Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

The cold wave that hit the central and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula was a very devastating disaster for the survivors. People who joked around saying cold waves were better than heat waves back in the summer kept their mouths shut in front of the raging snow that continued to go on for several days. The thermometer broke through minus 20 degrees Celsius, and the normal temperature was reminiscent of Siberia. In such a situation, it was very impossible to farm points, or even just to move around. Even outside activities were difficult, so survivors had no choice but to hole themselves inside their own shelter while avoiding exposing as much skin as possible.

Meanwhile, a certain agent from the government shelter was currently isolated in the middle of the snow storm. The identity of the agent was Oh Seung-yeon, someone who stayed in the north part of Incheon in order to perform a very important mission.

She was ordered by the President to monitor the oil depot on Ganghwa Island due to her unique skill: doll making. However, because her skill is not yet fully developed, she had to go as close as possible to Ganghwa Island to monitor it through her paper plane, as she hasn't unlocked any additional effect which affects the use range of her puppets. However, that was the beginning of the disaster. When the winter snow raged, she became completely isolated.

Oh Seung-yeon was hiding in an empty building on the side of the national road, looking intently at the Auction House.

-Please save me…it's too cold…

-I can't see anything outside… I am at the east side of the national road on the east side of the Ganghwa Bridge… The side of the building with the convenience store…

Two days had passed since she had been isolated, but no one had come to her rescue. She could only tremble and rubbed both her hands and feet. The clothes she brought with her had long been wet because of the snow and were now completely frozen. She is now holding up with only a thin windshield and socks.

Whenever a cold wind blew through the broken windows and hit her body, she felt as if her lungs would freeze. Her food situation wasn't any better either, but she couldn't do anything about it because her hands and feet were numb. She knew that if she continued to be exposed to the cold like this, she would soon suffer from frostbite.

Unfortunately, she couldn't move even a single step out of the building. Because if she were to get out of this building, she would really die. In a world where everything was frozen, someone who dares to move around without taking any measures to protect themselves against the cold winter would only be someone who wants to die.

President Jang Won-taek sent her to Incheon and promised her that in case of emergency, he would mobilize someone with blink ability to save her. But in front of the heavy snow, his promise was of no use. The comment section of the auctioned item of the government shelter was overflowing with people calling for rescue teams.

The guys in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do were especially vocal, because it had a huge snowfall with a height of 1 meter. No one was able to overcome the snow and return to the shelter on their own. It's not just the agents of government shelter, but practically everyone that lives around the area.

Jang Won-taek also made every effort he could to mobilize people with the blink ability to save the agents stuck in the snowstorm outside. However, every plan he made was ruined by the heavy snow. There was even an incident where an agent with a blink ability mistook the snow that reflected sunlight for a rooftop, teleported there, and fell to death after.

When Jang Won-taek heard the news, he closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his palms.

“Whew…” He never thought this kind of thing would happen when he sent the agents out. From the bottom of his heart, he truly wanted to send a rescue team to them, but he couldn't do so, because it was highly possible that the agents that he sent might also fell into danger or got isolated too.

On top of it, the extremely rare blink ability awakeners in the shelter was reluctant to do his bidding, saying that they aren't sure about the exact location of the isolated agents.

While Jang Won-taek was contemplating like that, Lee Beom-seok wrote down the information he saw at the Auction House on the white board.

“Currently, a total of five agents are isolated. They are waiting for rescue teams in Gimpo, Dongducheon, and Gapyeong, and it doesn’t seem like they will last long.”

“Which one is the most urgent?”

“It's probably Seung-yeon from Incheon. After she posted an SOS message, no further comments have been made. She is probably unconscious…”

“To think it's her of all people…” She was someone who Jang Won-taek had instructed to track and monitor I Love Gimbap and Da-jeong. Unfortunately, when her mission was over, and it was her time to return to the Incheon shelter, a cold wave and heavy snowstorm struck. Judging from the comments, it looked like she was located along the national road in Gimpo, which was close to Ganghwa Island. Although it was close to the Incheon shelter, there was simply no one that could go and rescue her.

As Jang Won-taek got more and more troubled, Lee Beom-seok looked at the situation board. It's not that they didn't try their best. On the contrary, they had tried every possible way. However, there are currently no good options that they can take.

However, not knowing that, the isolated agents have started to curse the government for not sending rescue teams for them, thinking that they have been thrown away by the government. And amongst all, one particular agent had revealed the location of the shelter to the Auction House, saying that the government had abandoned him.

-Those b*st*rds even have guns. Once the corrosive disease subsides, you are all dead.

-Really?

-They have hundreds of guns buried underneath the shelter, as well as countless bullets with it. Maybe they even have grenades and other heavy weapons too. Once the corrosive disease subsides, those b*st*rds will execute you guys!! hahaha!!

-This crazy guy…

-Wait, so the corrosive disease could be avoided? Why didn't the government tell us?

-Can anyone even dig up to 500 meters underground?

-Ha…that's a no-brainer.

-Do you know what's funnier? The chaebols, who obtained the information about the apocalypse in advance, have built shelters while keeping the information for themselves. They probably have guns too. There are over 10 of such shelters all over Seoul.

-Those f**king b*sta*ds are so egoistic!!!

-See, I Love Gimbap Is not the only one!

-Please refrain from making new waves!

-Jang Won-taek… That b*st*rd appeared on TV and pretended to be good at his job, but he wasn't any different from those thugs!

-It's fine for now, but once the corrosive disease subsides, we'll have to make a choice. Will we stick to the government shelter or fight them?

-Well damn…

“…” Jang Won-taek, who checked the comment section, let out a sigh and leaned back on the chair. In fact, he did expect the secret would be leaked outside. But he thought that he might still be able to control the masses when that happened.

Wouldn't it be nice if he had revealed it once he had enough power to withstand the backlash and control the situation?

However, the plan was smashed to smithereens. Moreover, the main cause was nature itself, with the snowstorm and cold wave being the main reason why his secrets were exposed, so it would be strange if he didn't feel any headache.

At that moment, someone knocked loudly at the office door.

"Jang Won-taek-ssi! Jang Won-taek-ssi!”

Jang Won-taek and Lee Beom-seok's eyes met each other. At that simple exchange, Jang Won-taek knew that his chief was saying: ‘You can't let them in!'

When he thought about it, Beom-seok's reaction was only natural. After all, to call Jang Won-taek by his full name, not by his title, means that whoever behind the door was very angry. And the cause was also easy to deduce. It's, of course, about their colleagues, who had been dispatched and were currently isolated.

It was a problem that no one can find a solution to. However, Jang Won-taek did not have any intention to avoid it.

“Open it.”

"Mr President!"

"It's okay. You can think of them as lawmakers who came along with reporters to make a fuss in front of the Blue House. No, you can't even compare them to those lawmakers. Their intentions are purer than those guys. At least, it's about saving people, isn't it?"

"I understand." When Beom-seok opened the door, three men rushed in with a violent force.

After surrounding Jang Won-taek, who was sitting on the chair, they said: “Our friend is dying. When will the rescue team be dispatched?”

“If we send a rescue team to them, the rescue team will die too.”

At Jang Won-taek's words, blood pooled on the foreheads of the three. “Then, are you just going to let them die? Didn't you promise to promptly evacuate them when something happened?"

“Are you kidding me now? Are you just going to throw them away?”

"I'm sorry," Jang Won-taek said and then told them the truth. “Do you know Kim Jo-won? An agent with blink ability? He died. Therefore, there is only one person left with blink ability in this shelter. But, because of the snow, he says he wouldn't know where he would be teleported to and refuses to go out.”

Hearing the news, the momentum of the three softened slightly. After all, only a few people would risk their lives for others.

The tallest of the three pointed his finger at his chest. “Then please open the entrance. We will go ourselves.”

“If you leave, you'll die.”

The man could barely contain his anger before letting his words pour out. “Whether we die or not, the choice is ours. Are you assuming that you can control everything just because you're a former president?”

Jang Won-taek took a deep breath. It's hard to refuse their request when they are ready to go that far.

As he nodded, the three of them quickly asked to open the door and went outside. However, they were startled when they saw a person, who had rabbit ears on his head.

“Seokhyun-ssi…? What are you doing here?" Jang Won-taek and Lee Beom-seok were surprised when Rapwi appeared. They had a bit of a clash with him and didn't really get along, even though they live in the same shelter. They weren't enemies though, it's just that it is very hard for the President to give him some order.

Rapwi placed his hands on the desk.

“Tell me the locations of the isolated agents. I will go save them.”

“…it's not that we're underestimating your strength, but it is very dangerous to go out there, even for you."

“A friend gave me this. So I should be fine." Seokhyun said as he threw the winter strawberry into his mouth. There's also a worn out scarf with a cold resistance option borrowed from Seongho wrapped around his neck. He's now possessed a considerable amount of cold resistance, enough to walk barefoot in the heavy snow. And in the first place, even without the extra resistance, he used to go out without regard for the cold. He does go around buck naked, after all.

Jang Won-taek and Lee Beom-seok, unaware of this, were bewildered. They deduced that the ‘friend' who gave Seokhyun those things was I Love Gimbap.

“Are you really going to be okay?”

“Yeah I'll come to the rescue, so give me a map and don't open the entrance.”

The two looked at each other and made a decision.

Beom-seok handed him a map. “Let’s use gate number two. But…"

“I don’t need a rescue team, so leave them alone. And I will take some rope from the warehouse.”

As Seokhyun left coolly, Beomseok murmured “That guy always talked informally to you…”

“I am certain he didn't think of this by himself.” Jang Won-taek thought about someone who he was sure to be the reason why Rapwi decided to rescue the survivor. Since he got his help this time too, he must surely pay him back in some way later.

“But isn’t Rapwi… Directionally challenged?”

“…”

The two were speechless.

We left Ganghwa Island and moved along the national road heading to Incheon. There was absolutely nothing but snow in the way. Thanks to that, the sled made its way at a high speed. However, after some time, problems arose from an unexpected direction; the engine and the fuel.

The ghouls, who had not eaten anything for so long, were starting to get tired. The guys who were following us were also losing their energy in the constant cold. Some even fell while running and couldn't move any longer. And when we finally arrived in front of the broken Ganghwa Bridge, there were only 18 ghouls left.

“It’s a big deal. It's not easy to make these ghouls lose so much stamina that they die from it.”

“Well, they did run through a blizzard.”

Most of the energy the ghouls stored was used to preserve their body temperature. Even at this moment, the skin of the ghouls was beet red, and they kept spewing steam out from their body. Then, when all of their stored energy got used up, they all froze and died.

I proposed to Da-jeong. “Let's pick a few of the coolest guys to get on the boat with us. And use the rest to become the engine of our boat.”

“Are you saying that I have to throw them away into the sea?”

“It’s better to arrive as soon as possible so we can warm our body up.”

Da-jeong looked at the ghouls with a bitter expression as she heard my words. It was decided before our departure, but it seems like she still feels regretful about it. Well, it was only natural, since they were subordinates who had faithfully carried out her orders for a very long time.

But, eventually, she nodded her head. I opened the portal and pulled out the plastic boat and floated it into the sea. Since the boat was small, it took quite a bit of time to transport all the ghouls Da-jeong picked. Meanwhile, the other ghouls, who were pushing the boat through the water, lost their stamina one by one and drifted away.

After an hour, we were able to drive along the national highway in Gimpo. A windshield made of vinyl and cloth fluttered wildly in the raging blizzard.

Da-jeong clasped my leg with her hand. “Where are we going?”

“Gimpo University! A few of their buildings shouldn't have collapsed!"

“Can we really rest there?”

"Of course!"

She looked tired too. After all, riding on a snow sled that we weren't used to was as tiring as running with our own legs.

However, while driving along the national highway, we got into an accident. The snow sled was overturned after bumping itself on some big chunk of frozen snow. I instantly rolled over while holding Da-jeong in my arms.

“Oh, my waist…” We finally stopped rolling after bouncing several times. When I woke up, the frame of the snow sled was broken. On top of it, some of the ghouls, who were pulling the sleds, also got hurt here and there and were unable to move.

It seems like our journey with the sled ended here. I put Da-jeong, who was looking at the sledge blankly on my stomach, to her feet.

“Let’s go to the gas station over there and warm ourselves up.”

“Ah Seriously! Why is this happening!”

When we entered the gas station and headed to the second floor, we saw a body lying on the corner of the room.

In this cold snowstorm, with only vinyl covering her body? What the hell is she doing?

Da-jeong, who was examining the body, turned to me.

“This girl is still alive!”

"Really?"

When I walked towards Da-jeong, I saw that the body belonged to a woman wearing glasses. She was unconscious, but her forehead and eyebrows were moving ever so slightly.

“She's lucky we stopped here.” I took out some rice as well as the mullets and put it on the floor. The remaining ghouls came in, hurriedly picked up food and ate it, then moved to another place. They could recover their stamina just by avoiding the cold snow and wind for a while.

As I lit a bonfire, Da-jeong dragged the woman and laid her near the fire. “Give me a blanket. This noona is all wet.”

“Whoever sees you will say you are the noona between the two.”

“Hah! I am still in my 20s.”

What crap… We had confirmed each other's age during our short sledding trip. She was 30 years old, but insisted her heart was still in her 20s. When I teased her by calling her noona, she got goosebumps all over her body and said let's just be friends.

(T/N ‘Be friend' means to just use informal speech with each other in Korea. Not using honorifics such as hyungnim, noonim, hyung, noona.)

As the bonfire lit up longer and longer, the freezing temperature in the room rose up to a comfortable degree. At that moment, I said to Da-jeong.

“You know we can’t take care of her for long, right? Once she comes to her senses, we'll have to let her go."

"Of course I know. I'm busy with my life too. I don't have time to take care of anyone."

Da-jeong said so, but she still massaged the young woman's limbs. Well, it's natural. Even though she was crazier than me, she was also kinder and more compassionate than me.

I took out the necessities out of the cave ahead of time and put them in my backpack. And then, the woman's eyebrows riggled and she barely opened her mouth.

"Sa-save me please…"

Da-jeong slapped her frozen cheek. “If you don’t want to die, wake up.”

“Keuk!” It seems like she'd been unconscious for quite a long time.

“The rescue team… The rescue team…”

Rescue team? My ears perked up at those words. Waiting for rescue teams means that she had joined a rather large group. At that moment, I found a paper airplane littering the floor.

Don't tell me, is she actually the one who was tasked by the government to monitor us?

If that's not the case, there was simply no reason for these paper airplanes to be here. And in case she was indeed the one who was tasked to monitor us, it means that she was trapped here on her way back to her hideout.

When I whispered my thoughts towards Da-jeong, her expression turned scary in mere moments. But before Da-jeong did anything, I grabbed her ear and said.

“She still doesn't know who we are. We need to dig something from here. After all, she must have some good information.”

“Ahh…”

This woman would have been Jang Won-taek's trustworthy eyes and ears, with that unique skill of hers. Of course she would know a lot. I left her with Da-jeong and opened the Auction House. If I thought about it, there should be some other agents of the government who got trapped in the snowstorm like her. So, there's bound to be quite a ruckus in government shelter right now.

However, no matter how hard I try, I couldn't find any item auction that serves as the government's bulletin.

Why did they take it down?

But soon, I was able to roughly guess their circumstances, after reading the comments on another auctioned item.

-They took down the auctioned item because there's a lot of angry masses spamming insults and curses there.

-Didn't they say their goal was to gather people? But why did they throw people away instead of saving them?

-Even if it is a government shelter, there is no way to move in this heavy snow…

-I know that, but at the very least, they still need to send a rescue team!

-If I'm assigned to the rescue team, I don't think I'll go. It's so dangerous. I wouldn't want to risk my life.

-Can't they just send someone with blink ability?

-You are stupid, aren't you? It's snowing. Everything is covered in snow. If you blink and then step on slippery ground, you're going to fall. And maybe even die.

-Then just die.

-You must have a lot of hate for the President.

Hmmm… So that's how things went…

Just in case, I entered the panties posted by Seokhyun. I saw that he had left a comment asking if I had any cold resistance items. I don't know when did he post this comment, but…

-I have winter strawberries. Should I send it to you? I also have a scarf with a cold resistance option.

Not long after I wrote like that, the answer came.

-As expected of you, Seongho. Lend me some of them. I'll pay you back later.

-No need to pay me back. But what are you trying to do?

-I need to rescue the agents and make the President owe me.

Aha… Good thinking!

If Seokhyun helps them like this, the President will have to offer something in return to Seokhyun. People of the government shelter will also put even more trust in Seokhyun, so the weight of his voice in the shelter will naturally become heavier. Last but not least, it will also cause a crack to appear in the shelter.

After all, will those who returned thanks to Seokhyun, still be able to trust the President, who neglected them?

I put the scarf and some winter strawberries in the Auction House. And it instantly disappears from the list. And as the cold resistance given by the item's option went off, curse words started to pour out from my mouth.

Meanwhile, the woman, who kept getting slapped by Da-jeong, woke up.

“Who are you?”

Who we are…

Before I could speak, Da-jeong opened her mouth.

“We are a couple who are passing by.”

Yeah.

That's a very bad answer.