Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 41

In order to communicate in Survival Life, a microphone was required. However, in the game, it’s not possible to hear the voices of users. It was because of the game’s unique system where it converts the voice input into text. Since the ID was not revealed, there’s no way to know who the user was unless the user speaks. The developer team seemed to want users to keep the concept of anonymous survivors. There was also a patch about that at one point, so in the beginning, users kept the concept well. Afterall, users who hunted and chatted with me today could become my enemies tomorrow.

But as time passed, the atmosphere of the server changed. As more and more users dropped out of the game, leaving only the us, the stagnant waters, we began to decorate our appearance to our liking. So, even when our ID couldn’t be seen, the others could immediately recognize who is who by looking at their appearance.

For example, Rabbit Pwincess used to wear a bunny girl costume on a bald male. Because he’s a man, should I call the costume bunny man? At first, we cursed his appearance because it was disgusting.

“But later, everyone ended up only wearing underpants…”

The most frightening thing in this world was getting used to things like this…seriously.

And Rabbit Pwincess, who pioneered the fashion change of the the stagnant water, often shouted ‘sex’. The reason was unknown. Everytime he opens his mouth, those words always come out without fail. It was my daily routine with Duck Buttock’s Goes Kwek Kwek to beat him up because he’s such a perverted guy.

“If he levels up this quickly, it looks like his unique ability is not a joke.” I said as I looked at the item menu. Rabbit Pwincess had the longest playtime amongst the three. Probably over 5,000 hours. He’s only second to me. If so, just how good his unique ability would be?

“Dangerous…” I stopped trying to type something in the comment. Judging from the fact that he leveled up so quickly, Rabbit Pwincess’ unique ability was clearly combat-oriented. On top of it, since he had reached level 15, he must have acquired 3 additional effects to the ability. I don’t know what it was, but it was clear that I won’t stand a chance against him in a fight.

“In Survival Life, we played together…” but in reality, there’s no guarantee that it will be the case too. I have no idea who he really is or what his personality is like after all.

“But it doesn’t seem like that idiot-like personality in-game was made up.” Let’s take a closer look. I selected the comment field and entered text by voice.

-Hello

Once I put it out, I left the comment section and immediately began to work. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with learning how to make smoked trout. My teacher was naturally the survival books and videos downloaded from MeTube. It’s impossible to make it with a smoker right now, so I decided to try the easy way.

“Put this rod into a triangle…” covered it with tarpaulin and put the salted trout inside. It looks clumsy, but as it’s a traditional method, it is worth the try. I cut the firewoods into small pieces and put it under the triangle rod before lighting it up.

Cough-!! Cough-!!

“Oh, it’s stinging!!” The smoke was so strong to the point I had to move away from the pit. But still, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Afterall, this smoking method requires maintaining the same temperature for up to several hours. I still don’t know the best number of hours yet, so I had to perfect the method through trial and error. If the current method didn’t work, I would have to smoke it in another way and perhaps also change the wood.

“…”

By the way, watching a smoking process together with Dingo like this made me feel like I’m an actual caveman. It was a strange and complicated feeling. Though, I still felt grateful as even at this moment, when I was enjoying the moment of peace, countless people out there were fighting against zombies for their survival. They couldn’t even dream of eating smoked trout. All they had were those bland MRE.

I spent hours doing various things while waiting for the trout to be cooked. And when I finally decided to take it out, the colour was scary. It was completely black, like it was completely burnt.

“Can I eat this?” I think I should eat after peeling its skin, like fruit. And as expected, as I scraped the skin off with the mithril knife, an appetizing red flesh showed itself.

“Woah…” After blowing it a few times, an explosion of flavour shook my body to the core. The meat melted easily in my mouth. It had a hint of sweetness in it before a smoky flavour came in. It was a kind of flavour which would be a perfect pair with soju. But I wouldn’t drink it today.

“It’s too salty for you… Eat this instead.” I said as I saw Dingo, which looked like he was ready to bite my hand if I didn’t give him any. When I put the grilled trout in front of him, the guy finished it in a matter of seconds, leaving only the bone.

In the middle of eating, an answer was posted in the item menu on the Auction House.

-Who are you?

-I hope you can tell me your name first.

– It’s me, Rabbit Pwincess.

I smiled at how direct he was. It would be better to respond in the same manner and reveal my identity here. If push came to shove, I would still have some time to run away since Rabbit Pwincess didn’t know where I lived. Or does he? Have I ever told them that I lived in Busan? I want to make sure about it by looking through the video, but since it was only a daily chat, it would be hard to pinpoint when and in which videos did I ever say it. Let’s not make a big deal out of it. Even if he knew I lived in Busan, it would be hard to find me since Busan wasn’t a small city.

-This is I Love Gimbap…

After typing like that, no answer came back for several seconds.

But then…

-Hiks Hiks Hiks…

-What’s wrong?

Is he crying?

-I Love Gimbap-nim is alive!! I thought you were dead.

-I suffered a little bit, but I am still alive as of today.

It’s so weird to use polite speech while talking to him like this. Back in Survival Life, we talked in a semi-formal way to make everyone equal. Rabbit Pwincess extended his long wild welcome before telling me that he was currently in Seoul.

-Are you with the President by any chance?

-I’m not. I’m alone.

-Ah… then just who gave the President the info that they show on TV on the D-Day?

-I thought it was you… You are the only one who has that much information and you used to stream as well.

-I didn’t do it because I have some situation.

If Rabbit Pwincess criticized me after knowing the truth, I decided I was going to cut off contact with him. But contrary to my expectation, he showed a surprising reaction.

-I get it. Is it because you have something you can’t tell others? Did you decide not to do it because you were afraid of being caught and arrested?

I finally met someone who understood me for the first time.

-That’s right. It is because I have a unique ability that is difficult to reveal to others.

-Oh… Whatever it is, I know it will be awesome! My unique ability is resurrection, but yours must be something even greater.

-Resurrection?

-Yes. On top of it, it’s an infinite resurrection. I can respawn as long as I have points.

-Woah…

My mouth hangs open as I read his message. I don’t know if his unique skill is as good as mine or not. But still, resurrection was a cheat-like ability in this kind of world. Rabbit Pwincess then revealed his unique ability’s additional effect too.

-Level 5 effect is physical resistance, level 10 is elemental resistance. Level 15 is a variety of special resistances. Those goblins darts are useless against me now HEHEHEHE!

-That’s great… You wouldn’t have any problem clearing the goblin dungeon then.

-Well… I could only tank 3 hits.

-Then it’s not okay. What will you do if you get hit by 4 and get paralyzed?

-Will you not go with me? Let’s just wear underwear and hit them with bare fists!

-I can’t do that because I don’t have a resurrection ability like you.

-Oh, yeah. I forget.

Is this guy really wearing only panties? If it’s really true, he probably had already died a few times until now. Well, his elemental resistance will keep him safe from the weather even without clothes, I guess. Afterall, it works even against the heat from the sun and the cold from rain.

-Perhaps… are you only wearing panties right now?

-How did you know?

-You are totally crazy…

-I don’t feel the heat or the cold anymore, so it’s okay. By the way, have you met the other guys?

-I have only met one.

-Who?

-MyDream.

-Ah… that person. We’re not even close, but he kept acting friendly to me. I don’t like it. If I remember correctly, he said he had a lot of money.

-I think he has some kind of mental related unique skill, because he has some minions working for him.

-Oh, this is a really good information. If he had people working for him, it’s probably brainwashing or memory manipulation ability.

-Speaking of which, please don’t shake hands with other people recklessly.

-Okay. By the way, did you meet him in Busan?

Ah… Yeah, so he indeed knew where I lived.

I answered casually.

-Did I ever tell you why my ID is I Love Gimbap?

-Yeah, you said you were running a snack bar. Are you scared now because I can find you?

-I honestly admit…

He laughed.

– Hey, relax. We’re too close to do that to each other. Don’t you remember? We hunted those trolls together, did the tutorial again together after being killed by an ogre, and even got lost in the labyrinth because we couldn’t find our way out together!

It’s because of you that we got lost in the labyrinth… Well, I guess I could relax a little bit more. I was friendly with other stagnant waters, but I got along very well with the rabbit Pwincess. Maybe it’s because his personality could entertain my emotionally dry heart.

Wait a minute… Doesn’t that mean I felt happy when I was together with this crazy bastard?

Anyway, it was nice to have some good memories with Rabbit Pwincess. Even If we both died because of it, we always laughed it out and did it again.

But now…

– Things have changed. RabPri.

– It’s Rabbit Pwincess.

-It’s hard to pronounce, so please accept it.

?Pwi, Pwi, Pwi, Pwi, Pwi, Pwi.

I sighed. This guy was very strict about some unimportant things. The more we talked, the more I felt I had returned to the game.

-By the way, I envy your unique skill. It would be nice to be able to survive with only points. I need too many points to equip myself.

-From your words, it seems like your unique ability isn’t combat related… How about this? Because it seems like we’re the only ones in the Auction House right now, let’s exchange one item we had looted so far with only 1 point.

I nodded my head at his words. It was a great offer for me. Since Seoul had a huge population, the number and difficulty of zombies there would naturally be on the high side. I wondered what kind of loot Rabbit Pwincess had got there.

-Put away the stick and let’s put something elsewhere.

-Hehe, did you get two of these too?

-Of course.

-They’re really funny. We reported a bug like that, but they ignored it until the end.

-But did you know that they doubled the Auction House fees with the patch?

-Ah… those fucking bastards!!

it seems he didn’t know. After a while, the ebony stick disappeared from the display and was replaced by a ring. My mouth hangs open once again after reading the description. It was a ring made of magic metal with two stats increase options. The stats option attached to the ring was a rare one to boot, Vitality and Strength.

Rabbit Pwincess proudly gave a comment.

-You know how difficult it is to get something with two stats in the beginning, right? I searched all over the town to find this.

-Are you saying that you worked really hard to find this item? How many points do you have right now?

-I only have 240 points right now.

Ah… It seems like he literally worked hard to death. Still, with the ring equipped, the chance he would die in the long run would decrease considerably.

-Take the ring. I put that up for 10 points.

?Hey! How can you sell it for just 10 points? It has a Vitality and Strength stats increase option!

?It seems like I Love Gimbap-nim doesn’t believe me yet, But I believe in you 100%. So, just take it.

I never thought that there were people who would believe in me like that. To be honest, I was touched by his words. To answer his belief, the item I have to put up on the Auction House should be…

-Huh? How did you get this? An owlbear’s claw could only be obtained through looting, right?

-Yes, that is correct. I got it through looting.

-How??? Did an owlbear somehow get spawned in Busan?

-That’s not it. Like I said before, I have my own situation.

Even if I told him I got it by hunting an owlbear in a forest in another world, he wouldn’t believe it.

By the way, I remembered that Rabbit Pwincess said that he usually enjoys drinking. I have a splendid snack that will definitely fit to be eaten while drinking with me now, so I think he would be happy with it. I’m not sure if he got some alcohol with him now, but even if he didn’t, he will definitely look for it. It’s him after all.

However, it was questionable whether the food would be treated as an item. Because back in Survival Life, there’s practically no one who ever auctioned food, even more so a handmade one.

Let’s try it first. I wrapped one smoked trout with clean paper and placed it on a disposable plate. Then I clicked on the auction registration. Thankfully, a message popped up in front of me right away.

?Do you want to register smoked trout to the Auction??

I hit the YES button and set the auction winning bid to the minimum. In a heartbeat, the plate and the trout were engulfed in the light and disappeared entirely. Eat well, Rabbit Pwincess.

“By the way, I forgot to tell him I used his name to trick Kwon…”

Will he get angry once he knows about it? Well, I doubt it.

.

.

.

Hwang Seokhyun carefully unwrapped the fish when a plate suddenly appeared on the desk in front of him.

“This item really come out.” He had won a bid for a smoked trout, but never did he expect it to be real. With his eyes locked in the food, he wondered just where did I Love Gimbap get it. Is he at a place near a river or something right now? Or maybe his unique skill was related to cooking.

In fact, Seokhyun didn’t care at all about those things. It’s just a fleeting curiosity. The more important thing was that he had confirmed that his friend was alive and well. He even gave him a present to boot. Namely, the piping hot fish in front of him. For Seokhyun, who only ate military rations for the past several days, the food in front of him was no different than a true feast. In other words, he needs a drink to celebrate it.

Seokhyun kicked the zombie who crawled towards him and dashed off towards the kitchen. When he returned, he had a green plastic bottle filled with soju in his hand. Seokhyun sat down on the chair and wiped the saliva flowing down his unkempt beard.

If someone suddenly passed by and saw him, they would undoubtedly turn their head towards him. Afterall, his appearance was a bit… quirky. His hair was sparse, and he wore a half-ripped cloak with only a panty underneath. Moreover, he also wore a pair of boots which covered up to his calf.

“Heh, heh heh…” Seokhyun grabbed a wooden chopstick and moved it towards the smoked trout. When he opened his mouth wide, his tongue came out to meet it.

Munch munch munch.

With a happy expression as if he had tasted heaven, Seokhyun kept munching on the fish. This is it! he thought. What he ate for the past few days were all garbage. Once he swallowed the fish, he poured all the content inside the plastic bottle to his mouth. With his current body, he didn’t have any worry of getting drunk.

“Khaaaaak…”

After the alcohol was gone, Seokhyun ate the smoked trout again. He kept repeating the cycle for several more times until he finished the whole fish.

“Khaakk… today’s food is delicious…”

In the last few days, he’d fought hundreds of times, killed dozens of zombies, and had died a few times. Therefore, there was nothing left around him. What he was feeling right now was not just the deliciousness of the smoked trout, but the joy of being a human being. At this moment, he was the happiest man in the world.

After he ate all the trout, he grabbed his backpack and jumped out the window.

“Sexxxxxxxxx!”

A few zombies shrieking in the street looked at him as he landed on the ground.

Growl-!!

“Move! I had to go to Busan!”

Seokhyun shouted something that would undoubtedly surprise Seongho had he heard it.

“Giant- Swing!” Seokhyun shouted as he grabbed the ankle of a zombie and swung it around in a circle, hitting all zombies around him.

Seokhyun worked hard. As it was, he had all the momentum he needed to go to Busan. However, there was one problem…

After 30 minutes of walking, Seokhyun returned to his original hideout.

“Huh? Where is this?”

He had a terrible sense of direction.