Chapter 1: Continental Unification Gallery

Sometimes, when one lives their life normally, completely unexpected situations occur.

In most cases, this type of situation is overcome by improvising or relying on experience.

But what happens if something occurs that far exceeds those kinds of scenarios?

What are you supposed to do then?

Well, what else. Look for a way out no matter the means or the methods.

“Fuck. What the hell is this?”

Faced with the scene in front of me, the curses came out on their own. And it was no wonder, considering the situation I was in.

In front, forest.

Behind, forest.

To the right and to the left, forest.

Everything around me was forest.

There were even trees so enormous that they completely blocked out the sun, rising imposingly.

Where the hell was this place and why was I here?

I couldn’t understand the situation.

[Welcome to the Continental Unification Gallery.]

“Ah, shit. What a scare.”

Just when my mind was completely dazed, a strange message appeared floating in front of my eyes.

It remained suspended in the air, like a hologram.

The shock lasted only an instant, because the message soon changed shape.

[Day 114 praying for full recovery.]

[1]

[ImgoingcrazyImgoingcrazyImgoingcrazyImgoingcrazy]

[12]

[Never ever click on the post below!]

[52]

[Today it’s this one!]

[105]

[Is this… the continental gallery… for real…?]

[8]

[I started dating my childhood friend! Ask me anything!!]

[10]

[Is there no one this young lady can have a deep conversation with? It’s a serious matter.]

[2]

It was the most horrendous kind of chaos that existed in the world.

Did I drink too much yesterday? I had just woken up and I was already seeing hallucinations.

But no matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, the floating window was still there.

It was enough to drive someone insane.

“I’m… dreaming, right…?”

I had no idea what the hell was going on.

I moved my finger almost as if I were bewitched.

Can this even be opened?

It looked very much like the galleries I used to see on the internet.

Among all those chaotic posts, I selected the one with the highest number of comments.

[The post does not exist or has been deleted.]

“……?”

Instead of answers, it only left me with an even greater doubt.

If this was going to happen, I should have clicked earlier.

Even so, thanks to that I understood the situation I was in.

I crossed my arms and began to browse the gallery.

I wasn’t someone who frequented galleries, but at least a couple of times I had entered to look for information.

Even though it appeared as a hologram, the way to use it was surprisingly simple.

A hand gesture or even just a glance was enough for it to react the way I wanted.

Title) Day 114 praying for full recovery

Stellar daughter

Day 114 praying for full recovery

ㄴStay strong.

By selecting the post with the fewest comments, I only found a short text and an equally brief reply.

This wasn’t enough to draw conclusions.

But first of all, I needed to confirm whether the place I was in was safe.

‘I don’t know what this is, but I’d better be careful.’

In a forest like this, you never know what might suddenly jump out.

If a bear appeared, I would be in serious trouble.

Fortunately, it was a place where the light filtered through irregularly, so at least I could see ahead. I moved both legs and began to walk forward.

“Hmm?”

That was when I found a plant that caught my attention.

Dense trees surrounded it as if protecting it, but they couldn’t hide its glow.

Besides, I needed a place to hide.

I moved cautiously and settled in among the trees.

‘It has a curious shape.’

At first glance it looked like a completely normal plant, but the petals were shaped like a crescent moon.

And that wasn’t all it shone like the moon in the night sky, even without receiving direct light.

It was a truly beautiful flower.

‘Usually, what’s beautiful tends to be poisonous.’

So I didn’t touch it.

In a forest, this kind of thing is usually on the do-not-touch list.

If you don’t know it, don’t eat it.

And with mushrooms, even less so.

Before eating something like that, it’s better to catch insects or bugs.

I hoped not to reach such an extreme situation, but given the current circumstances, it was something I had to consider.

‘Are there rules?’

I raised my head and entered the gallery again.

Just thinking about it was enough for it to appear.

When I looked at the top post, I clearly saw the announcements section.

Title) Notice

Don’t throw away the hero (admin)

1. Posts that generate discomfort or hatred are prohibited!

2. Obscene photos and videos are prohibited!

3. Posts that encourage tensions between countries are prohibited!

4. Excessive camaraderie and rejecting new users are prohibited!

5. Whoever breaks the rules will be banned!

6. Let’s protect the peace of the gallery!

7. The hero is not dangerous! Do not throw him away! (The most important!)

ㄴEverything’s fine except the last one, what the hell is that? hahaha

ㄴWhat is the hero doing right now? Sleeping?

ㄴThey say a lot that since the world is at peace he’s no longer useful

ㄴAccording to rumors, the Empire sent an extermination squad hahaha

ㄴFuck, what a pity hahahaha

That orange color was something like the administrator, or so I had heard.

The notice was quite simple as long as you didn’t cross the line, there didn’t seem to be any reason to ban you.

The gallery system was also extremely simple and convenient.

It allowed taking and posting photos and videos, and even conducting exchanges between users.

That said, direct transactions between users not auctions were only allowed for fixed nicknames. They said it was to prevent illegal transactions.

Additionally, since there was a risk of generating excessive camaraderie, when a transaction was activated, the maximum conversation time between users was three minutes.

‘Exchanges between users?’

Of everything I had read, that was the best.

Right now, I didn’t even know where I was.

To hell with money.

At this moment, what mattered were survival items.

Getting food was already difficult.

I also needed weapons to protect myself, tools to make fire, and many other things.

But in exchanges, most of the time one ends up losing out.

And the more desperate you are, the worse it is.

After thinking it over again and again, I decided to create a fixed nickname.

Before trading, I needed to find out where the hell I was.

Title) I opened my eyes and was in a forest. Where is this?

WildGrills

(Photo of a forest full of dense trees)

I drank yesterday and when I woke up I was here;; does anyone know where this is?

First, I posted in the gallery.

At least I already knew that this world was not the same as before.

The problem was knowing which part of that world I was in.

I didn’t even have time to think about why I had arrived here.

First I had to survive.

I would think calmly later.

Because if I died, it would be useless.

ㄴAnd who is this now?

ㄴHe only posts a photo of his legs and wants us to guess who he is hahaha

ㄴShould I upload my legs too? Let’s see if you guess

ㄴGet lost

ㄴIt’s a woman

ㄴActually it’s a man haha

ㄴSon of a bitch

Hmm.

Just fucking useless comments.

Damn bastards.

But thanks to that I realized something.

I had done something stupid.

It was obvious that by uploading just any photo of the forest, it would be impossible to identify which forest it was.

The fact that they even bothered to comment was already a sign that they weren’t such sons of bitches.

So I uploaded another post.

Title) What is the most famous forest on the continent?

WildGrills

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) Obviously Alvheim

ㄴGet lost, damn elves

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) Elves? We’re just telling the truth

ㄴThose bastard elves who devastate their own forest and then invade foreign territory

ㄴLetsPlantTrees) Mother Nature said it! All forests are Alvheim!

ㄴPassingDwarf) Because of those guys there’s not even any firewood left, damn it

ㄴElves always sticking their noses everywhere, nothing but a nuisance

ㄴWasn’t it that a hundred years ago they invaded the underground to make the roots of the World Tree grow? Haha

ㄴLately those bastards are worse than the demon race hahaha

“……”

Damn them.

Comment something normal, will you?

I thought that the so-called LetsPlantTrees, who also had a fixed nickname, would be useful, but not at all.

According to him, all forests are Alvheim.

And Alvheim is elven territory.

Therefore, all forests are elven territory.

He is spreading completely absurd logic.

‘As if it were imperialism.’

Weren’t elves supposed to be a race that loved nature?

Regardless of whether other races exist, that mentality was shocking.

One thing was clear it was not advisable to get involved with that race.

So I asked another question.

ㄴWildGrills) Isn’t there any forest that the elves hate?

ㄴPassingDwarf) Yes, there is one. The Forest of the Four Seasons. It’s famous for being a fucking hell

ㄴWildGrills) What kind of place is it?

ㄴPassingDwarf) Is your head made of an anvil or what? Did someone hit you with a hammer?

Hey.

This bastard started insulting me out of nowhere.

It’s true that I drank a lot yesterday and my head hurts as if someone had hit me with a hammer.

But I wasn’t actually hit.

ㄴWildGrills) Yes, I said I opened my eyes and was in a forest;; and with this headache it seems you’re right……

ㄴPassingDwarf) ;;;

ㄴUgh. Trash!

ㄴBut the author is pitiful. What the hell did he do?

ㄴWildGrills) I only drank. But I drank quite a lot

ㄴPassingDwarf) Fuck, then it’s your fault;; this idiot can’t even find his own house

ㄴAn alcoholic being insulted by a dwarf ㄷㄷ

Is that so?

But waking up in another world isn’t something one can avoid.

Even so, fortunately, PassingDwarf explained the Forest of the Four Seasons in quite some detail.

The Forest of the Four Seasons is the most dangerous forest on the continent and, just as its name indicates, it contains spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

At first I didn’t understand what that meant, but it didn’t take long for me to grasp why it was called that.

‘Each zone has its own season? What kind of bullshit is this…?’

And that wasn’t all.

Since it has an enormous concentration of mana, all kinds of dangerous monsters lurk there.

Even one’s sense of direction is completely lost, so once you enter, you cannot get out.

That is why they usually push criminals into the Forest of the Four Seasons.

There is not a single person who has come out alive.

ㄴPassingDwarf) That said, it’s full of elixirs and medicinal herbs

ㄴWildGrills) What kind of herbs?

ㄴPassingDwarf) Well, find out by dying haha. Eat a mushroom and die

ㄴWildGrills) Son of a bitch

“Ugh……”

A frustrated sigh escaped from me on its own.

I prayed that this place was not the Forest of the Four Seasons.

If it really was I don’t know.

They said there were many medicinal herbs, so I would have to survive thanks to that.

Going back home would be something I would think about after getting out of the forest.

Staying trapped here would be useless.

‘Then……’

I glanced sideways between my legs.

More precisely, a little lower.

That herb with crescent-moon-shaped petals.

What if this was also a medicinal herb?

Since I knew almost nothing about this world, uploading it to the gallery didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Before, the gallery had always been useful for asking questions.

And if it was the Continental Unification Gallery, all the more so.

Title) Does anyone know what medicinal herb this is?

WildGrills

(Photo of the crescent-moon-shaped herb)

I don’t know what herb this is, does anyone recognize it?

Not even three seconds had passed since I posted when a comment appeared.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Would you intend to trade with this humble woman? It is an urgent matter.

A user with the fixed nickname HeavenlyDemon replied immediately.

Isn’t Heavenly Demon a title that only appears in martial arts novels?

I immediately checked her posts.

If she was a lunatic, I had no intention of accepting any deal.

[HeavenlyDemon]

[Posts: 2,548]

[Comments: 3,817]

[Is there no one with whom this humble woman can have a deep conversation? It is a serious matter.] – 10 minutes ago

[My body is becoming heavier and heavier.] – 30 minutes ago

[The sky is sky and the earth is earth. To have failed to understand such a simple principle…] – 1 hour ago

Everything was full of meaningless posts.

And on top of that, they barely had any comments.

‘What is this? A person with main character syndrome?’

She speaks as if she were a solemn figure, yet she is wasting time in a gallery.

It didn’t add up.

Even so, I decided to listen first.

I checked the comments on the post.

ㄴDamn, isn’t that the New Moon Spiritual Herb? Why is one of those there?

ㄴGiveItToMeGiveItToMeGiveItToMeGiveItToMeGiveItToMe

ㄴHow much money do you need? Say it without fear

ㄴSwordMaster) Is that something good?

ㄴStellarDaughter) For me it’s a useless herb…… I need solar energy……

ㄴPassingDwarf) Hey, don’t you need a sword personally forged by a dwarf?

“…….”

Wow. What the hell is going on here?

After briefly checking HeavenlyDemon’s posts, the post filled with an absurd number of comments.

Even PassingDwarf, who had been so rude before, became polite.

Apparently, the herb was truly valuable.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Back off! This humble woman reserved it first! How greedy you are!

ㄴYes, yes. Whatever~

ㄴReserve it? Hahaha. The one the author likes gets it

ㄴOld man, go over there~

HeavenlyDemon, who had commented first, was buried among the messages.

No matter how much she tried to make herself noticed, there was no turning back.

Since exchanges between users were allowed, astronomical figures sometimes appeared.

I didn’t know how much this world’s currency was worth, but one thing was certain.

‘I must choose the one who looks the most desperate.’

Among them, there was one who insisted without giving up as expected,

HeavenlyDemon.

She was commenting at an impressive speed.

Seeing her, I felt pity.

‘From her posts… could she really be someone who is seriously ill?’

StellarDaughter also seemed ill, but she made it clear that the herb was of no use to her.

After thinking it over again and again, I decided to choose HeavenlyDemon.

I had already received countless exchange requests, but I ignored them all and selected her.

Having something that you reserved first snatched away from you is a dirty and desperate feeling.

That I knew very well.

[Do you wish to request an exchange with the user HeavenlyDemon?]

[All conversation content will be visible to the administrator and, depending on the severity, may result in a permanent ban.]

Apparently, the administrator’s power was greater than I had thought.

Or perhaps they simply monitored illegal transactions and excessive camaraderie very closely.

Right now, I wasn’t doing any of those things, so I sent the request without hesitation.

What I needed were items to survive.

‘What will she give me in return?’

Full of anticipation, I waited.

[HeavenlyDemon has accepted the exchange request.]