Chapter 4

The Apocalypse Game I Created Became Reality Chapter 4

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

‘Come to think of it, aren’t I basically humanity’s enemy?’

The apocalypse game I created became reality.

I don’t know why this insane situation happened.

But from the perspective of everyone else in the world, could there be a bigger villain than me?

“You mean the deposit, not the monthly rent?”

The real estate agent blinked.

I immediately pointed around with my finger.

The old walls, rusty iron door, damp smell of mold, old fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, and so on.

“Honestly, it’s not exactly in good condition. I’ll have to clean up the interior myself, and it looks like the door needs work too.”

“That’s true, but...”

The real estate agent looked troubled.

“It’s not something I can decide on my own. But I can ask the building owner.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

I immediately nodded.

Right now, I needed to save every last penny.

‘Ten thousand won can buy dozens of bottles of water. A hundred thousand won can buy at least a box of canned food.’

I couldn’t afford to waste money.

The world was still intact.

Cards still worked, deliveries still came, and loans were still available.

But in 184 days, none of those things would be taken for granted anymore.

“Yes, sir. There’s someone here looking at the property...”

The agent picked up her phone and stepped aside.

Meanwhile, I inspected the interior again.

‘One entrance at the front.’

An old iron door.

But in its current condition, it might as well not exist.

If two grown men seriously tried to push through it, it wouldn’t hold for long.

‘Another emergency exit at the rear.’

This was good.

The rear emergency exit led into a narrow alley.

It was hard to see from outside, and vehicles couldn’t enter.

Which meant it was quite suitable for escaping.

‘The ventilation isn’t terrible either.’

There was an exhaust fan mounted in one corner of the ceiling. It even worked.

Of course, it couldn’t be used as-is.

There was no filter, and nothing to prevent backflow.

After an infection outbreak, smells, smoke, dust, and germs would all become problems, so it absolutely needed modification.

‘Next is the water supply.’

Water came out in the small bathroom.

That was a major advantage.

It meant I could hold out for quite a long time as long as I set up a water storage system.

‘Electricity.’

The electricity still worked too.

But the wiring was old.

If I wanted to connect a generator, I would definitely have to work on it.

‘Next is noise.’

It was quiet now.

But if I did anything inside, there was a good chance the sound would leak outside.

After the apocalypse, noise meant revealing your location.

Whether to the infected... or to people worse than the infected.

‘As expected, it’s not perfect in its current state.’

That was when it happened.

- Yes, understood. I think that amount should be fine.

A voice came through the speakerphone at just the right moment.

The agent returned with a much brighter expression.

“The owner says they’re willing to adjust the deposit.”

I immediately straightened up.

“How much?”

“They can lower it to ten million won. In exchange, they want the contract period to be two years.”

Two years.

For a moment, I almost laughed.

‘Two years from now?’

What meaning would this contract have by then?

‘The thirty-million-won deposit dropped to twenty million, so that gives me that much more I can do.’

I pretended to think for a moment, then nodded.

“Sounds good.”

“...!”

The agent’s expression brightened even more.

“Then shall we sign the contract right away?”

“Yes, let’s proceed.”

____________

After returning to the real estate office, the contract was finished faster than I expected.

“This is the landlord’s information. Please write the tenant’s name here. I’ll put the intended use down as a workshop.”

I nodded repeatedly.

‘A workshop.’

It wasn’t exactly wrong.

I would be working here.

Not woodworking or crafts, but what I would create in this space was...

‘Survival.’

I picked up the pen.

“You can sign here.”

I carefully wrote my name on the contract as well.

Scratch.

The sound of the pen tip scraping across the paper sounded strangely loud.

The agent immediately gathered up the contract.

“You can transfer the remaining balance on the agreed date. I’ll give you the keys right now.”

At the same time, two small keys were held out toward me.

One was for the front entrance.

The other was for the rear emergency exit.

“I’ve received them.”

I took the two keys.

‘My first base.’

For now, it was nothing more than an old underground workshop, but six months from now, this place would become a utopia unlike anything else in the world.

...Or my grave.

______________

After leaving the real estate office, I immediately opened my banking app.

- Employee Credit Loan.

Fortunately, it seemed my resignation still hadn’t been processed, because the full loan limit appeared normally.

Stop.

At the same time, my finger froze.

‘Am I really going to take this?’

The limit was higher than I expected.

‘Twice my annual salary.’

It was over sixty million won.

If I took all of it, I wouldn’t have any trouble preparing from here on out.

Not just the deposit for the base, but renovation costs, food, water, power equipment, medical supplies, tools, a vehicle, exercise equipment.

All of it cost money.

‘Including the money I already have, that’s roughly ninety million won.’

Click.

After hesitating for a moment, I pressed the loan application button.

Several rounds of identity verification, agreement to the terms, screening... and soon after.

[Deposit Complete]

The balance in my bank account increased.

The moment I saw the number, I felt strange.

‘There’s no turning back now.’

Money was ammunition that had to be spent wisely before the time limit ran out.

If I wasted it out of impatience, I would die.

I immediately opened the notepad.

[184-Day Survival Preparation Plan]

Base contract — Complete.

Secure funds — Complete.

Establish primary renovation plan —

Secure drinking water —

Secure food —

Reinforce ventilation, entrances, and soundproofing —

Manage social suspicion level —

I paused for a moment when I saw the final item.

‘Social suspicion level.’

During the pre-apocalypse stage, acting too conspicuously was dangerous.

Buying hundreds of bottles of water at once, ordering truckloads of instant noodles, going around telling people the world was ending, or gathering workers to build a bunker in the mountains.

‘I can’t do things like that.’

The world was still normal.

In a normal world, someone behaving abnormally would be the first to stand out.

“...Quietly and slowly. But prepare for survival thoroughly.”

_____________

That evening.

I returned to the underground workshop.

As the sun sank slightly, the area around the commercial building became even more desolate.

‘An atmosphere perfectly suited to an apocalypse.’

Old signs, closed shops, empty alleys.

Normally, it would have been a depressing sight, but right now, I liked it quite a bit.

Fewer people also meant fewer eyes on me.

Click.

I turned the key and opened the workshop door.

Creak.

The inside was still dark and damp.

Bzzzt.

I turned on the fluorescent lights.

The white light flickered for a moment before the fluorescent lights came on.

“...”

Soon, I stood in the middle of the workshop.

For now, it was a space with nothing but an old desk.

I opened my laptop on top of that old desk and connected the external hard drive.

[UndergroundBunkerBalance]

This had never originally been scheduled for official release.

Around Season 2 or Season 3.

It was an internal document created while planning a system for establishing long-term bases.

It never saw the light of day because development fell behind and the game failed.

I slowly read through the document.

[Advantages of Underground Bases]

- Low external exposure

- Minimal temperature fluctuations

- Favorable for sound insulation

- Easy to conceal supplies

[Disadvantages of Underground Bases]

- Poor ventilation

- Risk of flooding

- Difficult escape during fire

- Isolation if entrances are blocked

- Sanitation problems during long-term habitation

I stopped while reading through the disadvantages.

“Hmm.”

The first thing that caught my eye was obviously the entrances.

‘First, an escape route. Second, ventilation.’

If you can’t escape when the entrance is blocked?

Then it isn’t a bunker. It’s a coffin.

And without ventilation, you can’t last long.

Once the power goes out, the air stagnates, and mold and odors accumulate, your body will break down first.

“As expected, the rear emergency exit comes first.”

When I raised my head, the small iron door entered my field of vision.

An exit leading to the alley behind the commercial building.

That absolutely had to remain usable.

It should look like a shabby door from the outside.

But lock securely from the inside.

And in an emergency, it should open quickly.

‘Completely blocking the door isn’t the answer.’

This was one of the reasons many users died during the early days of the game’s service.

They only thought about defense and ignored escape.

Then when something went wrong, the situation spiraled out of control.

If there was a fire, people crowded in, or infected blocked the entrance, it was over.

Click.

Immediately afterward, I opened the ‘Entrances’ section of [ShelterDesign_Prototype].

[Recommended Design]

Front entrance: Concealment and delaying defense

Rear entrance: Concealment and rapid escape

All entrances should be ‘controllable,’ not ‘completely sealed’

Attachment: Design drawings for each entrance

“...Week one is cleanup. Week two is entrances and ventilation.”

I wrote the plan in my notepad.

[Week 1]

- Clean interior

- Sort waste materials

- Check moisture

- Check for insects and mold

- Get estimate for floor moisture barrier mats

- Purchase used shelving

- First distributed purchase of drinking water

[Week 2]

- Replace rear emergency exit lock

- Get estimate for reinforcing front entrance

- Replace exhaust fan

- Install backflow prevention screen

- Clean up exterior signage

[Week 3]

- 30 days of long-term storage food

- First aid kit

- Water purification filter

- Batteries and lighting

- Research small generator candidates

[Week 4]

- Divide interior into zones

- Sleeping area

- Supply area

- Work area

- Sanitation area

‘Just right.’

Once I had made the plan, I was fairly satisfied.

There wasn’t anything that would stand out too much either.

Used shelves, woodworking tools, a workbench, water containers, exhaust fans.

These were all things that wouldn’t attract much suspicion.

“Introducing myself as a carpenter is actually useful at times like this.”

The problem was that I knew almost nothing about actual woodworking.

“There’s still plenty of time left, so I can just learn little by little.”

Afterward, all of it would become survival skills anyway.

______________

Starting the next day, I immediately began moving.

The first thing I did was clean.

“Fuck...”

The curse came out naturally.

Because the amount of dust accumulated in the workshop was beyond imagination.

“Cough! Cough!”

Even with a mask on, my throat felt scratchy.

Cut pieces of lumber, broken nails, old plastic sheets, and unidentified paint cans were scattered across the floor.

There were even dead insects under the workbench.

“If I try to hold out here like this, I’ll get sick before anything else.”

I put on rubber gloves and began sorting the trash.

Things to throw away, things that could be used, and things I wasn’t sure about.

What surprised me was that there was far more usable material than I expected.

Lengths of lumber, old shelf supports, metal brackets, long screws, intact plastic boxes.

Normally, they would have been nothing more than junk, but right now, all of it was a resource.

‘They can be used to temporarily reinforce shelves, assist with reinforcing doors, or as floor supports.’

I gathered the useful items in one corner.

It had been the same in Last Protocol.

Veteran players didn’t only look for new items.

They pulled screws from broken chairs, tore planks from smashed desks, and salvaged hinges from old iron doors.

The difference between trash and resources was whether you knew how to use them.

“Huff, huff.”

That day, I did nothing but clean all day.

My back felt like it was about to break, and blisters had even formed on my palms.

“This is fucking exhausting.”

Thump!

I dropped down onto the floor.

My entire body was drenched in sweat.

But strangely, I didn’t feel all that bad.

Because it was changing.

The space I was in.

From this meaningless old basement into a place where I could survive.

Little by little, but surely.