Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: When a Whale Joins the Shrimp Fight - 4
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Da-jeong was waiting for me in the Time Shelter.
"What'd they say?"
"They accepted. Other factions might not know, but they won't dare barge in recklessly."
"Too bad. If they'd refused, I was gonna crush them flat."
"They won't touch us for five days, so let's focus on our work."
"That means..."
Da-jeong wrapped both arms around my neck.
"We can do whatever we want here? Inside the Time Shelter..."
She sent me a seductive glance, tempting me.
But the stench coming off our bodies was overwhelming.
Sweat and the metallic tang of blood mixed into something nose-curling.
Even Da-jeong, hugging me so sweetly, finally couldn't take it and started dry-heaving.
"Not morning sickness, right?"
She wiped her mouth and glared at me.
"Listen to that mouth of yours. One day, I'll show you two lines."
"Pregnancy in the apocalypse is a disaster."
"Yeah, who told you to go all the way... mff."
She's spouting something that'll get us in trouble.
Not like I wanted to—she was the one clamping her legs around me.
I calmed her down and opened a dimension gate, pulling her into the shelter.
As I poured water into a large tub, Da-jeong stripped off her clothes and hopped in.
"What're you doing? Get in."
I hesitated for a moment.
"Wash together?"
"We've seen it all by now. Hurry up."
No helping it—I got in and washed with her.
This wasn't half bad.
Clean and fluffy, we flopped onto the mattress to discuss future plans.
Our beetles took our natural state in stride, but the stag beetles were shaking in their boots.
Like they'd seen something they shouldn't, they barricaded themselves in their tree houses and refused to come out.
What's their deal?
"We'll expand the area around here over the next five days."
I drew a circle around the shelter on the ground.
Plan was to use the mini excavator to enlarge it.
The problem: not enough barbed wire.
As I explained countermeasures, Da-jeong slyly climbed on top of me.
Then she peeked over my shoulder.
"Being pressed up like this feels so good..."
"...You've put on weight."
I hadn't noticed just looking, but I could feel the extra heft against me.
Da-jeong gnashed her teeth and chomped my shoulder.
"Ow, that hurts."
"Who made me like this? Who fattened me up?"
"All I did was feed you whatever you wanted."
She scarfed it all down—no wonder.
I soothed her.
"You're pretty even chubby, so stay like that."
"...For real?"
She smiled and clung to me.
Anyway, we hashed out the shelter expansion plan.
"Wooden fences or barricades won't cut it. We need ghouls on guard duty."
"That drops my combat power, though?"
"No fighting planned for a bit, so it's fine."
"Hmm... you think?"
Honestly, even I had my doubts.
Anyway, Da-jeong committed most of the ghouls to shelter defense.
Seok-hyun around would solve defense issues, but oh well.
No—something felt off elsewhere.
"We'll drive stakes along the perimeter for a log fence... and farm. First things to secure:"
I listed out cement, bricks, paint, insulation—building materials galore.
She nibbled my ear.
"Isn't food the priority?"
"We can get plenty in the forest. Hell, catch salmon in the valley. But stuff like this? No."
Food was overflowing.
We'd raided the grain center so hard, we could eat rice for a minimum of ten years.
No more starving worries.
Just how to live well.
She stared at the list I was jotting down and quipped,
"No food needed, huh? Then why list so much?"
"Gotta secure it anyway. Combat rations have insane shelf life—waste to leave 'em."
"Those guys'll be thrilled in five days thinking it's all theirs. Talk about a letdown."
"I'll leave enough to eat and use."
Way too much stockpiled to haul it all.
We finalized the list and caught a quick nap.
Started off cuddling, but the cave got too hot and we shoved each other away.
Not like we had far to go on that narrow mattress.
Grabbed a simple bite, then dove into work for real when Da-jeong beckoned me.
"Outside's insane right now. Feels like all of Gwangju swarmed in."
"...Yeah?"
Word must've spread that the entrance was breached.
Gwangju's got tons of shelters—could just crack their own...
But watching the neighbors feast? Bound to make you hungry.
Sure enough, outside was even worse than when we'd first arrived.
"Open the entrance!"
"Give us some food!"
Zombie raid hit amid the shouts—total chaos as people fled.
In the mess, arrows and stones rained down on the reinforced plastic door held by the brute.
Won't hold forever like this.
"Plans go sideways right after you make 'em..."
We hurried the work.
When Sung-ho and Da-jeong kicked off shelter expansion work,
news that Chonnam National University's Time Shelter had been breached spread across all of Gwangju.
Gu Myung-hoon of Gwangju First Clan clamped down on loose lips, but it was pointless from the start.
The Chinese had fled while blabbing everywhere.
Come dawn, the department store area looked like rush hour with all the gathered survivors.
Sightings of survivors battling monsters popped up everywhere.
Quite a few deaths too—some in the auction house were clicking their tongues.
All eyes among the survivors were naturally on the Time Shelter entrance.
A massive brute ghoul was blocking it with a reinforced plastic door—near impossible to breach.
Arrows poured down, Molotovs hurled, but the thing held firm.
The survivors were at their wits' end.
They desperately wanted inside to grab supplies freely, but no dice.
By now, other regions were taking notice.
Even the government shelter recognized the severity and started investigating.
Jang Won-taek clutched his bald head after getting the full rundown from Lee Beom-seok.
"Those guys again..."
Not dragons or tigers, yet clouds and winds followed wherever they went.
Lee Beom-seok organized the intel.
"Dug deeper—it doesn't seem like their fault. The Chinese struck first."
"...They countered too hard, wrecked the balance?"
"Whale crashing a shrimp fight. And it was bound to happen eventually."
Bound to happen eventually...
Jang Won-taek had to nod at the analysis.
The Time Shelter fiasco in Gwangju was a microcosm of things to come.
The cold snap hitting Seoul and northern Gyeonggi was spreading nationwide.
Survivors would burn through supplies fast and inevitably eye nearby Time Shelters.
The original one-year deadline was now utterly worthless.
People mattered more than plans, didn't they?
The real headache started after shelters opened.
Jang Won-taek and the bureaucrats hadn't set up any system for efficient supply distribution.
Truth be told, planning that far ahead when survival wasn't guaranteed was overkill.
Hence the chaos.
Lucky the entrance was ghoul-blocked—had it opened, the pandemonium would've been incomparable.
A murderer event on top? Total nightmare.
The biggest issue: no way to contain it.
Folks who might've scraped by scattered were now clustering and dying in real time.
As once-president of Korea, that stung Jang most.
After agonizing, he met Seok-hyun and Geom-in.
"Any way to reach Sung-ho? Please."
Seok-hyun heard him out and stuck out his open palm.
"Gotta give something for a favor."
"We'll pay Sung-ho handsomely."
"Deal."
Geom-in wondered what they'd discuss.
Hmm...
This was a peculiar turn.
Jang Won-taek reached out via Seok-hyun with one question.
Could I calm the chaos at the Time Shelter entrance?
I flat-out said no.
At least 200 mobbed it—how?
One word from me, and dozens fly back. No way.
Hearing that, Jang made a real offer.
Distribute the shelter's supplies to survivors.
Hmm...
We'd planned to expand the shelter, grab supplies, and bail Gwangju.
What happened to the rest? Not our problem.
Not like I enjoy people dying, but no need to stick my neck out.
Survival's each on their own in the apocalypse, right?
Jang seemed to pity the dying survivors, though.
Couldn't control shelters nationwide like us.
Whatever—that's his headache. What to do...
I glanced at Da-jeong on the excavator, then typed a comment.
I wandered the warehouse, eyeing shortages.
Guns and ammo, as expected.
Ten firearms, thousands of rounds—but still short.
Wyvern took a full mag.
Infinite monsters ahead—wanted as many as possible.
"There's a backup shelter, but not guaranteed..."
A president would've prepped multiples.
Military bunkers, probably...
Only military moved post-apocalypse.
With excess manpower, why not dig deeper bunkers for weapons?
Mentioned it—Jang went silent long.
I yanked the reins.
Da-jeong rolled up from construction.
"Threatening again?"
"Not a threat... fair trade."
Explained details—she brushed off her clothes, annoyed.
"Ends with me wrangling ghouls again. Pain."
"Could score 10k rounds."
"10k? Fine then."
Secretly hoped for more.
ROK forces' ammo stockpile blows my mind.
Even a fraction huge.
Finally, Jang typed.
Big fish hooked.
Ammo depot—Ammunition Support Command?
In Daejeon, stashing in nearby Gyeryong natural.
Gyeryong: joint HQ for all three services—massive facilities.
Bunkers? No surprise.
I fired back instantly.
Pity.
I notified him.
His comment oozed pride—even if found, couldn't open.
Sorry, but I've got stag beetles.
Metal extractors that punch through reinforced plastic easy.
Time-consuming? I can wait.
Left auction, back to work.
Da-jeong stopped the excavator, doubled over laughing.
"Puhaha! That old geezer's still calling you."
"What now?"
"Says he's wrong, come quick and talk."
"Tell him no chat."
Hardball worked—Jang finally surrendered.
Auction comment waiting:
This works.
Gyeryong's huge—finding bunker alone a chore.
I clapped Da-jeong's shoulder.
"You handle expansion solo for a bit."
"You?"
"Supervise distributions. Food focus—they're starving."
"They'll listen?"
"Think they won't?"
I raised my fist—she nodded vigorously.
"Violence seals the deal."
< When a Whale Joins the Shrimp Fight - 4 > End