Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 264



Only Krnovel

109. A small route (1)

“Nice to meet you. My name is Park Man-soo.”

Valentine has joined our camp.

But if you ask me if I am fully on your team, I would say no.

Diesirae, a leading figure in group survivalism, said that accepting someone into a group is not enough to simply provide them with a place to live and a role to play.

He argued that one must be trusted by the same group to be considered a true member.

That’s right.

I know because I’ve been working in a team my whole life.

Even though we brought Valentine in right away, he needs to get the approval of our other teammates, Ha Tae-hoon and Cheon Young-jae, to become a full member of our team.

In this situation, it is natural to ask what he is good at other than networking.

“Before the war, I ran a PC room. After the war, I worked as a scavenger under Mr. Gu.”

Valentine bragged that he was quite good at scavenging.

“Even now, when I think about it, turning over the entire bank’s computer center was a life achievement. A group of other scavengers came in before, but what did they know? They only raided the PC side, but they left behind all the really valuable and irreplaceable stuff.”

Valentine’s abilities are focused on computers.

There is no specialization directly necessary for survival, such as agriculture, hunting, medicine or chemistry.

If I had to find a good point, it would be that I served as a signalman during my military service.

He is said to know how to operate military radios and do some repairs.

Other than that, there aren’t any notable advantages.

He has the qualities of a fighter, but that’s it.

If a battle breaks out, the best way to utilize it would be to give it a gun and place it in a defensive or non-critical spot.

After hearing Valentine’s story, Ha Tae-hoon called us.

“Even if you know a lot about computers, it’s not like we’re going to start a computer company. Well, this is something that Park Hunter decided on, so it’s not my problem, but if there are more people like this, it’s not good for us.”

Ha Tae-hoon spoke from a place where Valentine’s voice could not reach.

This is an irrefutable opinion.

I also think Ha Tae-hoon’s opinion is correct.

However, due to personal reasons, I had no choice but to call Valentine.

But, since admitting it right away would be too much of a stretch for a leader, I forced myself to muster all my brain cells and come up with my own reason.

“If you listen to the information from Jeju, from a national perspective······.”

It was at that moment that I was about to start talking nonsense that wasn’t even true.

“Ah. Is that it?!”

Cheon Yeong-jae looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“?”

“Yes, Senior Park. Don’t you have huge ambitions?”

“Ambition?”

“Why did you suddenly choose a network expert among so many people? Doesn’t something smell good?”

Cheon Yeong-jae looked at Ha Tae-hoon while rubbing his nose.

Ha Tae-hoon tilted his head.

I don’t understand it either.

Even if Cheon Yeong-jae is Awaken, he probably doesn’t have the ability to read minds.

Soon, Cheon Yeong-jae began to talk with a knowing expression.

“Recruiting network experts as soon as you return from Jeju. Anyone can see that this is not ordinary, right? So don’t you feel a strong sense of purpose? According to my senior, they said they were going to extract information from Jeju, but I don’t think they brought in their first recruit in a hurry just for that. Isn’t that right? Senior Ha?”

At that question, Ha Tae-hoon furrowed his brow slightly and became lost in thought.

“Now that I think about it, the reason we hastily brought in a network expert among all those people wasn’t just to get information from Jeju.”

Two hunters looked at me at the same time.

“······.”

He didn’t say anything.

Still, the conversation flows.

“Didn’t Senior Park see with his own eyes how rotten the Jeju people are in Jeju? At that time, Senior Park must have thought something to himself. Ah, I can’t just leave these guys to do whatever they want. I’m saying he must have thought this before coming here.”

“Did you bring in a network expert in a hurry to prepare a means to counter the Jeju government?”

“Yeah. I can’t help but see it that way. That’s what a professor does.”

Cheon Yeong-jae looked at me.

He looked at me with narrowed eyes and asked proudly.

“I think I know what Senior Park is thinking.”

“······What do you think?”

You’ll never know.

That this skeleton brought Valentine to me to get revenge on the Red Archives board for insulting and kicking me out.

If you know this, Cheon Yeong-jae should be the king here.

Why, you’re the guy who can read people’s minds.

After a while, Cheon Yeong-jae said.

“Palenet.”

What is this?

I was confused for a moment.

“Palenet?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you trying to make something like PaleNet? Didn’t that guy say earlier that he was in charge of the last maintenance of PaleNet in the truck?”

I didn’t even think about it.

But Ha Tae-hoon keeps nodding and joins the conversation.

“I see, that’s what it was.”

It seems like the misunderstanding is growing, but there doesn’t seem to be any need to correct it.

The bigger Valentine’s role becomes, the more his fellow hunters will acknowledge him.

Although it was a misunderstanding, I was able to hear evaluations about Jonnaen from real people, not just me or my internet friends.

“The guy who created PaleNet. Why didn’t he jump into politics?”

“That’s right. That guy. John Lennon, I think.”

Unable to bear with Ha Tae-hoon’s words, I interrupted.

“I love you.”

“ah.”

Ha Tae-hoon glanced at me and continued speaking.

“I wonder if it’s true. Anyway, if that person had come forward to criticize the Seoul government, history might have been different.”

“I agree. The president is absent, rumors are rife, and the Seoul government is a phantom without a representative. If a superhuman had appeared at that time, history would have changed. I don’t know if it would have led to a good ending or not, but at least there might still be people living in Seoul.”

To me, Jon Nae-non is my internet role model and idol, but to the general public, Jon Nae-non is seen as a big shot who has won the hearts of the public and has been able to exert political influence.

Of course, since PaleNet is the only forum for public opinion, the person who created that forum for public opinion is bound to gain support.

It would be another story if he became the representative of Seoul, but couldn’t he at least become an icon that checks the tyranny of the Seoul government?

Anyway, the recruitment surrounding Valentine was well-organized as an unintended relationship of different dreams.

Ha Tae-hoon and Cheon Young-jae wholeheartedly welcomed Valentine and accepted him as one of our members.

But our business hasn’t even started yet.

*

“Yes. It’s possible to do it under these circumstances.”

As expected, Valentine took a liking to my territory.

In particular, having a sturdy exterior wall gives peace of mind.

“At first glance, it doesn’t seem to be very secure. It doesn’t look like they hired a professional. It will take some trial and error, but it seems much easier than breaking through Viva! Apocalypse!.”

Valentine showed strong confidence.

The fact that this guy, who is far from being boastful, shows confidence means that it is possible.

But there is a catch.

If you can go to Jeju Island without any away skills, you have to be at least top tier in the industry to be able to hand out your business card, right?

But I still don’t understand why people say that security is poor.

So I asked.

“Aren’t there any capable people in Jeju Island?”

To this Valentine replied with confirmation.

“There won’t be any.”

“Really? Why does that happen?”

“IT seems like a high hurdle because you have to overcome the wall of majoring, but once you get over that hurdle, it’s an easy place to get the children of so-called high-ranking officials. Wouldn’t it be easy to not notice it from the outside?”

“That’s true.”

“It’s not an ordinary internet, but a closed intranet. I guess the person in charge of security is probably someone with good relatives or family. In fact, the best way to prevent internet attacks is to pull out the LAN cable. However, in our case, it was Hunter Park who created the passage, so we had the opportunity to try.”

“Skeleton.”

“yes?”

“When we’re alone, please call me Skeleton.”

“Ah, yes······.”

One of the dummy bunkers was used as Valentine’s quarters and workshop.

Of course, the explosives inside the bunker were removed.

While Valentine and I were cleaning and organizing the bunker, we could hear Cheon Yeong-jae and Ha Tae-hoon working on the outer wall.

I can definitely feel the community forming as I hear the bustling sounds here and there.

As there are more people, there are also more things needed.

For now, I can use the bathroom I made before, but since there are four people, my one water tank is not enough to handle the amount of water they need to wash.

After a while, I’ll have to dig a new well with Ha Tae-hoon to bring in groundwater.

As we helped Valentine with his migration, the sun was already setting.

Valentine was working on connecting the Internet satellite equipment.

“I’ll call it a day.”

“Yes, please do so.”

Valentine stood up and bowed politely.

“Thank you for your help. And I hope you will continue to support me in the future.”

“No, with something like this. We have to help each other and live.”

It’s not something that should come out of my mouth.

“By the way, Mr. Skeleton. Are you really planning on creating a second Palenet?”

“······well.”

“Huh? The hunters said earlier that they brought me here to create a second Palenet.”

“Well, that’s something we’re considering for now.”

“Oh, I see. It certainly isn’t that easy to create a second Palenet.”

If you can make it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make it.

The problem is that the process and cost are just too high in the current reality.

As I was leaving the bunker, Valentine said, thinking that way.

“Ah. Dongtan Mom. You posted something.”

That wasn’t said to me.

It seems like he’s talking to himself.

But the remark had enough destructive power to stop me in my tracks.

“Are you Dongtan Mom?”

He headed towards the sea.

This skeleton (aka Twelve Square), who has become a legend, or rather a myth, left Shanghai for the vast ocean after putting on a poor departure show just before the live performance.

Dongtan Mom, who maintains a secretive nature to the Yankees, did not reveal her destination, but most predicted it would be Jeju.

Jeju was his original destination.

Moreover, at this point in time, when Incheon and all major cities in South Korea have been reduced to scorched earth, there is nowhere to go.

Since then, Dongtan Mom has not posted anything.

It’s been about three days and there’s still no news.

On the bulletin board, some people expressed opinions that Dongtan Mom was trying to deceive Jeju, but some people were pessimistic and said that Dongtan Mom had become fish food.

That Dongtan mom posted a post.

I could check it on Valentine’s computer, but I guess I’d rather watch the news on my computer in my bunker.

Thanks to that, my steps became considerably faster than usual.

“Where are you going in such a hurry? It’s not like you’re a professor. To the bathroom?”

After finishing his work, Ha Tae-hoon suddenly asks while wiping his face with a towel.

I walked around a bit and came into the bunker and sat down in front of my laptop.

Among the numerous articles, I clicked on the popular articles tab and took a look at the articles at the top.

there is.

Dongtan Mom’s writing.

dongtanmom: Yum yum…. Oh no…. Yum…

I tried clicking.

– The autopilot is broken. The GPS is also useless when out at sea. I think the guy who brought the ship to Jeju tampered with the computer system. I trusted the autopilot so much, but the ship was going to the wrong place. We’re in front of Okinawa now. The Japanese guys had to listen to the radio to figure it out.

Everything involves the risk of accidents.

Especially in areas where you are new and unfamiliar, there is a greater risk of accidents.

Although Dongtan Mom is a capable hunter and a tough survivor, he is nothing more than an inexperienced sailor at sea.

Dongtan Mom, who had no sailing experience, must have known about the existence of the autopilot while restoring the ship’s instruments and blindly trusted it.

Because people have a habit of trusting machines, just as before the war, countless drivers mindlessly followed the directions of their navigation systems.

As a result, he found himself in a very difficult situation.

dongtanmom: There aren’t that many supplies. There are a lot of supplies in Shanghai, but as you saw in my live, you have to risk your life to get each and every one of them. There couldn’t be much stockpiled. In desperation, my colleagues tried to fish to find something to eat, but it wasn’t easy.

dongtanmom: I wish there was a place to stop for a while. Is there a suitable place? If we don’t decide this by the end of today, we’ll have to worry about fuel.

dongtanmom: So, message board friends. I’ve been a bit harsh with my words, but I’ve also shown you some fun shows, right? For the sake of our baby, please gather your opinions. What should we do? Oh, of course, I’ll only accept opinions from people who have been on a boat. No nonsense. Those who don’t know, just go your own way~

Eventually, Dongtan Mom asked for help.

Even in the post asking for help, as expected from a Dongtan mom, there is a hint of displeasure.

Despite Dongtan Mom’s warning, the bulletin board began to flood with posts about Dongtan Mom as if it were natural.

Anonymous458: You don’t even have a compass? No one knows which way to go to Okinawa.

Anonymous1429: If you catch one whale, you can survive for several months, right?

berkut_break : Am I the only one who thinks of the Mignonette?

Anonymous1392: If you go to Jeju Island, you’ll get diarrhea.

roka_GG: This is the sea you chose! Stand strong with evil and courage!

Rkkara: That kid is asking for shitty favors.

…

…

I can’t find any useful comments even after scrolling up and down the mouse wheel.

It must be because everyone is ignorant about the ocean.

Me too.

I don’t know much about the sea.

Jang Gi-yeong, who had given me all sorts of miscellaneous training, did not teach me how to sail a boat.

It’s an area that even Jang Gi-yeong didn’t pay attention to, so it’s not surprising that everyone doesn’t know about it.

By the way, Dongtan Mom, no, our senior Baek, seems to have reached his mental limit.

dongtanmom : Yum yum… As expected… Yum yum… Useless kids…. Those guys who are like rice worms…. Kids who are not of any help when it matters… Yum

Dongtan Mom exploded.