Mallok's Troll Bait Rocks the Gallery (5)

The bait created by Mallok's trolling—not the D-class Porter—had once again bent the Hunter Gallery's spine like a bow. The assumption that the factions would leave traces in the gallery was simple but obvious. After all, the Hunter Gallery was the only means of communication available to them.

I hurriedly scoured every corner of the gallery and pulled up all the usual guild posts. Simple recruitment notices, requests for backup, shares of information and monster raid strategies, and so on. One common point stood out: to prevent impersonation and chaos, they all uploaded a photo of a business card verifying their affiliated guild. Every guild followed the exact same practice. It seemed to be an unwritten rule that had been passed down long before I became the Ju-ddak.

“Hmm…. The guilds really do operate out in the open?”

Official activities from any guild with real scale always became news anyway, so my conclusion was that they ‘didn’t bother hiding it from the start.’ Unless they were using something like telepathy or higher magic for communication, of course. But clearly, not many hunters could wield that kind of advanced magic. Therefore, guilds didn’t use secret messages in the gallery. At least not in a situation like this.

If the guilds had truly mobilized, there would have been at least one post like “I’m a hunter and it looks like some guild is making a move right now.”

“Which means a faction no one knows about is moving.”

What the hell did “operation starting now” even mean? To think they were boldly sending messages through vertical acrostics. Maybe I should check the other poem posts?

Amid the explosively heated threads, I found the ones reciting poetry.

“It’s always darkest under the lamp, huh.”

“Porter discovered?” These bastards! They’re even using diagonal acrostics? They’re not your average villains.

Exactly. I still didn’t know their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠identities, but the target of these factions was clearly the D-class Porter. They were obviously after the A-rank item I’d given her. If their faction was huge, finding a single porter who answered her own questions while acting as a porter wouldn’t be hard at all. They might have even made a list in advance. The faction would have a vanguard. If the vanguard had found the porter, the main force would arrive and begin the operation.

“Kidnapping, let’s go,” huh. Looks like the main force has arrived. There really wasn’t any time left.

Okay. Back to Schrödinger’s Porter. At least her survival had been confirmed. No more poems had been posted yet. Was I really going to lose the porter forever like this? Of course not. Just because I don’t go outside doesn’t mean I only look like a loser.

Rank 5 of the Cheonggaeguri-dan, Gukgeori-jangdan, arrived at Neverland where the D-class Porter was, just as his villain underlings had reported. He was observing her with his direct subordinates. The D-class Porter’s real-life appearance wasn’t much different from her gallery avatar. She really was with the A-rank necklace.

The first thought that crossed his mind when he saw the D-class Porter, a pa-ttak, was:

The scene of the D-class Porter conversing with Mallok looked like something out of a play. The bizarre sight of her talking to herself. It was even stranger because he couldn’t hear Mallok’s voice.

In truth, the Cheonggaeguri-dan had wanted to kidnap the Ju-ddak immediately, but it was impossible. The reason was simple: ‘location untraceable.’

The villain alliance had analyzed every photo the Ju-ddak had posted—the sky, the goblin corpses, even the shut-in dog-owner’s room. But every single photo had been taken in a way that cleverly avoided any identifying clues. They were so perfect they could be used as a textbook for counter-surveillance operations. Not revealing any weaknesses even in verification photos.

“Ju-ddak…. Just what kind of person are you it….”

Instead, they had decided to capture the pa-ttak porter. Everything was flowing perfectly for the Cheonggaeguri-dan. The D-class Porter had leaked the critical information that she could not discard the necklace through a guided comment from one of his subordinates. They had gathered reports from their scattered underlings across the country and successfully pinpointed the porter’s location.

“Chaos is order it.”

If they kidnapped that pa-ttak, they would obtain not only the A-rank necklace but also the Ju-ddak’s location. Once they caught the Ju-ddak, they could naturally collapse the gallery and soon the Management Bureau as well. If he pulled this off, it would only be a matter of time before Gukgeori-jangdan received recognition from ‘that person.’

“This is an opportunity it.”

All that remained was to give the kidnapping signal!

“Wait a moment….”

Rank 4, Gwaeng-gari, stopped him.

“What is it it!”

“Damn it…! The Ju-ddak has noticed our secret messages!!”

“What it…?”

“It would be best to open the gallery right now….”

Along with Ju-ddak’s comment, the direct subordinate next to him let out a small groan.

“N-no…. Not a real 100,000,000-day ban…. I won’t be able to use the gallery ever again….”

“Uwaaah…! If I can’t use the gallery…. Does that mean I’m expelled from the villain alliance…?”

Another one disappeared.

“We need to retreat immediately and pick out a few people to leave comments!”

“That’ll just get them banned too it!! That’s the level of what the Ju-ddak can do it! We have to endure it!!”

The aggro on Ju-ddak’s comments was starting to pull properly now.

“You and you! Leave comments on that post immediately!”

Gwaeng-gari began quietly giving orders to the villain underlings. The intention was to calm the Ju-ddak for now.

‘This is bad it…. But if we retreat like this, we won’t receive recognition from “that person” it….’

However, the next comment the Ju-ddak posted was even more terrifying.

“M… Me… a pa-ttak it…?”