“······.”

Clack clack clack

A lot happened before I could reinstall the internet.

Satellite device failure, Kim Daram’s constant nagging and berating, a small scavenger group encroaching on our turf, a flurry of curses and yelling—but no gunfire, no blood. A textbook example of how to fight in the apocalypse.

I tracked down the issue using nothing but scraps of knowledge, gambled everything, and won.

All that was before I, Skelton, finally re-entered the message board.

One more piece of major news: the faction that currently controls the new Seoul city has been identified.

The Skull Brigade.

Defender’s private army—the same one that attempted a coup.

But Defender himself is missing, and no one knows who’s currently leading them.

The South Korean military, which should be stopping the Skull Brigade, has seemingly vanished. Though there’s talk on the public frequencies about the military gathering in Incheon.

No one knows for sure, but word is they’re commandeering and repairing ships at the docks.

Rumor has it they’re headed for Jeju.

With the government fully collapsed, there’s no one left to stop them.

The navy would be the biggest threat, but considering how much more dangerous the Japanese refugees are right now, maybe locals prefer to accept armed Korean soldiers instead.

Anyway, on this crisp autumn morning with its wild temperature swings, I finally reconnected to Viva! Apocalypse!

Naturally, I was inside the bunker.

Installing the satellite internet was a pain in the ass.

Unlike my own bunker, this one is deeper inside and reinforced with concrete twice as thick, so the signal wouldn’t reach. I had to crawl inside the ventilation shaft and install the satellite close to the surface.

Now all that’s left is to hit enter.

A deep breath. Fingers on the keyboard.

Click—

The laptop sluggishly came to life.

I could rant forever about switching laptops, especially the pain of redoing all my settings and reauthenticating everything, but I’ll spare you.

A miracle unfolded before my eyes.

[ Welcome to Viva! Apocalypse! ]

“······.”

How long has it been?

As soon as the familiar interface of the board popped up, I felt reborn. Mind blank, I pounded the keyboard like a man possessed.

The interface spread across the screen, just as I remembered it.

tntn_Orthopedics: I keep thinking about the fat-assed assistant I hired when I first opened my clinic. Shoulda raped her when I had the chance.

Anonymous1932: The Maya board’s dead too. Any non-city folk left?

Anonymous458: Fuck, maybe my body’s done for. Can’t stop coughing...

tntn_Orthopedics: Anyone who voted for Kim Du-hee should just die. All of you. Just kill yourselves!

Rkkara: The U.S. is really done for now.

Dies_irae69: [RECRUITING] Looking for ex-DSFam members to reunite!

BLACK_KNIGHT: test

Berkut_break: They say life is a flower path walked backward, but what if the flower was a carnivorous plant all along?

tntn_Orthopedics: dumbass dumbass dumbass dumbass dumbass

Anonymous1701: I see a ship in the distance. Looks like Japs.

Dies_irae69: [RECRUITING] Looking for ex-DSFam members to reunite!

...

...

Some new names. But some old ones too.

No real friends among them, but people I’ve known for years.

After everything I’ve been through—after seeing the end of the world—just seeing those names stirred something in me.

So much so I almost teared up.

But this is all that was posted today—and yesterday combined.

Surely they’re not all dead?

No. That can’t be.

The board’s core users are survivors with their own philosophies and methods. The weak were weeded out ages ago, back in the early days.

They’re probably just preparing for winter.

Surviving the winter is no joke.

Like our ancestors, we have to stockpile food, gather firewood, and fortify defenses. There’s no time to dick around on the board.

And the emergency rations we prepared before are long gone.

Even I’ve nearly run out.

Sure, there’s still those brick-like preserved foods, but who the hell wants to live off those? Better than cannibalism, but still—no sane person would eat that long-term.

That’s it for the Korean board.

I’d love to announce Skelton’s return in a glorious post, but there’s no audience.

And it’s not like there’s anyone I particularly want to see.

So I need to be careful.

When a mythic-tier name like mine posts, it’s a political act. I have to consider the optics.

For now, I’ll just be content that the board’s still running, even if it’s barely breathing.

There was one thing I’d been meaning to check.

I entered the North American board.

Before hitting auto-translate, it was a chaos of unreadable English posts.

I checked the dates.

Nodded.

Dozens of posts. All from today.

Looks like what Cheon Young-jae heard was true—Viva! Apocalypse! is back online.

After the U.S. government snatched up Viva! Apocalypse!, the English board went silent.

Curious how it came back, I hit auto-translate.

I understand English decently.

I can listen, read, and hold basic conversations. With a translation app, I can even handle academic discussions—slowly.

Even before hitting translate, I had a bad feeling.

Because the biggest news here isn’t just Viva! Apocalypse! being back.

Anonymous45: Already cold. Haven’t gone outside in two months. Hope no one’s still waiting at the gate.

In_domini_LK: All we can do is pray.

PennKIX1978: Why’s everyone panicking? Wasn’t this expected?

Daniel81: Anon13, we’re immigrants too.

Anonymous71: Killed two people yesterday.

coral8103: This is the dead user’s sibling. He died yesterday.

X'Ds_Grrrrr: How’s the Midwest?

Anonymous13: I’ll say it again. We should’ve never accepted immigrants.

L-V-R-M:

Anonymous100: [RECIPE] How to cook human meat – popular on Necropolis.

...

...

The vibe is all wrong.

Black humor and cynicism have always been staples of the English board, but this feels warped.

It’s like our “Dr. Orthopedics”—the guy everyone knows is a doctor, flaunts it in his name, but now even strangers can tell he’s lost his damn mind.

To a newcomer, it might seem like normal post-apocalyptic banter, but to me—Skelton, Viva! Apocalypse! incarnate—this is just screaming one word: 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Extinction.

Before checking the trending posts, I clicked on one that caught my eye.

coral8103: This is the dead user’s sibling. He died yesterday.

He was killed in a shootout—no, he died a warrior’s death. He fought to protect his family from raiders. He saved them, but /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ died of his injuries. It was quick. Maybe adrenaline took him before the pain hit.

I know someone on here knew him. If you read this, please say a prayer.

I’ll leave you with his final words.

Don’t be sad. You’ll all be joining me soon.

He said it with a smile. Then he died.

His name was James.

R.I.P. James.

...

...

Just another ordinary day in the end times.

But there’s a catch—most North American users built their bunkers far from human contact.

They shared tons of tips on the board about low-visibility camouflage—how to hide your bunker so well even a GPS would miss it.

So for them to have clashed with another group?

It means the chaos in North America is intense.

People must be attacking others over the tiniest signs—smoke from a cooking fire, a faint shadow on the horizon, the scent of used water.

Things that were unheard of when the U.S. government had some semblance of order.

But now?

It’s truly the end.

Just click any trending post and you’ll see.

max_gullsen: California’s Final Line of Defense

No explanation. Just one photo. But it said more than a thousand words.

Beyond the fog-drenched horizon, massive beasts were advancing on the last military barricades.

Over twelve of them—gigantic Kraken-types. And two more unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Behind them: legions of monsters, large and small.

“What the hell is that?”

Cheon Young-jae, scrolling through the satellite-recovered phone behind me, walked up and stared at the screen.

“······No. Fuck. That’s just—”

Even he, a hardened survivor who’s seen true horror, turned pale.

Even Kim Daram, who came over to gripe at me, froze with her arms crossed as soon as she saw it.

“What is that? Monsters can coordinate like that?”

Monsters were always assumed to be mindless, virus-like organisms that act on pure instinct.

No intelligence. No tactics. No coordination.

Every government’s official stance.

That photo alone shatters it.

Monsters are now attacking strategically.

Massive forces concentrated at a single point—crushing fragile human defenses like cookies underfoot.

“······.”

So it’s begun.

The end of the world is in motion.

I checked other national boards.

Thanks to Melon Mask’s auto-translate feature, I could see their reality too.

A global apocalypse is underway.

Even the Japanese board—usually silent because almost no one’s left—is nothing but screams from hell.

Kang Han-min wasn’t joking.

He’s dead serious about wiping out humanity.

Fortunately, Korea hasn’t shown signs of that yet.

But Kang Han-min said it himself.

He left a “Jeon Si-hoon” behind.

There’s not much I can do about that.

Maybe I could kill Jeon Si-hoon himself—but only with ridiculous luck.

If I try to go near whatever organization he’s built, I’ll be dead before I get close.

Feeling frustrated, I opened the message tab.

No new messages.

My settings only allow friends to message me. Apparently, none of them have sent anything.

Still—zero messages?

That’s odd.

I used to trade regular messages with people like Soo and Rebecca.

But even that’s stopped.

The answer came soon enough.

SKELTON: (Skelton) Yo. Friends. Been a while, huh?

I was just about to post my grand return when a familiar warning sound popped up.

[ Dormant Account ]

“Dormant account?”

Not a typo. Not “human account”—dormant.

We never had a concept like that before.

I tried to close the pop-up—only for another to appear.

[ To reactivate your account, please contact the admin. ]

[ Admin ID: “VIVA_BOT014” ]

Sometimes one sentence is enough to move a person.

This is one of those moments.

A single username—Viva_Bot—filled my dried-up chest with hope, joy, and awe.

Yes. Viva_Bot.

If it’s her... maybe.

Considering the board is still limping along, maybe she’s really still alive.

Right now, at this very second, she’s my top girl.

With a pounding heart, I typed.

“······.”

Clack clack clack

SKELTON: (It’s me, Skelton) Viva_Bot······?

No reply at first.

But five minutes later, an invite arrived.

[ VIVA_BOT014 has invited you to a live chat room. Accept? ]

I clicked accept instantly.

The screen shifted to an empty chatroom.

Familiar color scheme. Familiar layout.

To some, a reminder of doomsday trauma—but for apocalypse romantics like me, it’s like a flower path walked backward: bittersweet and serene.

Then, a message appeared.

VIVA_BOT014: Skelton.

A deep breath.

I’ve never seen her face. I don’t know who she is.

But right now—Viva_Bot is my goddess.

In a storm of indescribable emotion, I managed to move my fingers. (My typing speed easily broke 800 WPM.)

SKELTON: (Skelton, moved)

That’s the highest praise I can offer.

VIVA_BOT014: Hmph.

She responded.

Even that one-line reply sent a thousand thoughts spiraling in my head.

VIVA_BOT014: No need to check. I know it’s really you.

SKELTON: (Skelton, eyes blurred with tears) Viva_Bot······.

VIVA_BOT014: No one else on Earth could post something that stupid in a time like this······.

There’s a saying: the existence of two genders, of shells with matching halves, is proof of the Creator’s design.

So is our bond on the internet.

The moment she knew I was the real Skelton—I knew she was the real Viva_Bot.

VIVA_BOT014: Welcome back, Skelton.

Now it feels real.

That I’ve returned—to the place I yearned for. My true home.

No one else welcomes me. No one else cheers for me.

But I, Skelton, have finally returned.

I will spend the last days of the world here, with my friends, dying as we live.

In the midst of such decadent, romantic thoughts, a new message popped up.

VIVA_BOT014: There’s someone dangerous on the board right now. Can you help them?