My Students Regret It After I Retired

19 – The Approaching Shadow of Death

The various galleries of Interunner were all starting to go crazy. It was because KAR and Leo, who had recently been practically monopolizing the popular posts, had clashed head-on.

[Title: Who the hell is this LEO guy anyway?]

[Body: Before, with the info he spread about monsters and Red Gates too, something’s fishy.]

ㄴ I think it’s kinda weird. For starters, I’m not even sure if the info is completely trustworthy.

ㄴ Some guys in the galleries uploaded proof pics and posts. It was just as LEO said, ㅇㅇ

ㄴ I saw that, but you can’t actually see it, can you? I don’t believe anything unless I see it with my own eyes.

ㄴ Okay, monsters aside, you could see the info about Red Gates, right? Anyway, isn’t he a good guy helping us out?

ㄴ Yeah, I guess. The corpse pic he put up this time is kinda off, but it looks like he posted it to warn KAR. LEO’s been a game changer for the atmosphere in Interunner’s galleries.

[Title: Yo, guys, LEO’s right, don’t be afraid of KAR, lol]

[Body: You got a problem? If you’re pissed, try killing me too, lol]

At first, the atmosphere across all the Interunner galleries was one of fear towards KAR, but now it’s turned to outright mockery and disregard.

The first step is always important. KAR’s threat of killing anyone he encountered if they didn’t put his post on top was an act based on fear, so when that fear lost its driving force, nothing was left but an empty shell. When everyone was still wary and scared, Leo posted, not just directly rebelling against the guy, but showing definite proof with the corpses of the scavengers. It was like they had gained an ally, and people began acting together, with mob mentality to boot.

[KAR]

[Title: Killed one more. Put it in the popular posts.]

[Body: (image.JPG) If you don’t put it in the popular posts, I’ll keep killing everyone I come across.]

KAR seemed to have become desperate, posting another photo of a dead body, but this time the reaction was drastically different from before.

[Recommended: 3] [Not Recommended: 978]

Even with the overwhelming flood of dislikes, the clearest difference was the swarm of mocking comments.

[Cripple. Go kill LEO first, then come back. You can’t even do shit when you get directly targeted, lol]

[So if I hit dislike am I gonna die too? lmao]

[If you guys gave this sad sack a like out of pity, hit that like button haha]

Watching the spectacle unfold, Pakol spat out a curse.

“Fuck! These b*stards dare to mock me? Find out their locations, all of them!”

“Pakol…you know the Interrunner admins don’t even cooperate with the Empire. There’s no way we can do anything about it.”

“That’s because you’re all incompetent.”

Pakol smacked Barrow across the face. Barrow was silent for a moment, then finally spoke.

“I’ll try my best to find a way. But what are you gonna do if we do find them?”

“I’m gonna kill all those pathetic b*stards. How dare they mock me, a bunch of nobodies.”

Barrow sighed quietly for a moment before connecting to the Interrunner and sending a message to the administrator.

[Is it possible to acquire the identities of the users listed here: AB11, PPBZ700…etc.]

The reply was quick and concise.

[nope]

Barrow shook his head, glancing at his colleagues around him. One by one, they approached Pakol and spoke.

“Pakol, calm down. We can just kill that LEO b*stard later when we find him, right? From now on, just make every guy we meet open their Distance before we kill them, and if they have Interrunner access records, we can check their usernames. We’ll eventually catch him if we keep killing people, won’t we?”

“That’s not the problem. Our point supply source is blocked now, how the hell are we gonna fix this? Shit… we were so close.”

Pakol stared blankly at his Distance.

[Current points: 9,550]

[You need 450 more points to purchase an advanced artifact.]

Pacol slammed his fist against the floor in frustration. A few men around him just glanced at him nervously, avoiding eye contact.

Crafting and selling an advanced artifact was like winning the lottery, a chance to rake in an insane amount of money. Even if they didn’t sell it, its value was immense. In this situation where monsters were a constant threat, it meant they could get an upper-tier artifact to protect themselves without spending a dime.

But more than anything, Pacol wanted a weapon to kill people. The higher-tier artifacts were crawling with weapons designed to efficiently kill.

“Damn it. If I could get an advanced artifact crafting recipe, I could use it to find and kill people, then repost it and make unlimited copies.”

“Boss… maybe we should at least make an intermediate crafting recipe?”

“We’ve only got 500 points left, and you’re telling me to buy an intermediate one now? No, more than that, if we don’t take down LEO, we can’t do anything. No matter how many people we kill, those b*stards will just keep mocking us. You saw the comments, saying we should go kill LEO first. b*stards…”

Pacol was furiously typing comments, but all he got in return were more jeers. If he was once a king in the Interrunner, now he was suddenly the target of ridicule. All of this because of one post by Leos.

“Anyone coming around?”

“Not a soul, Boss… But isn’t this dangerous? Exposing our address like that…”

“Expose what? Fuck, we need to show everyone we’re here if we want to monopolize this safe zone. Where do you think everyone’s going to flock after the Red Gate incident? Safe zones with no monsters are going to become popular fast, and even if we don’t promote it, every living soul nearby will come here, and someone will post about it. And then what? We’re done for. Even if we’re pros at killing people, can we really call it a safe zone if people are trying to break in 24/7? It’s just hell. It’s better this way, to put our location out there so these nearby fucks don’t even dare approach.”

“…”

Interrunner. It didn’t used to have this much power, but after the gate incident, it became such a massive community that everyone used it. The reason was simple. Due to the gate incident, the magic communication network had either been completely cut off, or the Empire was heavily censoring everything. The only site that had smooth access and no censorship was Interrunner.

Interrunner operators didn’t directly intervene in anything, not even when Pacol posted photos of dead bodies, so they didn’t take them down. Sure, gallery moderators like the ‘jooddak’ and ‘padak’ tried to clean up the galleries, but that was only in specific ones.

The ‘jooddak’ and ‘padak’ of the Raider Gallery, which Pacol mainly used, were raiders themselves, so they didn’t censor or regulate these kinds of photos. Thanks to that, Pacol had been able to do as he pleased, but now even other raiders were mocking him.

[KAR was acting all tough and got his ass handed to him lol]

[Yeah, I was gonna try to copy his popular post but it got blocked right away.]

[Why don’t you go catch and kill LEO? That would restore your popularity.]

[No way. Just take some even more brutal photos. If you butcher them completely, won’t that scare them no matter what?]

Other raiders snickered as if it was none of their concern. As an anonymous community, there were probably plenty of people who weren’t even real raiders, but just there to mock them.

A post from one of them caught Pakol’s eye.

[Title: Seriously, what the hell are you guys thinking, posting your locations?]

[Body: Straight up murdering people and posting your locations, are you insane? What if the Empire punishes you?]

ㄴ This dude ain’t a looter lol. Punishment my ass. You think the Empire gives a shit about the Red Gate Vortex right now? I killed over ten yesterday, let ’em try and catch me.

ㄴ Kick this troll out. I looked up the KAR location, it’s right in the middle of the Red Gate Vortex, what kind of nutjob goes there? Even the Empire couldn’t go there easily. If knowing the location was all it took, the people trapped there would’ve gotten out by now lol.

ㄴ Yeah, it’s probably not even the real location. What kinda psycho shares their location in this shitshow?

As various opinions flew back and forth, Pakol tossed the distance device onto the floor and muttered.

“Shit… yeah, what can *he* even do? Said he’d find me, what a scaredy-cat.”

Pakol, feeling a bit better, chuckled and started typing.

[KAR]

[Title: LEO, I gave you my location, why aren’t you here yet?]

[Body: Scared to death right now, huh? Too bad for you, we’re gonna track your ass down with that picture you posted. Just wait. We’re gonna kill you in the worst way possible. The rest of you can look forward to it too. From now on, I’m checking every single person’s distance, seeing if they’re interrunners, and posting pics of their corpses.]

Not long after the man posted, a post appeared from Leos.

[LEO]

[Title: Proof]

[Body: Photo.JPG]

A short and to-the-point title, and a post with no text at all, instantly garnered over 500 upvotes.

[Holy shit, what’s this? Did they actually go there?]

[Damn, those guys are insane, they actually shared their real location?]

[Just kill ’em all. No need to keep those bugs alive.]

[LEO, I’m worried, so listen – don’t get cocky, just run. Those guys’ weapons are no joke.]

Pacol stared blankly at the distance.

There, a photo was uploaded – a shot of him and his crew, taken from afar.

Pacol lifted his sword, anxiously looking around.

Somewhere here, now, a man named LEO must be watching.