Chapter 148
[Title: What the hell is this new real-time world announcement?]
[The new feat announced to every dimension—what is this???]
[And what’s with the new item on floor 40, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
ㄴWhat notice? I don’t have one?
ㄴㄴ (This post can’t be seen by non-awakened users.)
ㄴㄴ Please, non-awakened users, get the hell out of Hunter Gallery.
ㄴ lolololol
The first post visible as soon as I opened the gallery.
I could tell right away what had happened.
“No way that got sent out as a notice?”
The status window that appeared after I got the legendary staff.
An achievement that said I had carved a legend.
Apparently, that hadn’t been shown only to me.
Everyone was talking about the achievement I’d just earned.
[Title: But wasn’t this the first time a notice like this had ever appeared?]
ㄴ Nice, they even update things so the high-floor hunters won’t get bored.
ㄴ If you’re going to update anything, do the lower floors too.... I want to climb the tower....
ㄴ As expected, normalization is the Great Tower Emperor.
ㄴ What did he do that a world announcement went out?
ㄴ For real, it can’t just be a notice saying he got his first legendary item.
ㄴ It says he cleared an achievement. Can’t you read?
ㄴ No, I’m asking what achievement you have to clear for a world announcement to happen, lol.
ㄴ If he cleared a legendary achievement, then of course it would go out, idiot.
ㄴ I’m asking what the hell that is, damn it.
ㄴ This conversation never ends, Sasuke.
[Title: I’m more curious about who did it than what they did.]
[There had never been a notice like this before.]
[What exactly are you supposed to do?]
ㄴ Maybe it was something the demigod did?
ㄴ He spends five hours doing pre-climb interviews before going up the tower? There was nothing today.
ㄴ Then Kim Suho?
ㄴ Kim Suho also gives advance notice before climbing Seoul Tower.
ㄴ Yeah, in the first place, the #1 hunter in every country climbs only after making an announcement.
ㄴ Then it isn’t any country’s #1?
“Looks like it didn’t say exactly what he did?”
According to the status window, anyone ‘qualified’ could view the feat, so I’d been a little worried, but at least there didn’t seem to be anyone like that in Hunter Gallery.
Well, if there were a qualified person in this cesspit, that’d be funny too.
[Title: Speculation) Please upvote) The achievement was cleared in the 40s.]
[Looking at the patch notes, they said a new item would come out in the 40s.]
[Obviously, the feat was cleared in the 40s floor range.]
[Please upvote so everyone can see it.]
ㄴ This is obvious, of course.
ㄴ Trying to hit the featured posts with something you can figure out in three seconds.
ㄴ lol then you write one yourself.
ㄴ Then if we find whoever climbed the 40s floors around this time, we’ll know whose feat it is, right?
ㄴ There are how many hunters in the world, and we’re supposed to check them all;;;
ㄴ Is there any reason to hide it after clearing a feat? I really don’t get it.
ㄴ It’s a hidden piece tied to a legendary item. Do you think people would just leave it alone? If it were me, I’d keep my mouth shut too.
[Title: In my opinion, this isn’t an ordinary legendary item.]
[Legendary items are insanely rare, sure, but it’s not like nobody has one, and this kind of notice is the first of its kind.]
[I think it’s an item one tier above legendary.]
[The name will probably be something like Demigod or Eternity.]
ㄴ (Step right this way meme.)
ㄴ Demigod really doesn’t know when to butt out.
Pretty worthless posts.
But that was just right for Hunter Gallery, where most people couldn’t even get past floor 20.
“Looks like I’ve got no choice. Here, I’m the only one who can tell the truth….”
Anyway, even if nobody would believe me, I could at least rake in some attention.
Should I leak about 10% of the real info too?
That was when I was about to write a post.
A post title caught my eye that I just couldn’t ignore.
[Title: If that bastard is about to show up, upvote lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Content: If Tower Anon is about to pop up and say ‘Yeah, actually I did it lol,’ then upvote lolㅋㅋㅋ]
ㄴ Upvote upvote lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Hunter Gallery PhD, respect.
“This bastard?”
You learned my pattern?
The fear of this living deep-learning bot had my hands and feet trembling.
The next post that appeared was even more absurd.
[Title: I’m Tower Anon, and yes, it was me.]
[Author: ■ㅇㅇ(4F4.44F)]
[What are you doing? Post it.]
[Upvotes: 14512] [Downvotes: 1]
ㄴ A fake, as expected from Tower Anon lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Yeah, yeah, I’ll let you off this time.
ㄴ What is it? How did you track that IP?
ㄴ That isn’t an IP. They just put the fixed ID in parentheses.
ㄴ Unbelievable.
ㄴ If you can tell who downvoted it, upvote lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“They got two featured posts off my impersonation? Two of them?”
And what made me even angrier was the last comment.
I haven’t even downvoted it yet. Who the hell is this?
If I had downvoted it in the first place, there’s no way I’d have only done one, right?
The posts mentioning me didn’t end there.
[Title: But where did Tower Anon really go?]
[It’s been almost 24 hours since his last post, hasn’t it?]
ㄴ Oh, it really has.
ㄴ Couldn’t he just go a day without browsing the gallery?
ㄴ That’s impossible.
ㄴ Yeah, impossible for him.
“Has it really already been that long…?”
I looked at the clock.
Right after clearing floor 46, I used the re-climb ticket.
I drank, sang, and danced on the Dwarf floor, then slept soundly.
Everything kept happening, and I couldn’t get online until lunchtime today.
I hadn’t noticed because I was so out of it, but almost a full day had really passed.
A proud feeling swelled in my chest.
“See? I’m not a gallery addict after all. I don’t even have withdrawal symptoms.”
[The Sandworm lets out a long sigh.]
“Now I can really browse the gallery guilt-free.”
[....]
Even I had been starting to wonder if I was addicted, and then this obvious proof showed up.
As expected, if I wanted to, I could quit even drugs anytime—I’m that self-disciplined.
But the gallery users, who didn’t know my situation, were making all kinds of speculation and slander about my recent status.
[Title: But Tower Anon is still a high-floor hunter.]
[Didn’t he die in the tower?]
ㄴ Is that the only thing it could be?
ㄴ Holy crap, is this really it?
ㄴ ㄷㄷ….
ㄴ No way.
ㄴ Damn, I can’t even joke about it in case it’s really true;;;;
“Who the hell died?”
But the gallery’s public opinion started running wild regardless of my thoughts.
[Title: But whether Tower Anon lives or dies, I couldn’t care less.]
[He was the guy who always stirred up trouble every day. Why would I be sad whether he dies or not?]
[My life, where I stubbed my toe doing labor today, is sadder.]
ㄴ Hmm….
ㄴ But Tower Anon bro gave out 100 chickens, though?
ㄴ Why don’t you try trolling in a fun way too lol.
ㄴ Hey, Park, stop looking at your phone and haul some bricks already.
[Title: But if he really died, I guess it’d be kind of sad.]
[He was a moron, sure, but we’d watched him for so long that we got attached.]
[It’d be nice if someone who knew him came here to tell us.]
ㄴ Yeah, kind of.
ㄴ He was annoying, but he was fun to watch sometimes.
ㄴ Anyway, I’ll go if there’s a funeral.
“… Should I be happy about this?”
It was a strange feeling.
To think the usual vicious Hunter Gallery was taking in all this concern.
“What a weird thing….”
I decided to write a post before things got any bigger.
Even if I kept watching, it looked like only more of the same posts would show up.
[Title: Who died, damn it?]
[Author: ㅇㅇ(44U.4U4)]
[No need to freak out.]
[Do I look like some unemployed bum like you guys? If I’m busy, I might not be able to log in.]
ㄴ Is this really Tower Anon?
ㄴ It’s really him, right?
ㄴ Damn, we already started boiling the funeral soup—what if he comes back?
ㄴ Don’t you know what not to do at a funeral?
ㄴ Damn, that’s so inconsiderate….
ㄴ Bro…. Office workers can’t stay on the gallery for 16 hours a day….
ㄴ Agh, busted, busted.
Even though everyone was talking trash, it was obvious they were secretly happy I was back.
I smirked and scrolled down, looking for more news.
[Breaking News) Japan declares it has secured a new legendary item.]
[Japan’s Sword Saint, Hirose Yuki, will make it happen.]
“Huh?”
I clicked the internet article as if I’d been bewitched.
Japan’s promising prospect, Hirose Yuki, who was climbing the 40s floors.
Japan’s next S-rank candidate and an 18-year-old female high school hunter.
It was a recipe for fame.
That team had just declared that they would secure that item.
But Japan wasn’t the only one interested in the new item.
[Breaking News) China: We will be the first to obtain the new legendary item.]
[Red Dragon Unit decides to climb the 40s floors.]
Soon after, China made the exact same announcement.
For me, who already had the item, it was a ridiculous competition.
But it seemed the Korean netizens who didn’t know that couldn’t sit still.
ㄴ Why are China and Japan both making moves? What are we doing?
ㄴ Don’t we have anyone climbing the 40s?
ㄴ Kim Suho is already in the 50s, so he can’t go….
ㄴ If an S-rank went, it’d be a cakewalk, damn it.
ㄴ Jeong Taeyeon is probably the most likely? She’s the most diligent at clearing it.
ㄴ I hear Jeong Manho has been climbing like crazy lately too.
ㄴ Then do we have a chance too?
ㄴ Oh?
ㄴ Do we really have a chance?
ㄴ Hey, do you really think an individual can pull that off? Japan and China are doing it with full government support.
ㄴ Come on, at this point they’d probably do something for us.
“… What am I supposed to do about this?”
People were going crazy without knowing the original item was already in my hands.
Should I reveal this?
It was a hard decision in many ways.
“I’d better think this through on my own. There’s no answer otherwise.”
I headed to the Mage Gallery to ask for advice.
But that place wasn’t normal either.
“What the hell, why is this place a mess too?”
[Title: Newbie, if you come back and see this, please write one post.]
[Title: Where the hell did that kid go…?]
[Title: Why can’t we reach him;]
[Title: Should we go to his place right now?]
[Title: I think I was too naive from the start. I should’ve protected….]
The post list was completely plastered with stories about me.
A sight that made me question my own eyes.
That was when I clicked one of them.
[Deleted post.]
“Huh?”
I hit back, returned to the main page, and clicked another post.
[Deleted post.]
“What?”
No matter what I clicked, it was the same.
Just the message saying it was a deleted post.
Looking again, the gallery posts were disappearing in real time.
At almost macro-level deletion speed.
…….
In the end, I couldn’t read a single one of the posts properly.
[Title: What were those deleted posts just now?]
[Author: ㅇㅇ(99T.9T9)]
[(Show me what you saw too meme)]
ㄴ Dung Beetle: (Nothing happened meme)
ㄴ Magic Firepower: Nothing much. I just wrote a few posts because I was worried since you weren’t around.
ㄴ Fridge: I saw you show up in Hunter Gallery and rushed over to delete everything.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(99T.9T9): Why’d you delete the posts? I didn’t read a single one???????
ㄴ P-Kattju: I believed in you from the very beginning. There’s no way Newbie would die here.
“What the hell did I do….”
ㄴ Fridge: So what exactly were you doing when you came back?
ㄴㅇㅇ(99T.9T9): I took a nap in the tower.
ㄴ Fridge: ?
ㄴ P-Kattju: I knew it. Newbie is definitely related to this notice. No question.
ㄴ Dung Beetle: (Problem solved meme)
Anyway, they were quick on the uptake.
“I can’t say it anywhere else anyway.”
I explained everything that had happened on the Dwarf floor, as if I were finally blabbing out a secret I couldn’t keep in any longer.
Of course, I left out the part about drinking.
ㄴ Fridge: What’s so embarrassing about a swimsuit?
ㄴ Fridge: Come by sometime and let me test the item’s performance.
ㄴ P-Kattju: I can sense some shady intentions there.
ㄴ Magic Firepower: What do you think the condition is for getting that replica?
ㄴ Magic Firepower: Everyone seems focused on that. I’m thinking of going for it too. Of course, just because I try doesn’t mean it’ll come out.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(99T.9T9): Hmm? Catching whales?
ㄴ Magic Firepower: That’s way too hard….
At that moment, Dung Beetle quietly said.
ㄴ Dung Beetle: You ever think about meeting someone from the government?