Hiding a House in the Apocalypse-Chapter 156.3: The Leader (3)
C-Bridge.
One of the bridges designated to serve as a kill zone in the upcoming battle.
Various obstacles had already been placed in a zigzag pattern across the road to hinder the monsters' advance, and the entrance to the bridge was splashed with colorful paint markers for artillery targeting, dizzying to look at.
While the dumb-looking tanks stationed across the bridge watched, I rode a scooter over C-Bridge.
Below the bridge, people aboard fishing boats were hauling in nets.
They hadn’t caught many fish, but the size of each one was abnormally large.
Whether they were mutated or not probably didn’t matter.
Those massive fish would fill that fisherman’s and someone else’s belly today, and give them the strength to survive tomorrow.
Woo Min-hee had settled across the bridge, in a settlement everyone else had given up on and abandoned.
They call it a settlement, but before the war, it had simply been someone’s home.
Now, its deed was probably just a piece of worthless paper—still listing ownership and rights tied to someone who might be dead or missing.
The typical image of a resettlement: sweeping aside someone’s memories or former financial destiny, and building new structures on the infrastructure they left behind.
I spotted a construction site filled with half-built buildings, container boxes, and scattered materials.
Finding signs of life wasn’t difficult.
Faint smoke rose from the top of an abandoned building.
She was probably hiding there.
Before entering her hideout, I surveyed the area.
Sure enough, off in the distance—on a desolate hill—mutation dogs roamed, their menacing forms clearly visible even from afar.
There were adults and pups among them.
The pups played with each other, biting and tumbling around in joy.
There wasn’t one that resembled Silver.
But between the hill where the mutation dogs were and Woo Min-hee’s hideout, there was considerable distance, and since the dogs didn’t seem to pay me any attention, it seemed unlikely that I’d be attacked entering her shelter.
Though this side of the bridge was still within wireless relay range, I pulled out the K-Walkie-Talkie.
It was Woo Min-hee’s request.
She had insisted on using personal identification numbers for communication, if possible.
I followed instructions.
Chzzzz--
Let the static pass, then:
“I’ve arrived.”
I announced my presence.
Her reply came shortly after.
“You know where to go, right?”
“I know.”
Woo Min-hee was living in the basement of an under-construction residential building.
Maybe because she had vanished suddenly, there wasn’t much stuff around.
Fuel, food, clothing—all minimal.
But seeing the satellite equipment proudly standing in the middle of her meager belongings made me feel an odd sense of kinship.
Well, she was a friend from our forum after all.
“Want to step outside for a moment?”
We went out together.
Her face, previously hidden in the shadows, was now more visible.
She wore a faint smile, but she looked visibly anxious—something uncharacteristic of her.
The mutation dogs in the distance pricked their ears and stared at us cautiously, but neither of us paid them much attention.
“You like dogs?”
I asked Woo Min-hee.
She exhaled a puff of white breath, rubbing her cold prosthetic hand with her warm, living one, gazing into the distance.
“I had a dog when I was little.”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t particularly like it. Actually, I kind of hated it. I'd come home exhausted from cram school, and it’d jump on me, getting drool and fur all over my clothes.”
She grimaced at the memory like she could still feel the unpleasant sensation.
But her expression soon softened into something wistful.
“You know what’s weird?”
I waited for her to continue.
“I used to wish that damn dog would just die. But when it actually died... when it didn’t come to me even when I called... I suddenly burst into tears.”
That was just like Woo Min-hee.
Maybe that’s why—without even realizing it—I had started to smile.
“Why are you smiling?”
“No reason.”
We looked at the dogs.
The pups played peacefully, while the adults stood guard or ran restlessly up and down the small hill.
“Careful.”
While walking near the construction site’s outer edge, Woo Min-hee gave a short warning.
There was a wire installed there.
“Tripwire?”
No.
“No, what do you call it?”
“A snare.”
“Right. That’s what it’s called.”
Humans really are persistent creatures.
Even as they abandon a settlement because of threats from mutation dogs, they leave behind every bit of malice they can muster.
Snares, bear traps, and feed piles with warning signs—these were the remnants of that malice.
[ WARNING! POISONED! DO NOT EAT! ]
“Guess the people who lived here didn’t just leave quietly.”
“Only veterans remain in this world.”
“But I don’t think any of it’s working.”
“No, maybe it helped a little.”
Woo Min-hee stared at the restless dogs with narrowed eyes.
The wind passed by us.
The temperature that had briefly risen now dipped back below freezing.
The chilly breeze reminded me of the purpose I had momentarily forgotten.
“Hey. Min-hee.”
Without turning, she answered.
“Yeah. Say it.”
It seemed like she already knew what I was going to say.
I slowly walked around, telling her about what was happening in New Seoul.
She listened silently, only offering short responses and minimal comments.
She probably already knew what was coming—about the refugees, and the government in Jeju getting involved.
After the story, filled with bitterness, came to an end, Woo Min-hee offered a short remark.
“I don’t want to fight.”
Her sharp steel-hook fingers pulled at a wire trap left by a settler.
With a twist of her jointed hook, the taut wire snapped like it had been cut with a pair of pliers.
“Yeah?”
Not unexpected.
She had repeatedly voiced her fear about the coming battle.
As I exhaled, preparing to say what I had come for—
“Kang Han-min. That bastard.”
Her sudden words exploded out—genuine, previously unrevealed emotion.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She gazed into the distance with a bitter smile.
“He wants to use me as a sample.”
“A sample?”
“Yeah. He wants to see how far someone like me—an Alpha Awakened—can go against one of those monsters.”
Her eyes, filled with uncontrollable emotion and hopeless resignation, made it difficult to /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ look at her.
“He already shoved me into one of those monsters’ jaws once.”
Conflicting thoughts collided in my brain.
The ‘no way’ thought pointed to the naive Kang Han-min I knew from school and the early war days.
The ‘maybe’ pointed to the Kang Han-min who had changed in the war’s later stages—someone whose inner workings I could no longer understand.
“Is that true?”
I asked, unable to decide.
Woo Min-hee looked at her hook hand.
“...”
I understood what she was trying to say.
“No way... that hand and leg too?”
Closing her eyes, she nodded with a sigh.
“Compared to my life, it was a cheap trade, wasn’t it?”
She acknowledged the past with a shocking level of composure.
“Do you know who coined the title ‘Savior’?”
Her prosthetic seemed to be numbing her wrist, so she tucked it back into her thick sleeve before continuing.
“Kang Han-min did.”
“That’s news to me.”
“I heard it from Senior Na Hye-in. She said they decided it when it was just the two of them.”
“Na Hye-in, huh...”
“Back then, Kang Han-min still had human emotions. He liked Na Hye-in, didn’t he?”
Yeah, he probably did.
No—he definitely did.
He always watched over her from behind.
But the Na Hye-in I met was full of fear.
“But not anymore.”
Woo Min-hee looked at me with a hollow expression.
“Kang Han-min is no different from a monster now.”
She sighed in grief and continued.
“He’s not much different from a machine with only one goal. Who knows—maybe he clings to the title ‘Savior’ to hide that horrible truth. Maybe it’s just self-deception. He probably needs to believe it to keep doing what he does.”
It felt like scattered pieces of a puzzle were coming together inside me.
The chilling thoughts he’d expressed in my team, the transformation after becoming an Awakened, the inhuman expression I saw in Jeju.
Has he really become a monster?
Becoming a monster to fight monsters—too common a tale of self-destruction.
“...”
I had hoped that slightly eccentric friend of mine would be different.
“You’re not like him.”
Woo Min-hee’s gaze sharpened.
“Even though you have just as strong a hatred as Kang Han-min, you always tried to stay within the lines.”
“Did I?”
“Who knows.”
She gave a bitter laugh and turned to look at the dogs.
“If you had power, maybe it would’ve been different.”
Clink—
The hook hidden in her sleeve scraped as it shifted.
“Anyway, that’s enough talk. I’m not going back.”
Her eyes gleamed with determination.
“Ah. Over there.”
I looked in the direction she pointed.
Amidst the massive dogs, one stood tall.
It was Silver.
No doubt.
They say all the dogs look the same, but I could feel it—that this one was an inferior, clumsy son compared to his father.
“You said you knew that dog, right?”
“You’ve seen him.”
“That was Gold, wasn’t it?”
“That’s his son.”
There was much to say. Important goals to reach.
But for now, I raised my hand and shouted at Silver.
“Silver!”
He looked at me.
And then—
Step.
He started walking toward me.
“Oh wow.”
A new glimmer appeared in Woo Min-hee’s eyes.
“Those things don’t usually come when called.”
He approached, mature and majestic.
The other dogs tried to flank him, but at a shake of his head, they all backed off.
A pup wagged its tail and followed him, but Silver didn’t react.
I put down my rifle and said to Woo Min-hee:
“Step back for a bit.”
She chuckled and complied.
“Hey. Senior.”
“What?”
“I didn’t get to say earlier, but... one of the pups looked like it got caught in a snare.”
“Yeah?”
“So be careful.”
She winked.
Of course I’d be careful.
I only have one life, and it’s precious.
Even without my rifle, I still had my pistol—and more importantly, my old companion, the axe.
But the greatest weapon was trust.
Even if animals couldn’t understand human notions of loyalty, if he was Gold’s son, I believed he’d show at least some sincerity.
The closer he got, the more stunned I became.
He had his father’s size, presence, and piercing eyes.
The pup following him suddenly veered off.
I froze.
There was bait over there.
With a “Do Not Eat” sign.
Even with past ties, sudden movements in front of a half-tame beast are dangerous.
I hesitated.
Then a thunderous roar rang out.
It was Silver.
His single growl stopped the pup in its tracks.
Then, slowly, he approached the bait, nudged the warning sign behind it with his head.
Grrrrr...
As if telling the pup to read it.
A light shock hit me.
This guy...
Was he always this smart?
Back then, he had always seemed dull and slow.
Then I muttered in disbelief.
“Ah.”
Was that all an act?
A smile crept across my lips.
“So that’s how it was?”
I asked Silver.
If he had been that stupid, he wouldn’t have found me.
From the start, he had been pretending.
Maybe he thought if he showed how clever he was, I’d never let him go.
They say nothing is more repulsive than a beast that acts like a human.
But this time was different.
I had been completely outplayed—and it felt great.
“...Silver, is it?”
Just to be sure, I asked him.
He nodded like it was obvious and gestured for me to follow.
Hidden from view in the ruins near Woo Min-hee’s hideout, a young mutation pup looked at us pitifully, its leg tangled in wire.
The snare hadn’t cut into the flesh yet.
Silver—or maybe another adult—must’ve told it to stay still.
Some dogs bared their teeth, but when Silver turned his sharp eyes on them, they lowered their ears and tails.
Amid heavy breaths, I looked at the snare.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
Clang!
A single strike cut through the wire.
The pup, probably trapped for days, let out a small roar and celebrated its freedom.
The other dogs howled in joy, and Silver approached me again.
Did he have something to say?
Baring his teeth,
Grrrr...
He bowed his head to me.
“Silver.”
He looked up, then backed away with light steps.
One last piercing look—and he left without hesitation.
The rest of the pack followed him like the wind.
In an instant, they were gone.
The abrupt ending made it feel like it had all been a dream.
“Senior.”
Woo Min-hee called to me, still wrapped in that lingering mood.
Her scarred face bore the weight of time, yet carried a trace of our school days’ innocence.
“How did you do that? Seriously, I’m freaking out.”
I smiled softly.
“I told you. I know Silver.”
“Still! They’re mutation dogs! The number one trait of mutations—innate hatred of humans! Didn’t you learn that in school?”
“There are always exceptions.”
But there was still something I had to say.
Looking at her stunned expression, I told her:
“You don’t have to fight.”
The sudden statement made her blink and search my face.
I repeated myself.
“You don’t have to fight.”
“What do you mean?”
“You just saw it, didn’t you?”
I held up the snapped wire.
“Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you have to do everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“A leader’s job is to guide the pack—not be a superman who can do it all.”
At last, her briefly awkward expression faded, and her usual cynical, commanding face returned.
“The leader has their own role. I want you to take that role. It’s a form of fighting too, in a way.”
I set down the wire, spun my axe around my fingers, and holstered it.
“But I won’t make you face that monster.”
“...Senior.”
She exhaled a breath clouded with frost and turned around.
The Han River flowed grandly behind her, and beyond it stood our new city.
“He’s my prey.”
I looked back at her.
“So let’s go back.”
With a faint smile, I reached out to our leader.
She stared for a moment, uncertain.
But only for a moment.
Then, not with her cold hook, but with her warm hand—
She reached out.
“Yeah.”
Our leader had returned.
Chapter 156.3: The Leader (3)
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