Does sothing boring alone beco fun when done together?
and Anonymous1523.
Neither of us found any real enjoynt in the ga. We played it for reasons entirely unrelated to the ga itself.
The only reason I stuck around with Anonymous1523 was to extract information from him.
King Dulgok attacks you with its sharp beak, dealing 22 damage!
You swing your baseball bat, dealing 15 damage to King Dulgok!
King Dulgok lands a critical hit with its sharp beak, dealing 56 damage!
You have died.
“…”
This ga… is not easy.
Icarus: Wow, you really suck at this ga.
Icarus was Anonymous1523’s in-ga nickna.
Icarus: Just stick to healing , okay? Yep. I’ll take care of everything else!
He started the ga wanting to make friends, and perhaps because of his young age, he seed to find more interest in the ga than I did, with my stiff, outdated reflexes.
Icarus: Make sure you have enough potions and keep your mana up. This next boss is tough.
Icarus: Fuck, that was a rough fight. Yep. Good job.
Icarus: Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up! We can’t move forward without you.
We played together for about three days.
We didn’t really get close.
He focused solely on the ga, and I just supported him as a healer.
We hardly talked about anything personal.
Whenever I tried to create an opening for conversation, he’d suddenly log off, claiming he had to et his “fuck buddy.”
Then one day, it happened.
I woke up, washed my face, turned on my computer, and found dozens of ssages waiting for .
ssage from Anonymous1523: Hey! Hey! Wake up! Wake up now! We’re screwed!!!
ssage from Anonymous1523: Hey! Are you dead? If you see this, reply imdiately. Yep.
ssage from Anonymous1523: Reply fast. It’s urgent.
What on earth happened?
I replied, uneasily recalling Woo Min-hee’s ominous words.
SKELTON: What’s going on?
ssage from Anonymous1523: Are you in Incheon? If you are, turn off your phone and go dark imdiately.
SKELTON: Why? What’s happening?
ssage from Anonymous1523: My dad’s marked a refugee camp. He plans to send everyone there to Seoul.
SKELTON: What? To Seoul?
ssage from Anonymous1523: Yep. Sothing about “Coback Ho” or whatever. Anyway, he’s going to round them all up and force them to move. He’s relocating the entire camp.
From what I know, a single refugee camp houses anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 people.
Relocating an entire camp to Seoul is tantamount to killing everyone there.
“...Classic Yang Sang-gil.”
Exiled to Incheon after failing elsewhere, and yet he knows only one thing—solving problems by dumping the burden onto others.
That’s the kind of person Yang Sang-gil is. His thod of survival is to deal with people he doesn’t know by making them soone else’s responsibility.
But why is Anonymous1523 telling this?
Is it because he doesn’t want people to die? Out of a sense of justice?
No, it’s neither of those.
What he really wants is communication—a conversation where he feels slightly superior to the person he’s speaking to.
He thought the information he possessed would grant him that advantage, but not knowing how to act, he spamd with over 30 ssages.
SKELTON: Hold on a second.
ssage from Anonymous1523: Seriously? Do you have a plan? Yep?
The forum was no help at the mont.
Even if we posted about this, the flood of ga-related posts, amplified by FailNet users, would bury it in endless scrolling.
We could try spamming the forum ourselves, but that wouldn’t be easy.
I’m fast and precise, almost machine-like when it cos to spamming, but soone like Anonymous1523 doesn’t have the persistence or patience for it.
Spamming is a last resort. There’s another option to try first.
SKELTON: (SKELTON Pleading) This is serious. Can we talk for a mont?
The place with the most people right now was Monster Park.
We could spread the word there.
Luckily, I had a connection with the ga’s creator, Foxgas.
SKELTON: If you’re there, please respond. This isn’t a ga-related request. It’s about saving lives—our forum friends and your ga players.
A reply ca soon after.
ssage from Foxgas: What’s up, SKELTON? Why the sudden urgency this morning?
SKELTON: You know Anonymous1523, right? Yang Sang-gil’s son?
ssage from Foxgas: Of course. Didn’t I give you a special account because of him?
SKELTON: I heard sothing from him.
I told him about Yang Sang-gil’s horrifying plan as relayed by Anonymous1523.
ssage from Foxgas: What? Moving an entire camp to Seoul without supplies? That’s murder! Are you sure about this? Got any proof?
It was only natural for him to be skeptical.
SKELTON: Did you block Anonymous1523? I told him to send you a detailed ssage.
ssage from Foxgas: I got a ssage from him just now. But this is all so sudden… Wait, how did you two even beco friends? You’re not in on this together, are you?
SKELTON: No. If you don’t believe , feel free to revoke my special account or ban permanently. But could you trust this one ti?
ssage from Foxgas: Why should I trust you? Or soone like Anonymous1523?
SKELTON: Because that scumbag is trying to do sothing good. Doesn’t he deserve one chance? If it’s a lie, you can plaster this everywhere and ridicule for the rest of my life—not that we know how much longer we have left.
I had rolled the dice, but it was Foxgas who made the rules.
While waiting for his response, I chatted with Anonymous1523.
ssage from Anonymous1523: Hey. Do you think the dev will believe us? Yep?
SKELTON: If not, we’ll just spam the forum. Can you handle that?
ssage from Anonymous1523: Spam?
SKELTON: Flood the forum.
ssage from Anonymous1523: Do we really have to do that?
SKELTON: If Foxgas won’t help, we don’t have a choice. I can post six ssages per second.
ssage from Anonymous1523: Yep? Are you a bot?
SKELTON: What’s a bot?
Just as we were preparing for a spamming cri spree, a ssage ca from Foxgas.
ssage from Foxgas: SKELTON, you know, sotis your image is all over the place.
SKELTON: ?
ssage from Foxgas: Yeah, you act like an idiot most of the ti, but then suddenly you get all serious and make sense.
SKELTON: I’m always serious.
ssage from Foxgas: Fine. I’ll post an announcent this once. But if this backfires, you know what happens...
The mont I read his reply, I couldn’t help but pump my fist at the monitor.
This guy wasn’t bad at all.
SKELTON: Fine. Ban , block , mock —whatever you want. Just let give you one chance too.
ssage from Foxgas: One chance?
SKELTON: I’m not bragging, but I’ve got firepower. Plenty of supplies. And as long as it’s not too far, I can get there. So, if things get dicey, let know. I’ll co running.
SKELTON: (SKELTON Confident)
ssage from Foxgas: LOL.
ssage from Foxgas: Posting the announcent now.
For that, I thanked the heavens.
Foxgas used his admin privileges to post a global announcent in Monster Park.
"We’ve received information that Yang Sang-gil’s administration is planning to forcibly relocate everyone in one of Incheon’s refugee camps to Seoul! (Source: SKELTON)."
“Ha.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I read it.
Of course, they pinned all responsibility on .
No ntion of Anonymous1523—it was probably for the best, considering his reputation.
Even if I had to take the heat alone, saving the lives of the people Yang Sang-gil intended to sacrifice was worth it.
Perhaps that good deed would bring its own reward, maybe even as an Awakened ability.
By noon that day, conflict erupted between the refugees and the military.
The soldiers, who had planned to forcefully relocate citizens using trucks and armored vehicles, were delayed by organized resistance. Word spread, and angry mobs from other refugee camps sward the area, ultimately thwarting the military’s "relocation plan."
Amid the chaos of cheers, shouts, and gunfire, the hastily erected banner reading “Coback Ho – Seoul” lay in tatters on the ground.
Unintentionally, I had beco a hero.
This old-tir, who was usually dismissed, had just saved 15,000 lives.
But the credit for this victory should go to soone else.
Anonymous1523.
The clumsy, inexperienced young man.
Still, he would never beco the hero of this story.
*
Breaking News from Gijayangban: "Yang Sang-gil’s Son Exposed for Rape and Murder of Teenage Girl!"
After the failed attempt to relocate the refugee camp, the forum’s atmosphere underwent a radical shift.
Like a leopard changing its spots, the forum that had been filled with ga discussions beca a battlefield of heated debates on current events.
And then Gijayangban’s explosive news arrived, pouring gasoline on an already raging fire of public outrage.
According to the report, Anonymous1523, known as Yang Sang-gil’s son, was actually nad Yang Hyun-soo.
Hyun-soo was 20 years old.
He attended the "New School" but wasn’t an Awakened. He had faked his identity to fraudulently gain admission.
Details about his school life remain unknown.
After graduating, he moved to Incheon with his father. There, he lost his sense of pride, his second hotown, and the camaraderie of his friends. In return, he gained the power of a small tyrant.
At night, escorted by soldiers, he road the streets. One day, he encountered a girl who bore a striking resemblance to soone he used to like.
In a world plagued by extre poverty, his foreign car, gourt food, and comfortable lifestyle must have seed like an irresistible offer to the desperate girl.
But from the start, she was just a "substitute."
Her face might have resembled his past love, but her personality didn’t.
The differences led to argunts, and those argunts eventually escalated to murder.
Yang Sang-gil, already disgraced from the failed camp raid, couldn’t suppress the news of his son’s cris.
The atrocities of the Yang family spread like wildfire across the collapsing city.
On the chaotic day when cries of “Kill Yang Sang-gil!” echoed through the streets, Yang Hyun-soo was on the forum.
Anonymous1523: It wasn’t ~ I didn’t kill anyone~ And I didn’t rape her either~ She jumped off on her own~ So what? What are you gonna do about it?
Once, when his father held power, so did he.
Now, things were different.
ㅇㅇ: You piece of shit~ Off to prison with your dad.
ㅇㅇ: How about we build a mini Jeju refugee fleet and dump you both in the ocean?
익명435: LOL, bye-bye!
mmmmmmmmm: Hey, Anonymous1523! You know why I sucked up to you? So I could stab you in the back the mont you trusted ! And now you’ve gone and screwed yourself. Give my build-up back!
RokaGG: Looks like you’ll be executed. Isn’t everything under martial law now?
ㅇㅇ: You and your dad are both done for.
Everyone was tearing into him.
It was hard to believe this was the sa forum where, at one ti, rely insulting him could make you a hero.
Amid this relentless storm of hate, Anonymous1523 lashed out like a wounded animal.
Anonymous1523: Hey! You bastards! What? Yep? I’m innocent! And guess what? My dad’s the acting president! The real president personally appointed him! What are you gonna do about it, huh?
Anonymous1523: mmmmmmm, I’ll find you and kill you. Yep.
I could have just watched.
After all, his downfall had been inevitable since he was exiled from Jeju.
But for a brief ti, I had shared so monts with him.
He was a bastard, but it would be unfair to say he had no redeeming qualities.
Without him, 15,000 people would have been quietly sent to Seoul, and his father’s swift downfall wouldn’t have happened.
So, as a veteran of the forum, I decided to offer him so advice.
SKELTON: (SKELTON’s Advice) Hyun-soo.
ssage from Anonymous1523: ?
SKELTON: (SKELTON’s Advice) Now’s the ti to keep your head down. If you’re truly innocent, shouldn’t you prove it in court? Trust , stay quiet here. Don’t respond to them—it’ll only make things worse for you. Just plead your case. Say you’re innocent. You get what I an? Yep?
I don’t usually use phrases like "Yep," but I added it to make him feel a sense of connection.
His reply ca quickly.
ssage from Anonymous1523: What? Hyun-soo? Ha, you piece of shit. Who do you think you are, calling by my na? Just because I played with you, you think we’re equals? Yep?
SKELTON: Your mom.
ssage from Anonymous1523: You’re blocked. Get lost.
That was the last interaction we ever had online.
*
Screech—
A truck ca to a halt on the desolate golf course.
From it erged a middle-aged man, a woman, and two younger individuals, a man and a woman, one by one.
The middle-aged woman took one look at the barren landscape of the golf course and collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Senior, I’ll leave this to you.”
I turned off the walkie-talkie and approached them.
Their eyes, filled with fear, fixed on as I walked closer.
I focused on the young man’s face.
I was right.
The boy from the corner of the photograph had grown up. His once youthful face was now marred by indulgence, his unkempt beard doing nothing to hide the fear etched into his expression.
“…Excuse ,” he called out desperately.
I didn’t reply.
I turned away and returned to the bunker.
Once inside, I logged onto the forum.
Perhaps it was on a whim, but I launched Monster Park.
I wandered through the hunting grounds I used to frequent.
“Hm?”
Sothing was different.
A crumbling ruin covered in vines stretched over a rusted tal fence.
Beneath it, the mutated cat “Angel of the Path” glared at with piercing eyes.
And there it was—a solitary grave marked with the na “Icarus.”
You are…
(East) (West) (South) (North)
“Icarus?”
Icarus was the in-ga nickna of Anonymous1523.
He had long since left the ga, and with his imminent fate, why would there be a grave bearing his na here?
I reached out to Foxgas for an explanation.
ssage from Foxgas: You finally found it? Bittersweet, huh? It’s one of the ga’s chanics.
If you manually log out of the ga, your character disappears completely.
But if you leave the ga running without any input for a week, your character transforms into a grave marked with your nickna.
ssage from Foxgas: If soone leaves the ga idle for a week, they’re essentially dead, right? And let’s be real—who’s going to bother with a funeral for people like us? So we leave a little grave here instead. It’s part of the design philosophy. Monster Park is a reflection of the world we live in, after all.
“…”
I know that Icarus is still alive.
But I also know that he won’t be for much longer.
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