Chapter 202
Chapter 202
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 202
Chapter Title: 90. Foxgame (6)
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"Hello! Lone survivor of the world! Fellow doomsayer!"
Melon Mask made a long-awaited appearance.
He'd put on so much weight since his debut that he evoked memories of his pre-war plumpness. With his signature bright, cheerful, and smug smile plastered across half the monitor, he was back in full force.
"Seriously! I totally underestimated this country called Korea. Who would've thought a tiny nation torn apart by civil war would be brimming with so much talent? Man, oh man. This is huge. For real."
Melon Mask snapped his fingers, and a screen popped up. Suddenly, flashy graphics and meticulously designed characters sprang to life, staging an epic war right then and there.
I knew this screen well.
It was the very game that man from Foxgame's bunker had shown me.
"Friends! Our great pals from the Korean boards have struck again! Can you believe it? A game like this popping up when war's broken out and the world's on the brink of apocalypse?!"
As Melon Mask's excited voice rang out, the game's title appeared atop the screen with dazzling effects.
The Saga. Old Norse for "story," I recalled.
It was a word used in countless game titles already, but Foxgame boldly made it his own.
Not that anyone in this world would sue over copyright infringement anyway.
"I get it. Everyone's worried about their computer's specs. Some of you are hooked up to tablets running Viva! Apocalypse! So, after chatting with the brilliant devs at Foxgame, we've decided to serve Saga as a cloud game using our main servers!"
Cloud gaming runs the game on servers instead of your local machine, letting players enjoy top-tier titles without needing high-end hardware.
In this day and age, it was the perfect way to play AAA games.
Of course, the chat exploded with frenzy.
...
...
Melon Mask glanced at Bumpi beside him and grinned.
Bumpi just kept chomping on romaine lettuce with those grotesque front paws.
I wondered every time if the thing had any intelligence, but right now, Melon Mask's words were what mattered.
"We're kicking off beta testing today! I'd love to take everyone, but our capacity's limited. Apply via VIVA_BOT999 account. We'll select 100 of you carefully by lottery for beta access!"
With a benevolent smile, he unleashed a torrent of words, then suddenly furrowed his brow, glaring at us like a scolding parent.
"And you Korean cheapskates! Failnet buddies! You don't really qualify, but Foxgame specially begged for you. 'Give them a shot!' So we've set up a temp account window. Make one there and apply for beta!"
The chat wouldn't stop.
Compared to the first Live! Apocalypse! stream, maybe 30% of users had died, but the refresh rate rivaled the glory days.
People were that hyped for Foxgame's game.
"......"
But what was this?
This uneasy feeling.
I sighed and stared at the ceiling.
They'd figure it out eventually.
The shady backstory tied to this game.
Maybe I'd seen Foxgame's true colors and been disappointed.
But what truly weighed on my chest was Dies Irae.
Even after he took down the mutation and convinced that family, there was a bit more to the aftermath.
"SKELTON. Let me ask again: won't you join our community?"
Just as I'd recognized Dies Irae, he'd seen my worth too.
He was persistent in his pursuit.
"We're at 50 strong now. Started as a ragtag raider group, but by weeding out the weak and building elites, we've become a solid outfit. Got the bare minimum firepower to handle most threats. Now we're looking to expand a bit. Saving that family? Part of it. We need real families. All-male groups are tougher and sharper, but they don't last. That very toughness can make them snap."
Then it hit me.
This guy, Dies Irae—he was a guru of collective survivalism.
Like Confucian scholars debating under Noron or Soron banners, he had his ironclad philosophy on group survival, and he was preaching it to me.
"With the Legion faction gone, the pressure's off. People numbers are down—unfortunate or lucky, who knows. Should be safe for a while. Time to grow the community comfortably and boost quality of life. You wouldn't suffer much if you joined, SKELTON."
I hadn't lied to Dies Irae, and he wouldn't lie to me.
His community's progress sounded legit.
But if he was collective survivalism's champion, I was individualism's defender.
"......Thanks for the offer, but I prefer solo. Got plenty of food, fuel. Hate to say it, but Legion ties too. Solo's riskier, sure, but staying under the radar's still best, I think."
Dies Irae's expression shifted.
More like the atmosphere chilled.
His face smiled, but a bone-chilling cold emanated.
"......Solo life's nice, I guess."
He spoke in a changed tone.
"But you can't live alone forever."
"......Same for you guys, no?"
"Yeah. Us too. We'll all die out eventually."
Dies Irae turned away.
"Change of topic. Ever been beyond the rift?"
"Beyond the rift?"
"......I've been there."
A lie, probably.
Beyond the rift was hunter and National Crisis Committee territory.
A non-hunter ex-soldier like him couldn't go.
No qualifications.
But then.
"......I saw it there."
Raw terror flickered in Dies Irae's emotionless eyes.
His hand trembled awkwardly, half-open.
"......Something controlling monsters."
"?"
"Telekinesis too—froze people solid. Size? Probably a large-type."
"......"
No way.
General type?
Unbelievable.
General types were top-secret.
Only a handful of Awakened hunter elites knew.
Not info for a soldier like Dies Irae.
Yet.
"......It saw me. Bound me mid-air, stared endlessly with those hollow, glossy huge eyes. The moment I met them, I knew: no chance for humans against horrors like that."
Truth in his words.
The undeniable truth only nightmare survivors share.
"You... a hunter...?"
My voice trembled uncharacteristically.
"......Army once tried making their own hunters."
Dies Irae gave a pale smile my way.
"I was the sole survivor."
He walked to the truck.
"That day, I saw the truth. Humans can't beat monsters."
His voice lingered with fear's echo, yet brimmed with conviction.
"But."
He turned back.
"We can survive."
He flicked his eyes—pupils straining—to spot a field mouse darting into the brush.
"Like that sewer rat."
I recoiled hard at the words, but Dies Irae pressed on.
"......If we give up ruling this planet."
The truck carrying Dies Irae and the family slid toward the sunset.
I stood there long, watching it fade.
"......"
Dies Irae.
Now I got his idea of survival.
Mere persistence of the species. Pathetic existence.
That's why he could be so ruthless.
Half resentment, half empathy—I lingered in the dusk quite a while.
A message arrived.
Beta test acceptance, with a direct connect link.
I logged in briefly.
Didn't know much, but it felt polished.
Worlds apart from Monster Park's text mud.
But no urge to play.
Not my type of game anyway.
Staring at the menu to quit, "Credits" caught my eye.
Staff roll.
I clicked.
Grand, familiar music swelled as names scrolled like a movie's.
"......"
No other names.
Just Foxgame.
Well, one exception.
Strip that sycophantic line, and it was solo all the way.
He made it alone.
Or so this credit roll blared with pompous music—a distorted truth.
Those who worked with him would see this someday?
One sure thing: Foxgame got rave reviews on Failnet's ex-game-dev board, where he posted often.
...
...
I wouldn't know.
What meaning lay in such pointless praise from strangers.
Foxgame messaged me right after I got the shiny armband icon from Viva Bot.
Surprisingly, the armband icon let me assign a custom file or toggle it like an item.
As I prepped to show off my new bling, the message hit.
"......"
My eye twitched.
Foxgame's nick had an icon.
Identical to The Saga executable.
He'd snagged one too, huh.
Made sense—Melon Mask valued him more than me.
Didn't wanna reply honestly, but old ties prompted a response.
The wife urging her husband to off Foxgame? Seemed true.
I'd witnessed it firsthand.
Super account, huh.
Got one before.
Could end the chat here.
Mature thing, even with lingering feelings.
But I didn't want to.
That line made me chuckle involuntarily.
Tap tap.
That silenced Foxgame for a solid 4 minutes 12 seconds.
Then the reply.
The exchange ended in a block.
I didn't block him.
To watch.
Meanwhile, I unblocked one recently.
I wouldn't know.
If Foxgame was my antithesis or not.
Our paths and beliefs diverged too much for that.
One thing certain:
Foxgame. Still seen as a good guy online.
"......"
I disabled the armband icon function.