Why Girls Obsess Over Fashion
Damn..., why are girls so obsessed with fashion? Maybe it was the unreal sight of stones materializing out of thin air, but the crowd's enthusiasm was hotter than ever. It wasn't a screaming concert vibe, but you could feel this unbreakable determination leaking out from everyone—like they were dead set on hanging on every word Jeonghyeon Yeo said. Even if resurrected Einstein gave a public lecture on physics, I doubt he'd pull this level of focus.
Einstein's just a mortal bound by the law of conservation of mass anyway. Our leader snaps his fingers and conjures stones from nowhere—what's physics got on that?
I figured anyone would be more drawn to magic that seemed learnable than some incomprehensible physics, so I tuned in closely to Yeo's words.
"Up until now, as a youth representative in politics, I've witnessed all sorts of corruption and scandals. It left me feeling hollow about the clean, honest life I'd lived so far. I was drowning in powerlessness, wasting my days away, when this opportunity called the Tower came to me. I don't see the Tower as just a place designed to torment people. The Tower is..."
Ugh, there he goes again.
He'd already droned on for over ten minutes earlier about unity and harmony among people, and now he was veering off-topic into boring territory again. Sure, I appreciated his leadership pulling everyone together like a politician should, but spare me the tedious speeches. For a second, his face overlapped with my old brigade commander's from my military days—the guy who preached patriotism and soldierly spirit every weekly morale session.
Yeah, they kinda look alike like this.
I endured the slog with random thoughts until finally, Yeo got to explaining magic.
"The moment I gripped the staff, I could sense the mana surrounding me. That rock-flinging spell I showed earlier? It's about changing the air's mana into the properties of a rock. I'll explain magic in more detail later, but naturally, killing the ogre cleared the 1st floor."
People around me started glancing about, probably itching to sense mana for themselves after hearing that. Was it the lack of a staff, or is magic awakening just that rare? Not a single person showed any sign of even feeling mana, let alone casting.
Here's hoping magic's inherently tough to grasp. If grabbing a staff let everyone sling spells easily, what would that make me— the girl who spent a whole month on 1F without sensing mana?
"The skill I got is called Stone Bullet, but right now, more important than skills for us is Contribution Points. Why? Because even though I personally took down the ogre, I only got 10 points."
"Huh?"
I turned to see Yisul Yi, who'd been silently focused the whole time, blurting out her confusion.
Come to think of it, something's off.
Hwanseok Jo, who couldn't even take down the ogre, got 50 points. But Yeo, who did the deed, only got 10? Contribution must calculate differently from game EXP—some unique system, maybe?
Yeo's next example was even wilder. Someone who entered the Tower mid-smoke had a lighter and set the forest on fire—zero contribution points.
Isn't this just random?
It reminded me of that one game always getting flak for balance patches decided by dart throws.
Looking satisfied he'd covered the topic, Yeo caught his breath and shifted to a new one.
"One more thing: difficulty modes. I asked around thirty or so of you, and every single one said you picked Hard Mode. Is that right for everyone?"
"Huh?"
This time, the dumbfounded noise came from me. I looked around—nothing but nodding heads. I locked eyes with Yisul, and she gave me the same look everyone else did: Didn't you pick Hard too?
Well, when I first spawned in the plaza, everyone else looked beat-up except me.
They were clutching legs, terrified, or wounded, while I stood there chill. It almost made me feel out of place.
So if this is all Hard Mode folks, why the hell am I here?
Maybe a system glitch since I was fated for Hard but ended up on Easy Mode. When I first entered, Hard was the only option, but after twists and turns, it flipped to Easy—probably some mix-up there. Or maybe they didn't want all the adult guys turned into little girls crammed in one spot?
Imagining dozens of TS mini-me's in one village turned my stomach a bit.
Whatever, I'm no god—how should I know? Point is, I'm the only Easy Mode here.
I hadn't solo'd some heaven-sent opportunity or built a mini-girl harem kingdom since entering the Tower, but realizing I was special still stirred a smug pride in my chest. Halfway to my goals already? I'd befriended Yisul, who was undeniably a beauty by any standard—even if not full harem territory.
Lost in thought, I missed the time flying until I realized the meeting had wrapped up.
"Seha, what're you gonna do? Magic class, right?"
With the meeting—basically Yeo's solo TED Talk—over and the crowd milling about, Yisul tossed the question my way.
She's talking about the classes mentioned right before it ended.
Hwanseok Jo with his slick kendo demo and Yeo with magic were each holding sessions tomorrow afternoon. Free knowledge? No reason not to go. Swordplay would wreck my body anyway, so magic it was. Who knows—maybe I'm a late-bloomer mage genius and suddenly drop a Meteor.
I told her I'd hit the magic lecture tomorrow, and she replied with a slightly concerned look.
"Great! We can go together then."
She seemed bothered by the idea of me going alone and offered to tag along.
Did Yisul pick mage too?
She didn't usually carry weapons even in the rest village, so I'd had no clue about her class.
Too shy to straight-up call her "Unnie," I poked her arm instead.
"What's your class?"
"Class? Why bring that up outta nowhere? I was just a normal college student before."
Our conversation crossed wires. I might not know much as an Easy Mode newbie, but didn't Hard Mode have class picks too? Everyone in the plaza earlier mentioned grabbing swords or staffs.
Yisul caught on late to what I meant and grinned sheepishly.
"I picked a bow on 1F, but with my civilian-level skills, it wasn't dealing real damage, so I ditched it on the ground. Too cumbersome while running."
"You ditched it?"
"Yeah. And aren't you misunderstanding something, Seha? The starter gear on entry is just 'use this if you want'—it doesn't lock in your class or anything."
Hearing her out, it made sense. No "Class: Mage" popping up in the Status Window. I guess I expected picking up a sword on 1F to poof a Swordsman class, staff for Mage. But all my RPGs started with class selection upfront, so yeah, bad assumption.
Back in my prime, I juggled four RPGs farming resources—bought rice and made bank with that grind.
Recalling my glory days as an industry workhorse, I still listened to her.
"Speaking of weapons, wanna check out the weapon shop? I lost my bow, and you should browse before heading to 2F anyway."
I'd been planning to spend some Contribution Points anyway, and her invite was perfect. I nodded, and she naturally reached for my hand.
Less than a day since we met, and holding hands while walking around already feels normal.
I took her hand lightly and stepped toward the shops.
And that's how we ended up at the blacksmith! Nah, we detoured to a clothing store first. Yisul's eyes always drifted to cute outfits passing by—ignoring that to stick to errands would've been too cold. Noticing her holding back on my account, I whispered,
"We can go clothes shopping."
Meaning I'd wait here while she browsed to her heart's content.
I'm not a kid who'd vanish if out of sight. Though saying that in this body...
But she took it differently?
"Perfect, I wanted new clothes too—let's go together!"
"Huh?"
Her reply was hilariously off-context. Probably misheard "We can go clothes shopping" as "Can we go clothes shopping?" Yeah, a 10-year-old asking an adult that way makes more sense.
No chance to correct her—she bolted for the store. That's when I realized she'd been matching my short strides this whole time. She grabbed my hand and ran, half-dragging me like I was airborne until we arrived.
Damn..., why are girls so obsessed with fashion?
I mentally slapped a penalty sticker on her for ditching me to browse and sighed, plopping into a chair to watch. She darted around grabbing skirts, cardigans, stockings, cute animal socks—everything.
Never had a girlfriend, but dates must feel like this. Wait, isn't this basically a date?
Whispering that made me suddenly self-conscious, cheeks heating up.
My first date with a girl... and I'm the girl!
Oblivious, Yisul came over all innocent. "How's this?"
Here it comes! Girlfriend date move #1!
Trained by webtoons, novels, anime, and visual novels, my romance cells knew the drill: unconditional hype, no matter what. Nitpick, and watch favor drop.
"Whoa, that's super cute!"
"Yeah? I'll try it on then."
She grabbed my hand again, heading for the changing room.
Wait, hold up—this wasn't in my script!