Chapter 184: Anti-Paradise Advocates
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 184: Anti-Paradise Advocates
It was on the Paradise Gallery that I first heard the term "Anti-Paradise Advocates."
– Anyone heard about that faction of around 2,000 people living over in Yeouido? Apparently, if you've got talent, they give you food and a place to stay without making you hunt zombies. They let you live comfortably.
If it had been just one or two posts, I would have ignored it, but there were quite a few threads about this.
– When I was hunting around Gangnam, some guys from the west came by promoting it. They said if you pass as a "useful talent," they'll let you enter Yeouido. For a second, I thought I was finally going to become a member of the National Assembly or something, haha.
– But is there really something over in Yeouido?
– Well... the zombie virus broke out, but it's not like the world completely ended...
– Wouldn't factions with military or police weapons live differently from us?
– Come to think of it, Yeouido is actually a great spot. It's basically an island, right?
Yeouido was once the setting for a game that claimed it would capture the essence of a zombie apocalypse.
If you block off the bridges, the only way in is by boat. Once you clear out the zombies inside, you won't have to see a single zombie in Yeouido. As long as you can set up self-sustaining infrastructure, it's an incredibly suitable piece of land for a base.
It even has the National Assembly Building.
– Anyone who thinks they're decent at fighting should head to Yeouido. Unless you're one of the chosen ones here, you're just going to end up living like a slave anyway, right?
– Fr, it might actually be better to just go to Yeouido.
– I heard the people over there are hardcore zombie apocalypse players, so they actually hate places like Paradise.
– They say people who rely on modes won't last long. Apparently, they've already secured their own electricity generation and water facilities over there?
Even if I wanted to ignore this, they were making such an obvious, obnoxious fuss that I couldn't help but notice.
And of all places, this was the Paradise Gallery.
It wasn't like they were using some anonymous internet system either.
(Kim Cheol-min Lv1. 1 Week)
(Lee Seong-su Lv1. 1 Week)
(Oh Woo-seok Lv1. 1 Week)
On the Paradise Gallery, when you write a post, it displays your level and the number of weeks you've maintained your membership like this.
There was a reason people called it a real-name gallery.
Although users had no way of knowing each other's locations, having your real name exposed was still an uncomfortable thing.
Besides that, the main benefit of this real-name system was that it made it easy to filter out trolls.
– What kind of bullshit is this?
– Is this an ad? Why have these Level 1 beggar bastards been acting so cocky on the gallery for the past few days?
– Lmao, if Yeouido is so great, why don't you guys go live there instead of paying expensive coins to come here and recommend it to others? Do you not meet the requirements to join?
– No, you idiots. They're coming to recruit because they already joined. Ever heard of multi-level marketing?
– But Paradise's electricity and water are powered by modes, so as long as you pay coins, there's no risk of them being cut off. If Yeouido relies on self-generation, doesn't that mean it could cut out at any time? (Genuinely asking)
Just because it was the Paradise Gallery didn't mean everyone praised and worshiped Paradise.
People like Oh Yoon-seop, who praised and believed in Paradise no matter what, were still in the minority.
Well, that was only natural.
If I had wanted to create a cult-like following, I wouldn't have sold food; I would have made everyone who believed in me a resident and given it to them for free.
Since I had no intention of becoming a cult leader breeding beggars to worship me, I built my faction in a way that allowed us to coexist. Because of that, public opinion on the Paradise Gallery wasn't actually all that great.
While some who enjoyed the benefits of Paradise viewed it positively, plenty of negative feedback was posted as well.
It only seemed sporadic because I had no intention of listening to them, but if I lurked on the forum all day, I could see quite a few posts complaining about Paradise.
And those were the people tearing down the ones promoting Yeouido.
– Even if Paradise isn't a literal paradise, honestly, is there any place in Korea right now that's better than here?
– They don't make you do any work, and they give you food and a house just for having talent? Then why are you guys here working as promotional part-timers? Is this not work?
Well, whatever the case, since these people had no guarantee they could live a better life outside of Paradise, they might have been blindly defending it because they felt their own way of life was being invalidated. Or perhaps, looking at it objectively, they simply weren't convinced because the posts failed to show how Yeouido was any better than Paradise.
Whatever the reason, the talk about Yeouido didn't cause that much of a stir in Paradise.
When I looked at the guys who wrote those posts, I could see them huddling together here and there inside the Safe Base.
Something smells fishy.
For now, I watched what they were up to.
For several days, they stayed inside the Safe Base, doing the exact same thing every day.
They would post at specific times and comment on each other's threads to manipulate public opinion.
Of course, there was no way that would work on a real-name site.
They were so busy circlejerking in the comments that anyone who read just a few posts could see right through them. What kind of idiot would fall for that?
– These bastards are definitely paid comment shills.
– Look at them having a blast commenting on their own posts, lmao.
– What even is Yeouido that they're coming all the way here to act up? Isn't Yeouido pretty far from here?
– They're trying to keep us in check. Seeing how they know about Paradise, their faction must be pretty big.
However, I knew that even such ridiculously obvious tricks could have an impact if left unchecked.
After all, the lower class living in Paradise—the lives of those who couldn't reach Level 3 were, just as the shills said, nothing more than a relentless struggle to survive without a single day of rest.
Because they had to feed themselves every day, they hunted zombies, ate, and then hunted more zombies for tomorrow's sake right up until they went to sleep.
If they had people to protect, they had to pay for electricity and water too.
They had to push themselves to hunt even more zombies, living a futureless life where it wouldn't be strange to die at any moment.
Lately, since the Blood Moon, there have been reports of people awakening their modes, so more people are holding out, but the probability of that happening is still not very high.
So, it was inevitable that these people would waver.
If they weren't fools, they would rationally understand the very obvious truth: if they couldn't climb the ranks in Paradise, they would end up living as the lower class in Yeouido just the same.
And yet, they couldn't help but harbor a vague delusion about the unknown, thinking, Still, wouldn't it be better than my life right now?
Though that remains to be seen.
If this faction is determined to weaken and crush Paradise by taking in even useless people, they'll at least pretend to accept them as bait.
But it didn't matter to me.
The reason I ran Paradise this way was because as long as the core members didn't leave, it didn't really matter how many Level 1 and Level 2 members I lost.
Was there any mode in this world better than Cheat Mode?
I didn't deny that I relied on modes.
I, too, enjoyed using modes when playing zombie apocalypse games, but I never considered fighting with the support of those modes to be true skill.
For example, I never thought of it as real skill when someone cleared a demonic lair without dying among hordes of zombies just because they shot well with the help of an auto-aim mode.
I had never used such direct combat modes myself, but in the eyes of others, Cheat Mode was certainly a mode that lowered the difficulty to that extent.
Anyway, if they opposed Paradise for that reason, I wouldn't get angry at them.
Because whether they were here or not, my Paradise wouldn't change.
If they insisted that surviving through realistic means in reality—not a game—was the right way, I had no choice but to respect their preference.
However, while some of the people being lured away like this might be useless, there could also be people who were absolutely necessary for Paradise.
The Blood Moon awakening.
This was a system I created to ultimately increase the talent in my Paradise and absorb more modes that would allow me to live comfortably. If they poached people, it would lower my chances of acquiring good skills through them.
Now, that I couldn't forgive.
I didn't plan on doing anything about it immediately.
This smelled like something big.
Maybe it was related to the group that got treated and fled a few days ago? Though I don't know if "fled" is the right word.
My personal intuition told me they might be connected to the group that had generously donated 15,000 coins, canceled their membership, and left.
Even though there was a high chance that wasn't the case.
If the Yeouido faction really had 2,000 people as they claimed... even half of that would mean they were already a massive, medium-sized faction.
I felt like a clue was finally unraveling.
The memory of that three-man S.A.A.-grade party was still fresh in my mind. I had been at a loss as to where to find a clue, but now I felt like I was on the verge of solving it.
And even if it didn't lead anywhere, it didn't matter.
Even if they weren't the exact same people with S.A.A.-grade modes, if a medium-sized faction had truly been established in Yeouido with the technology to run their own power generation and water facilities, then even greater ability users would probably be crawling all over the place there.
[Safe Base-Exclusive Quest 2-1]
– A faction seeking to slander the Safe Base "Paradise" has appeared. This faction is estimated to be at least a "Medium" faction, and their location is known to be Yeouido. Investigate those who oppose Paradise and claim it is an illusion.
– Reward: 5 Points, Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket x10, Safe Base-Exclusive Effect Selection Ticket x1
[This quest will merge with Faction Quest 8. Upon clearing Quest 2-1, you will receive double the rewards.]
I smell it. I definitely smell it.
The sweet smell of a massive jackpot.