Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 385



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Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 385

156. The Leader (2)

The reunion was brief.

After calling each other’s names for a moment, Gong Gyeong-min left, surrounded by those wearing the same clothes.

I sat in the conference room and waited for him, but the man never showed up in the conference room again.

Instead of Gong Kyung-min, the man who appeared was someone I didn’t know well.

I don’t know him, but he knows me.

“Oh, are you Mr. Park Gyu?”

The choice of language that seems polite but strictly draws a line and the eyes that faintly reveal a strange sense of superiority are not so unfamiliar.

I assumed that this friend belonged to a certain group that was related to me.

The guess turned out to be correct, without fail.

“My name is Jang Hyeon-jin. I am a member of the Jeju Committee.”

“The lucky generation.”

Friends who blossomed with small talents when Awaken was scarce and took up positions that were beyond their means simply because they had blossomed with talent in that era.

The guy I saw at the lighthouse the other day was also one of this type.

He may be dead, but he had numerous accomplices, and one of them is standing before me, muttering.

“I heard the story. You helped the commander protect this place. Well, since the cracks have changed their strategy, we humans also need to change our strategy. Even the Russo-Ukrainian War that happened a long time ago was called a return to World War I.”

I didn’t really want to get into the conversation, but there’s something I’d like to know.

“Where did Gong Kyung Min go?”

“The chairman came here for a brief check. He just left with his party.”

As the chairman.

Is that Gong Kyung-min’s position?

Although it may seem like a high position just by hearing the name, in a world full of mean-spirited people who don’t like to take responsibility, the title of “chief” may not necessarily be a good position.

After I finished the meaningless conversation and sat down alone, an administrative official came up to me and gave me a tip.

“Excuse me, sir. I have something to tell you.”

The content is about why friends wearing neat and uniform clothes, different from ours, suddenly appeared.

The content was somewhat shocking.

“Is that true?”

Of course, the content is far from hope or expectation.

“You’re sending the person who was in Jeju back here?”

Now, they are going to send the people who can no longer live in Jeju back here.

It is not known how many people there are in total, but it is said that a large fleet of 100,000 people has already set sail with the goal of the new Seoul.

As far as I remember, there were about 300,000 people living in Jeju.

Maybe it was 500,000.

Anyway, the Jeju group, including Gong Gyeong-min, appeared here to report this problem.

“Park Hunter······.”

Kim Byeong-cheol greeted me with a gloomy face.

I think I know just by looking at his face.

There is no choice.

Must accept.

Despite knowing that the number of people is the size of the curse.

The practical issues of accepting, reintegrating, and utilizing a number of hundreds of thousands of people are not my concern.

It’s the small shred of hope I’m looking for.

“Did they promise to reinforce the power?”

Kim Byeong-cheol nodded reluctantly.

“······maybe.”

This is reality.

According to Kim Byeong-cheol, the Jeju government promised air force support, new weapons and ammunition, and additional troops, including regular Awakens.

But their promise had no time limit.

Even when new power was needed immediately, they were not sure when it would be provided.

In these matters, an insufficient promise is not much different from not making a promise.

Kim Byeong-cheol presented a gloomy outlook with a sigh.

“When I was guarding the front lines in the past, the government didn’t give us any support. We didn’t even have ammunition, and we were having a hard time with the remnants of the North Korean army, but they didn’t give us anything. They just kept their word. It’s similar to that time. They always said they would give us something, but they never kept their promise. Eventually, we ran out of food, and we were in a situation where we couldn’t do anything.”

Kim Byeong-cheol and the soldiers at the front have already been betrayed by the government once.

The group that betrayed them back then and the group that is forcing refugees upon us now are not much different.

Although the exact members are unknown, there were rumors that many of the high-ranking government officials who were running Seoul at the time had fled to Jeju and were living together there.

Maybe Jang Hyun-jin was a member of the representativeless committee that was manipulating people in Seoul at the time.

“I know you are all feeling embarrassed. It doesn’t look good for someone who went to Jeju to come back here. However, the area around The Hope where you have settled was originally prepared in preparation for the return of people who went to Jeju.”

Jang Hyun-jin spoke calmly about when the refugees from Jeju would arrive and how they would settle down.

“Even now, the new Seoul is saturated with refugees from all directions. The effective heating capacity has reached its limit. Only three of the eight power plant generators are operating. There is not much coal reserves either.”

“Isn’t it common sense even for a child that more people will bring more monsters? And what about maintaining public order? Since all those who can fight are being sent to the military, there aren’t many people left to maintain public order. Will you bring a police force?”

“We demand a definitive assurance of air support.”

There is backlash everywhere.

But Jang Hyun-jin has no intention of listening to us.

“I will inform you of that in a later schedule. For now, the Jeju immigration fleet has already entered the West Sea.”

He just talks his mind.

Kim Byeong-cheol stares at me with an indignant face.

It’s a request to say something.

“······.”

But I doubt my words will reach my friend up in the clouds.

This city needs a leader.

We need a leader who will represent us and speak for us, not a horse bone that rolled in from Jeju.

There is no one other than Woo Min-hee.

We need to find Woo Min-hee.

But how can I find her who suddenly disappeared?

If the school still existed, I would go there, but the school has long since been torn down without a trace.

We know that Woo Min-hee is from Seoul, but even Kim Da-ram, Woo Min-hee’s nemesis, doesn’t know exactly which neighborhood she lived in.

Perhaps, judging by the fact that he keeps his mouth shut about this part, it means that he comes from a wealthy neighborhood.

But what happened to the relatively well-off neighborhoods in Seoul?

“Chief Woo? Well, I’m not sure. He’s someone whose thoughts are so hard to read.”

I asked Woo Min-hee’s subordinates for advice in desperation, but as expected, there was no solution.

But a clue to her location was discovered in an unexpected place.

“How’s Skeleton? Any good news?”

It was affection that provided the starting point.

It seems like he called after the meeting to ask about the results.

She was part of the Hunter Support Team, so there was no way she wouldn’t know about the uneasy atmosphere surrounding this city.

“It’s not that good. Let’s meet up and talk about it later.”

There was no mention of refugees.

These types of calls always carry the risk of being tapped.

“Yeah. Skeleton. You’re having a hard time. You’re having a hard time. Seeing as you can’t even get on that favorite bulletin board.”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve been online.”

“Oh, that’s right. There are a lot of interesting articles being posted these days.”

“okay?”

“Yeah. These days, reporters are hitting the jackpot!”

“Mr. Reporter?”

Woo Min-hee’s location has finally been revealed.

It’s no wonder I couldn’t find it.

Because where she was was not reality, but the internet world.

*

gijayangban : (Report by Reporter Yangban) Big puppies (3)

gijayangban : (Report by Reporter Yangban) Big puppies

gijayangban : (Report by Reporter Yangban) Big puppy pup (2)

…

…

Our Woo Min-hee was writing crap on the bulletin board.

To be exact, it is a popular article.

For some reason, the reporter was getting a hot response by uploading several so-called “big dog” series with titles that seemed to be influenced by this skeleton.

Let’s just ignore Woo Min-hee’s characteristically ignorant side of using the word “puppy” to refer to a puppy that already implies puppies.

In fact, rather than being ignorant, it is another expression of her characteristically self-willed and indifferent personality.

Because Woo Min-hee neither paid attention to nor respected areas that he was not interested in.

Anyway, as you can tell from the title, the dogs she took pictures of are mutant dogs.

Using equipment such as a light source camera, the ecology of the familiar yet distant animals called mutation dogs was vividly captured as if they were taken right next to a large group of at least twenty animals.

In all those filming sessions, she never once expressed her thoughts in writing.

Apart from the title, not a single letter can be found in the post.

Woo Min-hee literally just takes pictures of dogs.

Where was this taken?

Although the composition was intentionally taken in a way that made it difficult to guess the landscape, the background that was revealed nonetheless told us that she was not far from our territory.

By the way, before Woo Min-hee disappeared, there was a report that a mutant dog was found at a new settlement development site in the east.

Everyone was evacuated.

There is no power available right now, and it is across the river.

Even if you go to the trouble of chasing the dogs away, if a battle breaks out you’ll have to evacuate the people again.

So, I emptied everything without leaving anyone behind, and I guess I went to that empty site alone.

Woo Min-hee is a lonely person.

Unlike me, she had been in relationships and had many lovers, but most people knew that her heart was empty.

For example, let’s hear from Kim Da-ram, who hates Woo Min-hee so much,

“It’s like there’s a big gaping hole in your heart. You try to fill it with endless love, but it’s just a hole, not a jar. No matter how much you fill it, it’ll just flow out. It’s like Sisyphus’ rock. That person’s heart.”

This is an expression from the innocent past, and a different expression is used now.

“She’s never even married. She has no husband and no children. All she has is wrinkles and hysteria.”

This is a comment from my junior who can only survive by feeling superior in the midst of endless comparison, but I can relate to the word hysteria.

Woo Min-hee has been hysterical since long ago.

Dealing with that hysteria requires just as much determination as dealing with a monster.

There is no need to analyze that Woo Min-hee’s hysteria index is currently higher than ever.

You’re probably in a very sensitive state.

The proof of this is that he’s neglecting his work and hanging out on message boards in the outskirts, taking pictures of mutation dogs where no one is.

Anyway, it’s great that we found Woo Min-hee, but persuading her is another matter.

If we continue like this, nothing good will come of it.

But we need her now.

The only one who can stand up to the Jeju government personnel who suddenly rolled in is Woo Min-hee.

So, even though I hate it, I have to wave to her.

Of course, this will be done in a way that is familiar to this skeleton.

Knock knock

SKELTON: What are you doing?

Tadadadadak-

SKELTON :

“······.”

But this familiar method is not so easy when you think about having to deal with that huge hysteria directly.

Knock knock

SKELTON: Our cute mini sheep (20)~ Hello~? ^*^

Tadadadadak

SKELTON :

Write. And delete.

How many times have I written and deleted something?

I want to convey a message, but as always, the first time is difficult.

What should I say?

Should I pretend to be normal and at least say hello?

That won’t work.

Or should I publicly ask for help by stating my current situation?

That won’t work either.

I will lightly ignore that message called Woo Min-hee.

Well, I guess we need some common ground.

But how much common ground was there between us?

It’s true that we spent the same amount of time and that there were some incidents, but there is no filler to fill the bleak gap like now, at least not in my memory.

“Phew.”

I sighed and looked at the bulletin board.

Woo Min-hee posted again.

The mutation she posted got a hot response, but even a nice flower song gets old after three days.

The number of likes and comments is decreasing, and the number of views for this post is dropping to the point where it is not even on the popular list.

The latest installment in that fading series added another view.

The content is no different from the series I posted below.

This is a picture of a mutation dog taken with a telephoto lens.

Dogs are animals that are connected to many people’s memories.

However, after the disaster called mutation began, dogs disappeared from our surroundings.

The government encouraged slaughter, and those who did not follow the government’s orders were not left alone.

There were quite a few people who raised them secretly, but many of those people were killed by the dogs they raised.

I don’t have many memories of dogs.

Our house was more focused on plants than animals.

Still, it’s not like I have no affinity with dogs.

After the war, he developed a bond with a dog.

It’s a bit unusual that the dog is not an ordinary dog, but a mutant dog.

It was gold.

Smart, dashing, and above all, unlucky.

He had a kid, and sorry to Gold, he was a stupid kid.

I set out to find the group, but I didn’t think I would stand out that much within them.

however.

“hmm?”

Without realizing it, I leaned towards the monitor.

In the latest photo posted by Woo Min-hee, a familiar-looking dog stands out among several mutations.

I saw the title.

gijayangban : (Report by Reporter Yangban) Leader (1)

That’s right.

Those perked up ears, the long, sharp snout, and the cold, sunken eyes were bright and exactly like the one I knew.

The only dog ​​that ever communicated with me was Gold.

But that guy’s fur is silver.

I had a feeling it was impossible.

“······.”

I don’t think that’s true.

That guy, I know him.

Silver.

Yes, the son of Gold.

But it’s confusing.

So that stupid, clumsy guy is the leader of the pack?

No, maybe it’s just my confirmation bias that I want to see it, but still, that guy looks so much like Gold that there’s a solid possibility that he could be Silver.

Knock knock

I wrote again.

This time, instead of backspace, I pressed Enter.

SKELTON: That’s a dog I know.

Unlike the countless posts that I had previously deleted, that post was fixed in the exact form of a comment on Woo Min-hee’s post.

After a while.

The comment alarm went off.

gijayangban : Really?

A reply was posted.

Woo Min-hee grabbed the hand I held out.