Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 25

I pondered for a moment…

Should I kill him?

I was unharmed right now only because I have my portal ability. If not, I would have been caught by them and would be forced to become his subordinate whether it was through brainwashing or memory manipulation skill.

But, as the law still existed, killing people right here right now would undoubtedly sprung a problem. Once a report is filed towards the police, it won’t be difficult for them to pinpoint me as the main suspect through numerous means such as CCTV.

I wanted to avoid going to the police station if I could help it.

“Because it’s a waste of time…” Then, let’s just steal the golden goblin’s pocket. All I needed to pull that off was the frog’s paralysis poison, a spear, and a towel.

I showed Dingo my palm and quickly rubbed the paralysing substance on the spear blade.

Then, after putting on a glove, I silently stepped out of the portal and lightly stabbed the tip of the spear at the man’s thigh. The reason I stabbed him there was to avoid seriously injuring him.

“Keuk!” The man groaned. Unfortunately for him, his groan fell on deaf ears as it was drowned by the sound of running water. The man looked at his thighs as he quickly grabbed his leg. And as the feeling of being paralyzed on your legs was much worse than being in pain, by now he should be reminiscing about when he’s still a newbie on Survival Life.

As the man fell down to the floor, I quickly followed up by throwing a wet towel on his face to make him panic, as it was really hard to breathe when you have a wet towel over your face.

“Ugh! Huk!!”

With a knife, I quickly cut off the pistol holster from his body and took it. Then, I went through his pocket and took out his wallet. It turns out, his name was Kwon Kyung-jun, age 38 years old.

In the back pocket, I found a smartphone. And in exchange for trying to kidnap me, it will be confiscated by me.

“Keheukk!” The towel inflated and deflated together with Kwon’s breath. It seems that he gave up talking and just focused on breathing.

By the way… Where’s the phone fingerprint recognition?

After I found it, I put Kwon’s finger on top of it to unlock the phone. Then, I quickly delved into the phone’s settings and set the screen off time to 10 minutes while at the same time activating the Smart Stay function.

Before long, sounds of footsteps could be heard from beyond the bathroom door. I quickly put all the things I got from Kwon and jumped into the portal.

Soon after, two burly men dressed in suits just like Kwon opened the door. As soon as they saw Kwon laying down on the floor, they shouted.

“Team Leader!” One of the men ran towards Kwon and helped him to get up.

“What happened? Why are you laying down like this?”

“I…I don’t know. When I realized, I already became like this…”

“Team Leader… Breath slowly!”

“M…my thigh is wou…wounded!”

“Why are you just watching there? Move quickly!” One of the men supported Kwon’s body while the other shouted towards the walkie talkie.

“The Team Leader collapsed inside the bathroom; we will evacuate him. Over.”

-Order Received.

After they left, I thought for a moment. As their leader was in no condition to lead, they would be confused about what to do. This means, now is the best time for me to run away.

Kwon was not fatally injured; the paralysis would be released in around 2 to 30 minutes. Once the paralysis wore off, they would certainly return here and kick a fuss. However, as there is no CCTV in this old PC café, they wouldn’t be able to know what I looked like aside from the part-timer’s testimony.

“Then… I should go.” I waited for a few minutes more before putting on my hat and left the bathroom.

“It’s one thousand and two hundred won.” The part-timer said. It seems that he didn’t remember anything about what happened earlier. Seeing it, I feel that Kwon’s unique skill was quite great.

I handed one five thousand won bill to the part-timer and went out before waiting for the change. The thugs who stood on the door had also disappeared.

Now, I would have to inspect the smartphone in a suitable place… Thankfully, I quickly found a suitable place. It was on the commercial building right across the street.

When I opened the portal on the wall of one of the buildings and walked in, I can clearly see the front door of the PC cafe from the forest. I could see anything outside, but no one would be able to see me. It was no exaggeration to say that right now I was invisible.

“Let’s see…” I moved my finger on Kwon’s smartphone screen.

Is he perhaps a businessman?

There’s a lot of contact information of people with titles like Team Leader or Manager on his contact list. There were also dozens of women.

However, the most important information for me was…

“The location of th the bunker…”

Here it is…

Yongjeong CC? Isn’t there a golf club there?

Perhaps Kwon was the owner of the club?

“From what I know, that particular club has a lot of celebrity members.”

I looked through his gallery and found a picture of him kissing a beautiful woman in a bikini on an exotic beach.

“Hah… he’s living such a good life.” Though, in the near future, I’m not sure If I could say he had a good life anymore.

I searched through the messages and found a report from his subordinate.

“Three bunkers currently and 3 more bunkers to be completed by next week… Industrial oil storage… Firearms…” The information I needed was readily available. However, there was very little information about the awakeners under their wings. It seems that even Kwon doesn’t know about it.

While I was feeding Dingo and looking through the phone, I heard a squeaking sound from the portal. It was from the tire of a black van which stopped in front of the PC cafe.

After the guys from earlier stepped out, Kwon followed them while limping. He then took one of his men’s phone and pressed it hastily.

“Try hard to find the location.”

Jokes on you, where I am currently is not Earth, but in a different dimension altogether. Even the best hacker out there wouldn’t be able to find my location.

Seems like Kwon realized it by now as he exploded in anger and smashed the phone into the asphalt.

“Find that bastard!!”

Do you know where my home is? Because I know where yours is.

When the apocalypse comes, I promise I will definitely kill you. Your bunker would also be cleaned up.

While thinking so, I closed the portal.

Let’s just eat.

.

.

.

As soon as I arrived at my home, I took out the holster and inspected it. Inside the holster was an MP 335, a gun which, according to the internet, was an automatic pistol made in Russia. It also has a silencer attached to it.

“There’s also magazines in the holster.” In total, the two magazines would have around 20 rounds.

It was the first time I ever touched a pistol, but as I already saw it a lot of times in movies, I knew what to do and how to do it.

“If you release the safety lock and push the slide…”

Click.

The slide was pulled forward with a cold metallic sound. Now all I have to do is to pull the trigger.

I put the safety back on and went to MeTube to learn how to shoot a gun. While I was on it, occasionally some savage knowledge popped out from time to time, but it was all precious to me, so I learned it too.

After several more hours, I felt confident that I had learned all the theories. Now is the perfect time for practical experience.

I opened the portal and went to the forest together with Dingo. Then, I walked towards the empty space in front of the cave and pointed the gun towards one of the trees.

I evened out my breathing, checked my aim for one last time and finally pulled the trigger.

Then, together with a knockback, a strange and loud noise came out from the gun.

“It’s louder than I thought it would be…” In movies, when someone shoots a gun with a silencer attached, the gun sound wouldn’t even be heard by people close by. However, in reality, it doesn’t seem to be the case. And I can only imagine how loud would it be if the silencer was removed, since even after being equipped with a silencer, the gunshot sound was already so loud.

“I have to keep it on.”

Anyway, with my current skill level, I realized it would be too high of a goal to hit a target at a far distance, but at a close distance I should be fine. Though, I still have to work hard to master both the gripping technique and the shooting technique to make every shot count.

“Let’s practice with an empty gun.” I had no other choice to practice without the bullets since the ammo I currently had was so few. I could only hope that I would hit a jackpot at the hobgoblin event which could happen anytime by now.

Suddenly, when I was moving my body to practice with the gun, the news about an unidentified monster popped up. On top of it, quite a lot of eyewitnesses wrote what they had seen on social media.

Without wasting any more time, I ran towards the SUV with Dingo. I started it, and stomped its acceleration pedal. While on the way, I checked the internet for the location of the monster. And turns out, it was on Mt. Gaya.

From what I read on the internet; it seems that some hikers had seen a creature they had never seen before while descending the mountain.

-Woah, it seems like a monster appeared on Mt. Gaya.

-What is it? Is it a real monster?

-A monster? In this age and day? they probably just saw a wild dog or wild boar… What nonsense.

-Hehehehe… Don’t you know about Survival Life? In a little while, the world will be destroyed. The appearance of a monster is a sign of destruction.

-You’re talking nonsense.

-Haha, I’ve seen a lot of people like you. If you become a zombie later, won’t it be embarrassing?

-By the way, what kind of monster appeared?

-I don’t know. From what I read, it was a very ugly dwarf-like monster, but there’s also a large one in the mix.

-Is it a goblin then? But what about the big one?

It’s a hobgoblin!

“Shit, the news has already spread.”

I stomped the pedal harder. I know it was useless to do so since from where I am currently at, it takes around two hours to get to Mt. Gaya no matter how fast I go. However, I don’t care, as I would feel anxious if I don’t drive fast enough.

By the way, since the day is slowly getting dark, will I be able to find them? There’s a chance that they have already been shot and killed if the police moved already. It was completely a different story from when I took down the orc that day, since I managed to hunt it alone without any disturbance because of the rain.

I also would be in danger if the police were there.

“But I still have to do it.” Because it was really worth the trouble to kill a strong monster with a large level difference from myself as it has a very high chance of dropping items as well as skills.

In addition, I had the dimension portal with me. So, I would be in a much safer position compared to others.

“And I also has Dingo with me.” He’s already familiar with the smell of various animals and monsters so he would be able to find it faster than anyone else.

I drove with one hand and used the other hand to find the first location where the goblin horde was spotted. From what I read, it was first spotted in Huangshan Reservoir.

If it was Huangshan Reservoir, it was almost at the foot of a mountain…

By the way, because there’s a hobgoblin, the horde should be quite large. At the very least it should be around 20 monsters. And if the horde met some hikers, there’s no chance those goblins would miss those hikers. If so, there should be a raid by now.

“But there’s no report about that anywhere…”

Perhaps, they couldn’t post it on social media because they were being chased? But, if that was truly the case, it was still weird as no one wrote about hearing a scream.

While I continued to drive, several posts stating that they could hear gunshots started to appear. Looks like the police had already arrived. If I’m unlucky, I wouldn’t get anything from this golden event.

After driving for another 40 minutes, I finally arrived near the Huangshan Reservoir. And it was pretty crowded.

“Dingo, stay here for a second.” I parked and climbed up the hill to see the two police officers who were controlling the people.

“Go down! It is dangerous here!” Some hikers listened to their words and went down, but there were some guys who went against the police’s words.

Have some awakeners come?

Four people ignored police restraints and continued to climb the mountain.

“Come down! It’s dangerous there!” Seeing their action, the police only yelled but did not stop them.

“By the way, its been two hours since we submited a report, why hasn’t the reinforcement arrived yet?”

“It’s obvious. It was delayed because the higher ups didn’t believe the rumour.”

“Anyway, those guys who continue to climb were surely brave. What will they do if they run into the monsters?”

“Maybe they came here to fight those monsters?”

“Why are they fighting them? They should leave it to the police.”

“In today’s world, there are people called the awakeners. Don’t you see it on the news?”

“What kind of people are they?”

“Well… They have some kind of superpower…”

“What nonsense…”

Suddenly, a gunshot could be heard from a distance.

Bang! Bang!

“Mommy!”

“So…Someone shot a gun…”

The people crowding around the police line were startled by it, while the police pulled their radio and tried to talk with it before they climbed up the mountain by themselves.

Now it’s my turn. I returned to the SUV and stroked the yawning Dingo’s back.

“Dingo, I believe in you.”

After changing clothes, I put my helmet on my backpack and carried it on my back. Then, I slung the bow to my shoulder and began to depart.

My secondary weapon would be the pistol. The problem was getting caught by the police while using it. If it happened, I would surely be sent to jail. However, since I had the dimensional portal at my disposal, that probably won’t happen.

I started climbing up the mountain a little far from where the people were crowding. In front of me, Dingo was leading the way while sniffing the ground.

“Do you smell a goblin?” As he heard my words, Dingo moved his tail like a propeller. It was a sign of ‘yes’.

At one point, Dingo stopped and sniffed violently on the ground. Then soon after, he plopped down to the ground while facing towards one direction.

I unknowingly smiled at his action. Training him was indeed the best decision I’ve ever made.

“Let’s go.” I said as I patted Dingo’s ass.

Woof!

Dingo started running. But, because he was yet to fully grow up, his speed wasn’t outrageously fast. Thanks to that fact, I could follow him without much difficulty.

“This is unexpected…” I murmured after I ran for several minutes. Even though I climbed through quite a steep mountain, my breath is not as ragged as it is before when I hunted the orc. It seems my hard work in the forest wasn’t a waste.

Dingo ran for a few more minutes, then he suddenly stopped.

“Oh…” In front of us, a man in a police uniform was slumping on the ground.

I quickly moved closer to him. I hope he isn’t dead…

“Thank god he’s still alive.”

Seeing that the guy was breathing heavily and could not move his body; I was certain that he had been struck by a goblin’s paralyzing dart.

I moved his body to a more comfortable position. While doing so, drool dripped out from the guy’s mouth. It seems like he was trying to say something. But whatever… I don’t have any intention to hear it.

I tied a towel to one of the surrounding trees before patting Dingo in the ass.

He started running again.

On the way, we stopped once again as we saw 7 corpses of ugly green creatures laying on the ground.

“They’re shot by a gun.”

It was clear that the police were the ones who killed them. But, the guy from earlier didn’t have a gun…

Has someone looted him already? If that was the case, what a pity…

When I gave Dingo some water, the guy vigorously swallowed it. Then as if he’s feeling energized, he sniffed the ground again.

Meanwhile, another gunshots could be heard from a distance.