As if to show that it had once been a closed school, the three cars passed through the iron-bar front gate shaped like a school gate and came to a stop in the middle of the yard.
“It really is spacious. If the school was this big, then the village back in the day couldn’t have been all that small.”
At Baek Hail’s words as he looked around, Junho nodded.
“I heard that up through the 1980s, there were more than fifty households living just around here.”
“Really? Then let’s see... back then people usually had two or three kids. Damn, that means there must’ve been over a hundred students.”
“Probably. And back then, the tunnel was still open too.”
“Ah, that tunnel over there?”
When Baek Hail asked, pointing to the right of the school building—southwest, in other words—Junho nodded.
“Up until the 1990s, people still used it. Cars too. Then it got shut down because it couldn’t pass safety standards. The residents living here filed complaints and all that, but by then the population had already dropped a lot, and Namyangju wasn’t even a city yet, more like the countryside, so it all just kind of fizzled out.”
“That would’ve been around when bridges and department stores were collapsing. Back then the safety standards got insanely strict, so every bridge and tunnel in the country got thrown into chaos.”
After saying that, Baek Hail glanced at the designers, construction staff, and Dawoo Computing people taking pictures nearby, then lowered his voice.
“But later on, won’t people be coming and going through that tunnel? Once the apocalypse hits, nobody’s gonna give a damn about access restrictions.”
“Yeah. A few people probably will come through the tunnel. But they won’t make it all the way up here. You can see it yourself—this place sits pretty high up, right?”
That was true. The abandoned school site where Haneul Forest Campground stood—now turned into Our Pension—was positioned close to the middle of the mountain.
The mountain itself wasn’t especially tall, but getting from the road below all the way up here meant walking several hundred meters along a winding path.
It sounded like only a few hundred meters, but even for a grown man it would take a solid ten minutes or more on foot.
“And big brother, from down below you can barely even see this place. The trees are already pretty dense now, right? By then it’ll be way worse.”
“Figures. City Hall wouldn’t bother with a place like this anyway. That all takes budget and time, and civil servants aren’t gonna waste either.”
Only then did Baek Hail seem reassured. He smiled faintly and gave Junho’s arm a light smack.
“I figured even if it was the metro area, there’d still be at least some people around. But damn, you actually found a place like this. Even on the outskirts of Busan there are still dozens of people living around. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a place with literally nobody in the village.”
“The village has been dead for over ten years already. The fields down below still have owners, but from the looks of it, a few people only come by during farming season to do a little work. I’m thinking of buying those too if I get the chance.”
No one lived in this area anymore.
Long ago, most of the residents had moved away to other regions or to another village beyond the ridge. Or they had died of old age.
But the land itself was still there.
Since it was the kind of place with absolutely no market value, the old housing plots had been abandoned, and only a few small rice paddies and fields were still tended now and then by elderly people who had moved to the next village over and came back occasionally as something to do.
“Really? Then you better make sure word doesn’t get out. In the countryside, once rumors start that somebody with money’s buying up land, the flies swarm in like crazy.”
“Probably. But I don’t think we need to worry too much. We’ve got Counselor Lee Dongcheol, remember?”
“Ahh! If it’s that man, he’s reliable. Damn... Hoya, you really do have a plan for everything, huh?”
Instead of answering, Junho just smiled and gave a little shrug.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that hiring Lee Dongcheol despite all the risks had been the right decision.
Just like Baek Hail said, this was also the first time Junho had ever seen civil servants this kind and cooperative.
Even if he had only stayed there for two years, the title of prosecutor and the connections that came with it still had power.
Especially since it hadn’t even been five years yet since he had worked at the Namyangju branch office, that influence was still alive.
And if Lee Dongcheol quietly persuaded the landowners around this area through his connections—or more accurately, through officials his connections could influence—
'Then all the land around here becomes mine. And until the apocalypse hits, nobody but us comes anywhere near this place.'
Back when it had been thriving, this village had been a proper village, with more than two hundred residents and even an elementary school branch.
Even if they had all gradually left over the course of thirty-some years, it was still entirely possible that elderly people might come by now and then to check on the land out of habit, or because they still felt attached to “their land.”
Junho wanted to prevent even that in advance.
And to do that, Lee Dongcheol’s abilities mattered.
'When construction really gets underway, I should push the land purchases at the same time and throw him a bonus too.'
There was still room in the budget.
Around April 2024, another eight to nine billion won was likely to come in, so adding a few tens of millions on top of that would be no burden at all.
No matter how much of a hunting dog it was, it would never stay loyal on feed alone. You had to give it treats and special meals too if you wanted real loyalty.
That thought suddenly brought a real dog to mind, and Junho turned his head and raised his voice.
“Purdy!”
Purdy, who had been happily sprinting all over the yard, inspecting the place where he would live from now on, came running like the wind.
“Damn, this guy gets more handsome every time I look at him. Purdy, let’s get along well from here on out too, all right?”
Woof!
When Baek Hail laughed and patted Purdy on the head, Purdy—who had been sitting proudly in front of Junho—barked once as if he understood.
“This dog’s smart as hell. Ah, right. Where should we build his kennel?”
“Right next to the entrance of the school building. In winter we can lay down an electric mat, but for summer we’ll need to install an air conditioner too.”
“Damn, you really found a good owner. What kind of owner on earth puts an air conditioner in a dog kennel? Come on then, Hoya, let’s take a lap.”
“Yeah. Purdy, keep playing. Keep an eye on the area.”
Woof!
Purdy barked energetically, then shot back across the yard like an arrow.
***
Together with Baek Hail, Junho toured the main school building, the warehouse, the teachers’ quarters, and the cafeteria building and other annexes one by one.
At each building, Baek Hail’s explanations kept coming without pause.
“The main building—we’re keeping only the frame and stripping everything else, including the exterior walls and the roof. That means all the plumbing and wiring inside will have to be redone from scratch too. Like you said, if we want it to stop bullets, the exterior walls should be high-strength reinforced concrete, and the interior walls should be done in fire-resistant bulletproof composite panels.”
“The entrances and windows are all going to be double-layer bulletproof structures by default, with vertically shielding metal defense doors. That part I’ll handle myself whenever I have time. Security matters, after all.”
“That cafeteria building, though, the floor area’s wide and the structure’s decent, right? So with just a little reinforcement and remodeling, we can use it as a workshop and maintenance shop. Two lifts will be enough. No point in having more service bays than that when we won’t have enough hands to service more than two vehicles at once anyway.”
“The three teachers’ quarters—we’ll leave only the basic frame and gut the insides completely. Then we’ll turn them into storage, split into categories: backup machines and equipment parts, ordinary daily necessities, electronics, that kind of thing.”
“Now, that rear hillside over there—we dig into it and carve it out for an ultra-low-temperature freezer warehouse and a fuel storage depot. Since we’ll be cutting deep into the bedrock, it’s naturally ideal for maintaining base temperature. The walls will use a VIP and PIR composite insulation structure, the ceiling gets additional phenolic foam, and the floor gets a layered XPS and VIP structure. If we build it like that, we lock down both insulation and moisture control, and we can cut power consumption by more than half.”
“And as for solar, I ran the numbers. As long as we secure the maintenance access paths properly, we can install up to the 160-kilowatt-hour class across all the rooftops here. If we do that, it’d be better to increase the ESS battery system to the 1-megawatt class.”
“So if we say all these buildings and facilities are running at full load, then we’d use a little over 500 kilowatts of electricity per day. That includes the AI computers too.”
“But realistically, we’re almost never gonna run at full load. Most of the time it’ll only use around 350 to 400 kilowatts a day. In that case, even if it rains or snows, we’d only need to pull about 100 kilowatts from the ESS. Without even running the emergency diesel generator, it could hold out for at least a week.”
“And realistically, you almost never get daytime torrential rain or heavy snow for a full week straight. So in the end, the diesel generator probably won’t be used more than a few times except for a test run once a month to keep it from rusting up.”
There were a few technical terms mixed in, but overall Baek Hail’s explanation was geared to Junho’s level and easy to understand.
In other words, the conclusion was simple.
“So if you build ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) it exactly the way you said, you’re telling me we won’t have to worry for about thirty years?”
“No. If you maintain it properly, people could live here for a lifetime.”
Only then, at Baek Hail’s confident answer, could Junho finally relax.
After they finished touring the whole property, Junho went up to the roof of the main building with Baek Hail, away from the others bustling around below taking pictures and surveying the land, and spoke carefully.
“Big brother. I trust you, obviously, but I still don’t trust the designers or the construction people yet. You understand, right?”
“Ah, of course I understand. But why all of a sudden?”
Junho turned his gaze toward the cafeteria building as he spoke.
“That cafeteria over there. We’re going to use it as a workshop and maintenance shop, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Underground... we need to make a separate space down there. At least two basement levels deep.”
“Huh? What for?”
“We need a shooting range.”
“...!”
Baek Hail’s eyes went wide.
But then he quickly nodded with a serious expression.
“Right. Since you said we’re gonna be replicating firearms in the workshop anyway, we’ll need a shooting range to test them too.”
“Yeah. It has to be thoroughly soundproofed, and the ventilation has to be perfect too, so the smell of gunpowder doesn’t leak out. We’re already planning to make a parking garage under the cafeteria building, right? I was thinking we could build a hidden passage off the garage that leads to the shooting range. What do you think?”
“Hm... structurally, it’s more than possible. As for building it... well, we can just say it’s a storage area for materials. Plenty of companies secretly build illegal underground storage without officials knowing anyway. I’ll mention it quietly to Woorim. But....”
Baek Hail smiled faintly as he continued.
“You and I are gonna have to do the soundproofing work ourselves. We’ll need to call your brother in too. It’s probably gonna be a real bastard.”
“Even if it is, we obviously have to do it. And we’ve got time, right? Don’t tell me we can’t finish that in two years.”
“True enough. With three or four strong men, we could probably finish it in a couple months. Anyway, got it.”
“Yeah. For that part especially, please pay extra attention to security.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t even mention it to Suho. No—to Suho either.”
Watching Baek Hail nod grimly, Junho suddenly asked as if it had just occurred to him.
“Ah! How’s Mr. Suho doing these days? Nothing wrong, right?”
It had already been two weeks since Baek Suho safely underwent pancreatic cancer surgery and was discharged.
Junho had been hearing through regular contact with Baek Hail that everything was going smoothly, but he suddenly found himself curious about how he was doing and asked just to make sure.
But at the question, Baek Hail’s expression twisted for a moment.
For an instant, Junho’s heart dropped, wondering if something had happened, but then Baek Hail let out a sigh.
“Haah! Don’t even ask. That little bastard meets up with his friends every chance he gets. Then he goes around telling the whole damn neighborhood he doesn’t have to do military service. But when I looked into it, turns out our Hoya’s surgery went so well there’s no problem at all with his digestion or blood sugar. Which means in the end, he still has to go.”
“Ah....”
“So I told him, yeah, you still have to go serve. And do you know what that little bastard—that crazy son of a bitch—said to me? He said then wouldn’t he be exempt if he got cancer one more time. Is that something you say to your own father? I have no clue where a lunatic like that came from.”
“I-is that so....”
With a story that was too absurd to laugh at and too ridiculous to cry over, Junho could only nod with an awkward expression.
