WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Unlimited Money Shelter of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 5: The Government Is Watching You
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[headpats: Review of <Shelter Builder>, an unreleased demo-version shit game I got forced into buying on the street.]
It was a title I simply couldn't pass by.
Overcome by a strange certainty so intense that my fingertips tingled, I clicked the post as if possessed.
headpats: It's a $5 shit game I bought on the street. The UI is ancient, and the quality-of-life features are dogshit. The map feature is amazing, though. It's even got building materials that make you go, “Wait, they have this too?” Lots of bugs, obviously. It tells you to build a shelter, then only gives you $50,000.
It was the exact same game!
Everything from the UI to the graphics was identical, except for one thing.
The starting funds displayed in the upper-left corner of the screenshot.
headpats had started with a mere $50,000. It was nowhere near enough to build a proper shelter, let alone a single container-style shelter.
...Could it be that every user received different starting funds?
The air in the dark room suddenly felt colder. I sat up, turned on the light, and began carefully reading the user's posts from start to finish.
headpats: They were conducting a survey on Bryant Street in New York on Christmas Eve. I think I answered about three questions. They told me to stop because that was enough.
headpats: Then out of nowhere, they asked if I wanted to buy one for $5. I didn't have anything to do at the end of the year, so I bought it.
headpats: Anyway, the satellite map function is pretty useful. It even shows this tiny hot dog stand in my neighborhood. Map freaks would lose their minds.
That was the end of the post. As befitted a massive community with millions of active users, it was quickly buried beneath a wave of new posts.
But it was enough of a clue.
I immediately opened my smartphone's notes app and wrote down what I had learned.
First, Shelter Builder had most likely conducted a worldwide promotion on Christmas Eve.
Second, not only were the users' starting funds different, but even the price they paid for the game varied.
Third, unlike me, who had gone through fifty survey questions, he had purchased the game after answering only three.
I underlined the words “number of survey questions” on my screen several times.
Did the number of survey questions affect the starting funds? Could something written on a touchpad really be linked to the game that immediately? What was the criterion?
“...”
Amid the silence filling the room, the first survey question crossed my mind.
What did I think was most important in an apocalypse?
Trustworthy companions, survival skills, a safe shelter, or personal combat ability.
Just as I was searching my memory for the other questions and continuing my notes, headpats made another post.
headpats: This game is kind of weird.
headpats: Just in case, I opened Google Maps and compared them. That tiny hot dog stand on the game map doesn't show up on Google, right?
headpats: It felt weird, so I searched for a military base near my house. Why the hell does this show up too??
headpats: Wait, wait. Let me check a little more.
Exactly ten minutes later, he added another post.
headpats: I didn't search Area 51, where they abduct aliens to experiment on them, because I don't want some government agency hauling me away. But seriously, it shows just about everything. Whoever made this probably won't die peacefully.
Several screenshots were attached beneath the post, apparently rough photos of his monitor taken with a smartphone.
A place that looked like a military facility at a glance. All sorts of bombers and fighter jets lined up conspicuously on the runway. Classified areas that were censored from ordinary satellite images.
At first, his post seemed destined to be buried beneath the flood of new posts, but only minutes later, it caused an enormous stir.
wicked: Fake?
NYTopia: They were selling this in Manhattan on Christmas Eve too. Do you live there?
rokario: Holy shit. That's a B-21 bomber. Take this down fast. You could seriously get fucked.
It took only three minutes for the view count to exceed tens of thousands and the comments to break one thousand.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The notification sounds began going wild as comments multiplied at a manic pace.
And then.
[This post has been deleted by a community administrator.]
As if on cue, the deafening noise stopped cold.
“...”
A chill ran through me, as though some enormous invisible hand had covered the screen. I remained frozen there like a statue for several minutes.
After blinking my dry eyes a few times, I clicked headpats's profile. I had added them as a friend just in case.
[User does not exist.]
Ah.
Pokelove: Is this for real?
strivin_slowly: ?
Korg-nar: I'm not the only one who saw that, right?
kadd155: LOLLOLOLLOLLOL
familirgtp: The government is watching us! Fucking Big Brother is watching us!
CHAT11: You fucking Chinese bastards!!! Chinese spies again!!!
When the original post vanished without a trace, the community erupted like an active volcano.
Internet hyenas who had captured screenshots in that brief instant began spreading them through every gallery and forum.
Even as the pixels degraded through screenshot after screenshot, a few basement military experts dissected the images pixel by pixel.
marchel: Not edited. And it's not an old leak or a photo released to civilians, either. I'm in the industry, and this is real.
ZOMBIE_MAN: Look at the lens distortion. I estimated the altitude. This wasn't taken by a drone, but an actual satellite. Holy shit lololol.
navy_lover: It's definitely the 509th Bomb Wing in the U.S. state of Missouri. It even has a hangar that was built just a few days ago. This photo is extremely recent. Seeing this makes me want to try it. Where do you live? Let me try too.
Posts and comments raising suspicions were being recreated several times faster than they could be deleted.
A handful of administrators clearly couldn't handle it. Unless the entire server was forcibly shut down, it seemed impossible to stop.
[ZOMBIE_MAN: Buying that “game” for $100~ (21023)]
[onisan: Evidence that Soviet spies or neo-Nazis are involved (4123)]
[White_hacker123: Looks like the government deleted it (8123)]
.
.
.
It truly was North America's largest community. Every time I refreshed, views surged by tens of thousands per second, while comments multiplied exponentially.
It was enough to make my spine go cold.
“...”
I believed in the competence of the United States government.
More precisely, I believed in the capabilities of the top one percent of professionals who kept a developed nation like America running.
If this game had been the product of a particular nation, whether America, China, or Russia, they would not have handled it so incompetently and sloppily.
They would have prevented this situation from arising in the first place. They would have made sure the game never reached civilians. Before anyone could post about it, the CIA or FBI would have contacted the sellers.
They would not have let things spiral out of control like this.
Therefore, what the current situation meant was...
Pop!
[Unable to connect to the server. Please try again.]
The moment my thoughts reached that point, the screen crashed.
I tried reconnecting, but it was useless. Only the frozen loading window spun in circles.
A server that had remained stable even when tens of millions flooded in simultaneously every day had gone down in an instant.
Only after staring at the faintly trembling screen did I realize that my hand was trembling.
In the blackened laptop screen sat a man wearing an expression I didn't recognize. Pale with fear, he reached out and quietly launched the game.
Praying desperately that his ominous prediction would be wrong.
「Until demo service ends: 28 days」
But the moment I saw the impersonal countdown floating in the center of the screen,
I could no longer laugh.
* * *
By early morning, the storm raised by a North American user had already crossed the ocean and reached Korea.
HotGaller: Today's update on the American game causing an uproar.. real (1,220)
Anonymous: What the hell is going on with America? lolololol (Photo) (727)
At the very top of the community, a place only posts with enough recommendations could reach, the images from the North American community had been translated and compiled into a neat summary.
Anonymous: There are tons of verification posts besides that one. More people bought the game than you'd think. It even captures the empty open ocean pixel by pixel. If you put in the right coordinates, you could probably photograph every warship in the Pacific Fleet.
ShibaDog: If I download that, am I gonna get hauled off for a little “enhanced interrogation”?
pony: Fuck! I posted it first! Why's that bastard the only one who made it to the top posts!!!!
Anonymous: But wasn't this released in Korea too? I'm not sure, but I think I saw a similar promotion in Seoul’s Myeongdong shopping district while walking by on Christmas Eve.
Anonymous: Myeongdong on Christmas Eve? You smug bastard...?
Mwahahang1457: Christmas Eve?
Anonymous: Believe in God. Judgment Day is coming. The sky grows redder by the day, and collisions between the stars are becoming more frequent...
Every time I refreshed, posts flooded the screen without pause.
Most were bait or attention-seeking posts, but amid that chaos were several that made my eyes stop.
Nyoryong: My experience playing Shelter Builder, which I bought directly in Busan City.
Eomchangi: Purchase verification~ Bought it for $3 in Suwon City~
When I clicked the posts, screenshots of game screens completely identical to the one on my laptop appeared.
I maximized the images and checked their starting funds first.
In Nyoryong's case, it was $100,000. In Eomchangi's case, $20,000.
They were different. That settled it.
It looked as though neither of them had been able to properly begin construction because their starting funds were so woefully inadequate.
Hundreds of comments quickly followed beneath the verification posts.
Anonymous: Does it really show all our military bases too? Can you verify whether the division near my house shows up?
Anonymous: Sp... spy... bastards... all... die...
Anonymous: So what kind of game is it, anyway? I heard it's an autism simulator made by some map-obsessed asshole.
DateWithTheHeadMod: Seems like an apocalypse survival game where you build a bunker. Steam is full of similar indie games.
Nyoryong, OP: But how are you supposed to build a bunker with $100,000? If you buried a few water tanks or containers, you'd probably be out of money.
Anonymous: That's why people are calling it a shit game. The starting funds seem completely random for each user. Most Korean players are around the same range, but I saw a few people in American communities who started with over $10 million. I haven't seen anyone in the hundreds of millions of dollars yet.
Nyoryong, OP: This stupid game doesn't even allow microtransactions.
Anonymous: Promotional marketing is getting way too obvious these days.
.
.
.
Posts appeared far faster than I could scroll down.
I still couldn't determine the criterion for the starting funds, but it didn't seem likely that I was the only person given an astronomical sum in the trillions.
“Young man! How many times do I have to tell you? There are absolutely no refunds! I gave you a huge discount for a long stay. This isn't right!”
“I'm sorry. Something urgent suddenly came up at work. Couldn't you at least give me half back?”
“Tch!”
After arguing for a while, I got my motel fee refunded and left the counter. I didn't think I would have much reason to visit the motel during the remaining twenty-eight days.
I would be spending most of my time in the mountains, after all. It was a precaution against the troublesome possibility that the police might be called because the long-term guest had vanished without a word for days.
From now on, I would pitch a tent and camp in the mountains, then reserve and visit nearby motels every two or three days whenever I needed a shower.
‘The Starlink should take around three days to arrive... And since I'll be living and eating in the mountains from now on, I need to buy a sleeping bag and other supplies. My schedule will be pretty tight.’
With a bag full of belongings slung over my shoulder, I arrived near the terminal and turned on my laptop. Just in case, I began digging through the game interface again.
I had already spent entire days reviewing it several times, but with its archaic and unfriendly UI, there might have been elements I had overlooked.
Even though I considered myself fairly skilled at construction simulation games, this game's interface was viciously complicated.
It was like a wiki with documents linked inside documents, with still more documents hidden inside those.
‘Nothing especially unusual...’
Unable to shake my unease, I turned to the food supplies and daily necessities category I had noticed before.
[ ■ Logistics Depot ]
• Combat Rations, 1 Box (36 servings)
• Unit price: $180
• Status: [Available for Purchase]
• Purified and Survival Water (5L x 20 packs)
• Unit price: $65
• Status: [Available for Purchase]
• NBC Gas Mask and Filter Canister Set (CBRN Standard)
• Unit price: $450
• Status: [Available for Purchase]
• Emergency Trauma Kit (Military Grade 1)
• Unit price: $380
• Status: [Available for Purchase]
A question suddenly occurred to me.
If I bought the items here now, would they fill the warehouse after the demo period ended? Or would they materialize in reality immediately, like the construction materials?
There was only one way to find out.
「Product: You have purchased ‘Combat Rations, 1 Box (36 servings).’」
With a heavy scraping sound, an ocher cardboard box fell to the floor with a Thud!
I opened it just in case, and it was exactly the same military rations I had seen during my service.
This was insane.
I immediately bought Starlink as well.
「Product: You have purchased ‘Starlink Standard Kit.’」
When I opened the box, there was a satellite antenna and router inside.
After connecting it to the smartphone app, entering the serial number, and setting up the antenna, I really did have internet access.
‘...I should refund the one I ordered.’
Anyway, I could use the internet in the mountains now.
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