Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 395



Only Noblemtl

Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 395

160. Tomorrow (2)

In the pitch-black darkness, there is a faint silhouette whose outline is barely distinguishable.

Melon Mask, the creator of our world.

I want to apologize to him first.

Calling his behavior hysterical.

In a sense, he is the most endangered person among all mankind.

Of course, no looters or monsters will enter his space bunker.

But imagine.

A man who had lived a life more extravagant, luxurious, and synonymous with success than anyone before the war was now locked up in a small, confined, prison-like place for four years.

Opening the hatch, an extraterrestrial world awaits, filled with cosmic radiation and with a temperature of -270.4 degrees Celsius.

We can’t hear even the common sounds of birds, and there’s nothing so familiar to us as rain, snow, or passing clouds.

There is a way to return to Earth, but it would require risking one’s life and the odds of doing so are slim.

Above all, his greatest pain must be that he cannot meet people.

Meeting people online saved his soul from being depleted, but unlike us who can somehow contact others if we risk our lives, Melon Mask has to travel 380,000 kilometers to meet others.

Bumpy, his only companion, died.

Whatever it was, it was undeniable that it was the pillar that supported Melon Mask’s heart, which seemed to be in danger from time to time.

Now Bumpy is dead and Melon’s heart is broken.

But it is too cruel to those left behind that the world he created also collapses just because he collapses.

A silhouette vaguely floating in the darkness moved lightly.

MELON_MASK : What’s going on?

I started typing right away.

SKELTON: Viva! Apocalypse! Lift the lockdown.

MELON_MASK : Why me?

SKELTON: Why? You made it.

SKELTON: Do you know how many people have been saved thanks to you?

SKELTON: I am also one of those who were saved by you.

SKELTON: Melon. You are the second greatest person in the world.

MELON_MASK : Who’s first?

SKELTON: Someone you know well.

MELON_MASK : Are you talking about Jesus?

I felt a small sense of hope as I suppressed the urge to type, “Ding~”.

Melon Mask is responding to the conversation.

It seems like Melon has acknowledged me.

Well, it may be a bit embarrassing for me to say this myself, but among all the Vivarians, there aren’t many people like me.

No matter what, Skeleton is a man called a professor.

As I was thinking like that and preparing my next words,

The silhouette suddenly stood up and the entire screen was covered in an indistinguishable darkness.

MELON_MASK: The closure will take place as scheduled in one week.

SKELTON: ?

[ MELON_MASK has left . ]

The conversation was interrupted.

“······.”

what.

What was the problem?

As I calmly pondered the cause of the problem, another message occurred to me.

VIVA_BOT014 : Mr. Skeleton······.

It seems that there was also a Vivabot in the chat room dedicated to Melon Mask.

VIVA_BOT014 : What should I do now······?

Unlike Melon, she didn’t even reveal her silhouette, but the embarrassment and disappointment she must have felt were clearly felt.

There must have been some hope.

Viva! Apocalypse!, her lifeline, will be closed down by this Park Gyu.

But the melon left before I could even reach out.

From Vivabot’s perspective, there was no hope to be found in this series of episodes.

But I wasn’t disappointed at all.

No, I didn’t think it would go well from the beginning.

Rather, I saw positive signs in this conversation.

SKELTON: Vivabot.

VIVA_BOT014 : Yes.

SKELTON: You know what?

VIVA_BOT014 : What, what?

“······.”

Knock knock

SKELTON: (Skeleton Proverb) There are no kids who tell everyone in the neighborhood that they’re going to commit suicide, but none of them actually die.

VIVA_BOT014 : ??

If he really was going to commit suicide, he would go somewhere and die quietly without saying a word.

The psychology of the melon mask is similar.

If Bumpy’s death had caused him, as he said, a soul-crushing sadness and a total loss of meaning in life, he would have taken the life out of our bulletin board with his top administrator authority without asking any questions.

But the melon mask didn’t do that.

He gave a grace period.

why?

Why would someone who doesn’t want to live in this world any longer want to show off his manners?

A guy who has never been altruistic even when he was on Earth.

He wants it.

As always, he is asking for something to soothe his lonely soul and rekindle the fading flame of his will to live.

In the scene where she talks to me, I read Melon’s desire.

It’s not like I’m some great mind reader or an expert in psychology.

Just because I’m the same old, lonely and isolated person.

It just resonates.

SKELTON: There is room for conversation.

SKELTON: It’s a bit demanding, though.

VIVA_BOT014: What are the requirements?

SKELTON : 🙂

VIVA_BOT014 : ??

The problem is, I don’t know what the requirements are, but do I really need to know them all?

We are the internet.

SKELTON: Let’s put our heads together.

We are not one.

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

*

To be honest, if I may speak my mind, I wanted to monopolize this opportunity for myself and elevate the already established name Skeleton to an immortal position on par with Melon Mask.

Twelve Square and Skeleton.

It’s a story about becoming a being with two myths.

If I had been in a bunker, I might have had that luxury.

But now I have something to protect.

Viva! Apocalypse! I have a mission that is just as important.

I took off my clothes because the world didn’t recognize my worth, but now the world has given me another chance.

Viva! Apocalypse! is definitely important to me, but I won’t pass up this opportunity.

As the inevitable battle approaches, my daily life is a series of checks and preparations.

“Are you okay? How are you feeling?”

We checked the status of regular Awakens suffering under the influence of the General type and tested whether the new equipment for them works properly.

“It’s gotten a lot better, Captain. But the cell phone transmitter feels a little too heavy.”

“I’ll discuss this part with the engineers a bit more. If it’s not urgent, I can assign someone who can use a lot of force.”

In some ways, we cannot leave out the training of soldiers who will form the front line itself, who are more important than us.

“When firing at monsters, it is better to fire from a slightly different angle.”

I taught the soldiers who were driving the dumb tanks the know-how I had learned in China and the Paju Crack.

“There is no way to verify the theory of monsters, so it’s not 100% accurate, but I heard that this one can inflict relatively less damage to the gun barrel. As you know, even if it’s a dumb tank, wouldn’t it be dangerous if the gun barrel was directly hit by a reflected shell?”

One of the daily routines is watching veteran hunters, who have never stood on the podium before, train new hunters.

“It’s different from human-to-human combat. Monsters don’t just look at you and shoot you right away. You have to be relaxed, but act with certainty. This also varies depending on the type of monster, but among the small species we’ve faced, there are almost none that recognize humans as targets and attack them first.”

Veteran Hunter Shim Hyeong-do, standing on the podium – I won’t call him Academy Hunter anymore – glances at me standing behind him.

He raised his thumb quietly, out of sight of others.

At the research lab, information is exchanged with researchers led by Woo Min-hee.

“A technique to know what kind of monster will come out of the capsule? Well, isn’t that a skill rather than a realm of ability? I know that Awaken, who has good intuition, approaches the capsule, touches it, and feels inside the capsule to predict what kind of monster will come out. The accuracy is about 50%.”

“Executioner type. It was reported from inside the crack. No detailed information has been transmitted from Jeju. Jeju uses an intranet, and they are extremely reluctant to leak information outside the intranet.”

“Even if you detonate a hydrogen bomb in the crack, it won’t make any difference. It’s only a few feet away from Seoul, but let’s say you drop a nuclear bomb on the Earth. Will the Earth suffer? It’s pointless.”

In the Engineering Lab, engineers discuss new approaches to the coming battle.

“What do you think? After hearing that radio communication can be dangerous, I thought about it carefully and decided to create a modern version of something that was used before the invention of the radio.”

“What is this······?”

“I was inspired by the semaphore radio, which was used before the invention of the radio.”

The engineers showed me a giant communicator with multiple joints that could transform into different shapes.

“We move this to transmit signals.”

“Hmm. I get what you mean. It’s a kind of visual signal. But where do I put it? It should be installed in a visible place so that it can be seen from a distance, right?”

The engineers faced each other.

“I’ll hang it on the roof of The Hope.”

“The Hope······?”

“Yes. It’s a bit tilted, but isn’t The Hope the tallest and most visible building here?”

The engineers smiled broadly.

“Of course, we will install large, bright lights so that you can see it well at night.”

“No, that’s not the problem······.”

“Why? Do you think The Hope will collapse?”

“······.”

“Well, if The Hope collapses, Seoul will collapse too. Isn’t that what faith is? When the support disappears, faith disappears too.”

Besides that, there are mountains of things to do.

Most of my day’s work is spent inspecting the defense line.

This must continue.

Even if you don’t see any improvement every time you do it, you have to do it consistently.

Because humans are not perfect.

After working all day like this, I return to my accommodations at around midnight at the earliest, or 1 a.m. at the latest.

The time available for Internet use is extremely limited.

Because a new routine begins again at 4 am.

I fight off the drowsiness that is creeping in and read the messages that have arrived so far.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: Skeleton! Contact me if you see it.

Message from Defender: How about we let Melon do something this time? If you look at his past behavior, he liked showing off, not being satisfied with seeing others show off. I know you’re busy, but I suddenly thought of you. -Dajung-

Message from foxgames: I’m talking about something I said before. Even if I go to Seoul, I don’t want to go there as an ordinary person. You know, I have some qualities that I’m better at than other people. Can’t you talk to your superiors and tell them well?

Message from CrunchRoll: I’ve been talking to IAMJESUS. But that guy. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking.

Message from mmmmmmmmm™: I’m seeing Younghee these days. It’s like this? It seems like it’ll work out, but it keeps failing. Tingly? How about this kind of material? Would Melon like it?

Message from Dies_irae69: I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing, but why don’t you join our group? I heard that Seoul is going to be finished soon.

“······.”

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

It’s true that my wit and humor have contributed to my popularity, but I’ve also given a lot.

I sent a message to my precious child who had first made my heart flutter with a gentle smile on his face.

SKELTON: (Skeleton ㅇㅅㅇ) I just checked the message, but if he’s a good kid, he’d be asleep by now, right?

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: I’m not a good kid~ 🙁

SKELTON : Oops

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: Ugh!

SKELTON: Hehe.. What’s going on?

Instead of washing my face, I wiped it with a cloth soaked in soapy water and a cloth soaked in water, and checked the monitor with sleepy eyes.

After a while a new message appeared.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: I’ve been thinking a lot about what Skeleton said. How can that loner boy in the melon mask be happy?

SKELTON: Is there any good way?

Put your heads together.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: I mean Bumpy.

SKELTON: Bumpy?

Listen to thoughts.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: Isn’t he still at that station? How about sending him back to Earth?

SKELTON: ?

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: You died in space, but at least your body will be sent back to where you came from.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: He’s from the jungles of South America, right?

Message from COOKIEMONSTER18: Juicy – lots of fruit.

SKELTON : !!

I gather these thoughts and refine them.

Message from Defender: It’s exactly as I said. Skeleton’s show of force is good, but I think it would be better if Melon, the spectator, did something this time.

Message from Defender: Isn’t he the type that can’t stand anyone who isn’t the main character? Do you think that dirty temper will be fixed just because he went to space?

And pass it on.

Message from VIVA_BOT014: Yes? Let’s do a Live! Apocalypse! where Melon Mask himself sends Bumpy’s body back to Earth?

It might not work out.

Message from VIVA_BOT014: No, how do you do that? Do you have to burn a rocket? Even Melon can’t trust the rocket she’s riding right now, so she’s acting like that.

There may be other opinions.

Message from VIVA_BOT014: As you may know, melon is about the same distance from the moon······.

I think this difference of opinion is the true power of the Internet.

If there are other thoughts, it must have been the true intention of the first creators of our world to make it simpler, faster, and more reconfigurable than reality, independent of region and language.

SKELTON: Aren’t there experts on the English board? We’re asking for opinions. We’re exchanging ideas. How to handle this problem.

Message from VIVA_BOT014: (Vivabot meeting) How will it go?

SKELTON: (Skeleton’s eyes twinkle) Let’s try.