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?

    ??: Who the hell is this guy? Can someone explain?

    Defender: Yo, are you some kind of immortal?

    ??: 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:

    ??: 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.

    One theory suggested a council member assassinated the president after he opposed evacuating hunters to Jeju.Another claimed the president fled to Jeju only to be killed in an argument with a senior council member.Yet another theorized the president’s plane crashed en route to Jeju.

    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

    Jeju is small and has low arable land.This means there’s not enough food.Despite China’s fall, naval remnants, especially submarines, still roam the seas.A large fleet is an easy target for submarines.The Jeju government is unlikely to fulfill its promises.There’s a chance the fleet won’t even be allowed to dock.Jeju is run by council members who favor only the Awakened. Regular people have no chance.The odds of being accepted are virtually zero.

    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.

    M9 is better (22 votes, 88%)Skelton is better (3 votes, 12%)

    "...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."