The Little Prince in the Ossuary - Chapter 284

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Chapter 284: Unread Messages

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「NationalBreadDuty: Gyeoul. Listen to brother for a second. A wonderful woman asked for you.」

「Saebom: Aaaaaaaah!」

「NationalBreadDuty: She said that if you would only give yourself to her, she would repay you with everything she had for the rest of her life. Of course you should accept an offer that good. Right? Don’t you feel sorry for her, just as a human being? You’re making brother feel sorry too.」

「richdog: That just now really had the same emotional impact as Joanna’s confession back then T_T」

「Saebom: It was a shame that his damn iron wall was still intact... But it was still good...」

「NationalBreadDuty: It still isn’t too late. In life, the moment you think it’s too late is the earliest moment. So I’m begging you. Turn around right now and go to that woman. Got it?」

「MorningChamIsul: I was a Joanna believer, but honestly, I admit I wavered.」

「conservative_extremist: I thought this before too, but that Chinese bitch is so fucking pretty it messes with my head.」

「HellExpert: Compared to Li Ailing, which one is better?」

「NationalBreadDuty: Gyeoul. Why aren’t you changing direction? Are you listening to me? The read mark hasn’t shown up this whole time... Brother is sad...」

「storm224: Hey lol, pick a fight you can win lol. You think some gangster’s daughter can compete? lololol」

「Meussiel: No, well, objectively speaking, Li Ailing is impressive too, but this time her opponent is bad. Even if she’s national-class, it doesn’t mean anything when the other side is cosmic-class...」

「conservative_extremist: You skipped world-class? lol. Still, I agree, freak lol.」

「lemonade: Still, I’m more drawn to that kid Woodbury than some shitty East Asian.」

「AekDda: That side has no chance, though.」

「lemonade: Does anyone in this channel have a chance? Feels like even the FBI agent won’t show anything until the end.」

「AppGirl: True. Since there’s no chance anyway, if I’m going to fantasize, I want Gyeoul to have something with Captain Singh. Hehe.」

「HalfHome: Hah, hah.」

「UltraCutie: Who tops and who bottoms? For that pairing, Gyeoul is the bottom after all, right?」

「Grade-9 Civil Servant: Fuck! Don’t make me imagine shit like that!」

「AppGirl: Wouldn’t it be fine even if Gyeoul topped? There’s a certain charm in the imbalance of the smaller one pushing down the bigger one♡ And with a strong body odor, I like how it can be unpleasant but still attractive.」

「Doochi: Wow, fuck... I hate gay streams. Just hearing about it hurts my eyes. -_-」

「storm224: Lady comrades. Please look for that sort of content in a faggot channel or a women-only channel.」

「UltraCutie: Do you people not know how to respect tastes?」

「Doochi: You’re the minority here, so respect our tastes, damn it.」

「Don’t_NickPun: That’s not how respecting tastes works...」

「NitrogenPack: Shut up, scholar.」

「FullTimeJessica: Right. Do not ruin this sacred channel. I am reverent right now.」

「100MillionDEBT: What sacred? What reverent? lol」

「100MillionDEBT: Anyway, I like this channel because the virtual personalities have pretty lines lol. The problem is that it skips sex, but now I kind of feel like I don’t care anymore lol.」

「unitythroughzen: Oh, at last, one sentient being has escaped the wheel of worldly desires. Congratulations. Buddhist, now enter nirvana.」

「BlackCat: The fake monk concept is talking nonsense again, meow.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: But it is kind of a shame.」

「IngrownToenail: What is?」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: First, I’m setting sex aside because Han Gyeoul is Han Gyeoul, but...」

「Wilma: What do you mean, because Han Gyeoul is Han Gyeoul? lololol. This one gave up too lololol」

「Meussiel: SlaveShowoff. No matter how bleak reality may be, people must not abandon hope.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: Shut up. Isn’t this world practically cleared already?」

「richdog: What are you talking about? Aside from North America, the rest of the regions should be crawling with mutant bastards.」

「Red October: Hmm, that’s a different matter. SlaveShowoff is right.」

「richdog: Huh? This is close to the ending?」

「Red October: No, not the ending. They said practically cleared.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: That’s exactly what I meant. This one gets it.」

「Red October: The ending is when the chance of humanity going extinct over the next ten years approaches 0%, but of course, that insane condition can’t be met. It says approaches 0%, not exactly 0%, so I suspect the ending judgment might appear when it reaches roughly 0.1%, 0.01%, or, at worst, around 0.001%. Even that alone is a condition you have to wonder if it was made to be cleared.」

「Cthulu: That’s right. There could be a 0.1% chance an underwater city suddenly rises to the surface.」

「まつみん: This person must be doing a Great Old One concept. (；◔д◔)」

「Cthulu: I’m real, though.」

「Tunguska: I have ten legs!」

「MoronlympicGold: Lunatics.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: Anyway, what I’m saying is, how likely is it that America collapses in Han Gyeoul’s world right now?」

「richdog: Hmm...」

「AngryNeeson55: Now that I hear it, that’s true. It may be impossible to get to 0%, but the probability doesn’t seem very high.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: Right? Even if we set the risk fucking high and call it 20%, if there’s an 80% chance left that it won’t end in extinction, couldn’t we roughly treat that as an ending with an 80% chance? Though depending on the next presidential election result, who knows.」

「Nuclear Power: It would be about a normal ending exclusively for dirt spoons, with no separate reward. That’s why poor-ass hosts who lacked the money to buy DLC all escaped to deserted islands without exception.」

「ProBacksoo: Really? I never saw that kind of thing.」

「Nuclear Power: Makes sense. There are barely any now. It was an early trend in 「Days after Apocalypse」 streams.」

「Cashmere: If you go to a deserted island, does some method appear?」

「Nuclear Power: It’s not that a method appears... Ugh, annoying. Explanation guy, appear.」

「Cashmere: Come on lol」

「Red October: First of all, isolated regions like deserted islands either have no enemies at all, or even if they do, they’re relatively easy to wipe out.」

「Cashmere: They said the infection spread early on because of Chinese fishing boats. What, were there a few fishing boats? A million? There must have been a ton of other ships besides fishing boats too, and tons of boat people from other countries, so there’s no way an island has no enemies just because it’s an island.」

「Red October: If there are survivors, you avoid them, join them, coexist with them, or fight them. Even if there are mutants, they’d be easier to kill than on the mainland.」

「Ephraim: Because there aren’t any being replenished from other regions?」

「BeenToDolce: Eh. Isn’t that not it? From what I saw, even when these things run out of food, they go into hibernation? Suspended animation? What was it called-」

「IsMugujeonggwangGreat: Sis. Metabolic Suppression.」

「BeenToDolce: Ah, right. Metabolic Suppression. Anyway, it looked like they stretch things to the limit with that, you know? If their numbers increase, special mutants appear at a fixed ratio too, right?」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: I know very well that is not the case.」

「BeenToDolce: Bullshit. -_- Did we watch the same stream?」

「Ephraim: Didn’t the host think through Teletype that special mutants probably had a quota too?」

「Red October: Nope.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: The environment is different, so the circumstances are different too.」

「Red October: The reason the mutants in the 「Days after Apocalypse」 world keep mutating and getting stronger is to overcome humanity’s resistance. In isolated regions like islands, or regions where organized human resistance ended early, there’s no motive for special mutants to appear.」

「Cashmere: Oh...」

「Don’t_NickPun: Their purpose is just to spread infection and increase their numbers. In a sense, even from the plague’s perspective, they’re fighting a warrior race so they won’t be wiped out. Once reproduction became possible, infection became a secondary objective.」

「groseillier noir: Oho. Hearing it like this gives it a new feeling!」

「HellExpert: That feels fucking weird lololol. The plague is trying not to go extinct lololol」

「UnderBlanketParkDanger: True lololol. Humans are a warrior race lololol」

「ZzaraPappa: So if there’s no need to fight humans, there’s no need to get stronger... Sounds plausible, but is this an official 「Days after Apocalypse」 setting?」

「Tunguska: Yes, that is correct!」

「Nuclear Power: I told you, ZzaraPappa, you blockhead. It’s already a past trend. That means it’s a fact confirmed through the streams of various star-chasing streamers.」

「ZzaraPappa: Blockhead -_-. It could have changed as the world setting updated, couldn’t it?」

「Nuclear Power: I call it a past trend, but there are still old star whores doing long-running streams with that concept, okay? Those old men are the proof.」

「conservative_extremist: It’s also a fact that old geezers have trouble adapting to change lololol. They act like getting old is some great achievement and only want the world to adjust to them lololol. I fucking hate their geezer bullshit lololol」

「Nuclear Power: So when they went to an island, the chance of dying fell way down, setting aside whether they cleared the world. They made bases there, formed survivor groups, collected supplies and food, and filled the stream content with survival activities.」

「まつみん: Wow. That sounds like it would have been fun in its own way.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: Only at first. It got boring fast. There’s a reason it became a past trend.」

「まつみん: Huh? Why?」

「conservative_extremist: Isn’t it obvious? lololol. Once they got onto an island, it became an endless loop of occasionally gathering supplies, running a community, and having sex lololol. Considering old star whores’ ability to empathize, the virtual personalities must have been screwed to hell, no doubt lololol. There’s no way it would be fun without character packages or extra charges lololol」

「まつみん: Ah...」

「conservative_extremist: The old generation’s defining trait is copying anything that goes well for someone else lololol. A dumbass generation that only ever ran chicken places, convenience stores, food trucks, and shit, while calling it business lololol. If there had only been one stream like that, it might still have had some charm lololol. Who gives stars to streams with no individuality? lololol No stars means they can’t buy DLC, no DLC means no competitive edge, and ah, everyone gets fucked together lololol」

「Red October: Bug bastard. Stop lol-ing already. Why are you so hyped today? We know you hate old geezers, and you look stupid.」

「まつみん: Really. Even if you say the same thing, I wish you would say it prettily.」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: The reason I say it’s a shame is also a content problem.」

「ProBacksoo: The content is fine if he keeps going like now, isn’t it?」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: I’m not exactly dissatisfied. I just think it’s a shame.」

「ProBacksoo: Because of sex?」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: I can’t deny that, but it’s not only because of that...」

「GrapesOfWrath: Right, even if you give up, you cannot deny the wish. T_T」

「HellExpert: I rate a host highly for coming this far with firm progression. But, you know, maybe it’s about time to start looking around a little? I wish the host would read this message.」

「Mustafa: It is said that such a thing did not happen.」

「FrankSausage: He doesn’t read because you people keep whining about sex so much it makes him sick lololol」

「NationwideSlaveShowoff: Anyway, what I mean is, wouldn’t it be nice to live a rich and luxurious life in a world that’s almost cleared? Other people would be jealous, you could build some pride, and eat as much food as you wanted that you ate not because it was tasty but because it was expensive. I’m as hungry for that kind of vicarious satisfaction as I am for sex.」

「Red October: I admit this.」

「Nuclear Power: I admit it.」

「richdog: Yeah. I fucking admit this with all my patriotism.」

「lemonade: Why does patriotism come up there? lol」

「HellExpert: Agreed. That’s my new goal. If this was all just about sex, there wouldn’t have been this kind of immersion.」

「HellExpert: Before I subscribed to this channel, I was planning to use only the solo sex service in the afterlife, no matter the world setting. Until my brain maintenance warranty ran out. But not anymore.」

「HalfHome: Hey lololol. Then were you originally planning to do nothing but have sex for 140 years?」

「Korean-AmericanAlliance: Huh? Wasn’t it fixed at 120 years unless you were Grade A or higher?」

「MarkIsGood: No. It increased recently.」

「YeminROCK: Again?」

「SweetMocha: Yeah. Since most old people without self-control go bankrupt early anyway, increasing it doesn’t really cause the Afterlife Insurance Authority any loss. I think it’s a kind of lip service.」

「RetiredInMy20s: To begin with, whether it’s 120 years or 140 years, it feels vague.」

「HellExpert: Now my afterlife dream is to take on a decent concept like Han Gyeoul and feel a sense of accomplishment. Status, sex, love, whatever it is, I guess I’ve realized all over again that it hits harder when it’s a reward for effort. I don’t know why something so obvious feels new.」

「Don’t_NickPun: Of course it would feel unfamiliar when you live a life trying to receive all your rewards after death.」

「Don’t_NickPun: I think there are so many people who go bankrupt after chasing only immediate pleasure in the afterlife because they enter without knowing how to live properly.」

「conservative_extremist: Don’t make me laugh, freak lololol. Where in the world is there love? lololol. If it’s not an addiction to brain drugs, then isn’t it just an agreement for sex? lololol」

「conservative_extremist: Bankruptcy? lololol. That’s just old geezers getting disposed of because they have no self-control and are stupid lololol. Stop letting weird people multiply lololol」

「WhatAreYou: Love is obviously a fantasy, but well, so what if it is the afterlife? The afterlife is an endless dream, isn’t it? In the paradise I want, I can enjoy things that don’t actually exist.」

「Chillichongkane: You are the true sage.」

「LMAO: An endless dream, huh. lol. How romantic.」

「HectopascalKick: I don’t want to be as frustrating as Han Gyeoul, and I don’t want to go out of my way to suffer like Han Gyeoul, but I do want the result. Honestly, I want it like crazy.」

「GoldenSpoon: Agreed. If it were for sale, I would be willing to take over this world setting exactly as it is now.」

「life sentence: Aren’t you the one who cursed him like hell in the beginning? lol」

「GoldenSpoon: I still think Han Gyeoul’s mindset is wrong. But the producer and the product are separate. When buying silk, people do not think of the silkworm first.」

「YeminROCK: This stream has something that makes me feel itchy the more I watch it. I know it doesn’t exist in reality, but it makes me remember things I once thought, long ago, very long ago, that I wished existed.」

「LendMeYourStrength: I know what that feels like. That’s exactly Santa Claus.」

「まつみん: Eh... Santa Claus really exists.」

「NitrogenPack: Matsuming, that old man got hit by anti-aircraft fire and died a long time ago. Now his brain has been pulled out and placed in the ossuary.」

「まつみん: Afterlife Insurance is too mean... Give me back my childlike innocence. (´；ω；｀)」

========== Author’s Note ==========

#Communication

Readers on other platforms, most notably Naver readers, seem to want to talk with me, but I’ve been worrying because there isn’t a good way to do it.

That’s also why I worked an answer I gave in the Q&A into this chapter. I thought if Joara readers were curious about it, Naver readers would probably be curious too. Mm, but it was a setting that needed to be included in the novel anyway.

#Q&A

Q. UnlimitedOne: @I always like how the idea that the heart is a limited resource comes through. When you live, it is also something you feel most keenly in interpersonal relationships.

A. Yes. I feel it very keenly too. The companion product, childlike innocence, is also a limited resource. If all you readers become good readers, the recovery rate of my childlike innocence increases.

Q. Bug: @ I see... So instead of making and using anti-plague bullets, ordinary bullets and hollow point bullets, since you can carve the cross directly into normal bullets, would be better for supply. They’d be cheaper too. Are they using napalm rounds? I think it came up before that they didn’t use them in case they caused mutation. And as expected, the eunuch protagonist blows up the chat again... His trauma must be pretty severe... Are only women who actively make physical charges able to get close to him?

A. The incendiary rounds used by the U.S. military are different from old-fashioned napalm. The compound used in new incendiary rounds is sometimes nicknamed Napalm B, so in a sense, you could say they are using it. For Gyeoul, the situation matters more than whether someone makes a physical charge. Joanna has not been accepted yet either. :)

Q. Sigyun: @So you really were keeping in mind that I told you I love you, author! I know everything.

A. No. I liked you first.

Q. qgegegqe: @This is it! Pure love, pure affection, single-hearted devotion!! I’m really not into harems. I like people talking about love even after losing about one eye like in The Garden of Sinners. Ahh, maybe just for today, I can believe in a happy ending.

A. Just for today?... Could you not just always believe in it...

Q. CurryRice: @Honestly, I think Gyeoul’s worst flaw is his sense of humor. What kind of jokes are these...

A. Still, he is better than Mister An Je-jung, isn’t he? Hehe.

Q. MikuHatsune: @It is always the best T_T I was trying to order books online and The Little Prince in the Ossuary came up. It looks like up to volume 2 is out. The books will come out all the way to the ending, right, author?? Should I order them right away? Where should I go to get your signature?

A. For signatures... Uh... I did say I would hold a signing event depending on the situation, but just thinking about it makes me feel like I am being publicly executed. Maybe there could be a method where I receive them by delivery and send them back by delivery...

Q. sj8077: @The attention of an Outer God is a disaster for mortals...

A. Huh? How can readers who have lived through 40,000 years over and over be mortals?

Q. Strawberry Munch Munch: @I will tell you one secret too. I really love your work, author. If I could, I could slap you across both cheeks with bundles of cash. Really.

A. I will tell you one more secret. If I get slapped across both cheeks with bundles of cash, I will die. Really.

Q. ShortDistance: @Author, I am curious whether, when you were planning Major Ju Wei, you thought of a real Chinese actress while writing her, and who that might be. (Rest omitted)

A. Uh... The reason I don’t describe appearances much is because I really do write without thinking much about appearances. I believe characters should be thoughts and actions more than appearances. That said, Fan Bingbing and Angelababy were mentioned in an article I referenced while verifying materials on the wealth level of Chinese celebrities.

Q. GreenTurtle: @How powerful are the acid babies Grumble throws? Are they strong enough to work even against a Bradley?

A. The Bradley’s armor is aluminum, so the matchup isn’t very good. But if it’s a latest-spec one with acid-resistant coating finished, it won’t even make a dent.

Q. Bunwood: @Is the time ratio between Days after Apocalypse and reality 1:1? If so, he couldn’t stream games 24 hours a day, so I’m curious what time Gyeoul plays and streams the game each day.

A. For now, it flows one-to-one, but sleep within the world setting passes quickly through Time Acceleration, and parts like long stretches of monotonous travel also pass through Time Acceleration again, so it isn’t a perfect one-to-one.

As for Gyeoul’s stream time, there is no official setting that fixes it from what time to what time. But in the author’s mind, at the current point in the story, I have it at an average of about 15 hours per day. He has one day off per week. Since the setting is that, among the many broadcast rooms, there are rooms gathered with only foreigners, the viewers are spread across various time zones.

Because the stream time is long, it is rare for people to watch the entire stream live in full, and as was briefly mentioned in the story, many use the automatic editing function. It is a function where the Control AI gathers viewers’ reactions and preferences, then reconstructs it like a movie that includes Sensory Synchronization. The viewer can also directly add or delete certain sections. New viewers who join use the same method.

The reason mostly the same viewers appear is, to some extent, also a compromise for convenience. Otherwise, it was hard to give the viewers character traits.

Q. Elysium: @(Omitted earlier part) Do you perhaps have any intention of making this world setting into another work someday, even in the far future? I think it is a truly wonderfully made world. Depending on who plays what kind of game, you could tell infinitely many stories, so it feels a bit regrettable for it to end only with the story of Gyeoul and Days after Apocalypse... (Middle omitted) Another thing I want to ask is whether this game might provide save slots as a clear bonus or DLC. (Rest omitted)

A. As I said before, I have an idea for a sequel work inheriting the Ossuary world setting, “The Road to Happiness.” But because there is a time gap between the eras, it is somewhat distant from the Ossuary world setting. Though Virtual Reality is still handled as an important subject.

The problem is that I don’t have much confidence in writing it. :)

The clear bonus is not save slots. That is a function subscribers of Grade B or below can only obtain through extra charges.

Footnotes:

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