I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 163

No matter the faction, a successor is important.

Humans are not immortal; sooner or later, everyone returns to the embrace of nature.

Knowing this inevitable destiny, everyone strives to leave behind a legacy.

A successor is part of that effort. A successor with impeccable legitimacy is crucial for any organization.

If that legitimacy is lacking, they are bound to be kept in check by retainers or subordinates, making it difficult to even inherit the position.

In that sense, the next successor to the Blood Demon, Wi Ho-chang, had originally been designated as Geum-jang.

Not only was he the first subordinate accepted by Wi Ho-chang, but he was also fiercely loyal.

Moreover, he possessed sufficient leadership to command people, so the remnants of the Blood Cult were prepared to follow him without complaint.

Until the Heavenly Demon suddenly popped out and snapped Geum-jang’s neck, that is.

"What will we do now?"

An aged voice echoed like a distant reverberation.

People sat facing one another, relying on a single lantern for light.

When the old man sitting in the highest seat spoke, the only reply was a heavy silence.

"Elder Geum-jang fell to the Heavenly Demon. Who are we supposed to follow now?"

Even at this question that sounded closer to a lamentation, the people said nothing. They couldn’t answer.

And understandably so—the dream of the Blood Cult’s second coming was crumbling just before it could be realized.

The only reason they were able to gather in one place was thanks to the post Geum-jang had uploaded to the Gallery.

A post filled with grand ambition, calling for everyone to assemble at the Holy Land and announce the resurrection of the Blood Cult.

But not long after that post was uploaded, a video of him being toyed with by the Heavenly Demon was posted.

"...Before worrying about who to follow, we ought to worry about our very survival."

"What do you mean by that?"

"As Elder Tae-jung said, not only is there no suitable successor, but our focal point has completely vanished."

At the words of a relatively younger middle-aged man, the people groaned quietly.

Not a single word of his was wrong. Currently, far from a second coming, even the Blood Cult’s continued existence was at risk.

"Crucially, there are almost no new initiates. The young generation in particular has completely dried up."

Furthermore, the number of new recruits to the Blood Cult was currently near zero.

No matter how high the Blood Demon’s recognition was on the Gallery, that was strictly as a meme on the board.

In the past, those who joined the Blood Cult were mostly those mesmerized by Wi Ho-chang’s supreme martial prowess.

But the Orthodox-Demonic War took place fifty years ago. Ten years ago might have been one thing, but half a century had passed.

Even those who were in their twenties back then had become gray-haired old men, so what about those who were already adults at the time?

More than half of the elders were killed in action during the Orthodox-Demonic War, and half of the survivors died of lingering injuries or natural causes.

Even the cultists who were considered on the younger side today were at least in their fifties, which said it all.

"That is... a serious issue. Without new faces, the Blood Cult will naturally fade away. Do you know the reason why?"

"Hmph. Isn’t it just because those wet-behind-the-ears brats don’t know the majesty of the Blood Cult?"

"Back in our day, those wishing to join were like a vast sea..."

"This is all because of the damn Murim Alliance."

No, it’s precisely because of old fools like you. The middle-aged man secretly curled the corners of his mouth and sneered inside.

Drunk on past glory, these people couldn’t face reality.

When the Blood Demon was around, following him was enough, but he had already achieved Ascension to Immortality.

Furthermore, the Murim Alliance, victors of the Orthodox-Demonic War, laid bare every ugly truth about the Blood Cult.

The Murim Alliance had its own shady background, but as always, the victor took all while the loser had no choice but to suffer the consequences.

Just looking at the Blood Demon, he had committed massacres of civilians. In many ways, it was a nasty organization that was hard-pressed to win any favor.

With reality being like this, even the Gallery was completely unmanaged. All sorts of information had leaked, not to mention self-proclaimed Blood Cult members—who had become the poster boys for fucking lunatics—trolling all over the place.

In the end, the moment anyone brought up anything related to the Blood Cult nowadays, people would mock them, saying things like "Oh look, a cockroach has arrived."

"Silence, everyone! You know complaining like this gets us nowhere! I’m telling you all to offer a solution!"

"If we demonstrate our martial prowess just like the Blood Demon did..."

"Even Elder Geum-jang was toyed with by the Heavenly Demon, and you think we can? That’ll just bolster the Heavenly Demon’s prestige."

Endless debate raged back and forth, but no suitable solution emerged.

They were already old, having lost most of their power and sharpness.

To borrow an expression from the Gallery, they were boomers stuck in the old era.

"Isn’t there something far more important than that?"

"What is that?"

"Who will we decide on as the successor? Say what you will, we need someone to lead us."

"..."

Let’s pick a successor first. At those words, silence settled over the room.

Everyone knew that arguing like this wouldn’t unite their opinions into one.

Therefore, appoint anyone as the successor and move forward according to his will. That was the implication.

"Ahem. Seeing as even Elder Geum-jang has fallen..."

"How about Elder Tae-jung taking the lead?"This chapter was copied from nov‌elping.com without permission.

"I am already far too old. This frail body of mine will return to the dirt before long."

"Then who would you nominate as the successor?"

"Since we are the Blood Cult, how about we do it the Blood Cult’s way?"

The Blood Cult’s way was simple: fight until one side died.

Back when the Blood Cult was in its prime, it was a fairly reasonable method, but not anymore.

Their numbers were so minuscule that every single person was precious now.

"I suggest we refrain from that. Fighting among ourselves is a problem, and it would leave a massive flaw in our legitimacy."

"Even in terms of legitimacy, no one was as outstanding as Geum-jang..."

Legitimacy in the Blood Cult was simple: how much instruction had one received from the Blood Demon, Wi Ho-chang?

Among them, Geum-jang had even sparred martial arts with the Blood Demon, so he was considered the most suitable.

Of course, as of now, all of it was meaningless chatter.

In that sense, the one with the absolute highest legitimacy was...

"Come to think of it, didn’t they say there was a monkey personally instructed by the Blood Demon?"

"Not a monkey, an ape. More specifically, a Great Ape (gorilla)."

"Surely you aren’t suggesting we make such a lowly beast our successor?"

No matter how fallen they were, they were human beings.

A feeling of repulsion at making a mere ape their successor was bound to arise.

This went beyond pride, so the cultists half-agreed, but...

"Is there a single person here who was fully passed down the Blood Demon’s martial arts?"

"..."

"A bit of instruction, perhaps..."

"But no one received the complete transmission like those Great Apes. Their martial arts, if anything, are superior, certainly not inferior."

"Even so, to make apes..."

"It is merely designating it as the successor; do we really need to revere it?"

The old man’s logic went like this: designating a successor and revering them were two separate matters.

Sucking out all the sweet juice they could get and then secretly killing it would suffice.

Especially since once they inherited the martial arts from the creature, it would all be over, wouldn’t it?

Since the creature even knew how to speak, learning from it wouldn’t be difficult.

"Certainly..."

"That’s not a bad option."

"At worst, it’s just an ape."

Through persuasion that wasn’t quite persuasion, the consensus shifted toward making the ape—that is, the gorilla—their successor.

Reasoning that no matter how smart a gorilla might be, how could it be smarter than a human?

"Naturally, shouldn’t we make the Boss Ape the successor? He’s the strongest."

"Nonsense! Didn’t you hear before? That ape exiled his own brother, the white ape! The Blood Demon himself was exiled just because his appearance was different, so I can never accept him!"

"Where on earth did you hear that story? I haven’t heard a thing about it."

"There was a post on the Gallery."

"You actually believe that?"

Now, even within the Blood Cult, no one knew accurate information about the Blood Demon.

And so, the flame war began.

Boss Gorilla, or Lackey?

Martial power, or legitimacy(?), and so on.

It should have been a petty discussion, but how should one put it...

What kind of dumbass bullshit is this?

To the middle-aged man, there was no farce quite like this.

Overshadowed by the Blood Demon’s grand achievements, the Blood Cult as an organization was actually rather lacking in intelligence.

In the past, smart individuals existed, but even those had vanished during the Orthodox-Demonic War.

There was literally no one left who could be called a ’brain.’

To be precise, someone capable of grasping reality.

So where did the smart ones go? They all went to the Murim Alliance or the Demonic Cult.

The only division here was whether one conformed to the system or felt discontented.

Meaning nobody in their right mind would ever join the Blood Cult.

What do they think the Forest of the Four Seasons is?

The middle-aged man had a lot to say, but there was so much he couldn’t even speak.

Because he couldn’t even grasp where things had gone wrong in the first place.

Designating a gorilla as the successor, fine, let’s grant that. But what about the process of bringing it back?

Are they planning to set foot directly into the Forest of the Four Seasons, an inescapable hell and purgatory?

Thanks to Grylls’s existence recently, many things about the Forest of the Four Seasons had been revealed, but it was still just a drop in the bucket.

What dangers lie in wait, and crucially, whether one could even escape out of it was questionable.

"Um... before that, there is something we must keep in mind."This chapter is updated first at novelping . com.

"Ah. Right. What is your opinion?"

"It’s not that, but the apes are in the Forest of the Four Seasons... setting finding them aside, will you even be able to get out?"

"It would be hard alone."

It would be hard alone. Put another way:

"So how about all of us go into the Forest of the Four Seasons together?"

"Together... you say?"

"Yes. The more of us band together, the stronger our Blood Cult becomes. The Forest of the Four Seasons should be no different."

"..."

"Besides, isn’t there already a survivor in there? We just need to get support from him."

No plan. Entering with these brainless fools was intuitively no different from committing suicide.

Why not just say, "Let’s all hold hands and go die together"?

Did they not know the notoriety of the Forest of the Four Seasons, or did they think this was some noble pilgrimage?

They say the world is wide and crazy bastards are plentiful, but this far surpassed even that level.

Wait, no. The Blood Cult itself is a den of fucking lunatics, isn’t it?

And he himself had walked right into that den. The middle-aged man opened his mouth slightly.

The look of severe reality-check crashing over him. It looked as if a pale soul was drifting out of his mouth.

Mistaking his expression for admiration, the old man wore a satisfied smile and spoke to the cultists.

"Then our opinion has converged into one. However, the Forest of the Four Seasons is known as a demon realm unfit for humans. We had better prepare thoroughly."

"Let’s do that. We should gather as many cultists as possible before setting off."

"I don’t like having to accept an ape as the successor, but... it can’t be helped."

"Then what do you intend to do when we meet that survivor?"

"Since he made our successor his servant, he naturally deserves divine punishment."

Were their brains frozen, or did they truly believe they could return alive from the Forest of the Four Seasons?

Or were they just complete muscleheads who didn’t think at all?

"So, what will you do?"

"Ah... I think I must head down to my hometown for a short while."

"What’s the matter?"

"I heard there is someone who wishes to join the cult."

"Oh. That is wonderful news. Understood."

On the day the Blood Cult began preparations to head into the Forest of the Four Seasons.

On that very day, the middle-aged man fled from the Blood Cult.

Title) It was disgusting being together

(Photo of old men chuckling and chatting)

Let’s never meet again, you fucking boomer bastards.

ㄴ Who’s that? Your superiors?

ㄴ Yeah, superiors, but literally everyone there was an old geezer. Quit cause it sucked ass.

ㄴ Must’ve been rough. Central Plains people have an exceptionally high number of boomer geezers.

ㄴ So what are you gonna do now?

ㄴ Gonna go back home and farm. Used to be pretty strong back in the day, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

ㄴ Why do those people look so evil? Their faces look downright sinister.

ㄴ Now you see how tough my life was, right?

Apparently someone quit their job today. That was the fact I learned while browsing the Gallery.

Occasionally there were posts blabbering about how the Blood Cult was coming to the Forest of the Four Seasons, but I brushed that aside.

"Alright. Repeat after me. Park."

"Park."

"Jong."

"Jong."

"Hyuk."

"Hyuk."

"And if you put it together?"

"Dumbass."

"Holy fucking shit. Where did you learn that word?"

"Park Jong-hyuk."

"You little..."

How on earth can I get this gorilla bastard to listen to me?

They say the world is wide and crazy bastards are many, but I never imagined I’d be verbally toyed with by a gorilla.

Seeing how this bastard teases me, he’s definitely smart, right?

If I showed them even this, wouldn’t the Blood Cult go crazy trying to serve him as their successor?

Nah. That’s absurd.

That would go beyond being lunatics—they’d be worse than a gorilla.