I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 601

As expected, there wasn’t a single thing wrong with the words of the ancestors.

Whether it’s a mad dog or a crazy horse, if you beat it enough with a club, it eventually turns docile.

Zebras were notorious for their wretched tempers, but that was only true while they still had energy.

If you keep flogging them until their strength is completely drained, all that madness and spite drains right out of them.

"So the reason you picked a fight with us was to get stronger? Since you don’t have any of your own kind anyway? But why did you ask us to stop?"

"Piiing..."

"Up until now, everyone I met would either kill me right away if they were going to kill me. There was never a psychopath who slowly tortured me before killing me."

"Hey, Park Kkobong. Translate properly. There’s no way this zebra knows a word like ’psychopath.’"

"Then I shall interpret it as ’nutjob.’"

Do whatever you want. I felt like giving him a smack, but I let it slide.

Anyway, according to the zebra, it had encountered true insanity and was thoroughly terrified.

In the wild, there are no sadists who torment prey slowly before killing them. They just devour them and call it a day.

Of course, there were killer whales that played with seals like toys, or dolphins that used pufferfish like drugs, and so on.

Highly intelligent animals tended to commit acts bordering on betrayal or crime.

Since highly intelligent beasts were scattered all around this place, I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed no one here enjoyed torture.

’I don’t enjoy torture either.’

I had merely focused on dodging or deflecting the zebra’s charges.

Anyway, now that the zebra was subdued, I brought up what I had mentioned earlier.

"So now that you know how strong we are, becoming companions would be..."

Since I had subdued it and crushed its spirit, and I quite liked the zebra’s sheer grit, I was just about to suggest bringing it into our Shelter when—

Tuk-tuk—

Bbareumbo, hanging onto my back, patted my shoulder.

When I turned my head to look at him, he slowly shook his head side to side.

He was a guy who accepted almost anything, but the situation was different right now.

"Why? Why don’t you want to take this guy in?"

"..."

Instead of answering, Bbareumbo showed me through action.

Although it was frustrating due to his trademark slowness, it was his opinion, so I quietly watched.

Soon, the place Bbareumbo reached his hand out toward was the direction of the zebra, who was lying subdued and whining hing-hing.

Following that, he folded his arm back and pointed at himself. It was hard to interpret from this single gesture alone.

"It seems to mean he sees himself in that zebra."

When everyone was expressing confusion, the one who spoke up was neither Lackey nor Cain.

It was Dolsoe, who had previously been bound to Bbareumbo by an ill-fated grudge. Since he was usually reticent, it was surprising to hear him offer an opinion.

"Sees himself in the zebra? What does that mean?"

"HmMm."

At my words, Dolsoe glanced at Bbareumbo. A silent question asking if it was alright to speak.

Bbareumbo nodded in response to that silent query, granting permission.

"As the master knows, Bbareumbo’s tribe fought against my tribe. And we emerged victorious."

"Yeah. That’s right."

"And even after that, that fellow went around killing my kinsmen. To the point of not caring what happened to his own body."

"..."

I roughly got what it meant. Bbareumbo was seeing the zebra as a reflection of his past self.

In truth, though Bbareumbo appeared docile on the surface, he had built up quite a notorious reputation in the past.

By the time he met me, all that venom and malice had already been drained from him. It also helped that I was tearfully weak by the standards of the Forest of the Four Seasons back then.

Therefore, as long as the zebra’s malice hadn’t drained away, bringing it in as a companion would be meaningless.

Even if we took it along by force, the chances of it escaping were high.

Rather than causing unnecessary trouble, it was better to wait until its malice was gone.

"Sss... If that’s how it is, then I guess it can’t be helped. Alright."

It was a shame since I could have obtained a mount for once. Riding around on Largo was strangely uncomfortable.

In the first place, Largo recognized Ludwig as his master, not me.

Above all, securing a clear field of vision was damnably inconvenient. His neck was so long that I could barely see what was ahead.

"Hi-hi-hing...?"

"Then are you letting me go?"

Whether it picked up on the atmosphere or actually understood my words, its eyes sparkled bright.

To anyone watching, all its malice seemed to have evaporated on the spot, but considering Bbareumbo’s opinion, it was better to let it go.

’If it picks a fight with us again next time, I’ll force-conscript it into our ranks.’

Honestly, there was no place as good as our Shelter.

The meals were great, there was no risk of raids, and we got to eat roasted sweet potatoes when it was cold.

It was truly a great place to live. It was so nice that even Lackey, who used to be burning with thoughts of vengeance, ended up lounging around doing nothing.

"Now then, my friend. I’m going to let you go, but do you see this signpost here? If you follow this, there’s a river, right? There’s a bridge crossing that river..."

Before letting the zebra go, I gave it our home address(?).

Since even compasses went haywire here, let alone GPS, the signposts I set up were the only guideposts.New chapters come out on novelping . com first.

Of course, the zebra, having no thought other than desperately escaping my hands right this instant, barely listened.

"Tsk, damn it. If you don’t drop by even once, I’m coming to hunt you down, got it?"

"Hi-hi-hing!"

When I raised my hand in a threat, only then did the zebra nod its head frantically.

After that, the situation was settled as the fellow scampered off as fast as its legs could carry it.

Still, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t gained any insight. Even a creature consumed by madness would eventually quiet down if you beat it enough.

’Also, the remnants of Manatology are likely left behind in every region.’

Just as the flesh giant existed in the forest, there might be a similar monstrosity somewhere in these grasslands too.

Finding every single one would be difficult, but if I located them, I could at least figure out what had transpired.

’I’m also curious about how Manatology fused people into a single entity.’

Back then, the concept of necromancy probably didn’t even exist. They must have created that nightmare with a purely fanatical, religious mindset.

I wondered, ’Is that really possible with just plain faith?’ But then again, things in the world rarely go as expected.

There must surely be an origin story behind Manatology’s birth, through which I could glimpse what kind of society existed back then.

’Maybe the reason they sealed off the Forest of the Four Seasons was to prevent Manatology from spreading?’

In fact, I heard that Flesh Golems were common during the era Cain was active.

Furthermore, even in necromancy, animating bones was one thing, but reanimating flesh and muscle attached to them was considered a taboo.

’Come to think of it, priests always prioritize exterminating naturally spawned undead no matter what, right?’

It really seemed plausible that they sealed it off specifically to quarantine Manatology.

Now, one might ask why the gods didn’t wipe it out sooner, but fundamentally, Earth is absurdly massive.

Even if natural disasters or man-made catastrophes like Chernobyl rendered vast swathes of land uninhabitable, it remained true.

’Even the Republic of Korea, which gets mocked daily for being tiny, has a population of 50 million.’

The phrase ’ignorant size’ fit perfectly. Even for gods, hunting down and exterminating everything individually must have been tough.

If it was sealed as a stopgap measure, it made sense. And one more thing on top of that.

’The Manatology remnant in the forest that had nothing left but bones still possessed intelligence.’

Could there be other remnants of Manatology possessing intelligence lingering somewhere in the Forest of the Four Seasons?

That in itself was truly horrifying. I let out a sigh inwardly.

For every single answer I found, not two, but five or more hypotheses popped up.

’This is fun in its own way, but...’

The problem was that I was the one doing all the hard labor. Thinking thus, I began clearing things up.

A fair amount of time had passed due to the fight with the zebra. It seemed best to head back to the Shelter.

The sun was gradually setting, and my stamina was drained as well.

"As soon as you guys get back, wash up right away. Don’t go on the Gallery."

"Ooo. Do not oppress us."

"Quiet down before I throw out all the sweet potatoes."

Since everyone washed one by one anyway, there would be break times in between.

It was just hideous seeing them browsing the Gallery without even washing up. I could finally understand how my parents felt while struggling to raise me.

"Dad. Dad."

"Hmm? What is it?"

And Wonmo was truly cute. While I was preparing dinner, Wonmo tugged at my trousers.

Not only could he speak, but that adorable sight of him looking up at me with those sparkling eyes...

I couldn’t resist taking a picture. I’ll have to post it on the Gallery.

"I have a favor."

"A favor? What kind of favor?"

"Uh... umm... that is..."

"?"

But something was strange. Wonmo was the type of child who blurted out what he wanted without walking on eggshells.

He was definitely not the type to act hesitant like this.

’No, wait. It’s not that he’s being hesitant...’

It was more like he was buffering while trying to think of something.

It felt almost as if someone had input a command into him, but it wasn’t coming out properly.

While I was thinking that, Wonmo avoided my gaze and spoke.

"I hope tonight’s dinner is candied sweet potatoes!"

"...All of a sudden? I was planning to cook the meat you like tonight, Wonmo."

"Th-That’s... because the others said they wanted to eat it too!"

Wonmo answered while dodging my eyes again. Hearing that, I turned my head and looked toward the house.

Right now, I was outside preparing dinner. And beside me, Dolsoe was washing up.

In other words, someone remaining inside that room must have given Wonmo this ’favor.’

"Hey, Park Kkobong. No dinner for you tonight."

"Wh-Why?!"

"Don’t put weird ideas in Wonmo’s head. Make your own food and eat it."Get faster updates on NovelPing.

"How did you figure it out?! It was definitely flawless!"

Flawless, my ass. Anyone could see it was an obvious lie.

I left Lackey clutching his head in despair and stepped outside again.

"Hey. Don’t just sit there idiotically browsing the Gallery—go wash up quickly."

"Ahem."

Had this fellow Dolsoe lost his mind too from soaking in the warm water?

He coughed dryly at my scolding and began scrubbing himself clean. He was even good at lathering soap now.

When he first arrived, he found soaping annoying, but lately he washed himself thoroughly.

’Pretty soon he’ll probably tell his own tribe to wash up too.’

That would be funny in its own right. Provided, of course, that water was steadily supplied like in our Shelter.

Not just the gorilla tribe, but the hobgoblins as well. It was about time to teach them some concepts of hygiene.

’What should I do tomorrow...’

More than that, I needed to set tomorrow’s schedule first.

Scouting would take place once every two to three days, and in between, we’d either do maintenance or re-explore familiar areas.

Even if it was an area we had already visited, new things kept popping up due to the nature of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

We hadn’t even fully mapped out this forest, let alone the grasslands. The grasslands had only caught our interest because it was a new zone.

Moreover, that region was empty now due to the mass migration. There wasn’t much point in exploring it.

’Grasslands once every three days. Forest once every two days. Going like that would be better.’

Since the average combat strength of our Shelter group had increased, increasing the frequency of exploration would be fine.

Especially since this forest had a higher probability of harboring even finer medicinal herbs than the grasslands.

After roughly drawing on the makeshift map mounted on the wall, I finished dinner preparations.

"Don’t look at your phone... I mean, the Gallery, while eating. You should talk to each other."

"You sound like a boomer, Master."

"It’s not being a boomer, it’s basic manners, you brat."

Eating alone was one thing, but I never touched my phone when eating with family or friends.

Unless it was an urgent message, it was rude otherwise.

One might call it an utterly boomer-ish mindset, but so what? I was the boss around here, and I said so.

"Tomorrow we rest, and the day after that we’ll roam the forest, so keep that in mind. Got it?"

"Understood."

"I’m going to craft weapons tomorrow. Do you guys have anything to do?"

"Resting all day long?"

"You mean browsing the Gallery all day. Head over to the hobgoblins tomorrow and help them with work."

And so, another ordinary day came to a close.

"Whoa. What kind of situation is this?"

"Master. I learned an amusing word on the Gallery."

"What is it?"

"Double Standard."

"Ahem."

I got side-eyed by Lackey. But I couldn’t help it.

Because an interesting story was circulating on the Gallery.

What was it, you ask?

Title) Fuuuuuuuuck is this for real

(Roughly showing the skyrocketing menu prices for somyeon noodles)

This is an area still ruled by the Imperial Court, is this price inflation for real?

How the fuck can somyeon become this expensive? Does this make any sense?

Wow;; Somyeon going up that much is seriously crossing the line.

Why did somyeon get so expensive? Aren’t they trading with the Messiah Empire?

They are, but it’s because these Imperial Court bastards are only focusing on the capital.

That’s seriously too much;; How are commoners supposed to live?

Plus the exchange rate shot up due to the war, so merchants are dying out lol

Isn’t the Demonic Cult in the exact same situation?

Don’t know where those Demonic Cult bastards get their money, but they’re stubbornly holding prices down.

Plus the Demonic Cult cleaned up the Evil Faction, so public support is high;

Wild Grylls) I don’t know much about this, but roughly how expensive did that get?

Is there anything back where you used to live where a price hike caused absolute chaos?

Wild Grylls) A bowl of steamed rice? In Central Plains terms, it’s about 1 coin.

Something that cost 1 coin went up to 3 coins.

Wild Grylls) They’re fucking doomed then.

"3,000 won for a bowl of steamed rice? Yeah, people would definitely riot."

I was able to realize just how dire the situation in the Central Plains was.