Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 36

“UGHH” I let out a long and heavy groan as soon as my body touched the soft mattress inside the cave. There was a huge amount of supply scattered around the vacant lot in front of the cave, but I was too goddamn tired to care about it at this point. I believed the barbed wire fence would do its job to fend off any creature who wanted to get their hands on it perfectly.

“Let’s rest a little…” I surrendered my body to the mattress. But, when I was about to lose my consciousness and fall asleep, I quickly jolted up to my feet. The tutorial was about to begin, and it would be a disaster if I missed it because I fell asleep.

By the way, it’s cold here inside the cave. I felt like it was more like a refrigerator rather than a cave. My stomach is also growling loudly, demanding remuneration from all the hard work my body just did.

I took off my armor and put on another layer of clothes before walking towards one side of the cave and lit a fire in the brazier. I had worked hard for several hours until now, and I would work for some more soon. so I think it would be okay for me to eat something delicious to celebrate this short moment of rest.

As I contemplated about what to eat, Dingo suddenly barked a little.

“What’s wrong? Who’s outside?” I looked at him. If Dingo indeed has sensed something outside, the alarm should’ve been triggered… But it stayed silent. I carefully opened the door, and was taken aback as soon as I saw what was in front of the door. It was two pieces of root plants which resemble the roots of deodeok from Earth. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the two roots were being carried by a group of scarabs. (T/N: Deodeok is Codonopsis lanceolata or lance asiabell. Its roots were mainly used in Korean cuisine. Do correct me if I’m wrong by leaving a comment.)

“What kind of deodeok is that big?” Moreover, why did these guys come here when they knew that I had discovered them stealing my jelly?

The scarabs took a step in unison and walked towards me. Then, they held out the deodeok towards me.

“Can I take this as a sign of apology from you guys?” Even though I said that, there’s no way they would be able to understand me. I mean, they’re scarabs, they’re insects. How could they know a human’s language?

The scarabs put the deodeok on the ground and retreated to the left and right. From the back, a particularly big scarab who looked like a captain took a branch and drew a picture on the ground…

“Hoooo…” I couldn’t find any words to explain the bizarre scene in front of me. The big scarab was drawing a picture! On top of it, the drawing was vivid enough for me to understand! What is happening?

The thing the big scarab drew was a package of jelly. Then, after he finished, he pointed towards the picture with his small uh… front legs?

“That’s right, you guys stole that thing from me, so what?”

The big scarab drew a grape next before backing off. It seems like he was saying: ‘Isn’t it okay since I already left this thing behind as an exchange?’

This guy was really unreasonable…

“Hey, if you want to take the jelly, you have to bring a bunch of grapes, not just a single grape.”

With the branch I found near me, I drew a bunch of grapes before tapping it several times. The big guy looked at the picture of grapes and me alternately, and then he pointed to the deodeok with his front legs. It seems like he was saying ‘How about that?’

“I don’t think that thing will be delicious if it was that big.” However, contrary to my expectation, when I took the deodeok and put it in front of my nose, it was extremely fragrant. If I could get a constant supply of wild deodeok at this quality, I wouldn’t have to look for wild ginsengs anymore.

“If the quality is like this… I guess it will be okay.” I drew a deodeok and a bunch of grapes next to the jelly drawn by the big scarab. Looking at the drawings, the big guy nodded for a moment before looking at me once again. It seems like he was asking ‘Is this really okay?’.

“It is. Are you in or not?” After saying that, I entered the cave and returned with 4 packs of sweet potato flavoured jelly not long after. I laid it all in front of the scarabs before continuing. “If you want this, you need to bring something to me. It doesn’t have to be food. It could also be something strange and unusual, like this.”

I carefully brought the emeras ore and showed it to the big scarab. Hmm, let’s call him the scarab leader for now. He moved closer towards the emeras and circled it several times. Can they really find something like this? If that’s the case, it would be a good idea to give them a favour here. Afterall, currently I have a lot of jellies after sweeping the grocery store. Giving a few away wouldn’t even make a dent of the amount I possessed.

“This is just a gift. I’m giving it to you hoping that you will bring me something good in the future.” I handed the 4 packs of sweet potato flavored jelly to the scarab leader.

The scarab leader’s eyes gleamed. He then turned back and walked away as he stroked his chin with his front legs, seemingly lost in thoughts.

A sapient scarab inside a mysterious forest…

“It’s really something straight out of a horror movie…”

By the way, I decided to forgive their past transgression and trust the scarabs because they were courageous enough to come to me when they could just run away or even continue to steal from me. On top of it, making connections with a sapient being in this forest is not a bad thing.

“By the way, these roots… Does it also taste like deodeok?” I murmured. If I had to exaggerate for a bit, the size of this deodeok-like thing was about the same as a baby’s forearm. From the smell emanating from it, I would be furious if it didn’t taste good at all. I cleaned the deodeok, peeled the skin, and pounded it with a hammer to flatten it out.

“The best way to enjoy deodeok is of course with red pepper paste sauce.” I said as I spread the sauce all around the deodeok. After making sure it was coated perfectly, I put it on top of the grill I placed on the brazier.

“With this much deodeok… I think I will need 2 bowls of rice.” I dumped two packs of instant rice in hot water before preparing for Dingo’s meal. The guy didn’t look at me at all, though. All his attention was fully locked at the grilled deodeok. But when I put a little red pepper paste on his nose, he flinched and quickly ran away.

“It’s bad for you, so don’t eat it.” I laughed. As soon as the deodeok was ready, I took it into my bowl before shoving it into my mouth together with a lot of rice. After savouring the taste for several bites, I switched my attention towards the items I looted from the tattooed guy.

“Crossbow… and it’s well-made.” It was a good weapon in my opinion. Even though it took more time to reload than a normal bow, it is compensated by having a higher penetration power. On top of it, because of its small size, it could be used to shoot while in hiding.

“I will use it too.” On top of the crossbow, I also looted about 30 rounds of arrows from the tattooed guy. So, I wouldn’t have to worry about the ammo for the time being. By the way, what was in the backpack? As I chewed on the grilled deodeok, I poured everything in the backpack to the ground.

“Look at this guy… He’s completely prepared.” What came out were essential things for survival, such as food, water, ceramic knives, pottery, matches, and toilet paper. The items themselves were not in a good condition, but nevertheless, it’s still a valuable item in an apocalyptic world.

“But he didn’t have the most important thing of all… a strong enough mental fortitude so one won’t be swallowed by their wild side.”  In the chaotic apocalypse, it was easy for anyone to lose their civilized nature and went crazy because of their own arrogance, thinking they’re some sort of chosen ones who were destined to survive in the apocalypse, aiming for the supplies of other survivors, turning them into something akin to a predator for other survivors who just wanted to survive. However, if you think about it, looting other people was a very ineffective and inefficient method because they would have to fight the other people first. Unless they’re an OP character from novels, they wouldn’t be able to win every fight. Every small wound and damage they suffered in a fight will drain their stamina. The feeling of death coming closer and closer would exhaust them mentally. When those two factors come together, they would be prone to make mistakes. And in an apocalyptic world, a single mistake could easily lead them to their grave. There’s also a chance that they could choose the wrong person to mess with, for example, me.

“Just wait for it… I will kill you all after the tutorial is over.” I clenched my fist. My heart would only become relieved once all of the predators around my area of operation were dead.

When I checked the clock, it was currently 7 o’clock. It was unknown when the tutorial would start, but what was certain is that it would happen on a pitch-black night.

I can rest for another hour before returning to Earth.

I put the slightly burnt grilled deodeok in my mouth and chewed it.

This is hella tasty!

.

.

.

Now that I had reached over level 10, the Store was available for me.

“Store window.” I whispered. In front of me, a blue translucent window appeared, showing a long list of items. At first glance, I could easily tell that it’s different from what I had been seeing in the game. The items had become more expensive. To be precise, the initial items like the ebony sticks or healing bandages have become cheaper. However, the expensive items had become even more expensive.

“A mithril knife costs 150 points? Are you kidding me?” Is this the work of the balancing patch? I quickly rummaged through my saved videos and played one particular video. In the middle of it, I paused the video as it showed the thing I was looking for.

?Weapons made from magic metal are quite unbalanced because they are too powerful. However, rather than nerfing them or buffing other weapons, we had balance them out in a whole new way…?

And that so-called ‘new way’ was to increase the already expensive price even more?

“Those crazy bastards” I couldn’t help but curse. However, I knew that there’s no use in complaining. I closed the videos and looked at each of the patch notes closely. After reading the last one, I smiled. They haven’t fixed the tutorial bug until the very end of the service.

In the very beginning of the tutorial, because of the difficulty reduction patch, a random weapon would be given to the user. That’s where the bug is. When it appears surrounded by light, if someone sntached it immediately before it managed to spawn completely, another one would be spawned. It was the only bug in the tutorial that survived all patch notes.

Only a few people, including myself, know about this bug. It could be said that the bug was akin to a god-sent miracle in the early part of the tutorial because they would be able to get another durable weapon. And this very bug was one of the things I wrote on the note I gave to Hyung-jun Hyung and Sooyeon, saying that it’s a tip from I Love Gimbap.

“Even if they fail to get it, they would still be okay since the difficulty level is lowered… hopefully.” Though, I was certain that there would be no big problems.

The difficulty of the tutorial was indeed difficult. That difficulty comes from the pressure of dozens of zombies attacking you. Even people who were aware of the fact were still managed to be surrounded by those zombies. However, since the zombie’s ability to track organic matter had been nerfed, the chance of every survivor to run away had become higher than ever.

“I still don’t know about another way to earn points, though.” Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I just need to figure it out while doing the tutorial.

I took my survival backpack and packed a few more essential items inside of it. Since I had to run away from the zombies in the dark of the night, there were quite a few things I needed. I couldn’t just hide in the portal while doing the tutorial, as the tutorial’s goal isn’t for one to get to a specific place, but the tutorial judges the completion by the distance someone has traveled. The tutorial might reset if I were to go to the forest, which isn’t considered a part of Earth.

“And the boss monster in the tutorial is a reinforced zombie.” It was something a little different from the normal reinforced zombies though, as it had a special ability. Though, I wouldn’t be able to know what their ability was until I faced it. Afterall, each time I repeat the tutorial, their ability always changes.

“Number 6 and number 11.” I bought a glowstone and a potion from the shop. After waiting for a while, an item appeared on the floor from the thin air. Back in the game, I took the phenomenon for granted. But because it is now happening in reality, something about it is bugging me.

“Where the heck do these things come from?” However, it was an unanswerable question because no one other than the developer team knew about it.

By the way, items with prices more than 100 points were useless at this point of time. It would only attract more trouble to me rather than helping me. And even without it, the ebony sticks would be enough to get me through the tutorial.

“Up to this point, all good.”

Then, I proceed to try the newly-acquired effect of my unique ability,

?Dimensional Slot?

How do I use this?

“Dimension, slot…” However, even after saying a lot of different combinations, nothing really happened.

…

Wait a minute… If I remembered correctly, In Survival Life, the inventory of each user was numbered. If I combined the slot and the numbers of the inventory…

“Slot #1.” At that moment, something like a translucent box appeared in the front of me. “Ah… is this a quick slot?”

Once I put the potion I just bought from the Store into it, the box disappeared. When I recited ‘Slot #1’ again, the box appeared once again.

“This is good.” I nodded as I kept summoning and unsummoning the box. It’s not as good as the ?Invisibility? or the ?Projection?ability of the portal that I got previously, but it’s still pretty useful because I could easily store and take out items without going back and forth to the shelter. Seeing that it only opened up to number 5, I think more slots would be unlocked as I level up.

“Let’s put the bow in number one…” I proceed to fill the slots with various items. Unfortunately, the slot couldn’t store two items at the same time. So, in the case of potions, I would have to restock once I used up everything that I brought in the bag.

After I checked the time once again, there’s still some time left before I had to go out. Therefore, I decided to take a look at the PC I had looted.

“To have a NAS attached… you must have gathered a lot of good things, huh?”

When I removed the case with a screwdriver, 6 hard disks could be seen inside. 3 on the main unit, 3 on the NAS.  “Six ??three terabytes worth of hard disks. Did this friend perhaps run a server?”

When I connected them to the external hard drive and checked them one by one, my fists instantly clenched. “This is it.”

It was filled with the contents that I wanted, such as movies, dramas, songs, novels and most importantly videos that all men need. The fancams of girl groups as well as the dance teams were also great. On top of that, every single one of them were in high definition.

My hand hovered the mouse towards one particular video with ‘white skin’ as its title. And by mistake, I clicked it. As soon as I saw what appeared on the screen, my jaw dropped. The person the camera was focusing on was none other than Mikyung.

“Oh my god…” Her face was a bit different from the Mikyung I knew, but judging from her small stature and white skin, it was indeed the same Mikyung I knew. The Mikyung on the camera had long hair, but the current Mikyung had short hair. She then proceeds to dance, occasionally smiling towards the cameras.

“Now I remember, she said that she used to dance…” But to think it was such a risqué dance of shaking her pelvis in slow thrusting motion… I blankly watched the fancam as it kept going before forcing myself to come to my senses. (T/N: Probably u guys just need to check ‘EXID HANI – UP, DOWN FANCAM’ Thank me later.) (P/N: wow.)

“The tutorial will start soon, what am I doing?” In this case, when a particular place was standing straight, doing push-ups would certainly help it to calm down. Ah, let’s slap my cheeks too…

Slap!

Okay, now that I have woken up, let’s go.

I stroked Dingo at the back before walking through the portal. This place, which I didn’t even know whose house it was, was immersed in darkness. The surroundings were also quiet. It was as if this place was drowned into the swamp of silence. It was such a contrast to the situation of this morning where people were quite chaotic.

“It’s too dark.” However, I didn’t have to worry since I have the shadow grape. After munching it a few times, a message appeared before me.

?Active Buff: Night vision increase?

And after waiting for a while, I could vaguely feel the things around me.

Growl-!!

I heard the cries of the zombies. Although it was obvious that they were far away, it was as vivid as if they were right in front of my nose.

This is the beginning of the tutorial.