Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 362



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Episode 368 149. Long-term (4)

Let’s compare the human mind to a chessboard. Everyone has a secret core that must never be broken. Let’s call it the king.

People do many things to protect the king of their hearts. Sometimes these actions are ridiculous, sometimes they are frowned upon, but very occasionally they are expressed in a sublime form.

The case of Emgu and Dongtan Mom can be considered a comical example. The purpose is secondary, but the means or situation itself to protect them is laughable. To use an example of long-term, it can be compared to the scene of someone struggling to get out of an absurd handshake.

The most ugly thing is our Kim Da-ram couple. In that both their purpose and means are filled with petty-bourgeois malice. They are people who repeat the same moves endlessly in order not to lose on a long-term board where defeat is already certain. In contrast, the cases of Jonnae-non and Valentine are undoubtedly sublime.

They have won consistently and honestly with a pure heart. The fact that the price is their lives is not that important in the world of long-term. But the king of the mind is as difficult to define as our soul.

Some people may call it conscience, others may call it belief, or faith. How do we keep this?

The well-known and easy, so-called “adult way” is to do it first and then close your eyes. This includes a series of actions such as doing all sorts of things to a young employee out of personal ill will, and then later calling the employee out and telling him that he didn’t really mean it that way, but had some other grand intention – one that he doesn’t know about – and making a superficial, preemptive settlement. This method, which is not much different from the mindset that the last person to comment wins a keyboard battle, is surprisingly the method that many people choose.

If someone who has already made mistakes repeatedly makes another mistake, it won’t make much of a difference. Sure, I can just make it and forget about it. I can just perform a superficial, preemptive action to protect the king and comfort myself by saying that it was like that at the time. Human memory is quite convenient.

“Skeleton. This is him.” Defender brought the child. He was skinny and had a nervous look in his eyes, like any other abandoned child. He looked to be about ten years old, and judging by his short hair, he looked like a boy, but that probably didn’t matter.

“They brought me from the gang that came from Angbal.”

“Are you from Angbal? Are there any survivors?”

“These are kids who have banded together because their organization collapsed or they ran away as a group. The oldest one among them has grown up to become an adult and leads the kids, but since that’s all he’s seen, heard, and learned, he ends up doing the same things as the guys who used to rule him.” It’s clear that at the bottom of Defender’s disregard for life lies a deep hatred for humanity. He probably deeply believes in the theory of human nature.

“What’s your name?” I asked the Defender, not the child. When the Defender turned to his comrades, his friend wearing a gas mask answered for him.

“Wooseo? No, maybe Leeseo?”

“Arthur, isn’t it?”

“Uther Lightbringer.” The Defender’s companions snickered and laughed heartlessly. Of course, the child, not knowing what to do, kept his mouth shut and watched the adults with a worried face, his large eyes still untainted by capillaries or pigmentation. *

“Captain. I heard you were discharged from the hospital. Where are you?” A call came from Seung-Hwan Ahn.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing special, but I feel like I haven’t been able to express my gratitude yet.”

“return courtesy?”

“Yes. The Tannenbaum case too.”

“What is Tannenbaum? Is it a call sign?”

“Yes. Hunter Kim Hanna.”

“I see.”

“Thanks to you, we somehow found our place in this unfamiliar place. To be honest, we were also lost as to what to do.”

“I see.” It’s a good story. But what I’m about to do now will never be a good story.

“I have something to do right now. Let’s talk later.” The frequency of the cell phone is gradually decreasing. We are leaving the government’s territory.

The second rendezvous point has a similar atmosphere to the first. The waiting party has a high ground and can observe the area below, and behind it is a large, labyrinthine ruin that allows for easy escape. It is pointless to approach rashly when it is certain that there is a Sensation Awaken among the John the Baptist gang.

So, I’m going to send only the child.

“······.” I left the child’s name unknown. I didn’t think it was important, and I calculated that it would be more advantageous in protecting the king of my heart. The child was quiet and calm. He didn’t cry or ask questions. Of course, a child who is polite and well-behaved is loved.

“It might not taste good, but since you’re hungry, eat this.”

“You understand? When you hear gunshots, get down. Get down as fast as you can.”

“It’ll be over quickly. All the gentlemen here are skilled.” The Defender team members who torture and kill people without even blinking are treating him well.

“······.” The only ones who don’t talk to the child are me and Defender.

“I fed it a capsule tracker.” Defender approached, manipulating the tablet.

“It takes at least 16 hours to excrete, so there’s plenty of time. But if you cut open your stomach in the middle, there’s nothing you can do.” Seeing him always the same, I can’t help but smile bitterly.

“People are gathering. As expected, the bait is entering the contact point alone.” The voice of Da-jeong, who has been our eyes through the reconnaissance drone since the crack of dawn, was heard through the radio.

“Thank you.” Now it was time to begin. I approached the child.

“Okay. You know what to do, right?” The child nodded, looking up at me with big eyes. The sight of him walking alone through the ruins without parents, friends, or siblings to rely on seemed more pitiful than lonely.

The child suddenly turned around. His gaze was directed straight to me.

The child, who had been looking at me with an expression as if he had something to say, soon turned his head, slumped his shoulders, and walked toward the contact point beyond the ruins.

“Come to think of it, that kid. He was interested in the captain.” One of the Defender’s team members spoke up.

“You’re interested in me?”

“I was interested in Hunters. And not the modern-day Awakens, but the old-school Hunters.”

“okay?”

“I guess your mother was a hunter.” Go Jeong-du, the only person whose name I remember, added from the side.

“What about your mother?” She was probably dead. As expected, Go Jeong-du shook his head with a bitter expression.

“Are you from school?” Looking at the child’s age, I thought it might be possible.

Maybe they are the children of my peers or seniors who stood on the same battlefield as me. It is a job that requires composure, patience, and momentary accuracy rather than strength or endurance, so the doors are wider for women than for the traditional elite warrior group. Well, I won’t deny that getting into a school with the standards I have is an easy way for a so-called dirt spoon to rise to the majors.

Regardless of the purpose, it is true that many female students who entered the school died on the battlefield. The battlefield, where people have to be replaced to return, is a place where men and women are more equal than anywhere else.

“She must be from the school.” The defender next to him added a word. Relationships are made from very small things. The thought that the mother might be a hunter from the school changed the temperature of the gaze as he watched the back of the child walking alone. From watching to worry.

“The captain was surprised when he said I was the best hunter.” Go Jeong-du added a word from the side. And.

“I heard that his mother was on the same team as the best hunter.” The moment I heard that, countless female faces flashed before my eyes like a series of rapidly changing pictures. Who were they? Who were they? Thirteen of the women died. Two of them died in the hospital.

Was there a guy with a face similar to a child? Unfortunately, I don’t remember those faces. Those distinct faces were temporarily forgotten, as they were hidden behind a drowsiness like an illness.

“······Should we stop?” I said to the defender without realizing it.

“Why?” asked the Defender, his expression uncomprehending.

“I thought it would leave a bad aftertaste.” In other words, I wanted to protect the king of my heart. *

“It’s time.” Twelve hours have passed since the child was sent to John the Baptist. The transmitter has been in the same place for four hours.

“One of two things. Either he’s in John the Baptist’s hiding place, or he’s dead.” The Defender studied my expression.

“Are you still worried about that kid?”

“Not at all.” In the end, I sent the child away. I have no intention of making excuses.

It is a matter of necessity. John the Baptist must be eliminated.

Before his distorted research aroused the interest of the powerful. It is true that science has pushed out religion, but that does not mean that human nature has changed. Some people vaguely try to rely on something they do not know.

There are people who blindly believe in science like a religion. If it were true science, it could lead to success or prosperity, but a universally accepted science requires the legacy of giants, the flash of genius, and countless verifications before it can be established.

At least when it comes to cracks, human science is left with only claims, because there is no proper way to verify them.

Yet there have been several attempts to use science to combat the cracks. India, which exports the world’s best brains, has suffered the most.

Their rapid demise is not only due to the overpopulation or social divisions that sociologists claim. Some scholars claim that just as a reflective field disappears when it receives a certain amount of damage, the cracks will also disappear when they receive a certain amount of shock, so the Indian government placed and detonated a large number of nuclear bombs in the cracks that appeared at equal intervals across the vast territory of India.

The first attempt was successful, as the cracks temporarily disappeared. However, they returned to their original state, and this did not change even with the number of nuclear bombs increased.

Scholars have argued that, like bamboo, cracks are made up of multiple clusters, and that a strong impact can be applied simultaneously to multiple cracks to destroy them. The result was the abandonment of many kill zones, and the destruction of India.

There are many similar cases. We must not make the mistake of blindly believing science against cracks.

In particular, the more radical and extreme the methodology, the greater the price paid by humanity. It is self-evident when you consider who caused the once peaceful and harmless alien species to turn into monsters that kill and destroy humans.

“It looks like it’s inside the subway.” After checking the location of the origin, it was confirmed to be a ruin with nothing on the ground.

“It’s the same as the track location. Probably Line 7.” South Korea’s subway system is one of the best in the world, and in addition to its primary purpose of transporting people, it was designed to be used as a safe bunker in times of war.

After the war, many people chose to live inside the subway stations. Over time, the infrastructure became worn and unmaintained, so they left, but some still remained in the underground world.

It is hard to believe, but some people have chosen to completely close the entrances to subway stations and live in a cave-like environment inside the darkened stations. It is not known whether John the Baptist took a similar approach, but the location indicated by the origin is on the subway tracks, and the waiting room has collapsed, making it inaccessible from above ground.

Therefore, it must go via the railroad. Although it is a part of the South Korean government and its equipment is superior to usual, it is not in a good condition to deploy armored vehicles for such independent operations.

We advanced through the darkness without any lights, led by a member of the Defender team with a reinforced plastic shield. Zzzz …

There are mice. But one of them is unusually large and red.

“A mutation?” muttered the Defender.

“Maybe.” The rat mutation is a very common mutation, but since I didn’t live in the city, I didn’t have many opportunities to see it. Due to its natural limitations, it is about the size of a large dog, so its fighting ability is not that great even after the mutation, but it is still very dangerous.

They live in packs and actively prey on those weaker than themselves. They eat the elderly, women, children, and the unprotected alive.

They are also highly intelligent, so they only use their full force when they believe they can win. At a time when the front lines in Beijing, China were entrenched, some high-ranking Chinese commanders said that while the surface of Beijing was divided between humans and monsters, the underground was ruled by rats. Normally, the rule is to kill them as soon as they are seen, but now there is no time to do so.

We move forward quietly, cutting through the darkness. A faint light can be seen in the distance.

“What should we do?” Defender asked after observing the front with his night vision surveillance equipment. There is a barricade.

There are also a number of fighters similar to ours loitering in a well-defended position, equipped with machine guns. Perhaps they knew of our approach, or perhaps they had been building a strong security net. In terms of distance, it is far beyond the detection range of a person with detection capabilities, let alone a bullet.

In any case, it is not easy to break through the fortified walls that stand in a straight line without any cover. Even if you are lucky, you will have to take risks.

“Isn’t there another route?”

“There may be a way to use the vents. But it might take some time.”

“Can the vents support the weight of an adult male?”

“Well, that’s a problem, but it’ll make noise.” It might be a good idea to retreat like this. Bringing more troops and equipment and making a sweeping attack is a reasonable way to look at stability. But.

“Huh?” The transmitter’s location has moved. Just a little bit, but on the enlarged map, the transmitter’s location is moving. The child is alive.

“······.” Maybe it’s already too late.

“Let’s do it.” I guess I’m getting older. Seeing myself trying to find superficial self-consolation after doing something wrong.

“Instead, I’ll go first. Everyone, wait behind.” With the two grenades he received from Defender loaded into the pockets of his harness, he slowly and silently crawled along the cold tracks.

Whoosh- whoosh- In the dark green of the night vision goggles, I see barriers, tracks, and brightly colored human figures approaching. The mechanized vision marks the distance between me and the target.

[ 302m ] The distance was close enough to catch the eye of the person with the ability to sense. I grabbed the cold gun and continued crawling. The plan was simple.

Shoot before you shoot.