Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Sponsored Chapter 8/11

I apologize in advance if this chapter feels clunky. I TL this while doing 2 other job at the same time, so… Yeah

There's something wrong with this. It seems like the two who entered the vine apartment dungeon weren't normal survivors. But Yeong-seok couldn't figure out who they were.

Maybe one of the two is RaPwi?

‘No… The people at the Auction House always said that RaPwi only wears panties.’

From what Yeong-seok heard at the Auction House, the only clothes RaPwi had ever worn were panties, cloak, and boots. And when he entered a battle, he would throw them all away and become completely naked. But the two men who entered were both wearing proper clothing.

‘A neat guy with a clean face without a beard like that couldn't be RaPwi…' The shaggy hair and unkempt beard, along with the panties, is what symbolizes Rapwi. Yeong-seok had heard countless times that there shouldn't be any other person who wore those clothes except him. All kinds of rumors were circulating in the Auction House even at this moment. Yeong-seok looked through the comment section of an item, which was specifically created to talk about RaPwi. However, there was no information about his latest move at all. All he saw was the news that he had gone south to find Gimbap.

‘Perhaps, the other man was I Love Gimbap?’

What if they had met and disguised themselves to hide their identity?

However, Yeong-seok quickly dismissed his own thought as he thought that, as someone as famous as them, it was more rewarding to be active in the open rather than hiding their identity.

While Yeong-seok kept pondering, he also asked some questions at the Auction House while giving the impressions of the two men.

-Currently, two crazy people have entered a dungeon. Are they perhaps Rapwi and Gimbap? Neither of them has a beard and they both wear proper clothing, though.

-If he wears proper clothes, he's definitely not Rapwi.

-That bastard is a real crazy bastard. He lowers his panties while counting down. You know what that means? If you don't take off your panties soon, you're going to get ripped to pieces.

-Hahahahahah crazy bastard hahahahhahah.

-If he doesn't even have a beard, it's not Rapwi.

-Did Rapwi perhaps hide his identity after meeting I Love Gimbap?

There was a person who had the same thoughts as Yeong-seok. However, collectively, the opinions in the comment section said that the man wasn't Rapwi.

-If the two of them met, why would they hide their identity? Even just one of them is enough to destroy everything.

-Seriously! It's hard enough to touch Rapwi when he's alone. And if he really is together with Gimbap, he's practically untouchable.

-They could go to the government shelter and rule as a king. Isn't Duck already there?

-OMG… Duck is in the government shelter?

– It's been awhile since she's been here. There have been times when she overturned the cafeteria because the food was not good.

– What a temper…

– Noonaaaaaaa Kill me pleaseeeeeeeeee

The subject of the discussion suddenly changed to Duck. There's quite a few people in the government shelter who were active in the Auction House. Therefore, Duck's whereabouts and action were known to the public.

Now, the comment section started to be filled with how pretty Duck Buttock are. It's always like this.

“AH. WHATEVER.” Yeong-seok left the Auction House and stroked his chin. In fact, the information about the two stagnant waters was numerous but vague at best. Therefore, it was hard to judge which one is real and which one is fake.

Yeong-seok then recalled the information that I Love Gimbap had a creation-type unique ability. There's a chance that information was false, but he couldn't help but to trust it, as he had literally no other lead or hint other than that. At least uncertain information is better than nothing.

‘Let’s just check if one of them has a creation-type ability.’ If one of them truly has creation-type ability, Yeong-seok thought it would be better to just back down and let them go.

Afterall, with Rapwi's unique skill,

‘He can easily lose his murderer status by commiting suicide.'

Someone once mentioned it at the Auction House. However, Yong-seok still doubted whether it was actually possible. But, he had no intention of trying it out.

Yeong-seok decided to keep his mouth shut.

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「Level has risen to 20」

「You have earned 35 points」

「You have acquired ‘Hard Skin' skill」

「Since you have reached level 20, an additional effect will be added to your unique skill」 

「You have acquired ‘Dimensional wall' additional effect」

“I reach level 20.”

"What? already?" Seokhyun, who was resting on the floor after giving the last hit to the boss to me, jumped up with wide eyes.

I was originally level 18, but it has risen by 2 levels. It was thanks to the experience gained from clearing the whole dungeon. 

I handed Seokhyun the long knife which was strengthened by the itemized effect.

“This item is what we got, you can have it.”

“I don’t need it.” Seokhyun looked at the option of the long knife and tilted his head. “It’s the first time I’ve seen an enchanted option on a weapon, though.”

“I think someone said that they got an enchantment scroll as the prize at the last speedrun event…”

“It's worrying. With this development, I think the gacha will be coming soon."

He had the same thought as me. However, we can't do anything about that. At most, we could only curse at the developer team, who included that system in the game. Therefore, it's better to just check on my new unique skill's additional effect.

Just looking at the name, it sounds like the effect is making a wall… but isn't the portal before the upgrade can also work as a wall for others?

“Open portal.”

Only the portal I knew opened. Seems like the activation words are different. However, before I could try another phrase, suddenly a round dimensional wall appeared at the place where I focused my eyes.

Ah, it seems like it had no activation words. I just can use it by focusing my eyes or probably mind in particular places.

Only after conducting a few more experiments, I could finally figure out the activation method of the additional effect. The wall will be created at the places where my gaze hits and disappears when I take my gaze away. Just like my portal, it can be built anywhere. However, the distance between it and me could be more that 1m, unlike the distance between the portal and myself. And although it was small, it was still quite advantageous for me, as it doesn't require a complicated action for it to activate, and it's activation time is quite short as well, so it's like having an invisible shield that I can pop out anytime I want.

“It would be nice if I can change the angle at will”

Seokhyun looked at me with strange eyes.

“What are you muttering to yourself?”

Ah, I forgot. It's because I was usually alone.

I moved to the opposite side of Seokhyun. “Throw a stone, this way, weakly.”

I said weakly… So what's the deal with that winding up posture?

When the stone thrown by Seokhyun hit the dimensional wall, it bounced off.

“What is that? Another portal?”

“You can't see it? There's a transparent dimensional wall here that bounces it off..”

“Oh. So it's a wall."

Seokhyun said so as he quickly tested how strong the dimension wall is. He slammed his body into, punched it, and kicked it. But it was to no avail. He was pushed back by it instead.

After a few more experiments, I was finally able to set the angle. I'm hellbent to do it because by doing so I would be able to deflect my opponent's attack back to them–something which couldn't be done with my portal.

Anyway, the scope of use for this wall was quite wide.

I thought of a way and said to Seokhyun. “Seokhyun, try to jump in place.”

"Like this?"

When Seokhyun jumped, I constructed a dimension wall at his falling point. And when he landed on top of it, it looked as if he was floating in the air.

Seokhyun's eyes opened wide, he was clearly impressed by my additional effect.

“It’s great!!!”

With this, climbing to high places will become much easier. And making my opponent couldn't reach me was a big advantage in a fight. However, when I want to use it as a complete footstep to walk on the air, I couldn't do so, since the first dimensional wall instantly disappeared the moment I looked away from it in order to make another dimensional wall.

Seokhyun came down and looked out.

“Are you okay? By the way, should we really continue? What if you got exposed?”

“The mighty Rapwi can worry about something like that?”

“Of course I can. I'm fine with being exposed, but you shouldn't.”

“It’s okay, you can just jump down.”

“You want me to jump right away? What will you do if they inform the Auction House?"

“Anyway, the things that happened here are going to be buried soon. Don't you know how much bullshit there is in the Auction House?"

Even at this moment, there were rumors which stated that Rapwi is dead in the Auction House, and there were also a lot of people who believed in it. Therefore, even when a fairly reliable information comes up, it is still quickly buried.

I looked down the other side of the apartment. There seems to be no one there, so we can just run away through that route.

Seokhyun came over and tapped my shoulder. 

“We should experiment more with those walls of yours.” Then he jumped down.

"Crazy bastard!!!."

I construct a dimensional wall underneath him to catch him. After repeating it several times, Seokhyun finally arrived on the ground without a single wound.

Then, he looked at me and waved his arm.

“See? It works!!!”

“Shhhhhh!”

Does he really have to shout as loud as that?

Unsurprisingly, because of his voice, people noticed him and instantly ran towards him.

Damn it.

I jumped straight down using the same methods as Seokhyun. On my way down, I could see people running around the vicinity of the apartment. But when they saw us, they all stopped and only stood there.

Then, the tall man at the very front of the crowd opened his mouth.

“By any chance… Are you Rabbit Princess?”

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Seongho thought that Seokhyun would affirm that he was indeed the Rabbit Princess. Because so far, he has always been like that. But, contrary to his expectation, Seokhyun only fiercely glared at the people.

“Me? Rabbit Princess? Are you seriously comparing me to a pervert who walks around while only wearing panties?”

At Seokhyun's aggressive answer, Yeong-seok waved his hand in surprise. "Oh, no. I just thought so because you are strong enough to clear this apartment. Sorry for my misunderstanding.”

“I'm not, so please go away..”

He waved his arms and looked at Seongho. They both want to just run away like this. However, it was proven to be difficult since one person in the group, Oh Hyeon-hwa, climbed through the asphalt that she's controlling and blocked the two of them.

"Wait. I need to check. What was inside?”

“I don’t want to tell you.” Seokhyun crossed his arms and looked at her.

Hyeon-hwa, who received his attention, flinched, but was not afraid at all. She lifted a few asphalt debris to the air and swirls it around herself.

“Telling us is not difficult, isn't it? So why are you being like this?”

“Because I don't want to tell you. You can just go inside and check it out by yourself.”

Seokhyun ignored her and started walking away. Meanwhile, Seongho gave advice towards Hyeon-hwa with a quiet voice.

“It would be better not to touch his temper. He's a dangerous friend.”

But even after hearing those words, Hyeon-hwa still had no intention of letting them go like this. After all, does it make sense for the leader of Miryang to not know about what some trespassers do and perhaps get their hands on in their area?

Hyeon-hwa, thinking that far, blocked the two of them again.

“I wonder what you got. I know there are a lot of monsters inside.”

Seongho turned around.

“Aren’t you afraid of what we will do to you?”

“You can't even kill me since you'll be a murderer fo the rest of your life if you do so. So, why should I be afraid?"

“Shall we see?”

"Seriously! You can just tell us and then we will let you go! You guys have made a fuss here, and if we just let you guys go, what will people think about us?”

“You are noisy.” Seokhyun, who was walking away, stopped and raised his fist. Hyeon-hwa instantly took a defensive stance by gathering all the asphalt fragments around her. That was the beginning of the battle.

Seokhyun's body flew away and zoomed towards Hyeon-hwa. Startled, she tried to stop the attack by putting the debris on his path. However, the shards bounced to all directions as if being blocked by something.

“Wha!!! What happened?”

Could it be that the other man was also a telekinesis user like her?

In that brief moment when she thought about that, Seokhyun arrived in front of her. His fists slammed into Hyeon-hwa's stomach.

“Keuk!” She let out a pained moan and grabbed her stomach. Her breath was caught in her throat and her head was dizzy.

"This guy…" Hyeon-hwa fainted in one shot and fell forwards. After seeing the spectacle, no one dared to approach them.

Seokhyun grabbed her back and threw it at the crowd.

“Don’t be tiring. We aren't survivors from here in the first place, so don't try to use your puny authority on us. We just passed by. It's okay, isn't it?"

“Ye-yes. That’s right.” Yeong-seok readily agreed. He was aware that there was nothing he could do to someone who made the strongest telekinesis user in Miryang collapse in one punch.

Seongho clicked his tongue and said. “If this ahjussi is really RaPwi, by now, you're all would've been dead already. That guy can reset his murderer status by simply killing himself, after all."

Yeong-seok and his subordinate nodded eagerly while seeing the back of the two men who were walking away.

After they left, Hyeon-hwa came to her senses.

"Ughh…"

“Are you feeling okay?”

“…not very good.”

“Why did you do that?”

Hyeon-wha raised her head and looked towards Yeong-seok.

“Who would have thought that man would run in? Moreover, if the other man didn't help him, I probably could beat him."

“Help? When?”

“The asphalts I threw at him bounced off before it managed to touch him. That person must be a telekinesis user.”

Yeong-seok rubbed his beard at her words. Turns out, the other man wasn't someone with creation-type unique ability. Which means he was not Gimbap. Looks like he'd been thinking and simulating for nothing.

Yeong-seok scratched his head and supported Hyeon-hwa. They fought often, but there's no need for them to fight right now.

Hyeon-hwa looked at Yeong-seok before turning her head away. In fact, when she said she would've won if the other man didn't help, it was actually nothing but a bluff. Afterall, the moment she saw the man move, she felt it. She would lose no matter what.

Even though she felt superior because she had awakened telekinesis power, it seems like she was nothing compared to the truly strong people in the world.

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By November, government shelters were busy.

"Open it up!!!"

"One, two, three!" People opened the concrete cover of the sealing chamber, revealing a dark deep hole beneath.

“There’s a piece of metal 500 meters down there, right?”

"That's right. They placed it there in order to check the corrosive disease."

Da-jeong, who sat in the observation room, laughed as she crossed her legs in the opposite direction. Beside her was Joo Seungcheol. Meanwhile, since Geom-in was the one who came up with the plan of burying all metals underground, he was on the scene, not in the observation room.

The test was attracting a lot of people's attention. It's due to the fact that if it turns out that the corrosive disease has subsided, many things will change. The amount of facilities and materials sealed 500 meters underground was no joke and was enough to change people's lives.

"Okay! Hook it there!”

Under the direction of Geom-in, people lowered the rope and hung it on the block of concrete before pulling it up.

Click-!! Click-11

The pulley took turns lifting the concrete, and people piled it up in one corner of the sealing room.

“Ha-am…”

When Da-jeong yawned because of the long excavation process, a burst of exclamation broke out. The reinforced plastic case, which had been sleeping 500 meters deep below underground, finally came to the surface.

Geom-in took the case, brought it to the middle of the room and rubbed his hands.

“3 months and ten days since the apocalypse. Will our fate change, or not?”

“Hurry up and open it!!”

Da-jeong, who got angry while waiting, shouted loudly, and everyone laughed as a response.

Geom-in coughed and opened the case.

"Huh…?"

"Oh oh?"

Inside, they could see a metal spoon still in its original form. Because it's been a long time since they saw a metal spoon, everyone marveled at it.

Geom-in carefully raised the spoon.

“Hold on, hold on.”

“Wow… Does it mean that the corrosive disease has subsided?”

However, the spoon betrayed people's expectations and broke into several pieces as if it was never intact in the first place. The silver lining was that it didn't turn into sand like before.

Geom-in smiled as he touched the broken pieces. With this as a proof, it shouldn't be long before the corrosive disease subsided.

Miles away from the government shelter, Seongho and Seokhyun, who finally escaped from Miryang, also did the same experiment. However, unlike the people in the government shelter, the two didn't even need to do hard work and preparation, as Seongho just pulled out a random nail from his portal.

“Oh, it's holding on.”

"Yeah."

But when Seongho applied some strength to it, the nail broke. After looking at it for several moments, he threw away the broken nail and slung his backpack to his shoulder.

“Let’s go to the seed vault.”

The two headed north together with Dingo