Hiding a House in the Apocalypse Chapter 31.1

John Nae-non.

Currently in his mid-30s, his real na is Goo Ssang-hyo, and by old-school standards, he is a D-Class Hunter.

He didn’t go to the sa school as .

Instead, he was trained at a specialized institution and earned his Hunter qualification – what people call a “Training Institute Hunter.”

Nowadays, whether soone is school-trained or institute-trained, if they’re not Awakened, they’re treated like old relics.

So, what happened to John Nae-non?

So say he’s dead, while others claim he’s still alive.

One thing is certain: John Nae-non used the fa he gained from the forum to sell lecture tickets. Like most people of his kind, he beca famous simply for being famous and raked in money hand over fist.

When he got scorned on the forum for stealing content without credit, he roared back with a “Negeum-ma!”** – a savage retort. While part of that reaction stemd from his disappointnt in the forum, the imnse wealth he accumulated probably played a bigger role.

By the ti I returned to the forum, John Nae-non had stopped doing lectures entirely.

According to rumors, our dear Mr. John Nae-non had started providing “customized doom-prepper packages” for the rich and powerful.

After the war broke out, the rich John Nae-non vanished completely.

So speculated that the attention-hungry man must have bought a new account and was secretly active under an alias. Yet no one ever figured out which account was his.

Two years and five months into the war.

After a long and dreadful winter, a spring colder than usual arrived.

And like magic, my role model—whom I thought I’d never see again—suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

SKELTON: Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. You haven’t posted anything either.

SKELTON: (Skeletton) Could it be… John Nae-non?

ssage from 183cm88kg18cm: This account is indeed John Nae-non’s sub-account. But I’m not John Nae-non. I’m his subordinate.

SKELTON: (Skeletton shocked) His subordinate?

ssage from 183cm88kg18cm: (John Nae-non’s subordinate) John Nae-non wishes to see you.

What the hell is with this guy’s nickna?

It’s definitely John Nae-non’s kind of sense of humor, but was he really that tall?

And 88 kilograms? That’s not exactly light for soone showing off their physique. Even if he bulked up, maintaining that kind of muscle mass in this era? Unlikely.

But 18 centiters? Seriously, what the hell does that even an?

Could people already lose their minds before the war?

Anyway, this self-proclaid subordinate using John Nae-non’s sub-account left with so thoughts.

First of all, John Nae-non seed to be in Seoul.

They even offered to share his exact location if I wanted it.

But why now? And why would a subordinate, not John Nae-non himself, send this ssage?

When I pressed this “18cm” guy for answers, he dodged the question, insisting that he was just a ssenger acting on behalf of John Nae-non.

It seed like what John Nae-non wanted was to et .

But considering the current situation—pioneers spreading out in every direction—traveling anywhere right now is no joke.

It’s not like the governnt is controlling the roads like in the past. Moving around in this chaos? It could an death.

SKELTON: I’m very sorry, but I don’t think I can make it. The situation is just too dangerous right now.

I sent a polite rejection ssage.

Then, I ssaged another user.

The recipient was Foxgas.

He’s the ga developer who once made that “Christmas Tree Decorating” feature.

SKELTON: I need a favor.

Back in the day, I wouldn’t have even tried asking.

He’s a nad user, while I’m basically bottom-tier, grouped with Unicorn18.

But after the Chouchou incident, my reputation had improved. I had earned so confidence.

ssage from Foxgas: You want to know who added a ssage to your tree two years ago?

As expected, Foxgas agreed to help without hesitation.

My request was simple.

I wanted him to find out the identity of the user who had decorated my Christmas tree.

Last year, no one added anything. But two years ago, soone placed a decoration on my tree labeled “John Nae-non.”

At the ti, I was mildly curious but didn’t care too much.

It was anonymous, and considering my slight acquaintance with John Nae-non, I thought maybe I had subconsciously mimicked his style and added it myself.

But with this self-proclaid subordinate of John Nae-non popping up, I needed confirmation.

A short while later, Foxgas sent the user’s identity.

ssage from Foxgas: It’s that 183cm-sothing-sothing guy. You know him? 18cm? Who the hell is this guy?

Exactly.

It’s the sa 18cm guy I’m ssaging right now.

Feeling a rare wave of affection for the forum, I thanked Foxgas.

SKELTON: (Skeletton thankful) Thanks.

ssage from Foxgas: Hey, Skeletton. There’s sothing I want to ask you, too.

SKELTON: ?

What does he want to ask?

A mix of worry and curiosity filled as Foxgas replied.

ssage from Foxgas: Don’t you feel like the forum is slowing down? Compared to the early days, it feels like it’s running at half speed.

SKELTON: It definitely has slowed down. We can’t even upload videos in high quality anymore. But isn’t that inevitable?

ssage from Foxgas: Lately, the traffic has suddenly spiked. There’s no reason for that on our end. Do you think soone’s trying to break in? I an, this place is satellite-based, but I’ve heard it’s still connected to external internet lines.

The forum being slow?

It’s true, but honestly, as long as we can still upload posts and pictures, isn’t that enough?

Sure, not being able to upload my “Skeletton’s Beatbox Series” sucks.

But expecting the forum to stay perfectly functional while everything else crumbles? That feels selfish.

Then Foxgas revealed why he was so sensitive about the forum’s speed.

ssage from Foxgas: I’m working on a secret ga. It’s a low-level MMORPG, but I have no idea how Starlink servers work. That’s why I brought it up.

An MMORPG?

Like one of those multiplayer online gas?

I’m not much of a gar, so I don’t really get it.

But considering Foxgas has brought us plenty of small, satisfying gas in the past, if he’s calling this one his “secret weapon”, it must be sothing special.

It would be a big morale boost for us users who are getting more exhausted by the day.

In any case, I found out who had added the decoration to my tree.

John Nae-non.

He was here.

*

John Nae-non’s survival was certainly surprising.

But honestly, it didn’t resonate with . It wasn’t sothing to get excited about or even worth fussing over.

How should I put it? I felt indifferent.

The reality I faced was far too harsh to waste ti reminiscing about an old role model.

While Cho Sung-yong had yet to find my territory, drones frequently appeared in the skies, and ominous gunshots echoed from the north.

The gunfire wasn’t constant, but its irregular patterns—coming from different directions at varying distances—suggested two hostile groups were likely at a standstill, facing each other.

Even the Sniper’s side seed uneasy; they’d been ssaging constantly to ask about the situation.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Skeletton! It’s Soo! The north is so noisy. What’s going on?

The ssages ca from the Sniper’s daughter.

Her mother, Rebecca, wasn’t great with Korean, so her sharp and intelligent daughter would write ssages and check in on .

That arrangent was my request.

Rebecca didn’t have a personal identification code, so she had no choice but to communicate through shared radio frequencies. And against formidable opponents like Cho Sung-yong, open transmissions risked interception.

But encrypted satellite signals? Those were untouchable.

SKELTON: Not sure, but it seems like people are fighting each other. Do you have enough food?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Yeah. But we’re starting to run low.

SKELTON: What about bullets?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: We have plenty.

SKELTON: How’s the Javelin? No discharges or anything like that, right?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: No problem! Mom said she might co pick one up soon.

SKELTON: Anything you feel like eating?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Sothing juicy!

SKELTON: You an sothing with a lot of juice?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Yeah!

People say text-based conversations have their limitations.

Sure, it’s convenient, but it can’t convey the emotions or warmth hidden in a person’s voice. That makes it a half-hearted form of conversation.

But if you’re soone unused to warmth, wouldn’t keeping that slight emotional wall be better?

It’s kind of like a confession booth, isn’t it?

Bringing Sunbi’s laptop and satellite equipnt had turned out to be a good decision.

Even though the Sniper and I were technically neighbors, it felt like we were closing the gap between us.

But that wasn’t all Sunbi had left behind.

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: The southeast is glowing with so weird light.

Being able to connect to the internet ant you could send photos—sothing you couldn’t do with just voices.

Soo sent a photo.

“… … …”

For a mont, I doubted my eyes.

The abandoned forest was eerily illuminated by a grayish-white light, cutting through the darkness like a haunting glow.

Monsters.

Monsters had pushed their way to the edge of my territory and were now encroaching on the surrounding areas.

Where had they co from?

Anywhere. They could have co from anywhere.

There were a total of four rifts that had appeared in South Korea.

Paju, Yangsan, Gochang, and Jeju.

The situations in Yangsan and Gochang were slightly better than Paju.

The rift strength in those areas was weaker, and the regional armies hadn’t been entangled in civil wars. Instead, they fortified their front lines and chose to beco local warlords.

Those monsters had undoubtedly co from the north.

Or perhaps they’d crossed over directly from North Korea.

SKELTON: When did these things start appearing?

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Two days ago.

Two days.

That wasn’t long.

The monsters observed from the Sniper’s territory were likely small, stationary types.

Only stationary monsters could build nests and survive in defiance of Earth’s will.

The scariest thing about monsters isn’t their combat strength.

Their danger cos from their very existence.

There’s a perfect example they used to teach us in school.

Imagine humans build a factory in a certain location.

The factory produces smoke and discharges wastewater, which kills off all the plants and animals nearby.

The factory didn’t actively kill those plants and animals. They died simply as a natural consequence of the factory producing goods.

It’s the sa thing.

Monsters infect everything around them with their essence, staining their environnt with “the colors of the otherworld.”

Mutation is the most common of those otherworldly colors.

That’s why Kyle Dos went mad—his mind had absorbed too much of the otherworld’s essence.

Allowing sothing like that to linger near my territory was unacceptable.

If left alone, the areas around could decay even faster than Seoul.

I knew that the rift in Xinjiang had expanded thousands of tis faster than the one in Beijing.

SKELTON: I’m coming. Tell your mom not to shoot .

ssage from COOKIEMONSTER18: Mom stayed up all night on the computer, so she’s taking a nap. :(

*

The monsters that hunters of our outdated era typically faced were small types.

Most of them were shredded apart by overwhelming long-range artillery fire before they had a chance to do anything. But occasionally, a few would teleport or get lucky and breach our strongholds.

Once they infiltrated our bases, there were very few options left.

Their reflective barriers nullified our standard attacks.

It was in those monts—when the soldiers were utterly helpless—that we hunters made our move.

Hunters aren’t soldiers.

For a skilled soldier, taking cover is the sa as ensuring survival.

But for us hunters, taking cover is no different than closing your eyes in the face of a flying blade.

Hunting as a hunter requires incredibly coordinated teamwork, flawless precision, and above all, guts of steel.

Like the hunters of Joseon who faced house-sized tigers with single-shot matchlock rifles, we face death without flinching and gamble our luck and lives every second to kill humanity’s enemies.

At one point, I was considered the best of the best in that field.

There’s almost no small monster I can’t deal with.

Most of them die once I manage to close the distance, which is the greatest challenge.

Luckily, thanks to Viva! Apocalypse!, I detected the monster early.

It usually takes about two weeks for monsters to fully establish their nests.

Once the nest is complete, breaking through is near impossible, and even approaching it becos a death wish.

But two days? At most a week?

That’s doable.

With Cho Sung-yong’s drones still patrolling and pioneers scattered everywhere, I left my bunker.

“Over there!”

Rebecca pointed to a mountain region about 4 kiloters from her territory, her eyes hollow and fatigued.

At first glance, nothing seed unusual.

But it was clear.

The monster had settled there recently.

Rebecca was an exceptional sniper, but she had no experience fighting monsters.

So she wouldn’t be any help here.

In fact, her sniping skills could end up getting her killed.

This was my fight.

The one thing I excel at—the thing I’ve longed for.

I grabbed my two finely-sharpened axes and slowly approached the area.

Sure enough, as I moved deeper in, I saw tree branches twisted into unnatural shapes.

That’s the effect of erosion.

There would be humanity’s enemy.

And unless there was one specific exception, I would kill it and return.

“…”

I saw it.

A statue, buried as if dead among the shriveled winter trees.

It looked like soone had hamred a massive spike into the forearm of a praying mantis, its lower body an angular triangle half-buried in the earth, its head elongated in a disturbing gray-white mass devoid of eyes, nose, or mouth—the very features that give humans emotions.

I had encountered the exception.

A Dancer-type.

The one monster I cannot kill in close combat.

Or perhaps… I could.

But I wasn’t about to bet everything I had on a 5% chance.

*

“… … …”

Identification Code: REDMASK.

I stared at the radio, unmoving, for fifteen minutes.

The only person I could realistically reach out to right now was Woo Min-hee.

She’s the only one who could help .

What I needed was Hunter Equipnt—the anti-monster weapons. But if she ca here personally?

She could tear that creature apart single-handedly.

She’s Awakened.

A Level 12 psychic, to be exact.

But I’m not foolish enough to ignore what reaching out to her would an.

She’s not Kim Daram.

She’s no longer the Kim Daram whose voice I can barely even rember anymore…

“…”

I logged into the community to catch my breath.

I needed to calm my thoughts and distract myself with sothing entertaining.

There was a ssage waiting for .

ssage from 183cm88kg18cm: Apologies, but John Nae-non desperately wishes to see you, Skeletton.

“Fuck.”

That subordinate of John Nae-non again?

If I had ti to spare, I might have chatted back and forth for a bit.

But not now.

He’s a man of the past.

He can’t help with my current problem.

I didn’t want to continue this back-and-forth, so I made an unreasonable demand.

SKELTON: If you give Hunter Equipnt, I’ll think about it.

ssage from 183cm88kg18cm: Hunter Equipnt?

SKELTON: The Mk-7 Harpoonizer.

To make myself perfectly clear, I specified the exact model I wanted.

If he started saying nonsense, I planned to block him imdiately.

I was far too on edge right now.

ssage from 183cm88kg18cm: He says he has it.