Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

The portion of the jokbal sent by Seongho was extremely large. Thanks to that, Geom-in and Jang Won-taek could also join Seokhyun and Da-jeong to enjoy it.

Geom-in admired the softness and the chewiness of the jokbal and did not even try to hide his eating habits. Meanwhile, Da-jeong's hand trembled as he looked at Geom-in, who could shamelessly enjoy the food even while he's being stared at.

Jang Won-taek put his chopsticks down, stood up, and leaned against the window.

“Whoever sent this jokbal is a very kind person. How much did you pay for it?”

“100 points.”

“100 points huh? The person must have a place to hunt wild boars as well as have a lot of supplies.”

“Don't ask any more. I hate it..”

“Is it Da-jeong who hates it, or is it that person?”

“Both of us.” When Da-jeong laughed, Jang Won-taek shut his mouth. Instead, he communicated his intentions in a way which surprised Da-jeong.

―Just listen without answering. Is I Love Gimbap here right now?

“…” Da-jeong's eyes become round at the voice which rings inside her head. She had wondered and tried to deduce what the former president's unique skill was, and it turns out it was telepathy.

By the way, how did he know that Seongho was here?

While she rolled her eyes, Jang Won-taek sent another telepathy.

-I have a lot of information coming in from multiple sources. Don't get me wrong. I am a heavy mouthed person, so you can relax.

Instead of answering, Da-jeong just blocked Geom-in's chopsticks, which were rummaging through various side dishes like a cavalryman roaming the battlefield.

“What are you doing? Pick just one and go home..”

“Wait, I can't decide! There are so many delicious things…”

Geom-in read the underlying emotion underneath Da-jeong's cold words and quickly moved his chopsticks and took a kimchi.

On the other hand, telepathy entered Da-jeong's mind again.

―I heard about his whereabouts from Geom-in. Da-jeong knows what I want. It's to meet him. Please tell him that I'll meet him at Wolmi-do when the werewolves cry for the first time tomorrow night. By the way, he should've wanted to see me too.

Da-jeong stared at Geom-in's back as she heard the former president's words. Geom-in, who noticed her gaze, suddenly became anxious.

Why is she kept looking towards the president?

The delusions run rampant and the jokbal starts to lose its taste in his mouth.

Meanwhile, in one corner of the room, Seokhyun, who just finished eating, rose to his feet and walked towards the door. Looking at him, who was coldly trying to leave the room, Jang Won-taek whispered.

“It's been awhile since we met each other, but you didn’t even greet me.”

“There is no rule that states that the young have to say hello first."

“Ah… I'm sorry. As I grew older and got to hold high positions in government, I sometimes made mistakes. I will greet you first, then.”

The truth is, no matter where in the world, it was not easy for a person who was once a president to bow his head to a mere single citizen. But Seokhyun wasn't even bothered by that and had a face that was devoid of any emotion.

“So why are you here?”

“You could say I'm doing an inspection. I'm not sure if you know about this, but there are quite a lot of Chinese on the island beyond the sea.”

“Why are the Chinese here?”

“I cannot tell you why since you are an outsider.”

At that answer, Seokhyun shut his mouth and Jang Won-taek smirked.

"How about this? If you join the government shelter now, I will tell you everything.”

As soon as those words came out, Da-jeong raised her voice.

“What!!! So, why don't you tell me?”

“Isn’t it human psychology to neglect the fish we already got?”

“Do I look like a fish?”

“Yes, you are the northern snakehead of our fish tank. If you are handled wrongly, you will instantly destroy the fish tank ecosystem.”

“But didn't I behave well even though you mistreated me?”

“Such a thing! Didn't you come in for food? I feed you plenty and still have many things I haven't fed you yet. so I thought as of now there's no possibility for you to destroy the tank.”

At that moment Da-jeong realized that she wouldn't be able to win in a battle of words against the old man in front of her. After all, he was someone who had reached the pinnacle of political power in Korea. In other words, even though he looks like a kind old man on the outside, he has about a hundred serpents inside of him.

Like Seongho, there were a lot of people in the world who did not show their inner feelings.

As Da-jeong pouted her lips, Lee Beom-seok entered the room.

“The test was successful. Even with a total of 8 people gathered, there was no zombie raid happening."

Jang Won-taek smiled at what he heard.

At those words, Geom-in put strength in his stomach and pushed his chest as high as he could, showing how proud he was. However, even after doing such things, he still couldn't get the kind gaze he wanted as the conversation went on.

“Now you can say that we have taken the first step.”

“That’s right. Let's work together for the new government. Will Da-jeong help too?” Jang Won-taek asked. However, no words come out from Da-jeong's mouth. She just shook her head.

After the former president and his aide left the room, Geom-in whispered at Da-jeong.

“Da-jeong, you will have a different mission from the other. To be honest, sending you to this headout was only a front."

“Stop pretending to know!”

"I'm not pretending to know, It's real… I can't tell anyone about what kind of mission you will have since someone overheard us. You know my heart right?"

When Geom-in glanced at Seokhyun, he was still munching on the jokbal. Except, now he was eating it without the chopstick and directly munching on the bone like a caveman.

“It was so chewy that it didn’t taste good…”

Of course it wouldn't be delicious if you eat it that way!

Meanwhile, Da-jeong, who had been holding back her anger, said coldly.

“You are noisy! Get lost!!!”

Geom-in's expression paled as soon as he saw Da-jeong screaming. Since he had changed the physical strengthening unique skill to something else, he would only incur a loss if he decided to push the matter further. Therefore, he ran away quickly. And Da-jeong threw her high heels towards his trail.

“Anyway, either a fat guy or a bald guy, you are all frustrating!”

“Then, what about Jang Won-taek?”

At Seokhyun's question, Da-jeong lowered her voice.

“He uses his telepathy skill on me. He said he wanted to meet Seongho.”

“You should have refused.”

“Well… At first I also wanted to refuse. But he said that Seongho should've wanted to meet him too.”

"Really? I'd rather kill them all before Seongho hears anything."

As Seokhyun said that, he tried to get up on his feet. Afraid of what he was about to do, Da-jeong put both of her hands on his shoulder and pushed him back down.

“Wait a minute. It's not too late to kill them once we know what they said to Seongho."

“You think too much. Sometimes you have to forget everything and just act.”

“The time to do that is not now! Seriously, you know I'm not normal either. If it's up to me, I also want to just kill them all here."

As her face grew visibly redder, Seokhyun encouraged her.

“Accept your inner anger! Let the devil in you awaken!!!”

“Shut up and just sit down.”

Without uttering any more nonsense, Seokhyun sat down like a well-behaved kid. A ghoul then brought Da-jeong's high heels back and put it on her.

“After this job is over, even if Seongho grabs my leg and help me mast*rbate, I will still leave the shelter. I'm tired of listening to their bullshit. It’s over now.”

“Good thinking!”

“And just know that I will stick with you two. If Seongho tries to run away, we have to catch him, okay?”

At those words, Seokhyun tilted his head.

“If Seongho decided to run away, we would never catch him.”

“I've already caught him once though?”

“He probably let you do it. If he enters his portal, how are you going to catch him?”

That is true.

Da-jeong, who was speechless, pressed her weight on Seokhyun's shoulder as anger flared up by the thought of Seongho deliberately letting her to catch him.

"…Anyway, we're going together, okay? Since that guy didn't want his identity to be known, I guess we just have to kill anyone who attacks us.”

“That’s a cool idea!" Seokhyun put his thumb up.

Even though the girl had screamed ‘Please help me', I did not remove the long knife I brandished at her.

“Why are you here?”

“U-uh… I was wondering if you could help me…”

"Why?"

“There's three guys out there who are trying to kill me…”

“Is that so?”

"Yes!"

The girl nodded her head violently, but my tension did not ease at all. After all, It was common practice to catch prey with bait in an apocalypse. The bait that was the most commonly used came in the shape of a woman, as they were the most suitable for alleviating one's vigilance.

In a traditional apocalypse, they would kill their prey once it bit the bait, but in the current apocalypse, they couldn't do so since there is a murderer system. So probably, they would only tie up their prey and rob their supply.

It seems like I would have to throw counter bait at them here. I put away my long knife and put my hand on her chin like a playboy.

“If I protect you, what will you give me?”

“Wh-wh-what do you want…?”

Terrified eyes and voice. If this woman was just acting, she deserves at least a grammy for it. I moved my gaze at her bulging breasts.

It kind of looks like fake breasts?

“Shouldn't you let me look at it first before I help you?”

“…” Her eyebrows trembled, but she still placed her hand on her chest.

As of now, our distance was extremely close. And she should've thought that my vigilance was down.

So, isn't this a great opportunity to show off your true colors?

She bowed her head, then a moments later, she took a mithril knife from her arms and stabbed it towards me.

Unfortunately for her, my dimensional wall was faster than her stab. The mithril knife fell at the impact, and she opened her mouth in surprise.

"Huh?"

“Huh what?”

I kicked her hand with my right foot and slammed my fist into her stomach.

“Ugh!”

“Are the three people outside your party? Sleep for a while.”

When I pieced her skin with a knife coated with a paralyzing poison, the girl fell to the floor. To be honest, I shouldn't have used the paralyzing poison in a place like this. It was because the frogs in the shelter were suffering from some kind of illness, so they haven't been able to give me much poison.

“I have to go catch some new frogs…”

I dragged the girl towards the window before opening her mouth ever so slightly so she could scream.

“AAAGGHHHH”

With her scream, the three people outside should come upstairs thinking that I had successfully overpowered the woman.

As expected, moments later, there was a sound of hasty footsteps echoing through the building. I quickly threw a hook onto the roof and climbed it.

“Where is he? What happened?"

“That bastard went up to the roof!”

“Hurry up!”

Even here I am called ‘that bastard'…

When I heard the guys' footsteps, I took out a whistle and blew it as hard as I could.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-!!

At one instance, zombies and ghouls around the building rushed into the building. And at that moment, I was certain that the woman and all the guys were dead.

Because…

“Hey you bastard!”

“I will kill you…”

The three of them, who were just about to jump out onto the roof, collided with the dimensional wall I had deployed.

“What the fuck is this!”

“Keuk!”

Even when they pushed the dimension wall, they could do nothing while the monsters were coming up to the building.

As I was about to squat down, the three men began to pound the dimensional wall violently. Their faces were paler than seconds before.

“If you let them come, you will die too!”

"Le-let’s negotiate! Negotiate!"

“Please open whatever this is!”

I'm sorry, but I don't have to worry about such things. Eventually, the three pale even more when they see a ghoul coming up the stairs. One particular man even rubbed his face against the dimension wall and cried a thousand tears.

“Pl-please! I will never do this kind of thing ever again!”

“If you open this, I will do anything for you! PLEASE, HYUNG-NIM!!!!!”

I turned from ‘that bastard' to hyung-nim in a mere second… Even so, I still didn't make the dimension wall disappear. After all, they need to pay for their actions.

"Goodbye."

When I waved my hands, the three looked back and roared.

“AGGHHHHH!”

“Do-don’t come!”

Even if you say those words, the ghoul will still come.

Then, a gruesome battle took place on the other side of the dimension wall. The three men resisted as much as they could, but it was still far from enough to overcome the ghoul.

“Ackkkkkk!!”

One of the man's hands flew to the air, cut by the ghoul's claws. His blood was splattered and smeared the dimension wall red.

The two other men were punching at the ghoul as hard as he could. Perhaps because of their physical strength, the ghoul's head spun around. But that was all, as there were still many zombies coming up the stairs.

“Kuaaah!!!”

One of the men held onto the ghoul's wrists, but then, a zombie bit him on the shoulder.

“Aaaah!”

A terrifying scream rang out.

I finally removed the dimension wall and moved to the roof of the next building. A ghoul jumped up towards me, but when I swung my long knife, it fell to the floor like a doll with its string cut off. The zombies rushed towards the ghoul's carcass to eat it.

With all the things that happened here, I couldn't stay here any longer. I waited for the monsters to disappear, packed the backpacks of the three dead men and moved to another place.

Four people had just died because of me. I certainly have a choice to quietly take care of things without killing them for sure. After all, I was certain that they don't want to be murderers either, so they wouldn't kill me.

But I didn't even try to think of that option.

“Idiots…” It was very, very dangerous to be a robber in the apocalypse without the necessary skills. It was because there's no one that would be willing to give away their supplies for free. Therefore, battle will be inevitable.

If you are not a stagnant water like me, repeated battle is a shortcut to death. No matter how many times you get lucky and end up able to claim the loot, there's no way they will keep winning.

Someday, either from unluckiness or fighting against someone with superior skill, they will get hurt and lose. And the result is death.

The best option was to hide and run away. But the guys who attacked me before had made the wrong choice. Therefore, South Korea's population continues to decline.

“Ha-am.”

It's a thing from the past, so let's just forget it and eat. Once the portal opened, Dingo came out to greet me. He bit on my sleeve and pulled me. I don't know why he did it all of a sudden.

Upon entering the cave, I could see Ding-soon panting heavily near the barbed wire. Around her, there were goblin corpses scattered all over the place. It seems like she was the one who killed them all.

“Would you like to come in?” To be honest, even though I said so, It was burdensome for me to bring a large silver wolf into my cave. But somehow, my heart says it was okay.

The girl looked at me with a blank look before exposing her stomach to me. It's a sign of obedience.

As soon as the barbed wire fence was opened, Dingo ran and brought Ding-soon inside. They fell down in front of me and rolled over, exposing their stomachs at me.

“You have to be quiet though."

By the way, it was a bit problematic because the shelter was narrow. It was fine for Dingo, but it's not big enough for Ding-soon to run around. Well, I could just open the barbed wire fence once every now and then and let them go out.

After deciding on that, I tested Ding-soon's ability to pass through the portal.

“Come here, come here.”

She followed me out to my hideout on Earth,

She's big…

She looked even bigger when she was in a narrow room.

I stroked her fur and let her return to the cave. It seems like, If there's anything suspicious in the future, I should bring Ding-soon and disguise myself as a tamer because Dingo is still small.

While scooping through my meal, I looked around the Auction House and found out that Da-jeong was calling for me. She then told me that Jang Won-taek wants to see me.

How did he know I'm here?

“…No, wait.”

If anyone knows my whereabouts, it has to be Jang Won-taek because he has a lot of people around him who supply information to him. He was probably aware that I was the one who broke through the dungeon that appeared in Gangdong-gu.

“Should I meet him?”

I also have something to talk about with him. But I didn't want to show up. When I asked if Da-jeong could set the time and place, it turns out it was already decided.

“When the first werewolves cry was heard at Wolmido marina…”

This means that he was sure that I would not refuse his invitation. At the same time, it meant that he wanted to see my skills.

However, I had no slightest intention of playing into his hands. He might be in a hurry, but I wasn't.

-Tell him that I am rejecting his invitation.

-Good thinking! That old man's unique skill is telepathy. Maybe he can even read your thoughts.

He has telepathic abilities?

This information was much more interesting than his invitation. What is his unique skill activation condition, I wonder?

Was it a handshake like Kwon's condition?

While I continue to ponder, Da-jeong wrote another comment.

-By the way, once this is over, I'm going to leave the shelter, okay?

Dammit, is she tired of it already?

Well, it doesn't matter since I've roughly figured out the location and structure of the shelter. A tiger and two foxes were living under the same roof, therefore a lot of quarrel happened. One day, there will be cracks between them, and I just need to spy on the opportunity and take it.

What if the shelter stays strong, though?

“Then I will have to use another method.”

There are many ways.

I spit my meal out of my mouth as I looked at the comments Da-jeong wrote.

―Once we meet this time, you should spend some time with me. I need to put a stamp on you so you can't run away.

What kind of stamp?