WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 164: Wild Horse (1)
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I’d even filled the bridge with concrete.
With the extra reinforcement, it was sturdy enough to crawl across.
The Gallery’s Real-Life Fight was over too, so there was nothing left to keep an eye on.
Other than teaching Kkobong Korean and training, everything I could do or needed to do had been taken care of all at once.
‘I’m starting to get the hang of cold energy.’
This was how I used the cold energy I’d learned to wield.
I kept it separated normally, then used it only when necessary.
It took time for it to gather again, but I’d probably get faster at it with practice.
‘What should I do now?’
Waiting around until the environment across the river changed and people showed up wasn’t a bad idea, but it was a huge waste of time.
The Forest of Four Seasons was wilderness that changed by the moment. Doing nothing here and waiting for something to happen was practically the same as saying I wanted to die.
‘Should I have Kkobong train me?’
You might ask what kind of training a gorilla could give me, but I wanted to learn martial arts.
Kkobong’s martial arts were extremely advanced.
Kkobong’s realm was lower than the Chief Gorilla’s, but the fundamentals were solid.
And me? I didn’t even have proper fundamentals, let alone know how to throw a real punch.
Like someone said, I was getting stupidly strong, so I was getting by, but underneath it all, I was hollow.
I’d only beaten Kkobong because Kkobong didn’t know I possessed cold energy.
‘Didn’t they say that out of mind, technique, and body, technique was what I lacked most?’
Even Heavenly Demon and SwordTasteMaster couldn’t teach me technique.
Let me stress this again. It wasn’t that they didn’t teach me. They couldn’t.
SwordTasteMaster’s post also meant that its effectiveness was maximized only when you had a foundation.
So I asked Kkobong whether I could be taught something simple...
“No.”
“Why?”
“You. Hate.”
“...”
The moment I heard Kkobong’s curt answer, I gave up.
There was no point threatening Kkobong. If I pushed too hard and got some weird instruction, there might be no fixing it.
In the end, now that the bridge was complete, I had a lot of free time.
Should I go exploring while I had the chance?
‘If I do that, it’d be better to remove Kkobong’s suppressor...’
Then Kkobong would run away immediately. That much was obvious.
At least until we could trust each other completely, I had no intention of taking it off.
‘Or should I just use Kkobong as a porter?’
That was probably the best option.
The Subspace Backpack didn’t reduce mass, so the weight stayed the same.
If I left all of that to Kkobong, exploring would become much easier.
And since Kkobong was a gorilla, heavy loads wouldn’t be a problem either.
‘The more I think about it, the better this sounds.’
Having one worker made this much of a difference. Nice.
I spent a moment slowly forming a plan in my head, then checked the map.
If I brought Kkobong along, the place I absolutely had to avoid was, naturally, the gorillas’ territory.
Nobody knew what kind of conflict might happen if we entered it.
Especially if we ran into the Chief Gorilla. Kkobong might have a fit.
“Hm...”
Come to think of it, there wasn’t much time left until evening.
I could explore for an hour or two, then return.
It didn’t matter if I went somewhere I’d already visited, since the season had changed.
I also needed to see how the terrain changed with each season.
‘I should check the place with that huge tree too.’
The giant tree standing alone. Would Kkobong know it?
It would be good to ask the dad raccoon as well, not just Kkobong.
“Kkobong. Do you know a place with a tree much bigger than all the others?”
“Don’t know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t been teaching Kkobong Korean for long, yet Kkobong was already answering fluently.
If even Kkobong, who had lived as a wanderer, didn’t know, I should ask the dad raccoon.
“Keeng?”
“Looks like you don’t know either. I’ll gladly take the medicinal herb.”
Since neither of them knew, I had no choice but to find it myself.
Reaching that place could take at least a day, maybe even longer.
Compasses didn’t work in that area, so I might get lost forever if I made one wrong turn.
‘I can’t rely on just cutting marks into trees as trail markers.’
It would be better to keep making signposts and set one up everywhere I visited for the first time.
Without a compass, this was my best option. And since I had a worker now, carrying them wouldn’t be a problem.
“Kyuu?”
I was still deciding where to explore when Wonmo cautiously approached me.
He must have seen my expression and wondered if something was wrong.
I stared at Wonmo’s adorable face for a moment, then scooped him up.
He’d lost a little weight over the winter, so his chubby build had become adorably pudgy.
‘He shed his fur in no time too.’
It wasn’t just his weight. His fur had fallen out in clumps too. Cleaning it up had been a hassle.
Still, his overall body kept growing.
“Here, Wonmo. Pick somewhere you want to go.”
“Kyuu?”
“Anywhere is fine.”
It was hard to choose, so I decided to leave it to Wonmo’s luck.
If I thought of it as taking Wonmo for a walk to get some fresh air rather than exploring, it felt easier.
Wonmo seemed to understand what I said, because he stared intently at the map.
Then he wiggled his cute, short forelegs and pointed somewhere.
“Kyuu!”
“Here? This place is...”
Empty. Somewhere I hadn’t explored at all.
It was near the path the Chief Gorilla had personally made for me.
I’d thought I would go there someday, but other things kept coming up.
After some thought, I nodded. We’d be back soon, so it should be fine.
“Okay. Let’s go. But we’ll be back quickly, all right?”
“Kyuu!”
Wonmo smiled brightly at the permission to go out. How could he be this cute?
I rubbed my cheek against Wonmo’s adorable face, then quietly set him down.
The moment he was down, he ran around and bounced everywhere. He must have really liked going out.
“Here. Kkobong, carry this.”
“Ooh.”
I gave Kkobong miscellaneous things, including tools. I carried important items like the Elixir myself.
Then I put Fast Sloth on my back, and we were ready to go.
I also didn’t forget to set up CCTV cameras, since someone might break into our home while we were gone.
[Post title] Title) Exploring for the First Time in a While
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (Photo of Kkobong turned into a porter)
[Post] I’m going exploring for the first time in a while. I’m only going right nearby, so I should be back soon.
[Post] The photo is Kkobong after becoming a porter. Having an extra hand makes life so easy.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Kkobong certainly looks more docile with glasses on.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Kkobong looks completely dissatisfied, though? lol
└ What can Kkobong even do if dissatisfied lol
└ fr, what can Kkobong do besides grumble lol
└ [Wild Grylls]: Kkobong swears in Korean now. Says Kkobong learned it from me.
└ Look at that learning ability;; Isn’t Kkobong smarter than most people?
└ The more I see Kkobong, the more it feels that way lol
└ [Allfather]: You are heading out. What do you think you will discover this time?
└ [Wild Grylls]: If I find a unicorn, I’ll post a picture right away.
└ [Allfather]: If possible, I would appreciate a unicorn horn. Hoho.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Are those expensive?
└ You’ll come to your senses after getting stabbed by a unicorn horn;;
└ A ton of hunters have died after getting stabbed by unicorn horns while trying to catch one. Just ignore it.
└ They have awful tempers too, so it’s best not to deal with them.
I’d only said it as a joke, but comments warning me off poured in.
It seemed their tempers were much worse than I’d imagined.
I should’ve known from the part about how they would only let pure maidens ride them.
They wouldn’t act like that unless they had shitty personalities.
‘Well, that’s only if I actually run into a unicorn.’
I headed toward the path the Chief Gorilla had made.
Wonmo led the way, while Kkobong followed at the very back.
I figured we’d keep this formation for a while.
‘Nothing should be too different...’
I thought the area beyond the path the Chief Gorilla had cleared would be nothing more than an ordinary forest.
It wasn’t.
Rather than lushness, this was a place that felt barren.
Maybe I should call it an entirely gray area. The fallen leaves and the trees were both gray.
Traces of something having been scorched remained everywhere. Had there been a forest fire recently?
‘No. If there had been a fire, everything would have been completely burned away.’
It looked more like all the moisture had been sucked out, turning everything gray.
Something was seriously wrong. I moved carefully, staying alert.
“Hey, Kkobong. Do you know why this is like this?”
“Fire.”
“Fire?”
“Fire.”
When I asked Kkobong, all Kkobong said was “fire.”
It seemed this forest had turned gray because of fire, but I didn’t know the details.
At least it was far from my shelter. Otherwise, I would’ve suffered serious damage too.
‘What could be related to fire that made it like this?’
It wasn’t like the space across the river had changed.
It felt more like “fire” had claimed this entire area as its territory.
I carefully checked between the fallen leaves for poisonous insects as I walked.
Gwoooooo-
“...”
Then I came face-to-face with an ominous cave.
My instincts told me someone was inside.
It seemed best not to provoke the cave’s owner.
Just as I was about to quietly turn back...
“Kyuu!”
Wonmo must have thought he had found a new animal and suddenly took off.
In an instant, Wonmo vanished into the darkness of the cave.
The moment I saw that, I jumped in surprise and was about to run after him.
Whoosh!
“Kyuaaaak!!!”
Massive flames lit up the entire dark cave.
The instant Wonmo realized the flames were dangerous, he scrambled away.
Then he hid behind my legs, trembling.
Wonmo was normally brave, so if he was this scared, whatever was inside was no ordinary creature.
Clop. Clop. Clop.
Before long, flames rose from the cave and slowly began advancing toward us.
The incredible heat forced me to stagger backward.
Now I understood why this forest was entirely gray and why there was no moisture left.
Fwoooosh!
I stirred the energy in my body, preparing to unleash cold energy at any moment.
Then the owner of the territory stepped out of the cave.
‘...A horse?’
The animal wrapped in flames was a horse. A huge horse, at that.
It was tall enough that I had to tilt my head up slightly to see it.
Flames flickered in place of a mane.
Its eyes burned as though they too were wrapped in fire.
Its entire body was pitch-black, giving it an overwhelming presence.
“...Prrr.”
The Flame Horse snorted as if asking why I had disturbed its nap.
I slowly backed away, showing that I had no intention of fighting.
Wild horses naturally had terrible tempers. There was no point provoking it further for no reason.
‘Slowly. Back up slowly...’
Flick!
As I backed away, a small rock suddenly flew over the Flame Horse’s head.
It had not gone far before it landed on the Flame Horse’s head.
Tap!
Whoooosh!!
At the same time, the Flame Horse’s fire grew far more intense than before.
As if to prove it was angry, the flames slowly changed from red to blue.
“This is fucking great, huh?”
“...”
The culprit who had thrown the rock was grinning.
It looked like Kkobong had done this on purpose just to screw me over.
Kkobong probably figured it would be nice if I died, and that running away would always be an option if things went wrong.
“Hey, you son of a bitch!”
Just you wait. I’m putting a padlock on those glasses later.
* * *
Just before Grylls fought the Flame Horse, on the grasslands.
Ludwig was still riding the giraffe.
His foot was badly injured, making it difficult even to walk.
He had found the most useful medicinal herbs he could and performed first aid, but even that wasn’t enough.
‘Will I have to amputate it?’
He could clearly feel that the injured area was necrosing.
Whenever he circulated mana, it felt as though that part alone had vanished.
Keeping the worst-case scenario in mind, Ludwig looked across the river.
There was nothing on the other side now except a rocky wasteland.
-Gwoooaar!
-Wooooaar!
Two enormous beasts were fighting there.
Their hides were as tough as though elephants had been dressed in armor.
Their legs were much thicker than an elephant’s, and their balance was stable.
Finally, they had tusks sharpened like blades. They were terrifying just to look at.
‘So this was what they meant by watching someone else’s fire from across the river. Safely watching their troubles.’
Ludwig quietly watched the two creatures fight.
“Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!!!”
Someone else had fallen straight into a pit of fire.
Footnotes:
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