Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 211



Only Krnovel

93. The Man from Jeju (4)

It was night and the full moon was rising.

The full moon added a gloomy glow to the grayish-white hues surrounding the city.

The sight made it seem as if the world was sick.

It feels fundamentally different from things like human contamination.

I felt a malevolence from beyond, as if it were trying to dismantle the entire world as we know it.

The honeycomb-shaped building appears at first glance to be a wall, but according to the structural drawings I obtained, the hexagonal walls of the honeycomb contain communal housing where many people can live.

The structure was not much different from an apartment, except that there were no windows, but as expected in a country with no respect for privacy, essential living facilities such as bathrooms, laundry rooms, and kitchens were shared.

The restaurant on one floor can accommodate about 50 people at a time, and its location was the same as that of Hyukryuk-dong, where I live, and Moran-dong, where Jeong Ho-gyeong lives.

So it didn’t take long to find a restaurant.

Inside the communal dining hall, the sound of dishes clanking could be heard.

I’m eating.

I rushed straight into the restaurant.

I saw dozens of students sitting side by side at long tables, eating food on stainless steel plates.

I checked the students’ trays while some turned their heads to look at me.

“······.”

It’s a lump of flour.

The same thing that the children of Hyukryuk-dong eat.

Was what Hong Jong-beom said true?

I stood frozen for a moment at the result that was so different from what I had expected.

There is movement at the edge of your vision.

Someone is waving.

This is Jeong Ho-gyeong.

“Oh. Mr. Park Gyu!”

The moment I heard his voice, I froze for a moment, but then I felt as if I had gained the power to move, so I quickly turned my head and greedily scanned his plate with my eyes.

“······.”

The two words ‘patchak’ came to mind clearly.

It’s something I’ve never experienced in real life, although I guess it might be possible on the Internet.

On Hong Jong-beom’s plate was a lump of twisted flour, like something a child would make, and in some ways a failure, without any seasoning.

Jeong Ho-gyeong kept muttering to himself and gesturing at me.

This makes it certain.

Jeong Ho-gyeong also eats the same meals as children.

This is a poor meal that Park Gyu could not possibly accept.

“Have you eaten?”

I approached him, shaking my head.

He gestured for me to go somewhere else.

The two of them climbed the stairs to the rooftop.

A gloomy harbor scene surrounded us under a full moonlit night sky.

He put a cigarette in his mouth and handed me one.

He waved his hand and asked subtly.

“We brought food, what happened to it?”

All I remember was some crappy snacks, a bunch of canned goods, and several bags of rice.

I don’t know if they had any flour, but there’s no reason to serve such a poor meal that they only eat flour.

“That’s for special occasions.”

Jeong Ho-gyeong said, lighting a cigarette.

“Special meal?”

“Yes. We will distribute it the day after the lights are turned on.”

“Lighting a lamp······.”

“Yes. It’s to lure monsters. I don’t know if that’ll happen while Mr. Park is here, but it’s spectacular.”

At this, Jeong Ho-gyeong smirked and blew out white smoke from his nose.

He stared at the sea beyond, bathed in the light of countless stars and moonlight, with his half-open eyes, as if he were drunk.

Jeong Ho-gyeong, who had been admiring the sea for a while, opened his mouth again.

“Mr. Park Gyu, do you also think this is a place of exile?”

A sudden question.

“Does this lighthouse look like a human sacrifice center where abandoned children die to buy time?”

The sudden question was a question, but the topic was so heavy and different from the image I had of this man that I just stared at him without saying anything.

Jeong Ho-gyeong looked down at the gray-white harbor spread out below with a faint smile on his face.

“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We are here now, painting the picture of the future. We are here at the scene of history that will be talked about forever.”

There is no way for me to know what he is going to do or what he is thinking.

One thing is certain.

“This is a secret between us. I have never experienced failure in my life.”

Jeong Ho-gyeong has no doubt that he will succeed.

I didn’t ask what success meant.

Because I know that even if I ask him, he won’t tell me that fact.

*

It has been three days since I arrived at Gaeseong Lighthouse.

I got a call from an unknown number on my K-Walkie-Talkie.

Personal Identification Number: LAB-0072

When I get in touch, I hear Lightning’s voice.

“How are you?”

“Yes, I am fine.”

“How is it? There?”

“It’s a nice place to live, except for not being able to use the internet.”

“The supplies that were supposed to be sent from Jeju haven’t arrived yet. I guess we’ll have to wait a bit.”

“Are supplies coming from Jeju Island?”

“yes.”

It’s different from what I heard from Woo Min-hee.

He pretended not to know and continued talking.

“There wasn’t even an airport.”

“We drop you from the sky with a parachute. It’s hard to find someone though.”

“Should the Legion just leave it alone?”

“Those people probably don’t want monsters to come down either.”

“All right.”

“excuse me.”

As I was about to cut off communication, Lightning suddenly spoke.

“Have you seen a kid named Jong-hyuk there? Lee Jong-hyuk. He’s seventeen years old and from the new town of Ryomyong Street in Pyongyang.”

Are you family?

Or maybe an acquaintance.

Whoever it is, it must be a precious relationship.

It’s great to see you asking for favors even from someone you don’t know well, like me.

“I’ll look into it.”

“thank you.”

Even though it was over the radio, Lightning spoke with a voice that seemed to have a vitality she had never seen before.

For breakfast, we had a soup made with a few potatoes, skim milk powder, and some unidentified grain powder mixed in hot water.

My relationship with my children is still awkward.

There are those who try to keep their distance, but those who try to approach are reluctant to do so.

It is only recently that he has been recognized for taking up a corner of a restaurant.

But after spending a few days there, I think I know the difference between Hyokryok-dong and Moran-dong.

This Revolutionary Village is where North Koreans are detained, and Moran Village is where South Korean children are.

Although they were of the same ethnicity and spoke the same language, it seemed that the children were separated because they had to live lives more isolated than in a foreign country far away.

It’s cruel, but it can’t be helped.

Because children have a tendency to bully other children over even the smallest differences.

Even if we live in the same neighborhood, we call people beggars because they are renting apartments, so how much worse would it be if the countries were different?

Actually, the kids here don’t like me that much, but when I take out my phone and do something, they swarm around like bees.

“That’s an American phone?”

A child who had never spoken to me before started talking to me.

“Oh. It’s American-made. It was made in China, though.”

“Can I touch it?”

“good.”

I threw my cell phone away and watched the children playing, recalling the conversation that had taken place in the morning and asking the children.

“Hey. Does anyone know a kid named Lee Jong-hyuk? He’s 17 years old and from Ryomyong Street.”

“Lee Jong-hyuk?”

The children faced each other.

Everyone seemed to be hearing it for the first time.

The only thing that was missing was an older girl.

“Lee Jong-hyuk?”

But the expression isn’t very friendly.

“I think I can’t survive if the child is here.”

“Have you committed a sin?”

“My father built it. He threw gas and fired machine guns at people who fled to South Korea, and at most, thousands of them went to hell. My brother died at that time.”

After dinner, we got back to work.

Hong Jong-beom, who had not been seen at the breakfast table, came to my workplace somehow and handed me something.

I looked at it and it was canned food.

But this canned food.

It’s for dogs.

“······.”

“Aren’t you eating?”

“How do you eat something like this?”

“If you don’t eat it, give it to me.”

He looked disappointed when his kindness was finally rejected.

Not only was the awkward atmosphere unpleasant, but I was also starting to get sick of the horrible food they served here, so I took out the chocolate bar I had hidden away and showed it to them.

“What, what is this?!”

He cut it in half and gave half to Hong Jong-beom.

“Hey, something like this still exists?!”

“A prepared person has an abundance of everything.”

“Amazing! Mr. Park!”

Mr. Park?

What a ridiculous nickname.

Still, it’s better than that of the old man.

Thinking so, I asked Hong Jong-beom.

“Isn’t that a guy named Lee Jong-hyuk?”

“Lee Jong-hyuk?”

“I heard you’re 17 years old and from Ryomyong Street.”

“Well, none of the kids I know have that.”

Hong Jong-beom spoke as if it was no big deal.

“okay?”

“But why are you looking for Lee Jong-hyuk?”

“Someone I know asked me to say hello.”

Hong Jong-beom chewed a chocolate bar.

“Wow. This! This is really delicious!”

He savored the chocolate bar, expressing his emotion with his whole body.

Is that it?

Wagjak

Well, it’s edible, but I can’t help but feel it has a stale taste.

But wouldn’t it be better than the bland meals and canned dog food we were eating here?

But they are also raising livestock in this damn facility.

“Over there. That’s the pasture.”

Hong Jong-beom pointed to a beehive visible from above the wall.

This is a pasture I have seen several times passing by.

Sure enough, there was a herd of cows leisurely grazing there.

However, the condition of the cow is not very good.

Most of them have exposed ribs, and one is completely dead, flipped over onto its back and puffed up like a balloon.

This means that grazing alone in a limited space is not enough to obtain nutrients.

But it’s not hard to see why that pasture was abandoned.

“······Is that a Beatle type?”

There’s a monster in the pasture.

Beetle type. Small species.

It is one of the so-called early type monsters, and is a rare body that is rarely seen on the front lines these days.

As an early form, its combat power is clearly inferior to that of other monsters of the same class, but there are reports that capsules appear with a high probability around the area where this guy is.

As expected, there are capsules too.

There are about five numbers.

A spherical, grayish-white substance had taken over part of the pasture, forming a disgusting tumor-like mass.

Hong Jong-beom looked down at the monster and spoke in a gloomy tone.

“······After that appeared, Jeong Ho-gyeong was banned from entering.”

So that’s why Jeong Ho-gyeong was whining to Lightning.

There’s a monster in the food area, please help me.

But can’t I clean it myself?

The Beetle type is an inferior species that is not much different from other species except for the ability to hit a reflective field.

Even if there are strong fighting types like dancer types or medium types, if all the kids here are Awakens who can create waves, they will be able to suppress them with force.

Considering the dire circumstances of this place, where canned dog food is served as a special meal, securing dairy cows that can supply precious milk seems very urgent.

*

“No.”

Jeong Ho-gyeong became serious.

I didn’t say anything bad to him or complain to him.

All I told him was that we should get the pastures back.

“Do you know how precious each child here is? If even one child is missing, this lighthouse may not be able to function. There has been no proper research on exactly how many Awakens are needed for the lighthouse to function.”

“Isn’t it better than continuing to eat flour and becoming mentally ill?”

“Even though the meals may look poor, they are all nutritionally balanced. They also make sure to provide special meals on special days. I appreciate your concern, but I don’t think the management of this place should be something that Mr. Park Gyu should worry about.”

“I will help you.”

It is very rare for Park Gyu to volunteer his services.

I have a connection with Hong Jong-beom and the children, and I also want to provide some relief to the people who are sacrificing to protect Seoul.

Besides, I heard from Woo Min-hee that Jeong Ho-gyeong is over level 5 away.

Although he lacks combat experience, he is still a school graduate, so he should know basic combat skills.

If he helps, I can honestly say I’ll clean out all the monsters in this hive and more.

That’s why I reached out, even thinking about working overtime.

But that hand that was extended.

“No.”

Jeong Ho-gyeong rejects it without a moment’s hesitation.

I glared at him silently, and he glared back.

“I know you were in China in the past and I know you fought monsters many times.”

Are you finally pretending to know?

“But we and the academic community don’t call it monster hunting. It’s human sacrifice, exchanging human lives for monsters.”

“······Are you denying our era?”

“That is the world standard. I, who was educated that way at a reformed school, can only say that.”

“Then I will clean it up by myself.”

Five capsules per monster.

It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s not difficult.

As I was saying that and was about to turn around.

“No!”

Jeong Ho-gyeong shouted firmly.

“why?”

I looked straight at him.

He didn’t seem angry or excited.

However, my past self may have overlapped slightly with my current self.

“······.”

I felt that way.

A time when it felt like humans and monsters weren’t that different.

“that is.”

Jeong Ho-gyeong avoided eye contact.

He clenched his teeth, which seemed to indicate that he was angry, but he did not express it.

Instead, he avoided eye contact and made a lame excuse.

“Mr. Park Gyu is a guest at the lighthouse. As a manager, I cannot tolerate asking a guest to do something dangerous. Besides, if there is even the slightest problem with Mr. Park Gyu, how will you face the chief?”

“······.”

“To be honest, I’m also afraid of you, Director Woo······.”

Well, it seems real that Woo Min-hee is afraid.

When you talk about Woo Min-hee, you can see her whole body trembling.

I left the room without saying anything.

As I was walking down the hallway, I heard a fist hitting the wall.

and.

“Ah······ uh······.”

It must hurt.

It’s not even plywood, it’s a block of concrete.

I don’t know why this guy is mad at me, but I have a vague feeling that I know why.

Perhaps it’s an inferiority complex?

I felt a bit awkward when a high-ranking executive from Jeju, who had never experienced failure in his life, said he felt inferior to a doomsday idiot like me, but I accepted it that way.

by the way.

“Jong-Beom.”

“Yes, Mr. Park.”

“Can you open the pasture gate for me?”

I am a bit stubborn.