“······.”
Clack clack clack
A lot happened before I could reinstall the internet.
Satellite device failure, Kim Daram’s constant nagging and berating, a small scavenger group encroaching on our turf, a flurry of curses and yelling—but no gunfire, no blood. A textbook example of how to fight in the apocalypse.
I tracked down the issue using nothing but scraps of knowledge, gambled everything, and won.
All that was before I, Skelton, finally re-entered the ssage board.
One more piece of major news: the faction that currently controls the new Seoul city has been identified.
The Skull Brigade.
Defender’s private army—the sa one that attempted a coup.
But Defender himself is missing, and no one knows who’s currently leading them.
The South Korean military, which should be stopping the Skull Brigade, has seemingly vanished. Though there’s talk on the public frequencies about the military gathering in Incheon.
No one knows for sure, but word is they’re commandeering and repairing ships at the docks.
Rumor has it they’re headed for Jeju.
With the governnt fully collapsed, there’s no one left to stop them.
The navy would be the biggest threat, but considering how much more dangerous the Japanese refugees are right now, maybe locals prefer to accept ard Korean soldiers instead.
Anyway, on this crisp autumn morning with its wild temperature swings, I finally reconnected to Viva! Apocalypse!
Naturally, I was inside the bunker.
Installing the satellite internet was a pain in the ass.
Unlike my own bunker, this one is deeper inside and reinforced with concrete twice as thick, so the signal wouldn’t reach. I had to crawl inside the ventilation shaft and install the satellite close to the surface.
Now all that’s left is to hit enter.
A deep breath. Fingers on the keyboard.
Click—
The laptop sluggishly ca to life.
I could rant forever about switching laptops, especially the pain of redoing all my settings and reauthenticating everything, but I’ll spare you.
A miracle unfolded before my eyes.
[ Welco to Viva! Apocalypse! ]
“······.”
How long has it been?
As soon as the familiar interface of the board popped up, I felt reborn. Mind blank, I pounded the keyboard like a man possessed.
The interface spread across the screen, just as I rembered it.
tntn_Orthopedics: I keep thinking about the fat-assed assistant I hired when I first opened my clinic. Shoulda raped her when I had the chance.
Anonymous1932: The Maya board’s dead too. Any non-city folk left?
Anonymous458: Fuck, maybe my body’s done for. Can’t stop coughing...
tntn_Orthopedics: Anyone who voted for Kim Du-hee should just die. All of you. Just kill yourselves!
Rkkara: The U.S. is really done for now.
Dies_irae69: [RECRUITING] Looking for ex-DSFam mbers to reunite!
BLACK_KNIGHT: test
Berkut_break: They say life is a flower path walked backward, but what if the flower was a carnivorous plant all along?
tntn_Orthopedics: dumbass dumbass dumbass dumbass dumbass
Anonymous1701: I see a ship in the distance. Looks like Japs.
Dies_irae69: [RECRUITING] Looking for ex-DSFam mbers to reunite!
...
...
So new nas. But so old ones too.
No real friends among them, but people I’ve known for years.
After everything I’ve been through—after seeing the end of the world—just seeing those nas stirred sothing in .
So much so I almost teared up.
But this is all that was posted today—and yesterday combined.
Surely they’re not all dead?
No. That can’t be.
The board’s core users are survivors with their own philosophies and thods. The weak were weeded out ages ago, back in the early days.
They’re probably just preparing for winter.
Surviving the winter is no joke.
Like our ancestors, we have to stockpile food, gather firewood, and fortify defenses. There’s no ti to dick around on the board.
And the ergency rations we prepared before are long gone.
Even I’ve nearly run out.
Sure, there’s still those brick-like preserved foods, but who the hell wants to live off those? Better than cannibalism, but still—no sane person would eat that long-term.
That’s it for the Korean board.
I’d love to announce Skelton’s return in a glorious post, but there’s no audience.
And it’s not like there’s anyone I particularly want to see.
So I need to be careful.
When a mythic-tier na like mine posts, it’s a political act. I have to consider the optics.
For now, I’ll just be content that the board’s still running, even if it’s barely breathing.
There was one thing I’d been aning to check.
I entered the North Arican board.
Before hitting auto-translate, it was a chaos of unreadable English posts.
I checked the dates.
Nodded.
Dozens of posts. All from today.
Looks like what Cheon Young-jae heard was true—Viva! Apocalypse! is back online.
After the U.S. governnt snatched up Viva! Apocalypse!, the English board went silent.
Curious how it ca back, I hit auto-translate.
I understand English decently.
I can listen, read, and hold basic conversations. With a translation app, I can even handle academic discussions—slowly.
Even before hitting translate, I had a bad feeling.
Because the biggest news here isn’t just Viva! Apocalypse! being back.
Anonymous45: Already cold. Haven’t gone outside in two months. Hope no one’s still waiting at the gate.
In_domini_LK: All we can do is pray.
PennKIX1978: Why’s everyone panicking? Wasn’t this expected?
Daniel81: Anon13, we’re immigrants too.
Anonymous71: Killed two people yesterday.
coral8103: This is the dead user’s sibling. He died yesterday.
X'Ds_Grrrrr: How’s the Midwest?
Anonymous13: I’ll say it again. We should’ve never accepted immigrants.
L-V-R-M:
Anonymous100: [RECIPE] How to cook human at – popular on Necropolis.
...
...
The vibe is all wrong.
Black humor and cynicism have always been staples of the English board, but this feels warped.
It’s like our “Dr. Orthopedics”—the guy everyone knows is a doctor, flaunts it in his na, but now even strangers can tell he’s lost his damn mind.
To a newcor, it might seem like normal post-apocalyptic banter, but to —Skelton, Viva! Apocalypse! incarnate—this is just screaming one word:
Extinction.
Before checking the trending posts, I clicked on one that caught my eye.
coral8103: This is the dead user’s sibling. He died yesterday.
Not suicide.
He was killed in a shootout—no, he died a warrior’s death. He fought to protect his family from raiders. He saved them, but /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ died of his injuries. It was quick. Maybe adrenaline took him before the pain hit.
I know soone on here knew him. If you read this, please say a prayer.
I’ll leave you with his final words.
Don’t be sad. You’ll all be joining soon.
He said it with a smile. Then he died.
His na was Jas.
R.I.P. Jas.
...
...
Just another ordinary day in the end tis.
But there’s a catch—most North Arican users built their bunkers far from human contact.
They shared tons of tips on the board about low-visibility camouflage—how to hide your bunker so well even a GPS would miss it.
So for them to have clashed with another group?
It ans the chaos in North Arica is intense.
People must be attacking others over the tiniest signs—smoke from a cooking fire, a faint shadow on the horizon, the scent of used water.
Things that were unheard of when the U.S. governnt had so semblance of order.
But now?
It’s truly the end.
Just click any trending post and you’ll see.
max_gullsen: California’s Final Line of Defense
No explanation. Just one photo. But it said more than a thousand words.
Beyond the fog-drenched horizon, massive beasts were advancing on the last military barricades.
Over twelve of them—gigantic Kraken-types. And two more unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Behind them: legions of monsters, large and small.
“What the hell is that?”
Cheon Young-jae, scrolling through the satellite-recovered phone behind , walked up and stared at the screen.
“······No. Fuck. That’s just—”
Even he, a hardened survivor who’s seen true horror, turned pale.
Even Kim Daram, who ca over to gripe at , froze with her arms crossed as soon as she saw it.
“What is that? Monsters can coordinate like that?”
Monsters were always assud to be mindless, virus-like organisms that act on pure instinct.
No intelligence. No tactics. No coordination.
Every governnt’s official stance.
That photo alone shatters it.
Monsters are now attacking strategically.
Massive forces concentrated at a single point—crushing fragile human defenses like cookies underfoot.
“······.”
So it’s begun.
The end of the world is in motion.
I checked other national boards.
Thanks to lon Mask’s auto-translate feature, I could see their reality too.
A global apocalypse is underway.
Even the Japanese board—usually silent because almost no one’s left—is nothing but screams from hell.
Kang Han-min wasn’t joking.
He’s dead serious about wiping out humanity.
Fortunately, Korea hasn’t shown signs of that yet.
But Kang Han-min said it himself.
He left a “Jeon Si-hoon” behind.
There’s not much I can do about that.
Maybe I could kill Jeon Si-hoon himself—but only with ridiculous luck.
If I try to go near whatever organization he’s built, I’ll be dead before I get close.
Feeling frustrated, I opened the ssage tab.
No new ssages.
My settings only allow friends to ssage . Apparently, none of them have sent anything.
Still—zero ssages?
That’s odd.
I used to trade regular ssages with people like Soo and Rebecca.
But even that’s stopped.
The answer ca soon enough.
SKELTON: (Skelton) Yo. Friends. Been a while, huh?
I was just about to post my grand return when a familiar warning sound popped up.
[ Dormant Account ]
“Dormant account?”
Not a typo. Not “human account”—dormant.
We never had a concept like that before.
I tried to close the pop-up—only for another to appear.
[ To reactivate your account, please contact the admin. ]
[ Admin ID: “VIVA_BOT014” ]
Sotis one sentence is enough to move a person.
This is one of those monts.
A single userna—Viva_Bot—filled my dried-up chest with hope, joy, and awe.
Yes. Viva_Bot.
If it’s her... maybe.
Considering the board is still limping along, maybe she’s really still alive.
Right now, at this very second, she’s my top girl.
With a pounding heart, I typed.
“······.”
Clack clack clack
SKELTON: (It’s , Skelton) Viva_Bot······?
No reply at first.
But five minutes later, an invite arrived.
[ VIVA_BOT014 has invited you to a live chat room. Accept? ]
I clicked accept instantly.
The screen shifted to an empty chatroom.
Familiar color sche. Familiar layout.
To so, a reminder of doomsday trauma—but for apocalypse romantics like , it’s like a flower path walked backward: bittersweet and serene.
Then, a ssage appeared.
VIVA_BOT014: Skelton.
A deep breath.
I’ve never seen her face. I don’t know who she is.
But right now—Viva_Bot is my goddess.
In a storm of indescribable emotion, I managed to move my fingers. (My typing speed easily broke 800 WPM.)
SKELTON: (Skelton, moved)
That’s the highest praise I can offer.
VIVA_BOT014: Hmph.
She responded.
Even that one-line reply sent a thousand thoughts spiraling in my head.
VIVA_BOT014: No need to check. I know it’s really you.
SKELTON: (Skelton, eyes blurred with tears) Viva_Bot······.
VIVA_BOT014: No one else on Earth could post sothing that stupid in a ti like this······.
There’s a saying: the existence of two genders, of shells with matching halves, is proof of the Creator’s design.
So is our bond on the internet.
The mont she knew I was the real Skelton—I knew she was the real Viva_Bot.
VIVA_BOT014: Welco back, Skelton.
Now it feels real.
That I’ve returned—to the place I yearned for. My true ho.
No one else welcos . No one else cheers for .
But I, Skelton, have finally returned.
I will spend the last days of the world here, with my friends, dying as we live.
In the midst of such decadent, romantic thoughts, a new ssage popped up.
VIVA_BOT014: There’s soone dangerous on the board right now. Can you help them?
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