Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 176



Only Krnovel

85. King (1)

The boy’s name was Jeon Si-hun.

She is a member of a typical family of four, including her younger sister and her parents.

Although her father ran a small business, her mother worked as a cashier at a supermarket to barely make ends meet and pay for her two children’s education.

Although he did not grow up in a wealthy family, he was said to be a good child who was kind and cared for his family.

I don’t know if it was his good nature that was the catalyst, but God blessed the boy with the Awaken ability of level 10 or higher.

Each and every one of the Over 10 Level Awakens has been treated as a strategic resource for the nation since before the war.

The kid was handed over to that notorious gang leader.

“He was in Jeju Island and received counseling for mental issues before returning to Incheon. Normally, he wouldn’t do that, but he was a level 10 Awaken. He needed to be coaxed into battle somehow. But King tricked him. He ended up escaping when the uprising broke out in Incheon.”

It is said that Jeon Si-hoon doesn’t like Woo Min-hee very much.

Strictly speaking, how many people would like her? But from the perspective of a boy who is only 18 years old, having a scary woman like Woo Min-hee as a teacher is not easy, even from my perspective as a third party.

The message that Woo Min-hee wanted to convey to the boy was extremely simple.

-Your father is dead.

“She hated her father. She hated him so much. She left Jeju Island because she didn’t want to see her father.”

“What kind of father are you?”

Woo Min-hee snickered and continued speaking, the sound of his hooked fingers scraping against the metal plate audible even over the walkie-talkie.

“My father doesn’t make much money because his business isn’t going well, but he’s very affectionate, never hits on me, doesn’t drink, and takes me on family outings every Sunday.”

“What’s the problem?”

I can’t understand.

Wouldn’t that be a decent father?

“Isn’t it much better than Dongtan Mom?”

“Senior. You kept saying you don’t use the internet, but now that you got caught, you’re excited and mentioning internet celebrities?”

“Oh, I didn’t know I could stop.”

“Senior, I didn’t see it that way, but how can someone lie so well? Are you that kind of person?”

“······.”

“Sihun’s dad is the same. He lied.”

“What lie did you tell?”

I wondered what kind of lie he had told that caused the ties between the rich and poor to end all at once.

After hearing Woo Min-hee’s explanation, I was immediately convinced.

After the war, Jeon Si-hun’s family also entered a shelter.

As a good son, Jeon Si-hoon thinks about his family and worries about how he can help them in their terrible life of eating unidentified nutritional bars. He then applies to the guard and a new school.

It was a challenge, knowing that many children would die or go missing during the selection process and that I would actually lose contact with one of my own friends.

The child chosen by God unfailingly demonstrated his abilities in the testing room.

The director, who had been wearing sunglasses and maintaining a blank expression, made a debut so strong that he took off his sunglasses with his own hands.

“That supervisor is Gong Kyung-min. He’s my senior.”

Of course, the boy and his family decided to go to Jeju Island.

But on the day he was heading to Jeju Island, the boy discovered a boy who looked like him but was a little younger.

Having no siblings, he was puzzled by another boy who looked so strangely like him, but soon found out why.

“I guess he started a second life. When you reach level 5 Awaken, you are sent to Jeju Island with your family, but that day, his father brought his half-child, whom he had never known before.”

“That’s shocking.”

“What’s really shocking is what happens next. I’m not surprised by simple things either, but Si-Hoon’s dad. He’s a terrible person.”

His mother, who worked as a cashier at a supermarket, was actually responsible for the family’s livelihood.

My father brings in about 100 to 200 dollars a month, but it is impossible to support a family of four with two children going to school.

Jeon Si-hun’s father runs a small business, but because business wasn’t going well, he borrowed money from his mother and in-laws several times.

It was a lie.

For over 10 years, he had been whining that his business was not going well, but even before that 10 years ago, he had been a high-income earner, earning over 500 million won annually.

The problem is that he not only hid that fact, but he never gave a single penny of that money to his family.

After deducting living expenses, the only things I give my children are pocket money and toys.

It is said that even that was never given on time, so in reality, it was his mother who earned the living.

“It seems like Si-hoon and his mom don’t get along well. I saw his mom too, and she’s a very picky person. She prays a lot too. On the other hand, Si-hoon’s dad seems like a weak person. He’s been oppressed by his wife. But, Senior. Even if that’s true, do you understand why they’ve been living a fake married life for over 10 years while lying?”

It seems that Jeon Si-hun’s father’s real family was his mistress’s family.

Even though he didn’t give anything to the family listed on the family relations certificate, he built a bunker for the second family that cost over 1 billion won.

“How much resentment must one have toward his wife to do something like that?”

The child whose father was such a loser that even Woo Min-hee found it ridiculous left Jeju Island because of his father and is now in a city full of gangsters.

“Anyway, since his father, whom he hated so much, is dead, if you just tell him that, he’ll come back. As for that guy Jeon Si-Hoon, I didn’t really like him, but I heard that Senior Kang liked him a lot.”

“I don’t know if he’ll follow along just by hearing those words, but will the King let him go without a fight?”

“That doesn’t matter. Just tell him that. If King stops you, then just go and use force. What’s important is Si-Hoon’s feelings.”

“I see that the treatment changes when you reach level 10 Awaken.”

“Senior, isn’t it possible for you too?”

Woo Min-hee’s sudden remarks slightly shook my heart, which is not easily shaken by emotions.

“what?”

Over the radio came a ticking sound, perhaps like a hooked finger hitting the floor.

“I used to think it was impossible, but seeing what he’s doing these days, he seems somewhat human.”

“What does that mean? Are there any conditions?”

“Normal?”

“Normal?”

“This is just my feeling, so don’t take it as a reference. Anyway, the siren is sounding again. Please take care of me, senior.”

As always, Woo Min-hee suddenly cut off the call.

“······.”

It’s ordinary.

What is that?

Is this an attribute I lack?

Well, I’m not sure.

I was given a more difficult task.

King······.

I have a feeling this year will be eventful as well.

*

In places like Russia or China, where there are vast landmasses and authoritarian governments, there are types of cities that are not very familiar to us Koreans, called closed cities or secret cities.

A closed city is literally a city with restricted access, where only those with an authorized pass and ID can enter.

Such closed cities are often the result of the entire city being a huge military facility, research center, or similar national facility.

One such closed city was Shangyang, a city in China that was nominally a research city for the aerospace industry, but in reality a luxurious resort city for the Communist Party’s upper caste.

I had never experienced the glamour or luxury of that city.

When we entered the city, the gate that had blocked the entrance was broken, making the name of the closed city seem meaningless, and the soldiers and police guarding the entrance had long since disappeared.

The city was already in ruins and its functions were paralyzed.

Water, electricity, and communications were all cut off.

Surprisingly, there were people living in those ruins.

People who have been abandoned by their country and are living without being able to die.

I knew that such a city would be built in Korea, but I never thought that I would set foot in it when I was building the bunker.

Message from Crunch_Roll: What? You’re coming here?

Message from Crunch_Roll: You’re so tall. You skeleton kid. Do you know who I am? LOL

It was somewhat expected that this gangster boss would turn his words around like the palm of his hand.

But the fact remains that this gang leader knows me.

SKELTON: (Skeleton horror) ㄷㄷ….

Let’s try to please him a little and he’ll change his attitude again.

Message from Crunch_Roll: If you insist on coming, then come. Put a blue flag on your car, or at least a piece of cloth, and hang around the city. Tell those guys with judge killers that they’re coming after you. You’re my guest.

Message from Crunch_Roll: If you come, at least pretend to know me lol

Going bare-handed into a land teeming with looters is a life-threatening undertaking.

The difference between a gangster and an army is determined by how well the subordinates follow the orders of their superiors.

The King says that if you fly the blue flag, things will go well, but I’m not sure.

If you are the King’s guest and a traitor, you will be shot and burned to death with a gun and that will be the end of it.

The safest way is to get as close to the King’s city as possible without getting caught.

Even the most incompetent looters would not be able to commit any misdeeds in an area where the leader is firmly established.

Even that may be half and half, but it’s something I said I would do.

Right now in Paju, my junior is fighting a monster.

My goal is to live long, but I don’t want to live a miserable and mean life.

My junior is going through such hardships, so I should show my sincerity as well.

I packed some supplies and headed to Sejong.

The supplies we had were limited to a little food, fuel, a gun and ammunition, and two axes.

The means of transportation chosen was a motorcycle.

I filled my fuel tank with synthetic oil and left my territory in the early hours of the morning.

The weather itself is still chilly.

There are places where the snow has melted, and places that are still covered in white.

One thing that worries me is that the area I’m going to is a place I haven’t been to since the war.

There is no data except for road information before the war.

According to what my friends on the bulletin board who live in Daejeon say, the northern part of Daejeon has been hit by so many missiles and nuclear attacks that no one dares come near it.

It is said that in some places, the roads were not just cut off, but had completely disappeared.

As factories shut down and farmland is abandoned, the water level of the Geumgang River has increased, which is also one of the barriers blocking Daejeon and Sejong City.

That’s the general information I currently know about Sejong City.

Other than that, I decided not to pay any attention to the rumors floating around the city.

The stories of the city’s residents being called slaves and forced to do harsh labor, of killing people for fun every day and of kidnapping young women to commit all sorts of atrocities are all too common in this perishing world.

Although it is Gyeonggi-do, my area is concentrated towards Cheonan, so if you only look at the straight-line distance, the distance to Sejong City is much closer than the distance to Seoul.

It’s almost twice as short a journey.

But the journey felt twice as long as the one to Seoul.

Terrain that is unfamiliar and unfamiliar to me.

Anxiety due to lack of information.

A situation where you have to be on edge without being able to rest even once.

To be honest, the -30 or -40 degree days were a much better environment for traveling than they are now.

Besides, why are there so many zombies?

If you see black dots on the road, they are definitely zombies, as if they haven’t frozen to death all winter.

There were as many mutations as there were zombies, but I saw a huge boar on the road, as big as a truck.

It knocked down the slithering zombie, chewed it up bone by bone, and then turned its head towards me.

“······.”

Gold came to mind.

Gold guy.

I used to resent you for giving me so few gifts, but you were protecting me from these monsters.

There’s nothing you can’t kill if you want to, but when you have to kill this guy, you can see the cost.

It’s no use having just one rifle magazine, so you’ll need to bring a heavy weapon.

By the time we arrived near Sejong City, trampling on zombies, mutations, melted snow, and nameless grass sprouting savagely, it was already dusk.

A distance that would have taken an hour to reach before the war could now be reached in half a day.

You can see the winding Geumgang River in the distance, abandoned farmland, and an ashen city with smoke rising from it.

Sejong is the city of kings.

Coincidentally, there is another city next to that city.

It’s not Daejeon, it’s a new city that’s still under construction.

Perhaps it was time for a new administration to address the post-war rift.

The unfinished city was dyed grayish white.

He nodded.

Why didn’t the government take action even when a thug like King took over the old administrative capital?

There is a monster territory right next to it.

As feared, there were no looters or thugs driving wildly around the city on motorcycles or in vehicles.

As the dusk fell, the city lights came on one by one, and smoke rose above the red glow of the sunset, which had a lyrical and pastoral beauty.

A hint of anxiety made me tense, but as always, I ignored it and slowly moved the motorcycle forward, keeping my eyes focused on where I needed to go.

A homemade blue flag fluttered in the wind.

There were no guards or sentries in front of the city.

A middle-aged man who seemed to have lost an eye was standing with his back to the wall, his arms crossed, glaring at me as I approached under the gloomy streetlight.

He glanced at me.

“It’s my first time seeing you.”

The man spoke in a breathy voice, more like a broken accordion than a human voice.

That was all.

The man who appeared to be the gatekeeper didn’t ask me my name, my affiliation, or even my purpose.

I asked him.

“Is this Sejong?”

I know this, but it’s a question I’d like to see even just a glimpse of this man’s thoughts.

The man just stared at me and didn’t say anything.

We passed through the man’s house and entered the city.

I didn’t think it was necessary to ask.

I see dead bodies.

Hanged corpses were lined up on the walls of the half-collapsed government building, like Christmas decorations.

While I was looking at the corpses, a pair of grim-looking men with crossbows, once known as Judge Killers, approached me.

One of them stood in front of me and said.

“How did you get here?”

He opened his mouth looking at the sharp arrows.

“Because someone invited me.”

“Whose invitation is this?”

He gave a short answer to the man’s question.

“king.”

The man’s eyes turned to the blue flag.

He gestured.

“Follow me.”

Beyond that, a strange street unfolded, gloomy and strangely ecstatic.

While one side was filled with ear-piercingly loud music and flashing neon lights, the other was plunged into darkness, neglected in terrible depression and poverty.

The man suddenly turned around as he felt the gazes of the starving and abused people across the street, their eyes gleaming in the neon lights.

“Were you in Paju by any chance?”

I saw him.

It’s an unfamiliar face.

But he seems to know me.

“You, are you a hunter?”