Chapter 95
Chapter 95
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: 51. Proof (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A while back, when the Defender siblings helped out with the construction work, we didn't chat much, but in the spare moments, we'd talked about our pasts or tastes here and there.
I'd known she was well-versed in internet culture, but actually conversing with her revealed depths I couldn't even touch.
"I've been on communities since elementary school."
"A promising sprout from the start."
That time was what you'd call Defender's hiatus.
After clashing with that powerhouse Justice Min, he barely posted anything—let alone proofs.
"It's nice not having to do proofs these days."
I meant it.
Fewer proofs meant fewer people crossing paths with Defender.
"Proofs are best left alone."
Da-jeong let out a sigh, a wry smile tugging at her lips.
The way she slumped, gazing into the distance and slowly shaking her head, made her look like a battle-hardened veteran for a fleeting moment.
"...The kids who post proofs on the board? They don't last long before vanishing."
"Really? Their proofs weren't up to snuff?"
"Nah, that's not it. Back on the old site, there were even rich kids straight out of the movies."
"Then why do they disappear?"
"Beats me. They just... poof. Maybe they hit their wise-up phase?"
"Hmm."
"Or maybe it's 'cause they're different. You know masked balls?"
"Of course."
"Everyone's chatting behind masks, and you're the only one bare-faced? Kinda awkward, right?"
Defender's little sister shot me a cheeky grin.
I didn't fully get it, but I had a sense now of why those who posted proofs vanished.
Yet here was the counterexample, right in front of me.
"Still, you two posted a ton and stuck around a good while."
She burst out laughing at that.
"Proofs aren't all the same. There's heavy proof and light proof. Ours was the light stuff."
I hadn't grasped what she meant back then.
But now I did.
What "heavy proof" really was.
In the photo, a man dangled upside down, blood dripping steadily, soaking the chair seat beneath him in crimson.
"...".
The moment I saw it, a chill froze my blood for the first time in ages, paired with a familiar revulsion.
That disgust was probably no different from what I'd felt upon first meeting the Defender siblings in person.
What Defender was doing now was a faded echo of scenes I'd witnessed countless times in China.
Unable to quell the rebels with regular troops alone, China deployed guerrilla specialist units.
Less soldiers than butchers, they loved capturing one or two alive as hostages, using them to lure out the rest for total annihilation.
Letting the hostage bleed out untreated was one of their favorite tricks.
A forced dilemma, you could say.
Don't come save them, the hostage dies. Come save them, and the rest all die.
That same tactic, not in China but Korea, wielded by my internet friend.
The video Defender uploaded showed the upside-down man sobbing like a child, begging piteously to be spared. The audio captured it all too vividly.
The low quality wasn't an issue.
If anything, combined with the room's shadows, it doubled the eerie vibe.
"...".
I had nothing much to say about this situation.
This was Defender's fight.
One he'd chosen himself.
But why?
Why did his methods provoke such intense backlash in me?
Was it because this was the "heavy proof" Da-jeong had mentioned?
Or some other reason?
The frustration I couldn't articulate clearly was spelled out by another board user.
Dies_Irae69.
The man you'd call the leader of collective survivalism had instantly voiced the unease I couldn't put into words.
Exactly.
Defender was using our board.
He'd dragged his war into our hard-earned sanctuary, the vital spark that lubricated our lives.
Defender probably knew everything about his enemies by now.
Justice Min's base, their patterns, habits—all collected to set a trap for that one chance to drive them to death.
And he'd chosen our board as the bait to lure them in.
I recalled the message from Justice Min that Defender had shown before.
Even from text alone, you could tell he loved showing off.
What had gotten him so fired up to hunt Defender?
Defender's little sister had her own take on Justice Min's antics.
"He belongs to a community. Feels that bond."
"Bond?"
"Yeah. He's from Daepailnet, struts around there like big shit. Couldn't stand a pathetic coward hideout like our board."
All I knew about Justice Min was that he was a raider who'd formed a group.
Among the people he'd killed, at least one—probably more—had been our board users.
Given how he'd snatched satellite gear, that is.
Even so, it didn't excuse Defender's methods.
Despite Dies_Irae69's jab, he uploaded a second video.
Filmed in the same spot, it showed the upside-down man thrashing like a speared fish, pleading desperately for his life.
"Save me, please, ughhhh, bro! Bro! Please save me, please......"
The end showed a merciless bat smashing into his face.
Dies_Irae69 had nailed it.
Defender was trying to draw out Justice Min.
Forcing a situation where he had to move.
If Justice Min still didn't budge, even crueler footage would follow.
"...".
Today, I'd planned to use the communicator only if the Defender siblings were in real danger.
Not anymore.
Now I needed to reach out.
Stop this.
Whether he butchered Justice Min or ground him into mince, that was offline business.
Our board's ultimate taboo.
That much was clear now.
Dragging "realities we don't want to see" onto the "board."
The board's mood was icy.
No one liked it; some showed outright resentment.
Though Defender wasn't the type to blink at that.
I didn't even play the third video.
No doubt more torture, threats, pleas for mercy.
Pointless to watch.
It'd just ramp up my antipathy toward Defender.
And sure enough.
One user finally stepped up.
Dies_Irae69 again.
He wasn't a named, per se.
But at some point, every user knew him; no one dared dismiss him lightly.
Even after Defender went radio silent for ages, he'd kept signaling he was a mainstay pillar of our board.
His pitch in the IAmGesus turf war—holding his own against fierce rivals with earnest strengths—was still fresh in my mind.
Now he had issued a warning.
I knew he wasn't one for empty threats.
And that he had a killer's heart.
Defender, who rarely reacted to others, responded to Dies_Irae69.
He must've sensed it too.
That Dies_Irae69 was no pushover.
Dies_Irae69 fired back instantly.
Defender didn't reply.
The instant I read that, tension gripped me hard.
Because I knew Dies_Irae69's true nature.
I'd seen it firsthand.
They call them yellow sprouts, but the way he slaughtered kids without a shred of mercy—not even content with that, turning their deaths into propaganda fodder—that was adulthood.
Not some overgrown kid, not a model citizen, but the cold, pitiless adult navigating society.
He wouldn't hassle Defender without reason.
He was using him as a "stepping stone" to chase some grander goal.
The moment that clicked, my choice was simple.
"Defender."
I flipped on the communicator right away.
"Answer."
Tat-tat-tat-tang!
Gunfire crackled over the line.
"Da-jeong on the keyboard?"
"?!"
A startled gasp came through.
"Don't respond to Dies_Irae69."
First time speaking to her this sharply since our first meeting.
"SKELTON..."
Her voice sounded subdued.
"Can't you tell what kind of guy he is?"
"What kind?"
Even cowed, Da-jeong slipped in subtle protest.
"You could die."
"That fucker kills us?"
"Yeah. Dead."
"SKELTON."
"So don't. No fighting. Don't play his game."
Bang!
A single shot rang out over the comm.
Then ragged breaths, Defender's voice winding down.
"Done. All dead."
"Good work."
"But SKELTON. What was that? Even as a friend, that's hard to let slide."
"Just what you heard."
"SKELTON."
Edge in his tone.
"You serious?"
He was pissed at me.
"Yeah. Don't."
But I wasn't the only one with bite in my voice.
This was a warning.
"Told you not to."
"...".
Hostile silence seeped through.
I waited quietly.
For my internet friend's reply.
Moments later, a resigned sigh drifted over.
"...Got it."
"Smart call."
It really was.
Defender probably thought he'd slain his arch-nemesis Justice Min, clearing a fateful hurdle.
Fate's blades don't come solo.
Sometimes in pairs, sometimes unavoidable barrages.
By my gauge, Dies_Irae69 was the far deadlier edge than Justice Min.
"...Gonna proof it?"
I asked softly, hoping they'd get where I was coming from.
After a beat, Da-jeong's sigh came through the comm.
"This proof."
Her fading, lonely chuckle followed.
"Heavy one, huh?"
She was an internet master.
She knew the fate of her and her brother's alter ego.
"Defender."
*
Someone's downfall always fires people up.
Especially if they were high up.
The once-synonym for terror, our board's most dangerous and strongest named user, was plummeting amid jeers and mockery.
In a way, it was inevitable.
He'd risen on shock proofs, but now that shocks were routine, he couldn't shock anymore.
"Rise by proof, fall by proof."
Defender's little sister's words.
"Looking back, Dies_Irae69 might've been right."
The siblings—Defender and his sister—were here in our bunker.
I'd invited them.
Call it thanks for their monumental patience.
I pulled out some prime Korean beef I'd stashed deep in the freezer and served it up.
"...Tasty."
Defender chewed blankly, staring off into the distance, face expressionless.
He looked drained.
Couldn't be helped.
The fight of his life, and all he got back was board ridicule.
Per his sister, no Defender activity for the foreseeable future.
The board named "Defender" was fading into history's back pages.
"Gotta leave the board entirely?"
His sister sighed, taking a seat.
Innumerable stars twinkled overhead.
An unexpected gift from the apocalypse, you could say.
She fired up the notepad app on her tablet and showed it to me.
Internet master's take, so it rang true.
Still, there was one escape: kill the instigator Dies_Irae69 and proof it.
But that wasn't happening anytime soon.
"Why ditch the board?"
She asked curtly.
"Said you're dropping the Defender account?"
"We got a sub-account."
"This?"
"Just tweak the nick and roll. Influx of newbies lately anyway?"
Internet master indeed.
Unorthodox ideas.
Unlike his still-feeble bro.
Made sense.
Pride stung.
He blurted at me suddenly.
"...That dangerous, huh? Dies_Irae69?"
Still felt hard done by.
"Dangerous, yeah. Ambitious. Sharp mind. Cruel. But listen."
I glanced at the countless twinkling stars overhead.
Stars often symbolize souls of the dead.
So many shining in this doomed age? Probably that many lives lost.
"I don't think that guy's long for this world."
"Why?"
The siblings asked in unison.
"Doesn't hide his house."
We'll all become stars someday.
But at least we'll twinkle later than them.