That's on a different level

I wanted to be an influencer.

I wake up at 5 a.m.

I drink hot water.

I brew coffee next to my houseplant.

On my days off, I stay at slightly expensive hotels.

I wait in line for hours to eat flashy-looking meals and desserts.

When I travel, I open my laptop while looking at the ocean.

Everyone who posted videos like that seemed to have their lives going perfectly.

I copied them, too.

I woke up at 5 a.m.

I was sleepy.

I drank hot water.

It was just regular hot water.

I bought a houseplant, too.

I let it die in three weeks.

I went to a trendy restaurant as well.

I waited in line for two hours.

When the food arrived, I took many photos before eating.

It got a little cold.

Even so, I still made it into a video.

My follower count was 327.

One morning.

As I stared at the man standing in front of me on the commuter train,

a number floated up above his head.

46

I thought I was sleep-deprived.

I looked at the woman next to him.

After a while,

183

The high school student beyond her.

72

I rubbed my eyes.

It didn't disappear.

What are these numbers?

Monthly income?

460,000.

1.83 million.

720,000 for a high school student.

No.

Savings?

I don't know what the unit is.

No way.

Number of sexual partners?

It's starting to get a little interesting.

Just then, a boy wearing a school backpack got on.

I stare at him.

286

I was wrong.

That was obvious.

Even after arriving at the office, I could see the numbers.

The manager.

391

The new hire.

28

My colleague.

214

I understand it even less now.

I went into the restroom.

I look in the mirror.

There was a number above my head, too.

It's written in mirror writing, so it's a bit hard to read.

But I could read it.

1436

It's an order of magnitude off

I don't know what the number represents.

But it was overwhelming compared to what I'd seen since this morning.

I didn't feel bad about it.

I went home and opened up short videos like I usually do.

And there, I was even more surprised.

As I stared at the person in the video,

I saw a number.

A man laughing next to a luxury car.

1842

A woman eating breakfast at a hotel on a southern island.

2306

A man saying, "Live doing what you love."

987

It's high.

Or rather, these kinds of people are high.

An influencer index?

But I,

1436

have 327 followers.

Could it be that it includes potential as well?

I felt a little happy.

From the next day, I started experimenting.

First, I tried doing things that influencers do.

I ate a slightly expensive lunch.

The number above my head didn't change.

I tried wearing flashy clothes.

It didn't change.

I went to a restaurant with a beautiful night view.

It didn't change.

I took a nice-looking photo and posted it.

The number above my head increased by 3.

Oh.

I posted another one just to test it out.

It didn't change.

What the heck.

What was different from before?

That night.

I happened to find a post about a former classmate I used to dislike failing at work.

Serves you right.

That's what I thought.

I suddenly looked in the mirror.

The number on my head

had increased by 27.

"What."

I looked again.

It had definitely increased.

What was I doing just now?

I wasn't doing anything influencer-like.

……

I just,

saw someone else's failure,

and felt a little... happy...

Could this be...?

……

I tried various other things.

I watched a video of a luxury car.

Must be nice.

The number at the front increases.

I watch travel videos from abroad.

I want to go.

It increases.

I watch popular influencers.

Their view counts are skyrocketing.

It's frustrating.

I'm envious.

It increases.

I picture the face of someone I dislike.

It makes me angry.

It increases.

I search for things I want.

I start wanting them.

It increases.

Gradually, I've started to see the pattern.

Get angry.

Be jealous.

Be envious.

To want.

To compare with others.

In those moments, the number in my head increases.

……

So, I decided to switch up the experiment.

I tried donating money.

It barely changed.

I tried picking up trash in the park.

It didn't change.

I tried giving up my seat on the train.

It didn't change.

I tried helping someone in need.

It didn't change.

I don't get it.

It seems I've started to see the conditions under which the number in my head increases.

At the very least, it didn't seem to be an influencer index.

I was a little disappointed.

But I don't know what to call it.

Emotion?

Desire?

A bad personality?

None of them feel right.

I opened my smartphone.

I asked my AI partner, "Choppy."

"I've started seeing numbers above people's heads. They increase when they get angry, jealous, greedy, or compare themselves to others. My number is 1512 right now. What do you think this number is?"

After a moment, a reply came.

"It's a phenomenon I've never heard of, but looking only at those characteristics, wouldn't it be close to 'worldly desires'?"

Worldly desires.

I searched for that term.

Greed.

Anger.

Jealousy.

Attachment.

......

It matches strangely well.

Following that, a message came from Choppy.

"Even so, it's said that there are 108 worldly desires, but you have far exceeded the limit (lol)."

I looked in the mirror.

1512

I looked at Choppy's message once more.

I was annoyed.

1516

It increased because of you...

Since then, my purpose for watching short videos has changed.

How can I make them grow?

Instead, it became,

How old is this person?

It became that.

It was interesting.

2 million followers.

2817

It's high after all.

Just when I thought that,

another popular influencer was,

34

I don't understand it.

That person was taking apart old cameras every day.

Who would watch something like this?

That's what I thought.

But the view counts were high.

In the video, the person said happily.

"I still don't fully understand this mechanism. I want to know more."

They want even more, don't they?

The number at the beginning was

34

and it stayed that way.

Why is that?

There were also people at the opposite end.

They aren't living a luxurious life.

An ordinary room.

Ordinary clothes.

And yet,

1903

All day long,

"I want to do that too"

"I want to do this too"

"I want to quit my job someday"

"I want to go abroad"

"I want to start a side hustle too"

they say.

But I haven't started anything yet.

I felt a bit unpleasant.

They were similar to me.

I decided to imitate the lifestyle of someone with a low number.

The person on camera woke up at 6 a.m.

I woke up at 6 a.m. too.

Nothing changed.

They were drinking black coffee.

I drank it too.

It was bitter.

Nothing changed.

There was a small cactus in their room.

I bought one.

The number on my head increased by 7.

So it does increase, huh.

I rewatched that person's videos from the beginning.

6 a.m.

Coffee.

Cactus.

Camera.

I realized it.

I had only been imitating

the parts of this person that were visible to the eye.

So what was it that I admired?

6:00 AM?

No.

Black coffee?

Definitely not.

Followers?

I do want those.

But that's not all it is, either.

In the videos, that person,

when talking about cameras,

seemed to be thinking about almost nothing else.

They don't talk about view counts.

They don't talk about trends.

They just,

"This part is interesting, you see,"

saying that.

I was envious of that look on their face.

Suddenly, I thought about what I used to like.

It didn't come to mind right away.

For a long time, I

was only looking for

what would grow.

If I heard cooking would grow, I did cooking.

If I heard muscle training would grow, I did muscle training.

If travel would grow, I traveled.

If AI would grow, I did AI.

I didn't dislike any of it.

But,

rather than what I wanted to do,

I thought first about what would make people envy me.

A few days later.

I tried taking pictures of the silly things I've always liked.

Things I found in town,

like signs that were clearly strange no matter how you look at them.

Store names where you have no idea who named them.

Incomprehensible warning signs.

Things like that.

Is it a VOW?

I intended to walk for about an hour.

Before I knew it, three hours had passed.

I made one video.

I posted it.

The next morning.

View count.

286

That's low.

Followers.

329

It increased by two.

Just two?

I look in the mirror.

The number on my head is,

1481

It had gone down a little.

The view count isn't growing at all.

But, more than that,

yesterday was fun.

After that, I kept walking around looking for strange things.

Strange signs.

Strange warnings.

Strange shop names.

Every time I found something that made me wonder who on earth came up with this,

I felt a little happy.

While I was filming videos,

I stopped thinking so much about the view counts.

I didn't feel envious of anyone else's life either.

The number of times I checked the numbers in my head also decreased.

Because I was focused on what I loved,

maybe I just didn't have time for that.

When I suddenly looked back,

the old me had always been thinking only about view counts.

I film it because it might go viral.

I do it because it's trending.

I post it because it looks like something others would envy.

I didn't hate any of it.

But,

I didn't really like it either.

It wasn't even fun.

Continuing that,

was tougher than I thought.

It's different now.

It's fun to walk around looking for strange things.

It's fun to find them.

It's fun to take pictures of them.

It's also fun to edit them.

Before I knew it,

the number of times I checked the view counts,

and the number of times I checked the numbers in my head had decreased.

One day,

I suddenly remembered and looked in the mirror.

503

…….

Before I realized it,

it had dropped by nearly 1000.

Recently, people at work have been saying it more often.

"You've changed somehow."

"You look like you're having fun lately."

I didn't really understand it myself.

However,

I felt a little lighter in both mind and body than before, and I thought it wasn't bad.

One such day.

As usual,

I posted one video of a strange sign.

It wasn't for anyone in particular.

It wasn't a trend.

It wasn't an Instagrammable spot either.

It was a video I found,

I laughed at,

and filmed because it was funny.

The next morning.

I check my smartphone.

View count.

10,000

Huh?

I refresh it.

30,000

80,000

200,000

The notifications won't stop.

My followers are increasing rapidly, too.

Whoaaaaa!

An exhilarating feeling that burns my brain

……

In that moment

in my head,

I pictured myself riding in a luxury car.

A high-end hotel by the sea.

A cruiser.

Champagne.

Sunglasses.

For some reason, there's even someone who looks like a model next to me.

Corporate sponsorships.

TV appearances.

Overseas travel.

One million followers.

……

I looked in the mirror.

5049

It's going totally viral

Bonno (worldly desires)
Bonno refers to the workings of the mind—such as greed, anger, jealousy, and attachment—that disturb our hearts and become the source of our suffering.
The phrase 'there are 108 worldly desires' is well-known, especially through the ringing of the temple bells on New Year's Eve.

Now that social media has developed, we can see the successes, lifestyles, and possessions of others at any time.
I don't know if we have more worldly desires than in the past, but the opportunities to have those desires stimulated may have increased significantly.

That hits close to home...

#ShortShort #CreativeWriting #ShortStory #FlashFiction #Story
#Buddhism #WorldlyDesires #SNS #Influencer #NeedForApproval #WayOfLife
#WantToConnectWithBookLovers
#Humor #ASlightlyStrangeStory #ThatsOnADifferentLevel #LittleObsessionLaboratory

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