INMO 2025 Problem 6

Let $b \geqslant 2$ be a positive integer. Anu has an infinite collection of notes with exactly $b-1$ copies of a note worth $b^k-1$ rupees, for every integer $k\geqslant 1$ . A positive integer $n$ is called payable if Anu can pay exactly $n^2+1$ rupees by using some collection of her notes. Prove that if there is a payable number, there are infinitely many payable numbers.

Proposed by Shantanu Nene