Chapter 8
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Gallery Beatdown (3)
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I declared I wouldn't post anymore, and the gallery turned into utter chaos.
The first hour, the arrows of fury flew straight at the gallery user who'd started the upvote spam.
In the end, the users lynched and hanged that guy.
[Beat that bastard to a pulp!!!] [35]
[↓If we gotta hang this fucker, upvote↓] [82]
[Sorry, everyone...] [344]
[Goddamn, these rage-fueled bastards for real] [52]
[Newbie got pissed off, you fucking assholes] [43]
[Argh, fucking hell, who was the upvote spammer!] [66]
But that didn't quench the users' thirst.
Their dopamine-addicted brains craved even more stimulation.
'Gotta wait till things cool down a bit.'
A bit more time passed, and evening rolled around.
In the meantime, I'd wandered the battleship, killing time with some leisure.
Did a workout, stuffed myself with rations.
'Should be calm by now, right?'
Thinking that, I opened the gallery.
[What the hell did you see, newbie!] [33]
[How do those events usually play out?] [82]
[Analyzed it for 3 hours, so there must be something to it] [51]
[Show us what you saw!!! Hurry!!!] [77]
[I'll be a good boy, Mr. Newbie...] [92]
[Sorry come back sorry come back sorry come back...] [48]
But the gallery vibe was the complete opposite of what I'd expected.
These persistent bastards were still talking about me.
Most of the high-nics were the same ones from that morning.
'No way, how bad is their community addiction?'
I was secretly impressed by their insane focus.
At the same time, I felt a sense of relief.
'Good thing. I was worried they'd mistake me for an anomaly and refuse to help.'
Honestly, I'd been a little concerned at first.
Most of it was joking around, but some users were seriously suspecting I might be an anomaly.
But now, not a single one thought I was some monster.
Of course not.
Who could look at someone this human and call them an anomaly?
'That aside, is making them wait till tomorrow too much?'
The thought crossed my mind.
I worried that leaving the users hanging too long might kill their interest in me.
'Time to post, I guess?'
I got ready for bed and lay down.
Soon, I opened the gallery and started typing a post.
Sorry, got the message after accepting the quest earlier and spent time analyzing it—that's why I was late.
Listen to it yourselves and help me figure out what it says.
2 Attached Files
I hit post.
Now all that was left was waiting.
Normally, comments would flood in the second I posted.
But the comment section was eerily silent.
The users were probably downloading and listening to the files I'd uploaded.
About five minutes later...
What the fuck are you, really?
Up until now, the users setting the gallery ablaze had been mostly playful antics.
But this time, shit was getting real.
[All you bastards who hanged me earlier, eat shit] [132]
[Everything that guy's done so far doesn't add up] [153]
[Why the hell would an Ancient pop up in a level 1 quest?] [122]
[Fucking Chiltoom trolling lol] [98]
[Newbie, do we look like total idiots to you?] [105]
The users were going berserk.
In less than five minutes, ten hot posts popped up, each racking up hundreds of comments.
Something was definitely off.
I barely suppressed my bewilderment and posted again.
Why's it blowing up all of a sudden???;
Someone explain what's happening
Does this guy really not know, or is he playing dumb?
Honestly, it all feels like bullshit now.
From his debut, he seemed off, and now he's blown up the whole gallery. Haven't felt this dopamine rush in 30 years.
Good job, newbie. Go ahead and destroy the gallery with your own hands.
Chiltoom showed up at level 1, kids are freaking out.
I zeroed in on that last comment.
What even is Chiltoom? Explain that!
Chiltoom is an Ancient.
That's what I'm asking—what's an Ancient?!
Right after, someone replied to me.
"Ancients" is slang for Tier 1 hyper-ancient civilizations. I explained it in an old post—check it out, here's the link.
Immediately, a linked comment dropped.
I clicked it and started reading.
To sum it up:
Galactic civilizations fall into three broad tiers.
Tier 3: Warp drive and nuclear fusion tech. Most common, but barely noticeable. Tiny territories of 4-5 colony planets, zero galactic influence.
Tier 2: A step up. They manage entire galactic sectors, command hundreds of vassal states. Huge territories and massive power mean they aggressively project influence, constantly clashing with gallery users.
That's who we usually mean by "Xenos" when we call 'em that.
Then Tier 1 at the top.
These are beings on another level entirely.
Gallery users call 'em Ancients.
Fitting nickname—they've been around since the galaxy's dawn.
Tech accumulated over tens of millions of years? Beyond our comprehension.
That inscrutable power? Godlike.
Overwhelmingly strong, so even xenos and gallery users fear 'em.
Among users, the vibe is to avoid Ancients unless absolutely necessary.
Cranky personalities, and if they decide to kill you? No stopping 'em.
That's why we fear Ancients.
Once I knew about them, I got why the users were losing their shit.
'Chiltoom's a Tier 1 civ.'
The Chiltoom in the event was one of these Tier 1 Ancients.
According to users, first time a Tier 1 has shown up in a level 1 quest.
Infection Lord before, now this—weird shit keeps piling up.
No wonder they're side-eyeing me as a possible anomaly.
Can I switch quests even now?
Wanna go with option 1
Please...
No refunds for suckers, sir~
Ugh, newbie, stop dodging and explain yourself already.
So, are you an anomaly or what?
Am I?
Your speech pattern seems human no matter how I look...
Even if we let the Infection Lord thing slide, Chiltoom ain't something we can ignore.
Agreed. Mess with an Ancient, and we might all get dragged into trouble.
— Lasker Knight Order: Agreed
— Barion: Me too
— Liberata Entertainment: Of course this blows up while the mods are out scouting...
I'd tried smoothly shifting the topic to dodge the anomaly accusations.
But since it involved Ancients, the users weren't letting this slide.
Don't try to weasel out—explain properly first. You gotta be straight with us before we decide whether to trust you.
That last comment stuck with me.
Since things had come this far, introducing myself fully didn't seem like a bad idea.
Not sure how to put it, so I'll just lay it all out from the start.
Like I said before, I'm from a country called South Korea.
Born and raised in Dobong-gu, Seoul.
Went to elementary, middle, and high school there. Nothing special—just your average student.
After high school, I served 1 year and 8 months in the military.
Remember when I said yesterday I got kidnapped by shady guys and called a "warrior" for 1 year and 8 months?
That's what I meant.
In our country, they call conscripts "warriors."
After discharge, I graduated college, then tried job hunting—but no luck finding work.
Eventually, I gave up and just vegged at home.
Reading webnovels alone, watching YouTube and Netflix, drinking till I passed out. Total dead-end loser life.
Then one day, like always, had a drink, went to bed, woke up... here.
First three days were hell.
Hiding from monsters, thought I was done for.
Got lucky, found an abandoned gun.
Thanks to military shooting experience, I started hunting monsters, scavenging the ship, and finally found the crystal.
Honestly, after a month, so depressed and lonely I thought about just dying.
That's when I found the gallery.
Not face-to-face, but chatting with you guys definitely helped.
That's my story.
I dunno why all this weird shit only happens to me.
But one thing's clear: I'm just as confused as you.
Laid it all out honestly—judge me as you will.
I poured out all my thoughts and experiences.
Wondered what if public opinion didn't shift after this.
Reading this, doesn't seem like an anomaly.
Fortunately, opinion wasn't bad.
Yeah. Too detailed to be fake.
Then why do all these insane things keep happening only to you?
— Auto-Nickname 1582 (OP): I'm dying to know too ;;;;
Thinking about it, anomaly or not, doesn't matter much. Humans are anomalies in Alpha Universe anyway.
— Democracy Bullet Delivery: Same here. Newbie's definitely human, and sentient—no reason to be hostile.
— SF Worldview Fanboy: Yeah, no need to rank anomalies among ourselves.
Maybe baring my soul worked.
Fortunately, public opinion started flipping back.
[Sorry 2: Electric Boogaloo] [142]
[Upvote if we gotta hang that guy again] [103]
[Was overkill from the start tbh] [72]
[Newbie seems human] [88]
[Kinda feel bad for newbie] [71]
To keep the momentum, I posted again.
Got that this is seriously bad
But can't bail midway...
Gonna prep thoroughly and dive in
But I still don't get it—could use your help
You'll help, right...?
ETA?
Over 6 hours left
Sleep it off then. We'll analyze in the meantime.
For real? You sure?
Yeah, we're all loaded here anyway—love a good bait like this.
Get some solid sleep thinking of tomorrow's grind. Good work today—rest up.
Lmk if you find anything important.
Newbie's leaving it to the silver foxes.
Thus ended the tumultuous day.
The next morning, blaring gallery notifications woke me up.
<<Alert!>>Wake up, you lazy bum
<<Alert!>>Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
<<Alert!>>Aah... Did this newbie "break" too?
The racket signaled morning had arrived.