Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

People fell into despair.

After the apocalypse came, there were many who thought that nothing could’ve gone for the worse. After all, what in the world could be worse than the end of human civilization?

But they were wrong. The earthquake caused by the ghoul flower completely shattered their lives. They could no longer ride a motorcycle on the road. It became impossible to walk on the road while feeling the apocalypse really had come as the ground was also destroyed.

Millions of ghoul flowers were dormant throughout the city, and yet, in one single stroke, they exploded all the energy they had collected. The ground was upturned, and in some places, had created sinkholes. A lot of buildings that were still standing collapsed, spilling huge pieces of debris.

When the apocalypse destroyed human civilization, this event was as if a cleanup event that destroyed human civilization with a broom.

The Auction House was overflowing with anguish from the people who had lost their hideout. After all, until now, the buildings were always the safest place around. So when all of it completely collapses, the feeling that left on their heart was nothing but despair.

-What should we do now…

-It looks like we were forced to move. It’s crazy…

-Aww, do I have to go to the Korean Shelter now?

-I don’t like it either, but I’m thinking of going there. At least there’s still a roof there.

-I think you guys are misunderstanding something. The policy of the Korean Shelter has changed. They no longer accept anyone.

-Why the fuck are they doing that all of a sudden?

-I heard that I Love Gimbap was doing it to clean the shelter from the inside. But after that, the President said that he would also not accept anyone for a while.

-Didn’t they merge with the Hannam-dong Clan?

-They must have built trust by communicating consistently. The time has come when it is difficult to live without connections.

-Actually, society was always like that…

-Anyway, if you are trying to start something with I Love Gimbap, just give up. Otherwise, you’ll die.

-A lot of people don’t die, though? I Love Gimbap only attacks people who offended him first.

-By the way, how can I live now… Food is running out, so I have to hunt…

-Isn’t it okay to hunt the wild boar?

-Have you spent all your time hiding in your shelter or something? If you try to hunt the wild boar, the chance you are going to be killed by monsters is higher than the chance you can catch it.

In the end, that was the problem. The number of humans was miles short compared to the numbers of monsters. No matter what they did, they would be chased by monsters, making even meeting the requirement of living a basic lifestyle difficult.

A small number of capable people would be able to survive on their own, but most of the survivors would have difficulty to find food. That fact too, was considered after putting the fact that there’s only two and a half months left before the time shelters were fully opened. Therefore, it was not surprising that there were complaints among the survivors.

The good news was that animals hunted by a small number of talented people were now being put up for auction. The meat of various animals, such as wild boar, valley deer, and birds called hwajos came up. It was quite expensive, but in order to eat, the survivors had no choice but to buy it.

‘As expected, I have to help the people.’

Eum Jiman was a good person. No one who knew him ever said otherwise. He’d never been angry, and he’s always happy when someone asked him for something. He was the exact opposite of Seongho, the leader of the shelter. However, the two were unexpectedly close. Seongho had no intention of letting Jiman go, and Jiman too had no intention of leaving the shelter.

Da-jeong used to say:

-Really, this guy, if he were a woman, Seongho would definitely choose him over me. Rather, he wouldn’t ever look at another girl in his lifetime, and would only focus on him.

When Jiman heard it, he felt he was lucky to be born as a man. It’s not because he hates Seongho, rather it was because he couldn’t stay still seeing people in trouble.

In the past, the things he could do for the troubled survivors could easily be counted in one hand, but now it’s different. The shelter was actively expanded, so more and more crops could be grown. In other words, they decided to sell the crops grown in the shelter at the Auction House.

At a low price to boot.

“Will that be okay, Hyung?” When Jiman asked that question, Seongho trembled a little. In fact, he had sold fish and potatoes before.

“I know I told you to take care of it by yourself, but do you really have to sell it like that? It’s too cheap.”

The price that Jiman put for 10 fist-sized potatoes was a meager 10 points. Compared to the store bread, which was disgusting, it was a no-brainer-must-buy item.

Seongho thought even if they put a 30 points tag on it, it would be flying off the shelves, so he was quite surprised at the price Jiman put for it.

Jiman said, “I’m trying to help people who are starving. It doesn’t make sense if it’s expensive.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“And don’t worry, you are collecting points well. It’s already over 50,000.”

“Um… whatever then. Take care of it yourself.”

Seongho was planning to cross over to the ruins, so he didn’t care about the details. The most important thing for him now was to bring Geom-in back.

With Seongho’s permission, Jiman put the farm tools on his shoulders and went into the garden.

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“We’ll be back as soon as possible, so take good care of the shelter! Understand?”

“They will be fine.” Da-jeong patted Seongho’s shoulder.

After that, both of them set off on a long journey with the gryphon. Their destination was the archaeological site on the other side of the sea. Even though it’s far, there’s no need for them to worry about getting lost, as Captain Scarab was there with them.

After seeing them off, each of the shelter members started to do their own thing. Seokhyun, the only stagnant waters left in the shelter, went with a few others to secure the vicinity of Elderwood Forest. After all, the shelter expansion had just begun.

Of course, all of that had nothing to do with Jiman. He would also go to fight if there’s a need, but his main job was to take care of the shelter. Originally, the task was divided between him and Geom-in, but now that he’s gone, he has to take charge of everything. Fortunately, Jiman did not consider the task entrusted to him a burden. Rather, he was enjoying it.

“Leggy, Beaky.”

When the hornbills were called, sounds of rapid footsteps approaching Jiman’s location could be heard. The two guys regarded Jiman as their mother. Even though it hasn’t been long since they were born, they already boasted incredible physical abilities. Even the shelter member who had a fairly high stats couldn’t catch them.

Following the two, Yeowool walked towards him while grumbling.

“I was feeding them! How can you call them that?”

“If you just let them go, they will eat well by themselves.”

“I still wanted them to listen to me.”

“Everyone likes these guys, huh?”

According to the description of the scarabs and the beetle, hornbills differ from other animals in many ways. The first difference was that their meat was terribly tasteless. Their growth rate was also incredibly fast compared to other animals, and even if they got injured, they would not lose their athletic ability once they recovered. To define it in one sentence, hornbills were animals which were created to be ridden. In just 4 or 5 more months, they would become large enough for 2 people to ride it.

Yeo-wool gave up and sat down next to Jiman. Everyone else had gone out and they were the only two people in the shelter now. However, there was no fear of being attacked by monsters in their heart at all since they had swept away all the monsters around the shelter. And if there’s an emergency, all they had to do was call Sangshin, who was at the Korean Shelter at the moment.

Yeowool put her chin on her hand then said.

“Oppa, you are very diligent, you know? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take a break.”

“I rest often, though?”

“Lies. You always wake up the earliest and sleep the latest.”

“The air here is really nice. Even if I sleep a little, my fatigue always disappears the moment I wake up.”

“Um… It’s not like that for me, though?”

The nature of Lotus was rich. And Jiman was more than willing to share the things that came out of that nature with people.

After talking for a few more minutes, the two left the shelter and went to the beach to retrieve the fish trap. When the rope was pulled, a huge amount of seafood was filling the trap.

“Whoaaaa! That’s a lot!” Yeowool exclaimed.

“We will only eat some of it and sell the rest.” Jiman calmly said.

“Oppa, you will truly become a rich man!”

“It’s us, not just me.”

That was what Jiman always emphasized. In fact, he used most of the points he earned by himself for the shelter. Thanks to that, the shelter became even more prosperous. The amount of weapons stored also increased thanks to it. Now, 5 people would have one of those expensive Elderwood Long Warbows if the situation called for it.

The two carried the trap and returned to the shelter. When Yeowool took a seat, turned the trap upside down, and roughly trimmed the seafood, Jiman put it on a leaf plate so that he could sort it out into the ones they would eat and the one to be put in the auction.

When Jiman finally put it up, naturally there was a riot at the Auction House.

-What is this? How did flounder sashimi come up here?

-Who caught it in the sea?

-Did the seller catch it in the West Sea? Are there flounders there?

-The fact that there are flounders is not a problem, the West Sea is off-limits. The oil pollution on the water is no joke.

-Those Chinese bastards are really root of all evil.

Recently, the fact that the West Sea was polluted came to light through the Auction House. The situation that led into it was like this: Before the apocalypse, the Chinese government heard the information and called in large numbers of oil tankers. However, the tankers were staying on the shore rather than docking on land. Therefore, they were crushed by the corrosive disease, and the oil the tankers contained poured into the sea.

At first, only the Chinese coast was polluted, but after a few months, the oil also reached the Korean sea. Thanks to that, the Chinese who were fishing on the shores couldn’t help but starve, and they blamed Korea for all of it.

-If Korea had informed us a little sooner, the ship wouldn’t be there! It’s all your responsibility.

The guy posted a comment on an auction item frequented by Koreans and attracted aggro, but the reaction he got was cold.

-So, what do you want us to do, you bastard?

-If there is nothing to eat, you should starve! What else can you do?

-We are human too. We also live in Korea.

-Look at this bastard. Did we fucking invite you guys? You are the one who has invaded and occupied our West Coast!

-I really want to kill all these Chinese bastards.

The relationship between the two factions, which was far from good in the first place, worsened as the food shortage hit. However, due to the Battle Royale battlefield, there was no direct contact between them. They just keep sharpening their hatred for each other and hate each other endlessly.

Amidst that, the Japanese forces that emerged through the Great Labyrinth settled in Gangbuk. The Hannam-dong Clan, who was managing the portal, had migrated, so there was no one stopping them. On top of it, the Russians and Americans went to Seoul through Yatap Station. They even used guns just to get some space for them, and the survivors around them were terrified and had to open the way.

“These bastards, they’re shooting us!”

“Where did they get the guns?”

Although it wasn’t a real gun, it was enough to scare the normal survivors away.

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Me and Da-jeong went down to the ruins to meet Geom-in. Although he had been alone for a few days, he didn’t look shabby. Rather, he had become more mature than ever.

His eyes were full of confidence, and as he roughly rubbed the blood from his cheeks with his clothes, the atmosphere of a veteran explorer could be felt from him.

It was so contrasting from his usual self to the point Da-jeong was admiring it.

“Geom-in, you’ve changed a lot!”

“I guess it’s because I struggled alone. Sit down. I found a lot of good things here.”

We sat around a bonfire in the basement of the ruins and talked. Geom-in told us about the story of the monster that destroyed the Lotus civilization and the forces that worship it.

“At first, I thought there were only humans who worshiped the monster, but turns out, there’s also traitors among the scarabs and stag beetles.”

Our eyes turned to the two scarabs. After arguing a few times, they decided to reveal everything, so they drew something on the sandy floor.

Even if we are of the same race, we have a lot of camps.

The drawing seemed to say.

Da-jeong clenched her chin and asked.

“Then why did they betray you?”

Captain Scarab painted a horizontal figure of 8 next to the traitor at her question.

Did it promise them an eternal life?

Geom-in elaborate further at that moment.

“The monster in the depths of the Great Labyrinth is not a god, but it appears to have considerable powers. On top of it, it also has the intelligence to take advantage of the disaster that has come to Lotus.”

“That programmer Ahn Geun-seok must have followed him. He must have had a glimpse of its abilities.”

“You mean he surrendered to the monster because he wanted to live forever?”

“Maybe.” Geom-in shrugged.

I remembered the men who acted as the nurse’s subordinates. I had killed them in the wetland labyrinth, but they came back alive. Judging from that, it was clear that the monster had the ability to bring the dead back to life. It’s surprising that it could do such a thing without the resurrection scroll, but it becomes not so strange when I think of it as the monster twisting the system.

After all, that’s what programmers do.

I said after organizing my thoughts.

“We can’t stand against that monster right now. After all, it’s a monster that turned the entire continent upside down. But still, shouldn’t we at least try to hit back? There must be a clue somewhere in Lotus.”

“Oh yeah, there’s that! Was it around here?” Geom-in drew a rough map of the Lotus and pointed to the area on the south part of the continent. Surprisingly, the scarab that was with him began to write in Korean beside it.

Ruat.

It seems to be the name of the kingdom that occupied part of the southern part of Lotos.

“If we go there, there might be some leftovers of what they studied. Most of them should have been destroyed by the monster attack, but some will remain.”

“It seemed to be quite far from here.”

At my words, Captain Scarab calculated on the spot and wrote down the numbers. It was almost a thousand kilometers away from this place, so it was difficult to go right away.

“Ah, I don’t know. Now that we’ve come this far, let’s take a break. Geom-in, do you get anything here?” Da-jeong laid on her side and asked.

“This.”

When he opened the backpack, Da-jeong went back to sitting position and smiled broadly.

“You’re starting to resemble Seongho, too.”

Is that a compliment or an insult?

Anyway, the amount of items Geom-in collected was no joke. It seemed like the item drop rate was high when it comes to these kinds of ruins.

After viewing the items, we headed to the deepest part of the ruins under the guidance of the scarabs. What waited for us there was…

Shocking.

“…”

“…all of them are dead.”

Dozens of stocky skeletons were waiting for us.

It was probably the dwarves who were killed by the monster during the last fight in this ruin.

The scarabs stared at the skull without moving. But in their small, black eyes, a tinge of sorrow could be seen. There’s also a desire for revenge. A burning one.