I first ca across the terms high school debut and college debut in a short story collection by Filkrum, whom I’ve long lost contact with.
It refers to students who, during their middle or high school years, were unremarkable and largely unnoticed. But when they enter a new environnt with a fresh set of people, they shed their unimpressive past selves and transform into popular, charismatic figures.
What happens in reality tends to happen on the internet as well.
A user who was virtually unknown on Board A might suddenly beco a household na on Board B.
Now, as soone who’s fairly well-known on Viva! Apocalypse!, there’s no real reason for to do sothing like that. But the truth is, I’ve been feeling dissatisfied with Viva! Apocalypse! lately.
To be blunt, I’m getting sick of it.
According to Da-jeong, our resident internet expert, people start getting disillusioned with their online communities when the number of users they dislike outweighs the ones they enjoy interacting with.
Honestly, there aren’t many users I like on Viva! Apocalypse! these days.
There are a few I’m friendly with, but being friendly with soone isn’t the sa as actually liking them.
The ones I did like—John Nae-non, DragonC, that anonymous user who used to post handmade wool-felt dolls—they’re all dead now.
On the other hand, let’s list the ones I don’t like.
Dongtanmom, mmmmmmmmm, FoxGa, Rocajiji, Dies Irae, lon Mask, Keystone, Berkut_Break, Dolsingman… The list goes on and on.
It’s no wonder my activity on the board has beco half-hearted and obligatory. There are just too many people I can’t stand.
In this state of internet fatigue, the ergence of a new trending site is an excellent alternative.
Leaving Viva! Apocalypse! and migrating to Blinder, the ambitious project of General Kim Byung-cheol, might be the most natural course of action for .
Of course, simply moving over wouldn’t be enough.
I want to make my debut in style—one worthy of a big-na user like Skelton.
*
Blinder is an open site.
It can even be accessed via our satellite equipnt.
Of course, since it runs on the Legion Faction’s servers rather than Viva! Apocalypse!’s, logging in requires logging out of Viva! Apocalypse!, entering a complex code to switch to a different physical server, and adjusting satellite transmission settings.
Following a manual I downloaded from FailNet, I configured my equipnt and attempted to connect.
Being my first ti, I ran into a few hiccups, but before long, I had set foot in this new world called Blinder.
At first glance, the site was clean and well-organized.
It had a “Hot Topics” board featuring trending posts, along with neatly categorized discussion boards on various subjects.
With my years of internet experience, it didn’t take long for to grasp the site's nature.
“Hmm.”
This board...
It reminds of a place I once briefly visited before the war.
I clicked on a random user’s post.
Samgeon Construction / Ma****:** Ha… I can’t believe I have to go back to work…
The title was unimportant.
Just a run-of-the-mill complaint.
What mattered was how users identified themselves.
The user’s workplace, Samgeon Construction, was displayed first, while their personal userna appeared afterward, partially obscured by asterisks.
“······.”
Before the war, I wasn’t particularly invested in the internet.
I had co across sites like this before but never gave them much thought.
FailNet briefly experinted with a similar system once, but it was such a short-lived feature that there wasn’t much to reference.
One thing was clear—this replacent site Kim Byung-cheol had created… didn’t suit .
Even the “Introduction” board for new mbers was telling.
Daegwallyeong Dairy Center / x*****:** Hello, new mber here!
Unemployed / Pyeong****:** Just saying hi. (No further content.)
Wonju General Hospital / Ne****:** Greetings!
Samgeon Construction / Ma**:** Nice to et you all.
Unemployed / M*:** Ca from FailNet!~
Gangwon Forestry Cooperative / Cha***:** Hello, new mber here.
Changsu Food / A***:** Didn’t know this place existed. Nice to et you all!
...
The only thing that stood out was users’ external status—their workplaces.
Personalized usernas were nearly irrelevant, buried beneath this rigid structure.
I couldn’t adapt to Blinder at all.
So, I adjusted my satellite equipnt and logged back into our old board.
SKELTON: (Question from Skelton) Anyone tried logging into Blinder?
Even if I wasn’t thrilled with Viva! Apocalypse!, I had been active here for almost five years.
In a way, it was like ho.
Besides, plenty of FailNet users still hung around, so I was expecting so helpful responses.
I had long noticed that the number of replies a post received depended on the user’s reputation and likability, but above all, it was the relatability of the topic that mattered.
If other users found the question intriguing or relevant to their experiences, they were more likely to engage.
And considering Blinder’s status as the new rising platform, there was no doubt my post would get attention.
Soon, multiple replies flooded in.
ㅇㅇ: ㅇㅇ
ㅇㅇ: It’s shit.
ㅇㅇ: It’s a pain in the ass, but what choice do we have? FailNet might go under any day now.
ㅇㅇ: If you’re unemployed, it’s not a great place to be.
ㅇㅇ: They’ve been running it since they holed up in Gangwon.
I gathered several key pieces of information.
First, Blinder had been around for quite so ti. It wasn’t a new site—it was essentially the Legion Faction’s FailNet.
Second, the Legion Faction had been working with corporations for a while, which explained why so many companies were still running.
Third, military personnel couldn’t use Blinder.
And finally, being unemployed ant you had virtually no say on the platform.
The fact that Blinder wasn’t brand new was sowhat disappointing. But since it was absorbing a massive number of users from Incheon, it might as well be considered new in practice.
The real issue was “employnt.”
I currently had no job.
If I were in Legion-controlled territory, I could visit a Job Center, take an aptitude and background test, and get placed into a job through the faction’s employnt network.
But I wasn’t in their territory.
I had no way of reaching a Job Center.
That ant that if I signed up for Blinder now, I’d be permanently marked as Unemployed.
“······.”
Frustrating.
Infuriating, even.
If I could just display my userna, even with the Unemployed tag, I’d still cause a significant stir.
Wait.
There is a way.
*
Blinder Requires a Mandatory Account
Unlike FailNet, Blinder requires every user to create an account.
This removes the anonymity of being able to post as ㅇㅇ whenever you have an internet connection. While it restricts the freedom of spontaneous, anonymous posting, it does help maintain a cleaner community.
Not that I ever ntioned it outright, but FailNet was overrun with all sorts of grotesque and obscene images—sotis a combination of both.
For anyone lacking a strong stomach, even clicking on a post could be a gamble.
On top of that, cri-planning threads and cri confession posts were a regular occurrence.
If even the Pioneers—those absolute pieces of human garbage—were able to create their own forums, then anything was possible.
John Nae-non, back when he was alive, had agonized over how his creation had been corrupted by human malice.
In honor of his legacy, I made my account.
Userna: Skelton.
To be honest, I was surprised.
I had fully expected soone to have already taken my na.
Yet sohow, Skelton was still available.
I decided to take it as a small reward for all the goodwill I had shown others over the years.
Of course, given Blinder’s system of automatically appending a * to usernas, it didn’t hold much significance.
This was purely for my own satisfaction.
Now ca the most important step.
The Job Verification Process Begins.
The alpha and oga of Blinder was employnt status.
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