Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Together with Sangshin and James, I headed towards where the Americans were staying. Sangshin was reluctant to guide me at first, as he was a fine line away from death the last time he scouted the place. However, after I promised to make him a cow head soup later, he changed his mind.

“Don’t forget to cook it for me later.”

“But don’t all soups taste kind of similar?”

“What are you saying? Each one of them has their own special taste!”

I like soup too, but I like it to be cooked more than as a simple gukbap. But his tastes should be respected.

Sangshin asked softly.

“If we kill a cow, can you dismantle it properly?”

“I’m not sure… I haven’t tried it before.”

Even though I often butchered hwajos and wild boars, a cow was a different story altogether. After all, it was too big compared to the size of humans.

Sangshin slid closer to my shoulder at that moment.

“There is Uncle James, isn’t there? Since he’s a rancher, don’t you think he’ll be able to butcher cows well?”

Hmm, that might just be the case.

After some more time passed, the three of us finally arrived at the area. We decided to hide in a nearby building and had a quick bite. While chewing a biscuit, James opened his mouth.

“Please be careful, I know it’s a bit weird for me to say something like this but those guys aren’t normal. They are different from your ordinary rednecks.”

Sangshin hesitated and spoke up.

“Uh, is it okay for you to call them like that?”

James laughed bitterly.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just stating the facts. Even other Americans often call those who came from Texas ‘rednecks’.”

“By the way, James, How many cows were you growing before the apocalypse happened?”

“2 million or so? I’m not sure what the exact number is.”

Hearing that, me and Sangshin could only open our mouths. In any case, James was pretty cheerful for someone who had lost their daughter to the rednecks. When we said that we were interested in Texas, he boasted that he would show us a taste of an authentic American barbecue sometime.

“Though, I will only do that after we save my daughter.”

“It wouldn’t be too difficult to take her out, but…”

“But?”

“I’m afraid Paige wouldn’t want to leave. After hearing your story, it seems like she chose to follow him willingly.”

“That’s right… Paige likes him too. After all, he got a lot of power, and got a gun to boot. His group’s food situation will be much better than mine…” James’ complexion darkened. He had confessed to Jang Won-taek that he had decided to trust us. And looking at how he spilled his story like this, it seemed like what he told Jang Won-taek was genuine.

“I just said they were not normal, and anyone can see that. But what most people don’t know is the fact that they have a strange woman in their group.”

“A strange woman?”

“That woman didn’t look human. I have to say she was more like a doll… she doesn’t feel alive.”

What a strange story… But, as strange as it was, it correlates well with the story about the rednecks that are floating around in the Auction House. They said that there’s a crazy woman which agreed to have sex with any Korean who come only for a cheap price of answering some questions.

James stammered, seemingly shocked by his own recollection.

“Actually, Terrence and others weren’t that crazy from the start. They were a typical kind of gangsters who hunted, drank, and sometimes did strange things. But… the mood of the group changed when a certain asian male and the woman came.”

“To what degree?”

“It’s not like what you think: they aren’t fighting over the woman. At some point, they suddenly decided to make a blast furnace and started producing guns. Isn’t that funny? They suddenly decided to gather iron powder to make guns out of nowhere.”

No matter how much Americans love guns, it’s impossible without some kind of facility. I was certain that Ahn Geun-seok had a hand in the process.

“What happened after that?”

James let out a long sigh before answering.

“I don’t know what the Asian and the woman told the group, but suddenly the competition between the personnel intensified. Those who said they only needed to hunt in moderation suddenly started hunting monsters like crazy. And Terrence, that guy, was no exception.”

“The woman must have been very pretty?”

At my question, James put on an ambiguous expression on his face.

“Well, she indeed has a strange charm… I talked to her a couple of times, and I felt like I was captivated even though I am already this old.”

It seemed lika the woman were actually the person who did the sex propaganda.

But why? Sex should not be that important to Ahn Geun-seok.

I grabbed my backpack and left the building. The battlefield was still active near the American’s hideout, but my stats decrease wasn’t that bad because of Sooyeon’s buff. Since I also received several buffs from the crops Jiman grew, I had enough stats to run around.

As I approached the road right in front of the redneck’s hideout with my cloak on, two people with a tattoo on their thick forearm and a cloth tied around their head walked towards my direction. The two held a pipe-like gun and talked loudly.

“Didn’t they say people here aren’t that high-leveled?”

“There aren’t that many people who are over level 30. However, they still have a higher level than Terrence.”

“I don’t know why they ask us to find a higher-level man.”

One of the men threw a cigarette into the ground. After stepping on it, the two of them walked away.

I approached the center of the residence cautiously. Without all my stats, it was hard to feel the presence around me, so whenever I thought something might be happening, I stopped right away. Thankfully, it seemed no one had noticed my presence yet.

A few people passed by and I got more information. They were in need of a high-level man. Even my name came out in their conversation. It’s really strange that the white people know my name.

Did Ahn Geun-seok tell them?

While I was waiting inside the cloak, a woman appeared. She was a woman with a doll-like graceful face and a slim body. To be honest, she was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen to date. But compared to her body, her eyes looked dead and there was no life beaming from her face. If I had my Super Sense skill active, I would be able to determine whether she’s alive or not through her heartbeat, what a pity…

She stroked her belly and suddenly lifted her head. The space in front of her suddenly opened and Ahn Geun-seok appeared.

“How’s the seed?”

“None survived.”

The woman’s voice sounded robotic since there was no emotion in it. Looking at her mouth, her pronunciation was strangely inconsistent, it was as if she was doing a ventriloquism.

I had a lot of questions, but I showed patience and just stood still.

Ahn Geun-seok touched the woman’s belly at that moment. “It looks like the level 20 man was too weak. We need a higher level man.”

“I’ve asked the Americans to look around, but it’s hard to find someone over level 30.”

“Well, there is someone that is already level 40.”

That’s me he talked about.

The woman raised her head provocatively.

“If you tell me his location, I will pick up his seeds.”

What they called ‘seed’ is probably what I imagined it to be.

Ahn Geun-seok smiled bitterly.

“Are you saying that you, a ghoul, will deal with that man? What nonsense.”

“…” The woman’s head plopped down at Ahn Geun-seok’s words.

Now, I knew what she was. She was a damn ghoul! Not just a normal ghoul, but most probably a crying ghoul that has the ability to mimic humans!

However, the crying ghouls I remembered did not resemble a human to the extent of that woman. Their speech was worse than the words of people under influence and their facial features were not that neat.

Maybe she’s a remodeled ghoul?

It wasn’t an impossible conjecture since the doctor and the nurse I’d met before was probably also one of the remodeled ghouls.

Ahn Geun-seok grabbed the ghoul’s chin with his hand. “Other than this condition, you have to find out if there are any other conditions… Today, gather your other sisters and hold a ceremony. See if there are any surviving seeds.”

“All right.”

“I will see if you can conceive human seed with your unclean body.”

Ahn Geun-seok left behind those words and disappeared, while the ghoul couldn’t even raise her head.

By the way, I feel like the ghoul had some emotions… Maybe someone’s memories were put into the ghoul’s body?

As I prepared to withdraw, the ghoul began to tremble.

Kyaak-!! Kyaak-!!

After making a strange noise, mens came out of the surrounding buildings. Their pupils were empty, and none of them had any expression on their faces.

She didn’t notice me, did she?

I was thinking of opening the portal and jumping in, but all of a sudden, the ghoul started to tear her clothes off. I looked at the ghoul’s naked body and closed my eyes out of disgust. There’s a lot of stitches all over her body. It Is evident that her body was made from different parts of different humans.

Just how can people do ‘that’ with that thing without puking?

After a while, I could hear a squeaking sound. It was obvious what was happening without even seeing it. Disgusting guys…

I wanted to shoot them all, but Ahn Geun-seok seemed to be nearby, so I decided to put up with it. I don’t know what kind of ability he had, so I don’t want to move hastily.

I cautiously walked away from the place. Now I need to find Paige.

.

.

.

The sights I’d seen in the last few hours were nothing but shocking. If someone said that the most disgusting thing the rednecks could do was having an orgy with the ghoul, they were wrong.

They hunted animals and ate them raw!

Other than that, I had witnessed a number of incidents that I couldn’t bear to say.

Fortunately, Paige, which I managed to find after wandering around the hideout, was not one of those crazy guys. She’s crying alone in a room far away from anyone.

She has white skin, red hair, and freckles. All in all, she’s nothing but dazzling.

Paige cursed Terrence.

“Damn bastard! How could you treat me like that? Are you doing this because you met the Koreans?”

After that, more and more swearing poured out for a long time. She’s better at cursing than most men. Anyway, it was clear that Paige was dissatisfied.

As I watched her a little longer, she buried her face between her knees and began to cry.

“I’m sorry, Dad… I want to go home…”

But this is Korea, far away from your home, young miss…If you want to return to your ranch in Texas, you would have to go through one of the entrance portals and go through the Great Labyrinth.

Now that I already confirmed what she wanted, I only need to take him to James. However, it was easier said than done. This area was a Battle Royale battlefield. In other words, there were a lot of things to sort out before I could do so.

First, let’s send a note to Paige. I jolted down some words on a piece of paper and sent it to her. She was crying when she found the note and she was terribly surprised.

“What, what? Who is it? Who is there?”

…

When she heard nothing, Paige carefully picked up the note. And then she frowned.

“What are these strange letters? Japanese?”

Oops… I forgot the written words were not translated by the system. I jolted some more words before sending it out of the cloak once again.

Paige, who picked up the note, grinned.

“You spelled it wrong.”

I just wrote some simple words in English, and yet it was still wrong… it’s so embarrassing…

Anyway, she seemed to have relaxed. Her eyes widened and she looked around her room.

“You know that I’m no longer within the age that believes in tooth fairy, right? Who is it? I won’t scream, so come out.”

What a direct woman. Well, if I decide to show myself and get caught, I could just run away through the portal, so there’s no need to worry about it.

As I lowered the cloak, Paige looked at me and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Shh. I’m here to get you out of here.” I said as I put my index finger right in front of my lips.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen your face, do you know me?” She asked while sporting a suspicious expression.

“Your father, James Allen Ray sent me.”

“I-Is that so? Where is he now?”

“It’s too long to explain. First of all, rest assured that your father is fine. Can you move?”

“I hurt my leg…” She said as she showed her bare legs to me. There was a big wound there, and it seemed to be quite painful because it was tied up with a dirty cloth.

If I summon Sooyeon here, she will be healed immediately, but she cannot come out. Which means, I had no choice but to provide first aid to her. I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out the first aid kit Sooyeon gave me.

Paige looked at the stuff and asked cautiously.

“I don’t think you are a doctor…”

Well yeah, I was a former snack store owner, who currently works as a psychopath.

I said bluntly.

“You need to eat this, apply this one to the wound, and drink this one. Then you will be able to move.”

She looked into my eyes and did what she was told. After a while, the wound healed quickly.

I took my eyes off her wounds.

“I want to ask you one thing. Why didn’t you come with your dad?”

Paige’s expression darkened.

“Because I love Terrence.”

“You mean you love muscular men, right?”

“Yeah, but he cheated on me. He said he found another girl! Bad guy!”

Her voice rose and I comforted her.

“The woman you’re cursing at, she is no ordinary human. She’s closer to a monster.”

“I beg your pardon? Does that make sense? A monster?”

“You know that the world has changed, don’t you? Things about superpowers and monsters.”

Paige barely nodded her head. It’s been several months and it seemed like she was still unable to figure out the situation.

“The woman that Terrence chose is a modified ghoul. She’s using other ghouls to seduce people.”

“A gh-ghoul?” She gasped as the thought of ghouls that she saw on the street passed on her head.

Actually, a crying ghoul doesn’t look that disgusting from the outside, but it’s still a monster nonetheless. No matter how lustful I am, I don’t think I would jump at it even if it’s the last woman on Earth.

“I want to ask you… are you planning to run away from here? Or are you going to wait for that guy, Terrence, to change his mind?”

If she chooses the latter, there’s nothing I can do for her. After doing my job, I would let James know of her choice and let them deal with their own problem.

But thankfully, she chose the former.

“I want to go out… I’ve seen the men here for a long time… They are not normal. They are crazy.”

“What exactly have you seen?”

“Th-they kill people…”

Not that different from me, then.

“I-I think they are experimenting with corpses again… I really regret following Terrence…”

Then I heard a noise from outside the room. I quickly put the cloak on my body and hid in the corner.

A muscular man appeared with a creaking sound of the door.

So that’s Terrence, huh?