Translator/Editor: TranslatingNovice

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Chapter 6: Guests

My air-raid shelter is a secluded and quiet place, but it's not a deserted island, so occasionally there are some people lurking around.

The first type are the scavengers.

Unlike looters, these people target unowned objects, rummaging through ruins and scraping up whatever they can.

The scavengers that appeared in my territory came in a group of twenty, arriving in a green bus.

They mainly searched the air force base, but some strayed towards my hideout.

After briefly inspecting the industrial waste piled up in my area, the scavengers left for the air force base, quarreling among themselves.

The second type are the nomads.

People who left Seoul to find a new home, unlike scavengers, are more interested in real estate than objects.

It’s rare for a group of nomads to come near my bunker.

After all, who would want to live in a desolate land that resembles a barren burial ground?

Sometimes non-human creatures also visit.

Mutations.

Animals infected with the mutation gene maintain their pre-infection habits and behaviors, and the ones that visited my territory are mutated dogs.

True to their canine nature, they came in packs.

Each mutated dog was as big as a lion.

Not an easy adversary.

With jaw strength that can shatter concrete walls, the agility to chase after moving cars, and toughness that withstands several rifle shots.

There's always a leader in a pack of dogs, and the group that visited my house has one too.

Called Gold, this mutated dog shimmered with golden fur.

Extremely cunning and cruel, it was notorious enough for the Seoul city government to put a bounty on it, but no one has managed to hunt it down.

Of course, I have no intention of hunting it either.

It's risky and why bother when it essentially acts as an honorary guard of my home?

While they lurked around my bunker, I hid inside, waiting for them to pass.

Mutation doesn't only bring advantages.

The mutated dogs have a significantly weaker sense of smell compared to their pre-transformation.

They followed the faint human and living scents but couldn't find me.

I narrowly escaped immediate danger, but they left a huge mess of excrement around my bunker. While they were above, I had to endure a terrible experience of surviving on water from my purifier and biscuits for three days.

Sometimes, groups of zombies also visit.

Zombies are human corpses that have undergone mutation, behaving exactly as one would expect.

Mindless, moving in hordes, indiscriminately increasing their numbers.

Unlike pre-mutation dogs whose sense of smell weakened, humans become more sensitive to smells when they turn into zombies.

They must have been attracted by the beautiful aroma of my cooking.

But what can I do?

My bunker entrance is hidden and protected by reinforced alloys.

They just lingered around the ventilator that emitted smell and then moved on to the nearby city in search of other prey.

Judging by the gunfire that lasted all night, they must have entered the village controlled by the crazy sniper in the lower town.

Such cases are rare, and I mostly spend my days in peace and leisure.

Keeping the radio and walkie-talkie on, I sunbathe, grill barbecues, and sometimes daringly go to the nearby stream to roll up my pants and catch bullfrogs and minnows.

While monsters and mutations from the collapsed North Korea wage war in the north, and in the south, communities struggle with meager finances and resources after government support ceases, it all seems like a story from another world to me.

It's so peaceful and beautiful here.

After spreading laundry under the scorching sun for disinfection, I lay down on the ground and gaze at the sky.

Lying on the dirt floor with my arm as a pillow, watching the clouds pass by, I felt like an immortal.

I think I enjoyed such peace for about a year and a half after the war broke out.

But nothing lasts forever.

Around late spring, when the heat haze began to rise, drones started to appear in the sky.

Called 'Quad Drones' for their four wings, these drones are the reason I don't use common and convenient solar power.

No matter how well you hide, if you have conspicuous solar panels, it's like advertising, 'I'm here, come kill me and take everything.'

In fact, one community user I knew was an avid believer in solar power.

Sunpower: Solar power is convenient, efficient, and cheap. Why don't you use it? (genuine question)

That friend must have found the answer to his question when looters stormed his bunker.

There are two types of people who fly drones in the wasteland.

One is the government agencies looking for mutations, monsters, and criminals.

The others are looters looking for prey.

Watching the cheerful friends of "Viva! Apocalypse!" disappear one by one, we could clearly self-reflect.

We are better prepared than others, but in the eyes of others, we are no more than treasure goblins.

Naturally, large groups of survivalists began to dominate the community.

Anonymous424: Individuals or families can survive for a while. But for long-term survival, you eventually have to form a group.

Dies_irae69: We've increased our combatants to fifteen. It's a bit of a stretch with my stockpile, but we can't survive otherwise.

I don't agree with them.

You might fend them off once or twice.

But the opponents are also human.

Especially those starving and envious.

Nine times out of ten, they'll return with a larger and stronger group.

With food, clothing, and all the conveniences of life available, why would they leave it alone?

The most important thing is to remain unnoticed above all.

Even the human hunter, who I recently lifted their ban, acted with a certain rationality in his killings.

After all, the dead tell no tales.

Anyway, the threat in my territory is certain.

I've sealed off my favorite activities like sunbathing, sun disinfection, and outdoor cooking. I am also monitoring the situation from inside the bunker.

Drones are definitely flying around my area.

The scouting concentrated mainly between noon and 1 PM over the week, occasionally varying the timing to the evening.

The drones come from the northwest and disappear northward, suggesting the drone operator might be moving over a wide area in a vehicle.

However, there are no night flights.

The drone's capabilities, especially the camera, seems unsuited for night filming, and there’s a risk of loss, so they seem to minimize risks.

I like exercising under the moonlight, so I forbid myself from going out during the day and only step out at night to breathe fresh air and continue my peaceful days.

Then one day, a popular post appeared in the community.

Dongtanmom: It's been fun.

I click on it.

-Something was floating in the sky, and it turned out to be a drone.

I got caught just once, but unfortunately, it belongs to looters.

I don't have time for a long post; they're breaking into my door with a welding torch.

Thanks for all the good posts, and it's been fun because of you all.

PS. If you hear a loud bang around Dongtan, know it's me. It's a 10-ton TNT firepower.

Not long after reading the post, a dull explosion and a faint vibration is felt from afar.

That was his last post.

Many users worried about him and asked for his well-being, but he never responded.

Only one person, the self-proclaimed psychopath human hunter, left a cynical comment.

Defender: A post with no proof, and you expect us to believe it? He has time to type on a keyboard while they're breaking in with a torch, but no time to take a picture? And what about the nickname? Dongtanmom? Looks like a troublemaker, doesn't it?

It’s two days later when I find a wrecked truck.

About ten people are in the truck, half of them lying in the cargo bed with severe injuries, groaning, and the rest barely following the limping truck with soulless faces.

They are easy to recognize.

Looters.

Killing and robbing others for survival.

I remember Dongtanmom's last post from 2 days prior.

Could these be the ones who attacked Dongtanmom?

A faint murderous intent begins to rise within me.

They’re easy prey.

There’s enough reason to kill them.

But I don't.

Because this is my territory.

To claim an area as one's own, one must know everything about it.

I know.

The road they are walking on is the hunting ground of the mutated dog pack, Gold.

Slow-moving, injured humans are perfect prey for mutated dogs.

Soon, the Gold pack, roaming the south, begins to show their terrifying figures, one by one.

The majestic yet grotesque mutated dog Gold, with its golden fur, lets out a ferocious roar like a mix of a wolf and a bear, announcing their presence.

“Aaahh!”

“Monsters!”

The end of the looters, who couldn't distinguish between mutations and monsters, is predictable.

Bang bang!

The looters fire their guns, but the dog-like creatures as big as bulls dodge or fend off the bullets with their muscular bodies, reducing the humans to mere prey.

Terrible screams and the sound of bones being crunched echoe, then soon subsides.

A group of looters annihilated.

I wonder if Dongtanmom's spirit is watching this.

If so, what would be his expression?

Perhaps a bright smile?

But the world of humans.

Is not that simple.

Dongtanmom: Cuckoo!

Dongtanmom is alive!

The one who posted a desperate farewell in a grave tone not long ago is alive and well, nonsensically chirping "Cuckoo!"

Users who were worried about him swarmed with comments.

Anonymous848: No, what? You were fishing?

Kyle_Dos: Wow, fishing for attention in a place like this. Is he even a human’s child?

Anonymous458: This isn’t even a marketplace for such things. Is it really appropriate to do that? Apologize to everyone before you get blocked.

SKELTON: It’s really infuriating.

Faced with the users' furious reactions, Dongtanmom posted an apology.

Dongtanmom: I apologize. I had a depressive episode and wrote something different from reality without realizing it~

Dongtanmom continued his habitual trolling even afterwards. He was just like the boy who cried wolf, and the reason he hadn't done such things before was because he didn't know how to set up a satellite antenna.

But everything comes to an end.

Dongtanmom: This time it's no joke, it's for real! It's dangerous! My place isn't actually in Dongtan, but near Gwanggyo. There are about five people outside! Please, anyone nearby, come and help! Please, even just make some firecracker noises. I beg you!

This time, he even uploaded photos.

The first photo showed the blurry figures of five people on a closed-circuit TV, the second was of the inside of the air-raid shelter turned into chaos, with black smoke flowing out from a duct connected to a ventilation system, and the third photo showed a pile of boxes marked with TNT.

That was Dongtanmom's last post.

But could this too be just another one of his lies?

Most of us, including myself, thought that Dongtanmom was having another of his usual lying fits.

It seemed all too obvious, with TNT written in permanent marker on ramen boxes.

It’s a truth that remains to be seen.

Because our wise man, the human hunter, left a comment.

Defender: There was a huge explosion near Gwanggyo. It sounded like it could have been 10 tons of TNT. Did this liar Dongtanmom finally kick the bucket?

And on that note, this human hunter friend seems to live near Gwanggyo.

Better stay away from there.