Stagnant Water of Apocalypse - Chapter 178

 Chapter 178 – Living Apart (4)

After crossing the Han River by boat, Seongho raced along the riverside road on top of his motorcycle. Since people were busy fighting or escaping to the Great Labyrinth portal, no one bothered him.

But what about the monsters? Of course, they didn’t even care about him, since he had the Friendliness skill. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Seongho was enjoying the greatest freedom one can get on Earth at this moment.

Vrooom-!!

The low exhaust sound of the motorcycle echoed through the empty riverside road. While breezing through, he pulled out a mithril blade and blew off an orc’s neck, which was standing in the way.

Slash~!!

Green blood spurted to the air and the orc’s head floated into the air. The goblins, who were escorting it, could not respond to the death of their boss and just stood in daze.

“This is the power of Friendliness skill.” A skill that only murderer could acquire. However, the skill was not all good; It’s a difficult skill to maintain. If the user doesn’t keep killing, the skill will disappear.

“Should I say it’s fortunate that there are Chinese people…” It wasn’t the ending he wanted, but he had no intention of avoiding it, since the situation had spiraled down so much like this.

Seongho ran down the Seongsan road and entered the place he had set as the meeting place beforehand with Da-jeong. After walking a while, he could see Da-jeong fighting monsters at the back gate intersection. The werewolves and ghouls were left behind in the forest beyond the shelter, so she was currently fighting by herself with shotguns in hand.

bang-!! bang-!!

The orc zombie collapsed into the ground from the pouring shotgun bullets. However, the battle was not over just yet, as there were quite a lot of monsters surrounding her.

“Da-jeong!”

When she saw who called her, she smirked and ran over to Seongho, leaving all the monsters behind.

“Hubby!!!”

When she get close to the motorcycle, she jumped and landed right on the fuel tank. She hugged Seongho while her lips attacked Seongho’s lips and her hands groping Seongho’s back.

“Uhhhh…” In her eyes, Seongho, who was appearing on a motorcycle, looked like a handsome knight with a wild vibe riding on a black horse. The sound of heartbeats could be heard over and over again, but she didn’t pay any attention to it and just kept clinging to him. Thanks to that, the motorcycle was slanted to one side. The only thing that kept it standing was Seongho’s feet.

‘Why is she suddenly being like this?’ Seongho said to himself before pulling away from her and asked.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Da-jeong couldn’t muster any words and stared blankly at him as soon as she heard those words.

‘Is there a kinder man than him in this world?’ He might be branded as a murderer or a psychopath by others, but he was nothing but a warm-hearted, kind, loveable man to her.

“I can’t hold it anymore… Let’s do it here.” She clung to him like a cat pouncing at its prey, but Seongho answered by simply shaking his head.

“I don’t have time. I have to send you inside before taking Seokhyun to the Great Labyrinth.”

“Why Seokhyun?”

“The people who entered the Great Labyrinth must be fighting right now. If Seokhyun’s there, they will listen to him.”

Da-jeong looked up at Seongho at that moment. She thought that maybe his caring side was influenced by Jang Won-taek. Well, that’s not too bad…

“What about you?” Da-jeong asked.

“I should go to the Korean Shelter and kill all the Chinese that went there.”

Seongho’s eyes gleamed red and fierce as he said that. He was in a murderer state and was right in front of her, so she could hear his heart beating violently. But all of that didn’t scare her. It only made him look more alluring to her eyes.

“Kiss me and touch me.” Seongho nodded and did what she wanted. A brief moan followed right after before the two pulled away from each other a few seconds later.

“Ha…” She sighed.

Before long, Seongho opened the portal and tapped her on the butt.

“Go in and rest. I will call you after I finish.”

“…it’s a pity that I can’t get a Resurrection Scroll.”

“It can’t be helped since no one came to your area. Everyone must be afraid of you.”

“By the way, why aren’t they running?”

The ‘they’ in her words referred to monsters roaming around them.

“I got the Friendliness skill. I have to kill someone before the end of the day to keep it going, though.”

“Ah… I pity those Chinese…”

“Don’t be, they deserved it.”

“Anyway, see you later.”

She shot out the remaining bullets in the shotgun at the monsters before heading into the portal. After she entered, Seongho reached out towards the ground beyond the portal to find his backpack.

“There you are.” After pulling it back to Earth, he got on the motorcycle and headed straight for Y University. As soon as he arrived there, he could see Seokhyun sleeping on the grass field in front of a building, which purpose was unknown thanks to how dilapidated it was.

“Seokhyun!” Seongho shouted. Since his stats were currently low, he kept sleeping as he seemed to be unable to hear the heartbeat.

“Ah… You’ve arrived?” Seokhyun opened his eyes and jumped to his feet.

“Come on, I have something for you to do.”

Seokhyun got on the tandem seat without asking what it was.

“Where’s Duck?”

“I have nothing planned for her right now, so I sent her to the shelter.”

“Seemed like she’ll have something to do later.”

“Yeah. But for now, come inside for a second.”

As soon as the portal opened, Seokhyun went inside. Then, Seongho drove back to the airport. On the way, he saw people running into the direction of the airport. They were all scared witless after hearing the heartbeat.

“A-a murderer!”

“Isn’t that I Love Gimbap?”

Seongho ignored them and drove by at maximum speed in order to prevent a deathmatch event from happening. He drove down a deserted road and finally parked his motorcycle on the border of the airport battlefield. “Take this.”

Seokhyun, who was handed the backpack, asked.

“What should I do inside?”

“The people inside are probably debating about a lot of things right now. Just calm them down for now.”

“That’s what I’m good at.”

He raised his hands wrapped with the ogre gloves. Since the Great Labyrinth was somewhere in a different dimension, the effect of the ‘Shackles of War’ debuff would disappear. Therefore, no matter how talented they were, they wouldn’t be able to defeat Seokhyun’s monstrous power.

“You can go to that police station. The entrance was close to there. By the way, please refrain from exploring the first floor if possible. Bye.”

Seongho disappeared and Seokhyun ran towards the police station in front of him.

“O-oops! That’s close.” Just after a few steps, Seokhyun stopped and double-checked the direction of the police station. “I almost ran to a different place.”

In the end, Seokhyun successfully found a large portal in front of the police station. The eyes of those who saw him widened.

“It’s Rapwi…”

“My god! It’s true, he really only wears panties…”

“But he did wear a rabbit headband…”

“That doesn’t count as clothes though? So why?”

Seokhyun instantly became a hot topic to people around the entrance of the Great Labyrinth as soon as he arrived.

“Hey, I already cleared my battlefield, so why does the ‘Shackles of War’ debuff still apply to me?”

“I don’t know.” He entered the portal, leaving a chic statement behind. Inside, several people were fighting while spitting insults at each other. Seokhyun clenched his fist and jumped. After a while, three people were thrown to the ground outside the portal.

“Ugh…”

Each of them let out a deep moan as if they had been beaten harshly. Seokhyun came out of the portal and raised his fists to everyone.

“Who wants to fight again?”

“…”

Everyone was silent at his question.

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On my way to Yeouido, I stopped by a collapsed apartment building and checked on my status window.

「Level: – Points: 900
Vitality: 24 Strength:18 Agility:24 Dexterity:18 Perception:18
Unique Skill: Dedicated Dimension Door.
Skill: Friendliness, Secret Pursuit, Toughness, Hard Skin 2, Pain Tolerance
Active Buffs: Shackles of War, Strong Murderer」

“It’s surprisingly quite high…” The points would be added to the amount I originally have later, so it doesn’t matter. The important thing was the stats and skills.

He had received buffs from Moon Tangerine, Royal Honey, and Fire Mushroom grown by Ji-man. On top of that, he also had the Strong Murderer buff on him, increasing his stats even more. However, it still hasn’t managed to reach the same height as his original stats with Berserk skill activated.

“When will this fucking shackle got lifted…” I had only experienced Battle Royale once in the game, so I don’t know the exact time for it. Looking at the video, it seemed like it would be released soon, but I wasn’t sure because back in the game, I died after fighting the national treasure.

Looking at the Auction House, the people at the airport were surprisingly quiet. The only thing they were complaining about was why the Shackles of War debuff hadn’t gotten lifted yet.

“Do I have to clear the surrounding battlefield as well?” If that was indeed the case, the Chinese were needed. After all, I couldn’t fight any Korean now after declaring that I won’t attack any of them.

I looked at other auctions and went to the Korean Shelter’s item. Looking at the comment section, I found out that an unexpected situation was unfolding.

-President! President! I will go there now! Please wait a little longer!
-You don’t have to… Don’t you have work to do? For those who will return… to keep the shelter…

The atmosphere was weird. When I looked up the comments, it seemed that Jang Won-taek had been attacked by someone. He is currently hiding in a reserve shelter, but several people came and started a gunfight against him. He was currently injured, and Hyuwnoo was unable to go to rescue him as he was busy defending the Shelter.

Lee Beom-seok’s comments, which came every few minutes or so, was evident that he’s currently participating in the event.

“The President, huh…” I didn’t have any particular feelings for him, but he was definitely a person who shouldn’t die like this. He was an altruistic person who thought of others more than himself. His efforts on minimizing the damage of the apocalypse, gathering people, and preserving Korea’s cultural heritage were something which had to be held highly.

“…you have to live a little longer.”

I asked Hyun-woo .

-Where is the President?

-You really think I’m gonna tell you? You might as well say that you want to kill him yourself.

-It doesn’t matter what you think, but at this point, shouldn’t you just take any chances possible for the President to survive?

His hesitation was brief. Hyun-woo quickly gave me the location of the shelter.

-If anything happens to the President, I will not leave you alone.

-Don’t be nosy and just take good care of the Chinese.

-Damn it!

Seeing his violent reaction, it seemed like the situation at the Korean Shelter wasn’t good. But, If I want to help the defense, I would just be an uninvited guest.

I drove the motorcycle and headed to the reserve shelter where Jang Won-taek was hiding. The entrance was open and I could see traces of two people. This was the effect of the Secret Pursuit skill.

“One is Jang Won-taek’s and the other belongs to the raider’s.”

I entered the reserve shelter, ignored the supplies, and followed the trail. The shelter was dark, but thanks to the murderer’s unique vision, I could see shadows moving in the dark.

“Huh!”

Surprised by the heartbeat, the raider started to run. I blocked his escape route and approached him. Surprisingly, he tried to escape using his levitating unique skill. I waited for him to climb to the ceiling and fired the pistol.

“Uh-huh!”

The assailant struggled after being hit by a bullet and fell to the floor. His leg was bent at an odd angle, clearly broken. I approached him and slammed a spear I looted nearby into his heart. Once I saw him stop moving, I looked for the President and found him gasping for breath in one particular corner.

“Kuh… Your heartbeat is unusual…”

“I became a murderer so that I can move around in an easier way.”

His gaze turned to me. His unfocused eyes looked like it could go at any moment. He was pressing his stomach with his handkerchief, and red blood was dripping to the floor.

Were there no potions in this place?

Upon closer inspection, I saw two corpses and a backpack lying around him. It made it clear that there were originally three intruders, and they had stolen his backpacks.

I searched around the guy with levitation ability and found a resurrection scroll and a skill extension right on him.

Jang Won-taek tossed his body towards me and let out a stuffy moan.

“You became a murderer just so you can move around easily? What does that mean, Seongho?”

“Once you clear your battlefield and become a murderer, the surrounding battlefield wouldn’t be affected, nor does a new battlefield would be triggered by your presence. It’s as if I have become non-existent.”

“I-I see… Cough!” Every time he coughed, blood spattered between his fingers. It looks like his internal organs were damaged. Even if we have a potion, we wouldn’t be able to heal him completely.

I opened the portal and called Sooyeon.

“Sooyeon, Can you come here? Don’t worry, it’s safe. There is someone that needs your ability.”

When she stepped out, she was quite surprised by her patient.

“Mi-mister President?”

“Oh… Is that you, Miss Sooyeon? Heh heh, the doctor has come… I’m alive.”

She immediately touched Jang Won-taek’s wounds. The golden color enveloped the wound, and Jang Won-taek’s condition improved noticeably. I rummaged through my backpack, found a potion, and poured it into his mouth.

“Cough Cough Cough!”

Jang Won-taek coughed loudly and his eyes twitched.

“Uh-huh, I’m good now.”

He stood up with Sooyeon’s support. Then he bowed to us.

“You don’t have to do that, Mister President.” Sooyeon shook her hand and let out a long sigh.

“Thanks to you, I survived. When those three came for me, I really thought I was going to die…”

“But you have dealt with two of them, haven’t you?”

“It’s simply because I have a pistol with me…”

When I offered the Resurrection Scroll and the skill extension right I looted from the guy I killed, Jang Won-taek shook his head.

“You can have it, Seongho. You got the last hit, after all.”

This guy even know a game term?

I put the Resurrection Scroll in his hand and forced him to have it. Before long, he laughed.

“Anyway, thank you. I need to contact Beom-seok for a moment…”

He disappeared into the dark after saying those words. Then, I handed the skill expansion scroll to Sooyeon.

“You gave me a buff and treated him, so I hope you can have it…”

She waved her hand.

“No. I only have 4 skills now. Seongho is the one who needs it more.”

To think she didn’t even have 5 skills… Well, that should be the norm for a lot of survivors.

When I tore the skill slot extension scroll, Sooyeon hesitated and said,

“I… don’t know if it’s okay to say something like this in the current situation, but I think you’re so cool at this moment. My heart can’t stop beating after seeing you.”

Uhh, I think that’s the effect of the Murderer’s Mark, though?

“…that’s probably because I’m currently a murderer. If you move away from me, the heartbeat will be less audible.”

She listened to my words and moved away from me. She hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand. She didn’t say anything else and just ran back into the portal. She must have been embarrassed.

As soon as the portal was closed, Jang Won-taek hurriedly came and said,

“Seongho, do you have any spare time?”

“I don’t. I have other things to do.”

“Aigoo…”

“I’m going to Yeouido to kill the Chinese survivors. I’m going to make sure they will never get arrogant again.” It would be easier for us later if I put them in their place now.

Jang Won-taek opened his eyes and looked at me. Then, he took my hand. “Thank you for going to such lengths for us.”

“If you are thankful, just give me some of your supplies.” Saying that, I left the reserve shelter.

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In the Korean Shelter, a lot of people had gathered. However, amongst the countless people gathering around the shelter, there was only one Korean standing. It was Major Kim Hyun-woo. He had climbed to the top of a warehouse and shot his gun at anyone who came close to him. His opponent was dozens of Chinese people.

Tatatang!

When the burst fire was over, a few Chinese people collapsed on the floor. The others fled in surprise, but did not run away. After all, they believed that they would have a gap to attack him.

“Go back! Attract attention!”

“Those who have nothing to do, throw some stones at that guy!”

Against modern firearms, they had nothing but bare bodies and clumsy tactics. However, their sheer numbers had done wonders.

Seeing the guys climbing up the warehouse, Major Hyun-woo was stunned. Meanwhile, Liu Wei, who commanded the raid, was ecstatic. He believed that soon, the large warehouse would fall into his hands. Of course, it wouldn’t be his alone, but that’s something which he didn’t have any problem with.

“What are you doing! Fill the blank space left by your fallen brothers! Don’t give him time to attack!” There was no focus in the eyes of the Chinese which attacked powerlessly. After all, a lot of them were high because of the ghoul flower powder. Many people were sacrificed in the process of proving his loyalty to Ju Seung Su, but there were still many people.

Liu Wei exclaimed a little more inwardly. He felt more and more convinced that the warehouse would soon be in his hands.

However at that moment, he could hear a rough exhaust sound and a heartbeat. When the Chinese turned their eyes to the source of the sounds, there was a motorcycle racing towards them. When it got closer, he could see a large man holding a mithril blade.

Liu Wei’s face contorted in shock.

Who the hell is that guy?

He remembered that someone had an argument with their general in the Auction House, but before he could recall more details regarding it, he woke up from his thoughts. The motorcycle squeaked to a halt and a man started walking into his direction.

It was only when Liu Wei see the man’s red eyes and felt his intimidating presence pricking on his skin that he realized that the guy was a murderer. In haste, he tried to instruct his mindless underlings. Unfortunately, before he could even give an order, the man moved. He was holding a mithril blade in one hand and a rifle in the other.

“Kill him!” At his words, the drugged and insane Chinese underlings of Liu Wei rushed in.
But no one did achieve the purpose. Their heads flew to the air and blood spilled to the ground as the man swung the mithril blade.

Crazy guy…

Liu Wei twisted his lips and shouted at the man.

“Stop!”

His voice contains the power to block the movement of the opponent. When the man stopped, the Chinese rushed in.

Meanwhile, Hyun-woo, who was breathing heavily on the roof, witnessed a terrifying sight: Limbs and heads flew without end.

The culprit, Seongho, only silently passed between them. It wasn’t a battle or anything like that. It was a one-sided massacre.

When several people fell to the ground, the Chinese realized. The one man who they should have never angered had arrived.