Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 98



Only Krnovel

53. Miracle

It’s a sweltering summer.

If it were like last year, we would have spent each day in luxury with the air conditioner on full blast, but we need to conserve fuel for the coming cold wave.

Because the main entrance was blocked with soil, ventilation was poor.

So these days, my living space is not in the main bunker, but in a dummy bunker.

This one, which I named Bunker 4, is structured to overlook the loose slope leading up to my area, and has trees growing around it to provide adequate shade, and most importantly, it is the coolest place among all because it is a windbreak.

When the weather gets too hot to bear, I go to the stream below the area and take a dip.

I’m not bragging, but the stream in front of my house used to be crowded with unidentified valley merchants and holidaymakers in the summer.

The water depth was just right and the current was gentle, so it was nice to play in.

However, the water quality is not very good, so there are long moss-like things hanging from each rock, but now that the surrounding area has mostly dried up, the water quality has become surprisingly clean, and if you lift up a rock, you can even find crayfish.

If you spread out an umbrella as a parasol and dip your feet in the stream water, it is so peaceful that it is hard to believe that this world is on the verge of destruction.

But the loaded rifle that silently sits next to me is undeniable proof that I cannot fully enjoy this peace.

Occasionally gunshots can be heard, but they are not coming from the sniper mother and daughter.

The North, where the pioneers made their home.

The Legion faction hasn’t shown a single shred of light since.

It is a disappointing result compared to the hardships of going all the way to Incheon and doing all that horrible work, but it is an undeniable fact that the best-case scenario is that the Legion faction does not come.

Of course, I can’t relax yet.

Because when and how they will come to kill me is decided by somewhere I don’t know.

Slurp slurp-

One thing I’ve been testing lately is the potential of synthetic oils.

Before testing the main generator on the second basement floor, synthetic oil is being put into a small diesel generator and tested.

According to information obtained from places such as Palenet, the level of synthetic oil is said to be very excellent, as South Korea has some of the best chemical technology in the world.

It is true that the South Korean government made various disgraceful remarks during the war, but it is clear that it had foresight when you consider that it has maintained its administrative power three years after the war.

Synthetic oil is one of them.

In preparation for the disruption of maritime trade following the outbreak of the war, he ordered the development of synthetic oil using various substitutes including coal, and it appears that prototypes of these were developed before the war.

Actually, after testing it several times, I never felt that the quality was that poor.

However, this synthetic oil also has a fatal flaw.

It is the instability of quality.

The magnitude of the qualitative difference between each product is too large.

At certain times, it was manufactured to be as high-performance as gasoline, but at other times, it was not even as good as kerosene.

To make matters worse, the quality deteriorates over time, and later production runs are considered unusable garbage.

However, some factories still produce high-quality synthetic oils, especially those in large industrial complexes located in the southern regions of the country.

If my generator could take synthetic oil, and I could get access to that synthetic oil, wouldn’t it extend the life of my bunker by the same amount as the life of this world?

That’s the reason for the test, but in reality, it’s closer to deliberately creating work and doing it because it seems more comforting to do something than to do nothing.

Wheeeeeeeeing–

Looking at the way the generator runs, it doesn’t seem to be much different from when it was running on kerosene.

If there is a difference, wouldn’t it be a problem related to the life of the generator?

First of all, I confirmed that the generator consumes synthetic oil well.

I’ll have to try the main generator sometime, but I’m running low on synthetic oil, and I’m planning to get by this winter with a wood boiler and the oil I’ve stockpiled.

A full test drive will probably have to be done next year, right?

Construction is done at night.

It’s plumbing work.

Dummy bunker number 8 is the one closest to the main bunker of my bunkers, and I plan to remodel it into a living space for the sniper mother and daughter.

The construction of a full-fledged community has begun.

Toilets are a major issue.

The mother and daughter freak out just looking at my toilet, but honestly, I don’t want other people sitting on my toilet either.

So, construction began.

However, since we do not have enough space to install a toilet inside the bunker, we decided to add a new facility nearby.

The conditions are that the existing plumbing facilities should be shared, the construction should not be difficult, and the distance should be appropriate.

The biggest concern is water rather than the difficulty of the construction.

Because my water tank is optimized for my own survival.

If two more people come, the existing water tank will not be able to handle it.

There are two ways to solve the problem: find another water source or draw water from a stream.

Well, we can do that later.

There’s nothing particularly difficult.

Infinite expansion and modification were the most essential features of my bunker, which I had conceived of before the war.

The heavy equipment and various construction materials and equipment in my garage are for him.

It was time to slowly take it out and use it.

After completing the basic construction, I relayed this information to Rebecca and her daughter.

“······The sewer construction was done.”

A bit of good news.

But what was waiting for me was an unexpected miracle.

“Skeleton! Skeleton!”

Rebecca sobbed.

It’s not just Rebecca.

I could also hear Suu crying next to me.

I felt goosebumps when I saw even Suu, who rarely cries, sobbing, and I asked urgently.

“Wh, what’s going on?”

The answer was the realization of an unimaginable possibility.

“David. David is alive!”

“David? Who is that?”

“husband.”

*

Rebecca’s husband and Sue’s father was alive.

That too in America.

The circumstances were as follows.

Viva! Apocalypse! Rebecca, who was desperately searching for her husband on an English message board, accidentally started chatting with an American survivor group, and someone in that group noticed Rebecca’s husband and told him about it, and he sent a video message to his family today.

“I was alive······.”

Something happened that can only be described as a miracle.

No, from the husband’s perspective, it might be a miracle that Rebecca and her daughter are alive at all.

It is easy to see how difficult it is to survive for more than two years in a land where there is no connection to language, culture, or country.

“······Congratulations.”

He sent a heartfelt congratulatory message to the mother and daughter.

“I’ll be there in a minute!”

“You guys are coming?”

“Yeah! Let’s have a party! Party!”

“What kind of party is this?”

“David is coming here!”

“Skeleton! Juicy- get something ready.”

“What,”

It may seem like I’m being overly excited, but seeing their joy being transferred to me, I guess I’ve accepted them as my people at some point.

It’s unlikely that this miracle will have a happy ending, but won’t it leave us with some feelings of happiness along the way?

I thought so and watched my surroundings.

A peaceful field as always.

It was called the Field of Death after the nuclear weapons were dropped, and indeed it remained a wasteland for a long time, but now that term is meaningless, with life blooming everywhere to an excessive degree.

In the fall, the rice paddies and fields that had ripened to a golden color were filled with wild flowers of various colors, and on the ridges of my territory that had been completely burned by the aftershock, trees were now growing, growing taller by the day, and trying to cover the ridges in green.

At night, lights appear on the horizon.

It must not be just an illusion of my eyes that the number of lights is increasing and getting closer.

however.

“······.”

Another miracle happened.

Gold appeared.

He has pups that look just like him by his side.

Next to it, a female that appeared to have given birth was standing next to Gold, warily glaring at me.

“What is it?”

I saw the size of the pups.

It’s so crazy.

But I feel like it’s so cute that I can’t stand it.

One thing is certain.

“As expected, he was a shit dog.”

It may be a bit odd, but I like country dogs better than purebred dogs.

Gold bared his teeth and growled, but only for a moment before he licked his pups in front of me and enjoyed their antics before leaving my territory with them.

“What is it?”

The guy left nothing behind.

The bastard proudly took the cubs and the female and headed west, wagging his tail.

“······.”

I guess the gold guy just came here to show off his kids.

It seems that bragging about one’s children is out of the question for both dogs and humans.

Still, it’s a positive sign that the guy is living well over there and even having puppies.

At least the guy’s alive means the southwest is safe.

There are remnants of the Chinese army, zombies, and the zombies’ savior.

Zombies aside, I don’t want to meet any remnants of the Chinese military.

At about noon, Rebecca and her daughter arrived in my area, biking happily.

“We saw the mutation.”

Rebecca said with a surprised expression as she took off her goggles.

“Mutation? What mutation?”

“dog.”

“dog?”

“huh.”

Suu intervened.

“There was a baby too. He was cute.”

“I see.”

The mother and daughter seemed to have had a very special experience, but for me it was nothing more or less than cold.

I asked just in case.

“They didn’t attack?”

“No, he just sniffed around and left.”

“ah.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

At some point, my scent seemed to have permeated that foreign family.

“This. Alcohol.”

Rebecca thrust a bottle of liquor at me.

“No, alcohol is fine.”

“Champagne. I saved it.”

When I received it, I realized it was real champagne.

What should I say, it’s a cultural difference.

The champagne popping culture is something that doesn’t exist, at least not around me.

If it’s a soju glass, it did clink a few times, though.

“Save the champagne.”

Before the small party, the mother and daughter were shown the new bathroom that was currently under construction.

“I’m connecting the pipes here.”

“Here? Here?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you guys going to come this way anyway?”

Rebecca and Sue looked at each other.

“really?”

The mother and daughter asked at the same time.

The look in their eyes was so similar that it seemed like a mother and daughter, and I couldn’t help but smile and say something to them.

“David is coming here? Shouldn’t we hold out until then?”

This is my own passive proposal to join.

I think now is the time to do it.

“Skeleton!”

Sue was overjoyed, but Rebecca seemed to think that even though she was not very good at it, a mother is still a mother.

“Are you okay? Are you really okay?”

I called her out somewhere else for a moment.

“······I thought it would be better than you guys dying. It’s going to be cold this winter, right? And you’re running out of supplies?”

“That’s true. But······.”

“It’s not entirely safe.”

I looked straight at Rebecca and told her about my ongoing crisis.

“······The Legion Faction knows about this place. They’ve disguised themselves, but if there’s someone with determination among the Legion Faction, they might come back here. So they might get caught up in it.”

“Skeleton. That’s not what I meant······.”

“what?”

“No, we. We’re both women······.”

I guess I looked too far away.

From Rebecca’s perspective, there’s someone else who worries her the most.

This is the skeleton.

I looked at her with a smile.

She, who at first seemed like a beast to me, was now looking at me with the eyes of a person with feelings and understanding.

He opened his mouth and inwardly praised her for her hard work.

“I won’t tell you the common story of not worrying.”

“I’m worried. I’m really worried.”

“No, what on earth do you think I am?”

“······.”

Rebecca closes her mouth and avoids eye contact.

I thought she was cute and calmly told her the story I had been thinking about for a long time.

“I’m going to set up a zone.”

“zone?”

“Yeah. Even though we’re close, my territory and your territory. We clearly distinguish between them and don’t invade them. That way, we can definitely reduce the number of encounters we have.”

This is a great method that has proven itself while in China.

“And I’m not going to just feed you and put you up here for free. I have work to do.”

As we decided to take in the sniper mother and daughter, we thought about their roles.

They are excellent combat and observation resources.

24-hour alert is standard.

Even though the mother is an internet addict, the daughter is just as smart.

I will entrust the southern border of my territory to that mother and daughter.

It is now a land protected by gold, but especially from Gyeongnam, there are bad rumors coming in.

We still have some time left before we move, but we plan to have it done before winter comes.

“Okay, then.”

A small party was held to celebrate David’s return and the birth of a community.

The food isn’t anything special.

Some meat from the freezer, some vegetables from the garden, and some juicy stuff that Suu likes.

There wasn’t much to prepare, but it wasn’t a big problem.

The ultimate banquet of joy has been laid on the table.

“David is coming by plane!”

“Speak sense.”

“Well, actually, it doesn’t make sense. Everyone was calling me crazy.”

After listening to their conversation for a while, it seemed like David, like Rebecca, was someone who had a flower garden on his head.

Are you saying that they are meeting each other?

The resulting child, Suu, doesn’t seem to resemble either of his parents at all.

“Skeleton. Look at this.”

Suu showed me her phone screen.

There was a happy scene with Gold and his proud pups that I hadn’t been able to capture.

“······.”

Suddenly, I thought about it.

If I were to get married, who would it be?

Looking around me, it seems like they’re all in a group, but is there really a woman similar to this skeleton?

Probably not?

This Park Gyu should be a little better······.

“Now, cheers to the skeleton. Ta-da!”

Rebecca’s glasses were clinked in the Korean style, containing soda instead of champagne, due to her excitement.

As I clinked my glasses and took a sip of my drink, I looked at the bottle of champagne sitting in the corner.

This champagne.

Can you blow it up?

“Skeleton?”

Suu sits next to me and stares blankly at my expression.

“What are you thinking about?”

“well.”

“Are you having bad thoughts?”

“Does it look like that?”

“huh.”

Now it seems like even this child can read my emotions.

I looked up at the fleeting blue sky with some self-mockery.

“I wish I could pop the champagne.”

*

The story that something bad was happening in Gyeongnam had been circulating secretly on Palenet for the past three days.

The truth was revealed in the evening.

A large-scale monster eruption occurred in the crack area of ​​Yangsan, Gyeongnam.

It is said that even though it was the second most populous region after the Seoul metropolitan area and had more troops than other regions, an unprecedented large force rushed in and half of the kill zone was destroyed.

I barely managed to save the crack area, but that was it.

A photo submitted by an anonymous PaleNet user vividly depicts a scene where thousands of capsules are placed in an unnamed mountainous area.

Suddenly, my eyes caught sight of a bottle of champagne sitting in the room.

Not bad up to that point.

Even if it’s a fleeting hope, it’s better than nothing.

The champagne bottle is covered in a disgusting amount of black sheeting.

Originally, there were only two: Suwa and me.

Suu’s stayed at one, but mine continued to multiply.

It must have been after I met IAMJESUS.

This black chain could be replaced by one word: frustration or resignation.

We all wish for our own miracles, but realistically, there is only one miracle that can happen to me.

Kang Min-i closes the crack and dies upon hearing the news.