Chapter 391 – Where the First Butterfly Sat
Winter is over and spring has returned.
It may vary depending on the calculation standard, but it can be roughly considered 6 years since the infection war.
People have become accustomed to living with death and danger on their pillows.
Pioneers entered areas that were previously considered dangerous and inaccessible in order to gain more farmland and less competition.
Abandoned schools, universities, government offices, supermarkets, and other places that were merely objects of prey were transformed into new camps.
There was nothing to steal, but a quick-witted family entered a place like a temple that was good for farming near a water source and put up a fence.
It feels like a return to the agricultural society of hundreds of years ago, when children start helping their parents with their work even as young as 10 years old.
One difference is that the farmers who plant potatoes, the gatherers who dig up mushrooms and wild vegetables, and the livestock farmers who raise chickens and mice are all armed.
The children who came out with their parents also had at least one window nearby.
If there was a problem between people in this situation, a lot of blood would be shed, but fortunately, such incidents were rare.
This is an era where the majority of the people have turned into producers and the population has plummeted compared to the Joseon Dynasty. There is so much empty land.
Even North Korea is our land, and we can advance beyond it as much as we want.
However, the threat of infectious agents, monsters derived from them, and rapidly proliferating wild animals always followed like a dark cloud and gave rise to anxiety.
Faith has almost disappeared.
The existence of the infectious agent destroyed trust in religion, and people began to rely on something more real and closer.
Everyone looks up at the sky more often than when religion was at its strongest.
Instead of saying a prayer of thanks before a meal, I feel reassured as I see a floating machine dispensing vaccines. They said they would not turn into monsters.
When I saw a drone carrier passing by during an outdoor activity, I felt relieved that I was protected.
In the world before the war, both buildings and land had owners, but not anymore.
Anyone who settles down there and lives there becomes the owner of that place.
Koreans took that belief and spread it beyond South and North Korea.
* * *
To welcome spring, I held Artemis’ hand and went up to the shelter’s rooftop garden.
An underground garden that is always beautiful 365 days a year is nice, but the chaos and freshness of the wild has a different taste.
The weather has warmed up, and the rooftop garden is close to the aviation platform, so it is always warm.
Thanks to this, green sprouts sprout faster than anywhere else on the Korean Peninsula.
“I’ll carry it, give it to me.”
“Thank you.”
Artemis took off her shoes and stepped on the ground barefoot.
White feet carefully touch the cold dew-covered grass.
She enjoyed the variety of sensations from her body and loved enjoying the feel of nature on her bare feet.
“It’s still a little cold.”
“Winter just ended? “It’s unusually warm here.”
I lowered my posture and touched the ground, but it felt cool to me.
“Is this cool enough? Anyway, I’m particularly weak to the cold.”
“Would you say you have delicate senses? “You’ve been wearing military boots so much that your feet have become as numb as cast iron.”
“You’re so delicate, you ran barefoot in the snow in winter. Even I, who have iron feet, don’t do that.”
“I wish you would stop forgetting about that.”
When I gently touched her dark side, her narrowed gaze returned.
This happened a long time ago when it was snowing heavily.
Artemis once walked across a snowy rooftop with her bare feet, saying, ‘I want to feel the feel of snow!’
Since you’ve already cleared the grass, sandy beach, and muddy paths, next is the snow field, which is only possible in winter.
Animal documentaries and drone videos have also shown great interest in animals running on snowy fields.
“Ugh! It’s cold! But it’s not to the point where I can’t walk.”
That’s how the first great footprints were engraved in the snow.
“Isn’t that crunchy feeling okay?”
“Huh! I like it.”
He responded with a bright smile as I escorted him next to me.
“It’s similar to a sandy beach, but different. Best of all, it’s not dirty and it’s even white. After all, I like snow better than sand.”
As the beautiful legs stretched forward, snowflakes flew.
“Ahahaha!”
Artemis laughed happily.
There are flakes of white snow between the long, thin toes.
“It’s similar to being soggy, but the snow melts anyway. “It’s not scratchy either.”
Artemis rubbed her outstretched toes cutely.
Then, the eyes fell off little by little, but many were still attached.
“I want to walk more! Let’s go!”
She excitedly took my hand and led me.
“I can’t stand leaving footprints in the snow.”
“You sound like you’re talking like a child?”
The face looking back in front of her was filled with joy and embarrassment.
“No. “Stepping on snow is something I have enjoyed countless times, so I understand that feeling.”
I am sincere.
If you bring an old man who has never stepped on snow to a snowy field, he will react like Artemis does now.
Because she does not have a body, she is missing the experiences she should have had as a child.
So, it is natural to act like a child during your first experience. She seems embarrassed, though.
Lightly.
Knock knock knock.
Hold her hand and walk side by side.
Behind me were shoe prints, and behind Artemis were cute bare footprints.
“…?”
While she was walking, she frowned slightly.
Probably because the sensation coming from the soles of her feet has changed.
“It’s time to start feeling cold.”
By the time you saw me smiling and realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
“Wow!”
She was walking gracefully and suddenly jumped up.
She starts running in place, as if she were walking across a floor sprinkled with legos.
“Come on!”
When she bent her knees and took me in a posture to receive her, she jumped up and hugged me like a princess.
“Hotness comes immediately, but coldness comes a few beats later. “Once it sticks to the skin, it doesn’t come off easily.”
“Did you wait on purpose?”
Haha!”
The sight of my wife crying as she was held in my arms like a princess, rubbing the soles of her reddened feet.
It’s so cute and lovely that I can’t forget it.
Reflecting on memories of the past, the place we headed to was a fence to prevent falls.
From here, you can see the polis and the great plain outside it at a glance.
“There are more people going than I thought.”
There is a constant stream of people leaving for the north.
Not only did people go as individuals, but they also went in families of groups of three or five, or in groups of dozens of people.
All of them are pioneers.
People who sow seeds, raise livestock, and go fishing on empty land in North Korea and Manchuria.
“It will be difficult to enter the police force, and it is a good choice to aim for the top rather than return to the south, where there is strong territoriality and competition. “We also provide support, right?”
Just like Artemis said, I don’t push at all with my bare body.
Those leaving were provided with small amounts of medicine and food, the latest GMO seeds, and GMO rats and chickens.
Some of them received shelter horses, and they were well-armed explorers.
Like a sheriff in the Wild West, he received a trained horse in return for playing a certain role in public security.
A map detailing settlements and relay bases where people could take refuge or trade in case of emergency was also distributed.
Anyone with a cell phone or walkie-talkie can receive unmanned service when there is a shelter drone within radio range.
Directions, weather forecasts, warnings of nearby dangers, and even support fire in some cases.
“Still, I didn’t expect there to be this many participants.”
From my perspective, it seemed amazing to lead my family to an unknown land where I had no idea what would await.
“A vague expectation of a better life. It’s surprisingly common to be drawn to it and impulsively look at it. Jinsu, as you said, the trend of living only for today has become common.”
“Well, if there is no space in the south anyway, it would be better to leave as soon as possible and occupy good land.”
“A fish farming base has already been established in Cheonji, Mt. Baekdu. “The competition has already begun.”
Artemis walked away from the fence and sat down on a nearby wooden bench.
And then he taps the seat next to him.
When I sat down, she leaned her head on my shoulder.
A spring breeze passes by, enveloping us like that. The sunlight is warm, and the air is clear.
Maybe it’s the best time of my life.
Before the infection war, I was always a middle manager.
A position of pressure under the masters who already rule the world, whether on the battlefield or in the shelter.
After the infection war, I traveled through dangerous places with my only friend and companion, and when one thing was resolved, another worry came to me.
But now it all has come to an end.
Boom!
After completing reconnaissance, drones in shifts can be seen entering and leaving the shelter hangar.
Far out in the sea, the unmanned patrol ship we launched powerfully cut through the currents of the West Sea.
From the highest point, you can look down on everything and make decisions, and the world is being rebuilt.
My journey is over.
Kkook.
I stretch out my arms and hug Artemis’ shoulders, and she nuzzles her head into my neck.
From now on, all you have to do is rest and enjoy this softness, warmth, and scent.
“Huh?”
As the drowsiness slowly came on, my eyes, which were about to close, opened.
A yellow butterfly is fluttering in front of us.
“Is it because it’s warm here? “He’s a quick guy.”
“It’s obviously too early for butterflies to be flying around. It’s our fault.”
As Artemis said, even if you look around, there is not a single flower blooming. It will be the same wherever you go.
“You must be hungry. “Poorly.”
The butterfly flying around looked listless.
“There’s no way, right? “It hatched too quickly and there were no flowers.”
“That’s not true.”
Artemis leaned against me and crossed her legs.
“Flowers can bloom here.”
The white legs on her knees are stretched out.
After a while, the butterfly that was fluttering around approached us as if it was being drawn by something about her.
“Oh!?”
And surprisingly, it landed on Artemis’ feet.
With that, she slowly took a few steps down and stopped on her big toe. She didn’t move a thing after that.
“Did the smell of her feet kill you?”
“No!”
Beans!
Her forehead, which had been leaning romantically, hit my chin.
“No, it’s a joke.”
Looking closely with her enhanced vision, she could see the butterfly’s thin snout extending out.
Like a bee rolling around in a flower, the butterfly’s snout delicately touches her white toes.
“No way, honey?”
“Hehe.”
Artemis’ body can embrace everything and create everything.
It is like a living factory of life.
When she kisses me after eating her grain, the sweet scent of alcohol makes me drunk.
Giving daily bread to a butterfly that misunderstood when to wake up would be nothing.
Knock tock.
The butterfly was so hungry that it did not fly away even when Artemis tapped her big toe.
Colorful wings flutter gently as you move your toes.
Although it felt strange, it was truly a beautiful sight.
“Is my husband hungry too?”
Artemis looking seductively with a provocative smile.
I was torn between a sexy answer and a playful answer, so I picked up my PDA and turned on the camera mode.
A garden that becomes green in the spring.
The sight of her first life coming to rest at the feet of a beautiful woman with a benevolent smile. It’s a sad sight for me to intervene and ruin.
“What is this all of a sudden?”
“Let’s continue to increase these photos in the future. Enough to fill the album.”
“… Yes.”
Snap!
I pressed the shutter and recorded this moment forever.
