Hiding a House in the Apocalypse

Chapter 25: Residue (1)

According to the foreign word notation system announced by the Ministry of Education in 1986, foreign names should be spelled according to the local pronunciation.

Back in China, I didn't adhere to this guideline for complex reasons.

At the time, I had no intention of learning or understanding their language.

We were unwelcome guests, and we came with unwelcome intentions.

Our purpose was not to save China.

The orders I received from the government were to collect data on the types and behavioural patterns of monsters appearing in high-intensity fissures, changes occurring in the fissure area, especially their effects on humans, and so on.

As a result, we made various excuses to avoid the battles they desperately needed and only chose the areas and battles we wanted.

The vast experience and data we gained there indeed proved valuable to the defence efforts in Korea and contributed to making me a harbinger of doom.

There was a person named Ma Wonggab in China.

He was just an ordinary resident of the erosion zone, but after witnessing monsters passing by without any hostile behaviour, he had a profound realization, as those who have profound realizations tend to do, and founded a new religion.

The name of this new religion, "Preservationist Sect", brought great ridicule from the Chinese who worked with me, as it sounded like a name that a human who spent most of their time watching online novels or martial arts novels would come up with.

However, despite their ridicule, ""Preservationist Sect"" rapidly spread in the erosion zone and followed a similar trajectory to the cult that led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty.

Among the Korean dispatched hunters, there were more who killed members of this cult than monsters.

Perhaps Defenders were not that skilled.

Now, both Ma Wonggab and his religion have been consumed by the flames of annihilation, but things that burn share a similar nature.

For example, instead of fleeing, they would stand their ground and wait for themselves to burn like a forest tree.

I knew someone who had that combustibility.

**

Thump! Thump! Thump!

I could hear gunfire in the distance.

Is it starting again?

They said they were negotiating on the radio.

It's been two years and two months since the war began.

Still, there's no contact from Kim Daram.

Checking the outside temperature, it's minus 5 degrees Celsius.

I feel like the weather is colder than usual, probably due to the global nuclear war that happened last year.

I got up in my heated tent, washed my face, and prepared a meal.

For breakfast, half a head of cabbage harvested not too long ago.

I roughly chopped it and tore it apart with my hands, eating one piece at a time.

Before the war, I couldn't have imagined having a meal with just cabbage, but at this point, after getting tired of canned and preserved food, it's a reasonably fresh seasonal delicacy.

While filling my stomach, I glanced around with binoculars.

Another group of refugees is passing through the golf course and heading south.

Isn't that the direction where the sniper mother and daughter live?

I might hear gunshots again soon.

After finishing my meal and letting it settle, I went on a light patrol around the area.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

It might be a premature conclusion, but could today be another peaceful day?

While our peaceful neighbourhood remains unaffected, civil war is raging in Seoul.

A war that could change the fate of South Korea, where millions of citizens are being used as pawns, and at this very moment, they are exchanging gunfire and committing acts of violence against each other.

The civil war hasn't only brought negative effects. At least for me, it's been a short-term boon.

When the civil war started, refugees were visible, but those persistent pioneers have completely disappeared.

I wonder if the pioneer teams were under military control, which is why they might have been dragged to the battlefield.

But strangely, within our community, you can hardly find any discussions about the civil war. Occasionally, there are photos of shells falling near people's homes, but that's about it.

Thinking back to before the civil war, when discussions about it dominated the forums, this is a significant change.

The direct reason might be that the journalist who used to provide information from Seoul has fallen silent, but at this point, discussing the civil war seems like an unnecessary topic.

It's already happened, and we can't do anything about it. Moreover, the aftermath of the civil war will greatly affect our lives, regardless of who wins or who seizes control of Seoul, and that's not in a good direction.

So, perhaps that's why within the community, light and trivial topics unrelated to the civil war have thrived an unspoken agreement to turn away from reality.

I also joined in by posting meaningless posts.

SKELTON: (Skeleton sound) Skeleton's Beatbox 23

Amidst these carefree days, a significant event shook the entire forum.

As expected, big things are done by big people.

One of the forum's bigwigs, the former webtoon artist DragonC, announced a new serial.

DragonC: Starting my latest work, "The Remnant."

"The Remnant," in short, is a story about us, the harbingers of doom, as DragonC, like those who embark on creative journeys, prepares his final masterpiece that will make him immortal. He has chosen the ultimate subject the dying or disappearing remnants of humanity.

With just that announcement, the entire forum was in an uproar, but DragonC took it a step further.

As if practicing the idea that art reflects reality, DragonC posted a casting call among our community members for key roles.

DragonC: "The Remnant" Casting Call

1. Must have a unique personality and background suitable for storytelling.
2. Bonus points if you have family or neighbours with episodes.
3. Females preferred.
4. Looks don't matter; I'll adapt the appearance.

• Please refrain from lying.

"Huh."

The moment I saw this announcement, I couldn't help but break into a long-awaited smile.

It's like this was made for me, except for points 3 and 4, of course.

I have a unique personality and background for storytelling, along with numerous episodes involving my neighbours and family. Currently labelled as an unpopular user, I still believe that if I can appear in DragonC's latest work, it might not only boost my standing within the forum but also make me immortal.

My personal information is a top-secret, but in a world where the country has fallen apart, what use is that secrecy?

Without a moment's hesitation, I created a new top-secret profile and sent the information to DragonC.

• Hunter training organization 13th generation graduate.
• Former S-rank hunter (before the level system reset, highest rank achieved).
• 5 years of activity in Beijing, China; callsign: "Professor."
• Made significant contributions to discovering mutation mechanisms.
• A real badass.
• Also has neighbours (including a cute little girl).

...

...

When I sent the application, I genuinely believed I had secured the lead role.

I had enough details to fill in the blanks, even excluding the provocative topic of the Defender siblings.

The response came within a minute.

Isn't it a bit too soon?

Or perhaps, was DragonC so impressed by my illustrious career that he contacted me immediately after reviewing my data?

Message from DragonC: Are you kidding?

"?"

SKELTON: I'm not kidding. It's real.

Message from DragonC: Do you expect me to believe that lie? Even a kid could write batter.

SKELTON: It's "better," not "batter."

Message from DragonC: Is this some kind of joke?

Message from DragonC: Don't force it. You don't have a single story to tell, do you?

SKELTON: Well, actually, I'm a woman...

Message from DragonC: Blocking you.

It turns out, my casting had fallen through, not due to any specific reason but because of an overall rejection.

Many users were rejected from the casting, not just me.

Defender: My personality is unique enough for a supporting role, right? Please?

Defender showed considerable enthusiasm for appearing in "The Remnant," but DragonC tended to follow the standards of a national portal site, avoiding provocative content except for school violence.

By those standards, Defender was undoubtedly out of the picture.

However, Defender must have persisted because DragonC publicly declined in an unprecedented way.

DragonC: Defender keeps sending DMs, but I can't let him be in the cast. The genre will change if he's in it.

Defender: What genre?

DragonC: A psychopath thriller, or maybe a splatter film?

Defender:

It was only natural that Defender, who had been rejected by DragonC, would message me.

Message from Defender: Skeleton. If I reveal that I'm a woman, I'm in big trouble, right?

SKELTON: Are you the little sister?

Message from Defender: Did you miss me?

SKELTON: What about your big brother?

Message from Defender: That big brother doesn't wants to appear in a comic. He don't even read those comics. Honestly, DragonC's comics are so boring.

SKELTON: It's true that they're not very exciting.

Message from Defender: Right?

While Defender was a strange guy, he wouldn't reveal his true identity. Revealing that Defender's little sister was also part of a deadly sibling duo would be a significant loss, which operated as a team of two.

Anyway, unlike Defender, for whom the opportunity to appear in "The Remnant" had been permanently closed, I still had a secret weapon in my arsenal.

That secret weapon was none other than the sniper mother-daughter duo living in the southeast.

If I could take a photo with them and send an impressive story to DragonC, maybe he would show some interest?

I immediately contacted the sniper mother-daughter duo.

"Skeleton? What's up?"

"Can I see you for a moment?"

"Okay, what's it about?"

"What do you mean, 'what's it about?'"

"Morphine, fentanyl, etc."

After three months in the academy, even the sniper's Korean had improved significantly. It's because they spent their days on the rooftop, listening to the radio or using walkie-talkies.

"Skeleton!"

The daughter greeted me enthusiastically.

It seemed like I hadn't seen her in a while, but I might see her soon, as Christmas was approaching.

"Skeleton, what did you eat today?"

"Cabbage."

"Cabbage? What's that?"

"I mean, it's like primitive kimchi."

"Primitive kimchi?"

While we were having a pleasant conversation, the mother intervened.

"No meeting if you're not giving drugs."

"Just one second. Snap a photo. Okay? Chocolate!"

Communication was cut off.

The operation was a failure.

There was nothing I could do.

Drugs are a last resort used only when surgery or extreme pain cannot be endured.

Even I had difficulty obtaining them, and I couldn't just give them away for trivial reasons.

But anyway, could that mother-daughter duo survive two Korean winters?

Food aside, enduring two Korean winters wouldn't be an easy task.

In the end, my ambitious webtoon debut came to a failed conclusion.

Three days later.

That was the day when a fighter jet passing overhead was hit by a missile, breaking apart in the sky and crashing down to the west.

DragonC had announced the protagonist of "The Remnant."

Surprisingly, the chosen protagonist was someone I knew quite well, one of the few people in the community whose face I had seen.

DragonC: The lead role in "The Remnant" has been decided as Kyle_Dos!

Kyle_Dos.

He was an active member of the forum, and although he wasn't particularly outstanding, his reputation wasn't bad either. He was part of a group known as the "Friendship Family" alongside Anonymous848 and Anonymous458.

However, he was just an ordinary userneither particularly likeable nor particularly remarkable.

When I met him in person to retrieve capsules, he was just an average guy in his early thirties from South Korea. He wasn't a hunter, nor was he a trained soldier.

So, what made him so special that he captured DragonC's heart?

The reason lay in a post Kyle_Dos had written himself.

Kyle_Dos: I actually found a wife not too long ago.

His story began shortly after I had collected capsules near the anti-aircraft bunkers.

With fewer worries on his mind, Kyle_Dos, a seasoned doomsday prepper, patrolled the area around the anti-aircraft bunkers rigorously, allowing no small changes to occur.

Then one day, it happened.

It was probably late spring, as Kyle_Dos remembered.

Kyle_Dos had come face to face with something he had forgotten but had always thought about.

A woman.

She was young, attractive, and, above all, in need of protection.

The process of Kyle_Dos, with his not-so-charming personality, and the attractive woman meeting, struggling, getting to know each other, and eventually becoming one, had all the virtues of a universal story. It also carried the potent pheromones that stimulated the fantasies of lonely men.

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