Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 112.5: Faith (5)

We first became acquainted with the user "Defender" during the infamous incident that led to his rise to notoriety.

Defender killed those who trespassed into his territory and posted photos of their corpses online, along with their identification cards placed neatly next to them, as though branding them.

The impact he had on us was immense, especially given the times we were living in—the early stages of the apocalypse.

Despite the widespread devastation, many of us, especially those with a defeatist outlook, quietly hoped for some form of rebuilding, maybe similar to how Korea had been before, especially now that China had been decimated. But all that came crashing down with the reality that everything crumbles.

Defender, the source of our initial shock, hadn't changed. He continued to kill, using the same methods as before, still clinging to his own brutal form of justice.

“...I didn’t volunteer for this. It just happened that way.”

The fanatics, mostly composed of North Koreans, systematically massacred people around the Wonju and Chuncheon areas.

Without warning, they set fire to the quarantine zones and spread chemical warfare, gunning down anyone who tried to escape.

Defender participated in these massacres.

He had already killed countless people, so whether he killed a few more fanatics seemed irrelevant to him.

But—

“Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. So, I took off my mask. I felt like I was going to suffocate if I didn’t.”

He said he started questioning the killings, though he never fully explained why. But I can imagine the reasons.

His killings up until now were done to protect his territory. Like a predator who must kill to survive, it was a brutal necessity.

But the massacre by the fanatics was different. It was political, collective in nature. It wasn’t just survival. It couldn’t be justified as the same kind of kill.

That’s probably why he felt sick and removed his gas mask, perhaps in an attempt to confront the growing disgust he felt.

At least, that’s my guess.

I hope that his questioning is enough for him to face the sins he has committed.

In truth, the consequences of those sins were closing in on us.

“SKELTON.”

Defender spoke softly, his voice trembling slightly as he looked at me.

I answered, meeting his gaze.

“Don’t worry.”

I promised to protect him.

At the very least, I promised to help him repay his debt.

“Take the bag.”

“The bag?”

I looked at Da-jeong and asked.

“Can you walk?”

“Of course!”

There was no need to run, so keeping the bag intact was better.

The things in that bag were important to Defender, something he had carefully selected.

In the apocalypse, supplies are generally more valuable than people, but in the case of the Defender siblings, people were more important. Still, the importance of supplies couldn’t be dismissed.

As Defender packed again, I asked Hah Tae-hoon.

“What about the fanatics?”

“They’re having a skirmish with the soldiers. But they’re not fighting.”

“Really?”

“The soldiers are backing off. Ah, now I understand. They’ve allied with the fanatics. They must have made a deal. It all makes sense now.”

Hah Tae-hoon, watching from above, gave us the accurate situation. But his view didn’t last long.

Tatatatatatang!!!

The anti-air vehicle of the fanatics opened fire.

The equipment looked crude, but it seemed to have an excellent fire control system, as the bullets knocked out Hah Tae-hoon’s drone, which had been hovering high above us.

“Drone’s out,” Hah Tae-hoon ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ said in a somber tone.

“What should we do? Should we join up?”

I told him,

“No, hold the position.”

I spoke to Cheon Young-jae.

“Go around south first and come back.”

“Alone?”

I nodded.

In the past few days, I had relied heavily on Cheon Young-jae’s abilities, but that was because he was by my side.

If he had other tasks to attend to, I needed to be able to act on my own.

That was my life.

Until now, I had wandered through dangerous places, fought battles, and escaped from crises without much ability.

I looked at Cheon Young-jae, who was concerned, and said,

“Watch over everyone through your eyes.”

Cheon Young-jae understood my meaning and, with his faintly glowing eyes, sharply observed the darkness ahead.

Though I could feel Defender and his sibling’s gazes on me from behind, I ignored them and walked into the darkness.

The path wasn’t difficult.

I had been through this terrain before and had a good idea of where people were hiding.

Thanks to that, my steps were quicker and more confident than before.

What I needed to check was the exact status of the road I knew.

It was like the latest update for a computer.

Just minutes earlier, the soldiers had formed an encirclement around us.

That encirclement had completely trapped us.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

But then, with the distant shockwave, the soldiers started to break the encirclement and withdraw from the area.

Whooo—

The sound of vehicles moving came from beyond.

Creak—creak—

The noise of the tank's caterpillar tracks mixed with the sound of the vehicle’s engine.

They weren’t far—probably only about 500 meters.

The narrow alley of the apartment buildings blocked the view, but in an open area, it would have been a clear, visible line of sight.

Fortunately, the vehicles and tank were moving away from the area.

But then—

“Hey.”

A shadow of a man appeared in the window of the third floor of an apartment building.

His silhouette ominously suggested he was armed.

He seemed to be debating whether to open the window and attack.

“Who are you? What are you doing there?”

I answered without aiming my gun.

“I’m not a soldier. Just a passerby.”

The man didn’t respond.

Perhaps startled by my voice, he flinched slightly.

“I’ll say it again, I’m just passing by. The soldiers are leaving because they heard monsters are coming. We’re just passing through here. I hope we don’t have any unnecessary conflict.”

Aside from the man on the third floor, there was no one else in the line of sight who could threaten us.

I spoke into the communication device.

“Secure the area. We’re moving this way.”

“Roger.”

While waiting for Defender and the others to arrive, the voice from the apartment building called out.

“Who are you? A soldier?”

He was hiding behind the window.

It was comical how he didn’t realize the darkness couldn’t conceal his silhouette, but I answered seriously.

“I’m not a soldier. Just an ordinary refugee.”

“A refugee? Why?”

“I’m here to save a friend.”

“A friend...”

The window creaked open.

At the same time, I felt my weapon shift slightly.

“Can’t I go with you?”

He was a soldier.

Judging by the worn-out patches that covered his shirt pockets, he appeared to be a member of the military faction, one who had been serving on the front lines long before the war.

His face was dark with a grimace as he spoke.

“I don’t really want anything. I just need to leave the city and find General Kim Byeong-cheol’s unit.”

The soldier waved his gun.

“I’m not proud of it, but I’ve killed a lot of people. I’ll be of help.”

Many situations arise during missions.

One of them is meeting isolated survivors.

As the saying goes, “every person is different,” and they, too, bring unpredictable and varied demands.

From my experience, I knew never to trust unverified third parties.

Especially not ones carrying weapons.

But outright rejection wasn’t always the wisest choice.

It would be even worse than killing this man on the spot.

Rejection breeds resentment, and resentment often leads to impulsive actions.

In the cold hell of the apocalypse, the ability to communicate is vital.

“We’re being chased by the fanatics.”

“The fanatics?”

“Yeah. My friend was involved in a fanatic massacre. One of the fanatics in white clothes was shouting that he would kill my friend.”

I looked up at the man, who was glaring down at me with bloodshot eyes, and calmly asked,

“Still willing to join us?”

His face stiffened, and after a moment, he shook his head and closed the window.

“What’s this? Are we marked?”

He asked gruffly from behind the closed window.

“Marked?”

“You’re being chased by the Mallory cult, right?”

So, they referred to the cult as the “Mallory cult.”

“Do you not know? Once you’re marked by the Mallory cult, you can never escape.”

“Really?”

I had a feeling something was off, but from the man's perspective, there was no longer any need to talk to me.

He slammed the window shut.

“Shit. This is bad luck. Hurry up and get out! Don’t get caught ahead! Get lost far away!”

Just as that happened, Cheon Young-jae and his group appeared from beyond the darkness.

I walked toward Cheon Young-jae.

“I think there’s someone with perception ability among the fanatics.”

Perception and detection.

These are among the known abilities of low-level Awakened.

Perception ability is often mixed up with detection ability, causing a lot of misunderstandings.

On the surface, they don’t seem all that different.

But if you understand the underlying nature, the actual characteristics are completely different.

Detection focuses on the reconnaissance of enemy positions within a short range, within combat distance, while perception is the ability to determine the position of a person or target, regardless of how far they are, and know where they are.

While detection works like a radar during combat, perception acts like a communication device that helps locate objects from far away.

Scholars explain that monsters use their perception abilities to find their kin—smaller, infiltrating types of monsters.

“How exactly does perception work?”

I had a rough understanding of the ability from my time in the field.

But the actual methodology, I didn’t know.

Even if I wanted to know, there’s nothing I could have obtained, especially being someone who’s been pushed out from the mainstream, let alone a low-level Awakened who is disliked to a pathological degree.

“I don’t know either. I don’t have perception ability. But I do know you have to be close for it to work. It’s called perception, right? To perceive, you’d probably have to see the person’s face at least?”

I looked at Defender.

“Was there anyone around who might have perception ability? Or was there a situation where you could have been perceived?”

Defender shook his head.

“There were no Awakened, including Captain Kim Da-ram.”

His eyes flashed.

“No, wait.”

Defender’s eyes turned toward a distant point.

“...There was one person I spared.”

“You?”

I was a little surprised.

Defender, sparing someone?

“It was the guy who begged me to save his sister, saying he had to protect her.”

“....”

Defender looked at me.

“That guy, he might have perceived me.”

He nodded and signaled us to move forward.

“Let’s go.”

I didn’t know the exact details.

The perception ability was something I only guessed based on what the soldier left behind in that apartment.

But the reason those fanatics were so confident in finding their target probably has a reason behind it.

There’s no harm in being cautious.

Bang! Bang! Tatatatang!

The gunfire still echoed through the distance.

Were they offering sporadic resistance, or were some soldiers still conducting a sweep?

From the fragmented information, no one was blocking our retreat, so we were able to move quickly.

But then—

“This.”

Cheon Young-jae frowned.

“Seems like it’s real.”

“...What is?”

Cheon Young-jae stopped walking and turned around.

“Perception ability.”

He squinted his faintly glowing eyes and looked into the air, nodding.

“They’re coming straight for us, no matter where we go. It’s like they know where we are.”

“How many?”

“At least ten.”

“Really?”

The most dangerous enemy to perception ability is distance.

Once caught in the perception net, they can detect a target from tens of kilometers away.

This means that even if we go back to our territory, we could encounter a group of fanatics led by someone with perception ability.

“SKELTON.”

Defender stood in front of me.

He had a determined expression.

“I’ll stay.”

Da-jeong’s eyes slightly wavered.

“Oppa.”

“...Go with SKELTON.”

There was no change in Da-jeong’s emotion in front of her sacrificial sibling.

She merely stood next to her sibling and took a deep breath.

After finishing her deep breath, she spoke softly.

“If it’s punishment, shouldn’t we take it together?”

She let out a quiet laugh.

A forced laugh.

Da-jeong stared at me.

“I’ve killed a lot too.”

I know.

“I participated in the massacre.”

“....”

That was something I didn’t know.

Da-jeong, wearing a somewhat sorrowful smile, calmly confessed her sins in front of us.

“Yeah. I pressed a button, but because of that one button, over 300 people were buried alive under a building. They’re called fanatics, but aren’t fanatics also people?”

The moment I saw their eyes, their feelings reached my chest.

Defender and Da-jeong.

They were staying here not only because of guilt.

That’s a small part of it.

What I saw in their faces was gratitude.

Gratitude towards me.

Gratitude for everything I’ve done to help them and bring them here.

That’s why they were staying.

Not to burden me anymore.

“SKELTON, are you meeting a nice girl?”

Da-jeong said cheerfully, forcing a smile.

“If we knew each other before the war, I would’ve introduced you to a nice girl. You’re a great guy, after all. Our SKELTON.”

Even in this moment, the enemies are approaching.

Cheon Young-jae let out a soft cough.

The fanatics were coming.

Hah Tae-hoon also made noise while preparing his equipment.

They were demanding a decision from me.

But I didn’t need to make a decision.

“Over there.”

Why, I’ve already made up my mind.

“Did you know?”

I asked, looking at Da-jeong and Defender.

The siblings looked at me simultaneously.

“Do you know about the armband I wear on the forum?”

“What?!”

“Really?”

I nodded with a faint smile.

“It’s a secret armband.”

“A secret armband...!!”

“And, you probably didn’t notice, but I’ve already given the fanatics a taste of defeat once.”

“R-Really?”

“I have a plan.”