WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 157: Real-Life Fight (1)

──────

The hunt for runaway Kkobong had begun, but it ended before long.

It wasn't like Kkobong had planned to run away. He had just gotten excited and wandered all over the place.

After seeing the world as a blur his whole life, suddenly seeing it clearly must have come as a shock.

Kkobong had been born with poor eyesight and lived that way all his life. Now he could see the world properly with both eyes.

Even for me, that would've been more than just a whole new world. It would've been close to a miracle.

“Very good~. How long has it been since I gave you those glasses, and you already broke them?”

“……”

What ultimately got Kkobong caught was absurdly simple. His glasses had broken.

Even without mana, a gorilla was still a gorilla. He was far stronger than a human.

And glasses were easy to break with even a little force.

Kkobong had gotten excited too, so of course they broke.

‘At least only the frame broke.’

I looked back and forth between the glasses, snapped cleanly in half, and the dejected Kkobong.

It felt strange seeing that expression on someone who usually did nothing but scowl fiercely.

Getting his eyesight back must have made Kkobong that happy, even if it hadn't lasted long.

“Just wait. I'll see if I can fix them.”

“……”

Kkobong looked at me.

His expression seemed to desperately ask whether I really could fix them.

I snickered at the look on his face and immediately connected to the Gallery.

[Wild Grylls]: Sir. You know those glasses you gave me earlier.

[AllHailTheSun]: What's wrong with them? Is the prescription off?

[Wild Grylls]: No, Kkobong broke them. I think he got excited.

[AllHailTheSun]: How did he break them? Do I need to make a whole new pair?

[Wild Grylls]: No, only the middle part snapped cleanly.

[AllHailTheSun]: Then it'll be quick. Hand them over.

Not long after I sent the glasses back, AllHailTheSun sent over the repaired pair.

They even joked that they'd charge repair fees next time.

If Kkobong broke them again, I'd have to pay a fair price to get them repaired.

“Here. If you break them again, I'll padlock those glasses onto you.”

“Ssie, ssie.”

That probably meant thanks. Kkobong immediately put the glasses on.

Maybe because the prescription was so strong, he looked much gentler than before.

Without glasses, Kkobong was a bad-tempered gorilla. With them, it was the complete opposite.

His eyes looked smaller too, making his distinctly ape-like stupidity stand out.

‘It's surprising how well they fit.’

Gorillas practically had no nose bridge.

I worried the glasses would slide down, but it turned out to be pointless.

Kkobong's head was strangely huge, so the glasses were almost like goggles.

They barely moved, even during vigorous activity.

‘They only broke earlier because he kept putting them on and taking them off.’

With Kkobong's eyesight problem solved, I checked the questionnaire one last time.

After the question about Rais Kraone, I had something else I wanted to ask.

It might have been a very sensitive question for Kkobong too.

“Kkobong. Want to look at this?”

“Ooh.”

Maybe because his vision had been corrected and the glasses had been repaired, Kkobong read the questionnaire without frowning like before.

“……”

I took that back. His face crumpled the moment he read the question.

Kkobong looked thoroughly displeased. Honestly, it was the reaction I expected, since it was a sensitive question.

‘I’d be upset too.’

The question was about the Chief Gorilla, who I suspected was Kkobong's sibling.

Whether Wi Hochang had taught martial arts to both Kkobong and the Chief Gorilla, and why Kkobong had left the troop.

The Chief Gorilla seemed kind for an animal, but I wanted to hear the full story.

“……#%@!%”

Kkobong thought for a while before speaking.

Maybe he was willing to tell me this much because I had even given him glasses.

I recorded everything Kkobong said and sent it to Heavenly Demon.

I wanted to post it on the Gallery, but I decided against it because it would probably cause a fuss.

[Heavenly Demon]: Quite an interesting story. It appears that when someone called Wi Hochang arrived one day, the leader changed as well.

[Wild Grylls]: Are you saying Wi Hochang killed the leader and took the position?

[Heavenly Demon]: Something like that. More surprising still, it is presumed that Blood Demon reached the Life-and-Death Realm and underwent Feathered Ascension to Immortality.

[Wild Grylls]: Life-and-Death Realm? Feathered Ascension to Immortality? What are those?

It sounded vaguely familiar, but I had no clue what it meant.

Judging by how even Heavenly Demon sounded shocked, it had to be an incredibly high realm.

[Heavenly Demon]: The Life-and-Death Realm is the realm I currently occupy, one step beyond the Mystical Realm. One gains the qualifications for Feathered Ascension to Immortality and can accomplish all things through mental will alone.

[Wild Grylls]: What's Feathered Ascension to Immortality?

[Heavenly Demon]: It means casting aside one's physical body and becoming an immortal. Yet it is strange. Blood Demon's martial arts are far removed from the Dao, and Blood Demon must have many attachments to this world as well. Could Blood Demon have become a Daoist while living in the forest?

Heavenly Demon repeatedly asked whether Blood Demon had really undergone Feathered Ascension to Immortality.

I didn't understand it either, but I asked Kkobong what Heavenly Demon wanted answered.

Kkobong didn't seem to know the term Feathered Ascension to Immortality. He only said that Blood Demon had gone up into the sky.

He added that it happened “from time to time.”

Whenever Blood Demon went up into the sky, the panicked gorilla troop supposedly clung to Blood Demon's pant legs.

[Heavenly Demon]: Hmm. From those words alone, I cannot tell whether that truly refers to Feathered Ascension to Immortality. Still, there is a high possibility that Blood Demon truly underwent it.

[Wild Grylls]: I guess so? The Chief Gorilla was wearing clothes, after all.

Feathered Ascension to Immortality or not, Blood Demon, Wi Hochang, wasn't in this forest anymore.

I didn't know the details, but Blood Demon seemed to have lived quite a turbulent life.

“#$%%!!”

Once Kkobong began talking about what happened after Blood Demon ascended, he erupted in anger.

When I asked for a translation, it turned out Kkobong had been driven out of the troop immediately after Blood Demon disappeared.

The backlash from the troop had been so severe that even Wiheuk, Kkobong's sibling and the Chief Gorilla, had apparently had no choice.

That was why Kkobong couldn't help having bad feelings toward the gorilla troop.

‘It was unavoidable for survival, but...’

Kkobong was an albino gorilla, conspicuous wherever he went.

The other gorillas might have been put in danger too, so exile had been inevitable.

Judging by the intensity of the backlash, Kkobong should have been expelled long ago. As it turned out, Blood Demon had been stopping it.

Blood Demon had also killed the original leader because that leader tried to exile Kkobong despite Blood Demon's orders.

‘Maybe Blood Demon had trauma about that kind of thing?’

There was the story that Blood Demon massacred a particular ethnic group out of vengeance, along with the fact that Blood Demon protected Kkobong.

Maybe Blood Demon had been part of a minority group, one that had been rejected, and was sensitive about it.

Still, that was only my theory. I couldn't be sure.

To learn more, there was no choice but to find the Chief Gorilla, Wiheuk.

Wiheuk might have written a book in the meantime, or left behind some other trace.

[Heavenly Demon]: It would be best to post this story on the Gallery.

[Wild Grylls]: Huh? Won't weird people start causing trouble again?

Heavenly Demon made a strange suggestion while we were talking.

Feathered Ascension to Immortality meant becoming an immortal. Put simply, it meant ascending to heaven.

The reason the Blood Cult was scattered and only made a fuss in the Gallery was Blood Demon's disappearance.

But if Blood Demon had actually undergone Feathered Ascension to Immortality? It would give them legitimacy they didn't have before. It wouldn't be strange for them to treat Blood Demon as a martyr.

‘There are all kinds of terrorist assholes on Earth too. This place would only be worse.’

Would Heavenly Demon have brought this up without knowing that? I didn't think so.

She had to have her own plan.

[Heavenly Demon]: You need not worry. This will be an opportunity to crush all those insects.

[Wild Grylls]: Insects?

[Heavenly Demon]: As you have seen, those Blood Cult bastards behave atrociously even in the Gallery.

There were countless malicious users in the Gallery.

But according to her, the Blood Cult was the worst bunch of all.

It wasn't enough that they worshipped Blood Demon, a mass murderer. Whenever they got bored, they even committed copycat crimes.

The reason searches didn't show related posts was because Head Mod and Heavenly Demon thoroughly deleted them and handed out bans.

But unless someone was a registered user, filtering out anonymous posts was almost meaningless.

Unlike registered users, Anonymous Users came right back soon after getting banned.

According to one theory, it was because the mana they absorbed was different.

Just as the water someone drank each day was never completely identical, mana was the same.

That was why banning Anonymous Users meant little.

Then why were registered users different? You could ask whether registered users didn't also consume different mana.

It was a little different. Anonymous Users were identified by mana, whereas registered users were identified by their dantians.

Of course, even if all of that was highly plausible, it was still only a theory. It was better not to put too much weight on it.

‘Uh... come to think of it, this does remind me of something.’

I'd seen plenty of users like that online. The kind who made you wonder if they were genuinely mentally ill.

Sometimes it was just an act, but there were also real ones who used creepy ways of speaking and logic.

You could ask whether it was weird to worship someone from decades ago.

‘There are bastards who worship Hitler, so Blood Demon isn't much of a stretch.’

The development of the internet made information exchange faster, but it also spread harmful ideologies.

And because information moved so quickly, distortions could become more subtle too.

When you looked at the truth about those people, most of them were nothing special.

Maybe that was what Heavenly Demon was after, exterminating cockroaches hiding in the dark.

‘Luring out the cockroaches is good, but...’

Who was going to exterminate them? That was a problem in itself.

Since Heavenly Demon had brought it up herself, she had to have another plan.

Honestly, I could just stir shit up and be done with it. The so-called pleasure without responsibility.

I'd become more cautious after the Undying King incident, but I had always been at the center of the storm.

[Wild Grylls]: I don't mind posting it, but can we handle the aftermath? It feels like there could be a huge problem in the real world too.

[Heavenly Demon]: I will handle everything, so you need not worry.

Maybe the Gallery alone couldn't ease her loneliness and boredom.

After hearing Heavenly Demon out, I thought for a while before making my decision.

[Wild Grylls]: I'll ask Head Mod for permission first. I don't want to get on their bad side.

[Heavenly Demon]: Do so.

It would be a pain if I got banned for no reason.

I immediately told Head Mod about it.

[DontAbandonTheHero]: That much is fine! It isn't an inflammatory post!

[Wild Grylls]: Isn't causing tension and conflict between nations prohibited?

[DontAbandonTheHero]: I think anyone who takes a gorilla's words at face value is an idiot!

[Wild Grylls]: Um...

Come to think of it, that was true too.

Anyway, with permission secured, I posted the recorded videos as they were.

[Post title] Title) I heard Blood Demon underwent Feathered Ascension to Immortality?

[Author] Wild Grylls

[Post] (Video of Kkobong bringing up Blood Demon's Feathered Ascension to Immortality)

[Post] (Video of Kkobong getting angry and talking about the past)

[Post] From what Kkobong says, Blood Demon already underwent Feathered Ascension to Immortality? Kkobong keeps saying Blood Demon went up into the sky.

[Post] Does this mean Wi Hochang is alive? Or what does this mean?

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Blood Demon underwent Feathered Ascension to Immortality? Just how strong was Blood Demon?

└ [Wild Grylls]: Heavenly Demon says Blood Demon entered the Life-and-Death Realm. What do they call that in the West?

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: There's no particular term for it. Most ascend, so they can't affect the mortal world.

└ Hey. Does that mean those two gorillas are Blood Demon's official successors?

└ Lmao, the successors are gorillas lmao

└ Those Blood Cult fuckers sucked up to Blood Demon so hard, and they ended up worse than gorillas anyway lmao

└ Wasn't the Chief Gorilla fucking strong? They even used the Internal School Heavy-Handed Style.

└ Those bastards are just strong;;

└ Yeah. Blood Cult assholes, are you seething? You're still worse than gorillas, right?

└ The Hochang you people worship is gone now lmao

The die had been cast. I quietly exited the Gallery.

The post and comments would probably become a total mess from here on out.

It was getting close to dinner, so I wrapped up my work.

“Kkobong. Come up with me. The others are coming too.”

“Kkyuu!”

“……”

I went up to the river with my animal friends to get dinner.

Normally, I would have collected the Fish Trap alone, but now I had Kkobong.

Once I showed Kkobong how to retrieve it, he copied me easily.

‘This is why you need a worker.’

Having one more pair of hands made things so much easier.

Of course, I'd still have to handle delicate work like cleaning and cooking everything.

“Keeng!”

“What medicinal herb did you bring today?”

While I was at it, I took the medicinal herbs Papa Raccoon had brought too. This time, he had brought a whole pile.

They had striking pure white flowers, but I'd have to ask about their effects later.

Once we finished eating and cleaning up, I connected to the Gallery.

I expected the Blood Cult crowd to be going wild by now.

‘Just as expected.’

The Blood Cult and the other users were locked in a fierce war of words.

It didn't mean much, since the Blood Cult was such a dumpster fire anyway.

Still, they were remarkably good at getting under people's skin, and they were showing off incredible firepower.

[Gallery] [Yeah. You're still below gorillas lmao]

Of course, the Blood Cult users were all seething over that one line.

It was an attack based strictly on facts, so no one could refute it.

‘Can Heavenly Demon really pull this off?’

Thinking that, I opened the featured posts.

Then I saw an especially eye-catching title and got drawn in.

[Post title] Title) I'm going to kill those gorilla bastards.

[Author] Blood Demon Reborn, All Blood in Submission

[Post] (Photo of a palm stained red)

[Post] (Photo of the symbol representing the Blood Cult)

[Post] (Photo of a secret martial arts manual passed down by the Blood Cult)

[Post] The Exalted One can never acknowledge those foolish lesser beings as successors.

[Post] I will find them myself and take their heads.

[Post] And the one who dared mock Blood Demon will not escape unscathed either.

I couldn't tell whether it was an act or the truth.

It would have been one thing if they were anonymous, but they'd even gone and registered a username, which gave the post a little more credibility.

‘There are more insane bastards than you could imagine, so...’

I didn't care. If they wanted to come, they could come.

I was about to leave a comment.

└ [Heavenly Demon]: I thought you were all talk, but you are good at coloring too.

└ [Blood Demon Reborn, All Blood in Submission]: I do not know who you think you are to run your mouth. If you do not fear the Exalted One, show yourself.

└ [Heavenly Demon]: Wait. I will send it in a message.

Heavenly Demon's comment was sitting right there.

‘Isn't this an actual real-life fight challenge?’

It felt like something extremely entertaining was about to happen.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried