Chapter 305 – A Country That Is a Nuisance Even After Ruin
Returned to the shelter.
In the past, when I was on an expedition with robots, I saw a rocky mountain standing tall in a barren field and realized, ‘I’m back home.’
But I can’t feel that emotion anymore.
Even before arrival, the number of peddlers, carriages, carts, bikes, and cars traveling on unmaintained roads increases.
At every base where you can take a break, you can see several stopovers and guard posts where markets are held.
Once you pass those, a huge outdoor parking lot appears, and beyond that, the police shines brightly.
Unlike before, the rocky mountain that finally appeared has been significantly remodeled into an aviation platform.
The area of green moss or brown rocks is greatly reduced, and more gray concrete and dark metal are visible.
“It feels like the fields and back gardens I used to play in as a child have been completely demolished and replaced with shops and apartments.”
“I feel the same way.”
Unexpectedly, Artemis joined in.
“Do you have that kind of retro sensibility too?”
“It’s closer to hygiene than retro. To me, the empty land is not emptiness but purity.”
Artemis’ gaze looking down the helicopter window was not pleasant.
“It’s okay for you to be inside the shelter, but I’m different because my sensory area extends to the entire area. “It’s so noisy, messy and noisy.”
In particular, it reached its peak in toilets installed throughout the outdoors.
In the beginning, the intention was not to care what was done outside the police walls, but as they left it alone, trash and excrement began to pile up, so urgent action was taken.
There was even a time when I screamed when I saw books being thrown into a bonfire made for cooking or keeping warm.
So we entered the underground city through the heliport elevator. Immediately, a unique smell of purified air wafts in.
“I can definitely feel it after coming back from spending time outside.”
All sand, dust, and other contaminants are filtered out through a sophisticated purification filter, and moisture suitable for human life is sprayed into the air.
Our city excellently maintains the three beats of cleanliness, humidity, and temperature.
One of the things people who have lived in a shelter for even a short time often say is, ‘My stuffy nose is gone!’ They said it all.
“After all, my house is the best, right?”
Whoa!
Artemis puffed out her big breasts and took a deep breath.
Only after breathing the purified air of the shelter did I finally feel relieved that I had come home.
* * *
Since I was once a soldier, I have always received formal education.
So much so that when you are asked who the main enemy of South Korea is, you automatically think of North Korea.
However, since I spent most of my career overseas, there wasn’t that much hostility.
The Middle Eastern military, terrorists, and local gangs who threatened me and my colleagues right in front of my eyes were my more hated enemies.
North Korea is too far away, both in distance and in spirit, and is practically an object of no interest.
However, Korean survivors living outside today have no special support from Cheolcheon.
This is because not only China but also North Korea participated in the nuclear attack against South Korea.
The reason for shooting is unknown.
Did he press the button out of frustration right before he was torn apart by the infected body, or was he planning to confuse the military in order to escape hell and gain a safe haven?
Now that North Korea has disappeared, the North Korean land itself has become an object of hatred.
“Is this another request for subjugation?”
I clicked my tongue when I saw the official letter sent from several military units stationed in the Gyeonggi-do area.
Currently, the land of former North Korea is a land of sorrow itself.
When looking for something useful, wasn’t this a place that was at the peak of poverty even before the war?
-I just threw away the oil for no reason.
-Obviously there was nothing special around, so I went camping without any worries, but I almost got surrounded by infected entities and got lost. Fuck, what kind of country has a military tunnel next to an elementary school?
-Wow, there’s a military car in good condition standing there! I ran over and found a charcoal car…
-I wondered if I could at least bring a gun, but I just made a fuss. Did it splatter towards Manchuria, or did the Chinese come over and collect it all?
It’s a blue ocean, and all the seniors who tried first started cursing at the loss, so it became a land where no one dares to challenge.
“Are you going to reject the subjugation request?”
“For now. “I searched and overturned that wasteland and tunnel over a certain period of time.”
At my words, Artemis threw the official document into the holding box.
Suppressing infectious agents is a worthwhile task in itself, but unlike South Korea, the difficulty level in North Korea has doubled.
There are crypts, underground fortresses, and tunnels laid out here and there, and their number and scale are beyond imagination.
These became hideouts for monsters and made the vaccine less effective. We have to tackle each one of them, but it’s very tiring for us to go through all of them.
It’s not worth taking over, but it keeps sending out annoying monsters. That is North Korea today.
As a result, it was natural that we would receive requests asking what could be done for us.
Because we are the only ones in this country who can send troops there and carry out operations.
Although it is only a few hundred kilometers away, people these days may feel like they are French soldiers leaving for Moscow.
“I have one thing to worry about.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s okay if the infectious agents are avoiding the vaccine or the dew and gathering together in the basement. What does it matter if it smells rotten and is dented there? But what if…”
“Are you worried about a colony capable of proliferation spreading out?”
Artemis spoke as if she had read my mind.
There are various ways for infectious agents to increase, but infecting healthy organisms is not the only way.
Insect types that hatch eggs, monster trees that bear meat-like fruits, and even ones that grow through division like planaria.
Even after more than three years of research, there were still countless entities that remained under wraps.
Just as insects crawl into trees when straw is wrapped around them in the winter, how many of them have gone into hiding underground in North Korea to avoid South Korea’s harsh subjugation and vaccines?
“Are you worried?”
Artemis sat down on my desk.
“There is nothing to worry about.”
She took her hand and cupped it against my cheek, lost in thought.
I have experienced everything from prenatal warfare to alien warfare against infectious agents. There was nothing to be afraid of with the current Shelter Army, which has made further progress over the past three years.
But there is fatigue.
“There is no end in sight to how long this fight will continue. All you have to do is bring the vaccine and it’s over! Well, that’s what I thought.”
“Because life always finds answers. Whether it’s positive or negative. You had the long-term game in mind anyway, right? Let’s see for a long time.”
“How long?”
“World Wars 1 and 2 alone totaled 10 years. We’re only halfway there now. “If it were an even more terrible war, the worst war in human history, wouldn’t it be enough to increase it several times?”
“By the time it’s over, I’ll be a curly old man.”
Artemis stretched out her index finger and lifted my chin slightly.
At the same time, my face appeared nearby as a hologram. This is the face of a man in his mid-30s that I see in the mirror every morning.
As Artemis’ golden eyes blinked, the shape of my face changed drastically.
Like the Japanese fairy tale protagonist Taro Urashima, wrinkles appeared in an instant, her eyes saggered somewhat, and her nasolabial folds deepened. Her bleached white hair is a bonus.
“Is this… My future self?”
“Yes!”
Artemis nodded her head emphatically. As if she had wanted to show it all this time, and it turned out well.
“How do you feel? Aren’t you still cool when you get older? A born soldier! No, I feel closer to a leader.”
“Even if you ask the person concerned…”
I stared blankly at my twilight years.
“I wonder if I would have looked like this by the time I stayed in the military and achieved several stars.”
It’s hard to say it with my own mouth, but even in his old age, he still had the integrity of a soldier.
“Stop cleaning it up. “It came out better than I expected, but it’s refreshing to already know what the future will look like.”
“Okay? “I’ve seen it hundreds of times and never get tired of it.”
“Hundreds of times?”
Somehow I thought she was too unresponsive to have just simulated it.
Artemis snapped her fingers and the hologram disappeared. She then stretched out her hands and cupped my cheeks.
“Still, I like your younger self a lot better now. So don’t get old.”
“That’s not something I can decide?”
“Well, what should I do?”
Artemis put her index finger to her lips and smiled.
“Oh, I just happened to be curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“I want to see an old couple spending time together. “I saw you look older too…”
“Shut up.”
I was rejected outright.
* * *
Requests for subjugation support from the military continued to come up occasionally.
The infectious agents coming down from North Korea were not on a threatening scale, but they were also not something to be ignored.
There are even reports that DMZ mines, which were previously thought to have exploded, have exploded.
As mentioned earlier, it was difficult to send an expeditionary force to North Korea and upset the land, so we tried to maintain a wait-and-see attitude.
However, when the leaking entities reached the point where requests for support were received from the Yeosu garrison, it was no longer possible to sit idly by.
[Kill them all!]
What appeared on the screen was a burning hill.
In the background, Yeosu flamethrower soldiers were showing the taste of fire to a distorted animal the size of a dog.
