Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 40

<Life After The End>

From what I saw several days ago, there were six members in the gang occupying the abandoned villa at the foot of the mountain. But since I already killed 5 of them, there should be only one member left. However, when I arrived at the villa and looked around, it was deserted.

“It’s empty.” Which means, all the stuff here was mine.

With a glowstone in my hand, I went up to the second floor. There, I found dozens of packs of cigarettes piled up all over the place.

“Why did they collect so much?” I didn’t smoke at all, but there’s nothing wrong with looting it. In the apocalyptic world, where food and water was scarce, cigarettes would undoubtedly become a precious commodity, after all.

“It will definitely sell for a lot of points once people unlock the Auction House.” I heard that cigarettes have an expiration date, but it didn’t matter to me, as once it was sold, it’s the buyers’ decision whether to still use it or not. When I opened the veranda, it was filled with plastic bottles filled with beer and soju. It was something dangerous to be taken in this situation, but people don’t always act rationally. These guys were the prime example.

Though, it was useful sometimes to handle the piled-up stress. Of course, I wouldn’t drink unless the situation around me was completely safe, which was a hard thing to secure in this kind of world.

I moved all the supplies in the house to the shelter. When I finished and stretched my body, dizziness assaulted my head. Even if I took a deep breath, the fatigue did not go away at all.

“Well, I had a hard time yesterday…” I wanted to just lie down on the mattress and rest, but since I already got out of my house, I had to finish what I set out to do. Namely, looting the fireworks.

After resting for a few more minutes, I hit the road once again and moved along the route planned in advance together with Dingo. It was quite a long way to Gwangalli, but it seemed that there would be no blockage if I used the riverside road. As soon as we left the residential area, the ghastly wreckage of a high-rise building showed itself in front of my eyes.

“Oh my god.” I exclaimed softly. There were no buildings left. Only a mountain of concrete debris and a handful of zombies roaming the area. The riverside park, which should have been crowded with countless people enjoying the night breeze around this time, was empty.

“It’s only both of us here, huh?” I said. Meanwhile, Dingo bravely took the lead. And as expected, when we arrived near the river, we couldn’t use the bridge to cross since it had already collapsed.

“It can’t seem to bear the load.” Taking out the plastic telescope given by Yoohyeon, I looked at the bridge to the north. But the bridge there was in the same state as the one in front of me.

“Guess I will have to go by boat from here.” I took out the rubber boat and put some air in it. After it fully inflated, I threw it to the river, jumped on it, and beckoned Dingo. “Come! Come!”

The boy jumped up and got into the boat. Taking up the oar from the portal, I started to row. However, since the current of the river was quite strong, the boat could move just fine even without me rowing. I just need to correct its direction every once in a while. Then, as soon as I arrived at Gwangalli pier, I saw a huge amount of firecrackers waiting for me in one particular boat.

“Lucky me! They haven’t moved it yet.” It seems like the organizer didn’t move it yet because of all the chaos and decided to just put that here unattended.

From the pier, I looked at the city centre in the distance. It was dark without any trace of light anywhere. But, undoubtedly, someone was still alive there, just like me. They are probably struggling to avoid the zombies, trying their hardest to get food, cooperating with people, or even fighting against zombies or each other. And in the future, that would be their daily routine. At least until they met their death.

“At least I’m on the better side…” Unlike them, I had the forest in another world, so whenever I wanted to rest, I could just go there. The forest itself wasn’t very safe either, but it’s much better than here, where zombies, and soon, monsters, are free roaming all over the place.

“When the monsters finally come out, it will be a real hell here.” Zombies did not disappear just because monsters such as goblins and kobolds appear. They would merely be shoved to the bottom of the chain. But still a problem nonetheless. What that means for humanity was, survival would become even more difficult. Very few people would be able to survive. But I was confident that I would survive to the end.

As I looked at the fireworks wrapped in plastic, I was startled.

“Why is it so big?” Each of them was the size of an arm. Some were as large as a jar, and some were too big to the point I doubt it was a firework. If it was stored incorrectly and exploded, the shelter would surely be blown away.

“I can’t even throw something this big.” I sighed. But, since it could be disassembled and used in other ways, it doesn’t change the fact that I still had to take it.

“It’s easy to take, but storing is the problem.” If even a tiny spark got in and touched the fireworks, my life in the forest would be over in an instant. However, storing it by burying it  underground wasn’t an option either since it wouldn’t be usable anymore because of the moisture.

After deliberating several more times, I decided to just store it in two different places. In the shelter and in the building next to my home. It would be safe from zombies since those guys had no interest in gunpowder at all. And as long as I covered it well with rubbles on top of an old and ugly door, looters wouldn’t be able to find it.

“It would become even more effective if I put some zombie carcass there, too.”

I moved the fireworks to the vacant lot. Because of its sheer amount, I had to go back and forth several times. Once I was done, I felt like I’m going to collapse. But I shrugged those feelings away and forced my body to move. I had to come home before sleeping. It was better than just sleeping in some random places.

I put the boat into the portal and walked with Dingo. The road in front of Gwangalli beach was full of zombies. It would be impossible to force my way through in my current condition. Therefore, I took a firework out, lit it up, and threw it away.

When the firework exploded, the sound made me think about a bomb exploding for a moment. At the same time, flames in several colours shot out in all directions. The zombies instantly whipped their heads toward where the sound and the flames roared and chased after it. In the meantime, Me and Dingo escaped from the place using the gap the firework made.

After running for about an hour, I finally reached my home. And naturally, I was in a complete wreck. After moving the fireworks to the building next door and decorating the entrance with zombie corpses and rubbles, my body staggered. Once I laid myself down on the mattress, my head immediately started spinning.

I’m worried about tomorrow morning…

Then with the sound of wind as the lullaby, I fall asleep.

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Woosshh-!! Wooshh-!!

The wind blew violently in the morning, waking me up from my slumber. When I looked out through the hole in the wall through the plastic telescope, everything that was light enough to be carried by the wind on the street was flying wildly.

“It’s a typhoon, huh?” Well, it’s currently summer. It’s about time for them to come. It’s a big problem for us humans, but the zombies roaming outside were not excluded as they were being tossed around by the wind and stumbled amongst themselves. A zombie even got hit in the head with a flowerpot and couldn’t get up again.

I wonder, In that situation, will the pot get points?

It feels like a comedy, but if you look closely, it was nothing but a tragedy. (E/N The Joker reference?)

“I’ll have to stay home for a while.” I’ll probably finish the moat and other preparations for the long winter in the forest. I might as well kill the owlbear, the ruler of the valley, so I could safely use the river to catch some red trout for food.

“What to do today is…” I jotted down my to-dos in my notebook. It would be great if I could start making a vegetable garden or even a greenhouse, but let’s see.

I crossed into the forest with Dingo. However… It was raining so hard.

“There’s a typhoon on Earth and ice rain here… I’m going to go crazy!” Only a few seconds inside the forest makes me feel like the tips of my limbs are falling off. It’s just that cold. However, unlike me, Dingo didn’t seem to mind at all.

If it was this cold, the valley would have frozen too…

I looked up at the sky and gave up trying to fly the drone. The drones were something precious which I couldn’t get anymore if I ran out, so I would have to scout by myself.

But before that, let’s finish digging the moat first.

I put some hot packs in my pocket and went towards the mini fork crane. Thanks to that, a larger and deeper moat was created than what I originally planned. The length and the depth were enough to prevent small monsters from crossing over. Even if it wasn’t, there’s still a barbed wire fence behind the moat as a second layer of defense. Moreover, although it was limited in winter, the ice wall was also there.

“But if an orc appeared…” I sighed. Let’s just think about it when the time comes. I continued the construction without even taking a meal break. And after several hours, I finally completed the moat.

“Let’s just skip the glass shards…” When the view of the completed moat stretched in front of me, I didn’t want to touch it anymore. On top of it, breaking glass bottles was a bit pricey for a mere defense line.

I parked the fork crane and covered it with a tarp before setting out with Dingo to patrol the valley. A menacing greyish K2 rifle was hanging around my shoulder. I had used 5 bullets to kill the keeper yesterday, so I only had 15 bullets left.

How many shots were needed to kill the owlbear, I wonder?

“If I shoot it in the head, it will die in three shots.” The problem is, it was not an easy thing to achieve as an owlbear is not a slow monster. If Dingo was a little bigger, he would have been able to keep him in check while I aimed for its head. It was a pity he was still small.

“You have to eat a lot and grow up fast.” At my sudden words, Dingo barked excitedly.

After trailing carefully in the frozen hard and slippery ground, we finally reached the valley.

“Wow, it hasn’t completely frozen yet.” But I could see the red trout became quite immobile and only swam slowly unlike usual.

Will it be possible to catch it with my hand?

I moved my hand into the valley water. But as soon as I touched it, I immediately pulled it out.

“Ugh.” With a groan, I cursed my stupidity. Just why did I do that?

I took a net from my bag, and threw it into the water. After feeling that it had reached the bottom, I pulled it back to the ground. Inside, several red trout could be seen, flapping uncontrollably as it reached the ground. I picked them up and put them in a plastic container I prepared before throwing the net once again.

“Dingo, make sure to tell me if the owlbear comes, okay?”

Woof-!!

Though, as we are currently in the forest, I also wear my watch, bumping up my Perception to 14. There would be slight to no difference between my and Dingo’s sense in noticing the presence of the owlbear.

But this time Dingo was a little faster. The guy lowered his posture and growled, a sign that he had found the owlbear. Normally I would have run away from here without looking back, but now I didn’t have to.

“I have this guy with me.” I loaded the K2 rifle and quickly put the iron sight in my eye level, aiming at the owlbear that was charging towards me. I was a little scared to be honest, but I didn’t take my eyes off it. My experience of living in the forest until now and the rifle in my hand gives me strength.

“Please hit…” The gloves with Dexterity +2 option would undoubtedly give me a significant correction to my attack. The gun was not even zero-adjusted, but since the distance was close to 30m, it wouldn’t be a problem.

The force of its rush was ferocious, but every monster was equal in front of firearms. When the trigger was pulled, the owlbear collapsed to the ground.

Ho-!! Hoot-!! Hoot-!!

The guy hadn’t died just yet and tried to rise to its feet. Dingo swiftly ran towards it before barking fiercely from a safe distance. Meanwhile, I pulled the trigger again.

Bang-!

The sounds traveled across the forest. Sounds of numerous flapping birds could be heard from all over the place.

Bang-!

And with the last shot, the bullet pierced through the owlbear’s forehead.

I lowered my rifle while keeping my eyes on the owlbear, looking for any hint of movement. But even after several moments passed, the owlbear didn’t move. Clearly, in this forest, where there’s no corrosive disease, rifle bullets boast tremendous penetrating power, allowing me to kill it quite effortlessly. Had I met it on Earth, I would have to fire around 10 bullets in order to kill it.

?Level has risen to 13?

?You have earned 25 Points ?

?You have acquired ‘Motionless Movement’ skill?

“Jackpot!” I grinned. The skill I just got was a skill that removes my presence. It would significantly lower the sound of my footsteps, breathing, and hem of clothes when I moved. Combined with stealth skill, it would be nothing but a scam, but even without it, I would gladly take it.

“It’s a perfect skill to run away.” If I needed to run away and hide while the portal was unusable, with this skill, most monsters wouldn’t be able to find me.

By the way, this owlbear… What should I do with it? It was difficult to dig a pit big enough to bury it.

“I think it weighs about 400kg.” Should I cut it into parts? It would be gross, but it was better than leaving it alone and letting it become a bone creeper. Let’s just use this opportunity to practice dissecting.

I took the owlbear’s claws and cut off two of his legs and threw it away. The claws on the wing were so long that it looked like it could be used as a substitute for a knife.

“It’s also quite popular.” The items which were available on the store were definitely better, but a significant number of users preferred to use materials looted from monsters as weapons rather than store items. And then there’s us, stagnant waters… who didn’t like either because both of them were simply too fragile for our taste and ended up just using our bare hands.

“Dingo, let’s go home.”

Since the gunshots were so loud, it was better to go home as soon as possible because it was unknown which kind of monster would be attracted. I packed my things and returned to the shelter, after giving the ground where I buried the parts of the owlbear one last glance.

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July 26th.

Quite a lot had happened in just a few days.

I gave some supplies I got from the villa to the gym gang. Hyung-jun Hyung was elated when he saw that I also brought him some cigarettes.

– Seongho, I love you.

– No, stop that, Hyung.

– There’s no need to be shy…

– I am not happy to hear that from a man.

Those who had lost their families and were depressed had finally regained their vitality. I also kept telling them to move as the floor they reside in was in a worrying state. It could collapse at any time. And as they had the same idea, they moved to the academy on the second floor. It was originally used as a taekwondo studio, so it was spacious enough to accommodate a few people.

My level had also reached 15 by hunting zombies and monsters. The additional effect of the attribute was another dimensional slot. This time, it went up to number 10. It was a convenient ability, but it was overshadowed by another function I had acquired.

“Auction House.” As I called it, a UI almost similar to the Store unfolded before me. The difference was, in the Auction House menu, there’s a menu where I could sell products.

“The fee is… raised as well. These guys, seriously!” It was 10% off the winning bid. Originally it was 5%, so the current rate was doubled than the original.

When I finally opened the menu where the auctioned item was being displayed, my eyes went wide. There’s already an item which was being auctioned. It’s an ebony stick with an ‘old’ tag, which means its durability was close to 0. but that’s not what matters.

“Who the hell uploaded it?” No, let’s calm down. It was possible that someone had levelled up faster than me since I had a lot of work to do aside from hunting, such as shelter construction and farming.

What if this guy was a stagnant water with a combat-related unique ability? Even if they started hunting later than me, it is only natural they already reached level 15.

“Auction No. 1.” As I entered the item’s menu, I saw a comment left by someone.

—?

?Nobody here?

?I Love Gimbap-nim? Duck Buttock-nim?

?Shit, I levelled up way too fast.

?Today, I fought a keeper and reached level 17. oh shit sex!

A chuckle escaped my mouth as soon as I read the last bit.

I know who it is.