Chapter 107

Three times a day, the marketplace of the Head of the Gallery opens.

During those hours, the traffic to the Gallery skyrockets, and a crowd gathers.

Particularly, when there’s an announcement of new items being added, half of the Gallery might just crash.

[Head of the Gallery’s Marketplace]

[Tuna Can] – 1 Mana Pill

[Bottled Water 500ml] – 1 Mana Pill

*Limit: 1 purchase per person.

– Huh?

– What, uh, what’s going on…?

– What’s wrong, Head of the Gallery?

– Why is there only one Tuna Can in the marketplace?

And just like that, the marketplace returned to normal.

“Are you awake now?”

A myriad of rumors had lined up for days.

The most persistent claimed I was the culprit from the outside, wishing for doom.

Some even suggested I was intentionally leaving a rift open. Blah, blah.

Even today, it’s common to see people falling for fake news.

Let alone in a medieval period where a modern-style community was just thrust into chaos.

– I figured something like this would happen.

– Seriously, why leave a rift open?

– From the start, the appearance of such items was suspicious.

Seriously, didn’t they come from outside?

– I noticed it from the time of the dictatorship, yeah.

The mere thought that items were being brought from the outside led to talk of stop using them altogether.

So, I took action instead.

“I’ll show them how dictatorship works.”

[Resetting marketplace items.]

[Adding ‘Tuna Can’ to marketplace items.]

[Adding ‘Bottled Water 500ml’ to marketplace items.]

The first thing I did was erase the marketplace.

Of course, I didn’t erase it completely.

Many beings still struggled with food shortages, facing crises regardless of the Gallery’s opinion.

After leaving a minimum of food for them…

[Marketplace items applied successfully.]

I began the process of resetting the marketplace.

*

[Title: Ah lol, please don’t! lol]

(A meme depicting a marketplace with only two items)

Seriously, ha ha.

Saying it’s boring, ha ha, really, lol.

Ah… lol.

Ah.

– The broken youth.

– Phew…

– Damn, I was just minding my own business, why…

[Title: What the hell, why is this happening only to me?]

Is this really happening??? Damn, this sucks!

I’m a farmer earning just a thousand a month.

I scrimped and saved even when the climate was a disaster.

(Old marketplace refrigerator meme)

Why? To buy this shit?

In this stupid world where people die every day, I was trying hard to live with some goals.

I’d check every time the marketplace was updated, just to see how much I had saved.

I was living off that one small goal.

So why do I have to suffer because of the stupid disruptions and instigators?

Seriously, damn it… life sucks…

[Recommended 12] [Not Recommended 0]

– Just chill, Gallum.

Isn’t it bound to reopen after some time?

(Weeping farmer cat meme)

– I doubt even if I were Head of the Gallery it would feel the same.

– Absolutely!!! Nothing like that would happen, Gallum! Lol…

Even the normally silent Gallums joined in the chaos, with dozens and hundreds of posts flooding in within seconds.

Aimless curses, and tactical nuke memes were raining down, smashing the Gallery apart.

The Gallery started to lose control bit by bit.

[Admin Chat]

Full-Peel Elf: Head of the Gallery, what should we do?

Full-Peel Elf: The growth rate is too fast, I can’t check each one!

Dragon Dragon X: Refreshing once pushes everything down 15 pages…

Dragon Dragon X: How can we manage this?

Dragon Dragon X: (Pleading dragon meme)

Thus, the voices of the deputies in charge of the Gallery’s management grew weary.

And at this point, it was time to take the second step.

Head of the Gallery*: Don’t.

Full-Peel Elf: ?

Dragon Dragon X: (Dragon with chin resting meme)

Head of the Gallery*: I’ll give you a week off, so enjoy watching the chaos! Go, go!

[Delivered 12 caramel popcorn bags, 65g each!]

Full-Peel Elf: Kya kya kya!! What’s the owner doing? Is it alive!!!

Dragon Dragon X: Snack desserts are always welcome!

The second step.

It was to simply leave the Gallery unattended.

Didn’t I raise their dependency by releasing the marketplace?

Then I’d close the marketplace to cut their dependency.

“Am I really being too dictatorial?”

Then to avoid complaints about dictatorship, I would entirely withdraw management.

Open up a full-on, no-holds-barred 365-day festival!

– Is it happening now? Here comes some Orc ass memes!!!

– Let’s do this! Lol!

– Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory!

So, all kinds of vile spamming started, and nasty memes began flooding in.

“Wow, exploding is just a moment.”

Just a day ago, the perfectly normal Gallery had turned into a mess in an instant.

But, who cares?

“Third stage, let’s get to it.”

[Closing the Gallery.]

If the atmosphere had already degenerated this far, any announcement would be pointless.

In fact, the Head of the Gallery would feel exhilarated knowing he couldn’t be controlled anymore, prompting even more revelry.

I grabbed some cold cola and popcorn from the refrigerator.

Then returned to my room, set up the projector, and snuggled under a warm blanket.

“Winter is really for movies.”

The shop sold movies too.

I bought about ten films in any form, whether it be DVD or tape.

[Top 10 Movies of All Time Collection]

“With this, I should feel secure for a few days!”

Of course, there’s nothing quite like the fun of the Gallery, but unfortunately, this was the situation at hand.

“Malfight, what are you doing?”

“Glad you asked.”

“Eek!”

I grabbed Penny passing by, pulled her into my blanket, and started munching on popcorn.

And so, I binged the movies I couldn’t catch up on during the chaos.

Whenever I got hungry, I’d snack on various meal kits, when tired I’d nap, and when bored, I’d watch movies, then repeat.

Thus, I melted away roughly a week’s worth of time.

Then when I turned on the Gallery again…

[You have unread notifications. 99,999+]

[There’s a new barter exchange request. 99,999+]

[A new concept article has been registered. 99,999+]

– Damn, come back please!

– Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah.

– Lol? What’s happening, is this insanity?

– Gallums have lost their cool again, huh? Haha.

– I can’t hold on anymore; I feel like I’m losing the will to live.

Yeah, just exit the Gallery first, and that’s enough~

In the confusion of the week where we were hunting for the Head of the Gallery, the situation of the Gallery became more chaotic.

Reentering the Gallery, it had become a wasteland with nothing left to burn; ashes were all that remained.

*

Exactly one week had passed since the Head of the Gallery disappeared.

The Gallery, expecting either announcements or explanations, initially thought nothing of it when he vanished.

– Haha, here we go again.

– In an hour, the marketplace opens!!!

– So he ran away without explaining? Haha!

– Not banned yet? Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory! Gallery Victory!

Various disruptions flowed in, and the Gallery instantly transformed into a public restroom.

Yet in the end, the Gallery was a space where Gallums resided.

Even disruptions must be fueled by some interest to exist.

However, no amount of disruption, no curses, neither bans nor warnings seemed to matter at all anymore.

[Tuna Can] – 1 Mana Pill

[Bottled Water 500ml] – 1 Mana Pill

Just these two items were maintained in the marketplace 24/7.

– Haha, running away without clarifying?

– Yeah~ I’m going to keep screwing with the Gallery!

– Gallery Victory!!!

As the Gallery began to mock the situation, this continued for two days, three days, and gradually began to change.

Instincts faded a bit and reason started waking up.

– But why should Head of the Gallery explain anything?

– Thinking about it, isn’t this like a witch hunt?

– Now that I think about it, those disruptions were indeed suspicious…

– What do we do if Head of the Gallery doesn’t come back…?

[Title: But really, what if…?]

(A meme of an empty marketplace)

(Posts only filled with useless ramblings and dislike bait)

What if Head of the Gallery never comes back?

This might be a really random thought, but…

What if he never returns, just like he vanished one day?

[Recommended 0] [Not Recommended 15]

– Don’t even joke about such nonsense.

– Damn, I don’t even want to imagine that.

– Isn’t it about time for him to come back?

– Haha, if you were him, wouldn’t you just ignore the demands for explanations?

[Title: I knew it would come to this.]

(A sulky knight frog meme)

I realized how pathetic our unity was when we were on the brink of destruction during the Great War.

Even when Head of the Gallery offered the last chance, we spat on it, claiming we didn’t need it!

Betraying and whining while we could have survived; this outcome was predictable, seriously.

Head of the Gallery? Not coming back.

That last time he smiled and left an announcement was undoubtedly our last chance.

I guess I’ll exit the Gallery first; you all can figure out what to do or keep spinning your hope wheels, yeah?

Head of the Gallery and the Gallery.

It was a nice dream.

I’ll consider this my last mirage before I die. Bye bye.

[Recommended 1523] [Not Recommended 670]

– Don’t leave; we’ll go down without you!

– Ah, I don’t want to live anymore, haha.

– Without a doubt, the elves probably went and bitched to Head of the Gallery again. -El-

– No, that’s definitely the humans. O_o

– Or maybe the elves are just tired of the disruptions?

(Elf raising a hand meme)

Head of the Gallery vanished, and within the Gallery, members began blaming one another or losing hope.

And those who had started all these conspiracy theories found themselves with expressions of surprise at how things had turned out.

“What on earth is happening here?”

Inside the Adrian Cathedral.

The Pope surveyed the meeting room with a grim expression.

After the assassination of the Cardinal, the church had become notably more reserved in their movements.

It had grown increasingly apparent that Head of the Gallery was no longer as easily swayed as before.

As time passed, more and more people began to align with Head of the Gallery instead.

“We tried to diminish Head of the Gallery’s standing while expanding our influence, but we never expected him to leave altogether…”

The church felt a wave of crisis hit them.

Thus, they began to spread malicious rumors anonymously and simultaneously.

It didn’t matter whether it was true or fake.

“He is someone who constantly engages in acts of denying God.”

“That whether it’s truth or falsehood is of no consequence!”

They believed that they could use any method necessary to mete out the appropriate punishment to a sinner.

However, their counteractions didn’t turn out as anticipated.

When they thought they could post an explanatory text, find its flaws, and spread more fake news to tear him down,

Head of the Gallery had outright vanished, taking everything with him.

“This will leave our food situation…”

“We need to create an atmosphere that could coax him back reasonably…”

The cathedral wasn’t aiming to kill Head of the Gallery like the former prince.

Their goal was to hide in anonymity and gradually lower his standing to exploit him.

“It seems Head of the Gallery was younger than we thought, able to endure our attacks.”

“Hmm, so it seems?”

Now their plan was to reduce the level of attacks and gauge public opinion.

While they were rectifying new tactics, a sudden notification appeared.

[A new announcement has been uploaded.]

– Oh damn!

– Shit, I trusted you!!!

– I was on the verge of exiting the Gallery, thanks a lot…