Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

The End Of Chorrosive Disease (2)

Hwang Seokhyun, Choi Da-jeong, Bae Geom-in, Jo Sooyeon, Jung Mikyung, Kim Yoohyeon, Eum Jiman, Han Yeowool. And me. A total of 9 people will be living in another world. Geom-in had already finished the portal quest. Sooyeon and Mikyung, who went for the quest right after Geom-in, had also finished it safely.

I had collected the items of the stagnant waters, selected the best items amongst them, and gave it to those who were about to do the quest before they entered the portal. However, I don’t know if it was because of that or thanks to the support of Dingo and the scarab, but everyone managed to complete their quest without any major difficulties.

I was prepared to lose at least one Resurrection Scroll for this occasion. However, Yoohyeon and Jiman also cleared the quest without any problems. The only one who still hadn’t finished it was Yeowool. Regardless of her level, she was the youngest among us and when she went in for the quest, everyone anxiously waited in front of the portal.

Yoohyeon in particular was fidgeting more than others. Normally, he’s someone who’s cool and acts like he doesn’t care about Yeowool. But it seems like when she’s in danger, he can’t act like that anymore.

Since I already gave her the Resurrection Scroll, even in the worst case scenario, she would only fail the quest and not lose her life. She could just challenge the quest again later.

When such thoughts crossed my mind, Yeowool came out of the portal. Her clothes were torn in many places and her body was covered in dirt, but her eyes were shining.

She held out the Resurrection Scroll she was hugging to the air.

“I didn’t use it!” she said. “I did well, didn’t I?”

“You can just use it though…”

“But then, you’ll nag me like a mother in law!”

How can she know my mind so well?

When Yoohyeon ran towards her, Yeowool opened her arms. When he landed in her embrace, she patted his back. It seems that somehow the role of the man and woman had changed in this moment. Though, I couldn’t say it was awkward to see such a thing since Yeowool was a peculiar girl who led her two boyfriends in an apocalypse.

Anyway, everyone finished the quest except for Hyung-jun hyung and the two troublemakers. Excluding Geom-in, I made the others wait until now so that everyone could enter the portal together.

“Open the portal.” When the blue portal opened, we went inside in order of age. As I entered, I could hear the excited murmurs from the people lining behind me.

“Wow…”

“This place is awesome…”

“It’s really summer here!”

The summer forest that I have grown accustomed to was a very unfamiliar sight to them.

Da-jeong, who was watching the newly arrived members with crossed arms, suddenly pointed at the place behind them.

“It is too early for you guys to be awed. Look behind you.”

Everyone looked behind them and their mouths dropped wide open when they looked at the materials piled up in the vacant lot. They were dumbfounded. It was as if they were asking me why I collected so much.

When I pretended not to see their gaze, Da-jeong walked up to me and poked me in the ass.

“He’s an incurable farming fanatic. Even I don’t know why he collected so many things that he won’t even use.”

“Hey! I’m going to use it all later.”

“Look at those rice! With that amount, 100 people will be able to eat 3 meals a day for another 10 years!”

“Right…”

“Hyung, you did collect a lot.”

“When are you going to eat all of this?”

Everyone looked at the rice sacks stacked 3 meters high and said their bits one at a time. Only Mikyung laughed as she said that she would be able to eat delicious tteokbokki again.

“That’s the evidence that you are a pig, right there.”

“Who are you calling a pig!!!”

While Mikyung and Yoohyeon were arguing like siblings, Jiman had already gone to the vegetable garden.

Did he instinctively recognize that it was his workplace?

I put my arm across his shoulder.

“Jiman, I’m sorry to tell you this, but…”

“It’s okay, Hyung. I know. I should work here, right?”

“You need to take care of those Hwajo too.” I said as I pointed at the Hwajo pen.

“There are so many of them…”

I nodded at his statement. At first, there’s only a few of them, but thanks to the stag beetles and the strong fertility of this forest, their number grew tremendously. If Jiman’s Unique Skill was added on top of those factors, their number would soon become uncountable.

I led him to the garden outside the cave. At that moment, the stag beetles who were busy planting more crops rushed over and looked up at Jiman.

“You guys… Aren’t your reactions a bit strange?”

Back when Da-jeong and Seokhyun entered the shelter, these guys were treating them as if they were nothing but air.

So why are these guys snuggling to Jiman?

Meanwhile, the man himself, who didn’t know he was getting a one-of-a-kind treatment, smiled brightly and stroked the stag beetles climbing to his hands.

“Yeah, this is my first time here. Huh? You want me to work here? That should be fine.”

My brows quirked. It seems like he was talking to the stag beetles, but I must be mistaken.

I looked around and saw everyone moving hurriedly to look around. They seemed to be relieved from seeing what I had gathered so far. It would have been better if Hyung-jun hyung had come, but we can do nothing about the circumstances.

Da-jeong went around and suddenly asked me to take off my clothes.

“It’s hot here, so why are you wearing those things? Take it off like me.”

“You dressed too lightly.”

As I spoke, she narrowed her eyes and placed the back of her hand on her pelvis. She was wearing a Dolphin Shorts and a Tank top which exposed most of her body.

“What are you talking about? He’s the one who is dressed too lightly!” Everyone turned their heads following Da-jeong’s finger. They could see Seokhyun walking with a wild boar around his shoulders across the barrier with nothing covering his body.

“MOMMY!!”

“Oh my god! Please wear some clothes!”

The women instantly moved their hands to cover their eyes, but Seokhyun didn’t even care about them and jumped over the barrier; entering the shelter.

Da-jeong chuckled.

“You don’t have to be as naked as him. But well, if everyone is naked, it’s better for me.”

“Are you going to make a nude beach, you pervert?”

“Huh? Isn’t that a good idea? There’s an ocean here, right? Unnie! Let’s go see the sea together.”

“Huh?”

Da-jeong’s sudden acceleration caused Sooyeon to be dragged away without being able to utter a single word.

While watching Seokhyun thrust a mithril knife into the wriggling wild boar’s throat, I had a thought.

‘It would have been better for him if he was born around 100,000 years ago.’

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In the evening, a bonfire was lit in the middle of the vacant lot. Wrapped in its warmth was us who sat around it to eat.

“Let’s move.” Geom-in suddenly broke the silence as he presented the results he got from scouting the area with a drone to me.

“What?” I quivered my brows at his sudden declaration.

At that moment, he unfolded a map which was drawn in great detail.

“This location is bad. It’s open on all sides, so it’s vulnerable to monster attacks.”

“But, haven’t we been able to block it so far?” On top of it, there were more people and there were guns here. So it shouldn’t be hard for us to defend our base from now on.

However, Geom-in’s analysis was different from mine.

“Since we arrived, the number of monsters has skyrocketed. There were two attacks today in the middle of the day alone.”

I nodded as I realized that was indeed the case. Back when I was alone, the attack only happened every two days. When Seokhyun and Da-jeong came in, the attack pace increased to about once a day. And now that there were nine people here, the attack came in twice in the daytime alone. There was no problem today since Seokhyun, who was a battle maniac, was here with us. But it would be dangerous in the long run.

Afterall, there were too many things we needed to process after the fight. It’s not like we could skimp on it either even if we wanted. If we don’t want to see the creepers exploding their bodies like fireworks, we must amputate the ankles of every corpse we kill and bury it.

“You’re right… So, where are we going to move?”

“Here.” Geom-in pointed the pencil in his hand to the area around the beach. I realized that the place he picked was near the point where the valley turned into a river and descended into the sea.

“Two sides of this place are blocked by the sea and the river. So, some monsters will find it difficult to approach us. There is also a flat lot here, a good place for monitoring things in our surroundings. The best part of this place was that it is close to the sea.”

Judging from the map, the sea shouldn’t even be 100 meters away from the place. That would make it easy for anyone to go out to sea. Geom-in added that being close to the sea would also make it convenient for us to dispose of the monster corpses.

“The sea current is quite fierce. Once we throw the corpses into the sea, it’s over.”

“Moving there is a problem… When will we move all this stuff?”

Da-jeong crawled on her knees to me while lifting her ass like a cat.

“It’s not just the two of us here anymore, so get down.”

As I patted her hand, she twitched and rubbed her ass.

“So what? Everyone knows each other here.”

“That’s precisely why we have to be more careful.”

“Tsk.”

Geom-in was perplexed for a moment, then explained again.

“Anyway, I would like to build a fortress on this beach. The defenses will consist of barbed wire and fences. I also want to build an observatory.”

Geom-in drew a sketch of the fortress really well to the point I think that he had a talent for painting. It looked quite nice as it blended in with the surrounding landscape.

“It’s all good. But wouldn’t it be difficult to move?”

The amount of materials I have collected so far was no joke. There were a lot of them in the first place, but the number had increased even more recently thanks to the support I received from the chaebols.

“Of course it will be hard. But, it’s more preferable since this place will be surrounded by monsters soon.”

That’s right…

After gathering everyone’s opinion regarding the matter, I came to the conclusion that the Geom-in’s suggestion was good. Looking at the video filmed with a drone, the area Geom-in picked seemed to be much safer than here. Water could be easily drawn and used, and food supply would not be a problem thanks to the ocean.

The only downside was that I had to give up on the vegetable garden I had planted. However, with Jiman here, it wouldn’t be long until we have a new vegetable garden.

I looked at people and said, “Let’s move. It will be a little difficult, but once we are there, things will be easy.”

Yoohyeon, who was arm in arm with Yeowool, said. “Hyung, do what you have to do outside. We will take care of the moving.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course, it is. Since we are here, we should work.”

I nodded. He’s truly a guy who only said pretty things.

Yeowool then said as if she was not going to let his boyfriend hog all the spotlight. “I think there should be rules for all of us. While I personally think it’s okay to live freely, it shouldn’t be too free. First, we have to decide where to sleep.”

RIght…

I alternately pointed to the hut and the cave.

“Men will sleep in the hut, while the women will sleep in the cave. Let’s do it like that for the time being. Take out the bathtub and make a separate room using a sandwich panel for the communal bathroom.”

“Shouldn’t we also decide on night watch duty?”

“I don’t think it’s necessary because of the infrared detector.” On top of it, a lot of people here had high cognitive stats. So, if something strange happened in the night, we could quickly find out.

Anyway, it’s true that there should be rules in place where people gather. Without it, it would be easy for their life to spiral into a bad route. In the case of Mikyung, she might go out to sea and play all day without working.

I poured what I had in mind on a piece of paper, and gave it to everyone. The rules gave a clear way of conduct, covering everything from what actions needed to be taken when a monster was found to how to protect each other and how to treat each other.

“It’s all basic stuff, so I believe everyone will do well on their own. Since we are the only ones here, it would be better not to say uncomfortable things to other people. If things don’t go well, there’s nowhere to go.”

“We never had a fight.”

“Everyone knows how they should act.”

It’s amazing to say the least that people with different personalities have lived together for several months and yet never fought. It must have been possible thanks to the care of the older guys like Sooyeon and Hyung-jun hyung.

“If you are protecting what we need to protect, I won’t bug you.”

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When the time for everyone in the shelter to fall asleep came, I quietly came out to the Korean Shelter. There were so many people around unlike before, it was to the point it was hard to tell who was who.

“There must be over 100 people here…”

In less than a day, nearly 70 people had gathered. Only heaven knows how many will come in the future. Seeing the people working in an office made of sandwich panels made me feel pity for them.

“I would never have thought that people would be able to work in Apocalypse.” Though, it might be better for them to choose that way, since they would hardly be useful in a battle.

When I went out and passed the office, I saw Jang Won-taek and someone talking. It doesn’t look like it’s going well since the man’s voice was pretty loud.

“Isn’t this different from what you promised? You said we would get guns!”

“We need to prevent any accidents from happening. After all, once it happens, there is nothing we can do about it.”

“Even if an accident happened, doesn’t it have nothing to do with this? It’s not like we’re going to shoot whoever we want, we’re just going to use it for self-defense.”

“As long as anyone enters the shelter in Korea, they must follow the established policy. Some should give what they have and some will receive what they don’t have. Making an exception for this rule is not possible.”

“I’m going crazy. What should I tell my subordinates? We came here because we were told that we could get a gun.”

“I will go and convince them.”

“No, there might be a riot if you go there. Don’t you know our kids are rough?”

Then Jang Won-taek looked at me.

The man also glanced at me. Moments later, his eyes widened, and he began to stutter.

“I-I Love Gimbap?”

“My name is Kang Seongho.”

“Th-the O-ogre killer… right?”

“It’s true that I landed the last hit. Is there any problem here?”

As I approached, the man staggered back. And at my question, the man desperately shook his head.

“Oh, no. There’s no problem.” The man ran away, and Jang Won-taek came up to me and said in low volume.

“You have great fame.”

“Why is he running away like that?”

“Well, he must be scared.”

“You sure you should accept someone like that? It would be strange if there were no accidents happening with those types of guys around.”

“They may not be a good family, but they can be a decent member.”

There was certainty in his voice.

Come to think of it, this gentleman wanted to embrace everyone… It was a good mind to have, but in my eyes it seems like a failure as of now.

Jang Won-taek looked behind me and said.

“By the way, are you done moving? When I went to your base earlier, there was no one there.”

“Yes, we are done.”

“To think it was possible to live inside your subspace… I don’t know what kind of place it is, but I also want to visit it sometime.”

“If the opportunity arises, I will take you there.”

It was nothing but an empty promise, just like a promise to have a meal next time and stay in touch after school graduation.

“Thank you for even saying that. By the way, can I ask you a favor? I’ll give you the Yongsan bunker if you agree.”

This strict man was willing to give me something like that?

“Something seems to be bothering you.”

“This is the situation…”

After we killed the ogre, its body was left on the grounds of the art gallery. It’s not actually the strongest monster, but for many survivors, the ogre was a scary name. So it was good that there were a lot of people who witnessed it. It would make them believe that humanity could prevail.

However… A lot of people mean there are people who have nasty personality mixed in.

“Those people destroyed many treasures kept in private art galleries.”

I frowned at the information. “Did they have nothing to do? Why in the world…”

“Even ordinary people are sometimes swept away by malice. It’s even worse when we think that they don’t have the power to control themselves. We should have collected those treasures back then and kept them… It’s a pity.”

“If everything is destroyed, there should be nothing left.”

“There’s still treasures kept in the National Museum of Korea and the National Palace Museum.” Jang Won-taek looked straight at me. “The amount of national treasures held by the two museums is no joke. It cannot be compared to a private art museum. The metal collection may have been destroyed, but there are still a lot of things you’d see in a textbook there.”

“Do you want me to go there and keep it in the subspace?”

I rubbed my chin

“It is to pass the soul of Korea to the later generation, Seongho-ssi.”

Soul of Korea, huh? To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in that. People would be too busy surviving, so what does that sentiment hold for people?

However, it was also true that those bastards who thoughtlessly destroy the treasures were a problem. If we didn’t do anything about them, they would surely become a bigger problem in the future.

The problem is, it would take a considerable amount of time and effort to collect so many treasures.

“Well, let’s do it.”

Jang Won-taek smiled faintly.

“I knew you would say that. I have a motorcycle parked just outside the shelter. You can use that.”

“Can I not return it?”

“I wish you could return it if possible, but… if things do not go well, there is nothing I can do about it. You can pick up the key from the office.” He told me so and left.

I got the key from the office and took the motorcycle out of the parking lot. It was a pretty cool bike. It ran on electricity, and the battery had to be charged. Even if it’s a hassle, it was better than nothing for now. I went to the corner and opened the portal.

“Let’s ride a motorcycle and go to the museum.”

“Huh? What, what?”

When I told Da-jeong the situation, she was ecstatic.

“BANZAIIII! A drive date!”

It wouldn’t be that exciting, though…

I jumped onto the motorcycle and started it.

Vrroom-!!

Thick smoke came out of the muffler as I pulled the accelerator. Da-jeong jumped to the seat behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Before long, her hand was slowly going down.

“I’ll be driving, don’t touch it.”

“Noisy! Just drive!”

The motorcycle raced happily down the open road.