Chapter 83

46. Messiah (1)

There is a term called "oldbie."

It is a term used to describe veterans, in contrast to "newbies," and is mainly used in the context of the internet and games.

This Park Kyu is a well-known oldbie on the Korean Viva! Apocalypse forum. Although there was a period of inactivity, he was one of the early adopters who first applied for the Viva! Apocalypse service.

He takes pride in his knowledge of the forum's history and evolution.

The atmosphere of the forum has varied with the times.

If we categorize it, we can divide it into three major periods: before the war, the early stages of the war, and one year after the war began.

First, the atmosphere of the forum before the war was academic and intellectual, a place for adult users with social standing to discuss their survival strategies and plans after the apocalypse.

The representative figure of this period was none other than our Jonnaenun.

The second era was the era of chaos.

A time when the pre-war values and the violence of the chaotic period were mixed up.

It was a period when sophisticated users, accustomed to academic discussions, began to blend into the internet's unique culture of bickering.

The third era was the adaptation period.

A time when all users became accustomed to the despair of the apocalypse and the internet's grammar, and even PaleNet users began to join, making it perhaps the most prosperous period of all.

We are now living in the adaptation period.

Everyone is familiar with the internet and has blended into its culture.

However, during the era of chaos, there were still many people who were young and not yet accustomed to internet culture.

Looking back now, it seems like nothing, but at the time, there were the Four Great Lunatics.

The murderer, the schizophrenic, the attention-seeker, and the cult leader.

Among them, the murderer became a named user called Defender.

The schizophrenic and the attention-seeker are dead.

The last one became something like a piece of flotsam floating around the forum, neither here nor there.

That was Iamjesus.

Whenever something happened, he would quote Bible verses and spout nonsense about rapture. He has now become a user that no one pays attention to, almost like an NPC.

He had an awakening.

With a prophetic glow in his eyes, he became an Awakened.

Not just any Awakened, but a high-level one that Jeju Island would welcome with open arms.

The story begins when I started paying attention to the user Iamjesus.

*

I began paying attention to Iamjesus about a year and a half ago.

At the time, everything was peaceful.

I was still in touch with Kim Daran, and there was no talk of the country splitting in two, and Seoul, our shield, was still intact.

Strange events like the lottery were causing a stir among Seoul citizens, but for me, Park Kyu, it was a beautiful time when I could wait for the end of the world without much worry.

Now, I can admit that I had ambitions at the time.

I wanted to make a user called Skeleton, who was not well-known, into a powerful user on the forum, like other named users.

I uploaded a few creative works, but the forum's reaction was cold.

After confirming that my taste and the forum's taste didn't match, I was a bit hurt in my pride, but I thought of another way to become a popular user.

That was "camaraderie."

I thought that by increasing the number of users who were friendly with each other and pushing each other's backs, I could naturally become a named user even without special creative abilities, a somewhat shallow plan.

I came up with this idea after seeing how KyleDos, who had no creative ability but secured a camaraderie family, had a significant presence on the forum.

So, I also looked for camaraderie users.

However, I couldn't just choose anyone.

If I chose just anyone, I would end up entangled with them.

I needed to make a user with some recognition and strong influence into a camaraderie user to reach a higher level.

I began paying proper attention to Iamjesus at that time.

He was one of the Four Great Lunatics and was a well-known figure on the forum, even if he was a bit different from the others.

Unlike the attention-seeker who only wrote in his diary and the schizophrenic who picked fights with everyone, and the murderer who killed and showed proof, Iamjesus seemed like someone I could communicate with, at least based on his writing.

Iamjesus: When does the rapture of believers occur?

Iamjesus: Armageddon = the war of otherworldly beings on Earth

Iamjesus: The zombie is foretold in 1 Corinthians 15:52

...

...

These were the posts he made at the time.

He was different from others.

Just looking at his posts, I felt I shouldn't get too close.

Still, the reason I approached him was because of the occasional human side he showed.

Iamjesus: Tonight

Iamjesus: Today's game progress

Iamjesus: I'm in pain

Iamjesus: Super Mario Time Attack

...

...

At the time, forum users had little tolerance for his rants and daily life, and there weren't many kind-hearted users who would read such posts.

That's why, perhaps?

The views on his posts were often 1 or 2.

Considering that 1 is the default view count, it means almost no one was reading his daily life.

I wasn't the first, but I was one of the few who added a view to his daily posts.

By reading the bits of his life he gradually revealed, I could get a vague idea of what kind of life this somewhat troubled friend had lived and was living.

He lived in a small shelter, often called a "factory-type shelter," made in a factory. His food was mostly military rations, and he sat cross-legged on a mattress, not a chair, with a laptop on a makeshift desk. Various adult toys were scattered on the dirty mattress, and he spent most of his day playing games.

The games Iamjesus enjoyed were diverse, but the ones he truly loved were classic side-scrolling action games.

Games where you press buttons to jump, run, and avoid obstacles and enemies to reach the goal.

He had never revealed his face, but from the occasional glimpses of his hands in verification photos, it was clear he had never done hard labor and was young by our standards.

What I felt from him was loneliness.

A friend who looked no older than his mid-twenties, which meant he had been preparing for this life since his early twenties, probably with his parents' money.

In this world he had barely reached, he lived a life of isolation, unable to make friends, and talking to himself.

Eating dry food in a dark room and using a dirty sex toy to cope with loneliness.

It wasn't a happy life.

I didn't really want to get close to him.

Most importantly, Iamjesus himself was rejecting others.

I once saw a user, now gone, trying to communicate with him.

RealKorean: Hey, how long are you going to keep posting this stuff? Your game preferences are similar to mine?

RealKorean.

A user who showed strong animosity towards refugees, I remember he lived in Paju and had a similar fate to other users there.

He disappeared one day and was never heard from again.

Anyway, he tried to communicate with Iamjesus several times.

But Iamjesus never responded to his outstretched hand.

RealKorean: Ignoring me?

With a short, sharp comment, this friend never tried to approach Iamjesus again.

Ironically, he wanted attention and kept posting various things on the forum, but when someone reached out, he retreated like a turtle.

After RealKorean left, Iamjesus continued to post his unique routine of Bible verses, rapture, and daily life on the forum, like white noise.

My interest in him waned, and I no longer paid attention to him.

But the friend who had become white noise suddenly became the most important figure on the forum.

The reactions to Iamjesus's verification photos were divided into two major categories.

Anonymous848: What is this?!

Anonymous458: Did he eat some fluorescent substance? Why is he like this all of a sudden?

Anonymous121: Isn't this a TikTok effect? You know, the Chinese video editing app.

Foxgames: ???

...

People who didn't understand the significance of what happened to Iamjesus.

Dies_irae69: Can I send you a message?

Anonymous777: Wow

CrunchRoll: Message received

dongtanmom: Yum

armeegruppe_B: Attention!

inevitable: Congratulations, you've awakened.

gijayangban: !

...

People who knew what it meant.

And.

mmmmmmmmm: Idiot, did you eat some radiation?

SKELTON: Hmm... Is that all?

unicorn18: Nyeh

Hermit-like figures living apart from the world.

In any case, four completely new people appeared among those who knew what was happening.

Anonymous777, CrunchRoll, Armeegruppe_B, and Inevitable.

I swear I had never seen them before.

Among those who showed interest, there was a person of concern.

Dies_irae69. The representative of collective survivalism.

I knew he wasn't an ordinary person, but I didn't expect him to recognize an Alpha awakening.

Not only that, he was boldly making a proposal.

Clearly, this friend was using our forum as a tool for the "kingdom" he wanted to create.

However, it wasn't just Dies_irae69 who sent a message.

It was evident from the flow of numerous posts on the forum.

A fierce, hidden competition for the chosen one, Iamjesus, the new god.

Iamjesus: Mmm... Why are you making such a fuss, mmm...

It might be the first time.

For nearly three years, this young friend had been treated as a background character, called a lunatic, and now he was receiving so much attention.

Dies_irae69: Did you see my message? Please consider it positively. We are a community of our users.

Inevitable: Please check my message.

Two people are openly acknowledging their contact with Iamjesus.

It shows how desperately they want him.

But.

"......Hmm."

It won't be easy.

I confirmed what kind of person Iamjesus was a year ago.

He is a contradictory figure.

He wants communication more than anyone, yet he also rejects it.

Iamjesus: Mmm... Why are you sending such things? Mmm...

But his rejection took an unexpected turn.

Iamjesus took screenshots of all the secret messages he received and posted them on the forum for everyone to see!

Message from Dies_irae69: You have awakened to Awakened abilities. It's called enlightenment or awakening. You are now a person of great strategic value. Join us. We will protect you. We will protect you.

Message from Inevitable: Do you know about the Manryugyujong religion?

Message from CrunchRoll: What we can offer

Message from dongtanmom: Do you need porn?

Message from armeegruppe_B: Do you want to be a hero?

Message from gijayangban: Will you cooperate with my investigation?

Six people sent messages.

Among them, the most ridiculous was Baek Seung-hyun.

What is porn, porn.

He's not even a middle schooler.

What does he think he can do with just porn to a suddenly awakened Iamjesus?

"Wow, this guy. He doesn't even add 'yum' at a time like this......"

Putting aside the curses that naturally came out of my mouth, I looked at the others.

Dies_irae69 sent a message exactly as everyone expected.

Appealing to the group, the group, that damn group.

In contrast, CrunchRoll, a user I had never seen before, prepared a message that made my eyes pop out.

He attached a photo.

A photo of women in revealing, bikini-like clothing, with their eyes covered, holding alcohol and unopened convenience store frozen food, making a heart with their fingers.

Unicorn18: Huh

It's no wonder Unicorn18 had a seizure.

A photo I had never seen in 2-3 years of Viva! Apocalypse.

It had a destructive power that made my attempts to pass as a woman using my sister's account look pathetic.

But despite the intense photo, what caught my attention were the other two.

Inevitable.

This guy, the Manryugyujong religion.

It means a Chinese cult that caused the fall of China was hiding on our forum.

The other one is Armeegruppe_B.

The photo he attached showed dozens of tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopters.

No doubt.

It was the main base of the Legion faction, which my friend Defender and I had seen with our own eyes in the southeast.

The Legion faction's leadership, or someone connected to them, directly tried to contact Iamjesus.

"......"

I had always thought there were formidable people hiding on our forum.

Since Um Min-hee was also active here.

But the hidden forces that actually emerged were much larger than I expected.

Organizations that could have multiple women, the Legion faction, and the Manryugyujong religion.

But Iamjesus is not an ordinary person.

He is one of the original Four Great Lunatics.

No matter what, he walks his own path.

Iamjesus: (Revelation) 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

In the face of numerous requests for cooperation, he calmly continues to write,

Iamjesus: Mmm... Stop sending messages... I'll block you all, mmm...

Declaring a noble neutrality.

Truly the dignity of an oldbie on the forum.

It seems he actually blocked everyone.

Inevitable: Brother, don't do this. Please unblock me. I have good news.

CrunchRoll: Damn, are you going to reveal that? Well, since you did, I'll say it. She's a woman you can do whatever you want with. Any play is possible ｈｈ. Throw away the dirty sex toys in your room and come to us?

Dies_irae69: At least I won't stab my community comrades in the back.

Armeegruppe_B: You're a small-minded friend.

Dongtanmom: Yum...

Seeing how the hidden forces on the forum (excluding Dongtanmom) are desperately trying to reach out.

Well, in a way, it's understandable.

The value of an Alpha Awakened is immeasurable.

If I were a single combat unit, these friends are strategic assets in themselves.

So, it's no wonder they are all trying so hard.

"......"

But watching it, I felt a bit envious.

Is a guy worse than me getting special treatment?

Honestly, what makes him better than me......

I couldn't stand it and threw a message into the center of the topic.

SKELTON: Mmm

A message sent without much thought.

Like when I picked a fight with Baek Seung-hyun.

A strong impulse.

But something surprising happened.

Message from Iamjesus: Mmm

Iamjesus replied.

The man who ignored numerous powerful hidden forces responded to this Skeleton.