I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 597

It was only a matter of time before Maengkkongi’s post featuring his singing hit the Recommended Posts.

He was already doted on for his cuteness much like Wonmo, and he possessed a very unique trait.

Above all, his sheer innocence rivaled that of children. So many people showered him with compliments.

"Bbi-hing-hing..."

"Maengkkongi. Don’t be too hurt. It’s just because there are many mean people over there."

"Bbi-yoong..."

The problem was the mean ’few’. I comforted the gloomy Maengkkongi.

A song he uploaded with a genuinely joyful heart. However, the issue was that the place was the Gallery.

Just as there were many who praised him or found Maengkkongi’s uniqueness fascinating, there were also many who left comments out of pure malice.

People who fought back uncomfortable with such trolls, people who cursed at those defenders for acting like self-righteous scholars, and so forth.

If it were me, I would have lightly brushed it off, but the trouble was that Maengkkongi was far too innocent.

’Even in the forest, whenever he sang, everyone let him off without eating him.’

Maengkkongi’s song worked even in the wild where the law of the jungle was standard.

Even when we first met, it was only because he was literally starving to death; he never posed a threat.

But since the Gallery was different from the wild after all, an incident like this broke out.

Perhaps Maengkkongi wouldn’t log into the Gallery anymore. I gently stroked his head.

"Are you feeling a bit better now?"

"Bbi-yoong..."

"Yeah. Don’t be so heart-broken, your song is always beautiful."

A brief disturbance had occurred, but it wasn’t enough to scrap our plans.

Furthermore, once we stepped away from the Shelter, they couldn’t log into the Gallery. We just had to focus on what lay ahead.

Maengkkongi seemed to realize that fact as well, regaining his spirits after receiving my comfort.

"Bbi-yoong!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"I have made up my mind."

The moment he regained his energy, Maengkkongi clenched his fists tight and shouted.

Naturally, I couldn’t understand his words, so I asked Lackey for a translation.

"Bbi-yoong! Bbi-yoong!"

"I will hone my craft relentlessly from now on and turn the insults directed at me into praises."

"Uh... hmm... right."

It seemed Maengkkongi possessed the qualities of a superstar. The talent to drive both fans and hater-trolls crazy at the same time.

It would be difficult without extraordinary mental fortitude, but Maengkkongi was no ordinary (?) toad.

He was a specimen that survived in the Forest of the Four Seasons purely through his beautiful song. A master whose singing turned even Sirens into ordinary fools.

Of course, given the nature of the Gallery, trash-talkers would keep trash-talking, but I could only pray Maengkkongi would overcome it.

"Alright, let’s head out soon. Got everything packed?"

"Only Master’s conscience remains to be packed."

"Great. We can head out immediately then."

A day passed and morning dawned. I ignored Lackey’s usual nonsense and took my first step forward.

The kids were in fine condition, and today’s weather was absolute perfection. There didn’t seem to be a single issue.

Of course, this was the Forest of the Four Seasons, infamous for its signature bullshit, so letting my guard down was strictly forbidden.

As we crossed the river and stepped into the grasslands...

"...What? Why don’t I see anything?"

"Surprisingly, it is completely empty, Master."

I realized that the grasslands were exceptionally quiet today.

What kind of place was the grassland? An environment where countless animals roamed, where the clear dynamics of the food chain could be seen, even if not to the extent of the forest.

As fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons, all kinds of bizarre animals should be present, but strangely, not a single one was in sight.

Last time we saw ostrich herds, water buffalo stampedes, and plenty more, but now it was truly empty.

"Master. Look over there."

"Huh?"

Just as I was bewildered by the grasslands bereft of any signs of life, Dolsoe pointed somewhere, having spotted something.

It was the location where a giant baobab tree used to stand, which originally stood solitary all by itself.

"...What? Do trees in the Forest of the Four Seasons reproduce rapidly or something?"

[A tree takes at least ten years to fully grow.]

Cain interjected to point out the absurdity, but the scene unfolding before our eyes was just that unbelievable.

The baobab tree, of which there was only one, seemed to have multiplied as its numbers had grown.

Due to their colossal size, it looked as though they had formed a miniature forest.

’What on earth happened here?’

Honestly, there was a part of this I had somewhat anticipated.

The grasslands originally had distinct wet and dry seasons, but now the four seasons existed here.This chapter is updated first at nove⁠lping.com.

The mass migration of the water buffalo herd, the lion sensing something amiss...

In just a little over a week, a massive wave of changes seemed to have swept through.

"...Let’s keep moving for now. It’s best to check it out directly."

Holding onto a lingering sense of unease, I forged ahead. My priority was to check the area around the baobab trees first.

Even as we walked, I couldn’t sense any presence around us whatsoever. It genuinely felt like there was nothing.

Arriving at the baobab trees shortly after, I scanned the area to see if the lion was around.

"Is the lion here?"

Silence. It seemed no one was there.

Peering into the thicket yielded the same result. I couldn’t get a read on where he had gone.

Ideally I wanted to wait for the lion, but that wasn’t realistic. I moved on to another spot with regret.

’Now that I think about it, the lion mentioned there was a World Tree near here, right?’

Whether it was actually a World Tree or not, I didn’t know. The lion had personally described it as a bothersome tree.

For now, moving toward that location was our only option. I pushed forward with an uncomfortable feeling that refused to fade.

"Sss-touch... Did they really carry out a mass migration?"

"If they were going to perform a mass migration, coming to our forest would be the logical choice."

Dolsoe added a comment to my remark. Just as he said, if they were migrating, there was a forest right next door.

Chaotic though it might be, no place possessed food as abundant as the forest. Yet the beasts hadn’t come.

Perhaps instead of a place with four seasons, they left to seek an environment similar to the old grasslands.

Even if it wasn’t identical, that was something they could adapt to with their natural resilience.

To understand the exact situation, finding the lion would be best, but unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen.

"With the snow melted, finding tracks is hard too... I just need to find a zone that connects to another territory."

Grasslands were far trickier to navigate than forests.

There were no landmarks to serve as signposts like in the forest, and compasses were entirely useless.

So in the end, I decided to roughly construct signposts myself, using branches and flags.

Continuing forward after that, lunch time soon approached. Yet still, nothing came into view.

’What could it be?’

Pondering the question, I laid down a picnic mat.

To eat lunch and take a rest.

I sprayed repellent all around to keep creatures like snakes away.

While the forest had plenty, I knew that truly vicious snakes inhabited the grasslands in large numbers.

’Creatures that look like they belong in the Forest of the Four Seasons used to live on Earth too.’

Take the Black Mamba, for example. A creature possessing venom potent enough to send even a lion straight to the grave the instant it bites.

There’s even a story about a single one killing 13 adult men.

At first glance, its sleek skin and cute appearance made it easy to let one’s guard down, but a venomous snake was still a venomous snake.

"Kyuuuu! Mineeeee!"

"Bbi-eeeek!"

Just like that thing the kids were currently chewing, tasting, tearing, and enjoying.

Wonmo and Tyranno were pulling a Black Mamba-like venomous snake from opposite ends.

Naturally, the Black Mamba thrashed around, but it couldn’t withstand the strength of those two.

"Hey! That’s a poisonous snake! Let go of it right now!"

"Let go?"

"Sssssaaaa!"

Wonmo. You sure listen well at times like this.

As soon as Wonmo released the Black Mamba, the serpent thrust its snout right toward me.

It seemed it had decided to eliminate the most threatening foe first.

Kwajijik!

Of course, there was no way a mere venomous snake could pierce my Body-Protecting Gangqi. Instead, only the crunching sound of its fangs shattering resounded.

Realizing its venomous fangs had shattered, I promptly ripped its head off.

Just to clarify, I didn’t slice it with a sword. I literally tore it off with my bare hands.

"Here. Eat up."

"Waaa~"

"Bbi-eeeek~"

Since the most dangerous part—the head—was gone, I handed the rest to the kids.

Naturally, I buried the head deep underground. I had no intention of extracting venom.

Having finished lunch cleanly like that, I set up a signpost and pressed forward once more.

Because we entrusted all the luggage to Largo, it barely felt like a march at all.Read this novel at novelрing.com for the best experience.

And...

"...Looks like something happened here."

We could clearly see countless animal carcasses spread out right before our eyes.

Perhaps because it was winter, decay had progressed slowly, leaving many of their exteriors relatively intact.

The problem was the sheer number and variety. The corpses were numerous enough to cover the ground entirely, and their species were remarkably diverse.

Re: Allfather) Carnivores and herbivores are mixed together evenly. How odd.

Re: Heavenly Demon) Have the herbivores and carnivores waged war against one another?

Re: Starlight Lady) For that to be the case, the bodies are too intermingled though? It looks as if they fought together in a different sense.

Exactly. Although corpses were piled high, the animals of the grassland hadn’t been tearing each other apart.

If anything, they had fought side by side; they hadn’t bitten each other.

The conclusive proof was that the signature claw marks and bite wounds of beasts were absent.

’What kind of mark is this?’

I examined the traces meticulously. These were marks I had never seen before.

How to put it... it was confusing because they had been taken down in such varied ways.

To get a clearer picture of the situation, we had no choice but to advance.

"Master. This appears to be the aftermath of a territorial war."

"Territorial war?"

"Look at this."

Perhaps because Dolsoe had experienced something similar, he spotted the clue faster than me.

Turning my head at his words, a massive entity—neither herbivore nor carnivore—caught my eye.

"...An ant?"

An ant. And one far larger than an adult human male at that.

It wasn’t just ants either. Grasshoppers, praying mantises, and more. Insects stood out prominently.

Fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons, their sizes were extraordinarily large.

[Reminds me of the ones we saw before.]

"Indeed."

Creatures like these were near the Shelter as well, back during the period before we had the disruptor.

The day I wandered outside until getting the disruptor back. I recall suffering through all sorts of ordeals back then.

The climax among them was the six-armed Asura Mantis. Dealing with that thing drained every ounce of my energy.

But these guys were simply gigantic, lacking the unique traits of the Asura Mantis.

The same went for the ants. They used unique abilities, but weren’t stupidly massive like these.

’Our Shelter’s side—the forest—has a structure where insects can’t grow big due to the presence of winter. The ones that adapted there evolved in strange directions.’

These ones were just brainlessly huge, like the wildlife living in Australia.

Since ancient times, places good for human living were also good for plants and animals to thrive.

A place where palm-sized insects and bugs were scattered all over the ground.

I wondered if an environment inhabited by insects existed nearby.

"Master. Look over there."

"Hmm?"

"The terrain is different over there."

That prediction hit the mark precisely. Not far off, the terrain shifted.

Just as I wondered if the animals had migrated there...

[Kiahhhhhk!]

The gruesome shriek of a bug entered my ears vividly. A screaming screech.

Hearing that screech, I quietly readied my gear and picked up the pace. The rest of the party did the same.

And before long, what met our eyes was...

"Kyaaaaaah!"

"Whoa. Is that an Imugi or what?"

A giant centipede no less formidable than an Imugi, and...

"Kruhh-oooorgh!"

The lion confronting that centipede face-to-face.

And with that lion’s thunderous roar...

Kwajijik!

The head of the Imugi-like centipede was literally torn to shreds.

An injury fatal by anyone’s standards. But where were we?

The Forest of the Four Seasons, where all manner of monsters roamed.

Ssuuuk!

"...It wasn’t an Imugi, it was a Hydra."

From the torn head of the centipede, another head sprouted out.