Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 459



Only Noblemtl

459 184. Encounter (1)

Recently, as I joined the dog and cow bulletin boards, I saw ridiculous posts being posted and getting sympathy.

Even the so-called community skepticism, which currently occupies the top spot in popular articles, is like that.

Let’s take a look at a few articles right now.

Jjukkumi Red Chicken’s Memories: Why Learning Life Through Community During School Days Makes You Unhappy

– In the first place, all the kids there are twisted and twisted kids only express twisted opinions, so it sounds right, but when you’re in a place like that, you end up kicking away all the happiness you could feel while living a normal life, so everyone but you looks like an idiot, and you only develop distrust in society, and you just live your life aiming for one big hit, and as you get older and no one calls you, you become unemployed.

“······.”

It’s just the mumbling of a weak human being who has never done anything with all his might, and who has no substance at all.

But this popular article shouldn’t be evaluated solely on its content.

When posting on a bulletin board, you should evaluate not only the main text, but also the comments, recommendations, and the temperature and content of those comments.

This ridiculous nonsense has received a strange amount of support and recommendations.

Gumbengi Manju: ㅁㅈㅁㅈ

Criopod8: The community really did mass produce hikikomori

8th Division – Sergeant Kim Young-han: The world became unfortunate when it became connected by LAN cables.

ㅋㅌㅊ: Even if there had been no war, this country would have been ruined because of the community.

Hermes Club: Even before the war, I didn’t see the kids who communicated as human. Five years ago, would I have dreamed that I would be doing something like this?

…

…

It is natural that bulletin board users, including myself, are hurt by this trend.

Even.

Iamjesus : ?

Even the legendary madman I Am Jesus has had his seizure button pressed.

But I am Jesus is currently unheard of on the bulletin boards.

No one remembers him.

Some bulletin board users remember him and pretend to know him, but it’s a storm in a teacup.

Among the Melon Mask Ball influx of seeds, you cannot find even a shred of respect for their seniors.

That’s why we don’t help them either.

Fitting Model Hee-ya: I want to meet you right away

If the bulletin board old-timers see this kind of writing, we, including you and even those who have gone crazy from dementia or erosion zones, will think of the nickname “Scholar.”

This is such an obvious and transparent piece of writing.

The text will probably contain a photo suggesting a woman and a message asking for help, and the address asking for help will probably be filled with grim-looking men sharpening clubs and plotting a heinous crime.

If it were something that happened in downtown Seoul, I don’t think it would go as far as murder, but I’m not sure.

If you go to the outskirts, it’s not uncommon for people to disappear and die one by one.

In fact, after Melon Mask kicked the bucket of Viva! Apocalypse! full opening, Viva! Apocalypse! began to rampantly engage in prostitution and crime.

It was to the point where even I, a manager, was giving up.

In this fucking system where you can create an infinite number of IDs, there’s only so much volunteers like us can do.

The bulletin board is as filled with confusion as Seoul itself.

Well, I guess I should do my duty as an oldbie on the bulletin board here.

“······.”

Knock knock

umchang: (Umchang) Surely no one would be fooled by this conman?

I think it is Oldbee’s job to teach his successors proper Internet manners and etiquette.

however.

“?”

There is something.

That too, I know very well,

No, the one who is most important to me right now.

Anonymous68: Where are you, Hee-ya? Where can I go to meet you?

It’s Kang Han-min.

The article reeks of “heat” and you are leaving comments on this ridiculous article.

No, this kid.

Aren’t you more of an internet expert than me?

Fitting model Hee-ya: Oh my, Anonymous68~

Fitting model Hee-ya: You know how to write messages, right? Let’s talk through our messages~♡

Anonymous68: Yes! I’ll send you a message now♤

“······.”

Are you doing this on purpose or are you crazy?

Just because you’re over level 10 Awaken doesn’t mean you won’t suffer from the Rift’s unique psychosis.

Perhaps, you may have wandered for a while due to the burden of duty and responsibility.

Even successful celebrities and politicians can fall from grace due to a single impulse or carelessness.

If you look back at Kang Han-min’s school days, he was full of loopholes, so maybe this is a manifestation of his past laxity.

I’m really annoyed that you didn’t call me at this point in time, but I can’t just sit still after seeing this situation.

“······.”

Knock knock

umchang: (Umchang is in heat) Huh?

I’m going too.

*

Most of Seoul is in ruins.

Although people are flocking to the south of the river, the areas where people are concentrated are mostly government-built residential facilities and their perimeters, and the rest of the area is left in ruins.

But, if you put your mind to it, it’s easy to set up a hideout in one or two of those ruins.

There are no zombies or monsters roaming around like before, and there is less threat from fanatics or marauders.

Of course, you have to be prepared for individual or small-scale struggles, but it’s rare for someone who sets up a hideout in an outskirt like this to come unprepared.

“······There’s a woman inside the building. But there are two more in the back, and one more beyond the broken window on the third floor. One is carrying a gun, and the other two are carrying a crossbow and a baseball bat.”

The “Fitting Model Hee-ya” gang was also one of those widespread criminal groups.

It’s not that difficult for me and Cheon Yeong-jae to sweep them away.

The problem, of course, is Kang Han-min’s whereabouts.

Maybe you can catch the wind.

This is what happens on the internet.

Although the subject is the same human being, it is easier to break promises than in reality because it passes through a filter called electronic device and the Internet.

For now, waiting is the priority.

“By the way, is it true? Senior Kang Han-min is coming to a place like this?”

Cheon Yeong-jae has recently been seen having an internet relationship with a “female user” on a bulletin board.

When I look at it, it looks like a “guy”, but what can I do if he likes it?

“Senior Kang Han-min really fell for such crude fishing? No, wouldn’t someone with a bit of a dull mind feel strange if they were told to come to such a dangerous place?”

My nose is stuffy, but I’m needlessly critical of what other people do.

If he had used even a tenth of that sharp criticism on himself, he would have known that the “communicative female user” he was dating online was a hairy man.

Anyway, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens here.

I observed the fitting model Hee-ya’s gang behind a dark building with Cheon Yeong-jae.

There is no need to explain further.

They are a bunch of typical human beings who prey on others.

It is true that the new Seoul’s core members are from refugees and Jeju Island, but anyone who knows anything knows that there are also quite a few people who came from plunder.

After the population increased, they would discriminate against people, but when Woo Min-hee took over the city, they would accept people as long as they did not commit openly hostile acts or reveal that they were criminals.

It is highly unlikely that such people will perform the labor assigned to them in factories, farms, or other countries.

“Um. Just a moment.”

Cheon Yeong-jae sniffed.

He looked at me.

“Senior. Did you smell something strange too?”

He nodded.

There is a faint stench in the air.

It’s probably the smell of a rotting human corpse.

“Shall we take a look back?”

Even before the war, murder was a felony, and it hasn’t changed much that murder is still a felony now.

Rather, whether or not one kills has become a more important factor in evaluating a person’s actions.

The story is that the act of murder itself is a factor in determining whether or not it crosses the line.

A light beating and stealing of things may be forgiven, but inflicting brutal injuries or taking a life must be repaid in blood.

The body was found lying in a ditch.

A naked man was left to rot in a ditch that flowed into a sewer.

Judging from the tattoo on his back, it doesn’t seem like he lived an ordinary life, but it seems certain that he was brutally tortured to death.

I checked my phone.

A message from fitting model Hee-ya: Where are you?

“······.”

Knock knock

umchang: I’m currently being questioned at a security checkpoint. Please wait a moment while I’m being questioned!

A message from fitting model Hee-ya: I’ll wait~

I thought about it for a moment.

It would be good to wait for Kang Han-min to appear, but Kang Han-min may or may not come.

Because the promise of the Internet is not much different from Schrödinger’s cat.

“Shall I subdue him?”

It’s not difficult.

If it were Cheon Yeong-jae and I, we could subdue them all in 5 minutes.

Cheon Yeong-jae cracked his fist and cleared his throat.

“Can I kill you?”

“If necessary.”

Each person checked their weapons.

Clank-

Cheon Yeong-jae handed over the rifle he was holding.

I checked the chamber and loaded the magazine.

We will keep the use of guns to a minimum, but if they fight back with guns, we will have no choice but to shoot them.

We are not apostles of justice.

They are not necessarily evil people, but they are people who can kill people and become cold-hearted when faced with their goals.

I poked my head out from behind the collapsed stone wall to inspect my axe and calculate my approach.

Raised his hand.

Stop order.

Cheon Yeong-jae stood next to me silently and stared in the same direction as me.

“Who is that?”

“Kang Han-min.”

“What······? That’s Kang Han-min······?”

Yes, that’s right.

Kang Han-min showed up at this mischievous and absurd scene wearing a shabby training suit.

*

“No, what the heck is this?”

The confusion that Cheon Yeong-jae felt would be greater than mine.

Of course, Kang Han-min, who is a senior of the five classes, is not someone he would ever meet at school or on the battlefield, and even before he graduated from school, Kang Han-min opened a new horizon called Awaken and rose to become a savior.

I will spare you the explanation of the national propaganda that followed.

It is no exaggeration to say that the image of the mythical being known as the savior Kang Han-min was largely created by the state.

Even the appearance has been upgraded several times compared to reality.

Makeup and lighting don’t just magically transform women.

Men can also look like completely different people with the right makeup and lighting.

Kang Han-min, as portrayed in the media, had an additional – perhaps intentional – air of being sacred or mysterious.

But since he appeared in such a raw and unkempt form, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cheon Yeong-jae didn’t recognize him.

In any case, the fact that Kang Han-min, the savior of the era, was tricked by a third-rate villain like the fitting model Hee-ya and showed up in a place like this must have been as shocking to Cheon Yeong-jae as the sun rising in the west.

“No. Is this real?! No, that person should be in the crack······.”

“For now, let’s just watch.”

On the other hand, I think I know a little bit more about the human Kang Han-min than Cheon Yeong-jae.

He had at least a warmer heart than I did.

I know that he secretly had a crush on Na Hye-in.

I also know that he reached out to several other women besides Na Hye-in and was rejected each time.

Perhaps such contact was an act of salvation from the ruins I had seen in his dormitory, but it is a documented fact that he was more aggressive with women than I was.

When he left the dormitory and moved to a place where Chinese people lived, his colleagues who did not like him spread gossip that Kang Han-min was living a dissolute life by changing Chinese wives.

“That kid must have had his first experience with a prostitute, too?”

The words of a friend who particularly disliked Kang Han-min are still etched in a corner of my memory like a shard of broken glass.

“What should we do?”

Cheon Yeong-jae asks, glaring at the building with sharp eyes.

Well, it shouldn’t be a big problem.

A bunch of thugs can’t do anything to a strong people.

Kang Min-han is called another level among the over 10 level Awakens.

The thugs will go crazy or faint just from the shockwaves that Kang Min causes.

But there are variables.

It’s a drug.

It would be a different story if they had given Kang Min a drug containing a strong anesthetic ingredient mixed with sleeping pills.

In fact, places like that often serve such suspicious drinks.

That strong man entered the building after being introduced by a gangster.

“Yes. I brought it. What did I bring? Yes. Canned food. Yes.”

Kang Han-min’s smiling face was exactly like that of a pitiful man caught in a typical spider’s web.

“······.”

Kang Hanmin’s intentions are completely unknown.

I can’t understand why people come to a place like this and do such stupid things.

Anyway, Kang Han-min is the most important person to me right now.

If there’s even a 1% chance of death or injury, then it’s right to act.

“Let’s subdue them.”

First, I went forward.

Cheon Yeong-jae followed.

Other than the infrared detection equipment installed at the entrance to the building, no special surveillance equipment is visible.

There were two entrances to the three-story building where the woman and the man with the blunt weapon were hiding, one blocked by ruins and a scrapped car, and the other guarded by a grim-looking man carrying a walkie-talkie.

Just because there’s only one person guarding it doesn’t mean you should look down on it.

The position he is standing in is easily observed by the men hiding in the building.

If contact is lost even for a moment, friends inside the building may notice something unusual.

In fact, the man in front of the building had his walkie-talkie on and was constantly communicating with his colleagues.

I have to admit that I have my own experience.

But today, I met the wrong person.

I saw the building.

Rusty gas and sewer pipes run down the exterior wall of the building behind it.

The pipe may already have reached the end of its lifespan, but

“how is it?”

“It’s okay. I can handle it.”

It would be usable enough to carry one or two people.

First, we climbed up the pipe and onto the building.

It didn’t take long to get to the rooftop.

Then, Cheon Yeong-jae jumped onto the rooftop, climbing the pipe like a leopard.

After taking his hand and helping him, I looked around the rooftop.

Defenseless.

And listen.

“Wait, why are you suddenly like this? No, I didn’t do anything wrong······.”

Kang Han-min’s embarrassed voice leaked out from the window.

“······.”

I have a bad feeling about this.