Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 89



Only Krnovel

47. Cold

The most important thing to worry about, whether before or after a war, is health.

When the body is broken, the person is broken too.

Although I have a healthy constitution, I was careful about taking care of my health while living in the bunker.

Even if you say health care, it’s not a big deal.

I tried to keep my body temperature from dropping too low, eat an appropriate amount of food, not drink or smoke, and above all, not get stressed.

Stress doesn’t just wreak havoc on your mind; it eats away at your body.

I also took supplements regularly, and even if I took them every day, I still had enough left to last me for another five years.

Of course, I didn’t neglect exercise either.

Although I avoided exercise that would make me out of breath, I never skipped a day of exercise that would maintain adequate lung capacity, muscle strength, and flexibility.

However, no matter how much a person takes care of his or her health, he or she cannot always be healthy.

A person who was just working out at the gym could die from a heart attack in the elevator on the way back, or they could be in a life-threatening situation after eating seafood they received as a gift and getting food poisoning.

This Park Gyu-do is no exception.

“Cough! Cough!”

It looks like you’ve been pushing yourself too hard in Jepoongho City.

I caught a cold.

That too with a bad flu.

The thermometer placed between my armpits read 39.5 degrees.

I broke out in a cold sweat all over my body, and I felt chills and fever alternately.

The inside of the bunker was stuffy with the late autumn heat, but I had to lie still under my thick blanket.

Gulp-

My stomach was growling because I hadn’t eaten properly, but I didn’t even have the energy to get up, let alone serve food.

There is instant porridge, but it is on the third basement floor, and you have to go down a ladder, which is impossible with my current level of energy.

I spent the whole day lying in bed, fighting a high fever and chills.

I took medicine, but it didn’t help.

My head started hurting more and I even started coughing.

The thermometer read 39.6 degrees.

“Cough! Cough······!!”

People are stronger animals than people think, but sometimes they die incredibly easily.

On the second day of my cold, I spent my days in endless pain, drawing and erasing vague images that I could not come to terms with.

I got out of bed because I thought I needed to eat, but I couldn’t go down to the basement because I felt dizzy, so I ate some crackers placed on the first floor with water.

That evening, I received a call from the communicator, but I did not answer it.

I was aware that the radio was ringing, but I was so drunk, drowsy, and in pain that I couldn’t turn it on.

I opened my eyes at dawn that day.

Around 2:10 in the morning.

I felt extreme hunger and thirst.

Feeling like I absolutely had to eat something, I took the lantern and, step by step, wearily headed toward the ladder leading down to the third basement level.

“Ugh······.”

The hatch won’t open.

To be exact, I couldn’t open the hatch leading to the second basement level because I didn’t have any strength in my body.

I had no choice but to drink only water and go back to bed, stuffing my mouth with enough glucose candies to fill it up.

Horribly, I haven’t been able to sleep since.

The pain was still there, but my mind was so clear.

The clear mind itself, coupled with the aching body, presented a new mental pain.

If I try to do something with this clear mind, my body hurts and I can’t do anything, but if I try to just sit there blankly or sleep, this absent-minded mind blocks even that.

In a situation where I couldn’t do anything, I had to wait for the sun to rise, perceiving time in seconds.

It’s been three days since I caught a cold.

The thermometer read 38.6 degrees.

The fever has gone down.

However, it is still considered a high fever.

The nagging headache still persists, and the uselessly clear state of awareness remains intact.

Gulp

Now I need to eat something.

I have to eat it.

I forced myself up and opened the hatch again.

Squeak–

I barely managed to open the hatch.

But it’s not luxurious.

“······.”

The motion sensor blinked red.

The location is on the eastern side of the main bunker.

That’s right.

He is an intruder.

I barely managed to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out.

It’s always like that.

Fate doesn’t wait.

Fate will not spare me just because I am sick or in poor condition.

Even my dead colleagues are like that.

There was a junior named Park Seon-mi.

She was a woman of many words.

She said she was sick that day.

I was embarrassed to say anything, but it looked like I had period cramps.

He told me to rest.

But she was ambitious and instead of taking a break, she asked for an easier position.

She was about to get married.

Her plan was to accumulate more points on the battlefield, get promoted, and start her married life under better conditions.

I denied her request, but she went into the operation through my superior and died.

She had the terrifying stamina to run the 100m in under 12 seconds, but she was slower than usual and that’s why she died.

Right now I’m in a worse situation than her.

I couldn’t control my body properly due to the high fever and chills, I couldn’t eat properly because of it, and I was even confused because of the strong cold medicine.

We have to fight in this state.

Clank-

Since I was not in a position to lift an axe, I did not even take it out.

All I can count on is two rifles and three pistols.

I didn’t have time to set up anything like booby traps, and the entrance to my main bunker, which I dug up during the rainy season, is still open.

The killers sent by Kim Da-ram would probably be confused to learn that my bunker has two entrances, but they would soon turn their attention to the main bunker when they saw that one of the bunkers was empty and had no door.

The motion sensor keeps blinking.

From east to south.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

There is no particular scenery that comes to mind.

No one comes to mind.

Well, surprisingly, there isn’t much regret.

Just die.

This is exactly how I feel right now.

Maybe it was the result of suffering from high fever, chills, and all sorts of pain, but when I think about it carefully, there was nothing I particularly longed for in life.

He was not the embodiment of lust for power like Lee Sang-hoon, nor did he try to gain something for himself like Kim Da-ram, nor did he chase his dreams like Gong Kyung-min, nor did he follow his impulses like Woo Min-hee.

I just wanted to erase the existence of monsters from this world.

That’s it.

No, there’s one more.

There was one thing I wanted to do.

There was one thing left on my wish list that I had always dreamed of but never wanted to do.

I put down my gun, ran to my laptop, turned it on, and logged onto the internet.

“······.”

Knock knock

While working on the bulletin board, I saw the deaths of many friends.

Some friends disappear quietly without a sound, while others disappear with a loud noise.

Among them, there are some friends who left a particularly strong impression on me.

These are the friends who, before they die, or before they are killed, blurt out their final words through the Internet.

Now, Dongtan Mom has been resurrected in Baek Seung-hyun’s body.

Anyway, even if I go there, when the moment comes to really go to the other world, I want to do like those friends.

SKELTON: (Skeleton Crisis) F*cked!

-There are guys out there trying to kill me right now.

I’ll go first. Bye!

I’m talking about the Internet terminal.

Since it wasn’t a situation where I could take a picture and upload it, I quickly wrote down the content and closed the laptop.

“······Phew.”

Wishlist completed.

A smile naturally appears on my lips.

What a blessing it is to be able to smile even in this terrible situation.

Jeokbuk

I hear footsteps.

It belongs to humans.

The human body is really a mess. My mind, which had been wide awake all morning and night, is now filled with drowsiness, weighing on my eyelids.

I’m so angry I want to scream, but I don’t want to reveal my location.

My mission is to bring back at least one more, even if it means dying.

The front sensor flashed.

They’re now at the entrance to my bunker.

He hid under the concrete platform that held the central toilet, placed the gun on the toilet, and fixed the muzzle on it.

“······.”

There is no movement.

What are you preparing?

Dynamite? Welding machine?

If you brought dynamite, you’ll die.

By the way, this is my last post.

I wonder if there were any comments.

Surely my last words won’t be buried in the dust?

Then I think I’d be really angry.

Seriously, really.

dripping

Fate is knocking on my door.

I held my gun still and waited for the door to open.

“Skeleton?”

ah.

“Skeleton? Are you there?”

I had completely forgotten about it.

“Skeleton? Hey~ Skeleton~!”

That I have neighbors.

“No, I tried calling you several times on the communicator, but why haven’t you responded? Huh?”

The intruders were none other than the Defender siblings.

Whether it was the relief of having survived, the accumulated fatigue and pain, or the reaction to writing his final words on his laptop, Park Gyu lost consciousness immediately after opening the door to the Defender siblings.

*

Before our family was wiped out by the monster, we lived in a 79㎡, or 24 pyeong, apartment.

Although it was 24 pyeong, it had three rooms and two bathrooms, but of course, the rooms and living room were clearly smaller than the larger space.

So, if I was just chatting in the living room, I could see my mother making dinner right next to me.

My mother’s cooking wasn’t as good as my friend’s mom’s, but the colors of the sunset streaming in through the window, the quiet air, and the sound of the boiling pot are scenes that sometimes come to mind when I’m alone.

The mother also died.

It’s instant death.

He died with his neck bent to the side and his eyes half bulged out.

A person who had never been angry in his life had to die like that.

The anger woke me up from my unconsciousness.

When I came to, what unfolded before my eyes was strangely similar to the scene that had woken me up.

The quiet air, the colors of the sunset, the bubbling sound, and a woman standing with her back turned to me.

“Skeleton?”

The woman tasted her food with a spatula and then turned her head towards me.

It’s affectionate.

“Are you awake?”

Next to me, Defender was sitting in front of the monitor, doing something.

If you look closely, it’s a game.

I was playing around with the thing I brought from IAMJESUS’ house by connecting it to a monitor.

“If you were sick, why didn’t you tell me?”

He looked at me and smiled absentmindedly, then turned his gaze back to the monitor.

Poing~

I turned my gaze to see the game character drawn with dots on the monitor jumping.

I was lying in bed comfortably.

There is also ice placed on the forehead.

“······.”

He froze for a moment with a blank expression.

I honestly don’t know what to say or what to think.

I want to express my gratitude, but I don’t think it will be easy to get the words out.

You might think I’m a weirdo, but I am a weirdo.

“······.”

Because I lived a life where I had no choice.

By the way, it looks like the food is ready.

Dajeong turned her head towards me and lightly tapped the pot with a spatula.

“Skeleton bird. Done!”

It seems that in Defender’s house, they say “eat” like that.

A fragrant smell wafted out.

Defender’s brother brought out freshly boiled porridge wearing oven mitts that I had completely forgotten where they were.

The scent of cooked rice grains with starch and the white steam covering my face brought the lost landscape before me along with my appetite.

“Eat.”

“······thanks.”

“What is between us.”

Defender’s younger brother smiled and spread some porridge in a bowl and placed it in front of me.

“Should I feed you?”

“Oh, no. It’s okay.”

“why?”

“No, I said it’s okay.”

He scooped up some of the hot porridge with a spoon and blew on it, bringing it to his mouth.

It was a soft, savory, hot porridge that had no taste at all, but it was strangely delicious.

My brother and sister looked at me at the same time.

“Call me if you have any questions. Are we still having a hard time?”

“No, that’s not it.”

I avoided their gaze and ate my meal in a hurry.

In an instant, the bowl of porridge was gone.

“The rest is in the pot, heat it up slowly and eat it.”

“Want to borrow a game console?”

The Defender siblings, who had appeared out of nowhere and given me a sense of crisis, disappeared just as suddenly as they had come.

Their consideration in closing the door carefully made me stare at the closed door for a long time after they left.

“······Phew.”

I think I need to learn to rely on others more.

This is a small lesson that the disease left behind.

By the way, I wonder what my last internet terminal’s reaction will be.

Honestly, I think some people might be worried.

I dragged my body, which had recovered from the porridge I had boiled with Da-jeong’s heart, to my laptop and checked my internet terminal.

“······under.”

You didn’t leave a single comment.

“백승현 개새끼야!!!!”

*

SKELTON: No, a person almost died. Isn’t that too much for a human being?

I am human too.

Honestly, I’m so disappointed in the public sentiment on our bulletin board.

No, my internet friend and old buddy is in danger of death and you’re ignoring him.

Does that make sense?

dongtanmam: Yum yum… you’re alive… yum yum…

I’m just now seeing comments, but I don’t want to see them.

As I ignored it, only then did the other guys on the bulletin boards start to make a fuss and leave comments.

Anonymous848: It was a joke after all

mmmmmmmmm : Are you bored? Huh? Isn’t life boring? Do you want to come to my house? Every moment is dynamic?

unicorn18: Wow… You acted like a shepherd boy because there were no comments, and now you’re whining because there were no comments… Have you lost your human heart now?

gijayangban : ?

“······.”

What did this skeleton do so wrong?

Should we at least tell the I am Jesus story to establish discipline?

No, that might be a little risky.

Anyway, I guess I’m having these worries because I’m healthy.

I picked up the communicator to express my gratitude to the Defender siblings.

Coincidentally, the radio rang.

“Skeleton!”

He is the defender’s younger brother.

But this voice is strangely urgent.

“What’s going on?”

He answered immediately.

“Oh, my brother!”

“······.”

“I got shot!”