Chapter 54 - Karma (3)
“This... this... what the hell...”
I couldn't bring myself to flip through the pages by hand to trace the source and flow of this bombshell. So I decided to post directly and ask. At least writing and posting didn't reveal my emotions or state—thank god for that. I could just slap on some meaningless lol and make it sound perfectly natural. Thanks to that, my post came out as a totally ordinary question, unlike my actual self, who was pale-faced and trembling.
Instead of someone droning on with explanations, someone kindly linked a summary post that laid out the bombshell's flow and origins for all the newbies. And the truth I uncovered by clicking that link was way more shocking than I'd imagined. I froze solid for a moment, my mind going completely blank.
The spark that ignited this insane controversy was a single word Jeong Chan-su muttered last night when he was alone. And helpfully, there was video footage too. It captured him sitting alone in his room, staring at a photo of me on his phone, muttering something about virginity. My face flushed hot in an instant just watching it.
Putting everything else aside, I'd never even paid attention to that word myself, so I couldn't have imagined it coming out of someone else's mouth as a label for me.
Of course, the reactions exploded. A quick glance showed it wasn't just our gallery in chaos—the massive Jeong Chan-su fandom, the biggest on Fate Road, and all the gossips who couldn't resist drama were spreading it around, cracking up.
Jeong Chan-su was the top ranker with the tower's greatest firepower, and the hottest topic with a huge fandom. More constellations watched his every move than watched me, for sure. Even a quiet mutter alone was shocking enough—especially since he never acted like that usually.
Hold on, even so, him suddenly saying that doesn't make sense.
That was the part where I barely clung to reason. The Jeong Chan-su I knew wasn't some perv obsessing over a woman's virginity. Sure, he had a harem of heroines around him, but that was for the readers' sake in the story. I knew it was just his personal guard for battles and tower climbs—not for romance.
“There must be some other reason.”
My head cooled bit by bit. I knew he'd been paying me more attention lately. But this wasn't out of character. As a regressor, he'd always kept an eye on me, the ultimate wildcard, and the bigger my influence grew, the more natural it was for him to watch closer. I'd do the same in his shoes.
Plenty on Fate Road thought like me. He was free from the shameless habit they called "spicy pics"—openly filming and sharing challengers' private sex lives.
Of course. It was all-ages rated.
Jeong Chan-su fooling around with his heroines? That only happened in side stories after the ending, not mid-plot. A regressor haunted by trauma didn't have the mental bandwidth for lewd playtime when he was bored.
Maybe it was thanks to his usual rep, but surprisingly, Jeong Chan-su shook off the controversy pretty quick despite flipping the community upside down with his wild statement.
I nodded unconsciously at the holy power comment. Rewards and traits in the tower did sometimes demand purity—especially from women.
Of course, fan factions kept brawling regardless of Jeong Chan-su dodging the heat. His fans knew the leaked vid hurt his stoic, heavy image. His haters? Prime bait.
In the end, the Jeong Chan-su fan gallery's main admin—his first contract constellation, Esgalt—put a pin in it with that direct notice.
Please stop fighting already...
There was backlash to the notice, sure, but those guys were fighting dogs who'd scrap no matter what. I sighed at the pathetic sight of these constellations—our supposed future, grinding away as we climbed the tower desperately.
I sighed again, only halfway through the summary.
Jeong Chan-su's bomb might be wrapped up, but the fire jumped to me, sparking a ridiculous debate.
I squeezed my eyes shut. His drama was someone else's problem—this back-and-forth was crude, naked judgments about me.
Even external trolls and fan gallery users were duking it out over my virginity. In real life, I'd smash their faces calling them gross pervs—but they had a rock-solid excuse: tower holy powers and rewards.
Writing strat guides and debating for me was their daily routine. Anything making me stronger? They'd take any means. This wasn't just perv talk—it mattered big time.
Naturally, it devolved into virgin-yes-or-no infighting. Debating if staying pure helped tower climbs left my head spinning.
Post-virginity debate, pure curiosity took over—and that's when I hit the board. Dizzying mess, but as the only one knowing the answer, I just gave a wry smile.
Can't exactly say yes or no.
Truth? No experience. This body was made fresh for me, the possessor—didn't exist before I took over. Even now, fully adjusted, sex never crossed my mind. Tower climbing drained all my energy. With my personality, it'd probably stay that way.
Some even told Serpina to ask me straight up. She freaked and cursed, but it wasn't wrong.
How much more of this crap can I take?
Imagining my daily fan gallery flooded with virginity debates? Mind-numbing. Time to end it myself.
Perfect timing—unicorn in 151st layer reward, right?
Original knowledge: S-grade mount, real-deal unicorn on 151. Acquisition condition? Their precious purity check. One reveal, and I'd bury this madness forever.