Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 227



Only Krnovel

97. Small changes

“I’ve said this before, but I’m not saying we’ll live in the bunker. I’m saying we’ll be neighbors. It doesn’t have to be next door. I’m saying we’ll keep in close contact when problems arise and keep a distance that allows us to provide combat support to each other.”

I had a vague idea that Cheon Yeong-jae’s thoughts had been firm from the beginning.

Since the war, he had always lived with people in similar situations and was accustomed to living in such groups.

Therefore, it is not easy to break his stubbornness with just a few words.

So I asked why it had to be here.

“Why don’t you just live in the subway? Rather than coming to a countryside where there’s nothing like this? Right? There are a lot of people there, and there are a lot more resources.”

At this, Cheon Yeong-jae smiled cheerfully and shook his head.

“It’s going to be a war zone anyway. Incheon refugees. They act like they’re just following the orders of the Legion, but those guys were already thoroughly divided into factions by shelter a long time ago. Now, they’re pretending to follow because the guys in military uniforms are giving them food and supplies, but if they get even a little upset, they’ll show their true colors.”

“okay?”

“First of all, the legionnaires. When I opened the lid, there was nothing there. It was just dog hair. It’s hard enough to feed your own people right now, and now you have to take on the abandoned people of Incheon, so how long can you last?”

3 months.

This is the moment when the supply system of the Legion faction that Cheon Yeong-jae had expected collapses.

“Everyone will live for themselves soon. That’s the way this country is. Everyone for themselves. Those who foolishly wait for the country to speak are always the first to die, and those who ignore the country and seek their own way to survive are always the last to survive.”

Cheon Yeong-jae blew on his front hair with his mouth, stretching out his large broom on the hood of the small LPG car he was driving.

He opened his mouth and glanced at me with half-open eyes.

“If that gang of self-proclaimed scoundrels come this far, Senior Park won’t be able to feel at ease, right? Right?”

“······I was just trying to get away for a bit.”

“If that’s the case, could you lend me this bunker?”

“That won’t work even if a knife is put to my neck.”

“Running away isn’t the solution.”

Cheon Yeong-jae got up from the bonnet and put something in his mouth.

It looks like a cigarette.

As soon as I lit it, it became clear that it was a cigarette.

“As you know, it’s not just the metropolitan area that’s in shambles. The provinces have already been devastated, and the eroded areas and refugees are living indiscriminately. In such a situation, the number of fanatics is increasing without end.”

“······.”

“I think that bastard Kim Byeong-cheol will soon give up on Seoul.”

“I guess so.”

“What I mean is, you can’t run away forever.”

Cheon Yeong-jae handed me a cigarette that he had personally smoked.

I lightly declined the cigarette.

Cheon Yeong-jae put the cigarette he had offered back into his bosom.

He blurted out, looking closely at the tangled tobacco material he had made himself.

“Won’t most of them be dead by next year?”

Actually, this is my true feelings.

Time solves most of the problems in this world.

Even the world that is in chaos now, and the groups of people who live for themselves that Cheon Yeong-jae is worried about, mostly lose their light when the absolute value called time passes.

Neither those who roam the wilderness to hunt and eat the same people nor those who tenaciously continue living in a corner of the wasteland can be free from that fate.

Most of them will die.

Expanding my own bunker in the area where that person disappeared is one of the main drawings that Park Gyu drew when he first built the bunker.

however.

“What if I don’t die?”

Cheon Yeong-jae presented a new perspective.

This is not a completely new perspective.

This is another possibility that I am vaguely aware of and aware of.

Humans are more resilient than we imagine.

Even that group of elderly people is like that.

Who would have imagined that there were dozens of healthy old people living in that isolated mountainous region?

“What if humans still roam around next year? Will they still run away then?”

Cheon Yeong-jae continues to ask.

“······that.”

He has a shameless personality and lies often, but he has no proper answer to Cheon Yeong-jae’s question.

Because I know it better than anyone else.

I saw with my own eyes how tenacious and vicious human vitality is.

It is in line with what I have personally seen and experienced with my own eyes since the war began.

“Let me tell you a story about the shelter where I stayed for a while. The captain of the shelter there was Park Penguin.”

“what?!”

“Park plus penguin.”

“Penguin?!”

For a moment, I had a wild imagination that Mr. Park might have something similar to a penguin.

Not at all.

“He was a hardware store owner before the war, but he became the shelter manager after his predecessors left. He’s just a neighborhood uncle with no special talents or anything special about him. But he saved the entire shelter during the last cold spell. Have you heard the story about a shelter where people huddled together like penguins and circling around?”

There was definitely a story like that.

To be exact, it is the story of boldly abandoning the shelter provided by the Incheon government, taking refuge in the subway, and proactively responding to the cold wave, thus saving the entire shelter.

“Not only was the base of the Park Penguin base there, but the level of the people in the shelter itself was high. They all tried to survive. They even had the will to live by cosplaying as penguins. That’s why they survived.”

“······.”

“I don’t think those humans will die that easily. Even if monsters invade this entire country, some of them will still be alive and roaming around. So, it’s a very naive idea to think that people will just run away until they’re all dead.”

It’s true that I don’t like what Cheon Yeong-jae said.

Honestly, I want to swing my fist at him right now and shut his mouth.

But what this guy said is true.

It doesn’t seem like all the humans who survived for more than three years after the war will die out just because they fled for a year or two.

“······So. Are you planning to settle down around my territory?”

I asked Cheon Yeong-jae with a little bit of displeasure.

Cheon Yeong-jae blinked.

“We should help each other if necessary. How many armed soldiers can Senior Park take on by himself?”

“It depends on the situation.”

“What if I am being attacked unilaterally?”

“Even two people could be threatening.”

“therefore.”

Cheon Yeong-jae walked to his car.

Let’s start it,

Taltaltaltal-

A rattling sound accompanied by black smoke echoes throughout my area.

“Let’s see.”

Cheon Yeong-jae climbed onto the car and looked around.

“That would be nice.”

The place that Cheon Yeong-jae chose was an abandoned village.

“······In a place like that?”

“Uh. For someone like me, it’s better to have a lot of cover.”

“You were Awaken too, weren’t you?”

“It’s not that bad, though.”

Although I don’t like it, Cheon Yeong-jae’s words make sense.

The place he chose was quite far from my territory, so I decided to skip it.

Above all, I sympathized with what this friend said about people not dying so easily.

Suddenly, Diesirae came to mind.

“······.”

He’s still living well in the group.

But can we say that all groups have similar group survivalism?

While the group of Diesirae is a tight-knit organization in itself, Cheon Yeong-jae and I are just an intersection of people living independently nearby.

In situations like battle, we will help each other, but we should be careful not to interfere with each other as much as possible.

Even if it is called collective survivalism, it is not necessarily the same.

We rode in Cheon Yeong-jae’s car and went to the village together.

“What are you going to do, senior?”

“······Still, I’ve lived here for a long time, so I guess I can do some training.”

I entered the village with Cheon Yeong-jae.

The village has been completely abandoned for quite some time now.

I slowly drove back through the streets filled with debris, trash, and ruins in a vehicle that was on the verge of collapse.

Cheon Yeong-jae visited several houses before deciding on one place.

It was an ordinary house between ruins and ruins.

“This place would be nice.”

“Are you okay?”

“If you clean up and sweep a bit, you should be able to get a reasonable estimate. Look. There’s a fireplace and an ondol.”

Cheon Yeong-jae cleared away the trash and organized the debris with familiar hand movements.

I didn’t really have anything to do, so I just watched him do what he was doing.

I also felt this when dealing with zombies, but this guy is somewhat sloppy but extremely effective.

It seems like you’re working roughly, but the speed at which it’s organized is extraordinary.

“Senior Park. If you don’t have anything to do, why don’t you help me out?”

“You are a noble person who has become a professor.”

“I too am known as a genius hunter.”

I helped Cheon Yeong-jae organize his new house.

Through this opportunity, I have come to realize that each person has different standards for life.

The minimum I want for a decent life is the conveniences of civilization that could be enjoyed by pre-war standards, such as air conditioning, a hot shower, a refrigerator, cold water, and running water at all times, while the minimum that Cheon Yeong-jae wants is just enough space to stretch out, a roof to protect against wind and rain, and enough heat to keep from freezing to death.

For Cheon Yeong-jae, the advantages of civilization such as air conditioning and running water were good to have, but they were not absolutely necessary.

“Oh my. This is the Abang Palace.”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly as I watched him lying down comfortably on a mat spread out on the dirt floor that was no different from a garbage dump because it couldn’t even be cleaned up properly.

“······.”

Well, that must mean that Park Gyu is that picky.

Being picky isn’t a bad thing.

Living like a human being is the first requirement to not lose our humanity.

Once the place to live was roughly decided, Cheon Yeong-jae took something out of the car.

It’s meat.

“What kind of meat is this?”

“Mutation meat. I just got it from the Legion base.”

“Can I eat this?”

“Everyone is eating it. Mutations are a crazy phenomenon, but recent research shows that they at least help increase food production. Those who slaughter say it’s painful because it feels like they’re killing people, but I’m not the one killing them, am I?”

Cheeeeeeek-

The meat was grilled on a stone grill made of a suitable size.

Because the original was made of pork, it was quite edible.

It’s also rich in oil.

We didn’t have the luxury of kimchi, but instead we roasted potatoes, onions, and leeks and ate them as a side dish to the meat.

Given the circumstances, I didn’t drink alcohol.

Even though this is our territory, we cannot use drugs that impair consciousness, such as alcohol, indiscriminately.

I was able to listen to Cheon Yeong-jae’s thoughts while eating a moderate amount of food.

I only saw this guy casually, but he’s surprisingly deep inside.

“Right now I’m the only one living here, but I’m planning on starting to gather more people.”

“······.”

“My seniors and juniors who used to be on Hunter Street. My classmates. And good people. It’s about making a town with good people.”

Cheon Yeong-jae looked around the abandoned village.

“We’re talking about creating a real hunter village.”

“Hunter Village. It has a strange feel to it.”

“Since they are people with basic fighting skills and similar sympathies, wouldn’t it be okay? If they are going to come together anyway, wouldn’t it be better if they have school ties?”

“······The attack will be that strong.”

“If you can’t hold out, you’ll die anyway. Whether it’s alone or with others. If you look at the people who survived for a long time, they were all people who formed groups, right?”

“There are people like me who can live on their own without anyone’s help.”

“Well, you’re strong, senior. But you know.”

Cheon Yeong-jae smiled faintly.

“I’m sure there are at least one or two people you want to protect, senior?”

“I am completely alone.”

“If not now, then later, when Seoul is in chaos and someone you know asks for help.”

“I don’t help anyone and I don’t ask for help.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to give them a place to live in a well-prepared village like this rather than just throwing them into that damn bunker that your senior likes?”

“······.”

For a brief moment, the faces of Rebecca and her daughter flashed before my eyes.

I hope you are doing well.

They say no news is good news.

It is a fact that they are worried.

“For now, I think we can be assured of any attacks coming from the east since I’m here.”

Cheon Yeong-jae glared toward the east with his eyes that shone very softly.

He is a witty and light-hearted friend, but when he reveals his true feelings as a hunter, you feel a sharpness that can easily cut through the soul of an ordinary human.

Me too, but this guy is also a murderer who has killed countless people.

“······Okay. Please take care of it.”

That’s how I got neighbors.

At first I thought it was only a bad thing, but as time went by I realized it wasn’t such a bad thing.

I don’t know if I’ve become more toxic or if the burden of this world I feel has grown.

Ultimately, our goal is one.

Surviving one more day in this apocalypse.

What’s the big difference between groups and individuals?

I closed my eyes in an area where I was not alone.

I don’t know if it’s because of the morning fatigue, but I feel like I slept a little more deeply than usual.

*

Message from unicorn18: Skeleton. Reply when you see it.

It was a day after a new resident appeared in my territory that I received a message from a completely unexpected person.

Unicorn 18, huh?

At this point, isn’t this the person I want to ask the most questions about?

jeju island.

What happened to Jeju Island?

Are you trying to tell me a story about Jeju Island?

I sent a reply, feeling my heart pounding for the first time in a long time.

SKELTON: (Skeleton) What’s going on? Unicorn18.

After a while, a reply came from Unicorn18.

But that content.

Message from unicorn18: Are you familiar with Fox Games?

It’s a little different from what I expected.