Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

“Isn't it simple, Hyung? Just go your separate ways since you guys aren't getting along with each other. It seems like both Kyunghoon and Bora have also joined forces with another group. Was it those people who came a few days ago?” I spoke. Though, I didn’t say that it was a piece of information I got from Mikyung. I felt like it would be a big problem if Kyunghoon knew about it.

“Didn’t you say you hate outsiders?” Hyung-jun Hyung furrowed his eyebrows.

“They are capable and good-natured people.” Kyunghoon answered.

“Seongho here is also capable. Moreover, he also gets along well with all of us.” Of course, Kyunghoon wouldn’t want to be included in that ‘us’. He hated me, after all.

This time, Bora sighed. “Yes, oppa. We did join hands with some other people. But that's not wrong, isn’t it? We need to level up quickly and open the Auction House.”

“What are you going to do once you open it? Didn't you say that there will be no one there this early?”

Kyunghoon beat his chest at Hyung-jun Hyung’s words. “You don’t seem to understand! By now the stagnant waters will already be there. Making friends with them is much better than looting and farming. How many times should I tell you?”

“Why would the stagnant waters pay any attention to us? Have you ever met them? Or have you ever played with them?”

“Ah Seriously… You know nothing!”

They were really like water and oil. It seems that until now both of them have been arguing like this. I'll have to stop them. Decisions wouldn’t be made if they keep arguing like this.

“Since both of you really didn’t get along, let’s just stop and separate. It seems that Kyunghoon and Bora are more comfortable with those guys who came a few days ago, and Hyung-nim is also more comfortable with me. Pack 2 people worth of supplies, and we’ll help you move.”

“Help them move? How?” Hyung-jun Hyung asked, seemingly bewildered.

“It’s not that hard. Mikyung will lure the zombies with her ability and the rest of us will help them carry their luggage to the halfway point."

“…” Hyung-jun Hyung only closed his eyes. It seems like he didn’t disagree with my proposal. So, what remains was the decision of Kyunghoon and Bora.

Kyunghoon looked at me after talking to Bora in a whisper. “What if we don’t leave?”

“Hyung-jun Hyung, Yoohyeon, and Mikyung will probably be the one to leave.” I said. One way or another, the separation seemed to have been confirmed. If Kyunghoon trolls more than this in the near future, I would have no option but to kill him myself.

He contemplated for a while before opening his mouth once again. ”Let’s separate then. It’s inevitable at this point. However, let me remind you, Manager. If you keep doing what you do without actively hunting, sooner or later, you’ll be culled. Not by those zombies, but by other survivors.”

“Is that so? Then let me remind you too. If you keep talking like that, someday, you’ll be in trouble.”

“What’s wrong with my way of talking?”

Hyung-jun Hyung rolled his eyes at his question and raised his voice. “What qualifications do you have to tell people that they are going to be culled? Are you that good yourself?”

“No matter how many times I tell you…” Kyunghoon said, clearly frustrated. However, before he could finish his words, Bora pinched his side. “Ack… why?”

“Stop it. let’s just leave.” She told him in a high tone. She seems more rational than Kyunghoon. I must admit she had done a good job. After all, if he continued just a little bit more, I would probably kill him. It’s easy since he’s low levelled. And killing one person wouldn’t turn me into a murderer. 

When I looked at him quietly, Kyunghoon turned his head. “We’re leaving, so please just sort it out. We will move on our own.”

“Okay.”

Thus, it was decided that the gym group will dissolve.

Kyunghoon and Bora went outside to get some air, and then Hyung-jun Hyung put his hand on my shoulder. "Ha… Seriously, Seongho, you don't know what that bastard had dared to say to me."

“Just forget about all of it. The only one who can help you is yourself, Hyung.”

“That’s right… By the way, I heard that Sooyeon is moving nearby so it’s natural for us to join hands with her. but Seongho, are you joining too?” Hyung-jun Hyung said with a face full of anticipation. I felt bad all of the sudden.

“I was just saying that to get them to leave.” I spoke.

"Why won't you join, though? Isn’t it fine for up to five people to group up? Kyunghoon and Bora are leaving, so it’s perfect for you and Sooyeon to come in.”

“It’s because I have to go somewhere soon. Let me tell you something good, Hyung.” When I told him the location of the rice center, he started to get excited.

“Hah… was there such a place? But can you really tell me about this? You don’t know how much we will take away.”

“You will find out if you go there. But, even if all of the survivors around Busan rushed in, they won't be able to get them all out.” I laughed. There were hundreds or maybe thousands sacks of grain and rice in one warehouse. And there were several warehouses at that place. It was still untouched since it had not yet been attacked by zombies because of its remote location.

“Is that so? But Seongho, if you join us, I think I’ll feel a little more reassured.” Hyung-jun Hyung let out a sigh of regret.

“Even if we don’t live together, can’t I just come and talk often? I didn’t join because I have to go around to check bottled water distributors, fishing spots, etc.”

“Why are you checking them?”

“For how long do you want to keep eating only military rations? We need to start looking for other food sources soon. And from what I knew, there’s no zombie in the sea.”

"Really? There’s really no zombies in the sea?”

“That’s so. There’s a lot of zombies in the city because there’s a lot to eat here. But they can’t catch fishes for food by diving into the water, so there’s no zombies there. Just go to the fishing supply store, take anything intact, and we'll use it to fish in the sea, it will be fun.”

“Then we can do that together… Hmm… Forget it. I have to understand that you have other work to do. Anyway, with your information, things did not look so bleak anymore.”

“I will check those places and tell you about it later, Hyung.”

“Thank you. I’ll look forward to it.”

If I joined the group and revealed my unique ability, everything would become uncomfortable. They would probably start by accusing me of not helping them or even humanity as a whole. Then they'll go on mentioning family and stuff. It’s human innate characteristic to demand more from people who are more well-off than them—wanting them to help them from the simplest thing to the hardest thing. I don’t want to be in that position at all. In this apocalyptic world, every person was responsible for their own well-being after all. Even if I explained it to them, no matter how good they are, there’s no guarantee they would understand. Sooyeon seems to be suspicious of me, but she's a wise person, so it should be fine.

However, it seemed that Hyung-jun Hyung could not completely shake off his regret. He said, "Because you wouldn’t join us, our fighting power will be decreased. I know you are busy, but it’s still disappointing. It is true that the level is also important.”

“Don’t worry Hyung, there will be a chance soon.”

“What chance?”

“I Love Gimbap, in one of his videos, said that when the goblins and other monsters start to appear, there is a good chance to level up. I think he mentioned some kind of cave or a dungeon, but I can’t remember which…”

“Ummm… is that so? If It's really an opportunity to level up… I wonder if we'll be able to seize it."

I'm not sure whether he will be successful or not if he attempts it with the others, but with me, the chance of success will be 100%. Sooyeon can heal me, Mikyung can help me move around, Yoohyeon will be my eyes and ears, and Hyung will be their leader. Their growth would help me a lot. And in the future, I was thinking of adding a decent person to this party. Because it was inevitable to get to know other people along the journey.

“It will be difficult to keep my identity under a wrap.” So far, I have done pretty well, and I have to do well in the future too. If I fail, people like Rapwi will… Damn, I'm getting goosebumps all of a sudden.

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Sooyeon accepted my offer and joined hands with the rest of the academy's members. She welcomed it with open arms since she knew Hyung-jun Hyung even before the apocalypse. Moreover, she also said that even though she had decided to move from her previous hideout, she didn’t have any confidence to survive on her own like me. Just like Hyung-jun Hyung, Sooyeon, Mikyung and Yoohyeon also expressed their regret when I said I won’t be joining. But it was unavoidable. With my unique ability, unless I feel like I've met the right people, I was destined to be a loner forever.

Now all that was left was to move Sooyeon’s luggage to the building that the academy group used. She had to move twice in one day so it was only natural that she was exhausted. The members helped her both physically and mentally, so there was no big problem.

Meanwhile, Kyunghoon and Bora packed their bags and left. I secretly followed them to make sure exactly where they lived now and how many people were there in their group. It was a precaution, since the nature of those who focused on hunting was to strike first when bumping into other groups. And I was reminded once again, in the apocalypse, all of your neighbours were either an enemy or a soon-to-be enemy.

“I hope my judgment is wrong.” I spoke to myself as I walked around the neighborhood to find the trace of other survivors.

“Surprisingly, there are a lot of people…” However, I don't know where exactly they are. I could only judge by the fact that there are some traces left behind here and there. The reason they came to this neighbourhood must be because there were many buildings that hadn't collapsed yet. The buildings in this neighbourhood were originally not that tall, as it was filled with houses and low buildings, so the neighbourhood was relatively intact compared to other places.

“Surprisingly, there are still a lot of things that can be looted…” By the way, why are there so many survivors? I thought there would be just a few people who survived. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this many survivors would remain.

“Is it because the difficulty has been drastically lowered?” So far, I haven’t even encountered that much reinforced zombies, which are supposed to spawn near me as my level is quite high already, which is also the reason why I was reluctant to be with other people. If they didn’t spawn for more than 10 days, it looks like they won't spawn ever again. It was clear that it was the result of the new reduced difficulty patch.

If that's the case, then the upcoming goblin event would also undergo some fix… I killed a zombie who shuffled towards me before going into an alleyway and entered the portal to watch videos about the goblin event.

“It’s terrifying to think about it again.” After zombies, goblins will appear in the world. They were completely different from zombies because they were creatures who actively sought and hunted humans. If there’s something that looks good to them, they would not hesitate to loot it even if it was useless. On top of that, they're quite cunning as well, as they knew how to differentiate between a strong enemy and a weak one. If they feel that the enemy is too strong, they would run away before returning with the whole group and start attacking again. They also like to use paralyzing poison a lot. That’s why, even though zombies were stronger than them, the users in the game were more reluctant to deal with goblins rather than with zombies. 

“A goblin den will appear at the beginning of the event.” This was an event unknown to me at the time of the launch. I only knew it once I faced it directly and died numerous times. A portal leading to a goblin’s den will be opened at the time goblins start to spawn. If a user clears it, various rewards will be given to them. If the size of the cave is large, users usually call it a dungeon or a labyrinth. 

But this portal is… “It looks similar to my portal.”

Perhaps, the dimension where the goblin comes from is the same as where my forest was located. But let’s just leave that for later, and just focus on preparing to fight against those goblins in reality. I rummaged through my notebooks and checked all the materials I had hoarded since before the D-day up until now. I was thinking about telling the academy group to get the materials needed and prepare a suitable defensive measure.

“Well, goblins are stupid to begin with…” So, even if it was only a simple barricade, they wouldn’t be able to bypass it easily. Of course, they would be responsible for building it. Though, I didn’t worry at all, since Yoohyeon was there.

I have quite a lot to do… The time when the goblins appeared was not specified, but roughly, it was around the time when zombies who have consumed enough nutrients evolved into ghouls. When I was on the street earlier, the number of zombies had decreased immensely compared to the tutorial phase. However, it didn’t mean survival would be much easier. On the contrary, It will be even more difficult.

But what can we do?

“We just have to hold out until the end.”

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Quite a few people had opened the Auction House. All of them were anonymous, so I couldn't figure out exactly who they were. They keep putting out items into the auction in order to figure out the identity of people who were there. However, they were all people who had reached level 15. Which means, they have enough knowledge about things in Survival Live, at least enough for them to be called a stagnant water. So, of course there was no one who was gullible enough to expose their own identity.

Of course, it was only the case for people aside from Rabbit Pwincess and Duck Buttock who already exposed their identity. However, there’s no guarantee that they were the real one, not an impostor.

-Ah! Just where is this place? I'm going crazy…

-Heh, is it true that you went to Chuncheon? Why the hell did you go there?

-Did I go because I wanted to go? It just turned out that I was in Chuncheon.

-I had heard rumours about a reinforced zombie screaming sex rather that growling… but it was RaPwi-nim?

-I think I’m in North Korea right now…

-I beg your pardon? Why the hell did you go there?

-No, it just turned out that it was North Korea.

-I can’t understand…

-Don't try to understand me, darling.

-You really is Rapwi…

Naturally, the comments under Rabbit Pwincess’ auctioned item—which was his panty—was raging. But since everyone is anonymous, it is impossible to know who is who. Thanks to that, he was annoyed.

-Hey, scram! Why are you guys here? Are you my friend?

-Hehehe, how about joining us Rapwi-nim? If you join, I'll let you have sex.

-I don't need it.

-Don’t you want to do it Rapwi-nim? Sexxxxxx!!!

-Yeah I want it, but I don’t need you.

-You're too arrogant. If you continue like this, you’ll die.

-No one can stop me.

– But… The guy who offers Rapwi-nim to join their group is really funny. Everyone in this place are anonymous in the first place, so how are you going to meet? If you tell your location here, there will be a lot of people swarming at your location.

-That’s right.. To be honest, all of the 10 people here are competitors.

-By the way guys… Rapwi-nim is here… But where is I love Gimbap?

For a moment, the comment section went silent. Then after a while, it continued with a flurry of colourful words.

-Ah that bastard…

-Hey son of a bitch, who did you call a bastard?

-Why do you care? It’s up to me how I want to call other people! And that guy is really bastard since he didn’t disclose the information he has to other people! Selfish prick!

-Why are you so mad? It’s his choice whether he should disclose it or not…

-Stupid fuck… If I meet that guy, I will kill him.

-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YOU? KILLING HIM? AHAHAHAHAHAH. WHAT SKILL DO YOU HAVE TO BE THAT CONFIDENT? THAT GUY UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE THE BEST UNIQUE ABILITY OUT THERE!

-Right! you bastard, my unique ability is infinite resurrection. So, I Love Gimbap, who played longer than me, should have a much stronger unique ability.

-Infinite resurrection?

-Is that true?

-Wow, that's so unfair.

-You guys believed him? How can a stagnant water disclose their skill to other people? That guy is not the real Rabbit Pwincess.

-By the way, Duck Buttock-nim, what is your unique skill?

-Secret~

With the appearance of Duck Buttock in the comment section, there are now 3 of the 4 stagnant waters in the Auction House. The one who had yet to appear was Survivor 1.

Is he perhaps secretly watching? Or maybe there was another reason why he didn't enter the Auction House? From the looks of things, it seems like the guy I met close to the Russian fishing boat was him. Looking at people's comments, it also seemed like the one who gave the government information about the apocalypse was also him.

“Then, should I assume that Survivor 1 is with the government?” Right now, there’s little to no information about it, so I can't be sure. Right now, the comment section is buzzing with people who wanted to follow Rabbit Pwincess to North Korea, which was an untouched hunting ground. But when they arrived there, I’m sure Rabbit Pwincess wouldn’t be there anymore. While I was shaking my head, someone who I assumed to be Duck left a comment.

-Rapwi-nim, shall we go to the snack shop?

-Should we?

“These guys are coming here?” My body instantly jolted up. What a terrible thing to say…