A strange, semi-transparent interface hovered abruptly before Sakiko's eyes. Inside it, the group's welcome messages scrolled past one after another.
But at this moment, all of Sakiko's mind was consumed by a fierce inner struggle—whether she should abandon her father completely, whether she should surrender to fate once and for all. Fatigue and helplessness drowned her thoughts.
To her, this bizarre interface was nothing more than a hallucination born from a mind on the verge of collapse.
After all, Mutsumi had already developed multiple personalities under the pressure she'd put on her.
So what was so strange about her seeing a few illusions?
[Group Notice: Today's automatic check-in completed. Group points +1500]
A tiny line of text flashed across the interface. Sakiko ignored it.
Inside the car, only suffocating silence remained.
Sakiko's face was blank as she replayed everything she'd done recently, over and over—until she could reach only one conclusion.
Give up…
Just like all those previous times she'd bowed her head to reality—just give up.
In the face of cold reality, her effort and struggle were nothing but a mantis trying to stop a chariot—laughably futile.
And then, from the very bottom of that despair, her gaze happened to catch the group assistant's product listing—
Word-Spirit Tights.
Sakiko's pupils shrank violently.
If the power of "word-spirit" truly existed…
Couldn't she order her decadent father to pull himself together and climb out of alcohol's swamp?
Couldn't she order her lofty grandfather to accept her father again?
Even… could she use word-spirit to effortlessly rebuild the shattered CRYCHIC, and the Ave Mujica project?
So this is… my deepest desire?
Toyokawa Sakiko pressed her lips together hard as a fierce wave of self-disgust surged up.
How… ugly.
She'd already tasted the bitter consequences with Mutsumi. She knew forcing people together would only lead to deeper harm—yet her heart still longed to bind others to her side by sheer compulsion?
I really am… nothing but selfish, aren't I…
The Maybach stopped soundlessly in front of the dilapidated apartment building. Her grandfather's calm voice rang out again, leaving no room for refusal:
"You have three minutes to pack."
Sakiko mechanically pushed open the door, like a puppet whose strings had been stripped of all strength, and silently walked toward the familiar apartment entrance where the paint was peeling.
The moment she stepped into the dim hallway, her eyes drifted—almost by accident—over the chat interface again.
A new item caught her attention:
Willpower Glasses.
Sakiko froze, her footsteps halting at the stairwell.
In the next second, a plain pair of black-framed glasses appeared in her hand without warning.
One last time… I'll struggle.
A tiny spark deep in her heart—so weak it was almost extinguished—was screaming.
If these Willpower Glasses truly worked as described, granting peak human willpower…
Then she wanted to know: after resisting the mountain-like pressure outside, peeling away layers upon layers of fear, guilt, exhaustion, and self-denial—after tearing apart the enormous web called despair…
What did the real Toyokawa Sakiko, buried at the very bottom, actually want?
What is it… that I truly desire?!
She took a deep breath and set the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
In an instant—fear of failure, crushing guilt, endless fatigue, the whirlpool of self-denial…
All that heavy darkness pressing on her heart melted away like ice and snow under sunlight!
Her bowed spine straightened. Her tangled thoughts became crystal-clear in the blink of an eye!
And Toyokawa Sakiko—free from pressure, out of the emotional mire, unburdened by psychological weight—was a pure, unfiltered stats monster.
Details she'd ignored in the past rose to the surface.
The band members' real thoughts. The company executives' ambiguous reactions. Her father's degeneration and resentment. The intent behind her grandfather's actions…
Countless fragments snapped together at terrifying speed.
"Heh…"
A confident smile bloomed on Sakiko's face again.
"It seems… compromise isn't the only choice."
Her eyes sharpened with unwavering resolve.
"I really do still want to become a free woman like my mother—using my own hands to seize everything I want!"
Ding!
A crisp phone notification sound rang out abruptly, cutting through her rapid thoughts.
Sakiko pulled out her phone.
The screen lit up. On the lock screen, an unfamiliar app icon—black and red, featuring a bizarre single eye—popped a banner notification she'd never seen before:
[Otherworld Navigation]
[Loser's Stairway]
[Those who cannot cross failure will…]
(Image: Otherworld Navigation App)
"Malware?" Sakiko frowned slightly, displeased by this kind of forced pop-up.
With a casual left swipe, she dismissed the banner cleanly and tossed the unknown app to the back of her mind.
What mattered now was negotiating with her grandfather.
But when she lifted her head and looked toward the stairs leading to her father's room on the second floor—
What she saw made her stop breathing.
The staircase, originally only a dozen steps long, was now twisting and stretching, climbing infinitely upward—until it vanished into a void beyond sight!
A hallucination?
Could it be that ever since joining that strange chat group—since the appearance of the Willpower Glasses, and now this grotesque staircase—
All of it was just an illusion created by her mind breaking under pressure?
The thought surfaced—then was instantly rejected.
The peak human willpower from the glasses anchored her cognition immediately.
She was absolutely certain.
Everything before her was real.
Sakiko's brows furrowed. Without hesitation, she turned around to leave this suddenly nightmarish apartment.
But the moment she looked back, her pupils contracted sharply.
The shabby apartment door she'd just entered through—was gone without a trace.
In its place was another staircase—equally unnatural—stretching infinitely downward, like a path into a bottomless abyss.
Upward and downward—both endless stairs.
She was trapped in a grotesque space made of nothing but steps.
"Stairway…" she murmured, as the notification she'd dismissed flashed through her mind.
She immediately unlocked her phone, her fingers moving quickly as she searched.
Sure enough.
The one-eyed app icon had appeared in her app list at some point.
With the Willpower Glasses suppressing panic and fear, she tapped it without hesitation.
The app loaded—and the dismissed notification reappeared in full:
[Otherworld Navigation]
[Current Palace Lord: Toyokawa Kiyoteru]
[Current Facility: Loser's Stairway]
[Facility Description: Those who cannot cross failure will be trapped upon an infinite stairway.
With every step, they are forced to relive a searing, unforgettable defeat. If they drown in the emotional tide of failure and are completely crushed, the challenger will be forcibly expelled from the palace.
Only by facing every past failure head-on—stepping over them one by one—can one escape the stairway's confinement, reach the palace's core, and kneel before the Palace Lord.]
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter50)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter50)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter50)
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin