Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

“Finished!!” I threw the shovel on my hand aside and plopped down to the ground. After a long and gruelling 12 hours of constant shovelling the basement was finally completed. And since the ground had also been covered and flattened with mortar, it was now possible to turn it into a storage. Though, the problem about dampness was still not fixed yet.

“I should only store canned food here…” If I were to store foods other than the canned ones, I feel like molds would immediately grow on them in just a single day.

“But it’s good enough.” Building another warehouse alone was already a great achievement. It would certainly be better if I could find a way to get rid of the dampness altogether, but I should be satisfied with this as there’s currently no possible way to do it. Dehumidifiers and other drying machines need a lot of power to run so it’s a no no.

“Dampness isn’t so bad, moreover…” I’m not that disappointed because I managed to find this black glass-like material. It’s called Emeras, and it had similar properties to obsidian. The only difference was that this one was much sturdier than obsidian. It was a quite popular material among the users because it was very sturdy and sharp compared to other materials within the same grade. However, we, stagnant waters, didn’t like it very much as it wasn’t good enough for our level.

“If I touch it with my bare hand, it will instantly cut my hand.” Even a slight touch of this Emeras would be dangerous. I had seen too many people carrying it around and got into a bleeding state.

“If it is processed properly, it will be useful.” With the amount I just excavated, I could roughly make about ten spear blades. Anyway, it’s better than nothing.

I put on three layers of gloves before moving the emeras chunks into the warehouse. While doing so, two layers of gloves protecting my hands were cut off. It was an absolute proof that it was not an exaggeration to say Emeras could easily cut through things, even the tough hide of monsters.

“Stay here for the time being.” I said as I opened the portal to return to my house with Dingo in tow. I really want to wash up as my whole body is covered with dirt thanks to the work of creating the basement.

However, before I could even take my clothes off, a text message arrived.

“Oh! The net gun.” The most expensive weapon I’ve ever ordered finally arrived. Even when I called it a ‘weapon’, it wasn’t that lethal. However, it was the best item for me as I would have to fight many enemies at once in the future. With the net gun I could restrain one or two enemies, keeping them away from the fight.

“Still, I can’t use it on orcs…”

Werewolves, as well as other medium-sized or larger monsters are practically immune to nets as they would be able to easily tear through it with their strength.

When I received the parcel, it was much larger than I expected.

I promptly return to the forest and test it.

Clack~!!

The net launched from the gun and wrapped around the bushes neatly.

The result was satisfactory. I also had to clean the net up, but it wasn’t that difficult as it was all written in the manual. All I needed to do was gather the net, put it inside the capsule and it was done. However, before I put the net away, I pulled the net with my hand at my full power to test its durability. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the net didn’t rip. As things stand, small monsters would have a hard time getting out of this net even if they had a crude weapon.

“It’s enough.” I was satisfied with the performance of the net gun. After this one test shot, I now had 299 shots left. When I first ordered it, I thought 300 shots was quite a lot, but now I felt strangely disappointed.

“I need to buy 200 more compressed nitrogen.”

Now all that was left was to drill a hole in the newly built basement. In fact, it was close to impossible as I had to bring a lot of heavy equipment to the forest to drill a hole in the rock ceiling.

“Even if something went wrong, it won’t collapse… right?”

Woof~!!

Dingo barked as if he was sympathizing with me.

Let’s leave the whole digging matter for now because at least I still had a good escape route, the portal.

I proceed to move all the canned food to the basement. Thanks to that, the cave became spacey once again and Dingo could run around inside with its tail swaying left and right. But the hideout was not complete just yet.

“I need a bigger warehouse to store the stuff I will loot on the D-day.” The cave already had too many things stuffed inside, there was no room to put anymore items. Therefore, my only choice was to build the warehouse outside the cave…

With Dingo in tow, I looked around the cave entrance.

“I have to choose between the two.”

Either completely hide it or make a shelter which couldn’t be accessed by anyone or anything.

Whatever the choice I would choose, I need to decide it quickly and act quickly. Afterall, the time I had left was only 15 days.

 

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If you go outside these days, you could definitely feel the atmosphere of people had changed. In front of the mart, in the bank, or while sitting on a bench, people were all talking about the appearance of superhumans and the zombie apocalypse.

“All of it was bullshit. This society? Collapsing overnight?”

“Didn’t you also see that superhuman which appears on TV? Are you saying that he lied to everyone around the nation?”

“It looks like a fraud to me. You know that these days, broadcasting stations are all complaining about not getting enough ratings…”

“Look here, look here. This is from MeTube.”

“It’s all bullshit! How many times should I tell you?”

“Aren’t you just calling everything that didn’t suit your taste as bullshit?”

“That’s not it…”

The news about superhumans and zombie apocalypse had spread around widely. You could tell it by the fact that even the retired elders who were gathering on a bench were having a conversation about that matter with a glass of makgeolli in hand.

“Perhaps by now, every Korean knew about it.” However, there had been no visible change just yet. Elementary school students were still crossing the road while laughing and holding their parents’ hands. The road was also still clogged with vehicles on their way to work. It’s just another normal mundane day.

While crossing the road in front of the hardware store, someone suddenly call my name,

“Oh, Seongho?”

“Hyung-nim…”

It was Hyung-jun Hyung. He was together with a young woman in front of the hardware store.

The young woman put on her glasses, and then said, “Aren’t you the owner of the snack bar who delivered to the gym before?”

“Yes, that’s  right.”

It seems like she’s a member at Hyung-jun Hyung’s gym. I think I saw her there once when I delivered an order to the gym.

Gym and snacks were a combination that didn’t go well with each other, but sometimes they still needed to eat whatever they wanted so they wouldn’t go crazy because of the stress.

She stared at me for a few moments before her plump lips parted. “Wow, for a moment, I didn’t recognize you. Did you lose a lot of weight? I thought you were someone else.”

“Ah yes… I lost a lot of weight lately.”

“If you have any special tricks, please teach me.”

But I don’t have one… Moreover, I don’t think she needs any, looking at how fit her body is. With her hair tied back, she looked very lively. Her leggings and tank top make her look like she’s going to work out at the gym rather than going to a hardware store.

As I laughed awkwardly, Hyung-jun Hyung pulled me away from her.

“Wait here for a sec, Sooyeon. Hey, Seongho. What weapon is good to beat up zombies?”

“Weapon? If you are looking for a weapon, why did you come to the hardware store…”

“The members told me to pick it up at the hardware store, though? Would a pipe be okay?”

Just where did this hyung hear that strange information?

When I was about to correct it, Sooyeon stabbed hyung at the side.

“Owner, we need to tell him why we need it first.”

“Seongho also knows about it. anyway…”

Hyung-jun Hyung’s explanation was as follows: Members who wanted to prepare for the zombie apocalypse had gathered and formed some kind of group. At first there were 10 people in the group, but now there were only 5 people left due to various problems such as family. Mikyung, whom I recommended, was also part of the 5 who stayed. Sooyeon hadn’t decided whether to join or not just yet, but when she heard Hyung-jun Hyung was going to buy a weapon, she still followed him. It seems like she thought it would be fun to tag along.

“Anyway, the five of us are going to prepare, but this is really difficult. Food and daily necessities are ready, but weapons…”

“But Hyung-nim, why are you he… No, Hyung-nim, did you know that at the beginning there’s something called corrosive disease?”

“Oh, is that right? What’s the effect? Will all kinds of metal really get destroyed?”

“The setting of the game said so…”

“Is that so? Why didn’t they tell me that?”

It’s probably because they don’t have the right information. Even in the Awakened community, this information wasn’t really widespread. I thought that everyone had known about the existence of the corrosive disease by now, but it seems that I was wrong.

Sooyeon suddenly said. “When you watch a zombie movie, don’t people use a wooden bat and a baseball bat in the beginning?”

Hyung-jun Hyung shook his head at her words. “Aigoo, where will you use such a weak stick? It will certainly break after a few swings.”

“Owner, have you tried it before?”

“No, I didn’t mean to say that I have tried it before….”

“But to me, it sounds like you have some experience in that area…”

“Anyway, I don’t like them because they are fragile.”

“But that’s the only thing worth using.”

Hyung-jun Hyung and Sooyeon had a hot debate over weapons. But in my opinion, both of them were wrong. The best weapon in the early days of the zombie apocalypse was a weapon made from reinforced plastic.

For example, something like this.

“I think this one would be good.”

“Huh? what?”

“What is it?”

The two focused on the smartphone screen as I shoved it towards them.

“It’s an Indian War Club, not as in American Indian, but India. It has a protrusion on the end of the stick, so it will certainly be lethal, and the whole thing is made from a composite plastic, so it’s very strong.”

“Oh, there was such a thing.”

Hyung-jun Hyung’s face was so close to my smartphone, and his gaze looked like a predator who was ready to chew its prey.

Sooyeon also stared intently at the screen while putting her thumb up.

“It’s made of polycarbonate and polypropylene composite. If it was this much, it wouldn’t break with just a normal shock.”

Sooyeon pointed at the sphere on the tip of the club with the tip of her finger.

“This sphere and the protrusion adds weight to it. This one looks fine.”

“Then, should we buy this weapon?”

“Wait a minute, let’s see some other weapons. How about this one?”

She pointed to the American Smasher made of composite plastic. It’s not bad. Judging from the reviews of users, it’s said that it was a bat that would never break.

However, in a zombie apocalypse, a melee weapon would certainly not be enough. I also advised them to buy a stab-proof suit.

Then, Sooyeon asked me. “How did you know about all this?”

“I came here because I was trying to figure out how to survive the apocalypse without any metal and fragile wood.”

“To be honest, about the corrosive disease… I’m still not sure about that. A phenomenon which would destroy all metal in the world feels impossible to happen.”

“Well, it’s because the reality has become similar to that game.”

“You mean Survival Life? Have you ever played that game?”

In other words, she’s asking me if I’m an Awakener or not.

“I never played it, but I’ve seen some videos of it on MeTube.” I shook my head.

“Did you see the gameplay then?”

This time, Hyung-jun Hyung intervened.

I nodded my head indifferently.

“I saw a little bit of the beginning. It’s a video where someone called I Love Gimbap broke through the tutorial.”

“Just how the hell did it start in the first place? When I asked the members of my gym who said they had played that game, they said they didn’t remember well because they just died repeatedly in the beginning.”

“First of all, the setting of the game happens a few hours after the zombie apocalypse happened. At first, it shows that zombies are just coming in while the users are all behind a metal gate. And because they are standing behind a metal gate, they would naturally think they are safe, right?”

“That’s right… Zombies can never break through a metal gate.”

“But when the zombies came and rushed on the gate, the gate collapsed just like that. Most of the users died there, but that person jumped right out of the window and took all the weapons inside.”

“…”

“Did the metal gate collapse because of the corrosive disease?”

Sooyeon chimed in.

“Yes. After listening to I Love Gimbap’s explanation, I could understand roughly. So, there are a lot of things that will keep their original shape before crumbling completely. But in a car with a lot of load, it will be destroyed as soon as it gets infected with the corrosive disease, as it would be dragged by the weight of the load inside it.” I nodded.

“What about the building?”

“A lot of the tall buildings collapsed right from the start. Though, a studio or a commercial building will be fine.”

“If it’s a normal situation, it may take some time for buildings to collapse because of fractures… And honestly, I don’t believe that Korea will change to something like that.”

Sooyeon didn’t seem to believe it completely.

I answered her with a light shrug. Afterall, that’s a normal reaction from people. “So do I. Though, I would rather be prepared than to die helplessly.”

“Hmm.”

Her face became complicated as she heard my answer.

Then suddenly, someone’s phone rang.

“Agh!!! It’s my time off today!!! Annoying!!” Sooyeon looked at her phone before looking at me.

“I have a call and I have to go first. Is your name Seongho? My name is Jo Sooyeon. If you see me next time, please pretend to know me.”

“Okay. I’ll certainly do that, and Sooyeon…”

“Yes?”

“I think it would be better for you to change your glasses frame.”

“…that’s right. Thank you for your concern.”

She smiled before running across the street. Then, she opened the door of a red sports car which was likely to easily cost several billion won.

Fuuuuhhh, you are rich, huh?

Hyung-jun Hyung pointed to the car with his chin.

“Sooyeon is a doctor. She said she works in the emergency room of the hospital up there.”

“That’s great.”

If there was one thing I lacked right now, it was experience and knowledge about emergency treatment which wouldn’t be a problem for a doctor. They would surely know how to administer antibiotics, painkillers, and anesthetics, etc. towards injured people.

And because I’m not a doctor, it was impossible for me to have their knowledge. There were limits to cramming alone. On top of that, I wasn’t very good at studying.

When the Shop opens, Potions would be available to be bought, So, there should be no big problem, But, in the long run, a doctor would be needed.

See you later, and if you survived, I’ll help you a little.

Hyung-jun Hyung seemed to be dissatisfied as I was watching the sports car that was moving away from me.

“This bastard, you sent Mikyung towards me and now you’re aiming for another woman. Seongho, do you really don’t want to join our group?”

“But, didn’t you say it already has 5 people, Hyung-nim? Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“What will be dangerous?”

“That person, I Love Gimbap said it’s dangerous when there are more than five survivors. Zombies would be able to sense their lifeforce if there’s a lot of people gathering and will come rushing in.”

“What kind of head do they have that they can sense such things? Seriously?”

“I heard that they will come from all directions… If I join your group, it will be too dangerous.”

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“What a fucked up setting.”

“Well, that game was known for being a very difficult game.”

As if he had given up, Hyung-jun Hyung shut his mouth.

It’s very convenient to use I Love Gimbap’s name.

Seems like I would be using it a lot more in the future.