Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

< My ID is – 1 >

(E/n so there’s actually a mistake on the name of the island where the gym group is staying. The name of the island is supposedly Dot Island (Dotseom), not Dap Island. It’s an island near Changwon, Korea that’s famous for it’s pig-based delicacies, hence the name Dot Island (meaning Pig Island).)

While survivors in areas like Seoul and Gyeonggi-do were suffering from extreme cold, the members of the gym group in Dot Island of Masan were having a warm winter thanks to the fact that the island was located at the southern coast of Korea, which has always been warm all year. Moreover, as they were on an island several kilometers off the land, the members could make as many fires as they wanted to warm themselves. After all, except for the occasional weak monsters which respawned on the island, monsters from the mainland couldn’t cross towards the island.

The people on the Dot Island also had no problem with food supply, thanks to the ability of Poor Man, Jiman. Even when all other survivors were barely surviving by eating anything they could find, the inhabitants of Dot Island were enjoying all kinds of fruit and vegetables. On top of it, they also had the stockpiled food they looted from areas near the island. So, it’s not far-fetched to say that their life’s quality were second only to Seongho and his group.

One day, in late December. Jeong Mikyung, one of the inhabitants of Dot Island, was the first to wake up from her sleep amongst all the members. Just like always, she looked at the bedding next to her. However, just like any other day, the owner of the bedding had already disappeared.

“Aigoo.. Why don’t you just live there…” Mikyung sighed. The one she was talking about was Han Yeowool. She was on the verge of starting a newlywed life together with Yoohyeon, as the two of them always flirt wherever they go. On top of it, both of them also always disappear somewhere at night. Hyung-jun and Sooyeon, who were considered as the leaders of the group, didn’t know about it yet, so Mikyung just asked Yeowool not to get pregnant. Afterall, in the apocalypse, pregnancy was a source of trouble.

Mikyung went out to sea and stretched her stiff body. Even though the sun hadn’t even shown itself yet, the dawn in Masan was not overly cold. Therefore, never in her wildest imagination had she ever thought that the Seoul area was currently hit by the worst cold wave ever, which resulted in not only the survivors, but also the monsters to be inactive.

“I wish it was a little colder here.” Mikyung hoped. If survivors of the Seoul area heard her wish just now, they would spit all the things they ate for the last 3 days together with blood and tears and then probably die.

Once she felt that the stiffness in her body had gone, she went to the washroom built out of cement in one corner of the island and cleaned her body with as little water as possible. Even though the island was abundant with everything else, water was still considered rare. Therefore, she couldn’t just use lots of it to wash her body like back when civilization still existed. The amount of water a single person could use per day was limited to 3 liters. That was Hyung-jun’s policy as someone who believes in the old adage ‘You have to save to live well’. And as it wasn’t wrong advice for the current situation, everyone followed it well.

“My skin is so messed up…” Mikyung looked into the mirror and whined. The white, shiny, unblemished skin she had before had long gone. She tried to moisturize it as much as possible and covered it from the sun with a neck mask as much as possible, but her skin did not return to its original state.

‘Is it because of lack of sleep?’ Mikyung shook her head, denying her own conjecture. In winter, the sun sets early. And as there’s nothing for her to do, she always maintains 9 hours of sleep everyday. Mikyung tapped the mirror for one last time and left her room. It’s about time for people to wake up.

“Ouch… It’s cold.” Mikyung shouted as her hands became numb after touching the water she was about to use to wash the rice. With sheer willpower, she overcame the cold and cooked rice in the pot while keeping her hands close to the fire. As smoke rose from the furnace, Yeowool appeared out of nowhere. It would not be a mistake to say that her expression always looks good these days.

“…was it warm at night?” Mikyung queried.

“Of course it’s warm if two people sleep inside a single sleeping bag.” Yeowool answered with a teasing tone.

“While you are doing that, someone has been doing all this since dawn.”

“What should I make for dinner?” Yeowool skillfully avoided Mikyung’s attack and rolled up her sleeves. Then, she counterattacked. “I mean, Unnie, why didn’t you just mark Ahjussi before he left?”

“What kind of mark…”

“You are feigning innocence again… With the way Unnie acts, who doesn’t know that you like Ahjussi?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Don’t lie, Unnie. If you don’t like him, why did you change the way you called him from ‘Ahjussi’ to ‘Oppa’?”

Without being able to utter a single word, Mikyung bit her lips. To be completely honest, the reason she changed the way she called Seongho was because of Yeowool. She didn’t want to have someone else calling him using the same nickname as herself.

However, even though Seongho didn’t realize that subtle changes meant a lot, the other woman noticed. In particular, Yeowool couldn’t forget it and had used it to make fun of Mikyung.

“But what do you like about him? His physique is a bit….”

“He’s cool, isn’t he?”

“What part of him did you find cool about?”

“I mean, it’s cool to see that things were solved everytime Oppa came forward. Moreover, isn’t it thanks to him that we are here right now?”

“This is a surprise.” Yeowool laughed. “Unnie didn’t look at people’s appearances, huh?”

“Why should I do that? In the apocalypse, we should judge people by their ability.”

“But Unnie, do you know that such a thing is important? For example, when I was angry at Yoohyeon, my anger faded away when I looked at his face.”

“I know he is handsome, but please stop…”

The two squatted in front of the furnace to warm themselves up and chatted.

“I wondered where and what Ahjussi is doing right now…” Yeowool said.

“I want to know too…” The last time he contacted people on Dot Island was when he needed Yoohyeon and Sooyeon to translate the English document about bullet making. And after that, there had been no contact whatsoever.

Hyung-jun and Jiman said that no news was good news, but Mikyung wasn’t satisfied with that. Deep inside her heart, she wanted Seongho to at least tell them where he is.

“Should I just contact him first?” Mikyung murmured as she buried her face in her lap. Next to her, Yeowool opened the Auction House, and then said after browsing through.

“Unnie, do you realize that the atmosphere of the Auction House has changed a lot these days?”

“I don’t know because I rarely go there.” Mikyung answered. She wasn’t the only one in Dot Island who didn’t use the Auction House, but almost everyone did. The reason they rarely used it was because they weren’t in need of anything in particular. And if they need anything, it is better to look for it around the area by themselves rather than going there, as it is very rare for things with a good quality being auctioned in the Auction House. The only thing which was abundant there was just curse words, after all.

Yeowool, who was browsing through the Auction House, poked Mikyung on her side with her finger. “Unnie, I think a lot of people have just died.”

“Why are you saying such terrible things?”

“Unnie, the Auction House addicts, people who used to swear and fight every day have now almost disappeared.”

“Really?” Mikyung’s eyes went wide. She opened her own Auction House to check it. And as Yeowool said, the atmosphere of the Auction House had changed quite a lot from what she remembered. There’s almost no curse words written, only questions which were asked out of curiosity written here and there.

While Mikyung was frozen in awe because of the drastic change, Yeowool suddenly rocked her body. “Unnie, look at this!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ahjussi is calling us! Look at these coded-words, this is the one we are using!”

“Daebak…”

The two immediately typed a comment in the comment section of the items auctioned by Seongho.

-Ahjussi, this is Yeowool. Mikyung unnie is by my side right now, you can say what you want to say now.

– Nice to meet you both. Has it been a month since we last talked to each other?

-That’s right, Ahjussi. Mikyung unnie missed you a lot. She even cried every night because of you.

-I’m not crying!!!

Meanwhile, Seongho, who was reading the comments, could not hide his embarrassment. After all, Da-jeong was sleeping right next to him at the moment.

“HAAAHHH… Seongho… Yours is too big…”

.

.

.

After hearing the situation from Seongho, Yeowool immediately scouted the nearby area using a paper plane. The reason she was able to use Yoohyeon’s unique skill was because of her own unique skill: one heart and one body. It was a rare unique skill which enables its bearer to share a bonus stats buff as well as their unique skill with someone who the bearer had become one with. Thanks to the effect of the skill, even though Yoohyeon did nothing, his stats went up and he was able to use the additional effect of his unique skill, which should only be unlocked at level 20, even though he hadn’t reached that level yet. Though, he’s not really not doing anything, as he is also diligently raising his level by hunting.

While Yeowool was spying at the area near the island, Mikyung broke into the men’s quarters with her blink.

“YOU SURPRISED ME!!” Everyone inside jumped up in surprise. However, without minding their reaction, Mikyung woke Yoohyeon up, who was curling up in the corner.

“Hey, wake up! Oppa had just contacted us!”

“Who is this ‘Oppa’ you are talking about…” Yoohyeon murmured.

On the other hand, Hyung-jun got up as soon as he heard Seongho’s name being mentioned. “What did he tell you?”

“The Japanese had come to Masan!”

“…how did he know that?”

“I don’t know the details, but he said that he heard it from people in the government shelter!”

Hyung-jun shuddered when he heard Mikyung’s words. After all, the government shelter was located in Seoul.

Just what is he up to, going to that dangerous place?

Not long after that, everyone got up and went into the Auction House to greet Seongho.

-Where’s the two troublemakers?

-They went to Changwon to farm. By the way, did the Japanese really came? Please explain in detail, Seongho.

-This is what I heard…

They proceeded to listen to what Seongho had to say. And with every word he uttered, their facial expression turned more and more ugly.

Once Seongho was finished, Sooyeon took out her notebook and scanned it with her fingers. “At least, the Japanese shouldn’t be around Happo-gu. If there are dozens of them, there is no way we didn’t see them.”

“That’s right. I went farming there every day.” Mikyung said. She wandered around Happo-gu with her blink everyday. Yoohyeon and Yeowool were also scanning through the area everyday. So, there’s no way they wouldn’t know if some foreign people came to Happo-gu, which could be said as their turf. So, the Japanese should be a bit far away from where they are.

Then, Yoohyeon, who is busy using his unique skill to scout the area near Happo-gu with his eyes closed throughout the discussion, opened his eyes. “I saw some Japanese in Yanggok-dong.”

“How do you know that they are Japanese?”

“From the men’s hairstyles. They all had shaggy cuts, which were popular in the past.”

“Can you really conclude that by their hairstyles?” Hyung-jun tilted his head.

“It was expensive to get a haircut in Japan. That’s why men prefer to have long hair.” Mikyung intervened.

“AHA.” Only then did Hyung-jun be sure that they were Japanese.

Hearing the situation, Seongho elaborated further.

-They landed in Busan to avoid radiation in their own country. However, when they realized that Busan was also suffering from radiation, some of the Japanese went to Gimhae.

-Then, are you saying that they were contaminated by radiation? This is a pain in the butt.

-Even if they are not, they must be tired from moving all over the place for a couple months straight. Therefore, they will be hell-bent to secure a place they can use as their shelter.

Hyung-jun snorted at Seongho’s words.

-So what if they are hell-bent? This is our place.

-Are you confident you will be able to beat them, hyung?

-It’s not like I will be fighting against dozens of people at once alone. This place is an island, at least we won’t lose here. We have already leveled up a lot since the last time you saw us.

-Then I’m glad.

However, as Seongho was someone who couldn’t trust just anyone, he also asked Jiman about the main defense of Dot Island, the sharks.

-They are no longer here. I sent them back to the sea.

-Why? It’s useful to have them.

-When they were staying here, they were right off the coast, so I could see they were getting thiner and thiner because they can only eat small fish around the coast. So, I sent them away.

As soon as Seongho heard that story, he gave up hoping that the shark would help the group. Meanwhile, Mikyung, who noticed his worry, quickly intervened in the middle of the conversation.

-Oppa, Where are you now?

-Me? Around Incheon…

-You aren’t coming here? DIdn’t you say that you will be back after looting the seed vault?

-I’ll be there soon.

-But how will you get here? Masan is too far from Incheon…

-If you see any farming dungeons appearing nearby, please tell me. We will try to find it too on my side.

-Huh… we? Who are you with, Oppa?

-Uh… I’m talking about Dingo.

-Ahaaa! How big is Dingo now? I want to see him!

‘He had grown a lot.’ Seongho smiled as he closed the Auction House. The guy had become bigger than any dogs in modern Korea. Then suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around his neck from his back.

“Are we going to Masan?”

“The Japanese are dangerous. I should go.”

“Hmm… Should I order the ghouls to find a farming dungeon?”

“Thank you in advance.” Seongho laughed. Even at this moment, farming dungeons were popping up all over the country. It’s just that it’s not easy to find them because the location where it appears was completely random. Though, with the help of the ghouls, the probability of finding it will increase considerably.

Da-jeong reached out and pinched Seongho’s cheek. “Are you going to tell them about your identity and the portal?”

“It’s a bit hard to keep hiding it. So I would have to talk about it soon.” Seongho answered. The people of the island were not stupid, so he knew that they already suspected it to some extent. However, they kept their mouth shut because they knew that the atmosphere would only turn sour if they asked about it.

“Look at you… You have become courageous. You used to insist on keeping yourself hidden.”

“Sometimes I think a head-on confrontation is the answer to some problems.” His experience in the wetland labyrinth played a major role in changing his mindset. After killing all the people who had gathered to hunt him, the situation had turned in his favor. The Auction House was also cleaned, and no one was swearing at him anymore. Of course, the curses weren’t all gone, but it was true that it became easier for him in more than one way.

“If I reveal my identity, the people of Dot Island may hate me, but…”

“Those people are nice. I bet they wouldn’t do such things.”

“We’ll see about that.” Seongho said solemnly. There might be people who were dissatisfied with him amongst them.

Why didn’t you tell us in advance?

Why didn’t you help us more?

Why didn’t you stop the apocalypse?

If those words came out, Seongho was going to cut off all contact with them without looking back. However, he was only hoping for a single thing, that those words wouldn’t come out of Hyung-jun’s mouth.

.

.

.

Around the same time when Da-jeong sent her ghouls to look for a farming dungeon, Seokhyun and Geom-in were heading to Incheon. In the beginning, their plan was to return to the government shelter right away, but Geom-in suddenly had a different idea.

“Hey, Rapwi, I’m sorry… I think I need to find someone…”

“Who?”

“People I deceived in Incheon before.”

“Ah! Did you steal their unique skill because you need it for the Battle Royale?”

“Uh… Yeah. I stole restraint and marksmanship.”

“If they are only normal people, shouldn’t they be dead by now? After all, it was difficult for low-level survivors to move between cities.”

“I-I guess so?” Geom-in’s expression turns ugly at the realization. He blamed his past self for deceiving someone without thinking twice.

But what use is it to regret the past?

Seokhyun said. “You had used people before. Doesn’t that mean that you are going to do it again?”

“No, No. I wouldn’t do it again…”

“A person who has done something once can do it twice. Am I wrong?”

Geom-in had nothing to say at Seokhyun’s words and could only lower his head.

“You’re right… Then, I will be going there alone. At least I should find their body and give them a proper funeral.”

As Geom-in walked away from Seokhyun, Seokhyun suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait a moment.”

“What now?”

“I don’t completely trust you, but I believe in Seongho. So, I will believe in you because Seongho believes in you.”

“Are you going to help me?”

“Well, if you leave, I won’t be able to find my way back to the government shelter.”

“Ah…” Leaving anything aside, Seokhyun’s help was a good thing for Geom-in. The two promptly headed to Incheon as soon as they finished their talk. As the weather warmed up, all kinds of monsters were fiercely reappearing. At that moment, Seokhyun remembered his promise with Seongho.

“Survivor… You shouldn’t be afraid of anything. You are strong enough. You just don’t understand yourself well enough.”

“This is reality, there’s no resurrection like back in the game. I could die anytime.”

“If you keep that mindset, you have no choice but to remain weak. Watch me and learn.” Seokhyun ran towards a werewolf in the distance, who made a long howl. When he arrived right before the werewolf, a fierce battle ensued.

At the first few seconds of the battle, Geom-in couldn’t help but swallow dry saliva, looking at how intense their fight was. However, as time passed, his expression gradually turned into an absurd look.

“They want me to fight like that?”

Seokhyun was beating the werewolf by avoiding the werewolf’s slashing, at a very close distance. One wrong move and his body would be impaled by its long claws.

“You… Too… can fight like this!” Seokhyun turned around and shouted at him. At that moment, Geom-in realized that his eyes were normal, there’s no red light in it. It was proof that he did not activate any of his important skills.

Geom-in’s heart began to beat. ‘Maybe I can do it too…’

Of course, Seokhyun was only able to do that because his stats were high. However, compared to his own stats, the difference is not really that big.

However, with every passing second, Geom-in’s will to fight like him withered. After all, Seokhyun was now fighting while crawling on his four limbs, while mimicking whatever the werewolf did, either howling or growling.

Then suddenly, the werewolf blitzed towards Seokhyun and sank its sharp teeth into Seokhyun’s shoulder. However, instead of screaming in pain, the edges of Seokhyun’s lips went up.

“You bite me, so I will bite you too!” He screamed. And then, The desperate cry of the werewolf resounded. At the sight, Geom-in sweated profusely. Deep in his heart, he promised himself to never fight like that.