I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 788

Because Yoo So-wol had dug up something incredibly dangerous, it took me quite a while to pull myself together.

On top of that, combined with my own slip of the tongue, I was a little terrified of what kind of prank she might pull.

If there was any saving grace in this misfortune, it was that it was Yoo So-wol and not Ash.

If it had been Ash? She would have definitely been busy teasing me non-stop, regardless of the time or place.

Fortunately, Ash herself seemed too busy digging up various records to send me any messages.

I had no idea what kind of photos or videos she was planning to send, but for now, it was a relief.

[Starlight Lady: Grylls-nim. I found a certain passage, but there is a part I do not quite understand.]

[Wild Grylls: Which part is it?]

However, the Starlight Lady, Selena, was an exception.

She was the one helping me access the Tower of Babel, and she was still conducting all sorts of research even in this situation.

By helping her, I would also be able to get what I wanted.

[Starlight Lady: (Roughly a picture of a meme blaming the jungle for top diff) I understand the rest, but I do not know what ’jungle’ means here.]

[Wild Grylls: Uh...]

Or maybe not. Could it be that even Selena couldn’t resist digging up ancient history?

Anyway, it was quite perplexing how to explain this to her.

Even if I told her it was a saying(?) from a game, she probably wouldn’t understand.

’It’s been a really long time since I last heard that phrase.’

I remembered playing that game with my friends and constantly blaming others the entire time.

Of course, it was half-joking, and I had also been scapegoated plenty of times.

In the first place, those were the guys who, when we played FPS games, would ask me why I couldn’t shoot straight when I was a literal soldier.

And I would retort that if it were actually me inside the game, I would have popped all their heads long ago.

Though it was a memory retrieved by chance, it now remained as a fond piece of nostalgia.

[Wild Grylls: To use a soccer analogy, it’s the same vibe as a goalkeeper blaming the defenders.]

[Starlight Lady: I do not know soccer very well, but... does it mean someone is blaming me during team play even though it is not my fault?]

[Wild Grylls: Exactly.]

[Starlight Lady: I see. I understand now.]

[Wild Grylls: Are you going to keep exploring the past records?]

[Starlight Lady: If Grylls-nim wishes, I will throw it all aside right away and help you.]

[Wild Grylls: No, it’s fine. I’ll contact you when I need help.]

Since she had been working hard all this time, I advised her to rest for now.

Honestly, common sense dictated that I should offer Selena some kind of reward.

Even though there were consecutive failures and bizarre results, progress had been made nonetheless.

’I’ll just wait until the eagle owl leaves.’

Though I had no idea when the eagle owl would actually leave.

Besides, winter would be arriving soon.

I was now strong enough to move around in winter without any issues, but routines existed for a reason.

I couldn’t find any justification to go out scouting if it meant breaking this routine.

"Dad. Can we eat lots of sweet potatoes soon?"

"You’ll get fat if you do, Wonmo."

"Even if I get fat, you’ll still love me, right, Dad?"

How did he know? I was dumbfounded by Wonmo’s clever question.

As Wonmo matured bit by bit, his brain was starting to work quite well.

Combined with the uniquely rapid growth rate of the Forest of the Four Seasons, he was becoming quite extraordinary.

"Of course you’re cute even if you get fat, Wonmo. But it’s not good for your health."

"What’s health?"

"Health is, well... not being sick."

"Then I’m healthy!"

"For now, yes. But Wonmo, remember when you ate something weird in the past and got a stomachache? You could end up hurting like that all the time, you know?"

"Heck! I don’t want that! I only got to eat tasteless porridge back then!"

Wonmo covered his mouth with his tiny front paws in surprise.

With his pointed ears, unique to an owlbear, perking up, he was absolutely adorable.

’He’s so cute I could just squeeze him.’

I didn’t miss the opportunity and snapped a photo.

It was a level of cuteness that easily rivaled the ancient records currently flooding the network.

"Ppheeing..."

"Of course, our Tyranno is cute too."

"Ppihinghing."

When I only doted on Wonmo, Tyranno, who had been pretending to pout, showered me with affection as well.

Since they were all so overflowing with cuteness, just playing with them like this warmed my heart.

"Uhihihi."

"..."

Though that warmth evaporated the moment I laid eyes on Lackey.

While his brother Dolsoe was busy training hard, Lackey was just wasting time scrolling through the Gallery.

Well, since it was currently rest time, I had no right to complain even if I found it annoying.

’Sigh... is this how a first sergeant feels when he can’t stand seeing his soldiers resting?’

With a mountain of chores piled up at home, it felt strange being the only one working.

Especially since winter was approaching, meaning I had to gather firewood and stock up on food.

Crucially, I expected many guests to visit the bathhouse this winter as well.

’I feel like I’m playing a bathhouse tycoon simulation game every winter.’

Anyway, I had to check if there were any leaks in the boiler, if the bathhouse had any defects, and so on.

"Master. Why are you calling a busy person?"

"Busy, my foot. I saw you slacking off perfectly fine."

"It is a misunderstanding. I was merely conducting a profound exploration."

"Don’t describe scrolling through the Gallery in such a fancy way."Read the latest chapters at novel‌ping.com.

For the record, the bathhouse had been expanded.

Because there were quite a lot of guests who visited last winter.

Not only that, but I also expanded the inn(?) where the guests stayed.

Since each and every guest was terrifyingly massive, expanding was an absolute necessity.

"Master. How about teaching the guests how to use the Gallery as well?"

"Do you have any idea what kind of disaster that would cause?"

Lackey made the suggestion subtly, but I shut him down instantly.

Even though the Gallery could only be accessed from our location, that made the risks even greater.

Just the fruits the guests brought with them were treated as ’legendary’ by outside standards.

In the Forest of the Four Seasons, even a pebble rolling around on the ground could be treated as a precious metal.

"Hear me out, Master. We would let them use the Gallery in a purely innocent way. Under the strict condition that they must create a fixed handle."

"A fixed handle... Well, that part is fine. But then who is going to manage them? Are you going to do it?"

"I shall become a sub-moderator and manage them."

Lackey shrugged as he revealed his plan.

What he was proposing was highly similar to an internet cafe.

The only difference was that it would be strictly membership-based, but it could bring in a pretty decent income.

Since there was no actual currency here, bartering with physical goods was a must, and those goods were all extraordinary.

Honestly, it was a tempting offer, but I had no choice but to oppose it.

"It’s a good idea, but it’s too short-sighted. First of all, we don’t know how many guests will visit."

Even now, the number of guests coming to the bathhouse is quite large.

If those guests started using the Gallery, Lackey would never be able to manage them all by himself.

"Second, since we can only trade in physical goods here, it becomes ambiguous how we should allocate the time."

Some guests might bring honey, while others might bring Golden Apples.

’Currency’ not being a thing made allocating time highly complicated.

If we weren’t careful, they might protest, asking why they only got so little time for what they brought.

"If they protest, can’t you just suppress them, Master?"

"In the past, we couldn’t even stop those damn beavers and our house got flooded. The other guests will be even worse, not better."

In the worst-case scenario, let’s say the Spirit Deer holds a grudge.

That guy has teleportation as a passive skill. What if he takes one of us and teleports somewhere far away?

Besides, the Spirit Deer is powerful enough to roam anywhere in the forest as he pleases.

"And finally, third. If even a single item from the Forest of the Four Seasons makes its way outside, it will cause absolute chaos."

"Is it really that serious?"

"It is. If we handed over even just the Mithril that grows like bamboo in our yard, the entire economy would collapse."

"Isn’t it better the more good things there are?"

"...I’ll give you an economics book from the library later."

It seemed that while his business mind worked well, his understanding of economics was practically non-existent.

When I rejected his idea by listing out the reasons one by one, Lackey smacked his lips with a click of his tongue and backed down.

He seemed to realize that his plan was indeed full of holes.

"Besides, becoming a sub-moderator is a grueling job in many ways, so you’d better be careful. You know how sub-moderators are treated in the Gallery."

"I know they are treated as unpaid laborers."

"Exactly."

"But aren’t I unpaid as well? The welfare here is just exceptionally good."

"Shut up before I start charging you taxes."

Ever since he started using the Gallery, he had only been accumulating weird knowledge.

Though it was just knowledge picked up from the Gallery, I wondered what would happen if he actually started studying seriously.

After all, just thinking about doing business using the Gallery showed his extraordinary nature.

"Ah. But Master, there is one thing I want to ask."

"What is it?"

"There is a video of a person with a name similar to yours eating bugs."

"...Does that person’s name have ’Bear’ in front of it?"

"Yes."

My fixed handle did indeed originate from that person.

I knew that person had a different real name anyway.

Since I had no intention of denying it, I nodded.

"Yeah, I took it from him. I guess someone dug up his videos."

"Is he famous?"

"He’s famous for going out of his way to suffer."

In the past, I would have just laughed it off, but now that I was surviving on my own, my perspective had changed.

I wondered why that man went out of his way to suffer like that.

Of course, it might have been for content, but I fully realized that it was something I wouldn’t do even if I were paid.

"Then are you suffering without even being paid, Master?"

"Be quiet."

This guy Lackey always knows exactly how to hit where it hurts.

I told him to stop browsing the Gallery and help with the work.

Coincidentally, Dolsoe had also finished his training, so we could start on the expansion.

’Once winter ends, the eagle owl will probably return as well.’

Afterward, winter arrived.

"Pureung."

"Oh my. You brought something wonderful again this time."

I opened the bathhouse after a long time.

While Grylls was welcoming the winter,

the world outside the Forest of the Four Seasons was in utter chaos for a while due to the ancient memes being unearthed in real-time.

These were not just ordinary memes, but glimpses into the age of the gods themselves.

It was an event capable of causing a massive sensation not only among individuals but also within academic circles.

While the Gallerians only saw funny or suggestive things being posted, reality was different.

"Look at this. It seems the gods rode around in devices like this."The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.

"How fascinating. A device that flies through the sky."

"Wouldn’t we be fully capable of manufacturing this as well?"

"It would be difficult for now. It runs purely on machinery, not magic."

Locomotives, automobiles, massive ships, and finally, airplanes.

Not to mention the means of transportation showcasing the glorious golden age, as well as communication devices capable of long-distance transmission.

With even the Gallery itself being a legacy of the gods, these discoveries delivered a massive shock to the people.

"It appears that every individual carried one of these expensive communication devices."

"Truly astonishing. Does that mean everyone was rich?"

"Or perhaps these communication devices were extremely cheap."

While it brought such wonder,

"...Yet, impoverished regions still existed."

"As the era advanced, warfare became truly horrific."

"Mounting a cannon on that massive steel chariot. They certainly knew style."

"It was likely for practicality, not style."

it also revealed a deep shadow.

Since ancient times, the stronger the light, the darker the shadow.

In particular, if nothing else, the records concerning ’war’ made scholars frown.

"It seems there were two wars where the entire world fought."

"You should correct yourself. Wasn’t there also a war that the Chief God experienced?"

"Then there were three of these terrible wars?"

"Afterward, the golden age declined due to mana, and war broke out once again."

"Then it is four times. And the Chief God experienced two of them."

"Among the things I found, a scholar once said: ’I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.’"

"That scholar’s prophecy has been fulfilled, then."

Not only this, but they also paid close attention to the daily lives of the people.

If Grylls had dropped a meteor before, this time he had dropped an entire asteroid.

It was practically at a level where every nation was pouring its efforts into excavation.

"Strange. Truly strange."

And this was no different for the Starlight Lady, Selena.

She muttered, blinking her eyes which had grown dry from focusing on the Gallery for so long.

As she was the one who had accessed the ’Archive’ after Grylls, she had encountered far more records than anyone else.

At first, she had looked through various things out of simple curiosity, but as time passed, doubts began to surface.

’Why is there no adult content?’

It wasn’t because she was interested in that sort of thing, but a genuinely pure question.

While it was clear that all sorts of things had been dumped in like a trash bin, she couldn’t find anything with an unusually high level of explicitness.

Rather than intentional censorship, it felt more like access itself had been blocked.

Wondering if she had missed something, she searched through the posts and looked directly, but the result was the same.

’It is highly likely that someone intentionally categorized them. And to access this...’

She thought that perhaps she needed at least the authority of a sub-moderator.

And another thing.

’The records seem random, but they actually possess a pattern.’

Up to a certain number, there were drawings, photos, videos, other creative works, and so on.

They possessed a clear ’regularity’, and she had deciphered this with her brilliant mind.

Asking Grylls about ’jungle diff’ earlier was also a part of this.

When she heard that the saying was related to a ’game’, she was able to confirm her theory.

’It is certain that someone classified them intentionally. And if they classified them like this, there must be other categories as well.’

Though it was nothing more than a theory, she was half-certain.

Of course, to prove this theory, she would ultimately need Grylls’s assistance.

What she could deduce was that there was an entity directly managing the Gallery.

’If I research further... I might even be able to unearth past posts.’

The absolute rule of the Gallery was that the records of deceased users were deleted.

But what if they weren’t deleted, but rather ’moved’ to another location, which was why they couldn’t be seen?

Considering that the Archive was already overflowing with stored records, this was a highly plausible thought.

Of course, finding them was one issue, and she also lacked the authority to access them.

’I have no choice but to study it further.’

Just figuring out this much was quite a satisfying achievement.

Selena closed the Gallery and quietly shut her eyes.

Since she had been writing in her notebook and browsing the Gallery for hours, rest was essential.

’I should contact Ash eonni. She said she would be heading to Mountain soon, so she will meet the Hero there.’

Meanwhile, Ash, who was about to set off for Mountain,

[Not a chance! Yes! Yessss!!!]

"Uhihihihi."

was busy looking up weird memes just like everyone else.

If there was one difference,

[(Roughly a game video of someone deflecting lightning)]

"Oh? Wrapping the lightning shot at me around my sword and deflecting it? That’s cool. Should I try it?"

it was that if she found something interesting while slacking off, she would actually try to perform it in reality.

[Sword Matstar: (Roughly a game video of someone deflecting lightning)]]

[Sword Matstar: Hey. Is this possible? I’m thinking of trying it.]

[Heavenly Demon: (A video of wrapping oneself in fire and using it as is)]

[Heavenly Demon: I think this looks much cooler.]

[Sword Matstar: Oh.]

Humans who were already monstrously strong began to run even wilder.