But reuniting with Viktor Volk Choi was not only an extremely unlikely possibility, even if it did happen, there was no telling when.

It was unclear whether he, who had been in Vladivostok when the apocalypse broke out, was even still alive, and even if he was, there was no way to know what state he was in.

Besides, to begin with, Volcano Group was a Far East Russian mafia organization, and in the apocalyptic world, it had to be treated as a constant that such people would become a looter group.

In other words, they were the Far Eastern Russian version of the Daeseong syndicate.

And a powerful group that made even the Daeseong syndicate look like “nothing.”

So whether Viktor Volk Choi himself was one thing, Volcano Group itself was absolutely not something Junho could easily trust.

“Maybe if Volk had swallowed up all of Volcano Group....”

Well, that was probably difficult no matter what. Even for that “Volk.”

So if he came into contact with Volcano Group members left in Korea, he would have to emphasize his unusual relationship with Viktor Volk Choi as much as possible and make it possible to receive fuel and ammunition from them.

— Boss, can you hear me? We just came out of the tunnel!

At Park Deokcheol’s radio call, Junho put his thoughts aside.

“Assistant Manager, you heard that, right? Get ready.”

“Understood.”

Gu Jeongmok controlled the farm survivors, including Kim Taesu’s family.

Those who were injured or in poor health were brought into the owner’s house for the time being.

Kim Taesu and the relatively healthier people were made to clear away the bodies and organize the farm.

A few minutes later, Park Deokcheol and the others arrived in the utility cart and electric truck.

“Boss! You’re okay, right?”

“Mr. Junho, are you hurt anywhere?”

“You were Mr. Jeongmok, right? Are you all right?”

Not only Park Deokcheol, but also Choi Jeongwoo, Song Gijun, and the other men who had come out to work checked on Junho and Gu Jeongmok first.

Feeling a strange sense of pride and reassurance, Junho nodded.

“No problems. First, Deokcheol and Assistant Manager Gu, search this area more thoroughly. Mr. Choi Jeongwoo and the rest of you, start the work.”

“Understood.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Youngsu, keep one drone over the farm and have another follow Deokcheol and Assistant Manager Gu. Signal is fine, right?”

— Yup. As long as you don’t go too far, it’s fine. Like I said earlier, as long as you stay within a three-hundred-meter radius, you’re good.

“Good. By the way, I think we can install a relay here. Where would be good?”

The roof of the owner’s house seemed acceptable too, but then the wireless range would be somewhat limited.

This place was surrounded by mountains on three sides except for the access road, so if they installed the relay on the roof, it would only cover this exact area.

— Give me a second.

After a brief silence, Yoon Youngsu’s voice came again.

— Judging from the aerial map, and Akina’s judgment too, Redmist Peak near that tunnel looks best. It’s about two hundred fifty meters. I’ll mark it for you now.

“Two hundred fifty meters....”

— Yes. You’ll see when you look, but if we install it there, the signal can reach part of the South Han River too. I don’t know about communicating with the shelter from radio shadow zones like mountain valleys or inside tunnels, but at least the drone flight range will increase a lot.

Looking at Redmist Peak’s location marked on the tablet screen, that certainly seemed likely.

Most importantly, the attractive part was that if they flew the shelter drones, they could view a four- to five-kilometer radius centered on Paldang Lake at any time.

Of course, this place was roughly fifteen kilometers from the shelter, so if a drone departed from the shelter, its possible mission flight time would only be ten to fifteen minutes.

'But if we station a few at the leisure sports dock....'

The mission flight time for surveillance and reconnaissance would more than double.

If they stationed about three there and ran a rotation between charging and flying, they would no longer have the inefficient situation where five or six drones left from the shelter, worked on a mission for only ten or fifteen minutes, and returned.

“Hmm... something still feels a little lacking.”

Junho stared at the aerial map on the tablet and sank into thought for a moment.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, a good idea occurred to him.

“Youngsu. Where is Assistant Manager Yoon Seolhee right now?”

***

“What? Cattle from Kangho Resort?”

Yoon Seolhee, who had been working with Junhyeok at the villa safehouse in Lower Gahyeon-ri, raised her eyes and lifted her head.

She was currently communicating with Junho through the link from the shelter control room.

— Yes. Just this farm alone has a little over a hundred cattle. If we search this area more, we’ll probably find more.

“Riiight....”

— The resort has a ski slope, doesn’t it? After building the vinyl greenhouses there, there’s still a huge amount of land left. And I heard the golf course hasn’t been maintained, so a lot of grass has grown there. Most of the pesticide components should have washed out by now, so I think you could raise cattle there too.

Although she was thrown off by the sudden talk about cattle, Yoon Seolhee forced herself to speak calmly.

“So... you’re saying we should take some of those cattle to the resort and golf course and raise them there? But don’t they have owners?”

— Probably? But that shouldn’t be a major problem. If the owners are alive, you can just take those people to the resort too.

“Ah....”

— This farm alone has about ten people. Because of what they went through this time, they’ll probably be too anxious to keep living here now. But they’re all people who farmed and raised livestock here, you know? If you take them to the resort along with the livestock, they’ll definitely be useful.

“That... does make sense.”

Kangho Resort had thousands of survivors living there, but nine out of ten were guests who had come to enjoy the holiday, so they knew little about things like farming or livestock.

Of course, as the group had grown, surviving nearby residents had joined too, but there was still an extreme shortage of people with “specialized” production ability that was essential in the apocalypse, not just simple labor.

The fact that they had maintained things even precariously until now was a miracle.

At a time like this, if a large number of people who were somewhat older but had specialized knowledge and experience joined?

“That’s definitely good. No, this is just my opinion, but I think we absolutely have to do it. The CEO will probably agree too.”

— I thought so. Then for now, we’ll take these people to the dock and have them wait there, then the resort can pick them up.

“Understood. I’ll report it to the CEO once I get in contact with him.”

— Yes. Then I’ll—

“When will you return?”

Yoon Seolhee regretted the question as soon as she asked it without thinking.

Of course he would come back on his own in a few days!

— What? Mm... about two days? If we stay here today and go around below Paldang Lake tomorrow... yes, I think we’ll return the day after tomorrow.

“Understood. Please give my regards to Assistant Manager Gu as well, and return safely.”

Yoon Seolhee deliberately spoke in a somewhat stiff tone.

— Yes. You too, Assistant Manager. Keep up the good work.

“...Phew.”

Once Junho’s cavernous low voice could no longer be heard, Yoon Seolhee let out a light sigh.

“What is it, ma’am? What did my brother say?”

Just then, Junhyeok, who had been working on the villa roof with Kim Jimin and Baek Suho, came over and casually asked.

“Yes. He says we’re going to raise cattle.”

“Cattle? Like moo cows?”

“Yes. Those cattle. Right now, there are a little over a hundred, but he says there will probably be more. He wants to bring them here and to our resort and raise them.”

“Daaamn...!”

Junhyeok’s eyes went round, and then he smacked his lips.

Of course, their shelter had meat to spare.

Even without going all the way to the ultra-low-temperature freezer warehouse, more than half of the beef, pork, and chicken stored in the commercial refrigerators and freezers in the kitchen still remained.

But those were frozen meats.

They were delicious if thawed and seasoned, but when grilled, the flavor was inevitably a little lacking.

Of course, in this world, the very fact that they still ate meat every day placed them in the top 0.1 percent.

“Wow! He really is my brother, but he’s amazing. Every time he goes outside, he brings something back.”

“I agree. And if you think about it....”

“...If I think about it?”

When Yoon Seolhee, who had been about to say something, quietly trailed off, Junhyeok tilted his head.

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. Anyway, how is the work going?”

Unable to bring herself to say, “I was also someone Mr. Lee Junho brought in from outside,” Yoon Seolhee changed the subject.

“Ah, it’s almost done. Mr. Jimin is incredibly good at this. You were so worried earlier.”

When Junhyeok grinned, Kim Jimin, who was working with tools instead of a gun and an expandable baton, wiped his sweat and smiled broadly.

“Seriously. But it’s thanks to Mr. Baek. No exaggeration, he’s better than the professors I had in college. He really doesn’t have anything he doesn’t know.”

“Right? My father-in-law is just that good. And our Sua takes after him so much, she’s so smart and competent. Hehe.”

Junhyeok, who at some point had begun openly calling Baek Hail his “father-in-law” and bragging about Baek Sua whenever he had the chance, grinned like a fool. Yoon Seolhee simply shook her head.

***

After finishing the relay installation at the farm owner’s house, Junho and the others stayed there for the day.

Kim Taesu once again prostrated himself in apology before Junho and the group.

According to Junho’s original plan, Kim Taesu should already have been dead.

But he could not bring himself to do that in front of the man’s young son and wife.

The fact that although he had cooperated with the looters, his family had been taken hostage and he had had no choice, and that he had not directly taken part in murder, were also mitigating factors.

But that did not mean Junho could forgive him as if nothing had happened.

“Mr. Kim Taesu, you and your family will keep looking after the livestock here. People similar to us will come, so take care of them too.”

“U-understood. Thank you. Truly, thank you.”

Since merely having his life spared and his family rescued was more than enough grace already, Kim Taesu kept bowing his head.

His wife and son, standing beside him, were the same.

“But by t-taking care of them, what kind of... ah! I’m not saying I don’t want to. It’s just easier to prepare in advance if I know.”

“Nothing special. Make meals, clean, do laundry, handle chores. That’s all. And... your name was Sejin, right? You would originally have entered middle school this year?”

“Yes, y-yes....”

Perhaps because his real growth spurt had not come yet, Kim Sejin, who was shorter and smaller than boys his age, looked at Junho with great tension.

“You’ll have to work too. But are you good at studying? You’ll need to be good at it from now on.”

“Y-yes...?”

“I’ll bring you middle-school textbooks and reference books, so study too. And if possible, learn a skill quickly. Got it?”

It was harsh to say to a child who was only just turning thirteen, but the world had already become one where a person without skills was useless surplus humanity.

Whether someone was good at raising things, making things, or killing things...

From around fifteen or sixteen on, everyone had to carry one person’s worth of weight.

So if, in two or three years, the boy became useful manpower, he might be able to come to Gahyeon-ri, Hanaareum Nursing Home, or perhaps the shelter container residence.

Wasn’t that a hostage?

Wouldn’t his parents, Kim Taesu and his wife, oppose it?

There was no way.

“Th-thank you! Truly... I’ll never forget this grace. Huhk.”

“Thank you, thank you so much....”

Because there were almost no parents in the world, especially a world where only despair remained, who would dislike being able to keep educating their child and even send him somewhere safe.

***

The next day.

After finishing the rather difficult work of installing the relay, amplifier, and even four six-hundred-watt solar panels on Redmist Peak, Junho and the others returned to the leisure sports dock.

They brought with them the remaining people except those who said they would stay at the farm, including Kim Taesu’s family.

The youngest was in his mid-fifties, and the rest were all in their sixties. After having their hair roughly cut, washing clean, and even putting on shelter work clothes, they at least looked somewhat human again.

And for just that much, they were immensely grateful to Junho.

No, it was not merely gratitude.

“Avalokitesvara, Namu Avalokitesvara....”

A woman in her sixties, said to be a devout Buddhist, bowed her head repeatedly toward Junho and chanted before boarding the electric motorboat from the resort.

“May you live long and stay healthy....”

Then, even after getting on the boat, she bowed deeply to Junho with such devotion that it was almost as if she were prostrating herself.

That attitude from someone more than twice his age made Junho embarrassed and uncomfortable.

But...

He did not know that it would not take very long for him to realize that what he had just seen from the woman was nothing.

In an apocalypse filled with death and despair, if someone possessed a special power and ability that could be called “one of a kind.”

And if he used it to save other people, even if Junho himself was doing it for his own interests.

He would become something beyond a benefactor or hero.

In other words, a kind of “deification” would take place.