24 Hours
“Excuse me.”
“Yes!”
An employee at one of the nation’s top large-scale shoe outlet chains approached the customer with a brisk pace. The young man, wearing a suit without a tie and sunglasses, possessed a physique so imposing he could easily be mistaken for a professional athlete. He pointed to two models he had picked out beforehand—a pair of functional sneakers and a mid-top hiking boot—and spoke.
“Can I try these on?”
“Oh, of course, sir.”
Even though it was just a pair of shoes, customers often wanted to try on all their candidates to compare them, so the employee responded with practiced kindness. The young customer put on the shoes, lightly jogging in place and pressing the soles firmly against the floor to test their grip, checking every detail with meticulous care.
‘Ah! Those are really expensive ones...’
Since every shoe the young man had chosen was a high-end outdoor product, the employee could only hold his breath in anxiety, unable to say a word even as the customer handled them somewhat roughly.
After checking one pair of premium domestic hiking boots and two pairs of imported outdoor shoes, the young man smiled.
“I like them all.”
“Oh, is that so? Then please tell me your size first, and if you’d like to look at more...”
“I’ll take all three models. Thirty pairs of each, from size 225 to 290.”
“...Excuse me?”
“Actually, make that 100 pairs each for sizes 235 to 275. Just mix in some colors that aren’t too flashy. Why? Is there not enough stock in the warehouse?”
“N-no, sir! We have them! We definitely have them!”
The employee’s face flushed with excitement at the appearance of the biggest jackpot customer since the store’s opening. Soon, several other staff members and even the store manager rushed out to attend to the young customer.
The young man, Lee Jun-ho, politely declined the snacks and drinks they offered, asking only that they pack them quickly and securely to be loaded onto his truck.
“I’ve bought quite a lot, so how about a discount?”
“Oh, of course, sir! 15 percent—no, I’ll give you 20 percent off. And as a service, I’ll throw in some unisex sandal-style slippers.”
It was a recession, after all. Moreover, the current trend was for customers to come to the outlet to try things on for size and then make the actual purchase online. In such times, this was a massive customer who had descended from the heavens. The manager didn’t bother asking why he was buying so many of three different types of shoes in every size, or how much his net profit would shrink due to the discount. He simply beamed with joy.
“Can I pay in cash?”
“Of course, sir!”
Even though it was a large outlet with low prices, the total sales figure easily exceeded 200 million won in one go, even after the 20 percent discount. Five or six employees were mobilized to check colors and sizes, repack them into boxes, and carry them out. After nearly 20 minutes, all the shoes were loaded.
“Thank you, sir! Have a safe trip!”
“Thank you, sir!”
The manager and staff rushed out to the parking lot, performing a spectacle of 90-degree bows to the departing truck. The event, which might go down as a legend in the history of this outlet, came to an end.
And similar events unfolded across the country for the next three months.
Famous regional livestock markets, meat processing centers, and fish markets. Poultry farms, chicken processing plants, seed companies, grain milling factories, liquor wholesalers, and large supermarkets. Comprehensive food canning factories and freeze-dried food manufacturing plants that handled everything from vegetables to meat and instant meals.
Various soy-based sauce production plants, rice polishing and milling machine manufacturers, and companies specializing in tofu machinery, bean sprout growers, and salting/smoking equipment. Functional workwear manufacturers dealing in expensive Gore-Tex and Kevlar fabrics, and large-scale wholesale clothing distributors.
Manufacturers of bulletproof gear like plates, helmets, and goggles, and companies specializing in walkie-talkies and earpieces. Importers of survival and tactical gear including knives, flashlights, modular pouches, IFAKs, water filters, and purification tablets.
Large pharmacies and safety equipment companies dealing in dust/gas masks, fire-resistant suits, and gas detectors. Specialists in concrete admixtures, mortar, and waterproofing membranes.
Comprehensive metal material suppliers including specialty wood, specialty steel, aluminum, and standard bolts and nuts, along with various petroleum-plastic material producers. Companies handling all types of wires, cables, and fuses, and distributors of high-performance imported CCTV cameras, VMU/DHS, and IoT sensors.
Comprehensive home appliance distributors, machinery and equipment wholesalers, and solar power equipment specialists. Factories producing everything from mattresses to sleeping bags, and manufacturers of soap, solid shampoo, and solid detergents.
Towel, sanitary glove, and mask production plants, kitchenware distributors handling all types of tableware and cooking utensils, and manufacturers of sewing tools and manual/automatic sewing machines.
Finished drone distributors, modular drone solution companies, and wholesalers handling various motors, portable chargers, and power banks. Bicycle distributors, multi-purpose electric vehicle manufacturers, electric tractor and electric excavator importers/producers, and large used car dealerships.
Dry and wet pet food factories, various fertilizer production plants, and coal briquette factories. On top of this, stationery stores slated for closure, DVD/novel/manga rental shops, and even PC bangs, gaming specialty stores, and board game cafes.
Companies across the country that produced or handled the countless goods and materials essential for modern life—or things people enjoyed without even realizing—received visits from a young customer in a clean suit and sunglasses, accompanied by trucks, who paid for everything in full with cash on the spot.
This massive shopping spree, or rather, this "money-dumping" that lasted about three months, ranging from a few million won to as much as 1 billion won per transaction, ended after pouring a staggering total of 19.2 billion won into every corner of the country.
As an aside, Dow Computing, a small-to-medium IT company in Pangyo, screamed with joy after receiving a proxy purchase order for AI computing and server equipment, the largest single transaction at 2.6 billion won.
All these numerous items were moved sequentially to a warehouse in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do. Except for a few, most were repacked using vacuum sealing, oxygen absorbers, desiccants, and special airtight containers, then secretly moved to a location in Namyangju late at night after midnight.
“Ugh! Ughhh...”
“Whoa? What’s wrong with him?”
Baek Ha-il asked, watching Lee Jun-hyeok suddenly start retching while moving airtight containers in the ultra-low-temperature freezer warehouse.
“Ah, I went to the slaughterhouse today.”
Lee Jun-ho, who had been silently carrying airtight containers filled with frozen fish and seafood while wearing thermal workwear, said as he dusted off his hands.
“A slaughterhouse? Where they kill cows and pigs? Why there?”
“Because we need to get used to killing. Seeing blood and flesh, too.”
“Ah...”
A bitter emotion soon surfaced on Baek Ha-il’s face, which had flinched for a moment. He now knew what kind of ‘work’ Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok would primarily be doing once the apocalypse hit.
Sensing Baek Ha-il’s state of mind, Jun-ho smiled and changed the subject.
“Anyway, how are the guns? Are they usable?”
“Yeah. Well, they might look a bit different, but the performance is over 90 percent. I test-fired 500 rounds for the air rifles and 100 rounds for the KP9s and scanned them; there were no cracks and they were fine. They should be good for at least 2,000 to 3,000 rounds.”
Baek Ha-il had succeeded in replicating the air rifles and the KP9s. Those alone would be more than enough for the early-to-mid stages of the apocalypse, and since the AR15 was more powerful and dangerous, it was better for only Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok to use it. Therefore, Baek Ha-il had first produced 20 replica air rifles and 5 replica KP9s, hiding them thoroughly along with separately replicated spare parts.
The air rifles were scheduled to be mounted on ground-based drones made from modified children’s electric cars, and on shelter defense turrets to be built using large motors and modular drone parts, as soon as the apocalypse broke out.
Since Yun Yeong-su, who had built and operated something similar as a personal workstation before the regression, couldn’t possibly fail to do it with an AI computing system that had over 5 billion won poured into it, it was a sure thing.
“Then are the newly built warehouse and the poultry farm okay? We built them a bit in a hurry.”
“Nah. No problems at all. The poultry farm is a piece of cake since we’re only raising 50 laying hens. The warehouse is fine too, since we’re only going to store things that aren’t greatly affected by temperature anyway. We covered it well with soil, so the internal temperature doesn’t get that high even in summer, and it’ll be fine for over 10 years.”
Because he needed a sturdy poultry farm to raise hens that only laid unfertilized eggs, and because the variety and quantity of goods had increased more than expected, Jun-ho had no choice but to build two more warehouses in the shelter.
The fortunate thing was that since they were for storing fertilizers, metal materials, plastics, and vinyl, it wouldn’t be a problem as long as they were careful about humidity, even if the insulation performance was a bit lacking.
“What about the laborers?”
“Like you said, I only hired the sons of the foreign workers who worked here before. But Ho-ya, is it really okay to do that to them?”
At Baek Ha-il’s cautious question, Jun-ho nodded with a bitter expression.
“It’s better for them, too. The foreign tourists and laborers I saw... they all wanted to go back to their hometowns where their families were.”
As the capital of an internationally advanced country, Seoul and the entire metropolitan area were home to countless foreign tourists, international students, and laborers. Many of those foreigners who faced the apocalypse in a foreign land died or became zombies, but there were still survivors. And the foreigners Jun-ho had seen and experienced, without exception, longed for their families back home, unless they had started families in Korea.
“I bought them round-trip tickets departing on August 13th in their own names, so they’ll probably all go home. Anyway, it’s good for them and good for us, Hyung-nim.”
This was exactly why Jun-ho had deliberately increased the ratio of foreign laborers when he started the shelter construction. In particular, he had selected only foreign workers who all had families back home for this additional warehouse construction project.
And under the pretext of a bonus, he had gifted them round-trip flight tickets to their respective homelands just before the apocalypse occurred.
It was good for the foreign laborers because they could be with their families back home whether they lived or died, and it was good for his side because it could preemptively block them from finding the shelter if the apocalypse broke out.
“Right. If it were me, I’d want to go see my kids if I were abroad. Anyway, Woorim Engineering says they’ll do exactly as you said. You can trust Director Park. He’s a professional.”
“Yes.”
If it was Director Park Chan-young of the Woorim Engineering design office, he would thoroughly follow the special requests of Jun-ho, his biggest client and a major player. He would think that was the only way to be entrusted with another large contract like this in the future. Of course, it would be a world where that wouldn’t be possible even if he wanted to.
“But Ho-ya.”
“Yes?”
“What about Yeong-su? Did that kid really cut ties with his family?”
It seemed he was worried about Yun Yeong-su, a shut-in who barely came out of his room—which served as both the shelter’s AI control center and his private quarters—and didn’t have the slightest interest in how the pension was running or whether guests were coming or going.
“I think so. I asked him once in passing before.”
“What did he say?”
“I asked who he would look for first if a nuclear war or something broke out. If he would look for his family. Then he...”
At that time, Yun Yeong-su had scrunched up his face and said that he hated his parents more than anything in the world. He said he hadn’t even seen their faces, let alone contacted them, since the day he entered university. And he said he was very happy because of that.
“I don’t know about his older brother and sister, but it’s probably similar. Both of them got married a long time ago and live abroad, so there’s nothing he can do anyway.”
“I see... That’s a relief. Well, what can you do.”
“Yes. That aside, Hyung-nim, did you talk to Su-ah and Su-ho properly?”
Those two were the most important people to Baek Ha-il. So Jun-ho had established a scenario where those two would stay at our shelter—no, our ‘pension’—and meet the apocalypse as naturally as possible.
“Yeah. They’re on a 5-night, 6-day family trip around Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do, and they know they’re staying at our pension on the second day. I told them to pack everything they think they might need, too.”
“You did well.”
If it was a trip of nearly a week, they were highly likely to have packed plenty of items they used frequently or cherished. Of course, everything needed to survive was prepared here, but for a person to maintain their mental health well, the presence of personal items they cherished or were accustomed to was significant.
“But Hyung-nim.”
“Why?”
“You’re not just thinking of bringing Su-ah and Su-ho, right? Did you tell her?”
“Ah, that?”
While staying together before the regression, Baek Ha-il’s number one priority had been his son and daughter. But even so, there were times when he talked about someone else. Baek Ha-il, a widower who had lived alone for over 10 years, had a woman he secretly held in his heart.
“I did mention it to President Choi Ha-neul. She said she has to check the part-timers’ schedules, but she’ll give me an answer before August. But she’ll definitely come.”
Choi Ha-neul, a divorcee in her late 30s, was the owner of the local pub Baek Ha-il frequented. Her name, Ha-neul (Sky), was her real name, and she said it was given to her by a nun at the orphanage where she was abandoned as a baby, because she smiled so airily and brightly. Baek Ha-il had been fond of her for several years because they were in similar situations—both from orphanages and without partners—and because she was cheerful by nature and extremely resilient. He had heard she felt the same way.
And when he went down to Busan before, he had visited the pub with Baek Ha-il and seen for himself; it wasn’t a one-sided crush. No, anyone could see they were openly fond of each other. So Jun-ho’s conclusion was that if the apocalypse hadn’t broken out, they would have officially started dating this year and probably ended up remarrying.
So Jun-ho decided to accept Choi Ha-neul as a shelter member. He had to do it for Baek Ha-il’s mental health, but in fact, there was one more important reason.
“But President Ha-neul really is a great cook.”
“Right? Isn’t she? Our President Ha-neul even has a cooking certificate, and she used to work at big restaurants and tourist hotels, you know.”
Jun-ho smiled slightly at the sight of Baek Ha-il boasting as if it were his own achievement. But what he had just said was sincere. The stir-fried squid and spicy stir-fried chicken that Choi Ha-neul had specially made for them at the pub that day, saying they were the close younger brother of ‘our Ha-il oppa,’ were truly incredible.
In other words, Choi Ha-neul, who possessed outstanding culinary skills, was a talent essential to our shelter, which aimed to live as humanely as possible, just like in ‘peaceful times.’
“Anyway, President Ha-neul is great, but we need a bit more manpower.”
“That’s right. We need a doctor, and it would be good to have one or two more people with technical skills.”
“Don’t worry about the doctor, even if you don’t know about the technicians.”
“Oh? Do you have a candidate?”
Jun-ho nodded.
“Yes. But we can only recruit them after the apocalypse breaks out. We have to leave them alone until then.”
“Really? Hmm...”
Baek Ha-il tilted his head. He had thought it would be much better to bring them before it broke out. But Jun-ho trusted his plan. Until now, he had avoided visiting ‘Gahyeon-ri’ or contacting the people there to a somewhat obsessive degree. Jun-hyeok had signed the lease for the safe house, and Baek Ha-il had gone at night to install the CCTV and generator after finishing the soundproofing work. It was because he was worried that if Jun-ho himself intervened in ‘Gahyeon-ri,’ the fate of the survivors who were living there now and would survive after the apocalypse broke out might change.
In other words, if the apocalypse broke out as scheduled and the people who would survive just like before the regression survived and formed groups.
‘If I time it right, I can naturally bring that doctor couple in as shelter members.’
Jun-ho intended to actively use the regressor’s perk of ‘knowing the future.’
“Alright, alright! There’s not much time left, so let’s work hard. Hey, Lee Jun-hyeok. Move faster.”
“Ugh... roger...”
Urging on Jun-hyeok, who was already making zombie-like sounds and dragging his feet even though the apocalypse hadn’t even arrived, Jun-ho carried three or four airtight containers at a time, again and again.
Time passed quickly. Finally, August, with the apocalypse just around the corner, arrived.
It was a few days before August 16th, the day Baek Su-ho, who had recently been discharged from the military, Baek Su-ah, who was in her 5th year of pharmacy school and in the middle of her internship, and Choi Ha-neul, who would survive with Baek Ha-il in the changed future, were scheduled to come to ‘our shelter’—and the D-Day of the destruction.
Jun-ho, who had gone out for his final outing, made final checks on the arrangements to help the survival of a very small number of people, including Choi Hyun-woo. He went to the Bucheon house to make it look even more like an abandoned house and carefully checked the basement one last time.
After that, Jun-ho called Kang Baek-ho to confirm that, just like before the regression, he had a schedule at the Kangho Resort in Gwangju throughout the holiday period. He also confirmed that Lee Dong-cheol was going on vacation to Jeju Island with his family during the holiday, and that Viktor Volk Choi had gone to the Vladivostok headquarters to report on the handling of the ‘traitors.’
And...
That day, which would lead almost every country in the world to hell.
Finally, just one day, 24 hours remained.