Chapter 6. Guests
My bunker is located in a secluded and quiet place, but since it’s not an uninhabited island, there are still things that prowl around the area from time to time.
The first type is scavengers.
Unlike raiders, these are people who only target unowned items; they scour the ruins and scrape up everything they can carry.
What appeared in my territory was a group of scavengers numbering about twenty, who arrived in a green bus.
They focused their search on the air force base, and a few of them wandered toward my hideout.
The scavengers briefly examined the industrial waste piled up in my territory, then got angry at each other and returned to the air force base.
The second type is nomads.
These are people who left Seoul to find a new home; unlike scavengers, they are more interested in real estate than goods.
Nomad groups rarely came near my bunker.
Because no one would want to live on hideous land that looks like a desolate ancient burial mound.
Sometimes, things that aren’t human also come visiting.
Mutations.
Animals infected with the mutation factor retain their pre-infection habits and behaviors; what came to my territory were mutated dogs.
True to their canine nature, they came in a pack.
Each mutated dog is the size of a lion.
They are not an easy opponent.
Bite force that can crush concrete walls, running speed that can chase down a moving car, and toughness that keeps them alive even after taking several rifle rounds.
A dog pack always has an alpha, and the ones that visited my house had one too.
It was a mutated dog with gleaming golden fur, called “Gold.”
It was an extremely cunning and cruel beast, such a nuisance that the city of Seoul placed a bounty on it, but no one had managed to hunt it down.
Of course, I don’t have the slightest intention of hunting it either.
It’s dangerous, but it’s practically the honorary guardian of my house, so why bother?
While they prowled around my bunker, I hid inside and waited for them to pass.
Mutations don’t only bring advantages.
Mutated dogs have a significantly duller sense of smell than before their mutation.
They followed the faint scent of humans and living, but they couldn’t find me.
I safely overcame the immediate crisis, but they pissed and shat massively all over my bunker, and while they were above my head, I had to endure the terrible experience of chewing only on biscuits and drinking purified water for three whole days.
Sometimes, hordes of zombies also visited.
Zombies are human corpses that have undergone mutation, acting exactly as everyone imagines them to.
The type that has no intelligence, moves in swarms, and increases their numbers by biting whatever they come across.
While mutated dogs have a duller sense of smell than before mutation, humans gain a sharper sense of smell when they become zombies.
They must have flocked here after smelling the beautiful aroma of the food I was cooking.
But what could they do?
The entrance to my bunker is hidden and protected by reinforced alloy.
They just prowled around the vent where the smell was coming from, then moved on to a nearby city looking for other prey.
Judging by the gunshots echoing throughout the night, they must have entered a village controlled by the crazy sniper living down the hill.
The cases above are rare, and mostly I spent quiet, leisurely days.
I sunbathed with the radio and walkie-talkie always on, barbecued, or occasionally ventured out boldly to a nearby stream to roll up my pants and catch bullfrogs and minnows.
I heard news that in the north, they were fighting a daily war against monsters and mutations swarming down from the ruined North Korea, and in the south, local governments whose state support had been cut off were fighting a desperate struggle with meager finances and resources alone. But to me, it sounded like a story from another world.
It was so peaceful and beautiful here.
After hanging out my laundry under the blazing sun and sun-sterilizing it, I lay on the ground for a moment and stared at the sky.
Lying on the dirt ground with my arm as a pillow, watching the drifting clouds, I felt like a Taoist immortal.
I think I enjoyed this kind of peace for about a year and a half after the war broke out.
But nothing in this world lasts forever.
Around a late spring day, when the heat haze was rising, drones began to appear in the sky one by one.
These friends, called quadcopter drones because they have four propellers, are the answer to why I don’t use common and convenient solar power.
No matter how well you build your hideout, if you lay out highly visible solar panels, it’s nothing but advertising: “I’m right here, so come kill me and take everything.”
In fact, one community user I knew was a fanatical believer in solar power.
Sunpower: Solar power is convenient, kills in efficiency, and is cheap, so why not use it? (Asking because I genuinely don’t know)
That friend probably found the answer to that question when raiders stormed his bunker.
Humans who fly drones over the rear wastelands, not the front lines, largely fall into two categories.
One is government agencies looking for mutations, monsters, and criminals.
The other is raiders looking for prey.
Watching the cheerful friends of Viva! Apocalypse! disappear one by one, we were able to firmly establish our objective self-awareness.
It’s true that we are better prepared than others, but in the eyes of others, we are nothing more and nothing less than treasure goblins.
Naturally, large-scale group survivalists gained dominance in the community.
Anonymous424: You might survive as an individual or a family unit. But that’s only for a short while. To survive long-term, you eventually have to form a group.
Dies_irae69: We increased our combatants to fifteen. It’s a bit much even for my stockpile, but we can’t hold out otherwise.
I don’t agree with their thoughts.
You might be able to fend them off once or twice.
But the opponent is also human.
Starving and envious humans, at that.
Nine times out of ten, they will return with a larger and stronger group.
You have food to eat, clothes to wear, and everything convenient for living; would they just leave you alone?
The most important thing, above all, is to stay out of sight.
Even the human hunter I unblocked recently committed murder with his own rationale.
Because dead men tell no tales.
Anyway, it’s certain that threats are lurking in my territory.
I sealed off my favorite sunbathing, sun-sterilizing, and outdoor cooking, and observed the situation from inside the bunker.
Drones are definitely flying around my territory.
The reconnaissance was concentrated throughout the week, mainly between noon and 1 PM, though occasionally they flew drones around sunset with a time difference.
The drones came from the north-northwest and disappeared due north, implying that the drone operator might be moving over a wide area in a vehicle.
However, there were absolutely no night flights.
It seems they wanted to minimize risks, as the drone’s performance, especially the camera, is not suited for filming in the dark, and there’s a risk of losing it.
Since I also like doing exercises under the moonlight, I strictly forbade going out during the day and only went out at night to get some fresh air, continuing my peaceful days.
Then one day.
A popular post went up in the community.
Dongtanmom: It’s been fun.
I clicked on it.
I saw something floating in the sky and wondered what it was, but it’s a drone.
It was spotted exactly once, but unluckily it belonged to raiders.
I don’t have time to write a long post; they’re cutting my door open with a welding torch.
Thanks to everyone for posting good stuff, and thanks to you all, I’ve had fun.
P.S. If an explosion rings out from the Dongtan area, know it’s mine. It’s 10 tons of TNT equivalent firepower.
Not long after reading that post, a dull explosion along with a faint vibration was felt from afar.
That was his last post.
Many users worried about him and asked how he was doing, but he never replied.
Only one person, the self-proclaimed psychopathic human hunter, left a cynical comment.
Defender: A post without a single piece of proof, and you want us to believe it? They’re cutting the door open with a welding torch, but you have time to type on a keyboard and no time to take a picture? And what’s with that nickname? Dongtan Mom? Isn’t it obvious it’s an attention troll?
It was two days later when I discovered a battered truck.
There were about ten people riding in the truck; half of them were lying in the cargo bed with severe injuries, groaning, while the rest followed behind the barely crawling truck with pale, shell-shocked faces.
It wasn’t hard to recognize them.
Raiders.
Those who kill others and steal things to survive.
I recalled Dongtan Mom’s last post I saw yesterday.
Could these guys be the ones who attacked Dongtan Mom?
I felt a faint murderous intent slowly creeping up inside me.
That’s definitely easy prey.
And there’s enough reason to kill them.
But I didn’t touch them.
Because this is my territory.
To declare an area as your territory, you must know everything about it.
I know.
That the path they are walking on is the hunting ground of the mutated dog pack, “Gold.”
Slowly walking injured humans are optimal prey for mutated dogs.
Soon, smelling blood, the Gold pack that had been roaming the south revealed their terrifying figures one by one.
The imposing yet hideous mutated dog, Gold, with golden fur true to its name, let out a ferocious roar that sounded like a mix between a wolf and a bear, announcing their arrival.
“Aaaaargh!”
“M-Monster!”
The end of the raiders who couldn’t even distinguish between a mutation and a monster was as obvious as seeing a fire.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
The raiders fired their guns, but as the ferocious dogs, the size of bulls, dodged the bullets or charged forward taking hits with their muscular bodies, the humans simply degenerated into dog food.
Wretched screams and the sound of bones crunching could be heard, and even that soon died down.
The moment a group of raiders was annihilated.
Is Dongtan Mom’s vengeful spirit watching this?
If he is, what kind of face would he be making?
Probably a brightly smiling face, wouldn’t it?
However. The human world.
It’s not that simple.
Dongtanmom: Cuckoo!
Dongtan Mom was alive!
The guy who just a short while ago was announcing his urgent end with a tragic tone was perfectly alive and going “Cuckoo!”—spouting this nonsense.
The users who had been worried about him left comments in a flurry.
Anonymous848: Wait, what? It was a troll?
Kyle_Dos: Wow, pulling a troll stunt in a place like this. Is this guy even human?
Anonymous458: Look, this isn’t a marketplace; is it right to do things like this? Apologize to everyone before I block you.
SKELTON: This really makes me angry.
Faced with the users’ relentless nagging, Dongtan Mom posted an apology.
Dongtanmom: I’m sorry. I had a depressive episode and unconsciously wrote a post that wasn’t true~
Dongtan Mom continued his habitual trolling after that; this boy who cried wolf claimed that the reason he hadn’t been able to do this until now was because he didn’t know how to set up the satellite antenna.
But everything has an end.
Dongtanmom: This time it’s not a joke, it’s for real! It’s dangerous! I’m actually in the Gwanggyo area, not Dongtan. There are about five people outside! Please, anyone nearby, come and help! Please just make firecracker noises at least. I’m begging you!
This time he managed to upload pictures too.
The first picture showed five silhouettes caught on a blurry CCTV; the second showed the inside of a messy bunker with thick black smoke pouring out from a duct leading to a vent; the third picture showed boxes labeled “TNT” stacked like a mountain.
That was Dongtan Mom’s last post.
But could this also be his lie?
Most users, including me, thought Dongtan Mom was having his usual lying episode again this time.
We couldn’t help but think so because “TNT” written in permanent marker on instant ramen boxes was too obvious.
The truth remains to be seen.
Because our wise man, the human hunter, left a remark.
Defender: A huge explosion rang out in the Gwanggyo area. It had the firepower of about 10 tons of TNT. Did Dongtan Mom, this liar, finally die?
By the way, this human hunter friend was living near Gwanggyo.
I better not go near there.
