Chapter 50
Titles about the Green Mod filled the gallery the moment I opened it.
[Self-Proclaimed B-Rank Hunter’s 10th Floor Strategy.txt]
[Is the Green Mod Really D-Rank?]
[Exposing the Sleazy Deeds of Green Mod Jinhan-gae.]
“What the hell is going on?”
One thing was certain.
The gallery was in chaos.
I quickly started skimming the gallery posts.
But it wasn’t easy to figure out what had happened.
Countless posts and featured posts were being deleted in real time.
The gallery had become a complete mess, tangled up in different stories.
“If something like this happens, shouldn’t someone jump in fast and write a summary post?”
I grumbled to myself.
Not a single properly organized summary post?
With no choice, I scrolled back through the board and sorted out the situation myself.
After scrolling back several pages and clicking through the posts, I finally found the one that had sparked the uproar.
It was a plain informational post where the Green Mod and a lurker were talking about the 10th Floor boss.
I thought back to the 10th Floor boss.
“The Orc Chieftain? Was there anything special to talk about there?”
Of course, I hadn’t experienced the other difficulties myself.
Still, I had picked up enough from the gallery to know a bit about them.
For starters, the monster I had met didn’t appear on Easy or Normal.
On Hard, an Orc Chieftain with the same name appears.
But after hearing the detailed description, I couldn’t imagine it was the same monster as the chieftain I had faced.
I remembered that thing’s monstrous attack power.
A Hard-mode boss wouldn’t be able to blow people’s upper bodies apart just by swinging its arm once.
Most importantly, no one had seen any ominous message like “The chieftain remembers you” after clearing it.
Curious, I took a look at the comments they had exchanged.
The Green Mod was acting like an expert and lecturing them on the 10th Floor boss strategy.
The problem was that there was something wrong with what the Green Mod said.
ㄴ Jinhan-gae□ : The chieftain goes berserk at 10% HP. You’ve gotta hold it down and kill it in one shot.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(121.178) : That pattern doesn’t exist, though? That’s the Orc Berserker.
ㄴ Jinhan-gae□ : Ahaha, I mixed up Hard and Normal. My bad;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(121.178) : The Normal boss isn’t a Berserker either. Who are you, anyway?
ㄴ Jinhan-gae□ : Ah, it was Easy. I cleared Hard and was talking from that, so I got a little mixed up.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(121.178) : Come on, man. Use your head. How do you write an Easy guide after writing a Hard guide?
A lurker pointed out the inconsistency in the Green Mod’s words.
Starting with that comment, the vibe began to get weird.
ㄴ Come to think of it, the Green Mod was acting a little weird last time too when talking about the normal monsters in the 10th-floor range.
ㄴ Oh, so I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
ㄴ But didn’t you say the Green Mod was B-rank?
Once people started questioning the Green Mod’s rank, he began explaining himself directly.
ㄴ Jinhan-gae□ : I am B-rank, yes, and I’m currently climbing the 33rd Floor as part of an A-rank party.
ㄴ Excuse me. You said you cleared Hard. Why are you B-rank and not A-rank if you’re climbing the 33rd Floor with an A-rank party, lol.
ㄴ Ha.... You picked the wrong guy to mess with when I’m bored.
The story kept getting more and more inconsistent.
In the end, the mood shifted to the point where people were demanding Hunter verification from the Green Mod.
But in the end, he couldn’t verify himself.
A little later, a conclusion was reached.
That Green Mod was C-rank or D-rank.
Maybe not even that—he might just be an ordinary non-awakened person.
Naturally, the gallery exploded.
ㄴ Do you really think an A-rank would be here in the first place? What were you expecting?
ㄴ For real lol, 90% of the people here are hunter wannabes or D-ranks who should be out on the frontier. Why would any real A-rank come here?
ㄴ From what I hear, there’s a separate community just for A-ranks. If it were me, I wouldn’t come here either.
“No, I do come here....”
Besides, as far as I know, there’s at least one S-rank in Hunter Gallery for sure.
Ah, and pkkachu too.
He’d already won ten chickens last time.
“Sigh. Then why act like you know stuff for no reason?”
I let out a sigh.
Seeing people genuinely burning with rage made my heart ache.
It felt like my fun little toy had been broken.
This won’t do.
The gallery must always be fun.
That was my only rule.
“Looks like I’ll have to step in myself.”
I decided I had to clean up this mess.
To do that, I had to throw out a new piece of bait.
Something bigger and more provocative to put out this fire.
I typed out a single line that would quell all the confusion at once.
[Title: So when are we picking a new Green Mod?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(B99.9C9)
One of them died anyway, so shouldn’t we pick a new one?
ㄴ Huh? You’re right.
ㄴ Draft starts lol
ㄴ Fixed-nick users are getting nervous lol
ㄴ Pick a real Hunter this time.
Not long after, the head mod also posted a notice to draft a new Green Mod.
With that one line, the gallery’s ominous atmosphere changed.
Hunter Gallery began buzzing again with anticipation for new content.
I nodded with satisfaction.
“This is it. This is what a properly run gallery should look like.”
I didn’t want to see my gallery burning over something like that again.
This place had to remain nothing more than a fun playground.
Meanwhile, I started laying the groundwork for the next step.
[Title: Honestly, why even be a Green Mod?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(B99.9C9)
ㄹㅇ You get attention just for writing posts
and if you work hard, they make a fuss saying you’re going to get banned
and if you don’t work, a bunch of people yell at you for not banning trolls
Seriously, why even do this?
ㄴ Don’t you know Green Mods get a salary?
At a glance, it looked like a post begging not to be made a Green Mod.
But my real feelings were completely different.
“I want to be a Green Mod....!”
Why wouldn’t I want to be the gallery’s mod?
I get attention just for writing posts?
How is that a downside?
Just thinking about it made my chest swell.
But I couldn’t just blatantly ask them to make me one.
I had to act like I hated it so that later I could smoothly wear the title as if I’d been reluctantly handed it.
It was the perfect plan.
But soon I realized my perfect plan had a fatal flaw.
“Right, I’m a lurker.”
Green Mod can only be assigned to fixed nicknames.
Of course, I did have a fixed-nick account I’d left dormant after padding its combined post-and-comment count to a certain number for a day like this.
The problem was that an account left dormant for so long had no chance of being made Green Mod.
“I really didn’t want to use this. But I have no choice.”
I contacted the head mod’s email I’d secured during the last chicken raffle.
I even threw in a chicken gift coupon.
A reply came back right away.
[Re: Make me a Green Mod]
Are you out of your mind? Why the hell would I give the Green Mod slot to you of all people?
If I gave mod power to a troll like you, it’d be obvious I’d get kicked out too.
Besides, you’re a lurker. How is a lurker supposed to get Green Mod?
“One isn’t enough? You’re playing hard to get.”
[Re: Re: Make me a Green Mod]
(Chicken gift coupon. jpg)
[Re: Re: Re: Make me a Green Mod]
Come to think of it, there’s no reason I can’t.
If you have a fixed nick, send me the ID.
I’ll make you Green Mod right away.
And please, for the love of God, try to hold back on the weird stuff.
“I knew it.”
Two chickens. I spent a total of 100,000 won, but I’m satisfied.
Being Green Mod is worth that much.
Soon, a new notice from the head mod went up.
[Notice] Recruitment for the new Green Mod completed.
ㅇㅇ(wlqdp) has been appointed as the new Green Mod.
Refusal to enlist will result in a 30-day ban.
I stared blankly at the monitor for a moment.
Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth started creeping up.
“Heh heh....”
A sinister chuckle echoed through the room.
Good, now I have absolute power.
But I would never become arrogant.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
I planned to push my own posts into the featured section myself.
Of course, I couldn’t push every single post outright.
Even so, if I posted something with 0 comments and 0 upvotes, it would be obvious. Very obvious.
I had to be subtle enough not to make it obvious.
I wrote a new post under the nickname I’d gotten as Green Mod.
[Title : “Do you know what a parasite says when it’s thirsty?”]
“It’d say, ‘Host, give me water.’”
“Indeed.”
ㄴ Damn it.
ㄴ “Indeed.” my ass.
ㄴ You’re insane, insane.
“Not a bad reaction.”
Maybe because the Green Mod badge was attached, even my usual nonsense posts were getting plenty of views and upvotes.
6 upvotes, 3 comments.
The upvote cutoff for a featured post in Hunter Gallery was 15.
I gave it 9 more upvotes myself.
This was not rigging.
It’s common knowledge that Green Mods have multiple votes.
Seeing my post proudly sitting in the featured section made me feel at ease, like everything today would go smoothly.
I wrote one more post on the spot.
[Title : “In the early Joseon era, we didn’t count to four.”]
“That’s how Crown Prince Sado came about.”
“Indeed.”
ㄴ Try harder.
ㄴ (Dyu....)
[Upvotes 3] [Comments 2]
What? Only 3 upvotes?
No, this is actually funny, so why isn’t anyone upvoting it?
This won’t do.
Everyone needs to see this juicy tidbit.
I used my mod powers to get this post featured too.
The moment it went up as a featured post, a comment appeared.
ㄴ These ultra-cringey jokes have been getting featured since earlier. Is somebody rigging this lol?
“You’re really the worst when you’re sharp-eyed like that.”
I quickly banned that ID.
Hmm, now I’m satisfied.
The perfect Hunter Gallery had been born.
[Title : ”Do you know where the coldest place in a car is?”]
Just as I wrote yet another post,
the comment notification window suddenly went wild.
I looked at the comments, puzzled.
ㄴ ?? Why does the Green Mod’s nickname look like that?
ㄴ The ID changed too?
ㄴ Huh? I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before.
ㄴㄴ It’s that guy. Top lurker.
People were going crazy over my nickname.
Only then did I check the nickname on the post I’d written.
77H.88H(rkrh)□
F99.R88(tlvek)□
“What?”
A nickname in exactly the same format as that weird IP I normally used.
Not only the nickname, but the ID was changing continuously too.
“What the hell is this!”
I screamed in alarm.
The curse the magic-cutting old man had laid was still active.
No, this magic applies to fixed nicks too?
Wasn’t the spell supposed to be a little weaker?
While I was cursing to myself,
the gallery’s situation moved on before I could do anything about it.
[Title : New Green Mod Is Rigging His Own Posts Into Featured Posts lol]
One lurker had screenshotted the history of the posts I’d featured and posted it.
A gif showing upvotes jumping by 10 every second.
“You...! How dare a filthy lurker like you...!”
I gritted my teeth.
Just as I was about to ban all lurkers without hesitation,
he didn’t stop there and posted one more thread.
[Title : Banning Everyone Who Points This Out lol]
A screenshot clearly showing the gallery’s ban log.
The moment I saw that, I felt all the strength drain from my body.
My arms sagged.
“It’s over....”
By then, both I and the head mod who had appointed me had become the gallery’s public enemies, side by side.
The head mod, without much regret, handed his seat over to another Green Mod and stepped down.
I was booted from Green Mod in an instant.
I suddenly checked the time.
All of this had happened in just one hour.
“A reign of only one hour?”
I was writhing on the bed in frustration when it happened.
Knock, knock.
I heard someone knocking at the front door.
With no choice, I dragged my heavy body up.
When I opened the door, two burly men were standing there.
They were movers from the moving company.