The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

“Did you know that I’m someone who seeks fun?”

How did I know? In the original work, Knox was often described as someone who seeks enjoyment.

But instead of stating it directly, I smiled playfully.

“It’s written all over Mr. Ludpershire’s face.”

“Oh, you saw through me.”

“I didn’t see through anything. You didn’t seem like you were trying to hide it.”

“Hahaha.”

Knox laughed mischievously. He genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself.

However, I knew that Knox was even harder to read than Eden.

‘It’s typical for someone who wears a smiling face to be darkest on the inside.’

For now, I made sure to secure a promise from Knox to catch insects together at the Happy House tomorrow.

If I could solve the Elpinus Herb problem, I could consider it as 80% preparation for the end.

‘It’s for the vaccine.’

Anyway, after sending Knox away, I returned to my room and lay down on the old bed.

‘Oh, it’s exhausting.’

For the first time, I found myself wishing for the world to end quickly.

Why is the preparation so difficult…!

***

Sinclair Townhouse in the Capital.

Harrison sat in his office, quietly reading a letter. The sender was Cherry Sinclair, and the recipient was Harrison Howard.

The missing mailman had been found dead, his body cold, and the letters from his belongings were delivered late.

Under a brief greeting, the urgent message written was as follows:

[Harrison, when I asked you to prepare weapons, I didn’t really mean firearms, did I?”]

Harrison looked at the letter with an awkward expression. The weapons he prepared were indeed firearms. Illegally imported from the Briwood Kingdom.

‘I thought she would be pleased because there was a guy he wanted to shoot.’

In the past, he would have been delighted without a second thought. But Cherry’s reaction seemed unusual.

And it wasn’t just this time. Lately, she had changed a lot.

Cherry had been helpless since the Sinclairs died in a car accident. It was as if she had no purpose in life.

All she cared about were parties and squandering the inherited money. That was all.

But recently, she had changed.

Her eyes sparkled as if she had found a purpose in life, and she is full of motivation. She started asking Harrison for favors she had never asked before. It wasn’t like Cherry at all.

As if she had become a completely different person.

Although it was somewhat suspicious that she was going beyond predictable boundaries, Harrison decided to watch over her while pretending to be asleep.

Fortunately, the guns hadn’t been sent to Brunel yet.

‘Hasn’t Jose arrived yet?’

He had sent a teacher to Brunel to teach Cherry how to use the weapons, but her letters didn’t mention anything about it.

[If that’s really the case, I think Harrison should bring it himself instead of using someone]

He continued reading the letter.

[Eden Duncan Lancaster is here. He was assigned to the Brunel Police Station. He seems to know something about illegal firearms smuggling and suspects that it’s my misdeed. It seems like he wants to expose some corruption in the Sinclair family. Is there any way to send this man back to the capital?]

Eden Duncan Lancaster? Harrison’s sharp eyebrows furrowed slightly

‘Benton’s mad dog?’

Come to think of it, he had heard that Eden had been investigating Harrison.

Being chased didn’t bother him, but if the direction was toward Cherry, it changed the story.

Cherry was precious to him. When Harrison was fifteen, despite having exceptional intelligence, he couldn’t afford to apply to the Royal School due to lack of money.

It was none other than the Sinclair couple who supported him and raised him.

On the day the sponsorship was decided, Harrison met Cherry for the first time.

It was a little, cute child with twinkling eyes peering out from behind Mrs. Sinclair’s leg, like a star candy.

“So, we’re a family now, right?”

The five-year-old child asked Harrison in a cute voice.

Family. It was the first time I heard that word.

“Cherry needs a big brother.”

There was loneliness in the golden eyes of the child who looked up at him while holding on his trousers.

It was then that I remembered that the Sinclairs were busy with business.

“Brother is handsome, so he deserves to be part of the Cherry family.”

“Oh, look at this one. Cherry, didn’t I tell you not to judge people by their appearance alone? The inside of a person is more important.”

“But Mommy told Cherry that. That living together with father is because he’s handsome. A man’s appearance matters.”

“Oh my, darling. That’s true, but…”

Mrs. Sinclair blushed, seemingly embarrassed. Then, she looked at Cherry with a pleading expression, as if trying to appease her and looked awkwardly at Harrison’s reaction.

While the Sinclair couple had supported Harrison, they had not adopted him. And there were many children sponsored by the Sinclair family, not just Harrison.

In the end, Harrison had to keep his distance from Cherry under the watchful eyes of the Sinclair couple.

However, as Harrison listened to Cherry’s words, he made a promise to himself. They may not share blood, but Cherry was his sister. A sister bound by a bond stronger than blood.

Recalling the memories of the past, Harrison let out a tired sigh.

‘I have no choice but to bring the firearms myself.’

Originally, he had planned to go to Brunel according to her whims tomorrow, but if Cherry’s letter was accurate, things would change.

If he wanted to personally carry the weapons, he needed to tighten security even more.

‘It’ll be delayed for a few more days.’

***

Remaining time until the apocalypse: 16 days.

‘Susanna said she’ll come tomorrow.’

I marked the date on the calendar and once again became lost in worries.

Harrison hadn’t told me the exact date when he would come down to Brunel.

‘He needs to come quickly.’

I placed the calendar on the desk and glanced out the window. I saw a man walking towards the garden with a log on his shoulder.

It was Eden, who had thrown off his uniform jacket.

He had rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt due to the heavy manual labor, exposing his strong forearms.

His ultramarine blue uniform pants fit him perfectly. And a revolver was holstered on the thigh holster.

With ease, Eden set the log on the ground and brushed back his neatly combed blond hair. I found myself gazing at his sharp jawline and prominent Adam’s apple.

‘As expected, his appearance suits my style.’

I tidied up my seat and went outside.

“You are here.”

I greeted him, and he pointed to the log.

“Where would be the best place to move this?”

“It would be better to make firewood out of it first and then move it. Put some inside and leave some outside.”

In response to my words, Eden’s gaze shifted to one side of the garden where a pile of firewood was stacked.

He chuckled and placed his hand on his waist, then asked me again.

“How much firewood are you making? With this amount, you could probably light up the entire town.”

“Oh, no. It’s not for that. It’s for a special purpose.”

When I lightly nudged his side with my elbow, he stared at me intently. His expression alone was enough to imply that he was cursing at me, so I took a step back from Eden.

Eden crossed his arms and took on a defiant posture.

“Ah, did Miss Cherry just want to see me get tired?”

“What?”

“If not, this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why doesn’t it make sense?”

“It’s impossible with just this. I don’t get tired easily, you know.”

Huh? What is he saying all of a sudden? It seemed like Eden thought I was making him go through all this trouble just to punish him. I quietly looked at him and spoke.

“Make firewood quickly.”

Eden did not back down and confidently gripped the axe, swinging it skillfully.

Thunk.

Soon, I marveled at how neatly the log was splitting. Oh, look at those muscles.

I watched Eden splitting firewood for a while, clapping my hands a few times, but then suddenly snapped back to reality.

‘This is not the time for this. There is still a lot of work to do to transform this mansion into a fortress.’

Just then, the door opened, and the contractors who would assist with the wall repairs entered. I greeted them and went up to the second floor of the mansion.

‘Where was the way up to the roof again…?’

As I searched, I noticed a rope hanging from the ceiling of the hallway on the left, where the nursery room was.

‘That’s it!’

I jumped lightly and grabbed the rope.

Swish-

A ladder descended from the ceiling. I climbed up the ladder to the roof of the mansion.

The steeply sloping roof was a bit dangerous, but the view was greay. As Happy House was situated on a hill, the entire town was visible at a glance.

‘This is a good place to monitor the movements of the monsters.’

I requested the wall repairer to install a railing on the roof so that they could safely observe the netting.

‘And I need to make a catapult.’

It was better to have such weapons prepared before the apocalypse. It was difficult for me to make them alone.

The plan was to install the catapult on the roof as well.

There were various types of catapults, and the more complex the construction, the higher the safety, but it would also take more time.

Everyone has made a wooden chopstick catapult at least once during elementary school science class, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

T/n: This is what the wooden chopstick catapult looks like. https://m.blog.naver.com/suji6745/220068717300

Of course, this one was on a larger scale, so I needed to reinforce the pillars and rubber bands to ensure stability.

In fact, it was closer to a lever than a catapult.

I quickly sketched a catapult design based on the principles of a lever and handed it to the wall repairer.

“You want to have a catapult installed here. I’m not a weapons expert, am I?”

The old man asked again.

“Can you make it?”

The contractor asked again, furrowing his brow and looking at the design.

“Well, I guess I can make it… But…”

“As I mentioned before, I’ll pay you four times the agreed fee.”

“Just wait a moment. I’ll get it done in no time.”

The old man patted his chest, telling me to trust him.

Yes. I took out a loan of 100 million gold, and this is the time to spend it. Where else would I spend that money?