Rust - Chapter 246



Only Krnovel

RUST -246

bruise-

Where is this?

Is it a hospital? It’s a hospital room.

I know who you are… but why are you here?

Ms. Kim shook her head absentmindedly.

So, my memory was strange.

I was going to sneak up on Baekjeong and brag about how quiet the exosuit sound was, and try to learn from the atmosphere. Suddenly, I was in a hospital room.

That? What was that? What were you trying to learn?

Ugh-

My ears were ringing. My chest was pounding and my whole body felt weak. When I turned my head at the sound of the door suddenly opening, it was Baekjeong.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m dying. My whole body aches.”

Maru shook his head as he looked at the ailing Kim Yang.

“Why did you sneak up on me after playing so well from afar?”

“Little by little?”

I remembered! So, the bird-catching thing. I quietly and stealthily approached to learn how to do that. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat and I was here.

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know?”

One of Maru’s eyebrows rose. Could it be that he had a memory problem? Now that I think about it, among the vigilantes who blocked the highway, there was one who had a heart attack, one who was paralyzed, and one who was mentally ill. As if Maru’s thoughts had been revealed, Kim Yang squinted her eyes again and spoke.

“I don’t know. I want to learn how to catch a flock of birds.”

“Live?”

Nod nod

Maru let out a long sigh as he saw Kim Yang nodding absentmindedly.

“You’re a sniper. Even if you’re not a sniper, you’re a shooting expert, right?”

“Why are you saying such an obvious thing?”

“If you felt a sniper aiming at your head from afar, would you dodge or not?”

‘No, why do you keep saying such obvious things? Is there something you don’t want to tell me?’

Miss Kim gave me a blank look.

“I’m a melee fighter, so I can use my killing skills at close range, but you’re a gunman. You’re at a distance. At a distance, you have to find a way to kill the killing skills. What’s the point of learning the killing skills? Are you going to go around advertising that you’re going to shoot and kill people, so they should dodge?”

“······.”

Kim Yang’s gaze blankly at the veranda.

‘So you’re saying you won’t tell me?’

“Ha- Ah- Okay, I’ll tell you. What is it?”

Kim Yang was very excited by Maru’s cheerful answer.

“So the method is simple. Imagine a time when you are really the most angry. Then, turn that anger into murderous intent. Kill. I will kill. Unleash that murderous intent.”

Really? Is that all there is to it?

Kim Yang quickly recalled the recent events that had pissed her off. Vegetarianism. Vegetarianism. Vegetarianism… She bounced on the 5th vegetarian diet and bounced on the 2nd vegetarian diet. Ah! Thinking back, she was really pissed.

You want to change this to ‘Kill me!’

Finally- finally- Kim Yang shouted, her eyes wide open.

“Hoo-hoo- death!”

“······.”

“asleep!”

“······.”

“Let’s go!”

“······.”

Maru, who was watching Kim Yang’s desperate struggles, shook his head.

“Do it later. Practice a lot and try again later.”

This doesn’t seem like something that can be practiced. It doesn’t feel like anything. ‘Baekjeong is tricking me?’, ‘Baekjeong is joking?’

“Is this really possible?”

Kim Yang’s eyes turned to distrust. Maru, who had been snickering, wiped the smile off his face and looked at Kim Yang.

An eerie feeling. The air suddenly felt cold and heavy. Goosebumps began to rise.

Could this really be it? Is this just going to happen? Kim Yang’s sensitive senses began to warn fiercely. Somehow, his chest and heart began to feel tight. It was hard to breathe… to breathe…

“What do you think? Don’t you think so?”

As Maru spoke, the air became lighter as if nothing had happened. Kim Yang, sweating profusely, fell back onto the bed.

Beep beep beep beep beep — As the vital machine began to make a loud noise, the medical staff rushed in, gasping for breath.

“What’s going on?”

“What is the patient’s condition?”

The medical staff came into the room and looked around Ms. Kim, whose vital signs had suddenly fluctuated. Ms. Kim, who was exhausted, let her body tremble.

“I think things have calmed down for now.”

“There are no abnormal signs.”

“Let’s start with the blood test again.”

The medical staff kicked Maru out of the hospital room.

The patient absolutely had to rest. Since it was a cardiac arrest of unknown cause, he had to be observed for about a week, and he dragged me out, saying not to stress me out.

Kim Yang, who had become a kimchi, buried her head in the pillow as she watched Maru being dragged out.

I’m not a newbie.

huh.

Yeah, it was wrong to ask Baekjeong to tell you something. If you were a squirrel, you should think about eating acorns, not catching fish, right?

Miss Kim, who had somehow lost her mind, fell into a deep sleep.

======

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The Vladislav Tower engineers stayed up all night again today.

“Aren’t you going in today too?”

“Huh- And you?”

“What are you going to do once you go in? It’s right to finish what you were doing.”

“That’s true. Then after I take care of this, should we have some chicken and beer and play a game?”

It was a life where one could freely do whatever one wanted, with free creative research activities thanks to an abundance of materials, but when one went back to the dorms, there were often bowls waiting for them from their wives.

The researchers’ wives were becoming increasingly dissatisfied. At first, they had agreed to go into the Ark Tower because times were unstable.

Because of the spread of the mutant virus, people with anger management issues were causing accidents and being taken to detention centers every day, the streets were filled with the military and police, and ominous rumors were rife.

But the world hasn’t come to an end in over a month since I moved into the Ark Tower. There have always been ominous rumors since the virus incident, and there have only been rumors of World War III and nuclear war.

It was the same even now. Whether you look at the news or the internet portal, there were no problems in the countryside or near national parks, and life in the city was not much different from then.

No, the city has actually become a better place to live than before. The military and police have been very active in security, so the crime rate has dropped and petty criminals have stopped running wild.

For example, there is a story that LA, California, has become a crime- and drug-free city after drug dealers, cartels, and gangs were all cleaned out.

But what was life like in the Ark Tower? There were no luxury goods, no social media, and no fancy restaurants.

If you think about it, the cooks working at the Ark Tower were pretty good, and they could always buy the items they needed with money, but isn’t that not all there is to living a life?

What is the fun of shopping while being served at a department store? What if you want to create an atmosphere at a fancy restaurant? What if you want to show off on SNS? Isn’t it fun to keep an eye on your children’s schoolwork and hang out with moms of the same age?

But this Ark Tower didn’t have that. It didn’t show any signs of that. The world that was supposed to be destroyed seemed to be going well, but this place was acting as if the end was imminent.

So the ladies started to nag when researchers and engineers came into their quarters.

Starting with the question of whether you came in for this, this is not an ark of salvation, but a prison. You should have stayed in the previous research institute, but you quit because you have thin ears. The world is fine, so what are you doing? Let’s say you leave and come back when something comes up.

For one reason or another, they were researchers and engineers who found it comfortable to continue doing what they had been doing in their studios and laboratories.

“What would have happened if we hadn’t installed an emergency life support device on that girl’s exosuit this time?”

“That’s right. It’s a good thing the exosuit is equipped with basic artificial intelligence.”

“Have you seen the mutant coyotes and wolves? They’re still being tested, and they’re no joke.”

“At first, the hairs were just like needles.”

“Needles? Didn’t they show something similar in the Texas hog catching video?”

“I know someone who is very knowledgeable about overseas affairs, and it seems like the situation is serious, both in Ukraine and in China.”

The floor suddenly fell in front of the people who were chatting about this and that while eating chicken and drinking beer. The sudden appearance of the research funder, the building owner, and HOLY froze the people.

“Eat comfortably. Take your time. I just came to say thank you.”

Maru praised those who modified Kim Yang’s exosuit, including adding emergency life support equipment and its own artificial intelligence system.

“Is there anything else you need to study?”

“······.”

“······.”

“If you have any suggestions or suggestions, please let me know. I will review them.”

“I… My family is so frustrated. They want to stay out for a few days. Is that okay?”

“That would be difficult. As I said when we signed the tenancy agreement, once you leave, you can’t come back in.”

“······.”

If even one family member said they wanted to go out, they would all be kicked out. This was especially true when you consider that they had tried to take the nurse hostage in order to get Maru.

What if the research team’s family members are taken hostage while they are out and about? What if they are taken hostage and asked to hand over internal data? It’s bound to get complicated, so it’s better not to give them any room in the first place.

“It’s been over a month since I moved in, but I’m telling you this.”

A person who majored in architecture and spatial design began to speak.

“If we only consider the residential area, excluding public facilities, laboratories, and production facilities, I think it is an extremely poor environment.”

If you think of it as a bunker or shelter for the apocalypse, it was a space with plenty of space, but if you think of it as a living space for the long term, it was problematic.

“I understand there are a little over 500 people now. Let’s assume that there will be more than 1,000 people if we add more people to that number…”

A psychologist agreed with the architect’s story that people would fall into depression. He claimed that in the current situation, the Ark Tower could feel like a prison.

If the outside was hell, the inside must have felt like heaven. But since the outside isn’t exactly hell, it’s only natural that the inside feels like a prison.

It’s only been a month and a half. If this is the case even after filling out the application and signing the contract, wouldn’t it be better to minimize the amount received as a family unit?

“If you think long term, the general residential area needs to be significantly expanded from what it is now.”

“···If we expand to include adjacent buildings and park land, we can secure sufficient space.”

“If we secure a line that extends to the riverside, we will be able to use the waterway at any time···.”

They said they modified Kim Yang’s exosuit, but these people were planning to build Ark Town or Ark City instead of Ark Tower.

Maru said he would consider it and asked me to organize the details and send them to him, then left.

Aren’t you all full? There are vigilantes blocking the highway and confiscating passing trucks. Do you think this is peaceful?

The official reports weren’t everything. If Maru hadn’t been wandering around, he might have thought the situation wasn’t the worst.

‘Should I calm their discontent by informing them of the current situation?’

No matter how much I thought about it, it wasn’t that. It was obvious that they would try to pick it up and stick it on. In that case, it would be better to quickly get rid of people who were ruining the mood, and to select new recruits who were mostly single.

“Diana. Check to see if there are any wind catchers. If the water looks too cloudy, separate them.”

[Classification data has been sent.]

already?

“Tell PD Michael Newman to look for new cast members who have simple family relationships or are single.”

[Requirements sent.]

[The item sent by Manager Den Brown has arrived.]

“okay?”

Why are you so quick all of a sudden? Do you want to secure CS bullets that quickly? Maru took the items and headed to the training ground.

The long metal box, just over a meter long, had a password lock. I entered the 12-digit password that Manager Dan Brown had sent me. The contents were revealed with a low thud.

‘Is this a knife?’

Maru frowned. He had thought of a really cool sword made of alien metal.

“What was that? It was a black stone that was used as a knife and such.”

[It’s obsidian.]

It wasn’t just plain obsidian, but rather, beaten obsidian. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t obsidian at all. It was a mixture of a shiny surface and a bumpy metallic texture.

Is this metal? It can cut steel? It looks like it’ll just break?

No matter how much I looked at it, the only trace of processing was the part where the handle was attached. It’s not very pretty, but you’ll understand when you use it. Just try breaking it or something.

The sword vibrated with a whoosh as Maru reached out.

Maru, who was trying to grab the handle, slowly pulled his hand back and everything became quiet.

“Is this reacting now?”

[···There is no abnormal reaction on the CCTV screen.]

Hah- What on earth did you send?

As I reached out for the handle, I felt a vibration. A trembling sensation spread as if I was being stabbed.

Do you see this?

What are you doing now?

I’ll smash it all up and throw it in the trash can.

Mungkul- Maru’s killing spirit soared.

What the hell is a knife? It’s space and aliens, dammit-

I held the handle of the knife, which was still as if it had never been shaken, and glared at the knife.

The sword he lifted up was heavy. Considerably. It must have been three to four times as heavy as steel. A sword of similar size would have weighed about 1.5 to 2 kg. This one seemed to weigh at least 6 kg.

Maru swings his sword toward the reinforced concrete pillars prepared for practice on one side of the training ground.

Whether the blade is damaged, broken or not, just a quick, careless swing of the sword

Booo …

A reinforced concrete pillar was torn lengthwise.

What is this?