Chapter 69 – Deep Web

Chapter 69 – Deep Web

Lee Seoyeon.

The operator of Apocalypse Inside, The Man, had a very bright personality as a child, but now she was afraid of people.

The Man was originally an introverted character, but…

The biggest impact was being bullied during her school days.

Ironically, the main instigator was the girl’s best friend, a friend with whom she always drew.

Even the reason was pathetically childish.

The girl’s best friend had always secretly envied Seoyeon for drawing much better than herself.

When the boy she had a crush on spoke to Seoyeon because of her drawing skills, the resentment festering inside her exploded.

Strange rumors about Seoyeon began to spread from that moment.

It started with rumors that her quiet and introverted nature was all a facade, and then escalated to strange rumors that she had several older boyfriends, and had tried alcohol, cigarettes, and even drugs.

By the time Seoyeon realized that the source of the rumors was her own best friend, it was already too late, and the strange rumors had grown uncontrollably, giving birth to even stranger ones.

Not only at school but also in the neighborhood, people started to whisper, and even the teachers avoided her.

It was a terribly dreadful situation for Seoyeon, who was only a middle school student. She eventually refused to go to school.

When even her mother, who had always felt sorry for her and cheered her on, passed away, it was for that reason that she used her small inheritance to rent a studio apartment in Chuncheon, where no one would recognize her, and moved there alone.

After that, she ended up working as a freelance illustrator, utilizing her drawing skills, and barely making a living by managing small communities and a few macro management tasks.

Then…

As monsters began to invade, she, having awakened her Apocalypse Inside ability, found herself in a chaotic situation.

“What… is all this?”

This Apocalypse Inside was supposed to be opened for the first time in this life, but the bulletin boards were completely filled with information!

“This… is next year’s date?”

It was as if the world had already experienced this once. Many people were broadcasting the changing situation in real time.

But that wasn’t all.

“M-messenger function too?”

When she checked her messenger with trembling hands.

Names she had never seen before were displayed.

[Ha Seongjae: I’m going to die before I can watch 4 animes I haven’t seen. Please put them in my grave with me. The titles are…]

[Gwak Sangyong: I still found out who the culprit was. He was indeed the villain. Please investigate and tell Siwoo.]

[Choi Yongjin: I’m sorry. I guess this is the end for me too.]

[……]

“Thi… This…?”

All… messages like final goodbyes before death.

Seoyeon panicked.

“No way… everyone’s dead?”

It was ridiculous. Her colleagues, whom she hadn’t even met yet, had sent her death messages. The woman sorted Apoin by date.

The Apoin posts, sorted from most popular to by date… showed a desperate future.

The posts that occasionally appeared were becoming fewer and fewer.

Even that stopped completely after a certain point.

“So… no one survived at all?”

Just as she was shaking her head and desperately checking various contents.

Among the messenger messages sorted by date….

The latest message caught her eye.

[Seong Siwoo: Seoyeon, are you… not eating breakfast again today?]

Someone… seemed to have survived until the very end.

* * *

Before Seoyeon promoted Apoin to a public channel.

She had set all previous posts to private.

‘So there were Villains…….’

It was because of beings who had abandoned their humanity and sided with the Monsters.

On the other hand, she was afraid that if people knew how the future unfolded, they would panic.

‘I’ll have to release information little by little later…….’

On the other hand, she had already thoroughly read all the important contents among the posts from the past future. This included conversations with Seong Siwoo, who had survived until the end.

And while reading conversations with other colleagues.

She sometimes laughed and sometimes cried.

Although it was only in words, I felt as if I was experiencing The Man’s life firsthand with companions I had never met before.

While doing The Man, she gradually changed.

‘When are you all coming to pick me up?’

And at some point, she started looking forward to that day.

***

Meanwhile.

I stared at Seoyeon with a momentarily dumbfounded expression.

‘What, what, what? Siwoo-oppa?’

It was a story from much later when she started calling me Siwoo-oppa. No, to begin with, she shouldn’t have even known my name at this point.

This was too strange.

‘Has she turned into a Villain?’

I immediately became wary.

“Have we met before? I think this is our first time meeting.”

As I kept my distance, Seoyeon tilted her head with a confused expression and asked, “Water?”

“Oh? Oppa, didn’t you, you, you, you already know me? Looking at The Man Precog’s post, it’s obvious—”

“Wow!”

That’s when Seongjae shouted loudly, pointing his finger.

“That appearance! Are you Magical Girl Yujina? This is the first time I’ve seen such a high-quality cosplay— Ugh!”

I immediately closed the door and started talking to Seoyeon alone.

***

“The past posts are still there?”

I looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“All of them? Not a single one missing?”

Seoyeon nodded.

She even showed me her phone to confirm.

Oh my god…….

That place was a complete treasure trove of information.

No matter how hard I tried to remember, I couldn’t fully grasp everything that happened in the past, and my memory had its limits.

But the private data she showed me was a whole new world.

This… with this, it might be possible.

For instance, the broken Tenos’s Spear.

After a brief check, the private message sections of the Hunters who had explored that Dungeon at the time were filled with information confirming that the Tenos’s Spear was originally intact.

They only knew about it themselves…

It seemed they kept it a secret so as not to reveal their failure. But the information I found wasn’t all there was.

There was even an Artifact like this?

There were Artifacts I didn’t even know existed.

This guy was a Villain after all, wasn’t he?

I could also confirm that the suspicious person was indeed a Villain. It was, so to speak, a kind of collective intelligence [Strategy Guide]. It was also the moment Lee Seoyeon’s already considerably high value skyrocketed.

Meanwhile, Seoyeon stammered,

avoiding my gaze as she asked a question.

Um… I… I got too comfortable without realizing it… but is it still uncomfortable for me to call you Oppa?

To her question…

I couldn’t help but grin.

No, just speak comfortably. It’s fine if I do the same, right?

Yes!

Unlike when we first met, she was smiling brightly.

* * *

At some point…

Strange things began to happen. Information about Seong Siwoo and Gwak Sangyong began to be deleted as soon as it was uploaded.

It was as if someone had control and was managing it.

[What? There was an Apoin Operator?]

[The post was deleted again? Why is this happening all of a sudden?]

[Wow, lol. Until now, it was almost at the level of neglect…….]

The Man was not the end of it.

[Regarding Organized Public Opinion Manipulation.]

An announcement was even posted.

The content of the announcement revealed in detail who was sowing discord between Gwak Sangyong and Seong Siwoo and with what pattern.

The reaction was heated.

[Oh my God……]

[Wow, the Gangbuk Looters really crossed the line this time, haha]

[It’s good to see a clean Apoin, hehe]

[It’s obvious they wanted to divide the normal factions and take everything for themselves, right? They’re really scary, haha]

[As expected of Marauders, look at their InCastle, haha]

Overall, the majority of the content was criticizing the Looters.

Meanwhile, that wasn’t all for The Man.

An internal exposé even broke out among the Marauders.

[Regarding the fact that we thought we were close, but it turns out it was all behind-the-scenes manipulation.]

[What alliance? They weren’t even survivors in the first place, so isn’t it absurd to share an already shrinking pie?]

[If it’s going to be like this, should I just backstab them and kill everyone?]

For some reason, all the text messages where they were secretly cursing and checking each other were revealed.

Kim Eunchae of the Marauder Alliance, who had spearheaded the sowing discord between Seong Siwoo and Gwak Sangyong, was trembling with a terrible expression.

“What happened?”

“I-I’m sorry……”

“Who exactly is whose puppet?”

“I’m not sure……”

“Catch him quickly! Catch him!”

Kim Eunchae yelled at the top of her lungs. But the man, who she thought was under the woman’s control, had a different expression this time.

“I’ve been watching you, and this is really…”

“What, what?”

“Do you look down on us?”

It was the moment the woman’s control wavered.

* * *

Meanwhile.

Without needing to engage in an immediate all-out war, I bought some time and was looking through the private appointments, searching for new castle lord power.

This was because Lee Seoyeon had voluntarily given me permission to look through the private appointments without any need for persuasion.

‘I think this will be better. I should have done it sooner, but I was hesitant until now just in case.’

It seemed she hadn’t been certain until she met me. A big part of this was being able to share feelings with the woman.

As the woman was afraid of people, it was very awkward at first, but this was quickly resolved. It seemed a big part of it was the woman’s own certainty that we wouldn’t dislike her.

After that, the woman and I spent a lot of time together, partly because the woman was curious about past events, and partly because I also had things I couldn’t say until then and felt frustrated about.

When I told her about the woman’s story, how she was hesitant and avoided people not long after I met her, she was quite embarrassed.

‘Did I really do that?’

‘You did. Can’t you really do it again this time?’

‘Uh, yes! You must have had a hard time. I’m sorry…’

Funnily enough, Seoyeon even apologized for mistakes she didn’t directly make herself.

And, naturally, the information obtained from the private appointments was a great help. The most surprising fact was…

‘So all these artifacts came from here…’

The fact was that a staggering six artifacts had come from a dungeon I didn’t even know about!

Considering that the number of artifacts I had secured by opening three dungeons and one instance dungeon was only two, six was truly an enormous amount.

Of course, not all of them were useful.

But an artifact is still an artifact.

Any effect could be used depending on how you used it. Moreover, it was like having about six sets of comprehensive holy water, so it seemed best to get it quickly before it was too late.

‘With this… I’ll further strengthen my fortress.’

I licked my lips and…

‘Aerial Mothership. Move to the designated coordinates.’

I ordered the Aerial Mothership to collect the Nest Mana Stone.