Stagnant Water of Apocalypse - Chapter 239

Chapter 239 – The cure to Mythomania Is good ol’ beating (1)

The additional effect I recently got, the Dimensional Hole, was more amazing than I initially thought. The effect enabled me to open up to three holes, which means the utility value of the skill was endless.

For example, If I opened one dimensional hole right next to me while I opened another one a few meters ahead…

“I could stab my enemy even though I only stood still.”

Da-jung, who was watching my experiment from the mattress, opened her mouth,

“Oh… It can even make your arms longer, huh? Does it hurt?”

“Nope.”

“Then if you open three dimensional holes and shoot something like a gun through it, will the direction change?”

“I should do it to know.”

The dimension hole could be positioned at will. However, the distance was limited to my field of vision. I went to the south of the lake in Lotus to experiment more. Once I was there I fired a gun with a silencer and the bullet grazed past me. It’s because the last dimensional hole was facing me.

“It works.”

Da-jeong hugged my waist from behind.

“It will be useful to assassinate someone… but there is something I really want to try.”

“No, we wouldn’t do it.”

“Why? I haven’t said anything yet.”

“At the very least I know that you are going to do something weird.”

It’s obvious what she wants to do. For example, putting half of her body into the dimensional hall…

Damn, let’s not get there.

I freed myself from the clinging Da-jeong and lay down on a hill by the lake. She came up on top of me, put her chin on my chest, and stared at me.

“How far did you go with albino in the bunker?”

We were caught, huh? Well, in front of Da-jeong, Mikyung wouldn’t be able to keep the secret so it’s only natural.

When I saw her eyes looking at me like I was a prey, I realized I had to be honest.

“Didn’t you say only women from outside of our group are off-limits?”

“Correct. So, how far did you guys go?” Her hand squeezed a vital part of me as she demanded an answer.

I see, I need to surrender. To be honest, it didn’t hurt that much, but I was afraid that she would do something rougher. Therefore, I told her what had happened in her bunker.

Da-jeong’s gaze instantly changed. If previously her eyes looked like it was looking at a prey, right now, her eyes looked like it was looking at something interesting.

“Hmm… You didn’t do a lot with that small girl, huh?”

“She is now in her mid-20s. She’s not a child.”

“No, looking at it objectively, she’s still small, isn’t she? Her skin is perfectly white.”

Mi-kyung is not like that…

Da-jeong crawled over me with her elbow and held her face in front of her nose. The way she smiles is so scary.

“What a lucky guy… You can sleep with such a pretty kid.”

“Don’t talk like that in front of her okay? She’s someone who got traumatized because of such words.”

“What trauma?”

I told her the story of how I met Mikyung. And Da-jeong’s gaze changed once again.

“Why didn’t you help her back then?”

“I was weak then. I couldn’t help it.”

Her slender fingers began drawing on my cheeks.

“So did you free our albino heart? Calm her down?”

“Well, roughly… I told her that even if she runs away, I’ll catch her.”

“Good job, good job.”

Dajeong hugged my neck. We rolled around in the grass and smelled each other. Only after a few rolls did I realize that rolling around in the grass was not as good as how the movie depicted it to be.

Da-jeong sat down in front of me and urged me.

“Let’s build a house here quickly. I want to live in a cabin like before.”

“Isn’t a modern building better than a cabin?”

Da-jeong shook her head quickly to deny my question.

“If you step out of our dorm even just a little bit, the scenery is so bad. All kinds of monsters are also roaming around. On top of it, plant monsters are all over the place.”

“It’s just as dangerous here.”

“There is a thing called level of severity. It’s quite peaceful here even when it’s evening and near a lake.”

She’s right. This lake was relatively peaceful despite its large area. It’s not that there weren’t monsters rampaging around, but it’s much better than Seoul, which is reminiscent of hell. Ezekium didn’t seem to care much about this place either. Which was a big plus for us.

When I got up, Da-jeonng was on my back.

“By the way, what should we do about Sooyeon unnie?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“You know, she likes you too. From her point of view, you are a benefactor who saved her life and even made her take off her glasses.”

“Hmm…”

“Just eat her right away. Can’t you see she’s waiting for you?”

“Waiting for me?”

Da-jeong pinched my cheek.

“This guy… Do you know how old Sooyeon Unnie is? She will be in her mid-30s soon. Women at that age surely want to have a reliable man by her side.”

“Is that person me?”

“Who else?”

Um… There were Seokhyun, Sangshin, Geom-in, and few others. But now that I think about it, every single one of them had at least one screw loose. The best out of them should be Geom-in, but I think Sooyeon had made up her mind regarding him. In Jiman’s case, the age difference between them was too large, and Yuzuka and Paige were already eyeing him.

As I thought about that, I remembered our probational members, Kenji and Natalie who I sent to their own country. The Great Labyrinth was also in a mess, so I’m a little worried…

I would have to go see that place myself.

I ignored Da-jeong, who was tearing out my hair to drive her point and walked around the lake. After some time passed, I found a suitable place to build our shelter at.

It was the point where the clear valley water coming down from the mountain joined the lake. Even if the valley overflowed, it seemed that it would be okay because the side was on top of a hill. If we built our shelter there, when we open the cabin door and go outside, the open lakeside view will welcome us.

It’s a great place.

“Let’s place it here.”

“Huh, what? Our shelter?”

“Da-jeong, lead some people and build a hut and a wooden fence. Also tell Yoohyeon to install a pump in the valley.”

“What about you? What are you going to do?”

“I have to go into the Great Labyrinth and investigate. I’ll see what happens inside.”

“Okay.”

Surprisingly, she nodded meekly and came down from my back.

We had rested a lot these past few days, so let’s work again.

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Things were shittier than I ever expected. The result of sticking a wooden arrow into Giudecca was disastrous. It wasn’t enough that the monsters in the Great Labyrinth jumped out to the surface, the structure of the Great Labyrinth also changed.

According to information received from various places, it was said that quite a few new entrances have appeared. Previously, there were only two in Seoul, but five new entrances had appeared.

Mi-kyung, who came to me while being draped in a cloak of stealth, made a fuss.

“Inside, the structure has completely changed. The shelter was also destroyed, and the stairs to the second floor were also missing.”

Looks like we would have to start all over again. However, It shouldn’t be a big problem because many of the monsters had disappeared.

While walking through the the great labyrinth with Mikyung, I checked the comments on the auction house that Geom-in hastily posted.

-Why did it change like this? I can’t find my way because there are no signposts.

-I had some work. If you are looking for me…

However, even after following his instruction, we were still unable to meet him. We were only able to meet him only after thoroughly searching the Great Labyrinth.

Maybe it was because he had been in China for a few days, but he looked quite groggy.

“Look at you, you look like a veteran survivor.”

Geom-in laughed at my words and hardened his face.

“China is a mess, Seongho. But they didn’t have anything you were worried about…”

“No government or warlords show up?”

“Not like that. I read at their auction house that there was a shootout near Beijing. It is said that the warlords are fighting for power, but they must have been defeated by monsters while fighting each other.”

I’m glad then. I was worried that the Chinese who fled to their mainland to escape Seokhyun’s massacre would bring the warlords with them once they return to Korea, but it seemed that they ended up befalled by another misfortune.

Gepm-in leaned against the wall and gulped down the bottled water Mi-kyung gave him.

“By the way, China is close to inhabitable now. Especially their big cities; There are too many zombies and ghouls there.”

“Isn’t China’s population over 1.5 billion?”

Even if only a fraction of those numbers turned into ghouls, their numbers would easily pass millions. It gave me goosebumps just to think those numbers of ghouls were concentrated in only a few big cities.

Geom-in must have remembered precisely that, and his shoulders trembled.

“Since Seoul has a population of 10 million, there are quite a few monsters there, right? But it’s really no joke in China. There is no place for people to live.”

“Anyway, there is no force that can threaten us, right?”

“Not from what I saw. Everyone was in a hurry to secure food. There were a lot of people using the auction house, but the information they had was sorely lacking.”

“That’s enough then.”

The emergence of forces coveting supremacy in Apocalypse was something to be wary of. But we didn’t have to mess with them all. I think it’s fine as long as it doesn’t threaten us.

With Geom-in and Mikyung in tow, I wander around the Great Labyrinth to try drawing up a new map. It was at that moment that I got a call from Natalie and Kenji.

I led the two of them to where we are through the auction. When they arrived, Natalie was still bubbly, but Kenzie looked a little dispirited. I guess something happened in Japan.

Natalie reported first.

“I looked it up, and there was a federal government appearing. But they haven’t shown much activity yet.”

“Since it’s the federal government… is that old president the leader?”

She shook her hair, which had a lot of dust clinging to it.

“No. Another group borrowed only the name of the federal government. It seemed like there was a power struggle in the bunker. The winner was the Marine Corps Commander, who was called Mad Dog.”

“He’s the commander of the US Marine Corps who was called Mad Dog, huh? He seems like a pretty tough guy.”

Natalie shook his hand and said nothing.

“He’s not a tough guy, he’s a soldier who shows no mercy to anything. The neocons loved him, but he got fired because of prisoner abuse in the Middle East. After that, he went to the White House.”

If such a person took control of a federal bunker, it could be a problem later. As it is a bunker prepared by the United States, the size and power wouldn not be a joke.

But right now, because of the monsters in America, it seemed that they didn’t have the energy to turn their attention to this side.

“Kenji, how about your side?”

He looked at me and hesitated for a while before finally opening his mouth.

“There’s a force there. The members of the old government also remained.”

“Even if you didn’t say anything, I can somehow understand their tendency. They have weapons too, aren’t they? So how about it? Is it enough to threaten us?”

He nodded his head with difficulty and said.

“They knew quite a bit. They knew that Seongho, Da-jeong…and even Seokhyun had been in Tokyo before.”

“How did they know that?”

In my memory, everyone who knew was dead. The only living person was… ah that guy. Shintaro, The NTR’d guy I met in Tokyo. He seemed like a pitiful guy, so I let him go, but he stabbed me in the back?

“They… want my sister. Shiraishi’s blood.”

“Sorry?”

That was really an unexpected word. When I asked him what was going on, he said that the Japanese bunker was showing movement to appoint a new emperor.

Kenji gnashed his teeth at them.

“What they want is a symbol of Japan… a doll that exists only as a puppet.”

Why do you need something like that in Apocalypse?

I was about to ask what he thought as a fellow Japanese, but I gave up. The one who had the most complicated thoughts right now was probably Kenji.

“They’re very strange people.”

‘Since the emperor is dead, let’s appoint a new emperor. Ah let’s use the Shiraishi family too as they used to be an imperial family.’ Their train of thoughts probably went like that. but I still couldn’t understand it.

Is that really important?

Geomin added his opinion from the side.

“Since quite a few government agents survived, they probably want a figure to assure the mass.”

Kenji nodded his head.

“Even the prime minister is alive. I haven’t seen him myself, but I’m sure he exists.”

“By the way, how did they figure things out about us? They should come through the Great Labyrinth in order to know that.”

“That…” Kenji stuttered. I know it doesn’t look good. But All I wanted was solid information.

“You don’t have to feel pressured.”

“They said that there the Koreans took the human god of Japan…”

That’s all?

“Tell me the exact words used at the auction house.”

“…they’re brutes who don’t even know the subject of their kidnapping was the Japanese human god…”

We laughed in unison. What a weak curse. If they met Da-jeong, she would know what real swearing is.

“So what’s your thoughts, Kenji? Do you think Yuzukua would like to go there?”

He shook his head quickly.

“My thoughts don’t matter. If Yuzuka goes there, she’ll choke to death. It is a hundred times better here.”

“Then just live here.”

“If they come here…”

I raised my fist to Kenji.

“We will fight them. In Apocalypse, the only cure for mythomania is a punch. If you beat them up, they’ll come to their senses.”

Kenji’s gloomy face finally brightened as he heard my words.

By the way, a number of forces that could threaten us have been identified. Giudecca, Ezekium, the United States, and even Japan. Giudecca and the United States would be quiet for a while, but we should keep our eyes opened against Ezekium and Japan. It was all the more so because the Great Labyrinth was badly damaged and we couldn’t figure out the way.

“You worked hard for several days. Rest well for a while and see you later.” As I instructed them to return to the shelter, information came in that an ogre had appeared.

We quickly run to towards the Shinbanghwa Station.

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Ogre.

It was the representative monster of survival life. However, only a few people have actually killed an ogre. It’s because the game was so damn boring that the players quit the game before even encountering them.

However, there were quite a lot of rumors about ogres even before the apocalypse. It was mistakenly known as the final boss of Survival Life as people didn’t know much about the expansions after the Ogre.

Anyway, the ogre didn’t appear alone. It appeared together with menacing monsters such as Spiger. Spiger succeeded in making people feel disgust and fear at the same time since it’s a giant spider monster. Their size was about the same size as a motorcycle.

The presence of such a spider was no joke. Even people who have adapted to the apocalypse were busy screaming and running away when they saw Spiger.

But to Seokhyun, such a threat was useless.

“You guys… Stop scaring people who work hard to survive!” Seokhyun wrapped the web that Spiger spewed out from their snout around his arm and pulled it back.

The Spiger flew away at Seokhyun’s ignorant power. Then it was hit by his punch and died as it spewed out its bodily fluids.

Now, Seokhyun confronted the ogre who was glaring at him. The jungle around Shinbanghwa Station was full of people watching the fight between the two with excitement.

Ogre VS Rabbit Pwincess.

A man with the power of an ogre.

Who will win?

“…”

In the midst of silence, the ogre roared first.

An area of terror erupted, and the stats of the survivors around them all fell.
However, Seokhyun didn’t care and rushed at the ogre.

puck-!

The ogre’s head staggered as soon as the fist was thrust into his head. It was not an attack that could be ignored because they were of equal strength. However, the ogre was not a pushover either. It grabbed Seokhyun’s body and threw him to the floor.

Thud-!!

The ground around Seokhyun caved in as his body was forcefully shoved inside. The ogre lifted its leg and tried to step on him, but hesitated. Seokhyun suddenly jumped and looked at it straight in the eyes, golden ether stained his gauntlets.

A heavy hit sound and shockwaves exploded at the same time. The ogre fell backwards like a fallen tree. Although it got back up right away, it shook its head several times as if the shock was no joke.

Krrrrr-

Its eyes finally turned red. He’d taken some hits, but that’s only a start.

Margretha came to my side and said.

“I was wondering before, why did he fight like that? Isn’t it better to have a weapon?”

“Well… I guess it’s a matter of belief.”

In Apocalypse, it was better to throw away beliefs as much as possible. However, if you were as skilled as Seokhyun, you can still carry your belief with you. After all, all you should do is to kill whoever said anything about it.

In fact, Seokhyun successfully beat the ogre and made Margretha shut up.

“Falcon Punch!”

A few teeth protruded from the ogre’s muzzle as Seokhyun swung his fist.

“GRRRRRRR…”

“Wow… that’s going to hurt.”

Everyone had the same expression as they looked at the ogre. Of course, Seokhyun wasn’t attacking one-sidedly. Because of the wide area of fear, his stats dropped significantly, and he had to get hit even if he could avoid it.

Each time, Seokhyun’s small body got stuck somewhere. A shock that was strong enough to kill a normal person erupted. However, he stood up quickly right after thanks to his good physical resistance.

After a long exchange, Seokhyun finally delivered the final blow. The ogre was hit in the jaw and never moved again. After getting on the ogre’s stomach, Seokhyun took off his pants and danced.

He wasn’t even in serious mode.

“Yeah! Sex!”

“Rapwi is the best!”

“Seokhyun is sexy!”

People cheered, but there was someone who couldn’t hold back his anger.
Da-jeong kicked her Griffon’s belly and instructed it to fly. She then jumped and landed a drop kick on Seokhyun.

“Keuk!”

“Hey you crazy bastard! Didn’t I say that the first Ogre is mine?”

Looks like it’s time for me to run away.

I left the area with Margretha in tow. From behind, I could hear Da-jeong was busy beating Seokhyun.