Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 380



Only Krnovel

Episode 341 137. Relics

A vacancy has opened up.

“I only spoke to him a few times, but he seemed like a nice person.”

“That’s too bad.”

“I never had a chance to talk because I was always in my bunker.”

“It seemed like he was avoiding us.”

The Hunters didn’t have much contact with Valentine, so they didn’t show any emotion or sadness when he disappeared.

Although they won’t show it because they’re concerned about my feelings, there are probably some people among them who secretly like Valentine’s Day gone.

In their eyes, Valentine was nothing more than a surplus of human resources with a technology that had no meaning for survival: the Internet.

Maybe if I had gone first, Valentine would have followed me.

The only people who have any connection to Valentine are Bang Jae-hyuk’s mother and Rebecca.

“Valentine. A good person. I feel sorry for him.”

Rebecca is the person who annoys Valentine the most.

“Poor Valentine. I hope you go to a better place in the other world.”

Suu is also the one who watched Valentine next to Rebecca.

The two offered prayers in front of Valentine’s bunker.

Bang Jae-hyuk’s mother was not as close to Valentine as the two of them, but as the only non-combatant agent in the area, she had a certain level of empathy with Valentine, even if it was not frequent.

She sighed as she looked at Valentine’s empty bunker.

“Maybe I just didn’t have much attachment to life.”

She placed a few chrysanthemums on top of the bunker.

“Men don’t live long without support. When they are young, it’s okay, but when they get older and realize that they have no opportunities and can’t do anything anymore, they give up on life too easily.”

I don’t agree with her opinions, but I can understand that his life isn’t all that worth living from Valentine’s perspective.

I don’t think it will be particularly fun.

One goal gave him meaning in life, but that goal ultimately cost him his life.

“······.”

Still, he could probably die laughing.

As I was staying silent, Bang Jae-hyuk’s mother suddenly looked at me and spoke.

“Mr. Park Gyu isn’t getting married?”

That’s why Da-jeong didn’t seem to like that person very much.

“yes?”

“I told you about the support.”

“yes.”

“As men get older, they feel they need to have a family.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. In my opinion, if this person had a family, I don’t think he would have thrown his life away so easily.”

“Let’s leave that story alone.”

After saying this with some displeasure, he left the room.

Well, that might be true.

Because stories from the elderly often speak of generally accepted facts.

However, that cannot be said to be a universal truth.

Let’s say I get married right now.

Who should I marry?

Hong Da-jeong, who was most likely to be there, was rejected by me.

No candidate comes to mind.

Given my personality, I need to like someone first before I can get married.

The person who fits this condition would be Na Hye-in.

However, that favorability will likely be based more on her abilities and background than on her personality.

The physical distance is too far to begin with.

No other woman comes to mind besides her.

Rebecca is just a colleague, and Song Yu-jin is a waste of me.

If I had to pick one, it would be Woo Min-hee?

“under.”

I found myself chuckling without realizing it.

Woo Min-hee?

I guess I was lonely a lot too.

I see you’re seriously considering her as a bride candidate.

I entered Valentine’s bunker, now empty, with a heavy heart.

His bunker still holds a few lights.

These are the computers and network equipment that Valentine left behind.

Judging from the fact that he left his computer on, it doesn’t seem like he was prepared for death as Bang Jae-hyeok’s mother said.

He planned to come back here again.

“······.”

This is the first time I’ve ever organized my belongings, except for the old memories from my childhood that are now hazy and full of holes.

I sent off many comrades when I was on the battlefield, but I did not sort out their belongings.

All I had to do was fill in the correct answers in the boxes for dead and missing in action.

If it’s not easy, check for death.

Even if death is uncertain, death is recorded.

I didn’t want to leave any false hopes, and it was easier to deal with the legal consequences for those who were left behind by death rather than by disappearance.

In the case of relics, there was a professional who handled them.

He was a local Chinese man wearing white clothes and a mask.

Judging from the Korean they spoke, they seemed to be of Joseonjok descent, but they did not reveal their identity and there was no chance of them speaking to each other.

They quickly sorted through the items that needed to be professionally passed on to relatives and those that could be thrown away, and carefully packed the belongings that needed to be passed on into storage boxes and sent them to Korea.

I never thought I would do that.

Thud- thud-

The first thing to do is to sort the remains, as professional estate agents would do.

However, times have changed and so have the classification criteria.

While those who handled the remains of the past would choose between items to pass on to relatives and those to throw away, we who live in the present distinguish between items that can be used and those that cannot.

It’s a world where everything is precious and can never be obtained again.

As for the relics in the narrow sense that are to be passed on to relatives, it is sufficient to distinguish them after those two categories have been established.

Most of Valentine’s belongings were computers and networking equipment.

These are usable items that are difficult to obtain again.

Even if you don’t use it right away, it’s better to have it.

All you have to do is cover it with industrial plastic to keep out dust and place it in a corner of the garage.

You can also use it for clothes.

Unlike before the war, now all clothes have value in themselves.

You can wear it yourself, use it as a trading item, or use it as material for other clothing or other purposes.

Valentine surprisingly had a lot of clothes.

Among them, for some reason, there was a suit and a pair of shoes packed in a shiny cardboard box.

“······.”

I wonder where it was intended to be used.

Are you planning to go for an interview?

I packed all the clothes.

Including underwear, a neat suit and shoes.

There were also things that had to be thrown away.

Dried mushrooms and dried fruits that have become moldy and dried,

Parts that he had already classified as scrap while he was alive, suitcases with missing wheels and holes, glasses frames that were dented beyond recognition, adult products that were so old that they no longer functioned, etc.

Even the decorative items that were displayed in the most visible locations inside the bunker are items that should be thrown away.

A thumb-sized Empire State Building minifigure, a few Lego figures, and a ball-shaped plastic model with a cannon.

Ornaments of various nationalities, origins, and types were neatly arranged on the shelf, but I couldn’t find any family photos among them.

Although he may have left them in the form of image files on his computer, I couldn’t find a single physical photo of his family.

Maybe he had one in his wallet or something, but it seemed clear that Valentine had no memorable past.

I’ve sorted out most of Valentine’s belongings.

There are three main types.

Things that will be useful in the future, things to throw away, and things that are on the shelf.

“······.”

Suddenly, the question crossed my mind: What will happen to my belongings when I die?

I have a lot of stuff.

There are many useful items and many things to commemorate.

Well, if you built a big, fancy bunker, you’re bound to have a lot of stuff in it.

It may be a new thing, but there are many items that commemorate memories.

Various plaques, letters of appreciation from the president and other heads of organizations, medals, decorations, golden fleece, various types of ceremonial uniforms, and commemorative photos from school and the Chinese period.

If I die, will all these things be thrown away?

Wouldn’t everything except the clothes be abandoned in the wilderness?

Most of the Chinese relic handlers also placed all the souvenirs in plastic bags and threw them away in the trash.

If I die, most of the stuff stored in my bunker cabinet will be thrown away.

That’s what memories are.

One person’s memories are just meaningless echoes to another.

Bang! Bang!

Outside, a loud hammering sound can be heard.

It’s the sound of building a winter house.

As the weather gets colder, everyone is now rushing in to help with construction.

Although the basic foundation and structure have been completed, construction continues without end due to continuous discovery of improvements and requirements.

Actually, I have to help too.

Given the urgency of the matter, it would be better to focus on building structures to protect the living from the coming winter rather than on arranging the belongings of the already dead.

Still, the reason I’m organizing Valentine’s belongings first is for another reason.

I’m looking for a way to hack into Jeju Intranet, or more precisely, the Red Archive bulletin board.

I’m not an expert on network technology, but I believe Valentine would have left something behind in case of his death.

“······.”

But I can’t see it.

No matter how hard I search, I can’t find any information on Jeju Intranet.

I’ve already looked over the computer side before.

I also ran a deep scan on the hard disk several times and tested the spare disk by connecting it to a separate terminal.

Unfortunately, the desired data did not appear.

Maybe it’s my ignorance that prevents me from seeing the truth even though it’s right in front of me.

I wondered if Valentine, who had a kind and gentle personality, would have left behind a manual for when he faced adversity in some way.

But what isn’t there isn’t there.

Everyone is working, so it wouldn’t be a good thing for others to see me being treated like this.

As I was roughly finishing up and about to go outside, Suu came into the bunker.

“What are you doing, Skeleton?”

Judging from the gun he’s carrying, he must have just finished his guard duty.

“I’m organizing my Valentine’s Day stuff.”

“okay?”

Suuga enters the bunker and looks back at the things he has organized and the things he is trying to organize.

“Are you looking for something?”

“Don’t you have a journal or diary or something?”

“why?”

“I want to read it if you have it.”

“There’s no such thing.”

It’s a diary.

How many people write a diary these days?

It seems that there were quite a few people writing diaries during Jang Gi-yeong’s time, but as the world developed and became more affluent, the number of people writing diaries has clearly decreased.

However, I do write a diary often.

I don’t write about my daily impressions or feelings.

When a big event or change occurs around me, I tend to write briefly and concisely, like I did in the past when I wrote reports.

This also includes the death of Valentine.

The contents are as follows.

-Valentine is dead.

I could have added more text, but I didn’t.

This is a diary for myself, not to show to others.

Swoo was now looking towards the shelves that would soon be organized.

“Valentine. Did you go to a nice place?”

Suu asked, looking at the clutter on the shelf.

“well.”

I don’t believe in the afterlife.

When a person dies, it’s the end.

“Let’s go out slowly.”

“wait for a sec.”

Suuga looked at the odds and ends with curious eyes.

“Can I touch this?”

It seems that my eyes are drawn to the rare toy-like things that I rarely see.

“Well, Valentine is not of this world. These guys wouldn’t want to be abandoned either, so if you want something, you can have it.”

“okay?”

Among the many decorations, Swoo first chose the Empire State Building figurine.

“I think Mom would like this.”

He chuckled.

“Anything else······.”

Suu looked at the clutter with a serious expression.

I thought I’d probably pick up a Lego figure.

No it wasn’t.

She picked up a ball-shaped plastic model.

“Skeleton. What is this?”

“well?”

“I don’t know?”

“I don’t really like robots.”

Jang Ki-young liked it.

I generally don’t like moving machinery.

I also had a really bad experience with drones when I was in China.

Suuga suddenly shook the plastic model.

“huh?”

“why?”

“Can’t you hear any noise from inside?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dalgrak?”

Now that I think about it, there was something inside.

Perhaps one of the plastic model parts is missing and rolling around inside.

I didn’t think much of it, but suddenly Suu grabbed the ball from both sides and opened it like a box.

“uh?”

Something fell to the floor.

I didn’t even pay attention to it, thinking it was probably a plastic model part, but Suu was different.

“Skeleton?”

“why?”

“Isn’t this it?”

Suuga came to me holding an object the size of a finger on the ground.

“What is this?”

It’s an SSD disk.

There was a note attached.

– For backup

*

The USB that Suu found contained a person named “Valentine,” who I had not found in his bunker.

Tips and know-how gained from working with Valentine and Jonnaenon, including the configuration of PaleNet, network construction, tips and practices for server management, necessary and minor preparations, and various network equipment manuals.

Various video files, games, and movies that you probably treasure. Naturally, it also includes 18+ videos.

Numerous personal photos. It is presumed that Valentine was in various clubs before the war. Just looking at the photos of him holding banners, there are swing dance clubs, hiking clubs, surfing clubs, concert clubs, and singles clubs.

Among these numerous photos, not a single one was believed to be of his wife, and not even a single photo of him with his family could be found.

“Valentine. I’ve truly lived my life doing everything I wanted to do.”

“Looking at the vast number of club photos, Suu said, looking a little tired.

“Even if I die, I will have no regrets······.”

“······.”

What was unusual about Valentine’s backup disk was the textbook.

Just as I had a collection of survival DVDs in my bunker, Valentine had a huge library of information on networking and site building on this small SSD drive.

The fact that the materials were collected from various sources on the Internet and preserved in an archive format, rather than in the form of a finished product sold in the United States like mine, made me realize the subtle differences between me and Valentine.

The most important data was stored in the last folder – TO SKELTON.

– To Mr. Skeleton

“······.”

Valentine’s Day is Valentine’s Day.

He was a kind man.

Inside that folder was a text file called readme.txt.

– If Mr. Skeleton is opening this file, it means I died without leaving a body. If you are not Mr. Skeleton who found this, you can ignore it. It is a technical matter.

The remaining files are hacking materials regarding the Jeju Intranet and especially the Red Archive bulletin board.

After reading the data, it appears that the back door has already been built.

The Necropolis invaders have entered Viva! Apocalypse!, so all I have to do is tell them how to get through that door.

Well, that’s something that takes days of thinking and struggling for a network novice like me.

The credit for obtaining the most important information goes entirely to Suu.

“Thank you, Suu.”

I expressed my heartfelt gratitude to Suu.

I never thought that little boy would grow up to be this big and give me such a big gift.

“No. Skeleton. Just something like this.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“Skeleton bunker.”

“That won’t work.”

“It’s fatal.”

Together we looked at the true relics of Valentine and asked Suu again.

I have a question.

“How did you find this?”

“Valentine used to play with that a lot.”

“so?”

“Yeah. There must be a reason why you touch it so often, right?”

Was that so?

The reason is simple, but very convincing.

I searched the disk carefully.

I looked for the most recently modified files.

Photo file.

These photos were added the day before we left for Paju and were stored in a skeleton folder.

“Huh? Me too?”

“······That’s right.”

“Skeleton. Why are you like that all of a sudden?”

One thing is certain.

Valentine didn’t hate me.

“······.”

I wanted to know that.