Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 390



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Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 390

158. Beehive (2)

“What should we do?”

The pilots ask.

“Let’s get in touch.”

We may not be on good terms, but we are still fellow Koreans.

I didn’t come here looking for some great treasure, I just came running after receiving a report of survival.

The situation over there probably isn’t much different.

As expected.

Chijijik–

They tried to communicate first.

“hello?”

I looked toward the helicopter pad.

At least two soldiers armed with Stinger missiles are aiming their missiles at us.

This does not mean they are trying to shoot us down with missiles, but it appears to be a warning that they cannot launch a helicopter due to circumstances and will respond immediately if a problem arises.

He delegated the issue to the soldiers sitting in the cockpit.

Soon their identities were confirmed.

As expected, they are soldiers from Jeju.

They said that they received a rescue signal and came here just like us.

“There’s nothing good about being associated with those guys. If they tell me to get out, I’ll get out.”

It’s typical of me to always grumble, but this time I completely agree.

If the Jeju guys are being territorial, it’s right to leave.

I don’t think it’s necessary to deal with it.

however.

“We’re already a bit short on people, so if you don’t mind, could you help us out?”

The voice changed from a dry male voice to a lively female voice.

At first glance, it sounds like a young woman’s voice.

“Excuse me, who is in charge over there?”

She asked.

The soldiers who had been sitting in the helicopter as if they were dead stared at me the whole time.

Well, no matter what, it seems like they recognize that I’m the leader here.

He answered into the microphone.

“This is Park Gyu.”

“Park Gyu?!”

“?”

“Professor?!”

*

“I’m Nam Sang-hee. I’m the head of the task force investigating the disappearance of the Lighthouse.”

Appropriately disheveled attire, messy hair, eyes focused on the tablet and flashy hand movements with which it is manipulated, words that are not very profound in comparison, and the occasional fancy watch and accessory.

It was as if she was asserting with her whole body that she was a capable career woman.

Like most of Jeju’s high-ranking officials, she was now in her mid-20s. She did not reveal her identity, but it seemed certain because people around her called her a member.

As she said in her introduction, she came to this facility, called the Hive, to find traces of Awaken and mainstream personnel.

It is said that this issue has always been a subject of controversy within Jeju.

Although Woo Min-hee continued to investigate, not many people trusted the results of the investigation.

Then, while some of the Jeju forces were stationed at Ganghwa Island and Incheon Port, an SOS signal was sent out and Jeju sent a proper, full-scale investigation team.

However, when it comes to actually exploring the hive, it is said that the structure is too complex, the level of erosion is too high, and there are too many monsters, making it difficult to investigate.

“There are so many capsules. It really looks like a beehive.”

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to take action together with Nam Sang-hee.

“If there are no survivors, is there really a need to join hands with them?”

Yoo Seong-ju once again reveals his doubts about survivors, but survivors are not my goal.

It would be nice if there were, but I don’t think there are any survivors left, as I’ve been out of contact for almost a year now.

The reason I came here is to find out how this facility was destroyed.

Nam Sang-hee had more information than I did, at least on this matter.

“Before the communication was cut off, we informed Mr. Jeong Ho-gyeong that the lighthouse facility was to be closed. The number of regular Awakens was being consumed faster than expected, so we had to use all the dogs and cows.”

The man in military uniform standing next to Nam Sang-hee added with a grin.

“Isn’t that the same with the military? In the past, they would put kids who weren’t even good for defense into active duty, right?”

I asked Nam Sang-hee.

“How did Mr. Jeong Ho-gyeong react?”

I vaguely remember a man named Jeong Ho-gyeong.

Although he had the Jeju-specific sense of authority, he was fundamentally a good person.

He had a boyish innocence and the will to carry out his own vision.

Although he was particularly irritable, he was not a completely incompetent person.

“Would you like to hear it?”

Nam Sang-hee shook his cell phone.

As I nodded, Nam Sang-hee searched through his cell phone and played me the voice of Jeong Ho-gyeong, which I could not quite remember.

“Don’t do this. You know this is my starch, right? I gave up and yielded everything before I left, and now you’re doing this to me? If you keep acting like this······.”

That’s right.

This voice belongs to Jeong Ho-gyeong.

It was only at the end that they recognized me as a hunter.

“I’m going to blow myself up.”

His final words were typically those of a man driven to extremes: desperation and despair.

I saw Nam Sang-hee.

“Are you reporting that Jeong Ho-gyeong destroyed this facility?”

Without hesitating for even a second, Nam Sang-hee nodded.

“99%.”

Well, that’s fine.

I remember.

Jeong Ho-gyeong’s sense of responsibility for the children was real.

No matter how bad things get, it’s unlikely that the friend who was overreacting would change his beliefs as if he were turning over the palm of his hand.

Nam Sang-hee said while fiddling with his tablet.

“The problem is the method.”

To be honest, at this point, I lost interest quickly.

What I was secretly hoping for when I came here was a new type of monster we didn’t know about, or a general type, an intelligent design pattern of the enemy we would soon face.

The theory of internal collapse is not something I want to know or see, and it is not a very convincing argument to me, having seen the human side of Jeong Ho-gyeong with my own eyes.

“What do you think, Mr. Jude?”

It’s a bit out of style, but let’s ask for some help from Yoo Seong-ju here.

This guy is the kind of guy who sings a song the whole time he’s on a helicopter ride, saying he doesn’t want to do it.

If you’re going to run away anyway, it might not be a bad idea to share the responsibility.

But as I get older, I always feel that if a guy is shit, he’s shit from beginning to end.

“Of course I should!”

Yoo Seong-ju suddenly showed his enthusiasm with his eyes sparkling.

“yes?”

I looked at him with incredulous eyes, but he seemed oblivious and continued to make noises that made my heart break.

“That guy was up to something. I didn’t like him from the start. That bastard. He secretly disrespects people. I really want to see how that bastard killed those poor kids and soldiers here.”

And so the full-scale exploration began.

It was true that Yoo Seong-ju had been in charge of the exploration here ten times.

He knew the layout of the area better than I did, and knew how to get around capsules and monster-occupied terrain.

The first place we headed to was the communications room.

It is a facility that can communicate with government forces remaining in Jeju as well as other parts of the Korean Peninsula through a large satellite antenna installed on the upper part of the beehive.

It was neat.

There was no sign of an explosion or gunfire, and a coffee cup, probably left behind by a previous employee, now with a dried-out, black rim, sat on the corner of the table with a dried, corroded coating.

“Was it like this from the beginning?”

Nam Sang-hee asked Yoo Seong-ju.

Yoo Seong-ju nodded.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Just a moment.”

Nam Sang-hee manipulated the communication panel, but the panel did not turn on.

The power grid went out due to a long absence.

As expected of someone who had made up his mind and prepared, Nam Sang-hee did not panic and sent someone to prepare a makeshift generator. Amidst the loud noise of the generator turbine, he turned on the communication panel again.

“also.”

Nam Sang-hee turned his head towards us.

“There is evidence that someone intentionally cut off communication.”

“How did you send the distress signal?”

Nam Sang-hee answered.

“A thunderstorm raged through the area two days ago, and a single lightning strike appears to have caused a spinal reflex in the dead communications equipment. After a long period of power outage, it returned to normal and probably sent out a distress signal, which was part of emergency protocol.”

It was only then that I noticed a strange fever on Nam Sang-hee’s face.

“Let’s keep looking back, Your Majesty.”

I don’t know why, but Nam Sang-hee seems to feel a thrill and joy in this gloomy exploration that I cannot feel.

Next we headed to where the body was found.

That’s a place I know well.

Moran-dong.

This is the residential area where the children lived.

Children who had been transformed into mummies were lying in a row in the dining room, spaced out at regular intervals, their hands clasped together.

I walked out of the restaurant, glancing over at the messy trail of maggots crawling around.

I decided not to think deeply about it.

Inside the restaurant, a conversation between Nam Sang-hee and Yoo Seong-ju could be heard.

“Was it like this when you first found it?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Captain Kim. Could you come over here for a moment? I’d like to ask you to do a simple autopsy. Just find out the cause of death.”

Missions aren’t like movies where you have a series of tension and thrills.

Most of the mission consists of boring waiting and fighting against yourself.

The dynamic movement that puts your life on the line is only a split second during a long, long mission.

Well, it is an undeniable fact that most casualties occur in that split second.

The autopsy lasted well over two hours.

Nam Sang-hee and Yoo Seong-ju came out of the restaurant with the stench of a corpse on their bodies.

“I used poison.”

Yoo Seong-ju reported.

“Poison?”

“Yes. I poisoned the kids. So the Awaken kids died without being able to fight back, right?”

The military doctor who was standing next to me, Captain Kim, said something on Nam Sang-hee’s side.

“I don’t think they forced me to eat it.”

There were more things I wanted to ask, but I didn’t ask them.

If I had one wish, it would be to get out of here quickly.

To Nam Sang-hee, the conflict, confrontation, and destruction between humans may be a fresh subject, but to me, it is nothing more than a boring and stale topic.

“That would be the biggest mystery.”

The next place we headed to was the “adult” area.

There were soldiers, facility technicians, and caterers.

That’s an area I don’t know much about.

I never really saw them when I was in the hive, and I never really hung out with them.

There were signs of battle.

No bodies were found, but black stains, presumably bloodstains, were embedded in the walls like dried paint, and bullet holes and debris from explosions were scattered everywhere.

“How did you subdue him?”

Nam Sang-hee realized that I had no interest in this case and asked only questions to Yoo Seong-ju.

I thought it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be a third party.

It’s an environment where you don’t really want to step out, but it’s also an environment where you can look around more freely without worrying about what other people think.

“······.”

Something feels off.

I’m not sure what that feeling of discomfort is.

I’ve fought a few human-vs-Awaken battles, but I’ve rarely analyzed them.

As I was thinking about what was causing the feeling of discomfort, I heard Yoo Seong-ju’s voice.

“Could it be that Jeong Ho-gyeong took a few of his Awaken followers and subdued them? As you know, there’s not much soldiers can do in front of the Awaken.”

It’s a possible guess.

Jeong Ho-gyeong did not treat all his children equally, but he had a few children who could be called his personal guard.

It would not have been that difficult for Jeong Ho-gyeong, who harbored a grudge against Jeju, to deceive and trick the children.

“······So you’re saying that Commissioner Jeong Ho-gyeong led his Awakens to raid this place and kill all the military forces?”

“Yes, that’s right. I don’t know if you know, but when I worked here, I had a separate channel of communication with Mr. Jeong Ho-gyeong.”

I had my suspicions from earlier, but it seems that Yoo Seong-ju and his team members have worked here in the past.

The story goes that his knowledge of the geography here is not only due to his past ten explorations.

So, his hostility towards Jeong Ho-gyeong is somewhat understandable.

I have personally experienced that he is not a likable person.

The exploration was now nearing its conclusion.

“This lighthouse facility was a project that depended on the political fate of a man named Jeong Ho-gyeong. When it was abandoned and everything seemed like it would collapse, he ended up making an extreme choice like everyone else, and that is the result we are seeing now.”

Nam Sang-hee briefly summarized the situation in a briefing in front of other soldiers and agents.

After the briefing, Nam Sang-hee asked Yoo Seong-ju.

“Okay, then the last question. Where is Jeong Ho-gyeong?”

Even Yoo Seong-ju hesitated for a moment at that question.

A distinct fear flashed across his eyes.

He walked slowly towards me and whispered in my ear.

“Ah, sir. Sir, can you guide me there······.”

The once confident man was shaking as if he was having a seizure.

I expected something shocking to happen.

Jeong Ho-gyeong’s body was found in a room surrounded by lead.

This is the very room where the remains of the boy who followed me were discovered.

The room was pitch black.

Jeong Ho-gyeong’s body was lying in the dark room, neatly lined up and in the correct position, like the children who had been lying in the dining room, like a mummy.

At this point someone might ask:

Why is a veteran like Yoo Seong-ju so afraid of a room with only one corpse lying there?

By adding a little more light, the question is answered.

There is a monster.

There are so many monsters that they fill the room, but they are still and silent.

“······Fuck.”

Nam Sang-hee swore for the first time.

That’s not really important to me.

It’s already a finished story.

What I’m paying attention to are the things that are hidden by Jeong Ho-gyeong and the countless monsters.

Traces of battle are carved all over the walls.

I didn’t see it when I came last time.

There are traces of executions from the North Korean era inside the beehive, but there has never been a trace of such a fierce battle.

These things stretched all the way from the adults’ area to the lead room.

“It seems that Jeong Ho-gyeong took his own life with his children. That was his protest against our decision.”

While Nam Sang-hee came to his own conclusion in front of the camera, I looked at the scars of battle left here and there.

On one side of the large wall leading to the Lead Room are traces of a large-scale battle.

There are traces of the use of not only bullets, but also anti-tank weapons and even hunter weapons.

There are many different types of combat.

An all-out attack with overwhelming force, a tense battle between two forces, and a light offensive combined with reconnaissance.

If my feeling is correct, the battle that took place here was probably something similar to a desperate resistance.

When you look at the hastily built and abandoned camp that Yoo Seong-ju and Nam Sang-hee ignore.

Even though Awaken had great power, it is unlikely that he would have been so well-prepared and put up such a fierce resistance against those children.

“······.”

The place where the bullet marks are engraved.

Look in the opposite direction.

There is nothing.

There is no trace of a reflective field.

So what on earth were they fighting such a fierce battle against?

While loitering around the lead room, a soldier reported finding a radio.

Miscellaneous electrical equipment, including a K-walkie-talkie, were reportedly found in the equipment repair room.

“Jeong Ho-gyeong must have seized it as a group. To prevent external contact.”

I took a look at one of the K-Walkie-Talkies.

“excuse me.”

I have something to say.

But the moment he saw Nam Sang-hee’s tired face, he changed his words.

“I think we’ve reached a conclusion, so let’s get going.”

“Please do so.”

She looked at me with cold eyes and spoke coldly.

He left the place in a hurry.

“The atmosphere was so good, was it really necessary to leave so hastily?”

Yoo Seong-ju expressed regret, saying that it was good to have found contact with the real power in Nam Sang-hee.

I showed him the K-Walkie-Talkie, or more precisely, the circuit board with the case removed.

“Huh? What is this?”

He doesn’t seem to know what it means.

I didn’t really need to explain it.

The board was charred black.

As if the monster was roasting the drone in mid-air.

This may be an exaggeration, but let’s reconstruct the situation.

It is true that Jeong Ho-gyeong had a fight with the Jeju government.

It is true that he also mentioned self-destruction in the process.

The important thing happened after that.

A number of radios malfunction simultaneously.

Communication was lost.

And then the monster appeared.

Probably the type that doesn’t create a reflective field.

Those who remained fought bravely and died.

Jeong Ho-gyeong entered the lead room with the children.

That’s what I understand the whole story to be.

Three days later, news came that contact with Nam Sang-hee had been cut off.