The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 114



114 – Secret Base of a Summer Day #2

114 – Secret Base of a Summer Day #2

“It took me 20 years to build this shelter. A full 20 years. It took the time for you to be born and grow up.”

The old man said he dug a tunnel underground and built an air-raid shelter for 20 years. He mixed cement and concrete, and even set up the framework with rebar himself.

“The part I put the most effort into is the entrance. You need at least two entrances. That way, if one entrance is blocked, you can enter and exit through the other.”

After that, the old man talked for an hour about the hygiene-related parts, such as the toilet system and air filtration device, which he put a lot of effort into.

It was hard to believe that he was the person who wanted to keep the air-raid shelter a secret, given how much he bragged.

Well, if he had made something this amazing underground, he would have wanted to show it to someone.

The stored food was even more impressive.

Canned food, dried fruits, vegetables, fried rice, and instant food lined up on the shelves like a giant library.

“Dry food that you just add water to can be preserved for at least 25 years. Canned or instant food can be preserved for 5 to 10 years, depending on the product.”

Before we knew it, it was lunchtime.

We each received a military emergency ration from old man Hunger and shared it among ourselves.

From noble mtl dot com

“This pound cake is to die for…!”

“This pound cake is deathly awful…!”

Baonoi and Inonoi glared at each other.

Though they were the same kind of fairy, their tastes seemed very different.

The important thing was that the old man gave us something to eat.

‘He’s never given me anything to eat for free in my life.’

It seemed that old man Hunger had some peace of mind before the apocalypse.

Soon, Changsik, who had been beaten up under the pretext of training, politely expressed his gratitude.

“Old man, thank you for sharing your food. It looks quite expensive if we were to try to get it ourselves.”

“Forget it. Anyway, the ones that look like they’re about to expire need to be eaten right away. And aren’t you all still students? To become respectable adults, you mustn’t starve and should eat your meals properly.”

As we roughly finished our meal, old man Hunger’s gaze turned back to me.

“You’re Han Namjin, right? You can take a few more. You don’t have a mom or dad to cook for you, so you’ll just eat instant ramen at home, won’t you? Military emergency rations are better than that.”

Did I introduce myself as someone without parents who only eats ramen?

“Old man, you seem to know me well.”

“I remembered. Your name often appeared in the newspapers.”

It was a moment when I realized I was famous.

Maybe he felt sorry for me because I was an orphan.

Even though I’m already an adult and can live well on my own.

“But why do kids whose ID ink hasn’t even dried yet need an air-raid shelter?”

The old man asked as if he was curious.

Both Choi Chang-sik and Wang Ja-hyun seemed interested in this question, and their attention focused on my face.

I decided to give a simple answer.

“Probably within a few days, black rain will fall. It will last at least ten days. Those who get caught in that rain will become ferocious, like monsters. That’s why we need an air-raid shelter.”

I was convinced that it was the “Red King” who would make the black rain fall. If the girls who infiltrated the “Witch Church” handled things well, I would clash with him within a few days.

From my perspective, always assuming the worst, I had to consider the possibility that the battle with the Red King would bring black rain to this world.

Bao Noi reacted to my story.

“Are you saying that disgusting black rain will fall in this world too…? Then this filtration device won’t last long…! Because this filtration device is meant to turn rainwater into drinking water…!”

Bao Noi was right.

The filtration device installed in the old man’s air-raid shelter was a machine that could turn rainwater into drinking water.

But “black rain” was not ordinary rain.

Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure if it was real rain.

“Fortunately, Bao Noi knows a way to purify the ‘black rain’…! It’s by floating the leaves of the baobab tree in the water…! It creates an amazing purification…!”

Baobab tree leaves purify black rain?

This was the first time I had heard such a story.

When I asked if it was true, Bao Noi proudly puffed out her flat chest and said,

“Unlike the nymphs who lived comfortably inside the Great Labyrinth, Bao Noi survived alone for a long time in the forest contaminated by black rain…! She conducted repeated experiments to purify the forest…!”

Through numerous experiments, Bao Noi discovered that the baobab tree, which she cherished, had the ability to purify soil contaminated by black rain.

Just by floating the leaves of the tree in contaminated water, a small amount of water could be easily purified.

“Jjangsik, can you make this baobab tree leaf?”

“Making a leaf… if I have a bottle cap, it shouldn’t be impossible….”

While it might be difficult to install air-raid shelters in every house, making a simple filter seemed easy enough.

Choi Chang-sik is truly amazing!

It was somewhat fortunate that Wang Ja-hyun followed me.

“Wang Ja-hyun, there’s something you need to do.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“Don’t you want to owe me a favor? You know, this kind of opportunity doesn’t come to just anyone.”

For a moment, I could see a hint of hesitation on Wang Ja-hyun’s face, who had become as seasoned as a hunter.

But only for a moment─.

“What is it?”

“You need to broadcast. Tell people to stock up on emergency food that can last at least fifteen days in every house. And, if the black rain starts falling, tell them not to go outside under any circumstances.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Wang Ja-hyun snorted.

When I wondered what that snort meant, he explained it himself.

“Do you really think that weird rain or whatever will fall and the world will end? Do you think the world ends that easily? Look at the zombie incident. They said it would end then too, but everything was fine.”

It was fine because I struggled during the zombie incident.

But the “Red King” is an incomparably more shocking entity than Nam Su-ho.

The probability of failing to subdue it was high.

“And if I say such crazy things, how much will people laugh at me? Even if you’re a scary person, don’t let them see you as a fool─. That’s the motto passed down from my father’s fathers.”

“Don’t you know the story of Noah’s Ark? How much people laughed at Noah building his boat. But they were wrong, and Noah was right. You could be the Noah of the 21st century.”

“Noah?”

“If you fail, you’ll just be laughed at, but if you succeed? You’ll be a hero, man! Everyone on the internet will be talking about you. I know this well because I’ve stirred up a lot of attention.”

“Attention…”

Wang Ja-hyun, troubled by my words.

In the meantime, Old Man Heo came to us with a cart. On it were neatly stacked cans and dried fruits, and the quantity was impressive.

“You could eat all this for months. Anyway, I can’t eat all this even if I stockpile it in the shelter. Consider it a reward for telling me about the baobab tree leaves.”

Baonoi, who I hadn’t considered at all, turned out to be helpful.

Anyway, that was the end of our meeting with Old Man Heo.

Wang Ja-hyun and Choi Chang-sik promised to visit him often for training.

“Who the hell is that old man? I couldn’t even land a single hit on him.”

Wang Ja-hyun complained, rubbing the large bump on his head.

I remembered the first time I received training and felt a bit nostalgic.

It’s funny.

To think I’d come to miss those bleak and hungry days.

It must mean my belly is full now.

At that moment, Old Man Heo called me.

“Kid, do you want revenge? On those who made your life hard? If you want, I’ll help you.”

He asked in a small voice, which was unlike him.

To think he’d give food to someone he met for the first time today and offer to help with revenge.

“Sir, let me ask you something. If you committed a grave mistake but were lucky enough that no one knew about it, and no one would ever find out, what would you do?”

“Mistake?”

He looked as if wondering why I would ask such a thing.

But sensing the seriousness of my question as a man, he soon answered earnestly.

“If no one knows, wouldn’t it be fine to just let it go? But, as a man─”

“As a man, you shouldn’t do that. I’m not seeking revenge. It’s quite the opposite.”

I’ve committed too many wrongs, using survival in a ruined world as an excuse.

I just want to be forgiven for that.

Seo Ga-eul gave me the lifeline of that opportunity, and I’m desperately holding onto it.

# # #

The old man watched the backs of the departing boys and finally let out a groan.

The story that had been lingering in his mouth never came out.

He couldn’t act like a man.

He couldn’t help but think so himself.

The old man’s eyes turned to the small fairy.

Nymph.

He recalled the nymph’s name precisely.

“You must be Inonoi. Bomi talked a lot about you. He also said he was sorry for leaving you behind. He wanted to take you with him, but he couldn’t because of the chaos.”

“So you know Kore…! I want to ask where Kore is now…! Because this Inonoi is Kore’s partner nymph─, and has the duty to protect and take care of Kore…!”

Inonoi lived in the forest like Baonoi, but she was an excellent nymph who won the competition to become an attendant of the fairy royal family.

Thanks to that, Inonoi had to leave the hometown forest and the friends he had grown attached to for a long time and head to the royal palace, but he took pride in the role he was given.

Even after everyone left for the royal palace.

Even after the fairy princess Kore, whom Inonoi served, left.

For a long time, Inonoi had fought a lonely battle to find Kore, and now he felt like he could see the end of it.

“Inonoi is glad to know that Kore did not abandon Inonoi on purpose…! When Inonoi meets Kore again, he wants to be patted on the head with praise…!”

“That… won’t be possible. Kore is no longer in this world. I am also saddened by that fact.”

“Kore is not in this world…! That is a lie…!”

“It’s not a lie.”

To old man Heogi, Kore and Bomi were like daughters born from his heart.

The thought of not being able to see such daughters anymore brought tears to his eyes like a river swelling in a flood.

“Sniff.”

Crying was not a manly thing to do, so old man Heogi held back his tears.

Being a man is truly a sad thing.

Because you can’t even cry as you wish.

Becoming a man was to avoid crying.

“Waaah━─.”

Instead, Inonoi opened his mouth wide and cried loudly.

For a long time, he had been able to endure loneliness and fear in the great labyrinth because he had the expectation of reunion.

The thought that he would no longer be called by the person he wanted to meet so much, or have his hair stroked by that palm, was too sad to hold back his tears.

After some time had passed.

Inonoi’s mind snapped awake.

“But without Kore, it would be a real disaster…! Because the Red King has endured too long alone in the Great Labyrinth…! Without Kore, there would be no one left to succeed…!”

As expected, Inonoi, who was Kore’s attendant, seemed to know well about the identity of the “Red King.”

Hugi felt a sense of responsibility for the situation.

Kore and Namha-neul.

If only he hadn’t met those two young people.

Perhaps nothing would have happened.

That’s why he made a resolution.

To protect the future of the young ones.

That was the least and the most he could do as a man.

‘Children should live like children. Old men should die like old men.’

So Hugi picked up an old cell phone.

A very old, military green feature phone that couldn’t even access the internet.

When he dialed the number saved as 1, someone answered after a few rings.

─Hello.

“Hey, Nam Tae-geon. It’s me, Sergeant Hagi-hoon. We both hate long talks, so I’ll get straight to the point. Let’s meet soon.”

Click-.

That was the end of the call.

Immediately, Hugi went down to the underground bunker and entered the emergency storage that he hadn’t shown to the students.

Piling up guns and grenades, Hugi silently stuffed them into a duffel bag.

# # #

“So, what happened?”

I asked, hearing the panting on the other end of the phone.

Then, like someone who had lost their mind, Bbangdaengi spoke.

━Seo Ga-eul suddenly went crazy and started attacking people! Then she chased after the people who were running away and disappeared!

Seo Ga-eul, who was usually so weak that even zombies couldn’t be defeated, attacked people like a rabid fox.

What on earth happened at the “Witch Church”?

“Wait there. I’m coming right now.”