Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 224



Only Krnovel

95. Signs (6)

Everyone is talking.

There is no place like your own home.

m9 had similar thoughts.

However, it required a great deal of determination for anyone other than himself to explore the m9’s house, which was far beyond the normal slope expected by humans.

“What are you doing, Skeleton? Aren’t you coming in?”

M9 turned to face me as I stopped at the entrance to the hallway.

“Oh, no. It’s okay. Now that I think about it, I drank tea earlier.”

It is not true.

I haven’t had tea today.

Just a sense of danger blared inside me, warning me not to venture any further into that dangerously twisted slope.

“······.”

The house of m9 was a four-dimensional cave of a different form than what you see inside the computer.

Not only is it completely impossible to tell where to step, where to hold on, and where to move, but it’s also full of death traps where even the slightest mistake can lead to a fall to your death.

It was a place full of danger, even for me, who had overcome my fear of heights through training.

Rustle-

I haven’t moved from that spot since I took one wrong step and saw a rock fall a thousand feet down.

“Hey. Skeleton. What are you doing? You’re not coming. I need a cup of tea.”

M9 senses my hesitation like a ghost and waits for me to come in, grinning in front of me.

But that doesn’t mean this body needs to go.

The apartment in M9 was only an observation point, not an attempt to uncover the ecological history of M9.

“Hey. Skeleton. Why aren’t you coming in? Are you already overwhelmed by my more hopeful spirit?”

“······.”

“Well, no one has ever come to my house and left with a smile on their face. Just wait a minute. I’ll bring out the tea.”

The moment m9 was about to go inside excitedly, a loud noise was heard from outside.

It sounds like a heavy building collapsing.

It’s a common thing to hear around here, but I didn’t want to get caught up in the m9’s pace any longer, so I immediately left the hope and went back up to the rooftop.

“Phew.”

It’s better outside.

Unlike the more twisted m9’s house than the spider-type maze, at least from the outside you can tell which is up and which is down.

As I was quietly leaning against the railing and passing the time, M9 brought out a steaming cup of tea.

“I never thought I would meet you like this.”

I sat on the railing next to M9 and looked at the scenery below.

The streets were filled with nothing but ashen ruins, but there was no sign of worry on M9’s face.

“Even when I first came here.”

m9 started to talk nonchalantly.

“It was an object of envy. This area.”

At that moment, I noticed that this guy was holding a cell phone with the camera turned on.

I looked at him and asked him casually.

“What is it? Are you filming?”

“It’s going to be live soon! Apocalypse! Right?”

“Live Apocalypse······.”

“Anyway, since we have guests after a long time, I should use whatever materials I have.”

M9 looked at me with a smirk.

“How are you these days?”

“what?”

“Are you happy with life?”

“It’s a pleasure to live······.”

Is this another expression of the will to live that I emphasize?

Well, that’s fine.

I have never really felt any taste in terms of continuing life.

Aren’t the small pleasures and fulfillment of each day the nutrients I need to get through the day?

“There’s nothing particularly fun. Now.”

He spoke frankly while savoring the tea of ​​M9.

m9 nodded.

“Well, the internet isn’t as fun as it used to be. There are fewer people and there are fewer things to talk about. When Melon Mask tries to make something new, it’s only interesting then, and it always ends up feeling vague and similar. Yeah.”

m9 raised its head.

“Everything is a bit ambiguous.”

It’s okay.

Perhaps this expression applies to all of us who have been abandoned in this fading era.

It’s not like I die coolly, but it’s not like I end it in a flashy way either.

In a world like today where we are unable to do anything and just wait to wither and die along with the world, it may be an inevitable and natural flow.

But at least the m9 was struggling to break away from that trend.

“You’re saying you can defeat monsters with artillery fire?”

He asked me while taking pictures of various places in Seoul with his cell phone.

“Oh. That’s what I came for.”

“Then let’s get started. Let’s make as many good pictures as possible!”

I got up from my seat.

There aren’t enough monsters yet to warrant bombardment.

They slowly advance in groups from the Hanam City area.

But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take it slow and deal with it one by one.

I put on special goggles connected to GPS and looked towards the riverside.

The red goggles connected to the GPS and immediately picked up the coordinates and displayed them in front of me.

He transmitted the coordinates into the radio.

“Coordinates confirmed. Begin shelling.”

I thought I heard the dry voice of the artillerymen on the radio, but soon, with a ghostly sound like a ghost grabbing me from the air, a perfectly controlled shell struck exactly where I had requested the shelling, striking me with devastating force.

Kwakwakwakwang!!

m9 couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as he watched several buildings collapse with a loud noise, sending up thick clouds of dust.

“That’s amazing.”

The discipline and technology of the Republic of Korea Artillery Corps are world-class.

If our old school hunters are close range specialists, the Republic of Korea Artillery Corps is the queen of medium to long range combat.

The Air Force can also act as a firefighter when necessary, but only the artillery can provide firepower support as reliably and reliably as the artillery.

“We plan to reduce the number of people rushing to Seoul by providing artillery support like this.”

All we have to deal with today is the medium-sized species.

If I had enough time, I would like to bombard all the monsters heading towards Seoul by bypassing the Han River, but I don’t have enough force to block an entire city like in the past.

“Coordinates confirmed. Begin shelling.”

Since the start of the war, South Korea has been continuously weakened and shrunken.

The military is no exception.

I just hope for as much as I can.

And so the dull battle began.

He observed the enemy from the top of the slanted apartment, called out coordinates, and opened fire.

The elite artillery of the Legion faction immediately fired a fierce barrage upon receiving the coordinates, wiping out any lingering medium-sized species from the world.

As similar developments repeated themselves several times, m9 started to whine.

“What? It’s easier than I thought. Those monsters aren’t that bad.”

From a third party’s perspective, it might seem that way.

But this is possible because of superior artillery, observation equipment, and a stronghold called The Hope standing tall in the middle of enemy lines.

There’s no way to know how many monsters and zombies are right under our feet.

“Zombies? Zombies. There are fewer of them these days, but they still roam around at night. And those weird monsters too.”

Without a stronghold like The Hope, the luxury of having coordinates called out from a safe location would be impossible.

The “easy fight” that M9 spoke of continued late into the night.

We called out countless coordinates and defeated countless monsters.

The fact that there were fewer monsters than expected also helped maintain a stable battle situation.

There were no signs of the large, intelligent creatures I had feared, and the monster hordes only moved sporadically westward, without taking any collective action beyond that.

One time, I had some free time and gave the equipment to M9 and had him tell me the coordinates.

“Number 777! Strike! Fire!”

Our m9 was thrilled and put the new toy to the test without hesitation.

In the afternoon, ominous signs were felt in the east.

The fog that had been lingering along the Han River is getting thicker and moving closer.

Beneath the fog, the shadows of quite a few monsters could be seen.

I asked Kim Da-ram about the western area of ​​Seoul.

“The situation here? It’s not good. We’re defending with a dumb tank, but it’s not going to end.”

To help her, I spent the night with M9 calling out coordinates and doing my best to block reinforcements heading to Seoul.

There were no particular crises or unexpected situations, except for the incident where I almost slipped on the railing because I got sleepy in the middle of the ride.

Discover the enemy, kill them, and fire.

It was a day not much different from a typical day on the battlefield in China in the past.

But this world is no longer easy.

I found out about this right after I said goodbye to m9 and returned to my home in Seoul.

*

“Good job, senior.”

Is it thanks to my and m9’s struggles?

Despite the approach of a large horde of monsters, civilian casualties were minimal and military losses were not significant.

At the center of it all was the long-range elimination of threatening medium-sized creatures by me and the M9, but the activities of the Legion soldiers and Hunters also played a significant role.

Of course, the biggest reason is that the number of monsters that bypassed the Han River was much smaller than expected.

The real problem comes next.

As I was flying to The Hope, I saw a lot of white smoke rising from all over the place above the helicopter.

At that time, when I saw this white smoke, I had a bad feeling.

Because I remember seeing similar smoke and smells when I was working in China.

I saw it on the streets of Seoul where I returned again.

Piles of corpses burning, emitting white smoke.

My gaze naturally turned to Kim Da-ram.

“Kim Da-ram.”

I turned my gaze to the corpse.

“What is that?”

Kim Da-ram answered without even looking at the corpse.

“It’s a zombie corpse.”

“Where do so many zombies come from?”

At this, Kim Da-ram sighed and glared at me.

“Think of it as a zombie.”

With a tired expression, Kim Da-ram passed me by and returned to the barracks.

Of course, as expected of Kim Da-ram, he didn’t forget what he had asked of him before.

“You said you had a favor to ask of me, right? I’ll leave an adjutant behind, so tell me. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it.”

After she disappeared, I looked back at the body.

A few soldiers and workers were moving the unburned corpses onto a cart.

I know very well who owns these corpses.

He is a fanatic.

As soon as the monster invasion began, the Legion took the zealots into custody and executed them during the fighting, probably through mass slaughter via gas.

I don’t intend to blame their methods.

Fanatics are the enemies of humanity.

If we just leave them alone, they will help the monsters and cause even more damage to us.

But the sight of humans destroying humans en masse in this way always darkens my heart.

It was the same in China.

As I watched the scene of expressionless soldiers killing, burning, and abandoning people without a care, I found myself feeling sleepy.

The sight of people who were once alive, laughing and talking, now falling into an eternal sleep, being dragged by others, burned and crushed, brought about an unbearable boredom in me.

Now, the scene from that time is being recreated in Korea.

A lot of thoughts were running through my head, but I tried not to think about any of them.

Instead, I tried to recall the small connections and motivations that brought me here and put them into practice.

“Oh. Skeleton! Thank you so much! Thanks to you, I was able to send Da-jeong to the hospital in Chuncheon!”

Even seeing the Defender’s bright face did not put my mind at ease.

“I’ll stop by with Da-jeong next time!”

I saw him off with a smile, but the darkness surrounding me only grew thicker.

“······.”

That day, the Legion’s radio broadcast reported the successful defense of Seoul and the armistice between South Korea and China.

People talk about Kim Byung-chul’s leadership and the strength of the corps faction, but my thoughts are completely different.

Humans systematically kill and destroy humans.

This is another sign.

This world is heading towards destruction.

But there are also salvageable things.

“What? You think The Hope is going to collapse?”

It was when we were about to finish the operation and return to Seoul.

I joked with m9 about my thoughts on The Hope.

90% chance of collapse.

This isn’t just my opinion.

This is the common opinion of everyone watching from afar.

I saw the advantages of the M9 in this fight, so I made a subtle suggestion to him.

“If you don’t have one, come to our neighborhood. There aren’t any leaning houses, but there is at least one empty house.”

I tried to express my opinion with some goodwill, but the m9 guy just smiled mischievously.

He looked at me and said curtly.

“Now that I think about it, you guys seem more like hunters than I thought.”

As I was looking at him with puzzled eyes at the sudden compliment, m9 chuckled and tapped his building.

“Don’t worry too much even if The Hope collapses.”

M9 stroked his building with a smiling face.

“Because where I am is hope.”

In that moment, I felt once again the tilt and weight of the building we were standing in.

A thought occurred to me.

I think hope is definitely something that is tilted rather than straight.

The slope of despair I see will not be much different.