“That’s absurd. Why would I go there? My son and daughter-in-law are here, and all the other old folks are here too.”
“Leaving your son and his wife aside, the old people here now aren’t the ones who originally lived with you at the nursing home, are they?”
“That’s... true.”
The old people who had lived with Go Jeongnam at Hanaareum Nursing Home had all passed away now.
The ones here now were only people who had lived in Gahyeon-ri, failed to adjust to communal living, or developed depression and come here.
Since they had no particular connection to Go Jeongnam in the first place, they were not exactly close to him.
“Even if I set those old geezers aside, I can’t because of our Seokjin. That little bastard will cause trouble again if I’m not here. I’ve finally made something close to a human out of him....”
“How long are you planning to keep sheltering him?”
“What...?”
“I mean your son. In a few years, he’ll be forty, won’t he? Are you still planning to stay by his side and watch over him like this then?”
“Grrmm....”
“I know he’s your youngest, born late in life. But it’s time to let go. And from what I’ve seen lately, he seems to be leading this place well enough in your stead.”
Through the PTZ cameras and CCTV installed at the nursing home, as well as Choi Uisu’s couple and the shelter members who often stopped by, Junho already had the full picture.
The important matters were mostly still managed by old Go Jeongnam, but Go Seokjin, as the second-in-command now, was leading things fairly diligently with a sense of responsibility.
“Still, that bastard might cause trouble again if I’m not here....”
“I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll be watching this place twenty-four hours a day.”
“.......”
“And you know it too, sir. Your son is more afraid of me than he is of you.”
He had been afraid of Junho from their first meeting, but after hearing that Junho had wiped out hundreds of zombies in the apartment complex parking lot after dealing with EoktenZ and Hanchang Development, it had gotten even worse.
According to Yoon Youngsu, every night when Go Seokjin made his wireless report to the shelter, he even asked about Junho’s intentions, mood, and current condition.
“Come live where I live and watch for yourself. It isn’t far anyway.”
“Is... is that so?”
“Yes. And these are the little ones.”
Junho took out a tablet and played a video of Choi Jiwoo and Kim Junseo playing with Kkamsoonie.
The sight of the two children running around with the black dog in the yard of the spacious container housing area looked so peaceful and full of hope that the apocalypse itself seemed like a lie.
“The boy’s older sister looks after them often, but she has work of her own, so it’s hard for her to keep taking care of them all the time. So if you came, sir....”
“I’ll go.”
“Yes? Ah, yes. No taking it back, all right?”
Slightly flustered by the answer that came far too quickly, Junho hurried to get a firm commitment.
“I won’t take it back. Why would I, with these little things waiting there? I’ve got two grandchildren now.”
As he said that, Go Jeongnam’s gaze was fixed not on Junho, but on the tablet screen.
And judging by the way the corners of his mouth kept twitching, Choi Jiwoo and Kim Junseo seemed to be painfully cute to him.
As expected, the best thing for an old person was to attach grandchildren to them.
***
“What? Father?”
When the news came that Go Jeongnam had decided to move to the container housing area, Go Seokjin, of course, and everyone else at the nursing home were greatly shocked.
But when told that, considering his health, that place would be better because Choi Uisu and Kim Heeyoung were always on standby there, everyone had no choice but to accept it.
On top of that—
“It isn’t that far from here. If something happens, he can come back within thirty minutes.”
In truth, it would be possible to arrive within ten minutes, not thirty.
But in a world like this, a distance of thirty minutes was practically right in front of them, so everyone was reassured by Junho’s words.
That was because not only the nursing home staff, but Lee Seulgi and the three high school students had also grown quite attached to Go Jeongnam.
The fiercely devoted son Go Seokjin, however, was a little different.
“F-Father. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Still, I’m your son in name and in truth, so how can you say you’re going to live somewhere else....”
It was understandable that Go Seokjin would worry and object when the father he had finally reunited with said he was leaving the nursing home.
But—
“Then will you come along with your wife? It’s where this man lives. Will you be all right with that?”
“......!”
When Go Jeongnam pointed at Junho, Go Seokjin’s face instantly went pale.
“S-Since it’s close, please come visit often anyway, Father. I’ll contact you every day.”
Seeing Go Seokjin reverse his position in an instant made Junho laugh inwardly, but he spoke with a deliberately expressionless face.
“I’m not trying to scare you, but even if the old man comes to our side, I’ll be checking on the nursing home every day. So, Mr. Go Seokjin, as long as you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll be fine.”
“Yes, yes.”
Junho said he was not trying to scare him, but Go Seokjin nodded with a face that, to anyone watching, looked thoroughly cowed.
So Junho decided to give him the carrot.
“And we’ll send some more support here. First, we’ll install two automatic turrets. I’ll give you an emergency generator and one drum of diesel, and also a tofu-making machine, a bean-sprout cultivator, a smoking machine, and about ten boxes of canned food.”
“What...!?”
Turning his gaze away from the startled Go Seokjin and the nursing home staff, Junho spoke to Lee Seulgi and the high school students.
“I heard from the doctor that you’re short on clothes and personal daily necessities. I’ll bring each of you several sets of underwear and tracksuits.”
Although he was not bringing them into the container housing area or their shelter, he had decided to provide them as well with the personal backpacks that shelter members received when they first joined.
After all, they had enough supplies that the shelter members could use them for decades and still have leftovers, and the rabbits and chickens these people had diligently raised at the nursing home had been no small help to the shelter.
“And you’re Youngjun, right? I heard you’re still studying even in the middle of all this.”
“Well... I can’t really sleep at night. And when I sit still, I just get useless thoughts. If you tell me not to, I won’t. I’m sorry.”
Oh Youngjun, the study worm Choi Uisu had praised to the skies, lowered his head with a slightly frightened expression.
But Junho shook his head.
“No. What are you sorry for? Studying after your workday is done is your freedom.”
“Ah....”
At the unexpected answer, Oh Youngjun quickly lifted his head.
“And Dr. Choi said you’re really smart. He wanted to help you with your studies.”
“N-No. Not really....”
“Yeah? Then you don’t need this?”
Junho took out the laptop box he had brought after accepting Choi Uisu’s careful request.
Oh Youngjun’s eyes widened behind his horn-rimmed glasses.
“......!?”
“Use it when you study at night. With this, you should be able to connect wirelessly to a database containing the high school curriculum and even the medical-school coursework. After that, Dr. Choi and Nurse Kim will teach you.”
“Ah... th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
Oh Youngjun, who had been so good at studying and liked it so much that he used to go to the academy before dawn even during holidays because his goal was medical school, was deeply moved.
Of course, Junho was not showing this kindness because Oh Youngjun was cute or because Choi Uisu had praised him.
'I don’t know how many years it’ll take, but if he learns properly from Dr. Choi, that means this kid can become a doctor too, doesn’t it?'
And in this apocalyptic world, he would be achieving that dream through the “support” of Junho, Choi Uisu, and Kim Heeyoung.
Naturally, that meant Junho would gain a “shelter doctor” far more loyal than any scholarship student a chaebol conglomerate had raised from childhood.
***
Since he was already at it, Junho decided to support them with mattresses and bedding, as well as Gore-Tex work clothes for everyone, then immediately loaded Go Jeongnam into the electric truck and brought him to the container housing area.
The cargo compartment had no windows, and they moved through the secret passage beside the industrial road, so there was no way Go Jeongnam could figure out the shelter’s location.
On top of that, he had only stayed at Hanaareum Nursing Home and was an outsider who did not know the geography of this neighborhood well.
“Hello, sir. I look forward to working with you from now on.”
“Hello, Grandpa.”
Receiving the polite greetings of Yoon Seolhee, the KJM Brothers, and the Blossom members, whom Junho had already told about Go Jeongnam—
Go Jeongnam moved into the container house that had already been fully set up for him.
“Well now... this is better than the house I used to live in.”
While Go Jeongnam admired the container house, which had perfect insulation and facilities on the level of a newly built studio apartment, Kim Junseo and Choi Jiwoo entered the yard of the container housing area with the dogs, as they did for two or three hours every day like it was a playground.
Since they were young children, it would have been natural for them to be startled or frightened by an unfamiliar grandfather.
“Is Grandpa my dad’s great-uncle?”
“Uh... yes, that’s right.”
Because the shelter members had already coordinated their story and told them Go Jeongnam was Choi Jeongwoo’s uncle.
Choi Jiwoo not only did not doubt for even a moment that this grandfather she was seeing for the first time was her real grandfather.
“Wow! I have a grandpa now! Wooow!”
She was so excited by the fact that she had grandparents for the first time in her life that she grabbed Kkamsoonie’s front paws and danced a silly little dance with her.
“Hello. I’m Kim Junseo.”
By contrast, although he was only in second grade, Kim Junseo had a mature side and seemed to have noticed something, but as always, he politely bowed with both hands folded over his belly.
At the sight of those two children, Go Jeongnam’s mouth stretched all the way to his ears, and he rummaged in his pocket before holding something out.
“Want to eat this? It’s chocolate.”
When a chocolate bar still in its unopened wrapper, though cutting it close to its expiration date, appeared—
“Gasp....”
It was not the two children, but Blossom member Lee Chaerin who covered her mouth with her hand.
She had always been helpless before sweets.
But the two children, especially Choi Jiwoo, reacted completely differently.
“That tastes bad! Let’s eat this together, Grandpa! Foul Ball is yummy!”
A better snack than the one Go Jeongnam had saved came out of Choi Jiwoo’s adorable Koromi bag.
“Is... is that so? Then shall Grandpa have a taste too?”
“Yes!”
Go Jeongnam looked sheepish, but he personally opened the package and enjoyed the chocolate snack with the two children.
While Lee Chaerin swallowed, everyone who had newly joined watched the three “grandparent and grandchildren” with warm expressions.
“Ah....”
And then, abruptly, they realized it.
Except for this place, it would be difficult to see the scene before their eyes ever again.
Only here now, only in “our shelter,” which they had joined, could they see such a peaceful sight, no different from the past.
And so—
'I’m really going to work hard. I should ask Sunny a lot and learn properly!'
'This might be fine not just as a dispatch, but as a full transfer....'
All of them felt their affection and trust deepen even further toward “our shelter,” which could practically be called the only one of its kind, at least in the Republic of Korea.
And Junho noticed that reaction and nodded inwardly.
'Good. Not bad.'
It was an obvious show, but this was exactly what he had been aiming for when he so visibly put Go Jeongnam and the two children together.
“Could I see you for a moment?”
Junho called Yoon Seolhee and the KJM Brothers aside to speak with them separately.
“As I told you, in two days I’ll be going to the lower Bukhan River and Paldang Lake side to do some work. Assistant Manager Kim and Mr. Jimin, you can go around the shelter safety-zone guard posts with my brother.”
“Yes. I took a rough look at the aerial map, and the points where you built the guard posts were almost perfect. There weren’t any PTZ camera blind spots either.”
“We studied and planned it for quite a long time. Anyway, while I’m gone, I’ll be counting on you. For questions about weapons and equipment, ask Boss Hail, whom you met yesterday, or Team Leader Yoon. My brother will explain the daily schedule and the precautions for living at the shelter in detail.”
“Yes.”
While everyone nodded, Kim Jaemun cautiously stepped forward.
“Then what should I do?”
“Mr. Jaemun, you were a Marine Corps drill instructor, right? I heard you also trained hard under Manager Park Cheolwoo at the resort.”
“Uh, yes. That’s right.”
“Please train two people. For now, it’s two, but there will be more going forward.”
He had recruited a farming and livestock specialist, and though it would take some time, a second doctor had also been marked out in the form of Oh Youngjun, whom Choi Uisu would personally teach.
Then he also had to plan ahead for combat personnel beyond the people he currently had.
That was why Junho intended to entrust Kim Jaemun, a professional drill instructor, with training not only Park Sunhee and Baek Suho, who had to evolve into all-weather workhorses, but also the people who would later move into the container housing area.
And even the combat training of the Gahyeon-ri search-and-kill team.
So that he could protect not only their shelter, but every part of his “territory” more firmly.
