Episode 158 [ Silo (1) ]
Crossing the portal without knowing what was on the other side was quite dangerous.
Kyung-hoon also lost consciousness and opened his eyes a long time later.
“Are you awake?”
When Kyung-hoon opened his eyes, there was a man in a white researcher’s coat holding out his hand.
Kyunghoon’s eyes widened. It was the first person I saw in this world.
No, is it a person?
Kyung-hoon held his hand with a suspicious expression.
Fortunately, my hands weren’t hot. The probability of it being a mutation has decreased slightly.
“I’m Dominic. He’s a researcher at this base. “There weren’t enough people, so I was guarding the portal today.”
The researcher looked Kyung-hoon up and down.
“It’s been a long time since someone came through the portal. It was worth keeping it open.”
Holding his hand, Kyung-hoon stood up. Kyung-hoon looked around.
There were more people.
There was a soldier standing guard in front of the door, and there were also people wearing work clothes. Everyone was looking at Kyung-hoon with surprised faces.
If they weren’t mutants, they would be here. There were still people left.
This place was smaller than the Sajik Stadium where they started. Thanks to this, the pattern drawn on the floor filled the floor of the building. It was the same
pattern as Sajik Stadium. They had come to the right place.
Gyeonghoon looked up. Dozens of people were there. A meter-high ceiling caught my eye.
It was a solid steel structure roof.
There were a total of 7 floors up to the ceiling. The circular railings on each floor caught my eye.
This building looked like a circular tower-shaped building with an open interior.
“Cold War .” “It’s a bunker that was converted from an era nuclear missile silo. It’s fun, isn’t it? Continuing life like this inside something that could have destroyed humanity. I guess they really don’t know what the future holds.”
Seeing Kyung-hoon looking around, a man wearing a researcher’s coat explained.
At that time, a colleague who came over with him came to Kyung-hoon’s mind.
“Ah, Shane… What about the robot?”
“Was it still running? It must have been run by AI. Once the AI passes through the portal, it will stop working for a considerable period of time. You will have to wait a while before it can move again.”
The researcher pointed behind Kyunghoon.
Kyunghoon looked back. Shane was leaning against the wall in an upright position.
The robot, which was not moving in a upright position, looked like an exhibit on the wall.
Kyunghoon could understand why Eve had been silent so far.
“Wake up . Does it take long?”
“Sometimes it takes a few hours at the earliest, or more than a few days at the latest. The more training I receive, the longer it takes me to wake up.”
In that case, there was nothing I could do right away.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so please follow me.”
Just as he said, there were a lot of questions. Kyung-hoon grabbed the strap of his backpack and walked after him.
“I’ll pass by Liam.”
“Hwiik, how long has it been since someone came out of the portal?”
“It’s been a really long time.”
The soldier in front of the door whistled when he saw Kyung-hoon.
Then, the researcher and the soldier worked together to push the iron door.
Rattling.
The iron door rattled and was pushed to the side.
“Thanks to the mana stone, energy is not that low, but the facility is “There’s nothing we can do about it being old. It’s a door that opened automatically not long ago…”
He said hello to the soldier and walked out the door.
The hallway continued in a large circle.
It looked bare and old. People passing by. “I had no
idea that there were still people alive in Korea. At that time, I thought they were the last.”
“If it’s them…”
“A lot of people came over at once before. It was extremely crowded back then.”
Could this be the story of the last people to escape from Korea?
“What happened to those people?”
“It was difficult to accommodate that many people here, so we went to the nearby ‘City.’”
“Then can we meet if we go to that city?”
In response to Kyung-hoon’s question, the researcher shook his head.
“Right now, all news from the city or, to be honest, from outside has been cut off. It’s hard to know what happened.”
“Is it possible that everyone but this place has been wiped out?”
The researcher scratched his head at Kyung-hoon’s words.
“well. “I don’t know about that.”
Kyung-hoon didn’t understand.
“We’re all here. “If you meet the base representative, you will be able to hear the story.”
He stopped and knocked on the door next to the hallway.
smart.
“This is Dominic.”
“Come on in.”
As he opened the door and entered, a middle-aged woman who had been sitting at a desk concentrating on calculations looked up.
She looked surprised when she saw Kyung-hoon coming in after her.
“This is your first time seeing me? “Are you sure you came from a portal?”
“Yes, it looks like there were survivors in Korea.”
“oh! nice to meet you! “It feels really good to see survivors.”
The woman with worn-out brown hair jumped up from her seat and hugged Kyung-hoon.
As the woman released the hug, Kyung-hoon introduced himself.
“My name is Kay.”
Kyung-hoon gave his other name.
“Oh, it’s a different last name from other Koreans. “Pak Kim calls me this.”
Kyung-hoon pretended not to hear her.
“I’m Vanessa. “I’m working behind the scenes at this base.”
A large white woman looked at Kyung-hoon and grinned.
“How long has it been since I met a living outsider? “Everyone will be happy.”
“Except Mr. Gilbert.”
Dominic grumbled next to him.
“Well, Gilbert, it’s because of the food problem. “It’s natural.”
Vanessa explained to Kyung-hoon.
“Ah, it’s a story about our farmers. “I still have some food left in stock, but I’m really worried.”
It seemed like there was a lot I needed to know.
“It’s hard to understand. “Can you please explain what the situation is?”
“Hmm, do you know anything about the situation here?”
Kyunghoon shook his head. Of course, I didn’t know anything.
“Then I will explain, so please listen and tell me how you got the portal running again.”
“All right.”
Vanessa sat down at her desk and started talking.
“As you know, this is the U.S. government’s portal base for overseas connections. “We are also conducting other survival research, but our main role is portal management.”
Vanessa glanced at Dominic in between glances. Dominic pointed to his lab coat.
“I am a researcher conducting other survival studies.”
Vanessa continued speaking.
“After the sea route was blocked by monsters and eventually even the sea route was blocked, we hastily installed a portal that was meant to be an experiment. Fortunately, communication was not blocked, so other governments began creating portals that could also be linked.”
Unfortunately, it was too late to install the portal. In fact, only a few countries connected to the portal, and not many people escaped to the United States.
“This base is connected to the Korean portal. Well, the connection was lost after thousands of people came through at once, but we were still managing it.”
Kyung-hoon frowned at Vanessa’s words.
‘Continue to manage disconnected portals? Is there a reason for that?’
Vanessa looked at Kyung-hoon’s expression and smiled bitterly.
“You recognize it right away. “This is how you came across, but to be honest, the management of the portal was an excuse for those who remained in this base.”
Vanessa quietly told the story.
After the Koreans left for the ‘City’, the portal connection stopped. ‘City’ gave an order to withdraw, but the people here could not make a decision right after hearing the order.
Kyung-hoon finally couldn’t hold back and asked a question.
“What is a city?”
It seemed like he wasn’t just talking about a city.
“I’m talking about the fortress city. After communication with the central government was lost, cities where the military and awakened people were deployed fortified their cities. Those cities are called ‘cities’. “Would you say it’s some kind of city-state?”
Vanessa’s expression while explaining City was not very good.
“How can they hear me say that they left this safe place and came under their control?”
The people at this base were divided into two under the instructions of ‘City’.
Those who leave and those who remain.
And the people here now were the ones who disobeyed the instructions and remained.
“The excuse was that we needed to have someone to manage the portal for the future. And today, that excuse is no longer an excuse.”
Vanessa looked triumphant.
In the end, the reason Vanessa, an ordinary person, became the representative of this base was because other people left the base.
“What do you mean by losing contact with the outside world?”
“The communication device is old and broken. “There are monsters roaming around outside, and we haven’t been able to leave the base for a long time.”
“No way…”
“All four battle awakeners left then. “There are only cowards left here.”
Dominic chuckled next to him.
Vanessa glanced at Dominic and cautiously asked Kyung-hoon.
“Are you by any chance an awakened person?”
“Yes, I am a combat awakener.”
Vanessa and Dominic’s expressions brightened.
“I’m so glad!”
Vanessa came up to Kyung-hoon, held his hand and shook it wildly.
It seemed like they wanted to use Kyung-hoon as a scout.
“Oh right, what happened to Korea? We thought Korea was completely destroyed. But the portal was connected again and people came through. “How many more survivors are there?”
It was when Kyung-hoon was about to answer Vanessa’s question.
Weeeeeeeee!
The siren started sounding.
Vanessa and Dominic’s expressions hardened.
“No way again?”
“Fucking hurry! Kay is coming too! “There’s no way it’s coming already.”
Dominic ran outside.
As expected, Dominic was an awakener. As he said, he appeared to be a non-combatant awakened soldier, but his movements were different from ordinary people.
Kyung-hoon followed him.
Dominic ran down the hallway, his white robe waving.
Other people were seen in the hallway. Dominic shouted at the soldier running in front of him.
“Liam! where are you!”
“It looks like a fucking food warehouse!”
“what?”
Dominic, looking white, ran past the people.
Kyunghoon looked up. I felt a presence.
“I will go first.”
Kyunghoon stepped forward. Instead of continuing down the hallway, he ran into the central underground plaza.
As I went out to the square where the pattern was drawn, I heard a loud noise.
Kuek! Kuek! Kuek!
It was a sound coming from beyond the railing several floors up.
puck!
Kyunghoon kicked his foot.
His body shoots upward.
He frowned as he got down on the railing where he could hear the sounds of the
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors .
Huge earthworms were writhing in the hallway beyond the railing.
A hand holding a pitchfork was visible underneath the earthworm monster.
Hands full of calluses. It was the hands of a farmer.
There was no time to take out the weapon. Kyung-hoon launched himself at the earthworms.
bang!
Flesh and blood flew everywhere.
The monsters had no time to defend or attack.
When Dominic came up, it had already been cleaned up.
Dominic came up with a gun and his face brightened when he saw the shattered monsters.
“You are a very talented person! “I’m so glad!”
But his expression soon darkened.
He recognized the body lying on the floor.
“Gilbert…”
He approached the corpse and then raised his head.
“no way?”
He ran into the open door next to the hallway.
“No… no!!!!”
A scream was heard from inside the door.
Kyung-hoon continued to look at his hands despite the screams.
He tilted his head.
And he went inside the door where he heard the screams.
This room appears to have been a warehouse. But now I couldn’t see anything in good condition.
Dozens of boxes were shattered and canned goods and grains were scattered everywhere.
The monsters seemed to have come into this warehouse from the next room.
There was a large gap in the door and the surrounding wall.
The next room was also completely destroyed.
The hydroponic farm, which had been piled up in layers, was all trash.
There was a large hole in the wall of the next room. It seemed to be a hole where earthworm monsters entered.
Monsters might come in again, but Kyung-hoon wasn’t paying attention to the hole.
Kyung-hoon picked up the rolling canned food. It was a canned food that still looked intact.
“Now there is no food or farms left. What should I do? Are we all going to die?”
Dominic muttered in sorrow, and the people who arrived also sat down in front of the door with shocked faces.
“Oh my god….”
“What should I do?”
“oh my god.”
Everyone sat down in grief, but one person had a different expression.
“Mr. Dominic?”
Kyung-hoon called Dominic.
“….yes?”
Kyung-hoon asked a question to Dominic, who barely answered.
“How long has it been since the Koreans before me arrived?”
It was a strange question.
Dominic answered with a puzzled expression.
“I don’t remember exactly, but it’s been about a year.”
