I Became the Gallery Master

Twenty-four, this year. The age people envy, the one they call your prime.

Even last year, the day I was discharged, I'd felt like I could do anything. Study. A part-time job. Even dating.

But before I enlisted I'd been a complete shut-in piece of shit, and people don't change. I was still rotting in my room, gallery-lurking.

My main stage was the 19+ Counseling Gallery. I was graciously leaving hate comments on the fantasy novels of those pathetic loser incels.

I kept eating insults after that, and the guy who'd written the post got his ass kissed by a chorus of lifelong no-relationship losers.

"Fuck. Obvious bullshit. Dumbass bastards."

I hit back and scrolled, hunting for something else.

"Ha. These assholes don't know a damn thing. You watch porn, all you gotta do is fuck them. Yeah?!"

Ha. He actually blocked me?

The instant I felt ignored, rage shot clean to the top of my head. I slammed the keyboard and spat it out.

"This dogshit gallery! The Gallery Master's probably some moron too. Not that I've seen him."

A woman's voice I didn't know came out of the speakers.

"Oh my. Were you calling me a moron?"

"Wh-what?!"

Startled, I looked around.

"What do you think. I'm the Gallery Master of this dogshit gallery."

A woman with a wealth of blonde hair appeared on the monitor. Golden eyes, an exotic face — but my gaze snagged on something else first. Her full breasts, half bared.

Gulp. Before a figure that goddess-like, I swallowed without even meaning to.

"You."

"Y-yes, ma'am?"

The pressure in her voice was so heavy that the polite words jumped out of me on their own.

"I already had too much to do, and you showed up at the perfect time. You're taking over this gallery."

"Yes? What do you—"

"Can't a lifelong no-relationship female virgin even understand plain speech?"

Her expression twisted.

So this person was the Gallery Master? But why me, of all people...

"Why? Because you insulted me. Enough. Pick one: A, B, or C."

"Uh..."

The moment I started stammering, her eyes changed completely. I felt like I was about to piss myself, so I blurted the first thing that reached my mouth.

"U-uh, A."

"Hmm. The Love Fairy. Use her well."

With those incomprehensible words, the woman vanished from the screen.

"Pwah!"

I sucked in the breath I'd been choking down under the pressure. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠One unreal thing after another. Insult the Gallery Master and she shows up in person to dump the job on you — wasn't that too obvious a cliché?

I slowly closed my eyes.

Too calm, you say? Not even close. I was only keeping them shut because I was terrified.

Five minutes passed, and nothing happened. A dream? Or had I seen something that wasn't there? I carefully opened my eyes, took the mouse, and clicked my profile.

Click.

A level you pick up naturally if you live long enough as a gallery ghost. Mine hadn't changed at all. There wasn't so much as an armband. Only then did I relax.

"What the hell. I really must've dreamed it. Yeah, it didn't make sense to begin with."

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Obviously, me becoming the Gallery Mas— huh?"

A chill shot up my spine. A strange woman's voice, unmistakably behind me. My head had started to turn on its own, and I barely forced it to stop.

"Why turn halfway and quit? I'm right here."

The woman's voice again. I squeezed my eyes shut and muttered.

"This is a dream. A dream. Wake up. Hurry!"

"I genuinely cannot tell what you're doing."

I slapped my cheek and pinched my thigh, but all I got was pain. Her voice didn't go anywhere. In the end I decided to just sit there, until this damned hallucination disappeared.

Even with my mouth shut, the woman kept chattering.

"Hey, Gallery Master. What's your name?"

"You've got a mountain of work. Open your eyes."

"Have you really never once done it with a woman? You need to be good at sex if you're going to do this job."

No matter what she said, I kept my eyes closed and didn't move an inch.

And then.

"Hey. If you don't accept a quest by noon, you die. Fifteen minutes left."

What? Die? No. A lie. It had to be a lie. Yeah — this wasn't a fantasy world. No way.

"Five minutes left now."

Gulp. I'd spent ten minutes talking myself down, and the dread had only grown.

What if the whole world had been swapped out...?

The eyes of that blonde woman on the screen, and the aura around her. They hadn't belonged to a human.

A god, then? If she was a god, killing one human wouldn't even count as work.

"Three minutes."

My hands shook hard. In the end—

"Aaaah, I'll do it! I'll do it, so let me live!"

I shot up like a spring and opened my eyes.

"Oh my, good thinking. We're out of time, so hurry up and choose."

A woman about the size of my hand was floating in the air in front of me. No — she was flying on the wings growing from her back.

"My god... this is real."

She seemed to be the Love Fairy the woman on the screen had mentioned. Dark green hair, a slim figure — she looked just like Tinkerbell. Her face was the cute kind, and her eyes were full of mischief.

"You're the Love Fairy...?"

"Yep. Name's Rui. Anyway, an easy one would be best for the first quest, right?"

"Huh? What quest?"

"You have to solve the gallers' worries."

"Me?"

"Yep. You're the Gallery Master. But there's no time. One minute left. Don't pick, and you die."

Love Fairy Rui said it with a bright, beaming smile. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Set against that face, the words were ice.

"Th-the easiest quest. I'll take that one."

"Good thinking. Click this post and hit Quest Accept."

Rui pointed at one post among the countless others. I clicked the Quest Accept button without a second of hesitation.

Ding!

"Eek! I die if I fail?"

I yelped, badly startled.

"Yep. It's obvious. Why so shocked?"

"Why is that obvious!"

"Because you earned the Goddess's wrath."

The Goddess? Was that woman really a goddess?

"What kind of goddess."

"You don't need to know. Shouldn't you be saving your own skin first?"

Damn it. Obnoxious, but she wasn't wrong. Screw this up and I'd be dead in twenty-four hours. What did it matter what kind of goddess she was?

"All right. So what do I do now?"

"You'll know when you get there."

Rui fluttered her tiny hands a few times, and a door as tall as I was appeared.

"Get in."

"..."

"I said get in!"

When I hesitated, Rui shouted like she couldn't stand it.

"By myself?"

"I'm coming too, so hurry up and get in. Look at you, scared to death. I swear I'll just—"

She threatened me with a fist no bigger than my pinky nail.

"A-all right."

Beyond the door, emerald light was swirling. I shut my eyes tight and stepped through. A moment later it felt as if my body were lifting into the air.

"Aaaah! Save me!"

Smack!

"I swear. Quit the dramatics."

Clutching the back of my stinging head, I opened my eyes. Rui was looking down at me like I was pathetic.

But where was this? Not my room, and yet familiar. I looked around slowly, and then it hit me.

"This is the Engineering Building 2 classroom, isn't it?"

Rui nodded.

(Decent eye, at least.)

She said it without opening her mouth. How?

No — more importantly, how had I gotten here? Don't tell me—

"This is teleportation, isn't it?"

(Close enough. More importantly, maybe pay attention to her first?)

Where Rui's finger pointed, there was a woman, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Why are you suddenly spouting nonsense?"

My eyes met hers.

"Hup!"

I clapped both hands over my mouth. I'd nearly screamed out loud.

The woman was our department goddess, Kim Juhee. Large eyes, a straight nose, and glossy lips fell into perfect balance, and straight black hair spilled all the way to her waist, swaying as she moved. She had that classic look — urban, polished, overflowing with refinement — and the black skirt ending above the knee, together with the white blouse clinging tight to her, only threw that beauty into sharper relief.

And she was the bitch who had trampled my confession without a shred of mercy.

Ngh...

But why was Kim Juhee next to me?

The moment the question formed, Rui spoke.

(Fuck her.)

...What?!