Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 407



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Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Episode 407

164. Hypothesis (4)

There is nothing more precious than life.

I detest the old-fashioned mentality and spirit of sacrifice.

But there are many things in the world that require someone to risk their life to do.

Even just working on a construction site or driving a truck puts you at thousands of times more risky than someone comfortably surfing the internet in their living room.

Our hunters were the closest to death, both before and after the war.

However, just because you are close to death doesn’t mean you should take death for granted.

Accepting death easily just because you’re doing something close to death is no different from telling someone who administers poison to drink it as if it were natural.

The closer you are to death, the more you must cherish your life.

All of our jobs involve risking our lives, but some missions are particularly dangerous.

This applies when the difficulty of the prerequisite tasks to be resolved in the mission is high, the type of enemy and type faced are much more dangerous than usual, the terrain or environmental factors are unfamiliar to us, or the goal is set to be unrealistic.

As a team leader, most of these tasks fell under my control.

The fact that I usually kept my distance from the Chinese people worked to my advantage when drawing this line.

Other team leaders who had been on friendly terms with the Chinese took on dangerous missions at the earnest pleas of their close Chinese military officer friends and were wiped out.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve taken on all the dangerous missions.

There were missions that were risky, but worthwhile, and that only we could do.

When undertaking such a high-risk mission, as much effort was put into persuading team members as into planning.

In my experience, appeals to emotion or promises of huge rewards for successful missions are not very effective.

The reason team members are indifferent to high-risk missions is because the chances of death are high.

So, to convince them, we have to make them realize that although it is risky, if they open the lid, there is a higher chance of survival than they think.

Of these persuasive methods, the one I found most interesting was the presentation of the survival method.

How do you come back alive?

This can be thought of as similar to the collateral that banks require from borrowers when lending money.

I, too, have had to provide collateral several times when taking out loans.

From the bank’s perspective, it is the most reliable answer to the question of how to collect the debt when I do not pay back the money.

Although I didn’t end up paying it back, I think money and human life are different.

Rattling- rattling-

The train is moving.

The train is heading to Seoul Station at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

Before the war, it took a long time to get from Cheongnyangni to Seoul Station, but now it is a breeze.

Because there are no stations in between.

However, there are points where you have to stop for no reason.

It is located 1.1km away from Seoul Station.

At this exact point, Hong Da-jeong’s drone contact was lost, and we had to reconnoiter from that point.

The most important thing is whether the Screamer type is still in Seoul Station.

Three days ago, a high-altitude drone captured footage of a whitish object believed to be a Screamer.

Considering that monsters tend to stay in one spot without moving once they’ve settled in, it seems likely that they’ll still be there.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to just bombard them?”

Kim Da-ram is still very dissatisfied with my plan.

It feels like a human crisis for her as a senior and team leader to hear someone she knows say such things, but Emgu’s camera is filming us.

I mentally calculated the angle between the camera and my face, stood in the optimal position, and explained in a calm tone.

“It would be nice if we could catch it with that. But if we can’t catch it with artillery fire, it’ll go somewhere else and hide. That means we could lose sight of the one we absolutely must catch forever.”

That’s the general type.

How much bombing and shelling there was before we were deployed.

That’s why they brought us in.

Because in the world reflected in the eyes of a monster, we and our shelling would be threats of a completely different nature.

“As you know, difficult missions often end surprisingly easily.”

That’s how the world works.

You have to try something.

Sometimes things that seem difficult are easily solved, and sometimes things that seem easy end up giving you a headache.

Luck may be a factor, but I think one’s attitude toward the task is also an important factor.

Because it is a difficult task, we examine it from various angles, think about it, and after much thought, come up with a solution.

If that works out, it could end absurdly easily, just like I said to Kim Da-ram.

Of course, there are times when things don’t work out.

That’s when we need to come up with Plan B.

To run away without looking back.

At the rear of the train is another power generator and a driving car.

Disconnect from the vehicle containing the explosives and use the rear vehicle to go back the way you came.

“I don’t think the monsters have noticed yet.”

The regular Awaken member who joined today is Kim Hanna.

Although she was treated as a burden among the regular Awakens, she is the most battle-tested veteran among the regular Awakens in the new Seoul.

She had a debt of gratitude, but she stubbornly insisted on this operation and chose it.

As a veteran of the cracks, she knew concepts I didn’t.

“I’m not on guard yet.”

Just as humans maintain different levels of alertness depending on their perceived level of danger, it seems that monsters also maintain similar levels of alertness.

This tendency is not seen in the individual monsters we deal with, but it seems that the monsters in groups have a kind of boundary network shared with the entire group.

Here, let’s borrow Kim Hanna’s words.

“Monsters also tend to react and move in groups when the danger level increases. They also have their own danger levels. Shells and missiles are representative examples. They also react very sensitively to aircraft and drones.”

“People?”

Cheon Yeong-jae suddenly asked.

Kim Han-na gave Cheon Yeong-jae a look of uncertainty as if she was still unfamiliar with him, then answered in a small voice.

“People don’t seem that scared. They seem to react a little to people with guns, but inside the rift, most of them are medium-sized or larger.”

I’m talking incoherently, but I guess what I’m saying is that people with guns are a good thing.

This time I asked Kim Hanna.

“What about Awaken?”

The Awaken we are talking about here is, of course, the Awaken that can cause waves.

The color drained slightly from Kim Hanna’s face.

A flash of fear crossed her eyes.

When I tried to withdraw my question, she spoke first.

“······Ask.”

Kim Han-na’s gloved hands tightly grasped the hem of her coat.

“Ask who we are.”

“They are talking to you?”

“No. It’s not that they talk to us like that, but it feels like that. I’m not the only one who thinks that way. All the kids who went in with me said the same thing.”

Kim Hanna’s complexion gradually worsened.

He nodded and waved his hand.

This means that the story ends here.

I asked Kim Hanna as I watched the team members who had gathered for a moment return to their respective seats.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Kim Han-na forced a smile and pointed to the tactical radio-like equipment she was carrying on her back.

“I can hold out since I have NP equipment.”

“You will not be involved in this operation.”

“Still, I want to help you, Captain.”

“I appreciate your kind words, but I’m not the type of person who needs help.”

That is true.

A situation where help is needed is when something cannot be resolved through my own efforts.

Of course, there are situations where you need help from others, but not this time.

The plan is perfect.

“It’s a monster control zone.”

Kim Da-ram looked out the car window and spoke coldly.

A gloomy world, half-tinted in gray, spread out outside the window.

I can’t give an exact figure for the extent of erosion north of the Han River, but the extent of erosion that I can see is about 35%.

Although considerable erosion has occurred, turning some areas grayish-white, some areas still retain their original color.

This may be because Seoul survived for quite some time after the war, and the lighthouse played a big role even when Seoul was destroyed.

If not, we might have been seeing the area south of the Han River dyed gray.

The area around Seoul Station has been maliciously eroded in a wide range and dense manner.

As if the area around there were some sort of intermediate base for them.

It is unknown how many monsters are found there due to the vast ruins left by the war, but continuous reconnaissance has confirmed that various types of combat-type monsters, such as the Annihilator type, Centurion type, Phalanx type, and Harvester type, are setting up camp.

A head-on confrontation with a combat monster built to break through the kill zone in front of the rift is suicidal.

This means that the light tactical unit called the Hunter Team is not an enemy that can be dealt with.

Fortunately, our Skeleton ship will probably be free from their threat.

Because the tracks we use are subway tracks.

According to Hong Da-jeong’s reconnaissance, no traces of monsters or the disgusting structures they create were found up to 1.1km to Seoul Station.

Now, that unconfirmed and unexplored point awaits us.

“Speed ​​control. I’ll stop.”

Cheon Yeong-jae decided to control the train.

Even though he may not be popular with the girls, he is smart and learns quickly, so he is perfect for the job.

As previously agreed, the train stopped 3km in front of Seoul Station.

Hong Da-jeong took out the stupid drone she made.

As the name Mongteongguri suggests, it is closer to an automatic machine than a drone. It is a shopping cart modified to run on rails and equipped with a wired camera and electric device.

I attached it to the rail and pushed it forward with all my might.

Knock knock-

The dumb drone quickly glided along the rails, then slowed down and drifted away from our sight at a languid pace, relying on its own clockwork power.

A cable connected to the drone transmitted information to us in real time.

“It’s so fucking slow.”

Kim Da-ram grumbles again, but now even Kim Han-na ignores him.

That means he grumbled that often.

Emgu doesn’t even take pictures of Kim Da-ram.

Even though I told him not to take pictures, Emgu noticed it too.

What I’m saying is that my junior, Kim Da-ram, is a very poor person.

I don’t bring people around because I like them.

Because he’s so good and we’ve been working together for a long time, we just keep bringing him around like we’re eating mustard while crying.

Even if Defender was half as big as Kim Da-ram, I would have taken Defender with me.

If that guy had spent his time killing people and doing image training on monsters instead of studying how to kill, wouldn’t the future have been a little different?

“Oh, I’m so upset.”

The camera arrived at its destination while everyone was ignoring Kim Da-ram.

The most important task has been solved.

The tracks are connected.

Moving on to the next step.

“Get off.”

Direct reconnaissance.

This is the most difficult step.

*

Jerk- Jerk-

In the Age of Destruction, subway tracks mean both life and death.

Just as the word “rail” includes a path, subway tracks, which are relatively safe from external dangers, can be a path of life connecting places, but they can also be a place of death where lives and other living or non-living things fight for their lives.

In the case of Seoul Station, it doesn’t seem like there are any students or teachers.

It’s a complete mess.

There is nothing.

This is an area that was completely emptied immediately after the war and was not used by people even after the Seoul government began restoration work.

That’s probably because the railroad bridge south of Seoul Station was cut off during the war, effectively turning this area into a dead end.

No matter how poor a person is, he or she does not settle in a dead-end place that has been abandoned by humans and is at risk from biochemical and radioactive residue.

In fact, there are radiation hazard warning signs installed by the former Seoul government all over the railroad tracks.

Only scavengers would bother to seek out places like this.

“What about the radiation levels?”

To be on the safe side, he gave Kim Hanna the radiation testing equipment.

“It’s okay. It’s a little high, but it’s within the acceptable range.”

The reason she was given the radiation equipment is not only because she is a non-combatant, but also because she has a stronger concern about radiation than we, who lived in a neighborhood that was hit by a nuclear bomb.

I don’t think there’s anything more reassuring than numbers.

“Fork in the road.”

Kim Da-ram said, glaring into the darkness.