Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 356



Only Krnovel

Episode 362 148. Painkiller (2)

I don’t know if it’s because of the Confucian culture, but Korea has a tendency to give too much authority to biological numbers like age and to demand virtues that match that authority.

I don’t necessarily intend to go along with that trend, but Kim Han-na was definitely a dangerous outsider who fell into the trap of age.

Even a brief glance at her showed that she was a person full of flaws.

“······.”

I didn’t say a word for an hour.

It’s not like I have the audacity or convictions of a powerful politician.

He is exercising his right to remain silent while constantly checking my mood and under extreme stress.

In a situation where it is transparent that the purpose of that dangerous stubbornness is simply going in the childish direction of not wanting to do anything, my gaze towards Kim Han-na cannot be friendly no matter how much I try to calm my mind.

I looked at the material while she was silent.

From Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do.

I was born and raised in a place more like Dongtan than our Dongtan mom.

It is known to be a place with a good educational environment, but somehow her academic achievements stopped at middle school.

It appears that he refused to go to school.

The problem is that was 10 years ago.

For the next ten years, her life was filled with a void.

When the war began, he moved to a shelter with his family, survived the first attack, and moved to a shelter in Seoul under government policy.

The next year was another blank space in her life, but a year later, she scored the highest on a simple aptitude test – that litmus paper – and headed to Jeju.

The record of the examiner who tested her at the time stands out, saying that she was a perfect Awakener without any questions or doubts.

It seems clear that she also tried hard at first.

It wasn’t like I was pretending to be sick like I am now, I was training with a new mindset and went on several expeditions into the crack they call the Big Hole.

It was unexpected.

It’s amazing that a friend who seemed like a hikikomori in the corner of the room could make such a change.

But the change didn’t last long.

After a year of relative brilliance in a life filled with blanks, her life begins to fill up with negative content in a different sense.

– Always reluctant to be sent on missions because of being a rookie

– The malingering is very severe.

– He has neither a favorable appearance nor a favorable personality, and he always leaves his work to others. It is difficult to improve relationships with team members, and he needs to be transferred.

– Bad rumors were spreading and after the first meeting, the team members decided not to transfer to the team based on their evaluations.

– Recommends transfer of lighthouse despite activity within the Big Hole

…

…

Anyone can get tired.

Stamina called will is different for each person.

Some people can endure extreme situations for a long time, while others cannot endure even a single moment and escape.

By their very nature, records contain only short and concise content.

There is a remarks column, but even that remarks column is only used as an aid to explain the trend of the numbers.

It is difficult to find “people” there.

Ultimately, we have to rely on the uncertain methods of guesswork and inference.

But we have something called data.

I know what makes people sick, tired, and give up.

It is the same reason that the National Health Insurance Corporation sets different health checkup items for each age group, and that they are appropriately matched.

“······.”

I turned my attention to family matters.

Both parents are deceased.

My brother appears to have gone missing.

The fact that the date of death was shortly after she arrived in Jeju is significant in several ways.

Perhaps this friend, Kim Hanna, was forcing herself to be strong for the sake of her family.

After a year of hard work, when I found my family, I realized that they were no longer there, and that’s when I became the person I am today.

This is just my guess.

Anyway, we need to put this guy on the battlefield.

That’s my job.

“You always seem to be sick?”

He broke the long silence and opened his mouth.

Kim Hanna nodded silently, watching my expression.

It may come as a surprise, but Kim Hanna was big.

It’s not that he has a lot of flesh, but his bones are so large that when he’s around other women, he looks like he’s from a different race.

However, because of the hunched back and the constant downward gaze, there is no dignified color.

He looked straight into her face, as she let out a deep sigh and avoided eye contact, and said.

“You can’t run away forever.”

“······.”

“It’s a dead end now.”

My mentor, Jang Gi-yeong, mainly talks about hope.

You can do it.

You can do it.

If you do it, it will come true.

These are the things he mostly said.

As a disciple of Jang Gi-yeong, I say something completely different.

“Do you know where you’ll go if you get kicked out of here?”

It’s reality.

To be more specific,

“Be ready for battle and come out to the parade ground at 4 a.m. tomorrow.”

“······.”

“For your information, the mission we will be performing tomorrow is patrol and reconnaissance. We are not risking our lives or going to die.”

“······.”

“Even if an unexpected danger arises, don’t worry. I will protect you as long as I live.”

It’s a manageable reality.

This could be said to be the minimum requirement for standing on the battlefield.

When I first became a team leader, I had abundant human resources and my team’s performance was always at the top, so I didn’t have any trouble hiring people.

But as the war dragged on, there was a shortage of men.

While many people left the team for good reasons, such as promotions, transfers, or discovering an Awaken aptitude, there were also quite a few who left due to accidents, deaths, or personal shortcomings.

I had to accept people I didn’t like as team members and make them move.

Of course, if circumstances allow, they will try to kick out or not accept unqualified team members.

Forcibly changing people and using them is neither recommended nor pleasant.

Although there are cases where a person’s hidden talent is discovered with a low probability, I understand well how much pain it is for the person involved to apply a low probability to a general case.

“I’ll wait.”

The conditions were presented.

The next morning.

“······.”

Kim Hanna was waiting for me, her large body hunched over under a dark streetlight.

I swept my chest inwardly.

It’s half success.

*

Since it was a light patrol mission, no other team members were brought along.

The whole of new Seoul is bustling right now.

Although snow has piled up in some places, daytime temperatures are still above zero.

Now is your last chance to make a proper move.

Everyone is doing their best in their respective positions.

It’s also because everyone is so busy that I haven’t had a personal meeting with the Defender siblings.

Well, in the case of the Defender siblings, it was largely because they volunteered to help wipe out the remaining fanatics.

The patrol route was chosen along an outer route that was somewhat safe but not completely controlled.

So, it’s a light walk and a warm-up.

Woo Min-hee hopes to complete securing the power plant within 10 days at the latest.

The story is that we have to take Awaken and clean up the power plant within 10 days at the latest.

It may seem strange, but if you walk together, even if you don’t have much in common, you’ll have a chance to naturally talk to each other once or twice.

“Ugh······.”

Kim Hanna made a sound.

I think I know what you saw.

There is a body.

Starting with a corpse that had been reduced to skeletons with its hands tied behind its back to a chair, and a corpse that was lying face down in a haphazard manner, it was displayed as if it were a showroom window in an abandoned ruin.

It was probably the work of marauders or warlords.

Friends from Jeju Island react with freshness, perhaps because they have seen fewer dead bodies.

I opened my mouth as I looked at the corpse whose identity I didn’t know.

“That person probably didn’t want to die either.”

“······.”

“There are very few people in this world who truly want to die. I believe that even people who take their own lives do not really want to die.”

“Is that so?”

For the first time, Kim Hanna opened her mouth.

I felt it when we first met, but her voice is quite cute.

It’s a tone that you might hear in a commercial or animation.

“In fact, people die because they want to live, but there are things that prevent them from living. I don’t think that person was pursuing the state of death itself.”

“······Now that I hear it, that seems to be the case.”

“Wouldn’t that be boring?”

I looked at her and asked abruptly.

Kim Hanna glanced at me, then when our eyes met, she looked away in surprise.

“Why isn’t it fun?”

The story continues as if the conversation has become somewhat easier.

It’s a positive sign.

“Well, when you die, you won’t be able to breathe, think, or use the internet, right?”

“Hey, the Internet?”

Kim Ha-na looked at me again.

He looked straight at her and answered with clear pronunciation.

“I like the Internet.”

“ah.”

“why?”

“Oh, someone who doesn’t seem like he would say something like that.”

“Why? What’s wrong with using the Internet?”

“No, I mean, the Internet is kind of like that, right? It’s a means, you know? I think it’s a bit wrong to like it in itself and judge it as bad······”

“You’re not talking about this on some weird website, are you?”

Kim Hanna’s not-so-small body shook.

“I never did that!”

“······.”

This reaction. It feels cheap.

There are things you can see when you become named.

But I will be careful with my words.

Leaving behind the conversation that had finally begun, I continued patrolling along the target area.

The patrol route was deliberately chosen to be open territory.

It’s a route I would never normally take, but there’s an Awaken next to it.

Awaken’s reflective field not only blocks bullets, but also deploys at a rate that matches the speed of thought.

It can be deployed immediately the moment gunshots are heard.

This is one of the reasons why Awaken can be such a bothersome enemy.

Many Chinese soldiers died because they followed the orders of their faulty superiors.

The Chinese claim that they originated the intimidating we use, and even though they are a people who claim that everything is theirs, I think their claim is valid.

Maybe I discovered it first.

But that’s it.

A discovery is only meaningful when it is analyzed, a hypothesis is established, a theory is established, and that theory is actually applied and proven. An accidental discovery is meaningless.

“excuse me.”

Did the tension ease, or did he open his heart to me a little?

This time, Kim Ha-na spoke first.

I couldn’t answer right away because my senses were on edge from walking through the open space.

I opened my mouth when I had entered a somewhat sheltered place and a gloomy shadow was once again falling over Kim Han-na’s face.

“What’s going on? Kim Hanna.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“I was going to tell you. Tell me when you can.”

“There really isn’t any.”

“I say, I would rather die a shepherd boy than a mute with a cold heart.”

I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say and am on the mountain.

Well, I did do a little bit of politics, but it was within the bounds of acceptable self-promotion.

I think you need to have that level of self-love.

“Excuse me, but isn’t the internet not working right now? I heard there used to be something called PaleNet, but it’s gone now, right?”

“There’s also something called Viva! Apocalypse!”

“Ah. That satellite internet?”

He nodded.

“Not to brag, but I’m a named person there.”

“yes?!”

Kim Hanna was startled and took a step back.

Is it really that surprising?

“······I’m not bragging, but there’s nothing I can’t do. I’m not the best in any one field, but I’m average, or better at everything.”

“Oh, the manager said something like that.”

“Minhee?”

“Yes. He said that there is nothing a Hunter with the call sign of Professor cannot do. He said that he is a perfect Hunter, except that he lacks the talent of becoming Awaken.”

Unexpected.

Woo Min-hee is praising someone else in front of others.

It must be just empty words.

This can be verified immediately.

“When did you start saying such things?”

“About two years ago.”

“······okay?”

It would have been different two years ago.

That guy Woo Min-hee.

Were the words you said back then not completely empty words?

“Chief Woo. Aren’t you scared?”

There is no one who is not afraid of Woo Min-hee.

Even the arrogant Lee Sang-hoon and the witty Gong Kyung-min instinctively kept their distance from Woo Min-hee, feeling wary of her.

An unexpected answer was waiting for me.

“Chief Woo. Everyone speaks badly of you, but I think you’re a good person.”

“okay?”

“Yes. So, even a piece of trash like us, a stray with a bad record······, we should accept it like this. Otherwise, we would have gone straight to the lighthouse······.”

Something feels off.

The nuances of language that are briefly visible strongly reveal the presence of Internet tyranny.

As I remained silent, Kim Hanna continued the conversation in a dull tone, wiggling her fingers.

“······Director Woo is the only person who takes good care of the elderly.”

“okay?”

“There is only one nursing home in Jeju, and it is supported by the director.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I heard that they invite the parents of former close friends, seniors, or juniors, or people they have a connection with.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“Why would I lie? I’m not even your family.”

“That sounds like a lie.”

“It’s true! The old people at that nursing home even call the director ‘princess’.”

“······.”

What about the princess?

Did all the princesses freeze to death?

She’s not one of the Seven Princesses.

Anyway, things worked out better than expected.

Conversation may not be the best tool, but it is certainly an excellent tool.

It seems that the atmosphere has progressed to the point where a ray of light is starting to appear in the darkness where one could not see ahead.

I completed my patrol in a pleasant atmosphere.

There was no crisis other than a few rats showing up and startling Kim Han-na, but it was actually a good thing.

thud!

Because it was an opportunity to prove that Kim Hanna is a proper regular Awaken.

“······Tomorrow, the operation begins.”

“Me, tomorrow?!”

“There won’t be much danger. It’s a peeling operation. The spider type won’t move inside anyway, and we’ll just send out the servants.”

“minion······.”

“This is just to let you feel the atmosphere of the battlefield. If anything unusual happens, we plan to retreat.”

“Is that so?”

“What are you so afraid of? I heard you even went into a crack?”

“Oh, yes.”

Kim Han-na muttered with a blank expression, then suddenly nodded as if remembering something and looked at me.

“I also saw Kang Han-min, the savior!”

“okay?”

“Yes! He was truly a great man. No, he didn’t look like a human being. God! He looked like a god!”

“God······.”

Have you become a god?

Kang Han-min.

Events from years ago that I can no longer remember unfolded before my eyes like a picture.

It was a situation as similar as twins.

The upper echelons have lost patience.

A hunter who is on the verge of being expelled.

I took on that hunter.

A patrol for just the two of us.

And awakening.

“······.”

I’m not the type of person who regrets or feels sorry for the time that has passed.

But it is also undeniable that there is some resentment.

No matter how much I control my emotions, I am still a human being with a living heart.

“······Do you like the Internet?”

There is a need to make up for this feeling of deficit.

“Hey, the Internet?! I did some of that······.”

“I am named.”

Corrected.

“No, it’s a legend.”