Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 124



Only Krnovel

66. Monster Park (2)

Anonymous1523: Stop talking about games!

Anonymous1523: Is there anyone who wants to come to my house to play?

Anonymous1523: I just shot and killed a guy. Yeah

Anonymous1523: Where is the game server? I’m going to destroy it now.

Anonymous1523: My dad said he’s going to close the server. Enjoy it while you can.

Anonymous1523: Photos taken while in Jeju Island.memory

Anonymous1523 is still there.

He’s still yelling, swearing, and venting his negative emotions on people.

But there is no such thing as business with a hawk.

No matter how much I shout, provoke, and tease them, I can see that they are starting to lose their spirit as they consistently don’t even give me a glance.

Is that why?

The last post he made, which was about a photo of Jeju Island, contained unimaginable information.

jeju island.

It appeared out of nowhere among thousands of crap posts about the true form of the island we called paradise.

“······.”

I’m probably the only one who’s seen that photo.

When I clicked on the post, the number of views was 0, and when I pressed refresh, the post was deleted.

So, what this means is that Anonymous1523 impulsively uploaded a photo from his time in Jeju Island, and right after uploading it, Park Gyu-man was the only one who saw the photo before he voluntarily deleted it because he felt bad about it.

There was a good reason why he hastily deleted the photo.

The Jeju Island scenery shown in the photo was completely different from what we know and what the government propagandized.

The blue nature, the exotic scenery unique to volcanic areas, the sea bathed in sunlight, the towering Hallasan Mountain – the scenery that is often summarized by the word paradise was nowhere to be found.

Also, there was no such thing as a romantic large-scale housing complex with the ocean as the government had promoted.

The island was reduced to an ashen ruin.

The forests were burned to ash, the volcanic terrain was covered with concrete fortresses, and huge walls of unknown purpose, hundreds of meters high, divided the island into pie-like sections.

Beyond the wall, a tall mountain vaguely indicated that it was Jeju Island.

Perhaps that photo is a real Jeju Island landscape?

The true form of Jeju Island must be a bleak battlefield ten thousand light years away from paradise.

Still, perhaps the reason Anonymous1523 misses the island is because he misses his peer group?

Most of the photos he uploaded were of boys and girls who looked like high school students, with light and nimble gestures that seemed to be dreaming, like the sunlight of a summer day.

Except for one landscape photo, the true beauty of Jeju Island could only be seen beyond them.

“······.”

I saw a group photo hanging on the wall for Woo Min-hee’s entertainment.

Now, I can look straight into the eyes of people I once hesitated to even touch.

Kang Han-min and Na Hye-in.

What are the two seeing and fighting about in Jeju Island?

As an old-time hunter, I have no idea what kind of war they are waging, to the point of turning the entire island into a giant military base.

However, I felt like I understood a little bit why Woo Min-hee was maintaining the national group on the verge of collapse and collecting Awaken.

There is talk that they are also fighting for their lives.

The survival of Korea, no, of humanity.

The alarm just went off.

It looks like another favorite user has posted something new.

Currently, I have only one user favorited.

Anonymous1523: Monster Park is your shit. You fucking idiots. You’ve never been to Jeju Island, right? Well, how could you possibly come to Jeju Island? Huh?

This is anonymous1523.

I still have resistance to this guy.

But after seeing the pictures he posted, any more resistance would be childish.

Knock knock

Sent a message.

SKELTON: What’s Jeju Island like now?

It doesn’t matter if I’m ignored.

But deep down, I was confident that this friend would take the hand he extended to me.

Message from anonymous1523: What are you? Who are you?

It’s as expected.

You must have been bored.

You must have been lonely.

So, I guess I unknowingly committed self-destruction by uploading real photos of Jeju Island.

This is a common process for users who are unfamiliar with Internet communities and do not fit in on bulletin boards.

Well, this skeleton is being cursed at on the message boards and is considered an underdog, but no one can deny that the skeleton is an old-timer – a veteran user.

It’s only natural that this newbie is on top of the list.

He picked out words he thought he would like and typed them onto the keyboard.

SKELTON: Monster Park, isn’t it boring?

I wonder what kind of reaction he will show.

Message from anonymous1523: You little shit, you know something.

The reaction was as expected.

Tata tata

SKELTON: I really didn’t find that game fun either. Seriously. I feel bad for the guy who made it, but it’s so different from what we used to play before the war.

Message from anonymous1523: Yeah, but you, you punk. Why do I look familiar with you?

“······.”

Knock knock

SKELTON: (Skeleton eyes wide open)

Message from anonymous1523: Oh! That’s the kid who cursed back then? What the hell is a fucking idiot? Are you feeling down?

SKELTON: You can swear a little. Tell me about Jeju Island. Anyway, I’m the only one here who’ll listen to you.

Message from anonymous1523: Haa. Kid. Good timing. The sect is coming in an hour and I have the time. Yeah.

SKELTON: (Skeleton jealous) Sect? Wow······

Message from anonymous1523: Hey, you’re cute. So, what do you want to hear first? Huh?

What should I listen to first?

Well, I guess the answer is set.

SKELTON: Kang Han-min and Na Hye-in. What are you doing there?

I want to know what they are doing.

I want to know their true actions, which were once blocked by the shadows in my heart and which I did not want to see.

But, as always, what you want is hard to get.

Message from anonymous1523: Saviors? I don’t know. Beyond the war zone, non-combatants, even my dad, are not allowed to enter.

SKELTON: War zone? What is that?

Message from anonymous1523: Half of the island is a war zone.

SKELTON: What kind of place is this?

Message from anonymous1523: I don’t know what the Awakens are doing, but my dad says they’re pulling monsters out of the cracks like squeezing sebum. Yeah, it’s crazy. Every time they do it, the entire island shakes. And when that happens, all the beasts on the island change into strange things. Yeah.

SKELTON: Mutation?

Message from anonymous1523: Yeah, Jeju Island doesn’t allow pets. There are so many of them. That’s why there are no birds on Jeju Island now. They shoot and kill all of them as soon as they are seen. Yeah.

I felt this while chatting for a bit, but this guy named anonymous1523 seems to really like Lee Eung.

If you look at the way you do ㅇㅇ from time to time.

As expected.

Message from anonymous1523: Yeah

Message from anonymous1523: The sect is here. Yeah.

I guess this is the end of my conversation with this friend today.

He’s a fucking idiot, but the stories I’ve heard from him are more valuable than anything I’ve ever gotten while playing Viva! Apocalypse!

I can’t believe I’m hearing the truth about “paradise” from a punk like that.

I had a vague idea.

Closing the cracks won’t be as easy as it sounds.

Beyond the cracks lie countless monsters.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who lost their fighting spirit when they realized that what looked like mountains from afar were actually a swarm of giant monsters.

Close the crack in that place?

Of course, it will attract the monster’s attention.

They may not be the type to act in groups, but at least they aren’t stupid enough to sit by and let a massive change happen in their domain.

Judging from the information Rebecca is giving me, and the type of large monster general that forced me into retirement, they might have brains too.

Of course, this is just my guess.

Slurp.

While drinking coffee, I carefully looked at the photos of anonymous1523 that I had saved.

One is a landscape photo, the rest are all photos of myself and my friends of the same age.

At first, I only looked at the scenery.

Even the portraits were saved separately by removing the people and extracting only the landscape using crude Photoshop skills.

But as I kept looking at the photos, I became interested in the people.

There are six people in the photo.

Three men, three women.

They’re all wearing something like school uniforms.

It has a similar design to the new school uniform.

It is not known who anonymous1523 is here.

Maybe one of the guys?

One of the men was noticeably handsome.

He is a tall, handsome man with curly hair and gentle, soft eyes that I would fall for even if I were a woman.

The girls’ eyes were mostly directed at the boy.

Probably, this guy is not anonymous1523.

If he were anonymous1523, wouldn’t he have written something a little warmer?

One of the boys was shorter than him and had short hair, but he was a lively type with a positive, confident air in his eyes that could be felt through the photo.

I don’t think this guy is anonymous1523 either.

Let’s call it internet physiognomy, but the image I saw of Anonymous1523 is a million light years away.

Then, by the method of elimination, we can find out who anonymous1523 is.

A skinny, slightly rustic looking, ordinary boy who always stood in the corner of the photo without confidence.

Could he be anonymous1523?

The boy’s gaze was directed at one of the three corresponding girls.

She is not a pretty girl like a celebrity who catches the eye at first glance, but rather an ordinary girl who looks cute and well-groomed and seems interested in fashion.

But never once did the girl’s eyes rest on the third boy.

Not even once.

“······.”

Beep- beep- beep-

The K-walkie-talkie broke the silence of the dark bunker.

This is Woo Min-hee.

“Senior. I think it’s almost done. Just wait a little. I might be able to send Yang Sang-gil before winter comes.”

After a brief exchange, I stared at the boy’s face in the corner of the photo.

The boy’s face, shyly looking at an ordinary girl, not the prettiest girl, in the corner, looked awkward.

*

I’ve seen this model by Hyman Minsky.

It is a term that is mainly used to describe a sharp drop in the value of stocks or similar items, and anyone who uses the Internet or watches the news even a little has heard of it at least once.

It’s a short story that goes like this: passion – greed – birth of a new logic – denial of reality – fear – frustration – compromise.

The villains that appear on our bulletin board generally follow a similar flow.

When they first appeared, they started out being violent without knowing what the end would be, but as the bulletin board users became indifferent, they gradually reduced their violent behavior while denying reality, and eventually returned to being ordinary users.

Even m9, who is now working normally, went through a similar process, and the original Dongtan Mom, who has now passed away, followed a similar path and was murdered by looters.

The fact that Anonymous1523, who had no strengths other than being Yang Sang-gil’s son, could be explained by a standard model was as natural as the ordinary swear words he would spout.

Anonymous1523: Is there anyone you want to play games with? Huh?

Anonymous1523: Now that I’ve reached level 15, what should I do? Yeah

Anonymous1523: I finally killed Gilcheonsa Saegi! LOL

…

…

He also starts to feel lonely and wants to communicate.

Anyway, the purpose of the bulletin board is to relieve loneliness, so it has to be like that to communicate.

In fact, comments started popping up on a post that didn’t even have a single view, let alone a comment.

ㅇㅇ: Raise it to Heavy. The current version likes Heavy better than Aekn.

ㅇㅇ: Congratulations. But Gilcheonsa is the goalkeeper, and the next Kingdulgi you meet is 100 times harder to deal with. It has a flight trait.

Probably a PaleNet user who doesn’t know Anonymous1523 well.

But if we increase the number of people in this way, won’t that friend who is a bit pitiful also be able to fit in on the bulletin board before he disappears?

I don’t like him, but I know his fate, so I reached out to him.

SKELTON: Hey. Want to play a game together?

Message from anonymous1523: Why should I do this to that guy? Huh?

SKELTON: (Skeleton Proud) That’s because I’m the owner of a super special luxury account.

I showed him the privileges I had received.

Message from anonymous1523: Hey. Log in. Yeah.

The reply came quickly.