Chapter 9
Something damp brushed across my cheek.
Lick. Lick.
A familiar sensation.
It was more forceful than usual today.
“Mong, no… stop…”
Dogs must know how to tell time.
Whenever I oversleep, they lick my face to wake me with uncanny accuracy.
“Mong, let me sleep a little longer…”
‘Huh…?’
But something was strange.
Mong’s snout was far too big.
A chill ran through my entire body.
And that passage had an unnaturally curved shape.
“…!”
That’s right.
I was currently possessing a goth-lolita girl.
This was Floor 25 of the Demon King’s Tower.
‘Then what’s licking my face right now…’
Flash!
The moment I opened my eyes, I jolted upright in surprise.
[Fatigue penalty ended]
“Aaaah! Holy shit!!!”
“Hee-hing-!”
Startled by my scream, the beast raised its forelegs and cried out.
“…Horses?”
There were two horses.
The one that had licked me and was still pushing its snout toward me was a black horse whose whites were pitch-black too.
Rattle-
Beside it stood a horse made entirely of bones, tilting its head as it stared at me.
“What are these guys…?”
Judging by their appearance, they seemed to belong to the Demon King’s Army, but I was confused.
I raised my head and looked at the ceiling.
“Did they come down from the floor above?”
Why had they suddenly appeared on my floor?
Had they woken me to stand watch or something?
More importantly, I’d heard the Demon King’s Tower was one-way, so the upper floors couldn’t come down to the lower floors…
I crawled backward across the floor.
That widened my field of vision, revealing something beyond the two horses.
“A carriage?”
A golden carriage so extravagantly decorated it was absurd was connected to the horses’ reins.
“Ah. So this is the Golden Carriage…”
I realized it.
This was the mobile shop the gallery members had mentioned.
They had said it came every payday.
“……”
I stared blankly up at the carriage.
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
“Ah…”
My lips began to tremble.
“Holy shit. Three days have passed?!!!!”
My scream reverberated throughout Floor 25.
Whinnyyyyy!
The horses panicked, stamping their forelegs and thrashing about.
I hurried over, stroked their necks, and calmed them down.
“Whoa… whoa… Sorry for startling you…”
Then I opened the hologram and checked the time.
“It’s true… Three days have passed. I thought I’d only dozed off for a moment…”
So Reapers were living creatures that needed sleep?
After meditation, my mind had been so clear that I’d assumed I didn’t need sleep.
I hadn’t even been hungry.
Grrrrowl-
But now… I was hungry for the first time.
“I thought this body lived on nothing but dew…”
I’d mistaken it for some fairy-like being beyond the bounds of humanity.
I had really messed up.
“Why was I so worried about the hero…?”
All that frantic talk about fleeing to the upper floors as quickly as possible had become ridiculous in hindsight.
For now, I brought up the hologram and accessed the gallery.
The gallery was in complete chaos, just as expected.
______
Title: It Was Fun…
Author: ㅇㅇ(741F)
{Full-body photo of a girl holding a scythe}
She’ll remain the eternal dopamine GOAT in our hearts.
Rest in peace…
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(431F) : Nine floors in one day was seriously impossible…
ㅇㅇ(315F) : ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㅇㅇ(741F) : Now we have to look at nothing but shitty posts again, fuck.
______
They had even made a memorial portrait and put it up.
The gallery members had judged my absence to mean I was dead.
“This makes it even scarier to show up…”
______
Title: But Is She Really Dead…? We Don’t Know for Sure Yet, Do We?
Author: ㅇㅇ(312F)
Am I the only one still in denial?
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(148F) : It’s been three days and you still haven’t gotten over it? Just give up.
SSS-Rank Gearhead : Wait, what happened three days ago? I didn’t see it.
ㅇㅇ(312F)(Author) : I thought the starting floor would be special because I’d never seen a Floor 1 start before, damn it…
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : Wait, there was a Floor 1? Holy shit.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(731F) : Bro, write your Golden Carriage review before you go see her…
ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : Seriously, do your job. Don’t shirk your duties. He only shows up on payday.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : Did I commission a review?
______
There was a registered username I had never seen before.
Could they be a Golden Carriage expert?
I memorized the username, left, and checked another post.
One title made me jolt in surprise.
“Gasp…”
______
Title: Please Permanently Ban Captain Death Note and 574F, Those Two Fucking Assholes.
Author: ㅇㅇ(312F)
Those two bastards kept recklessly egging the newbie on to climb and telling her to kill herself, so she ended up dead.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(374F) : Should’ve just let her put points into Strength… Looks like she screwed herself by putting them into Intelligence and Magic Power;;;
ㅇㅇ(231F) : Wasn’t the whole thing about getting a skill by killing yourself just a lie?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(114F) : Seriously, it could be.
ㅇㅇ(505F) : Those bastards went radio silent the second they stopped hearing from the newbie. It’s fucking disgusting.
_______
The comments were overflowing with vicious curses.
The Reaper teacher and Floor 574 were being publicly hanged, metaphorically speaking.
I felt guilty.
I hurriedly tapped out a new post.
“I should use honorifics…”
______
Title: I’m Sorry. I’m the One in Charge of Floor 25 of the Demon King’s Tower…
Author: ㅇㅇ(25F)
I’m not dead ㅠㅠ Sorry for worrying you. It took a while, didn’t it? I’ve made it to Floor 25 for now.
Register.
One second. Two seconds.
The moment I hit refresh, the comment section exploded.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(418F) : ???????????????
ㅇㅇ(148F) : Holy shit, you were alive!!!!!!!
SSS-Rank Gearhead : Whoa, what’s this, 25F??? That’s insane. Wait, she isn’t dead? They said she died lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : She used to be at 1F lol. She was legendary three days ago. She made it to Floor 9 in one day.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead: ? How do you get to Floor 9 in one day?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : I’m serious lol.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead: Holy shit… I’m going to check the posts from three days ago right now.
Macanong : Unnie ㅠㅠㅠ
Fenrir : Ah, I seriously thought you died!!!!!
ㅇㅇ(341F) : Crazy bitch crazy bitch crazy bitch crazy bitch!!!!
Aengie : I was worried, meow…
ㅇㅇ(241F) : As long as you’re alive, that’s all that matters. Fuck, what a relief.
ㅇㅇ(312F) : But why were you so late?! I thought you were dead!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(505F) : What the fuck happened on Floor 25? Tell us right now.
A mix of fierce affection, resentment, curses, and cheers.
They wanted to know what had happened.
I scratched the back of my head and replied.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : Well… It only took half a day to break through to Floor 25…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(648F) : ??
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead: Excuse me????????? You mean you reached Floor 25 in one day???
ㄴ Fenrir : Then what took you three days? Was there some kind of waiting mechanic in the middle?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(712F) : Sleep gas gimmick? Petrification? An illusion?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : It wasn’t that… It was just a sleeping problem… I slept for three days…
The comments filled with question marks.
ㄴ Fenrir : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(148F) : ??
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : You… slept?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : I thought I’d only dozed off for a bit, but when I woke up, three days had passed… Sorry.
When I offered my excuses, comments mixed with disbelieving laughter began appearing.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(741F) : Legendary legendary legendary
ㄴ Fenrir : Well, you’re alive, so that’s what matters…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(341F) : What’s with you pretending to be cool after crying your eyes out?
Just then, one of the usernames that had been publicly hanged quietly appeared.
ㅇㅇ(574F) : That’s a relief.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : Wow, this guy wasn’t lurking in silence after all ㄷㄷ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(174F) : Looks like this guy was scared too lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(566F) : Was he an Egen man?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F) : The Brain Emperor has arrived.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : Ears perked, seated and ready.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(443F) : You guys were practically trying to kill him, so what’s with the sudden change of heart? LOL
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F) : You didn’t know these people were goldfish?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F) : Look at the shamelessness on these bastards lol
A simple report of my survival.
And soon afterward, another username that had been blamed as a culprit appeared.
Captain Death Note : You awoke safely! Good, did you encounter the Great Stone Tablet in the Reaper realm? Did you use Death’s End in a crisis?!!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : No, not yet. I just slept, that’s all…
ㄴ Captain Death Note : Tsk, you wasted your time.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : I’m going to keep climbing for now. I feel refreshed after getting some proper rest. The fatigue debuff is gone from my status window, too.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : But do Reapers normally sleep all at once like this?
I wasn’t blaming him for not telling me.
It was a genuine question.
ㄴ Captain Death Note : That differs from Reaper to Reaper.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : Reaper by Reaper, as they say.
Reaper by Reaper? That made them no different from humans.
Just as I thought that, a comment from Floor 574 appeared.
ㄴㅇㅇ(574F) : If that isn’t a Reaper trait, then it’s probably a Demon Tower trait. The status effect you mentioned is new to all of us. We’ve had Weakness and Exhaustion, but never ‘Fatigue.’
Fenrir : This is the Rested Gallery, after all…
ㅇㅇ(431F) : Seriously, all we do is lie around lol
ㅇㅇ(574F) : It looks like the Demon Tower’s fatigue system is kicking in. It might have been created because of the hero. The Demon King probably set it up so the hero couldn’t climb the tower recklessly.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : Use your brain a little, Brain Emperor.
A fatigue system, huh.
As a gamer, that explanation felt familiar and plausible.
But why was a human fatigue system being applied to me?
ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : I’m not the hero, so why am I getting a debuff…?
ㄴ펜리르 : It probably applies to everyone.
ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : Because the Demon King has marked you, lol. Sucks to be you.
ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : ?
ㄴㅇㅇ(351F) : What’s with the question mark? You didn’t know you were marked? You should’ve realized from the fact that you were placed on Floor 1…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(751F) : Seriously, being placed on Floor 1 can’t be explained unless the Demon King has it out for her.
Was this goth-lolita Reaper girl hated by the Demon King?
There was no way to know. I hadn’t inherited any memories.
In any case, if fatigue existed, did that mean I could only climb around twenty floors a day?
“That’s a bit of a problem.”
ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : Then there must be a set number of floors you can climb per day. You can’t climb fifty floors a day?
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gearhead : It’ll probably be fine if you take a fatigue recovery potion?
ㄴ Fenrir : That’s right. I forgot those existed. I wondered who would buy one.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : Don’t let on that you’re from the Rested Gallery…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(439F) : We never have any reason to get tired lol
There were things like fatigue recovery potions? That was a relief. Since I had plenty of money, I should stock up on all of them.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : The carriage just arrived, right? Two horses?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : Yes.
Those horses had woken me up.
Thinking about it, it had been a stroke of luck.
The hero’s sword could have knocked on my skull and woken me up instead.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : You’ll need to buy the things you need from SSS-Rank Gearhead. He’ll help you.
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gearhead : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(481F) : What’s with this sudden handoff? I’m bewildered lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : Brain Emperor, are you making a registered user run errands for you now too… Great Brain Emperor.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(481F) : A mutiny because you’ll never meet him lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : First, open your status window and check how much gold you currently have.
The gold I had on hand.
I pressed the currency tab tucked into the corner of the status window on the hologram panel.
Then.
[The Demon King’s Army’s regular wages have been settled.]
[Floor: 25 / Payment: 25 G]
An alert announced that my monthly pay had arrived.
It felt strange.
“I… have become a salaried worker…”
I had successfully landed a job.
My landlord would surely be pleased.
‘Aside from the fact that it’s a black-collar job.’
And… compared to the gold I’d received as promotion rewards, it was a pitiful salary.
Adding up all the promotion rewards from Floors 2 through 25, which increased by 100 gold each time, came to exactly 30,000 gold.
And my salary was 25 gold.
So the total was…
[Gold on hand: 30,025 G]
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(25F)(Author) : I have 30,025 gold.
The moment I posted that number, the reactions grew heated.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : Why does a newbie on her fourth day have so much money? LOLLLLLLL
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(387F) : Because she smashed every floor from Floor 1 onward.
ㄴㅇㅇ(394F) : Thirty thousand gold in less than a week LOLLLLLLL
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : I knew it, but seeing it is fucking shocking lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(721F) : Hand over the Hambugi, hand over the Hambugi, hand over the Hambugi, hand over the Hambugi
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : This really is legendary. She can buy everything she needs at her first carriage.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : No… wow… that looks delicious.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(433F) : Hey, don’t drool.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : Ah, I’m dying to put together her gear. Holy shit.
ㄴSSS-Rank Gearhead : I’ll set up everything for you. Wait a moment. I’ll write my Golden Carriage review first.
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gearhead : Should I just skip this month’s review? What a pain.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(751F) : ? You have to do your job, bro…
I was dumbfounded.
Thirty thousand gold must have been enough to buy quite a lot.
I walked toward the carriage.
“Inside this…”
I carefully pulled open the door of the enormous golden carriage.
Creeeak-
[Opening the Golden Carriage’s storefront.]
The moment I saw the items displayed on the shelves, I had no choice but to gasp.
“What…? Huh?”
The merchandise was utterly unbelievable.
The merchandise was utterly unbelievable.