Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 259



Only Krnovel

105. Going (4)

Jeju Airport resembles a crowded parking lot.

This is because various types of aircraft, including fighter jets, transport planes, and civilian aircraft, are mixed together, creating a chaotic atmosphere.

Of these, only a few work properly.

Most of them are reserved as spares or replacements, and only a very small number are in operation.

From what I’ve heard from pilots, it seems that before the loss of the southern regions, more aircraft were flying than they are now because they had a stable supply of synthetic fuel, but at present, they only operate aircraft for areas where it’s extremely necessary, such as Agent Orange or the Air Force.

“Is there anything the Air Force does?”

Since it took some time for the plane to take me to my area to be ready, I was able to take my time and chat with the pilot.

The pilot was definitely younger and lower ranked than the previous pilot.

Judging from his gaunt, emaciated body and bloodshot eyes, he didn’t seem to have a high standard of living, but he was kind and I could tell he was trying to be nice to me.

He answered my question while sucking on the butt of his cigarette.

“Yes. Sometimes, unidentified fighter jets invade our airspace.”

“Which country? I don’t think it’s China.”

“There were also some from China. To be exact, they are Taiwanese aircraft, but since they are not responding to our radio, they may have been captured by the Chinese.”

“Has China occupied Taiwan?”

The winner of the Sino-Taiwan War is unknown.

It is called a double defeat because both countries lost their countries during the war.

However, I think I heard in the news during the war that the Chinese army had succeeded in landing a large-scale landing force in Taiwan.

“They probably couldn’t do everything. But the Marines took over the air force base in the rear of Taiwan Island.”

The pilot looked at his cigarette with no filter left, threw it on the floor, and looked out the window.

“Japanese things also fly in from time to time.”

“Is it a military aircraft?”

“Yes. It was a reconnaissance plane. It seems they were curious about the situation here. Even last year, they were frequently scrambled.”

“Why is that your answer?”

“Well, there must be something you need. They said that they tried to communicate with us, but they only stuck their legs out. But things have been bad on your side since this year, so the number has decreased significantly.”

A large civilian aircraft rose into the sky from the runway.

The planes that once carried the dreams of travelers going abroad now spray defoliants that kill plants on Jeju Island.

The sky was blue, but Jeju’s unique dull gray atmosphere was no exception, even at this airport.

Maybe it’s because we’re the only ones in the airport hallway that the gloomy atmosphere is even more intense.

As I was spending time blankly with the quiet pilot, I heard the sound of shoes in the hallway.

She is a woman in a white uniform.

A woman wearing a National Commissioner’s badge approached me straight away.

“Are you Mr. Park Gyu?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Like most Jeju Islanders, this woman was only in her early twenties at most, but she had been working for a long time, so her actions and words were flawless.

She carefully checked my face against the tablet and asked for my fingerprints, as well as my name and date of birth.

Only after her identity was verified did she finally reveal her name.

“My name is Choi Hyun-joo from the National Immigration Office.”

She carefully checked and explained to me the items I needed to take to the mainland, the items I needed to return, and other necessary details.

There is nothing particularly missing and I have no regrets.

Finally she confirmed my request.

“You said you were planning to stay in the mainland for a year?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

He blinked and answered clearly.

“Are you going to continue using the house you are currently using?”

“Yes. They said that non-resident rental is possible for up to one year.”

My real intention is to leave Jeju forever, but nominally I am to perform a one-year reconnaissance mission on the mainland.

Since it’s an island with no regrets, I could just shake it off and leave, but there’s a serious reason why I can’t do that.

Choi Hyun-joo asked the pilot for understanding.

The pilot left, saying he was going to check on the aircraft maintenance anyway.

In the spacious airport lobby, only Choi Hyun-joo and I were left.

She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye as she looked at the records.

“Excuse me, is that true?”

“?”

“You hunted monsters alone. And you defeated the worst small-sized Executioner type with only cold weapons.”

Looking into her eyes, she is not Awaken.

I guess I’m one of the lucky, chosen common people who are allowed to live in Jeju.

“······I had no choice but to do it to survive.”

She looked around and continued speaking in a heated tone.

“I heard the story, Professor. He was the strongest Hunter before the Awaken appeared. That’s why he was extremely wary of the Awaken in the beginning.”

Her enthusiastic response is not so unfamiliar.

I’ve met countless people worse than this in the past.

Every time, my behavior remained unchanged.

“A square peg in a square hole appears in a square hole.”

Answer questions, but do so in a calm manner.

There is no need to create facts that did not exist, nor is there any need to hide facts that did exist.

But it seemed to me that it wasn’t just her past that inspired my respect.

“I think it would be difficult for a normal person to volunteer to scout the mainland after fighting monsters only a few days ago.”

She had as much respect for my choice as she did for my major.

“······As time goes by, the aversion to battle gets worse. The number of patients with malingering illnesses keeps increasing. Over-level 5 Awakens share strange methods to get judged as level 4.”

Choi Hyun-joo shook her head with a look of disbelief.

“In this situation, the closure of the crack is being delayed more and more.”

She looked at me.

“In this situation, I think someone like Mr. Park Gyu is enough to be a role model for everyone.”

“······.”

I have nothing to say.

It’s because she’s the type of person who only says what’s necessary, and the truth is that this woman doesn’t know the real reason why I left Jeju Island at all.

The hidden truth is as follows.

*

-pickup!

-pickup!

-pickup!

The gacha was a huge success.

I ran a 10-round gacha with a “free recruitment ticket” that recruited 10 characters at a time, and I succeeded in recruiting all the hottest characters in that first gacha.

This skeleton, who started to participate in the Red Archive bulletin board simply because it was more open and had more people than other places, had no intention of playing the game called Red Archive and had no reason to know about it, so he had no idea how good the characters he had chosen were.

But I also know the rules of the bulletin board.

-No ticks allowed!

In short, this is a story about not making childish boasts that are so obvious.

For example, someone posted a photo on Instagram titled “A Cup of Coffee” focusing on a take-out cup of Americano while subtly revealing the steering wheel of a Porsche.

The tickling on the Red Archive bulletin board is also a gacha certification.

In my case, it was a total jackpot.

In the first gacha, I got three at once, and three super high-performance limited characters that my friends on the bulletin board call “human rights characters.”

Maybe that’s why.

I made a mistake that was not like me.

SKELTON: Kelton tried the gacha~

When I posted the article, I didn’t even think about my own mistakes.

Soon the comments pointed out my mistakes.

Good Young Man Fruit Store: What?!

Credit: This guy, he’s posting stuff like this?!

Jjuggulgeum: Goodbye

Sparrow: sg

Quantum Bomb: ?! Kelton, erase it quickly!

I was blocked for 30 days.

If it’s short, it’s a short time, but if it’s long, it’s a long enough time.

What am I supposed to do in this island town without any acquaintances and without the internet?

I plan on not logging into Viva! Apocalypse! for the time being, if only to give Vivabot a warning.

With complicated feelings, I looked at a few cartoons drawn by Pilcrum88 and logged back into the bulletin board to find a way to live.

“hmm?”

There’s something at the bottom of the bulletin board.

This is an administrator-reported post.

Looking at the reports, I see posts asking for the block to be lifted.

Among them, there were quite a few friends who, like me, got banned for “gacha bitching.”

I clicked on one of them.

Bee: Operators, please forgive me just this once.

-I will never do gacha bitik again! Never again!

It’s a bee.

Let’s search the bulletin board.

The block has been lifted.

Even though he committed the serious crime of gacha bitic, he was released from the ban after barely writing a one-line reflection.

If so, that’s good.

I will do what I can.

“······.”

Knock knock

I immediately wrote a reflection paper.

SKELTON: Sorry for the gacha bitch.

– I am a beginner on the bulletin board, so I did not know the bulletin board rules very well. If you forgive me just this once, I promise not to do gacha bitik again and to be a sincere bulletin board user as a Red Archive bulletin board user.

I wrote longer than the others.

Anyone who looks at the content can tell that the user is knowledgeable.

At this point, the administrator will be happy and willing to lift the block.

however.

“hmm?”

The block won’t be lifted.

A day passed and the blocking did not go away.

I went back to the report again.

There are comments.

Let’s take a look at what it contains.

Sparrow: You little skeleton. You can’t do it.

“?”

Why not?

Shouldn’t you at least write down the reason?

No, what did I do wrong?

He commented again on the reflection paper I wrote.

SKELTON: No, what did I do wrong? Please tell me why.

It was ten minutes later that I got a comment on my protest.

Sparrow: 10 stacks of emoticon graffiti favor! 30 stacks of Bitik Gacha favor! And 100 stacks of quantum bomb and dick-slapping favor!

The moment I saw that article, I felt like I knew why this sparrow manager was so angry at me.

Quantum bomb.

Was that guy the problem?

From the first time I saw it, I had a feeling that something was dangerous.

As expected, the manager revealed the truth about the quantum bomb one by one.

Sparrow: That quantum bomber bastard is always making noises on every bulletin board he goes to. He’s a terrible omen for disaster.

SKELTON: That’s unfair. I’m not at all familiar with quantum bombs.

Sparrow: ?

SKELTON: If the quantum bomb is the problem, give me a chance. If you unblock me, I will immediately shower the quantum bomb with curses.

Sparrow: Really?

It’s a miracle.

The story makes sense.

Ultimately, the point is that quantum computing is the problem of everything.

After I got my permission to write on the bulletin board back, I immediately kept my promise to the administrator.

SKELTON: Look at the quantum bomb.

-I won’t play with you anymore. Don’t act friendly in my writing ever again.

“······.”

It’s a shame for the quantum bomb, but there’s nothing we can do about it.

There are times when I have to be pushed under a plane to survive.

It’s a shame, but the quantum bomb showed a rather pitiful reaction.

Quantum width: ?

“sorry.”

Without realizing it, I continued to criticize the quantum bomb while asking for an apology in a loud voice.

SKELTON: Don’t comment!

I could have said something worse, but I only used the most safe and rounded language because swearing could have a negative effect on the image of “Kelton.”

Quantum explosion: ······Why? (Emoticon of a cute girl crying)

Quantum Bomb: I trusted you!

SKELTON : ······.

He didn’t say anything.

This is my answer.

It’s a bitter thing, but this is also one of Skeleton’s pages on the Red Archive bulletin board.

As time goes by, this will become a story that will be told over and over again.

however.

Someone started a conversation.

Sparrow: Hahahahahahahaha

He is an administrator.

He was immediately welcomed warmly.

SKELTON: (Skeleton absolute loyalty) Is this enough?!

Sparrow: As expected, you’re a bastard. Hey you bastard. Don’t you even know what kind of person Yang Ja-ham-bok is?

SKELTON: ?

Sparrow: That guy, Quantum Bomb, may look stupid, but he’s a very high-ranking member of the National Assembly. Wasn’t he the one who made our bulletin board a secret bulletin board?

SKELTON: ?!

Sparrow: Goodbye~ Inflow~

Immediately after the chat window closed, a warning window appeared on the screen.

[ Your request to access the Red Archive bulletin board has been denied . ]

“?”

Suddenly the bulletin board doesn’t work.

Is there something wrong with the program?

I tried to reinstall the file I received from Na Hye-in and access the Red Archive bulletin board, but it didn’t work.

The Red Archive bulletin board I re-entered had turned into a strange world filled with emoticons instead of human language, just like when I first entered.

“······.”

Are you really fooling me?

Did the Red Archives bulletin board administrator trick me into causing discord between me and the quantum bomb and then use the quantum bomb, which is the highest level of the National Assembly, to eliminate me?

No other possibility comes to mind.

“······.”

You hit me hard.

If I were to explain the reason, it would probably be my ignorance, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

In a place where ignorance means death, saying you didn’t know is no excuse.

All things considered, it is also true that this situation has made me angry.

As I felt uncontrollable anger pile up on top of my hatred for the first time in a long time, I coincidentally remembered my role model whom I had briefly forgotten.

“!”

Yes, that’s right.

I’m sorry.

Is this what my idol felt like?

Is this why you entered into this silent meditation after being harassed on our bulletin board?

If so, that’s good.

Just like my role model, this skeleton also has no choice but to follow the same path.

Message from Ballantine: Yes? Viva! Apocalypse! Is it possible to invade Jeju Island’s intranet via satellite network?

There are also people with experience.

Even the excellent engineer who broke through the barrier of Viva! Apocalypse!, which has stability incomparable to that of Jeju Intranet.

Message from Ballantine: I’ll have to look into it in more detail, but it’s not that hard. It looks like it’s all just old security protocols that haven’t been updated.

Message from Ballantine: But unlike before, it’s just me now, so it’ll take some time. At the very least, I need a computer that’s powered on and connected to both the satellite network and the intranet. And for my own safety.

SKELTON: Then please.

This is the background to my leaving Jeju and volunteering for a reconnaissance mission to the mainland.

“Flight 1083 will be taking off soon. Passengers, please proceed to platform 13 immediately and board flight 1083.”

Now is the time.

All the luggage has already been loaded onto the plane.

Just bring your body.

“Then I hope you stay healthy and safe on the mainland.”

I walked down the hallway, receiving a polite farewell from Choi Hyun-joo.

Large TVs were on throughout the hallways.

Broadcasts are almost all government-sponsored broadcasts from the Jeju government, but things are different now.

We’re sending out breaking news.

After a while, words that could not be overlooked came out of the speaker.

“Right now, Kang Min-soo, the savior, has completed his long mission and is coming out of the rift.”

I stopped walking.

“······.”

Kang Hyeon-min?

Is that guy finally out of the crack?

There is little way to get news of Kang Han-min outside of Jeju Island.

I stood silently in front of the TV and looked at the screen.

The screen only showed a large crowd of people.

Kang Han-min couldn’t even see his nose.

Meanwhile, time passed and kept urging me on.

“Passengers on Flight 1083, please go to Platform 13 immediately and board Flight 1083.”

Who would have thought that Kang Han-min would show up at this time?

I wanted to see Kang Han-min in front of TV, but I don’t have any more time.

I watched TV as I left the hallway.

At that moment, a man appeared in the midst of the countless crowd.

That expressionless, gaunt, emotionless face is one I know well, yet at the same time one I do not know at all.

One thing is certain.

Kang Han-min.

At least to my eyes he didn’t look human.