Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

“I’m going crazy, really…” I sighed as I finished drawing a circle around the cave. I don’t know what makes me think that digging a 2m deep moat alone was a great idea. “Why did I do that, I wonder?”

It would be great if I could bring heavy equipments to do it. By the way, aren’t mini forklift cranes available for rental these days?

However, as I had experimented quite a lot with the usage of the portal, I soon became discouraged.

“If it doesn’t fit, it won’t go in.” This fact alone threw my plans to bring in a mini forklift crane out of the window.

Dammit… Realizing I had no option but to do it alone without the help of heavy equipments, the bushes and trees in my surroundings feel disgusting all of the sudden. As it stands, it seems like I had to clear the area by cutting all the trees and bushes around before I could even start shoveling. Which means I need to buy a lot of saws.

At that moment, Dingo came out and ran around the area to his heart’s content. It seems like he felt stuffy staying in the narrow cave. At the same time, he glanced at me as if asking ‘Are you working hard?’

This guy really… Anyway…

“Let’s start working.” No matter how many times I procrastinate, there is no one who can help me finish this project. Let’s just remember that today’s sweat is tomorrow’s safety.

I returned to my house to bring the tools I bought yesterday to the forest. Once I returned to the cave, I piled all the tools on one side. Only then I started to feel relieved.

“Let’s start.” First, I installed a barbed wire around the circle I had drawn earlier. It was an easy thing to do as all I had to do was hammer down the pole into the ground before connecting the round barbed wire from pole to pole.

These days, I purchased all of the materials I need offline without using a courier service. It’s not that I moved from my house or anything… it’s more like I’m afraid that the neighbours would start suspecting something fishy was up. They only know that I was remodelling the store, so if a lot of things unrelated to remodelling the store were piled up in front of my house, they would definitely be suspicious.

It was expensive and cumbersome, but there was no other way.

“Dingo, watch the surroundings and tell me if something is approaching.” At my words, Dingo yawned before giving me an assurance with his bark. Somehow, his attitude of easily getting distracted while working really reminds me of a sergeant I know in the army.

Uh… why are you already sleeping?

After a few shakes from me, Dingo barely woke up. I understand that he needs to sleep a lot because he’s still a cub, but please, hold it in for today.

“I’m going through a hard time too, you know!” I sighed as I stood up and scanned my surroundings. For some reason, I felt that it would be a pity to cut down all the greenery which covered the entrance of the cave. However, at the same time, I’m also looking forward to the open view it would bring.

After 3 hours of constant sawing, the bushes were finally cleared out. Because I don’t want to miss the hobgoblin, from time to time, I would return to Earth to check the internet and TV about the appearance of the hobgoblin. However,

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight against monsters when I’m this exhausted…” It was a pity that there were no more solar apples.

I had collected the seeds, but how many years will it take for it to fully grow I wonder?

If this land was a fantasy land where crops grow faster because of some kind of magical energy or something like that, the tree would undoubtedly grow faster…

“How could there be such a magical land, stop dreaming, Kang Seongho…” I shut my mouth as I moved all the bushes that I had cut to one side.

Now, only the trees are left.

“Aigoo…” I sighed as I shook my head. It’s going to be a lot of trouble to cut it all and put it away. However, since I had already cleared the bushes, I couldn’t stop here. Fortunately, there were no large trees around, so I was able to cut them down with only a hacksaw in hand.

Of course, it’s by no means easy.

“Dingo, get out of the way!”

The guy, who had fallen asleep again, jolted up and ran away.

The tree I cut down slanted to one side before crashing to the ground with a thunderous thud. After waiting for a few moments for the dust to settle, I head closer to the tree and cut all of its twigs off before cutting the middle parts of the tree with a saw.

By the way, it’s really surprising…

“To think I voluntarily do something like this…” how did this happen? I’m just a guy in his late 20’s who likes to play games.

“Sigh… It’s my own choice though…” Even if I complain, nothing will change. It was better to use the time I took to complain to face the hell of the trees which awaits me instead. Therefore, I clenched my teeth and continued to work.

My only safe haven amidst the hellish number of trees was the 10 minutes break I took in order to watch the online community and news for any kind of information about the hobgoblin. The curse words which I usually found disturbing, for some reason became cute and adorable at these times.

After two more hours, the front area of the cave was finally cleared. The area which once was so dense with greenery was now open.

“Huh, huh, huh…” Let’s get some rest now. Contrary to me, who was plopping down to the ground while sweating bullets, Dingo happily ran around the open space.

It’s good that it’s now clear, but now it has become too open. If a group of goblins happens to pass by, they would surely come to say hi. Of course with violence in hand not a gift.

“Still, there is the barbed wire…” The two layers of barbed wire fence boasts a great defence. Small monsters wouldn’t have any chance to breach through it. Even if a monster such as goblins opt to shoot paralysing darts from outside the barbed wire, it would never reach the cave.

“It will be fine as long as a bone creeper doesn’t appear.”

After a few minutes of rest, I stood up and wandered around the vacant lot and designated the location of each facility which is going to be built here in the future.

“This is where the warehouse will be built… this one is for the vegetable garden… and this is for the parking lot…” After listing several important facilities, I came to realize that there was quite a bit more space than I thought. Well, it’s all good as I could just leave it there for spare, in case I need it in the future.

Now, what’s left was digging the moat. However, the sun in the sky was already on its way to hide.

“Except for working, I haven’t done anything today…” This is what happens when you’re busy with work. Let’s just start digging the moat tomorrow. I checked the barbed wire for one last time before calling Dingo and returning to Earth.

As soon as we arrived, I headed to the refrigerator to take a chicken leg for Dingo. The guy wolfed it down with gusto as soon as I put it in front of him.

―The government announced that they will launch an investigation about the Awakened, which has recently become a hot issue…

While listening to the news on the TV, my eyes were scanning through the Awakened community. Unsurprisingly, within a minute after the news, the Awakened community was thrown into chaos.

“If the government investigates, what will happen?” Well, those guys who openly conspired to commit a crime would be surprised.

After scrolling some more, I found a post written by MyDream, a quasi-stagnant water, that I had bookmarked before. However, when I looked for his new post, I couldn’t find any. It seems like the very post I bookmarked was the latest post from him.

“It reached 500 comments already?” When I clicked on the post, the comment section was, as always, filled with swear words and envy.

While I kept scrolling down to read all the comments, I saw a comment from MyDream saying that he had hired someone.

“Is this true?” You recruited Survivor 1?

Survivor 1 wasn’t as good as me, but he’s still someone who had been playing for over 4,000 hours. And compared the Rabbit Pwincess and Duck Buttock Goes Kwek Kwek, his playstyle was relatively calm.

“When it comes to shelters, he’s second to none…” And, he was the kind of person who would collect valuable healing items without ever using them until the end when playing RPG games. We used to call him squirrel for that.

―MyDream: We have recruited Survivor 1 who played for around 4500 hours to our ranks. Congratulations everyone!

ㄴI’m so freaking envious!

ㄴReally? Isn’t Survivor 1 one of the 4 stagnant waters that has played for more than 4000 hours? I’m so jealous.

ㄴ 4500 hours… he’s not a stagnant water anymore! He’s a rotten water!

ㄴLet’s attack monsters! Early zombies!

ㄴPlease tell us how to break through the tutorial.

There were no comments from MyDream despite people’s desperate requests. Looks like he didn’t have any intentions to share information more than what he already shared.

“Survivor 1, huh…” Should I contact him? But if it’s Survivor 1…

“He’s the type to build a shelter by himself and not entrust it to anyone.” Even though we normally play together, his basic tendency was being alone. Rather than fighting, he enjoyed being stuck around somewhere and collecting various miscellaneous things.

His knowledge of the game was considerably less than mine, but it was still quite good.

Such a person decided to join hands with other people? Of course, it could be true if he was desperate for survival, but…

“It could be a trap.” My finger rhythmically tapped on the table.

If I blindly sent a message, wouldn’t a bunch of muscular men come to my house? The possibility of it happening was quite high because MyDream was someone who had enough resources to build a concrete bunker.

If that was truly the case, there’s a good way to solve it. It was the new ability of the dimension portal.

I could use it to find out whether it was a trap or not.

 

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I came to an old PC café on the other side of Busan while wearing a hat which covered half of my face, and a black sunglasses. I took a seat in the corner and opened the bathroom door behind me.

It would be quite difficult to reveal that I was I Love Gimbap… So, let’s borrow Rabbit Pwincess’s name. I could just use it first and apologize to him once I meet him later.

When I sent a message to MyDream, a reply came shortly after.

―MyDream: Rabbit Pwincess? Where do you live now?

―Rabbit Pwincess: I can’t tell you my location.

―MyDream: By the way, are you aware of the situation? You are completely a rotten water now.

Is this a compliment or an insult I wonder…

―Rabbit Pwincess: I’m aware of the situation and I’ve prepared everything. I only contacted you because I want to meet the others.

―MyDream: It’s perfect. Wait a minute, Please accept my invitation to a direct chat.

Just tell me the location. Why bother inviting me to a chat room?

Once we were on the chat room, MyDream brought up a question that can only be answered by stagnant waters.

―MyDream: I will check by asking you one question. How high werewolves can jump vertically?

It’s not a question which could be easily answered by anyone. Afterall, only us stagnant waters know about this information since we’re the only ones that have experimented on werewolves.

―Rabbit Pwincess: I remember it was 3m.

―MyDream: That’s right.

You aren’t asking anymore questions?

How do you know for sure that I’m Rabbit Pwincess just with that question alone?

However, contrary to my expectation, Instead of confirming my identity, MyDream brought up all sorts of unimportant topics.

―MyDream: You were really cool when you caught a werewolf before. It was really thrilling to see you run around barefoot without a weapon.

Are you wasting time? I glanced around the PC room before deliberately following his plot.

―MyDream: By the way, have you been in touch with I Love Gimbap?

It seems that his purpose was also the videos that I have. I told him that I hadn’t been able to contact I Love Gimbap.

―MyDream: What a pity… I really wanted to take him into the shelter too.

―Rabbit Pwincess: Can you tell me the location of the bunker now?

―MyDream: But, are you going to join?

―Rabbit Pwincess: I am thinking about it. However, I want to talk to Survivor 1 first.

Unsurprisingly, MyDream said that Survivor 1 wasn’t there right now. My doubt deepened. It seems like his statement about successfully recruiting Survivor 1 was a lie.

MyDream then started to boast about what he had prepared.

―My Dream: The shelter was built with 50cm thick reinforced concrete. Once you step inside, I’m sure you’ll be amazed. I had put an entire supermarket inside. It can last at least 3 years without any problems.

If it was Rabbit Pwincess himself, he would have said something like this here…

I hesitated for a moment before continuing to type.

―Rabbit Pwincess: Are there any women there?

―MyDream: Haha, I knew you would say that. If you want, I can provide them to you. Afterall, there are many people who are desperate to live.

No matter how I looked at it… By his words, it seems that MyDream was a very wealthy man.

―Rabbit Pwincess: Okay!

―MyDream: All you have to bring here is yourself as we already have everything here. By the way, can I ask what kind of unique skill you have? If you tell me yours, I will also tell you mine.

The Awakeners were naturally unwilling to reveal their unique skill. It was because revealing it would mean that they would publicize their weakness. However, exceptions were always present in every case, for example, there’s some crazy bastards who were wanted by the police after bragging about their unique skill and went wild.

But naturally, I told MyDream an amazing unique Skill. Although it was not a real one but a made up one.

―MyDream: I can’t believe you have such an amazing unique skill… I’m guessing it was because you are among the last four people who played the game. Now, I’m really curious about what I Love Gimbap got…

―Rabbit Pwincess: That ahjussi didn’t contact you at all?

―MyDream: That’s so… I also didn’t get any contact from Duck Buttock. It’s really a pity because I thought it would be better to live together rather than being alone.

―Rabbit Pwincess: That’s exactly my thought.

After that, MyDream continued to throw many unimportant topics towards me. For some reason, MyDream seems desperate to buy time.

Are you doing it to try to find my location through my IP?

But, in this place, there were part-timers and lots of customers, so I don’t understand how he would force me to follow them even if they came.

After chatting for about 20 minutes like that, I noticed that MyDream’s reply became slower and slower.

And eventually, four burly men dressed in suit entered the PC room. Two men stood on both sides of the door like a gangster, while one skinny man in his 30s looked around as he took off his gloves.

Why are you wearing such attire in this weather?

He leaned towards the PC room part-timer as if he was trying to talk to him before grabbing his wrist. The moment the part-timer tries to shake off his grasp, He grabs the part-timer’s head before whispering to his ear.

What the hell did you do?

After he did so, the part-timer plopped down to his seat with a blank look on his face. With a satisfied expression, the man walked away from the counter and headed towards the closest man he could find.

Maybe he has a mind related unique skill?

Meanwhile, the other man was scanning every nook and cranny of the PC room.

After feeling that I had seen enough, I went into the bathroom that I had opened beforehand before entering the portal that I had opened on the wall of the toilet stall. Then, I carefully observed the toilet side from the cave. It was only possible thanks to the portal invisibility and projection effect.

“…”

After waiting for a while, the sound of footsteps finally could be heard. The man looked inside the bathroom stall where I opened my portal with a stern expression.

When the man waved his hand right in front of the stall’s original door, I unconsciously pressed Dingo’s snout shut. Feeling nothing on his hand, the man clicked his tongue. He then pulled out a walkie-talkie and shouted towards it.

“It’s a blink ability. Look around.” As he said that, he turned around and untied his pants. At that moment, I saw something appetizing.

Is that a holster? Now I know the reason why he wore a suit in this hot weather.

“He’s a golden goblin…”

Golden goblins refers to either goblins or hobgoblins who brought a pouch with a good item inside. However, it was also a term that was used by murderers to call users with good equipment. And according to them, once you see a golden goblin, catching them is a must.

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“Let’s catch a golden goblin after a long time…”

You tried to catch me, so you won’t have any complaints if you get hit back, right?

As I was spying on the man, he started peeing into the closet.

Is it refreshing? Wait a bit, I will make it more refreshing!