Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 401



Only Noblemtl

Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Chapter 401

163. Crowd (1)

It’s the third week.

There are no special changes.

When monsters swarm, we destroy them and prepare for the next one.

The soldiers have become seasoned.

Citizens also became increasingly accustomed to being attacked by monsters.

In the front, training continues on the popular Hunter equipment – Monster Killer.

“The special charge in this device is an insensitive charge that doesn’t react easily, so by inserting it like this, you can use all your might to move the piston! By creating friction! Gasp, gasp! Shit. As you can see, shit! It’s fucking hard!”

The Monster Killer is an anti-tank rocket called an RPG that has been modified for use as a monster. Unlike the Hunter equipment we use, it cannot contain expensive separate charges, so it is a crude equipment that artificially creates reactivity by stirring the gunpowder with a stick called a plunger.

Kim Byeong-cheol, who is interested in and knowledgeable about World War II, said that it was a modern-day Panzerfaust, but since it was not a very important concept to me, I listened with one ear and let it go out the other.

Two changes were detected.

One is the direction in which the monster moves.

They’re sending hordes of monsters in all directions.

Some crossed the northern part of Gyeonggi Province and entered North Korea, while others seemed to have lost their way in the Imjin River basin, wandering among the rugged valleys and rough, deep currents before turning into golden particles and disappearing.

When a group of monsters entered the Legion faction territory and turned the Legion faction upside down, the Legion faction members and the government forces joined forces for the first time in a long time and burst into laughter, but even amidst that boisterous laughter, I felt a hint of ominousness.

Perhaps this series of incomprehensible actions is part of the thought processes of a monster called the General type.

There was a time when humans and machines competed against each other in the intellectual game of Go, which was once considered exclusive to humans, and which attracted worldwide attention.

There have been people in the world of Baduk who have been recognized and have made brilliant achievements, but they all spoke in unison.

That unfamiliar enemy, the machine, approaches the game in a way they have never thought of or understood.

In the myth of man versus machine, a great Korean defeated his machine enemy with a decisive move that only humans can use, but the ultimate winner was the machine.

Humans lost to machines that played Go in a completely different way.

I think the pattern that the monster is currently showing is similar to that.

They don’t think in the same structural terms as we do.

However, this change is not as fatal as the second change described later.

The temperature is dropping.

Temperatures that used to fluctuate between freezing and freezing have now dropped to an average of -10 degrees Celsius as the end of the year approaches.

It was not uncommon for temperatures to drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius in the early morning.

Life is simple.

It cannot survive in temperatures that are too high, nor can it survive in temperatures that are too low.

Although heat seems more unpleasant than cold, the cold has always been more lethal.

As temperatures plummeted, an emergency was declared along the entire defensive line.

The power plant runs its generators 24 hours a day, belching white smoke, but it is not enough to meet the demand for electricity.

Black smoke rose from all over the defensive line, and patients with frostbite swarmed into the hospital like clouds.

Most of the patients were complainants of frostbite rather than frostbite victims, but it was clear that the suddenly colder weather had an effect on morale.

In fact, public opinion was formed among soldiers and citizens that it was sufficient to just guard the area around the bridge, so why bother sending so many troops all the way to the riverbank to guard it.

I thought this public opinion was not only due to the drop in temperature.

Three days after the sudden cold snap, temperatures have returned to bearable levels, but negative public opinion about the riverside deployment has not abated.

A fanatic who called in soldiers playing on the riverbank and harassed them every day, demanded that they be relocated to the eastern outskirts, and the issue was eventually brought up on the meeting agenda.

My thoughts on this matter are firm.

It’s true that monsters tend to avoid water, but they are unpredictable.

We don’t know what specific adverse effects they have when they enter the water.

If by any chance they cross the Han River on the riverbed instead of the bridge and show up in the river, we will have to pay a huge price.

“We cannot withdraw our troops.”

That’s why I tried not to compromise on this part.

Even if it means deploying volunteers instead of soldiers, we must not let up on the defense of the riverbank.

The moment we lose the riverbank, we lose the bridge, and when we lose the bridge, we lose the entire city.

My firm stance kept the riverside defenses in check, but this incident gave me another ominous sign for the city.

The people’s will was being broken.

As the saying goes, if tension persists, it is no longer tension, so they no longer felt a sense of crisis in the current situation and therefore did not feel the need to activate the emergency system as they did now.

There’s nothing I can do.

War is not something that is resolved with one big fight like in fairy tales or movies.

Most wars take the form of long, boring, and dull battles.

Monster Wars isn’t much different.

There are exceptions, like the Beijing Front, but most monster wars end with the monsters simply pushing a certain number of monsters into a certain area.

Most of those defeats were not due to the annihilation of troops, but rather to the depletion of the human will to fight.

India did so, and China did so after the loss of Peking.

As one cynical monsterologist put it, humans were driven out of their domain “just as if an industrious farmer had periodically sprayed pesticides.”

So what does victory mean to us?

That’s a difficult question.

Scholars cite three conditions, but I cite two.

That is, when there are no more swarms of monsters roaming around, and only a few monsters are found around the rift that spewed out those monsters.

When the crack loses its strength.

It will eventually recover and unleash a massive wave of monsters, but for the time being, peace is granted.

It may be a peace that lasts only a year, two years, or maybe even just a few months.

It is still reported that over a thousand monsters are swarming around the rift.

You must not let your guard down.

You can’t afford to let your guard down.

But human patience can sometimes wear out surprisingly quickly.

A large-scale protest took place.

It was the largest protest since the new Seoul was created.

The protest, however, lasted less than an hour.

It’s not that we use coercive methods.

A strange noise was heard from the north.

Damage to thousands of pieces of radio equipment was reported.

At the same time, contact was lost with multiple drones tracking the monster’s path at high altitudes.

There is no more room for pitiful fighting among humans.

The main force is coming.

*

Since monsters are beings that we do not know well and cannot understand, we must observe them more closely and carefully in order to deal with them.

It’s the golden rule of the great monster war that I’ve been adhering to for a long time.

However, many of the commanders I have met are negative about these reconnaissance activities.

This is not to disparage the possibility of reconnaissance, but rather to ask why take the risk when the general behavior of monsters is already well known.

In fact, it is rare for reconnaissance, which carries with it risks, to find new types or patterns.

It goes without saying that conducting operations in monster control zones is extremely dangerous.

As those commanders say, the chances of profiting are also significantly low.

But even so, I remain steadfast in my position that we must take a closer look at our enemies, even if it means incurring losses.

In that situation, one of the scouts went missing.

It was a team made up of veterans, including one regular Awaken.

The goal is to install new wired observation equipment and conduct reconnaissance of the area, and despite being over 10 hours past the expected return time, there has been no minimal contact.

They were provided with radio equipment, as well as visible means of signaling such as flares in case the radio equipment was destroyed by the new monsters, the Screamer type, but the fact that there was no contact from either side suggested that something was seriously wrong with them.

“In this situation, sending a reconnaissance party was a mistake.”

Colonel Kwak Sang-hoon, despite his rank of colonel, was treated as almost the same level as Kim Byeong-cheol, who wore the rank of general.

He is a government soldier.

Unlike the corps faction, which rushed to promote itself after the collapse of the South Korean government, government soldiers avoided promotions to the point of pathology.

Like fundamentalists of some religion, they clung to the ranks they had received during the time the South Korean government was in power as if it were their destiny.

Kwak Sang-hun, the most senior government officer, was also one of those class purists.

“It is very unfortunate, but I think it would be right to list the advance reconnaissance team as missing and call off the operation.”

Government forces had not been actively participating in the meetings until now, but as the visible danger loomed, they began to participate in earnest.

There may be several reasons, but the biggest reason is probably that they don’t want to be treated like a vassal of the Legion.

The government forces still regard the soldiers from the Legion faction as traitors or, worse, mercenaries, and, of course, they do not show even an iota of respect for Kim Byeong-cheol.

They don’t salute Kim Byeong-cheol.

Even the legionnaires look at them and ignore them.

I highly regard the patriotism and loyalty of the government forces, but personally, I find myself more in tune with the legionnaires.

“What do you think, Captain?”

The same goes for Kim Byeong-cheol.

“······We haven’t been able to contact them, but can we really say that there’s absolutely no chance they’re alive?”

The way we look at things is similar.

The reason is obvious.

I guess it’s because I’ve experienced similar things in similar situations many times.

Besides, this guy is a long-time user of Viva! Apocalypse!

Although he rarely posts, he says he keeps an eye on all the major issues.

He also said that he watched with great interest the “scholar” incident that has now become a legend.

It is said that he even exchanged messages with the scholar.

“I keep it a secret from you, daughter. Did you really say that there was a time when you almost got hurt and went to the hospital?”

An honest person like Kim Byeong-cheol generally has trust in others.

Rather than trusting a human being, it is about affirming the tenacity of human beings.

This is an objective fact already proven by our ancestors, that we humans are more persistent and stubborn than we can imagine.

On the other hand, the government forces’ thinking is human-to-human.

It remains a war of the past with few variables.

Let’s say, for example, that a reconnaissance unit goes out on a reconnaissance mission in a human-on-human war.

If that recon unit has lost contact with the enemy for over 10 hours, it might be a simple matter to consider that unit annihilated.

No matter how great a person is, if a bullet hits his body, he will die.

But monsters are different.

Colonel Kwak Sang-hoon may never understand, but the monster’s main enemy is always the Earth itself, the very planet we stand on.

They’ve only recently come up with a new species that can counter humans, but if you look at the large trajectory they’ve shown so far, what they want is the erosion of the entire Earth.

To them, humans are nothing more than a nuisance.

The background that allowed the birth of the Manryu Gwijong religion also included the monsters’ indifference toward humans.

“I will send a search party.”

Colonel Kwak Sang-hoon expressed his displeasure with my opinion, but did not express his opposition verbally.

In the Monster War, our department has the highest priority.

Woo Min-hee, sitting there with that strange smile on her face, gave me that power and responsibility.

Besides, the person who went missing in the operation area is a friend of mine.

Although he is not from the school, he is an elite hunter who has shown abilities comparable to those of a graduate of the school, and among the regular Awaken, he is Haru Lee who is particularly close to me.

If they died, it can’t be helped, but I don’t think they’ll die that easily.

If we can save him, it will definitely be a great help.

Above all, we must look at our enemies properly.

Since the appearance of the new type, presumed to be the Screamer, our eyes have been almost blinded.

The purpose of the reconnaissance party is also to secure this field of vision.

Human errors often occur when we are in a hurry or trying to do too many things at once.

Having a clear view will help reduce these situations.

The point is that someone has to do something.

“If that’s what you think, Captain, then I have no intention of raising an objection. However, as you know, in times of emergency, Hunter power is the only firefighter we can use. I am worried that we might lose that precious power by sequentially deploying it.”

Kwak Sang-hoon, who had taken a step back, seems to have gathered his thoughts and once again voices his opposing opinion.

I have no intention of ignoring or disparaging his opinions.

In some ways, his opinions may be very reasonable and valid.

But now it’s different.

He looked around and spoke quietly while everyone was watching.

“I will go.”

Naturally, Kwak Sang-hoon expressed his concerns.

“Is that okay?”

He nodded.

“I’ve completed 1,027 missions so far. I’ve only failed to return on time once, and I’ve never failed to return alive.”

It’s true.