End of the World Broadcast

“But you know, it’s not just suffocating buildings like this all the way. As you get closer to the outskirts of the city, the buildings gradually become lower and more free.”
The identical buildings constructed at regular intervals indicate that this residential area was planned to accommodate more people.
However, whether there was a problem during the planning process,
Or as time passed, many more people gathered in the city than initially expected,
In the cities I’ve passed through, there were various buildings chaotically standing even beyond the cage-like areas that could seemingly accommodate tens of thousands of people.
This place is probably the same.

“The buildings there are more free-spirited unlike these cages here, so I prefer those places… but it’s probably hard to understand just by my words, right? Just wait a little. We’ll be able to get out of here soon.”
The grayish-white residential area, like the buildings erected here, is long horizontally and narrow vertically.
I suppose they built it this way to increase accessibility, as most buildings are concentrated in the downtown area.
Thanks to this, the residential area served as a marker indicating I was getting closer to the edge of the city.
One way or another, it’s a practical place. Though I don’t like it.

“Can you see? How the size, height, and spacing between buildings are all different? This is what I was talking about.”
Walking through fallen streetlights and snow covering lost lives, I left the residential area in just a few hours.
The regularly built grayish-white buildings disappeared from view in an instant, and buildings chaotically erected along with disorderly roads entered my widened field of vision.

“Doesn’t it strongly convey the feeling of an ‘unplanned place’ in many ways?”
When I first stepped into the residential area, I thought people living in cage-like buildings weren’t wealthy, and people living here, beyond the residential area, were wealthy.
People confined to cramped rooms less than three pyeong (about 10 square meters), versus people living in buildings with their own characteristics despite being away from downtown.
If you asked someone from my era, eight or nine out of ten would think the latter were better off.
But that wasn’t the case.

“Just as I named the place where I was until just now the ‘residential area,’ if I were to name this place, it would certainly be ‘slum.'”
The truly wealthy lived in large, sturdy houses near commercial areas, like the houses near the big supermarkets, protected by law and technology.
And those who couldn’t live well but could pay enough to protect their safety lived in the grayish-white buildings we just saw, receiving at least minimal protection.
But here, there are no security robots to protect citizens, no security devices to drive away burglars or thieves trying to enter homes.
This is irrelevant to me, living in a time when all machines have stopped working, but it must have been a matter of life and death back then.
Especially in an era when dangerous weapons and guns, making kitchen knives seem trivial, were circulating freely.

“There aren’t many people here who died of ordinary starvation or chose death themselves. Most were injured and died in the process of taking from others, or protecting what was theirs. If not that, they died crushed under poorly built buildings.”
At the same time, buildings not constructed with advanced technology like other buildings were structurally unsound.
While inside, cold wind blew through holes in the walls or gaps in the windows, and sometimes buildings whose ceilings collapsed because they couldn’t withstand the weight of snow were common here.

“But, I still like it here. At least there’s a human feeling here.”
Free-spirited and inexperienced but still living today diligently—that’s what I think of as human.

“Practicality is good. It is. But… I wonder if it had to be so stifling and suffocating. They could have had a bit more leeway.”
…Of course, this might be something I can say only because I didn’t actually live through those tumultuous times.

“Hahaha, you guys are still in the office. …By the way, why is this happening? The text appears all broken.”
I opened the message window with anticipation when I heard there were new messages, but somehow the messages are unnaturally broken.
Not only can’t it properly receive messages, but now even the text is breaking?

“Surely it’s not breaking down? Please tell me it’s not. It’s a translation error or… a temporary bug that’s causing this?”
Wondering if pressing buttons on the controller might fix it, I tried pressing various buttons on the controller, starting with the translation button, but the broken words didn’t return to normal.
Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like the drone is broken since new messages are coming soon…
…It feels a bit unsettling though.

“Hmm… While we’re on the topic of practicality, let me ask you, which do you prefer? A world so practical that it abandons humanity, or a world that’s free in both good and bad ways.”
People who chose to live in cages that pursued practicality to the point of confining humanity.
And people who, like beasts escaping from cages, were exposed to danger in exchange for humanity and freedom.

“The end was unhappy for everyone, but… during their lives, I wonder which people were happier. Since they lived in different environments, did they each think they were better off?”
Or, as the old saying goes that other people’s rice cakes look bigger, did they live envying each other?

“…Ah. The very fact that we’re making these comparisons might be evidence that there was no such thing as happiness.”
I smiled awkwardly, saying I had committed a very human faux pas.

“Wow. These are colorful hues that are hard to see in this city.”
Construction equipment and various materials standing lonely in an empty lot.
Houses ridiculously small and low compared to the buildings erected in the city, and flimsy walls built somehow to protect the house.
Most places where human hands could reach were filled with colorful pictures that could be seen at a glance even from a distance.

“It’s quite welcoming to see sparkling pictures after a while in this dreary world. …Even if they’re a bit risqué.”
It’s quite embarrassing to see images of women pole dancing or depictions of explicit sexual acts drawn with fluorescent paint.
But if I think that people who lived in such a remote place sublimated their complaints and desires into these pictures… it looks fine in its own way.

“Certainly, it’s better to have each person’s colors, even if a bit messy, than just plain white.”
Maybe it’s because they’re traces of people who were once alive, even if only the pictures remain.
Without realizing it, I walked right next to the walls with pictures drawn on them─ and noticed a few spray cans rolling under the colorful pictures.

“……It’s a bit wrong to touch pictures that people from the past worked hard to draw, but they’re too risqué, and it’s pitiful to be completely naked in this cold weather….”
It might be better to… give them some clothes.
I picked up bright-colored spray cans from those rolling on the ground, and dressed the people who were unreservedly exposing important parts in this cold.

“By the way, this is fun. Just by shaking this and pressing my finger, I can leave traces of my existence and thoughts in the world.”
Perhaps because I’ve never formally studied art and it’s my first time holding a spray can, it didn’t turn out exactly as I imagined.
But who cares? There’s no one else in this city to see or evaluate this picture except me.
If I think I’ve drawn well, and if I had fun, that’s enough.

“This should do it. They all look warm now, which is good.”
I gave people who were exposed appropriate clothes for the cold season.
Slowly examining the wall that looked warm just by looking at it, I found an empty wall in the corner.

“─Since it’s a rare occasion, shall I leave behind a picture too?”
After thinking for a moment, I started drawing my own picture on the empty wall.
Just as the people who lived here revealed their primal desires and wishes, I also wanted to reveal my wish to the world through a picture.

“Here like this… there like this….”
I draw myself wearing thick clothes and carrying a large bag, and a drone flying around me.
And I draw many people surrounding me.
The finishing touch is drawing smiles, hoping that in this world, everyone can meet with smiling faces.

“Oh no, using red makes it look scary. It looks like something from a nightmare. I need to cover it with another color!”
The completed picture was not a good one even by flattery, nor was it clean.
But it was the most satisfying picture I had ever seen in my life.

“Ah. I’ve finally arrived.”
I moved forward, passing through many collapsed and tilted buildings.
And when night fell and the world became so dark that I couldn’t see an inch ahead,
A huge train station marking the end of the city and
High iron fences surrounding the city that weren’t visible from a distance
Welcomed me as if to say this is the end, and at the same time, the beginning.