Gallery Despair

16 former students now graduates find themselves trapped in an underground gallery. The only way out? Murder a fellow captive and don't be caught for it. Will anyone go this far? Would they survive? Welcome to Gallery Despair, where your visit may be the last! Currently on: Writing Chapter 2!

[gallerydespair]

Important announcement

I hate to say this, but after nearly a year of work and trying to juggle two stories, I've come to the conclusion that Gallery Despair is better cancelled, than being in the muddy waters forever. If you got any questions about the story, you can come over the server for which I'll explain more in depth, or shoot an ask here and I'll be happy to answer here as well.

Long story short about Gallery cancellation: shitty AI in google workspace, managing dialogue with many characters at the same time and art, which is alot more demanding compared to illustrating comic. Comic is demanding in itself, but there I just need to fuss about coherency and story telling, whereas in the gallery I would fuss about repeating images with little modifications and alot of editing and alot of individual art..... You see the problem. I feel really bad about it, because I had fun ideas that I will never use again. But as it stands now, it's for the best.

My apologies for the long silence. I do write and illustrate the comic Zodiac: Buried Secrets over ComicFury if you wish to find me again! It's already on chapter 3, as the time I'm writing this post.

Thank you for reading this announcement and I'm really sorry.

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia’s Last Show (Part 7)

Ch1-054

… As Monosheep didn’t communicate the results yet a short while after we entered our votes, I saw him make a motion towards me. What could he want…?

“You’re not going to explain what happened?”

“Me…? Well, uh. Didn’t Ann pretty much say it?”

“Since you’re on the neutral side, I want to get the full story!”

“You already know, you jerk.”

“Then I’ll hold off on the results!”

“OKAY, fine, I’ll tell the full story.”

With what I could recall and understand…

Read the rest here!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia's Last Show (Part 6)

Ch1-051

EVIDENCE LOG

Victim: Shoko Konya, Comic Artist

Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma

Time of death: 1:05 AM

Time of discovery: 7:04 AM

Location: Dining Hall

Shoko’s head wound is the fatal injury.

Bruises on Shoko’s wrists and on her sides indicate a fight has gone down.

Bloodied handprints are at the edge of the table, hidden from sight.

The handprints are small, about Yuudai’s hand size, and look like they’re made with a right hand.

There are no distinct details in the handprints.

Shoko’s body was clearly moved, hence the small amount of blood.

Yuudai said that moving the victim should never have been done, as it would have been better to leave her where she was if someone wanted to assist her to save her life.

There is a burnt kitchen trash can with oil and pieces of cloth inside.

The oil was identified as sunflower oil, as all other types of oils are still in the pantry.

The colors of the clothes are difficult to identify because they were mostly burned, but three of them are pinkish, gray and red.

There’s traces of water and blood in the sink and some on the towels.

The towels are damp.

The handprints on the faucets look planted.

Annabelle has some fresh scarring on her fingertips, which might be unrelated.

Both Annabelle’s and Alexandre’s shoes are darker than I recall.

The extinguisher was removed from the corner of the counter, then put back where it usually stands. It has signs of recent use.

A chef’s knife was found at the bottom of the stairs. The handle is detached from the blade, as if it was broken in some conflict.

There’s some dried blood on the blade, but not a lot.

Chips of the blade were found at a crease of the stair step.

Leon is fine with the sight of blood, but his brother Vinzent is not. Leon said it depends on the quantity of the blood present. The more blood, the worse it is.

Some of the small blood pool has been stepped in, creating partial footprints on the stairs.

The footprints in question look like they’re from a ballerina slipper and a running shoe, separately.

Based on what I know, the print sizes look like a 6.5 US and a 7 US. I may be wrong about this, though.

Kristofer got injured by Shoko around 12:30, according to the former. He managed to overpower her just to disarm her, but Shoko ran away shortly after, managing to retake the knife before leaving.

There’s cloth hiding Kristofer’s forearms with some light blood staining it.

Read the trial here!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia’s Last Show (Part 5)

Ch1-044

Standing around wasn’t going to be productive, so with my knowledge of biology, I supposed I could try to help figure out some stuff. Maybe.

Some people had grouped up after Monosheep’s instructions to get us to investigate. Less than an hour, huh. I hoped we’d get enough time to put the pieces together.

With that in mind…

Where would I go first?

Hall (Yuudai, Takumi, Flora)

Kitchen (Lena, Alexandre, Annabelle)

Lobby (Vinzent, Steve, Jade)

Stairs (Sandy, Leon, Mai-Lynn)

Bedrooms (Kristofer, Natacha)

Read the rest of the story here!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia’s Last Show (Part 4)

Ch1-041

I was wondering if I was just dreaming or not. When I woke up, the screen of the television was lit up with two more secrets.

[cw underage drinking]

Yuudai Akiyama showed up drunk in several short videos while he was not of age and thus was nearly expelled from school.

Shoko Konya has created scathing media with the intention of ruining a company’s reputation.

… Oh. I did hear noises last night, but I didn’t notice anything about notifications. That’s different from the screams I think I heard, so maybe it was muffled or something like that. Besides, didn’t Monosheep say that secrets would be out each evening? Or did he just think lying about the schedule will get us to lower our guards?

Details about what happened with Yuudai or Shoko don’t matter to me too much. I’m the least surprised about Yuudai, given that he did some dumb shit in the past. Who hadn’t? It seemed that he didn’t repeat the same mistake again, as far as I know.

Well, I hope.

I could see why he wouldn’t want to mention that part, especially since you have to maintain a good reputation as a nurse, and having an incident like this can harm you.

Either way, the discrepancy in schedule does bother me. Why was it up early in the morning? As I glanced at Alex to gauge his reaction…

Read the rest of the story here!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia’s Last Show (Part 3)

CW: Suicide, drugs and underage drinking mention in some posts, take care when reading!

Ch1-032

Of course, this was expected to be a morning like any other. Monosheep’s obnoxious voice rang through the room, waking Alex and me up.

“Good morning, lovelies! It is 7 AM! The kitchen and dining hall will open shortly. Have the most amazing day!”

… Or so I thought, as I rose from my bed with a groan. Alex was already up and dressed. But I saw that he was holding a piece of paper, which he looked at intently.

“... What is that?”

“Check your desk. You’ll see.”

“... Okay.”

Read the rest of the story over here!

[gallerydespair]

Gallery Discord

Gallery Despair now has a discord here! Feel free to drop by!!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-Superbia’s Last Show (Part 2)

Ch1-011

I had no idea how long it had been until I overheard some voices outside of the hallway. When I opened the door, I saw Mai-Lynn and Leon chatting, perhaps because it’s their turn to cook. And they were the last duo for the day. 

When I went to eat, I saw that part of the meal was spicy (Again.) but with rice to counter it out. It turned out delicious at least, with the juicy chicken and roasted vegetables to accompany the rice. And I also saw that there was dessert! Apple strudels with powdered sugar on top… I looked at the baker of the day.

“Leon! That’s what you did?”

“Hell yeah, I did! I wasn’t bothered by the spices at all, but I figured that since Mai-Lynn did the dinner, I could do something sweet to balance it out. There’s enough for everyone!”

“Enjoy!”

“Thank you!”

Read the rest of the story here!

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1- Superbia’s Last Show

Ch1-001

My first night had passed and I had barely been able to sleep… Only to be woken up by the most obnoxious voice possible over a screen I hadn’t paid attention to until now.

“Good morning, my dear guests! It’s 7 AM, which means it’s time to get up and enjoy your visit today!”

… Really? The gall of that stuffed animal threatening us yesterday then pretending nothing was wrong today. Screw it, I’ll close my eyes a bit more…

Or not. I thought I’d be able to catch some more sleep, but my anxiety was up to the roof. It's near impossible to go back to sleep. Perhaps if I can take a power nap later in the day while everyone else is busy. Turning around in bed, I’m welcomed by my roommate’s presence nearby.

Read the rest of the story here!

[gallerydespair]

Prologue-001

April 17 20XX,

It’s a sunny day. Here I am, standing in front of the building that was formerly the world's best highschool that I’ve ever frequented. Hard to believe that just eight years ago, I graduated from here. I changed majors during the course of my education path, starting from astrology to finally focus on sociology. I’ll spare you the details, but the important thing was that I finally found a job that I knew I would be happy with... I’m super excited to see my old classmates and get some of their updates! As I recall, some of them were in different classes and their siblings also attended this same school, but still we all managed to graduate at the same time. That is impressive, honestly—

Oh man, I did not introduce myself, did I?

Read the rest of the prologue over here!

[gallerydespair]

UPDATE

I wanted to inform here too that the prologue is fully written!

But the art and revision are in progress!

(I'm gonna draw so many icons, intros and some cgs help.png)

Either way, I definitely aim to release the rewrite this month! I can't tell you the time right now, but I know I want it to be this month!

[gallerydespair]

Revamp and Return

HELLO ALL It has been a long while.

The roleplay I was in finally concluded in March but I then had 0 motivation for writing, however I've been thinking about revamping the fangan, mainly for art reason (I cry at the old art) but also because while my writing wasn't too terrible, I still am not satisfied with some dialogues I've wrote for chapter 1 and prologue.

The biggest change however, is all my characters won't be in highschool anymore. I've grown past the need to write highschoolers in mkg, it's time for adults in mkg! Most 'talents' (I won't use it per se, as it'll be just their jobs) will be kept but I might tweak some!

Stay tuned for more updates, guys! Once I'll have prologue and chapter 1 prepared I'll repost. I don't think there's any benefit in deleting the old posts right now but I may, after that I post new fresh updates. We will see! Everyone who still stayed despite me being so absent due to IRL and rp, thank you. I'll be still always active on Gallery Despair discord when I'll post updates there! Stay tuned!

[gallerydespair]

RP Hiatus

Everyone’s been more receptive to the fangan discord, but I’ll say it here.

I’ve been technically in a hiatus because of RP and now school again for accounting this time. But this year I plan to go back to make progress on investigation. Might tweak some art pieces so it’ll look better.

I apologize for being so gone, but I haven’t forgotten about this story.

[gallerydespair]

🔪

<3

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-036

The sheep didn’t let Vinzent continue talking, instead cackling sometimes while starting his speech.

“Wonderful! Wonderful, one of you did it! I’m so proud!”

“There is nothing to be proud of! A life was lost! And what do you mean one of us?!”

“I’m absolutely sure you had an hand in this, asshole!”

Monosheep laughed at Vinzent’s accusation before resuming.

“Don’t jump the gun, pretty boy. Shoko’s really dead and one of you really is the killer. I simply watched.”

“You can’t be serious...”

“Oh, I am. One hundred percent! Before you ask anymore questions, I’ll explain what to do.”

“Investigate in order to find Shoko’s killer. All rooms are free to look around, even your own bedrooms. No decisions from the roommates can prevent you from looking in their room. It’d be unfair if something crucial were in some rooms, hm?”

“So, they’re unlocked as long as the investigation is going?”

“Yep!”

“Speaking of, there will be a trial to discuss your findings and catch the killer. As for what happens after...”

“You’ll have to find out!”

Hm. Don’t like this.

“In any case, happy investigating! You have only three hours! So don’t bullshit around. See ya!”

And gone he was…

A ring went up in our IDs, prompting us to take a look…

Victim: Shoko Konya, SHSL Comic Artist

Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma

Time of death: 1:05 AM

Time of discovery: 7:04 AM

Location: Middle bathroom

… I see. Upon finding the body, it kind of would be obvious but maybe if I look around I’ll get to understand what happened really. Well, there’s no time to waste.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-035

I’ve followed the trail easily enough, the blood still continuing even under the closed door.

And of course, some more blood there.

“This is just...”

Who, if it’s really real, is there? Why am I not able to open the door immediately? Wouldn’t I rush to the aid of the person…? Or simply, someone wouldn’t be there. They shouldn’t. But I know that there’s a person in there. I hesitated for few seconds… Before carefully pushing the door.

Reality sure hit like a violent slap in my face.

The world ceased to move for a second. Is she... There’s no way she’d be alive right now. Especially with that much blood.

Not only that, I had to process that Shoko, who I came to know just few days ago, the same girl who was compassionate and gentle with me, was now dead. Holding a damaged knife as if it was the last lifeline she’d hold on. My stupor was interrupted when I heard more voices.

“Hey. what the fuck?!”

“I... I... What...”

“Oh lord...”

“Shit-”

“Oh my god?!”

“No, this can’t be real!”

“Is she really…?!”

“HEY, MONOSHEEP!”

Just as Vinzent was about to yell again, a cackle resonated in the bathroom.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[gallerydespair]

Chapter 1-034

“Good morning, lovelies! It is 7 AM! The kitchen and dining hall will open shortly. Have the most amazing day!”

Ah, back to the bullshit as usual. I woke up rather fine, yet grumpy at Monosheep’s announcement, soon however, I noticed Alex’s behavior.

“...”

“Alex…? Is something the matter?”

“Something’s wrong, but I don’t want to go check it by myself. Can you come with me?”

“... Sure. Gimme a moment.”

I went up to dress up then tying my shoes. I followed Alex out of the room and I noticed two other figures near the stairwell.

… What are they looking at?

“..Guys? What’s wrong?”

“There’s a blood trail.”

“Yeah.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. How can they stay mostly composed when there’s supposedly blood?

“No way.”

Yet I smell it just fine. It wasn’t very far, but I don’t see it, so I got closer to the boys and there it was.

“... I think someone already gave in because of the motive.”

“But do we know if it’s really true…? Maybe someone forgot to clean up their injuries actually.”

“.....Hm.”

“This look way too great to be just from a simply injury. Plus, look at the shape.”

I looked at the stairs better and I noticed the dragging marks.

“... If you don’t mind... I can check first.”

Without giving anyone room to answer, I hopped off from the staircase to land on an empty spot at the side of it. I wouldn’t want to walk in the blood after all. But if there’s blood… Then this means that someone is…

This can’t be the worst. I refuse. Someone simply was injured badly like Flora suggested, I kept telling myself that, clinging to every small bit of hope possible. With that in mind, I looked at the trail to follow it.

[BACK] [NEXT]