"Haha."
I laughed because it was so absurd.
What the hell was it? What could it possibly have been for them to go this far?
I knew that walkthrough posts and anything similar were automatically deleted.
This was probably along the same lines. It must mean I was not allowed to share it with other people.
‘Was that why nothing came up on the wiki, too?’
My head throbbed.
If that was the case, there was no way to tell whether I alone had experienced that phenomenon, or whether others had experienced it too but were unable to talk about it.
"Haa..."
I tipped my head back and let out a deep breath.
It was not exactly important, but it left me with an unpleasant feeling.
Swipe.
Still, just in case, I lowered my head and tapped my phone screen.
I could not make a post? They were controlling information?
If that was how they wanted to play it, then I had plenty to say too.
They should not underestimate my gallery-dweller skills.
[Complaint Box]
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
[Comments]
WikiWikiIsTheBest: Mod, answer me.
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Huh? Wiki?
That response sure was fast.
As expected of a model moderator. Mods back on Earth should all respond within one second like this too.
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest: Starting now, copy down the letters I type without asking questions or arguing. Okay?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Yes...? Okay, I understand...
Once I got the mod’s confirmation, I posted in the comments the things I had searched for on the wiki.
To find out exactly how far the censorship went, and what conditions triggered it.
Space, black void, bug, anomaly.
I tried posting them one at a time, slowly, but—
"This is ridiculous."
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: I get comment notifications... but the comments do not show up...?
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Wiki??
The comments were not being posted.
There was nothing particularly strange about those words themselves. Anyone could know what space was, at least.
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest: You seriously cannot see a single one?
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: No...
I let out a hollow laugh at the situation, where they were so openly determined to hide it.
‘Let’s see how far this goes.’
I still had plenty of ways to try.
Did they think I would just take this lying down?
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest: Mod, stand by.
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Could you at least tell me what this is about...?
After ordering—no, asking—the mod, I immediately opened the gallery through [Internet].
I created throwaway accounts 1, 2, 3, and 4, then posted one letter per account in the comments, but...
"...At this point, I am impressed."
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Is this you on a burner account, Wiki...?
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Black orb? Why is this a problem...? Orb...?
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: The comments suddenly got deleted..!
It was the same result as when I had used my main account.
As if it did not care whether I changed accounts or not, it cleanly censored them.
‘Since the mod confirmed it, I can write it as long as I do it slowly.’
That only made me more determined. My experimental spirit was rising; I wanted to see whether it truly was impossible no matter what I did.
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Wiki...?
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Wiki!!
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: Knock, knock~
┗Not an Eraser (Author)🔸: (Sticker of a grotesque creature waving)
‘Stop acting like an innocent pretty girl...!’
I was afraid the mod would really start mistaking me for a pretty girl at this rate.
Even if we would never meet, this should stay a joke in moderation. I was gradually starting to wonder whether the mod might actually be a pretty girl.
Tap-tap.
After giving the mod a suitably vague reply, I immediately made a post in the gallery.
[Everyone, Pay Attention]
[Author: WikiWikiIsTheBest]
From now on, make posts copying the titles I write. Okay?
[Comments]
Not an Eraser🔸: Okay...!
Anonymous: What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull now...
Anonymous: Do I get cola if I do it?
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest (Author): I will give you some, so do it.
┗Anonymous: Yes, sir!!
Superiority of Dual Swords: No!!
‘Seriously unhelpful.’
How nice would it be if the gallery were full of people like the mod?
Of course, for that to happen, I would have to disappear first.
[I Am]
[Author: WikiWikiIsTheBest]
[I Am]
[I Am]
[I Am]
[I Am]
The moment I posted it as a test, posts with the same title began flooding in.
Feeling like the Pied Piper, I immediately made another post.
[An Idiot]
[Author: WikiWikiIsTheBest]
[Fuck, he is messing around again]
[An Idiot]
[What a psycho bastard LMAOOOO]
[I will be an idiot, please give me cola]
‘The mod really is an angel...’
Even when I gave in to a momentary prank, the mod was the only one who obediently made a post with the exact same title.
It hurt my heart a little to see the question mark in the post’s body, asking whether this was really what I wanted.
[Sry, I Will Do It Properly]
After roughly cleaning up the mess, I made another post in the gallery.
One letter at a time, so they could recognize exactly which letter I had written.
Watching the gallery users write posts after me, I typed slowly.
[An]
[An]
[An]
[An]
[om]
[om]
[─────]
[om]
[om]
[al]
[al]
[al]
[Cut in Half]
[al]
As expected, this let them see it.
A single fragment was not a word by itself, so merely copying it did not trigger the censorship.
There were a few lunatics mixed in, but we outnumbered them by quite a bit, so it did not matter.
[y]
[Author: WikiWikiIsTheBest]
The moment I completed the final letter—
‘As expected, it will not work.’
Naturally, the post did not go up.
As though mocking me, even all the [An], [om], and [al] posts I had previously made vanished.
But—
‘Did you think I picked this word without thinking?’
[Anomaly]
I had not chosen the word because its repeated fragments could be used in both the middle and the end for no reason.
There was no way every gallery user would post at the exact same time. Some would type quickly, while others would spot it later and copy it afterward.
Then, at this very moment, with dozens—hundreds—of people writing posts after me...
[Infinite Regression Gallery]
[An]
[om]
[al]
[y]
‘That’s it.’
With their timing out of sync, there would be moments when the word I wanted was completed.
[Fuck, I wrote a post and it disappeared]
[Was I the only one who just saw that??]
[What the hell was that Anomaly???]
[What the fuck, this is scary as hell]
[Why did a bunch of posts suddenly get deleted?? Did the mod delete them??]
[I did not delete them...!!]
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
"Exactly."
People writing posts because they had questions. People who had witnessed that neat sequence of posts disappear.
I clenched my fist as I watched the gallery descend into chaos in an instant.
I could not share it with the gallery, but it had been etched into everyone’s minds.
At least dozens of them had realized what I was trying to say.
‘They are gallery users sharp and observant enough to climb the Tower of Wisdom over and over.’
There was no way they would not question this situation.
[Wow, fuck, the post I was reading after searching just evaporated]
[I tried posting one fragment at a time, but they disappeared;]
[It does not work in usernames either, yeah]
[What is this?? It is not like that word was never used before??]
[Everything with similar meanings gets deleted too]
I smiled as the gallery users began drawing their own conclusions.
Just as the posts said, old posts did exist when you searched the gallery for “anomaly.”
They were not referring to the darkness I had seen, but simple posts raising questions about various towers remained.
‘Does it get deleted when someone questions that word?’
Or perhaps the posts were being deleted because I, the person who had seen that space, had prompted the situation.
Maybe it was reading brain waves—or even mental images—and censoring them.
There was no point asking whether that even made sense. The tower itself was a place that made no sense.
[New comment from Not an Eraser]
[New comment from Not an Eraser]
[New comment from Not an Eraser]
‘First, let’s explain the situation.’
I immediately made a new post in response to the mod’s comments, which were practically crying and demanding an explanation.
[Saw It in the Tower Earlier, Yeah]
[Author: WikiWikiIsTheBest]
I cannot say what it was.
To determine where the line for censorship lay, I made the post as vague as possible—and—
Ding-ding-ding-ding—
‘This much is okay, then.’
I gave a small nod as comments immediately began pouring in like mad.
[Comments]
Anonymous: Fuck, what are you??
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: Is it related to the tower?
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest (Author): I do not really know either, but if it gets deleted, then probably?
┗Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: Okay for now.
6373: This is my first time seeing something like this too.
┗Anonymous: This guy has really just been here forever without ever being helpful.
┗Anonymous: Damn, that is way too harsh LMAOOOOOO
dd: So you get anomalied if you say it?
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest (Author): That sounds kind of weird, but yeah, basically.
Not an Eraser🔸: You are okay, right, Wiki?! You are not hurt anywhere, are you?!
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest (Author): I am badly hurt, actually...
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Then you should not be posting in the gallery! You should be resting!!
┗WikiWikiIsTheBest (Author): I think I would feel better if you showed me a photo of your breasts...
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Stop joking around!!!
┗Not an Eraser🔸: (Sticker of a grotesque creature flying into a rage)
I felt a little sorry for the mod because the gallery had turned into such a shitshow, but it could not be helped.
I would have to properly repay them in cola for this.
Anonymous: Apparently even the people who have been here for thousands of years all say they have no idea what this is;
Judging by the reactions coming in, it seemed that no one but me had ever experienced this.
Even if I took forever to write out what happened to me in the gallery, I probably would not get anything useful out of it.
If someone who experienced the same thing as me appeared someday, then communicating would have meaning, but...
‘For now, there is no information at all?’
This seemed like the best I could do at the moment.
Ding!
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Did you see this, Wiki...? I think you should take a look...!
┗Not an Eraser🔸: gall.infinity/view/31546157
As I refreshed and watched the comments for a while, the mod posted a link.
There was no chance the mod was trying to bait me, so I immediately followed it.
[Analysis of the Current Situation, Yeah]
[Author: Philosopher's Stone]
1. A word that could originally be used is, for some reason, being censored only now.
2. The reason for the censorship is probably similar to the reason tower walkthroughs are censored.
3. The accepted theory is that gallery walkthroughs are blocked to prevent people from helping each other.
That means what the newbie is trying to convey is likely related to a walkthrough rather than the word’s literal meaning.
Or it may violate something above and beyond walkthroughs—something on a higher level.
4. In other words, the newbie experienced an “anomaly” in the tower, and there is a high possibility it is connected to a tower walkthrough.
Or, though it sounds absurd, it might be related to escaping the tower.
5. Anyway, there are more secrets to the tower that we do not know about—though we barely know anything to begin with.
And the newbie might have some kind of qualification to uncover them... Something like that?
Conclusion: Hand out cola, fuck.
[Comments]
Anonymous: I saw the last line and tearfully upvoted ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Anonymous: Thank you, Teacher Philosopher.
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: Sounds roughly like what I was thinking.
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): Since saying it out loud is not censored, it should be okay as long as you do not use the gallery?
┗Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: All the interdimensional travel experiments failed, though?
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): That is not what I meant.
Anonymous: Teacher Philosopher is back after a while.
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): I had not been checking the gallery because I was experimenting with various things, and some weird guy showed up while I was gone.
dd: So the newbie is more amazing than we thought?
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): Whether that is in a good way or a bad way, yes.
Clap, clap, clap.
‘...I see!’
It was a handle I had never seen before, but I could more or less understand my situation.
Seeing how neatly he had organized it, like someone actually living up to his username, I hit upvote and clapped enthusiastically.
These Infinite Regression Gallery guys understood my situation more accurately than I did. They really were the best.
WikiWikiIsTheBest: There is a lot I want to say, but I cannot say it.
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): I do not know what you are trying to convey, but if you are simply looking for information, there is a very high chance no one will know anything even if you speak.
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): If you can experience these “anomalies” multiple times, you will have to figure them out alone. If not, it would be best to treat it as a simple coincidence.
┗Philosopher's Stone (Author): There is no information to be found here anyway. That is the conclusion I reached after being here a long time.
An additional explanation arrived in response to the comment I had casually left.
Considering he had mentioned experiments earlier, perhaps he was one of those people who researched and investigated the tower.
Thinking about it, with so many people here, there was no way no one had ever tried to escape.
‘More importantly, do we really have to call it an anomaly?’
No matter how I looked at it, it sounded lame as hell.
Plop.
I browsed the gallery a little longer, but I gained no useful information.
‘Something even veterans who have been here for thousands of years have never experienced...’
Why had it happened to me?
It felt too unsettling to dismiss as a simple coincidence.
I vividly remembered the headache that felt as though my skull would split apart and the feverish heat that had made even opening my eyes painful.
‘The reason something like that happened only to me.’
The “qualification” that handle called Philosopher's Stone had mentioned.
Ding!
"Ah."
At that familiar notification sound filling my ears, I realized what it was.
An experience the veterans who had been here for thousands of years did not have.
An experience—and qualification—that only I had ever possessed in this gallery.
"...Irregular."
Of course, it might not be the case, but for now, that was the most convincing explanation.
‘Could the Irregular be more than just a means of escape?’
Or was it because I had obtained the Irregular and still had not left this tower?
Of course, perhaps the wiki walkthrough had simply glitched for a moment.
Maybe it was not some incredible, shocking truth that the gallery users and I were imagining.
It was not impossible that my mind, driven mad by stress and fear, had shown me a hallucination.
‘That does not seem likely, though...’
Either way, my head was a mess.
Any hypothesis was possible, but every hypothesis was meaningless.
"Ugh."
There was nothing I could know right now.
What was happening was far too difficult for a shut-in rice bug like me.
[So the current situation is—]
[When we experimented with tower-related—]
[It is not a related story, but definitely before—]
[The scope of the censorship to begin with—]
The atmosphere in the gallery seemed serious too.
They were fighting among themselves about fire and water, and protesting in the comments for cola.
It was quite different from the gallery I remembered, where people debated whether the mod was a pretty girl.
‘Where did all the idiots I knew go?’
As though eager to show off that they were intellectuals who had climbed the Tower of Wisdom hundreds or thousands of times, the gallery users had suddenly become smart, and somehow that felt distant.
‘It is not even their problem in the first place.’
Of course, that meant they wanted to escape this tower just as badly, and that their interest in me was considerable, but...
"Duu..."
Maybe the aftereffects of the twentieth floor were hitting me late, or maybe I had just thought too hard, but I did not want to deal with difficult things anymore.
As Philosopher's Stone said, I would have to figure it out by myself anyway.
It might simply be a coincidence that would never appear again.
So—
[Handing Out Colaaaaaaaaa]
[Author: WikiPippi]
I will give it to whoever writes the dumbest-looking comment, yeah.
Give me back the gallery I knew, you demons...!
Ding!!
Philosopher's Stone: Boo hoo... everyone is only talking about hard stuff... this gallery guy does not know any of that... I am crying because I want cola...
"..."
Was cola really that amazing?
I could not tell whether he was living up to his username or completely failing to.
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