Free Web NovelThe sun had gone down, and complete darkness had swallowed everything around them.
The shelter’s auxiliary buildings were wrapped in perfect blackness, and about ten minutes before sunset, retractable bullet-resistant shutters had come down over the main building, covering every window.
As soon as dinner was over, everyone in the shelter returned to their own rooms.
Those who had known nothing about the apocalypse—everyone except maybe Yoon Youngsu—were utterly exhausted in both body and mind. They needed time alone to rest.
So Junho called only Junhyeok and Baek Hail to the control room, where Yoon Youngsu practically lived and slept.
***
“...That’s what happened.”
“Those crazy bastards. They’re not even human. They’re fucking dogs....”
After hearing the rough outline of what Junho had seen and gone through before the regression with the Han Changsik–Han Changoh brothers and their gang, Junhyeok ground his teeth.
That was how shocking and infuriating the story had been.
“Hyung, shouldn’t we do something right now? Because of those bastards, other people who barely survived are gonna— no, before that, you said that guy earlier was marked for elimination, right? Then we should do it as soon as possible—”
“Not now.”
“What? Why?”
“They are bastards. No question. But those bastards also saved quite a lot of people, at least for now.”
“......!?”
Under everyone’s startled gaze, Junho spoke about one of the cruel ironies of the apocalypse.
“Whether it was to use them or for something else, the fact is they brought in dozens of people and kept them fed. At least half of them were the kind of people who probably would’ve been dead before six months passed. Starved to death, or killed by zombies while trying to find food.”
“.......”
“And more importantly, they weren’t the only gang like that. Let’s say we wipe them all out. Then what do we do with the people those bastards are keeping with them? Do we take all of them in?”
“Ah....”
That was one of the ugly truths of the apocalypse.
Junho had a basic conscience and morality too.
But no matter what anyone said, during roughly the first year after the apocalypse began—
it was impossible to deny that “villains” like the Han brothers’ gang, or the cult group Baek Hail’s family had relied on before the regression, had still kept a fair number of people alive.
“And the most important thing is... among the people they’re going to take in before the end of this year, there’s someone in the consideration category.”
“Consideration category...?”
“You mean what you mentioned earlier today, right?”
At Yoon Youngsu’s question—the one who had personally built the outside survivor database and registered Han Changoh and his gang under elimination and caution—Junho nodded.
“Right. A consideration target is someone we might accept into our shelter, or into the container residential zone. Or someone we might leave in Gahyeon-ri and support from the outside. Think of them as a potential ally. Anyway.”
“.......”
“Until that person joins up with the Han brothers’ gang, we have to leave Han Changsik and Han Changoh alone. Of course, I’m not planning to leave them alive forever.”
“So what you’re saying is, if we take out those two piece-of-shit bastards now, we might lose the chance to meet someone we’ll need to bring over to our side later?”
“That’s right. And not just miss them. That person could die.”
The person who would get dragged into Hanchang Development—the real-estate development outfit where Han Changsik was the representative and Han Changoh was the department head—would go through hell for a while, but would not die.
Of course, considering that person’s ability and personality, dying easily was unlikely.
But you never knew with people.
“So for now, we watch them and leave them alone. And then....”
Junho laid out the rest of the plan to the three of them in detail.
Now and then someone asked a question or suggested an alternative that got folded into it, but the overall flow did not change much from Junho’s original plan.
“Then, I know you’re tired, but hyung, let’s go collect the zombie bodies first.”
The shelter’s special vehicles, including the armored one, all came equipped with thermal cameras as standard, so they could move at night without turning on the headlights.
“What about power at the relay station?”
“It’s too much to do that at night too. We’ll run it on the diesel generator for a few days, then install solar panels later once we see how things look. We’ve got plenty of fuel.”
Just the diesel fuel they had bought from Volcano Group amounted to twenty thousand liters.
It was stored in a fuel warehouse with tightly controlled temperature and humidity, divided among 120 two-hundred-liter stainless steel drums after being treated with all sorts of stabilizers, disinfectants, and inhibitors.
Even if the diesel generator installed at the relay station produced the required power for a full month, it would only use around sixty to seventy liters of fuel, so there was nothing to worry about.
“Youngsu, launch the drones and...”
“I’ll launch all four. Two will shadow you, sir. One’ll scout the nursing home, and the other’ll scout that country-house neighborhood.”
“Jesus... can you even control all that by yourself?”
“Huh? By myself? No. We’re doing it with two.”
“Huh?”
At Baek Hail’s narrowed eyes, Yoon Youngsu looked proud and swept a hand around the control room.
“With our Akina, of course. Basic target auto-recognition is a given, and I already programmed vision AI to distinguish zombies from people and even predict behavior patterns.”
“What did you just say...?”
“I mean, when our shelter AI sees something, it’ll make its own judgment and tell me and the boss. Not just warning tones like before—actual speech. Like this.”
As Yoon Youngsu lightly tapped the keyboard a few times—
“Hello, everyone at our pension. Good evening. The current outside temperature is 26.3 degrees Celsius, relative humidity is 71 percent, no precipitation, fine dust levels are moderate, and the wind is blowing from the west...”
“Today’s notable conditions at our pension are as follows. Total power consumption so far is 268 kilowatt-hours, of which 89.7 percent has been covered ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ by solar generation, and...”
A voice flowed from the speakers, crisp and easy to listen to, though with a faintly cool edge.
As he listened, something suddenly occurred to Junho, and he turned to Yoon Youngsu.
“Team Leader Yoon, this is... right?”
“Heh-heh, yup. It’s the Akina voice from Eternal Galaxy. Nice, right?”
“Yeah. Not bad.”
In the game, it had been the voice of an English-speaking Western voice actress, but even speaking Korean, it did not sound especially awkward.
“Anyway, from now on, if the drones or CCTV cameras detect something, it’ll report it like that. I’m still writing more advanced algorithms, but later it’ll analyze the data with ultra-low latency and give even more detailed information. Like... real-time firing solutions?”
“That’s insane... Youngsu hyung, you’re seriously a genius.”
“Nah. If I were a real genius, I’d already be over in the States. Anyway, should I launch the drones right now?”
“Yeah. Junhyeok, hyung, let’s go.”
“Yeah, hyung.”
“Let’s do it.”
For now, their roles were the most important in the shelter, so the four of them did not have much time to rest.
But they knew this was the road to making the shelter even safer than it already was, so instead of complaining, they threw themselves into their work even more actively. freewēbnoveℓ.com
While Junho, Junhyeok, and Baek Hail collected and burned the zombie corpses they had shot on the way to the relay station earlier that day,
Yoon Youngsu, assisted by AI Akina, thoroughly scouted Hanaareum Nursing Home and the country-house neighborhood where the Han brothers’ gang was likely staying.
But aside from zombies swarming everywhere,
there was nothing unusual about either the nursing home or the country-house neighborhood, both of them dark with not even a glimmer of light escaping—whether because every window had been covered with curtains or because they simply had not turned on any lights at all.
So for the time being, they decided to keep scouting both places every four hours, and that ended the day’s work.
“Ah....”
Just before heading to his room, Junho suddenly remembered something and spoke to Yoon Youngsu, who was still busy exploring the many websites and communities that were somehow still alive.
“Youngsu. Starting tomorrow morning, let’s begin broadcasting.”
“Ah, should we? But, boss, we’re not even operating as a business anymore, so calling it a pension feels weird. Mind if I change the way we refer to it?”
“...Go ahead.”
“Yes, sir. Then get some rest.”
After returning to his room, Junho took a lukewarm shower, then looked over at the monitors installed along one wall.
On the four forty-three-inch screens were feeds from high-performance cameras covering the entire surrounding area, including the guard posts on the back mountain and the road leading to the shelter’s front gate.
And also feeds covering the entire shelter grounds, the container lodging, and each of the rooms.
“.......”
The shelter members, and Choi Jeongwoo’s group too...
aside from the little children, not a single one of them had managed to fall asleep.
Choi Jeongwoo kept wiping away tears as he looked at his sleeping daughter.
Choi Haneul, who had been smiling so brightly even at dinner, sat blankly on her bed, lost in thought.
Baek Sua had been watching one of the few remaining domestic news broadcasts, then slumped over her desk, her shoulders shaking.
Baek Suho kept fiddling with a phone that no longer worked because Yoon Youngsu had cut off all outside signals, sighing again and again.
And Baek Hail too had placed the notebook and business card wallet he always carried on the desk and sat there wearing a gloomy expression.
That was right.
They tried not to show it too much in front of Junho, but they all had people they cared about—family, friends, the lives they had lived up to now.
“.......”
Junho understood how they felt perfectly well.
In fact, the fact that they had tried not to show it in front of him proved that they still understood their situation and were still thinking rationally.
That was why Junho, on the one hand, felt he had judged people well—
and on the other, felt something bitter settle in his chest.
But they would have to get used to it now.
That from here on out, the only things they could trust were our shelter and the people inside it.
“Still....”
Thinking of a few people himself, Junho let out a deep sigh and turned off the screens.
***
August 15, 2024, 3:50 p.m., Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.
“What is it? What the hell could it be?”
Unable to keep his bear-like bulk still, Choi Hyunwoo paced around the living room over and over.
Every few seconds, he looked down at his phone screen again and broke into a goofy grin.
[Hyunwoo, it’s Junho hyung. If you see this message, make sure you’re home by 4:00 p.m. on the 15th. I sent you a gift. You have to receive it in person, so make sure you’re there. And there’s one box marked separately—open that one right away after you get the delivery.]
“Heh-heh....”
Wiping at the tip of his nose, Choi Hyunwoo grinned from ear to ear.
Messages that had started arriving three days earlier, one after another, from Lee Junho—a man who had never once contacted him separately unless Hyunwoo had reached out first on a holiday or special occasion.
Since it had come three times, he had wondered if maybe there had been some kind of transmission error or something, but still.
That Junho hyung had sent him a gift!
Bzzz!
[This is your delivery. We’ll be arriving shortly, so please come out in front of Building 102.]
“Huh?”
One thing if they meant right outside his door, but come out in front of the apartment building?
Still, because it was a gift personally sent by the Lee Junho he respected from the bottom of his heart, Choi Hyunwoo hurried downstairs in his slippers.
Soon, an ordinary delivery vehicle pulled up and stopped in front of Building 102 of Hansung Apartments, an in-town complex built thirty years earlier.
“You’re Mr. Choi Hyunwoo, right? Did Lee Junho contact you?”
“Yes.”
The delivery driver, startled by Hyunwoo’s size, quickly held out a tablet.
“Please sign here. Then you can help me carry it.”
“...What?”
Carry it? Carry what, exactly?
As if he had sensed the question, the driver walked toward the cargo bay and kept talking.
“This is the first delivery like this I’ve ever done. I’ve handled every kind of delivery there is, but I’ve never seen anyone send this much stuff to one person. No, seriously, do you know where I live?”
Clang!
The cargo compartment of the delivery truck swung fully open.
“Yeoju. Yeoju. I came all the way from Yeoju, picked all this stuff up from a warehouse in Yangpyeong, and hauled it here. Come on, help me carry it now. I wouldn’t have done this delivery unless I got an extra five hundred thousand won.”
“......!?”
Staring at the cargo bay, more than half of it packed with all kinds of supplies imaginable, Choi Hyunwoo could only stand there with his mouth hanging open.
