I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 808

Even though the flashback had ended, I remained lost in thought for a while.

Until now, there was only one scenario where I could see my memories.

That was when I had to directly touch the World Tree.

Only then would the surrounding scenery change, showing me fragments of my lost past.

That was why I had been struggling so desperately to find the World Tree all this time, but...

"What on earth was that fog just now?"

"Seeing how Master’s memories unfolded, it must be related to the World Tree."

"For once, my brother is speaking sense."

"I have always spoken sense, brother."

That premise was just shattered spectacularly.

A hazy white fog had swept over us, and just like that, my past had unfolded.

Coincidence or not, there was absolutely nothing to grasp, so it was only natural to fall into confusion.

ㄴStarlight Lady) What on earth was that fog? A fog that shows the past.

ㄴAllfather) Does it really only show the past? I am curious.

ㄴSmart Demon) More than that, the fog rolled in like a tsunami. Isn’t that far from normal?

Even the fixed-nicks couldn’t hide their bewilderment now that the pattern was broken.

Just when I thought I had finally adapted to the Forest of the Four Seasons, something new popped up, driving me absolutely crazy.

Furthermore, not knowing what kind of adverse effects the fog might have on us made things difficult in many ways.

"Is anyone hurting anywhere?"

"My head hurts a bit... No, actually, I’m fine."

Realizing it wasn’t an atmosphere for joking around, Lackey replied immediately.

When I checked on the others, they all replied that they were fine.

If they had felt unwell, we would have been on guard against the fog.

But since nothing was wrong, it was even more puzzling.

"Hmm... Well, since everyone is fine, let’s move first. As I said earlier, staying here feels really unsettling."

In the end, we had no choice but to decide to move elsewhere.

The party also knew there wasn’t much they could do right now.

"Daddy. Daddy."

"Hmm? What is it, Wonmo?"

"Is butt meat tasty?"

"...."

Fortunately, Wonmo broke the heavy atmosphere at just the right time.

Of course, regardless of that, I didn’t forget to give him a lesson.

Telling him that while he could eat anything else, he must absolutely never eat humans.

Since ancient times, any animal that got a taste for human flesh was almost always put down.

This was the same even in modern times, where animal-related laws were strictly enforced.

In reality, if someone defended a dog that bit a human, they would face a carpet-bombing of criticism.

"Didn’t you eat my mommy deliciously, Daddy?"

"I didn’t eat her."

"Then what did you do?"

"I buried her in a sunny spot."

I couldn’t bring myself to answer, "I sold her at the auction house."

If Wonmo somehow ended up accessing the Gallery in the future... things would probably get very complicated in many ways.

It would almost be better if he just got absorbed in the Gallery without caring about his mother.

’No, wait. It’s also weird to apply human standards to an animal.’

Lackey and Dolsoe had learned from Wi Ho-chang, so they were one thing, but Wonmo wasn’t.

It was actually stranger to use human common sense as a baseline for him.

In the first place, animals have instincts engraved in their genes, so there was a high probability he wouldn’t care.

Especially since owlbears were said to eat even their own offspring when hungry, all I had to do was keep his appetite satisfied.

As long as humans weren’t included in that appetite, it would be fine.

[The more your past is revealed, the more curious I become.]

"What are you more curious about?"

[Manatology. Why that cult didn’t get passed down to our generation, that is.]

I thought he would sneer, but it was an unexpectedly serious question.

Hearing that, I thought of the group called Manatology.

On the surface, they looked like an ordinary cult, but they were a group that expanded their power greatly right after the world ended.

According to Lucas, they ruled the world for at least half a century, and I wondered how they had ruled.

"Well... since human sacrifice was basically their foundation, they might have self-destructed on their own."

[In exchange, they could obtain eternal life.]

"That’s also true."

It was undeniable.

Without even looking far, during the early days of exploring the Forest of the Four Seasons, I had encountered remnants of Manatology more than once or twice.

One who was left with only bones like a skeleton but maintained intelligence. One who hid living, moving corpses inside their body like meatballs.

And to top it all off, one who had become a giant rivaling Vanir in size.

Recently, hadn’t there even been one that we barely extracted while it was parasitizing inside the Sky Whale?

If nothing else, their ’vitality’ alone was tougher than that of cockroaches.

[Given your personality, you wouldn’t have stood by and watched that.]The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.

"Right?"

[Then, didn’t you personally bring down Manatology?]

Lucas had said something similar before.

That he had been living normally under the rule of Manatology when suddenly the world changed.

And after that, the Chief God appeared, and along with various teachings, flourished civilization once again.

Although terrible natural disasters struck in the process and they had to leave the land they grew up in, that alone was a sufficient achievement.

"That much isn’t certain. Maybe there was someone who helped me..."

It was just as I was about to say that.

-...faith of God....

-...do not lose. Firmly....

In that instant, a voice seemed to pierce through my ears.

Startled, I whipped my head around and looked back.

"Hyaah!"

When I looked back, Elia came into view.

She was so startled that her uniquely pointed elf ears perked up.

"W-What’s the matter?"

"Um... No. It’s nothing."

"...?"

It definitely wasn’t Elia’s voice.

Then what was the identity of the voice I had been hearing occasionally from before?

Since I started regaining my memories bit by bit, hearing these auditory hallucinations wasn’t a first or second occurrence.

"Master. Are you hurting somewhere?"

"Looks like it, doesn’t it?"

"If you eat something sweet, you’ll feel better."

"Thanks. Hearing you say that suddenly made me feel better."

I brushed it off, replying casually to Lackey’s half-joking, half-serious advice.

Since it was something I would gradually find out as I regained my memories anyway.

"Where was I?"

[Up to the part where there might have been someone who helped you.]

"Ah, right. Honestly, Manatology is... far from normal, isn’t it?"

[But if it’s a religion, that’s a different story.]

As Cain said, religion itself is very good at bewitching people.

There was no need to strictly follow the doctrine; just acting as a sort of community was enough.

It was easy to see it as a malicious exploitation of the fact that humans are social animals.

’If there are even visible achievements, it’s a different story.’

Even if the form was bizarre and disgusting, it didn’t matter.

In any case, results were results.

After all, hadn’t there even been rumors that consuming bone powder could delay Qi Deviation?

It wasn’t even a simple rumor; it was a method that actually had some degree of effectiveness.

"Let’s stop this gloomy talk here. For now, let’s just move forward."

[Understood.]

Maybe because of the fog earlier, the atmosphere kept trying to grow heavy.

Since I myself couldn’t easily escape my thoughts right now, it couldn’t be helped.

"Master! Look over there!"

"What is it? What’s going on?"

"There’s a super high mountain!"

"You little punk..."

Fortunately, Lackey acted as a mood maker from time to time.

Every time, the urge to give him a flick on the forehead welled up, but I just laughed it off.

"Master."

"If you say something weird again, you’re getting hit."

"No, not that. Is that a bird or a horse?"

"What are you talking about?"

Of course, there were many times when he spoke seriously rather than talking nonsense.

For instance, discovering things we’d never seen before—animals that could pose a threat to us—first.

In the past, Lackey had such poor eyesight that he had to wear glasses, but now, he frequently spotted things before anyone else.

"Look over there. Those guys grazing on grass."

I turned my head in the direction Lackey pointed.

Just because it was the Republic of Korea didn’t mean there were only mountains around the highway; sometimes, vast fields also existed.

And in the field I was looking at, large birds were gathered in clusters, grazing on grass.

"Those are... ostriches?"

It was the ostrich, known as the largest bird in the world (by Earth’s standards).

I wondered why ostriches were in a field in the Republic of Korea, but I just let it go.

I could just assume they had escaped from a zoo and move on.

In the first place, this was the Forest of the Four Seasons, so it was too bothersome to nitpick every single thing.

"What is an ostrich?"

"Huh? You don’t know what an ostrich is?"The source of this chapter is novel​ping.com.

"It’s a bird I’m seeing for the first time too."

Not to mention Lackey, even Elia, the Elf Queen, acted as if she was seeing an ostrich for the first time.

Apparently, just like the giraffe, the creature called an ostrich didn’t exist in the outside world.

Besides, since there were birds even larger than ostriches, it probably wasn’t that amazing to them.

"By my standards, it’s the largest bird in the world. But it can’t fly."

"A bird that can’t fly? There’s a bird like that?"

"There’s one right there."

And the ostrich was actually mild.

The kiwi bird was classified as a bird despite having no wings at all.

In particular, there was an animal that could be called the ultimate master of this category: the platypus.

It was so bizarre that academia even joked the platypus was an animal God made by mistake.

"Anyway, there’s no reason to mess with them, so let’s just pass by."

"Ummm..."

"Don’t get any weird ideas."

Surely this bastard doesn’t want to tame an ostrich and ride it, does he?

Seeing how he usually grumbled about hating to walk, it was about fifty percent certain.

’What is this, some arcade game?’

That ostrich even had guns attached to it to kill enemies, taking it a step further.

Anyway, barely holding Lackey back, we set off again.

"Uh... Master?"

"What now?"

"Those guys are staring at us."

"What?"

Hearing Lackey say the ostriches were staring, I had no choice but to look back over there.

"...You’re right. Why are they looking at us?"

"It’s... somehow scary."

The flock of ostriches was indeed staring intently at us.

They should just graze on grass; I didn’t know why they were showing interest in us.

Just as I was wondering if they were going to try to kill us like the herd of elks.

Kwak! Kwak!

An ostrich spread its wings wide and buried its head in the ground.

I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by such a clumsy and bizarre action.

It would be one thing if they attacked us, but showing that kind of reaction made it even more puzzling.

"Hmm... maybe they’re trying to hide in their own way? We have the Hatchling, and you’re here too, Grylls-nim."

"Is that so?"

We had been attacked by the elk herd before, but usually, most animals tended to avoid us.

I accepted Elia’s highly plausible opinion and let it go.

Ssaaaa—

Until a chilly energy was felt from the direction the ostriches were looking—which was behind us.

Sensing an inexplicable feeling, I hurriedly turned around, and what do you know.

The fog that had swept over the gas station before was slowly rolling in.

If it were before, it might be different, but with the memory recall and the ostriches’ reaction, this was unusual.

"Everyone, watch out...!"

Before I could even open my mouth, the fog engulfed the party.

The first one engulfed by the fog was none other than Dolsoe.

Immediately after, I ran over and placed my hand on Dolsoe’s shoulder.

"Dolsoe. You aren’t hurt anywhere, right?"

"No. More than that, this fog..."

"Everyone, stay still right where you are, just like earlier!"

As soon as I heard Dolsoe’s words, I immediately issued instructions.

Although I didn’t know in detail what kind of effect this fog had, there was no harm in being careful.

Shaaaa—

Soon, the fog began to slowly clear.

I thought a flashback of the past would begin after it cleared, but...

"...Where is this?"

"A forest? Don’t tell me we’ve returned to our forest?"

Surprisingly, instead of the highway, a forest that was familiar and dear to us unfolded.

Just as I was looking around, wondering if we had teleported.

"You good-for-nothing rascals! I told you not to throw poop!"

"Huh?"

A middle-aged man’s roaring voice rang vividly in my ears.

Turning my gaze in that direction, what I saw was...

"Master. It is hard to understand."

"Indeed. It is hard to understand."

the young Sun Wukong brothers and...

"What on earth am I doing with these orangutans? The name Wi Ho-chang must be weeping."

It was the figure of a middle-aged man teaching them.