Free Web NovelFrom January through March, under Baek Hail’s direction, Junho and Junhyeok finished the soundproofing and ventilation work on the firing range that had been secretly built beneath the shelter workshop.
Baek Hail had agreed to handle the remaining cleanup and testing, so the brothers were finally free from heavy labor.
In the meantime, Junho received medical devices, equipment, and pharmaceuticals from Lee Dongcheol and Viktor Volk Choi.
Like a proper mafia outfit, they did not transport the goods directly out of Busan.
They would transfer the cargo offshore by fishing boat near a small East Coast fishing village with no CCTV, and then Junho would drive a truck there himself, load it up, and haul it back.
When he met Viktor Volk Choi there again, Junho paid him the remaining balance, plus another 50 million won as both a bonus and a deposit for a separate contract for other goods.
The Volcano Group’s wolf once again called Junho “brat” and looked pleased.
Besides pharmaceuticals, what Junho wanted to buy through the Volcano Group was alcohol.
He was not much of a drinker himself, but high-end whiskey, wine, and vodka were all extremely useful for barter in the apocalypse, and demand for them was very high.
So while he planned to buy and stockpile some legally on his own, he decided that about half of it would be purchased through the Volcano Group—more precisely, through Viktor Volk Choi—as a way to build credit with him.
Smuggled goods or not, it was the same liquor sold at the establishments controlled by the Volcano Group in Busan, so there was no issue with quality.
And finally, the shelter’s first-stage AI computing system had finished being set up, and Yoon Youngsu had officially joined the shelter as an employee.
“The basic framework is edge-computing-based with a self-learning control system, okay? And like you already know, I picked the specs, bought the equipment, and finished tuning it all myself.”
Yoon Youngsu looked a little tired, but sitting in the control room—the heart of the shelter, for all practical purposes—the expression on that face and the voice explaining it all were full of pride.
“If you think about it, boss, you’re basically the chief commander of this pension, right? So you at least need to know roughly how the system works.”
In the game Eternal Galaxy, every player was called a Chief Commander.
That was why Yoon Youngsu compared Junho—the owner and leader of the pension—to a Chief Commander. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
“What you’re looking at right now is the real-time integrated power monitoring UI. It analyzes the electricity coming in from the solar generation, the remaining ESS battery capacity, and the power flow being used by all the equipment in our pension with AI algorithms.”
When Yoon Youngsu touched the screen, a 3D rendering of the entire pension appeared on the large monitor.
The main building containing the control room, the greenhouse, the workshop-cum-repair garage, the various storage buildings, the parking area, and even the front gate.
The power flow of every building and major facility, the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, and each piece of equipment’s operating status were all displayed in real time.
“The specs are basically five A100s, four terabytes of ECC server RAM, and one petabyte of storage. The major computation is containerized and running on a Linux base.”
“Could you explain it a little more simply?”
When Junho asked him to cut back on the torrent of jargon he always spilled out by habit, Yoon Youngsu shrugged with a regretful look.
“Yep. Put simply, data comes in from the sensors installed throughout the buildings and equipment, right? Then our AI, Akina, learns from it and can adjust things on its own.”
“Oh. That’s impressive.”
At Junho’s admiration, Yoon Youngsu casually pushed up the horn-rimmed glasses on that face and answered with total confidence.
“Yep. Honestly, I made it, but yeah, it’s kind of amazing. It handles energy management, checks for system failures, and especially responds to warehouse conditions in real time. For example, say the humidity changes in the freezer warehouse? Then AI Akina automatically corrects climate control for just that warehouse. It also reprioritizes power distribution to put that area first. Plus.”
Yoon Youngsu held out a small tablet.
“I linked this to the display too. You can use it for simple functions, and the boss can keep tabs on everything all the time. Oh, right.”
After tapping the keyboard a few times, Yoon Youngsu changed the screens on the sub-monitors on both sides of the main display.
“You can also manage the repeaters and amplifiers from here. I applied an interference-prediction algorithm to the multi-backup routing, so it should be insanely stable.”
“So that means wireless communication will cover our pension grounds and the nearby area too? And drones will be able to fly farther out?”
“Yep. You said before you were gonna build a few shelter-like outposts in the hills behind here, right? If you put one repeater at each of those, it’ll be even more stable. Honestly, even if the world ends and the internet goes down, with a little tweaking we could probably still keep wireless comms running on a local network.”
That sudden brush with future foresight made Junho flinch for a second.
But Yoon Youngsu, who was usually spectacularly lacking in awareness, just kept talking excitedly.
“Oh, boss. Speaking of that, what do you think about applying for Earthlink service? Looks like they’ll start operating in Korea either late this year or early next year. Even if you signed up for both residential and mobile with unlimited plans, it probably wouldn’t even hit five million won a month. You’ve got money, boss.”
Given Yoon Youngsu’s personality, this did not even qualify as rudeness, so Junho just nodded.
“Let’s do that. What about the other functions?”
“Hell yeah. The other stuff is...”
When he heard that CCTV management and automatic drone control were included, and that by using drone flights they could scan and apply a full 3D map of everything within a radius of three to four kilometers centered on the pension and its grounds, Junho lightly clenched his fist.
Because once that work was finished, it meant they would be able to identify in real time everything moving in and out of the shelter and the surrounding area, whether it was human or animal.
“For greenhouse management, I only applied it to the one structure we’re planning to run right now, okay? Temperature, humidity, light levels, water supply. Oh, and even carbon dioxide concentration can all be checked and adjusted in real time. In summer, it’ll automatically open and close the solar shading screens too.”
“That’s incredible. You’ve really worked hard.”
“Yeah, I did work pretty hard. But like thirty percent of the credit goes to Baek-sensei. That guy helped a lot.”
Baek Hail hated it, but Yoon Youngsu insisted on calling him Baek-sensei and treated it like a term of casual friendliness.
At the same time, Yoon Youngsu had been deeply impressed by Baek Hail’s high level of practical knowledge in machinery, engineering, and electronics.
Enough, in fact, that he claimed Baek Hail absolutely deserved to be called sensei.
“But boss. You absolutely have to keep that promise you made me, okay?”
“The promise? Oh, that. Of course. Around March or April next year, I’ll prepare about another three billion won. When that time comes, go ahead and upgrade it however you want. Of course, we’ll also need to buy about fifty percent more of all equipment and facilities as backup.”
“Yep. Then I’ll put two billion into upgrades and use the other one billion to buy and stockpile backup materials. They’re all dead. Heh-heh.”
Junho had no idea what exactly was dead, or who Yoon Youngsu was supposedly planning to kill.
But anyway, it was obvious that Yoon Youngsu—laughing like some villain behind the scenes—would keep developing the shelter AI computing system on his own, so Junho just smiled.
***
Cool April arrived.
As planned, Junho crossed over to the United States with Junhyeok.
Traveling visa-free as tourists for training and experience, the brothers boarded a direct flight and, as soon as they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, LAX—
They got into a vehicle from the professional long-distance VIP driving service they had reserved and headed for northern Nevada.
It cost three thousand dollars one way, but since it was about a seven-hour drive, Junho had chosen the service with jet lag and flight fatigue in mind.
After a little over seven hours of long, boring travel,
the luxury SUV carrying Junho and Junhyeok came to a stop in front of a steel gate covered by multiple surveillance cameras.
[REDROCK Tactical Institute]
“Thank you for the ride. Here’s a tip.”
When Junho held out a hundred-dollar bill, the quiet Black driver, who had handled the wheel skillfully the whole way, smiled and showed his white teeth.
Soon the brothers stepped out of the SUV with several bags.
A moment later, an armed guard wearing black sunglasses came out from the gate box and walked toward them.
“State your business. This is a restricted facility.”
“Good afternoon, sir. We’ve got a reservation. Advanced training course. Name is Lee Junho and Lee Junhyeok.”
“Okay. ID, please.”
The guard used a phone to photograph the passports Junho handed over and the registration confirmation for Redrock Academy displayed on the phone screen, then exchanged a few words over the radio.
After that, he returned Junho’s passport and phone.
“Alright. You’re good. Head straight, then go left to admin.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“Welcome to Redrock.”
After the guard opened the gate with that greeting, Junho headed down the road with Junhyeok toward the admin building he had just indicated.
“Hey, bro. Since when are you so good at English?”
“You can handle some of it too. You understood that conversation just now, didn’t you?”
“Sure, but my pronunciation kind of sucks. What if they can’t understand me?”
“This is a private military academy. A lot of foreigners like us come here too. Nobody’s going to give you shit over your accent, and they’ll understand you just fine, so just talk however you want.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
According to the Korean tactical academy instructor who had introduced this place to Junho, probably about half the trainees here would be foreigners.
That was why English mixed with all kinds of national accents was apparently no problem here.
Anyway, at the admin office, the brothers received a brief explanation of the academy training program and the lodging where they would be staying for two weeks.
Soon, the instructor assigned to them arrived and guided the two of them.
“Mr. Lee. Nice to meet ya. I’m Scott Hayden. I’ll be your lead instructor for the next two weeks.”
Their instructor, Scott Hayden, had short hair and a neat, upright impression, and looked to be in his mid-forties.
He was a veteran who had served in a direct-action reconnaissance company under the famous 75th Ranger Regiment, had deployment experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had even worked as a tactical instructor at the U.S. Special Warfare Center and School.
What was more, until recently he had served as an adviser and tactical consultant for a fairly well-known PMC.
A genuine professional of real combat.
“You’re veterans from the Korean Army Rangers and Commandos?”
“Yes. Though we probably aren’t at the level of the U.S. military. I don’t know how much you know, but our country drafts soldiers.”
“I’ve got an acquaintance who came out of a Korean special operations unit, so I know a little. Even so, the two of you are top-tier among the clients who sign up for training at Redrock.”
“Oh, really?”
Scott Hayden grinned and nodded.
“Yeah. Some people show up having never touched a rifle in their lives. And I heard the two of you also trained in MMA # Nоvеlight # and Krav Maga in Korea, right? Well, that’s probably why you signed up for the advanced two-week course. Anyway, let’s get along for the next two weeks.”
“Yes, sir. We look forward to it.”
After shaking hands with the brothers, Scott Hayden led them to their lodging and then gave them a brief explanation of the training course.
Since the brothers were recognized as seasoned veterans and had enrolled in the advanced course, he said the first week would go straight into concentrated firearms training.
They would be combining precision shooting, close-response shooting, reload routines under time limits, static live-fire drills, and movement shooting on outdoor tactical courses.
The firearms to be used in training were the AR-15 and Glock 17 that Junho had selected in advance, along with the Russian 9mm submachine gun that had a separate civilian version in the United States: the KP-9, PP-19-01 Vityaz.
The reason Junho had chosen those three firearms was simple.
They were the ones he would be able to obtain relatively easily through the Volcano Group.
In fact, before the regression, Junho had heard from Viktor Volk Choi that after the apocalypse began, the Volcano Group’s Busan branch had used AR-15s and KP-9s fitted with red-dot sights and suppressors.
Anyway, the main focus of the first week was getting accustomed to the firearms and live firing in a variety of situations.
The second week, Scott said, would focus on simulations tailored to real-world scenarios.
And in the second week, there would also be combat training for “special situations,” something Junho had specifically requested by paying as much as fifty thousand dollars in tuition.
“I’m asking because even if I know a bit about the Korean military, I don’t really know the situation over there. Do you really need training to prepare for situations like that?”
At Scott Hayden’s question, Junho calmly nodded.
“Yes. We need it. It’s training we absolutely have to do.”
The training Junho had requested separately.
It was training tailored to the reality of Korea, where firearms were rare: subduing multiple hostile targets inside tight buildings when they were armed with blunt weapons, knives, baseball bats, and the like.
And training to shoot down multiple targets, indoors and outdoors, who had taken illegal drugs or stimulants and become “extremely violent and aggressive” after losing all reason.
