Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Part 1
(A Nuclear Family's Apocalypse (1))
It was the spring of 2023, no different from any other.
A nuclear attack struck our family.
Kwa-bang!
It wasn't a real nuclear explosion.
It was simply that our entire Kim clan had scattered to the winds.
It started with my eldest brother's marriage.
Then my two older sisters, the Kim Sisters, declared their independence as well, and not to be outdone, my parents suddenly moved the family home to Uijeongbu.
Finally, I, who had just returned after being discharged from the military...
“...Aren't you guys being too much?”
I was dropped off alone into an empty officetel in front of my school.
Our bustling, happy family of two sons and two daughters was thus separated by centrifugal force.
“...It's lonely.”
I realized it then.
That I was too much of an old-fashioned person to accept the era of the nuclear family.
But at the time, it was still fine.
Because I had no idea I would soon have to greet a completely new era.
***
Four months remained until I returned to school.
I started a part-time job at a logistics center delivering packages.
The biggest reason was to earn pocket money, but deep down, I also wanted to be around people.
Because I still couldn't get used to the empty studio.
But even this place was adapting to the changing times.
“There are... no people...”
The era of people carrying packages was over.
Now was the age of logistics innovation.
Wee-ing— Wee-ing—
Before my eyes, over a hundred shelves were moving on their own.
The culprit was the damned “automation system.”
That's right.
The place I had entered was no ordinary logistics center.
Its name was PAX Fulfillment Center.
For short, it was called PAX FC.
Unlike traditional logistics centers that received and delivered packaged parcels, all kinds of items were already displayed here at PAX FC.
From simple groceries to children's toys, office supplies, and even construction materials.
When an order came in, AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) robots fetched the items automatically, and all I had to do was place them in prepared boxes and pack them.
—“Mr. Kim! Heads up, catch!”
—“One, two!”
You couldn't hear sounds like that anymore.
Neither towers of stacked delivery boxes nor twitching muscles with bulging veins.
The logistics center reeking of sweat and manned by rough men had vanished into the back pages of history.
Beep— Beep—
Scanning the barcode on the tuna can the AGV had brought, I grumbled comfortably.
“No soul, no soul at all.”
Ding!
[Unregistered product]
“Of course it is, you damn bastard.”
My only conversational partner was PAX, the AI installed in the center.
From accepting orders to calculating inventory, and even inspecting via weight measurement.
There was nothing this guy didn't involve itself in.
They said it was an AI several generations more advanced than AlphaGo or whatever.
Of course, it still wasn't perfect.
“Kim Jeonggyeom.”
Someone called out to me.
Like a mirage in a desert, a man walked toward me from afar.
I answered.
“Ah, yes. Manager Shin.”
“We're out of tuna cans, but PAX keeps saying we have some left. Could you go check the inventory intake area?”
“Ah... yes, yes. What about what I'm doing right now?”
“I'll hold down the fort for now, so go on. Check if the inventory that was entered is actually missing.”
“Understood.”
There was no further conversation.
Because we were strictly business.
Manager Shin silently took the barcode scanner, and I moved toward the warehouse.
The warehouse I arrived at soon after was shrouded in dark shadows.
I pushed open the prefabricated panel door.
“Let's see...”
Inside the warehouse, a few packaged water bottles and boxes filled with various miscellaneous goods were scattered about.
After rummaging through a few, I found the problematic box of tuna cans before long.
“Up we go.”
Just as I was about to turn back with the box,
Hweeeeee—!
A fierce wind blew.
And then,
Kwa-bang!
The panel door slammed shut with the wind.
I set down the tuna cans and grabbed the door handle, but,
Click.
“You're kidding me?”
It wouldn't open.
Dudururu...
I took out my smartphone and tried calling Manager Shin, but he didn't answer either.
I sat down blankly in a corner.
A warehouse wrapped in silence.
Perhaps because I'd come straight from working, the stillness of the warehouse felt quite novel.
Should I call 119?
“Eh, if I don't show up, Manager Shin will come looking for me.”
It was an accident.
The door wouldn't open, and Manager Shin wasn't answering his phone, so what could I do?
Thanks to this, I could rest leisurely for about 20 minutes before heading back.
Under the fluorescent lights, the boxes stiff as stone looked bleak.
I took out my smartphone and sent a message to my little older sister in Seoul.
A reply came quickly.
It was a casual conversation, but then,
Suddenly, the mood changed.
Dudurururu—
A call came from my little older sister, but,
Click.
It cut off before I could answer.
Duduu— Duduu—
Even when I called back, the signal wouldn't go through.
“...What?”
Then,
Kwaaaaa-bang!
An explosion roared.
It was enough to make the ground tremble.
Tap!
The fluorescent lights illuminating the warehouse went out, and red infrared emergency lights came on.
Inside the warehouse dyed in red light.
A sense of dread crept in.
“...?”
Wee-ing! Wee-ing!
Drrrrrrrring!
A siren blared.
A sound I'd only heard during safety training.
Perhaps because of the earlier explosion, it sounded especially ominous.
The speaker mounted on the wall also lit up.
—“All employees, evacuate to the loading dock immediately! I repeat. All employees, to the loading dock immediately...!”
I bolted upright, but,
“Damn it.”
Click!
The door handle I grabbed again was still immovable.
Bam-bam-bam-bam!
“There's someone in here!”
I pounded and even kicked it, but the panel door I'd thought was nothing special was far sturdier than I'd imagined.
Perhaps everyone had already evacuated, because no matter how much I shouted, no one opened the door.
“119... 119...”
I hurriedly tried to call, but,
Dudoo— Dudoo—
It wouldn't connect.
Only a sign indicating I was out of the service area appeared at the top of my phone.
“Did a war break out or what...”
As I was stomping my feet anxiously,
Finally, there was a sign from the door.
Boom! Thud! Thud!
“......?”
A heavy sound that could in no way be considered knocking by human hands.
As if proving the impact, the panel door was dented inward.
‘...It's not human.’
Sensing the danger, my body froze stiff.
Holding even my breath, I barely erased my presence,
Grrrr...
Along with a beastly growl,
Thud... Thud...
The thing's footsteps gradually moved away from the door.
Thud.
The moment the tension broke, I collapsed into a sitting position.
“What do I do...”
There was no way out.
All I could do was stay still.
***
“......”
Three days passed like that.
Inside the dust-laden warehouse.
Water bottles rolling on the floor.
When the stench of fish rose from the eight tuna cans I'd opened, unable to endure the hunger,
A change occurred.
[You have been chosen.]
[Check your awakened ability.]
A blue window, the kind you'd only see in comics or novels, appeared before me.
Inside it was written an explanation of the superpower I had obtained.
[My Own Subspace]
Level: 1
Description: You can store visible targets in the subspace.
Subspace.
I'd seen it in novels.
A virtual space where you could put in and take out any item as you wished.
If I stored that damned panel door in the subspace, and also that monstrous thing that occasionally passed by growling, wouldn't everything be solved?
But it wasn't that simple.
[Available Storage Count: 1]
Just one.
Not eleven, not two,
Only one single object could be stored in the subspace.
Should I store that damned door?
If I did, it felt like the approaching monster would tear my throat out; if I stored the monster, escaping was impossible in the first place.
“Is there anything else useful...”
I opened every box in the warehouse, but all that came out were tuna cans, water, sneakers, a summer raincoat, and USB memory sticks.
These things were useless even if I stored them.
I shook a palm-sized box.
The USB memory stick inside rattled.
Then,
“...Wait.”
I arrived at a thought.
The subspace ability could only store one target.
But if I stored this box, the USB memory inside it would be stored together.
Even though it contained other objects, the box itself was “one.”
Then...
“Wouldn't it be possible to store this entire logistics warehouse?”
Right here, the PAX FC center.
This five-story logistics center was coincidentally shaped like a box, a hexahedron.
“There's plenty of room to test it.”
Ding!
[Please enter the target to store.]
I imagined this PAX Fulfillment Center at the rising message.
Contrary to my worries...
[Target designated. Would you like to store it?]
The message was positive.
I sent my answer immediately.
‘Yes.’
[Storage initiated.]
“Ugh!”
I felt nauseous.
A churning sensation as if my insides were flipping assaulted me, and my legs wobbled as my head spun.
Then, just as the painful sensation gradually faded,
“Whoa......”
I exclaimed in awe.
In this logistics complex, six logistics centers from Building A to Building F stood side by side.
Among them, the building used by PAX Fulfillment Center was Building C.
Turning my head to look around, Building B was to my left and Building D to my right.
But right where Building C, which housed PAX FC, had been...
“...There's nothing here?”
I was just sitting there alone in an empty field.
The building had disappeared.
I had truly stored the logistics center in my subspace.
Ding!
[Storage complete.]
[An operating system suitable for system operation has been discovered in the stored target.]
[Updating operating system.]
[Update progress: 6%...]
I had finally gotten outside.
But the situation outside didn't look so good either.
“Why do they all look like this...?”
The delivery vehicles were all dented somewhere, and several were completely wrecked, rolling about in the middle of the road.
Buildings B and D also bore clear traces of destruction.
Along with scorch marks, windows were shattered everywhere.
Needless to say, there were no people.
As if a catastrophe had swept through.
But it hadn't.
Because the catastrophe was ongoing.
Thud. Thud.
At the opposite end of the empty lot where PAX Fulfillment Center had vanished.
Heavy footsteps shook the earth.
“Is that... an Orc?”
A massive frame about two meters tall.
Rough tusks jutting out to the sides.
For some reason, the green giant I'd only seen in fantasy movies was approaching me.
It was clearly the one that had been prowling in front of the door for the past three days.
“Damn it!”
I had to survive.
I hurriedly started running in the opposite direction.
The thing howled.
Kwaaaaah!
My sudden action seemed to have provoked it.
It immediately began charging at me.
“Uwaaaaah!”
I ran like mad.
Even though I was running at full speed, the Orc behind me was only getting closer.
“Please... please!”
Was there any hope in running?
I wasn't sure, but I kept moving my legs blindly.
Kwaaaak!
Just as the Orc's angry roar reached right behind me,
Ding!
[Update complete.]
[System restored. You may now enter the subspace.]
A message appeared.
[Would you like to enter?]
I screamed ‘Yes’ like a madman, and...
A blue portal enveloped me.