Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Housewarming
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I butchered the wild boar that Gold had brought.
After gutting it and draining the blood, I stored it in the freezer. But besides this one, there was another wild boar, two roe deer, and two chickens.
The chickens were for me to eat, and honestly, the roe deer weren't great meat to serve guests, so I decided to break down one of the sows.
This was my first time butchering meat.
I put on a slaughtering video and tried to mimic it.
The hide didn't come off as easily as I thought, but by taking it slow and steady, the wild boar soon looked just like the cuts I'd seen at a butcher shop.
I sniffed it.
It wasn't exactly an appetizing smell.
There was a gamey odor.
They say the ribs are the most edible part of a wild boar.
I divided the ribs into three large portions.
One for the Defender siblings, one for the Mad Sniper and her daughter, and the last one for me.
I'd had a similar experience back in China.
A domesticated pig that had escaped from our group was caught by one of my comrades, and we butchered it skillfully with some Chinese folks, throwing a pork party.
Back then, it felt like China still had hope.
Even though the north was being eroded, massive supplies were pouring in from the rear, and manpower filled the front lines just as densely.
I heard they were recruiting a thousand hunters a month.
They were producing in a short time what it took us a full year to barely train a thousand of.
Honestly, their training level wasn't that high, but it didn't matter much.
Rookies or not, they had basic training, and they quickly turned into veterans amid life-and-death battles.
In fact, they drove out a monster horde that had taken over a major city and purified the eroded area.
It was probably humanity's greatest victory against monsters.
The Chinese were buzzing with excitement, shouting that humanity, having conquered nature, would conquer monsters too—with the Chinese at the vanguard.
But they couldn't stop the downfall.
I saw it beyond the rift.
Despair named infinity.
Pioneers have become a part of life now.
When I turn on the radio, I hear pioneers' chatter from all over.
Cries for help, silly jokes, gossip about someone, odes to the good old days.
No word from the pioneers facing off up north, but I didn't need to know.
Other pioneers had already passed that road and pushed south.
One worrisome thing was that most of them knew about the Mad Sniper mother-daughter duo.
I heard warnings multiple times: don't approach that village; there are remnants of U.S. military there.
It might help the duo for now, but long-term, it didn't look good.
As pressure from pioneers mounted, her territory would face major challenges—ones where she couldn't fend off powerful enemies targeting the mother-daughter like before.
Like Jo Seongyong's gang, for instance.
Jo Seongyong's crew hadn't shown up again, but in this world, those kinds stick around the longest.
Probably driving people into the wasteland somewhere else right now.
I pulled my bike and headed west, listening to the pioneers' rambling radio talk.
A vast wasteland pocked with huge shell craters came into view.
This was where Chinese warships had seized the Yellow Sea and rained missiles down.
The Defender's new house teetered precariously at the edge of that cratered wasteland.
As I approached the house, I spoke into the radio gear.
"I'm here."
From the ruins, a young man and woman emerged.
"Hubby!"
Defender and his sister waved at me.
"What kind of hubby am I?"
"Right? Bro's so impatient. We haven't even done the formal meeting yet."
"No, what formal meeting? Neither of you even has parents?"
His sister stared intently at the bike's cargo hold.
"What's this?"
"Oh? This?"
A proud smile crept onto my lips.
Wild boar meat butchered by Park Gyu himself—the ribs, supposedly the best part.
"What kind of meat is it?"
Defender sniffed the meat.
"Pork? Smells delicious."
"Wild boar."
"Wild boar? Hubby? You hunt too?"
"Not really hunting, just... circumstances."
No way they'd believe a mutated dog brought it.
"I'm no good at hunting."
"That's surprising."
"Hunting humans and beasts are different beasts altogether."
"How's the new place? Livable?"
Ruined houses stood amiably around it.
No traces of life in any of them.
Abandoned long ago, never sought out.
"Wanna take a look? It's a housewarming, right?"
"Housewarming in this day and age? Just checking on you."
"Take a peek."
"Hmm."
Snooping in someone else's house in the apocalypse is a high-risk event leading straight to death, but the Defender siblings were trustworthy friends.
"Sure."
When was the last time I visited a friend's house?
Probably Lee Sanghun's place.
We weren't that close.
No, we were never close.
Lee Sanghun's mom, chasing trends, threw a birthday bash and invited some of his friends—including me, somehow.
I wasn't even close to him, so probably because my grades were better.
Me and my high school freshman friends got a glimpse of upper-class Seoul life.
Rooms full of unfamiliar gadgets whose uses I couldn't guess, things I'd never seen but instinctively knew were forever out of reach, casually placed everywhere my eyes landed.
I didn't think much of it.
The flames of hatred burning inside me were too fierce for jealousy or self-pity over others' wealth.
We ate decent food, exchanged gifts—empty-handed on my part—sang happy birthday.
Unlike then, I'd grown up, Lee Sanghun was dead, his fancy apartment crumbled, yet oddly, stepping into this "friend's house" after so long, I caught a whiff of Lee Sanghun.
Probably because of the interior's splendor.
"Hey, what's all this?"
The swirling marble patterns, sheen, sleek furniture and decor from Lee Sanghun's house were pristine here, unbelievably preserved under the barren ruins.
"Told you. It's a gambling den."
Defender spun a roulette wheel like you'd see in a casino.
"Doesn't seem too useful for survival."
I toured the underground casino with the Defender siblings.
The large setup had massage chairs, nap rooms, even showers.
Turned on the tap—water came out.
It reeked intensely of bleach.
"Me and sis scrubbed the water tank. Was gonna call you too, Hubby."
"No way in hell."
"Figured."
The bedroom was converted from a nap room, but only one bed.
Defender pointed to a corner of the casino.
"I sleep by the entrance."
Sure enough, a neatly folded blanket and mattress stood there.
"Electricity?"
"Batteries left for now. Brought a generator, but fuel's scarce. Winter was long, right?"
Fuel, food—nothing abundant.
They'd run dry before summer.
Defender seemed unfazed.
"Time to scavenge soon."
"Got spare ammo if you need."
"Now that's my Hubby!"
After that, we slowly checked the new place, noting needs and shortages.
Not great terrain for defense, but good for hiding.
I told Defender,
"Won't need to kill many here?"
"Maybe. If they find our entrance, though, we'll wipe 'em out. The builders don't seem like they'll come back. Probably dead ages ago."
"Yeah."
Before leaving, I took one last look at the lavish casino.
Must've cost a fortune.
Enough to double my bunker's expansion.
But so what.
Handed over unused to others.
"Guess I'll head out."
"Already? No meat together?"
"Too many pioneers around."
"Tea at least."
Defender's sister appeared with a teacup, shaking it.
Fancy cup, expensive bagged tea in hand. Probably stashed here.
"I make good tea. Worked at a cafe briefly."
"One cup then."
What started as a housewarming turned into a Skeleton inspection, then an impromptu tea party.
Under a starry night sky, we set up a folding table and three camping chairs.
Soon, his sister brought the tea.
The aroma alone told me.
Good stuff.
Leagues above my bunker's lemon black tea.
Slurp.
Honestly, not sure about the taste.
Tea is for the scent, right?
No cookies, but the fragrance chasing away apocalypse death and fear, the refined bitterness and astringency, the warm heat coating my throat and stomach—it was memorable enough.
We savored the nameless benefactor's black tea in silence for a while.
Defender broke it.
"Someday."
He stared at the pioneers' distant campfires.
"When the world's quieter, more livable than now."
"......"
"What'll you do?"
He looked at me first, but I said nothing.
"Me."
His sister raised her hand instead.
"I wanna go to New York."
"New York?"
She nodded at my question, her voice stronger now, speaking aloud.
"Never been overseas."
"New York, huh."
Defender cradled his teacup, smirking oddly.
"I wanna build a house."
"House?"
"Dad and I bought land in the scenic suburbs when I was little, planned to build there. Pitched roof with eaves, Spanish skylights, maze garden, Greek columns."
"Can't picture it."
Sister and Defender covered their mouths, laughing together.
Seeing the close siblings, I swirled my teacup, lost in thought.
The future.
We have no future.
Just how much longer to live.
That's the only choice.
But they're different.
Living the same dark times, facing countless deaths and sorrows, yet they still hold dreams in their parched hearts.
What is it? Seeing someone with what I lack makes me rethink myself.
"Hubby."
Defender called me.
"Got nothing you wanna do?"
"Well."
Embarrassing to say honestly.
Just outlive others and die—too bleak?
"Dear."
With sis joining in, I felt compelled to dress up my barren wish, dredging up an old, impromptu excuse.
"......Gonna keep a diary."
"Diary? You can start that anytime."
"Haven't yet."
"When then?"
Sis asked this time.
I looked up at the twinkling stars.
An old tale came to mind.
Those starlights are actually from tens of thousands to billions of years ago, only now reaching Earth.
Can humans be eternal like stars?
"When the world's quieter, dyed gray—when everyone's gone, just me on the boards."
I want eternity.
"Record each day then."
"In writing?"
"No, computer. Before dying, print it out, leave my days as last human by my bedside. Who knows? Aliens or mutations replacing us find it. 'Ah, the final human thought this in his last days.'"
Finishing, I noticed the siblings' stunned stares.
"Skeleton."
Defender got serious.
"You are kinda different from us......"
"......"
No more Hubby.
"Mind blown."
Sis was shocked too.
"Still romantic, though. Went weird after the aliens part."
Defender stood, clearing cups and pot.
"Even in your diary, try writing something hopeful?"
Hope.
No hope in this world.
What's the point in a predestined end?
Thinking that, I spoke rashly.
"No such thing as hope here. All doomed to die."
Regretted instantly, but words out.
What can you do.
That's our reality.
But Defender's sister, Dajeong's expression was odd.
She stared, then grumbled.
"Even m9 in The Hope lives more positively than you."
"What?"
What'd she say?
m9?
No way compare me to that guy.
Besides, didn't he freeze last winter?
"m9? Isn't he dead?"
99% sure.
"He's alive."
His sister handed me the tablet.
The site with the clear Failnet logo showed a tilting apartment, windows shattered, insides exposed.
Inside, a guy with a safety rope around his waist risked it all hanging laundry.
No doubt.
That pathetic profile.
Our old board buddy m9.
"Even he's living that hard......"
In shock, m9's old post flashed in my mind.
mmmmmmmmm: Look at this royal view's majesty!
Not everyone's crumbling in despair.
In this wretched end, some still fiercely battle the enemy called despair.
"......Soon to die, and it's the view."
World's wide.
Time to reflect a bit.
As the tea party ended and I prepared to leave, Defender approached.
"Hey, Skeleton."
"Not Hubby now?"
"Changed my mind."
"......"
"Heard about the school demolition?"
"Demolishing the school?"
"Apparently with the principal's funeral too."
"Principal?"
The guy who gave me the "Professor" callsign.