00001 - The Little Prince in the Ossuary
#Start, registration Number B612
It was dark. The boy floated in a curled-up position in the pitch-black zero gravity.
A scene impossible without virtual reality.
Here, one could witness the sunset 1,440 times in a day.
A false world that responds to the will of a single person.
No others exist here.
Within arm's reach of the boy, the only light in the darkness flickered. It was a square screen.
On the screen, the people the boy was to emulate were reflected. They were shouting vigorously.
Toni Morrison, Sadako Ogata, Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, winston Churchill, adolf Hitler...
He had watched them long enough to have memorized them. The boy, snowed under emotions, could easily imitate their words, intonations, and gestures.
To become an actor, one must learn to act.
As he immersed himself in acting and became more proficient, the boy's melancholy grew deeper.
But it was inevitable effort to obtain the star.
The star was needed to ensure the rose wouldn't wither.
The rose had thorns but was beautiful. He didn't want to see the end of something beautiful.
Even if he bled while holding it.
The boy thought.
'The outside world always tries to make me someone I'm not. Here, I just wanted to be myself as I am.'
But there was no choice.
Once again, the boy decided to tame himself.
If he occasionally compromised with his true feelings, and sometimes found joy in it, it wouldn't be so hard.
Prepared enough.
Let's start.
The uninteresting story of the twenty-seventh game.
The moment he resolved himself, the virtual reality worldview 「After the Apocalypse」 began, as always, with the monologue of the AI that mimicked the boy.
#Journal, page 2, Camp Roberts
The origin of the apocalypse was China.
A disease that turned humans into something non-human appeared and engulfed the whole of East Asia within a fortnight.
The plague's name was 'Morgellons'.
It's said that now even Europe is at risk.
I was Korean.
I write in the past tense because there is no longer a country to return to.
Personally, I was lucky. I had come to America as an exchange student. If not, I might be a walking corpse by now, eaten by non-humans.
Those who lost their countries were sent to camps. I was no exception. With martial law, I could no longer stay with my host family.
I am currently at Camp Roberts.
Originally a National Guard base, it was the first refugee camp designated by the U. S. It's located approximately midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The number of those being sheltered kept increasing.
Five months after my arrival, the refugee camp had effectively become a city.
Beyond its capacity to hold, plans were made to distribute the excess to Fort Hunter Liggett, about 50 kilometers northwest in a straight line from here.
From what I've heard, it's surrounded by mountains on all sides.
There are also talks of establishing new camps.
As more people arrived, so did unsavory incidents.
Refugees formed organizations and began to rob others of supplies. Sometimes they even killed those who resisted.
The names of these organizations evoke menace. The Chinese "Triad" (黑社會, Black Society) and the Japanese 「Yakuza」 (住吉会, Sumiyoshi Society) were originally names of violent organizations.
There are rumors that the core members are indeed former gangsters.
The U. S. military lets these organizations go unchecked.
Understandably so.
The management personnel was only about a battalion, while the number of refugees was excessively large.
Perhaps the U. S. military needed middle managers?
From what I've learned, it's similar to how landowners in Korea's late Joseon period hired overseers.
The resentment of tenant farmers was directed not at the landowners but at the overseers.
These are people who lost their country anyway. Neglecting their management likely wouldn't become a diplomatic issue.
At the brink of human extinction, there were no civic groups left to pester the government on human rights issues.
I heard rumors that these organizations were bribing the battalion commander with sexual services.
It must be true.
I saw members of the 「Korean Patriotic Society」 drag away a woman yesterday. She was wailing.
A patrolling soldier tried to intervene but, after a conversation with a society member, refrained from further hindering them.
All he did was frown.
Regarding the treatment of refugees, one more point:
From Camp Roberts' 6th to 15th Avenues, there were barracks used by stationed troops.
If any refugees were spotted in that area, they were charged with attempted theft without exception.
It's perhaps the sorrow of losing a country; people from nations whose governments vanished or lost their status were treated poorly.
There was also racial discrimination. It became increasingly difficult to find conscience and sympathy in people.
According to CNN, over 60% of the global population had likely mutated since the 'Morgellons Outbreak'.
In the face of humankind's extinction, morality gradually faded. At Camp Roberts, one could directly feel this.
A sad reality.
#Journal, page 5, Camp Roberts
Organizations formed during hardships are largely nationalist.
And troubled people need scapegoats to vent their frustration while also plundering their possessions.
But the majority of refugees at this camp came from Asia and Oceania. The dominant groups were Chinese and Korean refugees, leading to various negative sentiments towards the Japanese.
As a result, a rebellion against the Japanese organizations arose. It was a struggle between violent groups, so one could call it a rebellion.
Many Japanese either died or ended up in fates worse than death. Despite the efforts of the largest Japanese organization, 「Yakuza」, the disparity in scale was simply too vast.
Once again, the U. S. military turned a blind eye. Perhaps they found the fact that the number of refugees was decreasing attractive?
Although there were quite a few soldiers and officers who frowned at what was happening, none stepped forward.
One has to wonder if they received no orders.
Afterward, fences were erected internally in the camp. Was the intent to prevent the ever-increasing rebellions?
The zones were divided into small sections. Each section housed about 200 people according to nationality.
Amidst all this, I was relatively safe.
I leveraged my English skills and worked as an interpreter for the U. S. military.
Surprisingly, there weren't many English speakers among the refugees.
Most were either trapped while traveling or doing business, or had fled shortly after the Morgellons outbreak.
The latter far outnumbered the former.
People like me who spoke English freely were treated as middle managers.
Above all, it was nice to be treated like a person by the U. S. military.
Not knowing the language turned one into nothing more than an animal in their eyes.
Understandable, given their precarious situation.
「AI Help (Insight Level 4): You can accept or refuse the role of manager. Accepting will earn you the goodwill of the U. S. military and result in a positive adjustment to your reputation within the community. Refusing offers no tangible benefits, but there may be unforeseen penalties or advantages given your current abilities. For more detailed advice, please upgrade your insight skill level.」
「Player's Choice: Accept the offer.」
Me, a minor, as a manager. Initially, it was overwhelming, and I wanted to refuse, but the U. S. military officer chuckled.
Apparently, the U. S. always favors English speakers.
In the 1980s, the U. S. wanted to support nationalist forces to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan.
The problem was, the CIA had no Arabic speakers back then.
They couldn't find anyone to give money to.
But there was a single English-speaking leader, and despite knowing his radical tendencies, they had no choice but to support him, which eventually led to the creation of the Taliban that turned on the U. S.
The officer told me this story while chuckling, then forced the task on me, saying I had no choice.
My designated management area was the solar power facility.
Operations were conducted across the national road 101, opposite the base.
There was a need to periodically clean the panels and install new panels and transformers with the increasing number of refugees.
Koreans were mobilized for this work. During the operations, I also distributed food.
Adults, likely twice my age, tried to humor me. Hidden behind their smiling faces was a vile heart.
Many adults thought they could deceive me because I was young. I found it creepy.
Various organizations tried to recruit me. Rationally, I thought I should join one.
The number of English speakers was bound to increase. My position might become precarious at any moment.
「AI Help (Insight Level 4): At this point, you can decide to join a specific organization. Joining a group will provide various benefits, but it also means you may become a target for others.」
「Player's Choice: Do not join any organization.」
But I didn't want to join anywhere.
At one point, the 「Korean Patriotic Society」 suggested that if I joined their organization, they would give me a Japanese woman.
Honestly, it made me feel sick. When I refused, they seemed to think I was playing hard to get.
They spewed filth about whether another organization offered better conditions or how I should consider the organization's size and future rather than just the conditions. I was even asked if I liked men later on.
Maybe I'm naïve about worldly matters. But for now, I still wanted to act like a human being.
#Journal, page 11, Camp Roberts
News broke that an outbreak occurred in San Francisco.
Given the camp's isolation, news always arrived a few days late. Considering Asia was rapidly devastated, even with preparations, San Francisco Bay Area (including adjacent areas like Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose) was likely a living hell by now.
As proof, transport vehicles flooded into the camp from dawn. The races were diverse, but the majority were whites and blacks. Judging by their chatter, most were speaking English. They were likely survivors who escaped the city.
The guards, U. S. military soldiers, were tensely on edge, visibly sharper—naturally so. After all, there might be infected among the survivors from San Francisco.
"Morgellons" still has no vaccine. Once infected, there's no way to prevent mutation.
The refugees were perceptive.
They clamored to be placed away from the new American arrivals.
Originally, the places used by refugees were given to American citizens, and the refugees settled in tent villages expanded westwards beyond the base's water towers.
Shortly after the evening rations, I overheard some refugees plotting an escape.
「AI Help (Insight Level 4): You can choose to escape the camp with them, report this to the camp command, or do nothing and let events unfold. Escaping the camp will end the tutorial, while reporting will earn you the goodwill of the U. S. military but negatively impact your relationship with some refugees. Doing nothing will result in a minor downgrade to your willpower.」
「Player's Choice: Do nothing.」
For a moment, I considered fleeing with them. Escape the camp and dash towards the safe Midwest.
But the issue was how to survive as a fugitive. There's a risk of being shot on sight.
What about reporting it?
That didn't sit well either. People would bear grudges against me. I wanted to avoid being quietly killed.
The military would take some measures, but it likely wouldn't be adequate.
They've been stretched thin for a long time too.
So I decided to do nothing. Was this okay? Feelings of self-condemnation arose.
「Willpower reduction adjustment triggered / Detailed numbers unknown.」
Late into the night, gunshots rang out repeatedly. I covered my ears and forced myself to sleep, but in the end, I couldn't fall back asleep.
At dawn, when I stepped outside, the barbed wire was bloodstained. Torn flesh and scraps of clothing were messily caught on it.
Beyond the barbed wire, in the wasteland, death was rampant. Birds flew in and pecked at the corpses.
How many died, and how many succeeded in escaping?
I skipped breakfast. I had no appetite.
#Journal, page 16, Camp Roberts
The infection spread further.
Reports stated that an unidentified infection variant had breached the San Francisco Bay quarantine line.
Just four days later, Sacramento went up in flames. Despite the massive deployment of federal and state guards, stopping the mutated citizens proved to be beyond their capabilities.
It's said nearly 70% of the city's population mutated.
In numbers, that's over 300,000.
While those creatures may lack the intelligence they had as humans, their physical abilities surpass those of humans.
And the violence of numbers was overwhelming.
Refugee camps in the suburbs were decimated.
Even if only a few, the numbers ran into the tens of thousands.
After conducting maximum rescue operations, the military dropped several nuclear bombs to the east of the city.
It's a stopgap measure.
China, the first country to collapse due to 'Morgellons', was a nuclear power.
When it could no longer control the infection, it used massive amounts of nuclear weaponry on affected areas.
Unfazed by accusations of abandoning its citizens, their stance was that the infected could no longer be seen as human.
However, there must have been citizens there who had yet to be infected.
Immediately after using the nukes, the number of infected mutations sharply decreased.
The military was deployed, and it seemed to regain control. But soon after, the infection surged again exponentially.
Experts speculated that materials contaminated by the "Morgellons" pathogen got swept up by the nuclear explosion's updraft, then scattered along with the fallout carried by prevailing winds.
In the end, by using nukes, China led to its faster collapse.
Prevailing westerlies blow over the U. S. West Coast.
Dropping a nuke on Sacramento meant there's a high chance the contamination would spread to the central U. S. FEMA, before the nuclear attack commenced, supposedly issued evacuation orders for all residents in California's unaffected areas and Nevada and Arizona.
The refugee section of the camp was in silent pandemonium. There were strong protests demanding that they should be evacuated too.
It led to tragedy.
When the now-radicalized protesters toppled the garrison fence, the U. S. military opened fire.
Thinking coldly, even the National Guard soldiers were probably desperate to flee.
Overreaction from soldiers suffering from anxiety, fatigue, and depression was beyond control, even for the officers.
In mere minutes, over 700 people were massacred.
Fear overwhelmed the people.
The anxiety of not knowing when one might die was no match for the immediate terror of possibly dying right then. An eerie stability settled in.
Later, I learned that infection mutations had appeared in the small town of San Miguel to the south.
Now both the north and south of the camp were infected zones.
It was the reason the federal government abandoned plans to transport refugees.
The military base here was similarly trapped.
Incidents of violent soldiers assaulting refugees occurred repeatedly.
From their perspective, they likely felt they were in danger because of the refugees.
Clacky's Corner:
Ossuary - a container or room in which the bones of dead people are placed.
The story seems to be post-apocalyptic with VR/AI. Need a couple more chapters to familiarize with the story.
Also, not gonna lie, with the journals, it feels similar to the journals in Clair Obscur.