Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Ignoring Gyosu’s desperate prayers, the conversation continued in the direction he predicted.

“Why don’t we just use HIV? That name already has a decent amount of fame, so why not?”

“Ian, as I said, we destroyed a troop dispatched by the Dome with that name….”

“I think you’re just being a scaredy cat right now. Look at it this way. There aren’t any survivors from the Dome in that bunker. We confirmed that fact, right? From the Dome’s perspective, did their elite troops die from three random Wasteland scavengers or the menacing Raptors that jumped in with flamethrowers?”

“Hmm….”

“They would obviously think that it’s the Raptors, no? And this is a chance for the Raptors to boast their strength, so they wouldn’t go out of their way to correct it. For the Dome, even if they figure out we’re the HIV, we’d just be considered some lucky flies that sneaked through the battle of two major organizations and took some good treasure with them. There’s no problem if they figure us out.”

“Hepburn. Fame is pretty important in the Wasteland. If some random caravan waddled up and said, ‘We’re selling goods,’ then even the nicest group would act defensive. For your information, being defensive in this situation means that they’ll shoot us until we become Swiss cheese. At least if we’re using the name HIV, we’ll be known as a group strong enough to take down both the Dome and the Raptors and won’t get attacked like that.”

This is bad. These two are already certain that HIV is going to be our name. But…… But I don’t like it! I want a cool name too! I’ve lived on my own all this time, and I finally managed to find myself basically a new job, and the company’s name is ‘AIDS Pathogen Caravan?’ No! My parents watching me in heaven are going to faint from shock!

I needed a genuine reason. Since their claims had some logic to back them up, ‘I don’t like the name’ wasn’t going to cut it.

‘Think, think….! I’m Gyosu Park, the man who survived this Wasteland with just his brain….! There must be a way to overcome this problem….!’

“Oi, Gyosu. If you don’t have anything to say, we’ll just decide by majority vote again.”

There was a victorious smile on Ian’s face. Wait. Majority vote? Majority!!!

“Waaaaait!!!”

Just before Ian started the vote, Gyosu raised his hand.

“Why? Do you have another suggestion?”

“Majority vote, you say….. Let’s do that! I just happened to be a streamer, so I have some sort of say in the Area 47 chatroom. Since we’re not that big of a caravan, our main customers are probably going to be within Area 47, so wouldn’t it be better to get some suggestions from these people? If we just tell them we’re HIV, then there won’t be a problem with fame either, right?”

Gyosu’s desperate persuasion slowly started to shake Ian and Vex’s solid standing.

“Hmm….. that’s true. Since Area 47 is completely under the Dome’s control, the Raptors will just start a war with the Dome if they even think of coming near, so there’s no problem with these people knowing we’re HIV…..”

“Yeah! And from the Dome’s perspective, we prevented the Raptors from taking the entire bunker for themselves, so advertising ourselves might even be beneficial to the Dome! Then we’ll be able to broaden the territory we could tread without the Dome knowing!”

He did use all of this fancy reasoning, but honestly, he just wanted any other name than the ‘HIV Caravan.’

. . . . .

He should have just been satisfied with HIV. A human’s greed had no end and only resulted in the same mistakes.

-Soygaybar: LMAOOOOO

-Jokasss: Good, very good! Our dear Professor even set up an event like this for his precious viewers. How nice!

-Soygaybar: He chose the best name writers in the entire Wasteland, alright! LOLLLLL

I regretted it last time. It hasn’t even been a month since I regretted even talking to these guys for suggestions, and here I am again!

-Clownfoolery: Dang~ is Area 47 finally getting a caravan, then?

-takealook: Looking at the size of our Area, it was weird that we didn’t have one until now.

-Speedwagon: It’s because of the Marketplace. Area 47 has the Dome, and they post basically anything that people need, so there isn’t a reason for people to pay the extra delivery fee caravans charge.

-Nthen: That’s true. But there are certain goods that you could only get through caravans. The drone disappearance rates skyrocket once the delivery distance goes over 2 Areas. It’s a shitty feeling to go into your pod and see the message [Your package has been stolen. Mb.]

-Resignated_Acc: Can you sell that thing in the caravan then? The Happyblind masks from Area 30. They don’t have that here.

-Numb3rtree: Stop trying to buy that wacko’s stuff.

There are a lot more people here now. It felt like everyone in Area 47 was in this chatroom. It wasn’t like everyone in this chatroom watched my stream. It was more like people gained interest in this channel after my stream became a hot issue, and it just sort of became a meeting place.

It’s better to have more people. It would be beneficial to the business for all of these people to spread the word about a new caravan. And since there are that many more people, there is a better chance for a decent name to get chosen.

. . .

—is what I should have never done! If I could turn time back a few minutes, I would have beat up Gyosu Park to stop him!

-Soygaybar: Now, let’s start announcing the vote results! Many people gave out very nice suggestions. Where else should Professor be other than a college? Call it [College]. Or there’s a rumor that the famous spice merchant joined in recently, and that they leave a heap of dead scavengers wherever they go, so why not [psycho robbers]? Or, this one doesn’t seem to have a reason [Umbrella] seems to be a caravan name that somehow seems to be friendly with mutants. There were more, including LGBT, Karniv, etc…. all great names! But from all of these, one gained an overwhelming amount of votes……

As Gyosu looked at the live chat streaming up, bullets of sweat rolled down his face like a waterfall.

No, not that! I was watching the chat too. There was a name that I saw a lot of in the chat, but not that, not that, please…..!

-Soygaybar: Everyone listen up! Taking over 70% of the votes, it was the most popular of them all! Unlike other names just made for the fun of it, this name holds a sincere meaning to the caravan business! Congratulations! The new name of our Professor’s caravan is Big Dream Small Margin! The pursuit of a big dream and leaving a small margin, such a meaningful name. That’s BDSM for you!

-vargr: Hahahah. I’m honored. I just made that name to sincerely hope that Mr. Professor had a flourishing business. I didn’t know this many people would agree with me.

-Holli: Clap clap clap clap!

-Noru_is_druig: Omedeto, Professor-kun!

-Udnam_undam: Congratulations Professor. You’re not just a survivor now, you’re a part of the Wastelands community now. You have done well. That name really shows who you are.

-takealook: this name was made through a democratic vote. Ur a communist if you dont use it.

-Jokasss: Ur a Raptor if you dont use it.

Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner? Even with all of these people, as long as it’s the Community, they would never give us an actually good name!

“Ahahahaha! This is a masterpiece! I guess having a lot of people to talk to has its own benefits.”

“Hepburn….. you’ve been streaming in front of people like these…..? What life have you been living…..”

“This can’t be true! This has to be a bad dream! My job! My first job is called BDSM!”

Big Dream Small Margin. Its meaning is very nice. But when it’s shortened, it becomes: ‘Bondage’ ‘Discipline’ ‘Sadism’ ‘Masochism!’

What do I do? Do I take it back? But it’s already gotten out of my hands. Just the people in this chatroom make up over half of Area 47’s population. Could we still do business even after disappointing so many people?

-Jokasss: Doesn’t one of us live near the Dome? Go tell them this. There’s a new group in Area 47. You’re going to need to buddy up with the Dome if you’re going to do caravan business anyway, might as well get it over with.

Wait a minute. I’m not mentally prepared just…..

Ding—

[Player ‘Dome-sec47’ has requested a voice connection.]

Damn it! They just had to be fast at a time like this!

And without being able to do anything, Gyosu reluctantly accepted the call.

Beeeep—

[Hello, I’m Delmar from the Dome: Area 47 Environmental Management Team. Is the connected person ‘Professor’ from Area 47?]

Throb!

I unconsciously almost cursed out the person on the call. When I heard they were a worker from the Dome, it automatically overlapped with the memories from my past.

[Woah, woah. Calm down, vessel. Don’t waste your precious anger on this person. You already memorized the entire document related to that person, didn’t you? See, it’s displayed on a 90-inch LED TV in your brain.]

‘I know. This is just…. A reflex.’

After taking a deep breath to settle himself, Gyosu replied to the person on the call.

[Yes, I’m ‘Professor.’]

[Confirmed. It seems you recently settled down in Area 47, correct? Judging from the circumstances, you don’t seem to be a single survivor. Would you let me know the type and name of the group you belong to?]

That signature condescending attitude and tendency to list the person’s information before they reveal it themselves—it was the representative trait of those who worked at the Dome. They’re secretly trying to take the upper hand in the conversation by revealing that they know information about the person.

He had intentionally given out this information, but it still didn’t feel good for it to happen.

[Yes. I’m thinking of doing a bit of business.]

[By business, you mean….]

[A caravan. Three people. We plan to focus our goods on items that are hard to find on the Marketplace and go around other Areas.]

[A caravan, you say! That’s great. People in the trade business need to be respected, especially in this state of the world. So, what should we call your caravan, then?]

. . . .

[ …..Big Dream.]

[Big Dream? Is Big Dream Caravan correct?]

[Yes, please make it that.]

Thunk! Thump!

Ian and Vex, who were listening in on the conversation whilst giggling to themselves, rushed towards me and the call after hearing my response.

“Oi, Gyosu! What happened? You left out the second half! Big Dream! Small Margin! Change it right now!”

[Yep! It’s complete! You are now registered on the Dome Area Survivor List as ‘Big Dream Caravan.’ An inspector will come visit in the near future…..]

[There seems to be a problem on our end. I’ll need to end the call! Tell me the rest later, please!]

Beeeeep—

Gyosu needed to quickly end the call and come out because Ian had started to shake the pod like crazy.

Pshhhh—

Creeeeeakk—

Seeing that both of them looked mad, they must have really liked that new name.

“Oi! Gyosu! Why’d you come out? Go change it right now!”

“I can’t! I won’t! I don’t know about anyone else, but I won’t be seen as a wacko by those Dome guys!”

“What’s so bad about BDSM? That name was voted on in the chat. If you change it like this, how are we going to do business?”

“Yeah! Hepburn! You’re ruining our business because of your selfishness!”

“I don’t care! I never told you guys to come live here!”

“This little— You won’t listen with just words will—”

Dash!

“Aagh! He’s running away! Vex, chase him down!”

Vrroooom—

Crash!

“Aghhhh! Why are you so fast?”

“Don’t let go of him! I’ll torture that name change out of you if I need to!”

“Fuck off! The sun rises even if you run to the other side of the world, and I will not be considered a madman by the Dome even if my legs are ripped— gahhhhh!”

As three full-grown men ran around the small shelter, the place was soon billowing with clouds of dust.

Whirrr—

Koduro’s drone took over the security camera in the shelter with his robotic arm and recorded everything that was happening. According to his knowledge, recordings of memories that could be relived in the future were very effective against preventing depression.

“The shelter is so lively now…. The new masters were good people after all…..!”

Clang!

“Jaw! I found two pipes we could use in the storage!”

“Good job, brother! Now, Gyosu! You better go change our name to BDSM, or else…!”

“A-A real man doesn’t take back what they said.”

“Then I’ll just need to make you a woman!”

“Aaaaahhhh! Koduro! Don’t just watch it happen! Helppp!”

“Up-up-up. Don’t yell so loud, you’ll attract the mutants.”

“Huhuhu…. Lively masters. Good to see….. heheheheh….”

A shelter located in the dreaded Wasteland.

Gyosu cried out internally with the heart of a martyr for the country as he groaned under a rough hand’s pressure. He submitted a normal name, not HIV or BDSM. That’s it. That’s….. the best result he could make…

[There seems to be a problem on our end. I’ll need to end the call! Tell me the rest later, please!]

Beeeep—

“Hmm, does their new location have a lot of mutants?”

Delmar added to his notes: [Big Dream: Seems to be located in a dangerous location.] in response to the sudden end of the call, then stretched out in his seat.

“Huahhhhh! Ow, my joints. I’ve checked all the ones for today, so I should start heading ou—”

“Oh! Delmar sir! Have you not gotten off work yet?”

“Agh! You surprised me! Hey! I told you to knock before you come in!”

“Heheh, sorry.”

As Delmar turned his head, he could see his junior colleague, who always seemed to have a screw loose, scratching his head.

“But why aren’t you signing off work?”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started on it, sir. I thought I would be able to mooch off of the Dome’s money and have fun with some pretty secretaries once I joined the Inspection Bureau, but I’m drowning in work. If I knew it would be like this, I wouldn’t have worked my ass off to come here.”

The junior colleague ranted off as he had been waiting to be asked that question. And there were two cups of coffee in his hand. It was hard to hate this guy.

“I’m fine. I’m signing off soon anyway. I was about to leave when I got a sudden notice, so it took some time to record that.”

“A notice? At this time of day?”

“Yeah. They said there’s a new caravan in Area 47. Comparing it to the records on the Marketplace, it didn’t seem like the person was alone. The credibility of the information is pretty high.”

“I see. But their name is…… Big Dream? Is this right?”

Delmar flicked the forehead of his junior colleague.

“Ouchie!”

“Do I look like some newbie that doesn’t write down the records right? This isn’t just some random info from someone else, it came out from their own mouth.”

“No, no, of course your records are right, sir. What I’m saying is, the name is a little shorter than what I know of, so I thought it might be a signal cut-off.”

“Signal cut-off?”

“Yeah! There’s a reason why people don’t use voice communication in the Wasteland! It always gets cut off by those darned sandstorms! We need to use it to collect the player’s voiceprints, but it’s honestly a pain, isn’t it?”

“Hmm. Now that I think about it, they were a little quiet when they were saying the name.”

“I’m sure of it. You know I’m the expert when it comes to Area intel, and this one is missing the second half. Big Dream, Small Margin. It’s BDSM.”

With the junior colleague’s confident claim, Delmar’s expression scrunched up.

“That’s the group’s name? Actually?”

“Even if I’m a little shallow, why would I lie about something that’ll go in the records? I’m telling the truth! They’re called the BDSM Caravan!”

“BDSM, you say….. I couldn’t tell from the call, but that’s another crazy guy in the Wasteland now.”

Delmar cocked his head, then changed the name in the Inspection Bureau database from ‘Big Dream’ to ‘BDSM(Big Dream Small Margin)’.

“Is that it?”

“Yep! Thank you for your hard work!”

“No problem. So, are you getting off work now? I’m leaving right now too; do you want to go get a drink?”

“Hahahah! Thank you, but I’ll take up that offer next time. I have something to do back home.”

“You always say you have something to do. Fine. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir! Have a great night, sir!”

And so, Delmar disappeared around the corner from the entrance of the Inspection Bureau, and his junior colleague slowly walked in the other direction.

Clomp, clomp.

There was a slim smile on the face of the man walking through the cozy alleyway.

“That can’t do, Gyosu buddy. You can’t slip out of it like this. As a member of the Dome that represents justice and democracy, I can’t let you manipulate the voting results like that.”

There was a small screen in the hand of the investigator as he faded into the darkness of the city.

In the corner of the small portable display that allowed you to see the screen of the game pod, the words [Area 47 Chatroom – ‘Soygaybar’] glowed brightly.