Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Because the murderer event and the zombie raid overlapped, only a few people from the golf course group survived. That’s why I robbed another one of their bunkers. Which means, there’s one bunker left. So, if there were any survivors close by, they would be able to loot it to their heart's content.

“By the way, I need to expand this place…” As I was looking around the shelter in the forest, it felt somewhat cramped even though I already expanded it once before. The culprit behind this problem was, of course, the numerous materials I looted. If I had to exaggerate, it was cramped to the point there wasn't even enough space for Dingo to run around.

“If I move the barbed wire fences further then dig another moat…” and then cover the existing moat with the excavated soil from the new moat, a space of about 6m would be opened up. It's not huge by any stretch of meaning, but that should be enough to solve the most pressing things.

The reason I dared to make such a plan was because I just looted a lot of gasoline from Kwon’s bunker, so I could use the mini fork crane to do the job since it was different from the usual fork crane, which uses diesel fuel. While I was drawing the blueprint of the new area on my notes, I saw the scarabs working in the garden.

“How did they learn that?” I murmured as my brows furrowed. The scarabs, after picking the ripe vegetables, sprinkled another batch of potato seed, and then covered it with plastic.

“It’s a little slow, but they're quite helpful.” There was no need to stop their actions, so I decided to let them be. As I finished things I had to do in the forest, I got out of the portal with Dingo and headed straight north. The Gimhae Battalion, the place we were going to, was located in Sangnam-myeon, north of Gimhae. Which means I had to pass through the Gimhae Plains as well as Gimhae City to reach there.

“It was quite far and the road was dangerous.” It would be better to settle down in a residential area near Gimhae City Hall, but the gym members had already left. I couldn’t just settle there alone and abandon them now. Though, it doesn't matter where we would settle down for now. After all, the final destination would be Changwon or any other coastal city.

By the way, the location of the Gimhae Battalion was a bit of a problem. It sat on a mountainous area, so there would be less zombies there. However, it was by no means safe because there would be many goblins and kobolds roaming around the area. If things went wrong, the survivor inside the base would have to fight against groups of monsters rather than hordes of zombies.

I crossed the Gimhae plains with Dingo leading the way. It will be harvest season soon, but the golden colour of the rice plant couldn’t be seen anywhere. The only thing left was a trace of destruction caused by either zombies or monsters.

“Even locusts swarm couldn’t be seen anywhere.” Soon enough, all of the Korean Peninsula, or even the entire Earth, would change like this. Everything that lived on Earth, whether it was animal or human, would slowly disappear. Monsters absorb organic matter to evolve into a much more powerful entity and put pressure on survivors. Later down the line, plant-type monsters would appear and change the soils of Earth itself. In those crises, all the survivors could do was run away and hold on.

“We weren’t that different either.” Even though survivors who used to play the game were treated akin to god by the ordinary survivors, in the end, we were only a small fraction of the world. No matter how strong we are, we can't go against the will of the world.

I switched my shoes with the leather shoes I got from the speedrun event. It would be nice to keep wearing it wherever I go, but doing so would be a waste since it consumed durability. Moreover, there’s no need for extra stats when walking.

“Oh, I feel lighter.” I jumped a few times before continuing to walk. Me and Dingo left the Gimhae Plains while killing some monsters. Once I reached the city center, I went straight north from the city hall to take the shortest way possible. Even if it was steep and slippery mountain terrain, it was much better than to deal with monsters roaming the streets.

However, as I was walking through the city, I realized that the atmosphere in this area was different from Busan.

“There are quite a lot of survivors here…” As I hid myself in the shopping mall and looking outside, I saw people running all over the place. Whoever they were, they always had at least a zombie or goblin running on their back.

“The population of Gimhae wasn’t large… So, how?”

Were the survivors who fled from Busan came here?

Anyway, the atmosphere was very strange. It was as if it was a mixture of mismatched ingredients such as pork cutlet, chicken, and pizza in one bowl.

With Dingo in tow, I quietly went out of the city center and walked along the Sanbok Road. Then, after sniffing something, Dingo ran up the mountain. When I followed him to see what he had found, it turned out to be a kobold poop.

“These guys finally appeared.” Well, it is only natural since back in the game, they came out right after the speedrun event. With these guys appearing, from now on, the night would become even more dangerous. If goblins were like street robbers, these guys were more like thieves.

They had an excellent night vision, so it could be active both at night and the day. Thanks to that, it was a daily routine for shelters to be robbed by these guys.

"Back in the game, even when people only logged off for a couple minutes then came back, some of their supplies would've been already stolen by those guys"

No matter how strong a shelter was, it still won't be powerful enough to perfectly fend monsters off. For that reason, users had always slaughtered kobolds roaming around the area around their shelter when they saw one. However, the rate of those guys dying and the rate of those guys reproducing couldn’t even be compared, resulting in more and more kobolds around.

“Still, destroying their nest does work.” Though the result wasn't great compared to the effort, because it won't be long before some kobolds from god-knows-where came and built another nest nearby their shelter. But it's better than not doing it at all. Speaking of which, I think there were quite a few kobolds here in Mt. Bunseong… But it would be better to talk about it after joining with the rest rather than taking it on alone.

After another few hours of walking, I finally arrived at the destination: Gimhae Battalion. As soon as I walked in, a man popped out from behind the guard post and pointed his bow at me.

“Stop! State your business for coming here!”

I slowly raised my arms. “Didn’t my party come here? Two men and two women.”

“Are you the one who the lieutenant met?”

“Are you talking about Lieutenant Hyun-woo?" (E/n changed Captain Hyun-woo to Lieutenant Hyun-woo)

At my words, the man lowered his bow. But his eyes were still hovering at Dingo who, as always, didn’t care about anything.

“Please wait, I will contact the inside.” Then, a flag was raised at the post.

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As I was guided into the dormitory, Hyung-jun Hyung, Sooyeon, Lieutenant Hyun-woo and a man I saw for the first time were already waiting for me.

“Seongho, you’ve come? It also hadn’t been long since we arrived.”

"Nice to meet you." Said the man I saw for the first time. He introduced himself as Cho Seong-tae.

Then Lieutenant Hyun-woo chimed in with a smile.

“He’s the guy I mentioned before. The one who couldn’t get discharged.”

"Oh…" That pitiful guy… “Nice to meet you, my name is Kang Seongho. First of all, I was together with them, but we do not act together.”

It was a bit strange to say it like that, but what can I do? It’s the truth.

Lieutenant Hyun-woo then introduced the battalion. “This place is Gimhae Battalion, and although there are no great facilities here, our first class warehouse is quite large. It serves as a supply depot for nearby remote units. But when I went to check it, it had become quite a mess.”

“When you saw it, we already cleaned up a lot.” Commander-in-chief Seong-tae quickly added. Well, it was only natural, since when it comes to military supplies, there would be a lot of cans. Without seeing it directly, I knew just how messy it was.

“Everyone worked hard. One group acted as sentry and the other was on cleaning duty. It was really tiring. At first, there were not that many monsters around, so it’s quite easy, but now, even kobolds have come out…”

“They even stole some of the supplies at night, so the soldiers said they rarely sleep these days.” Hyung-jun Hyung said as he looked at Commander Seong-tae with a pitiful gaze.

Stealing something from the base at night meant that they would eventually decide to attack the base.

“There were no kobolds when I left this place, but they suddenly…” Lieutenant Hyun-woo let out a dry chuckle as he scratched his head. 

“Then, are there any solutions?” Everyone shook their heads at Hyung-jun Hyung’s question. That’s right, there was no perfect countermeasure against monsters in the apocalypse. The best the survivors could do was hold on.

“Is everything okay aside from the kobold problem?” When I asked, Lieutenant Hyun-woo met Commander Seong-tae’s gaze.

“Well… The nearby survivors were also setting their sights on the warehouse. We're distributing it little by little, but it seems like they're not satisfied with it."

“At first, they were always so thankful even with only a bag of rice and a box of ramen. But these days, they just try to take more and more for themselves.” There was a little hint of anger in Commander Seong-tae's tone as he said that. The army was the one who occupied it as well as defended the base, but people who had never done anything for it acted like they were the real owner. Of course, he would be angry.

Well, in a way, we were not different from those guys.

“They act like they are going to manage the warehouse later. But, they didn’t even try to participate in the defense.”

"Wait a minute. Lieutenant Kim, didn’t you say that both of you will go to Seoul later?” Sooyeon asked. However, the reaction of Lieutenant Hyun-woo and Commander-in-chief Seongtae were weird.

“About that…”

“If you have something to say, say it, Seong-tae. We are no longer soldiers, you can voice your opinion freely.” When Lieutenant Hyun-woo said so, Seong-tae hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Can't I just stay here? I want to be with you guys…”

Sorry? You want to join the gym group? Well, I’m not bothered by that at all but Sooyeon's eyes changed at his words.

“Seong-tae-ssi, it’s because of Mikyung, isn’t it?”

“Th-that’s not it…”

Ah, so it’s like that. It looks like he fell in love at first sight with Mikyung. She looks a little bit shabby because she can't wash herself often these days, but she was originally a charming girl with a pretty face and fair skin. She also had a bright and good personality, so she was quite popular to everyone.

Was the Commander-in-chief the same age as Mikyung? 

Sooyeon smirked as she placed her chin on the back of her hand. “That girl… Her heart is somewhere else. I will tell you that.”

Tsk, how could she say it like that, without revealing who it is. (E/n: my man's denser than a scarab's carapace)

Commander-in-chief Seong-tae waved his hand in embarrassment. “I-I’m just her fan. Grace dances well, doesn’t she?”

“Grace? What are you talking about…?”

“Mikyung can dance?”

Everyone was surprised at the revelation. Commander, why can’t you be a little bit more careful! I know Mikyung was on the dance team, but I kept my mouth shut about it. There must be a reason why she didn’t tell everyone about it.

Commander Seong-tae quickly shut his mouth, seemingly realizing that he had made a mistake. However, it was already too late. Sooyeon's eyes lit up like a predator finding prey.

“Is Grace the stage name Mikyung used in the dance team?”

"Yes…"

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

“Yes… Her skin is completely milky-colored…"

I agree that her pelvic thrusting dance was awesome, but I'd rather not say it. It would be akin to giving myself a public execution.

“So, are you saying you want to join us just for that reason?” At this point, the Commander-in-Chief must have felt that something went wrong. In order to join, he had to convince each and every member, but he had already failed since, for some reason, Sooyeon looked angry. I don't know why she's angry, but let's keep quiet here.

When the Commander-in-chief couldn’t utter any more words, Lieutenant Hyun-woo intervened. “Come on, I’m not going to go to Seoul right away, I also need to make some preparations. So, let’s look at the situation for a few days.”

"I understand…"

When Sooyeon turned her gaze away, Commander Seong-tae started to sweat profusely. It would be nice to lighten up the atmosphere a bit here.

“If it’s okay with you, can I take a look around the warehouse for a moment?”

“Oh, yes. I will guide you.”

When commander-in-chief Seong-tae stood up, Sooyeon followed suit. From his body language, it was clear that he’s restless. He was only able to regain his composure once we arrived at the warehouse. There was a really extreme smell, probably a mix of disgusting things in the warehouse. Everyone frowned and had to cover their noses because of it.

“As you must have felt now, the stench is no joke. When we first arrived, all the cans were broken and the rotten water from rotten vegetables and meat flooded the area…”

“You must've done a really good job at cleaning this place.”

Commander-in-chief Seong-tae nodded his head eagerly. “Jaehyun was the one who really suffered. Anyway, we are the ones who cleaned this place up. But those kobolds came like it was their home or something. We get very angry because of them.”

“We came here to eat too.”

When Sooyeon said, he denied it.

“We already know about you guys. I was also secretly looking forward to when you would come.”

“Isn’t it because you heard there’s two women in the group?”

“…” Commander-in-chief Seong-tae turned his head quickly, while Sooyeon smiled cheerfully. Then, she put her hand on his shoulder.

“Even if it was only when we are here, let's get along.”

At those words, his face brightened. While they were doing that, I looked around the warehouse. At the sight of disgusting footprints in the ground, it was clear that kobolds had come and gone multiple times to this warehouse.

The Commander-in-chief came to me and said, “No matter how strong we reinforced the window, they still can break through, so there is nothing we can do about it. We even get tired of responding when they come.”

“Seongho-ssi, is there anything we could do?” Commander-in-chief Seong-tae asked.

"I do not know." It seemed like it would be difficult to keep storing the supplies here. The warehouse itself was large and had dozens of windows and several doors. Defending this warehouse would be impossible unless 10 or more people were participating.

if so?

“Let's use the best defensive plan there is, then. You know what they say, offense is the best defense.”

"Yes?"

Their expressions changed to confusion as soon as they heard my solution.

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Wherever Duck Buttock Goes Kwek Kwek, or Choi Dajeong, goes, the monsters around those areas would be massacred. Her subordinate zombies killed every monster and zombie they encountered while they were moving, so there was nothing left for other survivors to hunt. But rather than resenting her, a lot of survivors praised her and started to call her Zombie Queen. It was because since all of the annoying monsters in the area are obliterated by her, other survivors could focus on farming the easier prey, the zombies, which had a faster spawn rate than monsters.

While Dajeong was on the way to Miryang, she realized that the city was crowded with dozens of survivors. Sometimes, there was even a fight to get a good hunting spot. Today, Dajeong was fighting a bunch of zombies in front of Miryang Bridge. Her subordinate zombies were almost as strong as ghouls, so it was not a battle at all. It was literally a one-sided massacre.

Survivors hiding in nearby buildings grumbled when they saw it.

“Crazy…”

“Fuck, she already gained 120 points.”

“Is she going to fight while taking a detour from the river?”

"Probably? Even if she’s strong, she won't be able to cross the river."

“Let’s get ready to follow her.”

To go to Gajak Island from Miryang, people had to cross a bridge, but unfortunately, all the bridges towards Gajak Island had collapsed. That’s why survivors who followed Duck thought that she would make a detour along the river. Because unless there was a boat, it was impossible to cross the Miryang River.

But something exceeding their wildest imagination happened. Duck’s zombies start to jump into the river.

“Huh?"

“What the hell are they doing?”

To their surprise, her zombies were making a makeshift bridge so she could cross. At the unbelievable sight, the survivors could only express their awe.

"Wow…"

“Damn it! Does that even make sense?”

She walked graciously at the makeshift bridge. Then, the zombies at the very back edge of the bridge, which she already stepped on, start to swim forward towards the front edge of the zombie bridge. It continues to repeat again and again, creating a moving bridge.

“It’s crazy, crazy.” One of the survivors screamed.

Choi Dajeong crossed the river without any difficulty and finally arrived on the island. Then, her gaze scanned the surrounding commercial buildings. She had something she wanted to ask. When she clicked her finger, the survivors peeking through the window hid at the same time.

“I have something to ask you. I wouldn't hurt you.” Then, hearing her words, a man and a woman came out from a messy alley. They decided to do so as they knew that even though she likes to beat up people who tried to harm her, she did not kill them. She was well known for giving gifts towards people who helped her.

The Queen stepped towards the, showing off her elegant catwalk.

“My name is Choi Dajeong. Your name?”

“Uh… I’m Lee Kyunghoon and this is Kim Bora.”

“Did you originally live here?”

"No… we came from Busan. We only moved here since people said Busan was dangerous."

"Ohh!!!” Dajeong smiled brightly. An ordinary person would have asked why they came here instead of going to Gimhae or Yangsan, but Dajeong didn't care about that at all.

When she smiled, both Kyunghoon and Bora shivered.