Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 164



Only Krnovel

Episode 164

“Please send us to Jeju Island too. Please send us to Jeju Island too.”

“I want to go to Jeju Island. Please.”

“Can’t we go to Jeju Island? We’ve run out of food. We’ll starve to death if we keep going like this~”

“Are you going to leave us to die?”

“If we die, will you turn into ghosts and take revenge?”

The children of the general are of Angbal origin.

He kept begging through the night, switching children over to the communicator, to see if the melody from that time was still alive.

It was still late at night, but I contacted the researchers.

“We need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Is there any contact with the main unit?”

After calling three times, I was finally able to reach you.

Manager Jang yawned and responded to my call calmly, not knowing whether he knew my boiling feelings or not.

“Not yet. But why?”

One question arose.

How comfortable and convenient are the lives of these researchers?

Every time I went to the lab, I thought they were like salary-stealing office workers before the war, but it was beyond my imagination.

They have little understanding of the dangers that can arise in this wilderness.

“Can’t you hear the public frequency? The looters’ children are still singing the Jeju Island song.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“Passing by marauders or legionaries might hear.”

“That’s a big deal.”

“I’m not going to speak in a dry manner. If you don’t want to shut those kids up right now, you need to get out of here quickly.”

“Then let’s do it like this.”

Manager Jang suggested an idea.

“Call the children.”

I couldn’t understand why he said that.

“Let’s test those kids too. If you see any signs of growth, take them there.”

“What if I don’t see an even number?”

Manager Jang was silent for a moment in response to my question.

“……I have a method in mind.”

I have a vague idea of ​​what kind of place Woo Min-hee’s lab is.

The smell of alcohol, the strangely clean atmosphere, the slightly dark indoor lighting, and the researchers pretending to be busy while wearing white lab coats.

But I never once thought about what kind of people they were or what kind of mindset they had in their lives.

“This is how you do it.”

When I heard about Manager Jang’s plan, it was the first time I took a serious look at him.

An ordinary, studious appearance that you can see anywhere.

Perhaps before the war, he would have graduated from a prestigious university, gotten a research position at a good company, and lived a decent life.

That must have been the life he had designed.

When such a design becomes distorted and causes something unwanted to happen, isn’t it only natural that the person also becomes distorted and changes?

“Voila! Here’s a simple sorting device!”

The structure of the simple sorting device conceived by Jang Mok-hyeon and supplemented by Jo Hyeon-su is very simple.

The equipment required is a long, straight corridor, a robot armed with a 7.62mm machine gun, and a screen to hide the robot.

Jang Mok-Hyeon spoke about his plans with a bright smile, just like when he was dealing with the chosen children.

“When those kids come, I’ll hand out sheets of paper. Those who pass will come this way, and those who don’t will be left in the hallway. Once the selection process is complete, I’ll press a button.”

As he pressed a button on the remote control, the killer robot’s sensors began to glow an eerie red and make a rattling noise.

Manager Jang looked at me with a cheerful smile.

“What do you think, Mr. Park Hunter? Isn’t it neat? We can find any high-level abilities that may exist, and at the same time, we can eliminate the trash of society.”

Just because someone lives comfortably and comfortably in a lab and eats good food doesn’t mean they won’t break down.

These researchers are screwed enough.

By pre-war standards, as well as post-war standards.

“Shall I call you now?”

Jo Hyun-soo looked at me while holding the walkie-talkie.

“······.”

What should I say in response?

“Isn’t that what Hunter Park is thinking? Making those kids quiet. If we leave it like this, I think the Legion will come?”

Jo Hyun-soo urges me in a soft tone.

He sighed and opened his mouth.

“······Let’s leave the robot alone.”

“yes?!”

“yes?”

Manager Jang and Manager Jo looked at me at the same time.

“Isn’t it too much to kill them just on suspicion when they didn’t even target us directly? What would the kids inside think if they saw that?”

“Hey, kids, don’t worry.”

Manager Jang answered with a smile.

“I won’t be able to live long anyway……”

Let’s put in the complaint. Chief Cho answered with a smile.

“The secondary Awaken’s survival rate within the Rift is not high. While the main Awaken is resting, it only serves to neutralize the Rift’s waves.”

The information I most wanted to know was leaked out without warning.

He asked, controlling his expression.

“What does that mean?”

“You know, the buttresses in coal mines? They’re just like that.”

“A crutch?”

“Yes. We use hard wood in coal mines, but we don’t have much hard wood these days. We have to use the wood that is a little hard for other purposes. In the end, all that’s left is things like sorghum stalks.

I have no choice but to use it because I just have to hold out for a little while. But I think it is a noble sacrifice. If we can just close the Jeju Crack, we can at least avoid the destruction of the Republic of Korea.”

Jo Hyun-soo added with a sad expression as he looked around the room where the children were.

“They’re poor kids. That’s why I try to treat them as well as I can before they’re deployed. I try to do whatever they ask me to do. That’s why I handed over the radio.”

Perhaps even a year ago, researchers would not have told me this fact.

That’s what a secret is.

If it’s a solid organization with a future, its secrets won’t leak out, but if it’s a collapsing and disorganized organization, there are no secrets.

Secrets just keep leaking out like processed meat seeping out through the cracks of a dented can.

Anyway, I knew for sure what I wanted to do in Jeju Island.

“I’ll watch. Let’s make sure the robot isn’t in operation.”

Those who are meant to live must live.

If my past self saw me like this, he wouldn’t understand my current behavior, but my thoughts are firm.

Why, even on our bulletin board, the empty space that has been reduced seems so big.

Most of the nicknames I used to know have disappeared, and nicknames I don’t know or don’t want to know have filled the empty spaces. What if they disappear too?

The government still treats people as something to be dealt with, but there will come a day when people will become precious. I don’t know when that will be, but it won’t be too far away.

“Call the kids. I’ll take responsibility.”

*

In the midst of the chaotic atmosphere, a group of shabby children appeared at the airport.

Eight people.

The numbers have decreased.

I think there used to be more than this.

The child whose face I remember, whose eyes are faintly shining, was not included.

I tried not to think deeply about it.

I saw the weapons.

The two largest boys were armed with guns.

Both are military service rifles, but the buttstock of one of them had the Chinese character for murderer (人者) printed in bold letters and colors. It might have been the gun that Jang Sang Sa used when he was young.

I waved at them at the entrance to the US military base.

A girl in a faded character shirt at the front spotted me and waved back.

“uh?”

The girl recognized me.

“The man who brought the alcohol that time?”

The children followed me.

Some people let out exclamations of admiration when they saw the plane.

“Wow! It’s a real airplane!”

“Are you going to Jeju Island on this?”

“I want to go quickly.”

At the entrance to the cargo bay of the transport plane, pilots were looking in this direction with pistols in hand.

A few children waved, but the sunglasses-wearing ones gave no response or answer.

We arrived at the bunker in an eerie silence.

A black hole gaped open before us.

“In here, the researchers will check your aptitude.”

“Aptitude test?”

The girl asked.

That girl who was always talking shit on the walkie-talkie.

“Only children with special abilities called Awakens can go to Jeju Island. You guys know about the rumors about the Guards, right?”

“Where is that?”

“Where is that? Just get tested first.”

Although we were talking calmly, my gaze was sharply focused on the boys holding guns behind me.

Because you never know when your friends might start shooting you.

Well, it was a risk I brought upon myself, but I can’t blame them.

Because we are both afraid of each other.

It is common for adults to resort to guns when they are afraid.

At the end of the hallway, two researchers are looking this way with expressionless faces.

Manager Jang was holding the remote control for a killer robot in his hand.

If anything goes wrong, I’ll activate that robot.

This robot, which can deflect most gunfire, easily control the recoil of a 7.62mm machine gun, and fire precise shots, is no different from a death knell, at least in this narrow and long hallway.

I brought a grenade just in case, but I’m not sure.

I wonder if it will reach the distance. Maybe it will make several holes in the body at the moment of throwing.

There is a spot marked with white chalk on the hallway side.

This is the test area that Manager Jang and I agreed upon.

Manager Jang sent me a signal.

“No guns allowed from here on out.”

The boys hesitate.

First, I took out the magazine and placed the gun on the ground.

Feeling the position of the gun hidden in my bosom with my body.

Only then did the children, like me, unload their magazines and finally put their guns down on their ankles.

The most nerve-wracking moment surprisingly passed easily.

As soon as the weapons were disarmed, Chief Cho, who had been standing with his back to the pale light, approached us holding a sheet of paper.

“Hey guys?”

As expected of someone who usually deals with children, she approached the children with a friendly smile and voice.

“I am researcher Cho Hyun-soo from the National Intelligence Service’s Qualifications Review Team. I will now conduct a simple test.”

She held out a black sheet of paper.

“Will you come one by one?”

The test has begun.

The children reluctantly but eventually took the test one by one.

The results don’t seem to be very good.

I can see that the sheets of paper that the children bite show no sign of changing from black.

Manager Cho looked at me intently.

As I got closer, she whispered.

“There’s not a single one. Not a single one.”

She sighed.

“They all look like mixed breeds. None of them have purebred dogs.”

The outcome was soon decided.

0 people.

Among them, there is no one who can go to Jeju Island.

Now the baton has been passed back to me.

I have to get those kids out.

Abandoned children who have been exposed to cruelty, murder and other horrific realities must be returned to that cold, dirty and empty hideaway.

“I’m so sorry.”

He said while looking at the children.

“They’re all eliminated.”

“why?”

The tallest girl asked.

“Why? We can’t?”

If it were a country of the past, I would have pointed a gun at them first.

If they were adults, they might have killed one or two people and started talking.

“You failed the test.”

“What kind of test is that? It’s just a black piece of paper.”

What should I say?

Should I resort to violence?

It was a time when I felt embarrassed and was carefully choosing my conversations and actions.

“It’s not just black paper.”

A cold answer rang out.

Of course, it wasn’t me who answered.

The sound came from deep inside, behind the manager and the killer robot, in the room of the chosen children. In the doorway, the eldest daughter of the international residence I knew well was standing upright in the darkness.

“Dohee?”

Manager Jang, who was standing next to the killer robot, looked at his eldest daughter with surprised eyes.

The eldest daughter passed him and headed straight for the children.

When Manager Jang tried to stop her, she answered with her gaze fixed forward.

“Let me tell you.”

She stood in front of the general’s children.

There was a stark contrast when she stood before the sergeant’s child, with her pretty face, tall figure, and well-dressed body.

Although they were also teenagers from the Republic of Korea, they felt like they were completely different from the children of Jang Sang-sa, who were dirty, shabby, and skinny, as if they had been picked up from a garbage dump and put together. They felt like a “breed” that Jo Hyun-soo had been talking about.

The eldest daughter, taller than the boys, stood in front of a tall girl who seemed to be the leader.

“Give me the sheet.”

“What are you?”

A strong expression of repulsion appeared on the face of the young girl.

I couldn’t tell if it was out of jealousy, anger, or an extension of fear.

“Show me the sheet. Why? Are you afraid that the results will be different from yours?”

The boy’s wavering gaze took in the piercings lining his eldest daughter’s ears and the ornate tattoos on the side of her neck.

“You must have been having a rough time?”

“huh.”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“What? You’re the same age as me. I thought you were an old lady because of your looks.”

The eldest daughter held out her hand.

They are asking for a sheet of paper.

When Jo Hyun-soo hurriedly took out a new sheet and handed it to her, the eldest daughter refused.

“No. Even if you give me a new one, I don’t think he’ll believe it. He’s going to use the one he used before.”

The angry child asked with a snort.

“Which middle school did you graduate from?”

“Daegyo.”

The sad child snorted.

“This is a place I’ve never heard of. It’s a beggarly town, isn’t it?”

“huh.”

Unlike the sullen child who was full of cynicism and agitation, the eldest daughter’s face was always expressionless and cold.

The angry child threw the sheet of paper at the eldest daughter’s face.

The eldest daughter took the sheet stuck to her face and put it in her mouth.

A small but undeniable piece of evidence has appeared before us.

The sheet, which seemed like it would never change from black, began to gradually turn a lighter color, and soon it converged infinitely into a color close to white.

The eldest daughter took the sheet out of her mouth and waved it at the sullen child.

“admit?”

“······go away.”

Tears welled up in the sad child’s eyes.

Soon his face became distorted into a sinister grimace.

“Hey! Kill me!”

I had a hunch, and it was as expected.

Naturally, I had already started taking action the moment her expression distorted.

So, what this means is that he had already picked up the gun and magazine and pointed the gun at the boys who were trying to grab the firearm.

“Stay still.”

One boy keeps trying to move.

bang!

The bullet ricocheted right in front of the gun the boy was trying to pick up.

“This is not a warning.”

The boy chuckles and continues to reach for the gun.

bang!

The gun was aimed.

The gun, struck by a bullet, jerked wildly in place and struck the boy’s shin bone.

“Ahhh!”

I ran up to him, kicked him with my foot, and hit him with the buttstock.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Ahhh! Aahhh!”

Hitting people is neither my taste nor the nature of my mission.

But I got an education.

How to attack, subdue and torment people.

Snap!

In addition, the effect of fear has been clearly experienced by the Chinese military.

The boy who ignored the warning was left lying on the floor in a state of shock.

He didn’t die.

And there were no serious injuries.

It just hurt a little, it was a bit painful.

You reap what you sow.

If it weren’t for me, I would have done something that would have gotten a bullet in my head.

Anyway, the effect of the beating was clear.

The air has become chilly.

I feel fearful gazes.

“Push the gun this way.”

The children now obey my orders.

As they did to the plunderers who used them as bait.

After securing the gun, he glared at the girl who appeared to be the leader and said.

“The test is over. Go back.”

“no, I do not want.”

Raised his hand.

Then the girl tightly shut her eyes.

“I don’t like it······.”

Tears flowed from my tightly shut eyes.

The hand that had been raised in a threatening gesture slowly lowered from the sobbing hand.

The girl suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Jo Hyun-soo.

“I went to study abroad in the US when I was young!”

You haven’t given up yet?

“I’m good at English. I’m an American citizen! I’m good at math! I even went to the Junior Olympiad! I even placed!”

Jo Hyun-soo looked at me and shook his head.

Manager Jang, standing behind, was just bursting out laughing.

“······.”

I think I understand now.

Why did they take such an extreme approach?

You’ve probably seen this sight countless times.

We have probably experienced hundreds or thousands of instances of children and parents clinging to their parents without any reason.

So, it seems that this is how they were able to come up with the idea of ​​a cruel device called a screening device.

I don’t want to be like that.

I intend to send them back quietly and moderately.

Even if it’s hypocrisy, I want to do it my way here.

But the world doesn’t wait.

At the entrance, two soldiers rushed in urgently, holding guns.

They are pilots.

They looked at us and said.

“Multiple drones detected!”

The man wearing the rank of lieutenant colonel looked back.

“The enemy. The enemy is close!”

End

ⓒ Road Warrior #dp8g

(Main comments)

(One Two**) -Recommendation 50-

It’s sadder and more cruel than I thought.

Woo Min-hee -1 point for failing to manage research

(As**) -Recommendation 39-

I love how the description of the country’s downfall appears like a needle hidden in food.

(Potato*) -Recommendation 34-

The professor certainly has a broad perspective. Thinking about the time when people become precious.

It’s different from skeleton

(star***) -Recommendation 27-

It seems like Woo Min-hee threw the bait, but those cheap-mouthed researchers are just throwing it away…

(SiNi****) -Recommendation 27-

What on earth do the Legionaries want? Survival? They seem to have no problem surviving now.

If they had power, they would have done the same thing.

(**seed) -Recommendation 24-

I liked the twist in the previous episode where I thought the researchers’ heads were full of flowers, but it turned out to be twisted to fit the times.

Rather, it seems that Skeleton is finding the humanity he forgot during his time as a professor while living in isolation.

(Meat King***) -Recommendation 21-

Apocalypse Saohang changes everyone.

This episode shows that the researchers have gone crazy, the cool-headed and indifferent Skeleton has changed, and everyone is changing.

(is121***) -Recommendation16-

A strong man believes in his own strength

Treating foreigners carelessly after bringing them into one’s home

The formula for defeat in human history since Rome

The senior researchers are following that formula…

I guess we’ll have to bring in smarter senior researchers next time…

(Donggle**) -Recommendation 15-

The reason why only 8 children from the Jang Sang Sa came is because it seems like only the older youths in charge of military affairs came to reconnaissance.

But it’s sad that even the Awake kids who were seen as hope are being abandoned.

He’s not a boy soldier, he’s just treated like a firewood. Cheon Yeong-jae’s guess was right.

(I don’t know***) -Recommendation 10-

What does the Legion want? We all get fucked together!

Forgetting your duty as a soldier

Losing my family as the eldest

Even though my comrades who ate the same bullets died, I was ultimately abandoned… I had no choice but to be overcome by hatred.

Even I would act like a legionnaire, saying, “Hey… What a fucking world.”

(Luo**) -Recommendation 10-

What if it was actually Woo Min-hee’s plan to draw out the Legion faction by using that researcher and the Gan Awaken Jammin as bait?

Are you deluding yourself into believing that skeletons will survive on their own?