Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 11



Only Krnovel

10. Chaebol (2)

The greatest damage caused by the war was not the nuclear attacks, but the cold, dark ambush that took place under the surface.

South Korea, which relies on overseas markets for almost all of its supplies, would be in danger if its sea routes were cut off.

When Chinese submarines attacked trade routes, Korean shipping lanes were paralyzed and the Korean economy was sentenced to death.

Even the wind could not escape the fate of death.

However, there was a possibility that they would survive a little longer than other groups.

Among the affiliates, there were construction and distribution companies, as well as heavy industry and defense companies.

Maybe that’s why.

The equipment mobilized in the operation area was more splendid than imagined.

Five new armored vehicles of unknown model armed with flamethrowers and 20mm machine guns, three 40kg class quarter drones capable of providing air support in the event of an emergency, a platoon of foreign mercenaries who appear to be of US military origin, and about two hundred other support troops armed with personal weapons.

There weren’t many young people.

The younger group was mostly in their mid to late 30s, and there were quite a few in their 40s and 50s.

The person in charge of the operation was Director Choi, who had reached the rank of Army Colonel, but had absolutely no experience in counter-monster operations.

There was a hunter as a counselor, but of course he was a face I didn’t recognize, and he wasn’t even a proper hunter.

The ‘proper hunter’ I’m talking about is someone who has received systematic education and training at a ‘school’ that meets international standards, has gained more than a year of practical experience under a verified marksman, and has experienced combat for more than a year in the gated area set up in front of the rift, and has obtained a C-class or higher rank.

People who graduated from school like my mentor John Nae-non but dropped out midway are considered D-class and are considered out of combat power in battles against monsters.

However, the handling of the power outside of that was holding the lifeline of the conglomerate that once dominated South Korea.

“I am Sangmin Park, a current member of the National Assembly and a hunter. Please take good care of me.”

This man with a handsome appearance like an actor is a member of the National Assembly.

I heard that he is a so-called specialized proportional representative who entered the National Assembly as a proportional representative by emphasizing that he is from a hunter background.

I don’t know what qualifications a person who isn’t even a proper hunter has to represent the entire hunter group, but the sparkling Rose of Sharon badge attached to the lapel of his military uniform looked quite stylish.

Although the nominal commander was Director Choi, the one who actually led the operation was Park Sang-min.

“There has been a large outbreak of zombies in this industrial area, but research has shown that the zombie lifespan is one month. After a month, zombies will starve to death. The reason for postponing this operation is to avoid unnecessary battles with zombies.”

He had a handsome face, a soft voice, and a sense of trust, so even when he talked nonsense, it sounded plausible to someone who didn’t know him well.

“What do you think, Hunter, the National Assembly member?”

For some reason, he asked me what I thought about everything, but his intentions were so obvious.

They are trying to trample on me.

Because I’m a hunter sent by the National Assembly.

As of now, the National Assembly is a league of its own with no real power, while the State Council members hold the real power.

That ill feeling has degenerated into ridicule towards me.

That’s something you can just laugh off.

At most, three years. That’s this guy’s lifespan.

The problem is that Park Sang-min could blame me for the failure of this operation, which was destined to fail.

That’s not what I want.

I am a person who must live quietly, alone, and in comfort, cutting off contact with everyone when the time comes.

“It doesn’t seem right to me.”

“No, you are mistaken, sir.”

“I completely disagree.”

So I tackled everything.

It was also difficult not to tackle.

Well, this guy just talks nonsense.

“I see it differently.”

Even an earthworm will squirm if you step on it, and Park Sang-min has been fighting back after being stepped on several times.

“Want to see it in 3D?”

This is his counterattack.

Since they have nothing in their heads, they try to drown out my words with sarcasm and nonsense.

I ignored him and continued talking.

“If a zombie looks like it’s going to starve to death, it shuts down. It goes into a state of suspended animation and drastically lowers its metabolism. It’s true that if you’ve been active for a month and can’t find any nutrients, you’ll starve to death, but zombies that have made their base in the city where they can avoid the sun should be viewed differently.”

“Ah, right. Turn off Ant Wiki.”

Park Sang-min was extremely rude, but the expressions of the group leaders watching our conversation were not very bright.

The change in the chairman was particularly noticeable.

Even if you are an outsider, it is clear who is more correct just by looking at the context of the words.

The climax of the argument was the debate over how to enter the industrial complex, which was the destination.

Park Sang-min preached that armored vehicles should be put first, and I argued the opposite.

“No, sir. Have you ever seen a zombie shooting a gun? Have you ever heard of one? Zombies are sensitive to sound and smell. If you drive an armored vehicle with the smell of oil and the roar of an engine, you’re just advertising that we’re here.”

“stop!”

Park Sang-min waved his arms.

A grumpy aide stood in my way and tried to silence me.

He continued to speak, shaking them off.

“It’s not too late to first send an experienced scout to the front to check the formation and decide on the method of entry based on that. Yes? In a fight, 90% is design. 10% is individual skill. If the design is a mess, how can you win?”

“This kid is really annoying. Fuck.”

Park Sang-min’s patience has run out.

“You fucking punk thinks the Congressman is a dick? Huh? How dare you talk back to him like that?”

The group of people separated me and Park Sang-min.

Luckily, the person who took me somewhere else was also the one who brought me here.

“Are you CEO Ji Chang-soo?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I asked you a favor.”

“To Younghee?”

Younghee.

It was an exemplary name. That woman.

I briefly explained to Ji Chang-soo the dangers of this operation, using my knowledge and experience.

Although he was a subcontractor, Ji Chang-soo seemed to be taking my words carefully, as expected from someone who had managed a company with over 3,000 employees.

The final blow blew away his doubts.

“Actually, I’m not a D-rank. I’m not bragging, but I’m on a different level from that parasitic brother.”

But an invisible string was holding his heart together.

“But the chairman······.”

“What’s the problem, Chairman? Honestly, isn’t it over, the group and everything? Are you continuing the deal? No, do you have any deals to make?”

Ji Chang-soo shook his head.

He shook his head, but he stared into space with that deep, serious look in his eyes that older people often make when preaching to their juniors.

“Mr. Park Hunter, you’re still young, so you probably don’t know, but relationships between people aren’t easily formed or broken. Especially when it comes to people like us who have shared the same time and experiences…”

“······.”

I think I know what you mean.

I’ve had similar concerns.

“Besides, what can we do if we run away from this crumbling group? Aren’t we just refugees from the ragtag group?”

“There is a family waiting for the boss to come back alive.”

“······”

“I don’t have a family to wait for me.”

He left first.

“When I give you the signal, run away without looking back.”

“But the chairman!”

“Don’t worry. The chairman will be following suit.”

The outcome of the operation was obvious.

An armored vehicle took the lead and the zombies swarmed in.

The momentum was good.

Until we advanced towards the center, building a wall of corpses with flamethrowers and machine guns.

But soon it reached its limits.

Zombies surrounded me from all sides, blocking my escape, and to make matters worse, the thing I was most worried about showed up.

A 3m tall creature with a grayish-white surface that had no sheen was floating in the air, looking down at the humans.

Every time it is released, it sends out a shock wave that shakes the surroundings, just like breathing.

It was more like a stone statue than a living creature.

No, I guess you could call it an idol.

All the people present looked up at the being, each gripped with fear and wonder.

He held Ji Chang-soo’s wrist and spoke in silence.

“Let’s go.”

It is an enemy of humanity, a monster.

Humanity cannot defeat monsters.

*

Battle results.

Most of the equipment was destroyed and all the mercenaries were lost.

Director Choi also died in battle.

Of the 200 staff members who came as cheerleaders, only half returned alive.

Park Sang-min survived, but blamed the loss on Director Choi’s incompetence and the Papung Group’s lack of preparation.

I guess it’s a good thing.

Ji Chang-soo is alive.

“I guess this will help ease the chairman’s stubbornness. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Kim Da-ram greeted me with a smile, but his smile didn’t look very happy.

She also had no choice but to arrange this.

I understand.

In a world where everything has fallen apart, it would be difficult to ignore the claims of powerful individuals.

“It wasn’t a very pleasant experience. But why did you do something like that? I can guess the details.”

“There are two playgrounds, and one of them is ruined. The most successful kid from the ruined playground came to the other playground, but he wasn’t accepted.”

“That’s a very motherly metaphor.”

“Anyway, be happy. I won’t bother you anymore.”

Kim Da-ram sent me a congratulatory message and an unexpected gift.

The gift is a personal identification number.

I now enjoy a special position in the world of military frequencies.

“But the chairman wants to see you again?”

“You don’t want to see it?”

“After meeting him, it’s your freedom. Now that guy has lost all his strength. He doesn’t have any resources left to exert influence.”

What made me meet Je-pung-ho again?

Looking back, I think it was curiosity.

Isn’t the end of a fallen conglomerate something every Korean would like to see at least once?

Je-Pung-Ho met me on the third floor of his headquarters building.

The construction elevator that had previously taken me up to the 55th floor was out of operation.

The luxurious bathroom was filled with the smell of urine.

Je-pung-ho was waiting for me with a meal prepared.

The main menu was steak served with truffles, and the wine was a top-quality wine called Chateau Something.

The mushrooms and the wine were great, but his meat was definitely inferior to what I had stored in my bunker.

“Park Hunter.”

He greeted me with a bright smile.

The face wasn’t much different from the one I saw at the cafeteria.

“I looked into your background. I did some background checks. You’re a big shot.”

“It’s trash now.”

“Just like me.”

Je-pung-ho’s eyes sparkled.

“You said that you weren’t even a match for that noisy Lee Sang-hoon? You said that you were on the same team as Kang Han-min and Na Hye-in, the saviors who are now half-legends.”

“······.”

The taste of alcohol was completely lost.

I heard a name I didn’t want to hear.

I managed to almost erase it from my memory.

“Why did you call me?”

“I see, no matter what you say, you plan to reject it first, right?”

“You know very well.”

“To be blunt, I plan on challenging that complex again.”

“It won’t work. You saw it.”

“There are times when you know you shouldn’t do something, but you have to do it.”

Je-pung-ho stared regretfully into the blood-red wine glass with his eyes half-closed, which were unusually sparkling.

“I was the son of a concubine.”

“······.”

“It says that my mother is Jang Mi-sook, but she is not my mother. My mother didn’t even leave her name. At the time I was born, the possibility of me inheriting the group was 0%. But I did it.”

Je-pung-ho’s eyes darkened.

To be exact, his narrowed eyes opened wide and he was illuminated by the bright lights on the ceiling, but I mistook it for the brightness of his gaze becoming stronger.

“I destroyed and trampled all those who stood in my way, and made it so that my father had no choice but to choose me.”

He had the spirit to do it.

“I’m 69. It’s time to try again.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Just tell me how. How to defeat that monster!”

I couldn’t refuse that request.

Well, doesn’t he deserve some favors?

A bowl of warm soup with a glass of soju.

“······This is the type called a necromancer. As you can see, it mutates dead people and raises them as zombies. When attacked, it creates a reflective field around it, but it doesn’t reflect organic matter like living things. It’s extremely difficult to approach, but if you can approach it, you can somehow deal with it. And there’s just one place where there’s no field, and it’s about the size of a coin······.”

Je-pung-ho nodded as if he had returned to his childhood and diligently wrote down my information in a notepad.

After the story was over, I asked him.

“Why are you so obsessed with it? You can easily prepare for it with your own wealth and connections. If you settle down in a suitable place, you will be able to take care of your family and those around you.”

“How can that be?”

He asked back, sobbing.

“There are tens of thousands of employees who believe in me and follow me?”

Now I thought I knew why his eyes were strangely shining.

He was a boss through and through.

Leading people and making people follow.

No, maybe he identified himself with the storm.

*

Je-pung-ho’s last challenge ended in failure.

It was a small satisfaction to see that the father of the woman who had spoken to me was not on the list of the dead.

The cafeteria that Je-pung-ho ambitiously opened was used as a den of drug addicts and has now become an abandoned, unvisited sight.

This is the end of the conglomerate I knew.

Thanks to this, I was able to transform from an unpopular user to a user with some power who can write popular articles.

But it seems that Jepoongho’s story is not over yet.

About a year and ten months after the outbreak of the war, a photo was posted on the community.

gijayangban: This is a picture I found on PaleNet. Doesn’t it look familiar?

What was captured in the photo was a horde of zombies.

They appeared to be active in the countryside, forming a very large group of several thousand.

But the zombie standing at the forefront has a familiar face.

That’s right.

The zombie in the shiny suit was Je-pung-ho, the chairman of the Papung Group.

While most conglomerates have abandoned their groups and settled for a fortress of a dozen or so families, this leading entrepreneur continues to roam the abandoned ruins with thousands of followers.