Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 373



Only Krnovel

Hiding the House in the Apocalypse Chapter 379

153. Paper Boat (2)

“Please excuse me for a moment.”

“no.”

After asking for the soldiers’ understanding, I rode my motorcycle for the first time in a while and headed to Rebecca and her daughter’s hideout.

Perhaps because the weather was getting warmer, the frozen stream had melted and was holding quite a lot of water and flowing from east to west.

The green shoots that appeared here and there in the melted snow reminded me of the peaceful times before the war.

“Skeleton, come on in.”

Before the building where Rebecca and her daughter lived could be seen, Suuga spoke to me through the communicator.

As I climbed the stairs, still filled with American clutter, and entered Rebecca and her daughter’s hideout, familiar faces greeted me with smiles.

“what?”

I looked around.

It has definitely changed.

The mother and daughter’s hideout, which had been renovated to the bare minimum for human habitation, like a rag-laden abandoned house when I first visited, had now turned into a fairly decent hideout.

The gaping windows here and there were blocked with bricks and cement, and the room where the mother and daughter stayed was sealed with silicone and rubber gaskets in every crack to block drafts.

There, they installed not only an ondol, but also a fireplace and a chimney connected to it, making it a really nice place to spend a whole winter without any major problems.

“Sorry, Skeleton. He went out of his way to help us.”

Rebecca apologized to Sue, but she pretended not to see her.

It was I who brought them here against their will, and it was I who accepted the person who made them leave.

Instead, I focused on the changes that occurred in the hideout.

“How did you do it?”

Someone must have helped.

Some people have guessed.

“under.”

Rebecca answered.

As expected, it’s Ha Tae-hoon.

“When we said we were going out, Ha-ga helped us.”

“I see.”

I asked Suu for more details.

“······It was a mess.”

Suu had a bitter cynicism that did not suit his age.

That face would be a model answer as to why the mother and daughter left my territory.

Maybe you feel disillusioned?

I listened to Sue’s story while Rebecca was driving.

The beginning of the story was not much different from Ha Tae-hoon’s.

A gang member dragged a woman away and beat her to death, and Su-woo reported this to Bang Jae-hyuk, who made the man impotent.

It is also the same that the woman who was rescued was beautiful.

However, Rebecca, who had been listening silently from the side, added one thing that Ha Tae-hoon had not mentioned.

“The men’s expressions were strange.”

Suu nodded and added.

“The tension has gone away!”

I listened to Suu’s words in silence.

“Youngjae boldly went for it, and Jaehyuk pretended not to and reached out his hand behind him. The war of nerves was no joke. It felt like sparks were flying? But the one who actually took care of the woman was always Taehoon.”

For some reason, Suu called the hunters by their names.

I ignored it because I thought it was a good thing.

“I made everything for you, from clothes to medicine, everything you need, and even a separate room to live in.”

Rebecca, who was listening from the side, said something.

“That’s a good thing.”

She looked around.

That makes sense.

The one who decorated the new hideout was Ha Tae-hoon.

But it wasn’t just Rebecca’s house that Ha Tae-hoon created.

“Taehoon made winter accommodations for everyone who came out of there.”

Suu glanced at me with her arms crossed and a detective-like expression on her face, as if she had sniffed something.

“Doesn’t something smell juicy in here?”

“Juicy-? Is this the kind of expression you use in places like this?”

“That’s not it. Skeleton. Think about it carefully. Do you know why your heart is like that?”

Suu looked at Rebecca as if asking for consent, but Rebecca just looked at her daughter with a bewildered expression.

“That’s why Mom said no. Anyway! Skeleton. Why do you think Taehoon used the Skeleton warehouse for cars, oil, materials, and even food like water to build other people’s houses?”

well.

I don’t know.

If you were there, you could probably read the subtle atmosphere, but there’s a limit to what you can do by just listening to what other people say.

“ah.”

There is one.

Ha Tae-hoon lied.

He said the woman who brought this trouble upon him was dead.

It’s not like anyone else died, and it would have been revealed with just a little cross-checking, so why did you lie?

That fact leads us to speculate on one aspect.

“······if?”

I cautiously told my guess to Suu, who was waiting for an answer with her eyes wide open.

“Ha, did you like that woman too, Senior?”

Suu made a gesture of shooting a finger gun at me.

“Juicy- Correct answer!”

It’s surprising, but there are some people who are truly surprised.

“What?!”

Rebecca was startled and started to question Sue in English at a rapid pace.

I waited for her to calm down and asked Suu again.

“So, you’re saying that Senior Ha did that to get all the other kids out and be alone with that girl?”

“That’s what I saw.”

Suu let out a relieved sigh.

“I wanted to see more of the cat fight. It’s a shame that my mom couldn’t stand it and left first.”

Rebecca waved her hand and defended herself as Suu looked at her with resentful eyes.

“No, it wasn’t just that they didn’t shoot, but the atmosphere was no joke. Every single day was terrifying! It was terrorism! It was just as bad as what happened in Daegu!”

It’s good to see that Rebecca and her daughter are healthier than expected.

Looking at how Ha Tae-hoon decorated it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to live here for a while.

There was a time when I thought that uniting was a good thing, but uniting doesn’t necessarily lead to good results.

I felt it painfully again when I was trying to persuade regular Awaken in the new Seoul, but making people understand each other is the most difficult thing.

Above all, the mind wears out.

Even good emotions wear out and break as they encounter each other, and their shape changes.

The mind also needs maintenance.

A person who maintains good relationships for a long time is likely to be a well-maintained person.

The difficulty of that maintenance will vary depending on each other’s tendencies, distance, that is, frequency of encounters, and environment.

Well, there is a way to force a relationship like Diesirae, but I don’t want to be like that.

If we can maintain a relationship even if we are a little distant, then that would be right.

So I didn’t say anything burdensome to the mother and daughter to come back.

Instead, they gave me a quick farewell after checking the internet they had installed.

“Then I’ll go and ask someone else.”

“Yeah. Skeleton. Be careful. And don’t go to Youngjae.”

“why?”

“Youngjae, you’re hurt.”

According to the schedule, the next candidate for interview is Cheon Young-jae.

This is because Cheon Yeong-jae lives in hiding in the village next to where Rebecca lives.

Suu’s advice was accurate.

Doo- doo- doo- doo-

Cheon Yeong-jae is not answering the phone.

If you haven’t received it even after doing it three times, then it means you don’t want to receive it.

Well, I guess he’s not dead.

He’s not the kind of guy who’ll die easily.

I went straight to find Bang Jae-hyuk.

Bang Jae-hyuk lived on the lower floor of an abandoned single-family apartment.

He came down the stairs dragging his legs while wearing a walker, and I was welcomed from afar with a wave of his hand.

“okay.”

As we climbed the stairs together, I asked him the whole story.

Of course, I didn’t miss checking the situation around my residence.

It’s pretty well defended.

Every step is barricaded, and what appear to be fuses are hidden secretly among the trash.

The house he lived in didn’t look like much when viewed from the outside, but when viewed from the inside, the gaps were tightly sealed to completely block any access from the outside, and there were places set up all over where Bang Jae-hyuk could sit comfortably alone and snipe with the muzzle hidden.

“Oh my. Hunter Park. Are you here?”

Bang Jae-hyuk’s mother greeted him warmly, but he only gave a nod and went straight into Bang Jae-hyuk’s room.

From the moment I entered the room, I felt something.

“That woman?”

In the room, there were only a lot of sneakers that Bang Jae-hyuk liked, and not a single item that could be guessed to be a woman’s item could be found.

Those words could most likely be interpreted as meaning that they do not live together.

As expected.

“Oh, I live in another room. With my mother.”

“Oh, really?”

I don’t know about anything else, but Bang Jae-hyuk is a more mature and thoughtful gentleman than Cheon Yeong-jae, even though he is cynical.

“······I’m sorry. You took the time to welcome us, but we acted so shamefully.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

“No, I really am ashamed. You made me suffer all that when you came here, and now you’re hitting me in the back of the head like this.”

“The divorce rate in South Korea is over 50%. This is more than that.”

When we changed the subject, Bang Jae-hyuk’s eyes sparkled slightly.

He looked at my expression and then struck me.

“You heard the whole story about that woman, right?”

He nodded.

Bang Jae-hyuk took a cigarette out of his pocket.

These are cigarettes from before the war.

The color had faded and the taste of the cigarette had definitely changed, but Bang Jae-hyuk took a deep breath, took a deep breath, and cast his empty gaze into the air, lost in thought.

The story began with white smoke.

“······It wasn’t just because of the woman.”

I nodded without knowing it.

Although I didn’t think about it in any concrete terms, I don’t think the woman had anything to do with their breakup.

Surely, some feelings that had been building up before I met them must have collapsed all at once because of that woman?

Perhaps this is a simpler explanation for what is happening.

“Cheon Yeong-jae. That kid. Isn’t he a bit shameless? He secretly pretends to be an elite who was born in the wrong era and tries to deceive people. To be honest, we weren’t particularly close when we were in Incheon. It’s just that we had no choice but to stick together because we had no one to hang out with.”

“······I know what that feels like.”

Well, Cheon Yeong-jae is a bit like that.

He’s a really good guy, but he also has a lot of flaws.

It was like he was trying to leave me alone.

There was a corner that made people feel close to me.

“This time was similar. Senior Ha and I were just going to escort the girl to Sejong and send her away, but that bastard Cheon Yeong-jae got horny and started hitting on the girl. Ha, really. To be honest, he’s not the type to be popular with the girls, is he?”

“That’s right.”

“If I had a good-looking face, I wouldn’t have been clinging to women. I swear I’ve never done that, and I’ve never felt the need to.”

The detailed story feels like a measure of Bang Jae-hyeok’s antipathy towards Cheon Yeong-jae.

“I was like that too.”

“Senior too?!”

“No. Why?”

“No······. That’s not important.”

“?”

“To cut to the chase, it was a fit of anger. That bastard Youngjae was pushing too hard, so I said something, but he pretended not to hear me and kept pushing in, so I grabbed him.”

“A woman was coming over?”

“I could see that woman didn’t like Youngjae.”

“ah.”

My condolences to Cheon Yeong-jae.

“······But that woman.”

Bang Jae-hyuk took a deep puff of cigarette smoke.

“I don’t think I like it that much either.”

“okay?”

“To be exact, it was because she noticed that I didn’t like her that much. Women, you know. It’s hard for them to like someone who hates them. It’s a matter of pride. Of course, except for some perverted women.”

“Like Woo Min-hee?!”

“Why are we talking about the chief? Well, I heard that the chief was a bit of a playboy when he was young. Anyway, that woman is in our house.”

Bang Jae-hyuk noticed me.

I think I know what you’re trying to say.

It is said that even he himself is incapable of being dealt with.

I went to see the woman in question.

I was a little curious.

What kind of face does the woman who shook the hearts of our strong school hunters look like?

“This way. Mr. Jungri! Come in now!”

Suddenly-

She is indeed a beauty.

The Hunter’s three eyes are worth turning to.

But the tattoos that were probably forcibly inked all over her body are bitter evidence that her appearance is not necessarily a blessing.

There is another bitterness, too.

When she saw me, the woman named Jeong-ri showed an unconcealed fear.

“······.”

I’ve heard many times that I have a cold and unapproachable appearance.

Even now, if the guy who holds hatred in his heart doesn’t have that kind of physiognomy, then he must be deceiving me.

I thought he had become more toxic lately, but he still looks scary to the person being persecuted.

Even though she had something to say, it would be a form of violence to her for a third party to suddenly speak to her when she was so scared.

I carefully closed the door and looked for Bang Jae-hyuk again.

“What would you like me to do? I can take that woman to Sejong right now.”

In some ways, this is the most comfortable way to conclude.

“······okay?”

Bang Jae-hyuk looks uneasy.

After a moment of hesitation, he sighed and looked at me.

“Hey, senior.”

“Senior Ha Tae-hoon?”

“Oh. That woman. I think Ha Tae-hoon-sunbae likes her. I think Ha-sunbae likes her too.”

“Then why don’t you just send it to Senior Ha?”

“That is true, but.”

Bang Jae-hyuk suddenly felt a pain in his leg and massaged his knee, which was exposed through the metal walking aid, before sighing and saying.

“Senior Ha is rejecting that woman.”

“why?”

I don’t understand.

If Ha Tae-hoon likes that woman too, why don’t they just live together?

Isn’t that why you renovated other people’s houses?

Bang Jae-hyuk added a word to the bewildered me.

“······That gentleman. He’s not a bad person, but he has low self-esteem.”

“okay?”

I understood what you meant.

It’s really no big deal.

But right now, there’s probably no one else who can solve that problem other than Park Gyu.

*

Ha Tae-hoon was digging a ditch.

Now, with picks and shovels, they were digging the land in the empty area where no one was left, and creating a small stream that would lead down the mountainside from the pool they had blocked with a small dam of dirt.

He had noticed my presence for a long time, but he paid no attention and continued working.

“What kind of work is it?”

I sat there silently watching, then suddenly asked.

“I was thinking of making another rainwater drain. In case the snow melts.”

“okay?”

“I’m sorry, but the kids are all moving out, so I took a lot of stuff from your bunker and used it. So I’m trying to do something about it. In the end, all I can do is work.”

“That’s not true, senior.”

“Haa······. It’s all my fault. I should have taken better care of the kids and made them stick together when you were away.”

“That’s why you even cosplayed as a rape victim?”

“You wouldn’t have had to do that.”

Ha Tae-hoon put down his pickaxe and smiled sadly at me.

“······In the end, I guess you’re saying I’m not qualified to be your senior.”

I spoke calmly to him, who seemed to be carrying the entire burden of the world on his shoulders.

“That woman named Jeong-ri. My senior said he liked her.”

“What?!”

“It’s true. I felt true love through my senior’s affection and sincerity.”

Not only did the agony on Ha Tae-hoon’s face disappear, but his face turned bright red like a boy’s.

He continued speaking with a big smile.

“I asked the woman herself.”

“Ah, no. Why on earth would you do something like that······?”

“I can understand why you made that choice.”

He added with a snicker.

“You must have wanted to mediate.”

“······.”

“What’s done in the past is done in the past. No one blames you, sir. That woman also said she would go there if you said yes.”

While listening to the story, Ha Tae-hoon took out a crumpled note from his pocket and folded a paper boat.

As soon as the story ended, he put the paper boat on the pond as if he was showing off and destroyed the earthen dam with a shovel.

The paper boat began to float down the stream and down the mountainside.

Ha Tae-hoon said while looking at the floating paper boat.

“You can’t have everything.”

He looked at me with tired eyes.

“I’ve sent countless paper boats floating like this so far. I’ve gained nothing, but I’ve lost nothing.”

Ha Tae-hoon’s gaze was directed at the paper boat that was about to fall down the mountain.

“······I’m just adding one more.”

I asked him.

“What if the paper boats don’t come anymore?”

“what?”

“What would you do if you couldn’t fold it anymore because you had no more paper to fold?”

“That, that······.”

I raced past him.

Now, I ran at full speed towards the paper boat that was about to fall over the roughly dug ditch and caught it with one hand.

I felt the soldiers’ gazes from afar and turned back to Ha Tae-hoon.

“Take it.”

He held out a paper boat.

Ha Tae-hoon just looks at the paper boat and doesn’t extend his hand or open his mouth.

He turned around and added a word while carrying his luggage on his back.

“There will be a big battle in Seoul soon. It will be on a par with the Battle of Peking.”

“what?”

“But I think there’s going to be a guy so scary that Kang Han-min has to avoid him.”

“Then wouldn’t it be right to come here?!”

He waved the paper boat towards Ha Tae-hoon, who finally opened his mouth.

“Opportunities don’t come often.”

He handed the paper boat back to Ha Tae-hoon.

“I won’t miss out anymore.”

Ha Tae-hoon’s eyelids trembled.

Perhaps his life experience is such that he denies his mind with all his might.

But the truth is, perhaps it was desire that moved him.

Ha Tae-hoon picked up a paper boat.

He turned around with a big smile.

“If I don’t come back, you take care of this place.”

“Park Gyu.”

“Of course, except for the room when I get back.”

He walked into the armored car with a light gait.

There was a welcoming face inside the armored car.

“Oh. Senior.”

It’s Cheon Yeong-jae.

There’s no need for long words between us.

Even without looking for the large backpack and gun left at his side.

He sat down next to Cheon Yeong-jae and spoke to the driver.

“depart!”