Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 32



Only Krnovel

26. Gold (2)

First of all, thanks to Kyledos.

If it weren’t for the large amount of medical supplies I brought from his bunker, I wouldn’t have been able to treat this guy.

It’s not a great cure.

Apply powdered disinfectant to the exposed rib area and cover with gauze.

The spirit being the spirit, Gold did not show any hostility towards me, except for a brief growl of pain during the treatment.

After the wounds were treated, food was provided.

I made the guy’s food myself. I boiled the meat from the freezer that had been thawed at the time of the Yoon Jung-ryung incident, which was in bad condition and had a bad smell, and mixed it with nutritional supplements and oral antibiotics.

Gold sniffed and squinted.

“Crrrrrrr!”

“Oh my.”

Dogs are picky eaters.

Well, I always eat delicious food like deer and wild boar, so I wonder if I would be satisfied with something like half-rotten frozen food.

Still, it seemed like he knew he had to eat it to get better, so he forced the food into his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, and let it flow into his stomach.

As I watched them munching on the food I had prepared, I felt like I now understood a little bit why people raise animals.

What should I say?

As the bowl empties, I feel like somewhere in my heart is being filled.

I continued to monitor the cat’s progress, understanding the cat mom’s feelings a little.

As beasts of the wild, Gold recovered very quickly.

In less than three days, he was able to walk, albeit slowly, and was brought to a secluded spot in the mountains above the main bunker.

As a smart guy, he followed my orders while remaining constantly alert to his surroundings.

In particular, he seemed very reluctant to be around other people.

“None. None. It’s just me.”

“Krrrrrr.”

“Have I been living a life of deception?”

The guy nodded at my words.

“······.”

This kid, how well does he understand human speech?

I felt a creepy feeling and made a house for the guy.

We made a roof by patching together slate from the lower village for storage, and we filled it with bedding and mattresses salvaged from abandoned houses and industrial packing materials.

“Okay, this is your house.”

As soon as the house was finished, Gold, as if he had been waiting, curled up in front of it, stared at me blankly, and made a grunting sound.

I felt a certain level of trust in the way he looked at me.

I felt a sense of accomplishment, and more than anything, the thought of accomplishing something no one else had done before, the feat of taming mutations, warmed my blood that had long since cooled.

But as the guy’s wounds healed and he gradually regained his strength, my pride gradually turned to anxiety.

Because I know very well how scary mutation dogs can be.

In close combat, mutation dogs are far more dangerous than most monsters.

When I see a guy staring up at me with his head on the ground, I sometimes feel the urge to point my gun at him and pull the trigger.

Because the image of this guy suddenly pounced on me and chewed me up bone-by-bone flashed before my eyes.

But whenever that urge came, I calmed myself by remembering the guy following me and how he mimicked human songs.

The person who inspired me the most was the woman Baek Seung-hyun killed.

I began to think that the woman’s faith, which allowed her to remain calm even in front of a cat several times her size, might be the real secret to her taming of mutations.

But no matter how much I try to control my impulses and give people faith, I, Park Gyu, am a defensive person.

The thought that Gold might harm me grew in my head with each passing day.

Then one day, another guest came into my domain.

It was one bus.

The K-walkie-talkie crackled and picked up the public signal.

“Are there any survivors around here? We are not looters or soldiers. We are ordinary civilians who came here for a purpose.”

This voice.

I’ve heard it somewhere.

“If you have, please reply. We are not enemies. We just want to get some information. You can reply by radio, but I have prepared a small gift for you. Oil. Oil.”

It came to mind.

It’s Ji Chang-soo.

It is the loyal subject Ji Chang-su who, although a little old and thin, tried to follow Je-pung-ho to death.

But when I looked through the telescope, I saw that it wasn’t just Ji Chang-soo who came.

Next to him stood the woman who had tried to dissuade me from my father’s suicide.

Was it Ji Young-hee?

She stood awkwardly behind her father with a look of discontent on her face.

“······.”

What should I do?

It’s not exactly tempting to show up for a can of oil, but they are people with a connection.

They brought in five more armed men, but it didn’t seem like they had anything to do with me.

I’m not that great of a person to come all the way here, and I’m just staying for a while and then heading southeast.

“Stay quiet and hide.”

He said to Gold subtly.

“I’ll take care of something for a bit and come back.”

The guy stared at me blankly and went deeper into the slate roof.

“There are survivors here.”

He took out his K-walkie-talkie and answered.

They couldn’t hear my voice.

“This is Park Gyu.”

As expected, they had no business seeing me.

I exchanged a quick greeting and invited them to a reunion.

Gold is growling, but there’s something to be tested for a moment.

*

“······Did you live in a place like this?”

Ji Chang-soo stared at my stomach house with a surprised face.

It is no wonder that he reacted that way.

A rusty, collapse-proof container house is objectively not a place for people to live.

“If you have nothing to take, people won’t come looking for you. Should we call it non-possession?”

I observed their reactions by telling them stories I had heard somewhere.

The experiment was successful.

My camouflage house, as seen from the outside, was not very visible to others, and even when I looked closely, it gave me the feeling that I would never want to go in.

We talked outside because they were reluctant to go inside the camouflage house.

It was the shadow of the past that brought Ji Chang-soo, whom it seemed like he would never meet again, here.

He showed me the photos he had printed.

“Please look at this.”

This is a photo I’ve seen in the community.

This is a photo of Chairman Je-Pung-Ho.

The entrepreneur of an era where he leads thousands of followers even after becoming a zombie was contained in a crudely printed A4 paper.

“I can’t stand to see the chairman, who has given me everything and given me so much, wandering around this world like this. I want to hold a funeral for the chairman.”

The circumstances were as follows.

Beyond the territory ruled by the Gold Horde, there is an abandoned city where a group of zombies, presumed to be Chairman Je-Pung-Ho, live.

However, entering the city is not easy.

Around the city, there are dens of settled monsters, strongholds of marauders, and remnants of the Chinese army that barely managed to land, and things more dangerous than zombies are swarming around.

This was the first time I heard the story about the remnants of the Chinese army, so I asked about it separately.

“A battalion managed to land on the Asan side, but they were all infantry. The heavy equipment was sunk by our submarines. And what could they do when their home country was destroyed? They just sat there.”

My gaze was always focused on Seoul, but it seems that something interesting was happening in the South as well.

Aside from that danger zone, the only viable route into the city is the southwest route, which has a bunch of gold.

The gold guy is much more famous than me in Seoul.

There has been a bounty on him for some time.

The punitive expeditions went out several times, but were always in vain, and some were defeated and fell prey to the Gold Rush.

Of course, Jichangsu also knew this fact, but when he came near the gold area, he suddenly became scared and looked for survivors nearby to increase the odds even a little.

Although not as much as Gold, he went to the mother and daughter of the snipers who were famous in the area, and he said he was hoping to at least get some information through communication.

“I didn’t expect there to be anyone here, but Hunter Park Gyu is hiding in a place like this. It’s like a revelation from heaven.”

Ji Chang-soo prayed repeatedly and gave thanks to heaven.

“I can’t believe Hunter Park Gyu is here to help us.”

“yes?”

This guy, isn’t he drinking kimchi stew too quickly?

You didn’t even say you would help me and you have no intention of helping me.

“I’m very sorry, but I’ve been away from the active service for a long time and I’m not in a position to fight properly. If I had the skills I used to have, would I have come down to a place like this and lived like a beggar?”

I helped him by just giving him some general information.

As Ji Chang-soo left, his daughter, Ji Young-hee, approached me.

I’ve felt this way for a while now, but I feel like my daughter is more communicative than Ji Chang-soo.

“It’s okay. Even I think it seems crazy, but I can’t involve Hunter Park Gyu.”

Ji Young-hee glared at her father, who was returning to the bus with a cigarette in his mouth and resentful eyes.

“How long will you keep talking about Je-pung-ho, Je-pung-ho? I really can’t understand. This isn’t even the Joseon Dynasty.”

There was a sparkling ring on her ring finger.

It wasn’t like that before.

“This one?”

She noticed my gaze and took a deep drag on her cigarette.

“I ended up marrying someone from the Papung Group······.”

After a brief silence, the cigarette smoke drifted up into the sky with a deep sigh.

“He’s dead.”

“That’s too bad.”

“He was a good person, but he was too weak. To live in this day and age······.”

There was no sign of sadness on her face as she spoke of her husband’s death.

Maybe I didn’t give her even the slightest bit of love.

She glanced at me.

“Are you alone?”

“yes.”

“divorce?”

“I am a bachelor.”

“I heard that hunters get married quickly.”

“There are bound to be exceptions.”

“Aren’t you lonely?”

This woman, I don’t think I’ve ever asked her about her personal life before.

Even though they said there was no future, when the Papung Group was still somewhat in shape, they asked me for help, but I had no interest in men.

But maybe because the world has changed, both the gaze and the tone of voice feel stickier than before.

I don’t hate her, but she and I are still strangers.

He said with a sigh, looking towards the stomach house.

“At first, I felt lonely. But once I let go of my greed, everything seemed abundant.”

“You look like a monk.”

“Then are you going to leave right away? Mutations aren’t easy.”

“I am fully armed.”

She looked back.

On the bus, armed men were mounting a large machine gun on the ceiling.

It is a 12.7mm machine gun.

I nodded without realizing it.

“That’s enough.”

“I’ll leave a can of oil behind as promised. It’s synthetic, but it’s still good enough.”

“Can I use it instead of gasoline?”

“Our bus runs fine. I don’t know how much strain it puts on the machinery, but, uh, by the way. Over there!”

Suddenly Ji Young-hee’s face turned pale.

I thought I knew why even before I turned my head.

There was a heavy breathing sound and a large shadow fell between us.

Next to the main bunker, a huge ferocious dog, as big as a lion, stood tall and glared at us.

It’s gold.

“Gold.”

Crash

He aimed his gun while calling out my name.

“Get out.”

Gold glared at Jiyounghee and showed his teeth.

Ji Young-hee asked me, stepping back with a pale face.

“Are you raising it by any chance?”

“I’m not raising it.”

“then?!”

“It just so happened.”

Again he warned Gold.

“This person is not an enemy. He will be gone soon. He will not harm you.”

Gold didn’t show any hostility towards me at least.

The one who showed clear hostility was Ji Young-hee.

“Gold.”

As I spoke with emotion again, there was a commotion from the bus direction.

“What’s going on? Younghee!”

Ji Chang-soo’s voice was heard.

Gold glared at Ji Young-hee, then turned around and quickly left my area.

“Gold······.”

That’s right.

Gold is leaving.

I go over the hill where I built my home, jump down the steep slope beyond it, cross a fairly deep stream, and disappear into the plain beyond it.

The guy is heading southwest.

This is the plain that the guy ruled.

Crash

Ji Young-hee aimed her gun at Gold.

Forced her gun down.

Ji Young-hee glared at me with protesting eyes.

He answered, staring at Gold, who was shaking his head and moving away.

“······Leave it. It’s just a waste of bullets.”

“You really think you’re trying to raise such a monster? A hunter of all people?”

“I didn’t raise it, but just looked after it for a while. It was badly injured. Even animals know gratitude, don’t they?”

“I don’t think they’ll ask Mr. Park.”

Ji Young-hee placed the joystick on safe and slung the gun over her shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to wish for Mr. Park.”

At the edge of the plain beyond, dark dots began to appear one by one.

You can see it without even having to hold a pair of binoculars.

They are mutation dogs.

It looks like they came after hearing Gold’s howling.

Among them, there is a guy I’ve never seen before.

I checked with binoculars.

As expected, this is the first time I’ve seen him.

It is a dog with short black hair reminiscent of a pit bull terrier and a distorted head like a devil, and is almost as big as a bull.

Is that guy?

The one who hurt Gold, chased him out of the pack, and took the place of leader.

Its appearance and size are completely different from those of ordinary mutation dogs.

I’ve seen a lot of mutant dogs, but this one stands out.

Ji Young-hee muttered next to me.

“······I really don’t want to go.”

By the way, why did the gold guy go back to the black guy?

Are you planning to try again?

To reclaim his lost flock and land?

It’s impossible.

It’s true that I’ve recovered enough to run around, but I’m not recovered enough to fight off a giant guy like that.

Looking at the black guy’s size and appearance, I don’t think he would be a match for me even if I fought him in normal condition.

It’s a shame that something I’ve worked on for several days has died in vain, but it’s out of my hands.

Gold stood tall in front of the black one.

The other dogs, Gold’s former subordinates, stand behind the black one, watching Gold, along with what appears to be a new pack.

Judging by the way they showed their teeth and threatened, it seemed like they no longer considered Gold one of their own.

The black one looked at Gold and bared his teeth.

“Krrrrrr!”

The creature’s growl was loud enough to be heard vividly even from several kilometers away.

Even in the face of a bark so strong it was almost like a shockwave, Gold calmly took a step forward toward the black thing that had taken everything from him.

“······Gold.”

I felt regretful.

I’m willing to treat him well if he comes back to me.

I’m thinking of giving away some good meat too.

Contrary to expectations, the situation developed rapidly.

The black thing opened its mouth, revealing serrated teeth.

“······.”

Is this how it ends?

Gold looked back.

As if I had forgotten something.

For some reason I had a feeling that guy was watching me.

The next moment something unexpected happened.

Gold wags his tail and flinches, then suddenly flips over in front of the black guy, exposing his belly.

Even I, who don’t know much about dogs, know that pose.

It is a posture of submission.

Gold, once the leader of the pack, wants to acknowledge the rank of a bigger, stronger being and be accepted back into the pack.

“······after.”

A sigh escaped from deep within my lungs.

Along with my disappointment with gold, I felt my feverish curiosity waning.

Is it true that mutations cannot be tamed?

Perhaps the failure was expected.

The essence of the animal we call a dog is the gray wolf.

I saw his true nature when he ate the punitive force that killed his comrades.

Not all gray wolves want to be dogs.

Some were tamed, but some died as wolves.

“······.”

The guy chose the path of the wolf rather than the dog.

That’s all.

“Even dogs know how to change their attitude depending on the situation.”

Ji Young-hee’s grumbling could be heard from the side.

“It seems like my father is worse than that dog.”