Apocalypse Shelter Administrator

Someone Else’s Dream

Thwack!

I slammed the ball spit out by the batting machine. It was a clean hit, right at the center of the bat. The sharp sound of the hit echoed and brought a satisfying feeling. Soon after, the second ball flew in, and I easily knocked it out too, earning a home run.

My baseball skills hadn't improved. It was just that my senses had become incomparably sharper than before.

The third ball came flying. I could not only hear the faint sound of the baseball cutting through the air, but when it got close, I could even see the stitches on it clearly.

Thwack!

I wasn’t using acceleration. My dynamic vision itself had improved drastically. Moreover, it felt like the way blind swordsmen in stories perceive their surroundings through the sound and flow of the air—I could sense things in a three-dimensional way. It was like having cat whiskers all over my body, extending for several meters.

I clenched my fist about 30 centimeters in front of my belly.

“Send the next one this way.”

Then, I closed my eyes. Soon after, I heard a faint sound as the ball pierced the air, and I sensed the spherical object entering my perceptive range.

Thwack!

I didn’t miss this one either.

I quit the batting game after hitting the ball 15 times in a row and decided there was no point in continuing.

“This is ridiculous.”

To exaggerate a bit, if someone were to try to kill me, I might even be able to sense their intent.

“Remember the guy I mentioned before?”

[The general's son who got the implant surgery?]

“Yeah, that’s him.”

I placed the baseball bat back in its stand.

“I think I understand why he died young. Living with such heightened senses at a young age would naturally make you overconfident.”

But no matter how good your physical abilities are, you can't dodge a stray bullet or shrapnel.

[Your friend got a procedure that focused on strengthening muscles, stamina, and vision. That would give him an edge in training or physical evaluations, but in real combat, life and death are determined by ‘senses and judgment.' For some people, reckless confidence might bring about their death even faster.]

After I quit the batting game, I tried ping pong next, and my opponent was a robot equipped with rackets on both hands. Even with the difficulty set to the highest, neither of us could score, and time just passed. Eventually, the ball was bouncing back and forth in a straight line without touching the ground.

Later, after the match, when I looked at the photos Artemis took, I could hardly believe the speed of my own reactions, even though it was me performing those moves.

In a flight-shooting game, I had no need to use the black bombs at the bottom of the screen, and in rhythm games, I didn’t miss a single note. The same went for fighting games.

“Hey, pal~!”

I ducked under the uppercut of a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair and a nasty demeanor. A powerful fist wrapped in blue lightning sliced through the air.

Next came a sweeping low kick.

It’s impossible to block by sight. You have to predict and block it through mind games.

It was one of those 50-50 moves, but I could react thanks to my improved dynamic vision.

[Oh?]

Artemis’ voice became sharper, as she had planned to take it easy on me. She unleashed an onslaught of extremely advanced techniques that would leave even seasoned players in awe, but I blocked them with ease.

After finishing the virtual fight, I sparred with a new-generation security robot at a real martial arts dojo. The frame had been replaced with a new alloy steel, and the outer armor with reinforced plastic, making the robot both lighter and more agile.

Though its power had been dialed down to the level of an adult male for safety, I easily dodged the robot’s attacks. I stared directly at the incoming punch and evaded it with the necessary minimal movement, without feeling any fear.

My enhanced nervous system allowed me to do what can only be achieved through long, hard training—“watch the punch.”

When I dodged a right-hand straight by tilting my head to the left, the robot spun halfway around and sent an elbow strike with its left arm. I stepped back to avoid it. But the elbow was a feint. The real attack was a high kick powered by the rotation's momentum.

If it were the old me, I would have been hit by this surprise kick from outside my field of vision, but now I could sense attacks coming from places I couldn’t see. By the time I saw the robot’s foot, I was already ducking, and I headbutted it in the groin.

If it were a human, I would’ve just punched them in that spot, but unfortunately, it was a robot, so it wasn’t a valid hit. The sparring match continued, closer to a dirty street brawl than a formal fight, but I never let the robot land a single hit.

After finishing my sensory training exercises, night had fallen. But tonight, I couldn’t sleep. The neural pathways being carved out by my acceleration implant were nearing their final stages, and the signals from my nerves had become much stronger.

After tossing and turning for a while, I realized sleep wouldn’t come, so I went for a walk in the park.

A cool breeze rustled pleasantly through my hair. The temperature was just right. The wind’s strength was perfect. I could even feel the shape of the wind, as if it were caressing my face.

This was an underground city where natural wind didn’t blow. With a breeze tailored to my liking like this, there was no need for words.

“Hello, Artemis.”

[Looks like you couldn’t sleep at all.]

Sometimes, a man just needs to retreat into his own cave, wanting some time alone.

Artemis understood this, so she didn’t bother speaking to me during special moments like nighttime walks. Even if she got bored, she’d simply use something like the artificial wind earlier as a kind of “out of office message.” If I didn’t respond, she’d withdraw and respect my space.

[Your neural network is more active than expected.]

She spoke after scanning my body.

“That’s good, right?”

[Yes. It means there’s still plenty of room for improvement.]

“Then that’s fine. A few sleepless nights are nothing compared to being safer during future expeditions.”

On the battlefield, even a 10% increase in perception and reaction time can be the difference between life and death. A few sleepless nights are a cheap price to pay.

After walking for a while, my legs started to ache, so I sat on a nearby bench. I had pushed myself during the day to test my enhanced nerves with various sports and sparring matches, and the fatigue had piled up.

[Are you planning to go out again?]

Artemis asked.

“There are still tons of abandoned treasures out there. I can’t just let them rot, can I?”

Buildings classified as critical national infrastructure have automated power systems that can autonomously maintain electricity for a significant period, even if human management stops. Just like the netacraft research facility I visited before.

However, that period isn't very long. After that, the power will die out, and in such a situation, exploring large-scale facilities and extracting valuable items becomes extremely difficult. Whether it's technology or equipment. There's no need to rush, but we don't have the luxury to procrastinate either.

[With food, drink, medical services, entertainment, and even safety perfectly provided, isn't that enough?]

"It sounds like you're trying to stop me from going outside."

Artemis said nothing. I stood up from the bench and headed toward the information screen in the center of the park.

"Show me the accommodation in the shelter. Any room will do."

As soon as I finished speaking, the screen powered on and started displaying footage of the accommodation. Though it was in night vision mode and appeared in shades of gray, the clarity was good enough that the faces of the sleeping women could be seen clearly.

One woman lay on her back, sleeping straight. Another curled up like a fetus. Another was lying face down. One had kicked off her blanket and was sleeping in a bold pose. Lastly, in the corner, two women were hugging each other as they slept.

"Look at how they're sleeping. What do you think?"

[They look stupid.]

Artemis spoke bluntly. Knowing her standards, it's hard to imagine anyone she wouldn't consider stupid.

"To me, they look peaceful. They believe their lives will continue to be safe, well-fed, and warm."

The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, the blankets and space were clean, and the environment was secure. The faces of the sleeping women appeared truly serene.

"Now it's my responsibility to maintain that. To ensure they don't revert to the half-dead state they were in at the offshore prison."

[If they had any sense, they should be thankful just to be alive. Isn't that an excessive sense of responsibility?]

Artemis approached it with her usual mechanical logic.

"This is my second time. Leading people who have been pushed under me by the world. Back when I commanded conscripts, I learned that if a leader doesn’t have an excessive sense of responsibility, the people under them can’t even catch their breath."

As a junior officer, I used to view my soldiers from a perspective of ‘obligatory duty,' much like Artemis, and I expected them to meet their potential. But it didn't take me long to realize that was the wrong approach.

"Especially in tough times like these. Sure, our shelter is incredibly well-off, but…"

One of the women slowly got up from her spot and headed outside. She was probably going to the bathroom. There's no need for sentry duty here, and escape is completely pointless.

"Looking at these women, I started thinking. Even if we’re in a perfectly equipped shelter, it's still an isolated city. How long can we really maintain this closed cycle? Those women probably never imagined the offshore prison would turn out the way it did."

Living a life isolated in a shelter, embracing isolationism, is certainly safe, but nothing is ever 100% guaranteed.

"A major unexpected accident, an invasion by infected creatures more evolved than we imagined, or other unforeseen issues could arise."

[The probability of that is so low that calculating it is meaningless.]

Both she and I had simulated these scenarios countless times. We knew the risks well.

"But it's still not 0%, right?"

[…]

In the world of predictions, 100% and 0% don't exist. Pointing out that blind spot leaves even Artemis without a retort.

"When the infection crisis first broke out and we went into emergency lockdown, I didn't think much of it. I was too busy trying to survive and come up with countermeasures to prevent the infected from getting in."

The woman who had gone to the bathroom came back. She pulled the blanket over the woman who had kicked hers off and then returned to her own spot.

"But once we reclaimed the city and found a stable life, I started to think beyond that. It’s not bad living the same uneventful days, but I wondered whether I’d regret it in the future."

At the end of a life with no change, looking out at the desolate world outside might bring a sense of futility. Or watching a shelter crumble due to some unforeseen disaster, leading to regret for choosing isolationism. Either way, the feeling is the same.

[So you're saying you'll explore the outside world to find something more meaningful?]

"You were just as curious about the outside world. Didn’t you always say you wanted to go to the moon?"

Until we reclaimed the city, she had more interest in the outside world than I did.

Artemis is the goddess of the moon, and she certainly lives up to her name. She had a grand ambition to wipe out all infected and venture out to the moon. But that ambition can’t proceed without the technology and data lying dormant in the outside world.

Even if it were possible, it would take an incredibly long time. Probably not in time for me to see the results before I grow old and die.

[But in the process, it’s your life on the line.]

"Well, yeah."

If, by some chance, the mission goes wrong, I won’t be coming back. After the first expedition, she no longer mentioned wanting to go to the moon.

[Is there anything more futile than losing your life following someone else's dream?]

"It may be risky, but I don’t think it’s all futile."

A girlfriend working part-time to support her boyfriend studying for the bar exam, a father working abroad to provide for his family, an older brother working in a factory to pay for his sibling's college tuition, a soldier driven by patriotism. There are plenty of people like that in the world.

"Some people live for the dreams of others. I couldn’t understand that before, but now I don’t think that kind of life is so bad."

Artemis didn’t respond. Only a pleasant breeze blew in from somewhere.

"Just a thought I had."

We strolled through the park in silence after that. That night, Artemis accompanied me all the way to my home, out of her sight, and bid me goodnight.

[Good night.]

The signal transmission from my nervous system remained the same, but maybe it was the lingering sensation of the night breeze on my body. After a while, I was finally able to sleep.