Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 144
Only Krnovel
Episode 144
I cooked ramen for the first time in a long time
Ramen is a food I rarely eat.
I think it’s been at least two years since I last ate it.
This is because, contrary to its image as a preserved food, ramen has a short shelf life.
Ramen is noodles fried in oil to extend their shelf life, but the noodles themselves that are fried in oil also have a shelf life, so this is what happened.
The manufacturer estimates its lifespan to be around one year.
Considering that death cannot be avoided even if fried in oil, vacuum-packed, and various additives are added, it could be said that this is the fateful limitation of ramen itself.
There used to be a stockpile of ramen noodles, but after the war started, they were given priority and now there is almost none left, and there are only about five packages of wings stored in the freezer.
I took out the ramen that I had stored in the freezer and boiled it for the first time in a long time.
Bubble bubble-
Ramen definitely tastes best when it’s boiled.
Why ramen all of a sudden?
That’s because a cold, snowy day goes well with a warm, moderately spicy dish called ramen, and when I think of ramen, I think of Jon Nae-non, the creator of PaleNet, who is now gone.
Our Jonnae-non wrote about a lot of topics, and one of the topics he wrote about was ramen.
John_nenon (John Nenon) About long-term storage of ramen
It was something unexpected.
At the time, I thought that Jonnaenon was a European disguised as a Korean living an extremely Western life.
Because when you look at the lifestyle and eating habits he mentions, the terms he uses, and the environment that can be inferred from them, it seems like he has a lifestyle closer to the United States or Europe than to Korea.
This is true even for the food ingredients mentioned.
While other users are discussing very Korean foods such as rice, ramen, pork belly, spam, lettuce farming, and the efficiency of making kimchi.
John gave examples of oatmeal, lentils and chickpeas, wine and cheese, bacon and ham, thyme and basil, and onions, not just onions but shallots?
At that time, this Park Gyu had little experience with the Internet – he was naive – so he could not have imagined that our Jonnae-non would copy and paste an article written by a survival expert from a French bulletin board and post it as if it were his own. So he thought that our Jonnae-non might be a Westerner.
Then, Jonnaenon suddenly came up with a Korean subject.
It also used ramen, which was a major topic of keyboard battles at the time.
Of course, expectations can’t help but be high.
I clicked on the article, expecting that our bulletin board’s wise man, Jon Nae-non, would tell us some uncommon “Korean” stories from an expert’s perspective.
But the content was, well, absurd.
– You can just put it in the freezer haha
This is the end.
The article I clicked on with high expectations only contained one line of nonsense that didn’t make any sense.
“hmm?”
This will probably be the first time.
The trust in John Nae-non has been shaken.
But since our Jonnae-non is a humorous person who likes jokes as much as he has vast knowledge, we dismissed it as a failed gag and moved on.
After a while, I left the message board due to the realistic concerns of the final construction and the ever-tightening purse strings, and in the meantime, Jonnaenon was banished into the darkness.
Now it’s time to test one of those hypotheses.
Slurp-
“Fuck!”
Rancid noodles are so tasteless.
I swallowed it forcefully, but I have a feeling I’m going to be in a bad mood all day.
Well, I can complain about side dishes like this because I eat and live so well, but after eating the spoiled ramen, I think of John Nae-non and his creation Palenet.
PaleNet is like rancid ramen.
The date of manufacture is when Jonnaenon sealed Palenet’s server room with himself.
After that, PaleNet started to go rancid and at some point, it became like inedible ramen.
Still, it was a well-made ramen.
Considering that it is not easy to operate a server facility that has to handle a huge amount of traffic for several months without any maintenance,
With Palenet’s death, the bulletin board keeper elections have lost their meaning.
However, the incredibly lazy Vivabot has not said anything even after three days since PaleNet stopped.
Perhaps it will just be forgotten without any notice being posted?
That’s Vivabot’s style, but then the notice came from a place I never expected.
171cm54kg13cm: Hello? I am the operator of Palenet 2.
That notice is not a notice on our bulletin board.
This is actually a notice from Palenet.
Since PaleNet is not working, we posted a notice directly on our bulletin board.
To conclude, the PaleNet that Jonnaenon has been discussing is not dead yet.
Although several servers have died, there are no problems with operation as the number of users has decreased, and it seems that Jonnae’s disciple has completed optimization by remotely upgrading the software, etc.
The cause of the problem was outside.
The antenna installed on top of the old mansion where PaleNet was located was broken.
The culprit is unknown, but there is no way to find out.
Because Seoul, where people have left, is now a realm of non-humans, not humans.
By the way, when the disciple of that Jonnae-non posted the notice, a vague idea of the future came to mind.
That future came true very quickly.
Message from 171cm54kg13cm: I heard from Skeleton and Jonnaenon.
They say you’re the world’s greatest hunter. I want to continue working, but safety issues haven’t been resolved.
I’m truly sorry, but you’re the only one I can ask for help, Skeleton.
In the end, it was a trend to lend a hand.
When John Nae-non was alive, Seoul was also full of danger, but now it is a place where literally no one knows what is there.
You will need experienced warriors with excellent fighting skills.
Ignored it.
It’s a shame to see PaleNet disappear, but I don’t think it’s worth risking my life to go out in this minus 30 degree cold.
After a while, John Nae-non’s disciple sent me a message again.
Message from 171cm54kg13cm: You registered as a board manager for Skeleton. If you help us just this once, we will push Skeleton to become a board manager by any means necessary!
What’s the situation with SKELTON?
*
It’s not for me.
Palenet is the only refuge for Incheon citizens who fight against death in the bitter cold and hunger. In school, we learned that we fight for ourselves, not for our country, race, or individuality.
That’s a hunter.
As Defender said, the current severe cold spell hitting the Northern Hemisphere is the worst disaster in meteorological history, leaving many dead, but on the other hand, it also has the positive effect of reducing the risk of an attack to zero.
Even mutations freeze to death in this cold.
Although it has not been confirmed yet, it is said that even those powerful monsters cannot survive in temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius.
It’s not entirely impossible, as the temperature on the other side of the rift is 16.2 degrees.
The temperature of that gray-white world, immersed in the dim dawn without day or night, is always fixed at around 16 degrees.
That is the sea that I saw with my own eyes and experienced with my own body while I was abandoned in a corner of another world and had to endure for nearly a month.
There is no way that a creature living in such a cool place would have cold tolerance, and in fact, there have been no reports of monster activity in polar regions.
So the joke is that if humanity were to perish, the only place they would escape to would be polar regions like the North or South Pole.
Just like the Old Ones, an ancient race that disappeared from Lovecraft’s novels.
Anyway, if you make sure you have the right measures against the cold, going to Seoul itself definitely feels safer than usual.
Plus, unlike before, this time there is a reliable means of contact.
Personal Identification Number: SPARE2855
“Hello, Skeleton?”
The subordinates of the John Nae-non had personal identification numbers.
It is said that it was received when Jon Nae-non briefly joined hands with the government in the past.
Even though the weather is cold, if you have a clear destination and a means of contact, there is no reason to hesitate to visit.
Of course, since it was a journey through bitter cold of minus 30 degrees Celsius, we prepared thoroughly.
For food, I packed the high-calorie rations for the US military that I had previously received from Rebecca, an excessive number of hot packs, portable fuel, and a bottle of high-proof whiskey that I rarely drink.
I prepared two thermoses of water and placed them inside after placing a few hot stones heated in the wood boiler under the seat.
It’s easy to overlook, but in this cold weather, you actually need to be careful about your water supply.
When you are thirsty, you may think that you can just eat the snow scattered around the area, but snow itself is not clean and you have to melt it to drink it.
If you eat it raw, you could end up in real trouble.
The most important thing is the motorcycle.
In the bitter cold that freezes even monsters, my motorcycle is my feet and my lifeline.
I did some work.
I added a heated seat, hand tosh, and windscreen to my motorcycle.
There was a delivery motorcycle abandoned in a warehouse in Rebecca’s area, so I retrieved it from there and installed it this time.
As it is for livelihood, the design is not good enough to be described as good.
My elegant steed, White Beauty, suddenly turned into a livelihood bike.
But the test drive results showed that the performance was solid.
Well, it would be best if it wasn’t cold this winter.
When the weather gets warmer, I plan to put it back the way it was.
The starting point is quite different from before.
In the past, when I went to Seoul, I waited for the sun to set and left when the sun was setting, but now I set my departure time at dawn before sunrise so that I can receive as much sunlight as possible.
The schedule is probably a day trip?
Before departure, I contacted my subordinates by radio.
“Yes. Then I will wait at the meeting point I told you about earlier.”
John Nae-non’s subordinate decided to wait for me on the outskirts of Seoul.
Boooooooooooo-
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Seoul.
I don’t feel the cold, perhaps because I’ve taken thorough precautions against the cold.
Rather, it’s so hot that I want to take off my clothes.
By the way, how long has it been?
The feeling of walking down the street without any worries.
The air was as cold as a blade, and at this very moment, countless people were dying in places I didn’t know about, but the still world that covered all the earth’s beauty in white was languidly peaceful.
*
“Mr. Skeleton!”
I met Jon Nae-non’s subordinate on a small street with an eerie view of Seoul, which had become a ghost town.
His body, with his glasses on, looked the same as before, but his complexion had worsened considerably.
Should I say it turned red?
It is the color of a person whose liver has been ruined by drinking too much.
We checked out the external state of PaleNet, which was filmed by a drone by John Nae-non’s subordinates inside an abandoned apartment basement.
Actually, one of the antennas was broken.
“It just so happened that the main antenna for transmitting went out. The receiving antenna was fine, but the transmitting antenna was destroyed, so the entire PaleNet stopped. People couldn’t respond even if they entered commands.”
At the meeting, John decided on a new title for his subordinate.
In the past, it was not a big deal because it felt like a side dish to John Ne-non’s, but now this guy wearing glasses and looking a little unwell is the actual operator of Palenet.
There should be a suitable title.
“I have a complex about my real name. I wish you would call me Valentine.”
Perhaps the name comes from the alcohol.
“How old is it?”
Let’s be funny,
“It must be over 30 years old.”
I can tell by the way you answer with a smile.
Anyway, I was briefed on the situation briefly by John Nae-non’s subordinate who changed his name to Valentine.
The prerequisites were exchanged online, but people tend to consciously or unconsciously hide things that are disadvantageous to them.
It’s not a question of being evil or cunning.
Trying to hide one’s wealth is a unique characteristic of humans, different from animals.
As expected, a problem I had never heard of online popped up.
“I just happened to take this picture, what could it be?”
Maybe Valentine didn’t know what it was, but he probably knew it was dangerous.
Why, if there were a gray-white, dream-like creature that looked as big as a human at first glance, walking around, wouldn’t even the most insensitive person feel fear?
To make matters worse, the monster this guy took a picture of is one I’ve never seen before.
No, I have seen it.
From Dongtan Mom’s live.
Together with the zombies chasing Dongtan Mom, they relentlessly chased after her, trying to kill her.
That guy is in Seoul.
He sighed and said calmly.
“……This won’t be easy.”
Do not engage with monsters you do not know.
That is the engagement philosophy that I, as a professor, insisted on and established, not Jang Gi-yeong.
Because I fought without knowing the strategy and sent away the bodies of my dead comrades several times without even being able to display half of my skills.
The new species is the preserve of the most excellent hunters.
Because only the best hunters can discover the optimal strategy with minimal losses and spread the word to everyone.
Of course, that’s just a story from when I was active.
It’s good to have a bulletin board and it’s good that PaleNet is the hope of Incheon citizens, but the most important thing right now is my life.
By the way, I’m concerned about the bonfire that’s been burning as if it were a given since a while ago.
“Hey, even if this is Seoul, you can’t smoke something like this in broad daylight.”
“See the vents? Don’t worry. We’ve lit fires in basements like this several times without any problems.”
“No, that’s not it. Are there no dangerous people in Seoul? When I came here earlier, I didn’t see a single puff of smoke. It might be different in Incheon, but it could be dangerous in a neighborhood like this where there aren’t any people. Is there a chance that people live in Seoul?”
It’s true that looters are hunkering down in this cold, but not many will sit idly by while smoke is brazenly billowing right before their eyes.
After hearing my words, Valentine quickly turned off the lights.
But it was already too late.
There was a sound of footsteps coming from the entrance.
“Who’s there?”
A young man’s voice.
Although it may seem mild, distinguishing people by the temperature of their voices is a quick shortcut to death.
I winked at Valentine and stood in cover, ready for battle.
“You two, put your guns down. We are not the enemy. We are the National Guard’s search party.”
The voice continued to be heard.
There was something bothering me, but I decided to ignore it.
Soon the sound of footsteps was heard.
“uh?”
A woman’s voice.
The moment I thought it was a familiar tone, a scream close to cheering suddenly erupted from the stairs.
“fountain!”
This voice, and this title.
I saw a woman with a soft glow in her eyes, breaking cover and approaching me.
That’s right.
This is my 15-month disciple, Song Yu-jin.
End
ⓒ Road Warrior #dp8g
(barbar**) -Recommendation68-
The top hunter professor and the likable skeleton are different people
(zz3**) -Recommendation 42-
It’s kind of cool that he says he created all the monster rules while he was still active…
But why skeleton now
(***it) -Recommendation36-
Park Gyu, who risks his life for the captain’s armband
The professor who was the top professional hunter
The gap is always so funny
(code****) -Recommendation35-
The person who stored ramen in the freezer and ate it and then cursed must be the author.
If you look at it, it’s an essay
(Web novel**) -Recommendation 30-
The apocalypse that made the professor like that is scary…
(**seconds) -Recommendation 18-
The reason it became S-class is probably because of that transformation, lol
(Moonlight***) -Recommendation 10-‘
You’re not cold riding a motorcycle in -30 degrees? You’re not human.
(Dream**) -Recommendation 7-
Seoul.. M9 still lives there..
(Blessed***) -Recommendation 6-
-25 to -35 degrees Celsius. If the wind isn’t strong, it’s not as cold as you might think.
Of course it’s windy, but riding a motorcycle in that temperature is suicidal.
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