Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

My ID in Survival Life was I Love Gimbap. I also used the very same ID for my streaming account.

Back in the day, every time I entered those words into the search bar, nothing related to me ever came out. Instead, It always showed articles written by people who loves gimbap.

But it seems like things had changed considerably these days as thousands of people awakened their status windows.

“I, Love, Gim, Bap.”

Click.

My eyes widened as soon as I saw the search results. I was in disbelief because my existence had garnered so much attention from people around the country.

-The bastard had erased all of his videos, it seems he wanted to keep it for himself.

ㄴWhere did the bastard go?

ㄴThat bastard, If only I knew where he lived, I’d beat the shit out of him.

ㄴNo one knows the identity of the bastard? Even the smallest clue will be fine.

Just what in the world did I do wrong to be cursed like this? Were they thinking I deleted all the videos because I want to monopolize the strategy?

“I just lost interest.”  I deleted all my videos because I was annoyed by the termination of Survival Life. I also don’t have anything to hold me back for doing so since the number of views was low.

But now, those who weren’t interested back then are searching for me?

“Guess I won’t be posting anything.” I shrugged. The feeling of wanting to share my knowledge with others which was originally non-existent, had reached the negative point.

With all those people trying to find out about my identity, I don’t want to be a pushover who did what they wanted and ended up dead.

Wait a minute…

What about the other stagnant waters?

I entered their IDs into the search bar, but nothing unusual was found.

All I could see were articles that cursed them.

-What are the other guys aside from I Love Gimbab doing? They don’t even say a word in this situation.

ㄴWell, they are probably collecting supplies now, and will start their activity once the outbreak happens.

ㄴI mean, why don’t they share their strategy?

ㄴOh… yeah, nothing came up even when I tried to search for it.

ㄴReally… Those fucking stagnant bastards. If I see them I oughta…

ㄴYou guys are so funny LOL if you guys ever meet them, you’ll be dead! LOL

ㄴWhat the fuck are you saying? Do those bastards have two lives just because they are stagnant water? Once I hit them from behind, they’ll die.

ㄴIn the first place, do you know their identity? LOLOLOLOL And I’m sure they wouldn’t give you any chance to do it.

-I Love Gimbap is the one who played the longest. He played until the service ended…it would be over 5,000 hours.

ㄴHe’s completely crazy. That fucking bastard.

ㄴIf only the videos of his streaming still remain…

ㄴRight… It’s really unfortunate. Does anyone really don’t know where I Love Gimbap lives?

ㄴI would give I Love Gimbab a very special service if he lets me see the videos, though.

ㄴAre you a woman?

ㄴI’m a man.

ㄴGet lost, you bastard.

I could understand to some point why they were acting like that. They were probably feeling anxious as the end of the world was slowly approaching. The thought they had to survive while relying on some unverified information must be haunting them, forcing them to make a ruckus and put blame on someone else to ease their worry.

Well, It’s not really my business, so I pray they will live well.

By the way, it seems like the other stagnant waters were inactive on the internet just like me.

“They are probably busy preparing and waiting like me.” Even if they don’t have any videos like me, they should be fine since they have hundreds of hours worth of experience. In particular, they should have the tutorial and the beginning part of the game memorized in their head since they had died a lot on those parts. Moreover, they must have decided to work independently since they knew gathering people was dangerous.

“Holding on is the answer.”

However, there’s still some things which could become a threat to me. It was the management team of Survival Life, MeTube, and the streaming websites I used who should be aware of my IP.

What if those people found me through them?

“Let’s see their terms of service.”

After thoroughly examining it my heart soon became calmer. MeTube and the streaming sites said all records would be deleted if you cancel your membership.

Though, Survival Life was still somewhat problematic… I couldn’t read their terms of service since their official site had disappeared.

“For now, I’m satisfied.” Putting down my worry, I checked all survival packs scattered around the room. With the current amount I had, I should be able to survive for at least 3 days.

Just like my initial plan, I was thinking of running away if men in black suits came knocking on my door as changing my residence information wasn’t the answer because I still need it to get my package delivered.

By the way, it seems like people who knew the end was coming were slowly gathering in groups.

The tattooed man from earlier was also talking about it.

“They should have a forum for it… Let’s see.”

After entering several incorrect keywords, I finally found the Awakened Forum. From the looks of things, it seems they have no intention of hiding it.

“Busan, Busan…here you are.”

The main content of the forum was an instruction to prepare for the end just like what I did.

But… they seem to have misunderstood something.

-Smashing Zombies: Tips for breaking through the tutorial at the beginning (must read)

ㄴI’m probably the only one who has broken through the tutorial in this forum. Moreover, I have broken through the very difficult early version of the tutorial, not the updated easier one. Anyway, if you listen to me, you can clear the tutorial. got it?

ㄴyep!

ㄴI only trust you, Hyung-nim!

In the comment section, several accounts threw such an obvious flattery to the poster.

ㄴI think I did well to come to this forum hahaha

-Smashing Zombies: So, be nice to me, okay? If you have some pretty girls, bring them in advance! In the beginning, camping is the best answer. I mean, get a blackout curtain, put it on, and lock the door. then just live. It’s that simple.

ㄴEh…but the answer is to run away…

ㄴSmashing Zombies: Who said that?

ㄴPeople who had broken through the tutorial. They said all metal will shatter because of those strange spores… The reason the military and the police didn’t appear in the game is because of that setting…

-Smashing Zombies: Does it make sense that all the metal in the world will shatter? Then, are you saying that the very foundation of the damn society is going to collapse?

ㄴThat’s why the tutorial is so difficult! The survivor has to survive alone!

That guy was right. The corrosive disease would completely destroy the foundation of human society and rendered most of the military and police equipment into a useless piece of iron.

Mr. Smashing Zombies were probably embarrassed to death by now. He had proudly declared he had the best tips only to be countered in a matter of few comments. And now he didn’t answer anymore and just completely disappeared.

Let’s see… I noticed something suspicious in an earlier post by a guy named Pusiungpasiung74.

-Pusiungpasiung74: Hyung, I already asked her, but she still hasn’t answered yet.

-Smashing Zombies: Ah, she’s the freshest in the neighbourhood. Do you know why she hasn’t answered yet?

-Pusiungpasiung74: I don’t know, Hyung. Anyway, I’m so pissed because of that hair salon auntie!

-Smashing Zombies: You don’t seem to know the situation yet. I’ll tell you when it gets serious. Don’t mess with her okay? Because she’s mine.

-Pusiungpasiung74: hahahaha okay Hyung.

“Pusiungpasiung74, this guy is definitely that tattooed bastard.”

Anyway, it was clear that man was preparing for the outbreak together with this Mr. Smashing Zombies. He was also trying to get Mikyung in their group. I have to remember these two.

“But you guys won’t last long.” It was a judgement I drew after reading through his post which was disastrous on many different levels. It indeed gave many tips for surviving, but every single one of them wasn’t accurate enough to guarantee a survival.

“If Mikyung gets caught by these guys, it would be bad for her.”

The thought of a nice and pretty woman getting caught by these bastards really pained my hearts for some reason.

It’s not ideal, but…

“If she asks me, I’ll tell her.”

It would be my payment to her for cutting my hair as well as increasing my snack bar’s sales.

Though, if she still ignores my advice, that’s it.

Finally, I looked at the government trends.

“Hmm…”

The news section was clean. It seems that the government hasn’t done anything yet. Or, they were dismissing all the strange crimes that happened as a mere coincidence. Afterall, the majority of people who occupied important positions in the government were middle-aged and elderly people. It’s clear that they don’t know what Survival Life and status windows were.

It’s not their responsibility, though.

“Those who were destined to live will live, and those who are destined to die will die.”

In this case, should I say I’m glad I don’t have a family?

And as I was thinking that, a text message arrived from the manager of the material store I visited earlier today.

The things I bought were about to be delivered.

-Yes. You can come now.

It seems I would have to work hard for a while.

.

.

.

“There you go.” I put the last material on my hand to the ground. I had finished moving 30 sacks of mortar, barrel and other building materials to the cave. At first, after moving the first few materials, I thought I was going to die. But at some point, my body had seemingly managed to adapt and could move more easily to continue the hard work.

Were my muscles finally adapted to the hard work I’ve been doing?

“This is weird.” I wouldn’t wake up with another muscle pain tomorrow, would I?

Even though I have such worries in my mind, I still have to work now.

“The first thing to do is…” I clicked on the video of how to make mortar coating in the laptop on top of the chair. And after watching it until the end… I decided to just do it. No matter what kind of tricks a beginner like me used, the end product would still be the same, a disappointment. It would be fine as long as the coating didn’t break off.

And from the video, I would need water. A lot of it. So that I didn’t have to carry the water with a barrel, I returned to my home, headed to the first floor to get a hose and then connected it to the 2nd floor bathroom before returning to the cave once again.

Water rushed out of the hose and dampened the cave entrance.

“This is it.” I poured an appropriate amount of water into a large basin, cracked the mortar sack open before pouring it in and then mixed it with a shovel. It was surprisingly difficult and time consuming.

When I checked it after several minutes of mixing, I was greeted by a lot of lumps which clearly signalled it hadn’t mixed perfectly. Therefore, I was forced to mix some more.

After several more minutes passed, I stopped to check again as I looked into the cave before my face hardened.

“Was it always this wide…” The cave which felt so cramped just a few minutes ago had somehow become bigger in my eyes.

Pushing down my anguish, I clenched my teeth and focused on the work. With the mortar mixture finished. I only need to spread the mixture into the ground and it… wouldn’t be finished just yet. I would also need to level it evenly so I won’t be tripped while walking or get stabbed while I was laying down.

Though, it could be easily solved by using a string technique.

I fix a piece of string to a nail hammered into the wall near the ground and stretch it. After it’s done, I only need to spread the mortar mixture following the height of the string.

“Damn, it’s hard to get it right.”

However, since the interior of the cave was jagged here and there, it didn’t work as I intended it to. Therefore, I completely gave up on making it perfectly flat and only decided to just make it as straight as I could.

“Whoa, this is hard.” The inside of the cave was warm. And as I kept working hard at such a place, my body was sweating like crazy.

And slowly, hunger comes to me. It would be nice to just go home and eat, however for some reason, I wanted to eat here today.

“Let’s eat ramyeon.” If I also put a whole package of spam on it…heh heh, the sodium level would explode, but It’s okay since I would take care of it in the future.

I took out a portable burner from my backpack and put a yellow aluminium pot filled with water on top of it.

“Feels like I’m camping right now.” Though, it was not a normal peaceful camping but a dangerous camping trip in the forest filled with predators and monsters. I just hope monsters like owlbears and werewolves won’t come out.

“Even a bone creeper would be dangerous.” If you ask Survival Life users which monster is the most powerful, many of them would answer an ogre.

But what if you asked them to pick the scariest monster?

90 people out of 100 would surely pick a bone creeper.

A bone creeper was a monster which was born from a dead monster’s bone. In other words, it was a skeleton monster. On the surface, it might look weak. However, because of its attack method, it was a quite bothersome monster to fight against.

Silently crawling towards its enemy before detonating itself was its attacking method. The explosion it caused was powerful and if a human gets caught properly on it, they would instantly die. Because of it, many users who had played Survival Life for a long time often have their characters deleted in one blow.

And because of that very reason, the bulletin board of the official site was once flooded with requests to delete the creeper. However, the management didn’t even listen to the user.

Bone creepers were also one of the reasons why I killed the old goblin and buried it under the ground. Because for some reason, if you bury the monster corpse under the ground, it wouldn’t turn into a bone creeper.

“Please don’t come out…”

As I was about to finish my ramyeon, darkness fell into the forest. And because it was a place with no light, it instantly felt like it was late in the night, not evening.

The mountain bird stopped crying and an orchestra of sinister bugs began to play.

Should I just go home?

I shook my head.

I need to finish the mortar installation by tonight. Because the sooner it dries the faster I could start storing my supplies here.

“The entrance is well covered…” It would be fine. And if something truly happened, I could just run away through the portal right away.

I washed the dishes and went back to work. After becoming quite proficient at doing it, I was able to do it much faster and easier than before. With no obstacles in the way, the progress became pretty fast.

Seeing the cave floor finally covered with smooth mortar, joy filled up my hearts. My hideout was truly well made. Though, It would be even nicer if I had a door to cover the entrance.

Then, as I felt something was about to burst on my lower body, I quickly ran to the outside. When I arrived at the nearby tree and was about to pull my pants down, a strange sensation suddenly struck my back

“…”

Slowly turning around, I saw a horrific skeleton walking towards me in the pitch-black darkness.

“Fu…” Without being able to complete my cuss, I ran towards the cave as fast as I could. In the meantime, I covered my head and abdomen with my hands. It was something I learned after dying countless times in Survival Life.

Boom!

The explosion shoved my body and turned the sky upside down. My body rolled over a few times before I crashed into something and stopped.

At that moment, severe pain struck my whole body.

“Ouch!” I trembled and forced my body to move. I was really relieved when I felt that I still had strength on my body. Even though everything was aching as if I had been beaten to pulp by someone, I was still grateful. Because at least I wasn’t dead.

“Ugh…” With a groan, I got up.

A bone creeper had spotted me. Thankfully, it didn’t come close enough, so I managed to survive.

When I looked into the state of my body, pieces of bones were digging through my arms. It was terrifying.

And because it struck far away from the artery, I decided to pull it out.

“Fuck.” I cursed as sharp pain once again struck me as I pulled the piece of bones from my arm. It was really painful to remove something that’s deeply embedded in your body.

I half crawled and opened my backpack to take the guaca powder and vegetable oil which I got from the old goblin. It’s not yet made into an ointment. But still, if you apply it on your wounds, it would heal the wounds to some extent.

I shut my mouth and tightened the grip of my finger which was holding onto another piece of bone. I was really glad I had covered my head with one of my arms. Or otherwise, the bones would surely strike into my temple.

“Gasp!” Tears welled up as I removed the last fragment.

Applause for the bone creeper who had successfully made a grown-up man cry.

“Oh…”

As I applied more guaca powder and vegetable oil into the wounds, the pain slowly subsided.

After lying down for a while, I called my status window.

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“Status window…”

I could see a bleeding debuff attached into my active buff, however my health did not decrease. This means I will soon recover.

Speaking of which, with the bone creeper’s death, my level was raised to 2 and my points became 19.

For now, let’s just go home.

“Open the portal…”