Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Sponsored chapter 24/32

This one is 4k words by the way…

“What’s wrong with you? It’s not even funny.” The Japanese laughed at me.

“That thing… Gimbap, it originated from Norimaki, isn’t it?”

I scoffed at them. Think whatever you want.

By the way, no matter how many enemies there are, and no matter how lacking in experience the group is, how can they just decide to escape and abandon everything so easily? Hyung-jun hyung even boasted that he had become quite strong and told me not to worry!

I looked around and found some rafts which seemed to be used by the Japanese to cross the sea. They had made a shield out of wooden pallets in front of the rafts, which meant arrows were of no use against them. Though, the story would be different if it’s an adamant arrow, but the members of the island have only basic equipment, so I couldn’t blame them in that regard.

Using the paper airplanes as bombs to attack was indeed a viable attack method. However, as aiming on a single moving raft was quite difficult, if things go south, it would make Yoohyeon into a murderer.

I understand all that… But still…

“Sigh… Let’s just look at the bright side for now.” Thanks to the Dot Island members who ran away, I would be able to run around freely.

Then suddenly, a Japanese man with a build similar to a gorilla shouted at me. “What do you come here for, Mr. I Love Gimbap? Aha! Do you want to be killed by us?”

Alright, that’s it…

As I pulled out my long knife, the man grinned and yelled at his men. “What are you doing? Let him know who we are.”

“Hehe.”

His subordinates came up to me while laughing like villains from some cheap anime. Normally, Japanese would not behave like this, so it’s a bit hard to see them right now.

The Japanese gorilla crossed his arms and shouted at me. “I will forgive you if you dogeza to me while naked! Of course, while having no campfire for you to keep your body warm.”

“Boss! If we do that, the average human will die!”

These guys talk too much…

I activated all my skills at that instant. As my vision turned red, the gorilla and his men were startled.

“Boss! That’s…”

“Hey. Let’s stop joking for now and fight him seri-.”

Without waiting for him to finish his words, I kicked the ground and flew towards him. Thanks to my high stats, I could clearly see the gorilla got terrified and tried to hold out his long knife at me.

With that kind of build, I was 100% sure that he’s unique skill is physical strengthening. And judging by the fact that he had people under him, he should be pretty high in terms of level. However, at the very most, he should only be around level 15, as he didn’t even know who I Love Gimbap is. Which means, at the very most, he should only have 3 additional effects.

I created a dimensional wall in the middle of the air. I rotated my body and jumped off the dimensional wall. At that moment, I could clearly see the gorilla’s eyes went wide.

“What a fool.” I sneered as I saw him awkwardly covering his head with the hand he used to hold the long knife with.

Fwoosh-!!

The long knife I swung cut the gorilla’s wrist off, making the long knife he was holding fly and spun in the air. I corrected my position to match its trajectory and grabbed it as I blitzed towards the gorilla once again.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” The gorilla screamed as his other wrist was cut off. Without prolonging his misery, I shoved two long knives I held into his heart on the very next move after I cut his wrist off. Before long, the gorilla plopped to the ground as blood gushed from various places, like where his wrists used to be at, his chest and his mouth.

“…”

“Th-that’s absurd…”

“Ho-how can he just beat boss like that…” The other Japanese who witnessed the scene froze.

After killing Joo Seung-cheol and resurrecting, I hadn’t killed anyone yet, so with this kill, my count kill rose to 1, one short from becoming a murderer. To be honest, I wanted to use the ballista to kill him, but I had no choice but to kill him myself as I entered a battle all of a sudden.

I put the two long knives into my backpack and walked to the rest of the Japanese. However, as I was pondering on how to kill all 18 of them,

Kuruk-!!

Kieeeeek-!!

Da-jeong came out from the portal with all her ghouls in tow. She scanned the area with her eyes once before snapping her finger.

“Why in the world do we have to see corpses every day! I’m so fed up!” Ghouls, including the grasshopper, roared horribly and attacked the Japanese right away.

“G-Ghoul!!!!”

“Run away!”

The Japanese lost their fighting spirit before the rushing ghouls and began to run away. Naturally, the ghouls chased after them, but they did not inflict any fatal wounds on them whatsoever.

When the ghouls smashed all the rafts lining up on the shore, the Japanese’s panic level went into another level. The only way for them to live now was to jump into the sea.

“I can’t swim!” One Japanese turned back and shouted. He then completely rooted on the spot as he saw a ghoul opening its mouth wide toward him.

Kieeeekkk-!!

“Uaaaaaggghhhh.”

“You idiot, jump!”

However, some of them who jumped into the sea could not withstand the cold winter sea and sank. It is very convenient for me, as I don’t have to chase every single one of them to kill them.

Da-jeong stood next to me, whispered. “Should we kill all of them?”

“No. This is enough.” I answered. “After all, we wouldn’t use this island anymore.”

“Because of those Japanese?”

“Yeah. They are not the only Japanese who came to Korea; There are dozens of them. Sooner or later, they would come around Masan and see this island. Therefore, it will be hard for us to keep using this island.”

“If that’s the case, where will Hyung-jun ahjussi and the others go?”

“They can go to the government shelter. After all, the farming dungeon is now open.”

Da-jeong looked at the blue portal behind her as she heard my words and shook her head.

“Have you calculated all of this?” Da-jeong queried. “To be honest, I get scared of you sometimes.”

“How can I calculate that?” I pointed at the portal with my thumbs. “If it hadn’t been for luck, we wouldn’t have been here.”

“Well, yeah…”

At that moment, Da-jeong’s eyes flickered and she quickly commanded her ghouls to push the gorilla guy’s corpse into the sea. In the next moment, Mikyung appeared before the two of them with her blink.

“Oppa, when did you arrive?”

“Just now. Using the portal.”

When I pointed to the entrance of the farming dungeon, she had an incomprehensible expression on her face.

“The Japanese ran away, some died.”

“Ah, I’m glad you did a great job.”

Mikyung smiled and approached me. However, her face hardened when she saw Da-jeong standing right next to me.

“You’re really looking at me with that expression? Come here!”

“Unnie, that’s not it…”

She was literally a mouse in front of a cat.

I told Mikyung to bring the other members here. After all, it’s time for my confession.

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The people of Dot Island breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Seongho and Da-jeong had arrived. But that’s not the only feeling they felt. They also felt puzzled.

Why did Seongho and Da-jeong appear together?

When they finally return to Dot island, Sooyeon was shocked to see Da-jeong’s hand carelessly grabbing Seongho’s butt.

Isn’t that something you do only to your lovers?

‘Maybe the two of them…’ Sooyeon sighed. She didn’t want to believe it. But the evidence was too clear for her to ignore it. There was love in their eyes. Now… she had to put her hope to rest.

As people gathered at the dormitory, Seongho coughed to grab their attention.

“Nice to meet you all again. I apologize for being away for too long, even though I said I was only going to loot the seed vault.”

Yeowool hesitated and opened her mouth as Seongho finished his words. “Ahjussi, your atmosphere has changed a lot.”

“Is that so? Well, I ended up like this because I had struggled to survive in a very horrendous place.”

Others were also a little perplexed by the change in Seongho’s overall atmosphere. In the past, it could be said that Seongho also had a sharp aura on him. However, it was akin to the sharpness of a knife. But now, it wasn’t far-fetched to say that his sharpness had become something like katana; leagues above his past atmosphere.

What the hell happened in just two months?

Oblivious to the group’s question, Seongho said abruptly.

“My ID is I Love Gimbap. The very same I Love Gimbap from Survival Life.”

“WHAT?”

“Pardon?”

People didn’t get what Seongho said right away. However, Seongho interpreted it as that there were people who didn’t like I Love Gimbap amongst them.

The start of the reaction happened a little later. Mikyung, whose face was forcibly buried in Da-jeong’s chest, turned completely red.

“Oppa, you are I Love Gimbap?”

“You are surprised, aren’t you? You must also feel betrayed…”

“No, it’s not like that… It’s just… I once talked about I Love Gimbap with you….”

“Indeed.” Seongho nodded. Before the apocalypse had begun, Mikyung once told Seongho about a rumor she heard about him and an ogre. When he looked at her body language, she seemed to be very embarrassed.

On the other hand, the others were all astonished by the fact bomb Seongho just dropped.

“I just thought that you had some sort of connection with the stagnant waters…”

“I never thought that Hyung would be I Love Gimbap himself…”

“That’s why he can fight so well…”

In fact, other people’s reactions did not mean much to Seongho. He only looked at Hyung-jun. “I’m sorry, Hyung. I should have told you much earlier.”

Hyung-jun hyung had a confused face as the recipient of Seongho’s words. However, before long, he moved his head left and right.

“No, it’s alright. You must have your own reasoning to hide your identity… But Seongho… Why didn’t you reveal your identity to us? You don’t have to answer if you are uncomfortable…” (T/N He lit said it’s fine but proceeded to ask right away… I don’t get it.)

“No, it’s fine. I will tell you the reason I did not reveal my identity to others.” Seongho looked at all the others and continued. “If any of you are uncomfortable with my identity as I Love Gimbap, please raise your hand. I will not use violence on you. I promise.”

People exchanged glances among themselves.

“Is there anything that makes you uncomfortable?”

“You know, Hyung, there’s that rumor circulating on the internet before the apocalypse. About you not revealing the information you have to the public…” Yeowool said.

“Think about it, Yeowool… The reason we are living comfortably so far is because of Seongho hyung. He had taught us most of the things we know today. To be honest, I think we would have died if it wasn’t for Seongho hyung.” When Yoohyeon spoke without even breathing, everyone nodded. They realized that their lives had indeed been saved by Seongho.

Yeowool squatted next to Seongho. “Then, everyone is fine, Ahjussi.”

“It looks like that. First of all, let’s talk about my unique skill… It’s actually not Battle Foresight, but an ability which could open a portal to another world.” Seongho opened the portal as he said that, but no one could see it.

Then, Sooyeon, who noticed he was gazing at something, put her hand in the air and flinched.

“Th-there’s something here.”

“Where.”

“Ah. It’s real…”

“That’s the portal. It is invisible to other people because of the additional effect called transparency. But to me, it looks like a blue door measuring 1 meter wide and 2 meters high.”

“Wow, that’s amazing…” Everyone reached out and touched the portal.

“You’ve entered a farming dungeon before, right? This portal leads to the same dimension as that place. I have access to this portal at all times. So, it acts as my warehouse, home, and a farming place too.”

Hyung-jun realized something at that moment and clapped his hands.

“Seongho, you… when we evacuated from Busan before… You said you had found supplies and gave them to us…”

“Yes. Actually, those supplies were the ones I brought from that place. I looted it from what Busan survivors had left behind.”

“Then what about the supplies we left behind…?”

“It’s all in the portal.”

“Ah, I understand everything after hearing your story. Seongho, that’s why you were able to wander around like that.”

“It is all thanks to this portal. If things get dangerous, I can just go inside and rest. It’s perfect because the season inside is opposite from the season on Earth.”

“Can you show me how you get inside?” Sooyeon asked at that moment.

“It’s not difficult.” Seongho went inside and stretched out his arms. Everyone was startled when his arms popped out of the air.

“Wow, it’s really strange…”

“Can you see us from there Seongho?” Sooyeon asked. As an answer, Seongho raised his thumb.

“It’s a perfect ability to scout.”

“You can see what the enemy is doing. Daebak.”

“…well, something like that.” Seongho said as he walked out from the portal. He decided that he would tell them about the additional effects, scarabs, and stag beetles later.

“I showed all of you my unique skill because I believe you guys to some extent. So, please refrain from telling anyone else about this.”

“I will never talk about this.”

“I’m going to take this to the grave.”

“But… For me, I doubt I will be able to do it in some cases. I’m weak, so if I got hit with a knife from the back, I would die right away. So if someone threatens me…”

“If that happens, it’s okay to tell them.”

Hyung-jun said. He couldn’t understand everything about Seongho yet, but he could roughly guess what was going on. Being able to enter a portal that sends you to another world could make others jealous. That’s probably the reason why he decided to hide his identity.

“Onto the next thing… Hyung, is there any reason why you decided to leave right away when the Japanese attacked?”

“Yeah… They put shields on the raft.”

“Even if arrows couldn’t get through, Yoohyeon would have been able to keep them in check with his paper airplane bombs.”

At Seongho’s words, he shook his head. “The raft is moving, so it wouldn’t work well. If he makes a mistake and accidentally kills them, it will be a mess.”

His reasoning was something that Seongho had thought about. And since there’s someone with blink ability among them, he must have thought that they could just retake the island later on.

“I understand. But in my opinion, you all seem a little too weak. You guys can catch monsters easily, but your ability to fight people is a bit…”

The person who was pointing it out was I Love Gimbap, so no one could raise an objection.

At that moment, Da-jeong rested her chin on his shoulder.

“Don’t take his words to heart. I can guarantee that this guy is a complete madman. If I fight him, I’m confident that I will surrender within a minute.”

“That’s too much.” Seongho denied it, but Da-jeong snorted and continued.

“Even if I do my utmost best and fight for my dear life, he will still be able to reach me with a long knife in 30 seconds. Even if he’s not using a long knife, I bet arrows flying from somewhere will hit me.”

“That can’t be…” Some members of the Dot Island group had been with Da-jeong for quite some time, so they were all well aware just how strong the Ghoul Queen was. She was a monster, and in her wake, all survivors were shaking like leaves in cold autumn.

And that monstrous Ghoul Queen was no match for him?

“So, if you want to increase your combat power, you can trust him.”

“But…what is your relationship with Ahjussi?”

“Sorry?” When Seongho tried to answer, Da-jeong beat him to it by making a circle with her index finger and thumb in one hand and making her other index finger come in and out to that circle.

Yeowool’s face turned beet-red at the sigh. “Wh-what is that…”

“It’s like this. Do I have to explain more?”

“…”

All of them opened their mouths wide. It was a shock that the terrifying Ghoul Queen and Seongho were in that kind of relationship.

At that moment, Seongho coughed to snap them out of it and focused on the task in hand. “…Actually, I’m quite responsible for your lack of interpersonal fighting skills, because I had always kept you safe from dangers. Too safe, in fact.”

He did that to an extent that the island became a safe haven. But in exchange, everyone in the group became like plants grown in greenhouses.

“So I think it would be better for you to move to another shelter to gain experience.”

“Where should we move to?”

“To the government shelter in Seoul.”

Everyone was stunned at Seongho’s answer. But then, Seongho stretched out his arm and pointed to the entrance of the farming dungeon.

“That portal is connected to the griffon dungeon we hunted at before. If you go inside, you’ll be in Seoul once you walk through another portal which leads to Seoul. Yeouido is just a short walk away from the location of that portal.”

Then Sooyeon tilted her head. “Of course it would be nice to go to the government shelter, but is there any reason why we should move? We can just train to fight each other here…”

“It was because of the Japanese. We’ve managed to kick 20 people out now, but their number will increase in the near future. At least hundreds of people will be coming this way.”

“Hundreds of people…” For them, there is no difference between dozens or hundreds of people. They were all dangerous.

“It is no longer safe here.” Seongho said. However, the real purpose for him forcing them to move to the government shelter wasn’t solely for them to gain experience. Seongho was planning on sending them to the government shelter in order to secure his stake. If six people were added in addition to Seokhyun and Geom-in, Seongho’s friendly forces will occupy a significant portion of the shelter. Jang Won-taek would surely be aware of his move, but in the end, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Seongho said vigorously.

“Of course, I will not force you. if you want to stay here, you can stay.”

“Anyone want to stay?” Hyung-jun asked, but no one raised their hand. After being together for 2 months, they already have close camaraderie. Therefore, they all wanted to be together with each other.

So, just like that, the Dot Island members decided to move to Seoul.

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“From Masan?”

“Yes. Those people are the ones we met in the gryphon nest farming dungeon before. I’ve been told that they want to join our shelter. A total of six people were in the group.”

“Six people, huh?” Jang Won-taek stroked his chin.

What is the reason behind it?

He had a hunch that it had something to do with the fact that Seongho and Da-jeong knew about the incoming Japanese.

“It smells fishy.”

“Are you thinking that it was all Seongho’s plan, Mister President?”

“It isn’t?”

“From what we know, the farming dungeons are completely random, aren’t they?”

“That’s so. We believed it to be completely random. However, the portal of farming dungeon that appeared near Yeouido had led to the same place as before”

“Hm…” Jang Won-taek moved his hands from his chin into the armrest and taped it rhythmically. “My guts are telling me that he had some hands on why the same dungeon had appeared again.”

“If that happens, he would be a really scary person.”

“Well, that’s correct. However, he’s making an offer we can’t refuse.” Jang Won-taek smiled bitterly. Seongho had already killed seven people in the government shelter. Even though it was for a good reason, it was still true that the combat power of the government shelter had plummeted because of it. And now, he was trying to fill the gap with his own people. Without having to even enter the government shelter a single time, to boot.

“Is this what it feels like to have both eyes open and to be taken away… heh heh, I can’t deny it at all.”

“Because we are in need of people too…” Lee Beom-seok sighed. All of their plans flew up in the air when 25% of the shelter personnel were gone. In particular, the disappearance of Geom-in and Seokhyun was a big blow.

Jang Won-taek smiled bitterly. “Let’s accept them.”

That way, the members of Dot Island successfully joined the government shelter. When they entered the shelter, all of them were surprised once by the terrible cold and twice by the vastness of the shelter.

“It’s cold, it’s cold…”

“If it’s so cold inside the shelter, how cold is it outside…”

“If we go outside, we will freeze to death…”

In front of the group, Lee Beom-seok was walking ahead of them. And not long after, Seokhyun and Geom-in returned with two survivors in tow. At their sighting, Jang Won-taek felt like he was seeing some kind of ghost.

When did they meet those two?

“We came and picked them up.” The men and women introduced by Seokhyun were those whose unique ability got copied by Geom-in before getting discarded by him. The two gave up on their way to the government shelter, and later met the two stagnant waters and joined them.

The two were abandoned and desperate, but Geom-in sincerely apologized so they had no choice but to accept him. Actually, the main reason why they accepted his proposal was because they were afraid of the monster wearing only panties next to Geom-in.

Anyway, Jang Won-taek had no choice but to accept them too.

“Seven people died and eight people came in, so this should be good, right?”

Meanwhile, the members of Dot Island, who met Seokhyun for the first time in the conference room, did not know what to do. After all, he’s a man wearing only panties in this dangerous world.

“H-he’s wearing a rabbit headband…”

“It doesn’t suit him at all…”

Their eyes felt like they were rotting in real time as they saw a hairy 30-year-old man wearing a rabbit headband on top of his bald head. When Seokhyon heard that Seongho was the one who sent them to the shelter, he greeted them with a smile which looked very scary in the eyes of the group, even though he didn’t intend it to be like that.

Meanwhile, Geom-in met Sooyeon, who had her hair tied amongst them. From the introduction prior, he knew that she used to be a doctor, and currently acting as a healer with her unique skill.

‘She looks like Mercy!!!’ She looked almost like a female character from an FPS game. In other words, the gamer swordsman’s ideal type had appeared.

Sooyeon, who noticed Geom-in’s gaze and knew too well what it meant, could only smile awkwardly.

“Are you Bae Geom-in ssi? I’ve heard a lot about you from Seongho. He said that you are one of the four stagnant waters.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Please take care of us.”

For Geom-in, she was prettier and more attractive than Da-jeong. He couldn’t help but praise his past self for joining Seongho.

And just like that, the 23-year-old Geom-in had once again fallen in love with someone at first sight.