Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Chapter 160.2: Tomorrow (2)

In the pitch-black darkness, a faint silhouette could barely be made out.

It was the creator of our world—lon Mask.

First of all, I want to apologize to him.

For once calling his actions hysterical.

In a way, he's the one person among all of humanity who's in the most dangerous situation.

Of course, there’s no way raiders or monsters could ever break into his space bunker.

But imagine this:

A man who, before the war, lived a life more luxurious, flamboyant, and successful than anyone else—now spending four entire years trapped inside a tiny, sealed chamber, practically a prison.

If he opens the hatch, what awaits him is a world beyond Earth, filled with cosmic radiation and a temperature of -270.4°C.

No birdsong. No rain, no snow. Not even drifting clouds—none of the ordinary things we’re so used to.

He could return to Earth, yes—but only by risking his life. And the odds of survival are minuscule.

Above all, his greatest pain must be the impossibility of eting another human being.

Sure, online contact helped keep his spirit from running dry, but unlike us—who could risk everything to make contact with others—lon Mask would have to travel 380,000 kiloters to reach another soul.

His only companion, Bumpy, is dead.

Whatever Bumpy was, it’s undeniable that he was the pillar holding up the precarious ntal state of lon Mask.

Now Bumpy is gone, and lon’s mind has collapsed with him.

But just because he has collapsed... does that an the world he created should collapse too?

That would be far too cruel for those left behind.

The dim silhouette in the darkness shifted slightly.

LON_MASK: What is it?

I imdiately typed:

SKELTON: Please revoke the shutdown of Viva! Apocalypse!

LON_MASK: Why should I?

SKELTON: What do you an why? You made it.

SKELTON: Do you know how many people were «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» saved thanks to you?

SKELTON: I’m one of those people you saved.

SKELTON: lon, you're the second greatest person in the world.

LON_MASK: Who’s the first?

SKELTON: Soone you know well.

LON_MASK: Jesus, you an?

I fought the urge to type “Ding~” and instead felt a small glimr of hope.

lon Mask was engaging in conversation.

So he acknowledged after all.

Well... saying it out loud might be a little embarrassing, but among the many Vivarians, soone like probably isn’t that common.

Whatever anyone says—Skelton is soone once called Professor, after all.

I was just preparing my next ssage with that in mind, when—

The silhouette suddenly stood, and the screen went completely dark.

LON_MASK: The shutdown will proceed as scheduled, one week from now.

SKELTON: ?

[LON_MASK has left the chat.]

The conversation was cut.

“......”

What the hell.

What went wrong?

As I calmly tried to pinpoint the problem, another ssage popped up.

VIVA_BOT014: Skelton...

Turns out VivaBot had also been in the private chatroom for lon Mask.

VIVA_BOT014: What do we do now...?

Though she didn’t even show a silhouette, I could clearly feel her confusion and disappointnt.

She must’ve had a sliver of hope.

That I, Park Gyu, would stop the shutdown of Viva! Apocalypse!, her lifeline.

But lon had left before I could even reach out.

From VivaBot’s perspective, there was likely no hope to be found in this whole exchange.

But I wasn’t disappointed.

In fact, I never expected it to go smoothly in the first place.

On the contrary—I saw a positive sign in our conversation.

SKELTON: VivaBot.

VIVA_BOT014: Yes?

SKELTON: Did you know?

VIVA_BOT014: Know... what?

“......”

Tap tap tap

SKELTON: (Skelton proverb) No one who goes around yelling about suicide actually ends up dying.

VIVA_BOT014: ??

If soone’s really going to kill themselves, they don’t go around announcing it—they just quietly do it.

That’s how it is with lon Mask too.

If Bumpy’s death had really shattered his soul like he said, stripping away his will to live, he would’ve already used his admin access to shut down our board completely and without warning.

But he didn’t do that.

He gave us a grace period.

Why?

Why would soone who doesn't want to live anymore bother with formalities?

This guy has never been altruistic—not even once—back when he was still on Earth.

He wants sothing.

He’s asking for sothing to reignite that fading spark of will to live, sothing to soothe his lonely soul—just like always.

I read that desire in him during our brief conversation.

Not because I’m so psychic or psychology guru.

It’s just... because I’m also a lonely, isolated person.

That’s all. Just resonance.

SKELTON: There’s still room to talk.

SKELTON: His demands are a bit high, though.

VIVA_BOT014: What kind of demands?

SKELTON: :)

VIVA_BOT014: ??

The problem is—I don’t actually know what those demands are.

But do I need to know all of it?

This is the internet.

SKELTON: Let’s put our heads together.

We’re not alone.

SKELTON: Isn’t that what the internet is for?

*

If I’m being honest with myself—what I really wanted from this was to monopolize the opportunity and elevate the already-established na of Skelton to a legendary status, rivaling that of lon Mask.

TwelveSquare and Skelton.

To beco a being with two myths attached to his na.

Maybe I could afford that kind of luxury if I were still in the bunker.

But right now—I have sothing to protect.

Sothing just as important as Viva! Apocalypse!—my mission.

The world may not have acknowledged my worth, and that’s why I walked away.

But now, the world has given another chance.

Viva! Apocalypse! is important, yes, but I won’t give up this opportunity.

With an inevitable battle ahead, my days are consud with inspection and preparation.

“How are you feeling? Doing okay?”

I checked on the Regular Awakened suffering under the influence of the General-type and tested the new equipnt designed to help them.

“It’s a lot better, Captain. But the mobile signal generator still feels too heavy.”

“I’ll talk with the engineers about that. If it’s too much, I’ll assign soone with real muscle to carry it.”

I also can’t neglect the soldiers—the ones who’ll form the frontline more important than even us.

“When you fire at monsters, aim a little off-center.”

I passed on tips I’d picked up at the rifts in China and Paju to the tank operators.

“There’s no theoretical proof about monsters, so nothing’s 100% accurate—but I heard this way causes less damage to the gun barrel. Even if it’s a dumb tank, if a reflected shell hits the barrel directly, it could be fatal, right?”

Watching veteran hunters—who’ve never stood at a podium—train rookies was part of my daily routine.

“Fighting monsters is different from fighting people. Monsters don’t just shoot because you’re looking at them. Take your ti—but act with certainty. It varies by type, of course, but very few small-types ever preemptively attack a human target.”

The veteran hunter on stage, Sim Hyeong-do—I won’t call him an academy hunter anymore—glanced at at the back of the room.

I quietly gave him a hidden thumbs-up.

In the lab, I exchanged intel with the researchers under Woo Min-hee.

“Technology that tells us what kind of monster is inside a capsule? Hmm, that’s not science—that’s an ability. It’s up to an Awakened with strong intuition to approach, touch it, and ‘sense’ what’s inside. About 50% accuracy.”

“Executioner type. It’s been reported in the rift, but we’ve never gotten detailed info from Jeju. They use intranet down there and are extrely reluctant to leak data.”

“Setting off a hydrogen bomb inside a rift won’t change anything. Seoul took several hits too. Let’s say you nuke Earth—does Earth cry? It’s aningless.”

In the engineering lab, we discussed new thods for the upcoming battle.

“So? I thought hard about the danger of radio communication and ca up with this modern reinterpretation of pre-radio tech.”

“What is this...?”

“It’s inspired by the semaphore communication system used before radios.”

They showed a giant device with multiple joints that could be moved into various shapes.

“You move it to send signals.”

“Hm. I get the concept—it’s a visual signal system. But where do we place it? Needs to be sowhere clearly visible.”

The engineers exchanged glances.

“On the roof of The Hope.”

“The Hope...?”

“Yes. It’s tilted a bit, but it’s still the tallest and most visible building here, right?”

They smiled.

“Of course, we’ll add huge, flashy lights so it’s visible at night too.”

“No, that’s not the issue...”

“What? You think The Hope might collapse?”

“......”

“Well, if The Hope collapses, then Seoul would collapse too. Isn’t that how faith works? When your pillar falls, your faith falls with it.”

There’s still a mountain of other things to do.

Most of my day is spent inspecting the defense line.

It’s sothing that must be done.

Even if it doesn’t reveal any flaws, we have to keep doing it.

Because humans are never perfect.

After a whole day of work, I get back to my quarters around midnight—maybe 1 a.m. if late.

My internet ti is extrely limited.

Because at 4 a.m., a new day begins.

Fighting off sleep, I read the ssages that ca in.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Skelton! ssage if you see this.

ssage from Defender: How about letting lon try sothing this ti? That guy’s never been the type to just sit back and watch. You know he likes the spotlight. I know you’re busy, but it just ca to mind. —From Dajeong.

ssage from foxgas: About what we discussed earlier—I don’t want to go to Seoul like a nobody. You know I’ve got an edge over others, right? Think you could talk to soone higher up for ?

ssage from CrunchRoll: I tried talking to IAmJesus. But seriously, I can’t figure out what the hell that guy’s thinking.

ssage from mmmmmmmmm™: So... I’ve been kinda flirting with Young-hee lately. It’s that “feels like it’s gonna work, but never does” thing. Tingly? Think lon would like this as a story idea?

ssage from Dies_irae69: Not sure where you are, but isn’t it ti you joined our group already? Heard Seoul’s basically done for.

“......”

I don’t think I’ve had such a bad life on the internet.

Sure, my wit and humor helped with popularity, but I gave a lot back too.

Smiling faintly, I sent a ssage to the precious girl who first made my chest tighten with emotion.

SKELTON: (Skelton ㅇㅅㅇ) Just saw your ssage, but if you’re a good girl, you should be asleep by now, right?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: I’m not a good girl~ :(

SKELTON: Whoops

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Huhgks!

SKELTON: Haha... What’s up?

Wiping my face with a cloth dampened in soapy water instead of washing up properly, I glanced at the monitor with sleepy eyes.

Soon, a new ssage appeared.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: I’ve been thinking about what you said. About how to make that loser lon Mask happy again?

SKELTON: Got a good idea?

She puts her head together with mine.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Bumpy.

SKELTON: Bumpy?

I listen.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: He’s still at that station, right? What if we sent him back to Earth?

SKELTON: ?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: I an, he died in space—but at least we could return his body to his holand.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: He’s from the South Arican jungle, right?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Lots of juicy fruit there.

SKELTON: !!

We gather and refine these ideas.

ssage from Defender: Just like I said. I’m all for Skelton doing another power play, but maybe this ti it’s better if lon, that attention whore, gets to do sothing.

ssage from Defender: That guy literally can’t stand not being the main character. Like being in space changed his trash personality—yeah right~?

And then, we pass it on.

ssage from VIVA_BOT014: Huh? You want lon Mask to personally return Bumpy’s remains to Earth and livestream it on Live! Apocalypse!?

It might not work out.

ssage from VIVA_BOT014: I an, how would that even be possible? Stick the corpse on a rocket? Even lon doesn’t trust the rockets he’s supposed to ride himself.

There might be other opinions.

ssage from VIVA_BOT014: I don’t know if you’re aware, but lon’s orbit is about the sa distance as the Moon...

And it’s those opinions that I believe show the true virtue of the internet.

If different thoughts exist, the whole point of our digital world is to quickly, easily, and globally realign and reshape those ideas.

That, I think, was the true intent of the one who first made this world.

SKELTON: Isn’t there an expert on the English board? We’ll ask for opinions. We’ll trade ideas. We’ll decide how to handle this together.

ssage from VIVA_BOT014: (VivaBot pondering) Will... will this even work?

SKELTON: (Skelton sparkle eyes) Let’s find out.