Surviving the Apocalypse with Construction Skills
The cafeteria at the New Town Officetel construction site in Paju had just finished lunch hour and was alive with the usual chaos.
Plates clattered together, and the workers traded their thick, crude jokes.
In one corner an old TV flickered and crackled as it played the news.
[Breaking news. A new virus, CV-7, has begun spreading rapidly across East Asia from Guangdong Province, China.]
Some workers set down their spoons and glanced at the screen.
Grainy graphics of the virus filled the display, magnified like something pulled from a microscope.
The fatality rate is estimated to be about half that of COVID-19, but its transmission power is dozens of times greater. The authorities are trying to control the spread of CV-7 by……
One worker stirred his steaming soybean stew and muttered,
“Hey, another virus again. After the mess during the Corona days, isn’t this just a name change?”
Across from him the excavator operator laughed.
“What a joke. Our country’s quarantine system is the best in the world. It’s probably just a little stronger cold. As long as the site doesn’t get shut down, we’re good.”
The young safety supervisor in the corner stared at the TV, brows furrowed.
“I heard this one has a short incubation period…… It’s going to make everything with entry records and site management even stricter.”
The screen changed. An elderly man lay weakly in a hospital bed.
Experts warn that the elderly with underlying conditions or weak immune systems, and children, may be in mortal danger.
The news moved on to domestic reports.
Among the domestic confirmed cases, some have brought national outrage for moral corruption. The movements of the 17th and 84th confirmed patients, who ignored home-quarantine guidelines, have been made public.
Someone spooning rice stopped and muttered,
“As soon as they say wear a mask, I really can’t stand it.”
“Hey, we already wear masks because of the dust on the site. The factory or office people will be worse off. We work outside, so we’re fine.”
The 84th confirmed patient had taken a flight to Jeju Island right after receiving the diagnosis, causing a huge shock.
The news segment on the current virus epidemic ended.
In the meantime, the international community has issued strong condemnations over reports that military viruses were used in the Russia-Ukraine war.
A burned-out city and soldiers in hazmat suits flashed across the background.
It felt like a scene from a movie.
The exact symptoms, transmission routes, and fatality rates of this virus are still unknown, and international concern is growing. Our health authorities have stated they are keeping a close watch on the possibility of this military virus spreading to East Asia.
The news briefly mentioned various viruses erupting simultaneously around the world.
Hemorrhagic fever in Africa, the mysterious plague in South America.
[We urge viewers to maintain strict personal hygiene and manage your immune system carefully.]
Before the cliché warning could finish, the screen switched to a loud advertising break for a payday loan company.
The unease from moments ago vanished like a lie.
***
Forty meters up in the air.
Below, the dizzying drop stretched into the distance.
The sharp smell of steel pipes, dust, and the biting March wind.
A tower crane slowly rotated, hauling bundles of materials through the air.
Instinctively, I watched the hook swing in the wind.
In the center of the Paju New Town development district, a business-use officetel was rising.
This place was my workplace.
My name was Kim Seongmin.
Twenty-nine years old.
Job: scaffolder.
I built the steel skeleton that would allow buildings to reach the sky.
Scaffolding work was more delicate than it looked.
I raised vertical pipes, secured horizontal braces, tightened clamps one by one.
Even after the platforms were installed, I had to step on each one with my toes and double-check there were no loose spots.
A safety belt and tool belt were always strapped around my waist.
Carabiners, binding wire, two wrenches, one hammer.
With them hanging from my body, I could finally breathe easy.
How did I end up doing this job?
Graduate of Korea University’s Physical Education department, major in lifestyle physical education.
A tall, athletic body that trusted its own strength.
After graduation, I had no idea what to do, and this side job started by chance.
Now in its third year, it had become my paycheck.
Yet strangely, it fit me perfectly.
The honest sweat of using my body every day was something I loved.
Seeing the scaffolding I built brick by brick become part of a grand structure filled me with pride.
But there was always one problem.
After one site ended, I moved on to the next like a drifter.
Unstable employment and pocket change was the fate of this world.
Would I survive on half the salary of a government job or public corporation?
Chaebols fired people from the resume stage alone.
—Hoo.
A hazy sigh drifted into the air.
I tightened the pipes I was hanging from and shook off the stray thoughts.
After today’s work, I’d add one more line to my self-introduction letter.
Right then.
Shouts came from below.
“Seongmin! Pipe shortage on the fourth floor!”
It was the foreman, Yeo Ildu, my boss in the scaffolding team.
I pulled my gaze away from the empty space and snapped back to reality.
When working, I had to focus only on the work.
“Understood! I’ll come down right away!”
Before I could finish answering, I turned and slid down the pipes like it was nothing.
I had descended about twenty meters when a scream tore through the air from below.
Crash!
A sound completely different from metal or machinery.
“Aaaaaah!”
Accident.
I reflexively stopped and looked down where the sound had come from.
In the middle of the site stood a man staggering, drunk.
No safety helmet. An outsider.
The site security guard rushed over, shouting desperately.
“Sir, this is a work zone! Please leave!”
But the man ignored the warning.
Or maybe he couldn’t hear it at all.
His eyes, unfocused and cloudy, scanned the surroundings before he lunged at the nearest worker.
“Agh!”
The man scratched the worker’s arm hard and bit into the shoulder.
It wasn’t a simple fight or drunk quarrel.
The other workers around them recoiled in horror.
“What the hell is that guy?!”
“Is he crazy? He bit a person?!”
“Shit, he really bit him! It’s bleeding!”
“Hey, don’t get close! That guy’s high on something!”
Several attacked workers stood there with dazed expressions.
The security guard, unable to watch any longer, rushed forward to restrain the troublemaker.
“If you keep acting like this, I’m calling the police!”
At that moment.
The troublemaker let out a grotesque sound from his throat as he charged at the security guard.
Krrreurrrr—
And sank his teeth straight into the guard’s neck.
Slurp—!
A fountain of blood spurted out.
The security guard’s body collapsed without even a scream.
What the hell? Is he crazy?
I couldn’t just watch anymore.
I slid down the remaining height in one go and landed on the first-floor floor.
A light jolt traveled up my knees.
My heart was pounding like a drum when I faced the troublemaker.
Same tension I felt back in college climbing club when I encountered a wild boar in the mountains.
This wasn’t someone you could talk to.
Before my thoughts finished, the thing spotted me.
Its gaze locked onto me.
Krrreurrrr—
And it charged straight at me without hesitation.
Facing it head-on was stupid.
I launched my body sideways and climbed onto the scaffolding nearby.
I was drawing it into my own territory.
It roared and began to climb up the scaffolding after me.
Its movements were surprisingly fast compared to the sluggish walk earlier.
When it reached the platform between the second and third floors,
I vaulted over the railing and pulled out the electric impact wrench from my tool belt.
And loosened the nut on the clamp fixing the platform.
Drrreee—
The platform loosened instantly.
Without hesitation, I kicked the clamp holding it in place.
The platform tilted with a heavy metallic clang.
Without time to scream, the thing’s body fell to the ground.
Crash—!
More than three meters.
Normally a person that height should be unable to get up for a while.
But the troublemaker in front of me was different.
No groan escaped its lips.
And instead of feeling pain, it struggled to stand, supporting itself on a strangely twisted arm.
If I just left it here, it might cause even more trouble.
I immediately jumped down from the scaffolding.
And picked up the waterproof tarp and the sling belt for lifting materials nearby.
Before the thing could fully stand, I threw the tarp over its face and body to block its sight.
I climbed onto the struggling creature and wrapped its body tight with the sling belt that could support several tons of weight, securing it to the scaffolding pipe.
Finally, I pulled one strand of binding wire from my tool belt.
Attached both ends of the sling belt to the hooks, then tied a quick rotating knot around the hook.
Even though it was tied up, the thing still growled at me without tiring.
Its eyes flashed with murderous intent.
The whites of its eyes were completely bloodshot.
Upon closer look, its hands and mouth were soaked in blood.
Froth mixed with saliva dripped from its mouth.
……Did he take drugs?
No.
The expression and reaction didn’t match drug use at all.
It was like someone infected with rabies.
Only then did the site manager, who had just arrived, rush out with a deathly pale face and shout,
“Quick! Call 119 and 112!”
Surviving the Apocalypse with Construction Skills