MTLNOVEL Chapter 3 - Birth of a Demon Lord (3)
It was an extremely ordinary day.
Walking through the ruins under the morning sun, stopping by an underground bunker I had spotted the day before yesterday to collect a few cans, expanding my qi sense to check for life form reactions, confirming and stabilizing the gates scattered around the world – it was such an ordinary daily routine.
Everything was completely normal, and it was just an ordinary, identical day no different from the 20 years I had spent so far.
That is, until I entered the ‘Demon Lord Gallery’.
“Tomato soup again? Can’t they put some other food in the bunker..?”
All the canned food I retrieved from the bunker was tomato soup.
Couldn’t they put some canned fruits or tasty snacks in the bunker?
Sighing, I opened the can, heated it roughly, and poured it into my mouth.
Ah, do you know the taste of tomato soup that has given up on taste balance in favor of nutritional balance?
It was a terribly awful taste. So bad that even after ten years, I couldn’t get used to it.
As I kept thinking about the taste, I completely lost my appetite, and eventually, the half-eaten can of soup was discarded on the floor.
You could say it’s a waste, but honestly, it didn’t really matter to me.
If you ask an ordinary person about meals, they would answer that it’s an essential act for taking in necessary nutrients, but for me, it was a contradictory act.
It had been over 20 years since I no longer needed to supply nutrients through meals.
A body that needs neither food nor sleep.
People used to call me all sorts of nicknames like transcendent or phoenix reborn.
Someone once asked if it wasn’t convenient, but well.
I’d like to tell them that sleep and meals are more important than they think.
The reason I repeat this behavior despite not needing food or sleep is to maintain my humanity, my semblance of being a living creature.
When I see myself not sleeping or eating for years, questions and regrets about my own existence flood in.
Additionally, the sense of distance from those around me plays a part.
Of course, now there probably aren’t any people within a 10,000 KM radius.
People, people, people.
As I thought about useless things, somehow the destination of my thoughts was always people.
I could feel loneliness creeping in.
“Ah, shit…”
As my head became full of complicated feelings, regrets, and worries, I naturally had to find an escape.
The thing that had entertained me during the dawn. The Demon Lord Gallery, that is.
“….But how do I open it?”
At first, I could access it just by clicking on the sentence, but once I closed it, I couldn’t figure out how to open it again.
There was no new sentence floating in front of my eyes either.
‘No way…..’
“…Gallery open?”
It was an embarrassing and cringeworthy thing to say.
Fortunately, however, the gallery answered my call for the sake of my embarrassment, and soon I was faced with the familiar interface of the community floating before my eyes.
And as soon as I scrolled down, what greeted me was…..
“….What is this?”
[Stop suppressing the bait, sub-manager!][4]
[Let’sgo to TiananmenLet’sgo to TiananmenLet’sgo to Tiananmen][20]
[Notice][Please discuss bait-related issues in the arena][1021]
[Where’s the newbie?Where’s the newbie?Where’s the newbie?Where’s the newbie?Where’s the newbie?][81]
[Wolf Viscount
[These bastards are going crazy again][12]
[Those below 7th rank shouldn’t be allowed to use the gallery][6]
It was chaos.
Of course, the Demon Lord Gallery I encountered at dawn wasn’t a normal community by any means, but this was on another level.
Posts with ‘bait’ in the title increased by dozens every time I refreshed, and at the same time, I could see the magic of dozens of posts disappearing with each refresh.
“What on earth is this?”
I didn’t expect normal community activities from beings called Demon Lords in the first place, but isn’t this a bit too much?
I couldn’t grasp what was causing such a fiery reaction.
After scrolling for a while, avoiding the posts being spammed and deleted, despite considerable effort, I couldn’t find the start of this chaos.
“I need to get a sense of what’s going on..huh?”
As I sighed and scrolled to the top of the community, I noticed the post category classification.
[All] [Concept Posts] [Notices]
[General] [Arena-1] [Arena-2] [Arena-3] [Archive] [Tournament] [Best] [Arena-4] [Arena-5]
There definitely weren’t Arena 4 and 5 when I looked at dawn, but two more had been added.
And something I just noticed now: there was a
“What was this again?”
Because it was an interface of a community I had seen so long ago, I could only guess that it was a collection of ‘conceptually good posts’.
When I clicked on the Concept Posts section, I finally found what I was looking for.
[You know what to do if you’re upset, right?][84]
[Notice][Please discuss bait-related issues in the arena][961]
[Wolf Viscount
[It’s me, you bastards][51]
[Summary for demon bros who just entered the gallery][97]
The reason this situation occurred. A post summarizing that was exactly what I wanted.
[Title: Summary for demon bros who just entered the gallery]
[Author: Bookworm]
[This is a summary post.
A post was uploaded at Manmajeon Time Log 902.642.123
The author’s dimension log started with 111.
Dimension log (111.xxx) is a newbie, not from Manmajeon or Hell.
Gallery lurkers and old-timers fell into collective madness trying to dig up info on the newbie
As always, someone started an argument about the newbie and got sent to the arena, and then troublemakers who always join fights came in and made a mess]
[Comments][97]
[ㅇㅇ(666.412): Thumbs up]
[ㅇㅇ(666.311): ‘Demon Lord’ did ‘Demon Lord’ things]
[ㅇㅇ(471.82): But where did that newbie go?]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(666.103): Isn’t that why this mess started? Because no one knows?]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(471.82): Ah]
“…….”
This newbie they’re talking about, could it be me?
Pushing away my doubts, I clicked on an icon attached to the upper left corner of the interface.
[User Information]
[User Dimension Log-(111.432.743.674.187)]
[Temporary ID <ㅇㅇ(111.432)> assigned]
[Information Restriction Level 1]
[Posts Written][1]
[Comments Written][0]
[Inbox][999+]
Ah. It is me.
The dimension log 111.432.743.674.187 and temporary ID ㅇㅇ(111.432) embedded in the user information clearly showed that I was that newbie.
Is it really because of just one post I wrote?
At this point, it was as clear as day, but hoping against hope, I tried to check the post I had written.
But unfortunately, what appeared before my eyes was not my simple post, but a warning message.
A message that clearly indicated my post was isolated because it was causing such a commotion.
[This post can only be viewed by administrators]
At this point, even if I were stupid, I couldn’t not know.
That all this burning in the gallery was entirely my responsibility.
“Are these guys really crazy….”
I just needed something to alleviate my boredom for the remaining 30 years, but I never expected it to get so twisted from the start.
No, it would be more correct to say it was my mistake for underestimating these beings called Demon Lords.
Even as I kept sighing heavily, the gallery was still burning fiercely, and before I knew it, the Arena tab had passed 5 and a new 6 was being created.
Surely this won’t cause damage that crosses dimensions and reaches here, right?
Although the notice clearly stated that interdimensional movement was prohibited, it was extremely unsettling that the members of this community were Demon Lords.
In my image, Demon Lords were beings that ignored rules and lived as they pleased. Additionally, the festival of madness I had seen at dawn and just now supported this inference.
Should I just close the gallery here and cut ties?
Should I erase my memories of the gallery and live out the 30 years as I have been until now?
I thought of a few answers, but in the end, they were all close to denial of reality or escape, and there was only one solution I could choose.
Those who make problems should solve them.
The only way was for the one who started the fire to put it out.
.
.
.
.
[Title: I’m sorry]
[Author: ㅇㅇ(111.432)]
[I’m sorry for causing so much trouble due to my inexperience as this is my first time encountering this Demon Lord Gallery.
Please stop fighting]
It was a post I wrote with great resolve, and I tried to write it with some politeness.
The problem was that I didn’t know what kind of reaction it would cause.
[Comments][504]
[ㅇㅇ(666.951): What’s with this bastard’s way of speaking?]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(666.951): Judging by how he’s apologizing, isn’t this bastard a hero spy?]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(491.437): It’s not very Demon Lord-like, but he’s from a different background, try to understand]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(666.103): Will you take responsibility if the newbie dies?]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(666.951): Fuck, newbie or not, his way of speaking is shit]
ㄴ[Wolf Viscount: Please take fights and arguments to the arena]
[NeverWarAgain: Stop ㅋㅋ the fight ㅋㅋ please ㅋㅋ]
ㄴ[NeverWarAgain: Do you gays think demon bros are capable of that?]
[魔王: A person who has ascended to the seat of a Demon Lord bows their head to others? You lack qualification]
ㄴ[魔王: You should crush and eliminate all those who are dissatisfied with force. Tsk.]
ㄴ[ㅇㅇ(666.453): Muscle brain out]
[Wolf Viscount: I’ve sent you a private message, please read it]
After being shocked by the rapidly increasing comments for a while, fortunately, I was able to find one helpful comment among the comments filled with madness and malice.
[Wolf Viscount*: I’ve sent you a private message, please read it]
Wolf Viscount.
He was one of the sub-managers listed right below the manager-Bangaljuk at the top of the community.
And from my perspective, he was one of the few sane people in the Demon Lord Gallery.
“A message….”
Finding the message was also a struggle.
These Demon Lords must be looking at the community all day long, as there were over 999 messages, going into the thousands, so it was naturally difficult.
Fortunately, there was a convenient message search function, and soon I was able to check the message sent by this being called Wolf Viscount.
[Sender: Wolf Viscount*]
[Welcome to the Demon Lord Gallery. The small commotion currently taking place in the gallery will be dealt with soon, so please rest assured.
I hope you will read the unified gallery notice thoroughly, and I also recommend searching for posts by the author [One-eyed Grandpa] in the archive.
If you need additional situation explanation or have questions about the gallery, please click the link below]
Seeing such a normal message finally made me feel at ease.
“I’ve read the notice, and additional explanation… it’s better to get as much information as possible when I can”
It was urgent to learn a bit more about this bizarre community.
At least it would be better to be guided by this ‘Wolf Viscount’ who seemed rational on the surface, rather than connecting with other abnormal Demon Lords.
It was the moment I made that decision and clicked the link.
[Clicking this link will reveal your dimension log to the other party. Is this okay?]
‘What?’
The strange warning flashed by momentarily.
“Ugh?!”
Soon, the gallery window began to glow abnormally bright and emitted a light intense enough to turn night into day before finally subsiding.
And when I opened my eyes that I had closed for a moment, an unbelievable sight was unfolding before me.
Legs several times taller and larger than a building.
Fur and scales that seemed impenetrable by any guns or swords.
Elegantly gleaming white fangs.
What appeared before me was a gigantic gray wolf.