Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 65: Isolation

Collective survivalism.

I’ve always thought it was an inefficient way to live, but it’s one I’m likely to adopt soon.

ㅇㅇ : Anyone interested in banding together? I’m planning to leave the city. For reference, I’m ex-military.

Hyuk’s Dad: I’m with my family. Looking to group up with similar families. We’ve got firearms, food, fuel, and a vehicle.

ㅇㅇ : I used to be a department manager at Daejin Group. Any other Daejin employees out there?

SurvivalGuy: Any women interested in joining? I’m in my mid-30s and have everything—food, fuel, weapons, and a cozy home. Neat appearance is a given. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested.

ㅇㅇ : Looking for engineers, doctors, or nurses. Our group has seven people, all graduates from Seoul’s top universities.

ㅇㅇ : Searching for someone skilled in car repairs. Our group’s average age is in the 20s to 30s. Similar age groups welcome.

ㅇㅇ : Anyone up for home-sharing in Michuhol? The air’s getting harsher around here. Women preferred.

Team Thunder: Any doctors out there? Farmers also welcome.

Posts like these are becoming more frequent on PaleNet. As the pace of activity slows down, there’s a growing trend to form groups.

With trust in the government eroding and rumors spreading about Mutation Meat being served as rations, people are banding together to find their own ways to survive.

The “Let’s Survive Together” board on PaleNet is where these people gather.

Initially, it wasn’t a popular section, but after our very own NyamNyamMan vaguely exposed the truth about the refugee fleet, its popularity surged. Nowadays, it consistently ranks in the top ten.

A quick glance at the posts reveals a common theme.

ㅇㅇ : (URGENT) Looking for a doctor!

Doctors, engineers, and other skilled professionals are in high demand.

It’s consistent across the board: groups are adamant about only recruiting people with specific abilities.

It’s rare to find posts seeking ordinary people, and even those often come with special qualifications, like shared alumni connections or hometown ties.

It’s likely that established groups are searching for specialists to enhance their collective chances.

A grim reality: if you lack skills, it’s hard to even form a group.

However, our board also has a collective survivalist.

Not just any survivalist, but someone who could be considered a philosopher of survivalism—a man who preached collective survivalism even before the war.

That person is Dies Irae.

Recently, he posted on both PaleNet and our board:

Dies_Irae69: Recruiting team members.

There was a time when tomorrow was better than today, but now we all know tomorrow will be worse than today.

Let’s cut to the chase. I’m looking for brave individuals willing to survive with us.

However, the following will not be accepted:

Drug addictsAlcoholics or substance abusersDisabled individualsHomosexualsPatients with severe illnessesSingle women (only couples will be considered)PessimistsIf you’re not in these categories and are ready to join us, write a brief, honest account of your pre- and post-war life. I’ll review and respond.

One thing’s certain: if you’re with us, you’ll survive.

Attached to the post was a group photo of armed men wearing sunglasses and masks, posing against a rugged mountain backdrop.

I sipped my coffee while reading through Dies Irae’s post.

It stood out from the typical PaleNet posts.

Unlike others, he didn’t demand doctors or engineers.

And unlike those scoundrels still obsessed with finding women even in a crumbling world, he openly rejected single women.

Instead, he targeted ordinary people—especially men—overlooked by PaleNet.

Of course, PaleNet’s edgelords didn’t miss the opportunity to troll him:

ㅇㅇ : What’s the big deal? Looks like a bunch of nobodies got together.

ㅇㅇ : At least they have enough decency not to ask for doctors.

ㅇㅇ : Why no women? Are they gay? But wait, they hate gays too. What’s their deal?

Dies Irae doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation.

During the Defender incident, I got a rough sense of the kind of person he is.

He’s no ordinary man.

Cold and ruthless.

That’s the abstract image I have of him.

More importantly, he’s a philosopher of survivalism who has actively practiced it since the war began.

His words aren’t guaranteed to be correct, but they’re certainly more persuasive than the anonymous noise on PaleNet.

I took another sip of coffee, pondering Dies Irae’s thought process when drafting his recruitment criteria.

Having once been part of a team myself, I could see what he valued and what kind of group he was trying to build.

Above all, Dies Irae prioritizes group stability.

His rejection of individuals with personal issues or disruptive tendencies shows his commitment to eliminating potential fractures in the group.

He aims to assemble a cohesive majority that can serve as a foundation for achieving larger goals.

Sure enough, his next post confirmed my suspicions:

Dies_Irae69: People are calling me a bigot and a misogynist, but I don’t harbor such feelings. The issue is that they cause conflict.

In a world where monsters, mutations, deserters, and bullets are constant threats, dying over some petty love triangle is ridiculous.

I don’t accept beautiful women—not because I dislike them. Who wouldn’t want beauty around? But they’re a source of conflict. Think they won’t be? Wait long enough, and problems will naturally arise. Time spares no one.

That’s why I said only couples are allowed. If you or your spouse is too attractive, I’d prefer you don’t apply.

Of course, if you’re skilled enough to overcome such issues, you’re welcome. Don’t hesitate to reach out, talented individuals. PaleNet users can leave private comments on the linked board. Users here can message me directly.

Regardless of personal opinions about him, it’s hard to deny his leadership abilities.

He’s maintained his group for nearly three years, and it’s only grown stronger.

From the photo alone, his group now exceeds twenty members—twice as many as when they took their victory photo after dealing with the Legion faction.

As food shortages grow and loneliness takes its toll, even users from our board, inspired by his ability to handle deserters, have started joining his group.

Notably, the photo didn’t include a single woman.

However, it seems joining Dies Irae’s group isn’t as simple as applying.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Message from Dies_Irae69: Hey, Skelton. Still alive?

It wasn’t long after his recruitment post that he messaged me.

Surprised by the rarity of such a gesture, I replied:

SKELTON: I’m alive. What’s up?

Feeling a bit of resentment toward him, I refrained from using the customary “headline” that was my trademark in replies.

It was a subtle way of keeping my distance.

But Dies Irae is a blunt and straightforward person.

Instead of pondering why Skelton wasn’t using his signature format, he cut straight to the point:

Dies_Irae69: You saw my recruitment post, right?

SKELTON: Yeah.

Dies_Irae69: You’re pre-approved.

"..."

We really don’t see eye to eye.

He and I stand on opposite ends of the spectrum—individual survivalism versus collective survivalism.

SKELTON: Sorry, but I’m not interested in joining.

We’re incompatible.

If Defender feels alienated around this guy, I have even less reason to team up with him.

Dies_Irae69: Fair enough. If you change your mind, let me know. Can’t promise there’ll still be a spot, though.

He accepted the rejection without hesitation.

But Dies Irae is a machine-like man, more so than I’d imagined.

"Dies Irae messaged me. Asked if I wanted to join his team. What’s he thinking?"

Around the same time, he also messaged Defender—someone he’d once tried to kill—to extend the same offer.

It seems he was willing to bury past grievances for the sake of future survival. But for me, sending such a message to someone he’d nearly executed felt absurd.

Regardless of my opinion, Dies Irae is clearly thriving.

The next day, he posted the results of his recruitment:

Dies_Irae69: Over a thousand applications. Most from PaleNet, but quite a few from our board too. Finally, the world recognizes our value.

*

Great people, they say, change on their own, like a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis.

But for ordinary folks like me, it’s usually external forces that push us into change.

In that sense, even the cold, calculating leader Dies Irae doesn’t seem so different from us.

Dies_Irae69: I’m really sorry, but I can’t take in all 1,000 applicants. The food we’ve produced this year can only feed 300 people on a three-meal-a-day basis.

You might wonder why I don’t just take in 300 people, but it’s not that simple.

Preservation isn’t as easy as it used to be, and I have to account for mold, pests, and natural disasters.

Dies_Irae69: This time, I’ll only accept 100 people. It might seem like too few, but I can’t manage more than that.

But if we make it through the next year, and I’m ready by then, we’ll truly make something big.

Let’s create an organization free from anyone’s control!

It wasn’t hard to notice that he’d lost some of his usual composure.

This wasn’t like him.

He’d already shown signs of instability before, but now it was clear he was crossing the line.

Dies_Irae69: Our team is based around Yongmunsan.

Revealing their location like that?

It seemed he’d forgotten his situation amidst the rise of devoted followers and supportive allies.

Perhaps the confidence boost came from the sheer number of applicants—1,000 people.

I wouldn’t say Dies Irae and I are close. If anything, I feel some animosity toward him. But we’ve met offline before.

He’s not alone.

He’s surrounded by his allies from the board.

Feeling uneasy, I decided to message him first.

SKELTON: Hey, isn’t this overconfidence? The Legion faction operates in Yongmunsan. How do you plan to deal with them?

Dies Irae isn’t quick to respond.

It took him an hour to reply.

Dies_Irae69: Oh, Skelton. Thinking of joining our team?

SKELTON: Read the message. I’m worried about you guys.

Dies_Irae69: Ah, that? Don’t worry. It’s intentional.

SKELTON: Intentional?

Dies_Irae69: I want to see how far we can go. :)

Judging by his words, it seemed like the kind of reckless confidence that leads people to self-destruction.

That’s how it felt to me, at least.

But I’ve seen him in person.

I know how he interacts with others and how easily he can take a life.

No matter how excited or overconfident he might seem, he’s not the kind of man to mindlessly destroy himself.

“...”

Something smelled off.

It reminded me of the countless foul odors I’d encountered in China—scents that heralded tragedy.

With that thought, I silently typed on my keyboard.

SKELTON: Dies Irae, what’s your intention?

Dies_Irae69: What do you mean? I’ve already explained.

Anger flared up within me.

Tatatatak.

SKELTON: Are you planning to use those recruits as cannon fodder?

It wasn’t like me to be so blunt.

This time, Dies Irae didn’t reply immediately.

The silence stretched long enough for me to feel it in my skin.

Finally, his response came.

Dies_Irae69: Skelton! What’s gotten into you? Did I do something wrong?

The time it took for him to reply didn’t cool my anger. If anything, it made my loathing for him simmer further.

SKELTON: You said you want to see how far you can go. Are you planning to test that with the recruits? To see how the Legion faction reacts?

It was a plausible scenario—for someone with a heart of steel.

After another pause, shorter this time, Dies Irae responded.

Dies_Irae69: Do you have a personal identification number?

I didn’t reply.

It wasn’t just the sense of malice I felt through the monitor.

A certainty had taken root within me: I shouldn’t get involved with this man.

*

Armeegruppe_B: Achtung!

A user presumed to hold a significant position in the Legion faction posted something.

It wasn’t a detailed post, just a single photograph.

The picture showed a towering mountain against the backdrop of a crisp autumn sky.

The mountain was cloaked in vibrant red foliage, yet it was hard to distinguish the red leaves from the flames consuming them.

I’m no expert on mountains, but board users quickly identified it as Yongmunsan.

ㅇㅇ : That Dies_69 guy? Acting all high and mighty, but in the end, the Legion brothers gave him a lesson.

ㅇㅇ : They didn’t even send people. Just bombarded him like a dog.

ㅇㅇ : That Dies bastard’s team? Bet all the fools who joined are dead too.

Users on our board didn’t explicitly comment on the photo, but I could sense their thoughts weren’t too different from those on PaleNet.

He overstepped.

He went up against a force thousands of times stronger than him.

But as always, the truth is far uglier than what meets the eye.

Message from Anonymous1524: Hi there, Skelton!

A user I didn’t recognize messaged me.

Figuring out who it was didn’t take much effort.

Message from Anonymous1524: You’re sharp. You immediately understood my intentions. Are you a Hunter? You must be. It’s obvious. There’s a certain aura about people who’ve fought monsters.

It was Dies Irae.

The same man who recruited innocent volunteers only to use them as cannon fodder for his experiments was now shamelessly extending his filthy hand to me under a new alias.

Message from Anonymous1524: As you can see, even the Legion faction couldn’t take us down. Want to know why?

Because I was part of the unit that became the foundation of the Legion faction. I know exactly how those bastards think. They’re playing right into my hands.

He attached a photo of a military cap he had worn during his active service.

The insignia, a black skull pierced by a dagger at its crown, was chilling.

I recognized that symbol.

It belonged to the infamous Annihilation Unit, a division accused of countless massacres during the collapse of North Korea, especially in Pyongyang.

Message from Anonymous1524: So, what do you think? Interested in joining us?

"..."

[ Would you like to block Dies_Irae69 (Anonymous1524)? ]

I once relied heavily on the block function.

Most of those blocks were later lifted—either by me or because the individuals in question didn’t survive the war.

But I was certain of one thing:

I would never unblock Dies Irae.