Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

By the way, how’s your world cup favourite team faring?

One day, in the middle of April, Da-jeong was flying over the West Sea on top of her gryphon, not knowing about the earthquake that is currently happening. As she had read on the Auction House, black oil floated on top of the water.

“Damn… There’s too much of it…” There was so much oil to the point that the entire West Sea looked black instead of blue. But after thinking about it more, Da-jeong realized that it was only a matter of course. After all, dozens of oil tankers, which China hurriedly prepared, have been destroyed by the corrosive disease, resulting in its insides spilling all over the sea.

Since there was no manpower nor equipment to carry out the clean-up work, it was more than possible that the sea would remain contaminated for at least several more years.

‘And that is an optimistic calculation…’ Which means, there’s a possibility that the sea would remain black for a few decades, or even forever.

Looking at the dark sea, Da-jeong’s mood worsened. At the same time, her hatred against the Chinese government for creating the situation grew further.

‘All in all. those guys really don’t help at all.’

The strange thing was that the sea within the range of 10 to 20 meters away from the coast had still maintained its blue color.

‘Was the rumor about server separation between nations real?’

She did not believe Jang Won-taek’s when he said that their nation was cut off from the rest of the world because of something he dubbed as a ‘server’. However, now that she had witnessed it first hand, she realized that maybe his word was the truth.

After all, if it’s nothing but gibberish, why did that wide strip of oil not pollute the beach?

When she took her gryphon to descend closer to the sea, the smell of oil struck her nose. In the current state, It was simply impossible to fish there.

At that moment, she saw that few people were staring blankly at the sea from the beach. Da-jeong judged from their clothes that there’s no way that they would be Korean. Which can only mean one thing. They were Chinese.

Since her opinion about them was currently at an all-time-low, she nearly flew towards them in a fit of rage. Thankfully, she realized that the battlefield around the area where the Chinese stood had not been cleared yet, so she stopped. If she decides to follow her emotion here, her domination towards the gryphon would be untangled, and it would take time to find another gryphon for her to tame. And in the worst case, she would be forced to fight against the gryphon and the Chinese at the same time, while being debuffed by the battlefield.

‘If I touch a poop, I’ll just smell like one.’

The gryphon flew farther towards the West Sea under Da-jeong’s orders. To her surprise, she saw dozens of boats rushing through the oil sea towards Korea. She could only stare blankly at them before bursting into anger.

“It’s not like someone is pouring honey all over Korea!!! Why did you guys keep coming here!!!!!”

In her eyes, the Chinese looked like swarms of ants lured by honey. On the other hand, she realized that the situation in mainland China was so miserable to the point that those people are regarding Korea as a far better place than their own hometown.

The gryphon flew over the West Sea for a few minutes, but the scenery did not change. The color of the sea was still black and she could still see boats here and there.

Just what are they trying to do, coming to Korea in hordes like that?

Da-jeong recalled what Seongho said: numbers are a weapon.

-Even though a lot of Chinese are low leveled, they cannot be ignored. A number over a thousand is a huge threat. Aren’t they holding out in Korea right now? It will take a little more time for them to adapt. When the time comes, they will surely come further inland.

The reason he left it unattended was because he knew that they were difficult to touch.

“They’re really troublesome guys…” It was a heartbreaking piece of news. Da-jeong lamented about what sin she had committed in her previous life to become involved with such people.

While thinking so, she turned the gryphon’s head and headed to Seoul. As the way back was long and eventful, she opened the Auction House to curb her boredom. Just moments after she opened it, a quarrel between Seongho and someone piqued her interest.

– So you’re saying you won’t help? Even after we beg like this?

-Why should I help? How many Chinese do you think I have killed? You guys are my enemy.

-I know that there was a misunderstanding between you and them. But I am different from them. I am willing to cooperate with you.

-I’m the one who’s unwilling to do so. So go away from Korean soil.

‘Good boy!’ Da-jeong did not intervene in the comment section and just cheered for him inside her heart. But to be honest, she too found it difficult to cooperate with the Chinese after things went this far.

Seongho and the Chinese commented a few more times, but nothing changed. They just confirmed each other’s differences of opinion.

The Chinese–Zhao Ziwei–introduced himself in the process. He said he was different from the previous leader of the Chinese group but Seongho did not believe it.

-Is it that difficult to slightly lower the price of potatoes? Judging from the fact that you’re selling a lot of them, your situation seems to be good enough.

-For your information, 10 points is the lowest price we can put up for an item on the Auction House.

-Then just increase the number of potatoes.

-As I said earlier, why should I?

Apparently, Zhao Ziwei noticed that the person selling potatoes was Seongho. If he kept asking at the Auction House, Seongho or Jiman would have to come out. It was because the shelter members always remained wary and watched the Auction House daily for the most recent information, and would quickly write the information they found on the bulletin board of the shelter.

Anyway, Zhao Ziwei kept begging him to lower the price of potatoes, and Seongho kept refusing him.

-If you kill 5 zombies or goblins, you can buy 10 potatoes. If you eat sparingly, you will have enough calories for two days. You can’t even do that?

Potatoes grown by Jiman were larger and sweeter than normal potatoes. On top of it, they were also quite high in calories. Shelter members used to complain that they would get fat while eating steamed potatoes because they were so delicious.

Well, that only consists of mainly the women.

-There are many people who can’t even do that. Can’t you take a look at the situation?

-I have no desire to take care of your situation.

-I thought you can be reasoned with. I must have misjudged you..

Seongho didn’t seem to have any intention of changing his mind until the very end.

Then, Zhao Ziwei made an unexpected statement.

-I have no choice but to get help from someone else.

It was meant to make Seongho curious, but he wasn’t interested at all.

-You can do whatever you want, but please leave Korea. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for you to live in your own hometown?

-He offered us… a better life. I wanted to coexist with Koreans as much as possible, but looking at you, I have no choice but to accept the offer.

-Do whatever you want.

-I will make you regret it. I’ll make you regret refusing us.

-Do as you like. You are planning on holding hands with that Ahn Geun-seok guy, aren’t you?

Ahn Geun-seok was the programmer who appeared in the Great Labyrinth. He’s a very suspicious guy, and although he takes on human form while meeting Seongho, he’s nothing but a monster.

Zhao Ziwei did not leave a comment for a long time, probably because the question hits home.

Seongho posted another comment.

-If you join hands with those non-humans, you will only suffer further, so you better stay away from them.

-You dare give us advice when you’re not even trying to help us?

-This is not an advice, but a warning. Even though you guys are bothering us now, I would still leave you guys alone. But if you hold hands with that guy Ahn Geun-seok, I won’t stay idle any longer. Whether you have hundreds or thousands of people, I will kill every single one of you.

-I have heard that you are strong. It might be better to die fighting you than to die of starvation.

-You are free to choose. But don’t say I haven’t warned you later.

The debate ended there. In fact, the situation wouldn’t differ much even if it wasn’t Seongho who was in the position of seller. After all, food was a limited resource.

Da-jeong was about to close the Auction House, but saw that Seongho had called her with the coded language.

-You are there, aren’t you, Da-jeong?

-How did you know?

-It’s obvious that you will get bored, going around doing nothing like that.

-You’re really sharp…

-Anyway, come to the Korean Shelter quickly. We have work to do.

-You want to drag me into bed during the day? Isn’t it too spicy?

Da-jeong said quietly, but Seongho didn’t seem interested.

-Stop talking nonsense and be ready to go to Luat.

Luat was the kingdom mentioned in the ruins. It was located in the southern part of the Lotus Continent, and there’s a high probability that there were remains related to the end of the world there.

-Oh my gosh. Sending your wife a thousand kilometers away?

-Seokhyun and Geom-in will also go with you.

-I should have a threesome with the two of them.

Even though she said so, everyone knows that she only wanted to do it if Seongho was involved. That too, with other women…

Seongho ignored her grumbling.

-I will also get a scarab and a stag beetle to go with you, so go there and find out about that monster.

-I want to go with you.

-I have a lot of work to do here. You’re the only one with a gryphon.

-Tsk, I’ll take a look. But when I come back, you will give me one full day of attention.

-Okay.

Da-jeong was excited and turned the gryphon’s head towards the Korean Shelter.

.

.

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Seokhyun, Da-jeong, Geom-in and the two insects; a total of five people were put on the back of a single gryphon. The reason I sent the three stagnant waters was because the journey seemed like it would be quite difficult. According to the explanations of the insects, the southern part of the continent was a dangerous terrain with a mixture of volcanoes and jungles. The destination, the Luat Kingdom, was in no way harder than that, but the road leading to it was treacherous. The only people I could trust to break through such difficulty were the stagnant waters.

The rest of the members were busy expanding the shelter. They had reached a point where they could hunt without me and do the construction on their own with a fork crane.

While everyone worked hard, I didn’t think to sit still either. I was thinking of infiltrating the base of the Americans. However, before I could even pack my bags, I got a call from Jang Won-taek. He said that they had hired an American man who came to Korea. He’s from Texas, and he had been with the rednecks for a while.

When I arrived at Jang Won-taek’s office, he and a white man were already waiting for me. From his gray hair, beard, and wrinkles, he’s probably around 50 years old.

He looked at me with anxious eyes.

“This man is…”

Jang Won-taek introduced me.

“He is the strongest man in this shelter. He is a trustworthy person, so you can rest assured.”

“The strongest, huh? May I ask what level you are? Even though it might sound funny, I’m used to this kind of situation.”

“Level 40.”

The American shook his head in disbelief.

“No, it can’t be. Even Terrence hasn’t passed level 25…”

Instead of answering, I gently grabbed the corner of the table with my fingers and released it. The American’s and Jang Won-taek’s expressions were distorted at the same time at my show. The American looked down at the table, and his face turned into disbelief. After all, the frame was crumpled with just a single hand.

“…that’s a lot of power. Terrence isn’t like that.” He mumbled. “My name is James Allen Ray. You can call me James.”

“My name is Kang Seongho. First of all, I want to ask you… Were you with the crowd who made Gangnam their base?”

James sighed and nodded his head.

“I was with them until a few days ago. As you can see, those guys are nuts.”

“Are they always like that? I don’t think it’s normal to shoot into the air recklessly like that.”

“They used to be just ordinary preppers. Until that day comes… Uh, Can I ask for some water?”

“Here you go.”

As Jang Won-taek took out a water bottle, James’ eyes became dim.

“Clean water… It is a very difficult thing to find in the world these days. We thought it would be easy to get water.”

“Monsters love water. And of course, zombies too.”

He nodded vigorously at my words.

“When the apocalypse comes, everyone wants to take over the supermarket, right? We wanted to do that too, but we couldn’t because of the zombies! A lot of them flocked to that supermarket!”

In any media that has some zombie elements inside it, whether it’s novels, movies, or anything else, zombies were often portrayed as monsters that do not require an energy supply. But the real zombies we fought currently definitely needed energy. That was why the mart was robbed, leaving nothing for the survivors. Over time, the zombies evolved into ghouls and eventually became ghoul flowers, shaking the ground. It once again destroyed humanity’s home.

Of course, there are still many buildings remaining, but since a lot of roads were destroyed, there’s basically no room for movement. I couldn’t even ride a motorcycle any longer, which meant I would have to rely on the hornbill. Given the mobility of the guy described by the scarab, I bet in the current terrain, they were better than any vehicle.

James continued.

“Anyway, Terrence and others worked on my ranch as ground control since there were too many wild boars around.”

“If it’s a ranch…”

“I raised about 2,000 cows, but now they have all escaped.”

Jang Won-taek and I were amazed at the scale. And since we suddenly talked about cows, I suddenly wanted to raise them. Currently, the only animals raised in the shelter were wild boars and the hwajos. Other animals had been removed either due to their tasteless meat or the difficulty to raise them. If only I could procure some cows, Jiman would be able to raise them well…

Even while I was imagining such things, James was filled with anger and told the story.

“As the apocalypse came, Terrence and the ground support team told me this: ‘Now that we are all in a position to survive together, why not join forces?’ Since our relationship wasn’t the usual boss and subordinates relationship, but an equal relationship … It’s hard to say no.

“I needed their help too, so I had no choice. But… What I didn’t know was the fact that Terrence was doing it to lure in my daughter!”

“Excuse me, but how old is your daughter?”

“She should be going to college this year. But, she hasn’t studied since she fell in love with horse riding. Her name is Paige.”

She’s a cowgirl, not a cowboy, huh?

Anyway, James says Terrence often took her out to hunt. He knew roughly what the relationship between the two was. And that’s when the incident happened.

It was said that a certain Asian appeared in a town in Texas.

“At first, I thought it was a strange thing, and I thought he was an international student. But he wasn’t. He showed off his amazing abilities and made Terrence his subordinate.”

“What kind of amazing power is it?”

“He brought the dead back to life. Terrence had a friend who died while wandering around, and he brought him back to life. When I asked what he did, he said it was the power of the god he worshiped. Terrence and a few others are starting to believe him.”

Looks like it’s not the power of God, but the power of the resurrection scroll…

Anyway, Terrence and the others, who didn’t know about it, seemed to have completely fallen for Ahn Geun-seok. Their faith cemented after receiving a piece of strange wood, which prevented a zombie raid to occur.

“I know it a little now, but at the time I really thought I was seeing a prophet. Because even my faith was shaken.”

“Did they also realize that?”

“They don’t trust outsiders… They just misunderstand it as a God-given power.”

After that… is just history. Terrence gathered the people around him to form an organization, followed Ahn Geun-seok’s words and came to Korea through the Great Labyrinth. But James says he doesn’t know what their purpose is.

I had no choice but to find out for myself.

This left me with more things to do. Infiltrating the redneck’s stronghold and digging for information, and maybe I should try going to Texas to catch some cows.

There were many cows in Korea, but most of them were raised in barns, so it had been a long time since they were eaten by zombies. Let’s eat some beef this time.

As I stood up, James’ eyes lit up.

“I want to save my daughter from them. Can you help me?”

This guy is misunderstanding something. However, since our purpose was similar, I thought it would be okay to help.

“Let’s go at once. We’ll see and then decide what to do.”