Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 55



Only Krnovel

37. Immortality (1)

There are two webtoon writers.

While one has enjoyed a long career at the top, enjoying great income and popularity, the other has barely managed to cling to the professional ranks, watching as younger, newer writers have leapfrogged ahead of him and advanced toward the pinnacle he envisions.

One had a lot to lose.

Before I turned thirty, I had saved enough money to live a middle-class or higher life for the rest of my life.

So I was able to get married and manage my assets.

The other one didn’t.

He could not escape the instability that is the fate of writers, those who must make a living through art.

Although he saved some money, he could not even dream of marriage and was barely able to save enough to support himself for the rest of his life.

One reason may be that it lacks personal charm compared to the former.

Times have changed.

The popular writer tried to look at the world optimistically, as people with a lot of wealth do, and he criticized those who predicted the end of the world with excessive contempt.

Philcrum88: There are a lot of people making gloomy predictions these days because the world is going to end. Just be faithful to each day. Make something of yourself before worrying about what others will lose.

The notice he left behind criticizing the current state of affairs garnered 2,300 comments, most of which were reaffirmations of strong support for him.

Another writer took a darker view of the world.

His despair was also fueled by the fact that his ambitious mystery suspense novel, which he considered to be his life’s masterpiece, was being ignored by readers.

His useless and cruel description of the performance not being as good as expected came back as a stain that shook his career.

Eventually, he received a warning from the platform and had to fold his work, half voluntarily and half involuntarily.

He knew all too well that this was the fate of writers whose books didn’t sell well.

DragonC: I would like to express my gratitude to my readers.

There were 13 comments on his final farewell message.

Two of them were advertisements for illegal Cialis.

The fates of these two writers, who had taken such different paths, were completely reversed when the war began.

The popular writer was pushed from his splendid mansion on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province to Seoul, and then from Seoul to Bucheon, and now he had to barely afford a cramped rental house in Incheon, full of the pungent stench of the docks, to appease his wife and get through his arduous days.

On the other hand, an ordinary writer used all his assets to build a rather fancy bunker, and equipped it with a stable fuel base based on LPG, power generation facilities, and satellite internet equipment, and drew webtoons like before, gaining a favorable response from readers.

Is it better before the war or after the war?

If you ask them, you will get conflicting answers.

At least our bulletin board’s treasure Dragon can proudly say that life after the war is better than before.

Their conflicting positions were highlighted thanks to the winds of change brought about by our Messiah, John Nae-non.

A popular writer who was active on PaleNet posted an article on our bulletin board.

Pilcrum88: Hello DragonC? This is Pilcrum88.

He saw.

A common, low-level writer whose name I can’t even remember, let alone his rival, is now eating well, comfortably drawing webtoons in a much better and safer place than me, and hanging out with doomsday thinkers in similar situations.

We don’t know what he felt at first, but the only emotions we can see are jealousy and anger.

Philcrum88: You’re acting like a writer with such poor skills. To be honest, you don’t even show a bud of talent, but you’re lucky enough to prepare for destruction and pretend to be a great writer. It’s really nice to see you. Haha

If Philcrum88 was just a reader, Dragon C might have just laughed it off.

But Philcrum88 is a popular writer.

It was a place that had been on top of a mountain that no one dared look up to before the war.

That kind of person started a fight.

I’ve never done any creative work other than beatboxing, so I have no way of knowing exactly what Dragon felt, but he was definitely angry.

DragonC: Thank you for writing a long post while twisting my body to receive signals in a place where the internet doesn’t work properly.

Dragon, who rarely showed his emotions, reacted angrily.

The arms are supposed to bend inward.

Our bulletin board friends finally showed their true colors in response to Philclub88’s rude behavior.

keystone: No, why are you killing our dragon?

Anonymous848: Then you’re also a doomsday person. If you had made a lot of money and taken care of everything, you would have lived better than us.

Anonymous458: Get out you little shit

roka3218: You’re a narrow-minded kid. Are you annoyed that a kid who doesn’t sell as well as you is doing well?

SKELTON: (Skeleton Piece) Let’s not fight!

unicorn18: Pilcrum88, can I ask you for just one commission?

Defender: Are you from Incheon?

It is truly a feast of loyalty.

Mr. Dragon was also moved by our loyalty and posted a thank you note.

DragonC: These kids…!!

But Philcrum88 was not an easy man.

He is a popular writer.

This is a writer who rose to the top by breaking through fierce competition and trampling on numerous rivals.

Philcrum88 also knows how to screw over his fellow writers.

Pilcrum88: Pilcrum88 Edition “The Remants” Serialization Preview

He announced a new work.

Dragon C has declared that he will serialize the same work with the same concept, same subject, and same title as his last masterpiece that he ambitiously prepared and planned.

Some might say it’s a work of art.

However, plagiarism is a story that is established when the person copying is worse than the person being copied.

If a more famous, more popular, and more capable writer makes the same story more polished, more interesting, and more wonderful, the original work ends up being just as good.

Pilkrum88: The Remnant Episode 1 “Kaildos” by pilkrum88

Terrible speed and drawing power, tight composition and cut distribution.

As expected, the masterpiece of Dragon C redrawn by Pilcrum88 went beyond plagiarism and showed a level of reinterpretation, or rather, recreation, that could be said to be of such a level.

It’s the same content, but it feels like I’m seeing something completely different.

If Philcrum88’s work was a course meal that contained the pride of a Michelin-starred restaurant, Dragon C’s work felt like a moderately prepared meal from a franchise restaurant run by a popular chef.

In particular, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the directing of the scene where Kyle Doss shares a final kiss with his wife and reaches a noble conclusion is a work of art.

Pilcrum88, who went beyond copying Dragon C’s work and created an entirely new masterpiece, climbed up onto the stage and struck a winner’s pose.

Pilcrum88: Where are you, DragonC? The story is good, but the directing is so sloppy that I tried to interpret it in my own way. If you are there, please come out and say something. I really want to hear the original author’s opinion.

It’s not hard to imagine how angry Dragon-ssi must be, overwhelmed in every way.

After that day, Dragon-ssi disappeared from the bulletin board without saying a word.

“······Oh, right.”

If this were a different topic and a different dimension of the problem, we might have been able to intervene.

But this is a story about art.

It’s a story about the pride of two writers.

So, the two writers fought in an arena where we couldn’t intervene. Pilcrum88 was in a higher weight class, and Dragon C lost.

A week later, Dragon contacted me.

Message from DragonC: Skeleton. The profile you sent me before. Is it real?

SKELTON: ?

Message from DragonC: That guard’s top graduate, S-class or something? Callsign Professor? Anyway, that’s what you said in the application you sent me before.

“ah.”

We’re in big trouble.

*If it were like before, I would have said yes, of course.

In a situation where boredom is eating away at my soul, feeling a little bit alive is extremely important to me if I hope to survive long term.

But things are not good now.

The probability that Woo Min-hee or someone from the government will be active on our bulletin board has greatly increased.

For example, a journalist.

It is something I must not do to reveal what I see in a place where there are watchful eyes.

If Woo Min-hee, who is especially desperately looking for Eom Chang-i, finds out about this, the kind Eom Chang-i (31 years old) could really die······.

Still, my support for Dragon is genuine.

For a long time, he has provided us with vitamins for the mind to keep us from being swallowed up by boredom and boredom.

And it’s free, too.

Ignoring that Dragon-ssi is something that Skelton, known as a man of loyalty at least on the message boards, should not do.

For that reason, I chose a somewhat ambiguous option.

SKELTON: It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s true that I was a hunter. To be honest, I was better than John.

I didn’t lie.

Message from DragonC: You really have a solid concept.

SKELTON: (Skeleton Musk)

Message from DragonC: Anyway, if you’re a real hunter, can you help me out?

SKELTON: Help? Me?

Message from DragonC: I’m going to challenge Pilcrum again.

SKELTON: ?!

Message from DragonC: But it won’t work if it’s just an ordinary work, right? To be honest, the differences in mechanics are quite large. So I thought about it, and in the end, someone like me who is lacking in mechanics has to compete on the subject matter and composition. To that end, I’m going to draw a real hunter story.

Message from DragonC: So I have a few questions, can you help me?

what.

Was that it?

If so, there is no reason to refuse.

Rather, it is an honor.

Even if I received ten thousand comments on Palenet, it means that I, a small user on our bulletin board, can still help the named Dragon.

SKELTON: Excellent choice.

Thus began the historic collaboration between Skeleton and Dragon.

To be honest, Dragon didn’t trust me much at first.

He reached out to me in a desperate attempt to take down the giant known as Pilcrum, and I readily agreed, so I had a strong feeling that it was an unwanted collaboration.

But Dragon-ssi’s suspicions did not last long.

Because this Park Gyu is real.

Because he was the one who reached the top among the old school hunters.

Before the Awaken appeared, I generously conveyed to Dragon C the Hunters’ tactics, culture, and attitude towards combat, after making appropriate modifications.

Dragon C was initially skeptical of my words, but later listened to my opinion with surprise, or even admiration.

Message from DragonC: Hey, are you a real hunter?

That one word that suddenly burst out in the middle of work seemed to accurately reflect Dragon’s state of mind.

SKELTON: This is our secret. I don’t want my coolness to leak out.

Message from DragonC: You sent me a concept introduction that was a bit too much for that kind of thing. What? 13th generation? Callsign professor? Contributed to the discovery of the mutation mechanism? A fucking teacher?

SKELTON: (Skeleton panicked) That, that was for dramatic fun. Actually, he wasn’t even the 13th, he was just a regular hunter haha

“······.”

This is not my fault.

Who would have thought that John Nae-non would invade here with Pale Net?

Also, how could we have known that the identity of that reporter might be Woo Min-hee?

If you have the insight to know all that, you shouldn’t be in the bunker.

You must run out of the bunker immediately and become a leader of humanity.

Fortunately, Dragon C seems to take my deadly profile lightly.

He wanted something else.

Message from DragonC: Can we actually see it?

He wanted to meet me.

Surprisingly, he was not far from my area.

The western wasteland that I hadn’t looked back on much, a vast plain where you could barely see the waves of the West Sea if you stood on tiptoe, is the hideout chosen by the named user, Dragon.

Even Dragon himself might not have known.

Who would have thought that Defender would move near his house.

In fact, I felt this way even during my Defender days, but the western coast is an area that is avoided.

Rumors spread widely that Chinese troops might land.

In fact, if you cross the border, there is an area that is truly under the control of the Chinese military.

Perhaps it was a choice born of ignorance and indifference, but ultimately his choice of position was as risky and safe as mine.

Even the pioneers who stirred up trouble here and there did not even come near the West Sea coast.

“West of our house? There’s nothing there. The western coastal area was the area where the evacuation operation was carried out when the war started. It’s also where the Chinese brought in conventional weapons and attacked, expecting them to land.”

Anyway, I decided to meet the named user Dragon, who is nearby.

I am concerned about the profile of Park Gyu, who was sent out with ignorance, but as a fellow community brother, I want to help him.

That’s all······.

*

There was something like a prejudice.

The webtoon writer is young.

It was as if youth was their attribute.

But the Dragon I met in person was an older man, almost in his fifties.

It also had many wrinkles, gray hair covering half of its head, and a reddish complexion, signifying an unpleasant appearance.

Maybe he’s not feeling well.

He must have been a heavy smoker, because his breath smelled like cigarette smoke.

“Hello, this is Skeleton.”

That’s probably why I naturally used polite language.

“Why are we using formal language between us? Speak comfortably. Skeleton. Dragon.”

Contrary to his impression, Dragon’s voice sounded quite young.

“Nice to meet you, Dragon. I’m Skeleton.”

“You’re much younger than I thought. I thought you were the same age just from looking at your writing.”

Mr. Dragon held out his hand with a smile on his wrinkled eyes.

His hands had as many calluses as mine.

Even people who hold a pen instead of a weapon can have stiff hands like this.

The area around his bunker was extremely deserted.

“excuse me.”

Mr. Dragon held out his binoculars.

“See the red flag? It’s the Chinese kids. They can’t take a single step out of there. There’s a zombie den right below. There looks to be a monster next to it.”

Indeed, just as Ji Yeong-hee had told them, a small Chinese infantry force was stationed across the sea.

But they seemed more like just other survivors struggling to survive than soldiers.

If you look at the sight of farmers working in unison to the whistle’s call, holding plows instead of guns,

“Okay, shall we begin?”

Mr. Dragon showed his enthusiasm.

“An immortal masterpiece that will flatten that cheeky little brat’s nose?”

What he asked of me was the posture of a real hunter.

How to hold a gun, how to handle a weapon, how to fight monsters.

Since the axe is connected to my identity, I showed some demonstrations with fake daggers and guns instead.

Chuck! Chuck!

A refined posture and perfectly defined movements.

The basic skills of an old-time hunter, so exemplary that he was called a professor in his day, were demonstrated in front of the desolate sea, transcending time.

“and······.”

Dragon’s mouth fell open.

“Skeleton. Are you kidding me?”

“······My call sign is actually not Professor, but Dandy. DANDY”

“The call sign is really good and it’s no joke, right?”

A smile of satisfaction appeared on Dragon’s lips.

“Really, I might be able to win······.”