Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 139.3: The Weight of Life (3)

Message from Foxgames: I was actually meaning to talk to you about something.

The fact that he hadn’t blocked me, and was instead actively approaching me, made me feel two conflicting emotions.

One was relief that we could still talk.

The other—

Message from Foxgames: You’re looking at the dog I’m raising, right?

—was a familiar discomfort.

That initial sense of relief vanished quickly, and the emptiness it left was soon filled with unease.

Message from Foxgames: I picked him up without thinking much.

I know what kind of person he is.

Someone who follows instinct more than anyone, but hides it behind a mask of virtue.

By that point, I had a rough idea of what he was about to say.

Message from Foxgames: The board reactions were so hot, I couldn’t help but post sequels one after another—but that mutt’s a Mutation, right? :/

Message from Foxgames: Still a pup, but he keeps startling me. I never know when or how he might bite me.

He was planning to kill his dog.

He used it briefly for board popularity, and now that he couldn’t handle it, he was ready to dispose of it.

It’s not like I’m an advocate for animal rights or someone who empathizes deeply with animals, but I don’t look kindly on people who treat life like an object.

His intent was clearly disgusting.

And yet, despite some omissions, that disgusting intent aligned with mine.

“······.”

Tatatak

SKELTON: So, you want to kill the dog. Is that it? freёnovelkiss.com

Message from Foxgames: Not exactly kill... I just need a safety measure, that’s all.

I clicked my tongue.

A clear expression of disapproval and contempt.

Why can’t he just say it plainly?

His filthy intent is written all over him, and yet he thinks a thin veil of hypocrisy can hide it?

I can’t understand that kind of thinking, and I don’t want to.

SKELTON: So are you saying kill it, or not?

Message from Foxgames: Geez. This is why people say the younger generation is impatient.

Message from Foxgames: I’m not saying I’ll kill it, but I want to find a way for us to safely coexist.

SKELTON: You know, right?

Message from Foxgames: ?

SKELTON: You could chain it down so it can’t move an inch—but what if the chain breaks? So either cut off its limbs, pull out all its teeth, or attach a spike or electric device that can pierce its heart at any moment. You’d need an extreme solution.

Message from Foxgames: Isn’t that too cruel?

SKELTON: What is it you really want to do?

Message from Foxgames: I don’t understand the meaning of your question? :/

SKELTON: If you want to keep playing the good guy on the board, go ahead and raise it. I won’t stop you.

Message from Foxgames: Still, I’m the one raising it. Haven’t you seen my posts? It follows me around so obediently.

SKELTON: You think the dog’s grateful to you just because you raised it?

SKELTON: You wouldn’t be saying this to me if you really believed that, would you?

Before the war, a prominent animal psychologist in China analyzed why Mutations kill the humans who raised them.

Mutations, like other animals, can feel and recognize human kindness.

And yet, they kill their owners because they understand the true intention that lies beyond that kindness.

It’s an extreme example, but it’s like an adult man giving money to a girl on the street under the pretense of helping her—while secretly expecting her body in return.

The conclusion is simple.

SKELTON: The only thing I can teach you is how to kill the dog.

There’s a manual written by Lee Sang-hoon.

A procedure known as the “Process of Preparing for Farewell,” which outlines how to dispose of pets undergoing Mutation—slowly, painlessly, and giving the family enough time to reflect.

I don’t agree that it’s painless.

Because Lee Sang-hoon’s manual involves using poison on animals in the middle of Mutation.

The baton was now passed to Foxgames.

I wasn’t the one who had to act—he was.

Trickle...

After finishing my business in the central toilet and sitting back in front of the computer, I saw a new message had arrived.

Message from Foxgames: Tell me how :)

I had expected it.

That this guy would make this decision.

And of course, I’d also expected him to make another request soon enough.

Message from Foxgames: Oh, and this is our little secret, right? ;)

“······.”

Tatatak

SKELTON: Eat shit and die :/

*

“Dogs are cute, though.”

I had Sue read through Foxgames’s dog-raising post and asked for her thoughts.

“But... that thing’s a Mutation, right?”

Sue really had grown up strong.

She had a realistic mindset, strong enough to survive in this apocalypse.

Even though she’s been viciously bashing Foxgames for a while now, I can’t forget that he’s a purebred apocalypse fundamentalist.

Foxgames: Preparing for Farewell (1)

Foxgames posted a new entry.

Unlike his previous posts, which were filled with brightness, fluff, and cuteness, this one unapologetically revealed the dark reality that surrounded us.

Foxgames: I caught Kkamang looking at the back of my head with bared teeth through my indoor CCTV. That look—it was the gaze of a beast stalking its prey. But when I turned around, that guy wagged his tail and acted all cute like nothing had happened.

Foxgames: I’ve been losing sleep for days...

Foxgames: I keep thinking about that news story before the war. A whole family was killed by their pet Mutation.

Foxgames: I’ve never told anyone this before, but I have a family I’ve been separated from... I’m still searching for them. Until I find them, I’m surviving purely on grit and willpower...

Foxgames: Kkamang is really precious to me, like family. But I don’t want to die.

True to his talent for playing the kind soul, Foxgames performed the role of a pitiful man to perfection.

Even though he personally ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) chose to kill the dog he raised, the board users responded favorably.

Dead3592: Well, then... there’s no helping it.

Dead41911: Kkamang was so cute... ㅠ

Dead8821: I had to put down my dog too, back when the government ordered it. Mine didn’t even show signs of Mutation. There was no choice. Dogs are important—but not more than me or my family.

Anon458: Hmm... so it’s finally over.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Dead1215: I totally get it, Foxgames! Shake it off and make another great game! I used to really enjoy your stuff!

...

...

This is why image-making matters.

Anyone could see that what this bastard Foxgames was doing wasn’t much different from a YouTuber who picks up a pitiful dog to farm views and tosses it aside like trash once the views dry up.

Given the times, you could say Foxgames’s actions were understandable, but knowing the full story behind the Kkamang incident, I couldn’t see it in a good light.

Still, I couldn’t say I was free from that ugliness either—because I’d participated in Foxgames’s new content: the “Kill the Dog You Raised” plan.

Let’s refer to his new series, Preparing for Farewell.

In a short, deliberately low-resolution video set at 640x400, a blurry man lets out a sigh while staring at a panting black dog in a fairly large bunker.

A narration begins.

—If every life has weight, can that weight be measured?

Foxgames, with his face hidden, opens a pack of large bulk sausages—seemingly imported from the U.S.—with an industrial cutter.

The sound makes the black mutated puppy wag its tail.

Foxgames pets the dog, then sets sausages on both his own plate and the dog’s, side by side.

Of course, the dog’s portion is larger.

But while serving, Foxgames tears open a small packet out of the dog’s sight and sprinkles it onto the sausage.

Rat poison.

It’s not domestically made. It was produced in South America, where rodent damage is more severe, and it’s far more toxic than what’s allowed in heavily regulated Korea.

How do I know that?

Because I joined John_nenon’s group buy.

The meal begins.

Foxgames, with a theatrical flair, eats the same cheap bulk sausage—torn from the same packaging—together with the Mutation dog, as if sharing a bond.

The narration appears.

—If there were a scale to measure the weight of life, how great would that be?

—At the very least, mine tilts toward me.

With the familiar phrase “To be continued,” Foxgames’s grim post comes to an end.

“······.”

Tatatak

SKELTON: You kept the dosage precise and didn’t get caught, right?

I sent a message to Foxgames.

He replied.

Message from Foxgames: Of course.

Scholars may differ in opinion, but it’s said that while the intelligence of animals undergoing Mutation doesn’t surpass that of humans, their ability to perceive and reason through cognition can rival it.

According to those studies, they don’t just see objects and respond—they grasp the underlying principles behind those movements and can comprehend the entire phenomenon through their own thinking.

So when you try to deceive a Mutation, you have to do it the way you’d deceive a person.

Foxgames opening the packaging in front of the Mutation and eating the same food was meant to put the one he was about to kill at ease.

To make it think, “That human is eating the same thing as me.”

So when something goes wrong in its body, the Mutation won’t suspect the food.

This was the same method used by an elderly couple in Indonesia to kill their pet monkey when it showed signs of Mutation.

Lee Sang-hoon imported that method and spread it as if he developed it himself, profiting off of it.

Whatever the background, it’s clear that Lee Sang-hoon’s method is effective for dealing with Mutations that are still dependent on humans and under human control.

Foxgames’s next post will probably document the slow death of the poisoned Mutation dog.

“By the way.”

Bang Jae-hyuk’s mother brought up Foxgames during a meal, possibly after seeing the video.

“It really is an age where neither people can trust beasts nor beasts can trust people.”

“······Beating it to death with a club would’ve been worse, right?”

Bang Jae-hyuk scoffed, and Ha Tae-hoon chimed in from beside him.

“Ah, Jae-hyuk picked up a stray once too. The moment it started showing Mutation signs, he beat it to death with a metal pipe.”

“Still, our Baek-eok went in one go, without pain, right?”

As their reactions showed, Foxgames’s post had a subtle ripple effect across the entire message board.

The ones most influenced were the trend followers.

berkut_break: My dog died. Heartworm.

mmmmmmmmm™: (M9 Cooking) Maryland-style Cat Stew

Copycats who had been imitating Foxgames followed their leader’s footsteps and gave up their pets too.

Still, I messaged M9 directly to confirm.

SKELTON: (SKELTON Disgust) You really ate your cat?

mmmmmmmmm™: (M9 Sweating) No... I’m still raising it...

mmmmmmmmm™: It’s too cute... I just can’t...

SKELTON: Still, you know, right? You’ll understand when the time comes.

mmmmmmmmm™: I know... Even The Hope knew the answer...

That’s not the only reason I messaged M9.

There was something else I wanted to check.

SKELTON: I heard Kim Byeong-cheol’s daughter is raising a Mutation dog.

mmmmmmmmm™: Yeah. How’d you know?

SKELTON: She still raising it?

mmmmmmmmm™: No. She killed it.

SKELTON: ?

mmmmmmmmm™: I saw her shoot it dead.

SKELTON: When?

mmmmmmmmm™: Not long after Foxgames posted the new series.

I immediately tried to reach Kim Byeong-cheol.

“Ah, Hunter Park!”

He greeted me with a hearty laugh.

“Yeah. We killed it. That little bastard. It’s such a relief! Not that it was all because of you, Hunter Park, but you did help! If you need synthetic oil or rations, just say the word! I got permission from Chief Woo to allocate a portion!”

I felt relief.

At the very least, I had prevented a tragedy from befalling Kim Byeong-cheol’s family.

But right alongside that relief came a chilling sense of unease.

I asked him.

“Oh, that? It’s obvious. We just got tired of it. It was cute, but it had no affection. Totally like a wild dog, you know? Didn’t care about food, ignored us when we called, always baring its teeth. Then I saw that post from Foxgames.”

“I already told Ye-rim to thank you! A message should be flying your way soon!”

Just as he said, a message from Kim Ye-rim came in.

Message from armeegruppe_B: (Ye-rim sheepish) SKELTON~ I’m sorry~ For saying something bad~

Message from armeegruppe_B: I unblocked you, so you’re not mad, right?

Message from armeegruppe_B: The more I thought about it, the more I realized the grown-ups were right. I was just acting on impulse back then!

Message from armeegruppe_B: But then someone told me that thing could attack not just me but my dad and even our squad members. That’s when I came to my senses.

I was reading Kim Ye-rim’s messages with a blank expression as they filled the screen—

A new message arrived.

Message from Foxgames: SKELTON...

It was him.

I stared at his message with the same expression I’d had while reading Kim Ye-rim’s.

Then, as if competing with her messages, his followed in rapid succession.

Message from Foxgames: I can’t do this anymore...

The moment I saw that message, I straightened up from the precarious slouch I’d been sitting in.

I swallowed and read the next one.

Message from Foxgames: He’s suffering. He’s in so much pain now he can barely breathe. But when he sees me, he still wags his tail like he’s trying to cheer me up...

Message from Foxgames: It’s only been a few days, but I was the one who fed him, raised him. He looked only at me... When I was really struggling, he gave me strength... both in real life and online.

In an earlier post, Foxgames had talked about the weight of life.

He also said it would be nice if there were a scale to measure that weight.

I don’t know either.

How to weigh life.

The only method I can offer is measurement through ability.

It doesn’t explain this situation adequately.

So here, all I can do is fall back on the old excuse that everything is relative.

I mean, even serial killers still value the lives of their own families.

Message from armeegruppe_B: Wanna see that Mutation dead? It tried to bite our soldier guys, can you believe it?

Message from Foxgames: What should I do? How can I save him...?

Everyone feels the weight of life differently.

Maybe what determines that weight isn’t a person’s goodness or evil—

But the depth of their loneliness.

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