Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 7



Only Krnovel

7. Cat Mom

Most accidents are preventable.

The three cats I’m going to talk about – Gucci, Hermes and Jackfield – were also, in a way, preventable disasters.

“Madam, please don’t feed that cat.”

She was a middle-aged woman living alone in a vast, abandoned wilderness between Seoul and my territory.

She always covered her face with a mask, scarf, sunglasses, etc., probably because she had been burned during the nuclear attack. I got to know her around the time I started going to Seoul regularly to beg.

As she hurriedly left the place, pulling a cart, when she discovered me, a healthy man, I could feel a deep loneliness along with an eerie fear on her back.

Every time I passed by, she was feeding homeless cats in the same spot, and after observing her several times, it seemed like neither her husband nor her children were there.

I ignored it as it wasn’t that uncommon in today’s world, but she soon got used to me and didn’t leave the spot when she saw me anymore.

If you look at it, it developed into a relationship where one side ran away and the other side ignored each other.

Our relationship, which had been running parallel for a long time, was thrown out of balance by one incident.

Her cats have grown to an unusual size that is shocking to anyone who sees them.

“Excuse me. Can’t you hear me?”

That’s right.

It is a mutation precursor phenomenon.

It may be unimaginable now, but when the Chinese government was still in power, South Korea also dispatched hunters to jointly respond to monster invasions.

Since we have seen the collapse of India and Africa and the aftermath spreading to neighboring countries, it is clear as day that if we do nothing, South Korea will be next.

I had seen similar things in China’s new cities, which were newly built, large, and splendid, but actually had few people.

At that time, mankind was more ignorant than they are now, and could not tell the difference between mutations and monsters, but I boldly defied the opposition of my colleagues and captured an overgrown rat, claiming it to be a new type of hamster, and that sample helped create a new concept called mutation.

I’m not bragging, but I’m saying that I had a lot of contributions to revealing the existence of mutations.

Overgrowth beyond the growth limits determined by genes is the most representative precursor phenomenon of mutation.

The three cats fed by the unknown woman had already grown into golden retrievers by that point.

“Those cats. Don’t you think they’re too big, ma’am?”

“It’s a ragdoll.”

She made excuses.

The Ragdoll is a breed of cat with a considerable build.

But the sight of the three cats, including the calico cat, that I saw was extremely Korean.

“What kind of Ragdoll is that? I would believe it even if you said it was a desert cannibal, Lighter.”

“Don’t worry about it. Who are you to tell me what to do?”

She made an evil sound without even looking at me properly.

“It’s because you’re hurting the lady. Do you want to get eaten by a cat?”

“They’re not like that. They’re angels. How much do they follow me?”

When she held out her hand, the three cats rubbed their heads against her hand, competing with each other as if they were ancient Western nobles trying to kiss the seal of their king.

“······.”

He said no more.

He’s not a child, he’s an old man. He’ll know what to do.

My own selfish calculations also contributed to my ignoring her and leaving.

At that time, I was thinking that I should gradually cut off contact with Seoul.

Now that we have received our personal identification code, there is less need to go to Seoul in person, and above all, there is a shortage of people on the battlefield.

This means that high-level personnel like me can be dragged away at any time under any excuse.

It didn’t seem like a bad idea to have three new Mutations as my new neighbors guarding my bunker, along with a crazy sniper to the southeast and a bunch of gold to the southwest.

To begin with, that woman wouldn’t listen to anything I said.

“What are the names of those cats?”

He asked a question to the woman who was leaving.

“why?”

“Because you look cute.”

“Hermes, Gucci, Jackfield.”

Oddly enough, she didn’t tell me which cat had which name, but I thought I knew what each of the three cats had.

*

“If you move it in a crisscrossing manner like weaving a net like this, you can create a richer texture.”

A quiet afternoon.

I’m making wool felt dolls while watching the videos of the now deceased anonymous337.

The creature I made was a horrible shape, closer to a Lovecraftian goat than a sheep, but I am constantly referring to the videos of experts and modifying them to at least look like sheep.

Like the work by Anonymous337 on the shelf over there.

While I was concentrating, the K-Walkie-Talkie buzzed.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

This sound pattern signals that a direct call has been made using your personal identification number.

In other words, it is an important contact.

As expected.

Sender: Kim Da-ram

“Ha, shit.”

I couldn’t not answer, so I pressed the receive button and a lively voice came out as if it had been waiting for me.

“Senior. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What favor do you have for me now? You said you wouldn’t ask me to do anything again?”

“I don’t want to do this either, but I have to help in these dark times. And it’s not someone else’s business. Did you know that many people died recently around the golf course where my senior lives?”

“······Was it the Rupert Cibulal Palace?”

“See? You know?”

The incident where three angels raised by an unknown woman turned into monsters and turned the residents of an apartment complex into real angels was a stroke of luck to me, but it seems the central government viewed it as a serious matter.

The country has issued a death warrant for Hermes, Gucci and Jackfield.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t hunt mutations anymore. I don’t have the skills, I don’t want to, and I don’t have the equipment.”

“It’s not what the senior does. I’ll send someone.”

“person?”

“Freelance Hunter.”

The freelance hunter appeared before me riding a vintage motorcycle that was hard to see even before the war.

“hello?”

He was not a large man, but he had a solid, rock-hard image, wearing a skin-tight leather coat and leather pants, and his face looked young yet old.

“This is Baek Seung-hyun.”

From the first time we met, he scanned my entire body up and down as if he was exploring me, then he smiled strangely and snorted as if he knew something.

Since he was the type of person I didn’t want to get too close to, I tried my best to keep my words to myself and only said what I wanted to say.

My conditions were threefold.

“I will not participate in the battle, nor will I assist. And I will accompany you only until sunset today.”

Baek Seung-hyun chuckled.

As I was keeping quiet, he suddenly opened his mouth.

“Are you Mr. Park Gyu who graduated from school? He’s from the legendary 13th class.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I graduated from the same school. Class 12.”

“······.”

“The towering fortress of trials that stands splendidly~ We polish ourselves like splendid jade~ We receive the energy of Samgaksan and are reborn as Taoists of the times~”

Suddenly this person starts singing a song.

The melody I remember, the school song.

Seeing that the school song disappeared after about half a year due to complaints that it was old-fashioned, I don’t think I’m just talking nonsense.

Looking closely, it’s a face I vaguely remember.

You may have encountered it at least a few times in the correctional facility.

Of course, at that time, both I and this person were a bit more immature and less dirty.

“That Mr. Park Gyu is in a place like this. What a surprise.”

“Let’s not talk about old times.”

“I knew a loser like me would fail. But a top student like you······.”

He gave a strong signal that he didn’t want to hear any more.

Baek Seung-hyun looked slightly surprised at the sharp gaze, then quickly apologized.

“Sorry. No comment.”

He rode a motorcycle and I rode a bicycle to the operation site.

But even before I got close, the smell of blood was strong, and when I arrived at the scene, there was a chaotic mix of fallen flesh, hair, blood, and messy footprints.

“What is this?”

Baek Seung-hyun smiled faintly.

“Actually, I had a blast with them before I met you.”

Baek Seung-hyun tapped the heavy weapon on the bike with his hand.

Type 21 large-caliber hunter rifle.

It is literally a hunter’s equipment for hunting monsters and mutations.

“He must have tasted human blood before, because he was aggressively attacking me, but he was really mean. I only gave him a few scratches.”

To be honest, I laughed at the fact that he was a freelance hunter.

I will correct it.

Baek Seung-hyun is strong.

It would be impossible to take on three mutations and destroy them in the wilderness with only a slow bolt-action rifle without any analysis or observation, unless you have a lot of guts and skills.

It’s at least A grade.

If I were you, I would give it an A grade.

“I don’t like meeting other people either. I had no choice but to meet you. Do you think an animal has the skills to wipe off its blood and move to a ditch?”

He came to me for one purpose.

Help find the injured cat.

But how do I know?

I’m not a cat detective.

Wait, there is one face that comes to mind.

The nameless woman who fed Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield passed before my eyes like an old homework assignment.

*

The abandoned single-family apartment was covered in trash and fallen leaves, creating an eerie atmosphere.

All the glass windows were broken, and the red water flowing from the old-fashioned veranda was decorating the apartment like tears of blood, creating an eerie atmosphere.

“It’s a cheap apartment. It’s probably at least 40 years old.”

Baek Seung-hyun looked around with sharp eyes.

“There are no marts or stores around here. It’s just rice paddies and fields. It doesn’t look like the surrounding farmland is large enough for everyone living here to farm.”

He chattered as if he was expressing an unasked question, then looked up at the apartment with narrowed eyes.

“Still, this is the only place around here where people can live.”

Indeed, a woman with her face covered was hiding in that apartment.

Baek Seung-hyun was good at handling people.

To be exact, he had a talent for herding people like livestock.

“auntie.”

Baek Seung-hyun held out the screen of his cell phone.

“Do you know these?”

“······.”

“Ma’am. Don’t keep your mouth shut. Tell me. Do you know how many people these guys have killed?”

“That can’t be true.”

“That can’t be true.”

“There’s no way our children would do that!”

Baek Seung-hyun sniffed.

He went around to the back of the apartment and came out holding a bloody piece of clothing.

“My wife was among the dead.”

The clothes he was holding were for some reason men’s clothes, but at that point the conversation was interrupted because the woman burst into tears.

What kind of wind was blowing?

When I came to, I was standing next to her.

“Are you okay?”

He even handed me the canned coffee I had brought to drink.

It seems that gifts are the key that opens a woman’s heart regardless of the era.

She, who had been sobbing, held the coffee in both hands and opened her mouth.

“······That day, the people in the apartment building went into a bunker by themselves, leaving me out. It was built during the Saemaul Movement.”

She pointed toward the bunker.

“When I arrived late, the door was closed. I knocked and shouted, but they wouldn’t open the door. It was like they were telling me to die outside. We were at odds because I used to feed the cat. Then, Jackfield appeared and meowed!”

She took off her sunglasses and wiped away her tears.

“The guy went ahead and guided me into the basement.”

Her eyes were so ugly that even her eyebrows had melted away and it was hard to look at her properly, but her eyes held a warmth that made animals follow her.

“I saved my life thanks to those kids. And they saved their lives thanks to me.”

“What happened to the people in the bunker?”

I think it’s obvious even without looking.

If you look at the black soot engraved like a ghost on the ventilation shaft side.

“It felt like there was a fire inside. There was smoke and screaming. All day long.”

This woman’s secret to survival has been revealed.

All the residents of the small apartment died.

Although it is a small apartment, it houses 60 households.

This means that the goods of 60 generations are attributed to one person.

As Baek Seung-hyun said, it was a run-down apartment located in a remote area, so it seems that even the looters didn’t look at it.

“You’re not giving me food now?”

“Yes. Now, it’s too······grown···.”

“Do you know where it is? Next time, someone more reckless than that person might come.”

At my urging, she seemed to be making up her mind and tried to open the can of coffee I had given her.

Perhaps because of her alcoholic tremors, she couldn’t even open the can, so I opened it for her and she bowed her head and accepted the coffee.

She looked into the distance as she sipped her coffee, which had absorbed my body temperature, perhaps trying to make some kind of resolution.

“I have a guess as to where to go.”

She led us towards a ditch leading to an abandoned rice field.

She guided us and briefly introduced the meaning of this place.

“I found those kids here. I took care of them because they were abandoned by their mother.”

Her instincts were spot on.

There are bloodstains.

“Hermes~ Gucci~ Jackfield~!”

She called out to her beasts longingly.

Baek Seung-hyun and I were standing far away in the back.

If possible, he didn’t want to see Baek Seung-hyun, so he fixed his gaze on the woman and asked coldly.

“Does it have to be done this way?”

Baek Seung-hyun put a vest on the woman.

A bomb vest.

I agree with him that this is less painful than being torn alive by mutations, but this is just humane.

“That’s something even dead people would want to ask that lady.”

Giant beasts appeared in the ditch, bleeding profusely.

It’s a mutation.

Baek Seung-hyun placed his finger on the detonator switch.

I have nothing to say.

Because his judgment is sound, leaving aside the emotional realm.

Scholars say.

Mutations are too smart to be tamed.

The reason it attacks humans is because it knows how humans think and treat themselves.

Mutations hate humans by choice, just as humans, who were once God’s most gentle sheep, have become God’s fiercest critics.

This is the general theory about the aggression of mutations.

however.

“meow.”

An unbelievable sight unfolded.

The mutations were following her.

Just like the cats of that time, who used to cling to her and fight for her touch, just like before they changed, he was competitively thrusting his lion-sized head in and rubbing his body against her body, which was wearing a bomb vest.

“Look. Our children are so good. And even though it turned out like this······.”

“······.”

The undeniable common belief was directly refuted by an unknown woman and her cats.

But that brief miracle was instantly erased by the fingertips of the man who was immersed in reality.

Click

The monotonous click of a switch was followed by an explosion, engulfing everything in light and loud noise.

“You work like shit.”

This will probably be the first time.

I looked at Baek Seung-hyun seriously.

Baek Seung-hyun, who had been staring at me the whole time, avoided my gaze at that moment.

“······Because it’s a shitty world.”

After mumbling, he fled the scene.

The woman’s body had disappeared without a trace.

Only one mutation was left gasping for its last breath, its lower body blown away.

I looked down at the cat.

The guy looked up at me helplessly with his cooling eyes.

“You’re Jackfield.”

The ugliest of the three nodded as if he were a human and then stopped breathing.