Time Limit
March 2024. With about half a year left until the apocalypse, Jun-ho had been staying at our pension, focusing solely on what he could accomplish here. First, he signed a 100-million-won-per-year lease contract with the Namyangju City Hall for the mountain behind the property. After clearing the mountain trails, he built five outposts disguised as shelters at key points. By matching the height of the trees and painting them in camouflage colors, they were difficult to detect not only from the ground but even through aerial drone photography.
The outpost near the secret passage adjacent to the industrial road near Gahyeon-ri was built with extra care; even when Jun-ho inspected it personally from the road with binoculars, he could barely tell it was there. He also installed repeaters at each outpost, ensuring that wireless communication based on our pension’s local network functioned normally throughout the pension, the entire mountain, and up to 2–3 kilometers outside the mountain. Of course, it was currently running on domestic telecommunications infrastructure, but once the apocalypse hit, it could be switched to a local network through a simple process. After all, the loss of communication and internet during an apocalypse was almost always a power-related issue.
Furthermore, he installed high-performance cameras at the outposts. While they looked the same as the ones at the Bucheon house, their performance was superior. With a total of 10 cameras installed, each having a visibility range of 900 meters during the day and 500 meters at night, it would be impossible for anyone to approach the shelter without being detected.
Jun-ho also rented a top-floor apartment in one of the two apartment complexes in Gahyeon-ri, as well as a villa that had been closed for a long time but was located near the tunnel leading to the village where our pension was situated. He installed two high-performance domestic CCTV cameras in each of these safe houses. The high-rise apartment monitored the Gahyeon-ri downtown area and the roads leading to Seoul and central Namyangju, while the villa monitored the closed tunnel and its vicinity. Although their performance and range were lower than those at the shelter and outposts, they were still products costing over a million won each, featuring wide-angle lenses and night vision, which was quite satisfactory.
After meticulously soundproofing both safe houses, he installed portable solar panels on the living room floors under the windows—which were hidden from the outside but received plenty of sunlight—and on the balconies. He even installed household low-noise diesel generators to prepare for the apocalyptic blackout. Baek Ha-il had modified the generators to connect to 80-liter custom fuel tanks, allowing the CCTVs to run 24 hours a day for about a year by using solar power during the day and the generators at night. This was because Jun-ho expected to make contact with the Gahyeon-ri survivors within a year at the latest.
While preparing the safe houses in Gahyeon-ri, Jun-ho met with Lee Dong-cheol and Viktor Volk Choi several more times. Jun-ho purchased items such as alcohol, fuel, medicine, oxygen tanks, oxygen concentrators, and large quantities of syringes, as well as military-grade night-vision goggles and thermal imaging cameras through the Volcano Group’s Busan branch. He always paid the full amount cleanly, and even when deliveries were slightly delayed due to minor issues, he simply asked polite questions as a client rather than making unreasonable demands or protesting aggressively. Thanks to this, Viktor Volk Choi’s trust and confidence in Jun-ho grew even higher, and Jun-ho sensed that the time had come to initiate the "operation" he had been postponing to seize the perfect timing.
Thus, at the end of March, Jun-ho finally sold all of his Nvidia stock, which had risen to $90. Including the shares Baek Ha-il had bought late, he had a final deposit of 20.3 billion won after taxes and other expenses. With this, he decided to purchase all the supplies for the shelter, including the food and various vehicles he had been holding back on. And that included "actual firearms."
"Brat, it's been a while."
"Indeed. You’ve been well, Volk?"
The trust built over nearly a year of transactions had elevated Jun-ho and Viktor Volk Choi beyond a mere client-seller relationship into a close bond. Of course, that wasn't just because the transactions were clean.
"Who is it today?" Jun-ho asked casually, and Viktor Volk Choi shook his head with a bitter expression.
"There aren't any left. All my staff were beaten by you, Brat."
"Ah... is that so?"
Jun-ho looked around at the members of the Volcano Group’s Busan branch who had come with Viktor Volk Choi, feeling a bit awkward. The large, hairy Russian mafia members were all avoiding Jun-ho’s gaze, looking embarrassed. It was understandable; once it became known that two of their colleagues couldn't even lay a hand on him during their first meeting at the Jamsil cafe, one or two members of the Busan branch had politely challenged Jun-ho during every subsequent transaction. Jun-ho had literally "one-shotted" them, and now that it had happened a few more times, it seemed the challengers had disappeared entirely.
"Anyway, you're amazing. If you weren't already rich, I’d recruit you into our group. At your level, you’d be one of the best in our branch, no, the entire group."
The Wolf of the Russian Far East had come to fully acknowledge and like Jun-ho as a man to man, not just as a client.
"You’re joking. Anyway, here is the payment for today."
Since they preferred cash transactions as a mafia organization, Jun-ho handed over an aluminum hard case filled with crisp 50,000-won bills.
"Always grateful."
Viktor Volk Choi didn't even check the contents and handed the case to an employee. After finishing the transaction at a deserted breakwater, Jun-ho parked his truck in a parking lot managed by the Volcano Group and moved with Viktor Volk Choi to a tourist hotel on the Gangwon-do beach. As their relationship had become closer, they had been spending a little time together drinking or having tea after finishing their business recently.
"By the way, Brat. I have someone I want to introduce to you today, is that alright?"
"That's fine. Who is it?"
"She’s a middle manager in our group, and she's my... this." Viktor Volk Choi grinned, raising his pinky finger.
"Oh, really? Should I call her sister-in-law then?"
Jun-ho answered nonchalantly, but his heart was pounding violently. It wasn't a situation he had pre-planned, but it felt like the time had finally come.
"Lizka, say hello. This friend is my Brat, Lee Jun-ho."
A typical blonde Slavic beauty, over 170 centimeters tall with a curvaceous figure, walked over with a smile.
"Hello. I’ve heard a lot about you. My name is Elizaveta. You can just call me Lisa."
Elizaveta Valbashina. One of the executives of the Volcano Group’s Busan branch, she oversaw the Russian singers, dancers, and women providing "special services" that they supplied to Busan’s nightlife district. She was the very traitor who, along with another executive, would attempt to murder Viktor Volk Choi when the apocalypse broke out.
"Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Lee Jun-ho. You really are a beauty. And your Korean is excellent."
"I’ve been living in Korea for over 10 years now. But, I heard you’re very strong?"
At her burdensome gaze, Jun-ho gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"I’m just average. I’ve just been lucky."
"I don't think so..."
"Lizka. We have a few things to discuss, so why don't you hang out with Brat later?"
"Sure. If I’d known, I would have brought some of the kids from Busan. See you later, then."
Leaving behind a suggestive smile, she left the scene, escorted by two organization members. The few guests in the tourist hotel lobby and cafe couldn't take their eyes off her, and Viktor Volk Choi watched the scene with a satisfied look. Finally, when she disappeared into the elevator, he said:
"Brat, what do you think? Lizka might look like that, but she’s a woman who graduated from Saint Petersburg University. She’s smart and works well..."
"Volk, don't misunderstand what I'm about to say."
"Hmm?"
"I’d usually just pretend not to know, but I feel like I have to say this because it’s really not right."
Viktor Volk Choi narrowed his eyes at Jun-ho’s serious attitude, which he hadn't seen even once during their year of trading.
"You know, right? That I have a really good memory."
"Yeah. I know it’s as good as your fighting skills. But why?"
"I’ve seen your girlfriend before, at a Haeundae hotel."
"...What?"
Viktor Volk Choi, exuding a cold aura as the branch’s strongest "enforcer," Jun-ho continued quickly.
"I almost always use the KH Hotel when I go to Busan. As you know, the owner of that hotel is a close brother of mine."
"..."
"But, maybe it was last autumn. The person I was supposed to meet was staying at another hotel nearby, so I decided to just go to that lounge to see them..."
Jun-ho said he had seen Elizaveta Valbashina at that hotel. Up to this point, it wasn't a big deal. As a member of the Russian mafia who had lived in Busan for a long time and managed nightlife workers, she could have been meeting a client at a hotel. However.
"She was wearing a hat and sunglasses, but she was such a striking person that I couldn't help but keep looking. Crucially, the tattoo on the back of her neck is the same. That one that sticks out like a knife."
Viktor Volk Choi had said before the regression that his girlfriend and traitor had a long knife tattoo on her back. And today, luckily for Jun-ho, she was wearing a dress with a slightly exposed back, revealing the tattoo.
"But the strange thing was, she got into the elevator with someone even more conspicuous. A white man with a knife scar from under his ear to his chin."
"...!!!"
Viktor Volk Choi’s eyes widened. Jun-ho knew who the man with the long knife scar on his face was, but he pretended not to know and continued.
"Volk, I definitely saw it. Her hugging that man right before the elevator doors closed."
Naturally, it was a lie. He only knew that Elizaveta Valbashina had been in a deep relationship with a man named "Musaev," an executive of the Busan branch who managed nightlife establishments, for several years before the apocalypse. Viktor Volk Choi had told him that before the regression. Even if the claim that he saw them was a lie, it was the truth that the two had been cheating on Viktor Volk Choi for a long time. It was also true that they frequently enjoyed secret meetings at a luxury Haeundae hotel where Russians in Busan rarely went. He had been told that if he had just searched her phone carefully, evidence of their relationship would have poured out. And that betrayal eventually led to them colluding with another Russian mafia organization in Busan just before the apocalypse to murder the Volcano Group’s Busan branch manager and even kill Viktor Volk Choi.
"..."
Viktor Volk Choi gritted his teeth, his eyes still wide. After a moment of suffocating silence, he let out a long breath.
"Hoo..."
Viktor Volk Choi, who had instantly regained his usual cold expression, gave an extremely awkward smile and said to Jun-ho:
"Brat. I trust you. But even if it’s you, you understand that I have to verify this, right?"
"Of course, Volk. Go verify it. I’ll be waiting here."
"Thanks. It won’t take long."
Viktor Volk Choi, who stood up, signaled to two of his organization members and walked toward the elevator with an unwavering stride. Among the remaining members who didn't understand what was happening, Jun-ho drank his coffee with a calm face.
About 10 minutes later, Viktor Volk Choi walked down from the elevator, looking slightly disheveled, different from before. Unlike when he went up, he was alone. With a terrifyingly hardened expression, he sat down across from Jun-ho. He drank his now-cold coffee in one gulp, then looked straight at Jun-ho and opened his lips.
"Jun-ho."
"...?"
"As of this moment, you are my Bratishka."
"Bratishka...?"
"Yes. It means a true brother who shares blood. You’ve practically saved my life. So, I will never forget what happened today."
As Viktor Volk Choi stood up, Jun-ho stood up with him. He looked around and said:
"С этого момента Чжунхо мой братишка и спаситель нашей братвы. Я клянусь: эту клятву может нарушить только смерть."
"...!"
Leaving the surprised members behind, Viktor Volk Choi approached Jun-ho and hugged him lightly.
"I have just declared you my brother and savior. I swore that only death could break this."
Breaking the hug, he finally smiled a genuine smile and continued:
"So tell me anything. There is nothing I cannot do for my Bratishka."
Fifteen days later. From his dear "Brat," Jun-ho was able to purchase two each of full-set AR15s, KP9s, and Glock 17s, including silencers, red dot sights, and scopes. In addition, he bought 3,000 rounds each of 5.56mm and 9mm subsonic ammunition. He also agreed to receive 5,000 more rounds of subsonic ammunition for each caliber before summer, and the total cost for all of this was 20 million won, which was practically at cost price.
Having obtained the most important firearms along with much more subsonic ammunition than he had expected, Jun-ho... began his final shopping spree and spending spree before the world ended with over 20 billion won. The Time Limit was 5 months.