Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 114.1: Ronin (1)

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...

After a long absence, Gijayangban had returned, more active than ever.

It seemed like she was trying to make up for lost time, flooding the forum with images.

I examined the photos.

No distortion, no falsehoods.

Not some crude AI-generated fakes.

They were real, taken in the same hellish Wonju where we had been.

And that made me deeply suspicious.

How had Woo Min-hee, stranded in the nearly collapsed northern Seoul, obtained pictures from Wonju?

With the government having retreated entirely to Jeju, her intelligence network on the mainland should have been obliterated.

I had seen her faction firsthand—it was a strong, small-scale group, nothing more.

Capable of defending itself, but not of maintaining extensive reconnaissance assets across such distances.

As my unease grew, I noticed something in the corner of one image.

A shadow.

Someone might mistake it for a man's silhouette.

Tall, lean, and well-built.

But I knew exactly whose shadow it was.

"Kim Daram...?"

No way.

No matter how thick-skinned my junior was, there was no way he would work under Woo Min-hee, the very person he despised.

Well, the sentiment wasn’t exactly mutual—Woo Min-hee never seemed to care much about Kim Daram.

But there were more pressing matters than speculating about him.

Reinforcing the Territory

"Alright, move it this way. A little more."

Just two new members, and the entire settlement had grown more lively.

Even Defender and Dajeong were making an effort to integrate, shaking off their usual cold, detached demeanor.

Ha Tae-hoon and Dajeong were meeting for the first time, but Cheon Young-jae seemed to already know her.

"...So no one pressed the trigger, and you did?"

"Yep. Click. Just like that. No regrets, considering what they’ve done."

"Still, 300 people at once. That’s something."

"The guy who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima lived to old age, didn’t he?"

Their conversation flowed smoothly, without hesitation.

Construction was in full swing.

With two more people joining, we needed to expand our living facilities.

Most importantly, Defender was overseeing a long-overdue project: reinforcing the water and sewage systems.

Security was an even bigger concern.

That part required more technical work than construction, and Ha Tae-hoon, Dajeong, and even Ballantine were helping with the defense and surveillance system.

I was involved as well.

I had no choice.

With the Legion faction splintering into warlords, it was inevitable that the conflict would spill over into our territory.

And in that regard, the Defender siblings were valuable sources of information.

The Academy Hunters

"Academy hunters? Oh, yeah, those weirdos."

Defender had spent quite some time under Kim Daram.

He knew that faction inside and out.

"...Even more obsessed with hierarchy and honor than we were at school. A bunch of outdated idealists, their heads filled with flowers. Yeah, that kind."

So that’s why they were targeting me.

No one with common sense would go out of their way to pick a fight with someone just trying to sleep in his own house.

If they wanted a real fight, they could just swim to Jeju and take on the Awakened—wouldn’t that be more in line with their idea of honor?

"How many of them want me dead?"

"Oh, quite a few."

"How many will actually come here?"

Assessing enemy numbers was crucial.

But Defender responded differently than I expected.

"Come here? Why?"

He looked genuinely puzzled.

I stared at him in silence, waiting for him to elaborate.

Then he smirked.

"Their target changed."

"Changed? To who?"

"Kim Daram, their squad leader."

For a moment, his face flashed through my mind.

That junior of mine, who seemed to be getting worse every time I saw him.

But it made sense.

It made a lot of sense.

"...During the fall of Wonju, he abandoned his unit and ran. Took only his loyalists—mostly school hunters—and left the rest behind. Academy hunters, school hunters, all of them."

A little more detail filled in the picture.

On the day Wonju was destroyed, a group of Awakened attacked the Hunter Headquarters.

Defender had only received reports through radio, so he didn’t have a clear picture of the events.

But through intercepted communications, he had learned that the attackers were the ‘Guardians’ of the Fanatics—their elite enforcers.

These Guardians had torn through the hunters.

That much was expected.

The Legion faction wasn’t stupid—they had been aware of the Guardians and had even trained for countermeasures.

But the reality of battle was different.

The Guardians were too strong.

"Especially the young-looking woman in white. She was absurdly powerful. Way beyond Level 5—close to an Alpha-tier."

"...A young-looking woman?"

"Yeah. That’s what they said. Why?"

"Nothing. Keep going."

"The moment Kim Daram saw her, he vanished. He wasn’t just some lowly squad member—he was supposed to be coordinating the Legion hunters. But instead, he grabbed his family and fled."

After that, communications were completely jammed, making it impossible to know exactly what happened.

"One thing’s for sure—every abandoned hunter now wants him dead."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Defender dumped a shovel of well-mixed cement into a wheelbarrow, stretching his back.

"Still, some of them are clinging to ‘Professor.’ That’s the thing. They think that killing Professor will somehow redeem their pathetic, insignificant lives."

I only knew Academy Hunters through common knowledge.

They were created out of necessity, their founding fathers being the very School Hunters they despised.

When School Hunters returned from China with reports, the government realized the monster threat was far worse than expected.

That was when they decided to mass-produce hunters—thus, the Academy Hunters were born.

Of course, elite hunter purists like Jang Ki-young vehemently opposed the idea.

Not that his opinion mattered.

Soon, hunter academies were established nationwide, drawing in those eager for power and glory.

Their results? Mediocre at best.

Even trained School Hunters, who had been conditioned to accept death from middle school, froze in actual battles.

Academy Hunters?

They were just ordinary people playing at being soldiers.

A few stood out, but the success rate was dismal—less than 10% could actually fight monsters.

It was common knowledge that John Nae-non had been an Academy Hunter—and a low-ranking one at that.

Not that his future greatness was ever diminished by that fact.

With the rise of Awakened, both School and Academy Hunters became relics of the past.

They didn’t make much money.

They weren’t treated well.

By the time School Hunters were being sent to China, they were already getting second-rate supplies.

Academy Hunters? Even worse.

They were probably lumped in with the Chinese military in terms of accommodations and assignments.

The worst part?

Despite holding government-issued hunter licenses, they were barely recognized as real hunters.

School Hunters could still find jobs if they bowed their heads and served the Awakened.

But Academy Hunters?

They had nothing.

Sure, they could brag on the internet—but if they met actual hunters, they’d be forced to grovel.

Their resentment toward the world was immense.

Even greater than ours.

It wasn’t surprising that some of them wanted me dead.

There were always people like Kim Pil-seong, clinging to empty past glory.

And one of them finally came knocking.

It had been a week since the Defender siblings joined us.

*

COOKIEMONSTER18: Skelton, it's me. Rebecca. I heard from Sue.

A message from Rebecca.

As I read her name, I remembered the gunshots she once shared with me. I replied.

SKELTON: Yeah. What's going on? Sue told me things aren't looking good over there.

COOKIEMONSTER18: Our country's support has been cut off. They told us they can't send supplies anymore. The commander got a message two months ago about a plane coming, but it's still not here. No contact, nothing.

So, it's finally happening.

Even the U.S. military presence in Daegu was now crumbling.

Their air support was gone, their supplies were dwindling, and there was no extraction in sight.

SKELTON: How's the situation over there? Supplies, food, morale?

COOKIEMONSTER18: No food. The Korean company we had a contract with collapsed. Mutations and monsters are appearing nearby.

SKELTON: Any rifts close to you?

COOKIEMONSTER18: Not sure. I heard something about them coming from Yangsan.

That was bad news.

Rebecca’s base was in Daegu.

For monsters from Yangsan to reach that far meant that the territory between them had already been overrun.

Monsters don’t just wander through normal zones—if they were making it from Yangsan to Daegu, it meant the entire corridor between them was lost.

SKELTON: Got it.

...

I leaned back in my chair, sighing.

Rebecca and her daughter were in far more dire straits than I had imagined.

It was no wonder Sue had reached out for help.

And yet—Rebecca was still Rebecca.

COOKIEMONSTER18: But Skelton! Don’t worry! A plane from America will be coming soon! The airstrip here is still functional. As soon as it arrives, we’ll be safe and on our way back to the States!

She was still relentlessly optimistic.

The plane wasn't coming.

But she would cling to that belief, no matter what.

It wasn't about intelligence.

Humans believe what they want to believe, not what reality dictates.

Rebecca still dreamed of the towering mountains and endless forests of home.

SKELTON: Understood. If things get worse, reach out anytime. Also—just in case, start preparing for the worst. If your base really collapses, there's space in my territory. It's busier than before, but at least it feels more like a place where people actually live now. And hey, there are women here too. Not just a men's bathhouse anymore.

That was all I could offer.

Even if I had a wide operational range, Daegu was too far.

I could realistically move within the capital area and, at most, Chungcheong Province.

Anything beyond that was impossible.

Unless there was a plane like the ones to Jeju, there was no way.

If Rebecca wanted to come here, she would have to prepare on her own.

At the very least, she’d need to meet me halfway.

COOKIEMONSTER18: (Sue Princess) Skelton!

COOKIEMONSTER18: Answer me.

A separate message came from Sue.

SKELTON: Sue?

COOKIEMONSTER18: Mom still thinks the transport plane is coming.

SKELTON: I see...

COOKIEMONSTER18: If there's anything I can do, I’ll prepare.

SKELTON: Really?

COOKIEMONSTER18: Yeah. I can do a lot. I shot down a mutation from 1,500 yards away with a sniper rifle. Everyone respects me now.

COOKIEMONSTER18: Just tell me what to prepare.

COOKIEMONSTER18: I still have a lot I want to do.

In the end, Sue was the one I could rely on.

I felt... something.

A kind [N O V E L I G H T] of nostalgia.

The same girl who once came alone to my camp in the dead of night...

Had now grown into someone dependable.

Three years had passed.

Four years were beginning.

For a child, it might not have been enough to become an adult.

But in this world, in this apocalypse, it was more than enough.

An Uninvited Guest

As I was compiling a list of necessities for Sue, Cheon Young-jae’s voice came through my radio.

"Someone's coming."

It was a rainy day.

I put on a poncho, heading to the outer wall where Cheon Young-jae stood watch.

The rain blurred my vision, but I could see him.

A man in a poncho, carrying a rifle.

Just one.

His steps were slow, but he wasn't stumbling.

He wasn't just passing through.

He knew exactly where he was going.

He was following the gentle slope leading to my territory.

Not the easiest path—but the one that led directly to my domain.

Meaning:

He had been here before.

Ha Tae-hoon attempted to communicate over the K-Walkie-Talkie common frequency, but the man didn’t respond.

He simply kept walking, step by step, up the slope.

I placed Defender and Cheon Young-jae at different vantage points.

Taking cover behind the outer barricade, I waited.

Soon, he reached our level.

"Oh, wow."

The man spoke loudly, looking around.

"When did you build all this?"

Then, he burst into laughter.

"I told you! I told you he was alive! The Professor is alive!"

Suddenly, he tossed his rifle aside.

"You're there, aren't you?"

The man pulled back his hood, revealing his face. freёnovelkiss.com

Hair unruly, face covered in dirt and blood, his clothes tattered.

A beggar, a wreck.

There were many ways to describe him.

But all of them pointed in one clear direction.

"Professor!"

He called out my old callsign.

"What do we do?"

Cheon Young-jae's voice came through the radio, awaiting orders.

I considered my options and asked Ha Tae-hoon.

"Any signs of companions nearby?"

"No. He's alone."

In that case—

The logical choice was to kill him.

Just as I was about to give the command, Defender’s voice crackled through the radio.

"Oh. That guy?"

"You know him?"

"That's Lawyer."

"Lawyer?"

"Callsign: Lawyer. He’s a Hunter."

Defender let out a shallow sigh.

The rain washed away the blood and dirt on the man's face, revealing him clearly.

"An Academy Hunter."