WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Hiding a House in the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 20: Paradise

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My bunker was not a mere shelter.

It was a fortress, carefully designed and built with immense resources so that I could maintain my old life even if the world ended.

It might not compare to the strongholds of certain chaebols, but I had prepared everything I could possibly need, almost excessively.

Food, fuel, daily necessities, medicine, all kinds of equipment, and miscellaneous supplies whose purpose even I did not know. There was practically nothing I lacked.

Now that I had firearms and ammunition too, my fortress was perfect.

That fortress was for me alone.

From the design stage onward, not a single consideration had been made for accepting anyone other than me.

Even the toilet was open-concept and located right in the center of the bunker’s residential floor.

It had ended up there for the sake of practical design considerations, like optimizing the plumbing. But if I lived with others, that meant putting on an exposure show every time I went to the bathroom.

The stockpiles were the same.

There was enough for me to live comfortably alone, but that would not be true if I shared it with others.

That was right.

My bunker was my personal paradise.

“I might have to go there.”

Someone was trying to enter that paradise.

Someone I knew well.

Someone I would have gladly taken in under ordinary circumstances.

But she was not alone.

“...Three people?”

That was too many.

One would have been difficult enough, and she wanted to bring two more people.

People I had no connection to at all.

I could roughly guess who they were.

Kim Daram’s husband and son.

They had nothing to do with me.

I had only shaken her husband’s hand at their wedding, and as for her son, I only knew his name was Dongtak. I had never met him even once.

“Sorry, Senior. It was so sudden. You must be surprised.”

Kim Daram was one of the better people I had met in my life.

More than anything, I liked her positivity.

No matter how desperate or hopeless things became, she never lost her smile or hope.

She had become one man’s wife, one child’s mother, and a high-ranking official in an organization. Much of that old side of her had faded by then, but the Kim Daram I had first met had been different.

The awkward silence carried me back to the past.

It was when I led a hunting team as its captain.

Back then, I was not welcome anywhere.

If anything, people avoided me.

There was no helping it. The Park Gyu of the past had been razor-edged, incapable of compromise, and harsh on both himself and others.

My terrible personality drove away my peers first. My seniors were sick of me and kept their distance. Juniors heard the rumors and did not even approach.

“You, get out of my team. I don't need anyone who hesitates and watches from the sidelines.”

Even my team members feared me.

“This isn't a place for talentless people to come play celebrity. Quit if you can't keep up. I don't want to die because of you.”

I always spewed cruel words and pushed any team member who did not meet my standards to their limits.

As a result, I created one of the highest-scoring kill teams that year in my first year as captain, but hardly anyone showed interest in joining my team.

“I don't want to curse you on my way out, but I'm sick of you, Senior.”

“Why do you make everything fit your own standards? Not everyone can be the same. Even if this is a place that demands uniformity, people still have individual differences, don't they?”

“Let's never see each other again.”

When even the people already there were leaving, who would have wanted to join that team?

Well, there was one person who took an interest.

“Hahaha! Second place again! Second place again!”

Lee Sanghun, now apparently enlightened beyond caring, burst into hearty laughter and came over to me.

“But next year will be different, Professor.”

Just as fond of women then as he was now, Lee Sanghun had brought a woman I had never seen before to that year-end party.

“Is your skill going to improve just because the year changes?”

I deliberately stared at the cast around Lee Sanghun’s left arm.

“Maybe not, but hey. Can you even find any team members?”

“...”

“The rumors are already everywhere. They say that under Professor, you'll die of anger before a Monster ever gets you.”

“You only say that because you haven't faced a Monster.”

“Fine. You're starving, and there are two restaurants. One makes good food but has terrible service. The other has decent food and good service. Which one would you eat at?”

“The latter.”

“So you do understand.”

“Are restaurants and battlefields the same thing?”

At the time, I had not thought much of it.

I was consumed by hatred for Monsters, so I assumed everyone else was too.

Honestly, I would not have cared if I had someone like me as a superior or coworker.

As long as I could kill Monsters, as long as I could kill with my own hands the things that had taken everything from me, I was willing to endure any cold or cruel treatment.

Nothing gives a clearer result than reality.

Lee Sanghun's words, which had sounded like the curse of a fraudulent shaman, came true exactly.

Even with the best results, even when I took on the most dangerous work as team captain, no one wanted to join my team.

I applied to transfer into other teams as a regular member, but even that was not easy. No one would take me.

The problem was not that I was a team captain.

Park Gyu the person himself had become someone everyone avoided.

As I watched colleagues leave for China one after another while I could do nothing, I sank into deep despair. It was probably around then that I drank alcohol for the first time.

That was when someone appeared.

A junior one year below me, someone who had suffered a serious injury on the battlefield and spent quite a long time bedridden.

We only vaguely knew each other by face, so I stared blankly. Then she smiled brightly and introduced herself first.

“I’m Kim Daram. Daram[1].”

“...A rodent?”

“...Haha.”

That random, terrible joke might have been one reason people did not like me.

Kim Daram was more forgiving than most.

“Everyone says you're boring and scary, Senior, but I'm fine with you. I did some calculations. I don't know about anything else, but if I'm with you, my chances of dying are the lowest.”

That was my first proper meeting with Kim Daram.

Time returned to the present.

The desolate silence continued.

“What happened?”

I broke it first.

“Why does a big shot from the NCRC suddenly want to come to this humble place?”

“The situation is bad.”

Kim Daram let out a heavy sigh.

“That Yang Sang-gil said there was no need for people without ability on Jeju Island.”

“Yang Sang-gil...”

The NCRC chairman.

A career bureaucrat who had never stood on a battlefield, nor was a Hunter or soldier. But since the Hunter organization had been incorporated into the government, Yang Sang-gil had handled its administration.

Yang Sang-gil was certainly capable.

Everyone from a non-Hunter background in a similar position had been pushed out, yet Yang Sang-gil had not only kept the position but earned a promotion to chairman.

“That Yang Sang-gil said this at a meeting. That the Old School should be left behind.”

Old School referred to Hunters from the old era, people like me.

They were hunters from a rougher time, when humanity knew nothing of supernatural powers like those possessed by Monsters and had to fight using only skill, instinct, courage, and resolve.

In contrast, there were newer Hunters who could wield mental energy and psychic abilities through processes called opening one's eyes, sudden enlightenment, awakening, and so on.

They were first called New Kids, but now they were called the Awakened.

Kim Daram and Lee Sanghun were Old School, like me.

After the first Awakened appeared and a method for mass-producing Awakened was discovered through them, we Old School Hunters were quickly pushed off the battlefield.

Considering the cost, our efficiency was ordinary, and our casualty rate was extremely high. It might have been inevitable.

No longer needed on the battlefield, they had to take off their uniforms and put on suits.

Well, people like them were lucky.

Most Old School Hunters either had to quit or live second-class lives as outdated Hunters.

There were even people like Baek Seunghyeon, who had taken another path and then been forced to return, enduring a pathetic life while juniors nearly ten years younger called him old man.

“If Lee Sanghun had been as capable as those people, it would be Gilsang Yang[2] getting driven to suicide.”

“...”

“Anyway, that's how things are.”

“Since we're talking about it, let me ask. How much time does Seoul have left?”

“Very little.”

Kim Daram answered without hesitation.

“You know they supplied food and goods to Seoul this time, right?”

“I heard something about it.”

“That stuff was supposed to go to the front lines. To military units whose dissatisfaction had already reached the limit.”

“So that was what happened.”

“Several frontline commanders are already showing signs of becoming warlords. In a situation like that, how is telling us to stay in Seoul any different from telling us to die?”

“So that's why you want to come here?”

“Is it too much?”

“Three is too many.”

“I can't give up even one.”

“...I see.”

“Of course, I don't plan to come empty-handed. I have a conscience too. I'll bring a security deposit[3] big enough to make you nod.”

That was the end of the conversation.

I did not give her a definite answer, but knowing Kim Daram's aggressive personality, it was practically certain that she would come here.

I thought it over carefully.

Kim Daram was an excellent fighter.

Her instincts might have dulled a little after spending so long in a high position, but I did not doubt her combat ability.

Against people, mutations, or Monsters.

She had shown her worth without holding back on the Chinese battlefield.

More than anything, we had worked together for a long time.

Against a type we were well suited to face, the two of us could take down a Monster.

Meanwhile, her husband was a doctor.

He was supposedly a dermatologist, but a doctor was still a doctor.

He was not comparable to an unlicensed quack like me.

He was not a fighter, but he could be helpful depending on the circumstances.

Their son was not even in kindergarten yet, too young to discuss usefulness.

Objectively speaking, that family was of exceptionally high quality among the people one could accept as companions during the apocalypse.

But my fortress was my personal paradise.

Unable to decide, I sought advice from the haven of my heart.

But I was a veteran user now.

I knew the community's customs, and I knew what they disliked.

I could not give up John_nenon-style post titles, which had become part of my identity, but I would at least avoid the taboo they hated most.

<Would you like to change your nickname from SKELTON to anon?>

After putting on the mask of anonymity for the first time in a while, I wrote a post.

anon1031: I'm thinking of taking in some new companions, so could you evaluate them for me~

It was roughly about whether I should let an active Hunter with a child and her doctor husband into my bunker.

The reason I wrote anonymously was that asking such a question was itself a kind of deception.

anon458: Oh wow lol A doctor and a Hunter lol You sure have some great acquaintances lol

Kyle_Dos: It's like a fantasy novel, but I think I'd take them in if I had enough food.

Anonymous848: A doctor plus a Hunter could survive just fine by themselves. If they're as close as siblings or relatives, I'd take them in.

There was plenty of sarcasm, but the opinions were generally favorable.

Most thought that people of that caliber would be better than being alone.

Honestly, I was disappointed in the community.

I realized that they thought very differently from me.

“...”

Well, the community could not always think the same way I did.

There was at least one friend who, if not agreeing with me, expressed some concern.

Defender: Nothing's more dangerous than parents with kids. When some other brat makes a mess, you'll want to kill them.

Those were roughly the opinions.

Then Kim Daram acted quickly.

“Can I come take a look before I go?”

She wanted to inspect the house.

Ignoring her was my last option, but meeting her might have been decided from the moment she contacted me.

After all, without that friend, there might not have been a present-day me.

Always-positive Kim Daram had acted as the glue connecting me to new team members, and thanks to her, I was able to continue my Hunter life.

She had occasionally introduced me to lunatics like Woo Minhee and Gong Gyeongmin, but it would not be an exaggeration to say my team survived because of her.

If things had not changed, I might still have been fighting Monsters on the same battlefield as her.

Probably.

She carried hatred in her heart as intense as mine.

That junior came to my territory.

She drove a military jeep and walked into my paradise in muddy boots.

I examined her face with mixed feelings, but her expression was quite different from what I expected.

“Wow...”

She looked deeply shocked.

“It’s bleak.”

It was bleak here, that much was true.

“What is this place? What's with all this trash? Do people even live here?”

But was it right to show this much disgust?

I had not expected to move her, but it felt like she was looking down on my paradise too much.

Then what would she think of my bunker?

Feeling a little stubborn, I revealed my paradise to her.

I threw open the heavy bunker door and showed someone else my secret main bunker.

“Welcome to SKELTON Proud Palace...!!”

“...!!”

The emotion in Kim Daram's eyes was surprise.

Of course it was.

Who else could build a bunker this grand, impressive, and luxurious for personal use?

“You built all this, Senior?”

“Proud.”

Only I could have done it.

But Kim Daram's surprise quickly changed into disappointment and contempt.

“What is that toilet?”

And the expression I had interpreted as surprise had actually been shock.

Kim Daram turned away and muttered.

“...A child can't grow up somewhere like this.”

Only then did I clearly notice the familiar luxury brand logos hidden in her clothes.

Right. She had always worn only nice clothes.

She had worked in an office that smelled nice and had a good view, where people called her Commissioner.

Even if she was being pushed out now, she had climbed far too high while I was building my bunker.

To a place my limited imagination could not understand.

“I'm truly grateful you thought of me, but it would be hard to live here. Thinking it over, it looks like Dongtak has claustrophobia too.”

She showed me a photo of her son.

“Wow, that's some name you gave the kid.”

“What do you mean?”

Half frustrated and half relieved, I asked her.

“What will you do now?”

“What else? I'll figure out how to survive.”

Kim Daram smiled brightly.

“I'm Kim Daram.”

“...Daram.”

“I survived under Professor, remember?”

Kim Daram’s smiling face overlapped with the face of the Kim Daram I remembered.

Right. She was positive.

To the point of foolishness.

“I haven't given up on going to Jeju Island, but I'll have to contact the military too. I'm considering the warlords as well.”

Kim Daram held out a luxurious paper bag to me.

“Here. A gift.”

Inside was a box of expensive Western-style pastries.

As she was about to get into her car, she turned back to me.

“You looked like you hadn't aged at all, but now that I see you in the sunlight, you have gotten a little older.”

“R-Really?”

“Maybe it's because your expression is brighter?”

She stared at me.

“Are you seeing a woman these days?”

“No.”

“Anyway, I'll contact you once I decide where to go.”

I watched her, appearing and disappearing like a gale, with a bitter smile for a while.

Everything was relative.

Someone's proud paradise could look like an abyss to someone else.

The pastries she had left behind told me that bittersweet truth without fail.

“Holy shit.”

These pastries were seriously fancy.

Footnotes:

[1] Daram: In Korean, daram begins daramjwi, “squirrel,” so Park Gyu answers her name by calling her a rodent.

[2] Gilsang Yang: Kim Daram reverses Yang Sang-gil’s given-name syllables to mock him.

[3] Security deposit: A Korean jeonse lease uses a very large, generally refundable lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent.

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