They say humans are deceitful creatures.

I’m no exception.

The moment my toothache was gone, I fell right back into the swamp of lethargy, endlessly refreshing the community board, scrolling through popular threads, and dwelling on questions like, Why can’t I succeed too? It was as if time itself had turned into a homework assignment I couldn’t escape.

Recently, the hottest topic on the board has been none other than the resurrected Sunbi.

The strange ramblings that once characterized Sunbi’s posts had begun to morph into something more comprehensible.

SUNBI: So, turns out the keyboard was set to some weird layout. What the hell is this “three-set” nonsense? Old people use the weirdest stuff.

Not all deaths are equal, but Sunbi’s death had always carried an air of ambiguity, open to colorful interpretations.

Yet no matter how it was spun, the fact remained: there had been a woman involved in Sunbi’s demise.

And perhaps because of that…

SUNBI: Hi there, oppas and ajusshis!

Sunbi had returned… as a girl.

The blurry photo posted—angled perfectly to accentuate her features in the dim, bunker-like lighting—showed the youthful face of a girl in her mid-to-late teens.

SUNBI: You guys aren’t A.I. or anything, right? You’re real people, right?

The community board exploded.

It had been a quiet winter so far, with peace treaties and no new Pioneers causing a stir.

But now, this new Sunbi, an obvious attention-grabber, had appeared.

SUNBI: Sunbi doing her makeup~

SUNBI: Sunbi is hungry.

SUNBI: Where’s Sunbi from? If you’re curious, why don’t you come find me?

SUNBI: I live near Pyeongtaek. Any oppas or ajusshis nearby?

Had it stopped there, things might not have escalated.

After all, the board’s reactions weren’t entirely negative at first.

unicorn18: Sunbi-chan~ Any more pics?

Anonymous848: I’m near Pyeongtaek too. (wink wink)

DragonC: Hm.

keystone: Here’s my lunch pic. (feat. beef)

Anonymous458: Sunbi’s ugly.

...

...

For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to care about this topic.

Sipping my coffee, I thought about it, and the reason became clear.

Resentment.

Watching someone who hadn’t endured the ridicule or societal judgment that we preppers had faced ride into our community like a freeloader—this grated on me.

My recent encounter with Dentist_Kim had probably amplified those feelings.

But I wasn’t the only one with such resentment.

In fact, the person harboring the most animosity wasn’t even me.

It was Sunbi themselves.

And they soon revealed who they truly were.

SUNBI: You’re all a bunch of fucking rats.

The next photo revealed a group of five young people—three boys and two girls—each in their mid-to-late teens, their faces still tinged with adolescent innocence.

SUNBI: The country’s falling apart, and you lot? Not fighting, not helping anyone—just burrowing into your rat holes, hoarding food, clothes, fuel, and lounging around on the internet? Really?

They were outsiders.

From the start, they had been different from us. Even after joining us, they mocked us, cursed us—an oil-and-water relationship if there ever was one.

Their youth, too, contributed to the collective sense of alienation.

The board members responded with a collective tactic: ignoring them.

But the silent treatment, a sophisticated form of retaliation for us, was an alien language to these outsiders.

SUNBI: Here’s a frozen corpse I found today (feat. a happy family).

SUNBI: Hanging corpse.jpg (feat. the Army faction).

SUNBI: Come look at this cute baby.

SUNBI: A family with their dog.

...

...

They flooded the board with their photographs, undeterred.

Each post had a title, but the content was always the same.

Death.

The “cute baby” was a frozen infant. The “family with their dog” were corpses alongside their pet.

Every image was soaked in misery and despair.

SUNBI: Here’s a woman who was gang-raped to death and her husband who hung himself.jpg.

One of their posts caught my eye by chance.

“...”

It wasn’t just the grotesque corpses that Sunbi wanted to show us.

What they truly intended to reveal lay beyond the images.

The things we knew but didn’t want to acknowledge. The things we avoided seeing.

The raw, unfiltered reality of the apocalypse.

SUNBI: You disgusting bastards. People are dying like this, and all you do is giggle and gossip here? Huh? Is this fun for you? Does watching the world burn amuse you?

Their actions ignited a fire in the hearts of the community members.

Dies_irae69: Who’s down to hunt Sunbi?

What Sunbi exposed wasn’t just the harsh truths we had turned away from.

The new Sunbi forced us to confront our true nature.

Anonymous848: Count me in.

Anonymous458: At least m9 was cute. This one’s gotta die.

ROKA_hun: I’m just a lurker, but can I join?

keystone: I’d love to, but I’ve still got some stragglers hanging around my place. Most of them froze to death, though, so it’s manageable.

chouchou: First time posting here. What are we planning to do about the girls?

...

...

Behind their cheery usernames lay the raw, unvarnished faces of us apocalypse preppers.

*

The community, which once flowed in countless directions, clashing and converging into small groups, began to form a singular, powerful current with the arrival of this outsider.

Foxgames: That fake Sunbi claims to live in Pyeongtaek, but I find that hard to believe. Based on their old posts, the real Sunbi was living in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Anonymous242: Definitely Gwangju. The cherry blossom photo Sunbi uploaded was taken under the new city district. Probably somewhere near the forested area below that.

ROKA_hun: I’ll pack some ammo before heading out. 100 rounds should be enough, right?

What drove these people to act so fervently?

I had a vague understanding.

Was it a sense of belonging? Or, to phrase it more elegantly, a sense of solidarity?

Even the initial resentment I’d felt toward Sunbi likely stemmed from this collective consciousness.

Why? Because I liked this community. I valued our users.

And now, in the quiet twilight of winter, the board was ablaze with an intensity greater than the hottest summer days.

The reason?

The outsider had dared to target the most respected user on our board.

SUNBI: You call this a comic? Looks like absolute shit. What’s this? Remnant? What a load of crap.

SUNBI: I could draw better than this, you little shit.

“?”

Why the hell are these kids imitating me?

Do they seriously not know the difference between better and birth?

Regardless, Sunbi’s antics were gasoline poured onto an already smoldering fire.

Anonymous424: There’s suspicious movement among the soldiers in my area, so I can’t join the fight myself, but I’ll cheer you guys on from here.

tntn_Orthopedics: These kids are crossing lines they really shouldn’t. I think I have an idea where Sunbi might be living.

berkut_break: Soulless beings, steeped in the stench of materialism, have created grotesque offspring that mirror their own hollow nature. Even without war, they would’ve marched the same tracks, like products from a crumbling factory.

Even users who rarely engaged or showed little interest in the board’s usual topics joined in condemning the new Sunbi.

At this point, the tide couldn’t be turned.

Sunbi had to die.

That was the will of the community.

Numerous users declared their intention to join. Photos showcasing weapons, muscles, and survival gear flooded the board, each boasting their combat readiness.

In the midst of this surge, I remained a step back, watching with mild curiosity and amazement.

A thought crossed my mind.

What would Melon Mask say if he saw this?

The founder of the community, Melon Mask, had likely anticipated that his creation wouldn’t function exactly as intended and would devolve into an idle pastime for some.

After all, even in the welcome video provided upon first connecting to the satellite network, Melon Mask had told users to “make the most of the end of the world” and enjoy themselves freely.

But not even his brilliant foresight could have predicted that his community would become a venue for organized lynch mobs.

Despite the noose tightening around them, the new Sunbi continued to mock us.

SUNBI: Old geezers always yapping about how “unity is strength.” What a crock of shit. Come on, then. I’ll strip you naked and drown you one by one.

SUNBI: Proof1.jpg

SUNBI: Proof2.jpg

SUNBI: Why so quiet? Are you all scared?

My eventual involvement wasn’t because I wanted to kill Sunbi.

It was at Defender’s request.

Defender: Hey, can you go in my place? The soldiers have been skulking around my area lately.

SKELTON: Me? Why not you? I don’t want to get involved in this mess.

Defender: Honestly, it’s getting dangerous here. The lower-ranked Army faction has turned into looters—they’re no better than bandits now.

Defender: Watch your back, though. You’re alone out there, unlike us.

Defender’s tone was devoid of his usual humor. His words painted a grim picture of the near future.

Soldiers turned looters.

Was there any fear more grounded in reality than that?

He promised to share some valuable intel once this matter was resolved.

Knowing Defender, he’d likely interrogate a soldier for that information.

SKELTON: Don’t do anything reckless.

Defender: Well, if you don’t hear from me in a week, just assume I’m dead and say a prayer for me.

“...”

So much for a quiet winter.

It was my own delusion.

Even in this calm, the apocalypse was steadily marching on, dismantling the world piece by piece while we weren’t looking.

Perhaps this communal hunt for Sunbi was yet another sign of impending collapse.

Before leaving my bunker, I checked the board one last time.

SUNBI: When are you coming, you old farts?

SUNBI: What’s with you old geezers? You spent your school days getting beaten up, and now that you’re older, you think you’re tough shit?

iamjesus: Turn the other cheek. (Matthew 5:39)

SUNBI: Should I just come find you myself? Start hunting you all down, one by one?

...

...

Still, Sunbi continued to taunt us.

But the increased frequency and intensity of their insults hinted at something beyond mere mockery.

Perhaps even they were beginning to sense it.

That this community they had stumbled upon wasn’t as trivial as they’d assumed.

That a group of adults was willing to risk their lives to punish a few reckless teenagers.

I didn’t deny that I was one of them.

Even if I had no intention of killing, I had joined the hunt, a willing participant in the mob.

If it turned out that these kids were actually cunning looters luring us into a death trap, I wouldn’t hesitate to join in killing them.

After all, that’s exactly what Defender had asked of me.

With my gear prepared, I headed to the meeting point.

When I arrived, several users had already gathered, armed and equipped, clustered in groups of two or three.

Though we were allies, their hands instinctively went to their weapons as soon as I approached.

“Nickname?”

A burly man with a thick beard and a large scar across his cheek barked the question, his sharp eyes fixed on me.

“SKELTON.”

“Oh. So, you’re Skelton?”

“And you are?”

“Dies_Irae69. Just call me Dies. Honestly, it’s a stupid nickname I made up without thinking.”

Dies_Irae.

He was the one who had proposed the group hunt.

He didn’t seem particularly interested in me as a person.

What caught his attention was my weapon.

“Oh, Chinese-made, huh? Where’d you get it?”

“Here and there. Call it the black market route.”

“Got it. You have much combat experience?”

“Not much.”

“Then stay back and just watch. We’ll handle everything.”

As we waited, more users arrived one by one.

Each time, Dies personally verified their identities.

If a traitor had infiltrated, Dies would probably be the first to die. It took guts to shoulder that risk.

All the users had come from the west—specifically the southwestern areas.

No one had come from the east.

When asked for their nicknames, they each provided one.

“Anonymous848.”

“ROKA_hun.”

“Chouchou.”

“Anonymous1001.”

Some were familiar faces from the board, while others were complete strangers.

The age range was broad, from early thirties to mid-sixties.

There were almost no users in their twenties.

Perhaps they had been in their twenties when the apocalypse began, but after two years of war, they’d all aged into their thirties.

Just like me.

By the time everyone had arrived, we numbered ten in total.

It wasn’t a small number.

I hadn’t expected such a turnout.

It showed just how deeply the new Sunbi had struck a nerve.

But there was something else.

Something you could only sense in person.

Yes, this was a gathering to punish Sunbi.

But it was also something more.

The constant glances, the cautious questions about each other’s well-being, the shared tales of hardship and isolation, the subtle hints of loneliness and mounting danger—all of it pointed to one thing.

Connection.

Dies_Irae clarified the true nature of this meeting.

“Once this is over, let’s exchange info. That’s why we’re all here anyway, isn’t it?”

The organizer himself had revealed the meeting’s hidden purpose.

Bringing the board’s connections into the real world.

Perhaps that was the true reason for this strange gathering.

“Alright then. Let’s go kill Sunbi.”