‘How will this turn out?’
Outside my hideout, I stretched as I looked at the empty cavern and the timer floating in midair.
After finishing a happy lunch, making a post in the gallery, and even taking a nap thanks to my food coma, I had woken up.
[That bastard went AFK again, fuuuck] (11)
[I was wrong, so please tell me, newbie] (3)
[No, seriously, how the fuck do you get food?] (2)
[Was cake always supposed to cut that smoothly??] (16)
[So what the hell is chicken? Someone who’s had it, tell me] (22)
[Alcohol... the alcohol I’ve only dreamed of for hundreds of years...] (7)
After confirming the reactions were exactly as expected, I opened Starpang to resolve a question I’d had when placing my first order.
‘Was one minute always this long?’
It wasn’t like I had ordered anything particularly special.
[Water] - 1 TP
[Cold Water] - 10 TP
[Bread] - 1 TP
[Warm Bread] - 10 TP
It was less of an investment and more of a purchase to confirm something.
I wanted to see the difference between water and “cold” water, bread and “warm” bread. And I wanted to find out precisely how delivery worked.
[1L Cola] - 30 TP
[Ice] - 5 TP
Though not everything I ordered was for that purpose.
Ding!
The instant the delivery notification arrived, the items I had ordered appeared in the center of the cavern.
They simply existed there, as though they had been there from the beginning.
I hadn’t taken my eyes off that spot or even blinked, yet all I could perceive was that they had somehow appeared.
Step.
“Tsk.”
Clicking my tongue in disappointment, I headed toward the middle of the cavern.
My plan to knock out the delivery guy and escape had unfortunately fallen through.
I slowly walked forward while biting into the hard bread I had sharpened by grinding it against the hideout wall.
‘...Not everything arrived?’
When I approached to pick up the items, I realized that only the cola and ice had arrived.
I had definitely ordered bread and water together, but they were nowhere to be seen.
[Delivery has been completed.]
[Delivery location: Outside the door]
The bread and water were clearly listed in my payment history, so why?
I gathered up the cola and ice, then headed back to my hideout while rummaging through the Starpang app.
“...It’s been replenished?”
I had eaten one loaf of bread this morning, then another half after returning from the Tower of Fate.
Aside from the one in my hand, I should only have had half a loaf left. Yet somehow, there were two more loaves.
“Ow, hot...!”
When I touched one, it was hot as though it had just been baked. Maybe it had been delivered directly here.
‘The water was refilled too, so that confirms it.’
I now had two canteens. The one I had emptied halfway was full again.
‘If you order items already in your hideout, are the effects applied immediately?’
Maybe things like pillows and blankets in the household goods category would be replaced as though they were being upgraded.
I couldn’t be certain, but if that was the case, I could fill this place with beds and heavy furniture without having to move them myself.
‘Though they’re too expensive for me to buy right now.’
Someday, maybe I could decorate this place like a luxurious penthouse.
Plop.
I set the cola and ice I had brought in outside beside the basket, then dropped down onto the blanket.
‘Ordering ice was pointless.’
The hideout wasn’t particularly hot, but without a refrigerator, it wouldn’t last long.
I didn’t know whether they even sold refrigerators, but I probably couldn’t afford one right now anyway.
I would also need to wash the glass before using it again.
I had mixed beer and cola because I was feeling good earlier, but using that glass again when it was already filthy and sticky was a little...
‘Do I need to buy detergent and a scrubber too?’
I could rinse it out roughly in the bathroom, but that would work once or twice at most. It would be impossible to keep using it that way.
Once I thought of every single household item as costing money, it wasn’t as satisfying as the wiki had been.
It felt like realizing reality within unreality, maybe.
Of course, if I had TP to spare, it would be even more satisfying than the wiki. But right now, I didn’t.
Swipe.
[You have a new comment.]
[You have a new comment.]
[You have a new comment.]
[You have a new comment.]
When I checked my phone, more notifications had piled up already.
More than two hours had passed since I posted proof of my flex, yet comments were still pouring in without pause.
“I’m going to play hard to get for a bit, guys. Love you, okay?”
I wanted to talk to the gallery users, but I still had mountains of things left to investigate.
[Starpang]
[Purchase History]
Ignoring the notifications, I entered Starpang and checked the prices of the things I had bought.
‘If I calculate the prices of what I bought, does that make 1 TP about 100 won?’
Chicken was 200 TP, and a glass was 50 TP.
Water was 10 TP, and roughly calculating everything else put it around there.
[TP Held: 4,443]
So that meant I currently had around 440,000 won on hand.
‘500,000 won for a day’s pay is a lot, sure.’
The problem was that this was practically the price of my life, and I had no idea when I would receive more.
I would probably earn TP next when I cleared Floor 20.
‘It’d be fucked if the next payout isn’t until Floor 100.’
I wouldn’t be able to know for sure until I climbed to Floor 20.
Honestly, whether I could even reach Floor 20 was uncertain.
[Weapons/Armor]
After roughly calculating the prices, I tapped the category I had been most curious about.
I could more or less predict what the other categories would contain.
I could predict this category too, of course, but my imagination was blooming far beyond that.
‘From guns to nuclear weapons, tanks... maybe even laser beams or magic swords...’
My chest trembled with anticipation that this world—this tower—would surely have something incredible.
After waiting a moment for the dazzling weapons that would fulfill every man’s dream...
[Wooden Sword] - 1,000 TP
[Wooden Staff] - 1,000 TP
[Wooden Shield] - 1,000 TP
[???]
[???]
[???]
“...”
I blinked as nothing appeared except a wooden sword, wooden staff, and wooden shield.
Where was my railgun? My holy sword that glowed just from being swung?
I had cleared ten floors to unlock this, so couldn’t it at least tell me what was available?
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again as I looked at every single item covered in question marks.
Press.
[Unlocked upon purchasing the previous weapon/armor.]
“Ah.”
I let out a quiet groan at the message that appeared the moment I tapped a question mark.
So this was what it meant. Starpang was telling me this:
A step-by-step progression system where growing stronger is so much fun! Anyone can enjoy getting stronger!
“Wow! I can’t wait.”
Maybe once I bought them, I could enhance them or apply scrolls too.
It was StarWiki and Starpang, so [Star Force] would be perfect for enhancements, wouldn’t it?
Just imagining myself doing real gambling in reality sent a thrill through my head.
‘Fine, I’ll concede that I have to unlock them one by one.’
The problem was that even the first items were obscenely priced.
The wooden sword and wooden shield were each 1,000 TP.
At 100 won per TP, that meant 100,000 won apiece.
Of course, I had no idea how much weapons and armor like that actually cost, but that wasn’t my problem.
This was basically a fantasy world, some awesome place from the future or whatever.
Anyway, it should be cheap. What was I supposed to do if the prices started out that high?
‘All three would cost 3,000 TP.’
I didn’t even know exactly what effects buying them would have.
For all I knew, if the items merely appeared, buying them might accomplish absolutely nothing.
‘Unless I at least had talent in martial arts...’
There was no way I had something like that.
Sure, maybe I might have hidden talent by some incredible stroke of luck, but I at least needed someone to teach me the basics.
Just getting those things alone didn’t make me think I would become stronger.
“...”
No, wait.
‘...Maybe I really could awaken my talent on my own?’
I, Han Seol...
The man who acquired the Irregular on his very first run.
The man feared by a ninth-circle archmage, who shocked a sage that had lived in the tower for thousands of years, and who made an eraser—no, an ability user capable of controlling tens of thousands of people at their fingertips—tremble in anxiety.
The monster who conquered the tower and the gallery in a single day. That was “me.”
The moment I gripped a sword, memories of a past life might return to me. The moment I gripped a staff, incantations might come to mind.
‘Let’s imagine it.’
Closing my eyes, I spread my arms wide, felt the energy of this space, and imagined it.
Myself buying the wooden sword, wooden staff, and wooden shield, then going on an unstoppable rampage through the tower.
Han Seol 1, holding a wooden sword and slashing at empty air.
Han Seol 2, swinging a staff like a blunt weapon.
Han Seol 3, getting the shit beaten out of him even while holding a wooden shield.
“...”
Hiss.
Maybe not?
I imagined it, but even with a wooden sword and shield, I didn’t think I could beat the boar I had seen on Floor 10.
As for the staff... maybe if I could use magic as soon as I held it, but that didn’t seem likely either.
Just as I had felt when food was delivered, I was certain it would simply send me the item and nothing else.
‘But I can’t just not buy them either...’
I could clear the Tower of Wisdom with the wiki.
For the Tower of Mindscape, I just had to grit my teeth and endure through sheer willpower. Buying and taking a few calming pills should be enough.
As for the Tower of Fate... well, maybe it would work out somehow. Thinking of Russian roulette, perhaps my luck wasn’t all that bad. The wiki would help too, and having money to burn would be meaningless there.
But the Tower of Trials was different.
Someday, I would encounter even more vicious monsters. Holding a weapon wouldn’t make a huge difference, but it would at least be better than fighting barehanded.
“Sigh... If only there were some sort of guidebook I could read and learn from...”
The moment I muttered that while looking at the picture of the wooden sword—
“...What if there really is?”
At the utterly foolish thought that crossed my mind, I moved my finger as if possessed.
[Books/Albums/DVDs]
A category I had looked at earlier.
I tapped “Books,” one of its subcategories, and immediately checked the list.
[Peter and the Swordsman’s Stone] - 110 TP
[Human Qualification] - 81 TP
[Swords, Viruses, and Steel] - 268 TP
[The Hundred-Year-Old Princess] - 99 TP
[Comic Autumn Story 1–10] - 800 TP
.
.
.
‘No, not this kind of thing.’
I frowned at the Books category, which had absolutely everything from familiar novels to fairy tales and comics.
No matter how far I scrolled, there was no end to it.
Thinking I would never find it in a lifetime at this rate, I used the search bar.
[Starpang]
[Swordsmanship] 🔍
[Beginner Swordsmanship Textbook (Official Imperial Knights Order Edition)] - 19,990 TP
[You Can Do It Too! C-Rank Swordsmanship Manual!] - 3,200 TP
[[Rare] Basic Parrying Technique Manual] - 990 TP
[Swordsmanship Master Package You Can Learn in Two Weeks] - 4,000 TP
[The Path of the Swordmaster - Final Edition] - 335,000 TP
.
.
.
“Holy shit.”
They really existed.
For some reason, the names were much more elaborate than everything I had seen so far, but they really existed.
I hadn’t tapped them to read the details, but I didn’t think they were fake.
Maybe because I had already bought items myself, or maybe because I had grown accustomed to this place, but I had an inexplicable trust in them.
‘They’re fucking expensive, though...’
Wouldn’t I be better off than I was now if I just chose and bought one of these?
‘Is there anything else?’
I scrolled through the list, then searched for “spellbook” instead of swordsmanship.
[“Genuine” Beginner Fire-Element Grimoire] - 9,900 TP
[Official Royal Magic Academy Curriculum / Complete in 30 Days / ★★★★☆] - 4,500 TP
[[5th Circle] Complete Lightning Magic Compendium] - 485,000 TP
[Fundamentals of Elementology You Can Understand in a Week] - 50,000 TP
[Danger Rating SS! Practical Necromancer’s Guide!] - 990 TP
.
.
.
My lips naturally curled upward at the list that appeared after a brief loading screen.
From a few hundred TP all the way up to several million TP.
Just like with swordsmanship, spellbooks in a wide range of prices appeared.
‘With just these, could I become a real wizard too...?’
There were only a very few among them that I could afford, but just seeing the items’ names made my heart pound.
If it was related to combat, there had to be countless things beyond just swordsmanship manuals and spellbooks.
Maybe whatever search term I entered, textbooks from all kinds of worlds would pop up.
Gulp.
‘Like the people I saw in the gallery, I can become a real swordsman or wizard too.’
With this shopping mall, I could become someone who used skills even flashier than anything I had seen in games.
Of course, I was very, very short on TP, but dreams and hopes that stirred a man’s instincts were welling up inside me.
Then, just as I was entering all sorts of search terms and imagining things like a child again—
“...Oh.”
An incredibly stupid thought occurred to me.
If this place let me buy every item in this world... no, even items not from this world...
Could I buy a ticket to escape this place too?
[Starpang]
[Irregular] 🔍
Gulp.
“...”
I swallowed as the loading took incomparably longer than it had for anything else.
Until moments ago, my chest had been pounding with anticipation and excitement. Now, my heart thundered with tension and anxiety.
[???] - ??? TP
After a loading time that felt like it lasted over a minute, one item completely covered in question marks appeared on the screen.
Press.
[This product is currently unavailable for purchase.]
-Insufficient number of regressions.
“Ha.”
I let out a small laugh at the notification window that appeared the instant I tapped it.
This was the path I had to walk from now on, wasn’t it?
In the end, I still had to keep climbing the tower, but somehow I felt refreshed.
‘At least it can be bought.’
Hope bloomed within me at the fact that I could buy something that would never appear even after praying for thousands of years.
Grin.
A gacha system with a guaranteed pity ceiling?
It was an insanely generous deal by anyone’s standards.
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