That's a Privacy Violation!

That’s a privacy violation!

What am I even supposed to say here?

It felt like hanging out with friends only to have them chatter about something I alone knew nothing about.

No, wait.

Coming from someone who’d never had a single friend since childhood, that comparison was pretty ridiculous.

If I had to pick an example from a community I actually knew…

Imagine waking up to find a brand-new hot topic already raging through the gallery. Trying to catch the vibe, you throw up a post.

Eleven views. Zero comments. That was exactly how this felt.

In short, I was feeling left out.

I’d missed Yeo Jeong-hyeon’s question, so piecing together the full context was tough, but for now I focused hard on Rigor’s answer.

“The first method is to spend Contribution Points. You can purchase equipment with them, or elixirs that aid your growth.”

Hearing him explain Contribution Points, this had to be either about the village facilities or some extra details on the status window’s functions.

Then Rigor put real weight into his voice, as if the real point started here.

“The most important matter comes now. Upon returning, each of you may bring back only a single piece of loot from that floor. That seemingly minor choice will decide your future path, so I urge you to choose with the utmost care.”

Ah, so Yeo Jeong-hyeon’s question was about the direction of our growth!

We weren’t exactly volunteers. Getting paid every time we cleared a floor of the tower was only natural. Contribution Points were one thing, but I also had to think about the loot we earned by solving the tower.

In that case, the loot I’d gained on this floor was the World Tree seed now absorbed into my body.

And Sol-i’s loot was…

A statue modeled after me…?

Sol-i looked thoroughly flustered the moment she heard Rigor’s explanation. Her gaze darted frantically between me and the statue.

Clearing the second floor only to walk away with a statue? If I’d been in her shoes, every ounce of strength would’ve drained from my body from sheer emptiness.

In fact, Sol-i’s knees had already buckled; she was half-collapsed, staring blankly into space.

Rigor paid her desolation zero attention and simply continued.

“Rest is likewise an indispensable element of growth. The very reason a space like this exists between floors is for your recovery, so please enjoy yourselves without worry. Your remaining Contribution Points are not exactly abundant, but I will take the next question.”

“Me!”

I shot my hand up without a second of hesitation. This time I’d been the fastest, so he’d have to pick me.

My hopes were dashed when Rigor selected some other man instead.

Okay, this is starting to look suspicious. Just because I caused a little explosion at the inn, is he treating me like I’m invisible?

For someone who looked so intellectual, he sure was petty. I’d already clocked it earlier when he kept trying to feed me on the sly.

I’d pay this humiliation back later for sure!

While I swallowed my anger, I still caught every single word of the new question.

“What the hell is even the point of this status window? Leveling up doesn’t grant skills or raise stats. It’s just a bulletin board listing our current situation, isn’t it?”

The questioner’s tone is pretty aggressive.

Not that I didn’t understand where he was coming from. I wasn’t expecting cheat-key special functions, but the status window didn’t even have basic leveling.

Faced with the faintly sarcastic question, Rigor’s expression didn’t sour in the slightest. Instead he smiled brightly and answered us.

“To keep piercing through to the tower’s essence with successive questions… it seems the high survival rate is no mere decoration after all. Ordinarily your current Contribution Points would not allow an answer, but… borrowing a little from elsewhere should be fine. A question of this caliber is worth it.”

His generous reply clearly surprised more people than just me. Everyone sat wide-eyed, waiting for what he would say next.

“You are not wrong. Explaining the details is difficult, but the design is intentional so that you will not become dependent on the status window. Achievements, however, are different.”

Achievements don’t give any real physical effect either, though.

The only achievements I’d earned were the noise-obscured ⬛⬛ and Salvation from the second floor. With the status ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠window currently broken, I couldn’t even check them.

“Think of achievements as milestones. The more you climb, the more they shape and complete the direction of your destiny. For now, simply remember that much.”

Ah, nice analogy.

In truth I understood none of it. He was probably forced into the difficult metaphor because of the limits on information he could give us. Still, it was way better than that elder who’d twisted every word just to sound superior.

Having apparently spent the last of the Contribution Points on this answer, Rigor prepared to leave.

“Then, are there any further questions?”

“Me! Me!”

“Young lady in the white dress, please go ahead.”

Since no one else had raised a hand, the next question was finally mine.

“My status window is broken.”

“Pardon? What do you mean by…”

Rigor stared at me with an uncharacteristically flustered expression. Everyone else’s eyes swung toward me in turn.

Is a single broken status window really that big a deal?

Normally these things fixed themselves if you just smacked them hard enough—that was the universal rule.

In a fit of irritation I swung my fist at the status window.

“….”

My fist passed clean through it, of course. To everyone else it must have looked like I was randomly punching empty air.

I felt their stares intensify even further. Embarrassing. Time to stop.

“I have restored the immediate problem. However, unless the root cause of the error is resolved, the same phenomenon is highly likely to recur. Coordination with higher authorities will be required, so I ask that you endure the inconvenience for the time being.”

“But the number of my achievements went down?”

I checked my status window.

My Contribution Points had ballooned to an absurd degree, yet the number of achievements was still the same.

First I accepted Sol-i’s friend request.

Then I turned my full attention back to Rigor’s reply.

“That shouldn’t be possible… Allow me to verify first and then provide an answer. As there appear to be no further questions, I shall take my leave.”

He finished speaking in a rush and vanished as if fleeing—only to reappear a moment later.

“My apologies. I omitted a delivery item. Entry to the third floor is scheduled for noon five days from now. I pray that when next we meet, as many of you as possible will still be alive.”

With that awkward farewell he finally departed for good.

So now it’s truly rest time.

Truth be told, my current physical condition was far ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from normal. Just think about everything that had happened today.

I’d gone to the elder’s house only for the ring’s effect to trigger and knock me out cold. Then I’d spent the early dawn hours gathering evidence on a sleep-deprived brain and even run away from home by morning.

And that wasn’t the end of it. The round trip alone from the village to the dark elves’ settlement was exhausting enough, yet back in the village I’d still fought a fierce battle against the elder.

In short, I was confident I could hit the floor and be dead asleep within ten seconds.

The only reason I was still upright was that Rigor had healed us the moment we arrived on the rest floor. He’d cast healing magic back when we first gathered in the plaza, too.

I need to get home and pass out already.

Just as I was picturing myself sinking into a soft bed, something interrupted me.

Does this damn status window have zero social awareness?

Dozens of notifications were spamming my vision every second. It never helped with anything useful, yet it sure knew how to get in my way.

Rigor should’ve spent less time adding weird features and more time building a notification block function.

I was about to dismiss them mindlessly when—

“Seha! Why aren’t you reading my texts?”

“Neh-het?”

Sol-i suddenly appeared behind me. I was so startled I bit my own tongue.

Lately it feels like random ambushes are happening way too often.

The headache that had been throbbing from fatigue actually cleared thanks to the tongue-bite. Now my tongue just hurt instead.

Enduring the pain, I checked the status window notifications.

Aigoo, my head…

No matter how far I scrolled, Sol-i’s messages had no end. The headache that had just settled came roaring back.

“Why are you doing this when you have a perfectly good mouth right there?”

“The new feature was just so cool, and getting left on read made me weirdly competitive…”

Well, Sol-i wasn’t me. She had no reason to prefer online over offline. She’d probably just wanted to mess with me once.

Seeing her grin playfully with that “dehet” expression, my irritation melted away almost instantly. I hadn’t really been angry so much as scowling from the headache.

My own lips were naturally curling upward to match hers when—

Click—

“Huh?”

The sudden shutter sound of a camera. Right in front of me, Sol-i was making a camera shape with her hands.

“Oh! It actually works!”

“What does?”

“The status window’s social feature is like Instagram, and you can even take photos and post them.”

“For real?!”

A community feature just got added to the status window!

For someone whose real life had been nothing but communities, this was the best news imaginable. Even if the vibe was more Instagram than gallery, having it at all was huge.

Oh Rigor! My Rigor!

From this day forward, Rigor and I were one body, one soul. An attack on Rigor would be considered an attack on me.

After finishing my surprise worship of the man who’d given us a community feature, I opened it with trembling hands.

“Hold on, what is this? This is a complete privacy violation!”

The moment I opened Instagram, Sol-i’s story filled the screen. It showed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me smiling brightly.

So that earlier shutter sound had been this!

“Sorry. The shot I just took was a once-in-a-lifetime photo. I couldn’t not post it.”

“That’s not the point right now.”

“Ah, you want me to send you the original too? Of course I was going to.”

As expected, social butterflies think completely differently.

People like me felt an instinctive rejection the moment our faces got immortalized somewhere. Sol-i had posted the story without a second thought, completely oblivious.

I was just about to ask her to take the photo down when—

“Wait, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠comment just appeared?”