Stagnant Water of Apocalypse - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I was surprised as soon as I saw the floating status window in front of me. But after scrutinizing the detail of the window in front of me, I promptly regained my composure.

“It’s the same status window from Survival Life!” Although the numbers were different from my status window inside the game, I was sure it was the same status window from ‘Survival Life’ which ended its service a few months ago.

“Anyway, just what the hell is happening?” Thinking that it was nothing but an illusion, I closed my eyes and reopened it several times. I even washed my face with cold water. But, the status window was still floating there.

“Status window.”

As soon as I said it, the status window disappeared like a lie.

“Status window.”

Then it reappeared once again. I don’t think I’ve gone crazy.

When I swift my attention back to the forum, most of the reaction I saw was colorful words of cuss.

ㄴYou piece of XXXX, it didn’t appear even after I said it!

ㄴLOL It appeared for me, though. Seems like you aren’t chosen.

ㄴWhat a load of crap!

The poster seems like he didn’t even care about the harsh response and just kept posting his reply.

ㄴSeems like tomorrow will be chaotic, I’m looking forward to it.

To be honest, I could understand his feelings. He must be elated because he felt like he was a chosen one compared to others which don’t have the power.

“By the way, just who in the world granted this power to people?” It had the exact same UI with survival life. Maybe the giver was someone who was related to that game?

Even after pondering for a long time, I couldn’t find any concrete answer. It would be useless to keep thinking about it, therefore I gave up and looked at the ‘Unique ability’ section on my status window.

[Special Ability: Dedicated Dimensional Portal.]

It probably means that I could open a dimension portal. Moreover, as it was a unique ability, I was certain that the only one who could use it was me. However, no description or whatsoever tells me where the portal would lead me to.

Back in Survival Life, one of the biggest features of the game was labyrinth. Perhaps, the portal in front of me would lead me to one of those labyrinths.

“Dimensional Portal, open.” I whispered, but after waiting for a few seconds, there was no response.

“Dimensional Portal, open.” Trying one more time with a louder voice than before, the space around me suddenly began to distort. Then, in a matter of seconds, a blue portal materialized in front of me. It was such a beautiful portal with an opaque water-like surface.

[Dedicated Dimensional Portal: The one who has this ability is the only one who can use it.]

“Huh….”

I stood up and rubbed my eyes. And when I saw the Portal was still there, I reached out to it. A cold sensation struck my finger as soon as my finger touched the smooth surface of the portal.

“Oh my gosh!” I quickly pulled my hand away from the portal in surprise.

To be honest, I was really curious about what’s inside the portal, but I don’t think I should enter the portal without making any preparations. From what I remembered from Survival Life, labyrinths were an extremely unfavorable place for intruders.

“It will be the end if I go in and die.” My life was not a game. I was just an ordinary civilian who earned money by running a snack bar. I couldn’t throw my life away just like that. But on the other side, I also didn’t like the curiosity that bubbled inside my mind.

For now, let’s observe the portal some more. The portal size was around 200cm long and 100cm wide. It was almost the same size as a 90-inch TV. I put my finger on the surface again, but this time, I pushed it through the water-like surface. And then I could feel a cold soil on the tips of my finger. It was just ordinary soil. A cold, moist, and nutritious soil.

“…Good.”

Now that I’ve come this far, I can’t back off anymore. I took my hiking backpack and put various things inside of it. I took a deep breath in front of the portal before walking through its opaque surface.

When I finally went inside, an amazing scenery unfolded before me.

“Wow…” I couldn’t help but exclaim at the dense forest in front of me. I could hear the cry of an unknown mountain bird and the sound of flowing water from the distance. On top of it, a faint smell of sea tickles my nose.

“It’s pretty cold here.” Even though it will be summer soon in Busan, I guess it will be winter soon in this forest. I quickly put on a jacket to shield my body from the prickling cold.

I was wondering where this place is as I looked around. Judging from the atmosphere of the forest and the fact that my phone showed a no signal icon, I don’t think this forest was located in Korea.

“Let’s leave a mark for now.” With the white marker I brought, I leave a mark on a nearby tree. Afterall, in a forest like this, once you lost your way, it would be extremely difficult to find your way back.

“Hmm….” I walked through the forest carefully. After only a few meters in, the bush a few meters in front of me suddenly shook violently. Then, through the bushes, a huge animal with a huge horn on its head popped out. It was a deer.

“What kind of deer is that big…” Is it a moose which lives in North America?

However, I didn’t have to rack my brain about the identity of the animal any longer, because a status window appeared around its neck.

[Valley Deer]

“Do I have a ‘human’ tag on my body, too?” I looked around my body with that thought, but betraying my expectation, the status window didn’t appear at all. By the way, just like the status window, it seems like the valley deer was an animal which didn’t exist on Earth.

The deer looked towards the air as its nose twitched several times. In the next seconds, it turns away before running away with an outrageous speed.

It seems like it was aware of my presence by smelling my scent.

“Fuhhhh….” As I released the breath I was holding in, I remembered various animals I met inside the labyrinth in ‘Survival Life’. The crazy stone monkey and the wild boar which always charge forward left quite an impression on me. However, for us stagnant water, they were nothing but a source of food.

“I’ll probably pee myself if I meet them now, though.”

I couldn’t imagine how big the wild boar would be if a deer in this forest was that big. It would be nigh to impossible to hunt it since this was reality not a game.

As I walked deeper into the forest, I found a tree with a bright yellow fruit hanging on its branch.

[Solar Apple]

This was my first time seeing the fruit. However, I was rather familiar with the name itself as in Survival Life there’s an endurance recovery potion which could be bought from the store. The name of that very potion was [Solar Apple Juice]. I didn’t expect to find this fruit in this forest.

“Just how… Survival Life is nothing but a game….” Why did a mere game turn into reality?

I fiddled with the yellow fruit and smelled it. It had the same fresh scent as the potion from the game. And when I finally put it in my mouth, a mixture between apple and pineapple flavour filled my mouth. At the same time, a new notification appeared at the bottom of my status window.

[Active Buff: Endurance Recovery.]

“This fruit also recovers some endurance just like the potion.”

When I spat it out, the effect also disappeared from my status window just like in the game.

“Maybe, the winter strawberry and shadow grape are also here in this forest?” I laughed at my own thoughts. I was certain I wasn’t dreaming because I felt a stinging pain when I pinched my own cheek.

Who would believe me if I told them that I could find animals and fruit from Survival Life in this forest?

“Just like that guy who posted about the status window in the forum…” I chuckled. Perhaps there were many others besides him and me who got a status window. I wonder what kind of unique ability they had.

Then suddenly, as a certain thought came into my mind, I stopped walking.

There must be a reason for the status window and unique ability to appear. Maybe it’s some kind of preparation for the incoming disaster. For example, the zombie apocalypse and the emergence of other monsters.

“Ey… No way…” I shook my head. It’s a ridiculous imagination. Afterall, It was impossible for a monster to suddenly appear in this peaceful world.

But what if it really happened?

What if the world turns into a place where zombies and monsters attack people?

“I’d like to think that it doesn’t make any sense, but…” Something strange had already happened once, there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t happen again.

Reviewing all possibilities and preparing for the future. It was what I always do in Survival Life. I had no choice but to do it because I lacked physical skills. For example, I once dug through the excrement of a goblin which was famous for its ability to repel kobolds just to learn what they ate.

“For now, I need to gather more information.” I raise my cane once again and continue to walk deeper to the forest. There was no evidence that zombies and monsters would really appear, it was foolish to be worried about it at this point. For now, it would be better for me to explore the clues in front of me, which is this forest.

I picked up a few solar apples and put them in my backpack. In total I currently had two solar apples. The rest of the apples in the tree weren’t as good as the first one. They were blander and dryer compared to what I ate earlier

“Let’s save the seed…” I set out exploring the forest once again. As I kept wandering through the unfamiliar terrain, my breath began to get rough. I know it would sound like an excuse, but since I run a snack bar, I had to eat a lot of things. The result was a body with height of 187cm and weight of 95kg.

“Kang Sungho, let’s learn from this experience and start working out.” Since I would have this forest for myself, I could walk around it as an exercise. I just had to be careful of wild animals.

While walking with those thoughts in mind, I saw something I never wanted to see.

“Darn it!!”

It was a goblin’s excrement. Goblin was a creature with the height of an elementary school student, but their strength was comparable to a grown-up human. On top of it, they had a unique hunting method of using paralyzing darts which was hard to deal with even for a veteran player. Of course, a normal guy like me wouldn’t have any chance to beat it. However, in the future, I was confident that I would be able to kill dozens of goblins if they came and attacked me…. In Survival Life though, not reality.

“There’s a goblin in this forest?”

Suddenly, my stomach churned. It’s not a game. I wouldn’t be able to revive after dying just like in Survival life.

Goblins enjoy disabling and playing with their opponents after inflicting them with their paralysis poison. It was terrible to imagine being stabbed by their darts and wooden spear.

“No way…” I glanced around before running full speed towards the dimensional Portal. Since there’s goblins in the forest, walking around aimlessly was synonymous to suicide. I only had 2 choices. The first one was to stay away from the forest forever, while the second one was to prepare thoroughly.

But do I really have to prepare? Why should I come to this dangerous forest while there’s a peaceful world outside?

“I won’t be able to eat more solar apples, that is a little sad…” But for now, let’s focus on gathering more information. There must be more people in the forum who have also posted about their status window. With that thought, I left the forest and returned to my house through the dimensional portal.

After properly washing my body, I fell asleep as soon as I touched the bed. In my dream, goblins appeared. I was fighting against them inside the forest with a wooden spear in my hand. Why the hell did I use a spear when the best weapon to hunt goblins was a bow?

It was already morning when I woke up from such a violent dream. As expected, a peaceful daily life was the best. It would be better to avoid meeting monsters like goblins at all costs.

I force my body to move. It was time to prepare the ingredients for today’s business. “Oh, my gosh.” I grunt, I really need to work out.

***

A two-story brick building in a residential area in Busan was my home. I used the first floor as a snack bar and the second floor was where I live. I inherited the building after I lost my parents in my second year at high school.

After moving around my relatives’ house and work so many jobs as soon as I became an adult, I was finally able to open a small store only in my late 20s.

Since the surrounding commercial district was crowded, business was flourishing. From time to time, some rival store would appear in the neighborhood to challenge my snack bar. However, I had always become the one who laughed last. Since students were the main customers for my snack bar, they would only eat if the portion was sizable. That was why I had always provided a good size with a considerably cheap price. I even kept my shop open for longer hours than my competitor just to get my money back.

Although today, I couldn’t concentrate on working at the snack bar at all.

My mind was busy analyzing the status window and checking the responses of the internet community.

It seems that the level and the point would eventually go up after hunting a monster, just like in the game.

But what’s the point of raising it up? I don’t think there’s going to be an item store like in the game. And the stats itself couldn’t be increased with points just like any other game. It would only increase, once someone hunts hard enough.

After spending 5,500 hours, I could easily overwhelm other users in terms of stat. Of course, it was the result of boosting through items and many other multipliers, but there were also many restrictions imposed on it.

After looking at various communities throughout the day, I didn’t find any significant response at all. It was full of some people who claimed they had awakened making a fuss, while others who didn’t awakened treated them like a madman.

But then, a poster with a believable story appeared.

-I stole 7 million won from many places using my ability today.

The comments under the post were filled with curse words, envy and just straight up gibberish. However, some people also took him seriously.

But I couldn’t bring myself to believe the poster’s words.

Just like I awakened my dimensional ability, did he awaken an ability to hide?

While I was making a serious face, someone was calling me.

“Ahjussi…”

“Oh, yes?”

As I looked up, a girl from the hair salon next door was smiling at me. I don’t know her age, her name, nor anything else. I just know that she was the owner of the hair salon and her skin was so white, it even glistened under the bright summer sun.

My hair was always done by her and she always stopped by my shop after work.

“I’ve been calling you since earlier.”

I guess I didn’t hear it because I was lost in my thoughts.

“Oh, I’m sorry. What would you like?”

“The usual, with two slices of cheese, please.”

“Okay. Please wait a minute.”

Her favorite dish was spicy tteokbokki with eggs and cheese. She ate it every day. It was still a mystery to me how she wasn’t bored of eating that every day.

With those thoughts in my mind, I stirred the tteokbokki in the pan. Then I wrapped the plastic around a large paper cup before putting the tteokbokki inside of it. After that, I added an egg and two slices of yellow cheese to complete her favorite menu.

She was staring at the cup seriously while the passing young men peeked at her back.

“Here you are.”

When I held out the cup, she accepted it with delight.

“Thank you very much.”

She said before digging in with gusto. I had to admit that she looked so cute when she ate.

Who does this girl go out with?

One time, I swear I saw a man driving a foreign car come to pick her up after work. There were a lot of guys who were trying hard to get her attention too.

Anyway, she lives a life that has nothing to do with me. The slight connection we shared was simply because our shops were next to each other.

Thinking so, I watched the TV and found unusual news.

– NASA said that an asteroid has entered our solar system. NASA says they were keeping a close eye on the asteroid and there is a little chance for the asteroid to reach Earth. Reporter Lee Ho-jong reporting.

It’s the news of an asteroid.

It was no surprise to hear news about a falling meteorite. What surprised me the most was the name of the asteroid.

– NASA named the asteroid Silver Dragon. Please, do not come to Earth.

Silver Dragon… It was the name of the meteorite in the background story of Survival Life.

Don’t tell me…

Quickly concluding today’s business, I ran up to the second floor to check a certain video. Even though information about Survival Life had long disappeared from the internet, it still exists on my hard disk.

“Where did I see the background story…” Here it is!

I clicked the video twice with my mouse to play it. It was a video of me browsing through the official website of Survival Life and explaining it. The video had only 3 viewer, sadly.

– The setting is unique. Usually, zombies spread through viruses, but it’s a meteorite in this game. To be exact, it’s an alien spore attached to a meteorite called Silver Dragon…

I closed my eyes as I heard my own voice from the video. All of the recent happenings could no longer be dismissed as accidental.

The appearance of a meteorite called Silver Dragon, the status window and the rise of a strange forest.

What all of it meant was clear.

The end was approaching.

The end is coming.