Chapter 302
Chapter 302
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 302
Chapter Title: 120. The Creator's Melancholy (2)
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It's fall.
The sunlight is still scorching hot enough to overwhelm you, and the heat rising from the asphalt is plenty to soak your entire body in sweat, but you can sense autumn in the humidity of the air against your skin and the somehow subdued freshness of the greenery.
Right now, we're at the US military base.
"This thing keeps tilting to the left, doesn't it? The controls feel weird."
"...Huh, that's really odd. What's the problem? The center of gravity and balance are both level."
On the runway, Hong Da-jung and Ha Tae-hoon are testing the new drone.
The drone under test this time is a knockoff of a Chinese recon drone, stacked with two wings like a biplane.
With a 3-meter wingspan and weighing 25kg, no wonder they're testing it on the runway.
Parts supply isn't smooth, so they scavenged components from all over the place.
Main board from a Japanese game console, camera from the latest domestic smartphone, frame and battery from China, propellers and comms gear from American and European equipment.
It's a true multinational chimera—this new drone "Jjuguni" was created as part of the recent board's Melon Mask cheering project.
According to Hong Da-jung, the proposer and producer of Jjuguni, they plan to film the most famous apartment in news-cutoff Seoul: The Hope.
Of course, the drone's real purpose is to confirm the survival of our board's beloved side character, m9.
His survival check is simple.
"I bet that apartment's collapsed."
Apartment collapsed? Dead.
Apartment intact? Presumed alive.
If presumed alive, try comms via the drone's separate wireless transmitter.
That said, the "comms device" is just a K-walkie-talkie, so nothing beyond voice chat.
Meanwhile, the condition of our world's creator, Melon Mask, is growing dire.
He dropped an announcement that he'll board a rocket back to Earth this coming Sunday.
The reason for Melon Mask's surprise announcement spread underground among users, and now everyone knows.
Each language board has "signature users" like me, and one passed on what they heard from a board admin to regular users.
Anyway, it's obvious that if Melon dies in space, our board fun ends, so any user with spare time is trying to cheer him up somehow.
For instance, Pirate_Lord surviving on a South Pacific uninhabited island drew a massive picture on the exotic white sands reminiscent of Nazca lines, filmed it with a drone, and uploaded to the board.
Pirate_Lord's post got big cheers on the North American board, but suspicious users soon noted his original nick was I'm_on_a_Boat, and his face and even race differed from the past user with the same name, raising doubts he killed the original and looted the satellite gear.
Pirate_Lord deleted the post and vanished, leaving the board not with hope, but bigger doubts and gloom.
The dark side of apocalypse life seeped into a thread meant to cheer Melon.
Despite such mishaps, most Viva! Apocalypse! users solidly support Melon Mask.
American users made Roman-style plaster busts of Melon Mask, Japanese folded a thousand paper cranes, a Scottish user crafted an SD felt doll of Melon from sheep wool, a Mexican woman even tattooed Melon Mask on her arm for proof.
A Korean user tried sending a heartfelt beatbox cheer message, but it fell through midway.
Anyway, the rare hot atmosphere revived Viva! Apocalypse! with post-war buzz, but the star Melon Mask showed no reaction to the cheers.
Naturally, the pinned "Live! Apocalypse! Melon's Cosmic Show!" stayed put.
English board users unanimously called Melon's stunt suicide.
Regrettable, but nothing I can do in this phase.
I hoped VivaBot would pull off another epic show like the Twelvesquare days, but that's no easy feat.
A few monsters around, but they're all fortified types.
Means even solo it's tough.
Even dragging comrades, losing one voids the point.
"SKELTON!"
Hong Da-jung contacted again the day before Melon Mask's Earth return show.
Defender siblings and Ha Tae-hoon gathered.
Nothing major, but it reveals our group's minor rift.
Defender siblings, especially Hong Da-jung, clash hard with Bang Jae-hyeok and his mom over the wall.
Defender naturally hates Bang Jae-hyeok too.
Cheon Young-jae, Defender's cohort, has special affection for Bang Jae-hyeok and his mom from shared Incheon hardships, so sides with them.
Ha Tae-hoon, my senior by a term, stays neutral.
He keeps decent ties with both Bang mom-son and Defenders, but his personality won't tilt either way.
He helped Hong Da-jung purely 'cause it's drone-related, his interest.
"Alright, firing it up."
The biplane-like drone stood vertical, props spinning furiously.
"Whoa, it's lifting. Up she goes!"
The drone took off.
True to mid-range, Hong Da-jung maneuvered it via controller linked to a dish antenna.
The mid-size drone, silver below and black above, droned heavily into the clouds.
"Takes about 3 hours. Slower than it looks."
Her screen showed live ground and forward views side-by-side.
Downward view had better quality.
"You and bro go out a lot, right? Wanted to help with something like this."
Per her, new drone Jjuguni boasts 12+ hour air time, excellent fuel efficiency for ops across Seoul region to northern Gyeongbuk edge.
Perfect for long-range eyes.
We won't need long-range often, but drone support would help external ops greatly.
Paired with Cheon Young-jae's detection, ambushes basically impossible.
Still, minimize outings best.
If each trip has even 1% death risk, fewer trips mean longer life.
While drone headed to Seoul, we grabbed a quick meal and returned to the bunker.
Da-jung shared the drone feed via her router.
I left it on while messing around.
"...".
Tap tap
Boosting presence on the Red Archive board right away.
Past SKELTON got attention with cute emotes, but my second persona NoPayNewbie pivoted to "gags."
Sadly, few react to my gags due to gen gap, but lately I gained one fan.
Just this one.
Only one reaction ever.
"lol".
Not even a full letter, just a jamo, but same response to every gag means hooked on my charm.
Better this way.
SKELTON going full cutie pie fast breeds jealous haters.
While farming influence on Red Archive, Hong Da-jung pinged again.
"SKELTON. Watching the feed?"
"Nah. Meditating briefly."
"Check it quick."
I looked.
Sure enough, barren cityscape and the familiar leaning apartment.
"Hm?"
No big visible difference.
Top-down view maybe.
At least not collapsed.
"Dropping low."
"Monsters nearby?"
"Doesn't seem so. But let's try~."
Drone descended, switching to frontal view of The Hope.
"How's it look?"
Da-jung asked.
"Hm."
No good news.
Inevitable—that building's riddled with massive cracks now beyond counting.
Even pre-fall Seoul bet on when it'd drop, now it's truly on borrowed time.
Won't last the year.
m9 probably bailed.
Even him wouldn't call that livable.
Follow-up gunshots hinted at m9's current status.
Surprisingly, people lived in Seoul.
Lots of them.
Post-Kim Byung-chul collapse, thought everyone fled, but groups thriving.
Bang! Bang!
The shots toward us seemed less threat, more survival yell.
Hong Da-jung posted under Defender using the footage.
Defender's post—now more nostalgia than washed-up—drew fire reactions.
Vivid drone shots, Da-jung's witty edits and snappy lines nailed board tastes.
Especially, hordes surviving in Seoul rivaled The Hope buzz.
But her post ends grim.
Defender's post hit popular, drawing hordes of overseas users.
...
...
Foreign visits were basically condolences.
Condolences lasted through night to dawn.
Over 700 comments.
Huge number these days.
Fitting tribute, really.
Love him or hate, m9 steadfast in that leaning apt was a Viva! Apocalypse! star.
His death hit hard for users sharing the timeline.
D-day.
Live! Apocalypse! seems on schedule.
No announcements from Melon Mask till live day.
"Did I say too much straight?"
Hong Da-jung wryly muttered, but her face showed no sibling guilt.
My bunker hosted several.
All except off-site Cheon Young-jae gathered.
To watch Live! Apocalypse!
Defender's scavenged projector flickered but decent image.
"Damn, solid tech. This Viva! Apocalypse!?"
Ha Tae-hoon eyed it greedily.
I have spare sat gear, but not sharing yet.
Board's crashing anyway.
Worst, Melon fireworks in space? Board done.
Amid buzz, star Melon Mask appeared gaunt.
Far behind, partner Bumpy dumbly chewed grass as always.
Melon Mask said glumly.
"Hey everyone...?"
His face tells.
Hell and reality ping-ponged for days.
Result?
"...As announced, today's my return to Earth."
As seen.
Chat scrolled fast.
Thousands of multilingual msgs, soon Korean-translated, all one wish.
Stay in space.
Melon's eyes flicked.
Saw the msgs.
Hoped for tiny miracle, but he looked away.
"Sorry. Can't help it. People have fates, right? No escaping. Me, Bumpy, you all."
Message storm again.
Melon's coldness unyielding.
His hollow eyes fixed on us.
"Know m9? The guy in the leaner-than-Pisa place. He died too, right?"
m9 the trigger after all.
Not the problem, but he checked the post yesterday.
So he could blurt freely.
Anyway, crisis grave.
Planned to watch, but signature user ignoring creator's death? Neglect.
Messaged VivaBot instantly.
SKELTON: Upload my beatbox vid NOW! Plz?!!
No reply.
Inevitable—Melon stood.
Leaving monitor.
Heading to high-death-prob rocket, ignoring us.
Everyone screamed no! but Melon ignored.
Like convict turning pre-gallows, Melon glanced back at screen.
"?"
Melon cocked head.
What?
Saw something?
Zeroed on Melon's face, I late-switched to chat.
"...Huh?"
Miracle.
...
...
m9.
Outpacing my 10/sec spam skill, m9 flooded the global chat.
"m9...?"
Melon Mask staggered back, sat at desk.
Next instant, board froze.
Thousands of users synced silence.
Awaiting one user.
In sacred quiet, another star spoke.
m9 followed with a link.
His self-shot: thumbs-up inside the perilously cracked, leaning apartment.
"m9."
Our creator smiled.
...If story ended here, perfect heartwarming apocalypse close.
But Melon Mask brooks no middle.
New pic in board top-right corner.
Photo: Melon Mask grinning chummy with killer sloth Bumpy, now plus one.
Thumbs-up m9.
Even weird mark tacked to his nick.
Sparkly, eye-catching, unique.
"...".
It bugs me.