episode_0058

‘Shooo!’

Water was pouring out of the sluice gate of the auxiliary dam in the distance. The pure white foam rose and the turquoise-colored river flowed out, carrying clouds.

Why don’t the zombies get swarmed by such noise? I don’t know the principle behind it, but it seems like they don’t pay much attention to that kind of noise.

A sidewalk with white and green paving blocks and a red-painted bicycle path ran along the river.

There wasn’t a single zombie on the road where cars had driven or on the sidewalk where the old man and I walked.

It was not a familiar sight to see an empty road with no burned-out, overturned, or partially destroyed vehicles.

Walking like this, what should I say? It almost felt like I was on a picnic. It wasn’t a bad feeling, even though I was on my way to work.

“The soldiers living in the dam seem to live in a really nice place. There aren’t any noisy guys or smelly guys.”

“Well, it’s a nice place to live. The water is clean, the electricity is good, and there’s a lot to eat.”

I was dumbfounded by the old man’s foolish words. No, are you even listening to me?

“That’s the same for us too. What I want to talk about is the surrounding environment?”

“Huh?”

In the old man’s mind, I thought that living environment was OK as long as he could eat, drink, and eat.

Well, since Hyeji is the kind of person who doesn’t even show any irritation even when she’s drilling openly in the living room, noise between floors isn’t even a consideration in the first place.

But do you live alone? Even in our shelter, I’m quite sensitive to noise.

Moreover, as winter ends and spring comes, the weather gets warmer, but the rotting corpses lying all over the streets and buildings begin to thaw, releasing a terrible stench.

Of course, it’s much less than downtown, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

“I don’t know about a dullard like you, but I think that people’s minds are at peace when their surroundings are clean and quiet. Well, it’s obvious that you haven’t had a spouse, so it’s natural that you’re an outsider in that area, right?”

If anyone were to come and look at the old man’s new home, it would be much more helpful to take him away from the place and have someone else sit with him.

It was obvious that the old man would give it a thumbs up, saying that it was a good house as long as he could sleep well.

If someone is someone who will give you 5 stars regardless of whether you have them or not, then it’s okay not to include them in any decision-making.

“No, not necessarily…”

The old man answered negatively to my question. I couldn’t help but be a little surprised by his unexpected reaction. Was it because he was not an outsider when it came to finding a house, or was it because he had someone he was thinking about marrying?

“What happened? Who are you? Did you say anything?”

The old man paused for a moment, pretending to choose his words. Well, I guess he was bluffing. So he couldn’t speak right away.

If he had, he would not have acted like that, given his personality. He would have immediately become angry and tried to prove his superiority by loudly revealing the name of the person he had dreamed of loving and marrying.

“Oh, look. You have to admit it, right? If you were planning on getting married and having kids, how could you not have such a poor eye for houses? If you ever move to a shelter later, stay out of my sight. I’ll take good care of it.”

It would have been nice if Grandpa Chunbong had looked after the house back then, but I didn’t think I would be able to get married while Grandpa Chunbong was still alive. That grandpa was a total idiot these days.

So, I guess I have to do it.

It’s been three years since I’ve been living with you. Considering our friendship and partnership over the years, I could have done more than enough to look after your house.

Anyway, until my uncle finds a wife, this is the house I will live in with him. I was confident that I could perfectly decorate the interior so that she would feel like her own home, even if I didn’t know who that wife would be.

“Well… Yes, Danhwa is right. Oh my, when that time comes, I ask for your help. Danhwa teacher.”

“Um… Then, then. Women keep talking like crazy, but for the sake of the old man who sadly can’t escape being single, I’ll do my best. I don’t know about you, but men are more attractive to women when they have nice houses and expensive cars. But you’re not like that, are you? Cars are… useless in this world. The only thing you should focus on is real estate. Houses, shelters, safe houses, sweet homes. Got it? ”

“Ugh…”

“Answer.”

“Yes, Mr. Danhwa.”

The answer wasn’t bad. I raised the corners of my mouth with satisfaction. I saved another hopeless old man. This man, I can’t do without him.

“Suddenly talking about house and marriage… You don’t have any experience with that, but you pretend to know…”

“What.”

“No! I thought I had a good partner! Hey, it’s true that I’m not really interested in that kind of thing, right? Should I say it’s good that I unexpectedly got a chance to make up for my weaknesses? Do you think I got it right when I saw this? Hahaha! ”

Oh, oh my!!

This is the kind of reaction I should get. I feel better. At this level, I was willing to choose it as if it were my own house, not just an acquaintance.

“Mister, just trust me and I’ll do everything for you.”

I stretched out my hand and patted the old man on the shoulder. I also puffed out my chest to show my confidence.

“Shorts, they’re all here. Do you see the soldiers over there?”

At the old man’s words, I immediately turned my gaze forward. I could see heavily armed soldiers beyond the yellow and black striped barricade.

Although they were not very disciplined, their place was taken up by experience. They seemed to be standing comfortably, yet each of them was keeping an eye on their assigned area.

“This is Kwon Do-hoon. Who is in charge?”

The old man immediately called out his name and looked for the leader of the group. Soon after, a man wearing yellow epaulettes slowly walked out from the guard post of the auxiliary dam and saluted the old man.

“Loyalty, you are Do-Hoon. Is the person next to you your son-in-law?”

“Sergeant Kim, you’re really too much. Do I look old enough to have a kid like her?”

“Of course I’m joking… but honestly, she does look old. Well, I know Do-hoon, so if I told the soldiers that she was my daughter, they’d all be fooled. Hahaha! ”

“Hahaha… damn guy.”

Well, the old man does look old. If he trimmed his beard and cut his hair, he would be more presentable, but he hasn’t done that…

“Shorts. The old man’s partner here. The soldier man?”

When I said that out of the blue, Sergeant Kim’s expression became something to behold. Did he want me to call him oppa?

Am I crazy? If I were to bow my head and ask you to do something that was your lifelong wish, how could I possibly say something like that to a complete stranger when I would be worried about it?

Furthermore, it could be said that it was too greedy to want to be called ‘oppa’ by the opposite sex while serving in the military.

For soldiers, the timeless title of ‘Soldier Mister’ is like a companion they have to carry with them for the rest of their lives. If that’s too much for you, then you should get a girlfriend.

“Oh, I’m not an old man.”

“How old are you?”

“27…”

No, you’re not in your early or mid twenties, but in your late twenties. You want to reject the title of soldier? Is this guy crazy? Twenty-six and twenty-seven have different consonants.

‘Seven.’, ‘eight.’, ‘nine.’ Isn’t the ‘ㅂ’ consonant clear evidence that we have entered the second half?

“Mister. He’s an uncle himself, but he pretends not to be.”

“Ugh.”

Sergeant Kim’s eyes were wet. How dare a man nitpick over something like this.

“’This guy’s mouth is a bit spicy.’ Anyway, I thought you’d contact me by radio, but why did you come all the way here to meet me?”

Perhaps because he thought it would be awkward if the conversation continued, the old man stepped between me and Sergeant Kim. I think he said something, but I couldn’t hear him properly because of the words that followed.

“The plan has changed a little. The general said he would like to see Do-hoon.”

“Huh? I guess I should just exchange things neatly after work…”

“I’d like to get some personal advice…”

“General? To me?”

“Yes.”

“What advice?”

“I know that too…”

“Well, what would you know?”

It was obvious to me that the old man was showing his discomfort.

Park Seung-ho, a person whose personality is so shattered that you wonder if he has a team leader, doesn’t change his expression even once when he meets them. Why is he like that now?

Now that I think about it, that guy is also a former soldier. Could he have some kind of connection to this place? According to what the old man said, he even made a deal with us. There’s no way that it could have happened without any connection.

“1st platoon will remain at the auxiliary dam and work until the next shift, and the rest will return to the barracks with the two civilians here!”

Sergeant Kim began to lead the troops. The sound of military boots rang out loud as the soldiers formed a formation and began to move.

Of course, in the middle of it all were me and the old man.

“Ugh, it’s a bit like that with that guy.”

“Why, Seungho Park is more annoying than that guy?”

“No, that’s not it. A bit, should I say, a real soldier? It gets tiring when you talk to him. Leader Park is easy to handle if you just get along with him a little, but you’re saying that’s not the case here? Should I say that I feel like I shouldn’t choose even one of the multiple choice questions?”

I thought about what the old man had said.

Well… he’s a real soldier, and his rank is high enough to be called a general. Then of course he’s old, and if you’re old, there’s a higher chance that he’s an old fart…

You must be tired.

“What can I do? The old man has to endure it. But I can’t do it for him, right? I don’t have a hobby of showing off in front of grandpa. I hate that kind of thing. Do you know my personality?”

“I know…”

The old man scratched his head at my words. If someone barked at me like they did at the military hospital last time, I was confident that I would respond fiercely, no matter who it was.

High status means low price? Just because you have high status or power doesn’t mean you can force others to take risks and spit out nonsense.

I could see the dam in the distance. Its huge gray walls flanked by mountains on both sides were pouring out water in an incomparable amount compared to before.

Next to the place where the water was pouring down, there were buildings that looked like power plants. They might end up submerged. If it rains a lot, they really might end up submerged.

“Stop!”

While I was walking around the dam, I suddenly heard a sound.

And everyone stopped in their tracks as if they had been in sync. While I was at a standstill, I took my eyes off the dam and looked around.

We were at the entrance to the bridge. Across from it was a huge mountain, and on the plains beneath it were apartment buildings and other buildings sprouting up like mushrooms.

‘Our Water Museum Command’

Wow, what kind of museum name is this…

The name of the museum built with tax money was truly miserable. Judging by the name crossed out horizontally, it seemed like everyone else thought the same.

Since it is a museum that is no longer in operation, it would be a happy path for the poor museum to become a headquarters.

At the other end of the bridge there were two paths, one going uphill and one going downhill, the latter probably leading towards a residential area with apartments and buildings.

At the end of the former, there was a neat building, so I thought that it must be the former museum and current command center.

Anyway, the words ‘Stop!’ that I mentioned earlier came from the mouth of a person who jumped out from the guard post at the entrance to the bridge.

“The 3rd Platoon, 1st Platoon Leader and 22 others, along with two VIPs, returned to their units. Did you get the message from the company commander?”

“Yes, hey! Pass!”

As soon as he crossed the bridge, Sergeant Kim’s mouth opened.

“Welcome to Unit 6842, the last unit of the Republic.”

“Is it official?”

The old man asked in a friendly tone at the sudden remark.

“It’s just a habit, General.”

“I knew it.”