I Became the Head of Returners Gallery

[Welcome to everyone who has overcome the trial of the 10th floor and reached the 11th floor.] [The 11th floor is a rest floor.] [Rest as much as you want and then head up to the 12th floor.]

On a large monitor, there was footage of a woman fighting a giant monster.

The woman with beautiful purple hair partly tied in twin tails swung her staff.

[I summon the Bone Dragon!]

Woong—

As soon as she cast the spell, a huge Bone Dragon filled the screen.

A purple bodysuit that matched her hair, with a short skirt that revealed her thighs.

She was pretty, but her outfit didn’t look practical for combat.

It was hard to tell if she was a hunter or an idol.

“Kyaaah! Yoon Sena!” “This is truly legendary.” “I hope she clears the 60th floor soon too…”

Splash—

The people’s shouting was too noisy, so I went somewhere else, but this time Yoon Sena was slicing a vampire with a magic sword.

[Necromancy Technique.]

As she breathed magical energy into the corpse, life returned to the vampire’s body and it stood up.

“A resurrection skill! She really is S-class!” “Which floor was that?” “The 25th floor, Vampire Castle. We’ll get there soon too.”

Going to yet another place—

[Heya!]

She was wearing a bikini, splashing seawater, and then applying sunscreen.

[Natural sunscreen used by S-class Hunter Yoon Sena! Please give it a try!]

This time it was a commercial featuring Yoon Sena.

“Damn. Yoon Sena everywhere.”

Is there no place without Yoon Sena?

While I was wandering around the rest area plastered with Yoon Sena, a climber approached us.

“Hello, Manager! Chinese Character Nickname! I’m NotATowerClimber!”

A man with broad shoulders and prominent muscles greeted us, looking like he worked out.

But he had severe dark circles under his eyes.

He seemed to have lost some muscle mass from lack of sleep.

‘He probably used to be even more muscular.’

“Since we’ll be together for a while, let’s introduce ourselves. My name is Song Tae-kyung. Which one of you is the Manager and which is the Chinese Character Nickname?”

“I am fixed nickname Heavenly Demon Returns All Demons Kneeling, Cheon No-ran. Chinese Character Nickname… Don’t today’s children know how to read Chinese characters?”

“Ah, I’m the Manager. Han Sin-hyeok… is my name.”

After we finished introductions, NotATowerClimber, Song Tae-kyung, smiled cheerfully and extended his hand.

I smiled awkwardly as I shook his hand.

‘This gallery addict is actually sociable. This lying bastard. I thought he’d be the same type as me!’

Since he’s from the same world as KingOfKingsS-class, he might be a deceiver too.

Well, even in my world, a B-class Hunter would be in the top 10 percent.

I was stupid to think that a B-class Tower Climber, equivalent to a B-class Hunter, would be a loner.

“So which child does thou think is in distress?”

“Well… you might not believe this…”

“Who does the Tower Climber child think it is?”

“KingOfKings… whatever. That S-class Bragger. Her real name is Yoon Sena.”

No-ran and I were speechless.

“…She looks happy though? Why do you think she’s in Distress Level 4?”

“I thought the same at first. Could you… follow me?”

Song Tae-kyung guided us to a corner of the rest area.

The Yoon Sena we had just seen on the monitor was crouched in a pure white space.

And she looked utterly exhausted.

[You want me to… abandon my sister?] [I, the 60th floor guardian, Scale of Desperation, guarantee it. If you abandon your sister, I will open the path for you.]

Next to that monitor was a chat window.

-Abandon your sister -Just abandon your sister and you can go to the 61st floor, what a deal -Is your sister more important than the world? Why are you so selfish for an S-class Tower Climber? -If it were me, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to dump my sister -Kill her and then make her into an undead to keep with you ㄴAre you Satan? lolol

I couldn’t help but be shocked by the chat.

Is it okay to talk so recklessly when it’s not your problem?

Well, even in my world without towers, there are many people who kill with their fingertips.

‘Malicious comments are common across all dimensions and worlds…’

“What exactly is this?”

“It’s a live broadcast of Ms. Yoon Sena climbing the tower. It’s on 24 hours a day.”

“Forcing someone to abandon their kin, how vicious.”

Whether she saw the chat or not, Yoon Sena suddenly stood up and pointed her staff at the scale.

[I’m a necromancer! I can kill and bring back to life. But… this isn’t right. My sister… Dana… is the only family I have left…]

[No, that’s not right. That’s not abandonment. Your sister will live trapped in my sacrifice box for the rest of her life. Of course, she’ll disappear from everyone else’s memories too. If you can advance to the next floor, isn’t that a small price to pay?]

Are all these tower floor bosses demons?

“What exactly is this place? Why do they treat people like they have no privacy?”

I raised my voice out of sheer frustration.

In our world too, celebrities had no privacy and were subjected to insults, and hunters risked their lives hunting monsters just the same.

But Yoon Sena had to risk her life climbing the tower and had to broadcast her every move to the tower.

Did she brag falsely because of the stress of having no privacy?

Except for exceptions like me, only returnees could see the Returnee Gallery.

At the very least, the Returnee Gallery would have been the only place where Yoon Sena had privacy.

Though bragging is still worth being blocked.

My throat hurt from raising my voice after so long.

But Song Tae-kyung spoke calmly.

“People have high expectations for Ms. Yoon Sena. She’s the only Tower Climber who has reached the 60th floor in this world. She is this world’s hope.”

“No matter what, does that justify her receiving such treatment?”

Cheon No-ran frowned and glared at Song Tae-kyung.

“I agree. If I were Ms. Yoon Sena, I would have run away long ago.”

“Then why is she climbing the tower while enduring unbearable stress?”

Ding—

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): What I’m about to tell you is Tower Climber Association classified information.]

‘Classified?’

Instead of answering, Song Tae-kyung left a message in my gallery log.

Ding—

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): As a B-class Tower Climber, I only know the general situation… but if the Tower Climber Association finds out, I’ll be killed.]

[-GoldSpoonHikikomori(Manager): Aren’t you worried that I might report you to the Tower Climber Association?]

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): Interdimensional transferees have no human rights. They won’t even accept reports.]

People from other worlds aren’t even treated as human.

What an absurd world.

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): Anyway, Yoon Sena’s sister is being held hostage by the Tower Climber Association.]

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): She has a rare disease where her muscles gradually stiffen, making it impossible for her to move her body.]

[-NotATowerClimberAtAll(Fantasia-019→Earth-457): The association is prepared to kill her sister at any time if Yoon Sena quits tower climbing or resists the association.

I’m also one of the tower climbers who received a secret mission to kill her sister if Yoon Sena resists in case of danger.]

Shring—

After seeing Song Tae-kyung’s gallery log, Cheon No-ran drew her sword.

“Then we should kill all those association bastards and save the deceiver child’s sister.”

“You’re going to massacre them?”

“This one is the leader of the Demonic Cult. If necessary, I can commit murder.”

“You’ll get banned if you cause trouble.”

“Hmm.”

At the word ‘ban renewal,’ she put away her sword.

For someone who frequently used the gallery, having a one-year ban renewed indefinitely unless the manager changed was a significant loss.

“Manager, could you please unblock Yoon Sena? I don’t like the bragging either, but other returnees in this world need to survive too.”

“I’ll do that.”

I unblocked Yoon Sena.

The gallery users would be angry for a while, but I decided to give out Netflix subscriptions or Webtoon gift certificates.

They would be extremely popular among returnees from fantasy or martial arts worlds who couldn’t forget the taste of modern conveniences.

Weeng—

[WARNING! WARNING!] [A returnee in Distress Level 4 exists in the world you are in.] [This alert will sound once every 2 hours until the distress is resolved, the returnee dies, or one month passes.]

“The block has been lifted, so why is the alert still sounding?”

Ding—

[☆Title: I apologize for all my bragging. I’m sorry. Take care everyone.] [Author: KingOfKingsS-classClimber(Fantasia-006→Earth-457)] [Content: (Yoon Sena’s feet on a smiling scale) All my bragging was pointless after all. Money, education, popularity… No matter how many precious things I offer to this fucking scale, it says it’s still hungry. Asking for my last family member is crossing the line. But.. if I don’t give it, there’s no way to climb to the next floor. I can’t go down either. This is being broadcast 24 hours a day. It’s been about a week since I’ve been trapped here. I’m tired. I just… want to give up everything. I think me dying would be better than my family’s existence itself disappearing. Once again, I’m really sorry. Take care.]

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It was clearly a post hinting at suicide.

“It seems… just unblocking her isn’t going to be enough?”