Chapter 148


The rift was solid.

But upon listening closely, something felt off.

“How can it be solid, damn it?”

Isn’t it supposed to have a form, solid or soft?

Even a rift that simply looked like a portal clearly had a frame.

This was something I could confirm on rainy or snowy days.

“Snow is piling up?”

There were definitely upper and lower parts of the rift, aside from the portal leading outside.

Furthermore, it had been validated by the previous chemical weapon incident.

Rifts were alive.

“So we have to face the new world?”

The rift was a one-way street.

You could go in, but not come out.

“Then I’ll just go in halfway.”

But if you’re only halfway inside?

I had already checked this with the Holy Sword in the past.

As long as you didn’t fully enter the rift, you could get out anytime.

“If I apply cement inside, does that mean I can pass through to the outside?”

Then they could do the same from outside.

[Title: Damn it, where are we going]

(Image of the Gallery Doctor halfway stuck in a rift)

(Image of the part-time workers soaked in shock and fear)

They were struggling with the cement and suddenly shoved their whole body in, damn it!

There wasn’t even time to stop them, for real.

Am I seeing this right?

[Upvotes: 8211] [Downvotes: 0]

– ?

– ???

– (Elf pottery figure holding their head)

The Gallery Doctor was right there, sticking their upper body into the rift to apply the plaster.

Excellent Doc: “This place is amazing. So many ugly assholes are welcoming me!”

Excellent Doc: (Image with a black background)

Unfortunately, it seemed the rift outside was not something the gallery could capture in photos.

Every image sent back was completely blacked out.

After about ten minutes passed, the Gallery Doctor returned.

To be precise, only their upper body came back, covered in blood.

“Eep!”

– “Wow, that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

– “Wait, what kind of monster is that?”

– “Eeeek!!!”

A few part-time workers, gathered out of curiosity, screamed and toppled over at the sight.

Head of the Gallery*: “You okay?”

Excellent Doc: “So many nuisances disturbed my plastering!”

Excellent Doc: “So, I had a taste of it. My excellent gallery spicy bullet.”

There was interference from the monsters outside, but it seemed they were successfully convinced.

“Did I take care of it?”

But the rift remained unaffected.

Even after being plastered, there was no drastic change.

– “What’s going on?”

– “Rifts can appear even underwater, right?”

– “Is Head of the Gallery an idiot?”

Head of the Gallery*) ?

Why are they coming up with methods we never think of? Are they a genius?

Haha, full-body twist it!

Permanently banned difficulty 9999.

Of course, the gallery reacted hotly to me, but it was still too early.

“I still don’t know…”

It takes a long time for cement to harden.

One hour, two hours, a day, or two, even.

As I left it for about a week, the cement began to slowly solidify.

Then, when it had finally solidified completely…

– “Grrrrr!”

The rift covered in cement suddenly made a strange sound and dried up, getting crumpled.

– “Wait, this actually works?”

– “What? It’s a pathetic thing.”

– ?

The rift had a very significant weakness.

“Hey big brother, wiggle your toes.”

It only had high physical defense.

*

The rift was pathetic.

Even if you put it nicely, that was the case.

To put it badly, it was a reverse cheat that only had high physical defense.

When unaware of its weakness, it seemed invincible, but once discovered, it was too easy to tackle.

“Why don’t you try hardening the cement?”

As for alternative items, there were toxic gases, arsenic, and shell green paint made of lead.

Or you could just set up a fan to blow air towards the rift while lighting a campfire.

– “Grrrrr.”

Every time that happened, the rift couldn’t react and simply dried up.

– “What? It dies even if you light a fire?”

– “The jerk who pretended to be strong… turned out to be a complete weakling…”

“This is easier to solve than I thought.”

Of course, because the rift that had been a problem for so long was so easily resolved, a strange anxiety remained.

But I momentarily set aside that anxiety and opened the gallery to dive into the concept article.

“Everyone must be talking a lot about the rift, right?”

The gallery was always buzzing with action.

But perhaps this time, there was a glimmer of hope for a more pleasant atmosphere as I logged in.

– “Elves ← What’s the difference between them and real cats?”

– “The top 3 most disgusting races.”

– “How can they get hated by almost every race? Hahaha.”

– “Elves >>> Humans.”

– “Stupid idiots… .jpg”

– “They started it first, yet they’re disgusted ^^.”

– “Humans are the most unkind among the races, lol.”

“That can’t be true.”

Of course, that was nonsense.

I chuckled quietly as I watched the gallery brim with curses and hatred.

Sure, appropriate disdain is fine.

“Cursing and hitting the trolls? Welcome.”

There’s a reason the driving force of the gallery is often instinct and dopamine.

As long as they kept lines, it didn’t matter.

But this concept article was a bit different.

It wasn’t just a simple fight between specific targets but rather a full-on team battle caused by divisions.

– “If the pointy-eared folks pit themselves against each other, it’s game over, lol.”

– “The World Tree was the one-man army, but where’s the World Tree gone?”

– “No such race exists, lol.”

– “Yup, a nonexistent race ^^.”

– (Picture of an elf digging the ground with their ears)

– (Picture of a human and an orc kissing each other)

– “Damn it, do you want to throw down?”

“Hmm.”

There were at most a few spectators.

There were hundreds of competitors in the ring.

From similar lame insults to all kinds of hatred and tactical nukes flying around.

“This is getting a bit out of hand.”

Arguments and verbal fights are welcomed, but division must not happen.

Especially when political and racial conflicts escalate, the gallery becomes a total mess.

“That can’t happen.”

I could go without meals.

I could abstain from drinking water.

But I must engage in gallery fun.

I urgently composed a notice post.

[Notice: It’s me]

Author: Head of the Gallery*

(Image of an elf hugging)

(Image of a human hugging)

(Image of an elf and human hugging each other)

This gallery seeks to promote harmony among all races.

Please halt any meaningless hatred and disputes.

[Upvotes: 1421] [Downvotes: 9999+]

– “Damn it, this can’t be right!!!!”

– “No way, damn it.”

– “I’d rather you switch out the elves for orcs, damn it.”

– (Image of orcs and humans talking while naked)

– “You damn bastard.”

– “Why do this…?”

– “Eeeek!!!”

– (Image of a squished cat elf)

Thankfully, the division that seemed never-ending was temporarily subdued by my notice post.

“Well, it’s true that there’s been mutual hatred between the two races for ages.”

However, there were times it escalated into serious emotional conflicts.

But fighting was pointless.

The discord between races would be exactly what the monsters desired, and that was when the presence of the Head of the Gallery was needed.

“As usual.”

Even if I wanted to clap, I had to match the beat.

There was a race that had started this first at a hundred percent.

And the race that inherently loved self-admiration and feeding off others was just one.

“No doubt it’s the elves.”

The unofficial number one rank hated by all races from the era before the Great War to now.

The only race that broke the cliché of human hatred in the fantasy medieval setting was the elves.

I assumed they must have been loudly praising themselves while passionately criticizing humans as usual.

– Head of the Gallery*) “Go apologize to the elves.”

– “What?”

– “We didn’t do anything bad!!!”

– Head of the Gallery*) “Are you angry?”

– (Image of an elf laying on the ground crying)

– “Why… why…!”

At first, they obviously didn’t admit it.

The elves crowded around my chat, clutching their collars.

But even this was something I had grown accustomed to.

– Head of the Gallery*) “Searching through?”

– Head of the Gallery*) “But if it’s elves, I’m going to ban the flow of alcohol in Elard for a day.”

– “Eeek!”

– “Heeek!”

So I pulled out a slightly bigger card.

Alcohol ban.

This card usually made elves admit their mistakes and shrink back.

But their reactions this time were different from usual.

– “No way… did the elves really start it?”

– “Head of the Gallery only hates us!”

– “Head of the Gallery only likes humans… we’re being favored…”

“Huh?”

Even with soju on the line, they were persistently feeling wronged.

To see the truth from an elf, you had to dangle soju in front of them.

There was a saying like that.

“But didn’t the elves start it first?”

There’s no way the elves would do that.

So, I decided to rummage through the gallery.

I opened about ten gallery tabs.

And from right when the rift rumors began to circulate, up until I discovered the concept article.

I checked every post and concept article.

That’s when one title caught my eye.

[Title: Dear Elves, please read this!]

(Image of the World Tree hitting elves)

(Image of smashing soju bottles on the ground)

(Image of slowly tearing a leaf vertically)

Haha.

[Upvotes: 4] [Downvotes: 103]

– “What is this?!”

– “How can this be happening…”

– “You devilish human! Apologize this instant!!!!!”

“No way, this is real.”

At the height of the rift rumors, someone had unexpectedly launched an indiscriminate attack against the elves first.

The posts mainly featured throwing soju bottles on the ground or kicking them.

“This can’t possibly be from an elf.”

This was definitely behavior an elf would never do.

Commonly known as an elf inside joke, this wasn’t an elf pretending to be a human.

But such disruptions sometimes occur.

The issue was that this post wasn’t the end.

[Title: I just posted a response as a human, and I apologize to the elves…]

(Image of mixing soju with beer)

(Image of dipping mint chocolate into soju)

They used to live eating grass, now they’ve gone mad.

I’ll make their blood boil with rage, haha.

I’ll beg them for mercy, haha, maybe then they’ll let it slide?

Feeling bored lately, I guess I’ll take charge.

[Upvotes: 1] [Downvotes: 193]

– “Eeek!!!”

– “Kyaa!!!”

– “Where do you live!!!”

– “That sounds delicious…”

– ?

This post was just the starting line for the further onslaught against the elves.

“How… how do you know this so well?”

The problem was that they understood way too well.

They had a clear grasp of what would trigger the elves’ meltdown and kept posting accordingly.

A skill that wouldn’t come from typical disruptions.

“Their tone is a bit off too.”

Plus, it felt a bit strange for a human.

Yet somehow, that ended up catching a lot of attention.

– “Haha, I agree.”

– “So spot-on, only the best words.”

– “Support for the heat guy!”

As passing human Gallums joined in, the battle escalated and the elves retaliated.

Eventually, a grudge had built up to a point words couldn’t mend.

“If I try to forcibly resolve this, it’ll only make matters worse, right?”

I could impose a restriction on the gallery immediately.

But it was clear that hatred towards the opposing race would only escalate in reality.

When I pondered over how to resolve this, a glimmer of a method showed up in front of me.

[43% left until level 12.]

[Unlockable Systems]

1. Real-life Gallery

2. ???

“Oh.”

A good idea had appeared right before my eyes.