Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 228



Only Krnovel

98. Mausoleum (1)

This guy is a unicorn.

Not only did you suddenly start talking, but you even searched for Fox Games out of the blue.

It’s embarrassing, but you can’t ignore a friend who sent you a message after a long time.

I calmed my mind and replied calmly.

SKELTON: (Skeleton panicked) We’re not that close anymore, what’s going on?

Message from unicorn18: Weren’t you two close?

SKELTON: A gentleman is selective in the people he associates with.

Message from unicorn18: We’re not that close. Okay. I’ll ask someone else.

SKELTON: Even though we’re not that close, we have some kind of connection. What’s going on?

Strictly speaking, we are blocked, though.

No, maybe that Foxgame guy said he would just block me but he might not block me.

As countless users have proven so far, not a single person who has seen this skeleton in real life has found it funny.

Actually, everyone thinks this skeleton is a big deal.

“······.”

Knock knock

SKELTON: I’ll solve it.

I don’t know if it was because of the confident remarks or the unicorn’s usual fondness and respect for me, but soon the unicorn confided its worries to me.

Message from unicorn18: That’s all. That Fox Game guy. He stopped servicing the game he used to play.

SKELTON: A game with only those letters?

Message from unicorn18: Yeah! Monster Park! That’s the only thing I enjoy in my life right now! That Fox Games bastard! I think he took down the old game server because he was developing a new game. I sent him a text because I was so angry, but he just ignored me. Didn’t he block you?

By the way, I had a chance to log into Monster Park a while ago, and there was a strange guy walking around in front of me.

Could it be that the user’s identity was Unicorn?

From the way you talk, it definitely looks like a unicorn.

Because as far as I know, not a single person plays that crappy game.

If there’s one person, it’s this guy.

Anyway, Unicorn18 is one of my precious friends who I treat with special care on our bulletin board.

In particular, he is the person who is in touch with the information I am most curious about at the moment.

It may be awkward to be linked with Fox Games, but if I can win over Unicorn18’s favor, it won’t be a bad deal.

SKELTON: Let me talk to Fox Games.

He said confidently.

But the wall of reality is high.

SKELTON: I have something to tell you.

My long experience on the Internet whispers to me:

Foxgame blocked me.

SKELTON: Foxgame. You didn’t block me, did you?

There is no answer.

That doesn’t mean I’m not active.

Foxgame is still very active on the message boards at this very moment.

Foxgames: Thank you all for reporting bugs today~

Foxgames: Next update? I’m thinking about it. I hope you all give me good ideas! I’ll try my best to reflect what I can!

“······.”

It’s 100% blocked.

That human trash who wears a small armband next to his nickname and is liked and respected by countless users has now become someone who is good to ordinary users like me.

What should we do when we are ignored on the Internet?

The most reasonable solution is to resolve it through acquaintances.

However, there is no such thing as an acquaintance who connects me with Fox Games.

A second solution is arbitration through operators.

This skeleton is still receiving some recognition from the bulletin board operators.

I tried asking the operator to mediate.

VIVA_BOT014: The parties involved should resolve the blocking between themselves. Why are you asking me to do this? Is this a girls’ middle school?

Vivabot is, as always, a human who is unhelpful when it matters.

In that case, no other method comes to mind.

It is a historical and traditional solution that intervenes in reality directly on the Internet.

I know very well where Foxgame lives and how to get there.

And I also know very well that his fighting prowess is no match for mine.

“What? I’ll go out for a bit and come back later so you can fill the rice paddy with water?”

I asked Cheon Yeong-jae to tell me what to do today through the communicator.

“No, I’ll do it if you tell me to. You hate me coming here so much, but don’t you think it’s a bit much to start ordering me around as soon as I come?”

It was when I was trying to calm down Cheon Yeong-jae who was ticking and get ready to go out.

A message has arrived for Unicorn18.

Message from unicorn18: Have you talked to Foxgame?

SKELTON: I told him, but he didn’t listen. So I’m going to go and see him myself.

Message from unicorn18: You don’t have to go that far. I just got a reply from Fox Games!

Message from unicorn18: They said they’ll extend it for 3 days. If there’s anything you need to organize during that time, do it.

“······.”

Foxgame guy. You didn’t block Unicorn.

By the way, it’s a 3-day extension.

Putting aside any ill feelings towards Fox Games, it’s not a bad solution.

After all, maintaining a game that only has one user is no different from a form of charity.

Although the attempt to bless the unicorn appears to have failed, it doesn’t seem like a bad ending.

It was at that time that I was about to let go of another incident that was like that.

Message from unicorn18: Wait a minute, wanna go to Monster Park together?

Message from unicorn18: I have something to show you.

Unicorn18 made a sudden offer.

*

Monster Park.

It was once the only online game after the apocalypse that attracted a large number of users, but now it is a world that has decided to close down and will soon be destroyed.

The countless graveyards that once covered the world have all been cleared away, but in the world made of text, there was no one else but us.

Unicorn18: Okay, take it.

Unicorn18 has gifted you a nickname change ticket.

Unicorn18: Change it to Skeleton. Don’t use a confusingly weird name.

The reason my nickname isn’t Skeleton in this soon-to-be-dead game is because my account is just a regular scam account.

Perhaps these are the few remaining traces of the good times with Fox Games.

I changed my nickname as the unicorn advised, and the unicorn suggested a party to me.

Although it’s called a party, in reality, the leader takes control of my movements and gives me the right to drag me around as he pleases.

You could say it’s a primitive and simple game-like gimmick.

When I accepted the party, Unicorn, as the last user of Monster Park, took me to a certain place in the game with a possessed speed.

How much text has passed across the screen?

After a period of frantic scrolling, a white message was slowly being printed on a black background on the monitor.

There stands a small, old castle.

The sign in front of the castle reads, “Unicorn’s Castle.”

This is it.

I’ve heard it.

Monster Park also has housing – the ability to build your own home in the internet world.

Since it was content exclusive to high-level users, beginners like me only knew that it existed and moved on, but as expected from the last user in Monster Park, it seems that the unicorn guy even owns a castle.

Soon the unicorn spoke to me through the game character.

Unicorn 18: This is my home.

Skeleton: The housing you made?

Unicorn18: Yeah. It was really hard. Seriously. I invested all my time aside from work into this. I decorated it so perfectly, but you bastard Foxgame. You just quit the game without saying anything. You should know that I’m the only one active by looking at the log, right?

The unicorn grumbled and led me into her castle.

Although it is called a castle, it is a place made of text.

The description of the castle had to be replaced by a few lines, presumably written by the unicorn herself.

It was clear that the unicorn was proud of its castle.

Unicorn 18: Up until now, it was just the entrance. It was a long corridor that was extended in part to prepare for a siege. Up until now, no one has invaded, so it’s just a long corridor.

Unicorn 18: From here, the road splits into two.

Unicorn 18: Would you like to see the reception room for guests? Or would you like to see the garden I decorated myself?

Unlike the unicorn’s passionate attitude, my heart as a guest and tourist grew colder with time.

Even without that, it was difficult to feel any special attraction to the unicorn castle, a place described by a few lines of text that was just a bunch of data, and even if you decorate the data, it would look pretty.

But I didn’t want to give unicorns a bad image, so I ended up doing something I didn’t mean to do.

SKELTON: (Skeleton shocked) Whoa, whoa!

SKELTON: (Skeleton shudders) Oh, how can this be?!

SKELTON: (Skeleton Treviang) T, Treviang!

This kind of soulless charade cannot last long.

The unicorn, who was initially excited to introduce her endless sexuality, soon figured out what I was thinking.

Unicorn18: Not so good?

A sudden but serious question.

I thought for a moment.

The answer that immediately came to mind was to be honest.

SKELTON: I’m not sure what’s good about it, rather than it being bad.

What I wanted from the unicorn was the truth, but it seemed contradictory to tell a useless lie to the person who really wanted the truth.

Unicorn18: Of course. In fact, you don’t seem to be very good at this game, so you probably don’t know how great this castle I created is.

Skeleton: It sure looks big and there’s a lot of it.

Unicorn18: I won’t be able to see you here in 3 days.

It is impossible for the characters of Unicorn 18 to appear before my eyes.

In this game, Unicorn18 is simply represented as a chunk of text called Unicorn18.

But for some reason, at that moment, I had a vision of the character Unicorn18 looking back at his castle, which was his old work and a page of his memories.

Unicorn18: But I don’t regret building this castle.

Skeleton: Really?

Unicorn 18: It’s true that I felt bad when people disappeared, but later on, the relationship was gone and it was actually good that I could monopolize resources because there were no people.

Unicorn 18: And since there are no people, there’s no need to worry about getting robbed.

Unicorn18: More than anything, I had fun making this castle.

This resonates with me.

For people like us, for whom time itself is a debt that can never be repaid, having something on which we can blindly focus is of such importance that it is tantamount to having the will to live.

Unicorn18: And while I was building the castle, I made a promise to myself. One day, when this castle is finished, I’ll show it to my gaming friends.

The moment I saw those words, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Knock knock

Skeleton: Is that me?

Unicorn18: Honestly, I don’t think you’re one of them. After all, you were one of the last people to log into this game.

Skeleton: That invisible person thing back then, I guess it was you.

Unicorn18: Yeah. It was me.

Skeleton: I see.

Unicorn18: Why did you log in? At that time? There must have been a lot of graveyards before Fox Games started deleting all the graveyard data at once. Are you looking for someone you know?

SKELTON: Well, I didn’t come here for any grand reason. I was just curious? I was thinking about it?

Unicorn18: Anyway, thank you for hanging out with me. I put so much effort into decorating it, but I was secretly thinking it was a shame that there was no one to show it to.

Unicorn18: Aren’t you like that too?

When the unicorn suddenly asked me a question, I had to ponder for quite some time what its intentions were.

Me too, don’t you think?

A moment later, I typed another question into the chat window.

Skeleton: What does it mean?

Unicorn18: I’m sure you’ve left behind at least one or two things you want to show someone before you die, right?

SKELTON: Is that what you meant?

Well, it’s not like I don’t think about it at all.

Because people want to let future generations know what kind of person they were.

It is easy to see that such concerns have existed for quite some time just by looking at the pyramids in Egypt or the dolmens on the Korean Peninsula.

In my case.

Skeleton: Well, I’m the type of person who, even if I die, I want to die last.

SKELTON: I would say that I would rather leave something to something that will replace people than people themselves.

It’s a bit of an odd wish.

Unicorn18: You’re definitely a bit different from other people.

Skeleton: How about Jeju Island?

Could it be because I gave an honest answer without realizing it?

I surprised myself by asking all the questions I wanted in one go.

At the moment I pressed the Enter key, I thought, “Oh no,” but once I pressed it, I thought, “That’s a good thing.”

Unicorn18: Well. So-so?

The answer was vague, though.

Unicorn18: But everyone is holding on to hope. At least there will be results before the summer is over.

Skeleton: Is that so?

Unicorn18: I just have one concern.

Skeleton: Worried?

Unicorn18: It seems that a Chinese scientist has secretly uploaded some research results to PaleNet. I don’t know the details, but the research is of great importance to the remaining Chinese government as well as to us. It could determine our future.

Skeleton: Why on PaleNet?

Unicorn18: Well, one thing is for sure, the Chinese kids who fled to Haenam Island are constantly asking us for that. Maybe they asked Kim Byung-chul too?

By the way, I heard a story about Chinese people demanding a palenet server when I was in Seoul the other day.

I thought it was something unusual, but was it really this important?

Unicorn18: I know you’re close with Jonnaenon, but is there any way to find that record in the PaleNet data?

Skeleton: No, that’s impossible. The server itself is physically isolated from the radioactive area.

Unicorn18: This is just a guess, but if you can get hold of that PaleNet server data, could you contact me then?

SKELTON: Well, it’s not that easy.

It’s not a question of easy or not easy.

It is virtually impossible.

It’s impossible to go to a place contaminated with extreme radiation, so how can you get some of the server data from there?

But here the unicorn makes an offer that is difficult to refuse.

Unicorn 18: There’s a place for you in Jeju Island.