Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 455



Only Noblemtl

455 181. Actor (2)

“Well, how should I put it? Yes, life. Life itself was a stage for me.”

This is what Shin Sang-jin said in an interview with a media outlet before the war.

He stared at the reporter with eyes filled with the strange joy he had shown me, and continued speaking in a heated tone.

“I will never stop acting as long as I live. Why? The vast world. The long, long life. It’s all a stage, and I’m an actor on that stage.”

The audience who heard those words clapped with sparkling eyes as if they were moved, but I was not sure.

I feel a strange sense of antipathy towards what Shin Sang-jin said.

As is often the case with these issues, the nature of the resentment is unclear.

Shin Sang-jin stubbornly refused to hand over the capsule.

“I’m not sure about that. It was definitely behind the house before. It suddenly disappeared.”

You can tell that he’s lying just by turning on his phone and reading his writing.

It’s not that I don’t understand the desire to deceive.

Among the numerous articles posted by Shin Sang-jin, the article with the capsule had a number of recommendations and views close to that of a popular article.

Most of them were mocking comments, but even those mocking comments were like rain in a drought to Shin Sang-jin.

“Sir, how many times do you want to be hit?”

Eventually, the Defender’s team members took appropriate action, discovered the capsule, and called in a regular Awaken to deal with it.

With that, the case seemed to be closed.

But the moment I saw the man’s eyes filled with joy as he looked at me, I had a feeling that something similar would happen again.

*

As expected, Shin Sang-jin quickly returned to our sight.

But the place he reappeared was neither the Internet nor the streets.

[Citizen Committee Candidate No. 172 Shin Sang-jin]

He appeared on the political scene.

Kim Da-ram, a candidate for the National Assembly, gave a brief explanation to a person who did not know much about the current election.

“Unlike before, there are no constituencies or anything. Naturally, there are no political parties. I don’t know how things will change in the future, but as things stand now, you have to register as a preliminary candidate. This isn’t easy either. Those who become preliminary candidates have to submit to the election management office proof that they have at least 100 supporters and that they have the organization or agency necessary for the election. If they have the required number of supporters and an election organization, then they become an official candidate. Of course, no one knows when or how it will change.”

100 supporters, organization needed for election.

Nowadays, it is rare to find someone who can satisfy these conditions.

In particular, the barrier of 100 supporters is high.

It’s probably a symbolic number.

People who are not properly organized should not rush in.

For your information, I am registered as one of Kim Da-ram’s supporters.

Anyway, Shin Sang-jin overcame the difficult conditions and became an official candidate.

“I guess it’s suspicious. That guy doesn’t have anything. Even I had a hard time getting 100 people. I had to bow my head and get the signatures of all the hunters at the academy who hate me, but that guy got 100 people to spring up out of the ground? No, shit······ Oh my······. Even with empty words, how many fans does that guy have left?”

As Kim Da-ram said, who barely held back his swearing for the sake of his child’s education, Shin Sang-jin does not seem to be an ordinary candidate.

“Isn’t he a government candidate?”

There are plenty of such government-sponsored candidates.

According to Kim Da-ram, out of the 181 candidates who have become official candidates so far, more than 100 are government-sponsored candidates.

More than half of them are government-sponsored candidates.

According to Kim Da-ram, everyone except himself is a puppet candidate.

But among those government candidates, there is a familiar name.

[Citizen Committee Candidate No. 151 Ha Tae-hoon]

I looked at the profile, thinking it must be someone with the same name.

“?”

It’s Ha Tae-hoon.

It’s definitely Ha Tae-hoon.

A single line written in the Hunter’s career history leaves no room for any other interpretation.

Ha Tae-hoon, who should have been in my bunker, suddenly became a candidate for the National Assembly.

“Huh. What is this? I think it’s Senior Ha.”

Although Ha Tae-hoon has expressed his intention to come to Seoul, I have never heard of him returning to Seoul.

Of course, it was the first time I heard that he was running for a citizen’s council seat.

We also found out about it for the first time after seeing the candidate announcement.

“That guy is also a puppet.”

Woo Min-hee, who had come to the office without me noticing, spoke coldly.

I have a way to check.

“······.”

Knock knock

SKELTON: (Skeleton) Long time no see! I have something to ask you! Urgent!

I sent a message to Rebecca and her daughter.

If you are a mother and daughter, you will know the most specific details about Ha Tae-hoon’s current situation.

After a while, a reply came from Suu.

A message from COOKIEMONSTER123: Skeleton, it’s been a while! How are you, my juicy baby?

SKELTON: Stop talking nonsense. What happened to Ha Tae-hoon? He suddenly became a candidate for the Seoul assembly.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER123: Huh? He went to Seoul, didn’t you hear? Not an armored vehicle, but a passenger car. Oh, my mom said it was a sedan. He was driving a sedan?

A message from COOKIEMONSTER123: He left us some sugar and some dried fruit (not juicy) and some protein blocks to thank us. Don’t tell Skeleton. He wanted to surprise him.

SKELTON: Really···?

Message from COOKIEMONSTER123: ? Why Skeleton? What’s going on?

SKELTON: No, nothing happened. How are you doing there?

A message from COOKIEMONSTER123: I hate seeing all these guys from Daegu coming here. I’m dying of rage. I almost shot one of them dead because he was wandering around at night. I should’ve shot him······.

SKELTON: (Skeleton sweating) Hold it in. Swoo.

Message from COOKIEMONSTER123: I heard they gather there and make strange devices. Why would they go there instead of just living here? (Swoo sighs)

It seems true that Ha Tae-hoon became a candidate.

I tried contacting them by walkie-talkie, but I couldn’t get through.

“······It’s all just something we do to make a living.”

Although Cheon Yeong-jae spoke nonchalantly, he couldn’t hide the bitterness engraved on his face.

Anyway, according to Kim Da-ram, among the candidates for government support, there are nobles and commoners.

Here, the nobleman is a person who has already been selected as a member of the National Assembly without having to do anything, and who has been clearly chosen by the Jeju government.

On the other hand, a commoner is someone who has been nominated but has an unknown chance of being elected, and is supported by the Jeju government but does not have full trust in it, so he or she has to run around on his or her own two feet to get elected.

It’s obvious what these lowlife candidates are doing.

“So you raped and killed them? Isn’t that obvious? You found a family that was living in hiding, killed all the men, raped the women, sold them to organ rackets or brothels, and took all the remaining supplies on your carts?”

In a public debate, Shin Sang-jin fiercely criticized one of the candidates.

The person I was criticizing was someone I knew, a friend who was more famous by his nickname “Min-sik” that he proudly boasted about rather than his real name, Lee Do-won.

People expected that he would easily become a citizen’s representative even before he set foot in politics.

He is the leader of a huge scavenger organization called the Gangsters, and has hundreds of members as well as a wealth of supplies equivalent to pre-war money.

A human being who, if he puts his mind to it, can create a powerful military force centered around dozens of elite fighters at a time.

Like many self-made people who remained on the mainland, Min-sik also detested the Jeju government, but there were many opinions that the government would not be able to do as it pleased him because it had such a strong power base and its economic role was significant.

In fact, according to Kim Da-ram, even the great Jeju government intentionally ignored Min-sik.

They don’t think they’ll get all the seats, but they’ve reserved one of the seats for Min-sik to give to the few citizens.

But, a master appeared for Min-sik and Do-won Lee.

It’s Shin Sang-jin.

“You thugs, you say. You’re called scavengers, but you know what you’re doing, right? You’re called a scavenger, what’s the difference between you and a looter? If you kill all the owners and take what you want, you’re a scavenger. Can you seriously put your hand on your heart and say that a looter like you can be a representative of the citizens?!”

Even without a microphone, Shin Sang-jin pressed Lee Do-won with a voice that resonated throughout the fairly large conference room.

Although he was witty, Lee Do-won was unfamiliar with the political scene and did not know how to speak fluently in public, so he was blushing and unable to say anything, just suppressing his temper.

“That guy.”

Woo Min-hee pointed to Shin Sang-jin on the monitor.

“Come to think of it, you also appeared in a courtroom movie, right?”

“It must be a movie called Killing a Duck.”

After a long time, Cheon Yeong-jae answered Woo Min-hee’s question.

As a man who was easy-going and tried to do everything that others did and everything that others liked, he was pretty familiar with the trends that were popular before the war.

But if he had some sense, he could have found a good woman like his nickname.

“Did you see that, senior? Killing a duck?”

“no.”

“What?! Really?! Tens of millions of people watched it. You didn’t see it?”

“I was busy building a bunker.”

“No, no matter what, it’s like that. Wow. Senior. I didn’t see that either.”

“······.”

Woo Min-hee was smiling.

It’s a cruel smile that was often shown in the past.

I asked him again out of curiosity what kind of sadistic thoughts he had.

“Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“ah.”

Woo Min-hee let out a shallow sigh and suppressed her smile.

“That guy. Wow, I think he’s brave.”

“bravery?”

“You punks shouldn’t mess with me.”

Woo Min-hee smiled bitterly again.

“They say that calling themselves gangsters has a historical origin, and I’m sure that’s true, but isn’t it true? They say, “Don’t mess with us because we’re real gangsters.” Isn’t that the sentiment of that generation? They want to seem easygoing and friendly, but they can’t stand having their pride pointed out.”

Woo Min-hee threatened retaliation.

It’s data driven.

I am also one of those who think that scavengers and looters are equal, but Woo Min-hee knows about the various incidents committed by scavenger groups.

A series of brutal acts committed against opposing scavenger groups as a deterrent, attack, retaliation, and warning.

Of course, as Shin Sang-jin said, scavengers can turn into either plunderers or slave traders at any time.

“······Don’t mess with gangsters unless absolutely necessary. That’s common sense.”

Hong Da-jeong presented another opinion.

Message from Defender: Jeju kids. Maybe you did it on purpose?

Message from Defender: You gave me a candidate who said you would give me a seat if I bit and defeated Minsik, but you didn’t say anything about what kind of person Minsik would do.

Message from Defender: So what the Jeju kids want is not for Shin Sang-jin to defeat Min-sik, but to provoke Min-sik so that he harms Shin Sang-jin.

A message from Defender: You don’t have to give a spot to a jerk like Shin Sang-jin, and you can also keep Min-sik in check, so isn’t it killing two birds with one stone? lol

I don’t want to believe it, but this seems close to the truth.

*

The second time I met Shin Sang-jin, I also broke my own identity.

I clearly said that I was the skeleton, Park Gyu.

Shin Sang-jin looked appropriately surprised, but he seemed to have anticipated this fact to some extent.

“Oh, that’s right. Somehow. I thought so. People have that kind of thing, you know? An extraordinary halo?”

Maybe even that is just acting.

I talked to him about the dangers of what he was doing.

The surface purpose is to protect Shin Sang-jin, but the hidden intention is to protect Min-sik.

Although Min-sik is a complex character in many ways, he is one of the few powerful figures resisting Jeju.

I thought I shouldn’t let him get caught up in something like this.

There is a way to meet him in person, but being famous is not necessarily a good thing, and each and every one of my actions can be reported to the Jeju Committee and provide an excuse.

“I know that too. Of course I know that. I’m not that stupid. As you may know, the entertainment industry is not structured in a way that stupid people can survive for a long time.”

Shin Sang-jin spoke as if he knew everything.

A kettle was boiling on the stove in the small room.

“Being an actor means you have to memorize the script. You have to memorize it until you die. That’s because they are people who memorize until they die. Do you think people who continue to memorize like that can be stupid?”

The kettle was emitting a hibiscus scent.

“I also know that I am a clown set up by the Jeju kids. I also know how dangerous this person named Lee Do-won is.”

“So are you quitting your candidacy?”

Shin Sang-jin shook his head firmly.

“why?”

He asks bluntly, with a clear expression of antipathy.

“I will continue.”

“You might be dragged away without anyone knowing, and not even be able to retrieve your body. I won’t just kill you. I’ll kill you slowly and painfully.”

“That sounds fun.”

A strange light flashed in Shin Sang-jin’s eyes.

“Tell him to try.”

“······.”

For a very brief moment, something inside me began to boil.

Perhaps the reason is connected to the inexplicable antipathy I felt before.

I think I have some idea what causes that resentment.

It’s still frozen, but I can feel it melting little by little.

“No one will protect you.”

Shin Sang-jin said.

“Even that might be a good play.”

“A good play?”

“You ask me why I work so hard? I can’t help it. I think the whole world is a stage.”

“······.”

Yeah. It was something like this.

“There is nothing that does not move on stage except the background and props. As long as there is constant movement, the person becomes an actor, and the scriptwriter of the world assigns the main role to one of the actors.”

But the information obtained from the cracks still remains in a coagulated state.

“No matter what role I play, I will move at the center of the stage. I will move and say my lines. No matter what happens to me, it is part of the play called this world. Even if the ending is a tragedy······.”

I asked him, half in joy and half in despair.

“Have you ever thought that there is someone who doesn’t like watching your stage?”

Shin Sang-jin’s smile disappeared.

He continued to speak.

“Isn’t it necessary to live as an actor? Is it such a bad thing to live as a prop or background?”

Shin Sang-jin chuckled.

He looked at me.

The moment I realized that the emotion in those eyes was sympathy, I thought there was no need to say anything more.

After a while, Shin Sang-jin disappeared as if by magic.

*

A body floated into the sea off Incheon.

The gruesome corpse, headless and with all its fingers cut off, was so badly damaged that it was impossible to identify its owner.

What’s even more tragic is that no one tried to find out who the body belonged to.

It was just a common prop from the Age of Destruction.