WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 41: Con Artist (2)
──────
It was bizarre beyond belief.
I stared at the empty box, trying to make sense of it.
No matter how many times I searched it, the Golden Mushroom was nowhere to be found. It wasn't like Wonmo had secretly eaten it, either.
It was as if it had grown limbs and vanished on its own. I couldn't make sense of it at all.
‘Could a thief like Fast Sloth have stolen it?’
I stared at Fast Sloth.
Fast Sloth was nibbling at the Fasting Pill I had given it, holding it between its claws.
That didn't mean it had eaten the Golden Mushroom. If anything had eaten it, it would have been another animal.
Fast Sloth had tried to steal fish before. It hadn't succeeded, but still.
Going by that, there were probably animals that targeted plants and animals packed with nutrients.
‘Still, the Golden Mushroom is way too risky, isn't it?’
Even animals usually left mushrooms alone.
And the Golden Mushroom practically looked like it was screaming, I HAVE POISON! EAT ME AND DIE!
Bright colors meant deadly poison. Even animals knew that.
Even if something had eaten it, there should have been some trace left behind. The mystery refused to clear up.
‘This is weird.’
Maybe it was for the best. I'd been having trouble figuring out what to do with it anyway.
Still, someone might have wanted the Golden Mushroom, so I made a post on the gallery.
[Post title] The mushroom vanished
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (Photo of an empty box)
[Post] I put the mushroom I found yesterday in a box, but when I woke up today, it was gone;;
[Post] I thought Wonmo ate it, but that wasn't it either. This is seriously weird.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: A mushroom ran away? What an astonishing thing. Did it grow legs?
└ [Wild Grylls]: I don't know either. I looked around, but there aren't even any footprints.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: It is not as though a mushroom could use Void-Stepping.
└ [Wild Grylls]: What's Void-Stepping?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: A technique that lets one walk or run through empty air. The pinnacle of lightness arts.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Can you do it, Heavenly Demon?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: This woman has reached the realm of Sky-Soaring Void Flight, not Void-Stepping. I may fly through the skies as I please.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Oh;;
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? That would put you at Grand Master level, wouldn't it?
└ [Heavenly Demon]: What does that mean? Explain it simply.
└ If we're comparing it to the Central Plains, isn't that the Mystical Realm?
└ Probably around there. Has anyone in the Central Plains even reached the Mystical Realm?
└ There are so few that you'd have to dig through history books to find them.
└ The Transformation Realm is enough to destroy an entire city, but the Mystical Realm? LOL
└ [Heavenly Demon]: I understand. This woman has reached the Mystical Realm.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Sure, sure. Of course you have~
└ [Allfather]: Maybe the mushroom really did grow legs.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Really?
└ [Allfather]: There are muscular mushrooms out there. Golden Mushrooms having arms and legs would be the bare minimum.
└ [Wild Grylls]: It was quiet when I caught it, though?
└ [Allfather]: It is a mistake to judge nature's laws by Grylls's common sense. Think of Fast Sloth.
└ [Wild Grylls]: Ah.
Listening to the sage Allfather's advice, I came to a realization. Maybe it really had grown legs.
This was a fantasy world. The Forest of Four Seasons was a place where even this world's common sense didn't apply.
And I was the one suffering there. Saying it like that made me a little sad.
Either way, no matter what happened, I couldn't judge things by common sense.
There was a Sloth that could snatch arrows out of the air, after all.
└ [Wild Grylls]: I guess I'll have to consider it lost.
└ [Allfather]: That's a shame. I wanted to study it.
It was disappointing, but there was nothing I could do. This had happened through carelessness, even if it wasn't really my fault.
I should just take comfort in the fact that nobody had attacked me in the middle of the night.
I closed the gallery and approached the hose to wash my face.
Trickle, trickle.
The stream of water coming through the hose was weak.
The moment I saw it, I knew. Another fish had been caught.
It seemed like one got caught at least once a day. This was great.
‘Once I get the Fish Trap from Passing Dwarf, I won't have to worry about meals.’
For the time being, my food worries seemed likely to ease up.
I was planning to set traps soon, too. Things would only get more abundant from there.
As long as I learned a decent hunting method, I probably wouldn't starve to death.
I'd die some other way, like poisoning, disease, or getting eaten by an animal.
Or I could step somewhere dangerous and die out in the wilderness. There were plenty of ways to die.
‘...Yeah. Better than starving.’
That thought depressed me for a moment, but I shook it off. The fish was what mattered.
I got myself ready and headed for the river.
I didn't forget to feed Wonmo before leaving.
Splash! Splash!
When I arrived at the river, just as expected, a fish had been trapped in the narrow passage.
It was so large that it completely blocked the hose's entrance.
The fish I'd caught until now had been red, but this one was gold.
‘...Does this one have poison too?’
Pufferfish were the only poisonous fish I knew of.
Even pufferfish were supposed to live in the ocean.
‘It doesn't have spines, either.’
More importantly, it had no spines. All I could see was its smooth body.
It was gold, but it wasn't covered in bright multicolored patterns.
After some thought, I decided to take it back as it was.
It would be a pain if a Golden Frog showed up while I was standing around here.
“Here we go.”
This one was big enough that I had to wrap both arms around it.
Were all the fish in the Forest of Four Seasons this huge?
From my perspective, it was perfect. It meant I could eat my fill.
‘I should bring a big container next time.’
Holding the flopping Golden Fish, I made plans.
For convenience's sake, I needed at least a container or a net.
It wasn't because I lacked the strength. I needed them because the fish was too big to hold with one hand.
‘Or I could bring Fast Sloth with me.’
Fast Sloth was really capable. It was perfect as a bodyguard.
I returned to the cave and began preparing my meal.
I'd gotten used to cleaning fish by now, so it didn't take long.
‘Another one?’
On a hunch, I rummaged through its guts and found another Inner Core.
This one wasn't red. It was closer to gold.
Did every fish living in the Forest of Four Seasons have an Inner Core inside it?
This was already the third time, so I was seriously starting to suspect it.
‘Does this mean I can grow stronger just by eating fish? Then why are the survival rates so awful?’
While the fish slowly browned over the fire, I stared at the Inner Core.
Heavenly Demon had said it was like an inferior version of an elixir, but an Inner Core was still an Inner Core.
It would still make me stronger in a short time if I ate it.
‘Is it because getting stronger doesn't mean you can escape?’
That seemed highly likely.
What was the point of growing stronger if I couldn't get out?
‘I'm a special case, too.’
More than anything, I was a special case. I could use the gallery normally in the Forest of Four Seasons.
Unlike me, who could at least ask for advice, everyone else was on their own. They were just throwing themselves against a wall.
If it hadn't been for the gallery, even I would have been torn apart by the Mad Dog.
‘Time to flip the fish.’
It was about to burn. I flipped the fish on the broad stone slab.
I could decide what to do with the Inner Core later. There was no rush.
If things didn't work out, I could always put it up in the Auction House.
Heavenly Demon had advised me to wait until I reached at least the Peak Realm before eating one.
‘I don't even know exactly what the Peak Realm is like.’
My foundation was weak, too. For now, what mattered was strengthening my roots.
Eating the Inner Core probably wouldn't hurt me, but I could end up suffering from a fever for days.
For me, whose survival was on the line, a fever was deadly.
I'd felt danger the last time I came down with one.
‘Come to think of it, it should be auctioned off soon.’
The thought struck me as I tore off a delicious piece of fish.
I'd listed it yesterday at lunch, so the auction was scheduled to end in a few hours.
[System] Inner Core: 750 nyang in silver coins
It had been priced quite high.
Seeing how the bidding intervals had shortened, there was a good chance the price would hold.
‘Trust really is important.’
The Auction House had a review system.
You couldn't leave a star rating, but the reviews gave you a rough sense of how trustworthy someone was.
Otherwise, the Auction House would have become a paradise for con artists.
Especially with those brutal fees, scamming people wasn't a good idea.
‘My trust is everything.’
Once I lost people's trust, it would be hard to get it back.
For me, who got most of what I had from the gallery, that would be fatal.
This wasn't pocket change, either. It was a massive sum, so I couldn't brush it off as a joke.
‘The one I gave Heavenly Demon was an Inner Core, but if the one I listed in the Auction House isn't...’
It was more likely to be an Inner Core, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that someone was lying.
People might say I trusted others too little, but I definitely didn't trust Anonymous Users.
Back when I first fell into the Forest of Four Seasons, there had been people telling me to die and become fertilizer.
A person's true malice came out from behind anonymity.
‘Let's just wait for the auction to end.’
What mattered now was eating this delicious fish.
I gave Wonmo several pieces of fish and devoured the rest.
It tasted much better than the red fish. No exaggeration, it was like pork.
“Now that's filling.”
After dealing with such a huge catch, I went into the cave and practiced my cultivation method.
It was a cultivation method I practiced based on the foundations Heavenly Demon had taught me and SwordTasteMaster's advice.
Maybe it was because I'd just eaten the Golden Fish. An energy like crashing waves surged through my body.
‘Not waves, exactly. More like... a storm?’
The cultivation method Heavenly Demon had taught me was called the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
So calling it a storm rather than waves seemed more fitting.
Once I neatly gathered that storm-like energy, I raised my hand.
A faint blue energy rose from it like heat haze.
‘It's amazing every time I see it.’
I had definitely been an ordinary person. An ordinary person with nothing special about me.
Then I fell into some bizarre forest, and now I could even handle mana.
I kept reminding myself that this place was real, but sometimes I wondered whether I was dreaming.
The haze rising from my hand was fantasy itself, which only made the doubt stronger.
‘Remember getting bitten by the Mad Dog. This is definitely real.’
I extinguished the haze and stepped outside the cave.
I planned to make traps and search the area in the morning.
The search was for the Muscle Mushroom I'd burned yesterday with fire magic (physical), and its cave.
If the Golden Mushroom had really sprouted legs and run away, there was a chance it had gone to that cave.
[Post title] Need advice on making a trap
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] I found the place where the rabbits show up yesterday. Can someone tell me how to make a decent trap?
[Post] They're not normal rabbits, though. Their hind kicks are strong as fuck. Keep that in mind.
└ Why not just buy a bear trap and set it up?
└ A bear trap would cut a rabbit in half;;
└ Just dig a hole and put spikes in it.
└ No, that's dangerous. Focus on capturing it alive instead of killing it.
As expected of the gallery. People generously offered useful advice.
└ Why don't you just use yourself as bait? Feels like you'd catch a big one LOL
└ That'd be hilarious LOL
└ Failure means death, success means getting eaten!
As expected of the gallery. Complete morons showed up sometimes. No, often.
Ignoring all the nonsense, I came up with a trap design.
The best method was a pit. Dig a hole, then cover it with a board.
Once enough weight was put on it, it would collapse and drop whatever stepped on it into the pit.
‘Considering how strong the rabbits' hind kicks are, they'd get out of a shallow pit immediately.’
Digging the pit deep was important, but the board covering it was even more important.
Instead of a board that simply collapsed and vanished, I needed a trap that used weight.
‘Step on it, the board opens and drops them into the pit, then the board closes again.’
That seemed like the best approach. I went with that trap.
Choosing it and building it were different matters, though. I racked my brain as I designed it.
‘The board has to open and close based on weight. I need to account for the rabbits' weight, too.’
Securing the board was essential, so I bought some large nails at the Auction House.
I planned to use them to secure one side of the board.
‘I'll need a counterweight so the board rises again.’
I set up two sturdy branches and placed another branch between them.
Think of a whole barbecue roast turning on a spit.
This wasn't a barbecue, though, so instead of meat, I put an iron cylinder through it.
All that remained was tying a stone to it with string to serve as a counterweight.
Clunk!
I pressed the board down with my finger, and it dropped.
The moment I lifted my finger, the counterweight raised the board again.
The trap was perfect. Now I just had to move it into place.
‘I’ll have to make it bigger, though.’
Other than the nails and hammer, that meant making several trips back and forth.
I finished getting ready after asking Fast Sloth to guard the cave well.
A weapon to protect myself, a shovel for digging, an Elixir in case something happened, and so on.
With everything ready, I headed toward the area where the rabbits appeared.
‘After I set it up, I'll check for the mushroom first.’
Sadly, there was no Golden Mushroom in the cave.
The charred Muscle Mushroom was still there, too. Apparently, even animals found it unpleasant despite its smell.
With the mushrooms checked, all that remained was setting the trap. Digging the pit wasn't too difficult, either.
When I finished setting it all up a while later, an indescribable sense of accomplishment washed over me.
Soon, I'd be eating meat instead of fish.
‘As for butchering it... I'll have to do that myself.’
So the animals wouldn't suspect anything, I scattered some dirt over the board and laid grass on top of it.
All that remained was patience. I packed up all my equipment and returned to the cave.
‘It's already eleven.’
Time had flown by while I was doing this and that.
While wondering what to do until the Inner Core sold, I rummaged through my pocket.
A golden Inner Core came out. I considered putting this one up in the Auction House too.
‘I'll list it after I see what the other one sells for. Before that...’
Grrrrumble.
My stomach hurt so much. This happened every time I ate fish.
Before, my stomach had hurt almost immediately after eating. Today, it had taken a while.
I should build a toilet soon, too. Digging a hole every time was getting tiring.
After emptying my bowels in peace, I logged into the gallery to check the Inner Core's bid.
[System] Inner Core: 750 nyang in silver coins
The bid hadn't changed. It had been frozen for six hours.
It felt like it would end like this, so I changed the time limit.
[System] Would you like to change the bidding deadline to 30 minutes from now?
[System] Once a deadline has been changed, it cannot be changed again.
I immediately accepted.
Even thirty minutes was plenty of time.
What would I do during those thirty minutes? I planned to practice my cultivation method.
Not recklessly. I'd build a solid foundation first, just as Heavenly Demon had taught me.
I had to somehow fill in the gaps before I could more easily obtain something like an Aura Blade or Sword Force.
‘This is hard. Really hard.’
Foundations weren't something you memorized. You had to understand them.
Since I wasn't from this world, that was the hardest part.
I'd become stronger through methods that were almost cheating, but my foundation was still a problem.
‘I'll only practice for thirty minutes.’
It took more than an hour.
Once I got absorbed in it, I lost track of time.
On top of that, without logging into the gallery, my sense of time inevitably got pretty blurry.
So I connected to the gallery to see how much the Inner Core had sold for.
[Post title] Why Grylls is a con artist
[Post title] Grylls, explain yourself!
[Post title] Grylls, explain yourself!
[Post title] This fucker's just a con artist LOL
[Post title] Is the part about being in the Forest of Four Seasons a lie too?
[Post title] Honestly, I think Wild Grylls should be banned.
[Post title] Upvote if you want Grylls dead LOL
“What?”
What the hell had happened for things to turn into such a mess?
Most of the posts were about me, too. I couldn't understand it.
The easiest way to find out was to check the featured posts.
Something had to have been posted there for this to happen.
[Post title] Wild Grylls is a con artist. Don't trust this bastard.
It was the featured post with the most upvotes. Naturally, it was about me.
I couldn't just let this slide, so I opened it right away.
[Post title] Wild Grylls is a con artist. Don't trust this bastard.
[Post] (Photo of an Inner Core resting on a palm)
[Post] This is supposed to be an Inner Core? LOL What bullshit. It's just an ordinary marble.
[Post] I'm a legend for spending 750 nyang in silver coins on this. You can't trust this bastard Grylls.
[Post] Take responsibility, you fucking asshole. Give me back my money, fuck!
└ Didn't Heavenly Demon say it was real?
└ You believed that? LOL
└ It was kind of weird that an Inner Core came out every time Wild Grylls caught a fish~
└ From now on, I'll absolutely buy Grylls's stuff LOL
└ You never bought it before.
└ Exactly LOL
└ Is this person an idiot?
└ But are we sure this person bought it?
└ Yeah, the number next to it matches the winning bidder.
└ Wow LOL How much did they lose? LOL
└ At that point, their entire fortune is gone LOL
└ That's fucking sad LOL
└ Honestly, shouldn't Grylls give the money back?
└ What about the fee?
└ Why should anyone care about that? If they scammed someone, they have to give it all back, idiot.
└ Wouldn't the Head Mod ban them for scamming?
└ Yeah, permanent ban at minimum.
I'd hoped it wouldn't happen, but things had unfolded exactly as expected. I must have trusted people too much.
Luckily, this was something I'd more or less anticipated.
Just as I was about to leave a comment, a private message arrived.
[Heavenly Demon]: Do not worry.
[Heavenly Demon]: This woman shall resolve it.
[You]: What?
[Heavenly Demon]: That ungrateful wretch requires divine punishment.
[Heavenly Demon]: Wait.
What exactly was she planning to do?
‘Is she going to ban them?’
* * *
The brain and strategist of the Demonic Cult, Demon Brain, found the current situation extremely confusing.
Being summoned by Heavenly Demon, Yu Sowol, was not particularly confusing. One had to answer Heaven's call.
But even Demon Brain couldn't help being flustered by the order Heaven had personally given.
“H-Heaven. May I ask you to... repeat what you just said?”
“It is strange for you to ask again. In my boundless mercy, this woman shall command you once more.”
Sitting on her jade throne, Yu Sowol spoke in a voice that sounded deliberately angry.
“Log into the gallery.”
“...”
“You ate the Inner Core this woman gave you and advanced to a higher realm. Simply make a post proving it.”
It was an order to log into the gallery and leave what was called a proof post.
On the surface, it was very simple.
But what kind of person was Demon Brain? A hardcore Gallery addict who regularly badmouthed their superior, Heavenly Demon, on the Gallery.
‘...I'm fucked.’
Demon Brain, Wi Seorak, the person behind the Smart Demon username.
‘I'm really fucked.’
Demon Brain had encountered a crisis of absolute desperation.
Footnotes:
The line “Failure means death, success means getting eaten!” parodies the Korean phrase “Failure means treason, success means revolution.”
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
