Chapter 1

「There are Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse. I've forgotten a few of them by now. But one thing is certain. You, the one reading this, will survive.

―Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse Complete」

The old smartphone with the web novel platform open on it dragged the screen along as if it were struggling. I scrolled down, then back up again. How many times had I been doing that?

"Is this for real? This is the end?"

I looked again, and then looked again, but there was no mistaking that final character: Complete.

It meant the novel was over.

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『Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse』

Author: tls123

Total Chapters: 3,149

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A fantasy epic spanning a full 3,149 chapters, 『Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse』.

For short, TWSA.

I had been reading this novel steadily since my third year of middle school. When the bullies singled me out and ostracized me, when I screwed up my entrance exams and ended up at a third-rate provincial university, when a damned random draw went wrong and got me assigned to a frontline military unit, and even now, after changing jobs over and over and working as a contract employee at a subsidiary of a major corporation...

Damn it, let's not get into that. Anyway.

「Author’s Words: Thank you for reading TWSA all this time. I'll see you again in the epilogue!」

"Ah, so there's still an epilogue left. Then the next chapter is the real last one."

It had been a great journey that lasted more than ten years, from the tail end of my childhood all the way into adulthood.

The emptiness of a world coming to an end mixed with the fullness of finally getting to see that world's conclusion. I opened the comment window on the final chapter and rewrote the sentence several times.

―Kim Dokja: Author, thank you so much for everything. I'll be looking forward to the epilogue too.

It was a sentence filled with sincerity. There was so much more I wanted to write, things like TWSA was the novel of my life, or it might not have been popular, but to me it was the best novel. But I just couldn't bring myself to write any of it.

―Average views: 1.9

―Average comments: 1.08

That was TWSA's average popularity.

The first chapter had drawn views in the 1,200s, but after Chapter 10 that number had plunged to 120, and after another 50 chapters it became 12. Then from Chapter 100 onward, it stayed at 1.

Views: 1.

Sometimes a 2 appeared in the middle, but there was a good chance someone had simply clicked it by mistake. Looking at the countless 1s listed on the posts page, I was overcome with emotion all over again.

I was grateful.

Someone had serialized a novel with one view for over 3,000 chapters. For more than ten years, at that. Wasn't this, truly, a story written just for me?

―I recommend this insanely fun novel.

I clicked on the recommendation board and started hammering away at the keyboard without thinking. The author had written all the way to the end for free, so I should at least write one recommendation post. The moment I hit submit, comments appeared almost immediately.

―This looks like some new kind of anti. I searched this person's ID, and they've recommended the same novel several times.

―I thought self-promotion was banned? Author, you shouldn't be doing this here.

Only then did I remember that I'd written a recommendation post a few months ago too. In an instant, dozens of comments piled on, calling me an attention seeker and a moron. My face burned hot. I hurriedly tried to delete the post, but all that came up was a message saying it couldn't be removed because it had already been reported.

"God..."

The recommendation post I had written with such care had only ended up harming the work. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

If people would just stick with it a little longer, they'd see how good it was, so why wouldn't anyone read it? I wanted to at least send the author some support money, but there was no way a salaryman barely making enough to feed himself had that kind of spare cash.

That was when a notification popped up saying, You have received a message.

―tls123: Thank you.

A message out of nowhere. It took me a moment to understand the situation.

―Kim Dokja: Author?

tls123.

That was the author of TWSA.

―tls123: Thanks to you, I was able to make it all the way to the end. I even placed in a contest.

I couldn't believe it.

A contest? TWSA? That TWSA?

―Kim Dokja: Congratulations! What contest was it?

―tls123: It's an obscure contest, so you probably wouldn't know it.

For a moment, I wondered if the author was lying out of embarrassment. But I hoped it was true. You never knew. It might have flopped here, but maybe it could become a huge success on another platform. I felt a little disappointed, but if a good story spread far and wide, that was a good thing.

―tls123: As a thank-you, I'd like to send you a unique gift.

―Kim Dokja: A gift?

―tls123: This story was able to come into the world entirely thanks to you.

When the author asked for my email address, I gave the one I used most often.

―tls123: Oh, and the paid content schedule has been set too.

―Kim Dokja: Wow, really? Starting when? For a masterpiece like this, I should've been paying for it from the beginning.

Since TWSA was practically a daily serial, following it for a month would cost 3,000 won.[1] For me, 3,000 won was one convenience store lunchbox.

―tls123: Paid content starts tomorrow.

―Kim Dokja: Then is the epilogue going up tomorrow paid too?

―tls123: Yes, sorry, but I'm thinking of releasing it as paid content.

―Kim Dokja: Of course it should be paid! I'll definitely pay for the ending!

There was no reply from the author after that. It seemed they had logged out of the site. A belated emptiness washed over me. So now that they'd succeeded, they were leaving without even replying? My admiration turned into petty jealousy. What had I been so excited about? It wasn't even a novel I had written.

"Maybe it'll be a culture gift certificate. A 50,000-won one would be nice."[2]

Naively, that was the sort of thing I was thinking back then.

Without knowing anything about what was going to happen in the world the next day.