Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 406



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Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 406

164. Hypothesis (3)

A fleeing monster.

It’s a concept as foreign to me as a beatboxing monster, but as long as the thing is running away, speed is the key to the operation.

The fastest means of transportation we have available is a helicopter.

It’s a very attractive means of landing quickly and anywhere.

However, it is greatly affected by the pilot’s skill, is vulnerable to turbulence, and above all, the place we are going to is a battlefield.

Generally, what we Hunters refer to as a battlefield is not an area where two hostile military groups face off and engage in combat, as the world would say, but rather an area densely populated with a large number of combat-oriented monsters.

The fighting power of combat-type monsters is different from that of the small species we usually face.

They imitated human civilizations, especially weapons.

It would be suicidal to fly a helicopter into a battlefield filled with these combat-oriented monsters.

Among the combat types, there are several that are capable of anti-air attacks, and they also show a particularly strong aversion to flying compared to others.

Perhaps because of the bitter experience of being hit by swarms of drones used by the Chinese on the Chinese front, it is said that an anti-aircraft type called the Archer type has also been discovered in North America.

According to a U.S. report, an Apache helicopter firing Hellfire missiles from 10 kilometers away was destroyed with a single strike.

Armored vehicles aren’t easy either.

Not only is there a high risk of collision, but the road conditions are also very poor.

Because the presidential office was located in Yongsan, the most intense firepower was unleashed there during the war, and as a result, the terrain itself changed.

If you are driving, you may not be able to recognize the terrain and even find your way.

For similar reasons, tanks are also impossible.

Perhaps the reason Gong Kyung-min said that the mission was impossible was because the conditions were not favorable for utilizing the greatest virtue, speed.

But he is from Jeju.

As far as I remember, his hometown is Cheonan, but by today’s standards, he is a Jeju person, a somewhat different person from us.

He has no idea what happened on the Korean Peninsula after the war, what accidents, what happenings, what little emotions there were.

Does he know about public works? Does he know about lottery?

Do you know the pioneers and the anglers?

I’ll bet my internet account that he doesn’t know.

Of course, Dr. Emiris, not Skeleton.

Even people who know Seoul, even if they don’t live there, can easily tell that the Seoul government managed the subway, trains, and tracks more intensively than other areas immediately after the war.

The vast amount of material now stored in government warehouses in the area around The Hope, where we have now settled, was also concentrated through the tracks that were so secretly maintained.

With trade cut off and roads requiring more maintenance costs than expected, the Seoul government seems to have focused on a transportation system via rail.

It is said that the work that Defender, who participated in public service at the time and even won a lottery ticket, did was also track maintenance work.

“There was a track maintenance vehicle. We just picked up rocks, picked up debris, and cleaned up the area.”

In other words, the tracks are safer than the roads.

This is something that only I know and not Gong Kyung-min.

To make sure, Hong Da-jeong sent a drone.

As can be seen from her strange obsession with robot vacuums, Hong Da-jeong prefers drones that crawl on the ground rather than drones that fly.

She built a crude drone that traveled along the tracks, and Defender would lead a team to the tracks and attach the rail drone to check that the tracks we wanted to use continued to our destination.

The results were successful.

As we entered the monster dominion territory, the monsters destroyed the drones without fail, but we confirmed that the tracks had reached the intended location.

Just as important as the tracks themselves is the third means of transportation that moves along them.

That is, a train.

Min-sik, the leader of the most powerful gang in the new Seoul, reports the location of the abandoned train.

“There was a subway train that was pretty good. It was so good that it could run right away with just a little bit of maintenance.”

The reason why Min-sik, the scavenger, didn’t dismantle the subway can probably be found in his business methods.

Having used buses as a means of transportation and created “bus stops” accordingly, it seems that he next wanted to create a “station.”

“There are many areas where the rails are broken, but there are also many areas that are intact. Later, when the organization grows larger, I want to fill the subways with people like before and have them commute to and from work. Isn’t that exciting just thinking about it?”

Commuting to work on the Scavenger subway is something I couldn’t even imagine with my meager imagination, but it’s true that Min-sik provided a great deal of inspiration for this operation.

“I secured the train that Minsik mentioned.”

The Defender secured the train.

At this point, I went back to see Gong Kyung-min and talked about the detailed plan.

“What? You want to take the train?”

He nodded.

“Why the train?”

He asked again.

In this regard, I have once again repeated the advantages of trains that people have been talking about for a long time.

“Because I arrived on time.”

Gong Kyung-min let out a deep sigh.

“He’s not someone you can catch by catching up.”

He put a cigarette in his mouth.

“The support type is always followed by the combat type as escort. They are not the type that can be fooled by intimidation pranks. It’s impossible to even bring one regular Awaken with you. Do you know how many regular Awakens are deployed in a battle inside a rift where the combat type is squabbling?”

He thinks my plan is still not feasible.

But at least he didn’t point out the economic feasibility of the plan.

“I have an idea.”

When I answered while looking straight at him with a sharp gaze, Gong Kyung-min sighed and spoke while exhaling white smoke.

“······Do as you wish.”

There is one main reason why Gong Kyung-min approved the operation.

Unlike typical large-scale operations, there is little investment involved.

It does not require air support, artillery support, or military support.

All you need is some resources and engineers to repair and reinforce the trains, and soldiers to escort them.

And there is only one hunter team.

There has been a considerable demand for ammonia nitrate, which is used as fertilizer, and although it is not known whether it is a resource directly related to food, an excessive amount is stored in government warehouses.

It was when I was about to execute the operation with the above preparations.

An unexpected person joined the mission.

“Hey. Skeleton. Put me in too.”

It’s Mguda.

*

As the monster offensive began, Emgu’s recent sudden change of job to a reporter is something that users of Viva! Apocalypse! will be familiar with.

In fact, this friend’s writing is enjoyed by both our pure-blooded Vivarians and those coming from the Necropolis.

This is because Emgu used a vulgar strategy of subtly exposing Ji Young-hee, a resident of the same neighborhood – who had gained a lot of muscle on her arms.

According to Kim Da-ram, who recently started accessing the bulletin board, Emgu writes with a sense of humor, but I think that comes from Kim Da-ram’s lack of knowledge in the humanities.

Anyway, the reason why this named Hosooin, who is neither a soldier nor a hunter, suddenly participated in this important mission that could possibly determine our fate was largely due to the whims of a woman named Woo Min-hee, who is still incomprehensible.

“Why? You said you would let people know about our activities? You said you would personally step forward and give them hope because you couldn’t win over the people’s hearts if you just passively accepted it? If you’re going to let people know, wouldn’t it be common sense for someone famous to go with you and give you some confirmation?”

“What is Mgu famous for?”

When I protested to Woo Min-hee, she said what she wanted to say like a machine gun and hung up the phone.

He added one more thing there.

“I don’t know about anything else, but Mgu, you’re not the only one left, right?”

There won’t be any left.

But it’s been almost 6~7 years. We’ve been friends on the internet ever since we grilled meat and drank soju together at the now legendary Jonnaenon meat party.

“You could die.”

I warned Emgu.

Kim Da-ram, who was standing over there checking the equipment, looked at me with a face that said he was seeing me for the first time, but I tried to ignore him.

I turned my gaze back to Emgu.

Despite the life-threatening warning, Emgu smiled bashfully.

“Hey. Skeleton too. He knows better than anyone what kind of life I’ve lived.”

“······.”

I ignored it silently.

It is an expression of protest.

But then Emgu suddenly noticed and blurted out a word.

“You are the main character of this content.”

“?”

“I’m going to use you as the main character. Skeleton.”

“What does that mean?”

Emgu looked around and pointed to a corner.

Let’s follow him quietly. Emgu took out his cell phone and started talking while showing us a few short videos.

“I mean, I’ve been learning video editing skills and filming know-how from Dongtan Mom recently.”

“To Dongtan Mom? That person does something like that?”

“Dongtan Mom is a person too.”

“Is that person yum yum?”

“I get that you don’t like Dongtan Mom, but you have to admit that she’s one of the top class on our bulletin board when it comes to videos, right?”

To be honest, yes.

To be exact, I would say that Dongtan Mom’s wife is more talented than Dongtan Mom’s, but it must be fate that he met a good wife.

“Of course, it wasn’t easy to please that Dongtan Mom kid. He was so noisy. I wondered if he had a temporomandibular joint disorder. But I learned a few skills from him. To be honest, they weren’t that great. It was like a dickhead senior gritting his teeth and refusing to teach his junior something that wasn’t even a dick. I’m going to apply that in this content.”

“You know that a live apocalypse isn’t allowed, right?”

“Of course. We’ll edit it after filming.”

“edit?”

“Yeah. Editing. Oh, of course, you’re the main character. Skeleton. I saw you guiding artillery fire on the roof of our The Hope before, and even as a man, I thought it was cool. Really. This is a real man, yeah, a warrior-like feeling. Yeah? Warrior at the end of the century. Something like that.”

He crossed his arms and turned his head slightly to the side.

“······hmm.”

Emgu continued speaking, staring at me with his eyes half-closed.

“You know, it’s true that things are serious in our neighborhood these days, right?”

“That’s true.”

“As the reporter said, this city needs hope.”

“Did the reporter come out?”

I saw Mgoo.

Emgu nodded, smiling innocently.

“You only opened up to me. You know I’m a trustworthy man, right? But didn’t we talk about this before?”

I almost said, “That’s bullshit.”

“Since even reporters candidly open up to me about Seoul’s crisis, shouldn’t a cool guy like you, Skeleton, also open up? You’re supposed to be the best hunter in South Korea. How long should someone like that remain an unpopular user?”

“I’m an unpopular user?”

“How much longer can we live anyway? Maybe three more years? This is greed. Even if we survive, the others may all disappear. Even those successful American kids are being torn in half right now. The audience is shrinking!”

Emgu lightly tapped my shoulder.

“Skeleton.”

“······Hmm.”

“Let’s give it a try. Let’s do something really big this time. Okay? Didn’t we eat meat together at our regular get-together?”

If it were me in the past, I would never have let anyone who was irrelevant to the mission in, no matter what pressure was applied from above.

But I think everything changes.

There is some truth to what Emgu said.

What people need is hope.

It’s a world where even someone like Dongtan Mom can become famous just by being good at editing.

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that opportunities come when they come.

If you judge such an opportunity by judging right and wrong, that opportunity will soon disappear without a trace.

“······If that’s what you want.”

He reached out to Emgu.

Emgu took my hand.

Maybe it was because he had lived a long life like a gibbon in a slanted apartment, but his hands were stronger and calloused than mine, and that rough texture gave me confidence.

“For hope.”

Emgu chuckled.

“Yes, for the hope.”

*

An armored vehicle carrying four members of the Hunter Team plus one war correspondent crossed the bridge.

In the ruined area called Cheongnyangni, support teams that had arrived earlier were already waiting for us.

“Welcome, Skeleton.”

The defender at the forefront welcomed us.

“okay.”

I looked around.

There is a hint of erosion, but it is not completely gray-white.

A crouching figure with its eyes rolled back, half with the aura of erosion and half with the aura of gray concrete.

“I dipped my toes in the water a while ago when they were redeveloping here.”

The man driving the armored vehicle started telling me a story I wasn’t even asked about.

“It must have dragged on for another 10 years. But after all that fighting, we were happy that a new neighborhood was being built, and now it’s like this.”

Leaving the man’s words behind, we headed toward history.

The atmosphere was ominous.

Barricades were set up everywhere, as if to signal that a battle was about to take place, and skeletons were lying on the ground, frozen in the cold, unattended.

There seemed to have been an execution, as there were also corpses hanging from poles.

Defender was surprised to see it, and said that he was impressed not by the corpse itself, but by the height of the corpse, which was a whopping 10 meters.

Anyway, after passing through this ominous waiting room, the platform appeared.

The train is visible through a partition with a radiation hazard warning sign, probably installed in a corner to hide it from the public.

I saw it in the picture, but it was as expected.

The iron horse that once served as the citizens’ feet, transporting tens of thousands of citizens to work, home, or places of memory every day, was waiting for us with its heavy armor plates turned over, looking thick even to the naked eye.

Skelton Lake.

It is a weapon to kill the enemies of humanity that we are going to deal with today.

At that time, railroad engineers were testing the train.

Woooooooooooo—-

The original is an electric train, but it has a heavy engine sound.

Since there was no large amount of electricity supplied on the tracks, large-capacity generators were installed to run the trains on their own electricity.

In fact, they installed generators throughout one carriage and reinforced the engine unit, including those of the Chinese military, to bring the stalled train back to life.

Of course, since it is a hastily modified model, it has its drawbacks.

Because it generated electricity using low-quality fuel, acrid smoke poured out of the body like an old-fashioned steam locomotive.

Kim Da-ram, who had been silent, approached me with his arms linked.

I was waiting.

“Explain the operation.”

I paused for a moment.

Because MGO hasn’t started filming yet.

Emgu, who had finished preparing, gave his autograph.

Pointed to the train.

“That.”

He pointed to the passenger car behind the vehicle from which black smoke was pouring out.

It contains a large quantity of aluminum nitrate fertilizer.

Aluminium nitrate, which has strong explosive properties but is insensitive, was briefly used as a material for insensitive charges in the early days of Hunter weapons.

It was forgotten as newer charges were developed using more advanced chemical formulas, but is now used as a main ingredient in a makeshift anti-monster device called the Monster Punch.

“I’m going to get hit by that guy.”

My plan is simple.

We will push the train nonstop at once and blow it up along with the history of Seoul Station.

It would be quite spectacular.