Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 154.2: Pure Love (2)

Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 154.2: Pure Love (2)

Personally, I didn’t find Hwang Min-seok all that likable.
You could tell just from what he said to me right after we first met.
“Um, excuse me. I’m really sorry, but...”
Hwang Min-seok glanced up at me hesitantly during our private conversation.
“I mean, even if you're older than me, don’t you think it’s kind of rude to speak informally to someone you’ve just met?”
Technically, he had a point.
I don’t like being spoken to casually by strangers either.
But in life, there are times when you just have to yield.
Unless I was younger than him — which I’m not, by at least ten years — his objection was valid, though I think his judgment of the situation was lacking.
So what did the other team members think?
“Not a chance.”
Kim Daram, who’s twice as battered by life as I am, muttered with certainty.
“When someone says a person’s ‘lacking,’ it includes their face being ugly. It’s not just the looks that are bad.”
“You mean Hwang Min-seok?”
She nodded and added,
“To be specific, he just feels like a lousy person. There’s nothing about him that draws you in.”
Then Lee Haru chimed in.
“He thinks he’s clever. But the way he schemes? You can see right through it.”
Lee Haru is from the same age group as Hwang Min-seok.
So her analysis is likely more accurate than ours, across the generational gap.
“I don’t get what he’s staring at in the mirror all the time... I mean, brushing his hair isn’t going to change much. And he says he has a girlfriend, but then why does he keep trying to talk to me? Doesn’t strike me as the two-timing type either.”
They were harsh words, but in this situation, I felt like they were necessary suspicions to raise.
After all, the mission depended on Hwang Min-seok “persuading” Ham Chun-ok — someone showing potential as an over level-10 Awakened — to come with us.
Sure, as Cheon Young-jae would say, romantic relationships are still human relationships, and we shouldn’t impose third-party judgments.
It was possible that a genuine bond had formed between the two of them as peers, and maybe they did have a deep level of trust — the kind where she’d come running the moment he reached out.
The problem was, this wasn’t just a “find my missing girlfriend” quest.
Our lives — mine, Cheon Young-jae’s, Lee Haru’s, and Kim Daram’s — were on the line.
We had verified that the area where Ham Chun-ok was hiding was relatively low-risk ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ and within our sphere of influence, and Cheon Young-jae was our insurance, so we could call the situation “safe.”
But you never know.
No matter how many risks you eliminate, a battlefield is still a battlefield.
And yes, we’d planned for the worst-case scenario:
Ham Chun-ok — the user known as ONE_FAITH — actually is a level 10+ Awakened with overwhelming power and turns hostile.
The tear gas in our gear is our insurance.
It’s a meager supply, but for dealing with people — especially those untrained in chemical warfare — tear gas is far more effective than most imagine.
The Chinese military often used it when fighting cultist groups with Awakened among them.
And since our target location was less than an hour’s walk away, there wasn’t much time left for talking.
“That’s the place, right?”
We saw the building identified during reconnaissance.
Ironically, the place where Ham Chun-ok and her Protector were holed up was a love motel.
– Arabian Nights –
Damaged and worn from the war, but still garishly Arabesque in structure, lit with neon, and decorated with questionable ornaments that defied national origin.
On that note, Kim Daram — who has an eye for aesthetics — muttered critically,
“Why do they have a knockoff Venus statue on the wall in a place called ‘Arabian Nights’?”
She once went to Italy for her honeymoon.
A hundred thousand won from my own pocket probably helped pay for that trip.
But that’s beside the point. Let’s focus on the task at hand.
“Young-jae.”
I instructed Cheon Young-jae to scan the area.
“All clear. No one nearby.”
“Good.”
We were almost done.
Assuming Ham Chun-ok being a level-10 Awakened was just a far-fetched worst-case scenario, 90% of this mission was about getting here safely.
We’d done that. Now came the final 10%.
“Hwang Min-seok.”
I considered how to arrange his meeting with Ham Chun-ok.
The standard approach would be for us to escort him to face Ham Chun-ok and her Protector, hoping she’d agree to come with us.
But that’s risky.
Not quite worst-case, but we’d still be dealing with two full-fledged Awakened.
Sure, we had capable fighters — myself, Kim Daram, Cheon Young-jae — plus an Awakened, Lee Haru. But I had no interest in unnecessary risks.
Because risk-taking itself is the problem — not the probability of something going wrong.
For your family, you might gamble with a 50% risk. But for a stranger? Most people won’t even accept a 0.01% chance.
Hwang Min-seok is a stranger.
“We’ll be watching. Go ahead.”
“What?!”
Hwang Min-seok turned back to us, startled.
Predictable.
He probably assumed we’d walk with him — confront Ham Chun-ok and her handsome bodyguard together.
He hadn’t imagined walking over there alone to face her.
But even that flustered reaction was part of the plan.
It was tied to the core question of this mission:
Is Hwang Min-seok really her lover?
If the answer is yes, he shouldn’t hesitate.
Or if he does, it should be out of fear of the guy next to her. Not doubt.
“No, seriously — what am I supposed to do going there alone? You guys have to come too!”
That was the excuse I wanted to hear.
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”
“She is, but... Ah, shit...”
“...”
“That bastard standing next to her — that filthy North Korean dog, that Protector — who knows what that piece of shit might do to her!”
So it wasn’t an excuse he’d already rehearsed.
“Can’t you just call out to her from here?”
“What if they shoot?!”
“Then call from behind cover.”
“She won’t come out. That stinking, parasite-infested North Korean bastard’s got her locked up in there.”
“That’s not what you said earlier.”
I started to wonder if there was even a point to continuing this conversation.
Securing a powerful Awakened is important.
If we could recruit someone with the potential to grow like Woo Min-hee, it would be a huge win.
But one thing doesn’t change:
They’re fanatics.
Even if they bowed their heads, they’d still be suspect.
So what’s the point of dragging back someone who doesn’t even want to come?
I met eyes with Kim Daram.
No matter how many disappointments we’ve had, a partner is still a partner.
We reached an understanding without words.
We’re leaving.
That was the conclusion we reached in a glance.
But then—
“Hey.”
Hwang Min-seok huffed like an angry bull and glared at me, his voice dripping with complaint.
“Are you mad because I told you not to talk down to me?”
“?”
)
“That’s what this is, right? You’re pissed that I asked for some respect? You thought I wouldn’t notice?”
For a second, I thought—
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Sure, everyone views the world through their own lens, but this guy sees everything through a painfully narrow, first-person filter.
“Hey. You piece of shit.”
Cheon Young-jae glared at him.
He might not be popular with women, but he’s a very threatening presence among men.
“Cut it out before I split your damn tongue.”
Cold glares shot into Hwang Min-seok like arrows.
Kim Daram stared like a panther about to maul a lesser predator, and Lee Haru crossed her arms and looked on with pure contempt from afar.
He had no allies here.
And he realized that very quickly.
He dropped to his knees.
“...Please.”
His bowed head trembled faintly with pent-up emotion, and tears fell onto his clenched fists resting on his thighs.
“Please... come with me. I can’t bring Chun-ok back on my own.”
Kim Daram turned away with a sigh.
She gave me a look.
Leave him.
I wanted to.
But I couldn’t.
I needed to see Ham Chun-ok — just once — with my own eyes.
So I asked,
“What’s your relationship with her?”
This was the final question.
Hwang Min-seok looked up.
“...I love her.”
Fairy tales are filled with stories of love, jealousy, revenge, and triumph.
Take the Wicked Queen from Snow White, for example.
Sure, reinterpretations of familiar villains have become a bit tired and cliché, but even within cliché, there’s something novel about magnifying a fleeting emotion.
The Queen’s motive was power.
How she got that power? Doesn’t matter. Not in a narrow lens world.
She already has power and wants to eliminate the threat to it.
Who just gives up what’s theirs?
Let’s take an even closer example: the descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators.
They’ve never been free from public criticism, but surely their families had harmonious lives of their own.
They had wealth, and with it, things to protect.
Sometimes, society’s finger-pointing only makes such families band closer together.
Now imagine someone coming to strip them of that wealth with extrajudicial authority.
The family would be driven out onto the street. Their everyday comforts — country club memberships, VIP shopping privileges, imported cars, luxury condos in Gangnam — would vanish like a mirage.
For them, protecting those things is righteous.
Hwang Min-seok is the same.
In a narrow frame, his pure love is consistent and persuasive.
He loves Ham Chun-ok.
And while Kim Daram and Lee Haru ruthlessly mock him, that emotion deserves respect.
At the very least, he risked his life to express it.
He had to have known what it meant for a fanatic to reveal themselves to the government.
So I asked again,
“Are you two really dating?”
Hwang Min-seok lowered his head again.
“...I think we like each other...”
He backpedaled.
“That guy’s the problem.”
I crouched before him, matched eye level.
“Then let’s try this.”
The revised plan wasn’t all that different from before.
I just took on a bit more of the risk myself.
Cheon Young-jae offered to go with me, but I declined.
Two of us — two of them.
That symmetry might make them less wary.
But just to be clear: I wasn’t risking my life for Hwang Min-seok.
So the new plan was just as pathetic as he was.
We crept forward using cover, all the way across from the motel where Ham Chun-ok was hiding.
From there, he was to call out to her directly.
“Chun-ok.”
I gestured for him to speak louder.
“Chun-ok~!”
There was movement inside.
Someone was definitely there.
But no reply.
“Chun-ok! It’s me! Min-seok! Hwang Min-seok!”
No response.
Wait—
Rustle—
Someone appeared at the window.
Judging by the silhouette — a man.
He was over 180cm tall. Likely the Protector Hwang Min-seok had mentioned.
“Leave.”
A deep, gravelly voice rang out coldly.
Hwang Min-seok looked at me.
“That bastard. He’s the reason Chun-ok can’t come out. I have to kill him.”
His eyes dropped to the pistol at my hip.
I blocked him from reaching it and called out to the fanatic behind the pillar.
“My name is Park Gyu. I’m a hunter commander from the eastern city. I didn’t come to fight, and I mean no harm. I came only because this man said he could bring you in.”
Hwang Min-seok flushed red, but that meant nothing to me.
“I’ve heard you’re both Awakened. If you’re still human, still one of us — come find us. As long as I’m around, you’ll be welcome. It won’t be easy. You’ll have to abandon your faith. You’ll be mistrusted. But at least you’ll have a chance at hope. More than you would here.”
That was the pitch.
I didn’t expect it to work.
Still, I had achieved what I came for.
At the motel entrance, a man and woman appeared.
The woman — once clad in flowing cultist robes like a classic Viva! Apocalypse! webtoon character — now wore bright, padded South Korean outerwear, tightly wrapped against the cold.
“Hand over that bitch.”
The man said menacingly.
He was dressed in capitalist garb as South Korean as Ham Chun-ok’s — and even more handsome than his photo.
A good-looking couple.
If they weren’t fanatics, “ideal couple” would be the perfect label.
“You’re not part of this.”
He said coldly.
And then—
Thud!
He brandished a large Chinese dao, drawing it with a dramatic shockwave.
The blade flashed in the winter sun, and Hwang Min-seok stumbled backward.
“C-Commander...!”
I assessed their weapons.
No guns visible.
I drew my sidearm, removed the magazine, and slid both aside.
A flicker of surprise crossed the man’s face.
He approached quickly.
“Eek!”
Hwang Min-seok scrambled away. Whatever.
I studied the man’s gait, his grip, his tempo.
Sloppy.
Not trained. Just someone who swung a sword at weaker prey.
Shff—
I drew my axe. He swung.
Clang!
I deflected the blade in one strike and—
Chk!
Held my axe to his throat.
“...!!”
In a flash, fear and panic crossed his eyes.
I looked into them and said quietly:
“Leave.”
I lowered my axe and stepped back.
He did the same, wary.
I retrieved my pistol, reloaded, and looked toward Ham Chun-ok.
Still guarded.
Naturally, she hadn’t once looked at Hwang Min-seok since showing herself.
She hadn’t even acknowledged him.
Instead, she clasped the man’s hands tightly in hers.
In that moment, I saw a sliver of truth.
“Hey.”
I spoke to her.
She snorted and didn’t reply.
“A cold wave’s coming. Are you prepared?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It is.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
Click.
I finished reloading my pistol and holstered it.
“Skelton. Ring any bells?”
Ham Chun-ok went quiet, as if trying to process the name.
Then her eyes widened.
She pointed at me in shock.
Yeah. That face.
The one I saw on our message board.
I smiled faintly and turned away.
Squish—
The half-melted snow, dark and muddy like a filthy smoothie, clung coldly to my boots.
I was used to the mess — but the mumble from beside me gave it new meaning.
“...That bitch.”
If broken love had a physical form, maybe it would look like this.
Three days later, Ham Chun-ok and her boyfriend surrendered to New Seoul.

.
!
Chapter 154.2: Pure Love (2)