Hiding a House in the Apocalypse

Back in school, we never had sword-fighting classes or dueling lessons.

In combat between humans, only guns mattered—everything else was meaningless.

Even Instructor Jang Ki-young, who had his head stuck in romantic ideals, used to say, "If you're going to swing a sword, you might as well carry another handgun."

And he was right.

I had rarely used melee weapons against humans in real combat.

Blades were only ever tools—used when overwhelming an enemy who couldn’t resist.

So this Chinese Hunter wasn’t some refined swordsman either.

Their training didn’t even last a year.

They were nothing more than academy hunters—shoved through a fast-track survival program and thrown onto the battlefield.

Maybe this guy was an exception—a bit more seasoned than the rest, trained just enough to swing a fancy polearm.

But it didn’t matter.

“…”

I stepped down the stairs, glaring across the plaza, where the combined light of headlights and flares cast chaotic shadows.

At least ten Chinese soldiers stood there, guns trained on me.

And at the front, arms crossed, standing at an arrogant tilt, was the man holding the Qinglong Yanyue Dao—straight out of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

He said something in Chinese.

I still didn’t understand Chinese.

And I had no intention of learning it.

I shrugged, making it clear that I didn’t understand.

One of his men translated into fluent Korean.

“He’s asking if you’re really ‘Professor.’”

A Chinese-Korean?

Mild curiosity flickered in my mind, but I ignored it.

“Yes,” I said.

The man with the Qinglong Yanyue Dao spoke again.

The translator relayed, “Why don’t you have the Golden Fleece?”

I scoffed and locked eyes with Bai Tou.

“Do you wear all your medals everywhere you go?”

The translator repeated my words.@@novelbin@@

Bai Tou laughed loudly.

One of those exaggerated laughs straight out of a cheap martial arts film.

Then, he started walking toward me, spinning the Qinglong Dao in his hand.

More Chinese words.

The translator spoke.

“Bai Tou Hunter says he won’t kill you.”

“Oh? Is that so?”