Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 458



Only Noblemtl

458 183. Pine tree

I don’t like pine trees that much.

There is no special reason or trigger.

It’s just that I started to hate it because of something so trivial, something I don’t even remember, and it’s continued until now.

If I had to find a reason, it would be that the leaves that resemble thorns, the pine cones that resemble grenades, and the stinky, sticky resin that oozes from the cracked bark are all against my taste.

A pine tree was planted in the center of the newly opened city square.

They say it was brought all the way from Namsan.

People were muttering that it was a lie.

Because the inside of the Sadamun Gate was hit by a powerful nuclear attack and Namsan was completely burned down to the point where only ashes remained.

It is true that we were hit by a nuclear attack.

But that nucleus was not necessarily the powerful strategic nucleus that we imagine would return civilization to its starting point.

The Chinese military alternately used tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

This could have caused confusion for the South Korean government, which was trying to cope with the situation while sparing strategic nuclear weapons that cost a significant amount of money.

In the areas hit by nuclear weapons, everyone thought they had been hit by strategic nuclear weapons and they were quick to demand more supplies and relief.

Surprisingly, the number of strategic nuclear weapons that fell on Korea is not that large.

The strategic advantage of South Korea as a land bridgehead that could threaten Beijing has lost its meaning as the link to North Korea has been eroded and even Beijing has fallen into the hands of the Cracks, and its position as a supply base and unsinkable aircraft carrier has also been pushed down in priority in favor of more important strongholds such as Okinawa and Taiwan.

The main target of the Chinese military is Taiwan, and the places where the most strategic strikes were carried out are the United States, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, in that order. In Korea, the places that were hit by strategic nuclear weapons are Busan, Daegu, and the neighborhood next to my bunker.

Of course, because nuclear weapons come in so many different types, some people claim that a semi-strategic nuclear weapon hit Seoul.

I was able to learn these facts later through materials released by the remnants of the Chinese military.

You’d know if you were hit by a nuke.

Anyway, when China attacked with a nuclear weapon, many of the pine trees on Namsan were burned to ashes.

However, perhaps because the power of the nuclear attack was weak, some pine trees survived, endured the two harsh winters and erosion, and were moved to the new center of Seoul.

Hong Da-jeong is said to have been hospitalized.

They say it’s not a serious illness, but at this point, it would be hypocritical to pretend not to know.

“Is there something wrong with your body?”

I asked the defender who was sitting with me.

He sat there silently, lost in thought, then nodded with a shallow sigh.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s a minor illness. It’s just a problem that requires frequent management.”

I saw a pine tree absentmindedly.

“okay.”

I looked at my cell phone.

There was a text.

Jeon Si-Hoon: Okay. Where should I watch it?

Five years have passed since the war began.

Although much has changed, change never stops.

I saw the pine tree again.

“······.”

I think I like pine trees now.

I still feel aversion to the thorny leaves and the unique pine scent, but its unchanging appearance aligns with my small wish.

*

Message from CrungchRoll: That guy Jeon Si-Hoon?

The one who knows Jeon Si-hun better than I do is King, the ruler of Sejong.

Objectively, my relationship with Jeon Si-hun is temporary.

We’ve never had a deep conversation and we’ve never worked together in the same place.

All I can offer him is that I helped him out of danger.

But one-sided help and grace and knowing about that person are two entirely different things.

Message from CrunchRoll: He wasn’t a bad guy to begin with. If he was, I would’ve killed him a long time ago.

A message from CrunchRoll: He may not be a sassy guy, but he was raised well and is educated. He has strong opinions and is stubborn as hell, but at least he’s more human than a psychopath like IAMJESUS.

Message from CrunchRoll: But hasn’t it been a while since he came back to Seoul? He never once looked for that cult girl.

Message from CrunchRoll: Honestly, she’s not that pretty. But you’ve been living together for months, bumping into each other. And that’s at a time when every sight you see as a teenager is engraved forever.

A message from CrunchRoll: I don’t know what that guy looks like now.

A message from CrunchRoll: Everyone changes.

Message from CrunchRoll: But I don’t think I should blame him even if he’s not the same person I knew. You and I are both changing, right? Aren’t we? LOL

To paraphrase King’s advice, he used to know something about it, but now he doesn’t know how it’s changed?

Similar opinion.

Although Jeon Si-hoon had a stubborn and stubborn personality, he had much higher moral standards and internal standards than the human garbage that we often see.

But the truth that came out was well.

The truth may be different from the facts, but it does not point in a good direction.

Jeon Si-hoon belongs to a third faction that is neither the mainland faction nor the Jeju government faction, known as the “Kang Han-min Group.”

When we met the other day, he gave off the impression that he was distancing himself from Kang Han-min, but it is clear that he is acting in concert with Kang Han-min’s faction.

In fact, the place where we met was one of the buildings managed by the Kang Han-min faction.

For unknown reasons, the Kang Hyeon-min faction tended to renovate abandoned high-rise buildings in Seoul and use them as hideouts.

Just like Kang Han-min, Jeon Si-hun also had his base in a high-rise building less than 100 meters away from Kang Han-min’s building.

Jeon Si-hoon’s building was in a much worse state of disrepair than Kang Han-min’s building, with the steel frame inside clearly visible, like a corpse with its bones exposed. The elevator it was using was not the one inside, but an external elevator used at construction sites.

Unlike Kang Han-min, there was no one to protect him.

All it took was a middle-aged man who seemed to have been hired temporarily to ask for my identity and operate the elevator.

“Oh! Hunter Park Gyu!”

Jeon Si-hun’s office was literally a reproduction of a large corporate office before the war.

Clean white paint, desks that are divided into partitions but do not look cheap, laptops, magnetic nameplates, and people who are each looking at their screens and tapping away at something.

Few people know what they do.

They are an organization independent of the government.

It is true that we receive supplies from the government, but we are outside of government control.

All we know is that Kang Han-min and his followers are active in the Paju Gyeol area.

Kang Han-min’s supporters are saying that Kang Han-min will close the Paju rift following Jeju, but I’m not sure.

That’s something we need to check from now on.

“Please sit here, Hunter Park Gyu. I was going to come see you anyway, but I just don’t have the time.”

Jeon Si-hun, who had completely lost his boyish demeanor, responded favorably to me throughout.

But even such consistent goodwill is now difficult to accept at face value.

“Do you know Yoo Jung-woo?”

He spoke in a quiet tone in the conference room where only the two of them were present.

It was a small voice, but the meaning contained within it must have been sharp.

It is clear when you see Jeon Si-hoon’s smile break for a moment.

“What is your intention?”

Jeon Si-hoon tried to bring it up again, but it didn’t come out well, so he forced a smile and asked back.

“I heard that someone ordered Yoo Jung-woo to carry the capsule.”

There might have been a way to bring up the topic more gently and moderately.

But my patience is pretty worn out from practicing such methods.

I feel sorry for Jeon Si-hoon, but he was patient enough with Kang Han-min.

Of course there is insurance.

That insurance is none other than Kang Han-min.

I made a reservation.

A subordinate cannot treat the leader’s guests carelessly.

There are also other secondary insurances.

I entered the building, but outside the building, my allies, including Defender and Cheon Yeong-jae, are waiting for me to return.

If I don’t come back, wouldn’t you be able to get your own revenge?

Even if you’re Awaken, there’s only so much you can do inside a collapsing building.

“hmm.”

Jeon Si-hoon’s expression changed.

He no longer smiled.

He kept pouting and mumbling incomprehensible words to himself, and repeatedly raised and lowered his eyebrows in a meaningless gesture.

After a while his gaze turned to me.

“So you want to tell me that I ordered someone called Yoo Jung-woo or something to carry the capsule?”

He shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t really intend to make a fuss about it.”

“Then?”

“I want to hear why you ordered such a thing, if there was any intention behind it.”

“If it wasn’t me who did it, could you stop telling this story?”

We’ve heard it said time and time again that as generations get younger, they become less patient, but that’s definitely not the case.

Of course, this kind of reaction was expected in advance.

The corresponding response is .

There is no need to talk to someone who doesn’t even want to talk to you.

Anyway, I have a final negotiator in the form of Kang Han-min.

“If you don’t want to talk, just stop.”

I saw him.

A face that still shows resentment.

“I’m sorry, but I feel like the mood has already gotten a little crazy today. It’s a little early, but should we end our conversation here for today?”

Jeon Si-hoon said nothing.

I got up from my seat.

“Hunter Park Gyu.”

He called me the day he was about to leave.

“Mr. Park Gyu Hunter, what do you think about the current situation in Seoul, or rather, in South Korea?”

Turned around.

I saw an empty seat, but I didn’t sit down.

It suddenly occurred to me that this was a story I had to stand and listen to.

When I look at his determined face and the voice that somehow feels confident.

“What are you asking for my opinion on?”

“Just. Overall. So, is it going well right now or is it five minutes before the mess?”

“It’ll be close to five minutes before the game starts.”

Jeon Si-hoon was delighted.

After mentioning Yoo Jung-woo, his face, which had been frozen coldly, briefly returned to the face I remembered.

“Do you know about the Jeju Committee, Mr. Park Gyu Hunter?”

He nodded.

Jeon Si-hun sighed and stroked his chin.

“They were given power at an exquisitely lucky time, and through that power, they gained power. Personally, I think they are really insignificant people, but I think they have an outstanding ability to use their wits to maintain power.”

I was sparing with my words.

Perhaps these words are also leading questions.

Silence is usually golden.

“Those people are still playing around, aren’t they? And with that little bit of power, they’re trying to play around with the fate of our people, who have little left?”

But judging by the increasingly heated tone, it seems like this side will have to open its mouth soon too.

He looked at Jeon Si-hoon, who was demanding an answer, and answered calmly.

“So what are you trying to say?”

Jeon Si-hoon smiled.

I can’t say I know him very well, but he said it with a meaningful smile that I had never noticed before.

“Hunter Park Gyu. No. The legendary Skeleton. The first general-type defeater. I think it would be shirking his responsibility for someone like that to just sit back and do nothing in this chaotic situation.”

“You know I’m in room 803, right?”

“Hunter Park Gyu. No, you’re called the captain here, right? The captain can ask for more. He can speak louder. He deserves it. Jeju’s hero is Kang Han-min, but the new savior of Seoul is Captain Park Gyu.”

“······.”

For a brief moment, the face of the boy Jeon Si-Hoon that he remembered from before overlapped faintly in Jeon Si-Hoon’s eyes.

At that time, the boy was talking about his role model, Kang Han-min, with a respect that was like faith.

A similar light could be found in the eyes of a young man who had grown taller.

Yes, that’s right.

It’s respect.

No, it’s something similar.

Like a longing or a mirage.

“Captain Park Gyu must act. He must act on behalf of all of us.”

There is definitely power in that voice.

It has the power to draw people in.

Hero of the promised age.

Who could refuse a man who has a handful of ambition in his heart?

But I am Park Gyu-da.

Park Gyu is a professor and also a skeleton.

So, it means that he is already a hero.

“I think it’s fine the way it is.”

“Are we going to watch the committee wield its power as it pleases again?!”

A thunderous roar echoes throughout the conference room.

It was a loud enough scream that you might have thought a shock wave had burst out.

He continued speaking in a voice smaller than the echo of the castle.

“······I also promised to talk to Kang Han-min on Friday.”

As expected, the brief glimmer of respect in Jeon Si-hun’s eyes quickly fades away.

“The captain.”

What fills that void is undoubtedly disappointment.

“······It’s changed.”

“In what sense?”

He asked in a tone so cold that even I was surprised.

Jeon Si-hun said in a tone that contained his emotions.

“Captain, you didn’t have any position at the time, but didn’t you come to rescue me from the dangerous erosion zone with the intention of closing the Jeju Crack?”

“My heart hasn’t changed at all since then.”

Jeon Si-hun shook his head with a bitter smile.

He got up from his seat and left first.

At that moment, I thought of the two pine trees standing in the square.

*

“How was it?”

Defender and Cheon Yeong-jae greeted me.

I can feel the gaze of the Defender team members hiding in the ruins with various heavy weapons.

“······Nothing happened.”

Nothing has been explicitly confirmed.

The identity of the culprit who sprayed the capsules, and the purpose and intention of Jeon Si-hoon and his colleagues.

But I knew what they were thinking.

I briefly explained to my close colleagues what had happened in that building.

Cheon Yeong-jae tilted his head and asked.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

The defender shook his head.

“It’s like a poisoned chalice.”

“So isn’t that a good thing?”

“Do you want Senior Park to die?”

“No, that’s not it. To be honest, those guys are acting like dogs, right? Those elites hate them too. If we join forces, wouldn’t we be able to make a good change?”

I let my juniors talk.

People tend to discover things more often than they normally think about.

I found a pine tree.

Only this time, he’s dead.

I thought as I looked at the pine tree that was twisted and falling.

People expect others to remain constant.

I wished that Jeon Si-hun would be as consistent as a pine tree, but that was also the case for Jeon Si-hun.

They expect each other to be pine trees, and then they get betrayed in that expectation.

But one question remains.

Have we really seen our own pine trees properly?