Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

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As soon as November ends, winter comes in earnest. When I stepped outside the hideout on Earth at dawn, freezing wind assaulted me. I don't know why, but for some reason, the winter on Earth was much more difficult to bear than the winter in the forest.

“Is it perhaps because I know how winter on Earth usually is?” Fortunately, I have the old neck warmer with the cold resistance option that I got from the last dungeon. Others may be suffering from the bone-chilling cold by now. And it will only get worse in January.

On the other hand, spring has come to the shelter in the forest. The barren white landscape turned green, and weeds began to grow in the open lot in front of the cave. The forest also sprung to life, with unknown birds chirping in harmony as well as squirrels roaming around the trees.

The female silver wolf Ding-soon was still nested outside the cave, by the way.

“Why did she come to my house in the first place?”

I know that the purpose of Ding-soon is to be with Dingo. However, there was no conclusive action whatsoever.

Shouldn't you be courting each other before marrying?

Is it because Dingo is still young?

Woof-!! Woof-!!

As I was cleaning the warehouse, Dingo, who followed me, barked at Ding-soon. At that moment, I got even more annoyed because of his heartfelt love for her. I left the warehouse and opened the barbed wire to let Dingo out.

Once he left the perimeter, he blitzed past through the terrain and slammed towards Ding-soon. However, they were not fighting at all, they were just playing around and licking each other. With that kind of atmosphere, whoever saw it would surely mistake them for a couple who had already held the wedding ceremony.

“…”

The longer I saw them, a strange expectation of getting a new pet sprung in my heart. Since Ding-soon will surely give birth to a few cubs, if they give me one…

“No… Dingo is still a baby.”

Looking back at the time when I first met Dingo, he's at the very most only about 1 or 2 months old. In other words, that guy who is currently biting and licking his girlfriend is at most 5 or 6 months old.

"Aren't wolves only able to reproduce after they become a year old or more?

Though, I am aware that silver wolves might have different characteristics from normal wolf species on Earth, as they're still classified as monsters. Anyway, it was clear that the two were inseparable. However, the relationship between me and Ding-soon hadn't progressed yet. When I woke up in the morning and stretched out, our eyes always met, but she was always the one who turned away first.

Our relationship is just that complicated.

“It's not a problem, but…”

Since I mainly live in a shelter, there was no inconvenience whatsoever from her existence at my side. However, several days after that, Ding-soon had an accident while trying to catch an adult wild boar.

When I went out to clean up the lot at dawn, I was startled to see Ding-soon biting a wild boar's neck. Blood splattered everywhere on her silver fur, dying it crimson red.

“Hey, hey, are you okay?”

I hurriedly ran to the cave and came out with a potion and ointment. Meanwhile, Dingo was lying on its side, sleeping soundly.

When I opened the barbed wire and went to Ding-soon, her nose was slightly wrinkled. It looks like she's still afraid of me.

“I'm doing this to heal you.”

As I raised my arms, Ding-soon lowered her head to the floor.

Does it mean she's willing to try it?

As I approached cautiously, the adult wild boar caught my eye. ‘Big' was an understatement to describe its size; It was basically a giant. Ding-soon's size was also considerably big, but the wild boar's size was several times larger than her.

Seeing that it wriggled from time to time, it seemed that it hadn't died yet. And while bleeding profusely, Ding-soon did not let go of the wild boar's collar until the end.

I caressed Ding-soon's fur carefully to look at the wound. She let out a growl in the process, but I didn't stop. The wound was quite long, but fortunately, it's a shallow one. After applying the ointment thoroughly at it and feeding the potion to her, Ding-soon's eyes widened instantly. She must've felt weird at the feeling of pain suddenly fading away.

“Feels better?” I said while stroking Ding-soon's head. Surprisingly, Ding-soon didn't growl and suddenly licked me with her tongue.

Ugh… The smell of blood!

But it didn't feel bad at all. I feel like I've been recognized by Ding-soon.

When the wild boar finally stopped breathing, Ding-soon put her snout away from me and went to another place to watch.

“What should I do with it?”

Do you want me to have the wild boar?

Dead animals must be eaten quickly. Even if I want to save it for later consumption, I need to drain the blood first. I thought Ding-soon was catching it to eat it, but it seems like I was wrong…

“Is this a gift?”

She turned her head to the other direction at my question. For me, it's as if she said that she didn't want any piece of it. What a strange girl…

What will you gain by showing this kind of action to humans, I wonder?

“No, wait…”

Is this something like a girl trying to win over her lover's parents?

Then Ding-soon turned her head and glanced at me.

She's a clever one isn't she?

“Happy?”

If she wants to think of me like a mother-in-law, fine, let's do this.

But I still wouldn't give Dingo to a girl like you!

Ah no, I shouldn't do this…

I grabbed the wild boar's hind legs and dragged it into the shelter. In the past, it was a weight that I would not have been able to bear, but as my stats were now quite high, the weight was not burdensome at all.

After putting the giant wild boar on the ground, I went into the cave and tapped Dingo to wake him up. He slowly opened his eyes before sniffing to the air. After several sniffings, the guy jerked up and immediately ran to Ding-soon. It seems like he sensed her blood.

“You should've set your own nest.” Maybe in a few months or so, he would do that. Ding-soon will be the one who brings the food while Dingo waits at the nest.

Why did their role got reversed?

I took my gear from the warehouse and butchered the wild boar. It was the first time I butchered something this big. It took a lot of strength just to hang it upside down.

"Damn it. I can't even say that she caught something too big." Afterall, the bigger the animal, the more meat it has. Therefore, I should be grateful.

Dingo and Ding-soon were drooling as they watched the wild boar get butchered piece by piece. I hope they won't ever look at me that way.

Hahaha.

I finished the work in two hours, and then put a lot of blood and intestines in front of the two lovers. The two ate in haste, smearing their snout with blood.

Once they finished it, I brought a whole hind leg to them. And naturally, Dingo pushed its snout to it first. Ding-soon showed the leisure of an elder and waited for her younger lover to eat.

“These guys…” Their love isn't a joke.

I went into the smoker while feeling some kind of sadness creeping in my heart. I should give a whole cut to Da-jeong. From what she said at the Auction House these days, it seems that her stress is piling up. The cause was, of course, Jang Won-taek and Bae Geom-in. But, as the one who sent her there, I have to take the responsibility.

“I don’t know if a boar's feet will be enough to relieve her stress.”

If it's not enough, I would have to go out to sea and catch something similar to tuna. Afterall, she had been singing a song about tuna every day.

Rabbit Princess and Duck Butt Goes Kwek Kwek always stood out wherever they went. Even when they only walked through the city without doing anything, people's attention was always on them. Therefore, the road they took was always crowded with both monsters and humans.

Currently, the two had just finished stopping a zombie raid.

"Ugh, it's so frustrating! Why do we have to do this all the time?”

Da-jeong took one of her high heels and threw it as hard as she could in annoyance. On the other hand, Seokhyun was laughing raucously next to her. The reason was simple: he finally got the pink bunny ears he desperately wants. On top of it, it even turned into an item with great options, making him pamper it even more.

A subordinate ghoul comes with Da-jeong's heels, which she had thrown away just before and put them on her feet.

Da-jeong looked at Seokhyun next to her and sighed. “Haaah… I really envy you.”

"Why?"

“You have nothing to worry about.”

“Worry is something stemming from your complicated mind. If you empty your mind, your worries will disappear.”

“Then, did you not worry about anything? If things continue like this, it will be endless. Stronger monsters will also appear in the future.”

“For me, worrying about the future is just not my style. Why worry about things that haven't happened yet?"

“So we can prepare ourselves!”

“I bet 90% of that preparation will be useless, though. Plans always go awry after you make it.”

“…” What's wrong with this guy… He spoke something so profound just like how he did back in the game… Though, If it wasn't for those rabbit ears, I would have listened to it seriously…

Da-jeong couldn't stand it and grabbed his pink bunny ear.

“Is this mere rabbit arrogantly admonishing the Queen?”

“Aaaah, stop… It'll break… It'll break….”

As they fought and bicker back and forth, the two arrived at Wolmido marina. Yeongjong Island could be seen in the distance, but unfortunately, all the bridges leading to that island were destroyed, leaving nothing but rubbles.

The distance from where they stood towards the island in the distance was about 1 km. It's a good distance which could be traversed by simply rowing a boat. According to Jang Won-taek, there were quite a few Chinese living on that island.

For what reason did they come this far?

As they passed through Incheon, they heard that people were excited saying that they came to this area to fight the Chinese, but why is that?

The more Da-jeong thought about it, the more her head throbs. So, she decided to leave this complicated matter to Seongho.

After noting that all the bridges are down, she patted Seokhyun's ass. “Let’s go home and have lunch.”

"Yes. I kept the bread here.”

“Please don’t take anything out of your panties!”

“Ouch.”

Seokhyun's was grabbed by the ears by Da-jeong and was dragged somewhere. Dozens of ghouls followed closely behind the two, escorting them.

After walking for some distance. The two and the ghouls arrived at the hideout designated for them by the people in the government shelter. It was said that this place was a hideout with a special device which could cancel the zombie raid.

Da-jeong wondered what the special device was and looked around the building. However, even after sweeping through all nooks and cranny, she couldn't find something which she thought to be remotely close to a special device.

"To think the reason Geom-in locked himself in his shelter back in the game was to study things like this…”

“I don’t like him.”

"Me too."

“Then why are you sticking with him?”

“Because Seongho told me to do it!” Da-jeong clenched her fists and roared. "To be honest, I hate him, who is always pretending to be polite, and yet still tells me to pay for my meal, even though the meal was all nothing but crap. I want to beat him until he beg me to stop before stepping on his thing!!!”

“Then do it.”

“If I did that, what should I do with the backlash? I will be a murderer!”

“When did you ever worry about such things? If you're worried, then I'll kill them all for you. You guys only need the guns stored in the government shelter, right?”

“That’s right, but…”

“If they are all dead, the problem will be solved.”

Seeing that Seokhyun smiled as he said it, torrents of complex emotions assaulted Da-jeong. He's a kid inside, so she thought that he might actually commit it.

She cleared her throat and said. “It's not that annoying though. I can easily tolerates it by looking at Seongho’s face.”

“Is that so? If you can no longer tolerate them, tell me. I'll kill them all. I can just kill myself after that."

“Yeah, okay.”

Because the two were talking loudly without any care, monsters gathered around them as they walked on. However, before they could get to the two, they had to fight against Da-jeong's subordinates first.

“Let’s clean up the way and go inside.” Seokhyun rushed to the monsters as soon as he finished his words. After a while, the surroundings become quiet once again. However, blood and body parts could be seen scattered all over the place.

Without any care, the two entered the house circled by a three-meter-high fence.

Once they entered, Da-jeong rushed towards the living room first and lay down.

"Ah, I'm hungry…"

“You can just ask Seongho for food, can't you?”

“Of course!”

She jumped up and wrote a ciphered text on the Auction House. After a while, Da-jeong's lips parted from ear to ear.

“For real, the only reason I can keep on living is just because of this guy.”

"Why?"

“It’s a full set of Jokbal!” (T/N Jokbal is a dish made mainly from a pig's feet.)

Soon, a full set of Jokbal appeared on the floor of the living room. It was a perfect set, including side dishes, sauce, bibim noodles and cola. The amount was staggering to the point it could be mistaken as dinosaur's feet instead of pig's feet.

“Is he perhaps running a jokbal restaurant instead of a snack bar before the apocalypse?” Seokhyun looked at the jokbal set with wide eyes.

“I really love this! It must have been difficult to make this.”

Da-jeong unwrapped the package and smiled. As the brownish color entered her eyes as well as the smell assaulted her nose, the stress she had accumulated were already gone.

“It must have been difficult to catch such a big wild boar with such a weak unique skill.”

Seokhyun slowly waved her finger in front of her. “You can only say that because you haven't seen him fight. Seongho is stronger than me.”

"He's stronger than you?” Da-jeong's eyes went round at his words.

“We fought together while on the way to Seoul. His simple attacks and defenses may be weaker than me, but overall, he is superior to me. I'm not confident that I will win at 1:1 against Seongho.”

“You are serious, huh?”

“You don't know? Even though you met him earlier than me?”

“No, we never fought together…”

Da-jeong frowned. Jealousy arose at the thought that Seongho had shown Rapwi everything he hadn't shown her.

She snorted and raised her chopsticks.

However, even before she could pick her first piece of meat, the door opened and some people walked in. The ghouls were making a lot of noise because of it, but when Da-jeong waved her hand, they quickly became quiet once again.

The identity of the people who just came in was Bae Geom-in and Jang Won-taek. When the two saw the full set of jokbal, their eyes widened.

“Ho-how did you get a jokbal…?”

Unlike Jang Won-taek, who was surprised and frozen on the spot, Geom-in rushed to the table with chopsticks in his hand.

Looking at him, Da-jeong rises to her feet and drops a flying kick at him.

“Today is the day you die!”

“Keuuukkk!”

“Why are my ears itchy?” I scratched my ears as I hid in a residential area in the southern part of Incheon. The atmosphere in this area was different from Seoul. There were quite a lot of monsters here, but there's not many people who hunted them, even in daylight.

When I looked around the area, I could find some people running away from monsters with heavy backpacks on their backs.

“Looking at their movement, their level is quite low…”

At most, they seemed to be lower than level 10. The reason for their level was simple: It was because there's too many monsters in the area. Therefore, it was difficult for the people to farm peacefully without alerting the hordes of monsters.

I was looking at the spectacle while sitting on the third-floor balcony of a five-story apartment. There were huge cracks in the walls, which looked dangerous, but it should hold on until tomorrow…

Right?

As I was unpacking, I heard the sound of running footsteps upstairs. Guess there's still people in this building. As I moved some furniture to block the entrance, I felt someone watching me through the window.

“Really?”

I'm someone you could call an introvert, so I don't feel good when I know people are staring at me. I packed my bags and quickly left the building. At that moment, I saw a middle-aged man walking down the stair. He didn't look dangerous at all, but it's better to leave before they start to bother me.

As I was walking on the street, an arrow suddenly flew at me.

“Puck!”

I barely dodged the arrow and looked in the direction it came from. On the terrace of a one-room building, three men panicked and chatted among themselves.

It's no use to use my stats to spy on what they said, it must be a mundane chat of whether to run away or try to shoot again.

“You bastards are annoying.” I wanted to just gather the monsters in the area and kill those guys using them, but securing a hideout came first.

I checked their location and then moved to the building where I could see the windows and the entrance. However, in the evening, something which made me realize I shouldn't pick the place occured.

As I was packing my gear, I heard someone coming up the stairs. I'm kind of cautious about the sound of the footsteps, so I wield my long knife and wait for whoever the footsteps belong to, to come up.

“Pl-please save me!”

A woman?