Got a Gallery in the Wild

No matter what organization it is, a successor is important.

People are neither eternal nor immortal.

Sooner or later, everyone returns to the embrace of nature.

Since everyone knows that fate, each person tries to leave something behind.

A successor is part of that.

A successor with strong legitimacy is important for any organization.

If that legitimacy is insufficient, they will inevitably face opposition from subordinates or vassals, and even inheriting the position will become difficult.

In that sense, Blood Demon, Wi Hochang, had originally designated Geumjang as his successor.

Not only was he the first subordinate he accepted, but he also possessed unwavering loyalty.

Furthermore, he had enough leadership ability to command others.

That was why the remnants of the Blood Sect had planned to follow him without objection.

Until Heavenly Demon appeared out of nowhere and snapped his neck.

“So what are we going to do now?”

An elderly voice echoed through the room.

Several people sat facing one another, illuminated only by a lamp.

When the old man seated in the place of honor spoke, the only response he received was a heavy silence.

“Elder Geumjang was defeated by Heavenly Demon. Who exactly are we supposed to follow now?”

Although the question sounded more like a lament than a genuine inquiry, no one answered.

They couldn’t.

After all, the rebirth of the Blood Sect—the dream they had longed for over so many years—was about to happen, and now everything threatened to collapse.

The only reason they had all managed to gather was because of the post Geumjang had uploaded to the Gallery.

A post full of ambition, calling everyone to gather in the sacred land and announce the rebirth of the Blood Sect.

But shortly after that post appeared, a video spread showing Heavenly Demon effortlessly humiliating him.

“…Before worrying about who will inherit the legacy, we should worry about surviving as an organization.”

“What do you mean?”

“As Elder Taejung said, not only do we lack a proper successor. We’ve also lost our center of gravity.”

At the words of a relatively young middle-aged man, several people sighed.

He hadn’t said anything wrong.

At that moment, the Blood Sect couldn’t even think about a rebirth.

Its very survival was at risk.

“And most importantly, we practically have no new members. Especially among the younger generation. They’ve disappeared completely.”

Furthermore, the Blood Sect was practically devoid of new recruits.

No matter how famous Blood Demon was in the Gallery, that fame was ultimately just a meme.

In the past, those who joined the Blood Sect were people fascinated by Wi Hochang’s martial prowess.

But the Great Blood War had taken place fifty years ago.

If it had been ten years ago, it would have been a different story, but half a century had passed.

Even those who had been in their twenties back then were now gray-haired elders.

Not to mention those who had already been adults.

More than half of the elders died during the Great Blood War.

And among the survivors, half later died from lingering injuries or natural causes.

Even the youngest members of the sect were already over fifty years old.

That said everything.

“That is a serious problem. If no new faces appear, the Blood Sect will naturally disappear. Does anyone know why this is happening?”

“Hmph! It’s because those brats don’t understand the greatness of the Blood Sect.”

“In our day, people who wanted to join were as numerous as the sea…”

“This is all the fault of the damned Martial Alliance.”

No.

The fault lies with you.

The middle-aged man mocked them inwardly while maintaining a faint smile.

People incapable of seeing reality because they were still intoxicated by the glory of the past.

While Blood Demon was still present, it had been enough to simply follow him.

But now he had achieved Immortal Ascension.

Furthermore, the Martial Alliance, the victor of the Great Blood War, had exposed the Blood Sect’s darkest truths one by one.

The Martial Alliance’s own hands were not clean either.

But the victors always take everything, and the defeated have no choice but to endure it.

After all, even Blood Demon had massacred civilians.

It was an organization difficult to admire from any perspective.

And to make matters worse, the situation couldn’t even be controlled in the Gallery.

All kinds of information had spread.

And on top of that, self-proclaimed Blood Sect members—impossible to tell whether they were genuine or not—were causing disturbances everywhere.

As a result, now merely mentioning the Blood Sect was enough for people to start making jokes about cockroaches and similar things.

“Silence, everyone! Complaining won’t solve anything, and you know it! Propose solutions!”

“If we demonstrated our power like Blood Demon did…”

“We? Even Elder Geumjang was humiliated by Heavenly Demon. The only thing we’d accomplish would be increasing her prestige even more.”

Numerous arguments and counterarguments were exchanged.

But no convincing solution emerged.

After all, they were elders who had already lost much of their strength and clarity.

Using Gallery slang, they were genuine old-timers trapped in a bygone era.

“Isn’t there something more important than all of that?”

“And what would that be?”

“Who will be the successor? No matter what we say, we need someone to lead us.”

“……”

Let’s decide the successor first.

At those words, silence fell once more.

Everyone knew that arguing would not unify opinions.

So the idea was simple.

Choose a successor and follow his direction.

“Ahem. Since even Elder Geumjang has fallen…”

“How about taking the position yourself, Elder Taejung?”

“I am already too old. This weakened body will soon return to the earth.”

“Then whom would you propose as successor?”

“What if we follow the traditional method of the Blood Sect?”

The traditional method of the Blood Sect was simple.

Fight until one side died.

When the sect was at its peak, it was a fairly reasonable method.

Now it wasn’t.

Their numbers were too small.

Every member was valuable.

“We should avoid that. Fighting among ourselves is already a problem, and it would severely damage the successor’s legitimacy.”

“And no one possessed legitimacy comparable to Geumjang’s…”

Legitimacy within the Blood Sect was simple.

How much had Blood Demon personally taught that individual?

And Geumjang had been one of the few who had even directly shared martial arts with Blood Demon.

That was why he had been the ideal candidate.

Although now it no longer mattered.

In that sense, the person with the greatest legitimacy was—

“Speaking of which, wasn’t there a monkey that received direct teachings from Blood Demon?”

“It wasn’t a monkey. It was an ape. More specifically, a gorilla.”

“You’re not suggesting we make that beast our successor, are you?”

No matter how far they had fallen, they were still human.

It was natural for them to feel resistance toward appointing a mere ape as their successor.

This was an issue that went beyond pride.

Even the members of the Blood Sect were half in agreement on that point.

However—

“Is there anyone here who inherited Blood Demon’s martial arts?”

“…..”

“Well, some of us received small teachings…”

“But no one inherited them as completely as those gorillas did. Their martial arts are extraordinary. That much is undeniable.”

“Even so, making gorillas our…”

“We’re only talking about naming them successors. Not worshipping them.”

The old man’s idea was simple.

Naming someone a successor and worshipping them were two different things.

They could make use of them as much as possible.

And then quietly eliminate them.

Most importantly, once they obtained their martial arts, everything would be settled.

Besides, that creature could speak.

Learning from it wouldn’t be difficult.

“Certainly…”

“It doesn’t seem like a bad option.”

“After all, it’s still just a gorilla.”

With persuasion that could hardly be called persuasion, they eventually steered the discussion toward naming the apes—that is, the gorillas—as successors.

After all, no matter how intelligent a gorilla was, how could it possibly be smarter than a human?

“Of course we should name the ape leader as the successor. He’s the strongest.”

“What nonsense! Didn’t you hear what they said earlier? That ape expelled his own brother, the white ape! Blood Demon was also cast out for being physically different! I can never accept something like that!”

“And where did you hear that story? I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“There was a post about it in the Gallery.”

“And you actually believe that?”

Now not even the Blood Sect members themselves possessed reliable information about Blood Demon.

And thus began a genuine competition of stupidity.

The Gorilla Leader or Lackey?

Strength or legitimacy?

And so on.

In theory, it should have been a trivial debate, but—

‘What kind of idiocy is this?’

From the middle-aged man’s perspective, the entire thing was a farce from beginning to end.

Blood Demon’s greatness concealed the truth, but the Blood Sect had always been a somewhat deficient organization.

In the past, there had been intelligent people.

But even they disappeared during the Great Blood War.

There was no one left who could be considered the group’s “brain.”

More precisely, there was no one left capable of understanding reality.

And where had the intelligent people gone?

They had all ended up joining either the Martial Alliance or the Demonic Cult.

The only difference was whether they accepted the existing system or were dissatisfied with it.

Because no sane person would join the Blood Sect.

‘What the hell do they think the Forest of Four Seasons is?’

The middle-aged man had many things he wanted to say.

So many that he didn’t even know where to begin.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when everything had gone so wrong.

Let’s assume for a moment that they really wanted to make a gorilla their successor.

But how were they planning to bring it back?

Were they intending to personally enter the Forest of Four Seasons, that hell and purgatory from which no one could escape?

Thanks to WildGrills’ existence, a fair amount of information about the Forest of Four Seasons had recently become known.

But it was still merely a drop in the ocean.

No one knew what dangers lurked within.

And above all, it was still uncertain whether leaving alive was even possible.

“Uh… Before anything else, there’s something we should consider.”

“Ah, right. What’s your opinion?”

“That’s not what I mean. The apes are in the Forest of Four Seasons… Setting aside finding them, will we actually be able to leave that place?”

“It would only be difficult.”

It would only be difficult for a single person.

In other words—

“Then how about we all enter the Forest of Four Seasons together?”

“Together…?”

“That’s right. The more of us there are, the stronger we become. That has always been the strength of our Blood Sect. Surely the same thing applies there.”

“……”

“Besides, there’s already a survivor inside. We can receive support from him.”

There was no plan.

It was obvious that entering that place with a group of idiots like these was equivalent to suicide.

Why not simply suggest holding hands and going together to die?

Did they not know the terrible reputation of the Forest of Four Seasons?

Or did they think this was some kind of holy mission?

The saying that the world is vast and full of lunatics didn’t even begin to cover it.

This went far beyond that level.

‘No… Wait. Wasn’t the Blood Sect, from the very beginning, a den of lunatics?’

And he himself was inside that den.

The middle-aged man slightly opened his mouth.

It looked as though he had been struck by a devastating existential crisis.

It almost seemed as if a pale soul was escaping from his mouth.

The old man mistakenly interpreted that reaction as admiration and smiled in satisfaction as he addressed the other members.

“Then it seems we’ve finally reached a consensus. Even so, the Forest of Four Seasons is known as a land of monsters. We’d better prepare properly.”

“Agreed. We’ll need to gather as many members as possible.”

“I don’t like the idea of accepting an ape as our successor, but we have no alternative.”

“Then what will we do when we find that survivor?”

“He has turned the successor into his servant. Naturally, he must receive heavenly punishment.”

Had their minds deteriorated that badly?

Did they truly believe they could enter and leave the Forest of Four Seasons alive?

Or were they simply idiots incapable of thinking?

“And what will you do?”

“Ah… I think I’ll return to my hometown for a while.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I heard there’s someone interested in joining.”

“Oh. That’s certainly good news. Very well.”

On the very day the Blood Sect began preparing to head toward the Forest of Four Seasons,

the middle-aged man fled from the Blood Sect.

***

Title) It was horrible working with you people

(Photo of several elderly men laughing and chatting)

Let’s never meet again, you damn old bastards.

ㄴWho are they? Your superiors?

ㄴYeah. They’re my superiors, but seriously, they were nothing but unbearable old men. I left because I couldn’t take it anymore.

ㄴThat must have been rough. There are too many people like that in the Central Plains.

ㄴSo what are you going to do now?

ㄴI’ll return to my hometown and take up farming. I had some experience with it in the past, so it shouldn’t be difficult.

ㄴWhy do they all look so evil? They have pretty sinister faces.

ㄴNow you understand how hard my life has been, right?

It seemed someone had quit today.

That was what I discovered while browsing the Gallery.

Occasionally, comments appeared saying that the Blood Sect was planning to enter the Forest of Four Seasons, but I decided to ignore them.

“Alright. Repeat after me. Park.”

“Park.”

“Jong.”

“Jong.”

“Hyuk.”

“Hyuk.”

“And now put it together.”

“Idiot.”

“Damn it! And where did you learn that word?”

“Park Jonghyuk.”

“You little bastard…”

How the hell was I supposed to make this gorilla listen to what I was saying?

People say the world is vast and full of lunatics, but I never imagined I’d end up being verbally humiliated by a gorilla.

‘This bastard is clearly smart if he can make fun of me like this.’

If he showed abilities like this, wouldn’t the Blood Sect go crazy insisting on making him their successor?

‘Nah. Impossible.’

That wouldn’t just be insanity.

That would be being dumber than a gorilla.