"Ugh."
I woke up with a pounding headache and intense thirst.
Suffering from classic hangover symptoms, I first looked for the water bottle in the room.
"...Huh?"
But when I turned my head, something felt off.
It wasn't my familiar room. Instead, there was some unfamiliar backdrop.
"Where... is this?"
One thing was certain: it wasn't my room.
No, it wasn't even indoors.
'Looks like a street... Did they seriously dump me on the roadside?'
It was dark, either evening or early morning.
Fortunately, glowing lights dotted around secured my vision.
'And it kinda feels rural.'
The reason I thought it was rural was the houses built here and there.
Of course, they were made of stacked large stones, nothing like modern architecture.
'First things first, figure out where I am.'
The moment I thought I'd catch a bus or taxi, whatever, and head home.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ New user detected. Attempting connection to the Dimensional Network.
"...?"
Right in front of my eyes, unknown text appeared on a blue window.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Welcome to the Doom Salvation Gallery.
"Doom Salvation Gallery?"
I blankly read the text floating in front of me.
Of course, I had no idea what it meant.
In the meantime, the text shifted to something else.
💬 Doom Salvation Gallery [I'm Starving. I'm Going Crazy from Hunger!!!] [4] [Whoa, the monsters on Labyrinth Floor 4 are really all dried up? For real?] [12] — Someone [Anyone wanna give me some points? Starving for two days straight.] [6] ⭐ Top Post — Someone [How to Eat for Free] [67] [When the hell are those Mage Tower guys gonna finish decoding?] [26] [↓They're saying Floor 7 is an expedition? Lol] [11] — Someone [Recruiting for Labyrinth Floor 7 expedition.] [15] — Someone [Ah... Maybe we should head to the surface?] [7]
'What the hell is this?'
It resembled galleries I'd seen on the internet a few times.
But the holographic window floating before my eyes felt unreal.
'Do I tap it with my hand?'
Thinking that, I tapped the post with the highest comment count next to its title.
📰 Post Title: How to Eat for Free You need initial capital. Buy 10 portions of Channel 4 rations for 50 points first. Then cut each into 1/10ths and eat one tenth. Repackage the remaining 9/10ths and sell for 5 points each.
"... ."
What the hell does this mean?
So, eat one bite and sell it again?
My mind went blank at this unimaginable method, but I scrolled down to check the comments below.
— Someone Whoa. Genius method. — DieDemon BLOCKED. — MoleLife Should I block too? ↳ Reply Blocking is the way. — VeggieSoup That's why I don't buy rations from this channel. — GruntSoldier At least he's got some conscience. Leaves 9/10ths. ↳ Reply For real. Someone else would've eaten half. ↳ Reply Half? Would've left just a scrap of 1/10th lol. — AmelotMerchant Delete this post. — Someone If Channel 4 blocks you, you taking responsibility? ↳ Reply Responsibility my ass. They can't read posts anyway.
After reading through the comments, I looked around once more.
A vague unease crept up in my mind, which had until now assumed this was some rural area.
'Maybe I should post something.'
First, I needed to figure out where this was.
So, I quickly hit the [Write Post] button at the bottom and made a post.
'First time on the gallery.'
But I could handle writing a post just fine.
📰 My Post Title: Excuse me, but can someone tell me where this is? Had drinks with a friend, woke up and this popped up in front of me. Anyone know where I am?
'Perfect. Now just wait a bit...'
People would comment and let me know.
"... ."
But after 1 minute, 2 minutes, even 5 minutes passed.
No comments on my post.
"...?"
Why no comments?
My post was already buried under newly generated ones.
As I pondered rewriting it, a new alert sounded.
Ding~!
'A comment?!'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Ability detected. Similarity to current Doom Salvation Gallery found.
"...?"
Ability? Similarity?
'What does this mean?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Linking user's ability, 'Modern Item Purchase', to the current gallery.
"Modern... Item Purchase?"
The moment I saw that phrase, yesterday's events naturally came to mind.
Specifically, what my friend had said during drinks.
- Kim Min-ho. If you went to another world, what ability would you want?
'I definitely said "buying modern items" back then.'
Anyway, looking to the left of the gallery, there was a clear [Modern Item List] button.
It was blinking invitingly, so like I was entranced, I pressed it hard with my finger.
Modern Item Categories 1. [Food] 2. [Drinks] 3. [Clothing] 4. [Sundries] 5. [Stationery] 6. [Toys] 7. [Household Goods] 8. [Kitchenware]
I stared at the list for a while, then pressed 2. [Drinks].
Bottled Water 2L: 1 point Can Drink 355ml: 1 point Iced Tea 500ml: 1 point
'Points?'
Do I buy with these points? As I wondered.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have checked your ability for the first time. 100 points awarded as reward.
Unlike the previous text floating before my eyes, a clear voice rang in my head.
[Points: 100]
And at the bottom left of the gallery window, what seemed to be my points appeared.
I didn't know why an "ability" showed up in the gallery window, but it was probably due to the linking just now.
'So, can I buy items with these points?'
To test, I tapped the top [Bottled Water 2L].
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Purchased 1x Bottled Water 2L. Purchased item automatically moved to Gallery Storage. 1 point deducted.
'Storage?'
Searching, I easily found the [Storage] label.
Tapping Storage revealed the 2L bottled water I'd bought inside.
'Looks like a game inventory. But how do I take it out?'
On a hunch, I tapped the water, and [Take Out], [Sell], [Discard] buttons appeared.
'If I press [Take Out] here...'
Poof—
Suddenly, the water bottle appeared before my eyes and dropped to the ground with a thud.
"... ."
Was this phenomenon even possible?
My already throbbing headache intensified, my mind a mess, but my hands honestly grabbed the water.
Either way, the hangover made water desperately needed, so I twisted off the cap and drank.
Gulp gulp—
Clean, cool water slid down my throat.
Thankfully, the thirst tormenting me eased somewhat.
'What the hell is going on, anyway.'
Dumped in some unknown place, gained a weird gallery window and modern item purchase ability.
For a moment, I thought of isekai manga, but it was too early to be sure.
'Wish someone kindly commented where this is.'
My post was long buried deep.
Instead, I eyed a title with tons of comments and wrote another post.
📰 My Post Title: Handing Out Rations. First 3 Claimers. The first 3 to tell me in detail where this is get my rations.
Looking at the gallery, nearly half the posts were about food.
Plus dozens of comments each, so I believed this would get reactions.
Ding— Ding— Ding—
'Ah, so this is the comment sound?'
As expected, comments kept pouring in at the bottom.
— Save Me Handing out rations? For real? ↳ Reply Obviously fake lol. At least if you'd changed your nick first, maybe. — Earth Mage Shouldn't you at least post a pic first before asking where? — Someone Ah, doesn't wanna give out rations. — Someone Look at all the suckers who fell for the title lol.
'Nick? Nickname? And photo?'
I still didn't get it, but from the comments, I needed to set a nickname first.
And to show where I was, take a photo. The moment I thought that, a new comment appeared.
⭐ Top Comment — All-Purpose Worker If you can see the sky, you're on the surface. If not, it's the Great Labyrinth of Kalis Continent. Note: surface is monster-overrun, so high chance it's the Labyrinth.
Kalis Continent? Great Labyrinth?
My friend's isekai talk was starting to feel real.
'No way, a real other world? With modern item purchase ability?'
Lifting my head, I saw only dim space.
No sky, so high chance it was the Great Labyrinth.
'Ah... this is insane.'
After rubbing my dry face a few times, per the promise, I went to Modern Items to hand out rations.
Red Bean Bread: 1 point
Bottled Water 2L: 1 point
'These two should do.'
After buying, I tapped the nickname [All-Purpose Worker] who explained.
Tapping revealed [1:1 Chat], [Trade], [Block] buttons.
'Pressing [Trade] here.'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Beep— To trade with others, you must set a nickname.
'Ah.'
Reading that, I finally understood the earlier comments.
They said dig the nick first— needed nickname for trades.
'Nickname...'
After a moment's thought, recalling my situation, I picked a fitting one.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Nickname set. Nickname: Castaway
Castaway.
No nickname could fit better.
— Earth Mage What the hell is this guy? Doesn't even know he's in the Labyrinth? ↳ Reply Could not be the Labyrinth. ↳ Reply Maybe crawled out of some cave. ↳ Reply If not Labyrinth, monster chow soon lol.
I ignored the new comments and tapped [Trade] on All-Purpose Worker.
Poof—
Two windows appeared simultaneously.
The left had the red bean bread and water I'd just bought.
I added the red bean bread and water, then hit trade.
'Promise kept.'
I turned back to the comments to check for useful info.
Comments kept coming, but no solid information.
Then.
⭐ Top Comment — All-Purpose Worker Castaway! Thank you! That bread was insanely delicious! Ask me anything else you're curious about!
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