Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: 44. Construction (1)
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Two years and seven months had passed since the war began.
Ruin had risen all the way to our necks before we knew it.
The lives of the Incheon evacuees I'd seen firsthand were miserable.
One could say they were merely surviving.
They had to lead utterly dependent lives, relying entirely on a government whose leaders were unknown for even their basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, and even their very fates.
At least lately, the cities were handing out mystery nutrient porridge instead of those cockroach-colored nutrient bars.
Apparently, it was far superior in both taste and nutrition.
The problem lay in its ingredients, with all sorts of wild guesses floating around about what they really were.
Mutant meat, human flesh, zombie meat, you name it.
Whatever it was, city dwellers had no choice but to depend on that mystery porridge.
If they didn't eat it, they couldn't survive.
Clinging to life by choking down that unidentified slop, boarding a convoy bound for Jeju Island was the only hope ordinary people could dream of.
Even doomsayers like our Viva! Apocalypse! forum buddies weren't faring much better.
They'd popped up sporadically before, but as summer approached, folks with genuinely dire food situations started showing their faces one by one.
The average stockpile among our forum users was about three years' worth. It used to be two, but John_nenon preached that three was safer, making the three-year stockpile theory the mainstream. Most followed suit and prepped more than that.
But now, three years were nearly up.
Plus, food spoils surprisingly fast and gets consumed quicker than you'd think.
Some of us might even starve to death.
Even Sea Monkey Papa, whom I'd seen recently, had run completely out of food.
Beyond food, some were tormented by external threats.
Users holed up in northern Seoul had been wiped out entirely.
In the south, even more sinister stirrings were brewing.
Some unidentified cult was spreading like wildfire among the starving masses.
Its name was unknown, but preaching coexistence and harmony with monsters? Definitely a doomsday cult.
The flames that torched China had leaped to this land.
In these trying times for both north and south alike...
I, Park Gyu, was no exception.
I couldn't keep living in that shithole neighborhood, so I returned to my beautiful home, but it wasn't safe anymore.
I had to prepare for a fight.
You never knew when Legion faction soldiers might swarm in.
"I don't think you need to worry that much."
Defender saw things differently from me.
"Seriously, do you think you're such a high-value target that they'd break the ceasefire, send a spec-ops team into enemy territory just to take you out?"
"Nah, probably not."
He was right—I wasn't VIP material.
Someone like Woo Min-hee, maybe, but deploying elite troops into danger for a lone hunter no different from a regular grunt? That'd be overkill investment.
Conversely, consider what they'd gain from killing me.
Satisfaction from offing a snitch?
A lesson for traitors?
Or just venting rage?
No nutritional value, no matter how you slice it.
But people often start shit with zero payoff.
Still, prep was essential.
Especially considering how many lived thoughtlessly even before the war.
But actually gearing up? It felt hopeless.
The enemy was an army.
How the hell do you prepare against an army?
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn't reach a conclusion alone.
"Rebecca? Rebecca? It's SKELTON. Hey, mind if I use the internet a bit?"
That's what communities were for.
*
"No way. Make it your own. Why keep trying to log in with mine?"
"Come on, just a little."
I had two Viva! Apocalypse! accounts around me.
The sniper mom-and-daughter duo and Defender.
But Defender was a big name on the Korean board.
Posting his every move wasn't great for either of us.
Especially since he was already being stalked by someone even weirder than him.
The sniper duo, on the other hand, was free from domestic threats.
She operated on the English board with a dead scholar's account.
So I borrowed Rebecca's for a bit.
"One hour max?"
Feeling her icy glare on my neck, I started posting under an alias.
While waiting for replies, I looked around the sniper duo's hideout.
Ammo and food had dwindled way down from the first time.
Ammo was fine since they weren't shooting much lately, but food was critical.
"This is all you have left?"
Rebecca sighed and nodded at my question about the meager stock.
"Yeah."
"Won't last till summer."
"Yeah."
"I'll share some of mine, at least."
"Why don't we just team up, SKELTON?"
"What?"
"Let's form a team!"
Rebecca fixed me with a rare serious stare, her words piercing right through me.
They sounded casual in the light moment, but their weight was anything but.
This involved her daughter's fate too, after all.
Su stood beside her mom, gazing up at me—they'd clearly mulled this over for a while.
Maybe even been waiting for the right moment to bring it up.
I knew they were struggling.
Hell, I'd even considered bringing them into my turf.
But it wouldn't be easy.
Even married couples who loved each other fought nonstop; armed neighbors living together could lead to endless misunderstandings and clashes.
And those fights would likely end in one-sided death... or mutual destruction.
As I stood there silently pondering, Su approached me.
She held her mom's M4 carbine proudly, standing tall.
"SKELTON. We know how to shoot."
I gazed at her quietly.
She'd grown a ton.
Back when we met, she barely reached my waist; now she was almost to my shoulder.
Kids that age shoot up no matter what they eat, it seems.
Probably took after her mom.
Rebecca was as tall as my 181cm.
She might even outgrow me someday.
But looking down at the still-smaller girl, I laid out the reality.
"...The thing is."
I gave them a quick rundown of my situation.
How I was now a target, and the soldiers knew my location.
"From that battle before?"
Rebecca asked, eyeing me.
"Yeah. Had to be done."
My spot was riskier for it, but I had zero regrets about that call.
At least it gave me some hope too.
The heavy topic sank the mood.
Me, the sniper duo—silence all around.
I excused myself and checked the laptop.
A few replies had trickled in.
"Hm."
Mostly pessimistic takes.
Makes sense— if even I couldn't figure it out, our forum pals wouldn't have any silver bullets either.
Suddenly, Rebecca shoved me aside.
"What?"
"Move. I know a way."
I yielded the seat with a dubious look.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
With divinely inspired typing, she dove into the English board.
Far more adept than me, she searched like a pro, unearthing a brick-wall of dense English text and shoving it my way.
"This."
"I can translate, but I'm slow."
"Wait. I'll handle it."
Rebecca hit auto-translate and beckoned Su.
Su copied the mangled text to a notepad, then—with speed rivaling her mom's, if not quite—fixed the awkward phrasing.
She still dictionary-dipped for unknowns now and then.
Soon, Su proudly unveiled her handiwork.
"Look, SKELTON."
"Hm..."
Damn good idea.
Hiding a bunker that's already been spotted.
Never crossed my mind.
The rest detailed how: straight-up construction.
Using their heavy gear to reshape the terrain entirely.
Of course, caveats galore.
Enemy knows your rough location but isn't 100% sure you're still there, and you need time to work.
Not for average Joes.
The American author was a group survivalist, and from the hints, his bunker matched mine in size and setup.
"What do you think, SKELTON?"
Rebecca scanned my face.
I nodded, thumbs up.
"Good. Really damn good."
First time in ages I'd felt the pure upside of the community.
But copying Callum's method outright? Tough.
America's vast—knowing the intel is like finding a needle in a desert haystack.
My bunker's under a hill between a US base and golf course. Specific as hell.
Kim Daram, who knows exactly where, goes without saying.
Can't hide it completely.
But I had to brainstorm.
My bunker and I were inseparable now.
"Gotta head out."
"Wait, SKELTON! One more reply!"
Su beamed, pointing at the laptop.
"Maybe a surprise gem?"
But before I got close, Su's face drained to ashen.
"What the..."
Obvious culprit.
"That fucking troll?!"
I exploded before I knew it.
Startled, Su and Rebecca stared.
"SKELTON...?"
Guess my rare outburst shocked them more.
I apologized instantly.
"Sorry, really. But this guy's a real piece of shit."
"Figured. Why's he typing like he's eating? Some kinda nutjob?"
"Mental illness, basically."
Thanked the duo again and left.
As I descended the building, Rebecca called after me.
"Need manpower, holler. We'll help."
"Yeah. If I do."
Mounted Baek Seung-hyeon's bike, stared at the dash.
"Why's your owner such a mess?"
Machines don't answer.
Still, the bike was a godsend—convenient, fast.
Unlike bikes topping at escape-only speeds, this could hit 180kph in a pinch, viable even against humans.
Barring guided missiles like Javelins, landing shots on a 100kph+ target was luck territory.
As Baek said, well-maintained with care.
We clashed on everything, hated each other's guts, but this bike showed his rare redeeming side.
Blasted back to my turf in no time, then circled my bunker hands behind back.
"Hm..."
How to remodel.
Entrance had to change, right?
Or... leave it?
Brainstorming solo wouldn't yield optimal.
Good thing I had another pal.
"Yo."
Defender.
"SKELTON?"
"Can I use the summon token now?"
"What's up?"
"No combat. Just wanna consult."
"Consult? Save the token."
"Bring your sis too."
"Sudden much?"
"Hm?"
"You aiming to be real bro-in-law? Fat chance."
"No, not that. Just more heads better."
"Fine. Gimme a sec."
True to big-name status, signs preceded Defender's arrival.
His sis's drone scouting the area.
All clear, then the siblings roll up—sis high odds on kick scooter.
Road wasn't scooter-friendly; half the time she walked it, but she insisted.
Really loved the thing.
"Hey, SKELTON."
Darling waved, doffing goggles despite the short scooter hop.
"Hey."
Greeting Darling, jumped straight to it with Defender.
"SKELTON. What's this consult?"
"Well..."
Shared my dilemma with him.
And the potential solution.
"Hide the bunker?"
"You've seen battlefields—nothing's invisible."
"Yeah. Let's take a look."
Defender inspected my turf like a division commander, sis in tow.
Soon, arms crossed before the main bunker.
"It's perfect as-is, but location's compromised—wipes out that edge."
"Y-yeah?"
I'd half-suspected as much.
Was hiding just futile?
"Just move. Come to ours."
"Th-that's."
"Your junior knows this spot, right? Bail now."
"Yeah, but."
Damn, internet buddy.
Not saying what I wanted to hear.
That's his style, though.
"Why not just build a new one?"
Darling chirped innocently, chomping deer jerky.
"Ridiculous."
Wait.
"..."
Something clicked.
A way to hide my bunker from the Legion faction and Kim Daram's clutches.