Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

After losing a few of their guns, the Hannam-dong Clan fell under scrutiny and ridicule. Hundreds of mocking comments addressing their sloppy attitude was posted on the Auction House. Some people even said that it would be better for them to give all of their guns to the other survivors rather than letting the guns fall to the hands of the Chinese again.

Of course, the Hannam-dong Clan did not accept their request, but the comment still left a scratch on their pride. Soye, in particular, was very angry at the whole situation.

Does it make sense that they had managed to sneak in and steal when everyone was resting?

“This is really annoying…” When she lamented like that, several people came to her, bearing news from the Auction House.

“Soye-ssi. The Auction House in going crazy right now”

“It seemed like a gunfight happened inside the Great Labyrinth.”

However, aside from those facts, it’s unclear what really happened inside. At the same time, someone posted a comment saying that they had seen Seongho. The meaning behind the appearances of the very guy who had not shown his nose even once after he entered the Great Labyrinth until now was probably…

Soye rose to her feet and ran towards her boss. Currently, the Hannam-dong Clan is dispatching several personnel to the Great Labyrinth. Of course, Oh Jung-min was the leader.

He frowned when he saw Soye running in a hurry.

“My answer is no.”

“You didn’t even try to listen to my words first before saying no!”

“Aren’t you trying to ask for my permission to go see Seongho-ssi’s battle?”

Wait, how did he know?

Oh Jung-min sighed and adjusted the gun in his hand.

“The atmosphere down there is very bad. Whatever happens, I believe that Seongho alone will be enough. If we try to help, we will be nothing but hindrance to him.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Haven’t you seen his fight?” Oh Jung-min sighed. “I tell you this since it was you, but don’t even think about interfering. I would hate to take care of your corpse.”

“Tch.” Soye clicked her tongue and backed away.

At that moment, the alarm of their base went off. The meaning was clear: monsters had invaded their base.

Soye hurriedly picked up a gun and went into battle. Her Unique Skill was Terrain Mastery. A skill which enabled her to run on the wall and boost her flexibility to do a lot of acrobatic moves. Although she was an idol singer, the reason why she had such Unique Skill was probably because she was more of a dancer than a singer.

“Aaaaah!” Soye fired the gun squeezed in her hand at the flocking skeletons. She was told that bullets were ineffective against skeletons, but it still killed them in the end. After killing several skeletons, she was still not satisfied yet. So, she moved forward towards the dark corridor.

“Die, die, die!” Soye felt her stress melt away after killing a few more skeletons and she was finally satisfied.

But… where is this? She looked around her. It seemed that she had gone somewhere unknown because she was too excited.

“Calm down…” There should be some gunshot sounds that she can use to lead the way back. She just needs to follow it to make her way to the base.

As she expected, she heard gunshots from afar and proceeded to follow it. However, the place she arrived wasn’t the base where her comrades were staying. Instead, it was a place where crimson red blood painted the dark stone wall, while corpses of monsters and humans could be scattered all over the ground.

“What the…” She covered her nose as the smell of blood invaded her olfactory sense. Then, she started to hear a thumping sound from somewhere nearby.

Soye turned her gaze towards the sound and opened her eyes wide. Through the light of the flashlight in her hand, she could see a familiar figure pushing away people–who, from what she knows, were Chinese.

Bang-!!

Someone amongst the Chinese pointed their gun towards Seongho and opened fire. But for whatever reason, Seongho was fine. The only one who got hit was another Chinese.

“Keuk!” As soon as the victim collapsed, a heartbeat sound could be heard thumping loudly. The Chinese who just shot the pistol had became a murderer. However, before the Deathmatch event could start, Soye witnessed Seongho approaching the man by leaping towards him using the walls.

What the…

Wasn’t his Unique Skill something about controlling space?

Does it make sense that he could jump from one wall to another with a better movement than her, who has Terrain Mastery type as her Unique Skill?

While Soye was still blankly staring at his fight, Seongho was already right in front of the Chinese. In a speed Soye’s eyes couldn’t follow, Seongho swung his sword. The neck of the murderer flew to the air while his blood splattered to the wall right after that.

“Uwaaaah!” Some Chinese around Seongho screamed and tried to run away after witnessing the death of their comrade. But they were stopped by a heavy punch to the stomach by Seongho.

Soye closed her eyes tightly at the terrible sight. Had the target of that punch been her, she was sure that she would say goodbye to the world instantly.

When the surroundings became quiet, Soye opened her eyes. Then she saw it: A pair of red, emotionless eyes were staring directly at her.

“Why did you come here?” Seongho questioned in a heavy and subdued voice.

“I-I-I got lost while fighting…” Soye stuttered.

“…I can hear gunshots coming from that way.” Seongho pointed. “I believe it’s from the Hannam-dong Clan’s base. Go.”

Huh? He’s surprisingly friendly?

Soye looked in the direction he was pointing for a few seconds before turning her back at him. A man ruthless to his enemies, but kind to others…

Unknowingly, she took a step towards him. But he raised her hand and stopped her.

“Go that way. Don’t waste any more time.”

To Soye, it sounded like he had no time to worry about her. She groaned and looked straight at him.

“Am I not good enough?”

“What do you mean?” Seongho tilted his head ever so slightly.

“I’ll be honest. I like you because you are strong.”

“Is that so?”

Soye swallowed at his words. Even though she was showing so much sincerity, his face did not change much. She felt that he would show a lot more expression when he stepped on an ant passing by.

“I felt it at some point. Hunting with those people doesn’t guarantee my future. Please protect me. I’ll give you something else in exchange.”

The meaning behind the word ‘exchange’ was obvious in this kind of world. However, Seongho only smiled and turned his head.

“If Da-jeong knew about this, she would be pissed.”

“If it’s Da-jeong, she’s the one who…”

“She is a very ferocious woman. I’m sorry, but I have my hands full with her alone. So please stop this.”

“Why? Isn’t there a saying that men can’t be satisfied even after having 10 women? Don’t you want to take me?”

“No.” Seongho closed his mouth and walked away from her. However at that moment, Soye screamed.

“Hey! Kang Seongho! If you don’t answer now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life! Do you know who I am? I’m Violet Soye! Do you know how much money men spent trying to just hold my hand? I know you also jerked off while watching my fancam!”

Seongho stopped in place after she finished. He then unsheathed the mithril blade strapped on his waist and walked towards her.

“Wha-what are you-”

At that moment, the back of the sword touched her chin.

“I warn you, don’t cross the line. If I don’t like you, then that’s it.” Seongho said softly.

Soye couldn’t even breathe properly, because for some reason, she’s feeling a sensation that a blade was stabbing her whole body. It was only after the sword was removed that she could finally breathe. His piercing gaze also shifted away from her.

“And although I had seen a fancam before, it was not yours. I’ve never seen your fancam.”

“Wh-whose?”

“You don’t need to know. If you bother me again next time, you will die. Do be careful.”

His voice was low, but the sincerity was sufficiently conveyed. When Soye bowed her head, Seongho disappeared somewhere.

“…I am a strong woman, Seongho.” She muttered very quietly.

.

.

.

The Chinese were like a flock of sheep. They were helplessly pushed by one man. Some of them had guns, and there were even a handful of those whose level was beyond level 15. However, it was still not enough for them to stop the attacking predator.

“There’s a monster behind you! Monster!”

“Ackkkkk!”

Whenever they fought him, monsters always appeared as if the man had made a cooperative relationship with them. It was really confusing for the Chinese.

Why don’t those monsters attack the guy?

In fact, they didn’t even have time to think about it. After all, they were killed one after another by Seongho’s attack. It was really strange that he didn’t become a murderer despite killing so many Chinese.

Woof-!! Woof-!!

A certain Chinese unleashed a big dog to attack Seongho. Even though he hadn’t heard such Unique Skill existed, it was clear that it had something to do with her working as a dog trainer in the pre-apocalyptic time.

Without looking at him, Seongho opened the portal and summoned Dingo. At the same time, he did not forget to knock back the guys in front of him, sending them to the bunch of skeletons.

“Dingo, kill them.”

The silver wolf, who had grown bigger than any cow, if not even a bull, rushed to the dogs. He hit one of the dogs with his paws and bit the neck of the other and threw it away.

Awoooo-!!

The howl of a canine animal was always the same.

“NOOOO!” The Chinese cried at the death of her dogs.

“Please, please! Spare us” She begged. However, moments later, she was surprised when someone appeared near her.

“Ah…” Seongho swung his mithril blade at her, cutting one of her legs from her body. Being unable to move in the Great Labyrinth was synonymous to death. She was attacked by goblins that appeared from somewhere and met a tragic death.

The thing that happened to her was also happening all over the Chinese base. But the main culprit for the whole tragedy, Ju Seung Su, was busy throwing his men away and fleeing for his life.

“Huff… Huff…” He couldn’t forget what had happened. All of a sudden, fireworks went off and his men’s arms were cut off. As if it wasn’t chaotic enough, the big man who did it also reflected the bullets that were fired towards him. The reflected bullet then killed his other men, causing a Deathmatch event to occur. The man used the event to kill his men one by one.

“You fucker!!!” Ju Seung Su ran while cursing. He felt like if he ran a little bit more, he would be able to leave this place. It was difficult to deal with the attacker in such a narrow and dark place like the Great Labyrinth, but there’s a chance that he might be able to do so if it was on the outside.

In anger, he pushed his men and ran. But a strange thought came to his mind at that moment.

‘He… it was as if he was letting me go on purpose…’

When he and his men panicked as the firecrackers exploded, he could have killed as many as he could. However, he didn’t do so, allowing Ju Seung Su to run away. Ju Seung Su hurriedly shook his head to blow away his thoughts.

‘No, he just doesn’t know who I am.’ Thinking about it that way made him feel a little better. If he reached the entrance and joined his men outside, he would be able to deal with the bastard somehow.

He remembered a particular scene from a movie he watched when the mainland was fine. It was an amazing scene where hundreds or thousands of arrows were thrown at one person.

‘We don’t have that much, but we still have a few dozen.’ A smile was finally engraved on Ju Seung Su’s lips. He passed his men and ran to the entrance. When he finally stepped out of the portal, his men were waiting for him.

“Huh? what’s going on?”

“Prepare to welcome a guest! He will be out soon.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s that bastard! Prepare the arrows!”

The men hurriedly scattered around at his order. Ju Seung Su accompanied his men and stood in front of the portal. He’s sure that with enough arrows, he would be able to kill the man.

However, even after waiting for a while, the man who appeared first from the portal was not the Korean guy. Instead, it was one of their comrades, who had lost one of his legs.

“Sa, save me… save me…”

Ju Seung Su squeezed the gun in his hands tightened as tension filled his body. In that state, he waited for a long time, but the man still did not appear.

Is he afraid to come out?

“Liu Xiaohu, go ahead.”

“I understand…”

One of his subordinates trembled as he approached the portal. Suddenly, an arm popped out of the portal and grabbed Liu Xiaohu’s neck before pulling him in.

“Come out! Come out, you bastard!” Ju Seung Su screamed.

Seongho slowly walked out of the portal at that moment. As he had expected, the Battle Royale event had not come to an end yet, and the battlefield was still active. In other words, even if he kill people here, he wouldn’t become a murderer.

“You ran well.” When Seongho praised him, Ju Seung Su’s lips twisted.

“Ran well?”

“Yeah. Do you think I just let you go because I don’t have a plan?”

“Then what…”

Ju Seung Su racked his brain to try to find his motive. After a while, he came to a conclusion that he let him go to find the Chinese’s point of entrance.

However, that thought instantly crumbled down.

“The Battle Royale event here has not ended yet, I see.” Seongho said. “That means, even if I kill every single one of you here, I will not become a murderer.”

“You, do you think you can do that on your own!?!?”

As Ju Seung Su snapped his gun and screamed, Seongho spread his arms out.

“Shoot.”

“…”

“I said, shoot.”

Even after the taunting, Ju Seung Su still didn’t give the order to shoot. After all, he had witnessed how the man deflect the bullets before. He didn’t know that it was only possible because of the additional effect called the dimensional wall, which was now temporarily disabled because of the battlefield.

While Ju Seung Su was hesitating, a blue portal suddenly appeared in the air.

“Huh?”

Everyone freezed on their place when a portal similar to the entrance of the Great Labyrinth appeared. Right after that, a large bolt came out and pierced Ju Seung-Su’s chest. Only after his consciousness waned that he realized that he had been attacked.

“This…” There was no intense pain whatsoever. Ju Seung Su looked at his abdomen with bloodshot eyes and died on the spot. With the death of the caster, the brainwash casted on his subordinates was released, and they all fell into confusion.

“What, what?”

“Where is this?”

“You are all in a Battle Royale battlefield.”

BABABABABANG-!!

Seongho told them and shot the bewildered Chinese.

“Shoot! Shoot him!”

When someone shouted, dozens of arrows fell towards Seongho. However, Seongho was no longer there; he had escaped through the portal. From the inside, he used the sniper rifle to take out the enemies outside the portal one by one.