Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 208



Only Krnovel

93. The Man from Jeju (1)

The internet is the internet and reality is reality.

I am a person who strictly separates the Internet and reality.

However, there are quite a few people in this world who cannot distinguish between the Internet and reality and are overly immersed in it.

Personal identification number: DARAM2

Kim Da-ram also appears to be one of those people.

“Hey, squirrel. What’s going on?”

As I calmly answered the phone, a trembling voice was heard on the other end of the phone.

“senior.”

warble.

I’m not shaking because I’m scared, I’m shaking because I’m angry.

“······Senior, you said you were using the internet, right?”

“Uh. Viva! Apocalypse! Ramen!”

“Blinders. You know?”

“Blinds? Those things that you put on windows instead of curtains?”

“No, an internet site.”

“Blinder? Well, I’ve never heard of it before. I only do Viva! Apocalypse! Not to brag, but I’m a named person there.”

“Where are you now, senior?”

If my feeling is right, Kim Da-ram will be around my bunker.

“Right now? I’m outside.”

He answered naturally.

“Outside? Where?”

“Yeah. Paju.”

“wait for a sec.”

Kim Da-ram asked for time.

The intention is obvious.

Perhaps he’s trying to estimate my distance using the range estimation function attached to his radio.

“Is this really Paju?”

“Why would I lie about where I am?”

“Why Paju?”

“Oh, I have something I’m researching. It’s about monsters.”

“······This is strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“Do you know Dongtan Mom? I heard she also has satellite internet.”

“Dongtan Mom······?”

I deliberately took a break for a moment.

As if thinking.

Although Kim Da-ram was not in front of him, he spoke firmly, slamming his fist into his palm as if he were doing method acting and Kim Da-ram was in front of him.

“Ah. I think I get it.”

“who is this?”

“It’s Baek Seung-hyun.”

“Baek Seung-hyun?”

“12th generation. He was a freelance hunter who returned after being discharged from the battlefield. You know him, don’t you? You sent him to work with me.”

“Ah. That Baek Seung-hyun? He’s not dead yet?”

“I’m in China right now. I’m causing a lot of trouble in China. I should have done something to that guy back then······.”

“Where are you in Paju? Did you pass the checkpoint?”

Kim Da-ram has excellent physical strength, but his intelligence is relatively low.

So what she’s thinking is as plain as the back of my hand to me.

Looking at the radio, it seemed like I was far away, so he couldn’t be sure that I was in Paju, so he wanted to know my location through the soldiers stationed nearby.

But I have already left for Paju.

“yet.”

“Then will you tell me your name at the checkpoint?”

“why?”

“They’ll give you some convenience. These days. It’s very strict there.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“what.”

While the call was being cut off, Kim Da-ram’s muttering could be heard on the other end of the receiver.

“Auntie Bitik? What kind of kid is she······.”

“······.”

Communication ended.

It’s something I’ve done, but it’s a crisis management skill that’s scary.

If you had this much sense and judgment, you could have received the Golden Fleece.

By the time I received the message from Kim Da-ram, I had already arrived near Paju.

I’ve been to Paju before because of the Kyledos building.

After that, it seemed like the government had taken control of the situation, as they had cleared away all the junk cars that were strewn about on the road and repaired the broken roads here and there.

Old tire marks left on the road suggested that large trucks frequently traveled on this road.

The checkpoint was located at the end of a well-maintained road.

Although it was called a checkpoint, it was a small outpost with only a few solar panels per container and at most four soldiers on duty.

The watchtower, built with so much money, hinted at the real purpose of this checkpoint.

It was probably built to monitor the approach of monsters rather than people.

Soldiers on the front lines would know better than anyone how dangerous monsters are.

The shiny vehicle next to the container also supported my guess.

If I made up my mind, I could have just gone back a long way, but since there was also Kim Da-ram, I went straight to the outpost.

“Stop. Stop.”

As we approached, two soldiers appeared.

All with the rank of sergeant.

After a while, another soldier wearing the rank of sergeant appeared.

It’s a black comedy, but there is no “private” class within the Legionnaires’ army.

So, the story is that the lowest rank is sergeant.

He simply revealed his identity and purpose.

A man with the rank of senior officer stared at me, copying my words down on a notepad.

“Get a sample?”

“Yes. I’m going to get samples of altered plants from the eroded zone.”

I have personally experienced that in Korea, it is easier to imitate people who are known for being good at something if you want to be recognized.

When the soldiers looked puzzled, he gave Kim Da-ram’s name.

Kim Da-ram seemed to be quite famous even within the Legion.

But what let me through wasn’t Kim Da-ram’s name value, but their mission.

“Well, if you go, I won’t stop you.”

As I expected, these soldiers’ only mission is to monitor monsters.

The comings and goings of people are neither their concern nor their responsibility.

“······Still, it would be good to be careful. As you know, this area is a complete erosion zone. You can occasionally see monsters, mutations, and even crazy people.”

“I see. Do monsters and such come over too?”

“They come sometimes, but not that often.”

“is it so?”

It’s unexpected.

At this distance, you should be able to see a lot of medium-sized ones, enough to catch your eye.

It might be different back in the days when we were holding out in the kill zone, but it’s even more so now.

I parted ways with the soldiers and went into the road.

At some point, road conditions deteriorated rapidly and the landscape turned gray.

Maybe Kyledos’ bunker was around here?

Although it was said to have been eroded before, it wasn’t in this bad of a condition.

There are signs of burns and shelling on the ground, so I wonder if there was a battle going on around here while I wasn’t aware of it.

I headed to the abandoned military base as I heard from Woo Min-hee.

In the past, it was the base of an elite unit that formed a kill zone in front of the rift, but in the face of destruction, it was reduced to a concrete graveyard with grass growing and broken parts.

A single flag flutters above the concrete graveyard.

White flag. White flag.

Was he trying to surrender to the monster?

As we passed the half-broken, tattered flag fluttering in the wind, a hideout with several containers gathered together came into view.

A man with a gentle gaze was standing on a high rock, looking this way.

As he spoke into the communicator, a number of people emerged from inside the container.

Although only one person was carrying a gun, there was a soft gleam in almost everyone’s eyes.

He immediately called Woo Min-hee on the radio.

The door to the mansion that stood proudly on the highest point opened.

“Senior~!”

My junior, wearing a prosthetic arm and leg and a white gown, looked down at me and waved both arms vigorously.

*

Observation Base No. 551 belonging to the National Intelligence Service.

Commonly known as the Gray Valley.

That was the last refuge where Woo Min-hee and her subordinates gathered.

The camp seemed to have about 20 to 30 people, but the people were healthy and clean, and the atmosphere was not as bad as I thought.

Woo Min-hee lived near the military base’s official residence.

She led me into the reception room.

A strange woman who appeared to be Awaken brought out a car.

Woo Min-hee lifted the teacup with her prosthetic hand and sipped the tea in front of me.

“What’s the sudden wind that’s making you come in such a hurry?”

“Just. I just happened to think. I’ve already received so much from you, so I thought I should repay you.”

He took out his luggage and showed it to her.

Food, medicine, and luxury items such as sugar.

In particular, the food included dried vegetables that I had grown and made myself.

I prepared a lot, but it was nothing compared to a group of 30 people.

Still, I made it clear why I came here.

“Can I stay for a few days? I have something I’d like to investigate personally.”

One of Kim Da-ram’s nicknames is carp.

My memory isn’t that good.

To be exact, I am the type who only remembers what is necessary and quickly forgets what is unnecessary.

It’s a pretty good trait.

Especially for people like us who have to see countless things like this on the battlefield.

Maybe after 3 days or so, the anger will subside?

No matter how dangerous the battlefield is, it would be less dangerous than Kim Da-ram hearing the cries of Aunt Bitik.

“How many days?”

“Three days? No, maybe two days.”

Woo Min-hee stared at me with strange eyes.

“You didn’t have an accident, did you?”

“You know? I’m a model student.”

“Hmm~.”

I tried to ignore Woo Min-hee, who was trying to say something, and looked around.

Well, it’s very different from what I imagined.

What I had in mind was a fierce battlefield that looked like it would collapse at any moment under the attack of monsters.

But contrary to expectations, there were no traces of battle around, and the Awakens, including Woo Min-hee, showed no signs of battlefield stress.

Even though Awaken can catch monsters more easily and without risk than us, it is a crack zone.

This is not a place where you are dealing with one or two small breeds, but rather a herd of medium-sized breeds numbering in the hundreds.

Even monsters that snipe Awaken have now appeared.

Even though Woo Min-hee was there, I, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, could not readily understand this kind of peace.

But soon after, gunshots rang out, as the day we left was a market day.

As I looked out the window, Woo Min-hee said with a smile.

“Ignore it. It’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing.”

“They’re North Korean kids. They came to spy on the area around our base to see if there’s anything to steal or eat.”

Woo Min-hee stood side by side outside the window.

“excuse me.”

She extended a hooked finger and pointed at the gray-white forest.

Sure enough, there was a skinny, skeletal man with hazel eyes staring at me from afar.

bang!

Even though someone fired a bullet and it went through the tree right next to her, the middle-aged woman turned around and stared at me without blinking.

The sight of it, which appeared human but did not seem human, was enough to bring back a sense of eeriness I had long forgotten.

“Are you guys okay?”

People in eroded areas become mentally unstable.

Although the general consensus denies this, we on the ground accept this as a firm fact.

“Oh, it’s okay. The condition here is a bit bad, but we are doing quarantine work properly. We are also conducting regular checkups. And we are also providing drinking water in a safe manner.”

Woo Min-hee took me out of the mansion.

On the steep mountainside, a thick, wall-like structure stood in layers in the hazy fog that ran up the mountainside.

She guided me to the wall.

Looking closely, it’s not a wall.

Rather than a wall, it is more like a long, endlessly stretched-out net.

I know what this tool is.

“What is this? A fog catcher?”

“Huh? You know it well?”

Woo Min-hee looked at me with a surprised look, but veteran users like me, Viva! Apocalypse! know everything.

This facility secures a large amount of water for daily use by spreading a net-like structure of fine fibers to collect water contained in fog in mountainous regions of Africa where it is difficult to obtain groundwater and allowing it to flow through connected pipes.

Because of the nature of the equipment, it requires a wide area with a slope, so it is an item more suitable for group survivalists than individual survivalists like me. However, I know this well because at the time, there was a rumor going around that a nuclear attack would contaminate all of South Korea’s groundwater, and I also considered buying it at one point.

“They say that groundwater in eroded areas is particularly dangerous. Our lab has published a hypothesis on whether the sap that flows from trees that have been transformed by erosion is harmful to the mind.”

“I see.”

I looked around while listening to the explanation.

As expected, there are no traces of battle.

“Senior. What are you thinking?”

Woo Min-hee is sharp.

I said what I immediately thought.

“Where do you stop the monsters?”

Woo Min-hee smiled strangely at my question.

Soon she said as she went down to the mansion first.

“I won’t stop it.”

“what?”

I don’t understand.

Song Yu-jin said.

Woo Min-hee went to the front lines to stop the monsters.

I actually thought it was stopping the monsters.

Why, since so many monsters appeared, of course you could see medium-sized or larger ones in Seoul too.

If that had been the case, Kim Byeong-cheol would not have even dreamed of recapturing the National Assembly building as he had wanted.

“ah.”

Woo Min-hee stared at me with a meaningful smile.

“I guess I can tell you now. I don’t think there’s any need to hide it now that things have come to this.”

Is there something up their sleeve?

I followed her slow footsteps and waited for Woo Min-hee to open her mouth.

“There’s no need to stop it. Think about it. Why did we stop monsters in the past? When monsters appeared, they would hit the metropolitan area, including Seoul, so we fought them with blood and money, right?”

“That’s true.”

“What about India and Pakistan? They didn’t block each other. It’s a border area, so it’s hit or miss. They watched the open rift and hunted only the monsters that came to their side, and ignored the rest.”

That happened too.

“Anyway, monsters will self-destruct, except for some types. If there’s nothing to stop, there’s no need to hunt monsters. Especially in a world where supplies are scarce like now.”

“Then what do we do?”

My head was already predicting one possibility.

That is, it is induction.

Pulling monsters to another location and waiting for them to disappear.

As Woo Min-hee said, it is the wisest solution that does not require shedding blood.

“You’re luring me.”

If so, one problem remains.

How can you induce monsters, which are nothing more than inorganic creatures that have no intelligence or instincts and only move according to set rules?

As far as I know, there is no such method and it has never been studied.

But Woo Min-hee seems to have discovered something.

“I discovered the monster’s bias.”

“Bias?”

“Yeah. Where did the monsters that came out of the crack go?”

Inside Woo Min-hee’s mansion, there was a room with so many screens that it was reminiscent of a situation room in a large corporate building.

Each of these numerous screens was showing a different room in the facility.

It looked like a prison.

Until I saw the prisoner’s appearance.

“?”

They are children.

Early to mid teens.

There were hundreds of such children filling each and every screen.

“What is this?”

In response to my sharp question, Woo Min-hee slowly opened her lips while looking at the screen with an indifferent expression.

“Bias.”

“······I don’t understand.”

“The monster hordes that emerge from the rift have a tendency to move towards strongholds controlled by small, infiltrating species. We call it bias.”

“Then what about those kids?”

At my question, Woo Min-hee looked back at me and smiled.

“We can survive thanks to those kids.”

“······.”

I don’t know how this is possible, but at least I know it’s not right.

But he was silent.

I am neither a hypocrite nor someone with an insurmountable sense of justice.

I find that the words, “We live because of those children,” are more persuasive to me than such empty words.

“Director Woo Min-hee!”

Suddenly, a young man’s voice rang out from the speaker.

As Woo Min-hee tapped on a keyboard, one of the hundreds of screens zoomed in.

On the screen, a handsome man with white skin was glaring at us with the aforementioned expression.

A face that looks familiar.

But I don’t know him very well.

The man looked at us with a look of reproach and urgency.

“When will the food and medicine arrive? Yes? I’m waiting with bated breath right now.”

Woo Min-hee looked at him and answered gently.

“I’m sorry, Commissioner. The supplies I promised haven’t arrived from Jeju yet. I’ll send as much as I can as soon as possible.”

“Don’t just say it, tell me today!”

Communication was lost.

He looked at Woo Min-hee and asked.

“who is this?”

At this, Woo Min-hee laughed and said in a mocking tone.

“A person from Jeju.”