Got a Gallery in the Wild

There were several things I learned thanks to this tournament.

For example, why casinos give transportation money to people who go bankrupt.

It’s all part of the casino’s tricks.

They’ve already squeezed enough money out of them, and on top of that, they want them to come back next time.

Mine was even worse.

I didn’t have to prepare anything at all; I just had to show everyone the tournament.

Apparently, watching kangaroos fight each other was quite fascinating even to the people of this world, so it attracted a huge number of spectators.

Well, it also helped that I was a fairly famous fixed-name user in the Gallery.

‘I earned… quite a lot?’

I checked the Ladder Points I had earned just from commissions.

Every time I announced the result of a kangaroo match, the points kept pouring in nonstop.

From that alone, I had already earned no less than 300,000 points.

And that was after handing out emergency relief to everyone who had gone bankrupt.

‘Even if I have a lot of them, it’s not like they’re very useful.’

They were points that could only be used within the Gallery.

And what could I do with them?

Nothing.

They were little more than a kind of toy.

Maybe that was why they could even be traded between users who didn’t have fixed names.

Someone might wonder whether there were people buying those points with real money.

But that had been prohibited from the very beginning.

If trading them for real money were allowed, they would lose their value as the Gallery’s exclusive currency.

‘They’re nothing more than a decoration.’

And yet, it was a surprisingly addictive culture.

Why was something so difficult to obtain and completely worthless in the real world so addictive?

Title) Why do we hoard points?

It’s simple.

Because it’s the fairest system that exists.

Do you know how satisfying it is to watch those points slowly pile up?

Do you know what it feels like to lose all the points you worked so hard to collect in a single instant?

Do you know how it feels to see those points you swore with all your heart you’d never collect again right before your eyes?

This is something that not even money can buy!

So why the hell don’t you understand?!

They’re worthless?

Yes, they’re completely worthless in the real world.

But inside the Gallery, they’re everything! It’s the fairest system there is!

Don’t you understand how valuable that is?

You don’t?

Then give me your points.

I’ll make sure you understand.

ㄴWhat the hell happened to this guy? How did he end up like this? Hahaha.

ㄴSo in the end, this was just an excuse to beg for points. Hahaha.

ㄴHe’s begging with incredible confidence. I don’t even know what to say anymore.

ㄴSo, how many did our beggar lose?

ㄴMy entire fortune.

ㄴWhat are you doing? Why don’t you go buy some newspapers to sleep on? Oh, right… you can’t even afford that.

ㄴYou son of a…!

ㄴHahahahahahaha.

ㄴHahahahaha.

ㄴHahahahahahaha.

The reason was simple.

They could only be obtained through effort and luck.

The real world had virtually no influence over them.

That was precisely why users became so obsessed with points.

Of course, as a consequence, they were also creating a huge number of future gambling addicts.

But it was far better to go bankrupt in the Gallery than in real life.

Title) Trading points for money is strictly prohibited!

HeroDontThrowAway

Unless it’s a donation, any sign of exchanging real money for points will result in an immediate ban!

Let’s all enjoy a healthy and wholesome Gallery culture together!

ㄴMain Moderator, didn’t you say you were a priest?

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) Yes! I used to be a Paladin! Why do you ask?

ㄴIf you’re really a priest, I think you should give points to those most in need.

ㄴExactly. Main Moderator, I’ll stop you from giving real money to other people, but I’ll gladly accept your points.

ㄴMain Moderator, open up your point vault!

ㄴOpen the rich man’s granary!

ㄴGive us points!

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) (Image showing 0 points.) You’re right! Go ask the rich people for points!

ㄴ?? Why the hell does this guy have 0 too?

ㄴMain Moderator… Don’t tell me you too…

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) I want to strangle the kangaroo that threw that kung-fu kick!

ㄴHahahahahahaha.

ㄴHahahahaha.

ㄴHahahahahahaha.

ㄴTurns out the Main Moderator was a victim too. Hahaha.

ㄴThis system really does treat everyone equally. Hahaha.

And the Main Moderator was no exception.

As a priest, gambling wasn’t exactly compatible with his beliefs.

But this was the Gallery.

As he had already said before, as long as it stayed away from real-life gambling, there was no problem.

‘Besides, earning points isn’t difficult either.’

According to the Main Moderator, the method of earning points would remain the same as before.

And what was that method?

Very simple posts, comments, and recommendations.

Every time you make a post or leave a comment, you receive 1 point.

And every time someone recommends your post, you earn another point.

With a system like that, points would pile up quickly.

Especially in my case.

Every time I posted something, recommendations came flooding in, and my posts also ended up among the featured ones with ease.

Since the Gallery could be visited by people from all over the world, the number of recommendations was simply staggering.

The posts related to the kangaroo tournament alone had already surpassed ten thousand recommendations.

Title) Emergency relief tastes so good

DemonPrincess

Could you give me just a little more…?

ㄴWildGrills) ?? Wait… How long has it been since I gave them to you for you to have already lost them all again?

ㄴDemonPrincess) I said, “Just one more match,” and…

ㄴWildGrills) But I gave you a whole bunch.

ㄴDemonPrincess) Hehe… ;;

ㄴWildGrills) Seriously… ;;

ㄴNo wonder casinos give people bus fare before kicking them out.

ㄴPeople like this should honestly be banned from entering.

…

Wouldn’t it be better if I stopped posting about the tournament?

Too many people were losing everything, and even I was starting to feel sorry for them.

Maybe it would be better to wait until the Main Moderator properly implemented his policies before organizing it again.

Or, if not, I could keep handing out emergency relief periodically to keep the points circulating.

As I thought about it, I turned my attention back to the tournament.

The kangaroos were still locked in a fierce battle.

“Sniff…”

“Wonmo, does it still hurt?”

“Sniff… Kyuu…”

And Wonmo, who had burst into tears crying, “Bwaaah…,” was still clinging to my leg.

He seemed to be feeling a little better than before, but the tears were still falling like raindrops.

How could he be so adorable?

I gently patted his head.

“Uoooooh!”

By then, the fierce battle between the kangaroos had come to an end.

I uploaded the entire thing to the Gallery.

My posts had become a gathering place for compulsive gamblers and people who had lost everything, but I decided not to worry about it.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that, regardless of who won or lost, I needed to understand how this tournament actually worked.

‘I get the kangaroos, but what are all those other animals doing here?’

The kangaroos fought over the females.

The winner got to take whichever female he wanted.

But that only applied to the kangaroos.

I had no idea what the other animals were doing there.

Bears, raccoons, deer.

Had they also come just to watch the spectacle, like I had?

‘Could it be that animals can’t resist entertainment either?’

And they weren’t ordinary animals.

They were animals from the Four Seasons Forest, creatures with extraordinary intelligence.

It was even said that dolphins, whose intelligence was comparable to that of a child, also enjoyed certain substances.

Not drugs exactly; according to one theory, they used pufferfish venom to induce hallucinations.

‘But from the bear’s point of view, they’re all prey.’

It was a truly baffling place.

A place where common sense meant absolutely nothing.

And the strangest part was that the kangaroos themselves were bringing food to those animals.

It was as if they were offering every kind of service to VIP guests.

‘I’d better take a closer look.’

I decided to stop broadcasting for the time being and investigate the tournament.

As soon as I posted that I was going to do so, everyone started protesting, telling me not to and to keep broadcasting.

But I had no choice.

I needed to find out how this tournament was structured, what influence it had over the forest.

And above all, whether it could negatively affect my shelter.

“Hey, hey. Wake up. We’re leaving.”

“Watch that.”

“You can watch it later. First we need to figure out what’s going on here.”

“Mmm. Got it.”

I set off together with Lackey, who was completely absorbed in watching the kangaroos fight.

They say the two most entertaining things in the world are watching a fire from the opposite shore and watching a fight.

Lackey had fought many times just to survive, but since this was the first time he’d enjoyed such pure entertainment, he seemed completely captivated.

‘Could it be the same for the other animals?’

Perhaps the animals in the VIP section had also come simply because it was the first time they’d experienced entertainment like this.

Since they were different species from the kangaroos, they had probably been separated to avoid any incidents.

If that was the case, then my subordinate and I should be able to go there as well.

“Wonmo, don’t you think you can let go of me now?”

“Kyuu…”

Since Wonmo was still clinging to my leg, I ended up carrying him in my arms.

Apparently, his first defeat (?) had left him traumatized, because the moment I picked him up, he hugged me as tightly as he could.

I patted his back as I headed toward the area where the other animals were.

“Gruu?”

None of the kangaroos tried to stop me along the way.

Thanks to that, I reached it without any trouble.

As soon as I arrived, a huge black bear looked at me with a puzzled expression.

The other animals did exactly the same.

None of them looked at me kindly.

I didn’t know whether it was because of Lackey or Sloth, who was still hanging from my back.

Even so, they didn’t seem like they wanted to drive us away.

We were simply new faces.

“Frr.”

“…Huh? You… Could it be?”

The deer was also a familiar face.

You might think all deer look the same, but when it’s a leader, it usually has distinctive traits that set it apart.

“The campfire? You’re the one who received the campfire I made, aren’t you?”

“Frr.”

“I knew it.”

It was during that winter when even the river had frozen solid.

I met him when I went down to the river to take care of something.

He was the powerful deer that had knocked out a bull shark with a brutal kick after it leaped out of the water.

I had no idea why he was in the kangaroos’ cave.

‘Could this really be some kind of gathering place?’

I couldn’t understand how the kangaroos had managed to attract so many animals, nor why they had all come.

As I stood there completely bewildered.

I noticed something on the ground that I hadn’t been able to make out from afar.

‘What is… this?’

There weren’t just medicinal herbs.

There was also a honeycomb, probably brought by the bear.

And it wasn’t an ordinary honeycomb.

Honey dripped from it abundantly.

Moreover, it wasn’t the usual yellow color.

It shimmered as though it had been dusted with gold powder.

Just looking at it gave the impression that it had to be worth a fortune.

And the rest of the items didn’t look cheap either.

Title) What is this?

WildGrills

(Photo of various animals gathered together.)

(Photo of honey, medicinal herbs, and ginseng on the ground.)

(Video of the honey shining with a golden glow.)

I went to an area that looked like the VIP seats and found all this on the ground.

The honey is already incredible, but does anyone know what the other herbs are?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Golden honey… It looks like they brought a honeycomb from the Bee King.

ㄴWildGrills) The Bee King? Is he the king of all bees?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Normally, bees serve a queen. However, there is a king who even rules over that queen. He is known as the Bee King.

ㄴWildGrills) Just hearing about it makes it sound like an incredibly rare insect.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Much more than rare. Not only is it difficult to find, but obtaining one of its honeycombs even puts your life at risk.

ㄴAllFather) She’s referring to the King Bee. It doesn’t command a simple colony, but an actual army.

ㄴWildGrills) An army?

ㄴAllFather) That’s right. They say even its honeycomb is the size of a small village, assuming it really belongs to a King Bee.

ㄴBesides, a bear brought it, so it’s quite believable.

ㄴAsk him. You can have Lackey translate.

ㄴPutting that aside, what are the other plants? They all look like incredibly expensive medicinal herbs.

ㄴAllFather) They certainly do. Just from the photos, I can recognize Sun Grass, Snow Ginseng, and Belladonna… Any one of them would cause a huge sensation if it appeared on the market.

ㄴWhy did they leave them lying on the ground? Are they going to mix them together like bibimbap?

ㄴIf you eat that like it’s bibimbap, you’ll end up in serious trouble.

ㄴRather than ending up in trouble, I think your body would just explode.

There was one thing I was certain of.

I mustn’t touch anything.

The moment I laid a hand on it, not only would I receive murderous stares.

I might even lose an arm.

So I decided to simply observe.

I wanted to find out what all of it was for.

“Puooooo!”

It looked like another match had just ended.

I turned my gaze toward the arena.

From the VIP seats, the stadium was perfectly visible.

“Gruu…”

It was then, as I watched the match.

The huge bear, who had remained seated without moving until then, slowly began to stand up.

I wondered what he was doing.

But to my surprise, he walked straight toward the center of the arena.

As I watched him, completely confused.

The other animals also began to move.

‘Is it already over?’

Otherwise, there was no reason for all of them to stand up.

My questions only kept multiplying.

“Puo… Puu…”

“Huh? No, no! Don’t push me!”

To make matters worse, a kangaroo that I had no idea where it came from started pushing me from behind.

It tried to shove me toward the center of the arena, but I barely managed to get away.

I returned to the spectator area.

Still wondering what the hell was going on.

“Kuoooo!”

“Frr.”

The bear and the deer, who until just moments ago had only been watching from the VIP section, violently clashed with one another.

The deer launched a fierce headbutt with his sharp antlers.

The bear grabbed hold of those antlers, and the two began a contest of strength.

A completely unexpected exhibition match.

Or perhaps.

Was this the real main event?

Thud!

“Guagh!”

Either way.

The winner was the deer.

His antler charge struck the bear squarely in the solar plexus, knocking him out on the spot.

But the most surprising part came afterward.

The next match wasn’t between a bear and a deer.

It was between a raccoon and a kangaroo.

“Keeeeng!”

The winner was the kangaroo.

The size difference was simply too great.

From then on, different animals began fighting each other, and little by little, winners and losers emerged.

What stood out was that the participants kept entering new matches over and over again.

The kangaroos had changed as well.

Unlike before, now only the strongest individuals took part.

After a while.

Crack!

“Guh!”

The deer’s powerful kick struck the kangaroo squarely in the jaw.

The force was so terrifying that the kangaroo was knocked unconscious with his tongue hanging out.

The final victor was the deer.

“Puooooo!”

“Uooooo!”

The kangaroos erupted into cheers.

The defeated kangaroo’s companions had no choice but to accept the outcome.

And the deer, thoroughly enjoying his victory…

“Nom, nom… Nom.”

“…”

“Mmm… Mmm.”

He feasted on the victor’s spoils—the honey and medicinal herbs.

Seeing that, I finally understood.

‘Was this really an arena?’

It wasn’t just a figure of speech.

It was a genuine combat arena in the truest sense of the word.