Chapter 14 of 100

Chapter 14

9 min read2,298 words

13. Typhoon

Before the war began, doomsdayists were not a welcomed group in society.

Looking at their traits alone, it’s hard to find any virtues that the world would recommend.

So-called psychoanalysts often said that the foundation of a doomsdayist’s thinking was grandiose delusions, selfishness, and resignation.

Well, except for the grandiose delusions, it’s mostly true.

I don’t deny it.

I incurred debts, dug air-raid shelters, and catered to Mr. Kim’s whims because of such thoughts.

But not just anyone can be a doomsdayist.

First, you have to be cold-hearted.

You need to be insensitive enough to pass by the deaths of people unrelated to you without a second thought.

Not to the extent of being inhuman like a human hunter, but you must not empathize with others' suffering.

When the world collapses, millions of people will be in dire straits. If you try to help each one, you’ll end up in the same situation.

The ideal image of a doomsdayist in my mind is a cold and detached observer.

No matter what happens around them, whether hundreds die or there are heart-wrenching stories, they ignore it all and live only for themselves.

Such a person has the potential to become a legend.

Why, isn’t the last of humanity often described as legendary?

Unfortunately, I was a person somewhat lacking in the qualities needed to become a legend.

I obtained the information that it was coming the day after I checked the international residence.

I stayed at another accommodation for one night and then, out of habit, visited the National Council. There, I unexpectedly obtained valuable information.

The information I get here is the main reason I maintain a connection with the city.

[ Breaking through the kill zone, a super-large monster is moving south ]

[ Estimated to be a Kraken type ]

[ Speed approximately 22 km/h. Direction is south-southwest ]

[ Entry into Seoul has been blocked, but it is expected to change course to the outskirts ]

[ Estimated to dissipate in about 56 hours ]

On a computer set up in a corner of the National Council lobby, information posted on the internal network was being updated in real-time.

“Kraken type...”

I’ve dealt with one in China before.

It’s like a living building.

A monster that breaks through the kill zone and collapses defense lines, absorbing all known weapons with its thick armor.

However, it’s not invincible. By my standards, it’s not particularly dangerous.

Its intelligence is low, and its patterns are simple. As long as you prepare, you won’t die, and if you leave it alone, it will dissipate on its own.

People say that hunters, especially saviors, are the natural enemies of monsters, but the most powerful enemy of monsters is the Earth itself.

Monsters, residents of another dimension, lose their life force and begin to collapse as soon as they cross the rift.

When a monster loses all its life force, it disintegrates into particles. The larger and stronger it is, the faster it collapses.

Of course, there are some exceptions, but the one that has appeared now is of the dissipating type.

If I have to make a comparison, it’s like a typhoon.

While it destroys everything in its path and leaves chaos in the human world, it eventually loses its momentum and dissipates on its own. The way information agencies predict the movement, direction, and path of the monster to prepare for the damage is not much different from how they handle typhoons.

This typhoon is passing through my area.

It’s a terrifying thought.

If I had been in the air-raid shelter without this information, I would have met my end like an extra in a monster movie, oblivious to the disaster, and been erased with a “Huh?”

What would I have been doing when I died?

No matter how I think about it, I would have been writing on the community forum.

SKELTON: (Skeleton surprise) ?!

That’s how it would have been.

Recently, I’ve become not just unpopular but avoided in the community, which worries me...

I feel like I’m even less accepted than human hunters.

At least, I haven’t been blocked much, right?

Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from Kim Dalram.

I understand.

She doesn’t even know where I live and is extremely busy.

While I was in the National Council lobby, I saw her boarding an elevator with a stern-faced soldier, a hunter-turned-bureaucrat, and a politician.

But I also wish she had been given a simple warning.

Bang!

A gunshot echoes from a distance.

For the first time in my life, I was attacked.

I didn’t receive the attack directly.

The attack happened far ahead.

But the procession stopped, causing a traffic jam in this doomsday era.

The police and soldiers blocked the road and told everyone to wait for the situation to resolve.

After a three-hour delay, the situation was resolved, but valuable time was lost.

On the way, I saw bodies sprawled on the ground.

They were staring at the sky with wide-open eyes, not even covered with a blanket. I don’t know if they were raiders or victims.

I immediately returned to the air-raid shelter and prepared.

I moved some of the seedlings of the plant I grow at home and packed camping equipment, food, and water.

For observation, I prepared binoculars with a night vision function and a cheap drone.

The most important preparation was the four-wheel-drive buggy car in the underground garage.

Mobility is crucial when dealing with this monster.

Maintaining distance is the best strategy, and in the worst case, you need to escape before two death beams overlap and create a death zone.

I poured the sealed, long-term stored gasoline into the car and launched the cheap drone.

There were no special threats nearby.

The Gold pack to the south is threatening, but I don’t plan to go that way.

I parked the car on a low hill above my air-raid shelter and waited.

There’s still some time before the monster arrives.

At first, I had no thoughts.

After a brief pause, I started thinking about the expected appearance point of the monster and the corresponding escape routes.

It didn’t take long.

I had already simulated all possible scenarios in this area while working on construction.

Of course, the appearance of a super-large monster was within the scope of my assumptions.

I drank another cup of coffee and waited for time to pass.

There are still a couple of hours left.

It will show up soon.

However, the K-walkie-talkie situation is a bit strange.

A disaster comparable to a typhoon is coming, but there’s no common warning broadcast.

What’s going on?

It’s 8:30 PM.

According to the information from the National Council, the super-large monster should have passed through the outskirts of Seoul.

But the military frequency is still silent.

Could the broadcasting stations have been hit?

“...”

It’s not really my concern.

I am a doomsdayist.

No matter what happens around me, I only need to preserve my own life and safety.

Those who wish to save the world are on the battlefield.

I am content with observing the flow of this world in my own way.

That’s the path I’ve chosen and the path I believe I should take.

However, my belief wavered as time passed.

The first thing that came to mind was our community’s cheerful friends.

I rushed down to the air-raid shelter and logged into the community.

My community friends were living their usual lives, seemingly unaware of the approaching typhoon.

They didn’t seem to know about the monster’s appearance.

Or perhaps, the one who saw the monster is already in the other world.

I searched.

Keystotne: I’m in Paju, and the ground is shaking. Is it an earthquake?

I sent a message.

SKELTON: Are you alive?

No response.

I wrote a post on the bulletin board.

SKELTON: (Skeleton question) Is Keystone alive? If you are, please respond.

No response.

Not even after 10 minutes, or 20 minutes.

Is he dead?

Was he swept away by the typhoon, unaware of everything, and completely dissipated?

Another friend is dead.

Just an internet acquaintance whose name and face I don’t know, but the death of this friend is real.

One less person to like my posts, view them, or comment.

“...”

I pondered for a moment.

I do have a grudge against this world.

I do resent God and feel disgusted with this world, the system, and humanity itself.

But does that mean I should watch them die?

A wool felt doll is staring at me, taking up a corner of the room.

What would Anonymous337, the maker of this doll, think if they saw this day?

What about the nameless woman who died in an explosion, accused of raising a killer monster?

What about the owner of this laptop?

There are still people alive.

The girl’s cry on that particularly cold Christmas night still resonates in my heart.

“...”

I am not a hero or a savior.

I don’t have the qualifications or the ability.

The image of myself I wanted to be was a cold and detached observer.

I had to be.

But for one day, would it be okay?

It’s not a special day, but it’s the day the typhoon is coming.

My whim moved me.

SKELTON: (Skeleton warning) The monster is coming!

- Follow the attached map path and move south!

If you are in the path, leave your air-raid shelter and observe today.

It won’t do you any good to stay in the shelter.

The monster’s destruction beam will ignore cover and disintegrate all life within its radius.

This is not a joke but a serious warning.

*If this helped, please like!*

I don’t want to lose these friends.

SKELTON: (Skeleton warning) The monster is coming!

...

[Warning! Your account is restricted for 12 hours due to spamming.]

“Damn! It was a well-intentioned spam!”

So I spammed.

I thought this was enough, but my whim was already demanding more.

“This is Skeleton. This is Skeleton. If anyone is receiving this transmission, please respond immediately. I repeat, this is Skeleton! Skeleton!”

The sniper’s family.

I want to save them too.

Of course, I don’t like the woman, but her daughter is different.

“In one hour, a super-large monster will arrive. It’s a Kraken type, a building-sized creature that can kill all life within a 2-kilometer radius with its death beam.”

I want to hear her voice next Christmas.

I want to say “Merry Christmas” to her.

With my own voice, not through a keyboard.

Even if there’s noise from the radio,

it’s my humble wish.

Of course, there are other intentions too.

Since there was no response, I drove directly to the sniper’s territory.

Time was tight, so I passed through the Gold pack’s territory.

As expected, the mutated dogs drooled and chased me.

“Like gaming laptops?”

I evaded them with gunfire and speed and arrived at the sniper’s territory, but I was greeted with gunfire.

Bang!

A bullet pierced the ground at my feet, sending up a cloud of dust.

I spoke into the radio.

“Can’t you hear? You’re all going to die!”

No response.

I said again.

“Are you going to let your daughter die too?”

That did the trick.

The sniper and her daughter emerged from the darkness.

“Skeleton!”

The girl waved and smiled at me.

“The car?”

The sniper shook her head.

“Gasoline. It’s gone bad.”

“Get in.”

I didn’t expect them to leave immediately.

I thought persuasion would be needed.

But the sniper got into the car surprisingly easily.

“Let’s go.”

She fastened her seatbelt and said in broken Korean.

“What?”

“Monster.”

There was a reason she listened.

“Hold on tight.”

We drove away from the territory.

From a low hill where we could see below, we witnessed the massive creature that appeared in our territory.

A giant, building-like behemoth trampled the ground in a sacrilegious manner, shooting out a web-like beam of evil, erasing all life in its path.

The death beam, which only destroys living things, narrowly missed my air-raid shelter.

If I had been there, I probably wouldn’t have died a clean death.

Maybe I would have been cut in half.

The sniper, who has seen it all, was just a frightened sheep in the face of this world-denying monster.

After watching them for a while, I said,

“Hold it right there.”

“What?”

“Photo. Click.”

“Why?”

“I have a printer at home, I’ll print it for you.”

It’s a dog-eat-dog world, but shouldn’t we have memories?

Coincidentally, as we were taking the photo, the typhoon that had hit our territory dissipated.

The monster, which had desecrated the earth and burned living things, began to disintegrate into particles, enveloped in a bright light.

Against the dark, lightless earth, the light scattered like gold dust in the wind, and its color and form were breathtakingly beautiful.

“...Beautiful.”

The girl muttered, entranced, and her mother held her hand, watching the world and the things that did not belong to it blend together.

Click.

A photo was saved to the folder.

SKELTON: (Skeleton photo) Untitled 03

My photo caused a small stir in the community.

I received many valuable comments and a few likes.

Especially, there were many comments saying the girl was cute.

Someone asked what the photo was, but I didn’t answer to respect the sniper family’s privacy.

Unfortunately, my information didn’t help our community members much.

There were no friends in the path.

Keystone, whom I thought was dead, was alive.

Keystone: I thought I was going to die from a stomachache.