The Apocalypse Regressor's All-Purpose Shelter

“Kghap! Ack! Aaaagh!? Aaah....”

After repeatedly shouting bizarre battle cries and screams, Blossom member Ahn Yujeong finally let out a mournful groan.

“I wiiiin!”

Kkak kkak. Kkak.

At that, Choi Jiwoo—hugging a Koromi doll—jumped up and down excitedly, while the crow nearby pecking apart bits of string opened and closed its beak as well.

“You won again.”

Kim Junseo, Yujeong’s opponent, pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead and grinned.

The two little brats and the baby bird were absurdly in sync.

Still clutching the game controller, Ahn Yujeong puffed out her lips.

“Hey, you’re seriously sneaky. You’re not supposed to play like that, Junseo. Ever heard of a chair shot? If this were the old days, a chair would’ve already gone flying at your head.”

“Thank you for the compliment, sis.”

“Thank you for the complimenttt.”

Without understanding a thing, Choi Jiwoo copied Kim Junseo and gave a deep bow.

“Wow, the little runt’s teabagging me now too? You seriously....”

“Yujeong, where’d the others go?”

At Park Sunhee’s voice as she entered the shelter lounge, Ahn Yujeong turned her head away from the game she’d been playing with the two kids.

“To the livestock greenhouse. They said they’re testing some AI thing today. Automation or something.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Oh right, kids, hang on a second. Play by yourselves for a bit.”

After handing over the controller so the children could keep playing together, Ahn Yujeong quietly approached Park Sunhee.

“Hey, hey. You know that otaku guy?”

“Youngsu?”

“Yeah. Is he seriously over thirty?”

“Yeah? He’s thirty this year, I think. Twenty-nine internationally.”

“Seriously? He’s not your age?”

“...Are you saying I look old?”

“No, that’s not it. Anyway, that guy seriously looks young. I thought he was like twenty-two or twenty-three.”

“He kinda does, right? I was shocked too when I first found out. But you only just learned how old he is?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I had a reason to talk to him before. Today’s the first time I’ve even seen him in almost two weeks.”

Yoon Youngsu—the shelter’s AI specialist and control-room chief—still came across to most people besides a few founding members as either an extreme otaku or some mysterious cryptid.

Except during breakfast, which everyone ate together no matter what, he was almost impossible to see.

And even then, he usually sat tucked away in a corner eating alone while staring at a tablet or laptop—or just surviving on potato chips and energy bars in the control room.

Though lately, after Choi Haneul started bringing him kimbap or rice balls directly to the control room, he’d been getting smacked awake and forced to eat actual meals.

“But why are you asking about Youngsu?”

“Well....”

Ahn Yujeong glanced around the empty hallway where only a robot vacuum was buzzing around before lowering her voice.

“I think Joan might be interested in him.”

“What...!?”

“Shhh! Geez, hey.”

Eyes widening, Park Sunhee got dragged into a corner by Ahn Yujeong, who kept smacking her arm.

There was nobody around in the first place, so Park Sunhee had no idea why they were acting so suspicious.

Still, she let herself get dragged along.

She was still in her early twenties herself.

And although nobody had noticed yet—or at least she thought nobody had—she too was secretly crushing on someone.

So naturally, this kind of topic was interesting.

“I’m serious. Every time we eat breakfast, Joan keeps sneaking glances at that otaku guy.”

“D-Did she? I didn’t notice....”

“That’s because you spend every meal burying your face in your tray stuffing yourself. Anyway, you know Joan eats a lot, right?”

“I do not stuff my face... but yeah, Joan does eat a lot.”

Joan—the youngest member of Blossom and originally from Taiwan—was tiny, but had an enormous appetite.

Despite being an idol, she ate so enthusiastically that fans once brought her premium Korean beef at a fan meeting just because they liked watching her eat happily.

The image of her hugging the beef with a blissful smile had even gone viral.

“But whenever that otaku guy’s in the cafeteria, do you know how little she eats? I swear, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Joan counting rice grains with chopsticks.”

“Really?”

“Seriously. Then the moment otaku guy finishes first and leaves? Boom. She stops counting rice grains and inhales everything. Today she finished an entire bowl in five minutes.”

“I-I see.”

“Mhm. Anyway, unni, tell me more about him. I need to know what kind of person he is.”

“Huh? Well... um.”

After thinking for a moment, Park Sunhee suddenly looked flustered.

Come to think of it, she herself barely knew anything about Yoon Youngsu.

No—in the first place, she’d probably spoken to him only slightly more than the Blossom members had.

The most mysterious person in the shelter was Yoon Youngsu.

Still...

'He’s super close with Junho, isn’t he? Haven’t I been too indifferent until now?'

“To coordinate the words, you have to shoot the general first....”

Park Sunhee unconsciously muttered an Eastern proverb she had learned incorrectly from Choi Haneul recently.

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Ah? It’s just... something. Anyway, if you want to catch the horse, you have to hit the rider first? So if you want to know more about Youngsu, asking Teacher Baek would probably be fastest. They work together a lot.”

“Oh really? But he’s kinda scary....”

“Teacher Baek? He’s incredibly nice though. He’s super kind.”

“Yeah, well... sigh, never mind.”

After hearing from Park Deokcheol why Baek Hail liked and favored Park Sunhee so much, Ahn Yujeong couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

According to Deokcheol, to Baek Hail, Park Sunhee was the first born labor prodigy and “construction-site ace” he had ever seen in his life.

Naturally, that meant Baek Hail always treated her warmly and taught her all sorts of things.

“Anyway, today’s conversation is a secret, okay? I’m heading back to babysitting duty now. Trot trot.”

“Okay.”

After parting with Ahn Yujeong, Park Sunhee exited the main building and climbed into an electric cart.

Wong wong.

Purdy immediately leapt into the passenger seat, and after scratching his neck affectionately, she started the cart.

Giiiiing.

Once the AI Akina confirmed both the vehicle and Park Sunhee’s face through the cameras, the shelter’s main gate opened.

The cart drove downhill, passing by the container residential area.

Even there, the AI automatically opened and closed the gates on both sides after recognizing her face through cameras.

“Seriously, nobody could ever get in here....”

By now she should’ve been used to it, but every time she saw it, Park Sunhee still felt both amazed and reassured.

Of course, not only was the safe zone larger than half of Yeouido, but there were now barely any zombies left even outside of it.

Still, she now understood that in this world, people were just as dangerous as zombies.

Not long ago, a few survivors who escaped from Moku-ri had caused trouble in Gahyeon-ri.

She didn’t know what ultimately happened to the people captured by the search-and-destroy team.

But considering several people had died or been seriously injured during the incident and suppression, the outcome was obvious enough.

“Whew....”

Park Sunhee shivered slightly while gripping the steering wheel.

Living inside their shelter—a place so safe and capable of providing almost anything—had made her relax a great deal.

But the outside world was still a place where life and death were decided far too easily.

And out there right now was the man who owned the shelter and had saved her life.

“I hope you’re safe... nothing bad’s happened, right, Purdy?”

Wong!

As though telling her not to worry, the loyal German Shepherd barked energetically.

Smiling faintly, Park Sunhee continued driving toward the cattle farm.

***

“...No, I mean, using sensor fusion, we integrate temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and wind-speed data. Then control is handled through a hybrid of MPC—model predictive control—and reinforcement-learning systems. If we apply a basic winching system, film deployment and ventilation-window control can all be automated. Solar inverters, ESS, and peak shaving can be managed through edge computing. But right now we’re critically short on resources, so....”

“Speak Korean, Korean, you little bastard.”

At Baek Hail’s grumbling interruption, one of the younger Gahyeon-ri survivors who had agreed to manage the greenhouse farming stepped forward awkwardly.

“Sorry, but I don’t really understand what you’re saying. Could you explain it more simply?”

Yoon Youngsu let out a long sigh before speaking again.

“Simply put, we’re completely lacking materials, so fully automating all the greenhouses here is impossible.”

“Oh... really?”

Seeing the disappointment on the man’s face, Yoon Youngsu nodded.

“Yeah. First problem’s the panels.”

Pointing toward the solar panels piled in one corner of the empty lot, he continued.

“These panels were ripped off from all over the place, so the voltages are all different. There’s nothing I can do about that. Lead-acid has to stay with lead-acid, lithium iron phosphate with lithium iron phosphate. Charging methods are different, so if you just connect them randomly, the inverter’ll fry.”

“Ah....”

“Also, the workstations here are old, so parallel control is difficult. So we’ll only automate the ventilation systems. The computer’ll tell you when to water and regulate temperature, and people will handle the rest manually....”

Today, Yoon Youngsu and Baek Hail had personally come to Gahyeon-ri to teach the survivors how to construct and manage vinyl greenhouses using computers in order to increase productivity.

But despite scavenging equipment, facilities, and PC components from all over Gahyeon-ri—

According to Yoon Youngsu, fully semi-automating over thirty greenhouses was impossible.

Two or three would’ve been manageable.

Thirty-plus was not.

“...So normally, maybe forty or fifty people? During busy periods, you’d need to gather more locals to maintain everything. At least there’s plenty of water here, which helps. Anyway, if you follow my instructions, it won’t be perfect, but it’ll be enough to keep everyone alive here.”

“Understood. Then where should we start?”

“Sort the solar panels by manufacturer first. Separate the lead-acid batteries from the lithium iron phosphate ones too.”

“Understood.”

Once Baek Hail stepped in, the young man began shouting instructions to the villagers standing around awkwardly, and everyone quickly got busy.

Watching the scene, Park Deokcheol cautiously approached.

“Brother Youngsu, so you can’t run farms here with only a few people like our shelter?”

“Nope. To make this place like our shelter greenhouses, you’d need to pour in at least a billion won. And that’s with experts handling the setup from start to finish.”

“Ah... like the shelter farm you built with Teacher Baek?”

“Obviously. We had it easy because the boss prepared everything in advance from the start. And our scale’s much smaller than this place too. Even then, we’re barely hanging on now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Nodding, Yoon Youngsu pulled out a bag of potato chips hanging from his waist pouch like some European tourist.

Nearby, the children of Gahyeon-ri stared at him enviously while sucking on their fingers.

Receiving their intense gaze, he hesitated briefly before beckoning them over and handing out all the snacks he’d brought.

“Ah, shit... now I barely have any potato chips left.”

Dusting off his hands while muttering quietly, Yoon Youngsu shrugged at Park Deokcheol, who seemed to be suppressing laughter for some reason.

“As the shelter gets bigger and the facilities increase, our computing resources are getting stretched thin. Expanding the mesh network across Gahyeon-ri, Peach Valley, the Bukhan River, and even the Han River was the problem. Some nodes are overloaded now, so data sync’s lagging. Seriously, if the boss can’t loot an IDC center or research-lab servers this time, we might actually be screwed....”

But Yoon Youngsu couldn’t bring himself to openly ask Junho to gather those things while he was away in Bucheon.

No matter how shameless he was, he wasn’t heartless enough to make demands like that of someone risking his life outside.

Besides, how would they even transport that much equipment back to the shelter?

At minimum, they’d need one of the shelter’s electric trucks.

Which was why Yoon Youngsu—and the same went for Baek Hail and Park Deokcheol—

“I just hope they come back safely.”

“Don’t worry. It’s only been a few days since Hoya’s promised return date. We’ll hear from him soon enough.”

“That’s right. Boss Junho’s invincible.”

All they could do was hope Junho and the others, who had gone into the city that was practically a land of death, returned safely.

***

“S-Sister Agatha?”

“Director Lee! Oh, Holy Mother Mary.”

Lee Myeongseon and Sister Agatha knew each other well.

That made sense, considering Lee Myeongseon had been the director of the Women and Juvenile Division at Bucheon Police Station, while Sister Agatha had run an orphanage for many years.

Lee Myeongseon had visited the convent several times in the past.

“You made it here safely. Thank goodness.”

“I’m so relieved you’re alright.”

Leaving the two middle-aged women tearfully greeting each other after their unexpected reunion, Junho walked over to Shin Hocheol and the reservists.

“As I said before, I think it’d be best for all of you to stay here. In my opinion, there probably isn’t a safer place in Bucheon than this.”

“Hmm. You’re definitely right about that.”

After following Junho over Wonmi Mountain to the youth training center, the reservists were genuinely shocked.

Just as Junho said, it was hard to believe a place this isolated even existed inside the city of Bucheon.

There were deep mountains behind it, while the only road nearby—around three hundred meters away—connected Kkachiul Station and Yeokgok Station.

Meaning that if both sides of the road were blocked, there was realistically no way to enter this area.

Furthermore, because the region had been designated for redevelopment, all the old roadside houses and buildings had already been demolished.

Almost nobody had lived here to begin with.

“The sisters have maintained gardens at the convent for years and know a fair bit about farming, so self-sufficiency shouldn’t be difficult. As you saw, there are solar panels at the training center too, so there’s at least some electricity.”

“Yes. We’ll follow your proposal. This place is really incredible.”

The reservists had already made their decision.

Junho had not only kept his promise and handed over supplies, but even provided them with an extremely rare, near-perfect hideout.

They could only feel grateful toward him.

And protecting the children here was only natural for them, even if they had merely been conscripted soldiers.

But Junho hadn’t offered them all this simply out of kindness.

“Then... when are we going after those cult bastards?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

The reason Junho had made a deal with the reservists was because of the Final Judgment Society.

He intended to wipe out that cult completely—the same cult that not only sacrificed people to Alphas, but would later become the cause of the massive wave that devastated the southern Seoul metropolitan region.