Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

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“Follow me.” 

At those words, Poor Man followed me like a child. I could feel him scanning everything I did as he followed me. Is it because he's actually seen someone he’d only heard of? Well, I also feel the same right now. Poor Man was a famous user because of his unique concept on the streaming site that I used. And sadly, he was more popular than me.

I looted the weapons and backpacks from the dead people, then we moved to a suitable two-story house. Once inside, I asked Poor Man to sit and gave him a bottle of water.

“For now, drink some water and calm down.”

"…Yes." He breathed heavily, then drank water and coughed. I watched him without saying a word. His breathing finally stabilized after maybe two or three minutes passed. His eyes filled with fear darted around the room before finally looking into my eyes.

I asked him.

“You don't have to answer anything you don't want to answer. Poor Man, right?”

"Yes. My real name is Eum Jiman. That… that voice…"

“I am I Love Gimbap. My real name is Kang Seongho. Let me ask you this, what did I do for a living before?” 

If he’s indeed the real Poor Man, there's no way he wouldn't know this.

“You used to run a snack bar in Busan.” He answered right away.

Bingo.

I slowly sat down on the floor. “Huh, I didn’t think we would meet like this.”

"Me too… I thought I Love Gimbap-nim would be with a lot of people…”

“I had no choice but to be alone. It is because of my unique skill.”

“My unique skill is Bio-friendly. You roughly know about it, right? Plants grow well around me and animals chase after me.”

When he told me about his unique skill, I was a little worried.

Will I be able to tell Poor Man my secret? He seemed quite docile and didn't seem like the kind of person who would blabber about it to anyone. Moreover, I also have a deep connection with him. In a way, it could be said that he was even closer to me than Rapwi or Duck.

“Jiman will be the first person I ever tell my unique skill to.” I stated.

"Oh…" He looked around for a moment. “I think it would be better not to say anything.”

"Why? Are you going to tell other people about it?"

“No, I would never do that! It is said that the birds hear the words of the day, and the rats hear the words of the night.”

“There is no one around. And I am saying it because I think it would be better for you to know my unique skill. If you don't want to hear it, I won't tell you."

“…”

“Ugh… I’m curious. Afterall, no one knows the unique skill I Love Gimbap-nim possesses.” Jiman's eyes shook and spoke.

"Yes. No one knows, including Rapwi. Duck seems to have noticed it, though. But she didn’t ask anything.”

“Have you two met?”

“I met with Duck, but I have yet to meet Rapwi.”

"Thank God you’ve met them."

"Why is that?"

“The three of you were close, weren't you? I just thought about what would happen if there were some conflicts between the three of you in this situation.”

Was he worried that we might fight? Wow… He’s a kind person, which is rare in today's world. He’s the extreme opposite of me… I’m not sure if we’ll be a good fit.

Anyway, I decided to reveal my character to him. Which means, from now on, he had no choice but to stick with me.

“My Unique Skill is… to open a dimensional door.”

“A dimensional door? Like Portal? Where does it lead you to?”

“I think it will be better for you to witness it directly rather than hearing it from my mouth…” But well, since it's transparent, he wouldn't really be able to see it. He could still feel it directly, though.

“Open the portal.” I called. 

“Dingo.”

Jiman's eyes widened as he saw Dingo suddenly pop out of nowhere.

“Gimbap-nim, how did this happen?”

“There is a portal there. Its size is about one big door… but no one but me can see it because of its additional invisibility effect."

As I told Jiman the size of the portal, he touched it and was instantly startled. “Did I just touch something?”

“That’s the dimensional door. It’s exclusive, so I'm the only one who can enter.” I demonstrated it by entering the portal before returning with a canned food—something which no longer exists on Earth—in hand. The can soon crumbled and the contents dropped into the floor, but I don’t think it’s a waste since it did a good job of conveying information to Jiman.

“There is a forest inside. Do you know what kind of place it is?”

“A forest without Corrosive Disease… Ah, is that place, perhaps, a farming dungeon?”

"That’s right. A farming dungeon which opens on a temporary basis. I have unlimited access to such dungeons. I also made a shelter inside.”

"So that’s why Gimbap-nim hid his identity…" 

“If it was a combat-related unique skill, I would have told other people. But this ability is a bit…”

Jiman nodded vigorously at my words. “I would have done the same if I was you. You did a good job of not giving out information. There were scary men who came to me when I disclosed some information.”

“Scary men?” 

It can’t be. 

The government led by President Jang Won-taek I knew, was the kind of people who people faithfully carried out their duties. They shut down dangerous facilities and built a time shelter to prepare for the future. Why would such people try to harm someone who gives them information?

When I told Jiman that maybe they were trying to find and protect him, he said it was absolutely not the case. “Their atmosphere was strange. I can't explain it, but I felt like they were not ordinary people…"

"Is that so?" If that's the case, then it seems like there’s another group formed by some people from the government. It seems like I would have to be careful when I decide to spill some information in the future.

While the two of us were having a serious conversation, Dingo lay beside Jiman and showed him his belly. Dingo, who didn’t care about anyone but me, just did that.

“Bio-friendly is really great. That guy, even though he looks like a husky, he's actually a wolf.”

“A wolf?”

"Yeah. His race is called silver wolf, and its adult size is as big as a bull. So, I am thinking of an excuse to explain his existence to people later.”

“Ah… looks like Gimbap-nim's world is filled with nature inside.”

“Well, since I haven't explored much, I can’t be sure. But as of now, there are forests, lakes, seas and mountains there…"

“Is it dangerous inside?” Jiman instantly showed interest in the forest inside the portal. I roughly described what I went through. From the very first time I stepped into the forest, how I ran away after meeting goblins and owl bears, rebuilt the cave and used it as a shelter to store my supplies and installed barbed wire fences around it. When my story reached the orc and werewolf part, Poor man, Jiman, closed his eyes tightly.

“As expected, it is a dangerous forest…”

“It's still worth taking the risk to explore it. There are a lot of things there that can’t be found in real life.”

“I guess that’s right. It's a pity that no one else can enter except for Gimbap-nim. Ah no, if someone else gets in, it will be problematic.”

“Yeah, it can cause jealousy. Some people can go in and some can't. If the portal was not for exclusive use and was known to the world, I would have died long ago.”

“That is likely to happen…”

“I am telling you this because you are you.”

“I will never tell anyone!” He vowed again. At that moment, someone's stomach rumbled. 

I got up and said, “Let’s go to Jiman’s hideout now.”

“I don’t have much to bring…”

"Hm? Still, you must have gathered some things.”

Jiman shook his head without thinking much. "No. There is really nothing other than bottled water. My hideout is in a fishing village.”

“I guess you ran away from the bastards and lived there?”

"Yes."

“Then give it up and just come with me.”

“I don’t know if I can do that…”

“You can. I didn’t ask you to come and just live off me. There is a pier in front of my hideout, so you should throw some traps there, do some fishing, and build a vegetable garden.”

Jiman's expression brightened at my words.

Is he happy that he has something to do?

“And the most important thing is, since I already told you my secret, I have no intention of letting you go easily. In a way, this is also confinement.” I patted his back.

“I, I am fine. Please lock me up.”

“You are speaking dangerous words.”

So, it seems that Jiman had made his decision. There's no need to stay in this place full of corpses any longer. When I took the lead, Jiman followed me closely. It felt like I had a little brother. A good-looking and good-natured little brother who could only be found in a fantasy.

.

.

.

I brought Jiman to the hideout and let him wash first. I need to feed him and the kids, but what menu should I serve I wonder… After much deliberation, I decided on the Hwajo. It's a little big for a chicken, but I could just say that it was a local chicken caught and raised by Jiman.

While Jiman was washing, I went to the shelter and caught a Hwajo. All I did was look at them occasionally as the scarabs were the ones who fed them and even collected their eggs. Although Hwajo’s eggs were not as big as turkey’s, they were still large enough for several people to eat their fill.

Once I returned to my hideout, I raised a small flag from the roof. The children rushed into the hideout instantly.

“Are you being carried again, Yeowool?” When I teased, she stuck out her lips.

“No. I walked on the rope by myself.”

“If you see how she did it, you would die of laughter hyung.”

“Ke… pu huh.”

“If you talk, I will kill you.”

Both of them shut their mouths when Yeowool glared at them.

 "Huh? Ahjussi, who is here?” Yeowool asked. She probably heard some noise from the room next door.

“I think you’ll be surprised once you see who’s here.”

“Who is it?”

Eventually, Jiman appeared. Their faces turned noticeably brighter when they saw him.

“Hyung!”

“Hyung! You are alive!”

"It’s nice to meet you again. I lived because Gim… Seongho hyung saved me.”

“What happened?” Jiman told them the story we had created earlier. He was chased by a monster and was rescued by me. The death of JongSaMu members had nothing to do with us at all. Also, we decided to hide our identities for the time being.

When Jiman talked about being chased by a monster while walking around looking for a local chicken, the three of them looked at the Hwajo whose feathers had been plucked.

“…But it’s strangely large for a local chicken, isn’t it?”

"Yeah. I've never seen a chicken this big."

“It’s a chicken, a chicken, uh-huh.” It's not a real chicken, but let's pretend it is.

Anyway, the four of them were quite excited about eating the chicken. I started cutting the Hwajo into smaller pieces. Yeowool looked at me, then squatted next to me.

“Can I help you with anything, ahjussi?”

“I can do it alone. Go play with the others.”

“I still think I need to do something to help.”

"Why?"

“I have to do something to help rather than just keep receiving.” Compared to Junho and Doyoung, who were busy chatting, she indeed had a sense of reality. But I'm not feeding them for free.

"I'll have something to do for you guys later."

“What is that?”

“You'll find out soon. It's not a difficult task, so relax your face." 

It's just a little dangerous.

“Ahjusi, I’m not making any face.”

“Anyway, if you’re bored, add some seasoning. I’m going to make spicy chicken stew.”

“It’s not braised spicy chicken?”

“Because I’m the one who is making it, it’ll be spicy chicken stew.”

“Um… ok.” Yeowool kept her mouth shut and started following my instructions to make some seasonings. Then suddenly, she grumbled.

“Ahjussi, you came here without anything. So why do you have so many things? You are really a farmer.” 

She was talking about was the seasonings I had prepared.

“I was lucky.” I shrugged. After a while, the porcelain bowl began to emit a delicious smell. I called everyone and spoke in a serious tone. “As you may already know… the orcs have arrived. Now is not the time to joke around anymore, got it?"

“The orcs are said to be very strong.”

“Cheol-jun hyung and Yuju noona over there told me that several people have already killed it.”

"Oh right. I saw a group of people gathered together for the first kill event before.”

As they said that, Jiman and I met each other's gaze. Then, I opened my mouth. “It’s about people who have nothing to do with us. Anyway, orcs have appeared, and soon zombies will become powerful. From now on, you can't carelessly roam around. Be ready to leave the hideout at any time.”

“…” They all gulped and looked at each other's faces. They probably felt guilty for barging in my hideout as if they were going on a picnic in the neighborhood.

At that moment, Jiman took something out of his backpack. 

“I drew a map because I was interested in Dot island. I think it will be fine as a hideout.”

“Dot island? Oh, you mean the island over there?”

Everyone stared at the map. Jiman's handmade map recorded not only the facilities, but also the place of remaining boats and fishing points.

“On the day of the apocalypse, there were very few people on that island. Two people at most? So there will be practically no zombies there.”

“There is a high probability that there will be no monsters either.” I chimed. 

Monsters normally respawn around humans. For example, they wouldn’t appear in the desert where there are no people.

In case we use the island for our hideout, very few monsters will naturally appear, but we are strong enough to hunt them.

“It looks good for the long run, how about it?”

The faces of the three were not very good. “There’s really nothing wrong with the island…”

Then the three started to tell Jiman and I their story. They said that in the past, when Masan students went on a field trip, the destination had always been that island nine out of ten times. It wasn't very popular either because all the facilities were old, and there was a lot of dissatisfaction among the students because they had to take a boat.

“You know right, hyung? During the field trip, students like to sneak to the nearby popular places, but we can’t even do that because it’s an island.” Junho Spat

"That's right." Doyoung chimed.

“It’s nice to be on an island like that. There won't be many monsters." But as always, it was Yeowool who made the decision. “Do we live there and only come out when we are farming?”

“See this boat? It's an FRP boat, but to put it simply, it's made of plastic. You can go back and forth between islands and land with it.”

“There is also a building inside, so let’s make it our hideout… we can also make a vegetable garden.”

“And there is one more advantage…”

“What advantage?”

Yeowool asked, and I briefly explained. Imagine the gym people who will join later. Usually, you need to be a few hundred meters away from any zombie in order to prevent zombie raids to occur. But since the island was quite distant from the beach, it already nullified the risk.

If the island was too large, it would definitely be infested by zombies and monsters. And if the island was too small, there would be no room for infrastructure. However, Dot island was just the right size for a few survivors. Everyone was happy when they heard that a zombie raid might not happen.

“Then you can hang out with people!”

“Let’s go there quickly.”

“Wait a minute. It's only a hypothesis, no one really knows if it will really work or not."

“If you look at the conditions of the zombie raid, well…” Then the chicken soup started to boil. The smell was so enticing. Goblins might be coming, so we'll have to eat it quickly. I put out the fire and opened the lid of the bowl. The unique spicy aroma of chicken soup spread in the air.

“Discussion is good, but let’s eat first.”

"Thank you for the food!" Everyone rushed towards the meat with all their might, but Jiman was hesitant. Tears flowed from his eyes when I asked him to eat.

“I think I did well coming here.”

“It’s been a while since you ate this, right? Eat as much as you can."

"Yes. I ate it when I was young and haven't eaten it anymore since then…"

“…” 

The three kids who were busy inhaling meat, instantly stopped. Junho caught Yeowool's fierce gaze and put the big leg on his plate into Jiman’s bowl. At that moment, I was determined to catch a wild boar even if I had to use live ammunition.

We'll have to eat well for a while.