The Curse of First Place
I finally hit number one!
I'm an amateur gamer.
An amateur, but one of the top rankers.
That day was memorable—the day I managed to etch my nickname at the very top of the rankings.
Me, in first place.
I was so thrilled I could barely contain myself.
I immediately fired up the community site and made a post.
I shouldn't have done that.
Being solo queue number one wasn't even that big a deal.
It was just my pent-up inferiority complex toward the pros bursting out.
"I should've been the one saying attention..."
If the price for my arrogance had just been internet hate comments, that would've been fine.
But I got hit with an excessive punishment.
"What the hell is this place?"
"Huh?"
"Why does my voice sound like this..."
A pitch-black sealed chamber.
When I woke up in a place like that, my lower body felt strangely empty.
'Please tell me this is a dream...'
But if there's a silver lining,
I'd lost something down below, but gained something new up top.
Two mounds.
...I'd become a woman.
I grabbed the hair that reached down to my waist and brushed it back.
Silver hair.
The clothes I wore were the complete opposite—all black.
A flashy outfit loaded with ornaments.
'Looks like a total menthalita...'
Was this what they called goth loli fashion?
I'd possessed the body of a girl dressed like that.
And the strangest thing of all... this blade she was holding.
An enormous black scythe.
"Whoa..."
I nearly dropped it in fear.
It was as big as this menthalita girl's height.
Was this getup not cosplay, but an actual Reaper?
'Where the hell am I...?'
I looked around.
'It's huge...'
A windowless sealed chamber, but vast.
A cavern.
Plenty of space to spare.
No clue what this place was for. A chandelier emitting blue light hung from the ceiling, but it only lit up enough to see by.
I started exploring the place carefully.
Walking along one wall, I found something.
"A door?"
A grand double door with an antique design.
Seemed like 5 meters tall.
...My height had shrunk, so my guess might be off.
"Nngh..."
I grabbed the handle and pulled, but it wouldn't budge.
All that came out was a cute voice I couldn't believe was mine.
'I'm trapped.'
That was my conclusion.
Right then.
A hologram popped up in front of my eyes.
A familiar interface.
"What...?"
No matter how I looked at it, it was that site.
The community where I'd posted.
It had loaded a specific gallery.
Why was the gallery popping up as a hologram in this situation?
At the top was a guide post.
Touching it with my finger opened the post.
You have possessed the body of a Demon King Army soldier.
This is inside the Demon King Tower.
The Demon King Tower consists of a total of one thousand floors.
His Majesty the Demon King has assigned exactly one soldier per floor.
To check your floor, make your first post.
Your floor number will appear next to your nickname.
Your basic duty is to exterminate intruders and heroes coming up from the lower floors.
I was dumbfounded.
I've become part of the Demon King Army?
Demon King Tower?
'This has to be a dream...'
The weapon in my hand made it impossible to deny.
How was I supposed to process this?
"What about the others..."
I scrolled down to check the comments on this pinned post.
I didn't get it all, but they were mocking Patak.
Every gallery has its vibe, and this was a common one.
Seeing this made me realize this wasn't a joke.
It felt way too real, just like the actual community.
'These people are really... all trapped here?'
Confused, I checked the main gallery feed.
'...Why is everyone so chill?'
It was peaceful.
Or rather, steeped in boredom.
Maybe it wasn't that dangerous?
I made a post right away.
Just woke up and figuring things out, complete noob...
Saw the basic guide but got some questions.
How do you get out of here...?
Posted.
Since I'd been punished with politeness injected into me, my tone was courteous.
Just one question, of course.
About escape methods.
The guide didn't mention it, and neither did anything else.
Why?
If everyone was stuck here, posts about escaping should dominate.
As I thought that, the first comment came in.
'Newbie cosplay? No I'm real...'
They thought my post was aggro bait.
Couldn't believe a real newbie would post.
Were newbies that rare?
I replied.
Huh.
"Fixed nick?"
Me, a fixed nick?
It was true.
My post and comments all showed 'Gatekeeper' as my nick.
Weird.
I hadn't set that nickname when posting.
More comments rolled in.
They saw me as an old-timer.
Because of the nickname attached to me too, apparently.
Did only veterans get nicknames?
'What am I supposed to do...'
How to clear this misunderstanding?
As I pondered what to say, a new comment dropped.
A comment defending me.
Somehow they were fighting among themselves.
Over whether I was a newbie or not.
The 40 years mention gave me chills.
'They've been stuck here that long...?'
I chimed in carefully with a question.
Someone gave a proper explanation in a new comment.
So I'd been born as a named monster?
Named monster.
Sounded good at first glance.
From the vibe, higher floors seemed to have advantages.
The moment I asked, the comments went silent like a sudden awkward vibe.
Sudden fight atmosphere.
A comment came.
Climb to 1000F to escape.
Good info.
But it raised a question.
'Why isn't that in the guide?'
Why omit the most crucial part?
Not even military protocol, but still... shouldn't they tell people?
Deep reason.
Demon Army fights each other, stronger one goes up?
Got the gist.
Like that manga’s Promotion Battle system.
Another question popped up.
Parallel universes.
Suddenly even more unreal.
Anyway, no infighting among these folks.
Makes sense, or the vibe would be way darker.
Most still didn't believe I was a newbie.
Then the anon who'd backed me from start tagged me.
Come to think of it, anon nicks showed floors next to them.
Mine didn't since it was fixed.
I erased the nickname as suggested and reposted.
Now you see the floor?
Huh.
Weird.
The number was abnormally low.
Not even close to 800F...
'1F?'
I freaked and posted first comment.
Refreshed.
Then.
The comments exploded.