"..."
Ah, fuck.
The head mod is actually a cool-beauty bishoujo.
And her tits are fucking huge, too.
On top of that, she’s shy and kind, and because she feels she made a mistake with me, she’s trying even harder to be nice to me.
That insanely incredible bishoujo is the head mod of the Infinite Regression Gallery.
"Wow..."
I kept staring blankly at the photo.
You could say it possessed some strange kind of magic.
I could more or less understand what she had been thinking when she sent this.
It was obvious just from the message full of embarrassment that had come along with the photo.
She must have only just seen the post I made on the gallery.
She must have thought it over in her own way before choosing this method.
Why she had chosen this instead of comforting me with words... Ah, right. I’d asked her to show me before, hadn’t I?
"Shit..."
The fact that she had taken a selfie purely, one hundred percent for my sake was somehow turning me on.
No, a gloomy, busty bishoujo sent me a selfie telling me to cheer up by looking at her tits?!
"F-first, save it."
As expected of a messenger app, I could naturally save the photo.
I didn’t have any particular intention of using it anywhere, but it was for me. It should be fine to keep it for my personal collection.
Seeing her face in person makes it clear she’s from another world.
Perfectly colored white hair. No, should I call it silver hair?
Her sky-blue eyes suited her quite well, too.
And above all—
"She has a dog-upvote symbol in her eye..."
There was a dog-upvote symbol in her right eye. No way she was from Earth.
I’m a little grateful.
I hadn’t actually been feeling that bad, but the fact that she had sent me something like this because she wanted to look after me lifted my mood.
I’d thought I had wrapped up the fiftieth floor of the Tower of Mindscape fairly well, but looking at the gallery had left me bitter again.
I’d been wondering what I should say if he showed up again later.
They said that as I climbed the Tower of Mindscape, I would experience the same trauma again.
And naturally, the memories of what I had gone through this time would remain with only me.
Of course, a completely different time period might appear, or it might be a different trauma altogether, but...
In any case, the thought of reuniting with Dojun in a bad way after we had said goodbye made me both angry and sad.
I probably would’ve been fine after a day or two.
But thanks to the head mod, I was smiling. It didn’t seem like I needed to stay depressed for days on end.
"Hiss... Should I reply to this?"
Fortunately—or unfortunately—there was no function to tell whether she had read my message or not.
I could pretend I hadn’t seen it and just run off with the photo, but she had sent it to cheer me up. I ought to reply with something.
"..."
But this was my first time messaging a girl one-on-one.
What the hell was I supposed to say?
*
"Phew..."
After much deliberation, I sent the head mod a reply and checked Starlink’s functions again.
There were three [???] functions that would unlock upon reaching fifty and one hundred exchanges.
[28/50] [28/50] [28/100]
About halfway, and halfway to halfway.
I didn’t feel like I had sent that many messages, yet it had already accumulated that much.
Messages sent by the other person probably counted as exchanges too. I would’ve been seriously upset if they didn’t count.
I had already spent 2,800 TP.
I had used a whopping 280,000 won just to have a few conversations.
...Should I unlock this by talking with the head mod more?
Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
I had TP piled up right now, but it wouldn’t stay that way forever.
Getting 100,000 TP had only happened because I got lucky. Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t even have 10,000 right now.
I need to buy new equipment too, and I learned things from talking with the head mod.
More than spending TP talking to the head mod right now, I wanted to pour it into other things.
Frankly, even if Starlink’s functions unlocked, would there really be anything amazing?
Maybe I should just send her a daily greeting.
Then it might unlock on some random day.
Even if a calling function appeared, it would be awkward to use anyway.
What was I even supposed to talk about if I called the head mod?
A message cost 100 TP, so I couldn’t even imagine how expensive calls would be.
I am curious, though.
The count didn’t reset, so I decided to build it up slowly.
[Starpang]
First, I should buy the things I needed with the TP I had saved up.
I needed to buy the next step up from the iron sword, as well as a new shield.
I had used up all my Magic Stones, so I needed to restock those too, and get skill books.
"Let’s see... the next step after an iron sword is..."
[Steel Sword] - 40,000 TP
"..."
Fuck.
The price jumped way too much, sir.
Four million won? It wasn’t like I was trying to get some master-forged famed sword.
I didn’t even know what the difference from an iron sword was, so was it really right to pay four times the price of an iron sword for this?
[TP Owned: 94,706]
I had the TP to buy it, but... no matter what...
It’s not like buying the thing I already bought again would be great, either...
I had finally unlocked the next tier. Buying the previous one again just because this was expensive didn’t feel right.
No, at that price, was buying it again actually the right call?
"Ha, fuck, I don’t know..."
There was no point in saving it if I wasn’t going to use it anywhere, and if I didn’t buy it now, I would probably never be able to afford it later.
I now knew for certain just how important the difference in equipment was.
Press.
"..."
After placing the Steel Sword in my cart, I also added a 3,000-TP Leather Shield.
I considered buying the next tier as soon as the Leather Shield arrived, but since it was only for support, I decided not to overinvest.
The next one would probably cost 10,000 TP. No matter what, that was too much.
[Cloth Armor] - 1,000 TP
This one, buy immediately.
I also picked up armor, which I had put off because I was unsure whether it would have an immediate effect.
It was cheap, as befitted a first-tier item. There were various other things such as helmets, gloves, and shoes, but I passed on them for now.
I judged that protective gear would not mean much as long as I had the parry effect.
Making my body unnecessarily heavy could become a liability.
[Royal Palace Knights Basic Swordsmanship Form 3] - 3,000 TP
[Royal Palace Knights Basic Swordsmanship Form 4] - 4,000 TP
[Royal Palace Knights Basic Swordsmanship Form 5] - 5,000 TP
I added every available textbook from my one and only swordsmanship teacher to the cart as well.
For a while, it would be better to train properly rather than climb the Tower.
[Low-Grade Magic Stone] - 100 TP x20
[Mid-Grade Magic Stone] - 1,000 TP x3
["Genuine" Beginner Fire-Element Grimoire] - 9,900 TP
I stocked up on a mix of low-grade and mid-grade Magic Stones, and added a fire-magic skill book, which I had felt I needed on the fiftieth floor of the Tower of Wisdom.
[High-Grade Pillow] - 1,000 TP
[High-Grade Blanket] - 1,000 TP
After adding bedding that would enrich my life as well, I grinned.
That should be enough, right?
That was all I could think of needing right away. This should be enough.
I had no idea how much it would all cost, but since I had the money, I figured it would be fine.
[Steel Sword] - 40,000 TP
[Leather Shield] - 3,000 TP
[Cloth Armor] - 1,000 TP
.
.
.
[High-Grade Blanket] - 1,000 TP
[Total: 73,900 TP]
"...Um."
I blinked at the total amount.
I knew I had put in a lot, but it was beyond what I had imagined.
Am I spending too much?
I could buy it if I wanted. Even after dropping this enormous sum, I would have more than 20,000 TP left.
And even if I tried to remove something, there was nothing that stood out as expendable.
I absolutely couldn’t remove the pillow and blanket, so I could only cut the Cloth Armor or one swordsmanship form...
Honestly, rather than save a few thousand TP by doing that, it seemed right to just buy everything.
[Would you like to purchase these items?]
...Ah, screw it.
Press!
I was going to buy them all eventually anyway.
Wouldn’t this be better than holding onto the points and handing out food in the gallery for no reason?
I had been thinking of handing out something since I had returned after a month, but thanks to the head mod, I realized it had only been two days since I handed out Chicken.
I never knew the Tower’s warped flow of time could be this helpful.
Having finished a true FLEX, I immediately entered the gallery and began looking for a familiar nickname.
[Philosopher's Stone]
-Reply
-Send Gift
-Add Starlink
Add Starlink.
Something I had learned through my conversation with the head mod.
Anomalies, TP, Central Administration, and other things that were normally censored were not censored on Starlink.
I didn’t know why.
Whether it was because I had paid the 100-TP fee, or whether some other reason was hidden behind it.
I could find that out from here on by discussing various things with this person.
[Philosopher's Stone]
-Hey, I want to talk about anomalies and the Tower and stuff. Got time? Also, every message costs money, so don’t send a bunch of separate messages—reply at length all at once.
[TP Owned: 20,706]
Okay.
This time, I even gave a clear warning so that the same disaster as with the head mod would not happen again.
If it was Philosopher's Stone rather than some other gallery user, he would surely understand exactly what I meant.
Ding!
-Philosopher's Stone: ??? This is seriously absurd. What the hell are you?? Looks like there’s no censorship if we talk like this. Fine, just say whatever you have to say on your own, and I’ll evaluate it. I’ll ask questions all at once later, so if there’s anything you want to say, say it all first.
I smiled at the reply that came back almost immediately, at a similar speed to the head mod’s.
As expected of an intelligence build, he immediately proposed an efficient method.
Rather than asking and answering one question at a time, we would exchange letters, each saying everything at once.
I didn’t know whether there was a character limit, but that would definitely use TP more efficiently.
It doesn’t really feel like a messenger this way, though...
Well, good was good, wasn’t it?
*
[TP Owned: 19,306]
"Hmm... I guess I should do it that way."
I had finished a lengthy discussion with Philosopher's Stone that lasted nearly two hours.
We had talked for two whole hours, but used only 1,400 TP.
Of course, 140,000 won was still a massive sum, but compared to my conversation with the head mod, it was efficient.
...No, is the head mod’s photo worth more?
The head mod’s photo, where she sent a selfie with an embarrassed expression, had cost 280,000 won.
Looks like it’ll be a close contest.
If I could resell it, wouldn’t the gallery users pay hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of won?
Of course, there was no way to sell it, and I had no intention of doing so.
Swipe.
-Philosopher's Stone: Yeah, try that for now. Considering everything you’ve told me so far and the various experiments I’ve done, I don’t think anything will come of it right away. At most, a few of the many hypotheses have become a little more plausible. Let’s end the conversation here for now. That TP is important too, after all.
I lowered my gaze and checked Philosopher's Stone’s final message again.
After going in circles, the conclusion was that we didn’t know.
There was still far too little information.
Furthermore, Philosopher's Stone came from a fantasy world, so his understanding of words like "siren" and "vaccine" was limited.
More specifically, how should I put it?
That distinctive sci-fi atmosphere I had felt with my eyes closed on the fiftieth floor of the Tower of Fate?
Hearing terms like management code, Z-63, Central Administration, and vaccine did not bring much to his mind right away.
Of course, he understood them in his own way and made inferences after converting them into concepts familiar to him... but in the end, it came down to us still not knowing.
At least we shared the opinion that someone had deliberately made this Tower.
"Phew..."
And so, the conclusion I reached after discussing things with Philosopher's Stone for over two hours was—
"Unlocking Starlink’s functions with the head mod."
We needed to figure out what Starlink’s locked functions were.
Maybe, just maybe, something important was hidden there.
Just as Starlink bypassed the gallery’s censorship, there might be something else special about it.
What should I talk about with the head mod?
For the record, there was no grand reason I had decided to unlock it with the head mod.
TP was limited.
It was better to talk with the head mod, with whom I had accumulated more exchanges.
I wasn’t close enough with Philosopher's Stone to make idle chitchat with him, either.
Personally, I also felt more comfortable with the head mod.
"I was going to train by swinging my sword around, but..."
For now, maybe I would try talking with the head mod until we reached fifty exchanges.
*
"..."
I couldn’t sleep.
Why was that? I didn’t really know.
Was it because I had heard words like that for the first time?
No... strictly speaking, it wasn’t the first time.
Because of my large breasts, so disproportionate to my small height, I had endured all kinds of looks.
I had heard that I was pretty plenty of times, usually in an unpleasant sense.
I had never wanted to hear it, and it had never made me feel good even when I did.
It definitely used to be that way...
[KingGodWiki]
-KingGodWiki: Thanks. I feel a little better because of you.
-KingGodWiki: You’re pretty. I should treat you even better from now on.
"You already treat me well enough..."
I had been lying beneath my blanket for hours already, yet sleep simply would not come.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but eventually failed to fall asleep and let out a sigh as I checked my terminal.
Even though I knew no message had come, even though I knew no message would come.
I found myself staring vacantly at the last messages I had seen.
After staring at the words thank you and pretty for a long while, I opened my photo album.
I discreetly checked the photo of Wiki that I had secretly saved, then imagined his voice and fitted it into my mind.
For some reason, my face grew hot. I covered my face with my hands and banged my head.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again, only to repeat the same thing all over again.
"I really, really need to sleep..."
I had to climb the Tower tomorrow too. At this rate, I was about to oversleep for the first time in years.
Then, after squeezing my eyes shut for real and clutching my blanket tightly as I waited for sleep to come for a while—
Ding!
"..."
At the sound, I let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
Now I was even hearing things.
I knew no message would come. Our conversation had ended hours ago, yet I was acting like an idiot.
Let’s just sleep...
I would feel a little better after sleeping and waking up.
I waited a little longer with that thought.
Ding!
"..."
I furrowed my brow at the sound.
Was it... real?
Maybe it really was.
But why?
I had told him not to message me unless it was important, because it cost money.
These messages were expensive enough that three of them cost as much as a cola.
Could he really have something to say to me badly enough to spend money on it...?
It was probably just my auditory hallucination—
Ding!
It’s real...!!
It had come three times. There was no way it was fake.
If this was a hallucination, I might as well stay up all night tonight.
-KingGodWiki: Head mod, are you asleep?
-KingGodWiki: Guess you’re asleep...
-KingGodWiki: Sleep well.
"I’m not asleep—!!"
I couldn’t sleep... No, I just hadn’t gone to sleep yet, Wiki...!
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