Threat Assessment (4)
We only stopped bickering after we arrived at a place labeled Blacksmith.
Scorching heat. The smell of iron. Steel anvils and casting molds. My attention was drawn, unbidden, to a blacksmith's forge so splendid it looked like something out of a movie.
"This place is insanely cool..."
"You shouldn't be impressed by this much. This is only the first floor."
"So the higher the floor, the bigger the blacksmith gets?"
"Obviously. Not just the blacksmith — everything gets flashier overall."
"Whoa..."
They really made a solid game. Perfectly designed to stoke that hunger to climb higher.
"You're pretty lucky, hyung. Normally you'd have to challenge the first floor with the starter gear."
"What, you buying me equipment?"
"Why else would I have dragged you all the way here?"
MoneyIsPower browsed through various pieces of gear, then paid for them without so much as asking me. Come on — at least ask what I want to wear before you buy it. Of course, since I was the one receiving, I had no intention of voicing any complaints out loud.
Yeah. That was definitely the plan...
"...What is this."
"It's gear that's popular with female players."
"No, that's... haah..."
In a word, the outfit he'd bought me was a combat dress. It had a uniform-like feel while still keeping that soft, fluttery look. The problem was the person who was supposed to wear it: me.
...I've never even worn a skirt before.
You could argue it was a dress, not a skirt, but to me they were the same thing. I'd rather have pants. And is it even okay to make combat gear this flimsy and floaty? Why on earth is something like this popular?
"Skirts are uncomfortable."
"Don't worry. There's an ethics setting or whatever, so other people can't see it."
"If no one can see it, why wear it? Can't I just wear something else?"
"...Huh?"
"...What?"
For a moment, it felt like our conversation was spinning its wheels. Confusion crossed MoneyIsPower's face — and facing that confusion, I got flustered myself. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. What exactly was he about to say?
"Uh... I think we're understanding something differently here."
"You go first. What kind of misunderstanding did you make?"
"No... haah, never mind. Let's just say I was wrong."
MoneyIsPower let out a heavy sigh. What the hell. Finish your sentence, you idiot.
"Anyway, that's the best gear available on the lower floors right now, so you should just use it. There's no armor that outperforms it."
"Hmm..."
I stared blankly at the uniform dress in my hands. If the performance was that good, I didn't have much choice.
"If you think about putting it on, an equip button should pop up. Just tap it with your finger."
"Yeah, okay."
I want to wear it. I want to wear it. I want to wear it. I want to wear it...
I muttered it with everything I had, but no equip button appeared anywhere.
Don't tell me it's because I'm subconsciously refusing to put it on?
As I stood there staring blankly at the clothes I couldn't equip, MoneyIsPower called out to me.
"What's wrong? Something the matter?"
"...The button isn't showing up."
"If the button doesn't appear, just say 'equip' out loud and it'll go on."
"Got it. I'll try."
Following MoneyIsPower's advice, I glared hard at the uniform dress. Just try not working this time.
"Equip."
"..."
"Equip. Equip! Equip!"
"..."
"Ah, for—! Equip!"
It's not working! Why isn't it working?! Was my pronunciation that bad? No way!
"Did you trick me?"
"Why would I?"
"Then why isn't it working?"
"It's a bug, probably."
Yeah, that must be it. But isn't it a little weird that bugs keep piling up on me alone within a single day? What is this, discrimination?
"It's fine. There's a last resort."
"A last resort..."
A wave of dread washed over me. A bad, spine-tingling feeling that I absolutely should not hear whatever came next—
"Manual equip."
"Manual... equip?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. You change into it yourself. Look, there's a changing room right over there."
"..."
At those words, I looked at the changing room once, then at the clothes in my hands once.
Change into this? Myself? With my own hands?
You're kidding, right?
Even after my body changed, I'd never thought of myself as a man — but I'd never thought of myself as a woman either. Mentally male, physically female; it kind of averaged out to zero. So I'd just kept living the way I always had. Simply put, I wore men's clothes and lived like a guy.
I even held off as long as I could on the automatic equip...
Put it on myself? Take off what I'm wearing right now? There's no way. I barely even wash properly because I don't want to look at my own naked body.
"...I'm just not wearing it."
"What are you talking about. Get in there and put it on."
"I'm good at games! I can clear it just fine with starter gear!"
"Stop being stubborn and go change already."
"Eughk?!"
The moment I threw a tantrum about not wearing it, he casually scooped me up by the scruff of my neck. From my suddenly elevated viewpoint I flailed and squawked in protest, but whether it was the size difference or the level difference, it was completely useless. In the end, without any real resistance, I was tossed into the changing room like a sack of potatoes.
...Should I just log out?
Of course there was a mirror inside the changing room, which only made me more miserable. Part of me wanted to cuss MoneyIsPower out thoroughly, but I didn't want to take it out on someone who had no idea what was going on.
Fine. What's the big deal? I just have to put it on. Just put it on.
"Hoo..."
Shhhk—
I squeezed my eyes shut and started taking off my clothes. Woven from crude leather, the fabric felt rough and scratchy against my skin.
I'm just changing clothes. Think of it as putting on an oversized T-shirt. Yeah.
Focusing entirely on the sensation at my fingertips, I somehow managed to get the outfit on. Why was simply putting on clothes this exhausting?
"...Well, not bad."
Since the original body was a pretty girl, putting on a cute outfit really brought out her looks. Of course, wearing something like this would end inside the game. I had zero intention of putting this on outside.
Creeeak—
"I'm done. I put it on."
"Mm. Looks good on you."
"...Am I supposed to say thank you?"
"Just so you know, I have a girlfriend."
"You fraud."
Thank god he wasn't trying to hit on me or anything. If he had been, I might have genuinely started despising MoneyIsPower. Not only did I not see men as romantic prospects to begin with, but confessing love to someone with a body like this? I'd rather just die.
"So, where to next?"
"Buy a weapon, then climb the tower."
"I like the pace."
"That's what we're playing the game for in the first place, right?"
"True."
If he'd started talking about sightseeing or whatever, I would've been disappointed. Right. If it's a tower-climbing game, then we should climb the tower. Everything we were doing now was just preparation for that. The maintenance phase before the main content, you could say.
"Please come again~"
"You're so short that even a shortsword looks like a longsword on you."
"Don't mock me. Can't you see I'm holding a blade right now?"
"With the gear level gap, you probably can't even damage me."
MoneyIsPower thumped his own chest, producing the distinctive clang-clang of metal armor. He might have a point.
"You've been ferrying me through dungeons this whole time, so this week I'll bus you through the Trial of the Tower."
"You're just going to game with me until your vacation ends? You didn't make plans with anyone else?"
"I deliberately didn't make any so I could play."
MoneyIsPower answered like it was the most natural thing in the world. Well, I wasn't really in a position to say anything. I didn't even work, and I barely met people as it was.
"Alright. Let's go."
"Aren't you grateful?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm so grateful I could die. Dying over here."
And so we bought a weapon and challenged the Trial of the Tower together. The fact that the guy who'd promised to bus me just stood around watching from behind and nearly got me killed was a free bonus.
What was the point of hanging back and spectating when more people in a party made the monsters stronger? When I asked, he said I was fighting so well he was just gauging my skill level.
...This guy's tongue is sneakily long.
Kim Ye-eun.
Right now, she was working hard for the sake of her beloved Eunseo. The game Eunseo had taken an interest in — the Trial of the Tower.
To show off an impressive performance in-game, Ye-eun had gathered information from every community she could find and even put in practice time. Today was no different.
They said once you clear floor 50, you get treated like a pro, right...?
Her current floor was 31. Through mental simulation alone, though, she could already climb as high as 49. The only reason Kim Ye-eun was still parked on floor 31 was so she could climb the floors together with Eunseo.
That was why she needed information on floor 50 — for the day she and Eunseo became Trial of the Tower veterans side by side.
For players, floor 50 was both a wall of death and the single biggest topic of interest. If she checked the recommended posts, she ought to find quality information. She absolutely had not clicked the strategy tab because she was curious about other recommended posts. It just... seemed like the info would be there. Really.
Went down to the lower floors today to play with a friend, and I ran into a genuine mega-newbie lmao
You know how if you've been playing less than a week, you get a sprout icon next to your nickname?
Well this person was already on floor 31.
I thought I was seeing things and checked like five times but it was real lmaooo
"Hmm...?"
She'd been about to scroll past the familiar bait title when the nickname Floor53Owner caught her eye and made her stop. A fixed-nickname user who never wrote bait posts. And that person had written a post with a title like this? She had no choice but to click.
"...They must've duo'd with a friend to get there."
For reference, if you duo with a higher-floor player and that higher-floor player's damage contribution exceeds half, it doesn't count as a clear.
Meaning this is a genuine, authentic newbie.
How was that even possible? She and Eunseo had taken nearly two months of climbing together just to barely reach floor 31. And a newbie who hadn't even been playing a full week was already on 31?
Proof pic attached yep
(Photo.JPG — a user named RichHikikomoriNEET with a sprout icon next to their nickname)
"...What."
The moment she saw the attached photo, Kim Ye-eun couldn't help but freeze. Whether the post was real or fake no longer mattered. The user with the nickname RichHikikomoriNEET — that face was far too familiar.
"Wh-why is she here?!"
Kim Ye-eun slammed her keyboard. So she was ignoring my calls and texts to play games?! And the Trial of the Tower, of all things?!
'Unni Eunha said she doesn't like VR games. I don't think she'd play.'
"...She even turned down Eunseo's invitation."
Gritting her teeth at the memory of Eunseo's slightly teary face, Kim Ye-eun made a vow. Absolutely unforgivable. The next time they met, she was going to thoroughly thrash those cheeks!
She would kill Seo Eunha for making her beloved look so sad. That single thought filled Kim Ye-eun's entire mind.