Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World

Kim Haru looked at Do Seungjin, a bit puzzled. "You're just giving it to me?"

For the head of the research institute to personally search for the pigweed core was already strange enough to Kim Haru, but he assumed the animal research team wanted to study how to raise mutated pig.

But if that were the case, Do Seungjin would likely plant the pigweed core on their grounds to attract pigs to their research institute. Why hand it over to him?

There must be a catch.

As he wondered about it, he found he was right. Just as he voiced his question, Do Seungjin suddenly seemed a bit hesitant.

"Ahem, well…" Do Seungjin cleared his throat, worried he might say something wrong again, but his curiosity got the better of him. "I just wanted to know… Mr. Kim, do you keep any animals at home? The kind you can eat, you know, as food?"

Kim Haru was taken aback.

That's all?

He nodded. "Yes, I do."

With a loud clap, Do Seungjin jumped up. "What? Really?" He was so thrilled he rushed over to Kim, reaching out to shake his hand. "What kind of animals? Pigs? Chickens? How do you raise them? Could you share anything about it? Do you need help with anything? I can do anything! Especially when it comes to pigs—I'm an expert!"

Kim Haru sidestepped him.

He hadn't expected Do Seungjin to get this excited. Looking over, he saw that the Pyeongseong Safe Zone Commander, initially surprised by Do Seungjin's enthusiasm, became equally excited after Jang Dojang whispered an explanation to him.

Fortunately, the Pyeongseong Safe Zone Commander wasn't as impulsive as Do Seungjin, although he still looked at Kim Haru with hopeful eyes.

As for Jang Dojang, he was clearly emotional; his voice trembled as he explained the situation to the Safe Zone Commander.

Kim Haru was still puzzled. "But I thought there was plenty of meat around here?"

Based on the fragmented memories of the original owner and what he'd seen in the safe zone, people's food primarily consisted of animal meat—three meals a day, all including meat. When Kim first arrived, he didn't realize how rare his vegetables were.

Later, he came to understand the mutagenic virus levels in vegetables but assumed that green vegetables were just scarce. As for meat, it didn't seem like there was a shortage.

Do Seungjin froze, then let out a bitter laugh.

Jang Dojang took it upon himself to explain the situation to Kim Haru.

It turned out that the reason people in the safe zone ate meat for every meal wasn't because they were affluent, but because meat was all they had. As long as a group could find a mutated animal, they could kill it, process it, and then the entire creature could be consumed.

Most of these mutated animals were enormous, like the black pig Kim Haru had seen earlier at the Animal Research Institute. Many creatures were even larger than that. Just one of these mutated animals could feed a lot of people for a long time.

Compared to mutated plants, which were difficult to find and deal with, mutated animals were easier prey.

Of course, "easier" was relative. Most of the time, killing a mutated animal meant losing one or more lives in the process. But without hunting, there wouldn't be any food, and more people would die of starvation.

The mutagenic virus levels in meat were the same as those in mutated plants. Eating too much of it could be deadly.

As for breeding these animals?

Do Seungjin had mentioned before that artificial breeding of mutated animals was simply impossible.

That's why, when Kim Haru admitted to keeping animals, Do Seungjin and the others looked so thrilled.

"Mr. Kim, can you tell us what animals you're raising?"

As the head of the Animal Research Institute, Do Seungjin had tried countless times over the years to raise animals, but every attempt ended in failure. Domesticated animals had become an obsession for him.

It wasn't a big secret, so Kim Haru answered directly, "I have two chickens and a piglet."

After a moment's thought, he added, "One of the chickens is a wild one—I caught it in a trap. And the piglet is probably a baby of that black pig you killed earlier, Director Do."

Do Seungjin was so stunned he could barely find words to express his excitement.

He eagerly pushed the pigweed core into Kim Haru's hands. "Take it, Mr. Kim, take it! Hahaha, what a coincidence! Make sure to feed that piglet well; let it eat plenty of grass. I don't know if the piglet is male or female, but when it's grown and you're ready to butcher it, you must come to me first—I was a butcher before the apocalypse!"

He didn't even know what he was saying, his thoughts all over the place.

Do Seungjin was dying to ask Mr. Kim how he'd managed to get these animals to behave and live quietly under his care. He wanted to test their meat to check the mutagenic virus levels. But he knew this wasn't a question he could just casually throw out.

He was bursting with anticipation.

Do Seungjin's words reminded Kim Haru of something. "Director Do, do you know how to castrate pigs?"
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Do Seungjin paused. "Castrate pigs?"

"Yeah." Kim Haru sighed. "That piglet needs to be castrated. Only then will the meat taste good when it's grown."

"I do! I definitely do!" Do Seungjin was ecstatic. "To be honest, Mr. Kim, nobody does it better than I do. I can make it quick and painless for the piglet with just one clean cut. No pain, and it'll be happily eating in no time."

Castrating a pig? He could do ten, a hundred pigs if needed!

So, Kim Haru quickly arranged a time with Do Seungjin to bring the piglet to the Animal Research Institute, where Do Seungjin would castrate it and, in the meantime, give it vaccinations, deworm it, and check its meat quality.