I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

I fell into a strange world.
There didn’t seem to be a clearer way to explain the situation I was in right now.

There were no particular warning signs.
I just followed my usual routine of working my part-time job at the convenience store, engaging in community activities, and then going to sleep.

But when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a scene far removed from my one-room apartment.

Gray walls.
And candlesticks hanging on the walls.

It didn’t seem like a dream. I slapped my cheek and felt the pain quite clearly. Pinching my thigh also resulted in definite pain.
The situation was so dreamlike that I was rather convinced it was reality.

‘Maybe I should have been nicer when browsing the gallery.’

I didn’t even browse the gallery harshly yesterday.

No, before the gallery browsing, maybe I should have lived my life more diligently to avoid falling into such a hellhole of a world.
I moved forward very carefully.

Thud.

Something caught my foot.
My gaze turned towards my feet. What caught my foot was a skull.

It rolled…

It was clearly a human skull.
My mind was filled with confusion.

What kind of world have I been thrown into?

The presence of a skull meant that this was a space where people could die.
Faded bricks. The smell of dirt and mold mixed together.

Well, it couldn’t be a dungeon, right?
I slowly moved my steps. Following the flames of the candlesticks was all I could do right now.

Soon I stopped. My footsteps, that is.

【 1 】

The black number caught my eye.
1.
…Is this the first floor?
Is this place a structure made up of floors?

For now, I had no choice but to keep walking.

Crunch!

The sound of something being chewed reached my ears.
The problem was that the source of the sound was right in front of me.
I crouched down, using a slightly protruding gray wall as cover.

‘Shit.’

Crunch!

Something was consuming something.
A giant ant.
A massive ant, easily 100cm in height, was chewing on something.

‘…It’s a person.’

It looked like a person. A dead person at that.
Without any movement, its body was being chewed by the ant.

The large jaws of the moving ant. And with each movement, dark red blood flowed down.

Crunch!

I held my breath.

Whether it was because I was behind it or because it was focused on its meal, I couldn’t tell, but one thing was certain: it still didn’t know of my existence.

‘There’s a weapon.’

Right behind the ant.
Probably a spear that was used by the person now being eaten by the ant.
The only thing that could kill this ant now was that spear.

If that giant ant finished its meal and came this way, I’d die without even having a chance to grab the spear.
This was my only opportunity.
Moving my body right now to grab that spear was the best course of action.

I lowered my body as much as possible and slowly moved forward.
I advanced while holding my breath completely.

Crunch! Crackle!

While hearing these horrific sounds, I stretched out both hands.
Towards the single spear behind the giant ant that was still eating.

Thunk.

‘…I got it.’

The spear felt quite heavy, but not so much that I couldn’t lift it. It’s fortunate that I often lifted empty bars at the gym.

Just as I was about to thrust the spear, I felt a gaze. A very chilling predator’s gaze.
The giant ant’s black eyes were staring intently at me.

I moved my body quickly. Stepping forward with my right foot, I thrust both arms forward.

Squelch!

The spear struck the ant’s head directly.
I swung the shaft of the spear towards the legs of the staggering ant as it stepped backward.

Crack!

My heart was beating fast.
The momentum was on my side. I kept thrusting with both arms desperately.

Aiming for the giant ant’s head. Dozens of times.

Soon, a pool of blue-green blood formed on the floor.
It seemed I had succeeded in definitely killing it.

The giant ant with its crushed head lay motionless.
My whole body was drenched in sweat.

The black shirt was stained with the ant’s sticky blood.

“Ugh…”

Perhaps because I had exerted all my strength, both my arms started to hurt as if they were being torn off.

[Experience points have increased.]
[Current experience: 30%]
[Level will increase when experience reaches 100%.]
[The higher your level, the slower your experience points will increase.]

Level?
By this point, I was thoroughly confused. Where on earth have I been thrown into?

My gaze was still fixed on the crushed ant.
And then it moved to the dead person behind it.

“What?”

The clothes were very different from the modern clothes I had been wearing until just recently.
It felt like clothes from the Western medieval period.

Something floated above the corpse’s head.

[NPC – Fleeing Citizen]

Not a name, but the designation “Fleeing Citizen”.

“So it’s an NPC…”

Every situation I encountered was unrealistic.
I carefully searched through the dead citizen’s clothes.
There was a pouch hidden under the clothes.

Inside the pouch was an object with a very familiar feel.
I took it out.

“A mobile phone?”

What’s this, a mobile phone suddenly appearing here?
Until now, only completely unrealistic situations had unfolded. Suddenly, a modern item popped up.

Its shape was identical to a smartphone.

I pressed what looked like the power button.

Ding-

The screen turned on.
Suddenly, a blue light flickered on the screen, and a hologram-like interface appeared before my eyes.

And then I saw the text.

【 Transcendent Gallery 】

I raised my hand and dragged down.
Quite a lot of posts had been uploaded.
Just like the community gallery I had been browsing before coming here.

I clicked on any noticeable post first.

Title: Any noteworthy rookies these days?
Author: ㅇㅇ
-Been busy with real life lately, so couldn’t check the Climbing Gallery. It’s been a while since I visited the Trans Gallery too lol

ㄴ No particularly notable newbies.
ㄴ Fr these days they lack will. They’re all just looking for the easy way out.
ㄴ So where did you clear? Normal? Don’t say such things when you’re just an Easy difficulty clearer.
ㄴ LightSword) Do you know the sword?
ㄴ SwordParrot, aren’t you tired of this?

Trans Gallery seems to be the abbreviation for ‘Transcendent Gallery’.
What’s Climbing Gallery then?
I pressed the back button for now. Then I clicked on the latest post that had just been uploaded.

Title: Why the hell can’t we post on the Climbing Gallery ㅑㅑ Damn system
Author: ArchMage
-It’s so frustrating. Why can’t they win when they clearly can? It’s just the 35th floor! Push in and kill them whether your arms burn or your legs tear! You’ll recover after clearing the floor anyway, why are they dawdling so much

ㄴ You’re giving too much advice for something that’s not your business. Are you really an Arch Mage?
ㄴ Easy mode clearer trash detected. Know that not everyone is trash like you. This person cleared Hard. Don’t you know their fixed nickname?

Fixed nickname.
A fixed nickname meant someone who consistently uses a unique nickname within the gallery.

ㄴ FFS 60% are from Easy mode, but aren’t you just from Normal? You’re the same ordinary trash. Why are you sucking up to that Arch Mage?
ㄴ Easy<<<<<<<ㄴ lololololol Your self-awareness is too high. That’s just the difference in level between Normal and the King God Hard mode. Easy and Normal are just about two walls apart at best.
ㄴ Priestess) Hawawa, everyone shouldn’t fight.
ㄴ Wrong.
ㄴ LightSword) Do you know the sword?

It’s confusing.
What’s clear is that the people writing posts or comments in this Transcendent Gallery all seem to have finished conquering something, not currently conquering it.

Then what am I?
I still had no idea where this was, but it seemed certain that this was the 1st floor. So that means I’m at the starting point. Unlike the people chattering in the gallery.

I should post something and see the reactions.

I pressed ‘Write’ and started composing.
The keyboard was projected in the air like a hologram keyboard, so writing was easy.

Tap tap tap-

I’ll just use ‘ㅇㅇ’ as the author. It seems people who don’t use fixed nicknames here use this too. Just like a real gallery.

After finishing writing, I pressed upload.

Title: Have you all cleared? I think I’m on the 1st floor, what is this place
Author: ㅇㅇ
-Seeing ‘1’ written on the wall, I think I’m just starting. Have you all finished? What exactly is this place? I just killed a giant ant.

As soon as I posted, comments started appearing.

ㄴ Idiot, why are you posting such attention-seeking nonsense. This is Trans Gallery, how can a climber post here. So boring
ㄴ If you have nothing to do, wash your feet and go to sleep~~
ㄴ Priestess) Hawawa, it’s not fun.
ㄴ Go to Climbing Gallery.
ㄴ lololololol “Go to Climbing Gallery” this is hilarious. Is he crazy? How can he go to the Climber Gallery. Would he climb again if we sent him back?
ㄴ Fuck off, I’ll never climb again. I still have PTSD

They don’t believe me.
As I was about to write another post begging them to believe me.

Another comment was posted.

ㄴ GalleryMaster) I’m not sure what’s going on… but this guy seems to be telling the truth? I checked the location coordinates and it’s 666.666.66.532. The coordinates starting with 666 are for Climbing Gallery users, right?

GalleryMaster?
Is this the same role as the gallery master I know?
It was a gallery administrator with the authority to delete posts or block users.
Anyway, as soon as the GalleryMaster’s comment was posted, it was as if time had stopped for a moment and no comments were posted.

And then.
After that brief silence, comments started pouring in like crazy.

ㄴ What?? For real? How can a climber ㅋㅋㅋㅋ What’s going on?
ㄴ And it’s just the 1st floor??? LOL
ㄴ 1st floor or whatever, a climber coming to Trans Gallery doesn’t make sense at all fr
ㄴ Priestess) Hawawa, I apologize for my earlier rudeness.
ㄴ LightSword) Do you know the sword?

Even as I scrolled down, there seemed to be no end.

ㄴ ArchMage) What, such a crazy thing suddenly happens?? Can you use magic by any chance?
ㄴ Pioneer) ??
ㄴ SewerSwordSaint) Explain in more detail.
ㄴ AbsoluteMonarch) Where are you from?
ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) So you’re on the 1st floor now? What’s the difficulty?
ㄴ ClosedRoomTheorist) An anomaly has occurr -This world is made up of a giant closed room
ㄴ IceQueen) Freeze! Frozen!
ㄴ I’mAnElf) Are you perhaps a different race?
ㄴ ㄷㄷㄷㄷ Look at all these rarely seen people popping up ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Fr it’s drawing out all the lurkers. It’s surprising ㅇㅇ
ㄴ All the monsters are coming out

It seemed certain that all the attention of the Transcendent Gallery was focused on me.