Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 59



Only Krnovel

38. Butterfly

ㅇㅇ: This is it. Isn’t it a Pilcrum drawing style?

ㅇㅇ: Is this really something that Philcrum drew?

ㅇㅇ: Isn’t that Dragon-ssi imitating you?

ㅇㅇ: Dragon must have taken revenge. That little shit Pilkrum has fucked me over before by plagiarizing me.

SKELTON: Hmm······

ㅇㅇ: Hmm, okay, you little shit, you’re falling asleep

It’s no wonder that Dragon C’s new work is receiving mixed reviews.

Actually, that was drawn by Philcrum.

I gave him a few hints.

One of them is that, under no circumstances should it be revealed that he is Pilcrum.

As a result, Dragon C has become a mystical writer who does not communicate in any way other than through his work.

There were also hardships.

Message from DragonC: Hey, what should I do with the people on the Viva board who keep sending me messages and acting like they’re my friends?

“hmm······.”

SKELTON: Ignore or block.

Message from DragonC: Okay, I’ll do that. But what if my child or wife is sick or I have to go out?

SKELTON: Send me a message. I have some painkillers and antibiotics on hand.

Message from DragonC: Thank you so much. And I’m sorry. I don’t know how to put this situation into words······.

SKELTON: Time will tell.

It’s literal.

Time heals all things.

Because sooner or later, our fates are converging toward one destination.

gijayangban: Large-scale eruption observed at Paju Gate.

gijayangban: There is information that a giant bell has also been sighted

gijayangban: We will check the situation later and provide additional breaking news.

For once, a journalist has done his duty.

His or her information was hot new information that had not even been posted on the popular PaleNet.

“······.”

It’s a shame that none of the numerous videos I’ve collected before the war show how to use an espresso machine.

Although I enjoyed drinking coffee, I wasn’t someone who couldn’t live without it, and there was a great substitute called mixed coffee.

I’m roughly manipulating it and eating it appropriately, but it doesn’t taste like the one Dragon used to make for me when he was alive.

Since Defender’s younger brother said he worked at a cafe, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invite him over once and have him learn how to use it.

I waited for the reporter to come up with new news while drinking poorly brewed coffee.

gijayangban: Five giant bells confirmed.

“This is a mess.”

In some ways, it was something that should have happened a long time ago.

At the point when the Legion faction that had been guarding the rift gave up its defense and started a civil war.

The rift, which scientists are trying to define as something similar to a wormhole, is simply a passage connecting Earth and another world.

It’s literally a passageway.

The crack itself does not have a will to spit out monsters or capture people.

The monsters on the other side of the rift simply pass through the passage and appear on Earth.

Hunters or soldiers who are first deployed to the rift are first surprised by the actual appearance and size of the rift, and then are surprised again by how leisurely it is and how there is nothing to do there beyond their imagination.

Just because there’s a crack doesn’t mean monsters will pop their faces out and say hello every day.

Sometimes they appear only once a week, and sometimes they don’t appear at all for over 100 days.

Once the doctrine of sending a reconnaissance party into the rift was established, so-called “forecasts” became possible, and the work beyond the rift was reduced accordingly.

But occasionally, a huge mass will burst through the cracks, as if drawn by something, almost like a volcanic eruption.

In China, this is called an attack, but in other countries, it is called an eruption, meaning a volcanic eruption.

Personally, I think the latter is a more accurate expression.

Considering its explosive momentum and the overwhelming scale reminiscent of a natural disaster.

At the entrance to the rift is a perfectly fortified monster killing zone called the kill zone.

The long-range artillery units are mainly responsible for firepower, and any explosion can be dealt with by the artillery units alone.

Indeed, for a long time artillery was considered a panacea.

Until they put up a giant shield called the Colossal Bell.

Eventually the Air Force was called in and the tanks opened fire.

When the tanks alone cannot respond, the infantry prays to their respective gods and looks at the firing line, while our hunters unload their equipment and go on standby.

Since its introduction in North America over a decade ago, the system has established itself as the most reliable means of dealing with cracks.

The Paju defense line was probably one of the strongest defensive walls in the world.

It was not difficult to block the strongest crack, which was comparable to the Beijing crack.

Occasionally a giant bell will escape, but that is beyond our control.

If we concentrate our firepower on one extra-large species and leave the large and medium-sized species swarming below it like a swarm of ants, the entire front line will collapse.

Now, the hunters who were active beyond the rift and predicted the eruption of monsters have retired or left for Jeju Island.

In the face of the cracks, the military, which is supposed to protect the people and the country, is pointing its sword at its own troops and aiming only to usurp power.

Now the monster’s eruption will spread unhindered throughout Seoul and its surroundings.

Like lava, burning and melting everything it touches.

gijayangban: The 4th generation of the giant bell is moving south.

gijayangban: The directions are two due south, one due east, and two due southwest.

gijayangban : Expected path image file.jpg

An hour after the reporter’s article was posted, a monster alert was heard on shortwave radio.

“This is an emergency disaster broadcast. Five giant monsters have appeared in the Paju area, and all but one are moving south. The detailed route is currently being tracked, but those living in the above areas are requested to go to the nearest shelter immediately upon hearing this broadcast and follow the orders of the relevant department. Paju, Uijeongbu, Yangju, Goyang, Gimpo······.”

I turned on the radio and watched the reporter’s route.

The trajectories of the two heading due south are ominous.

Passing through Seoul is a done deal, so what happens next is the problem.

Will it pass through Seoul, which has become a no-man’s land, and crash into Incheon, or will it make a spectacular curve like before and show its face in my territory? Maybe it will disappear before that.

It’s up to the monster to decide where to go, but one thing is certain.

The Paju area is now the territory of monsters.

No, the entire north would be a monster’s territory.

The entire area would be painted a gloomy gray-white, like the aerial photos of North Korea I once saw.

By the way, Mr. Reporter.

It’s quite helpful.

Honestly, it’s more helpful than Kim Da-ram.

I don’t know if there’s anything beyond that mask of a journalist······.

Could it really be Woo Min-hee?

It’s unknown, but the possibility is quite high.

The fact that he didn’t show himself right after the war and then showed up after the situation was somewhat settled, the fact that he was active in Seoul, a city full of danger, the fact that he had been using PaleNet, which is difficult to use unless you approach a big city like Seoul, and the fact that he took out his anger on our bulletin board after Eom Chang-i’s activities.

Of course, it might not be Woo Min-hee.

What I’m saying is that it could be someone I don’t know who is in the same department or situation as Woo Min-hee.

In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that the public interest of the reporter is the exact opposite of Woo Min-hee’s personality, which only causes harm.

Beep- beep- beep-

The K-Walkie-Talkie suddenly started emitting a special tone.

When I checked the screen,

Personal identification number: REDMASK

This is Woo Min-hee.

They say even a tiger will come if you call it.

I thought you’d contact me just by thinking about it.

What’s going on?

To be honest, I don’t want to receive it.

If you receive it, you’ll only feel worse.

I might be asking for too much

But now, you have to accept it unconditionally.

If I don’t get a call, Woo Min-hee will start to suspect that her senior is being mean to her. And she (30 years old) has a rich imagination and is good at taking over the affairs of others, so she might soon be able to deduce the identity of the kind Eom Chang-i (31 years old)!

“Hmm! Hmm!”

After clearing his throat slightly, he responded to the call.

“Oh~ Minhee? What’s going on?!”

“Senior~.”

Her mood didn’t seem too bad from the speaker of the K-Walkie-Talkie.

“Are you listening to the radio?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m listening!”

“Because a Kraken type might go around the area where my senior gave me directions before.”

“You didn’t call me on purpose to tell me that?”

“That’s not a given. No matter what, we’re the seniors. Even without that, all of our brothers and sisters are dying, so at least our seniors should be okay. If our seniors die, no one will come to the funeral, right?”

“Hey, Minhee······.”

I was a little grateful.

I’ve had my fair share of issues with this guy, but he’s still my junior. We trusted each other and fought on the battlefield.

He was a strange guy, but he wasn’t a very bad guy before he developed psychic abilities.

Above all, she gave a warning that even Kim Da-ram didn’t give.

It feels like all the bad feelings have melted away.

Woo Min-hee, maybe he’s a good guy?

“Does Eomchang know by any chance?”

“!!!”

I just cancelled the thought.

“Why is there no answer?”

“Huh, what the heck?! What, what the hell is that? Isn’t that a curse? How can such vulgar words suddenly come out of your classy mouth······.”

“Senior, don’t you use the internet?”

“Internet? What is the Internet?”

“huh?”

“Ah, the Internet! You know, the thing you do on your computer? The ocean of information! Yahoo, Lycos!”

“What kind of caveman-like talk are you talking about?”

“I haven’t been on the internet for over two years, so I’m done.”

“Aha. I see.”

A soft laugh could be heard from beyond the speaker.

“Well, you’re not the type of person who would do something like that, are you? You never even tried to enter group chats. What should I say? I thought you were being really expensive.”

“······.”

“When I saw your senior ID number, I thought of a strange guy, so I just asked him.”

“My ID number? Are you talking about Skeleton?”

“Yeah. He does some weird beatboxing. What should I say? It’s like an old person imitating a young person? He’s not even in his fifties, but he could easily be in his sixties. Ah.”

A voice calling can be heard from beyond the speaker.

“I’ll hang up.”

Communication was lost.

It was a one-sided and rude remark, but that rudeness actually felt like salvation to me.

“after······.”

I immediately ran to my laptop.

SKELTON: (Skeleton Video) Skeleton’s Beatbox (3)

A video uploaded a year ago.

“······!!”

It’s not deletion.

Deleting it will only raise more suspicions.

I played my video, resisting the strong urge to delete it.

Fortunately, I was much more cautious back then than I am now.

It was a video, but Skeleton’s beatbox flowed out amidst a dark screen and even darker shadows.

“Bam, bam, bam! Bam! Bam! Push~ Chika chika! Bachika! Bam!”

I found myself moving my body to the dazzling beatbox in the video and watched it till the end.

The conclusion is that there is no abnormality.

There aren’t many clues to guess that Skeleton is Park Gyu.

But then I see something I hadn’t seen before.

A comment was posted that had never been seen before.

Could it be that my bulletin board friends found out about my coolness too late and searched my posts to leave comments?

I read the comments with excitement.

Kyle_Dos : You’re really bad at it

mmmmmmmmm : Beggar~ Beggar~ I’m going to die alone in a bunker~ I’m going to “The Hope” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

keystone: I want to hit that bastard in the mouth.

SeamonkeyPAPA : *********

Anonymous848: Wow

DragonC: (Yong-ssi is shocked)

Why is the reaction like this?

Still, I see nicknames that bring back memories.

From friends whose lives have been cut off to friends who we will never see again.

I prepared the car while feeling the gentle memories.

Although it was a waste of gasoline, I made full preparations to move the four-wheeled vehicle and contacted those around me.

“Defender. It’s me.”

You can easily contact the Defender siblings because there is a communicator.

“Skeleton!”

Dajeong received a call.

She was always the one who received the most contact.

“What does your brother do?”

“Taking a nap. I’m sleeping more than I look.”

“Did you listen to the radio?”

“Yeah. But you can come all the way here? How far is it from Paju to here?”

“We came this far last year.”

“Really? Is that dangerous?”

“It’s extremely dangerous.”

“What should we do?”

“We’d better get our vehicles ready and run away when that monster appears until it’s out of sight.”

“I have a kickboard.”

“Kickboard is a bit.”

I’m not particularly worried about this.

They are friends who are good at moving around.

Just as I was about to cut it off, Da-jeong brought up a new topic.

“Oh, Skeleton. Have you seen the latest Dragon C?”

“huh.”

“What do you think of that? It doesn’t look like it was drawn by Mr. Dragon. It looks like that guy, Pilkrum, or rather, his drawing style. No way?!”

“Well, we could collaborate. We’re both writers.”

“Hmm. Did Dragon really accept the Philcrum?”

“Let’s talk about that later.”

I haven’t told Defender what happened to Dragon C yet.

But since we’re internet friends, I’ll have to let you know soon.

I’m already taking the opportunity.

“Skeleton!”

I plan to bring together my neighbors, the sniper mother and daughter, and the defender siblings.

“Yeah. Suu. Where’s Mom?”

“I’m taking a nap.”

“Internet again?”

“Mom found some surprising news on the Internet.”

“what?”

“I’ll go see it myself and tell you.”

“Isn’t that strange news?”

“I don’t know. Juicy- have you done anything?”

“Juicy- That’s not the problem, did you listen to the radio?”

“Yeah. But should we come all the way here?”

“Well, I guess I should prepare.”

I made all preparations and tuned my senses to the radio.

The radio announcer, in a dry voice, would occasionally inform us of the location of the giant bell through thin airwaves.

“Super-large bell No. 3, moving south past Seoul. Currently passing near Suwon and expected to disappear after passing Suwon.”

I climbed up the hill that covered my bunker and looked north with my telescope.

To the north, there was nothing but darkness, a barren land and a few pioneer lights.

Instead, the sky is full of stars.

Waiting for guests to arrive under the infinite number of stars.

A glittering halo of light was seen spreading out in the distance.

The radio said.

“The third super-large bell has been destroyed. Destruction confirmed. Next, I will inform you of the information on the fourth bell.”

Unlike before, monsters did not come into my territory.

It seems like the face-to-face meeting between the sniper mother and daughter and the defender siblings will have to be postponed a bit longer.

I stood on the hill for a moment, blankly watching the giant bell disappear.

I always feel that the death of monsters, especially the disappearance of giant species, has the power to capture people’s attention.

The communicator suddenly rang.

“Skeleton. Are you seeing this? There are some really pretty lights to the north!”

It’s affectionate.

She was seeing the same scene as me.

“Is that the death of a monster?”

“huh.”

“······They are like butterflies made of light. Countless.”

She seemed fascinated by the disappearance of a giant species she had never seen before.

Indeed, everyone who sees the annihilation of monsters for the first time often talks about its beauty.

In fact, the death of a monster is so beautiful.

Chijijik-

The radio rang.

“Skeleton!”

This time it’s Suuda.

“Are you watching? The monsters are dying!”

“Hey Skelton.”

No, Rebecca is with you too.

“We’re hungry. Give me chocolate.”

“······.”

As I was staying silent, I heard the sound of Suu being hit.

“Why does Mom keep saying weird things? That’s why Dad left home.”

“······Sorry. Still, Suu. And Skeleton. Isn’t it pretty when monsters die?”

“huh.”

At that moment, the monster that was collapsing tilted sharply and vomited out thousands of butterflies at once, covering the heavens and the earth in particles of light.

Maybe that’s why.

Silence came over both the radio and the communicator.

I also see the infinite butterflies that Da-jeong spoke of.

“······.”

I hope that our human death will be like that too.

Most of those who refused or were unable to leave Seoul that day died.