Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 120.2: The Creator’s Melancholy (2)

It’s autumn.

The sunlight is still unbearably hot, and the heat rising from the asphalt is enough to soak my whole body in sweat, but the humidity in the air, the slightly withered greenery, tell me that autumn is already here.

Right now, we’re at a U.S. military base.

"This thing keeps leaning to the left. The controls feel off."

"······That’s strange. What’s the issue? The balance and center of gravity are fine."

Hong Da-jeong and Ha Tae-hoon are testing a new drone on the runway.

The drone being tested is a Chinese-made reconnaissance drone copy, with two wings overlapping like a biplane.

With a wingspan of 3 meters and weighing 25 kg, it’s being tested on the runway.

Due to difficulties in securing parts, they’ve scavenged components from various sources.

The mainboard comes from a Japanese game console, the camera is from a domestic, state-of-the-art phone, the frame and battery are Chinese, and the propellers and communication devices are from American and European equipment.

This new drone, “Jjuggle,” is a multinational chimera created as part of the project to cheer on Melon Mask, the creator of Viva! Apocalypse!

According to Hong Da-jeong, the creator and producer of the Jjuggle, they plan to use this new medium-range reconnaissance drone to film “The Hope,” the most famous apartment in Seoul, which has been out of contact for some time.

Of course, the true purpose of the drone is to confirm the survival of mmmmmmmmm, the board’s iconic member.

His survival check is simple.

"I think the apartment has collapsed."

If the apartment collapsed, that means he’s dead.

If the apartment is still standing, we assume he’s alive.

If he’s alive, they plan to try communication through a wireless signal attached to the drone.

The communication device, though, is a K-Walkie-Talkie, so it can’t do much beyond voice communication.

Meanwhile, the condition of Melon Mask, the creator of our world, is growing more serious.

MELON_MASK: I’m going to be the protagonist of this Live! Apocalypse!

MELON_MASK: This is Melon’s return!

MELON_MASK: Get ready! You’ll be able to witness an epic space show like you’ve never seen before!

He posted an announcement that he would be heading to Earth in a rocket this coming Sunday.

Melon Mask’s surprise announcement spread quickly among the users, and now no one is unaware of it.

There are "signature users" like me on every language board, and these users relay the stories they’ve heard from the board admins to others.

Anyway, the fact that if Melon dies in space, the board’s existence will end is crystal clear, so any user with some free time is trying to appease Melon Mask’s mood in any way they can.

For example, Pirate_Lord, currently stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific, drew a huge picture on the beach that resembled the Nazca lines and uploaded it to the board using a drone.

Pirate_Lord’s post received a lot of attention on the North American board, but soon suspicious users discovered that Pirate_Lord’s original nickname was I'm_on_a_Boat, and his appearance and even his ethnicity were different from the original user, raising the possibility that Pirate_Lord had killed the original user and stolen the satellite equipment.

Afterward, Pirate_Lord deleted the post and disappeared, leaving a greater sense of doubt and despair on the board.

This incident highlighted the dark side of the apocalypse.

Despite such incidents, it’s undeniable that most Viva! Apocalypse! users were trying to cheer up Melon Mask.

A user from the U.S. made a Roman-style plaster bust of Melon Mask, a Japanese user folded a thousand paper cranes, a Scottish user made an SD felt doll of Melon Mask out of wool, and a Mexican female user even got a tattoo of Melon Mask’s face on her arm to show her support.

A Korean user also attempted to send a message of support for Melon Mask through a heartfelt beatbox, but the attempt fell apart midway.

Regardless, there has been a rare, warm atmosphere recently, and Viva! Apocalypse! has found its energy back, like after the war, but Melon Mask, the protagonist, hasn’t responded to any of these efforts.

Naturally, the "Live! Apocalypse! Melon’s Space Show!" announcement that decorated the board hasn’t disappeared.

Anonymous887: Even if it’s space, things don’t stay unchanged. Space exposes you to space radiation, near absolute zero temperatures, solar winds, weightlessness, and a vacuum — all phenomena that rarely occur on Earth. Rocket ignition is suicide.

Anonymous3: I agree with 887. As a former NASA space engineer, I’ll briefly say that Melon’s rocket might not even work if it’s lucky, but if it does work, it will instantly become space dust.

Users on the English board unanimously agreed that what Melon is trying to do is an act of suicide.

Sadly, there’s nothing I can do at this point.

VivaBot had hoped for another amazing show like I pulled off back in the TwelveSquare days, but is that easy?

There are a few monsters nearby, but they’ve been fortified.

It’s hard to deal with them alone.

Even if I brought along some comrades, what would be the point if I lose them?

"Skeleton!"

I got another message from Hong Da-jeong the day before Melon Mask’s Earth-return show.

Defender’s siblings and Ha Tae-hoon were gathered.

It was nothing major, but it revealed a small conflict within our group.

The Defender siblings, especially Hong Da-jeong, were close to Bang Jae-hyeok and his mother.

Of course, Defender avoided Bang Jae-hyeok’s mother.

Cheon Young-jae, though a classmate of Defender’s, was much closer to Bang Jae-hyeok and his mother, and so, sided with them.

Ha Tae-hoon, being my senior by a year, remained neutral.

He maintained proper relationships with both the Defender siblings and Bang Jae-hyeok’s family, but given his nature, he wouldn’t lean toward either side.

He agreed to help Hong Da-jeong because he had an interest in drones.

"Well then, I’ll start it up."

The drone, with its two overlapping wing-like planks, stood vertically, its propellers spinning violently.

"Oh, it’s flying. It’s up!"

The drone took off.

As expected from a medium-range drone, Hong Da-jeong controlled it with a controller connected to a dish antenna.

The drone, with a silver bottom and black top, hummed heavily as it disappeared into the clouds.

"It’ll take about three hours. It’s slower than it looks."

The screen she was watching displayed real-time footage from the ground and from the front.

The clearer footage was from the ground view.

"Skeleton, you and your brother often go outside, right? I wanted to help with something like this."

According to her explanation, the new drone, Jjuggle, can stay in the air for over 12 hours and has great fuel efficiency, allowing it to cover Seoul and even the far ends of Gyeongbuk.

It will be our eyes for long-distance operations.

We won’t have many long-distance activities, but if we do, the drone’s support will be very helpful.

Combined with Cheon Young-jae’s sensory ability, it’s virtually impossible for us to get ambushed.

Still, we should avoid external activities as much as possible.

If there’s even a 1% chance of dying every time we go outside, it’s best to reduce those chances.

We had a quick meal as the drone headed for Seoul and returned to the bunker.

Hong Da-jeong shared the drone’s footage with me via the shared router.

I watched the screen but distracted myself with something else.

"······."

Tap-tap-tap

Newbie_no_cash: What noise does an architect make when they laugh?

Newbie_no_cash: Geometry

It was a boost to my influence on the Red Archive board.

While I used to be noticed for my cute emoticons, my second persona, Newbie_no_cash, has switched to "gags."

Unfortunately, not many responded to my jokes, probably due to generational differences, but recently I gained a fan.

Happy: ㅋ

This friend of mine only ever responds with one thing.

"ㅋ."

It’s not even a full word, just the initial consonant, but the fact that they always respond the same way to my joke posts means they’ve fallen for my charm.

Honestly, I’d prefer this.

If I became everyone’s cutie like Skeleton, there would be jealous people popping up everywhere.

While I was working on gaining influence on the Red Archive board, I got another message from Hong Da-jeong.

"Skeleton, are you watching the screen?"

"No, I’m meditating right # Nоvеlight # now."

"Check it quickly."

I looked at the screen.

Sure enough, there was the barren cityscape and the familiar tilted apartment we knew so well.

"Mm?"

There wasn’t much difference on the surface.

Maybe because I was looking down from above.

At least it hadn’t collapsed.

"I’m going to try low altitude entry."

"Any monsters around?"

"Doesn’t seem like it. But I’ll try anyway~."

The drone descended to low altitude, and instead of looking down from above, it sent footage of The Hope from the front.

"How is it?"

Hong Da-jeong asked.

"Mm."

I couldn’t give a good answer.

It couldn’t be helped, though.

That apartment.

Now, there’s a huge crack running through it.

Even when Seoul was intact, people used to bet on when it would collapse, but now it seems the end is near.

It’ll be hard to survive through this year.

m9 probably left that apartment.

No matter who he was, that place is no place for humans.

Then the gunfire that followed became a clue as to his current condition.

Surprisingly, there were people still living in Seoul.

Quite a few of them.

The city, which we all thought had been abandoned after Kim Byeong-cheol’s fall, now had a large group of people living in it.

Bang! Bang!

The gunfire aimed at us seemed less like a threat and more like a call for survival.

Hong Da-jeong posted an article under the Defender nickname based on the series of footage.

Defender: (Defender Report) "Exploring 'The Hope.'"

The post from the now faded, former active user, Defender, received a huge response.

The vivid drone footage, along with Hong Da-jeong’s witty editing and brief writing, perfectly catered to the board users’ tastes.

What really drew attention was the fact that a large number of people were still living in Seoul, just like in The Hope.

However, her post ended on a grim note.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Defender: Unfortunately, it seems like mmmmmmmmm is dead. Even if he escaped, it’s unlikely he could have survived in a place full of armed groups. Given that there are no groups taking in adult men with no connections, it seems like the obvious outcome.

Defender’s post quickly went viral and attracted many overseas users.

coral8103: Oh no. Did m9 die?

X'Ds_Grrrrr: R.I.P m9.

Anonymous13: He lived for a long time. It’s a miracle that he survived in a place like that.

L-V-R-M: It was fun. mmmmmmmmm.

Anonymous100: X

...

...

In fact, the visit from foreign users was a form of mourning.

The mourning continued through the night and into the dawn.

There were over 700 comments, an impressive number.

At a time like this, it was perhaps a natural reward.

No matter how you look at it, m9, who had stubbornly lived in that tilted apartment, was one of the stars born from Viva! Apocalypse!.

His death resonated heavily with the users who had spent time with us.

*

The day of reckoning.

Live! Apocalypse! was proceeding as scheduled.

Until the day of the live event, Melon Mask hadn’t posted anything.

“Did I speak too honestly?”

Hong Da-jeong muttered with a faint smile, but there was no trace of apology on her face, typical of the Defender siblings.

Many people had gathered in my shelter.

Everyone except Cheon Young-jae, who lived outside my territory.

They were all here to watch Live! Apocalypse!

The projector that Defender had picked up, though unstable, displayed a fairly decent picture.

“Hey. Nice tech. Is this Viva! Apocalypse!?”

Ha Tae-hoon seemed impressed.

Of course, I had many unused satellite devices, but I wasn’t sharing them just yet.

If I gave out the equipment, the board might collapse right away.

Let’s face it—if Melon Mask sets off a firework show from space today, our board is finished.

In the noisy atmosphere, the protagonist of today, Melon Mask, appeared with a disheveled look.

Behind him, his partner Bumpy, as usual, chewed on grass with a foolish expression.

Melon Mask spoke with a gloomy face.

"Hello, everyone..."

I could tell from his expression.

He had been going back and forth between hell and reality for several days.

And the result was:

"...As I announced, today is the day I return to Earth."

As expected, the chatbox flooded.

Thousands of messages, initially in various foreign languages, were soon translated into Korean, all expressing the same wish:

"Stay in space."

Melon Mask’s eyes flickered.

He had seen the messages.

He hoped for a small miracle, but he quickly turned his gaze away.

"Sorry. It’s impossible. Everyone has a destiny, right? No one can avoid their fate. Not me, not Bumpy, and not any of you."

Another wave of messages flooded the screen.

Melon Mask’s coldness remained unbroken.

He looked at us with vacant eyes.

"You know m9? The friend who lived in that tilting building, even more unstable than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They say that friend is dead too?"

So, it was m9 that was the issue.

Well, not necessarily m9 himself, but I’m sure he had read m9's post from yesterday.

That’s probably why he was babbling like this.

Anyway, the situation was incredibly serious.

I had decided to wait and observe this situation, but watching the creator of the board die before my eyes was neglecting my duty as a signature user.

I immediately sent a message to VivaBot.

SKELTON: Post my beatbox video right now! What’s the hold-up?!

But VivaBot didn’t respond.

It couldn’t, because Melon Mask had stood up.

He was about to leave the screen.

He was walking toward the rocket, which had a very high probability of leading him to death.

Everyone was shouting “No!” but Melon ignored them.

Like a condemned prisoner looking back before heading to the execution ground, Melon turned to look at the screen.

"?"

Melon tilted his head.

What was that?

Did he see something?

I, who had been focused on Melon’s expression, belatedly shifted my attention to the chatbox.

"······?"

A miracle happened.

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, you bastards!!!!

...

...

It was m9.

With the ability to spam over 10 messages per second, m9 was flooding the Earth-scale chatroom, surpassing even the likes of Skeleton.

"m9...?"

Melon Mask staggered toward us and sat at the desk.

The next moment, the board froze.

Thousands of users on the board, as if on cue, fell silent.

They were all waiting for one user.

In the holy silence, another protagonist spoke.

mmmmmmmmm: I’m alive, Melon.

Then m9 posted a link.

The link led to a photo taken by m9 himself, showing him giving a thumbs-up inside the tilted, dangerously cracked apartment.

"m9."

Our creator smiled.

······If the story had ended here, it might have wrapped up as a heartwarming conclusion for this apocalyptic time.

But there was no middle ground with Melon Mask.

A new photo appeared in the upper-right corner of the board, where we always saw the board’s idol.

In the photo, Melon Mask, with his murderously grinning sloth, Bumpy, was smiling alongside another person.

It was m9, giving a thumbs-up.

mmmmmmmmm™: (KingGodGeneralm9) hahahahahahaha

And attached to his nickname was something strange.

It sparkled, stood out, and was unlike anything any other user had.

"······."

It irked me.