NoveLight ™
Two years and eight months had passed since the war began.
The world had entered a numb, desensitized phase where nothing seemed surprising anymore.
After nearly three years of witnessing countless atrocities and bizarre occurrences, we forum users had grown indifferent to most things. It was to the point where the days when everyone was horrified by Defender’s murder confessions now felt like comedy.
But the resurrection of one man was enough to jolt the entire forum back to its sharp, hyper-aware state of the past.
MMMMMMMMM: Hello?
MMMMMMMMM: You bastards? ^^
M9 had returned.
And not just as m9, but as MMMMMMMMM.
Was this some kind of upgrade?
In any case, no one could deny that the sole resident of The Hope, m9, was extraordinary in more ways than one.
His terrifying survival abilities had been proven time and time again through an impressive array of photographs, cementing him as the ultimate survivor of the era.
I still vividly remember the image of him living in a tilted house, secured by a rope tied around his waist.
Even when news broke of martial law being declared in Incheon, protestors killing soldiers, and soldiers killing civilians, our forum users barely reacted. But the reappearance of an old friend had everyone, quite literally, leaping to their feet.
Anonymous458: No way. Who the hell is this?
Anonymous848: How the f*** is he alive? Wasn’t everyone in Seoul wiped out?
roka3218: Is this really M9?
ㅇㅇ: Who the hell is this guy? Can someone explain?
Defender: Yo, are you some kind of immortal?
ㅇㅇ: Is he one of your so-called legends?
iamjesus: Om mani padme hum.
keystone: This guy deserves genuine respect.
SKELTON: (Skelton gasps) ?!
To sum it up, m9—no, the reborn M9—was indeed the person we knew: the last official resident of Korea’s final mixed-use residential complex, The Hope.
A man who embodied a rich mixture of intense inferiority complex, relentless patience while biding his time, and unabashed vulgarity unleashed when the opportunity arose.
The return of M9, a living embodiment of crude capitalism incarnate, symbolized an era in itself.
And despite his crassness, his presence carried with it the weight of the times.
*
It had been two years and eight months since the war began.
The era had reached a point where nothing seemed surprising anymore.
After nearly three years of witnessing countless atrocities and bizarre events, we forum users had become desensitized to almost everything. It was hard to believe there was a time when everyone was shocked by Defender's murder confessions—those days now felt almost comedic.
But one man's resurrection was enough to send the entire forum spiraling back to its earlier, sharper days.
The parliamentary government had made the worst possible misstep.
Everyone knew it.
They had forced an election during a time when they absolutely shouldn’t have, and the price was steep.
The silent, patient citizens finally rose up, and Incheon descended into chaos.
However, the turmoil didn’t last long.
Both the citizens and the government were well aware that the current state of Korea was dire.
Representatives of the citizens and the government came to an agreement.
The deal included the indefinite postponement of elections, the resignation of incumbent members of parliament, securing support from the Jeju government, guarantees of safety, and access to essential resources like food and other survival necessities.
The citizens’ demands were fully met.
The protests subsided, and once again, the citizens chose patience.
But the discontent wasn’t entirely resolved.
Some citizens demanded to know who exactly was representing this government they were negotiating with.
One post on PaleNet bluntly laid bare the current issue:
ㅇㅇ: Who the hell are these “government representatives”? Why do they keep changing? Why do we keep getting all these new organizations we know nothing about? Who’s really pulling the strings behind the scenes? The leftover parliament? The military? Or those traitors who ran off to Jeju?
It was true—this new government made it hard to discern who was in charge.
Ever since the president had fled with senior government officials, most key positions were left vacant. Parliament had taken on the role of the executive branch, resulting in a strange, makeshift system.
It was clearly dysfunctional, but no one had the time to care.
Between civil war and monster invasions, there were more pressing concerns.
The questioning didn’t last long, though.
A bigger topic soon overshadowed the protests.
That topic was none other than the carrot the Seoul-Incheon government had been dangling to pacify the people for so long.
The Jeju evacuation fleet was finally about to depart.
The timeline had been announced before the elections, but in a new update, the schedule was moved forward by an entire month.
As an act of apology to the citizens, the government, military, and parliament pooled all their resources to release additional seats.
Over 2,000 new spots were made available.
gijayangban: A view of the national housing complex being built for the Jeju evacuation fleet.jpg
The photo uploaded to PaleNet showed a sprawling landscape of container-style housing lined up in perfect rows against the backdrop of the majestic Hallasan Mountain.
The container homes looked crude but at least thousands of times sturdier than The Hope—not in terms of materials, but feasibility.
The government continued its efforts to appease the citizens.
They announced new policies through official gazettes, posters, street broadcasts, and even direct posts on PaleNet.
Korean Government: Post-Apocalypse (P.A.) Plan for the Future of Korea.
According to the P.A. Plan, the government intended to sequentially relocate the population concentrated in Incheon to Jeju.
Afterward, they promised job placements based on prior professions and skills, fair compensation for labor, and the rebuilding of the national economy.
To support this, the plan proposed advanced agricultural methods for Jeju’s barren land, the resumption of trade with surviving nations, the establishment of regional networks, and, ultimately, the reclamation of Seoul and other unrecaptured territories.
People were skeptical.
They had heard empty promises before—countless times.
But this time, something felt different.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere, the momentum, or the flow of events.
Nothing symbolized this shift more than the sudden appearance of the president.
The president, who had long fled to Jeju, finally showed his face on the government’s installed billboards:
"Citizens of Korea! The long war is finally over! In Taipei, Taiwan, a ceasefire agreement has been signed between China and Free China. The agreement includes a comprehensive armistice among all warring parties, which means that our country, as one of the involved parties, is now free from the threat of war. Soon, international trade will resume..."
The sudden reappearance of the president, who had vanished since the start of the war, was striking.
But it also raised questions.
ㅇㅇ: Is this deepfake? Something feels off.
ㅇㅇ: The voice sounds synthetic. Isn’t that guy dead?
ㅇㅇ: It’s probably a stand-in.
At one point, there had been a popular conspiracy theory on PaleNet that the president was dead.
There were many versions:
Regardless of the specifics, most PaleNet users and Seoul citizens believed the president was dead.
After all, if a president infamous for loving interviews disappeared for years, it wasn’t far-fetched to think he was no longer alive.
And yet, the president—whatever his true nature—returned, just like M9, bearing gifts for the despairing citizens.
“On behalf of our social leaders, I extend my apologies to the citizens of the capital region for your endurance and patience. To show our sincerity, some of our top officials have decided to relinquish their official residences and facilities to select members of the evacuation fleet through a lottery.”
The Jeju government announced a plan to reallocate official residences and government facilities, including luxurious homes with pre-war standards of opulence, to lucky citizens through a lottery.
The resemblance to the Hope Lottery debacle was uncanny.
The government once again garnered overwhelming public interest and redirected attention toward the lottery.
And, unsurprisingly, M9 once again struck gold.
MMMMMMMMM: Presidential Residence Winning Certificate.JPG
This was the true reason M9 had broken his long silence and returned to us.
Of course, the forum exploded again.
roka_hun: Wow…
Dolsingnam: I’m kinda jealous, honestly.
gijayangban: Wait, you mean the Type 1 residence? The 238㎡ one?
ㅇㅇ: Isn’t this the bastard who lived in that tilted apartment?
iamjesus: Are you f***ing serious?
keystone: Hey, take me with you! I can cook. I’m a chef, I swear!
Defender: Am I the only one who remembers the “엄창이” incident?
unicorn18: Bro, take me too. I’m a pretty boy.
Dies_irae69: Patience pays off.
SKELTON: Hmm… is it really that great?
From a tilted apartment to the presidential residence.
Well, technically, as gijayangban pointed out, it wasn’t the actual presidential residence but the largest and most spacious Type 1 residence designated for high-ranking officials.
Still, it was M9’s new home.
“…”
At first, I didn’t feel anything.
That changed after I returned from sowing seeds behind the bunker.
A message awaited me.
Message from MMMMMMMMM: Hmm... Is this the best you can do? LOL
"?"
Message from MMMMMMMMM: Well, enjoy rotting in your damp bunker ^^ I’m off to Jeju, to the sunny presidential residence! Off to eat some tangerines, baby!!!
“…”
I unwrapped the bandages on my leg and disinfected the wound.
“Ouch.”
It stung a little.
The wound had gotten worse from picking at it while removing shrapnel. A classic amateur mistake.
After re-disinfecting and wrapping the bandage, I sat in front of the computer, cleared my mind, and began typing.
SKELTON: (Skelton Analysis) The Dangers of the Jeju Evacuation Fleet.txt
After spending a good 15 minutes writing, I uploaded my analysis.
But the response was underwhelming.
Even the clever quip about “elders” in point 8 didn’t garner any comments or likes.
My carefully crafted post was soon buried under an avalanche of low-effort posts and spam from other users and newcomers.
Was this the fate of my work?
No—someone finally commented.
With a hopeful heart, I clicked.
MMMMMMMMM: LOL
“Ha.”
Fine. That much was expected.
It was, after all, a veiled critique directed at him.
But M9 wasn’t satisfied with just that.
He went further.
MMMMMMMMM: (M9 Video) M9’s Beatboxing (1)
“?!”
This was unmistakably an attack.
M9 was taking shots at me, Skelton!
As if on cue, my communicator buzzed.
“Hey, Skelton, are you watching this?”
“Hahaha! This is hilarious!”
It was the Defender siblings.
“What the hell did you do to M9 to make him hate you so much?”
I recounted the story of how I had uncovered the truth about The Hope through a mutual contact and had shared it with M9 out of goodwill. But instead of gratitude, he had twisted my intentions into malice, resulting in our feud.
Clearly, M9 was the one in the wrong.
But Defender didn’t see it that way.
“From M9’s perspective, you might’ve been more annoying.”
“What?”
“Ever heard the saying, ‘The meddlesome sister-in-law is worse than the nagging mother-in-law’?”
“Sister-in-law? Bernoulli?”
“That’s why you’re getting roasted.”
“?”
I was at a loss for words, utterly dumbfounded, when Dajeong suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, Skelton, check the forum. M9 is picking a fight with you again!"
Sure enough, M9 had posted yet another new thread.
MMMMMMMMM: (M9 Poll) Who’s better at beatboxing: me or Skelton?
Of all the things, M9, that human piece of garbage…
If there’s one thing he never fails at, it’s making his presence felt, even from that tilted house of his.
When John Nae-non hacked the Viva! Apocalypse! network, it weakened its security. This allowed access to our forum's backend tools, which our resident hacker FoxGame used to add some new features—one of them being a polling function.
While it was mainly used for trivial purposes, like deciding meals for forum users or Unicorn18's 2D female character popularity polls, M9 clearly saw it as the perfect opportunity to turn the forum into his personal battlefield against me.
Anyway, M9 was now enjoying what could only be described as his second heyday.
The voting results below made it painfully clear who had the upper hand.
"…No, this doesn’t feel right," I muttered, staring at the screen in disbelief.
"Skelton!"
Dajeong’s voice suddenly turned serious.
"Let’s turn this into an opportunity."
"An opportunity?"
"I’ll become Skelton."