Stagnant Water of Apocalypse
chapter-90

Da-jeong, who had finished investigating Bam Island, returned to the shelter. The very first person who greeted her was the former president, Jang Won-taek. He called Da-jeong and served her a cup of coffee.

“How is the situation on Bam Island?”

“There’s been a bit of a problem….” Da-jeong proceeded to explain everything she saw on Bam Island to Jang Won-taek. Vines, which did not appear to be from Earth, had covered the entirety of Bam Island.

Jang Won-taek’s eyebrows furrowed at Da-jeong’s explanation. “Did those vines cover only Bam Island, or…”

“Of course not, they stretched all the way to the land. Because of that, it was convenient to cross to and from Bam Island.”

“Hoho… That’s true…”

How thick and strong were the vines to be able to withstand people and ghouls passing through?

Jang Won-taek, imagining Da-jeong being carried by a ghoul, felt goosebumps assaulting all over his body.

The situation over Bam Island was not what Jang Won-taek initially expected. It seems like plant-type monsters from another world had really invaded Earth. And it could be said that it was more serious than the appearance of animal-type and human-type monsters such as goblins and orcs since they didn’t pollute the land itself.

Jang Won-taek then asked.

“Did you just leave it alone?”

“Didn’t you tell me to leave it alone because it was an ecological conservation area?”

“I told you to set a fire if it’s indeed an erosion. Since it is an erosion…”

As Jang Won-taek slowly said his bits, Da-jeong got angry and took off her high heels before slamming it on the table.

“Seriously! Why are you so wishy washy!!!”

However, Jang Won-taek was not surprised by her outburst. Rather, he asked her quietly.

“I am sure Da-jeong would have taken action. How is it going?”

“Sigh… I made a flame can and set it on fire. Those vines burn really well.”

“Good, good… By the way, a flame can, huh? Do you have the materials to make it?”

“I bought it at the Auction House.”

“Looks like someone just posted it…”

The keen gaze of the former president reached her. Da-jeong instantly flinched and averted his gaze.

In fact, when she was thinking about what to do with the creeping plant in front of her back in Bam Island, she contacted Seongho through the Auction House.

-You can just set it on fire with a flame can. It will burn really well.

-Have you met Rapwi yet?

-SEX!

-Good! Then, come to Seoul quickly. Otherwise I’ll go there.

-We have an important job right now, so we won’t be able to do it for a while.

-If I judged your ‘important job’ as not important at all, I’ll stick my toys up you guys’ asses.

-We are playing with an endangered species.

-Okay, approved!

Thoughm Da-jeong knows that they are not playing but fighting. Da-jeong wanted to go to them in that instant, but she held it in.

Let’s wait a little longer…

When Seongho put the ingredient of the flame can to the auction, he raised the opening bid higher than usual. People who were at the Auction House at the time swore at him when they saw the price, but Da-jeong bought it right away. Afterall, for her, points were nothing but something which piled up after she closed her eyes and called it a day.

When the ghouls took the flame can and set it on fire, the large vines were engulfed in flames.

-Filth disinfection!

However, Da-jeong exempt them from the story she told to Jang Won-taek. However, Jang Won-taek seemed to have noticed.

“Hmm… I think you’ve met him.”

“Meet whom?”

“I Love Gimbap. He is the only one who can make flame can in a timely manner and put it up for auction.”

Da-jeong looked at Jang Won-taek with serious eyes. It seems like he knew about what was happening in the Auction House even though what he did was only staying at the shelter. His level was also not 15 yet. So, probably his subordinates were the ones who reported it to him.

Da-jeong tied her hair behind her shoulder and asked. “What would you do if I indeed met him?”

“Hmm…. Nothing. I am just checking the facts in order to collect information. Have you really met him?”

Da-jeong’s brows furrowed. As they already reached this point, it would be difficult for her to hide the fact anymore. In fact, even if she told him that she had met with Gimbap, it’s not a big deal since it’s by no means a great piece of information. At the Auction House, rumors were already circulating that the reason Rapwi and Duck moved to the south was because of Gimbap.

As she nodded her head, Jang Won-taek drank his cold coffee at once with one big gulp.

“I want to bring him to the government shelter.”

“If he came, wouldn’t there be a riot? He’s a traitor to mankind.”

“Haha… I don’t think so.”

“He hid the information so he could survive alone, didn’t he? People at the Auction House even call him ‘That Bastard’.”

“That is only what people think about. My thoughts on the matter were slightly different. It’s a hazy perspective, but I was in a position to see the whole idea to some extent.”

“Hmm?”

It sounded like he knew the truth. As Da-jeong pushed her face towards him, Jang Won-taek put down the teacup in embarrassment.

“If you promise to bring Gimbap, I will tell you everything. But now is not the time yet.”

“Well, it has nothing to do with me. Please work it out with that ahjussi by yourself.”

“Is he old?”

“No, he’s just like me. Wait, don’t bother with what I said just now!”

“I Love Gimbap is a man between 20s and 30s. Good good… I think I must make a plan with Mr. Geom-in and Mr. Seungcheol.”

“Ugh… He’s completely different from those guys, so it wouldn’t work. It would be nice if they didn’t fight.”

“You wouldn’t know unless you let him meet them. There are some things that you can only know when you bump into a man with a lot of blood.”

“No, I am sure. I don’t know about Seungcheol, but he definitely doesn’t match with Geom-in.”

“…is it I Love Gimbap that sent Da-jeong here?”

How come he even knows about that? Da-jeong looked at him with incredulous eyes.

“It was clear that day that Da-jeong was not interested in my proposal. Nevertheless you still came to me on the last day. It means that there was a change of heart… Was I Love Gimbap present in that dungeon?”

This guy’s intuition is scary…

When Da-jeong shut her mouth completely, Jan Won-taek tapped the back of her hand.

“I want to tell you that I am not his enemy. At least no secrets about him will ever come out of my mouth.”

“Doesn’t the President hate him? If he had given the information about the apocalypse a little earlier, a lot of people could have been saved.”

“If he had told us sooner, we would have wasted our administrative power looking for him. And we were not alone in the government at the time. There was another force out of my reach.”

“There’s forces that the President’s power couldn’t reach?”

Were they related to the scary man who came to see Jiman?

“…let’s end it here. I will tell the rest directly to I Love Gimbap.”

In other words, If Da-jeong wanted to hear it, she had to bring him. However, Da-jeong was not interested in the truth of the situation. She stood up from her seat and told him to do it by himself.

Jang Won-taek quickly stood up and said to her,

“Be friendly with Mr. Geom-in. He is someone who will give it all away if you give him a little acknowledgment.”

“He didn’t seem like that in my eyes. He wants to completely dominate this shelter.”

“That’s normal for a man. And he’s not the only one who wants to rule the shelter.”

“Aren’t you the President?”

Jang Won-teak turned around and shrugged his shoulders.

“I am nothing but an old man. I have already passed the age of being greedy. And there was also a time when I was the president of a nation. What more would I want?”

These were the words of a man who once held the highest seat in Korea.

At this point, should I give him a chance?

But if after she gives him the chance and he is still acting like a jerk, she’ll throw him away.

Da-jeong scoffed and walked away from the room.

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In the middle of a chilling mid-October night. A wolf howl suddenly could be heard from the street.

Auuuuuuu-!!

In response to the sound, Dingo raised its snout and was about to cry, but Seokhyun put his hand around Dingo’s snout to stop him.

“Shh, they are not your friends.”

He’s right. The ones who let out a howl just now were not ordinary wolves, but wolves which had been infected with some disease. It was incomparably larger than a normal wolf and was extremely ferocious. It could be said that it was a beast that had lost even its survival instincts and only lived with the sole purpose of hunting prey. And when those wolves attacked humans, those humans would become werewolves.

It was a much more complicated process than the process of monsters regenerating back in the game.

“It’s going to be even more tiring from now on…”

“Why? Werewolves are nothing.”

“It’s only nothing to us.”

When I pointed it out, Seokhyun let out an ‘Oh’ and came out to the veranda to look at the situation on the street.

In fact, the survivors have been comfortable so far. Afterall, their chance of survival increases dramatically if they just hide in their hideout.

There are indeed goblins and kobolds roaming around the street, but it was relatively easy to respond to them. Meanwhile, keepers and bone creepers are monsters that only appear at night, and orcs do not move at all after settling in one place.

But werewolves are different as they will actively hunt for prey. Its sense of smell was so great that even the slightest smell would be dangerous for survivors. On top of it, it was also insanely agile, making it difficult to respond against their attack.

The only way to defeat them, unless someone had a combat-type unique skill, is by attacking it with numbers. However, numbers alone wouldn’t work, so they would also need to waste a lot of energy for the hunt, such as digging a trap, throwing a net at it, and stabbing it with a spear.

When Seokhyun nagged at Dingo to not become a werewolf, someone’s scream could be heard from the street. We both quickly laid down on our stomach and looked outside. A man with a backpack was being chased by a pack of wolves. He screamed for help, but in the blink of an eye, a wolf attacked him and ended his ordeal.

“Aggghhhhhh!” The man let out a desperate scream and then limped. But a moment later, a change occurred. The man’s body stretched, turning his clothes and hair grew all over his body. At that moment, the other wolves only walked around him,

When the man had fully transformed into werewolves and roared at the full moon, the pack of wolves also cried.

Auuuuuuuu-!!

Then, the guys started running. From now on, the night would be their world. If survivors went outside without knowing what to do about them, they will end up being torn to pieces by the werewolves.

When I glanced sideways, I could see Seokhyun was gloomy.

“At your current state, how many minutes do you need to kill it in a one-on-one fight?”

“If it was with traps and weapons,1 minute. With fist alone, 10 minutes.”

“Isn’t that because you don’t have the troll’s skill set that you had back in the game?”

“Yeah, there’s a limit with bare fists. I must have tier 2 skills to be able to run free.”

One of the troll’s skills is Strength Outburst. If you acquire it, you will gain incredible strength when you are in a crisis. If Seokhyun gets it, he might be able to strangle a werewolf with his bare hands. The problem was it was unacquirable right now as trolls would only appear later.

In my case, it was unreasonable to fight with only bare hands, and it would take three or four minutes even with all the equipment I had in my arsenal.

The pack of wolves suddenly barked loudly. It’s really noisy.

I proposed to Seokhyun. “Let’s kill that werewolf. I need to feed you some skills.”

“Have you ever caught it?”

“Yeah, inside the portal… Though, I almost exhaust everything I have to just kill one.”

“As expected, Seongho, you are strong…I don’t have to worry about you.”

“Then call them here.”

At my words, Seokhyun shouted loudly.

“Hey! You dogs! Stop barking! it’s noisy!!!”

In the distance, the werewolf roared in response.

Seokhyun looked at me and smiled. “Let’s fight like the old days.”

It seems like I have to do some gymnastics at night.

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The appearance of the werewolves caused an uproar in the Auction House. The sightings of werewolves were reported from all over the place. However, no one really believed it.

-Nice! A good skill will come out if we can kill it!

-What bullshit. Can you even kill it?

-I just say it was profitable to kill it, you bastard!

-There weren’t many werewolves caught in the original game, can we even kill it now?

-Yeah. Even though they are classified in the same tier as orcs, they are worlds apart…

-That’s right. Its power was inferior to orcs, but it’s super fast. Most people wouldn’t even see them moving and their necks would have flown off.

Everyone shook their heads saying that werewolves were really scary.

In Survival Life, from werewolves onward, survivors had to work together to kill it. Only a small number of users can compete in direct fight with those monsters.

And among those few users, the two who had reached the peak of the game had just finished their werewolf hunting.

“Damn it, it’s not even a live fish, so why did it flounder around like that?” Seongho grumbled as he brushed away the blood on his long knife. Meanwhile, Seokhyun was giving the werewolf one last punch.

“Fuuuhh…” After acquiring the skill, Seokhyun opened his eyes. His level which was stuck at 19 even after hunting a lot of monsters finally reached 20.

At the same time, another additional effect was added to his unique skill.

「Cooldown reduction」

It was a very good effect which reduced the time before Seokhyun could resurrect again. Before this additional effect was added, Seokhyun could only resurrect once every 30 minutes.

At that moment, Seokhyun pointed his long knife to his chest.

Seongho, who looked at him calmly just a moment before, instantly jumped in fright.

“Hey Seokhyun! Wait a minute…”

“I will be here again soon.” As soon as he said that, he pushed the long knife in his hand into his own chest. His body collapsed, and Seongho looked blankly at the body of his friend. He knew his friend would be resurrected, but it was still a shocking scene.

“Huh huh…” Moments later, Seokhyun’s body was engulfed in light and disappeared. And Seokhyun jumped out of nowhere.

“How many minutes have passed?”

“About three minutes. But are you okay?”

“I’m fine except for the fact that the more I resurrect, the more points I need.”

“That’s a problem. What if you don’t have enough points? Wouldn’t you be dead?”

“That’s why I have to hunt a lot more. By the way, I have reached level 20.”

“Congratulations. I stopped at lvl 17.”

Seokhyun’s eyes lit up after hearing Seongho’s words.

“If you catch that endangered species bastard, you will level up. Let’s catch him.”

“Huh?”

Seongho was perplexed. When Seokhyun said it, it sounded like he wanted to catch him.

“If I catch him, my skill list would be changed. There’s a chance that something strange might come in to replace my Terrain Detection skill.”

Seokhyun looked at Seongho with puzzled eyes.

“Your skill slot is already full?”

“Yeah. I got exactly ten skills. If something like Friendliness comes in, I will be completely at a loss.”

It’s a skill everyone wants to acquire in the game, but in reality, it’s a little different. Afterall, with that skill on your skill list, you would have to keep killing. Unless you have a really strong heart, it’s hard to do it.

Seokhyun thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“That bastard…”

“Wait, call him ‘that guy’ instead.” (E/n lmao)

“Anyway, the endangered species told me something. He said that he has 10 skills. So the probability of you getting a bad skill is 1/10.”

“Is that so?”

Seongho previously thought that the murderer had 5 skills at the very most. But apparently, his skill was 10. It was perhaps due to the fact the murderer system had been reorganized.

If the probability is truly 10%, the story was different.

“Great. Let’s find him.”

The two promptly moved and tracked down the endangered species. But since he’s a murderer, it won’t be difficult to find him because of the heartbeat echoing around.

When they climbed up to the highest floor of a dilapidated building, they could finally hear the sound of a heartbeat..

“It’s definitely a deathmatch…”

“It looked like he was fighting his subordinates or whatever…”

A total of four people were trapped in a zombie wall, running and rolling. Their faces showed a sense of fear and a determination to die at the same time. Meanwhile, the endangered species leisurely pursued them with a ceramic knife on his hand, not a long knife.

“Kim Cheolseong, you bastard! You said you’d spare me!”

“I changed my mind. You should be my stepping stone.”

“What a load of bullshit!”

Seongho tapped Seokhyun on the shoulder.

“There’s something we are really good at, right?”

“Breaking in and making a mess?”

“Correct. I want to hit that guy, Cheolseong or whatever, in the back of his head.”

The scarabs had already made one more hook. Since ropes were overflowing in my storage, there’s no need to unnecessarily save it.

Seokhyun used a rope to close the distance between him and Cheolseong at once and kicked him in the back of the head. He only has himself to blame for believing too much in his skills and did not raise his Perception stat.

“Keuk” Cheolseong groaned as he fell forward. At about the same time, Seongho opened his portal in mid-air and fired the ballista.

Cheolseong, who got up from the ground and twisted his shoulder at the scene, could barely escape the bolt.

Seongho and Seokhyun then landed in front of him.

Cheolseong looked at the red eyes of the two and was startled. It was due to the fact that glowing red eyes was the sign of werewolf’s Fighting Instinct skill.

“They are absolutely crazy…”

How come they’d already killed a werewolf when it had just appeared?

At that moment, Cheolseong began to regret his decision to touch Rapwi.