Just then, loud thump, thump sounds began coming from the bunker entrance. When I checked the CCTV, I saw what looked like an elderly couple—a woman and a man. Perhaps they had been contaminated by radiation; their hair had fallen out in patches, and they were wearing filthy clothes over their gaunt bodies as they desperately pounded on the bunker door. At first, I was going to ignore them.
"They’ll get tired and go somewhere else eventually."
My mother studied the CCTV screen closely.
"Son, I think I know those people. They’re your father’s friends—the ones who taught us how to grow tomatoes and helped us before."
"Oh, you’re right."
When I had first started growing tomatoes, I had struggled because I lacked knowledge. My father had introduced me to a local man who was friends with him and knew all kinds of farming. This was that man.
"Let’s at least hear them out. They helped us with the farm work too, remember?"
"Hmm... I’m grateful they helped us back then, but honestly, I think it’s dangerous. In times like these, you never know how people might change."
"Still, we can’t just pretend not to know someone who helped us, can we? Even in times like these, let’s not throw away our humanity."
Unable to refuse, I picked up the microphone connected to the entrance speaker.
[Ahem... Can you hear me? What brings you here?]
Their expressions brightened dramatically at the sudden voice, and they rushed toward the speaker.
"Do you remember us? We’re Jin-cheol’s friends. We vaguely heard that Jin-cheol’s son had built a bunker here. We’ve run out of food, and we’re starving to death, so we came here hoping... Could you share some food with us? Please. We really think we’re going to die."
Park Jin-cheol was my father’s name.
[We have weapons here, so don’t try anything funny. I intend to share a little food with you, so step back at least twenty meters from the entrance and wait.]
"Ah, thank you. We’re saved, we’re saved!"
I packed enough food for two people to survive for a week into a bag from the storeroom. Just in case, I handed my mother the spear we had made from a kitchen knife. After checking the CCTV, I opened the bunker door a crack and threw the bag outside. Then I firmly shut and locked it again.
After confirming that both the door connected to the entrance and the second inner door were securely locked, I checked the CCTV. The elderly couple hurried over and inspected the food in the bag.
[There is no more food to share, so do not come back. If you return, you won’t like what happens.]
I issued a stern warning through the microphone.
"Thank you."
The elderly couple repeatedly bowed in gratitude before leaving the bunker.
"You didn’t have to say it quite like that."
"No, that was exactly right. If we keep giving things away, we’ll end up like them too."
That was what I said, but honestly, I did not even like the fact that we had shared food with them. I had done it because of my mother, but my belief that they were dangerous had not changed.
Four more days passed after that.
After organizing the supplies and cleaning the bunker, I got tired and lay down for a moment, only to fall asleep completely.
"Son! Son! Wake up!"
My mother urgently woke me.
As I groggily looked around, I heard a creak, creak coming from the door that led outside the bunker.
I hurriedly got up and checked the CCTV. About fifteen grown men were in front of the bunker entrance, trying to force open the door.
"What the hell is going on?"
Looking more closely at the CCTV, I spotted the couple who had come before among them. They must have told the others where the bunker was.
"They said they were dying, so I took the risk and shared food with them—and this is how they betray us!"
I was furious, but the situation was urgent, so I put my thoughts aside and grabbed the compound bow from beneath the bed.
When I had started building the bunker, the thing I made strongest was the door. Thick steel plates were hard to obtain, so I had welded together four steel plates meant for large ships to make the door, then fitted it with eight hinges used for factory doors. No matter what they did, it would not be easy to open. The raiders outside wrestled with it for thirty minutes, then apparently realized that and gave up trying to open the door. They gathered together and began discussing something.
Once they seemed to be finished discussing, a large man who looked like their leader gave some kind of order, and the others dispersed.
It would have been fortunate if they had simply given up, but these bastards did not look like the type to quit that easily.
Sure enough, about an hour later, the sound of a vehicle suddenly started up outside. Looking at the CCTV, I saw them driving a large truck toward the bunker entrance. They were probably planning to use the truck to rip out the entire entrance.
Several of them began hammering at the bunker entrance door with various tools. The noise felt like it would drive me insane, but there was not much I could do. My mother seemed to be in pain too; she bowed her head and covered both ears with her hands, enduring it.
After pounding at the bunker entrance for a long time, they made a gap and threaded a rope through it, connecting it to the truck.
When they started the truck and backed up, the rope stretched taut enough to snap, and the bastards began grabbing the rope and pulling as well.
Then the bunker entrance door let out a screaming creeeak as a small gap began to open. I opened the small window installed in the inner door, watched them through it, and aimed my bow through the opening.
A moment later, there was a loud bang! as the bunker entrance door was forced open. A man carrying a kitchen knife began slowly climbing down the ladder into the underground bunker.
Without hesitation, I fired an arrow into the back of the man’s head as he descended the ladder.
Thud!
"Urgh!"
The man seemed to die instantly the moment the arrow struck his head, falling from the ladder.
"Gasp! Mr. Choi is dead!"
Someone who appeared to be his companion screamed after checking the corpse.
After things stayed quiet for a while, I checked the CCTV and saw that they had gathered again to discuss something. Then they brought several large wooden boards and shoved them between the ladder leading underground and the inner door. They were probably using them as protection from arrows.
I hurriedly grabbed lighter fluid and several butane gas canisters. I opened the cap of the lighter fluid bottle, stuffed a cloth into it, and lit it on fire. Then, along with the butane canisters, I cracked the door open, threw them toward the ladder, and quickly shut the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shortly afterward, the sound of the gas canisters exploding began, apparently because the fire had caught well.
Startled by the explosions and flames, the bastards outside backed away from the bunker entrance.
The inner bunker door was also made of steel, and thanks to the chimney effect and good air circulation, even if there was a fire at the underground entrance, we would not be harmed.
Then I issued a forceful warning through the speaker.
[The bunker is full of gas canisters! If you force open the bunker door, I’ll blow them all up!]
"Please let this work..."
I watched the CCTV screen tensely.
Then the man who seemed to be the leader said something with an angry expression and suddenly began beating the elderly couple who had betrayed us.
Once the elderly couple stopped moving, apparently dead, the leader finally seemed to vent his anger. He stopped beating them and gave his people some kind of order.
Then the men suddenly began hauling over rocks and dirt, pouring them into the underground entrance.
"You fucking bastards!"
Giving up on the bunker would have been fine, but in a fit of rage they piled dirt and rocks all the way up to the bunker entrance, leaving us unable to get out or let anyone in. At this point, it would not matter if we called it a tomb instead of a bunker.
Only in the evening, after their work seemed finished, did the raiders who had attacked the bunker begin leaving one by one. I was furious beyond measure, but there was nothing I could do.
"Sigh... Let’s just sleep."
I had been tense all day, so exhausted that I fell asleep the instant I lay down on the bed. It had been a truly difficult day.
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