"Phew."
I looked everywhere for information on the Irregular, but there was nothing I could find out right away.
I still had no idea how many regressions or how much it would take to get an Irregular, but in the end, there was only one thing I had to do anyway: climb the Tower.
Ding ding ding—
‘Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, honey.’
I wanted to browse Starpang a little longer, but the comment notifications had been going off faster and faster for a while now, so I had no choice but to check the gallery.
[Where’d the head mod go?]
[The gallery’s fucked;]
[No, seriously, one of you two needs to come back, fuck]
[I’ve been on this gallery for 400 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen the head mod disappear without saying a word]
[Urgent)) Head mod missing for over two hours]
"Huh?"
A mysterious list of posts greeted me the moment I entered.
I blinked at the gallery, now engulfed in chaos over claims that the head mod had gone missing.
‘The head mod disappeared.’
The one who explained things kindly, who wasn’t very good at writing posts but worked hard to manage the gallery.
The head mod who periodically left concerned comments, who replied almost instantly whenever anyone made a post.
‘...They didn’t collapse because of me, did they?’
Judging roughly by the time they disappeared, they had been gone not long after I made my post.
Watching real-time posts searching for the head mod multiply, I checked the comments on my FLEX post.
[Comments]
Not an Eraser🔸: How did you get that...? Could you please tell me...??
┗Not an Eraser🔸: I’ll ban you if you don’t tell me?!
┗Not an Eraser🔸: (Emote of a grotesque creature getting angry)
‘Seems normal.’
It wasn’t much different from the other comments.
If they had keeled over from jealousy, there was nothing I could say, but it was hard to judge based on this alone.
What did this post have to do with going AFK in the first place?
[What is Eraser doing!!!!]
[Fuckshit, don’t ever click below] (6)
[.] (47)
[Time to go wild while the head mod’s gone @@@@@@@@] (1)
[Even calling the complaint box won’t bring them back, where the hell did they go??] (4)
[The head mod’s timer should still have plenty left, what is this;] (15)
‘Is this really something worth making such a fuss over?’
I scratched my head at the gallery’s reaction.
I didn’t want to imagine it, but maybe something bad had happened to them in the Tower. Or maybe they had simply fallen asleep.
It wasn’t as though they had to report their every move, and honestly, I couldn’t understand this kind of reaction after only an hour or two.
[Even the sleeping room is empty?]
[Author: Anonymous]
gall.infinity/view/16642315
Look, Anonymous.
The timer still has over fifty days left.
Are they sick or something?
‘Sleeping room?’
As I refreshed and read through the posts, one caught my eye.
It included a link and a worried question, and the comments agreed as they anxiously speculated about the head mod.
[For status reports]
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
This is the apocalypse timer status chart...!
If updates are delayed by several days, please assume something has happened.
365 - O
360 - O
355 - O
.
.
.
55 - O
Times for Tower climbing and sleeping will be recorded in the comments...!
You will be banned if you leave a comment on this post!
If there is a problem, please visit the complaint box!
[Comments]
Not an Eraser🔸: Sleep
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Awake
Not an Eraser🔸: Tower climbing
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Finished
Not an Eraser🔸: Sleep
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Awake
Not an Eraser🔸: Tower climbing
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Finished
Not an Eraser🔸: Tower climbing
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Finished
Not an Eraser🔸: Sleep
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Awake
The moment I followed the link, I blinked.
"..."
No, this person was seriously recording every single thing they did.
Just how devoted to the gallery did you have to be to go this far?
Since time flowed differently for each person in this Tower, no specific times were written down.
But even without them written down, one thing was clear: from the moment the head mod opened their eyes until the moment they closed them, they did nothing but browse the gallery.
‘This is seriously unpaid slave labor.’
Or maybe only people with Irregulars could become managers, so perhaps the head mod earned points or something from gallery activity.
Like how I got TP by climbing the Tower, it would make sense if the head mod had something similar...
But if they really got nothing at all and were just working, that would be pitiful in more ways than one.
[Must read)) Last known location of the head mod]
[Author: 238th Run]
(Image capturing a KingGodWiki post)
(Image capturing the head mod’s comment)
They disappeared after this, yeah.
Think it’s this guy’s fault;;
I’m gonna go check whether that newbie got banned, hold on.
‘This is my fault?’
The last comment the head mod left had been on my post, sure... but pinning it on me just from that was too much.
[Comments]
Anonymous: Probably died of shock after reading the post
Anonymous: Died of jealousy, damn;;
dd: It really was shocking though lol
238th Run (Author): Too bad, I checked and he’s alive lol
Of course, the comments didn’t sound particularly serious. They were just throwing it around as a joke.
If the head mod had not commented on my post at all, it might have been different, but they had even put on a whole WWE routine about banning me before leaving, so it was the kind of thing you could laugh off.
Squeeze.
That was certainly the case, but there was one small problem—
[Why are people taking this so seriously;] (4)
[What, then it really is that guy’s fault, yeah] (7)
[The head mod’s been here forever too, so they probably got sick of it, yeah;] (4)
[Come back, Eraser!! It’s okay even if you’re not a cute girl!!!] (15)
[Looking at the way he wrote that post, I can see why people would be pissed lol] (3)
[That newbie had been taking digs at the head mod since yesterday, yeah. Check the screenshots] (13)
[What if the head mod really went AFK because of that newbie?] (10)
‘...Is this seriously catching fire over that?’
Starting with the post from earlier, public opinion began to shift.
In an instant, an atmosphere was forming that branded me a criminal.
There were even posts twisting the comments the head mod and I had exchanged with laughter, as if I had been sincerely insulting them.
[Tsk, tsk. What a pathetic bunch.]
[Author: Superiority of Dual Swords]
Aren’t you ashamed of ganging up to curse someone out?
Instead of wasting time on that, climb the Tower, you idiots!
Upvotes 15 Downvotes 46
[Comments]
Anonymous: If you don’t even know what’s going on, shut up
┗Superiority of Dual Swords (Author): Who do you take me for! Do not bully a newbie who has done nothing wrong!
┗Anonymous: What if he did do something wrong?
┗Superiority of Dual Swords (Author): ...Did the newbie really do something wrong?
┗Anonymous: Brain-dead bastard
┗Superiority of Dual Swords (Author): No... it doesn’t look like the newbie did anything wrong....
There were occasionally posts defending me, but the mood that had already taken shape did not change.
‘Hmm, was it really that bad?’
I had posted it to show off, but I hadn’t thought it was bad enough to deserve a full-on witch hunt.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.
Maybe I only felt that way because I was the person involved, but even if our positions were reversed, I didn’t think I would have cared much.
‘You guys laughed too.’
We had a good thing going, didn’t we, babe?
The reaction in the comments had definitely been positive.
I had intentionally used exaggerated wording. Thanks to using photos and emotes in all the right places, not a single person had gotten angry.
Sure, I knew it would attract attention and that not everyone would see it favorably. But what did that have to do with the head mod going AFK?
‘...Well, maybe the head mod really did go AFK because of me.’
Seeing the gallery burn because of me made me feel oddly bothered.
Posts looking for me kept appearing, so I decided to take one step back and write a post.
After all, the head mod might be shocked when they came back.
They worked hard, and I had grown rather fond of our head mod.
[I have come, since you searched for me so desperately]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
If you were angered because of me, then this newbie offers his apologies...
If the head mod is reading this post, please cleanse the gallery and save these lost sheep...
I can no longer stand by and watch this place turn into hell because of me...
Cra...
Cra....
You crazy bastards, how the hell is this my fault?
No, but as I was writing it, I got so wronged-up that I couldn’t take it anymore.
Why was this my fault? If we were assigning blame, the head mod banning me was far more wrong, wasn’t it?
I had checked that there was nothing problematic before uploading the post in the first place.
Who was I?
‘A true newbie who had read a full half of the head mod’s rules post.’
Of course, I hadn’t read all of it, but I definitely knew what I needed to watch out for.
If there really had been a problem, the head mod would have deleted the post and banned me first.
The head mod had even replied normally with an emote, so why were you guys acting like this?
Ding ding ding—
[Still hasn’t come to his senses;]
[Looks like that guy really did make them mentally snap, yeah]
["Why is this my fault?" lmao]
[No, why are these assholes like this; How is the head mod going AFK the newbie’s fault???]
[Obviously the Irregular is staged too, yeah]
Of course, the response to my post and comments was not very good.
To the people who had already decided I was guilty, I had merely handed them more flesh to tear into.
‘So this is why being a superstar is hard...’
A life that drove both fans and haters crazy.
It seemed like I had only haters, but even amid all the absurd bad-faith attacks, I found myself smiling.
My whole body was trembling at the attention directed my way.
Swipe.
Shaking my head from side to side, I looked for the complaint box.
I left a generous comment asking if they were okay and whether something had happened—telling them not to worry and get plenty of rest if they had fallen asleep.
If they were climbing the Tower, I told them not to get hurt, and to come back and sort this out whenever it was convenient.
KingGodWiki: Fuck, head mod, what are you doing!!!!!
┗KingGodWiki: Save me already!!!!!!!
My heart is pounding.
I don’t want to get cursed at.
*
About four hours since the head mod went AFK.
The gallery was still a cauldron of chaos.
"Ugh..."
It was true that I had wanted attention, but this was very different from the direction I had wanted it to take.
The gallery’s atmosphere had completely fallen into the hands of the trolls.
They were even cursing out the people who occasionally defended me, lumping them in with me.
What the truth was did not matter.
There were simply too many people riding this wave to curse someone out ‘just because,’ and too many who were despairing over the head mod’s disappearance.
‘I knew the head mod vanishing was a bigger deal than I had thought, but...’
[I’m a newbie, but is there some reason the head mod disappearing is such a big deal??]
[Author: Anonymous]
Why is everyone overreacting like this?
[Comments]
3540th Run: Gallery = The former head mod made a wish with an Irregular, and that wish created it.
┗3540th Run: Former head mod = Handed the gallery over to the current head mod and disappeared.
┗3540th Run: Current head mod = Basically the owner of the gallery now. No one knows what will happen if they disappear.
┗Anonymous (Author): So the gallery might disappear too?
Anonymous (Author): But would the gallery disappearing really be that big a deal??
┗6373: Before the gallery existed, talking to my reflection in water was my only conversation.
┗Mindscape Tower Lover: No? If I go to the Tower of the Heart, there are lots of friends who listen to me?
┗Anonymous (Author): Fuck, I get it; Nobody here can meet anyone else, right?
In effect, the head mod’s life was the gallery’s life.
I could roughly understand why the gallery users were so obsessed with the head mod’s whereabouts.
*
[Breaking news: Head mod appears]
[Author: Anonymous]
(Image capturing the head mod’s comment in the complaint box)
They’re about to make a post.
"They’re back...!"
About six hours since the head mod disappearance incident began.
The head mod, who had been absent without a word, had finally crawled back out.
[I’m sorry...]
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
Um... I’m embarrassed to tell the truth...
I should have said I was tired and going to sleep... but I kept reading posts as if I were entranced, and then I fell asleep...
I still don’t really understand what’s happening, but if you leave comments, I’ll respond diligently...
[Comments]
Anonymous: Didn’t you go AFK because you got pissed off by the newbie?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Me...? Why would I be pissed off...?
┗Anonymous: Didn’t you see that guy’s post?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Was there something in it worth getting angry about? I thought it was fun...
Anonymous: No, wasn’t it something worth banning him over?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: I don’t think it was grounds for a ban... Is there some special reason it would be?
┗Anonymous: No, I mean, wasn’t it just way too blatant?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Huh? I’m not really sure what you mean...
┗Anonymous: This is so frustrating;
┗Not an Eraser🔸: ??
KingGodWiki: Fuck, why are you only coming back now?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: I’m sorry... The situation looks serious, so I’ll get a grasp on things first and write a new post shortly...!
‘See? I was right.’
There were people trying to kill me the instant the post went up, but the head mod shot them down by asking what the problem was.
Would a gallery addict head mod, who even logged their sleep schedule, really mentally break over a post like that and go AFK?
It was obvious, but I was so unfairly aggrieved by the fact that I had been subjected to bad-faith attacks for hours over such a ridiculous reason.
[The head mod says there was no issue, so now they can’t say a word]
[Fuck, look at them trying to kill him because they saw an opening lmao]
[It was only lighthearted fun, but they couldn’t laugh and just sat there seething]
[Reason to ban him: ‘Because I’m jealous’]
[I screenshotted everything, yeah. You know the head mod can identify anonymous users, right?]
"Ha."
With the judge’s verdict of not guilty, the mood in the gallery changed in an instant.
More precisely, the people who had been forcibly silenced were expressing their sense of liberation.
[Seriously, only the newbie is pitiful... We should all comfort him, maybe?]
[Author: Anonymous]
So I quietly added one with a throwaway account too.
[Comments]
Anonymous: Are you that newbie?
Gasp.
How did they know?
[Everyone, please read this]
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
First, the reason I disappeared was because I forgot to write a comment and fell asleep... I’m truly sorry...
Then let me summarize the current situation.
1. Because I disappeared after leaving the last comment on Wiki Newbie’s post, my going AFK became the newbie’s fault.
2. The newbie did not particularly do anything wrong, but they were cursed at in every possible way for six hours, and the gallery rules were not followed.
3. The reason to ban the newbie, and the reason people cursed at the newbie, was because they were jealous...?
Is that right...?
If I got anything wrong, please tell me and I’ll correct it immediately.
If that is all, I will ban everyone who cursed at the newbie and those who broke the rules...!
[Comments]
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: ‘Because they’re jealous’ LMAOOOOOOOOO
Anonymous: Head mod, didn’t you have any thoughts after seeing that guy’s post?
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): Of course it does make me a little annoyed... but I’m not sure if it is enough to get angry and curse at him over.
┗Anonymous: He’s eating it all by himself and showing off by himself, though?
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): If he could have shared it, wouldn’t he have?
┗Anonymous: What if he could have shared it and chose not to?
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): It belongs to Wiki in the first place, so isn’t there no problem even if he does not share it...?
Anonymous: No, seriously; It was just fun, so why is everyone acting like that lol
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): I was excited because I saw something for the first time in a very long while, but I guess the others were not...
┗Anonymous: Nah, I thought it was amazing too lol Seeing the pictures brought back old memories, and it was nice.
KingGodWiki: Head mod, if it wouldn’t be rude, may I plant a kiss on you?
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): That is rude! I’ll ban you!
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): And you should not write posts just to tease people too...!
All the hurt I had built up melted away at once through the head mod’s post and comments.
Without me even having to step forward and say anything, they were protecting me far more than I had expected.
I didn’t know whether those words genuinely came from the heart, or whether this was simply after-sales service for the Irregular incident...
‘Possible.’
I felt like I really could give the head mod a little kiss.
Even if they were not a cute girl but a hairy middle-aged man, I could close my eyes and kiss them at least once.
‘No, take it back. I can’t.’
On second thought, that did not seem right.
Anonymous: He wrote it with a “Jealous, huh? You can’t eat it, can you?” mindset, so what are you talking about;
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): How does Anonymous know that? And even if that were the case, there would be no problem.
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): The reason we say not to curse at Irregular verification posts is because we want everyone to celebrate together, after all?
┗Anonymous: That’s different;
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): What is different? Isn’t it better to celebrate together when something good happens to someone else?
┗Anonymous: No, is that even a good thing??
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): Then is it something people should curse at him over together for hours...?
‘Damn it, I have no choice but to worship the head mod.’
I watched the head mod continue leaving comments and covering for me.
I had never expected them to help me this much, and the more I watched, the more the head mod seemed like an angel.
Honestly, it was totally a flex meant to provoke envy, but the head mod did not seem to see it that way in the slightest.
I was impressed by that mindset, utterly devoid of malice.
Maybe it was because I had the cute-girl filter on, but I suddenly wanted to treat them even better and look after them.
‘The problem is that I have no way to look after them.’
In relationships, knowledge, and ability, the head mod held the advantage in every respect.
They were the gallery’s manager, a veteran who had survived in the Tower for a long time.
The reality was that there was not a single way I could help them.
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): If he could have shared it, wouldn’t he have?
"...No, is there?"
Seeing the head mod’s comment as I thought it over, I immediately checked Starpang.
If this really was a shopping mall website, a system that delivered things in the blink of an eye...
‘Wouldn’t it be possible to send things to other people too?’
It seemed entirely possible that it had a delivery or gifting function.
I searched all around Starpang and even looked up “gift” on StarWiki.
After exploring here and there for quite a while, just as I began to think there really was no such feature...
[Not an Eraser🔸]
┗[Send Gift]
‘Found it.’
Inside [Gallery], under [Internet], I found the Send Gift button.
‘So this appears for people besides the head mod too?’
And I discovered that it was available for every single person in the gallery.
"..."
[TP Held: 4,443]
Grin.
The long era of humiliation and persecution...
It was time to become a genuinely ‘likable’ newbie again.
[Memo List] - (132)
‘You’re all dead.’
There would be no forgiveness short of a naked dogeza.
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