Chapter 64

“Oh no, I have a serious headache.”

“Is it really dangerous?”

“Don’t worry. If I just make a small hole in your head to relieve the pressure, you’ll recover quickly.”

In some household in Adrian.

The doctor examined a patient who complained of a headache with a serious expression.

To be honest, while this kind of treatment wasn’t common, it wasn’t too strange either.

Once in a while, treatments like this popped up.

But that just doesn’t cut it anymore.

“What are you trying to do by opening up my head?”

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“I should crack open your thick skull instead. Just a Tylenol would do, what’s the deal?”

With medicine understanding advancing, nonsense like this no longer worked.

Even if you didn’t grasp the principles, just one pill from the Head of the Gallery Marketplace could solve everything.

But the Head of the Gallery Marketplace didn’t always mean benefits for the medieval society.

[Concept post: I’m hungry, lol]

(A meme of a slumped figure resting his chin on the desk)

I can’t muster any strength,ㅠㅠ

[Recommended9999+] [Not recommended50]

– Lol

– Can I treat you to a meal?

– (Cat comic with an open mouth)

– Look at that crazy white skin

– So clean, even the picture looks pristine

– Sisㅠㅠㅠ How are your teeth so white???

A heartwarming meme that warms the chest appeared in the concept post.

As always, the Gallery was buzzing with excitement, flocking around the post.

Interest in beauty had exploded compared to the early days of the Gallery.

This was partly because the Marketplace had allowed people to afford a livelihood to some extent…

– Really so white…

– My idealㅠㅠ I want to be like thatㅠㅠㅠ

– But are you the same person?

– How in the world is that so white?

Most were focused on the white appearance.

The influence of the bath culture spread by the Head of the Gallery was significant.

Especially after the Black Plague, cleanliness became a major concern, shaping preferences.

Unlike the past where simply dousing oneself in strong perfume and wearing a dress was sufficient, now the standard of beauty depended on cleanliness.

The equation of Cleanliness = White Color = Beauty had been established.

– Damn, why is my skin like this?

– Ugh, I have so many wrinkles, it’s disgusting;

– I want to rip off all my age spots, seriously, haha.

Grooming was once a luxury that only the middle class and above could afford before the bath culture.

Thus, cleanliness became a sort of measure of wealth.

And the problem started when the author of that concept post began to share their beauty secrets.

– Author) Haha, curious?

– Yes yes yes yes yes

– Please tell me, please tell me, please!

– How are you so white without a single wrinkle??

– Author) I applied this every day, hehe

– Author) (meme of mercury flowing)

– Author) The effects show up quickly!

– But it’s mercury, is that okay?

– Author) It looks just like silver, but it flows, right? ^^

– Author) It’s called flowing silver, so it must be good for the skin, right?

– !

– That sounds convincing…!

Among precious metals, silver gained the most attention.

It drives away evil, is clean, doesn’t rust easily, and is sacred.

Mercury, appearing beautiful and mysterious like liquid silver, became highly valued.

“What’s this? Mercury is amazing!”

Mercury quickly rose in value, sometimes equaling or surpassing silver.

– Yay! Hooray!

– (I’m gonna become a beauty with mercury!)

And the rising interest in appearance soon catalyzed a mercury craze within the Gallery.

*

[Title: Sharing Tips^^]

(A meme of pouring a little mercury into a cup)

(Another meme of drinking all the way in intervals)

At first, you may feel some resistance.

But once you drink it all, tada!

(Skin before-and-after meme)

You can see that the wrinkles have completely smoothed out!

Drink mercury and be happy^^

– Wow, it’s real, thank you

– Great tip, highly recommend

– Mercury looks like a fancy ingredient, good with fish

– Really? It looks pretty

– Try putting a little in a tuna can, seems good?

It didn’t take long for the mercury trend to spread.

While chemical weapons were being dealt with and the rift territories were being organized, this trend spread like wildfire.

As soon as the worries about chemical weapons lessened, the message I received explained everything.

[Admin Chat Room]

Full-Peel Elf: Head of the Gallery, Head of the Gallery, come out!

Head of the Gallery*: ㅇㅇ?

Full-Peel Elf: (meme of mercury in a bottle)

Full-Peel Elf: Ta-da! Finally, I bought some mercury!

Full-Peel Elf: I worked really hard to get it, if you want, I can share some!

Head of the Gallery*: .

Head of the Gallery*: What are you, crazy?

The Deputy of the Gallery before me attempted a big decision.

One might suspect if the years of meme exposure and tactical nuclear disposal had burned his brain out.

Only after hastily skimming through the Gallery, which I had put off for several days, did I grasp the situation.

People had become interested in their appearance, applying and consuming mercury, causing an uproar.

“Dwarves are cashing in on this.”

Especially, the dwarves with the expert technology in extraction were producing mercury.

They obtained large quantities and sold it to Adrian, making a fortune.

And all that income was turning into purchases of alcohol in the Marketplace.

[Temporarily closing the ‘Alcohol’ category in the Marketplace.]

– What?

– What’s going on here?!

– Head of the Gallery! There’s a problem!

– Bring some alcohol!

Instinctively, I ordered the sale of alcohol.

I was running the Marketplace in hopes that the Gallums wouldn’t starve and that the Gallery would flourish.

I wasn’t some mafia boss dealing in poisons that kill people.

[Notice: Stop!!!]

Author: Head of the Gallery*

(A raccoon meme reaching out firmly)

Stop.

– What! My body won’t move?

– Damn it, Head of the Gallery, what kind of attack is this!

– Haha, you can’t help but stop

– For real, haha, I have to stop this

– But what am I supposed to stop?

– Head of the Gallery*) Stop consuming mercury!

I even decided to ban posts about the use of mercury in the Gallery, testimonials, and its effectiveness.

“But just saying it won’t matter.”

Whenever you tell someone to stop doing something, they just want to do it more.

I pondered if I had a more effective method but couldn’t come up with anything.

“While spreading awareness of the dangers, I have to find a way to ban mercury… Ah.”

I entered the Gallery management tab.

There, the Gallery Doctors were still working, receiving the monthly salary I provided.

They were essentially public servants of the Gallery.

[Gallery Doctor Chat Room]

Head of the Gallery*: I have a task related to extra pay; I’m accepting one more applicant.

I made a simple post.

– Oh hell, that’s me!

– Me me me me111111

– Please let me do it… I’ve longed for this…

– Honestly, I find great pride and pleasure in working.

– Honestly, I love working.

I had no trouble finding an applicant.

*

[Title: Public Notice regarding Mercury]

Author: Gallery Plague Doctor

(A plague doctor meme greeting)

Hello, everyone!

The weather is very sunny, and the birds are chirping.

But I am very sad.

Why is everyone consuming mercury?

Oh, this is incredibly foolish.

(A video of exposing a lab rat to mercury vapor)

(Meme of the rat slowly stiffening and dying in pain)

Look here. This is very dangerous.

Eating mercury = death.

Getting shot = death.

What’s the difference between eating mercury and getting shot?

Stop it, children!

[Recommended9999+] [Not recommended142]

– What the heck, wait, the rat dies?

– Huh? That’s the method I usually use.

– Weren’t we thinking mercury was good?

– Haha, do you really believe this third-rate pamphlet? Hahaha, do you ever get led on?

– But it’s a Gallery doctor!

– Damn, this mercury guy was insane.

– Hahaha, a reversal is indeed funny.

There was a far greater trust in the Gallery Doctors than in regular physicians.

Among them, the renowned Plague Doctor from Kellierhton had a huge impact by demonstrating the results directly.

One demonstration can hold more weight than a hundred or a thousand words.

– Damn, I’m going for a refund right now.

– Ah, was I self-destructing my skin?

– It’s a Gallery doctor, so there must be a reason.

Despite the mercury craze, people quickly began to feel a sense of unease.

And rightly so, a rat died.

The Gallery doctor himself proved it.

To continue using it after that would be tantamount to natural death.

– Wait a minute. Are rats and humans the same?

– How can it be proven that it was mercury vapor?

– How will you refute the skin care benefits touted until now?

But as always, there were oppositions.

Flat Earth theories, Apollo moon landing conspiracy theorists.

There are those who oppose for the sake of opposing.

Dwarves who were profiting from mercury and the clergy who were skimming commissions in between arose in revolt.

Since the opponent was a Gallery Doctor, they couldn’t suppress him by force, but they began to object vehemently.

– Hm, that’s…

Of course, the Gallery Doctor couldn’t provide a reason.

He didn’t fully understand the side effects of mercury on humans either.

“But what if it were someone from the 21st century?”

Especially, I was the home guard who had spent 24 hours surfing the tide of information and monster hunting.

I quickly went go into counter-arguments.

[Title: Facts]

Author: Head of the Gallery*

The fact is that skin is becoming healthier.

Normalization of the skin.

All skin degenerates while a white skin emerges.

The smoothing of wrinkles is merely a temporary phenomenon due to poor blood circulation.

– Hm… Is that so?

– We bought them because you said it was good, but didn’t know about those side effects.

– I’m sorry, I didn’t know this would happen.

And the dwarves quickly showed understanding and agreement.

I expected that there would be stubbornness since their income was at stake, but surprisingly, they complied.

[Title: We will ban mercury sales.]

(A meme of a dwarf giving thumbs up)

Our dwarves will not sell mercury extraction and sales for cosmetic purposes.

We will stop selling it this year, fearing its misuse.

And they even conducted a bold cleanup afterward.

“Wow, dwarves really are noble.”

Even intoxicated with alcohol, they don’t cause trouble.

The problem now lay with those who had resorted to the red potion.

– So what are we supposed to decorate ourselves with now?

– I didn’t want to know…

– Even you, mercury…

– Right, it was nice for a brief moment… What beauty do I have in my life?

Now that the truth of mercury was revealed and effective beauty and cosmetic methods vanished, the Gallums became lifeless like lost zombies.

Some even continued to consume it, justifying it by saying that it was slightly okay despite knowing the side effects.

“Hm, is that so?”

There was surprisingly high interest in beauty.

I turned my head away from the system to glance at the lotion placed on the bedside shelf.

It ranked among the most basic essentials.

“Shall I try selling that first?”

[New items have been stocked in the Marketplace!]

I registered a substitute item for mercury in the Marketplace.