Chapter 1: Elder Kim

Chapter 1: Elder Kim

The story of how the world went to ruin and became a mess is a long, tedious, and complicated one, but within it, there are always interesting chapters.

Let's call it my wise preparation for the future, Park Gyura.

The idea that a crisis is approaching humanity has been discussed by intellectuals, from old scholars to YouTuber Lekka, but among ordinary people, only two types have actually prepared for the crisis.

Either the wealthy who have so much money overflowing that they can build bunkers on their private land, or madmen who deny reality and invest everything in ambiguous possibilities.

I am the latter.

As soon as I sensed the crisis, I boldly disposed of my assets and prepared for the impending disaster.

I didn't inherit much wealth, but I had saved up.

I worked in a profession where I had to save money, and towards the end, I worked like crazy, sleeping for only about four hours a day, while learning skills in the meantime.

Simple electrical work, construction, heavy equipment operation, drug and chemical synthesis, basic medicine, and more. If I couldn't understand something, I bought books or instructional videos to keep for reference.

The most important thing was deciding where to set up my base.

It wasn't easy to make that decision.

I sought advice from survival experts, civilians who survived in war zones, wilderness explorers, and the community of "Viva! Apocalypse!" which I will introduce later.

After careful consideration and deliberation, I selected a place based on four key criteria.

First, a place where there are no people around, and where people are unlikely to come even in a similar situation.

Second, maintaining an appropriate distance from a major city.

Third, the terrain of the hiding place.

Fourth, the price.

The first one is fundamental.

For someone preparing their own fortress for the apocalypse, the most dangerous threat is not monsters or zombie hordes, but other humans.

In fact, humans have been the major threat to my apocalyptic life all along.

However, its not easy for humans to live solitude.

The second condition may seem to contradict the first, but it is a very important requirement.

If you can maintain contact with the city, you can obtain necessary supplies and valuable information in a similar situation.

Venturing out into the dangerous outside world from a secure hiding place is very risky, but not being able to see the approaching massive storm from inside the bunker is a guaranteed death sentence.

The third condition is the foundation for the ongoing struggle that will last until my death.

The hiding place must be able to monitor all directions and not be easily discovered from the outside.

Defence is the next consideration, no matter how easy the terrain is to defend, once the hiding place is discovered, it won't be easy to protect it alone.

Among all animal species, humans have the most intelligence.

Oh, soil quality and underground water are important too.

The ground should be soft enough to dig deep inside, and underground water will be my source of drinking water after the water supply is cut off.

Of course, all these conditions had to be considered within the limits of my wallet.

Money may become worthless when the world collapses, but to prepare before that happens, you need money in the end.

The place I eventually chose was a secluded field nestled between an Air Force base and a golf course.

It was sparsely populated, easy to observe, and at an appropriate distance from the major city, but it had a fatal flaw.

The land was a blind spot, meaning there were no roads.

I had to negotiate with the adjacent landowners, offering free labour for harvesting crops and a usage fee in exchange for the right to use their land.

It wasn't an easy task.

"You came from Seoul? Alright, let's do our best."

I don't remember the name of that old man now, but his last name was definitely Kim. He was the owner of the land, a sturdy and stocky man with a thick Chungcheong Provinces accent, and he was in his seventies, but my first impression of him was not very good. [TL: The Chungcheong region in korea is divided into two provinces so we dont know which province it is ha ha ha.]

As luck would have it, even someone like me, who had experienced detachment, occasionally felt a sense of irritation, thanks to Kim Elder's constant nagging.

At every opportunity, he would fuss and demand everything to be returned to its original state. Blocking the only road with obstacles was a daily routine, and he frequently came by to ask for help with various tasks.

When he showed up at my container home at 3 in the morning, knocking on the door and asking for assistance, I truly felt the urge to push him off a cliff.

Well, what could I do? It was a cheap deal.

With the money I saved on buying affordable land, I invested it all in heavy equipment, construction materials, and everything necessary for survival.

I acquired excavators, loaders, drilling machines, forklifts, and more.

Calling in professionals to build just one bunker might have been cheaper and more specialized, but my plan was to constantly expand and improve my own shelter.

My 220,000 square meters of land was the foundation and stronghold of my life in a collapsing world, something I identified with myself.

Naturally, I initially hired people.

With only knowledge gained from the internet and lectures, I couldn't match the skills and know-how of professionals in the field.

"No, sir. Are all these yours, sir? What exactly are you planning to do?"

The construction workers, upon seeing my collection of heavy equipment, all had a surprised reaction.

"Well, I somehow got interested in this field."

I replied somewhat ambiguously, trying to gain their favour.

Elder Kim sighed heavily as he watched the departing Benz.

"When I gave it away, that land was much more expensive..."

"You mean the land you gave to your son."

Kim Elder nodded and took out a cigarette, not looking at me.

I helped him light it, and he started talking with a bitter laugh.

"I treated the land I gave to my daughter was like your land. It was just worthless farmland. But who could have known that a 10-lane road would be built in front of it? Who could have predicted that a tunnel would be dug on that piece of land, and a new city would be developed?"

His life turned out exactly as expected.

He wasn't a great or good father.

He was just an insignificant father who frequently administered punishments to his family and wielded violence.

He lived his entire life as a grumpy old man, but in his last days, the land he had received became valuable, levelling him up to a wealthy father.

If that hadn't happened, his children might have cut ties with him a long time ago.

To quickly end the conversation, I asked abruptly, "Why don't you sell that house? Selling it and moving somewhere else would solve the problem, wouldn't it?"

"I can't. I can't do that."

The old man exhaled white smoke and looked up at the sky.

"My late wife's spirit is there. She put up with someone like me all her life..."

I still couldn't figure out what I had done right in his eyes.

One thing was clear: that short conversation had created a 10-lane road in his heart.

After that day, he no longer blocked the construction vehicles from coming, and he didn't complain anymore.

With no clashes, our relationship naturally improved, and from my side, I even approached Elder Kim to offer my help with labour.

There was no harm in getting along with a neighbour from the next town, after all.

There was something else.

Elder Kim taught me knowledge about agriculture, something that was difficult for a city dweller to learn.

"Farming is important. The lunar calendar is important. The solar calendar is useless. You need to follow the lunar calendar. It's all about the solar terms. Solar terms are crucial."

He even vaguely noticed what I was trying to do.

"Are you one of those recent survivalists? A doomsday preparer or something like that?"

"Well, something like that."

"To do that, don't you need some land or something similar? Even if the world collapses, you still need to eat vegetables, right?"

"Is there anything you can grow underground?"

"With sunlight, water, and fertilizer, you can grow anything. Nowadays, seedlings are so good. The most important thing is dedication."

After that, several solar terms passed, but his children never came to visit.

When China started a war and launched missiles that struck the metropolitan area, Elder Kim rushed to my bunker.

It was the first time I had seen him in such a bewildered state.

"Please, find out what happened to my son."

After communication was restored and the list of casualties was confirmed, I had to deliver the unfortunate news.

Elder Kim just shook his head silently.

He didn't cry or sob.

I wondered what had come over him.

"Now, the world is about to collapse. Would you mind coming to my bunker if you'd like?"

I made an inappropriate suggestion that didn't align with my principles.

Elder Kim raised his head and looked at me.

He smiled at me.

"Just wait a moment. I have something to prepare."

"Do you have something to prepare?"

"I have something to give."

He was a man who could smile more warmly than I had imagined.

When I found Elder Kim again, he was hanging from the crumbling house's main beam, like a swaying reed.

Beneath his lifeless body, carefully wrapped seedlings lay.

There was no way to recover his remains.

The nuclear attack alarm echoed from all directions, heralding the end of the world.

I quickly gathered only the seedlings and took refuge in the bunker.

Ultimately, it was a wise choice.

Following that, the raging flames of nuclear fission consumed the collapsing house and the remains, leaving no trace behind.

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