Hiding the House in the Apocalypse

26. Gold (2)

First of all, thanks to Kyle Doss.

We wouldn’t have dared to treat this guy if it wasn’t for the large amount of medicines we brought from his shelter.

Not a great treatment.

A powdered disinfectant was applied to the area where the ribs were exposed and gauze was covered.

Aside from a brief growl in pain during the treatment, Gold didn’t act hostile to me.

After the wounds were treated, food was supplied.

I made his own food, but among the meat in the freezer, the meat that had been thawed at the time of the Yun Jung-ryeong incident, I boiled it and mixed it with nutrients and antibiotics that I had to eat because it smelled bad.

Gold sniffed and squinted.

“Kreureung!”

“Uh huh.”

Dogs are also picky eaters.

Well, since I always eat elk, wild boar, and delicious food, I wonder if half-rotten frozen food like this will fill my heart.

Still, he seems to know that he needs to eat this to get better. He forced the food into his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, and let it flow into his stomach.

Watching them eat the food I prepared, I felt like I understood a little bit why people raise animals.

how to say

As much as the bowl is empty, it feels like my heart is filled somewhere.

I understood Cat Mom’s feelings a little bit and continued to look at his progress.

Like a wild beast, Gold showed a very rapid recovery.

In less than three days, he was able to walk, albeit slowly, and brought him to a secluded spot in the mountains above the main shelter.

Like a smart guy, he followed my words, but was constantly wary of his surroundings.

He was particularly reluctant to be around other people.

“doesn’t exist. doesn’t exist. It’s just me.”

“Kurrr.”

“Have you been deceived?”

At my words, the boy nodded.

“…”

You son of a b*tch, how far can you understand human words?

Feeling creepy, I made a house for him.

He made a roof by soldering together warehouse slates he had picked up from the lower village, and laid blankets and mattresses from an abandoned house, and plenty of industrial packing materials inside to make a place.

“Now, this is your house.”

When the house was completed, Gold entered in front of it as if he had been waiting for it, curled up, stared at me, and groaned.

From the way he looked at me, I felt that he trusted me to some extent.

I felt a little worthwhile, and most of all, it was something that others hadn’t done before. The thought of accomplishing the feat of taming a mutation lightly warmed my long-cooled blood.

However, as his wounds healed and he gradually regained his energy, my pride gradually turned to anxiety.

This is because they know how terrifying the mutant dog can be.

In close combat, mutation dogs are much more dangerous than most monsters.

When he puts his head on the ground and looks up at me, I sometimes get the urge to point a gun and pull the trigger right away.

This is because the picture of this guy suddenly attacking me and chewing me to the bone passed by my eyes.

But every time the urge came up, he followed me, and I calmed myself down by remembering how he had imitated human songs.

Above all, the one who inspired me the most was the woman Baek Seung-hyun blew up.

It occurred to me that the faith of a woman who was able to behave calmly in front of a cat many times bigger than herself was the true secret to how she tamed the mutation.

However, no matter how much I try to control my impulses and give him trust, I, Park Gyu, am a defensive person.

The thought that gold might hurt me grew in my head day by day.

Then one day another guest came to my domain.

It was one bus.

The K-walkie-talkie crackled and received public radio waves.

“Are there any survivors around here? We are neither marauders nor an army. I am an ordinary civilian and I am here for a purpose.”

this voice.

where have you heard

“If yes, please reply. We are not enemies. Just wanting to get some information. You can reply wirelessly, but we have prepared a small gift. It’s oil. Oil.”

It came to mind.

It’s Ji Chang-soo.

Although he is a little old and emaciated, it is true that he is Ji Chang-soo, the loyalist who tried to follow Je Pung-ho to death.

However, looking through the telescope, Ji Chang-soo is not the only one who came.

Next to him stood a woman who was trying to stop me from committing suicide.

Was it Ji Young-hee?

She awkwardly stood behind her father with a disgruntled expression on her face.

“…”

how will we do it.

It is not particularly appealing to show up for a barrel of oil, but they are people with a relationship.

I brought in five more armed men, but it didn’t look like I had any particular business.

If you see that I’m not a great person to come from afar, I’ll stay for a while and then head southeast.

“Hide quietly.”

He hinted at Gold.

“I’m going to do some business for a while.”

He slid deeper into the slate roof than I did.

“Here are the survivors.”

I took out my K-walkie-talkie and responded.

They couldn’t hear my voice.

“This is Park Kyu.”

As expected, they had nothing to do with me.

We simply exchanged greetings for the reunion and invited them.

Gold growls, but I have a moment to try.

*

“……Have you ever lived in a place like this?”

Ji Chang-soo stared at my camouflage house with a surprised face.

No wonder he reacted that way.

A container house that is rusty and looks like it will collapse at any moment is objectively not a place for people to live.

“If you don’t have anything to take, people won’t look for it. Shall we call it non-possession?”

I listened to the stories I heard from somewhere and looked at their reactions.

The experiment was successful.

My camouflage house reflected in the eyes of others was hard to see from the outside, and even when I checked it up close, it gave me the feeling that I didn’t want to enter at all.

Since they were reluctant to go inside the Camouflage House, we talked outside.

It was the shadow of the past that brought Ji Chang-soo here, who seemed unlikely to ever meet again.

He showed me the pictures he had printed out.

“Please look at this.”

It’s a picture I’ve seen in the community.

This is a photo of Chairman Je Poong-ho.

The era’s entrepreneur, who has become a zombie and still has thousands of followers, was contained on poorly printed A4 paper.

“I can’t watch the president who gave me everything and walk around this world like that. I want to hold the funeral of the president.”

The situation was like this.

There is an abandoned city beyond the realm ruled by the Gold group, where a group of zombies, presumed to be Chairman Je Poong-ho, live.

However, access to the city is not easy.

Around the city, there are more dangerous things than zombies, such as dens of sedentary monsters, strongholds of looters, and remnants of the Chinese army that have managed to land.

The story of the remnants of the Chinese army was the first time I had heard of it, so I asked a separate question.

“A battalion managed to land in Asan, but they are all infantry. Heavy equipment was sunk by friendly submarines as a whole. In addition, the home country was destroyed, where would you do it? It just sits there.”

My eyes were always on Seoul, but it seems that interesting things were happening in the south as well.

Excluding the danger zone, the only accessible road to the city is the southwest route, and there is a group of gold on that side.

The gold guy is much more famous than me in Seoul.

A bounty has been placed on it since ancient times.

The subjugation party went several times, but they were in vain, and some were defeated and fell prey to the gold gang.

Of course, Ji Chang-soo knew this, but when he came near the gold area, he was scared and looked for survivors nearby to increase the odds even a little.

It wasn’t as much as gold, but it was the intention to get information through communication for the nearby famous sniper mother and daughter.

“I didn’t expect that there would be people, but I can’t believe Hunter Park Kyu is living in a place like this. It is like a revelation from heaven.”

Ji Chang-soo prayed continuously and thanked heaven.

“It means that Park Gyu-hunter is settling down in a place like this to help us like this.”

“yes?”

Isn’t this person drinking kimchi soup too fast?

I didn’t say I would help, and I have no intention of helping.

“I am very sorry, but I have been away from active duty for a long time and I am not in a good position to fight. If I had the same skills as before, would I come down to a place like this and live like a beggar?”

I helped him in the line of conveying roughly information.

As Ji Chang-soo left, his daughter, Ji Young-hee, approached me.

It’s something I’ve felt before, but rather than Ji Chang-soo, I feel that my daughter’s side communicates better.

“are you okay. Even if I think about it, it seems crazy, but I can’t attract Park Gyu-hunter.”

With a cigarette in her mouth, Ji Young-hee glared at her father as he returned to the bus with resentful eyes.

“How long will it last? I really can’t understand. This is not even the Joseon Dynasty.”

There was a shiny ring on her ring finger.

It wasn’t there before.

“This one?”

She caught my gaze and took a deep breath.

“I ended up marrying someone from the Papung group…”

After a moment of silence, the smoke from the cigarettes spread smoothly toward the sky with a deep sigh.

“He is dead.”

“Sorry.”

“He was a good person, but he was too weak. To live in the present age…”

Despite talking about her husband’s death, her face showed no other sadness.

Maybe he didn’t even give me the least amount of love.

She glanced at me.

“Are you alone?”

“yes.”

“divorce?”

“It’s a bachelor.”

“I heard that hunters get married quickly.”

“There are bound to be exceptions.”

“Aren’t you lonely?”

This woman, I don’t think she ever asked about her personal life before.

Even if there was no future, when the papung group was taking shape, they asked me for help, but I had no interest in the man.

But maybe it’s because the world has changed, the way I look and the timbre of my voice feel more sticky than before.

I don’t hate it, but she and I are still strangers.

Looking toward the stomach house, he said with a sigh.

“At first, I felt lonely. But when I let go of my greed, everything seemed to be in abundance.”

“It’s like a monk.”

“Then are you leaving right away? Mutation is not easy.”

“I have enough armaments.”

she looked back

Armed men on the bus had large machine guns mounted on the ceiling.

It is a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.

He nodded his head.

“Enough.”

“As promised, I’ll leave a barrel of oil behind. It’s a synthetic oil, but it’s quite usable.”

“Can I use it instead of diesel?”

“Our bus ran well. I don’t know how much strain it will put on the machine, but, by the way. excuse me!”

Suddenly, Ji Young-hee’s face turned blue.

Before he even turned his head, he seemed to know why.

I heard heavy breathing and a large shadow separated us.

Next to the main air-raid shelter, a huge fierce dog the size of a lion stood tall and glared at me.

it’s gold

“gold.”

clap

He pointed his gun at me while calling my name.

“Back off.”

Gold glared at Ji Young-hee and revealed it.

Younghee Ji stepped back with a bluish face and asked me.

“Um, are you raising them?”

“It’s not breeding.”

“then?!”

“Somehow.”

I warned Gold again.

“This person is not an enemy. I’ll be gone in a while. I won’t hurt you.”

Gold, at least, showed no hostility towards me.

It was Ji Young-hee who showed his clear hostility.

“gold.”

As I spoke with emotion again, a voice arose from the bus.

“what’s the matter? It’s Younghee!”

I heard Ji Chang-soo’s voice.

Gold glared at Ji Young-hee, then turned around and quickly left my area.

“gold······.”

Undoubtedly.

Gold is leaving.

Beyond the hill where I made my home, I jump down the steep slope beyond it, cross a fairly deep stream, and disappear into the field beyond.

The place he is heading is to the southwest.

This is the field that he ruled over.

clap

Ji Young-hee aimed her gun at Gold.

Her gun was forced down.

Ji Young-hee glared at me with protesting eyes.

Shaking his head, he answered while staring at Gold, who was moving away.

“······Leave it. It’s just a waste of bullets.”

“Did you really try to raise a monster like that? A Hunter who is no one else?”

“Rather than raising it, I took care of it for a while. I was seriously injured. Don’t even animals know grace?”

“I don’t think you will ask Mr. Park.”

Ji Yeong-hee set the control stick to safety and slung the gun over her shoulder.

“I didn’t expect Mr. Park.”

At the end of the field beyond, black dots appeared one by one.

You don’t even need binoculars to see it.

Mutation dogs.

It seems that they heard Gold’s howl and appeared.

Among them, there is a guy I haven’t seen.

Checked with binoculars.

He’s also the first to see it.

He has short black fur reminiscent of a pit bull terrier and a devilishly distorted head, almost the size of a bull.

is that guy

The one who wounded Gold, kicked him out of the pack, and took over as the leader.

Its appearance and size are different from normal mutant dogs.

I’ve seen numerous mutation dogs, but this guy is unique.

Ji Young-hee muttered next to her.

“I really hate to go.”

Anyway, why did the gold guy go back to the black guy?

Are you sure you want to try again?

To reclaim lost herds and lands?

It’s impossible.

It is true that his body has recovered enough to run around, but he has not recovered enough to fight against such a huge guy.

Judging from the size and impression of the black guy, I don’t think he would be an opponent even if he fought in normal condition.

It’s a pity that the guy who worked hard for a few days dies in vain, but it’s out of my hands.

Gold stood tall in front of the black one.

The other dogs, Gold’s formerly subordinates, along with what appear to be a new pack, are standing behind the black one, watching Gold.

Seeing them revealing their teeth and threatening them, it seemed that they didn’t consider Gold as their own group.

The black guy showed his teeth while looking at Gold.

“Kleurrureung!”

Its growl was so loud that it could be heard from here several kilometers away.

Gold calmly took a step forward towards the black guy who stole everything from him, even in the face of a bark that was so intense that it almost sounded like a shockwave.

“······gold.”

I felt sorry.

I’m willing to treat him well if he comes back to me.

I’m thinking of giving you some healthy meat too.

Contrary to expectations, the situation has progressed rapidly.

The black guy opened his mouth, revealing saw-like teeth.

“…”

Will it end like this?

Gold looked back.

As if something had been forgotten.

For some reason I had the feeling that he was looking at me.

In the next moment, something unexpected happened.

Didn’t Gold flinch and lower his tail, then suddenly turn over in front of the black guy, revealing his belly?

Even I, who don’t know much about dogs, know that posture.

It is an attitude of submission.

Gold, who was once the leader of the group, acknowledges the rank of a bigger and stronger guy than himself and wants to be accepted into the group again.

“······after.”

A sigh escaped from the depths of his lungs.

It was because I felt my fever-like curiosity waning along with my disappointment in gold.

After all, are mutations untamable?

Perhaps failure was foreseen.

The essence of the animal we call a dog is a gray wolf.

When he ate the punitive force that killed his comrades, he saw his true nature.

Not all gray wolves wanted to be dogs.

Some were tamed, but some died as wolves.

“…”

The guy chose the path of a wolf, not a dog.

That’s all.

“Even dogs know how to change their attitude depending on the situation.”

Ji Young-hee’s sarcasm came from the side.

“I don’t think my father is even as bad as that dog.”