Chapter 30

25. SeamonkeyPAPA

I have never kept a pet.

I spent a long time in a place where I couldn't keep animals, and dealing with mutations frequently made it impossible for me to view animals positively.

In fact, among those who have experienced war and are former hunters, no one keeps pets.

On the other hand, in our community, a few users do keep pets.

Those who actively raise animals are friends who have chosen a collective survival approach.

Anonymous424: Our dogs

Dies_irae69: Go see our dogs

These friends, who have formed groups with like-minded friends or family, tend to dominate a fairly wide area, centered around exposed houses rather than air raid shelters.

Since they have many mouths to feed, they need to farm, which inevitably requires a large area of land.

Well-trained dogs help secure a wide territory.

They can set up defenses, threaten and drive away wandering outsiders, and in some cases, can be used in combat.

However, their love did not last long.

Dies_irae69: Our dogs... all killed... by my own hands...

It was inevitable.

Not killing an animal that has started to mutate is tantamount to suicide.

Thus, raising animals in the post-apocalyptic era requires a certain resolve.

Either you must have the resolve to kill a mutated animal,

or the even greater resolve to accept a mutated animal.

There is someone who has made the greater resolve.

He raised Seamonkeys.

*

I met SeamonkeyPAPA when I was gradually getting used to life in the post-apocalyptic era and began to accept the apocalypse as part of my life.

At the beginning of the war, I was quite tense.

Even a suspicious shadow on the horizon would make me maintain a ready stance with my gun for hours, and I would check my equipment with near-paranoid thoroughness.

Since this was my first experience with the apocalypse as an individual rather than a hunter, I was quite on edge.

As time passed, I became accustomed to the changed situation and gained experience, which gave me more leeway.

It was around this time that I, who had been a lurker in the community, started writing posts.

At that time, SeamonkeyPAPA was a fellow unpopular user with a similar disposition.

He tried hard to draw attention with creative activities but did not receive the attention he deserved.

In my case, it was just a matter of bad luck, but SeamonkeyPAPA had chosen the wrong path from the start.

Who would find a Seamonkey cute or moving?

Most people who saw his posts for the first time clicked out of curiosity about what a Seamonkey was, only to find that it was a tiny, flea-like creature barely visible in an aquarium, and they clicked back without a second thought.

The official name for Seamonkeys is Brine Shrimp, which are shrimp-like creatures.

They are hardy and don't die easily, have a low maintenance level, and are active, which is why they were popular as ornamental pets at the end of the 20th century, but they quickly lost popularity and are now reduced to being temporary pets for children who raise them for a short time before they die or are flushed down the toilet before they die.

<The Seamonkeys are swimming very actively! I also have information that they can be found in the Dead Sea, known as the "Sea of Death," because they can live in high-salinity water! However, they will die in freshwater!!! Even if they don't die immediately, they will eventually die!>

SeamonkeyPAPA had a knack for video editing and tried to raise awareness about the existence of Seamonkeys, which we knew little about, by including detailed descriptions and care information in every video he posted.

He used exclamation marks frequently.

Naturally, his popularity was at rock bottom, and SeamonkeyPAPA knew it, so he prepared a masterpiece.

It was a combination of several tedious and technical tasks.

Feeding them bioluminescent food to make them glow in the dark, adjusting the lighting to ensure that the weak camera could clearly capture the Seamonkeys in the dark, beautiful New Age classical music, glowing Seamonkeys swimming, multi-angle shots, slow motion, and meticulously crafted subtitles with excessive exclamation marks.

The resulting labor-intensive video was posted on the bulletin board.

SeamonkeyPAPA: The magnificent and grand night dance of the self-luminous Seamonkeys "danse en groupe"

I clicked on his post because I was about to post something similar at the time, and he added a note that he had spent 18 hours preparing and shooting the video.

18 hours.

My video took only a minute.

It was an amazing amount of effort.

As always, reality is harsh.

If we were to recreate the scene at that time, it would feel something like this:

unicorn18: Red Archive Hotaru-chan.jpg

SUNBI: The tantalizing buttock crease of a suggestive Western woman

SeamonkeyPAPA: The magnificent and grand night dance of the self-luminous Seamonkeys "danse en groupe"

Defender: Verification

Anonymous118: Super Mario No-Install Executable Version

SKELTON: (Skeleton Video) Skeleton's Beatboxing (3)

Just by looking at the titles, the scene doesn't seem much different from today.

But when you click on the view count, the dark truth is revealed.

unicorn18: Red Archive Hotaru-chan.jpg (22 views)

SUNBI: The tantalizing buttock crease of a suggestive Western woman (93 views)

SeamonkeyPAPA: The magnificent and grand night dance of the self-luminous Seamonkeys "danse en groupe" (8 views)

Defender: Verification (232 views)

Anonymous118: Super Mario No-Install Executable Version (1,023 views)

SKELTON: (Skeleton Video) Skeleton's Beatboxing (3) (5 views)

That's right.

The view count of SeamonkeyPAPA's masterpiece was only 8.

Just 8.

After investing 18 hours, he only got 8 views.

Considering that a single user can view a post multiple times, it means that fewer than 8 people clicked on his post.

If I were SeamonkeyPAPA, I would have been devastated.

I can accept losing to named users like Defender or Anonymous118 (now Foxgames).

But it's unacceptable that his post, which took 18 hours, got fewer views than a crude photo of a suggestive buttock crease that Sunbi uploaded after a 10-second deliberation.

At least I beat Skeleton, but that's not much of a consolation.

Perhaps that's why.

SeamonkeyPAPA, who seemed to fall into a deep depression, hardly posted anything after that.

He only occasionally reacted to Dragon's comics.

While I transformed from an unpopular user into a notorious one, he remained a vague presence, someone who could disappear without anyone noticing.

Time passed, and it's now just before Christmas.

SeamonkeyPAPA suddenly posted a popular post.

SeamonkeyPAPA: The Seamonkeys have grown!

When I saw his post, I muttered to myself without realizing it.

"He's still alive."

What's this?

The title feels strange.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the post.

"......?"

An unbelievable scene unfolded before my eyes.

The location was a reservoir.

It looked similar to the reservoirs around my territory, but in the dark and murky water, something white with a long tail and red eyes was wriggling.

SeamonkeyPAPA: At some point, our kids grew so big that I couldn't handle them anymore, so I put them in the reservoir. When I checked, they had grown this big. ㅎㅎ

I had never seen anything like it.

A mutation occurring in a primitive animal like a Seamonkey.

There is a description in the Kaiyodos webtoon about a crayfish turning gray, but that's just a cartoonish exaggeration. In a gray world, everything looks gray.

Mutations only occur in higher animals with brains, spines, and lungs.

In China, I've seen giant rats, cats, dogs, and pigs, but never giant cockroaches or centipedes.

But that common knowledge was shattered by a single photo.

The identity of the monstrous creature, with its multiple repulsive legs and long tail, swimming in the reservoir, was unmistakable.

A mutated Seamonkey.

"......"

I hesitated for a moment.

Should I report this shocking discovery?

The fact that mutations can spread to such lower animals is a thousand times more serious than cracks or monsters.

It means that humans might be wiped out by mutations before they are by cracks or monsters.

My only contact now is U Minhee.

I don't particularly want to get involved, but this is a matter for a supervisor.

Personal Identification Number: REDMASK

This is the first time I've contacted U Minhee via personal identification number since Kim Daran disappeared.

She always responds promptly, which is one of her few good qualities.

"Wow, senior. What's up? I thought you'd never contact me again, a bad kid like me. What? Did you run out of food?"

She still knows how to get under my skin.

"......Mutations have occurred in invertebrates."

"Invertebrates?"

"Yes, invertebrates. Like shrimp larvae."

"Seamonkeys?"

"!!!"

A very dangerous assumption flashed through my mind.

"......How did you know?"

"How did I know? I just guessed. I raised Seamonkeys in elementary school. They all died, but I suddenly thought of them. Is there a problem with Seamonkeys?"

"I found a Seamonkey that had grown huge. It's a mutation, no doubt. Mutations are occurring in invertebrates."

"Oh, really? Thanks for letting me know, but I already knew that."

"Really?"

I knew there was a gap in my knowledge.

But it seems to be bigger than I thought.

The fact that this is normal to her shows the extent of the gap.

"Anyway, I have something to do now."

A dull boat horn sounded from the other side of the speaker.

She must be at the dock.

I'm curious about what she's doing, but we're not close enough for personal questions.

Our relationship is strictly a bad connection.

"Merry Christmas."

"Senior, isn't it too early? There are still three days left?"

"When will I contact you again?"

"That's true. Merry Christmas, senior."

I ended the communication and took a deep breath.

I recalled the conversation we just had.

Most of all, U Minhee's immediate response, "Seamonkeys?" stuck in my mind.

"......"

It must be a coincidence.

It must be.

I want to believe that.

But I can't let my guard down.

U Minhee has always liked communities like this.

I, on the other hand, never even joined a group chat.

While I was contacting U Minhee, chaos erupted on the bulletin board.

Defender: No, just kill them all. They look dangerous. They're mutations.

SeamonkeyPAPA: Shut up, you orphaned murderer! You uneducated scum! What right do you have to tell me what to do? They're my kids! I raised them! They're my kids!

Defender and SeamonkeyPAPA.

Two users who had no connection before were now in conflict.

As I watched their keyboard battle, I was puzzled.

What can I say?

It's a bit shocking.

Until now, I thought SeamonkeyPAPA was just a decent, quiet middle-aged gentleman who liked Seamonkeys.

His voice was calm and dignified, and he exuded an intellectual aura.

His air raid shelter, which he often mentioned, seemed quite spacious.

I thought he might be a middle-aged professional with a comfortable life.

But the real face of SeamonkeyPAPA, revealed in the keyboard battle, was completely different.

Not so much repulsive as childish.

He spewed a torrent of crude and vulgar profanity, 30% of which were obscene words for genitalia, and another 30% were insults to others' parents. The rest were exclamation marks and references to dogs.

When I applied a profanity filter, it looked like this:

SeamonkeyPAPA: F***!! F****!!! S***** !******* ******! *********!! ********!!

In contrast, Defender responded calmly, but everyone knows his patience is not high.

Defender: I'm just worried. If you want to lose, go ahead. But I'd like you to retract the insults to my parents.

Defender: The reservoir in your photo. I know the reservoir. I think I know where you are.

At that moment, I could almost see the cold, stern look in Defender's eyes, especially the older brother's.

This is dangerous.

Not just for me, but everyone on the bulletin board could feel it.

Defender is serious.

If I were SeamonkeyPAPA, I would apologize or at least stop typing.

But SeamonkeyPAPA didn't.

SeamonkeyPAPA: *********!!!!

"Ah."

Defender: You're going to die?

SeamonkeyPAPA: F*****!!!

SeamonkeyPAPA: F********!!!!

"This is too much."

This has gone too far.

Even if Defender doesn't usually attack other users, this is unacceptable.

I immediately sent a message to SeamonkeyPAPA.

SKELTON: Defender is right, you know. It's dangerous. Apologize and end it. Why are you fighting like kids?

I was trying to mediate.

If SeamonkeyPAPA wanted, I was willing to calm Defender down.

We are, for better or worse, fellow survivors and bulletin board users, and I don't want to lose another one.

A while later, I received a reply from SeamonkeyPAPA.

Message from SeamonkeyPAPA: *******!!!!

Maybe it's the profanity filter.

Or maybe the change in him and his image is just too drastic.

The user who sent me the message didn't seem like SeamonkeyPAPA at all.

Message from SeamonkeyPAPA: No fun****n*at*******

SKELTON: ********

*

Defender: Verification

Two days later, the post Defender uploaded was a mix of horror and mystery, reminiscent of a horror movie.

Defender used the reservoir as a reference point to find SeamonkeyPAPA's residence.

Whether he was serious or just saying it, Defender claimed he intended to shake hands and post a verification if SeamonkeyPAPA apologized.

Defender easily found the air raid shelter.

The door inside was open, and inside were what appeared to be SeamonkeyPAPA's Seamonkey set, an old laptop, and various