Chapter 65

40. Luck (2)

"Are you going to do my cosplay?"

Defender's younger sibling's suggestion sounded a bit unrealistic.

It felt like a story from a completely different world to be acted out by someone else.

Imitating Park Kyu?

This Professor Park Kyu?

"......It won't be easy."

It won't be easy.

It's definitely not an easy task.

"What's so hard about just lending the account? What's difficult about that?"

Upon hearing it, it did seem a bit easier.

"......Hmm."

"Listen? I'll tell you why I suddenly brought this up. Is it okay, big brother?"

"Yeah. Skeleton. Listen to our younger sibling."

Unlike what Defender said, listening to Defender's younger sibling was not about listening.

It was about watching, as it always had been.

Message from Defender: Our Viva! Apocalypse! account and equipment are being traded on PaleNet, did you know? They often appear on the used item board. They're probably from people who died a long time ago. It seems scavengers or looters stored them without knowing what they were at first, and now they're slowly selling them as they realize their use.

Message from Defender: One of the guys who bought that account is paying attention to us.

Defender's younger sibling showed me the message sent by that person.

Message from JUSTICE_MIN: Defender. You're the crazy guy in Viva! Apocalypse!, right? Killing people and posting proof lol lol lol fuck lol lol lol

Message from JUSTICE_MIN: Now I know you. This hero of justice knows you. I'm going to hunt you from today. I'm going to hunt you and "prove" it. Wait. It won't take long......!!!

"What is this? Is he a middle schooler?"

"I wish he were."

Defender's younger sibling sighed.

"But if someone can get their hands on our equipment in this world now..."

"He's not just any guy."

Defender added.

The siblings seemed to take this situation quite seriously.

"He could be a raider gang or a pioneer group."

"We can't rule out that possibility."

"In a situation like this, it's quite dangerous for us to be known as a two-person team. You know, it's our weapon, right?"

"Hmm......"

"It's not just a 'hmm.' Listen to the end!"

Da-jung's plan is to shoot a beatbox video and post it on the Skeleton account.

"It will definitely be a huge hit."

Da-jung said with confidence.

"I used to post videos on PicTalk often."

"Ahem......"

There will be views.

Not to mention, there are quite a few friends on our board who can't help but comment when a woman appears.

But for me to become a woman, well, it's...

It would damage the image of Skeleton, another self.

Skeleton is Skeleton.

I have my own image.

Even though the board's reviews are not good, I stand out for the board's friends, sometimes comforting my loneliness with beatboxing, and above all, as the last user of Viva! Apocalypse.

"Doesn't it seem like you don't like it?"

Da-jung asked cautiously.

"A little."

Before I could answer, Defender suddenly interjected.

"Skeleton. If you're someone like you, there must be people who can recognize you."

I nodded without realizing it.

That's right.

100%.

"To be honest, my last beatbox video was so crude that I couldn't even watch it to the end. If you reveal your real body or face, won't you be exposed immediately?"

"Maybe."

My last beatbox video was also done with security in mind. If I had revealed myself for my own satisfaction, I would have been exposed to Min-hee long ago.

"If we hadn't joined PaleNet, I wouldn't know, but now that PaleNet kids are constantly spying on our board, it's better for our identity to be ambiguous. What's that? Strategic ambiguity?"

"Strategic ambiguity......"

"Isn't that the shield of anonymity? One day you're a woman, the next day a man, an old man, or a changeling."

"......Hmm."

In any case, I don't like the proposal from Defender's siblings.

But I agree with the idea of making our identity ambiguous.

In a situation where anonymity is our lifeline, there's nothing good about being identified.

Defender is already threatened by a board newcomer named Justice Min, and I could also be threatened by people like Min-hee who know my past.

"Skeleton, do you mind looking like a woman?"

Da-jung suddenly asked.

"That's a bit much."

"Then you can do digital weathering, or make it look like impersonation, or make them think you're family. There are ways to maintain Skeleton's identity."

"But there are people who know my face?"

"They'll only know. But they'll be confused too, won't they?"

"Alright. Let's start. Whatever it is."

M9 has already challenged us.

Winning or losing in this childish fight with him isn't important, but it's an opportunity, as Da-jung said.

If I suddenly post a beatbox video, it will probably end up with a miserable number of views like before, but with M9 setting the stage, there are people who will watch my video.

Without Defender and I having to force it with viral marketing, there are people who will naturally spread my new video.

If it's not me but Da-jung, she has enough influence.

She can more than spread the "strategic ambiguity" that Defender's siblings want.

Thinking this, I was about to end the communication.

"Ah, and Skeleton. Don't hang up. I have something to say too."

This time, Defender himself had something to say to me.

He often adds a few words but rarely speaks, so it was surprising that he suddenly had something to say to me.

Curious, I asked.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the legion guys around our house when we moved?"

"Oh, those guys. What are they doing? They were stockpiling troops as if they were about to go to war."

Although the topic had briefly shifted, it was a confirmed fact that the legion's troops would be a variable.

The fact that they are concentrating such strong forces during this period of extinction is a harbinger of some event.

But their purpose is unknown.

They have had several opportunities to take over Seoul, but they haven't moved at all.

I've seen combat helicopters, but I'm not sure if they were sent by them or from the provinces.

Defender seems to have discovered something about those quietly crouching guys.

"Those guys."

A shadow of gloom fell over Defender's voice.

"They seem to be in contact with the zealots."

"What?"

I jumped up from my seat.

"They were right next to each other, weren't they? I only watched from a distance, so I can't be sure, but it doesn't feel good."

"......Is that so?"

This is not a normal story.

In a way, it's a story thousands of times more important than the chaos on the Jeju evacuation fleet that's currently causing a stir on the board.

The legion and the zealots joining hands.

This means an army led by Awakened is born.

An unprecedented event.

Western countries, including South Korea, strictly separated the Awakened hunter groups from the military, and China defined the Awakened as enemies until the end.

According to international agreements, hunters, including the Awakened, are not "soldiers" as defined by the Geneva Convention. They act like soldiers and do similar things, but they are treated as civilians or civilians with special status.

I, a hunter from the old days, am no different from a regular soldier, but the Awakened have a terrifying attribute that could change the face of war in this era, following nuclear weapons.

The military value of the Awakened is immeasurable.

With little known about them, their potential is almost limitless.

If they turn their guns on humans instead of monsters, their danger could be greater than that of the monsters themselves.

Even a Level 5 or lower, non-monster combat-capable Awakened could become the most difficult enemy to face.

Think of the young, pale-faced junior who found me when I went to the funeral of Lee Sang-hoon.

The woman who found me said she "detected" me, not "discovered" me.

This detection ability is useless against monsters.

Monsters don't hide, take cover, or ambush like humans.

So it's treated as a scrap ability against monsters, but it's completely different when fighting humans.

Once you enter the detection range of an Awakened, you're exposed, no matter where you hide or how you ambush.

A scrap Awakened with only detection ability has little combat power, but what if that Awakened acts with well-trained soldiers?

It means facing a type of danger we've never encountered before.

"How did you find out? Did you see it directly?"

I asked Defender, hoping it wasn't true.

"I saw a group of zealots walking to the legion's base on my way to get something I forgot at home. The soldiers didn't stop them."

"Really?"

"I saw it from a distance, but it's true."

"That's not a normal thing."

"I was planning to go back once more."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"To be honest, I like how quiet this neighborhood is, but no one comes, so it's kind of boring. So I'm planning to go back once more."

"......Be careful."

That's the only thing I can say to Defender now.

I have a leg injury, and it seems more suitable for Defender to do active reconnaissance.

"Ah, before that, I'll visit your air-raid shelter with my younger sibling."

"What, what?!"

"We need to shoot a beatbox video. Skeleton!"

*

Inviting a friend was probably something I hadn't done since elementary school.

I remember my beloved sister, who is now gone, scolding me.

"Hey, Park Kyu! A friend is coming, and you haven't even cleaned your room? It's a pigsty!"

My sister was a nag.

A nag, but she took care of her immature brother a lot.

I remember her helping me clean my room.

Picking up scattered trash and putting it in the trash can, organizing the books on the messy desk, and dusting and standing up the model kits that had gathered dust on the shelf after I got tired of playing with them.

My sister is no longer by my side.

While cleaning my half-dark air-raid shelter alone, I thought about the bright days that I could no longer return to.

The peaceful and simple days before the flames of hatred burned in my heart.

"......"

The flames in my heart are still burning.

Inevitable circumstances have exiled me here.

The biggest reason is my powerlessness.

"Damn! My body won't move!"

A memory that makes me miserable just by thinking about it.

"Hey, it's telekinesis! That guy! He's using telekinesis!"

The guy I met inside the crack was someone I couldn't do anything about.

The guy I named and hunted.

General type.

My axe, which had decapitated countless monsters, didn't move in front of him.

No, it couldn't move.

An almost infinite, intangible force pressed my meager strength, made of blood and sinews, like a rock.

I wanted to kill him and prove my worth, but he sentenced my meager potential to death.

"Ugh!"

"Leader!!!"

After that day, the Professor died.

I, Park Kyu, survived, but it didn't mean much.

In the end, I left the battlefield and was buried in this dark place.

It seemed that my life would gradually sink and be buried like sand at the bottom of a river.

But the world is wide.

There were areas I didn't know, which I couldn't see with my narrow vision.

"Wow, it's wide. Really wide. But what? Why is the toilet in the middle? And it's even on a raised platform, a step higher."

"I know this. What's it called? The one who displayed a toilet in an art gallery?"

"Was Seo-bang an artist?!"

I made a friend.

For the first time since elementary school.

What would my sister say if she saw this?

She would probably be shocked.

Especially since a girl, a rather pretty one, came in with me.

"......Welcome to the Skeleton Proud Supreme Castle."

*

Da-jung performed beatboxing with my air-raid shelter as the background.

Honestly, her beatboxing was terrible.

"Drumming, clapping, chick-chick, clapping!"

"......"

But her internet skills were not ordinary.

"I'm going to digitally weather this. To create confusion!"

She skillfully aged her video, added noise as a filler, and even changed the shooting date metadata to a pre-war point.

"Still, I'll probably be called an impersonator, but, well. That's a problem for Skeleton to handle, right?"

"Don't worry. There's nowhere to fall from here."

"Did you know?"

Da-jung smiled and passed the remaining message on her tablet.

[Our Skeleton, will you become a named character?~ ♥]

"Alright. Let's do it!"

Thus, Skeleton's new ambitious work was registered on the Viva! Apocalypse! board.

SKELTON: (Skeleton video) Skeleton's Beatbox (4)

Defender's siblings stood beside me, eating my food and watching the reactions on Viva! Apocalypse! together.

At first, there was no reaction.

But.

unicorn18: ?

One guy took the bait.

Defender's younger sibling dropped my cookie and laughed happily.

"Hey, it's a unicorn. A unicorn! This otaku!"

That unicorn soon sent me a message.

Message from unicorn18: Skeleton, are you... a girl...???

"Wow, look at him sending a DM. This otaku is so creepy!"

Da-jung laughed but looked at me with a worried eye.

She was probably worried about me.

But her worry quickly turned to surprise, and even a bit of disdain.

Tap tap

"S, Skeleton?"

SKELTON: I'll leave it to your imagination~♥

"Wow......"

"Didn't you say you didn't like imitating a woman......?"

Defender's siblings, acting as one, looked at me simultaneously.

"......"

Strategic ambiguity.