Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 97: Small Changes

"I’ve said it before, but I’m not asking to live in your bunker. I’m just suggesting we be neighbors. We don’t even have to be right next door. Just close enough to stay in contact and help each other if things get rough."

I had already suspected that Cheon Young-jae had made up his mind about this.

Since the war began, he had always lived among others in similar circumstances. He was used to that kind of communal survival.

That meant a few words alone weren’t going to change his mind.

So, instead, I asked, "Why here?"

"Why not just keep living in the subway? Wouldn’t that be better than coming all the way out to the middle of nowhere? There are more people and plenty of resources there."

Cheon Young-jae grinned and shook his head.

"That place is going to turn into a warzone. The Incheon refugees? They’re just pretending to follow the Legion's orders for now, but they were already divided into factions long before they even got there. Right now, they're going along with it because the guys in uniform are feeding them and giving them supplies. But the second things go sideways? They'll show their true colors."

"Yeah?"

"And the Legion? They turned out to be worthless. Just a bunch of nobodies. They can barely feed their own people, and now they’ve taken in Incheon’s outcasts. How long do you think they'll last?"

Three months.

That was Cheon Young-jae’s estimate for when the Legion’s supply chain would collapse.

"They’re all going to fend for themselves. That’s just how this country works. The ones who wait for orders are always the first to die. The ones who ignore orders and carve out their own path? They’re the ones who survive."

Cheon Young-jae sprawled across the hood of his LPG car, lazily blowing his bangs out of his face.

With half-lidded eyes, he glanced at me and spoke.

"And when those survival gangs push all the way out here? You really think you’ll be safe?"

"...I was just planning to lay low for a while."

"Then why not lend me your bunker for a bit?"

"That’s never happening. Not even if you put a knife to my throat."

"Running away isn’t always the answer."

Cheon Young-jae sat up from the hood and stuck something in his mouth.

It looked like a cigarette.

When he lit it, it confirmed my guess.

"You know, the capital isn’t the only place that’s a disaster. The countryside was wiped out long ago. The Erosion Zones and refugees are all mixed together now. And on top of that, the fanatics keep multiplying."

"..."

"If you ask me, Kim Byung-cheol is gonna **give up on Seoul soon, too."

"Probably."

"My point is, you can’t keep running forever."

He held out a hand-rolled cigarette to me.

I declined without hesitation.

Cheon Young-jae tucked the cigarette back into his pocket and muttered.

"By next year, most people will be dead."

That was the truth of it.

Time solves most problems.

The chaos we’re in now, the gangs forming for survival, and the desperate people clinging to life—

Given enough time, they’ll fade away.

Whether they roam the wasteland hunting their own kind or cling to survival in the ruins, none of them can escape their fate.

Most will die.

And when they do, I’ll expand my bunker into the spaces they leave behind.

That was part of the plan from the moment I built it.

But then—

"What if they don’t die?"

Cheon ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Young-jae threw out a new perspective.

Not a completely new one.

It was something I had vaguely considered.

Humans were stubborn.

They survived in ways we couldn’t imagine.

Just look at that elderly group.

Who would have guessed that dozens of old men were still thriving in that isolated mountain region?

"If humans are still roaming around next year, will you still keep running?"

Cheon Young-jae pressed the question.

"...That’s..."

I was a blunt person. I had no trouble lying.

But to this particular question, I had no answer.

Because I had seen it with my own eyes.

I had witnessed firsthand how insanely persistent human life was.

Since the war started, I had seen it over and over again.

"I’ll tell you about a refugee shelter I stayed at for a while. The captain of that place? Park Penguin."

"...What?"

"Park plus Penguin."

"Penguin?!"

For a moment, I imagined some dumpy-looking guy with a penguin-like face.

I was completely wrong.

"He was just some old hardware store owner. He only got the shelter leader position because everyone else died. He wasn’t particularly smart or capable. Just a regular neighborhood guy.

"But when the cold wave hit, he kept that entire shelter alive. You heard about those refugees who survived by huddling together like penguins and constantly moving?"

I had.

It was the story of a shelter that abandoned the government camps and escaped into the subway. They prepared in advance and survived the winter.

"That was Park Penguin.

"But it wasn’t just his leadership. The people in that shelter were different. They were all desperate to survive.

"They were willing to act like penguins if it meant staying alive. And because of that, they did survive."

"..."

"Humans won’t die so easily.

"Even if the monsters take over the whole country, some will still survive.

"That’s why just hiding and waiting for people to die off is a lazy, naive idea."

I didn’t like what he was saying.

I wanted to punch him just to shut him up.

But he wasn’t wrong.

One or two years of waiting wouldn’t be enough.

The ones who lived through three years of war weren’t going to drop dead overnight.

"...So, you’re saying you want to set up near my bunker?"

I asked, slightly annoyed.

Cheon Young-jae blinked.

"We should at least be close enough to help each other. How many armed fighters can you handle alone?"

"Depends on the situation."

"What if you get ambushed?"

"Even two people could be a threat."

"Exactly."

He walked toward his car.

When he started it—

Rattle-rattle-rattle!

Black exhaust smoke billowed out, filling the air.

"Let’s see..."

Cheon Young-jae climbed onto the roof of his car and scanned the area.

"That place looks good."

The spot he picked was a deserted village.

"...There?"

"Yeah. More cover for people like me."

"You’re Awakened, right?"

"Not that it’s anything impressive."

I wasn’t thrilled, but he had a point.

And his chosen location was far enough from my bunker.

Besides—

I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was right about one thing.

People weren’t going to die so easily.

I thought of Dies Irae.

"..."

They were probably still going strong.

But our survival styles were different.

They were a single, tightly knit group.

Cheon Young-jae and I?

We were just independent people coexisting nearby.

We got into his car and headed for the abandoned village.

"So, Senior—what are you gonna do?"

"...Still, I’ve lived here long enough. I can at least give you some advice."

Cheon Young-jae and I entered the abandoned village.

It had been completely deserted for a long time.

We slowly made our way through the rubble, trash, and ruins in a half-broken vehicle.

Cheon Young-jae scouted several houses before settling on one.

It was a plain house, sitting between two crumbling structures.

"This one looks good."

"Will it be alright?"

"If I clear it out and clean up, I can make it work. Look—there’s even a traditional fireplace and heated floors."

With practiced movements, he began clearing out the debris and sorting through the wreckage.

I had nothing better to do, so I just stood there and watched.

It reminded me of how he fought zombies—clumsy yet strangely efficient.

It looked sloppy, but the speed at which he got things done was impressive.

"Senior, are you just gonna stand there? If you’ve got nothing better to do, at least help out."

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"I’m a professor, you know. My hands are too valuable."

"And I used to be called a genius hunter."

I sighed and helped him clean up.

That’s when I realized—

Everyone has different standards for what makes life livable.

For me, the bare minimum for a human life was:

Air conditioning.A hot shower.A fridge filled with cold drinks.A steady supply of clean water.Things that were once normal before the war.

For Cheon Young-jae, the minimum standard was much lower.

A place to lie down.A roof that kept out the rain.Just enough warmth to not freeze to death.Air conditioning? Running water?

Nice to have.

But not necessary for him.

"Man, this place is practically a palace."

He flopped onto a makeshift straw mat on the half-cleared floor, grinning.

I couldn’t help but smirk.

"..."

Maybe I was just picky.

But being picky wasn’t a bad thing.

Maintaining a certain standard for living was the first condition for retaining humanity.

Once his makeshift shelter was set up, Cheon Young-jae pulled something out of his car.

Meat.

"What kind of meat is that?"

"Mutation meat. Snatched it from the Legion's base."

"Is it... safe to eat?"

"Everyone’s eating it. Mutations are a nightmare, sure, but they help with food production. Scientists even proved it recently. The ones who do the butchering say it’s a nightmare—like killing people. But hey, I’m not the one killing them, am I?"

Sizzle.

He cooked the meat on a flat stone slab over a fire.

It smelled and tasted like pork.

Fatty and surprisingly good.

No kimchi, but we grilled potatoes, onions, and leeks to go with it.

We skipped alcohol.

Even if this place was our territory, lowering our guard with alcohol or drugs wasn’t an option.

As we ate, Cheon Young-jae shared his thoughts.

I had thought of him as lighthearted.

But he was deeper than he seemed.

"I’m alone for now, but I’m planning to gather people."

"..."

"Old hunters from the Hunter District. My classmates. Just good people—decent folks. We’ll make a village."

He looked around the deserted town.

"A real hunter village."

"A hunter village... sounds odd."

"Everyone will have combat skills and common ground. Makes sense, right? If we’re gonna stick together, it should at least be people with connections."

"...That also means you’ll be attacked more."

"If we can’t handle it, we die. That’s the same for everyone.

"Look at the people who survived the longest.

"They all formed groups."

"I’m living just fine without anyone’s help."

"Sure, because you’re strong. But..."

Cheon Young-jae grinned.

"Don’t you have someone you want to protect?"

"I work alone."

"Maybe now. But later—when Seoul collapses and someone you care about comes asking for help..."

"I don’t help people. And I don’t ask for help."

"Wouldn’t it be better to have a well-prepared village instead of letting them into your precious bunker?"

"..."

For a moment, an image flashed through my mind.

Rebecca and her daughter.

Were they still alive?

No news is good news, but...

I still worried about them.

"For now, with me here, you won’t have to worry about attacks from the east."

Cheon Young-jae’s eyes gleamed faintly as he stared toward the east.

He was easygoing and playful.

But when he got serious, he radiated the sharpness of a killer.

I wasn’t the only one who had killed countless people.

"...Alright. I’ll leave it to you."

And so, I got a neighbor.

At first, I thought it was a hassle.

But over time, I realized it wasn’t so bad.

Maybe I was getting softer.

Or maybe this world was simply becoming too much to bear alone.

But in the end, we all had the same goal.

To survive one more day in this ruined world.

Whether as a group or alone, what difference did it make?

For the first time in a while, I fell asleep somewhere other than my bunker.

And somehow, I slept deeper than usual.

*

Message from UNICORN18: Skelton, reply if you see this.

A message from an unexpected source.

It arrived exactly one day after my new neighbor moved in.

Unicorn18.

Of all people...

I had so many questions for them.

Jeju Island.

What the hell happened to Jeju Island?

Were they finally going to tell me?

For the first time in a while, I felt my heart race.

I quickly sent a reply.

SKELTON: What’s up, Unicorn18?

A response came almost instantly.

UNICORN18: Hey, you’re tight with FoxGame, right?

...

Not what I was expecting.