive.
I wanted attention, but I hated hassle.
It was common sense that once you revealed you were a woman, all kinds of nasty stalkers would swarm you.
“Ah, I should’ve sung in a male voice.”
I’d forgotten I could do perfect voice modulation. I’d needlessly sung in my original voice.
“Should I go back and record it again?”
It was a hassle, and running into that guy again would be awkward.
“Maybe I should just upload it to YouTube….”
As ridiculous as it was, YouTube seemed more anonymous to me than the gallery.
In the gallery, an IP like ㅇㅇ(777.777) would make it obvious it was me, but YouTube channel nicknames are weird to begin with. No one would know it was me.
“Let me check first whether VPN applies here too.”
I logged into YouTube and uploaded a test video.
As soon as I uploaded it, my normal nickname, ‘MammadispenserPlunderer,’ changed to a randomly generated name like ‘aso34ad21.’
A long random ID attached to a throwaway account.
This wasn’t bad. Plenty of other people had nicknames like this too.
“Since there’s no video… I should at least make the thumbnail provocative.”
Black background, red letters.
[The greatest singing genius in history, shocking America and driving China into a frenzy, arrives here dancing!]
Click.
I pressed the upload button.
“Whew, I’m a little nervous…?”
I closed my eyes and hit refresh.
[Views: 0]
“…No, wait, only a few seconds have passed.”
That was only natural.
A brand-new channel with zero subscribers.
There was no way the views would go up the instant I uploaded it.
Five minutes passed.
I couldn’t wait any longer and hit refresh again.
[Views: 3]
“Eh, this is boring.”
The response was too slow.
If it had been the gallery, there would’ve been dozens of comments the moment I posted it.
I couldn’t hide my disappointment and closed the YouTube window.
“I’d check it again later.”
Who knew? It might blow up by morning.
If the algorithm chose me, it wasn’t impossible.
“If there was still no response, maybe I’d upload it to the gallery too…?”
I stretched.
It was time to get back to my real work.
***
[Entering the 45th Floor of the Tower (EXTREME).]
As soon as the Tower’s daily entry limit reset, I entered the 45th Floor.
Past me couldn’t even imagine this level of diligence.
“You’ve arrived, Captain!”
Teech greeted me with a crisp salute.
The guy was grinning from ear to ear.
“Why are you so happy?”
“The new power you gave me, Captain, it’s amazing!”
“Ah, that….”
“Let me show you what it can do.”
Teech waved his wand, and the ship began spinning in circles.
The sky spun around me. I collapsed where I stood.
“Ugh… I, I’m getting seasick…”
“I-I’ll stop it right away!”
The ship stopped, but my stomach was still churning.
“Ugh…!”
I grabbed the deck and started retching.
Instead of vomit, sand spilled out of my mouth.
“What is this…?”
I stared blankly at the sand for a moment. Surely I wouldn’t start crying sand instead of tears someday.
Teech, who had been watching me worriedly from the side, also frowned.
“Did you eat sand for lunch?”
“This is your fault!”
“Agh!”
Annoyed for no reason, I kicked Teech in the calf.
“You’re still young. If you want to be a sailor, you have to overcome seasickness first.”
“What do you mean, a sailor… I won’t be boarding ships for much longer.”
I was already halfway through the 40s.
If I climbed just five more floors, the sea would be over too.
Then my magic would return to normal, and Sandworm could shine again.
“What, are you announcing your retirement as a pirate?”
“I’ve never even debuted.”
“That’s a shame. Riding a ship with a witch was pretty fun.”
“Honestly…”
I let out a scoff at Teech’s shameless words.
“Just keep steering the ship. Where are we headed this time?”
“Probably that island over there.”
“An island? Land?”
Is this finally my turf?
I snatched the telescope and looked toward the horizon.
Over the endless blue sea, I could see a lone, unnatural white speck far in the distance.
“But what could there possibly be in a place like that?”
A smooth island with not a single tree or blade of grass in sight.
It looked like someone had cut out a stretch of white sand and tossed it into the middle of the sea.
“Hmm, a small sand island… It does look like a perfect place to bury treasure.”
“Treasure?”
A word that made my heart race.
Had I been tainted by pirates too?
“No, it can’t be that easy.”
Still, I didn’t let my guard down.
This was the 45th Floor. A mid-boss was bound to show up.
On the 40th Floor, a black mage. On the 35th, a middle-aged man who suppresses magic.
The mid-bosses and boss floors that appeared every five floors had never once been easy.
Even I had to stay tense here.
“For now, let’s approach slowly. Keep an eye out for anything that pops up.”
“…Understood.”
My serious expression seemed to put Teech on edge too.
With all traces of playfulness gone from his face, Teech carefully steered the ship.
The island slowly drew closer.
What had been a white dot gradually revealed its shape.
“Doesn’t that look like it’s getting bigger?”
“Uh….”
It was strange. The island was getting bigger and bigger.
It wasn’t just because we were getting closer.
“It looks like the island is moving.”
“No way……… it really is?”
Soon, our faces went pale.
The island kept rising from the surface of the sea, growing larger by the second.
The seawater around the island cascaded down like a waterfall.
Bwooooooo———!
A deep, heavy rumble.
My whole body trembled.
At last, the island’s true identity was revealed.
“What the hell…..”
It was a back. The back of a gigantic white creature.
Fwoooooo-!
A massive column of water shot up from the center of the island.
Water poured down like rain.
“A, a whale….”
“That’s a whale? Something that big?”
The sailors screamed.
A size beyond common sense.
Our ship was fairly large, but in front of that thing it was a bite-sized snack.
“Turn! Turn the ship around! Now!”
I shouted on instinct.
No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t a foe we could beat head-on.
The 45th Floor. For the first time, I had hit a wall.