WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 1: I Received $1 Trillion
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I like construction simulation games.
Games about building cities, amusement parks, or even running a country, that sort of thing.
I normally didn't have much time to play them, though. I was too busy just trying to make a living.
My parents died in a car accident when I was a month away from being discharged from the military, and I had to bounce between every kind of part-time job just to survive.
Of course, I hadn't planned to work part-time jobs forever. It didn't even have to be a famous conglomerate. I just wanted to use my degree and earn a stable living like everyone else.
But computer engineering, my major, had become dog shit. No, it became worth even less than dog shit.
[Title] A Really Funny Prank (431 comments)
- Make them study for sixteen years from elementary school through college, then replace them with AI lololol
Anyone else get screwed by this?
Me first lololol
[Comments]
└ Holy fucking shit!!!!
└ I thought hardware would get replaced first...
└ Is our school's computer engineering admission score for real??? It was clearly Grade 2 until last year, so why is it 4.7 this year?
└ Even the University of Tokyo computer engineering department only got one person employed this year lmfaooooo We're so fucked lmao
In other words, it meant we were fucked.
Of course, even in that hellscape, the monster classmates who had kept their grades up, won competitions, and built up impressive credentials through internships at major companies somehow survived and found jobs.
People like me were the problem. People whose parents had both died and whose mental state had gone to pieces.
There were so many expenses from the funeral onward that graduation wasn't the issue. I needed cash right then. So I did every job that paid decently: loading and unloading, construction labor, working at barbecue restaurants, everything.
"Here's your pay for today. Good work."
"Thanks!"
With the money I'd sweated for at the construction site today, I stopped by a convenience store on my way home and bought an instant lottery ticket.
Nothing grand. Just one $2 Speetto ticket every week. A little reward for myself after working my ass off.
Obviously, I wasn't expecting much. I was aiming for fourth prize, around $100...
'Oh.'
I won.
* * *
I had $733,000.
The original prize had been $1 million, but it had dropped to $700,000 after taxes.
Even after receiving the winnings, I stood there in a daze for quite a while. I vaguely remembered the bank employee trying to sell me some financial product, but I couldn't recall much else.
'Huh...'
If I hadn't suddenly felt something cold on my cheek, I might have stayed there longer. I touched it with a finger.
Snow.
Only then did I notice the colorful decorations hanging all over the streets.
Come to think of it, tomorrow was Christmas.
'Let's see. With $700,000...'
I had the house I inherited. If I kept working part-time, I could probably get by with just three shifts a week from now on. Maybe I could even finish college.
'I'll finally get to rest...'
I'd worked myself to the bone all week, every week. Had my day in the sun finally come?
Since things had worked out like this, maybe I should go see Seoul for the first time in ages.
[This station is Hongdae Entrance, Hongdae Entrance Station. The doors will open on your left.]
Seoul’s Hongdae neighborhood was packed with people in every direction, fitting for the end of the year. Young couples dressed to the nines, cosmetics shops calling out to passersby, people flash-mobbing in the street while they danced...
With a little breathing room, I was finally starting to notice the scenery around me. I didn't think I'd even had the presence of mind to look at things like this before.
Then something familiar caught my eye.
It was across the street, so I couldn't make it out clearly, but it was probably one of those fundraising jobs where you get people to stick stickers onto a board.
The kind where they put up pictures of starving African children and divide the board with phrases like, <Which of these do you think children need most? 1. Clean water, 2. Mosquito nets, 3. Medicine.>, then get people to put on stickers.
Naturally, I'd done that job myself.
The incentives per donation were fairly nice if you were good at talking, and they'd told me I had talent and should keep working there. But it had felt like I was conning people, so I'd quit...
Looking at it now brought on a strange feeling.
As I walked past with those complicated thoughts, I noticed something odd.
For one thing, there were no pictures of African children on the board. Instead...
"Excuse me, would you like to take a survey? It'll really only take a moment!"
A female part-timer in red clothing reminiscent of the Salvation Army strode right up to me. Her nose and cheeks were bright red, probably from rushing around in the cold all day.
She looked like my past self, and that made my heart soften for no reason.
"Sure."
Maybe that was why I readily agreed to the survey. I had $700,000 now, after all. I could afford to be generous with a $30 monthly donation.
"Thank you! Then could you read this for a moment?"
The part-timer, who had somehow moved beside me, pointed at the board. Rather than pictures of starving children, it contained a bizarre message.
「1. What do you consider most important in an apocalypse?」
1. Trustworthy companions
2. Survival skills
3. A safe shelter
4. Personal combat prowess
...Was this some kind of game promotion rather than a monthly donation?
"If you've read it all, just pick one of these!"
She had moved beside me again and naturally held out a touchscreen. Surveys used touchscreens these days?
I hadn't expected this.
After briefly watching for cues, I gave it some thought and selected number three, a safe shelter. There wasn't any special reason. It was just that number three felt most like the construction games I enjoyed.
A result appeared on the screen.
「15% of respondents made the same choice as you!」
That was all?
I barely had time to be surprised by the unexpected result before the next question appeared with a cheerful alert sound.
「2. Which shelter type do you prefer?」
1. Underground bunker
2. Fortified aboveground base
3. Camouflaged shelter
After some casual thought, I pressed number one. A statistic saying 20% had made the same choice appeared, followed immediately by the next question.
'There are more questions than I expected.'
Maybe it was the ease provided by the $700,000 in my pocket. I seriously considered questions I normally would have just skimmed through. The part-timer standing beside me waited quietly without rushing me even once.
Living through an apocalypse after building the perfect shelter. It was something I'd imagined from time to time even after becoming an adult.
「14. If you encountered refugees, what would you do? (Assume they do not know the shelter's location.)」
1. They are a threat. Deal with them.
2. Drive them away.
3. Pretend not to notice them.
4. Secretly help them without being discovered.
5. Help them openly.
My finger went to number three. Only 9% had made the same choice. Were people just pretending to be kind because someone else was watching?
By this point, the survey itself had become fun. After answering dozens of questions, I was already nearing the end.
「49. Please describe your ideal shelter in detail.」
Question forty-nine required a written answer. I had plenty of time anyway, so I began writing out the shelter I had usually designed only in my head.
'A nuclear bunker should be built beneath granite bedrock. Dig several hundred meters underground, then install double composite armored doors several meters thick. Naturally, it needs backup power facilities, a shock-absorbing design that can withstand earthquakes, and the bigger the interior, the better. The HVAC system should be state-of-the-art, with a massive hydroponic farm and recreational facilities inside too. A self-sufficient setup.'
After writing that much, I glanced sideways.
The part-timer was still smiling brightly without a word.
That meant I could write more, right?
Since things had come to this, I decided to let loose every dream and desire I'd kept bottled up.
The entrance would be large enough for tanks to pass through. Inside, I'd line up dozens of modern tanks like some secret US military base.
Of course, maintaining a facility this huge would require an enormous workforce, but humans had to eat and would complain, so I'd roughly cover it with ultra-high-performance AI and robots. I knew modern technology couldn't make that happen, but this was a game anyway.
The look in the part-timer's eyes became a little strange when I wrote, 'Generate power with an SMR reactor,' but I pretended not to notice. At this point, I was already getting carried away.
Who cared whether the technology had been commercialized or whether it was unrealistic?
'Since a large entrance would be easy to spot, add camouflage for heat exhaust vents and an optical camouflage field. Put blast valves in the ventilation shafts in case of explosions. Water pipes could be cut off in an apocalypse, so independent water supply, sewage, and wastewater systems are essential too...'
By this point, it felt less like designing a shelter and more like designing humanity's last ark.
What else would I need?
'Install internal bulkheads in case one section gets breached or contaminated. A robot repair station, industrial 3D printers for manufacturing parts, reconnaissance drones...'
Mental health was important for survival too.
'Sunlight-mimicking LEDs with color temperatures that change over time, speakers playing natural sounds to prevent auditory hallucinations, an escape shaft in case the main gate collapses. Oh, and I can't leave out a waste disposal system. People should get to eat meat occasionally, so let's add a cultivated-meat printer too.'
I wasn't done yet. Electronic warfare countermeasures remained.
'An EMP would render everything useless, so build a special alloy mesh that channels electromagnetic waves into the ground. Physically isolate it from external networks to prevent hacking...'
I generously added remote surgery robots to handle medical care.
And living in such a huge shelter without internet would be boring, so I improved that side as well.
'Launch hundreds of satellites like Starlink and build a community for survivors that works without base stations. Wouldn't information exchange become more active if we created a virtual economy with digital tokens too?'
I tapped my pen against my chin for several more minutes before finally setting it down with satisfaction.
The result was:
「Calculating the cost of the shelter you designed.」
「Estimated cost... $1 trillion!」
「Number one in the world! A new all-time record!」
An absurd amount appeared on the screen. It easily exceeded South Korea's annual national budget.
'That's insane.'
The system had apparently assigned whatever price it wanted because the design included several technologies that either hadn't been commercialized or were unrealistic from the start.
The final question, meant to cap off the survey, appeared.
「50. If you could spend your entire fortune to purchase the shelter you designed yourself, would you do so?」
There was no need to think about this one.
'Absolutely.'
Reality didn't matter. This was about living the dream. What guy hadn't dreamed of having his own secret base as a kid?
Batman proved it by wandering around the Batcave instead of living in a penthouse worth hundreds of billions.
I firmly pressed the 「Yes」 button.
"That'll be $60!"
At that moment, the part-timer who had quietly stayed beside me spoke.
"Sorry...?"
When I turned my head, a square game case was in her hand. From the cover, it looked like the game was called <Shelter Builder>.
"Wouldn't you like to make all the things you just described yourself? It costs $60!"
It was expensive. If I were my usual self, I would have bowed my head in apology and left.
But who was I now? A winner holding the enormous sum of $700,000.
'I should buy at least one.'
Considering it payment for patiently listening to my wildly overblown fantasies for nearly an hour, it didn't feel wasteful. Besides, it was the end of the year, and I didn't have anything else to do.
As if enchanted, I opened my wallet. And, incredibly enough, there was exactly $60 in cash inside. Other than my bank balance, it was practically all the money I had on hand.
Thinking how strange that was, I reached to take the game case.
Squeeze!
For some reason, the part-timer gripped one end of the case tightly and wouldn't let go.
Was she about to tell me some warning, like it only worked on a specific device or couldn't be refunded?
But my expectation was spectacularly wrong.
"You can only play the demo version for exactly one month! Got it?"
"...One month?"
"The full release comes after that. So make your shelter amazing in the meantime! Ice ages, nuclear war, natural disasters, pandemics... There are lots of kinds of apocalypse, right? It'll be more fun if you build it while considering all of them!"
Overwhelmed by her momentum, I could only nod as if under a spell. Then she smiled meaningfully and added:
"Make sure you survive! You can do it!"
Make sure I survived? Was that some kind of game tagline?
She clenched a fist in a fighting pose, gathered up her board, and vanished into the crowd in an instant.
...What was with that person?
* * *
I went straight home. I ordered a boneless fried chicken and cheese ball set, something I normally wouldn't have even considered, and installed the game on my gaming laptop.
Along with the CD, it came with a serial key that allowed me to download the game. A physical CD in this day and age. Apparently, the game company had a soft spot for the old days.
The download didn't take long. Ten minutes at most.
While I waited, the part-timer's words suddenly came back to me.
"You can only play the demo version for exactly one month!"
Maybe those words triggered it. A setting straight out of a web novel passed through my mind.
An apocalypse breaks out one month later, and the shelter I built in the game becomes real, leaving me to survive inside it.
I snickered and put a piece of freshly delivered chicken into my mouth. The rich, greasy flavor filling my mouth mixed with the reality of having $700,000 and put me at ease. With money, even fantasies like this became pleasant entertainment.
'Shall I give it a try?'
I started the game lightly.
「Please choose a location to build your shelter.」
「※ We recommend using the map feature or personally scouting the location.」
「Starting funds: $1,000,000,000,000」
"That is a lot..."
Just counting the zeros on the screen was enough to make my eyes blur. The number carried enough weight that it was hard to dismiss as mere game currency.
The game was a typical top-down simulation viewed from the sky. It resembled the games I usually enjoyed, so I got used to the controls quickly.
'It looks like Google satellite maps.'
On a whim, I searched the address of my home. The game screen immediately moved, displaying a view of the neighborhood around it.
This was in the game?
The old housing complex where I lived, the convenience store I frequented nearby, even the names of the surrounding shops were identical.
It was using a real existing space as the entire game map. It was a technique commonly used when apocalypse survival games had been popular a few years ago.
OpenStreetMap, or OSM, was it?
I still had enough experience from being put through the wringer in computer engineering to possess at least some basic knowledge.
'Why is the UI so complicated?'
Starting with a 「Map」 tab that resembled a detailed satellite map, there were 「Geology/Environmental Analysis」, 「Structural Excavation/Pouring」, 「Facilities/Basic Construction」, 「Energy/HVAC Systems」, 「Food/Ecosystems」, 「Water/Waste」, 「Supplies/Strategic Assets」, 「Research/Technological Development」, 「Defense/Security」, 「Residence/Personnel Management」, and more...
"Insane..."
The tiny categories alone were enough to make my head spin. This clearly wasn't a game that only looked plausible on the surface.
This was a full-on game for obsessive nerds.
Games that valued detail to an almost perverse degree. Tactical war games and all kinds of simulations fell into that category. <Shelter Builder> seemed to be one of them.
The dense UI was itself a barrier to entry, but for users who were crazy about this kind of thing, users like me, it was practically heaven.
The downside was that they devoured an overwhelming amount of time.
Since I had to spend most of my time on part-time work, I'd usually watched streamers play games like this for vicarious satisfaction rather than playing them myself.
Of course, I had no intention of doing that anymore.
I had time to spare now.
I sipped zero-calorie cola and fiddled with the UI. Fortunately, there was at least a basic tutorial.
「Choose a location to build your shelter.」
※ We recommend using the map feature or personally scouting the location.
※ [Warning] Once you designate your shelter's location, it cannot be changed!
Ah, I couldn't change the location once I chose it? Was it hardcore by design?
I liked difficult games, so I was fine with it, but I wondered whether other users would like it.
But this game...
「Recommended Locations」
⦁1. Changsu Township, Pocheon City, Gyeonggi Province: Deep in the mountains. Excellent bedrock strength. Numerous nearby military facilities make supplies and defense advantageous.
⦁2. Border between Inje County and Yangyang County, Gangwon Province: Inside a rugged granite mountain range. Located in the Daebo granite region, making it highly resistant to external shocks.
⦁3. Mount Gayasan area, Geochang County and Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang Province: Geological stability verified. Safe from natural disasters.
"...?"
It was far more serious than I had expected.
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