Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 95.5: Signs (5)

The military commanders' evaluations of monster combat capabilities vary widely.

Commanders who served at the kill zones would have experienced the sheer number and extraordinary combat abilities of the monsters, but they would not necessarily consider them to be invincible.

For commanders who have only faced monsters sporadically in well-fortified areas similar to a ceasefire line, the monsters would likely be seen as a manageable threat—small to medium-sized ones that could be dealt with relatively easily.

Most military commanders who have protected the Korean Peninsula have experiences that fall into one of these two categories.

For commanders in countries like China, where the entire country has been consumed by erosion, there are no frontlines and they must fight battles in what is essentially a free-for-all with monster hordes. These commanders know firsthand why monsters are humanity's natural enemy.

Each individual monster is a superior version of a human combat unit and has the ability to neutralize most human weapons. Most terrifying of all is their endless numbers, which can assault both the front and rear simultaneously—humanity has no choice but to succumb.

The background to Kim Byung-cheol’s insistence on defending the National Assembly likely stems from his limited experience with large-scale monster battles.

They have not fought against monsters in large-scale field combat.

There may have been an opportunity for that, but they quickly gave up the frontlines, citing supply issues between Seoul and the frontline, and converted the Gangwon and Gyeonggi areas into a comfortable fortress and rear cities just for themselves.

Time has passed, and now they have things to protect.

“Already, numerous monsters are positioned in the southeast of Seoul. Simply securing one observation post won’t prevent all the monsters.”

My plan has reached the command center.

The "large monster specialists" at the command center are reviewing it.

Kim Daram's report has also passed through the opinions of these specialists.

“We need to cut off the reinforcements. The ones already in should be dealt with by the legion-strength forces.”

“Wasn’t this operation meant to conserve those forces?”

“Kim Daram. Didn’t you notice something strange during this large-scale assault?”

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

“Something strange?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you feel like the monsters, which should be acting on instinct, were being commanded by some higher power?”

Kim Daram lowered her gaze.

She seemed to be recalling something.

But that’s always how she is.

Her focus is always fixed only on what’s directly in front of her—the next step she’ll take, the next battle.

Even in the chaos of a battlefield where countless lives and understandings collide, she only seeks out the immediate threat and practical solutions, never caring about anything beyond that.

She did not accept my opinion.

“I can’t convince them, so you should speak to them directly.”

But she still provided an opportunity.

I headed to the operations room, filled with soldiers clad in gleaming military uniforms, along with Kim Byung-cheol.

It seemed odd that there were Chinese personnel among the top brass.

When I entered, a female hunter gave me a knowing smile.

Kim Daram whispered something to a man in a brigadier general’s rank.

The man turned to look at me.

In his late thirties.

He was quite young for a general.

He must be the large monster specialist.

He spoke to me.

“I hear you’re going to go observe at that tilted apartment and direct artillery fire?”

When he spoke, a few officers behind him revealed their thoughts.

“Do you even know where The Hope is? It’s in Gangdong-gu. Gangdong-gu. It’s right next to Hanam City. If we direct artillery fire from there, we could probably take out a few monsters in the rear. But what about the ones that have already entered?”

His logic almost perfectly matched what Kim Daram had suggested.

I answered the same.

“We’ll have to deal with them with our forces.”

“More than twenty medium-sized ones have already been reported.”

“If we don’t stop them at The Hope, we’ll see over a hundred medium-sized monsters coming this way.”

The brigadier general sneered.

The others reacted similarly.

Kim Byung-cheol, with a stern expression, only moved his eyes to glare at me.

Just then, someone raised their hand.

It was a Chinese hunter.

When Kim Byung-cheol turned to her, she spoke in fluent Korean.

“This person. Even now, the professor has an incomplete label that still haunts him as a legend.”

As the room’s eyes turned to her, she looked at me with cold, snake-like eyes and continued speaking.

“If he had followed the professor’s plan during the Beijing defense battle, maybe they could have saved Beijing.”

Kim Daram, standing behind me, flinched and muttered.

“Large monster sniping...?”

The distinction between medium and large monsters had long remained unclear.

For a long time, monsters had been categorized by size and combat capabilities, but through years of battle experience, we began to suspect that some large monsters might possess human-like intelligence and could be controlling other monsters.

However, this remains only a hypothesis as we have yet to confirm the existence of such creatures.

The first time I encountered an intelligent monster, it was only because I gave it a name.

I felt a similar unease in Seoul.

“If you keep stalling, it won’t do any good.”

I said, looking directly at Kim Byung-cheol.

Kim Byung-cheol alternated his gaze between me and Kim Daram.

The brigadier general, a specialist in large monsters, desperately sought Kim Byung-cheol’s attention, but it never came.

“Can we block all the monsters coming from the rear?”

“I’ll try to block as many medium-sized ones as I can.”

I stared at Kim Daram.

“I’ll leave the monsters that have already entered to you.”

And with that, the meeting ended.

Kim Byung-cheol supported my hand.

Before I left, he called me over.

“Professor. Or should I say, Skelton.”

“...”

“They say the internet and reality are different, but you’re really a completely different person in both.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Today, Skelton is gone.”

Kim Byung-cheol handed me a walkie-talkie.

I was puzzled since I already had one, but when he showed me the personal identification number on it, my confusion cleared up.

Personal ID: PROFESSOR.

I accepted the walkie-talkie, unsure whether it was hastily put together or something he’d always had, and boarded the helicopter.

It was still afternoon.

Kim Daram looked up at me with her scarred eyes as I left.

“...”

As the roar of the rotor filled the air, the world began to shrink.

Outside the window, I could see the ruined city, collapsed roads, monsters striding through them, and white smoke rising from various places.

From that smoke, I could smell an unpleasant, familiar stench.

I thought M9’s survival secret was entirely reliant on his infamous tilted apartment.

That’s what made him famous, and perhaps even mysterious.

It’s true that soldiers from both the legion and the parliament factions used to bet on his fate, gambling over cigarettes or money.

But as time passed, another hidden strength emerged.

M9. He’s slick and bright.

“Monsters? Oh, we’ve got a lot more guests today. It’s not even market day, but hey, no kids allowed here!”

It was just a joke, but the soldiers were happy.

Definitely better to joke around than look like you’re going to die.

Perhaps M9’s true popularity lies in his ability to keep smiling, even though he lives alone in Seoul, in an apartment that could collapse any moment.

In a way, M9 himself may have surpassed the limitations of an ordinary human.

He’s also an internet name, similar to mine.

And today, his enthusiasm for the internet was even greater than mine.

“Today’s live stream! Apocalypse! I’m about to film a super viral video. My phone’s a bit blurry, so I’m a little worried, but with this many views... Maybe they’ll bring back the discarded influencer.”

At that moment, I spoke to the pilot.

“I think we’re almost there.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But somehow, it feels like it’s turning around.”

“Yes. All drones in the area have gone silent.”

“Destroyed by an electronic attack?”

“That’s a possibility, but...”

The pilot trailed off.

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s not just that. There are other possibilities.”

“Such as?”

“Manpads. Some fanatics have been reported attacking military helicopters with RPGs or drones.”

“Already?”

“Since Captain Kim Byung-cheol started the policy of separating the believers, we’ve started to drift apart from them. Did you see how they arrested all the fanatics in the city right after the monster outbreak report?”

I looked down.

On the ground 1.5 kilometers below, there were no signs of human activity.

“Mutations sometimes attack helicopters too. They usually target at night, but the bold ones attack even during the day.”

“Mutations?”

“Yes. Mostly pigeon mutations. They were nasty even before the mutation, but after the mutation, they became even nastier. If only they had done a wing cut during the radiation release in 1988, this wouldn’t have happened.”

The helicopter banked.

The angle of vision shifted, revealing the land bordering the green areas and the ever-present gray ruins, stretching far into the distance.

There, in the distance, stood our legendary apartment, leaning like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

"You said you're going to rappel down, right?"

"Yes."

"It won't be easy. The slope looks steeper than it seems."

"I'm fine. I've rappelled in worse places."

"Of course. You're a hunter, after all. Anyway..."

"Yes?"

The pilot stared intently out the window, pointing a finger toward something far off.

There, in the distance, was an area enveloped in a hazy, yellowish fog.

Could it be fog from a tributary of the Han River?

In one specific area, a thick gray-white mist lingered.

The pilot hesitated, his voice tinged with fear as he cautiously asked,

"Have you ever heard of flying monsters?"

"Flying monsters?"

There have been reports of them.

I remember hearing about medium-sized, firepower-projecting monsters in North America.

However, none have been reported in China, Korea, Japan, or Taiwan.

"This is just a tale passed among our pilots, but they say there’s a monster that’s like a guided missile," the pilot continued.

"A guided missile?"

"Yeah. They say several of them suddenly fly in from outside your field of vision and tear apart the helicopter like skewers."

"That's a first for me."

"Yeah? But don't you think 'first' just means it hasn't been officially reported?"

"Could be."

"Anyway, people say those kinds of monsters appear near the strange fog. Some of my peers reported similar situations and then disappeared."

The helicopter slowed down.

The pilot stopped talking about it, almost like a sailor who doesn’t want to discuss the true fear they face.

I didn’t dismiss the pilot’s words lightly.

It could be a plausible story.

Since the invasion of Earth began, monsters have always mimicked our human weaponry.

Perhaps the first concept we taught them was the act of "killing."

Swoosh--

The rope swayed as it descended.

Soldiers attached heavy gear to my back.

"This is the communication device. It’s old-fashioned, but sturdy. When linked with the GPS observation equipment, you won't need to call out coordinates. The fire control center will calculate everything and handle targeting on its own."

He spoke loudly, but seeing the tilted roof of the building, I felt uneasy.

It was steeper than I imagined.

It felt much more slanted than before.

Of course, there are other ways to rappel onto the ground instead of the roof, but thinking it over, that would be an even worse idea.

The ground could be crawling with caterpillars, zombies, or some other creatures I’d rather not know about, and if I land on the ground, it would mean crawling up this slanted apartment from the start.

In the end, there's only one thing to trust.

"Captain, M9 speaking!"

I called M9 to the roof.

A very average-looking South Korean man, slender yet fit, appeared on the roof, securely fastening a rope around his body.

He wore excessively shiny sunglasses.

I signaled to him and attempted the rappel.

Creeeeak--

As I heard the sound of the rope descending, I could see the roof getting closer.

I was about to land.

But then...

"?!"

Due to the steep slope, my foot slipped.

For a brief moment, I struggled to regain my balance, and suddenly, a rough hand appeared from outside my view, grabbing mine.

"Hey! Rookie!"

It was M9.

I grasped his hand and planted my feet back onto the roof.

Successful landing.

M9 handed me another rope.

"Welcome to The Hope."

As I secured myself with the rope, M9 suddenly tilted his head.

"Hmm? Who are you?"

M9 took off his sunglasses and stared at me.

"Skelton?!"

I smirked and gave him a thumbs-up.

"It's been a while, Captain M9."

M9 made a strange expression as he looked at me, then slowly nodded.

"Just like I thought..."

He didn’t say much more.

He probably had a vague sense of it, just as I did.

That neither he nor I were exactly ordinary people in this world.

It’s a time when being an internet name requires real-world skills, so it’s only natural to understand.

I teased him.

"Remember John Nae-non?"

"Of course. Do you have any idea how hard I worked grilling that meat?"

M9 threw open the rooftop door.

"Want to grab a cup of tea?"

Through the open door, there were stairs that distorted my vision, almost as if they led to a parallel world.

It was a truly fantastic staircase, fitting for the slanted apartment.

M9 swiftly moved up the stairs, almost like a chimpanzee.

I followed him, a little afraid, but moving toward the bizarre stairs with cautious steps, watching the back of a man who once lived in the last luxury complex of South Korea.