Hiding the House in the Apocalypse

9. neighbor

bang!

In the late afternoon, when I was sitting in a chair and staring blankly at the sky, I heard gunshots from the south.

A pattern of gunfire that is dull and spreads widely.

It belonged to a sniper living in the southeast.

Originally there was a small town.

The distance is about 5.5 km in a straight line.

It was a busy street with a church, a mart, a village bank, a community center, and an elementary school.

When the war started, the whole area was devastated, but a few steel-framed and concrete buildings remained in a creepy appearance like corpses with only bones remaining.

Here lives one of my few neighbors, a mad sniper.

The reason why the modifier ‘crazy’ is attached is because the sniper shoots and sees everything that passes by.

The act of killing everyone who approaches the territory reminds us of the human hunters in our community, but in fact, it seems like the intention to kill, but if you dig deep, there is a gap as large as the difference between heaven and earth.

Human hunters kill people to hide and not reveal their territory.

On the other hand, a crazy sniper shoots and sees.

There are no other options.

While ambush in a high-rise building that can control all directions, look at the world through the scope and try to shoot everything that comes within the effective range.

Of course, this sniper is also a person.

She also has the warm heart of a warm-blooded animal and knows how to love people.

Just as I know the sniper, the sniper knows me.

The story goes back three months after the outbreak of war.

*

It was the year-end and New Year holidays.

It is a time of people reveling in crowds, sparkling trees, children squatting in department stores, snow covering the streets, and if you think about it, Santa Claus, a terrifying man, etc., but right after the war, those are just faded memories that can no longer be recovered.

At the time, I was preoccupied with figuring out the condition of the weapons taken from the US military base.

The firearms and ammunition were in a solidly built air-raid shelter, so there was no direct contact with damage or radioactive fallout.

Fortunately, after inspection, I came to the conclusion that the firearm and ammunition were usable, and I kept them in my arsenal.

Unfortunately, there were no weapons beyond rifles.

There was no weapon other than a grenade, let alone the expected Hunter equipment.

I’m not a military official, so I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but the base was empty before the nuclear strike.

When you look at shredded papers scattered around, materials that seem to have been thrown away in a hurry, and a mug with coffee left intact on the desk.

The situation on the US side was not as good either.

The nuclear strike on South Korea is just the tip of the iceberg.

Hundreds of feet fell there.

Like the U.S. Army, which is called the Space Force, it vomited the spirit of intercepting most of them.

However, the US military also has a team in charge.

it’s a monster

Monsters are beings from another dimension and created with completely different principles and logic than humans. They have the characteristics of living things and non-living things at the same time.

It appears in a dimensional rift called a rift, and this rift has two characteristics.

One is equal distribution.

Each crack opens at regular intervals.

There are four in Korea, but the fatal one is the Paju crack in Paju.

The reason why only one is fatal is because cracks have another characteristic: strength.

The strength of the rift is proportional to the number of humans living nearby.

The intensity of the cracks in Paju, which covers the metropolitan area, is the highest, while the cracks in Jeju are the lowest.

Having a large population and a wide territory is a traditional requirement that separates a strong country from a small country, but now it has become a requirement for a country that is quickly ruined.

It is inevitable, not coincidental, that India and China, with their large populations and territories, quickly perished.

The United States, which has a smaller population than the two, is in a better position, but it is not a safe zone either.

The territory is so vast and the population is so small.

In fact, before the war, the US side showed a movement to repatriate troops deployed in major countries to their home countries.

Even before the outbreak of the war, it is often said that there are no US troops left in Korea.

But the extinct U.S. Army invaded my territory.

A heavy Humvee with a 12.7mm machine gun on its top.

As Humvees rushed past the golf course and came into my territory, I remembered the old wise saying that in this world, luck is everything and the rest is nothing.

No, why the f*ck?

What have I done?

Is that a crime because you picked up some discarded weapons?

In the midst of various thoughts, the Humvee stopped in front of the 11th air raid shelter in my area.

The one who got out of the car was a blonde young woman.

Even though she was a woman, she was as tall as me, wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest, and armed with a gun with various attachments, she was far superior to me.

At that time, closed-circuit cameras and wiretapping equipment had not been restored.

The existing ones were charred along with Kim’s house during the nuclear attack.

To make matters worse, the periscope installed in preparation for this time did not move.

It seems that debris from the devastating aftershock that blew in during the nuclear air raid got stuck in the gap, but moving it with force only serves to let us know that there are people on this side.

Therefore, we had to rely on the meager information coming in through the tiny observation window.

Soon she moved into a blind spot.

I stayed seated.

Because I still haven’t figured out how many US troops have invaded my territory.

There could be as few as one, or as many as three, or more, lurking within that steel beast.

Fighting well-trained and armed American troops is not what I want, but if they are on my territory, I have no other options.

All I have to do is kill it.

Even after watching for a while, there was no movement inside the Humvee.

rustle

It was popular on the side of the main air defense shelter.

It’s that woman.

how will we do it.

You can quickly subdue a woman.

That one has a lower difficulty level.

But I thought of another option.

If that woman is a scout, the American soldiers in the vehicle are likely unprotected.

If the main force can be destroyed with a single surprise attack, this difficult fight will end in complete victory.

went into action immediately.

After predicting the route by listening to the footsteps of the soldiers, I silently came out of the dummy shelter and moved toward the Humvee while hiding.

I remember one door was open.

The door had been left open the whole time and was also open when I put the Humvee back in sight.

There is no response inside the Humvee.

I automatically changed the gun control interval and approached.

Just before entering, I felt a presence from behind.

For a moment I was perplexed.

“?!”

This is because the area where the sound came from came from an unexpected place.

Still, he calmly entered the Humvee and pointed the gun at him.

The inside of the vehicle was empty.

A mountain of firearms, ammunition, and combat rations were randomly mixed in the rear seats where people were supposed to be riding.

Gulp

The saliva went down the drain.

it’s a great piece of equipment

It contained enough equipment that even I, Park-gyu, who tried to protect the human way, could turn into a plunderer.

Is it one person?

Is it two people?

My head was spinning faster than usual.

Unknown, but at least two.

The female soldier was whistling to announce her location, unaware of my greed.

It wasn’t even a matter of subduing her.

After tripping him from behind, he trampled on his back and pointed a cold gun at his back.

It was time to pull the trigger and prepare for the next battle.

Another soldier appeared from the side.

The second soldier was enough to throw a pebble of doubt into my mind stained with murderous intent.

It’s a girl.

Maybe ten years old?

An innocent child who did not fit in with the end-of-the-century scene of a golf course and its ruins after everything was burnt down was staring blankly at me as I was about to commit a murder.

Suddenly, I noticed that the child and the woman had the same hair color and looked similar.

The child tilted his head and called for his mother.

“…”

I pondered for a while.

Kill them and take everything.

Or will you take the risk and let them go?

It’s not an easy problem.

Needless to say, the former is far more advantageous in terms of gain.

Unless you’ve been shot in the head, anyone would choose the former.

“・・・・・Whoa.”

I took a deep breath.

Numerous thoughts coiled around my consciousness like vines, but in the end, the path I chose wasn’t very wise.

He removed his foot from her back, kicked her gun, and stepped back.

The soldier screamed and jumped to his feet, then went over to the girl, wrapped her arms around her, and glared at me.

I stared at my reflection in her breathless blue eyes.

Standing still in the center of bloodshot eyes, I clad the gloomy robes of fear and contempt.

The moment I saw it, I knew what this foreign soldier thought of me.

She recognized me as a distinctly different being from herself.

I don’t understand and I don’t need to understand.

For instance, she is the only inhabitant of the civilized world thrown into the jungle, and I am the inhabitant of the jungle surrounding her.

Why, they look different, speak different languages, and have different cultures.

Do we really need to understand each other in this extreme situation?

Even if the circumstances were changed, the result would have been the same.

“here. my land.”

He pointed his finger at my area and said.

I know their language, but I have not bothered to use it.

“My house.”

Because this is Korea.

It is said that Korea is not Rome, but now that everything is falling apart, Korea is as historic as Rome.

“?”

“get out. right now.”

“…”

“If you don’t go out, bread! okay?”

The woman noticed and quickly drew a pistol and aimed it.

He kicked the pistol away with a quick foot, then pointed the gun at his temple.

The child’s screams echoed in short bursts, but I winked at the child and spoke to the woman.

“Do it in moderation. b*tch.”

“This year?!”

They say that if you go abroad, you will learn swear words first.

Do you understand this?

“Two years?”

“go away.”

Only then did the woman realize that I had no intention of killing.

That doesn’t mean the difference is diluted.

She spoke in broken Korean, still revealing a fine line.

“approximately.”

“approximately?”

“Medicine. Is this?”

“which?”

The woman pointed at the child.

“wait.”

Antipyretic and cold medicine, as well as antibiotics and a bottle of skim milk were handed out.

She was taken aback by my goodwill, to the point of staring at me, especially at the sight of skim milk powder.

“Never come again.”

The mother and daughter left without a reply.

With a treasure that would turn me into a plunderer.

It was not long after that that a neighbor to the southeast appeared.

Still she was in the jungle and fighting the specter of prejudice to protect the child thrown into the jungle together.

There was one visit after that.

One dark night, a girl came to my shelter alone.

A taller child than before, probably growing up on my powdered milk, looked for me while wandering around the air-raid shelter with a crying face.

When he appeared, the child said.

“Mom, it hurts.”

The child seemed to have adapted to the Korean jungle better than the mother.

Like Mowglina in The Jungle Book or Tarzan commercially.

I drove a dust-covered vehicle into a village where gunshots were heard.

The woman was exhausted and sick, but in my eyes she looked less like a civilized person in the city than a beast in the jungle groaning in a trap.

I gave an appropriate prescription, left the medicine, and turned around.

No words were mixed, and there was no need to say anything.

On the day I was about to turn around after work, the child suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“name.”

The child was asking for my name.

“Park Gyu.”

“Cuckoo?”

Watching the child raise his middle finger and bewildered, I smiled bitterly and said his nickname instead.

“······Skelton.”

The child repeated the name as if he had savored it, then smiled broadly and recited it.

“Skelton!”

Time is passing now.

It’s Christmas Eve.

In the community, the game developer Anonymous 118 converted what was circulating before the war to decorate a virtual Christmas tree, which was popular.

There are 10 blanks on a Christmas tree drawn with a single sprite, and another user selects one of the 9 ornaments and fills each blank with a message of support.

SKELTON: (Skelton please) Decorate my tree too~

My Christmas tree is empty, but sometimes empty is better than full.

IAMJESUS: What kind of cub?!

The once-blocked, self-proclaimed Jesus Christ, the psychopath’s tree was filled with anonymous congratulatory messages.

＜Leukemia, liver cancer, rheumatism, Lou Gehrig, myocardial infarction, stroke, pulmonary infarction, asthma, tuberculosis, paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia＞

The headhunter received just as many messages.

＜KILL, murder, corpse, death, minnagoroshi, psychopath, help me, stop killing me, karma, s*x＞

I am happy to see you laughing,

T-ring~

something came

[ An anonymous user sent a message to SKELTON ~ ]

I checked.

A decorative spot was filled on the empty tree.

＜John Naenon＞

“what?”

Do you respect me?

what? This?

What do you mean?

My doubts were momentarily pushed into a corner by the sudden buzz of the K-walkie-talkie.

– Chi-jik… Chi-jik!

11 p.m.

I remember that I never rang a public frequency in this remote place at this time.

Soon I found out the identity of the culprit.

“Merry Christmas~.”

A young girl’s voice rang through the speaker.

“Skelton!”

Undoubtedly.

is my neighbor

I thought for a while about whether I should answer, but the outcome was fixed from the moment a smile permeated my lips.

“Merry Christmas.”

I should have asked for your name.

It was a short exchange, but that day I took out a whiskey that I would never normally take out and immersed myself in sentiment, immersed in a deeper lingering effect than any Christmas tree message.

“after.”

As soon as I opened the door, the cold air blew away the hot air that I had been heating up, but my heart felt much better.

I looked up at the sky.

The winter sky is pitch-black and strewn with countless stars.

I haven’t prayed since I realized I wasn’t chosen by God.

I put my hands together and prayed towards the night sky.

May the gunfire of these mother and daughter be heard for a long time.