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◈ The Little Prince of the Ossuary

00001 <-- The Little Prince of the Ossuary -->

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The Little Prince of the Ossuary

#Beginning, Registration Number B612

It was dark. In the pitch-black void of zero gravity, the boy floated in a fetal position. A sight impossible outside of virtual reality. Here, one could witness 1,440 sunsets in a 24-hour day.

A false world responsive to one's will. No one else existed here.

Within arm's reach of the boy, the only light in the darkness flickered. It was a rectangular screen. Displayed on it were the people the boy was to impersonate. They were shouting fervently. Toni Morrison, Sadako Ogata, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler...

He had watched them long enough to memorize their words, accents, and gestures. The boy, whose heart was blanketed with snow, could easily mimic them.

To become an actor, one must learn to act. Immersing himself in acting and mastering it was a time of deepening gloom for the boy, but it was a necessary effort to obtain the stars. For the roses not to wither, there must be stars. Roses were beautiful despite their thorns. He didn't want to see the end of beauty, even if it meant bleeding while holding on to it.

The boy thought,

‘The outside world always forces me to be someone I'm not. Here, at least, I wanted to be just as I am.’

But it couldn't be helped. Once again, the boy decided to tame himself. If he could sometimes compromise with his true feelings and find enjoyment, it wouldn't be so difficult.

He was ready.

Let's begin.

The uninteresting story of the twenty-seventh game.

At that moment, the virtual reality universe ‘Days after Apocalyse’ began as always, with the monologue of an AI imitating the boy.

#Journal, Page 2, Camp Roberts

The origin of the apocalypse was China. A disease that turned humans into something non-human appeared, engulfing all of East Asia within a fortnight. The name of the plague was ‘Morgellons’. Now, it's said to be a threat even to Europe.

I was Korean.

I’m using past tense because I no longer have a country to return to.

Personally, I think I was lucky. I was in the United States on a student exchange program. Otherwise, by now, I'd be a walking corpse, devoured by the non-human entities.

Those who lost their countries were transported to camps. I was no exception. With martial law imposed, I could no longer stay with my host family.

Now, I reside at Camp Roberts. Originally a National Guard base, it was designated as the first refugee camp by the US. It's located roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The number of people being accommodated kept increasing. Now, five months after my arrival, the refugee camp had become a de facto city. After exceeding the capacity limit, the plan was to distribute the remaining population to Fort Hunter Liggett, about 50 kilometers northwest in a straight line from here.

From what I heard, that place is surrounded by mountains.

New camps were also being set up, I heard.

As the number of people increased, so did the unpleasant incidents. Refugees started forming organizations and began robbing people of their supplies. Some were even killed for resisting.

The names of these organizations were ominous. The ‘Heishehui’ (黑社會, Black Society) of the Chinese, the ‘Sumiyoshi-kai’ (住吉会, Sumiyoshi Association) of the Japanese - such names were originally those of violent gangs. There were rumors that the core members were from violent backgrounds.

The US military turned a blind eye to these organizations. I understand why. With only a battalion of management personnel and an overwhelming number of refugees, the US military might have needed middle managers.

To use a historical comparison, it's like the landowners in late Joseon hiring overseers. The resentment of the tenant farmers was directed not at the landowners but at the overseers, I learned. After all, these were people who had lost their countries. Negligence in management wouldn't lead to a diplomatic issue.

In the face of humanity's extinction, there were no civic groups to pester the government about human rights issues.

I heard rumors that the heads of these organizations were offering bribes to the US military battalion commanders. It's probably true. Yesterday, I saw members of the ‘Korean Patriotic Association’ dragging a woman along. She was screaming. A US soldier tried to intervene but after talking to one of the association members, he stopped interfering. He just frowned.

More about the treatment of refugees:

From 6th to 15th Street in Camp Roberts are barracks used by the stationed troops. Refugees caught in that area were invariably charged with attempted theft. Perhaps it's the sorrow of losing one's country, but the treatment of people from countries that had disappeared or were in a similar state was extremely poor. There was discrimination based on race. It became hard to find conscience and sympathy among people.

According to CNN reports, over 60% of the world's population may have mutated since the ‘Morgellons Outbreak’. In the face of humanity's extinction crisis, morals gradually disappeared. At Camp Roberts, one could physically feel that.

It's a sad thing.

#Journal, Page 5, Camp Roberts

Organizations formed in difficult times are usually nationalistic. And people in difficult situations need a scapegoat to vent their frustrations, while also seizing whatever they have.

Most of the refugees housed here were from Asia and Oceania. The majority were Chinese and Korean refugees, who harbored much resentment towards the Japanese.

As a result, a conflict broke out against the Japanese organizations. It was a fight between violent gangs, so calling it a conflict wasn't inappropriate.

Many Japanese were killed or ended up worse than dead. The largest Japanese organization, ‘Sumiyoshi-kai’, resisted desperately, but the scale was too different from the start.

The US military turned a blind eye again. Were they attracted to the idea of reducing the number of refugees? Although there were soldiers and officers who frowned, none of them took action. It's suspicious whether they received orders.

Later, fences were erected within the camp. Perhaps it was an attempt to prevent frequent conflicts? The camp was divided into smaller sections, with each section accommodating around 200 people based on nationality.

Amidst this, I was relatively safe. Thanks to my English skills, I went around interpreting for the US military. Surprisingly, not many refugees could speak English. Most were either tourists or businesspeople stranded here, or those who had fled immediately after the Morgellons crisis. The latter were overwhelmingly more.

People like me, who could converse freely in English, were treated like middle managers. More than anything, it felt good to be treated like a human by the US military. If you can't communicate, you're just an animal. I understand. They're in a precarious situation too.

「AI Advice (Insight Level 4): You can choose to accept or reject the role of a manager. If you accept, you will gain the favor of the US military. An upward adjustment will be applied to your reputation within the community. If you reject, there will be no visible benefits. However, there may be unknown disadvantages or advantages based on your current abilities. For more detailed advice, please upgrade your Insight skill.」

「Player's Choice: Accept the offer.」

For a minor like me to be a manager seemed absurd at first, and I wanted to refuse, but the US officer just chuckled. The US has always favored English speakers.

In the 1980s, the US wanted to support nationalist forces in Afghanistan to drive out the Soviets. The problem was that the CIA had no Arabic speakers at the time. It was impossible to find a financier. However, there was one Afghan nationalist leader who spoke English. Despite knowing his extremist tendencies, they had no choice but to support him, and he later formed the Taliban and screwed over the US.

The officer told me this story with a chuckle, and then said that I didn't really have a choice before assigning me the job forcefully.

I was put in charge of the solar power facilities. The work was carried out opposite the base, along Highway 101. The panels needed regular cleaning, and with the increase in population, new panels and transformers had to be installed.

Koreans were mobilized for this task. I was in charge of distributing food during the work. Adults who were old enough to be my parents tried to curry favor with me. Their smiles hid ulterior motives. Many adults tried to deceive me, thinking I was naive due to my age. It was chilling to think about.

Various organizations tried to recruit me. Logically, I felt I should join one somewhere. The number of English speakers would only increase. My position could become precarious at any time.

「AI Advice (Insight Level 4): You can decide to join an organization at this point. Joining an organization will provide you with various benefits. However, being part of a specific organization means you could become a target for others.」

「Player's Choice: Do not join any organization.」

But I didn't want to join any of them.

At one point, the ‘Korean Patriotic Association’ suggested I join their group and offered me a Japanese girl in return. I was honestly nauseated. When I refused, they seemed to think I was testing them. They asked if another organization had made a better offer or talked about considering the size and future prospects of their group rather than the terms. At one point, they even asked if I preferred men.

I might be naive about the ways of the world, but still, I wanted to behave in a way that preserved my humanity.

#Journal, Page 11, Camp Roberts

News came that an infection outbreak had occurred in San Francisco.

Given the camp's isolation from the outside world, news always arrived late. Considering how quickly Asia was devastated, the San Francisco Bay Area (including San Francisco itself, along with neighboring Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, and other cities) must be a living hell by now.

As evidence of this, from dawn onwards, convoys of vehicles started pouring into the camp. The arrivals were of various ethnicities, but mostly White and Black. Listening to them, most were speaking English, suggesting they were survivors who had escaped the city.

The tension among the US military guards was palpable. Their vigilance had noticeably sharpened, which was only natural given that there could be infected among the survivors from San Francisco.

‘Morgellons’ had no vaccine yet. Once infected, there was no way to prevent mutation into a variant form.

Even the refugees noticed this. They screamed for the new American arrivals to be kept away from them. The original spots used by the refugees were given to the American citizens, and the refugees moved to an expanded tent city beyond the water tower to the west of the base.

Right after the evening distribution, I heard some of the refugees plotting an escape.

「AI Advice (Insight Level 4): You can choose to escape with those planning to leave, report this to the camp command, or do nothing and simply observe. If you choose to escape, the tutorial ends, and if you report to the camp command, you will gain favor with the US military, but your relationship with some refugees will worsen. If you do nothing, your willpower will slightly decrease.」

「Player's Choice: Do nothing.」

For a moment, I considered escaping with them, leaving the camp behind and running to the safer central regions. But becoming a fugitive and surviving on my own was the real challenge. I might be shot on sight.

What about reporting it? That didn't appeal to me either. People would harbor resentment towards me. I wanted to avoid being silently killed as much as possible. The military would probably take some action, but it didn't seem like it would be enough. They had been short on resources for a long time.

So, I decided to just stay put. A sense of guilt overwhelmed me.

「Willpower reduction occurred / Specific details unknown」

Late at night, gunfire rang out repeatedly. I covered my ears and forced myself back to sleep, but in the end, I couldn't fall asleep again. In the early morning, when I went outside, the barbed wire was stained with blood. Shreds of flesh and clothing hung messily on it. The no-man's-land beyond the wire was filled with death. Birds swooped down to peck at the corpses. I wondered how many had died and how many had successfully escaped.

I skipped breakfast. I had no appetite.

#Journal, Page 16, Camp Roberts

The infection had spread.

Reports indicated that an unknown number of mutated variants had escaped the containment line around San Francisco Bay.

Just four days later, Sacramento was ablaze. Despite the massive deployment of federal and National Guard troops, it was impossible to stop the mutated citizens.

About 70% of the city's population was estimated to have mutated, exceeding 300,000 individuals. Even if these entities lacked the intelligence they once possessed as humans, their physical capabilities far surpassed those of humans and their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

Several refugee camps on the outskirts were swept away. Even if it's just a few camps, we're talking about tens of thousands of people. The military then executed the maximum rescue operation possible before dropping several nuclear bombs on the eastern side of the city.

It was a stopgap measure.

China, the first country to collapse due to ‘Morgellons’, was a nuclear power. When the infection became uncontrollable despite the mobilization of the military, China used a massive amount of nuclear weapons on the infected areas. They ignored the criticism for abandoning their citizens, stating that the mutated variants could no longer be considered human, but there would have been uninfected citizens there as well.

Immediately after the nuclear use, the number of mutated variants dropped sharply. The military was deployed, and it seemed like control was being regained. However, the infection soon began to spread rapidly again.

Experts speculate that the nuclear explosions might have lifted contaminated material with ‘Morgellons’ pathogens into the updraft, which then spread with the prevailing winds along with the fallout. As a result, China collapsed even faster due to the use of nuclear weapons.

Westerly winds blow on the US West Coast. Dropping nuclear bombs on Sacramento could potentially spread contamination to the central US regions. Before the nuclear attack began, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had issued evacuation orders to all residents in California's yet uninfected areas, as well as Nevada and Arizona.

The camp's refugee area was in silent chaos. Strong protests demanding evacuation erupted. A tragedy occurred. When the agitated protesters knocked down the perimeter fence, the US military opened fire.

Thinking about it coldly, the National Guard soldiers probably wanted to flee just as badly. Overwhelmed by anxiety, fatigue, and depression, even the officers couldn't control the soldiers' excessive response. In just a few minutes, more than 700 people were massacred.

Fear dominated everyone. The uncertainty of when one might die could not outweigh the fear of imminent death. A strange sense of calm ensued.

Later, I learned that mutated variants had also appeared in the small town of San Miguel to the south. Now, both the north and south of the camp were infected areas. This was why the federal government had given up on evacuating the refugees. The US military stationed at the camp was in the same situation; their movements were restricted. Incidents of some ill-tempered soldiers assaulting refugees increased. From their perspective, they were in danger of dying because of the refugees.

Footnotes:

[1] Heishehui (黑社會): Translates directly to "Black Society" in Chinese and is a term often used to refer to the Chinese underworld or organized crime societies, similar to the Triads. 

[2] Sumiyoshi-kai (住吉会): One of the largest Yakuza groups in Japan.

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