Chapter 2
I was starting to feel an emotion befitting the clothes I was wearing.
‘I think the menhera thing is coming on…’
I hadn't even finished figuring out what was going on.
The gallery had been turned upside down over the subject of me.
______
Title: An All-Time Legendary Topic Has Appeared.
Title: Floor 1 Is Fucking Hilarious LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO
Title: Whoa, Is the Gallery's Refresh Speed for Real?
Title: I hope they just show us a picture of the hero and leave.
Title: Isn't this the first time anyone's seen below Floor 100?
Title: I got so excited I kinda pissed myself…
Title: Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!
Title: Newbie, make a post. Newbie, make a post. Newbie, make a post. Newbie, make a post. Newbie, make a post.
Title: Honestly, I thought they were above Floor 800. Upvote if this is satisfying.
Title: Is the Floor 1 guy holding up? You alive?
Title: Look at all those registered users who never showed up before crawling out of the woodwork.
______
Reading the posts, it seemed like this was an incredibly rare situation.
‘Has nobody ever been possessed into Floor 1 before…?’
______
Title: I Seriously Can't Believe It. How Did Floor 1 Show Up in the Gallery?
Author: ㅇㅇ(741F)
I think the lowest one in my memory was on Floor 120.
The last time I saw a newbie was almost ten years ago, but Floor 1 is seriously legendary.
______
That seemed to be true.
No matter which post or comment section I looked at, the number beside each username was three digits.
As I was staring blankly at the gallery, one title seized my heart and shook it.
[Title: So Doesn't Floor 1 Guy Need to Start Preparing for the Hero Now?]
Preparing for the hero…
The guide had clearly said that this was the Demon King's Tower, and that heroes came to conquer it starting from Floor 1.
If so, as the person on Floor 1, I would be the first person to meet the hero.
It seemed I had become the meat shield stationed right at the front.
But something about the atmosphere was strange.
[Title: Isn't Floor 1 Actually Fucking Sweet?]
[Title: Honestly, I'm jealous.]
[Title: Ah~ I wanna see the hero~]
For some reason, they were jealous of me.
‘Wasn't I totally fucked?’
With that question in mind, I clicked on one of the posts.
______
[Title: Isn't Floor 1 Actually Fucking Sweet?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(510F)
It doesn't matter that you're on a lower floor, since everyone is equally unable to escape anyway.
Being on Floor 1 means you get to play around while fighting the hero.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(434F) : You crazy bastard, the newbie is Level 1, for fuck's sake LMAO
______
What did he mean, I got to play around while fighting…
I left a comment.
ㅇㅇ(1F) : Why is fighting fun? Do you revive if you die?
ㄴㅇㅇ(432F) : Nope, you just disappear.
It went without saying, but if you only had one life, then why…
I couldn't understand.
ㅇㅇ(510F)(Author) : You have content.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(413F) : If you put it that way, he probably won't get it LMAO
Content?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Fighting to the death with people who came to kill me was content?
‘What kind of Lü Bu-style thinking is that?’
Just then, a comment appeared explaining it.
ㅇㅇ(413F) : You won't understand. We've done nothing but train every day and never actually fought an enemy. The others are getting antsy, that's all.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F) : Don't you fight while climbing the tower?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(413F) : We have limits to how much we can grow, so the number of floors we can climb is fixed. From Floor 300 onward, you can think of everyone as just parked there.
I could more or less figure out what that meant.
It seemed most of them had been trapped on their respective tiers for a long time.
They had mentioned several decades earlier, so they must have been there for an incredibly long time.
‘Have they gone insane from boredom…?’
But my situation was completely different.
I was on Floor 1.
I would have to keep meeting people who came to conquer the Demon King's Tower.
With no buffer whatsoever!
I hurriedly wrote another post.
_____
Title: Since I Think We're Fucked, I'll Drop the Formalities from Now On.
Author: ㅇㅇ(1F)
So what am I supposed to do now?
Questions:
When is the hero coming?
How many of them are there?
How should I prepare?
Tell me quickly.
______
I frantically hit refresh, and comments had already appeared.
ㅇㅇ(211F) : Look at him dropping the formalities right away LMAO
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : What the hell can you guys do about it? Without me, you'd die of boredom.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(211F) : That's true.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(318F) : You're freakishly perceptive. How'd you know?
Why wouldn't I know?
I'd seen the dozens of worthless posts that had filled the gallery before I even made my first post.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F) : I saw it all while lurking as Retired Soldier.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(211F) : Retired Soldier, my ass LMAOOOO
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(143F) : The first catchphrase, congrats!!!!!
Aengongi : When the hero comes, just go whack!! and scratch them with your claws, nya.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F) (Author) : You wanna die?
ㄴ Aengongi : Meow….
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(334F) : An 800F registered user just got eaten alive by a one-day newbie, for fuck's sake LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO
I waited for a comment with some nutritional value, but the next one was even more absurd.
ㅇㅇ(772F) : Answer: 1. Dunno. 2. Dunno. 3. Dunno.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F) : (Author) Why does nobody know a damn thing?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(334F) : Fact) Nobody knows.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(412F) : They really don't know. Someone has to have seen the hero first.
Huh?
No, what the fuck?
Nobody had seen the hero?
I let out a hollow laugh because it was so ridiculous.
Wasn't this going a little too far, no matter how you looked at it?
They really were a bunch of retired soldiers.
This was a development I hadn't expected at all.
Dazed, I left a comment.
ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : No, for fuck's sake, if there's no guide to defeating the hero, then what the hell is this Demon King's Army gallery even for?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(384F) : That hurts too much…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(134F) : Gasp!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(413F) : Well…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(711F) You just pierced the *core* of the issue.
Then another comment said this:
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) That's what we've always been saying. The hero has never made it past Floor 100.
Then what the hell had these guys been doing all this time?
Had the gallery been provided solely as a way to kill time?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(743F) We've only been researching how to fight among ourselves.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(417F) It's a parallel universe anyway, so we share weaknesses to make our promotion matches easier, yeah.
What the…
‘Are we really not going to prepare for anything?’
If so, I might die of a mental illness before the hero even arrived.
From my perspective, the hero was an indiscriminate murderer.
If a murderer like that could open my front door and walk in at any time…
There was no way anyone could live in an environment like that.
I was sure to develop neurosis.
ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : Fuck, so what do I do? If the hero comes now, am I just supposed to die?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(314F) : That's the golden answer, holy shit.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : I can tell you how to get stronger… but I don't know how to counter the hero, sorry ㅠㅠ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Sorry… that's just how it turned out.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(754F) : No, newbie, don't diiiiiie ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) Start training first, go go.
Training… Right.
Getting stronger quickly was the correct answer for now.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : How do I train? Can I level up without fighting?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) : First, show us your stats. Your training method depends on your basic stats.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : How do I check my stats? There's no status window in the menu.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(683F) : Take a picture of yourself and upload it. Then you can see your stats.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(371F) : Lewd newbie nude reveal in ten seconds, holy shit.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(146F) : So what kind of monster are you?
The question of what kind of monster I was.
In fact, it had been a question people had been asking repeatedly in other posts as well.
ㅇㅇ(1F) (Author) : For now, I look human. I'm holding a huge scythe.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(498F) : If you're humanoid, you must be a demon. Do you have horns?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(1F) (Author) : I don't have anything like that.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Quit telling us about it and upload a picture.
There was even a helpful post explaining how to take a picture using the hologram.
But I hesitated.
It wasn't that I didn't know how to take one.
I had discovered the camera icon a long time ago.
But… there was a problem.
‘This is kind of a bad idea…’
I didn't want to take and upload a picture of my body in its female form.
I knew all too well what would happen if they found out I was a woman(?) in a community reeking of male-dominated culture.
They were bound to start spouting shit about being a coomer or whatever.
A bunch of horny bastards might swarm all over me and start hitting on me.
‘Though they're already swarming all over me right now…’
There was no way around it in this situation.
It seemed I could only unlock the status window by taking and uploading a picture of myself, so I had no choice.
I pressed the camera button at the top of the hologram.
Apparently, I just had to hold the hologram panel like a camera and take the picture.
I switched to selfie mode.
Then.
“Is that me?”
A stunningly beautiful girl was blinking at me.
Her features were impossibly gorgeous.
Her unnaturally large, mysterious blue eyes.
A nose bridge that looked sculpted.
Skin so white and flawless it could only be called pale.
Petal-like lips.
It was a face that inspired awe.
“Wow… she's fucking gorgeous.”
Whether the feeling was unpleasant or pleasant.
Having my mind inside a body like this was truly strange.
After admiring myself to my heart's content.
I fixed the hologram in midair and stepped far back.
I struck a pose so that the entire enormous scythe was visible.
Click!
Then I wrote a post.
______
Title: Sharing My Appearance & Equipment for Now.
Author: ㅇㅇ(1F)
[Stats]
Race: Grim Reaper (死神)
Floor: 1
Level: 1
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Vitality: 7
Intelligence: 15
Senses: 18
Magic: 16
Luck: 9
Defense: 3
Magic Defense: 13
Remaining Stat Points: 0
Traits: Unawakened.
Skills: None.
Weapon: Death Scythe.
This is my current status. Any advice on how to train?
______
Expecting an explosive reaction, I hit refresh.
Surely, instead of discussing my stats, the comments would be flooded with things like ‘Awooh awooh’ and ‘Noona, kill me’…
But.
My expectations were spectacularly wrong.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(147F) : Those Level 1 stats are fucking lewd LMAOOOO
ㅇㅇ(341F) : A balanced build.
ㅇㅇ(141F) : Isn't this a mixed build?
ㅇㅇ(431F) : The stats are just fucking adorable;;;;
ㅇㅇ(415F) : Can an expert on the Reaper race please report in?
ㅇㅇ(348F) :Aren't those stats pretty decent for Level 1?
ㅇㅇ(148F) : It's a bit rough if you're humanoid.
ㅇㅇ(713F) : Humanoids often have favorable matchups on the higher floors.
They were more levelheaded than I had expected.
There wasn't a single comment about my appearance.
What's more, even…
ㅇㅇ(654F) : Look at that face, holy shit.
ㅇㅇ(347F) : Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Fuck, the red pill!
ㅇㅇ(239F) : Ugh, a fucking eyesore;; I can never get used to humanoids, no matter how many times I see them.
LovesSuckers : Noooooo, no wayyyyyyyyyyy my newbie could look like thaaaaaaaaat.
There were even people cursing me out and calling me disgusting.
‘What's wrong with this face?’
I had to be seeing something wrong.
It was then, while I was utterly confused.
A decisive comment appeared.
Fenrir : Oh, what the hell, it was a bipedal freak. No fur either. How pathetic.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(675F) : Ugh, you fur freak, please stop!!
These bastards.
No way.
Did they really have different standards of beauty because they were actual monsters?
ㅇㅇ(345F) : The skin is way too smooth. It's disgusting.
ㅇㅇ(311F) : No slime dripping off it, and it looks way too dry.
ㅇㅇ(519F) : It only has two eyes. Can it even see properly?
Is this for real?
It seemed they were serious.
‘These insane monster bastards.’
I got goosebumps.
The thought that I had been talking to monsters suddenly frightened me.
I should have realized when they called me humanoid.
But fortunately, some of the reactions I had expected did exist.
ㅇㅇ(414F) : She's fucking gorgeous, holy shit.
ㅇㅇ(314F) : Was she always a coomer?
ㅇㅇ(615F) : I came.
Macanong : Unnie, you're so pretty,,
‘Yes. This is the kind of reaction I wanted… No, not wanted, exactly. Expected…’
The standards were wildly divided.
At least the people calling me pretty must have thought I looked somewhat human.
There were comments talking about that, too.
ㅇㅇ(341F) : That's fucking beautiful, though…
ㅇㅇ(654F) : It's fucking hilarious watching the silicon-based lifeforms have their brains short-circuit LMAOOOOOOOOOO
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(602F) : I'm carbon-based myself, but it's still gross. The neck is so thin it makes me nervous. That's supposed to be beautiful? It looks like it'd snap if you gave it a light tap.
ㄴ Bug King : Its jaw is so small. Can it even chew its food properly?
‘They did say this was a parallel universe…’
They had said that they had gathered from various dimensions and universes, and I had accepted it without thinking too hard.
Only now was it finally sinking in.
From what I heard, it seemed some of the gallery users had originally belonged to the Demon King's Army rather than being possessed.
ㅇㅇ(552F) : It's been ages since we decided pictures had to be posted with a warning tag… but I'll let it slide since you're a newbie.
ㅇㅇ(437F) : It's been ages since we had an appearance-related topic.
So, by their standards, this face could be an eyesore.
ㅇㅇ(1F)(Author) : Sry, I'll be careful.
After leaving that comment, I exited the post.
I had to find a post explaining how to train, and fast.
I might have to fight right away.
Just then, I found a post.
______
Title: I Am the Reaper of Floor 800. Reaper of Floor 1, Read This.
Author: Captain Death Note
You possess the noble bloodline of the flower of the Reaper race, and can learn instant-death abilities.
..
.
It was a remarkably compelling opening.
“Instant-death ability?”