Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: 66. Monster Park (3)
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Is it fun to do alone? Does it become fun just because you're doing it with a bunch of people?
Me and Anonymous1523.
Neither of us found any fun in the game, and we played for reasons having nothing to do with it.
The sole reason I hung out with Anonymous1523 was to get his information.
"......"
But this game... it's not easy...
Icarus was Anonymous1523's in-game nickname.
He'd started the game because he wanted to get close to people, but maybe because he was young, he seemed to actually enjoy it—unlike me, with my rigid old brain.
We played together like that for about three days.
We didn't really get close.
He just quietly played the game, and I stayed by his side supporting him—that was it.
We almost never talked about personal stuff.
Even when I tried to set a mood, he'd bail to meet up with that sex friend of his.
Then one day.
I woke up, washed my face, turned on the computer, and there were dozens of messages waiting.
Suddenly, Anonymous1523 was looking for me.
What the hell could it be?
Recalling Woo Minhee's chilling words, I replied.
From what I knew, a single refugee camp held anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 people.
Moving one entire camp to Seoul was no different from saying they were going to kill everyone inside.
"......Typical Yang Sanggil."
He'd been chased to Incheon because things went south, but that's all he knew how to do.
Disposing of a bunch of strangers I didn't know, under my responsibility.
That was Yang Sanggil's way of life—the way a man who couldn't do anything but shirk responsibility managed to survive.
But why had Anonymous1523 told me this?
Because he hated people dying?
Out of some burning sense of justice?
Neither.
What he wanted from me was something entirely different.
In the end, what that kid wanted was connection.
More precisely, a connection where he could look down on others just a little from above—a hierarchical one.
He'd sensed that the info he'd gotten could give him that chance, but not knowing what to do with it, he'd sent me over 30 messages.
The board right now? No way we could do anything there.
Even if we posted, with Failnet piling on, it'd get buried in the endless scroll of game posts.
We could spam it ourselves, but it wouldn't be easy.
My spamming skills were machine-level fast and precise, but a weakling like Anonymous1523 didn't have the stamina or persistence to keep up.
Spamming was a last resort anyway. There was one thing worth trying first.
The place with the most people right now.
Announce it in Monster Park.
Luckily, I had an online connection with its founder, Foxgames.
A bit later, Foxgames replied.
I told Foxgames about the ugly plan Yang Sanggil had shared with Anonymous1523.
Of course, Foxgames didn't believe us right away.
I'd rolled the dice, but Foxgames set the rules.
While waiting for his reply, I chatted with Anonymous1523.
Just as we were plotting to commit the crime of board spamming, Foxgames messaged back.
The moment I saw that message, I instinctively threw up a fist toward the monitor.
This guy's a good dude.
Smiling faintly, I tapped at the keyboard.
I should thank the heavens that Foxgames was a decent guy.
Foxgames posted an admin notice on Monster Park.
It read as follows.
"Ha."
I couldn't help but smile when I saw the notice.
Roasting me right out the gate?
Why leave out Anonymous1523?
Well, considering his rep, it made sense not to include him... but pinning it all on this Skeleton...
Not bad, though.
Even if I got roasted for it, if it saved the people Yang Sanggil wanted dead, wouldn't that bring some good karma?
Maybe it'd even come back as an Awakening ability.
Anyway, this world still had a voice, and it mattered.
That noon, refugees clashed with soldiers at a camp.
Troops had shown up out of nowhere with trucks and armored vehicles to haul away civilians, but organized resistance stalled them. Word spread to other camps, and angry mobs swarmed in, foiling the military's "relocation plan."
In the midst of cheers, screams, and gunfire at the chaotic site, a hastily made "Comeback Home - Seoul" banner lay torn like a rag, they say.
I hadn't wanted it, but I'd become a hero.
This Skeleton, who got no respect despite being a board regular, had saved 15,000 lives.
But the real credit belonged to someone else.
Anonymous1523.
To the greenhorn young master who fumbled everything.
But he didn't become the hero.
The board's mood flipped after the refugee camp relocation attempt.
Like a leopard changing its spots, the game-talk haven reignited with heated political debates.
The Reporter's new scoop poured oil on the already furious public sentiment.
According to the Reporter, Anonymous1523—Yang Sanggil's son—was named Yang Hyunsu.
Yang Hyunsu was 20.
Not an Awakener, despite faking it for fraudulent admission to a new school.
No one knew what his school life was like.
After graduating, he came to Incheon with his father, losing his second hometown, pride, friends, and sense of belonging—but gaining petty tyrant's power instead.
Night after night, escorted by soldiers, he wandered the streets and one day spotted a girl who looked just like one he used to like.
In a world of dire poverty, promises of foreign cars, fine food, and comfort would easily sway her desperate heart.
But she was a "substitute" from the start.
Her face matched, but inside, she was all wrong.
Differences led to fights, and fights led to murder.
Yang Sanggil, whose rep had already tanked from the camp raid fiasco, apparently couldn't stop his son's crimes from spreading.
The father-son duo's atrocities spread like wildfire through the crumbling city.
On a chaotic day filled with chants to kill Yang Sanggil, Yang Hyunsu was on the board.
When his father had power, so did he.
Not anymore.
Everyone was cursing him.
The shift was so stark it was hard to believe the days when cursing him alone made you a hero.
In that brutal frost, Anonymous1523 acted like a wounded beast.
I could've just watched.
His downfall had been set since getting chased from Jeju anyway.
But for a brief moment, we'd shared time.
Scum though he was, he wasn't all bad.
Without him, 15,000 would have vanished quietly to Seoul, and his father wouldn't have fallen so fast.
As a board veteran, I gave him some advice.
I wasn't big on "yeah," but I used it to make him feel a connection.
The reply came quick.
"......"
That was our last exchange online.
Screeech—
A truck pulled up to the golf course.
Out stepped an elderly man and woman, followed by a young man and woman, one by one.
The old woman burst into tears and collapsed at the sight of the desolate golf course.
"Senior, take care."
I switched off the radio and approached them.
Terror-filled eyes turned my way.
I looked at the young man's face.
My guess was right.
The boy in the corner of the photo had grown, his face ravaged by vice and scruffy beard, staring up at me in fear.
"......Excuse me."
He called desperately, but I didn't answer.
Back at the bunker, I checked the board.
What wind had blown this way?
I logged into Monster Park.
I revisited my old hunting grounds.
"Hm?"
Something was different.
"Icarus?"
Icarus was Anonymous1523's game nickname.
He'd quit the game long ago, and death loomed soon—why leave a grave behind?
I asked Foxgames.
"......"
I know Icarus is still alive.
I also know he'll die soon.