Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 200



Only Krnovel

90. Fox Game (4)

He must be a good person.

It was a kind of confidence I felt while dealing with Fox Games.

The man speaks to me in a voice as gloomy as his shadowed face.

“I took it with good intentions, but at some point, they ended up taking the lead. Even though I accepted that they had a child. That’s how they turned out. Well, I expected it. They’re friends who have a grudge against me······.”

“Do you have a grudge?”

“Yes. When I was working at the company, I was inspired by an idea from a male employee and used it without his permission. At that time, I was under pressure to perform and could sleep less than three hours a day, so I was always half-asleep and did something without even intending to steal it. But as a result, I ended up doing something terrible to him.”

There was no awkwardness in Foxgame’s appearance as he talked about the past with a gloomy face.

Maybe he’s telling the truth.

He whispered in a low voice.

“Those guys have the keys to the armory.”

Just then the inner garage door opened.

The couple’s child.

He is said to be only nine years old, but like any other child in the Age of Destruction, he seems much smarter and more mysterious than his age.

When the boy looked this way through the slightly open door, Foxgame shut his mouth and started talking about something else.

“······This new work is trying to utilize the sloppy traffic of Viva! Apocalypse! like Monster Park. The problem is that the majority of users will be accessing from the Palenet, so the bottleneck problem is being solved by tunneling, which Jonnaenon had previously succeeded in······.”

We left the garage.

Foxgame closed the garage shutter and looked at me with the aforementioned expression.

“Did you see?”

“yes?”

“That kid just now… no, that boy. He’s a spy too. He acts innocent and naive, but he’s actually a wiretapping device raised by his parents. The conversation he had just five minutes ago reached his mother’s ears.”

We started walking down a 5 meter long hallway that left me feeling defeated.

In the gloomy silence, Foxgame’s small but desperate voice dug into the cracks of silence.

“Those guys are keeping me alive because I have all the knowledge about the operation and maintenance of this bunker, but that won’t last long. If they find out everything about bunkers, they’ll kill me.”

I watched the Fox game.

He was staring at the end of the hallway with a cold, tired face.

“······Did you see my room?”

“You mean that small room?”

He looked back at me and said.

“Was that originally my room?”

If I hadn’t just talked to a young couple at a restaurant, I might have taken Foxgame’s words at face value.

But it is also true that the reviews of Fox Games I saw on Palenet keep coming to mind.

I saw his face.

Foxgame had the typical victim’s face.

“help.”

Foxgame pleaded in a low voice.

“······.”

I know what he means by wanting help.

I guess they all want me to kill them all.

That’s right.

Even if you try to chase them away clumsily, they’ll just come back a few days later with dozens of looters.

But is it right to kill those guys just by listening to Foxgame?

It’s true that women had an antipathy towards Fox Games, but men still had respect for them.

Plus they said they were making a game.

That too, from a year ago.

That was the point.

Why are people who want to kill Fox Games and steal their bunkers working hard to develop games?

“A new one. You said you were making one?”

Ignoring what was said before, I asked the question forcefully.

Foxgame’s gloomy eyes shook slightly.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Are those people also participating in the new work?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“Those guys said that they are currently working on a new product.”

“She came to my bunker under the pretense of making a new piece. And she stole the initiative while pretending to make a new piece. The key to the armory! She has that.”

Foxgame looked back with an anxious face.

“I can’t waste time. They’ll notice. If our conversation drags on, they won’t leave me alone!”

“Then let’s do it like this.”

He handed Foxgame a pistol.

“If you have any trouble, fight with this. I’ll stay here for a day and watch the situation.”

Even a day is short.

It determines the life or death of a family.

It’s usually right to take the side of a friend on the bulletin board, but I felt that this matter should not be handled lightly.

Then,

“Do you want to see me die?”

Fox Games was the first to show its annoyance.

“I don’t know how to shoot a gun. I haven’t even been in the military. And those guys killed people in Seoul and Incheon like they were eating rice. They’re no match for me······.”

I watched him without saying anything.

My decision remains unchanged.

Foxgame looked helplessly at the gun held out to him with bloodshot eyes that were a mixture of annoyance, anger, and fatigue.

After a while, Foxgame turned around.

“Just go. I’ll just die.”

“······.”

“Why Skeleton? Aura doesn’t come to Diesira······.”

He grumbled and disappeared down the 5m long corridor that had shocked me, and soon a heavy, fully-opening shutter naturally covered him and his hideout.

I don’t know what to say or do in that situation.

At least I believe I didn’t make a wrong choice.

furthermore.

“······.”

There is an ambush.

It wasn’t there when I got here, but in that short time, someone hid a vehicle in the jungle on the road and is watching us from behind the grass.

If I were the ambush shooter, he would have shot me from a distance I couldn’t perceive.

If I was lucky, he might have killed me.

What is their plan?

Is it because they lack confidence in their shooting skills, or is it because they have a lesser weapon like a pistol or a judge killer and are trying to close the distance?

The next moment, something unexpected happened.

The ambush revealed itself from the grass.

The man, holding a telescope in one hand, lowered his gun and called out to me loudly.

“hey!”

Soon the man took off his sunglasses and mask.

A lively overall appearance with a good mix of youth and experience, appearing to be in one’s early 30s.

“Aren’t you the one who came during the scholar incident?”

He was a man with a familiar face.

okay.

He was one of our bulletin board friends who gathered during the Seonbi incident.

“It’s a skeleton.”

When I revealed my identity, the man chuckled.

“It’s ROKA_HUN. I don’t know if you remember.”

Yeah, I think that was the nickname.

There should have been only one or two “ROKA” guys.

At least one thing is certain.

This guy is a member of Diesirae’s gang.

*

The word “ROKA,” which stands for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, was a prefix that military servicemen who were having trouble coming up with nicknames could easily add without much thought.

Besides “ROKA,” I also remember seeing “ROKMC,” which stands for Marine Corps, often in the beginning.

Anyway, the “ROKA” mark at least served as a kind of career certificate that the person had served in the military.

The story is that he knows how to shoot a gun and has basic group living experience.

There is also talk that ROKA is a metaphor for the children of the common people, not those born with a silver spoon in their mouths, but in today’s world, this is not something that needs to be considered.

The user named Rokahun in my memory was a fairly ordinary, unremarkable user.

The problem is why a user who had been out of contact since joining the Diesirae faction suddenly showed up in a place like this.

“Because I’m in charge of the border around here.”

Lokahun had something in his mouth, his gun slung over his shoulder.

This is a handmade cigarette made from ground tobacco grown on site.

He held out a homemade cigarette.

He shook his head to make it clear that he was not smoking and lit his own cigarette.

“Phew~.”

He asked, watching as white smoke poured out of his nose and mouth.

“boundary?”

Lokahun pointed to a low hill nearby.

“I was monitoring the area over there on the captain’s orders. I was wondering if there were any more guys approaching here. That’s when you came. I didn’t know you were there at the time.”

Lokahun looked at me blankly.

“What brought you there?”

“There it is.”

Rokahun’s facial expression turned slightly fierce.

“shelter.”

This guy.

Did you know about Fox Games’ bunker?

I don’t know the exact circumstances, but I don’t think there’s any need to lie and cause misunderstandings.

“I went to the bunker at Fox Games.”

“Fox game?”

This is a story I’ve never heard of before, Lokahun.

“Don’t you know Fox Games? They convert and upload those classic games.”

I thought he would know for sure, but Rokahun flatly denied it.

“No. I haven’t been on the internet for a long time. Sometimes I watch something like Captain’s Live! Apocalypse! or something like that. I don’t surf the internet like I used to. I don’t have to.”

“······okay?”

“Why are you looking at me like that? There are so many fun things to do in the world. I see you’re still on the Internet. To be honest, aren’t you on the Internet because you have nothing better to do?”

That’s hard to deny.

“Why did you go to that Fox Game bunker?”

“Just to check on whether he’s alive or dead. I don’t know about you, but Foxgame is a famous person.”

“Really? The captain is coming, so let’s talk.”

“Captain?”

I know that captain means Diesirae.

Even so, Rokahun doesn’t want to meet Diesirae again.

The problem is that this guy doesn’t seem like he’ll let go easily.

“······.”

It is true that this friend was active on the bulletin board in the past.

But now it’s Diesirae’s turn.

This means that there is no need to necessarily show consideration for the circumstances.

In fact, this man’s appearance has changed so much that I can’t recognize him since I saw him about two years ago.

At the time, he was a just, slightly naive destructionist, but now he feels like a cold, ruthless man who can put a gun in someone’s mouth without a second thought and pull the trigger without hesitation.

There have probably been countless battles and countless acts of violence during that time.

That’s a fact that can be known even without hearing from the boy and girl who were released earlier.

“No. I have something urgent to do, so I’m going to go.”

If you stop me, I will kill you.

It’s the same if you do something to harm me.

I slightly adjusted one of the side mirrors.

This is to check what this guy will do as soon as he turns his back.

“okay?”

Lokahun said it was no big deal.

“It would be nice to see the Captain’s face. He talks a lot about you. He says you’re a pitiful guy. By the way, I have no idea what the Captain is thinking.”

Rokahun looked towards the bunker.

“The owner of the bunker could have just gone and taken care of it if he came looking for me, but he sent me to watch over him for several days.”

“what?”

For a split second, Foxgame’s reaction when he first saw me flashed before my eyes.

As soon as he saw me, he asked me, “Diesirae?”

I always assumed that he called me by that nickname because he thought the image he usually had of me as Diesirae was similar to my real-life appearance.

That doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Fox Games called DSirae?”

“Oh. The owner of that bunker found the captain. He called for help.”

Lokahun looked me up and down, then smirked and crossed his arms.

“It would be nice if you could come to our group too.”

“Are you having fun?”

To my question, Lokahun nodded with a smile.

“You can see that there’s everything. There’s play, games, women, and most of all, work and tasks. That’s what I like the most. You know the fun of accumulating money in your bank account even when you work at a shitty company? It’s a similar feeling.”

“Women? Are there women? From the message board?”

“Viva! Apocalypse! I’m not from here. I just save lost children and take them in.”

Rokahun smiled and whispered.

“At least idol level.”

“······Where did you get that?”

“Saving them? It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. They give us their bodies, and we give them protection and food in return. Then, if we fall in love, we can take them home. Two couples have already been born?”

As expected, the group of Diesirae is an upgraded version of the Marauders.

Something more systematic, more purposeful, and above all, one that presents a vision for the future.

I don’t know what that DSirae’s real purpose is, but I don’t think I’ll ever meet that guy.

No, I hope not.

But sometimes things in this world go against my expectations.

Along with the sound of the wind cutting through, a faint rattling sound of a heavy object could be heard from behind.

It’s a bicycle.

Soon a bicycle and a man riding it appeared through the grass.

He was wearing camouflage and had his face covered by a mask. He looked at me, got off his bike, and took off his mask.

That face is one I know well.

“Skeleton?”

In Diesirae.

This is the bulletin board user I am most wary of.

“······.”

Although I have blocked DSirae on the Internet, I have no intention of revealing my true feelings in real life, which I have shown on the Internet.

“In Diesirae?”

There was no particular hostility from Diesirae towards me, and rather, he seemed happy to see me.

“Are you a person who is not a natural resource and is not a natural disaster?”

“what?”

“Nice to meet you.”

But, as expected from someone with a thoroughgoing personality, he asked me why I was there.

I answered as objectively and openly as possible.

It is beyond the level of not telling a clumsy lie to such a cunning and meticulous person; it is something that must never be done.

“Vivabot. Ah. That woman.”

Even Diesira knew about Vivabot.

Well, he’s a human who uploaded a video to Live! Apocalypse!, so he must have some kind of face.

He looked at me.

“As expected, he was a skilled hunter. That must be why Vivabot sent him here.”

Neither positive nor negative.

Rather, I am deeply troubled inside.

“······.”

Should I kill this guy or just let it go?

If I make up my mind to kill, I can kill.

There are two opponents.

Although Diesirae is no pushover, Lokahun is not a particularly good fighter, just over-confident.

If you attack them well, you can kill them all at once without them even taking out their guns.

I’m just not sure if killing him is the right thing to do.

Seriously, Diesira is a dangerous type.

Not only is he cruel, but you can’t even tell what he’s thinking.

In a situation where there are only a few people left, I honestly don’t think I can survive if I go up against this guy who has become so powerful.

If I had a group, I wouldn’t know.

“······.”

Well, I guess it’s better to kill him now.

“Hey. Skeleton.”

As I was hiding my murderous intent and looking for an opportunity, Diesirae looked at me with a friendly face without any sense of caution.

“I’m talking about Fox Games.”

Diesirae put a cigarette he had made himself in his mouth.

Lokahun lit the fire.

Diesirae looked up at the blue sky, which was gradually approaching summer, while belching white smoke.

“Isn’t the Internet and the real image different?”

Diesirae turned her head towards me.

“Like you, Skeleton.”

“······.”

“I meant it in a good way. I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

Diesirae stretched out her legs.

The moment I reached out to feel the texture of the axe through my thigh, he snickered.

“Foxgame wants me to kill everyone in the house except him.”

The hand stopped.

He looked back at me, stretching.

“I hate that.”