Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 171.2: Cleaner (2)
“That’s a problem?”
Hong Da-jeong averted her eyes, then locked eyes with Defender.
The siblings looked at me and answered in unison.
“Yeah.”
*
There’s a saying.
Get famous first.
Then even if you shit, people will clap.
There’s some debate about whether an actual celebrity ever said that, but not many would deny the sheer power of fame.
Thanks to M9, the greatest Live! Apocalypse! broadcast of all time rode the Rift’s wavelength and was transmitted via satellite across the entire world.
Just as I’d predicted from my hospital bed, SKELTON had become a living legend.
Literally.
A walking myth.
But my name didn’t resound in Madison Square Garden, or some glitzy network studio, or even the sprawling Jamsil baseball stadium.
No—the place echoing with chants of my name was Viva! Apocalypse!, the post-apocalypse-tailored internet SNS platform created by the unparalleled entrepreneur, Melon Mask.
Mangja34213: Has Skelton logged in today?
Mangja832: Skelton. Is he dead?
Mangja13311: Where is Skelton?
Anonymous3213: Skelton! Come back online! We know you’re alive!
L-V-R-M: Korean guys. Help! Can someone translate more of Skelton’s stuff? For some reason, only his posts are blocked from translation.
Anonymous458: Skelton’s alive... here in Seoul, they say he’s still alive.
Al_nasru_Alipasha: Praise be to God.
...
...
Even at a glance, the forum was flooded with people looking for SKELTON.
It reminded me of the rabid fans who’d swarm K-pop idols back before the war.
But even in that short scroll, there were signs of trouble.
We figured out the full story after Defender fetched my laptop and satellite internet gear from my place.
While Hong Da-jeong peeled an apple from who-knows-where, I finally logged into Viva! Apocalypse! as my main account—SKELTON—for the first time in a long while.
Ding~ Ding~ Ding~
Had to lower the volume immediately. Too many notifications.
All DMs.
“Can I open your inbox?”
Defender may be a notorious, cold-blooded killer with blood on his hands 24/7, but at least when it comes to internet manners, he’s a sweet guy.
“...Go ahead.”
We opened the inbox.
As expected, hundreds of messages had come in.
COOKIEMONSTER123: Skelton! You okay, right? Ha said you were, but since you weren’t online I was worried!
Anonymous458: (Park Penguin) Saw it all. Skelton. I knew what I saw that day wasn’t wrong. I’m sure Anonymous848 and Kyle Dos were watching you from the afterlife too.
dongtanmom: Nom nom...ㅋㅋ
Denis_Oldman: We never really talked or interacted on the board, so this might be # Nоvеlight # out of nowhere—but I just wanted to say, I saw it all. Skelton, you’re the pride of our board.
Dies_irae69: If you see this, please reach out.
Foxgames: Skelton! You were incredible! But what about that thing I asked before? I’ve got this killer item. Just connect me with a government guy. I’ve got a presentation that can win them over in 10 minutes. Anyway, you were amazing—get back to me when you can. Best regards.
...
...
Each message had its own tone and story, but one stood out—highlighted automatically.
From VivaBot.
I straightened up and asked Defender to scroll slowly.
VIVA_BOT014: Skelton! You’re alive, right? I granted your wish. I was against it to the end, but Melon Mask insisted.
VIVA_BOT014: There were too many DMs coming your way, so I blocked all messages from outside the Korean board. Too much spam and weird challenge posts from people trying to duel you or something.
VIVA_BOT014: And, well... this was my own idea. Since hundreds of millions of Viva users—and Necropolis users too—might try to find out who you really are, I blocked translation of your old posts. Also removed them from search results. Only you can search your own posts!
VIVA_BOT014: Anyway, thanks for your work! (VivaBot moved 🥺)
“......”
I choked up for a moment.
“Wow. Our Skelton’s tight with the board admin now? I kinda knew it already, but this is practically pillow talk.”
Hong Da-jeong speared a slice of apple on a fork and handed it to me.
I ate it without protest and tried moving my hand.
“Khhm...”
The rocket axe idea from my mentor, Jang Ki-young, had been the perfect counter to the telekinesis of the General-type—or rather, the Nemesis-type—but my palm got scorched badly in the process.
The burning pain aside, I couldn’t even move my fingers properly.
Which meant I couldn’t unleash my signature move—posting 30 threads per second—or my legendary 1,000 keystrokes per minute typing speed.
Still, there was a reason VivaBot did all this.
VIVA_BOT014: Want to know why I took those actions? Click the link below.
VIVA_BOT014: [Link]
I clicked the link.
Mangja28211: Korean friends! What does “Kkomuli” mean? In Skelton’s post, he says “my Kkomuli got chubby again.” Korean too hard!
“......”
Just from the title, it felt like a dagger to the throat.
The post was a screenshot of one of my old shitposts—one I’d uploaded without a single second of hesitation.
SKELTON: My Kkomuli got chubby again... .gif
Attached was a looping image of a horse showing its teeth and twitching violently.
There was more.
Hong Da-jeong sighed beside me.
Defender looked like he didn’t even want to speak.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Back before the war, there was a breed of internet users known as “wreckers.”
People who couldn’t create anything themselves, but hijacked other people’s stories and sold them as their own.
And lo and behold—one of them showed up here too!
mmmmmmmmm™: (Skelton’s friend – Captain M9) Translations of Skelton’s Past Comments (13)
None other than M9.
I read what he’d translated.
SKELTON: Did you give birth? Or did I? I must’ve.
SKELTON: ? That bastard Dongtanmom. Who did he plagiarize this time?
SKELTON: (Skelton serious) Honestly, am I the only one who finds Dongtanmom’s videos boring?
SKELTON: (Skelton New Year blessing) Tell Dongtanmom I said hi from the Dragon Palace~
SKELTON: Hmm... Is that all?
SKELTON: (Skelton rumor) Heard M9 wasn’t worth shit before the war.
SKELTON: (Skelton reasonable doubt) Mini? Isn’t Mini an ajumma? Totally seems like one...
SKELTON: (Skelton insight) Will that even help? :)
SKELTON: (Skelton performance) In celebration of the Hope Vessel reaching Shanghai, SKELTON’s Beatbox Inferno (3)
...
...
“......”
How.
How the hell did he collect only those?
Sure, I posted a lot of comments—but capturing only those? That was clearly malicious.
M9.
I thought he was a friend.
Seething with betrayal, I sat in silence until Hong Da-jeong huffed:
“See? Skelton, you were always posting thoughtless comments. Even when everyone else just scrolled past a lewd pic, you’d be the only one commenting, ‘Hmm...’”
Defender added:
“Skelton does post way too much. Though I guess it shows you’re a nice guy.”
They're a pair of murderers, but after cooling my head, I realized they weren’t wrong.
I had posted a lot.
Enough to be called a comment angel.
I meant it in good faith, but I never thought it would come back like this.
“Should I delete them...”
I muttered unintentionally.
Come to think of it, what M9 uploaded was just the tip of the iceberg.
The records I left in Viva! Apocalypse! were massive.
Worse, I’d also copied posts I’d liked from the Red Archive board.
I searched one of them.
SKELTON: (Skelton) I’m bored. Guess I’ll climax.
SKELTON: UNGOOOOOOOT—
“Ah.”
Hong Da-jeong groaned.
Defender, too, looked pained.
The problem was, I’d posted tons of stuff like this.
Let me be clear—I meant well.
I just re-uploaded posts I thought were funny from the Red Archive board.
The issue is, I was the only one who thought they were funny, and when I posted them, I was just a semi-known name—not a living legend.
But now, people with bloodshot eyes are digging through old posts to chase the myth of SKELTON.
“What should I do...”
I’m not in great shape right now.
Even if I were, this kind of situation calls for a professional.
The Defender siblings exchanged a glance.
Then nodded in sync and stared at me.
Hong Da-jeong said:
“Let’s run a Cleaner.”
“A cleaner?”
“Yeah.”
“What is that?”
Cleaner.
A person or tool used to erase things—just like the name implies. According to Hong Da-jeong, it’s a tool used to wipe your internet footprint.
For someone like me—honest and upright—it was something I’d never even heard of.
She was recommending it because of how famous I’d become.
“Skelton. Sure, maybe you weren’t funny, but you were still a hardworking, dedicated poster. But now you’re a big deal, right? Huh? You took down that huge-ass monster, huh? With an axe, right? You’re a hero of humanity. People want their heroes to be... I dunno, sacred? Stoic? It’s weird if someone like Skelton’s saying ‘UNGOOOOOOOT’ online, y’know?”
Crude as it was, she wasn’t wrong.
People want their heroes to be a little above them.
Maybe that’s why VivaBot separated TwelveSquare from me.
“......”
I finally understood what VivaBot was trying to do.
I was way too vulnerable to attack.
And as VivaBot said, there are kids like Sue online too.
I’ve said it before—hope is more precious than food, water, or medicine in times like this.
If my posts become a problem, then maybe it’s not so bad to erase them.
VIVA_BOT014: It’s not difficult. If you want, I can delete all your old posts.
VivaBot said they’d gladly help.
No need for a separate program—a built-in Viva! Apocalypse! feature could do it.
But...
“...Hmm.”
That didn’t feel right.
Even if I had some past I’d rather hide—even if I didn’t want to shatter anyone’s image of me—those dumb posts were still part of what made SKELTON.
All of them together created SKELTON.
Sure, my jokes may have missed the mark or been weird—but some people liked that Skelton.
Like the Defender siblings beside me. Like the people who messaged me.
I didn’t want to erase that past for the sake of some myth.
I offered a compromise.
SKELTON: Sorry, but instead of deleting, could you just set them to private?
Deleting was out of the question.
Sure, I could archive them post-deletion—but SKELTON is built from those old posts.
I didn’t want to erase my presence in this little world called Viva! Apocalypse!
VIVA_BOT014: (VivaBot troubled) That might be a bit harder...
That’s human nature.
We all have moments we’d rather not revisit—some funny, some shameful.
No one’s perfect.
It’s okay to keep and remember those rough parts.
I’m sure VivaBot thought the same.
VIVA_BOT014: Got it. I’ll try, even if it’s hard! After all, you’re my hero too, Skelton!
And so, SKELTON’s past was temporarily set to private.
Even if wreckers like M9 spread translations of my dumbest posts, so be it.
The SKELTON craze wasn’t dying down anytime soon.
*
A month had passed since I defeated the Nemesis-type.
My wrecked body had healed quickly, and I could stand and walk now.
Though my hands weren’t healed enough to type yet.
Still, I could move a mouse and browse the web on my own.
The Skelton posts locked by VivaBot had faded into the distant, hard-to-find past.
People were still looking for SKELTON.
Because the idea that a regular, non-Awakened human could fight a monster like that—it gave people back a hope they’d lost.
Of course, ever since that event, I’ve maintained a mysterious silence.
My other self, “SKELTON,” had gone quiet.
And in that silence, I could feel the same trace of fate that John Nae-non once walked.
That great board user had chosen to remain silent too.
But someday, my posts will be made public again.
VivaBot set the timer: five years.
Five years.
Long if it’s long, short if it’s short.
But one thing is clear.
If we make it through those five years, that will be a positive sign.
Proof that we, as humans, have adapted to the era of Rifts.
Of course, we humans can’t see even an inch ahead.
Beep—Beep—
Even I’m no different.
I checked my phone.
—Savior Kang Han-min is waiting for you.
It’s time to meet him.
Still no word on Woo Min-hee.
Chapter 171.2: Cleaner (2)
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