Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 251



Only Krnovel

104. Beyond the Fog (1)

The best way to determine the intentions and identity of an opponent is to take them prisoner.

However, prisoners are usually obtained when one side has superior power and attacks the enemy at a desired time.

To set a goal or hope to secure prisoners in a desperate situation one versus many is tantamount to the delusion of a lunatic.

I killed everyone I could because I didn’t know how many enemies there were last night and there might be reinforcements.

There was a boy who was barely breathing, and looking at his wounds and condition, he was not in a condition to be interrogated, so he was given mercy by being shot with one bullet.

After guarding the soldiers and the surrounding area, the bodies were cleaned up as day broke.

Since four soldiers came, the body removal was done easily.

Except for the corpse whose half of the face was distorted by a direct hit from a grenade shrapnel, all of the faces were intact and there was no major, horrific damage, so there was relatively little resistance to cleaning up the bodies.

But when the corpses were neatly placed in one place, several suspicious aspects were revealed.

Although they did not have any clothing or markings that could identify their affiliation, such as military uniforms, they had one thing in common.

“You’re all kids.”

It seems that in the eyes of the soldiers, all that was visible was the young age of the enemies who attacked me.

“Where the hell are those kids?”

“Are these kids coming out of the facility?”

I see it differently.

Even though their faces are cold and drained of blood, I can still see the remnants of clear evidence remaining on their faces.

First of all, nutritional status.

I’m not overweight, but that doesn’t mean I’m absolutely malnourished.

Just because your complexion turns blue doesn’t mean the fat accumulated under your skin is leaking out like feces coming out of your anus.

The second is hygiene.

They are all clean.

These are not faces that come from places that are dirty, filthy, and lack the means to ensure hygiene.

When I smelled the clothes the corpse was wearing, I could even detect a faint scent of detergent.

The biggest problem is the weapons.

The eight I killed were each armed with their own weapons.

There were guys with riot shields, pistols, shotguns, rifles, and even semi-automatic sniper rifles.

Although they did not have fancy equipment or accessories such as night vision goggles, their weapons were well-maintained and in good condition. The bullets were also brand new and shiny, and the magazines were filled to the brim.

In other words, it is a military-level management state.

“······.”

A chilling thought crossed my mind.

Manhunter.

The true identity of the unidentified and unexplained monster that periodically attacks Outpost 328 is not the Awakened boy I killed, but rather a larger Leviathan that no individual can stand against.

So, this outpost could be a training ground.

Low level away soldiers gaining combat experience.

My predecessor and I are the experience of the Awaken soldiers who will take responsibility for the future of Korea.

I made a phone call while the soldiers were doing the final cleaning of the bodies.

“Excuse me. I have a question.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“My predecessors.”

“Your predecessor? Oh, I don’t know anything about it. It hasn’t been long since I took over.”

“Nothing much. What are the ages of those people?”

“Age range?”

“I saw a diary left at the outpost, and it seemed like someone around my age was there. That’s why I asked out of curiosity.”

“It’ll be different from Mr. Park Gyu.”

“is it so?”

“Yes. I think they are all over 40.”

I’m in my 40s.

This generation is probably unnecessary on this island.

That is, people who are neither one of the select few “adults” nor do the dirty work that everyone else refuses to do.

“······.”

I once heard a story that during World War II, the Japanese military had new recruits bayonet live Chinese prisoners of war to death.

Something similar, but in a more malicious form, is unfolding on this land.

What do you mean, useless old people are being used as training materials for the youth of the future? If it were the Jeju Island people who have already left millions to die, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Park Seung-su arrived not long after I had come to my own conclusion.

“I heard you were attacked!”

He examined my face and body.

His face hardened for a moment immediately after the scan was over.

Did he feel any disappointment that there were no injuries?

Then, Park Seung-su checked the corpses lying in a row.

“?!”

His eyes were filled with astonishment.

“This, this.”

He looked back at me.

“Did you handle it all by yourself······?”

“yes.”

He nodded.

“They weren’t that skilled in combat. They took out a few combatants and the rest were no different from civilians.”

“Oh, I see.”

The body identification process has begun.

I tried to follow him silently and observe his expression, but he always had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his exact expression.

However, I clearly noticed that he stayed for a particularly long time on one corpse and examined its face.

The corpse is the leader of the group of attackers who threw the javelin at me.

After letting out a deep breath that was neither a sigh nor a groan, Seungsu Park finally turned to me.

His expression was neutral.

“These are runaway children.”

I was skeptical about the word escape, but I listened to what he had to say without saying anything.

“These are children who are unable to adapt to the facilities and leave the safety zone, set up hideouts in the mountains, and make a living by attacking people and farmers.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Right now, we are keeping all the students inside the walls, but when we ran out of space, we sent the students to outside training facilities for training.”

Park Seung-su put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

“I guess the kids who escaped back then were in a place like this.”

He looked straight at him and said.

“Considering that, the gun’s condition and appearance look good.”

The cigarette in Park Seung-soo’s mouth shook violently up and down for a moment.

“yes?”

He looked back at me.

A very sharp gaze.

He continued talking without paying any attention.

“The sanitary conditions were not bad either. The clothes had not been washed in water with detergent for a long time, and the face was clean.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Park Seung-soo’s voice strangely gets louder.

I looked into his sharp gaze with a calm gaze and asked clearly.

“Where are you training?”

“what?”

“Aren’t you a trainee?”

Ask in a short, forceful tone.

And then see the other person’s reaction.

Park Seung-soo’s face went through a routine pattern of shock, excitement, calm, and then frustration.

“······A trainee? That’s ridiculous. Don’t you have too much imagination? I fully understand that the situation is serious.”

Park Seung-su seems to be good at controlling his emotions.

Even if he gets hit hard, he has the shamelessness to quickly recover.

I guess it’s a good thing.

Whatever scheme this man is plotting, or has plotted.

The only thing that matters is my life.

“I want to get down from here right now.”

Said the requirements.

Park Seung-su slightly avoided my gaze, looked at my feet, and answered with a bitter smile.

“Oh, that’s it. It’s not for me to decide.”

“Then who should I ask?”

“Your jurisdiction is under the jurisdiction of the Jeju Defense Agency, but I will tell you so that you can get down from here as quickly as possible.”

“When was that?”

When I asked coldly, Seungsu Park finally raised his head and met my gaze.

He looked at me and said clearly.

“It won’t take that long.”

“When?”

“Within a week.”

“great.”

He turned around slowly without showing any emotion.

“······But if a similar attack comes again, we will take prisoners.”

I glanced at Park Seung-soo’s face, which was gradually disappearing from my sight.

His face was terrifyingly stiff.

Park Seung-su’s vehicle left carrying the body.

The soldiers who came to help me also seemed to be slowly wanting to leave this place.

“I’m sorry. We would also like to take Mr. Park Gyu with us, but we belong to different units. It seems right to wait for the shift change according to the regulations.”

The clothes they were wearing were different from the soldiers I knew.

Judging by the fact that it has the mark of a member of the National Assembly, it seems to be a security unit directly under the member of the National Assembly.

“I’m so sorry.”

I asked for understanding and asked for what was most necessary.

It’s a weapon.

Only a stronger weapon can secure my life.

There are several types of weapons.

A weapon that can directly kill an opponent, like a gun, a weapon that can create an extremely advantageous situation in certain situations, like a grenade, or a weapon that can temporarily reduce an opponent’s combat ability, like a smoke grenade or flash grenade.

All I asked them for was more bullets.

Got 90 more bullets.

I also managed to get six grenades and two field swords as a bonus.

The first thing I did as soon as the soldiers left their posts was sit down in front of the computer.

SKELTON: Thank you for yesterday. Thanks to you, the rescue team came. Well, it was a little late, you know.

Sent a message to the unicorn.

SKELTON: Anyway, even though I killed him like that, it doesn’t seem like the situation is over yet.

SKELTON: Seungsu Park, that guy. It looks like he’s definitely planning on killing me.

Unicorn: Why?

The unicorn answered belatedly.

I told her what I had experienced, seen, and thought.

Unicorn: That’s ridiculous.

The unicorn didn’t believe me.

No, I didn’t want to believe it.

SKELTON: Enough ridiculous things have happened already. It’s bound to happen.

Unicorn: ······.

SKELTON: The next attack will be really hard to block. This time, there are eight of them. They might even bring in level 5 or higher Awakens.

Unicorn: Then you die.

SKELTON: I’m really sorry, but will you help me?

Unicorn: You helped me.

SKELTON: If I don’t get out of here, it’s meaningless. Outpost 328 is a chopping board for fish, and I’m the fish on the chopping board. That fish is so vicious that it bites the dogs in return as they try to cut it up and eat it, but next time it’ll be different.

Unicorn: I’m really sorry. This is too much. I don’t want to go out anymore.

Unicorn: Sorry.

Now, Na Hye-in’s face and voice are blurry, but for some reason, I had an illusion that she was bowing her head toward me.

Thump! Thump!

I can hear raindrops hitting the window.

It looks like it’s going to rain heavily.

As much as possible, I try not to interfere with other people’s circumstances and thoughts.

But now it’s different.

I want to hear it.

No, you have to listen.

“······.”

SKELTON: What happened?

Now it’s time to get real.

It was time for Na Hye-in and I to shed our childhood shame and face each other head on.

This would have been unimaginable just three years ago, or even just one year ago.

Park Gyu, a lone wolf who had been living in his own world, would be the first to boldly extend a hand of reconciliation to Na Hye-in.

However, there are many things in life that cannot be accomplished by one’s own determination.

Communication is the same.

Unicorn: I’ll stop for today.

I’m ready, but she’s not ready yet.

“······.”

But I will wait.

I too was trapped in a maze of my own making.

I just hope it’s not too late.

Thick rain obscured the windows of the outpost.

*

No matter how dire the situation is, there’s no reason you should bury your head in the ground like an ostrich and wait for death.

Still, I continue to be active in my new field through the Internet.

“······.”

Click

SKELTON: (Emoticon of a cute girl sticking her head out and saying “Bbaengjing”)

“······.”

Click

SKELTON: (emoticon of a cute girl with horns looking shocked with shadows on her face)

Park Gyu, who is called the comment angel or emoticon angel and has established his own position on the Red Archive bulletin board, is it not likely that he will stop his activities so easily?

Quantum Bomb: Kelton. Why doesn’t this kid comment only on me?

Actually, I have some really ardent fans(?).

But I’ve been feeling a bit cheap lately.

Kita-chan (incubating): That skeleton kid only writes comments, but does he even play games?

Sensei: I hate seeing that skeleton kid putting emoticons like a macro

ㅇㅇ: Armband. Isn’t it against the rules to do something like skeleton shit? I’m just asking because I really don’t know.

Pinkman: I thought so too. Aren’t you a skeleton gamer?

…

…

If you search for “skeleton” you’ll get a ton of negative reviews about me.

It was a small number at first, but it feels like it’s increasing.

They say that the number of antis is directly proportional to popularity, so it can’t be helped.

Anyway, the common argument that antis use when attacking me is that this Park Gyu is a “game nerd.”

Gameanbun is an abbreviation for “a person who messes around without playing games.” It refers to a series of mess-makers who come to a game bulletin board not to talk about games, but simply to write crap because there are a lot of people and the place is lively.

“······.”

It’s a little hard to deny.

Even though I have Red Archive installed on my computer, the performance of the emulator program that allows me to run computer and mobile games on my computer is terrible, it lags too much, and on top of that, I don’t like games in the first place and I’m the type of person who doesn’t even look at mobile games.

Actually I haven’t even done the red archive tutorial yet.

Quantum Bomb: Kelton. Give me a cute emoticon too~ Okay~?

Well, I guess you don’t have to worry too much about that.

They just attack me because they feel hurt when I don’t reply.

If they come out like that, I have a way too.

This bulletin board is virtually anonymous, meaning you can change your nickname at any time, but it’s not a place where you can just go wild.

I can’t get unique information like an ID, but if I leave a “note” to a specific user, I can still know who that friend is even if that user changes their nickname.

“······.”

Knock knock

Kita-chan (incubating) – swearing at me for not playing games

Senseture – Feeling jealous because no one is commenting on him

ㅇㅇ – Attacking with comments while looking for the armband

Pinkman – Game Anbun 2

I left a note.

I would never give these guys an emoticon.

It was at that time that I was selecting my own users.

Unicorn: Skeleton······.

The unicorn approached me for a conversation.