Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Sooyeon’s story revolved around the time shelter. She told me that there were three factions that had been formed around the place which would be opened in a year’s time.

“Let’s call my team, Team A, one other team as Team B, and the golf course as Team C.” As soon as I heard it, I immediately knew. The golf course team of Mr. Kwon, whom I stole the pistol and smartphone from, must have something to do with the murderer. But I kept my silence and listened to the story. According to Sooyeon, Team C was the most powerful group amongst the three.

“I think there’s around 10 people there. At first, I thought they were from a different team, but I think they communicated with each other because I often saw their members exchange supplies.”

“Are you saying that they normally live apart from each other?”

“Yes.”

I nodded my head at her words. It was a smart move in order to prevent the zombies from detecting them when there’s 6 people or more in a group. It was thanks to that fact that I have a reason for not joining the gym team.

“Anyway, that point is still fine. As Mr. Seongho knows, this neighborhood… is filled with wealthy people. Therefore, a lot of information has been circulating, including things about the zombie apocalypse, and people have prepared for the apocalypse quite well. The problem is…”

“What is it?”

“Team C made an offer to others to open the time shelter.”

“Already? Wasn’t it set to be openable only in a year’s time?”

“We thought so too, but the leader of Team C came to Team B before he started to persuade us too. He said, what is the difference between now and a year later? Let’s share it before more powers gather here.”

“Who is the leader of Team C, if I may ask?”

“I don’t know his name. I only know that he looks tall and skinny…”

Tall and skinny, huh? Then it really is Mr. Kwon, the owner of Yongjeong Bunker. Why did he propose to open the time shelter? Did he pretend to be a gentleman in order to have connections with people so that he can use his mind manipulation skill?

Since from what I knew, he had 3 bunkers, it could be said that he had around 14 people inside his team. And because on his phone, he has photos of womens, the number of personnels who are capable of fighting should dwindle to around 10.

Sooyeon elaborated further by telling me that her team and team B refused Kwon’s offer because they felt that they could live just fine for the time being using their supplies and the looted supplies from the building around the area.

“But what does opening the time shelter have to do with a murderer showing up?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Should I say, the timing? As soon as we refused to open the time shelter, the rumour that there is a murderer around spreads. sound of heart pounding, do you know about it, Mr. Seongho?”

I know a lot about it. Back in the game, I had encountered over 200 murderers and had killed over 100 of them.

“Roughly. The sound came when the murderer was close to us, didn’t it?”

“Yes… When I told my team members about it, they laughed at me because it was nothing but a game system. Then, one of our team members died while going out to farm…”

“Ah… By the way, the murderer had only appeared after the proposal had been refused?”

“Yes…”

“Hm… I think it has something to do with it.” I’m 100% sure about it. But I just couldn’t tell Sooyeon about it. By the way, I’m really curious about why Kwon wants to open the time shelter this early. If there were 14 subordinates under him, it would be easy for him to survive regardless whether it was now or one year later. So, why?

When I enquired about it to Sooyeon, she hesitated before opening her mouth. “The leader of Team C that I was talking about, I once saw him hunting zombies using a molotov cocktail.”

“A molotov cocktail?”

“Yes. He used several of them and turned the road into a sea of ​​fire… At that time, we stopped our hunt and returned to our shelter just in case the flames somehow reached us.”

“It’s certainly dangerous.”

Through Sooyeon’s story, I was able to determine the reason Kwon wanted to open the time shelter. It was because he wanted to amass points and open the Auction House faster. After all, if his subordinates were the one who defeated the zombies, the points went to them, not to Kwon. It also seemed like he would rather use a molotov cocktail than a bow. Probably, because it was easier to get exp points that way, since you can kill several zombies at once with just one molotov.

Speaking of Auction House, I haven’t heard from Rabbit Pwincess for a few days now. Did he perhaps get sick of eating trout?

“…if it’s molotov cocktails….could it be… because he needs gasoline?”

Sooyeon thought about my words for a few moments before snapping her finger. “That’s right. If his group is filled with that many people, there should be someone  who knows about chemistry in his group. The President also announced that there’s gasoline inside the time shelter.”

“Is that so? However, I don’t think it’s a good idea to open a time shelter right now.”

“He must’ve thought that his old way from normal world would also apply on the current world…” Sooyeon’s face darkened as she said it.

In any case, Kwon seemed to need gasoline and auxiliary materials in order to make more molotov cocktails. He must’ve stockpiled a lot of it in his own bunker, but as he felt that it was not enough, he decided to open the time shelter. Then, what he would do once he opened the time shelter here in Busan was obvious. He would go to another area and open the time shelter there. By that time, Kwon and his men should’ve been strong enough to overpowered anyone who tried to stand in their way.

Then, what I should do was clear. Killing the murderer in a deathmatch and preventing Kwon and his subordinates from opening the time shelter. My additional goal would be killing Kwon since it was a promise I made before the apocalypse.

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Sooyeon showed a lot of interest towards my bow. When I offered to touch it, she quickly agreed and immediately tried to pull the bowstring. And as expected, her arm that is used to pull it trembled violently while doing so.

She whimpered, smiled awkwardly, and then lowered the bow. “How much pulling weight does this bow have?”

“It’s 100 pounds.”

“Ah! That’s why it’s so hard. You have to have an arm as big as Mr. Seongho’s to use it.”

I shrugged and gave her a demonstration of pulling the bowstring. It was easy since I had practiced really hard with it. Even more so, thanks to the ring RaPri gave me, it felt even more easier. He was kind, and I’m very grateful to him, but I wish I wouldn’t meet him in the near future. I feel like my plans would be messed up somehow with him in the mix.

“By the way, Mr. Seongho, did you awaken too?”

“Yes, my unique skill is something akin to ‘foresight’. It’s quite useful in fighting against zombies.”

“So you can predict their attacks?”

“It is similar. However, rather than predicting, I can see the trajectory of the attack in the shape of an image.”

“Oh!” Sooyeon exclaimed. “It would be very useful in fights. My unique skill is really good, but I find it quite difficult to use it in battle…”

“Since you’re a doctor, I bet it was some kind of wound treatment skill?”

At my words, Sooyeon’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

“Ah… I heard about the ability characteristics of the people in the gym group. The Manager has a physical strengthening type skill, while Yoohyeon can create dolls that he can control, something like that.”

“But Seongho’s unique skill is unrelated to your specialty.” Sooyeon said as she pointed her finger at me.

“There may be exceptions.” Even my real unique ability didn’t match me. Is it because it was something given to those with enormous playtime?

Sooyeon proceeded to complain about how low her level was since it was hard for her to fight. Then, after she finished, she started to rant about another thing.

“It’s a bit weird to say this myself, but the guys on my team can’t even see the big picture and could only see things in the short term.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know… That…” Sooyeon said while fidgeting. Her face also slightly turned beet red.

“Aha.”

From her body language, I roughly knew what it was. It was only natural though, since Sooyeon was an attractive person. She had a firm body and cool features, a girl crush-type of girl. She was also quite tall, and was quite a looker. So, it’s understandable that the men in her group were chasing after her.

“Every time they meet me, they always try to show me their good side. I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or not, though. Isn’t it strange to ask me to pay attention to them when life and death are so close?”

“That’s right.”

“The funny thing is, the three men were all doing the same thing. They keep criticising each other and make a big deal out of every mistake the other makes.”

“They are all so excited, huh?”

“But the funny thing is, when the murderer signs appeared, they were all terrified out of their minds. I wish they could at least be half decent as Seongho. And you know what? Every single one of them asked me to run away with them, just the two of us. All three of them are the same, really.”

“You should’ve asked what they were going to do once you followed them to get away from that place.”

“It’s obvious. At first, they act as if they will give me anything in the world. But when it becomes dangerous, they will ditch me and run away alone.”

In the apocalypse, that’s not necessarily wrong. Afterall, it’s stupid to help other when your safety wasn’t guaranteed. Though, I kept my opinion to myself, not telling it to Sooyeon. With those thoughts in mind, I looked around the living room and found dozens of umbrella holders full of arrows.

“You have a lot of arrows. Are they all made of carbon?”

“Yes. Would you like some? I bought a lot.”

“Thank you, if you could spare some for me.”

She stood up from the sofa and walked towards the line of umbrella holders. Then, she grabbed a handful of arrows and gave it to me. I accepted the arrow and promptly put it in my backpack before handing her a glowstone.

“You bought this at the Store, right?” She said while her eyes widened.

“Yes. It lasts incredibly long. If it is too bright, you can shatter it to pieces and only use the one that fits your needs. It’s much more comfortable than a candle.”

“…But Mr. Seongho. I thought you only knew these things from watching I Love Gimbap’s streams. How did you know so many things?”

“Well, it was because I Love Gimbap talked a lot about these things every week. He was such an explanatory person.”

She nodded her head as if she knew. “From what I read in the awakened community, he was indeed that kind of person.”

It’s a bit embarrassing for me to hear about it directly like this. My heart felt complicated. By the way, I had to go before the reinforced zombies spawned near here. I put the sleeping Dingo on top of the backpack and said my farewell to Sooyeon.

She returned my farewell and waved her hand with a sad expression when I walked away from the door.

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These days, Kwon Kyung-joon has been living the best time of his life. Even though the apocalypse had come, he had never felt his life was in danger. After all, with a sturdy bunker, more than three years’ worth of stockpiles, and 14 subordinates serving under him, there’s almost nothing that can threaten him right now. Although at first, there was a slight problem because he decided to take three unawakened women just for his amusement, it was no longer a problem since they had also awakened too.

But then, a bigger problem arose. The points earned by his subordinates didn’t come to him. So, his points count was a little bit on the low side. Running away and helping others to earn points wasn’t to his taste. With so many things to do, why did he have to do that shit? Using a bow to hunt was also not his cup of tea. It simply takes too much effort from pulling the string to aiming. And yet it only could kill one zombie per several shots.

Then, one day, one of his men had a good offer.

-Boss, why don’t you use a molotov cocktail to hunt? One of our guys can make it.

-That’s a good idea! Do it.

However, after using it to hunt several times, he realized that it was a weapon that eats a lot of supplies to make. In other words, a resource heavy weapon. Then, Kyung-joon thought of gasoline and chemicals that were stockpiled in the nearby time shelter. As it was prepared by the government, the amount of supplies would be staggering.

If he could get that…

-We need to open the Auction House as soon as possible.

Kyung-joon immediately communicated his intentions to all groups of survivors around the time shelter. Let’s open the shelter together. It’s possible to do it with our combined strength. But they refused his offer. And Kyung-joon didn’t take that refusal well.

In anger, he thought of a good way to proceed.

-The method father used when he first built the golf course…

Creating an ugly incident around the area to let others walk away on their own feet. At the same time, he knew the perfect way to do it. It was to turn one of his brainwashed subordinates into a murderer. It was not a perfect plan by any means, since when a murderer was around, the nearby survivors, including his other subordinates, would be forced to participate in the deathmatch against them. And in case the murderer was defeated by someone from the other groups, the murderer’s killer would get a lot of things. However, he felt that the risk was still something he could handle.

The more Kwon Kyung-joon reviewed the plan, the more he loved it.

However,

-That bastard…

He suddenly remembered about the guy who pretended to be Rabbit Pwincess and ran away. If he had only escaped quietly, he would’ve been able to quell his anger, but because that shitty bastard used paralyzing poison to knock him down and took his pistol and smartphone, Kyung-joon swore he would kill the guy next time they met.

Just where did that bastard get the goblin’s paralyzing poison from? That guy didn’t dare to fight head-on, so it looks like his unique ability isn’t suited for combat. Once he remembered his sorry state, lying on the bathroom floor because of the paralyzing poison, his anger flared once again.

-Once I meet you, I will beat you up to death.

Kyung-Joon’s plan proceeded smoothly, and the survivor groups, who had rejected his proposal, are starting to run away from the area. Now, he only had to wait until his men broke through the time shelter’s barrier. The door of the shelter was tightly protected by a composite plastic and some unknown materials. It was clear just how much the government wanted to keep this place tightly sealed.

But,

“If they say it can be opened in one year time, it means there should be a key somewhere. Find it quickly.”

“Yes.”

Kyung-joon was sure. If it would only open after a year, it also means it could be opened now. If he didn’t find any key or whatever he needed to open the door, he could just simply set a fire and melt the door. Any survivor who dares to disturb him will be dealt with by his subordinate-turned-murderer. But Kyung-joon didn’t know. Before the game’s service was terminated, there’s a patch about murderers. A murderer who commits more than a certain amount of murder would gain a special ability.

When about a dozen people gathered in the shelter, Seongho was hiding in a nearby building while looking at the patch notes he wrote on his note.

“Special skill as well as stats… Isn’t that too much?” Seongho facepalmed. According to the patch contents, a murderer would become more and more powerful as they continued to kill more and more people. They were already strong even without the patch, but with the patch, their strength would be enhanced further.

“First, let’s see what the special ability is.” Seongho’s eyes traced every word written on the particular page about the patch. Meanwhile, a loud ominous heartbeat sound was ringing in his ear.

Thump, thump!

It was a sign indicating that a murderer was nearby. It sounds terrifying for anyone who heard it for the first time, but not for Seongho.

Afterall, he was used to it.

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