Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 294



Only Krnovel

119. Tools (1)

The content of the dream was as bizarre as Bang Jae-hyuk’s story.

I was walking down an unknown street in a suit, and someone was following me, stepping on my shadow.

The person following behind was none other than Jang Ki-young.

He was following me, wearing a baggy suit that seemed a size too big, and for some reason he was wearing pants and was leaking what I assumed was urine.

The place suddenly changed and a public landscape unfolded before me, somewhat like a library or a steam room.

I was lying on the floor in a suit, with my head turned for no reason.

Jang Gi-yeong was lying next to me.

When I saw him, he turned his head to look at me and waited to see what he was going to say.

It is more of a long-standing habit as a disciple than patience.

But no matter how long I waited, Jang Gi-yeong didn’t say anything.

Suddenly I remembered that Jang Gi-yeong was already dead or in a near-death situation, so I asked him what he was doing here.

At that moment, the lights in the facility I was in went out and everything was plunged into darkness.

In the darkness, I realized I was dreaming, but the dream refused to let me go.

When I woke up in bed, my body was drenched in excited sweat.

“······.”

I’m not so weak-willed as to be swayed by dreams.

But the dream I just had was so vivid that it was quite memorable.

It may not be only because of a dream that I contacted Woo Min-hee after a long time, but I cannot deny that the dream played a significant role.

*

“It’s been a while, senior. You’re contacting me all of a sudden. What’s going on?”

Woo Min-hee contacted me an hour after I requested communication.

A voice that is still dreamy and dreamy.

“Because I wanted to see you live well.”

“Oh my. You worry about me too, senior. I guess I’ll see things if I live long enough.”

“How about you?”

“here?”

“huh.”

There’s one thing I’m curious about.

It’s about Kim Da-ram.

There is a high probability that Kim Da-ram is on Woo Min-hee’s side.

But that question is such a sensitive topic.

To Kim Da-ram and to me.

Only Woo Min-hee can handle the subject lightly, but what she holds in her hands always breaks and gets damaged.

It would be wise to not let her even think about it.

“Well, here. We can somehow contact Jeju Island. Air supplies are coming in like a drop in the bucket.”

“Is there any news from the lighthouse?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“I see.”

“I was planning to send an expedition there anyway, but it seems like we have a connection and my senior contacted me first.”

Woo Min-hee laughed out loud.

He didn’t say anything.

I don’t want to go and I have no reason to go.

Besides, there is no need to rely on Woo Min-hee now.

Because now I’m in a group.

Although the chances of being defeated by a larger and stronger group than us have increased significantly, we can handle most risks on our own.

“Senior, it looks like you don’t want to go?”

“······To be honest, yes. I’m scared and uncomfortable, and I don’t think I’ll be of any help if I go there.”

“It will help!”

Woo Min-hee’s breathing became slightly rough.

“As you may know, Senior, the cracks are creating anti-Awaken entities. They are mixed with normal entities and released. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for us to do it alone.”

It seems like Woo Min-hee needs me.

More out of tactical necessity than personal connection.

If what she said is true, then it makes sense that Woo Min-hee accepted Kim Da-ram.

“I see.”

“So what are you going to do, senior?”

“Support will be difficult for the time being.”

“why?”

It seems that Woo Min-hee held the microphone so close that her breathing could be clearly heard.

I guess that means you’re in a bad mood.

I feel bad too, but I have no intention of getting on the nerves of this ignorant and strong monster woman with an unstable mind.

“I also recently created a group.”

“Oh my. Really?”

“Yes. I gathered people I know and people around me and formed a small group. As you know, some of the school hunters are targeting me since the Legion faction collapsed.”

Before I could finish speaking, Woo Min-hee’s breathing disappeared, and at the same time, Woo Min-hee’s voice, which felt distant, was transmitted indirectly through the speaker.

“Is it true?”

There’s someone else in the room.

I’m asking that person.

If my hunch is not wrong.

“Ah. Kim Da-ram said the same thing?”

As expected. Was Kim Da-ram there?

I knew it, but I guess I should just pretend to be surprised.

“Kim Da-ram? Is Kim Da-ram there?”

“Yeah. It just so happened. But why did Kim Da-ram come to me instead of his senior? Ah~. I get it.”

That bastard speaks so rudely that it seems as if he’s telling me to listen.

It seems that Woo Min-hee’s true nature will not change until he dies.

“Well, I understand. If that’s difficult, we have no choice but to form a team and explore. I didn’t want to call you, because I heard bad news from the advance reconnaissance team.”

“Bad news?”

“huh.”

Woo Min-hee paused for a moment.

After a suitable amount of time had passed, she said.

“The professor’s nightmare has appeared.”

“······.”

The professor’s nightmare.

The object of this idiomatic expression, used only by a few, is the type of monster that decisively twisted my fate.

General type.

The first monster I discovered, and the first one I admitted I couldn’t kill with my own power.

The superficial reason I decided to retire was the appearance of Awaken, but the one who finally broke my attachment was the general type.

In the formless spell he had unleashed upon me, I painfully realized that there was no way I could fight against that monster by any means.

“······I’m still old school, Minhee.”

I’ve had several conversations with Woo Min-hee, but this is probably the first time I’ve spoken with such sincerity.

But didn’t they say that sincerity and sincerity connect?

A warm voice, completely unexpected, came through the communicator.

“But there’s no one as strong as you, senior, right? Right? Twelve Square?”

“······.”

I knew it.

I forced myself to hold back a snicker.

“Anyway, I’ll contact you if there’s any other news.”

“Oh, wait a minute.”

“?”

“There’s one thing I’d like to ask you.”

I almost missed the main point.

“Huh? Jang Ki-young?”

As expected, Woo Min-hee knew about Jang Ki-young.

“Senior, you didn’t really like that person, did you?”

The relationship between me and Jang Gi-yeong was famous in the hunter community.

Since my identity itself was confidential, not many people knew about the person named Park Gyu, but the official Hunter who used the call sign Professor enjoyed world-wide fame, and Jang Gi-yeong rode on my fame as the teacher who raised the Professor.

“The Professor is entirely my creation. He is the perfect embodiment of my ideals. That is. Yes. Persona. Persona.”

People who know our relationship a little better sum up my relationship with Jang Ki-young in one short word: “tool.”

Jang Ki-young needed a tool to realize his ambitions, and Park Gyu was chosen as the perfect tool.

Although it is someone else’s opinion, I also think it is valid.

Jang Gi-yeong tried to impose his anachronistic, unrealistic, and sometimes bizarre ideals on us.

“Rocket Axe,” drawn in his notebook and shading in dense lines, is a prime example of what kind of person Jang Ki-young is.

As my practice continued, I repeatedly discovered that the knowledge he had imparted to me was a product of delusion.

Even since my student days, I knew that Jang Ki-young was a mirage created by the mass media and self-PR, but when Jang Ki-young’s true face was revealed in reality, it blew away the last bit of respect I had for him.

That’s why even my juniors, like Woo Min-hee, who weren’t that close to me, know about it.

The fact that Professor Jang Ki-young’s tool doesn’t really like Jang Ki-young.

“But if you want to know, I should tell you.”

Woo Min-hee spoke of Jang Ki-young’s end in a nonchalant tone.

“I left it in the lab. I remember not disposing of it. I blew up the lab when I left. If I’m lucky, I might survive. But would that mean anything? At best, I’m just a zombie.”

She also recently heard news about Jang Gi-yeong.

“I heard there are strange rumors about him, but they’re just rumors. Jang Gi-yeong is biologically dead. The cracks are just forcibly moving his dead body. Furthermore, his zombie activities were almost at the verge of stopping. No matter how much you stimulated him, he wouldn’t move. He just hadn’t rotted away, but in reality, he was just a corpse that had died a long time ago.”

Jang Ki-young is alive.

At least the zombie that used the name Jang Gi-yeong is alive and moving.

*

Ever since I found out that Jang Ki-young was alive, for some reason my interest was drawn to him.

It’s a strange thing.

I have never had a positive opinion of Jang Gi-yeong and have secretly despised him.

Even when I heard the news that he had become a zombie, I didn’t feel particularly sad.

That was the extent of the relationship.

But an incomprehensible emotion continued to draw my attention towards the docks of Incheon.

Perhaps the peace of mind that came with my group stabilizing may have created such useless interest.

The first place I heard about the zombie presumed to be Jang Gi-yeong was none other than our bulletin board.

The zombie, who frequently muttered the word “professor,” was called “the scavenging zombie” without any special name or nickname.

The source of the first story is anonymous458.

Anonymous458: What the hell is that zombie scavenging at the Incheon docks?

Anonymous458 is one of the pureblooded Old Bs that I recognize.

He was once a member of the Kyledos Family, a small but coveted group on message boards.

Now, both Kyle Doss and Anonymous848, another internet friend, have disappeared into the depths of destruction, but Anonymous458 continues to be active as an ordinary bulletin board user who jokes around and is serious about things.

In this day and age where the value of ordinariness has become rare, the consistent image of Anonymous 458 deserves to be evaluated by a different standard.

Anonymous458 is not as ordinary as we imagine, meaning that he is either a very strong-minded person or is in a good enough environment to maintain his ordinariness.

Anyway, it is true that anonymous458 talked about zombies doing scavenging.

I finally got around to sending him a message.

SKELTON: (Skeleton questions) This may be new to you, but what do you know about scavenging zombies?

Messages are a closed tool for communicating between two users who are far apart, but there is another hidden function that users may not have considered.

This means that you can guess the other person’s work and patterns by things like the time they send a message and the time they reply.

I sent a message to anonymous458 around 9am.

Most people wake up early and do morning work.

Anonymous458 replied at around 4:50 p.m.

After finishing work and tidying up, it’s time to return to my laptop or computer and check my messages.

Although this is only a guess, it seems that Anonymous458 also has a lifestyle like ours, where he works when the sun rises and goes home to rest when the sun sets.

Let’s check out the reply from anonymous 458.

Message from anonymous458: Oh, that zombie? Well, I’ve only heard what other people have seen. So it’s an interesting enough story. No, the zombie. Isn’t it funny that they pull carts and carry all sorts of odds and ends on the back?

I pointed out that he might have seen it wrong.

To this, Anonymous458 immediately replied – probably with a serious expression.

Message from anonymous458: I’m sure I didn’t misread it. It wasn’t just one or two people saying it. The story of a strange zombie wandering around the docks where the old refugee ships departed and collecting things is something that my friends who went to the docks to collect things often report.

SKELTON: It looks like it’s in Incheon?

Message from anonymous458: That’s the area.

SKELTON: (Skeleton’s comment) I see. I hope to see you again soon.

Message from anonymous458: You.

Talking to a good internet colleague, past or present, always gives me a warm feeling.

Although our comrades in the field do give us strength, it is something a little different in nature from what our bulletin board friends give us.

“······.”

I sat on a chair and looked through the old notebook that Jang Gi-yeong had given me for a long time.

I’ve felt this before, but there’s very little in that notebook that’s helpful to me.

But regardless of whether it was helpful or not, you can tell that the owner of the notebook put strong will into every single letter.

The place my eyes lingered the longest was, of course, the problematic rocket axe.

A picture of that weapon, with the long-winded name of the Rocket-Propelled Strike Enhancement Attachment, is taped to my desk.

Judging from its appearance, it looks like it’s made by attaching a propellant to an axe to make this skeleton fly through the sky like some kind of superhero and slaughter monsters, but even for me, this isn’t an easy feat.

“······Instructor.”

I stared at the shadow of the rocket axe, which had been crafted with excessive care, with a bitter smile on my face.

There is a blank space in one shaded area.

This is where Jang Gi-yeong hid his Awaken Inspection Sheet in the past.

Now, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to find anything even if I looked any further, I stared absentmindedly at the shade where Jang Gi-yeong must have moved his pen back and forth at least a thousand times.

There was no special reason.

I just thought the lines he drew were unnecessarily straight and had few curves.

however.

“?”

There is something like text under the shade.

To be precise, it looks like the letters were written first and then shaded.

I held the picture close to my eyes to try to read the letters.

It’s Jang Gi-yeong’s handwriting.

It was difficult to decipher because the original writing was scribbled and the shaded areas were too dark, but soon I was able to find the phrase below.

– Ideas for a decisive battle weapon against a general

For my beloved disciple PROFESSOR!

“······.”

I got up from my seat.

My heart was moved.

So, I have to go now.

Because if I don’t do it now, I might never see my gift again.