Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 405



Only Noblemtl

Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 405

164. Hypothesis (2)

The reason why monsters cannot help but become the natural enemies of humans is because of their transcendent abilities, but the biggest difficulty is that they cannot be verified.

When a monster stops moving, it turns into particles of light.

Therefore, they do not leave behind any corpses or any clues that could reveal their true nature, such as corpses.

Humans have tried to learn about monsters by experimenting on zombies, mutations, and in some cases, humans themselves, but we have only discovered a very small number of them.

Nearly 20 years have passed since the monsters first appeared, but we still know nothing about them.

Are they animals, plants, something similar to the mycelium that has been trending on the internet recently, or are they some other form of being created by a completely different path than ours?

All we have discovered is that they use “unknown radio waves.”

Of course, there are people who know more than me.

This is evident from the fact that news of cracks closing is being reported from Jeju and other parts of the world.

But there is nothing open about this part and there is no way that information can be passed on to me.

Therefore, I have to fight them based on my own experiences and thoughts.

I suddenly had a thought.

General type.

That being, who has the intelligence that no one has ever hunted, is in some ways the greatest threat to humanity.

The Screamer type is also a literal “hard counter” that can turn the skills humans boast about into half-waste if you think about how to use it.

However, the numbers found are small.

It is a rarely reported entity, only mentioned in a few important documents.

Here I had one question.

The rift clearly has the ability to create an infinite number of monsters – I’ve actually seen it happen inside a rift – so why doesn’t the rift just mass produce these most efficient types?

If you put a bunch of those great general types and screamer types in each crack and mix in some medium-sized types, you could wipe out the barely hanging on human forces overnight. Why wouldn’t the cracks do that?

I know it’s contradictory and nonsensical to expect them to think like humans, but everything happens for a reason.

And we also know that every action of the monster, or rather the rift, has a purpose.

So I thought about it.

Maybe it’s a monster that can’t even create cracks easily?

The blood we regularly draw, the fingernails and hair we periodically cut, regenerate as much as is lost or cut, but just like organs such as the eyeballs do not grow back after they are lost.

I want to make sure that they have something important to them too.

The unidentified large species discovered at Seoul Station is the perfect prey to confirm this.

Of course, you need permission to hunt something like this.

Woo Min-hee was in a nursing home.

It may be hard to believe, but there is a nursing home in the new Seoul.

These are not the old people who were in Seoul.

They are all dead or gone now.

The elderly people in this nursing home are from Jeju.

They are the only group that accepted refugees from the nursing home that Woo Min-hee ran while she was in Jeju, as they were forcibly pushed out and rejected by Jeju.

Surprisingly, Woo Min-hee treated the elderly kindly, and the elderly seemed to like Woo Min-hee very much.

“Minhee. There’s someone over there.”

“Who is that person? My husband?”

“Hey. Minhee isn’t married yet.”

“Then are you my boyfriend?”

Amidst the healthy gazes of the elderly who were gaunt but had not lost their will to live, Woo Min-hee asked for their understanding and approached me.

“What happened? I heard you fainted yesterday. You should have taken it easy.”

It seemed clear that the older people were a good influence on her.

If you look at the shadow that was hanging over Woo Min-hee’s face, who was looking like he was going to die at the meeting, it has disappeared.

“I have something to tell you.”

It was snowing outside.

I spoke of my fleeting but perfectly organized thoughts as I watched the city fade away, each holding a steaming mug of mixed coffee in my hand, standing at the edge of a collapsed hotel.

“so.”

After listening to the entire story in silence, Woo Min-hee let out a shallow sigh along with white steam.

“You’re going to hunt that screamer thing?”

He nodded.

Woo Min-hee hesitated for a moment.

Because the things I asked for in order to hunt would also consume considerable resources for the new Seoul.

“······It’s something that must be done. For our sake and for the city’s sake.”

He emphasized the necessity.

I tried to persuade an individual named Woo Min-hee with the best logic and justification I could muster.

Woo Min-hee listened to me with a strange, mocking expression that was her trademark.

After the story was over, I saw her reaction.

There is no change in facial expression.

Did you fail?

The moment he guessed, Woo Min-hee burst into laughter.

“It’s just like senior Na Hye-in said.”

I looked at Woo Min-hee with a questioning look.

Woo Min-hee sprinkled the remaining coffee on the floor with a smile on her face.

The coffee, which had already cooled down, could no longer emit white steam and had already turned the snow piled up in the hallway coffee-colored, freezing along with it.

“My senior said so. Senior Park, you’re usually someone who doesn’t have even a nanogram of fun.”

“?”

“······It can’t be that fun when you come up with a strange plan and explain it.”

In the midst of the silent protest, Woo Min-hee let out a light sigh and stared into the distance with eyes that were softly shining.

“I finally had the same experience.”

She looked at me.

“Was it Zhangjiakou? That’s where my senior decided to capture the general type.”

He nodded.

“I wasn’t there at the time. I wasn’t supposed to be there. I wasn’t Awaken at the time either.”

Woo Min-hee slowly nodded, looking at the distant past that I probably didn’t know about.

“······This is what it felt like.”

“What are you muttering about that strange thing all this time?”

“just.”

Woo Min-hee turned around with a smirk.

“I can agree to the operation. But.”

Squeak–

The hooked fingers scratched the wall with a sharp sound for the first time in a while.

“There are people other than me whose consent I need to get.”

*

My position in the new Seoul is ambiguous.

They are called Captain, Captain, Mr. Park, etc., but I don’t know the exact title.

In a city that could collapse at any moment, it’s pointless to distinguish between such things, and since the work I do is already clearly defined, there’s no need to set up a proper job title.

One thing is certain: no matter what I’m called, I will be deciding all policies regarding monsters in the new Seoul.

Therefore, anything that goes beyond that is not under my jurisdiction and is something I cannot touch.

For example, politics.

“That was a hasty decision made the day before yesterday.”

A government official with a familiar face spoke with a puzzled expression about the major changes taking place in the new Seoul that I had no knowledge of.

“Yes. A new market has been created.”

My classmate, Gong Kyung-min, was elected as the new mayor of Seoul.

There were unavoidable circumstances.

As shells were used up faster than expected and rationing was continued in an attempt to appease the citizens, the city’s resources were rapidly depleted and it was calculated that it would not be able to last until the next spring.

Food is a secondary issue, and without shells you can’t stop the oncoming monsters.

Of course, there are ways in which we can hunt with our lives at stake, but it is not the common infiltration-small-scale warfare mop-up warfare.

Combat type – Medium-sized, and must engage in head-on combat against multiple opponents.

What this means is that casualties are not an option.

Perhaps, Woo Min-hee’s mental problems, which I have been keeping an eye on, may be the main reason for her ceding power.

In any case, Gong Gyeong-min – the governor of Seoul according to the expression of the existing bureaucracy – is said to have a firm grip on the distribution of resources, although he does not have full authority.

I decided to meet him.

As if to suggest that he was an alien entity within the new Seoul, Gong Kyung-min’s workplace was located in an old high school building, far from the other government buildings clustered around The Hope.

“How did you come here?”

A man in his early twenties, wearing a military uniform and something else, was a sign that I had come to the right place.

I showed him the letter I received from Woo Min-hee.

“Please come inside.”

Gong Kyung-min knows I’m coming.

You must have already been contacted in advance by Woo Min-hee.

He was in a room with a sign that looked like it could fall down at any moment: “Principal’s Office.”

When the Jeju side attendant knocked on the door, a familiar voice was heard from inside.

“Tell them to come in.”

This is Gong Kyung-min’s voice.

I was prepared.

Although meeting him was as awkward as him seeing me, I made up my mind.

At least as long as I am in my position, as long as the city needs me, I will keep my position.

The old principal’s office was filled with the stuffy warmth of the steam radiator and the dizzying steam.

In the center of it all, Gong Kyung-min was sitting on a leather chair, turned around so that only his back was visible, and staring out the window.

The door is closed.

Gong Kyung-min did not turn his chair.

Therefore, I cannot see his face.

All I can see is a fair amount of gray hair growing on the sides of his head.

“······.”

Is he getting older too?

This guy, who had the youngest hobbies and most childish behaviors among us.

“I read the plan.”

Gong Kyung-min spoke as if he was trying to build a wall.

I waited for him to speak with my mouth shut.

“You’re going to catch the Screamer?”

Did this guy know?

A new type of information that neither I nor Woo Min-hee knew about.

Gong Kyung-min burst into laughter.

“Have you heard of the support type?”

“no.”

I knew what he was trying to say, but I spoke honestly.

I understood the concept, but it was something I didn’t know about, something that didn’t exist when I was active.

I admit to my long hiatus.

Gong Kyung-min continued to speak while only showing his back.

“This is the type that doesn’t participate in battles. It’s literally the type that only supports monsters in battles.”

As expected, it was as expected.

It was too transparent.

“It’s hard to catch them. If there’s even the slightest hint of something suspicious, they’ll kick them out. They also have a lot of escorts.”

Squeak-

Gong Kyung-min turned his chair.

It was the first time I made eye contact with him.

You’ll understand when you look closely.

This guy.

I’ve grown old.

He must have lived the same amount of time as me, but his face looked as if he had lived twice as long as I had.

“It’s a plan destined to fail.”

Gong Kyung-min continued speaking, his teeth clenched, filled with resentment, anger, and countless other emotions that I probably had hidden deep inside.

“I cannot approve a plan that will only result in loss.”

Suddenly, Kim Da-ram’s words came to mind.

She used to tell me in the past that I don’t age.

I knew it.

That I was living leisurely in my own paradise, completely free from stress.

But that doesn’t mean that a successful Internet life is easy.

That place is just as harsh as reality.

Viva! Apocalypse! is cold.

“······I have a plan.”

He opened his mouth and looked straight at Gong Kyung-min.

Gong Kyung-min answered immediately.

“It’s hard to think back to the days of China. Unlike there, resources here are limited and people are finite. Just because it’s Jeju doesn’t mean everything is abundant. It’s already been four years since the war started. It’s a miracle that we’ve survived until now.

South Korea is a divided nation, so its ammunition stockpile is dozens of times larger than that of some advanced countries, and the incompetent president has hoarded resources in a pathological manner, so it has managed to survive to this point.

Do you know the situation in Japan? There, people are eating people. It’s a typical ending that you see when a country that maintained its population by force collapses.”

Gong Kyung-min’s words were filled with desperate emotions, despair, and pathological weariness, as if he was spewing out his true self.

I definitely understand.

He has his own circumstances.

He wants to reject my plan not only because of his resentment and antipathy towards me, but also for practical reasons.

“If resources are the problem, I will make an estimate.”

But I remember.

“If personnel is the problem, I will make a detailed plan.”

My classmate, Gong Kyung-min.

“······And I will stake my name on it.”

was my biggest supporter.

Even as our hunter fell endlessly with the prefix “Old” hanging on, Gong Kyung-min believed in me.

“Your call sign has no value now, Professor.”

Gong Kyung-min said coldly.

Did it fail?

no.

The drooping corners of the mouth, as if stained with the sorrow of the years, are opening again.

“Bring me a detailed proposal.”

Knock knock-

Gong Kyung-min turned the back of the seat again.

“I will look at that and reexamine it from the beginning.”

It’s been 7 years since our relationship ended.

Gong Kyung-min still supports me.

*

The concept of running away is a very foreign concept to monsters.

Who would have imagined that man’s natural enemy, which does not even know death or fear because it is not even alive, would run away from man?

But there is always a possibility.

Monsters, or rather cracks, have a tendency to mimic the Earth in real time, especially the most troublesome of them, humans.

It has a different perspective from us and is watching everything that happens in the human group that opposes it.

Humans aiming guns, tanks firing cannons, bombers bombing from the distant sky, and even a command center supporting and controlling all of these combat units from the rear.

Hunting this fleeing monster is no easy task.

First of all, I am grateful for my past.

“Skeleton~. Are you really dating the chief? No? Is it just a rumor? No, leaving a peerless beauty like me······.”

“Hey. Be careful. If the chief hears, you won’t die nicely.”

“······Director, your skin is still so pale, you look like a baby.”

The Defender siblings, who almost ended up in mutual murder, are now my strongest allies.

Hong Da-jeong, who is well-versed in drones, may not be a peerless beauty, but she is a versatile beauty.

Her drone provided me with the information I needed to plan my ideal infiltration and operation, and the Defender secured a safe route to where I needed to deploy her drone.

bang!

“Youngjae. What are you talking about? I thought I just heard gunshots.”

“It’s nothing. It happens all the time.”

Cheon Yeong-jae, who always tried to test me by checking on me, is now a man I can trust without a doubt.

He is on his way to meet the remnants of the Chinese army for this operation.

“By the way, why do the Chinese have train parts? There’s no reason for them to have them.”

“There might be some guys who collected all kinds of engines to go on a boat. They used to have it on their list of goods when they were doing business.”

“Hasn’t it already been sold?”

“No, no one will buy that.”

Of course, it’s not always a smooth relationship.

“Haa······. Should I go too?”

“I should go. Isn’t Gong Kyung-min already doing his job? Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to have some achievements to set up a shield when they mess around?”

“That is true, but.”

Even though he still grumbles, Kim Da-ram is still my most trustworthy teammate.

“Captain. Just tell me. I’ll be there any time.”

“Can I go this time?”

“······I’m not so scared of the battlefield anymore.”

Of course, the regular Awakens also share my views.

With their help, I will challenge myself to hunt.

We will prove our worth.

Let us know that there is hope for us.