Hiding a House in the Apocalypse

Most accidents are preventable.

The three cats I'm about to talk about - Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield - were, in a way, preventable.

"Ma'am, please don't feed those cats."

The woman was a middle-aged woman living alone in the vast wilderness between Seoul and my territory.

She always covered her face with a mask, scarf, sunglasses, and the like, as if she had been burned during a nuclear attack. I got to know her when I started begging regularly in Seoul.

When she noticed a sturdy man like me, she would hastily leave with her cart, and I could feel a sense of eerie fear and deep loneliness from her back.

I observed her several times, and it seemed that she had no husband or children.

In today's world, it's not that rare, so I ignored it and passed by, but she soon became familiar with me and didn't leave even when she saw me.

Our relationship, which had been running parallel all along, was disrupted by a single incident.

Her cats had grown so abnormally large that anyone could see that they were unusual.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

No doubt about it.

It's a precursor to mutation.

Now, it's unimaginable, but when the Chinese government was still intact, South Korea also sent hunters to jointly deal with monster invasions.

Seeing India and Africa collapse and the repercussions reaching neighbouring countries, it was obvious that South Korea would be next if we did nothing.

I've seen similar things in a newly built, flashy Chinese city that was sparsely populated.

At that time, humanity was less knowledgeable, so we couldn't distinguish between mutations and monsters, and boldly claimed that an overgrown sewer rat was a new species of hamster and captured it, and that sample contributed to the creation of the new concept of mutation.

It's not something to be proud of, but I played a significant role in the discovery of the existence of mutations.

Overgrowth beyond the growth limits determined by genes is the most representative precursor phenomenon of mutation.

The three cats that the nameless woman was feeding were already as large as Golden Retrievers at that time.

"Do you think those cats are too big, ma'am?"

"They are Rex."

She defended herself.

Some Rex breeds of cat known for their substantial build.

But the appearance of the three cats, including the tricolored cat reflected in my eyes, was distinctly Korean.

"What kind of Rex is that? I would believe it if you said it was a desert human-eating beast called Lita."

"Just ignore it. Who are you to tell me what to do in my own place?"

She spoke with a venomous voice without even looking at me.

"Do you want them to harm you, ma'am? Do you want to be eaten by the cats?"

"They won't do that. They're angels. How much they follow me."

As she extended her hand, the three cats competed with each other to nudge their heads into her hand, as if ancient Western nobles were trying to kiss the king's seal.

"..."

I didn't say anything more.

She's not grieving, and she's an elderly woman. She'll figure it out on her own.

Even my somewhat selfish calculation contributed to me ignoring her and leaving.

At that time, I was thinking that I should gradually cut off contact with Seoul.

Since I had received a personal identification code, there was less need to go to Seoul, and more importantly, there was a shortage of people on the front lines.

Someone like me, a high-end professional, can be taken away with various excuses at any time.

Meeting three mutations as new neighbours, along with the crazy sniper in the southeast and the gold horde in the southwest, didn't seem like a bad idea.

Originally, she wouldn't listen to anything I said, but still.

"What are the names of those cats?"

I asked the departing woman.

"Why?"

"They look cute."

"Hermes, Gucci, and Jackfield."

Strangely, she didn't tell me which cat had which name, but I felt like I knew the names of the three cats.

"Move the net in a crisscross pattern like weaving to create a richer texture."

A peaceful afternoon.

Now, I'm making wool felt dolls while watching the anonymous 337's videos.

The creature I created looked more like goat than a sheep, but I've been steadily referring to the videos of a master to at least make it look like a sheep.

Like the ones on the shelf up there with Anonymous 337.

I was concentrating when the Walkie-Talkie beeped.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

This sound pattern is a signal that I was contacted directly through my personal identification number.

In other words, it's an important message.

As expected, the sender is Kim Daram.

"Ah, damn it."

I couldn't ignore it, so I pressed the receive button, and a voice that seemed to flow as if it had been waiting suddenly filled the air.

"Senior, I have a favour to ask."

"What now? Didn't you say you wouldn't ask you for anything again?"

"I don't want to do this either, but in these dark times, we have to help each other survive. Besides, you know about the recent incidents where many people died around the golf course you live near, right?"

"...Rupert Leichter Palace, was it?"

"See, you know."

The incident where the three stray cats raised by the nameless woman turned into monsters and turned the residents of the apartment complex into real angels may have been a stroke of luck for me, but it seems to be a serious matter to the central administration.

Orders have been issued to eliminate Hermes, Gucci, and Jackfield.

"Sorry, but I can't hunt mutations anymore. I don't have the skills or the desire to do it. And I don't have the equipment."

"It's not you who will do it. We'll send someone."

"Someone?"

"A freelance hunter."

***

That freelance hunter appeared in front of me on a rare vintage motorcycle from before the war.

"Hello?"

He had a solid image, even though his physique was not particularly large, wearing a tight-fitting leather coat and leather pants, and his face looked both young and old.

"I'm Baek Seunghyun."

From our first meeting, he scanned my entire body as if assessing me and then smiled strangely as if he knew something, making a nasal sound.

I didn't want to get too close to him, so I kept my words to a minimum.

I had three conditions.

"I won't participate in combat, and I won't help. And I'll only accompany you until sunset today."

Baek Seunghyun chuckled.

As if pondering something, he suddenly opened his mouth.

"You're Park Gyura from the same school, right? A legendary graduate of the 13th generation."

"Why are you suddenly talking about that?"

"I graduated from the same school too. The 12th generation."

"..."

"Standing tall in the fortress of trials~ We sharpen ourselves like brilliant jade~ Receiving the triangle mountain's legacy, we rise as the leaders of our time~"

Suddenly, this guy starts singing.

A melody that I remember, the school song.

He must not be just talking nonsense if he knows the school song that disappeared after about six months due to complaints about its outdatedness.

As I look closer, I vaguely remember his face.

We might have crossed paths in the reformatory at least a few times.

Of course, back then, both he and I were probably more immature and less tainted.

"That Park Gyura is here in a place like this. Quite surprising."

"Let's not talk about the past."

"I may have known that a loser like me would end up like this. But an elite like you..."

I strongly signalled that I didn't want to hear more.

With a sharp gaze, Baek Seunghyun looked slightly surprised and then quickly apologized.

"Sorry, no comments."

He rode his motorcycle, and I rode my bicycle to the operation site.

However, even before we got close, the smell of blood was strong, and upon arrival at the scene, scattered flesh, fur, blood, and chaotic footprints were mixed in confusion.

"What's this?"

Baek Seunghyun chuckled.

"Actually, I had a rendezvous with those things before I met you."

Baek Seunghyun tapped the hefty weapon slung on his bike with his hand.

It was a Type 21 Anti-Mutation Hunter Rifle.

Literally, a hunter's equipment for hunting monsters - mutations.

Honestly, I had underestimated freelance hunters.

Let me correct that.

Baek Seunghyun is strong.

To take down three mutations with just a slow bolt-action rifle without analysis or observation, only in the wilderness, would be impossible without considerable guts and skills.

At least A-class.

If it were up to me, I'd give him an A-grade rating.

"I'm not particularly fond of meeting other people either. I had no choice but to contact you. Do you have the skills to handle beasts, wipe blood, and move through ditches?"

The reason he came to me is one.

To help find the injured cats.

But how would I know?

I'm not a cat detective.

Wait, there's one face that comes to mind.

The nameless woman who used to feed Gucci, Hermes, and Jackfield passed by me like a forgotten homework assignment.

The abandoned detached apartment was covered in trash and fallen leaves, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

All the glass windows were shattered, and red liquid flowing from the old veranda eerily decorated various parts of the apartment, like tears of blood.

"It's a cheap apartment. It must have been more than 40 years old, even if it's not officially declared."

Baek Seunghyun looked around with sharp eyes.

"There's no supermarket or shopping district nearby. Just fields everywhere. The surrounding farmland doesn't even seem extensive enough for everyone living here to farm."

He exclaimed without asking for my opinion, then gazed up at the apartment with narrowed eyes.

"But still, the only place where people can live around here is here."

Indeed, the apartment concealed a woman with her face covered.

Baek Seunghyun was good with people.

More precisely, he had a knack for dealing with people as if they were livestock.

"Ma'am."

Baek Seunghyun extended his phone's screen.

"Do you know these?"

"..."

"Ma'am, stop keeping your mouth shut and speak up. You know how many they've killed, don't you?"

"There's no way."

"There's no way, huh?"

"My babies would never do that!"

Baek Seunghyun sniffled.

He went to the back of the apartment and came back holding a blood-soaked piece of clothing.

"My wife was among the deceased," he said.

The clothing he held was somehow men's clothing, but the conversation was interrupted at that moment because the woman burst into tears.

I wondered what had come over her.

When I regained my senses, I was standing by her side.

"Are you okay?"

I offered her a canned coffee that I had brought to drink.

A gift seems to be the key to opening a woman's heart across all eras.

The woman, who had been sobbing, held the coffee with both hands and finally spoke.

"...On that day, the people in the apartment left me out and went into the bomb shelter by themselves. It was built during the Saemaul Undong." [TL Note: The Saemaul Undong, also known as the New Community Movement, New Village Movement, Saemaul Movement or Saema'eul Movement, was a political initiative launched on April 22, 1970 by South Korean president Park Chung-hee to modernize the rural South Korean economy.]

She pointed towards the bomb shelter.

"When I arrived late, the door was closed. Even though I knocked and shouted, they didn't open the door. They were telling me to die outside. We didn't get along because I used to feed the cats. But at that moment, Jackfield showed up and said 'meow!'"

She wiped her tears as she took off her sunglasses.

"He led the way like guiding me to the underground shelter."

Her eyes, even though her eyebrows were melted beyond recognition, were too intense to look at directly, but her pupils held warmth that made animals follow her.

"Thanks to those kids, I managed to survive. Those kids also survived thanks to me."

"What happened to the people in the bomb shelter?"

I didn't need to see it to know.

Seeing the black scorch marks near the ventilation shaft.

"It seems like there was a fire inside. Smoke and screams were coming out all day that day."

The woman's survival strategy was revealed.

All the residents of the small apartment had died.

It may be a small apartment, but there are 60 households.

It means that the resources for 60 households belonged to one person.

As Baek Seunghyun said, it seems they didn't even bother to loot this secluded, crumbling apartment.

"Do you still feed them now?"

"Yes. They've grown too big now..."

"Do you know where they are? Someone more ruthless than that guy might come next time."

Upon my urging, she seemed determined and tried to open the coffee can herself.

Perhaps due to alcohol poisoning, she couldn't even open the can, so I opened it for her, and she accepted the coffee with a lowered head.

Drinking the coffee infused with my body temperature, she looked into the distance, probably contemplating some kind of resolution.

"I have an idea of where they might be."

She led us to a ditch that led to an abandoned rice field.

While guiding us, she briefly explained the significance of this place.

"I found those kids here. They were abandoned by their mother, and I took care of them."

Her intuition was correct.

There were traces of blood.

"Hermes, Gucci, Jackfield!"

She desperately called her beasts.

Baek Seunghyun and I stood far away.

I didn't want to see Baek Seunghyun if possible, so I kept my gaze fixed on the woman and asked coolly, "Is it necessary to do it this way?"

Baek Seunghyun handed the woman a vest.

An explosive vest.

His opinion was valid, as it was less painful than being torn apart by mutations while still alive, but this was morally unsettling.

"That's probably the question the deceased would want to ask that lady."

Inside the ditch, huge beasts with blood flowing out appeared.

Mutations.

Baek Seunghyun raised his finger to the detonation switch.

I had nothing more to say.

His judgment was valid, setting aside emotional considerations.

Scholars say that mutations cannot be tamed because they are too intelligent.

It's because mutations know how humans think of and treat themselves, just like how humans, who were once the gentlest of sheep, have become the most vehement critics of God. Mutations hate humans by their own choice.

This is the common belief about the aggressiveness of mutations.

However...

"Meow."

An unbelievable scene unfolded.

The mutations were following her.

Just like before they transformed, they were jostling to press their lion-like heads against her, competing to rub their bodies against her, just like in the old days when they used to fight over her touch when she cared for them.

"Look at how good my babies are. Even in this state..."

"..."

The undeniable common belief was refuted head-on by the nameless woman and her cats.

However, that brief miracle was erased in an instant from the man's fingers, who was absorbed in reality.

Click.

A monotonous switch-clicking sound rang out, and an explosion occurred. Light and a deafening noise swallowed everything.

"What a fucking job I have."

It was probably the first time.

He looked at Baek Seunghyun seriously.

Baek Seunghyun, who had been observing me closely all along, avoided my gaze at that moment.

"...This fucked up world."

After muttering what seemed like a grumble, he left the scene as if fleeing.

The woman's body had disappeared without a trace.

Only one mutation with its lower body blown off was still gasping for its last breath.

I looked down at the cat.

It was Jackfield.

The ugliest of the three who used to nod like a person before and even after the mutation, ceased to breathe.

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