Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Sponsored Chapters 22/32

The Auction House turned into a melting pot of chaos because of my action.

-Help me! HEELPPPP MEEEE!

-That crazy b*st*rd is roaming around killing everyone!

-That b*st*rd is crazy!

-What happened?

-I Love Gimbab is killing everyone inside the labyrinth!

-He must’ve turned into a murderer already, then. So why not just gather around him and kill him in a deathmatch?

-Even though he killed people, he did not turn into murderer!

-OMG.

-Wait a minute, how did he not turn into a murderer after killong people?

-Ask him yourself, you a**hol*!

-Why should I?

-To be honest, you guys are the ones who cursed and provoked him every day. You’re just paying the price now.

-Those Auction House addict b*st*rds. They pretended to be on the side of justice, insulting Gimbap for being selfish and what not, but now they’re crying like a dog for their life.

-Justice my a**. They just cursed at I Love Gimbap-nim just because he didn’t share the information he had.

-I Love Gimbap-nim? Are you a spy?

-That’s right! Isn’t it enough to call him that b*st*rd? Why did you use nim too?

-Wow, you guys still can be that lively even though you are being hunted right now?

-I’m not a spy, but honestly, seeing you guys… I’m just happy you’ll be gone soon.

-These Auction House addicts are sitting at the Auction House every day, cursing at the prices of a lot of items sold here, just because they can’t afford to buy it. Because of them, there are a lot of people who can’t sell their items, and end up taking it down. What if there are some survivors out there who are in need of said items, but can’t buy them because they’re not available? Fu*king b*st*rds.

-I hope I Love Gimbap-nim wipes out all the trash this time.

-You f*ck*r!!! Don’t you know that you guys are defending a murderer right now?

-Woah… It’s a pot calling the kettle black… You guys also killed a lot of people by posting a lot of wrong information, you know?

-Bullsh*t!! you crazy bastard.

“Bullsh*t!! you crazy bastard.”

‘It’s really them.’ I murmured, as I watched some guys in the distance saying the same thing as the last comment posted in the Auction House. If it weren’t for the Stigma of Death skill and the buff from Shadow Grape, I would have passed them as they’re skillfully hiding in the dark places.

Those guys were the ones who were often referred to as the Auction House addicts. It was a nickname they got from the fact that they were always lurking in the Auction House while trying to steer public opinion of anything they wanted to their favor. For example, if they don’t like the price of a particular item, they will keep posting swear words at it until the seller lowers the price. Feeding people with false information was also their specialty. It was because they know a little bit about Survival Life, so if they mix some truth in their lies, it will turn into plausible information.

“If you are going to be like this, why are you cursing at him?”

“F**k you, do you know that you all are my accomplice too? If I die, you guys will die too.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of him? I’m not. If he appears in front of me, I will tear him to pieces!”

Looking at them, who were still paying attention at the Auction House when they were being chased by me, made me shake my head and sighed. Did they perhaps think they could run away because there is an underwater cave nearby?

Let me teach you guys, your thoughts are nothing but arrogance. I took out the firecrackers and matches from the dimension slot and lit it. When the wick burned with a cracking sound, they were startled.

“Did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what? You must be mistaken…” I’m sorry, but it’s not a mistake. I carefully aimed the firecracker and hurled it into the places the three of them were hiding at.

Papapapang-!

As the firecracker excitedly spit out flames and smoke of many colors, the three of them literally went crazy.

“WAAAAAHHHHH!”

“He’s here! RUN RUN RUN!” The three of them jumped out and started running away. As expected, the direction they were heading towards was the water pool where the entrance to the underwater cave was. The three jumped into the water, grabbed the rope, and tried to enter the underwater cave. Unfortunately for them, I already laid my dimensional wall there.

The man in the lead was taken aback after hitting my dimensional wall and struggled. Meanwhile, the two behind him urged him to move faster before realizing something was wrong.

“They are like a loach…” I murmured as I saw the bubble created by their chaos on the surface of the water. Not long after, one of the three came out from the water. I quickly throw my punch at him before dragging him out of the water.

“Khaak!”

Once I’m done with the first one, I also did the same to the other two.

“Guweeeek…”

“AHHHH…”

The three of them couldn’t breathe properly and coughed a mouthful of water on the ground. When I kicked their side, two of them groaned and rolled over the stone ground.

“Get lost!!!” Meanwhile, one of them jumped up and ran towards me. It seems like the reason he could withstand my kick was because he has a physical strengthening unique skill.

As I reached out towards him, he grabbed my hand and grinned. “You made a mistake, f*cker. Do you know how strong I am?”

“How strong are you?” I asked. As I already activated my Fighting Instinct skill, my stats were far higher than normal. The man’s forehead wrinkled as he tried to bend my hand.

“Uh… Ah… What the…”

“Do you know now?” I immediately gave strength to my hand and crushed the man’s hand. An ominous sound echoed and beads of cold sweat began to drop from the man’s forehead.

However, at that moment I tilted my head. Unlike people who got their bones broken by me before, this guy didn’t even scream. It could only mean one thing: He has a pain tolerance sort of skill. It was probably something physical strengthening users got as their additional effect at level 20.

“Thank you.”

“Wha-what?”

“Thanks to you, I get to know what physical strengthening users will get once they are level 20.” I smirked at the man as I said it. Then, I grabbed his limp hand and slammed my head towards his head.

Bang-!!

The man went out and fell to the ground with the sound of his nose bones caving in. But damn, I also feel the pain, too. It seems like Hard Skin wasn’t able to negate all the effects of level 20+ physical strengthening users.

Then one of the two, who had been lying down, suddenly disappeared.

Is his unique skill stealth? Maybe the reason why he was not caught in my Stigma of Death skill was because of the additional effect?

“Sadly… too obvious.” I sighed. After all, I couldn’t even pretend I didn’t know where he was when he was making a very loud sound every time he stepped on the ground. I laid a dimensional wall in the direction of his path. Moments later, I could hear a bump in the air before a thud of something hitting the ground echoed. When I reached out to the place where the sound was heard, I could feel something soft was caught in my hand.

“Ugh!” the man groaned as I kicked him. After that, his stealth came off as he fell to the floor.

“S-spare me…” The last man crawled to me and begged me.

“I’m sure I already warned everyone to leave…”

“I… I’m going to leave now… Just s-spare me… please….”

“If I let you go, you’ll probably be talking sh*t about me again while trying to plan your revenge on me, won’t you?”

“No… Never…”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you.” The man’s face was wrinkled at my words. In my opinion, human nature can’t be changed easily. Of course, there were some cases when it was able to be changed. However, in most cases, it would probably happen because they experience something big, big enough to shake their entire mindset. But these guys, even if they had come this close to death, they won’t change.

I killed them one by one using the ballista. Though, as the one with physical strengthening skill used all his remaining strength and jumped inside the water entrance, I was unable to kill him using the ballista and opted to kill him by drowning him in the water by blocking the entrance towards the underwater cave using the dimensional wall, keeping him away from the surface. (E/n dang that’s cold)

“Huuuuh…” Fifteen people died at my hands today. And finally, the labyrinth had become a little bit quiet.

“Korea’s population is declining again.” I sighed. I couldn’t help but to do so, after seeing these people still arrogantly trying to attack me instead of running away, even though they didn’t even know what my unique skill was. I mean, isn’t it basic knowledge to try and observe your enemy’s skills and attack pattern before trying to do a full-on confrontation?

“Those who survived the dimensional prison will spread the word about what happened.” The reason I didn’t kill all of them was because I needed someone to tell the Auction House about this tragedy. Though, if somehow they still die after I spare their lives, then it means that it was their fate to die to begin with.

I chewed a solar apple and headed to the place where Seokhyun was waiting.

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The labyrinth that opened at the subway station drew the attention of nearly every survivor. People who were living close to the Seoul area went directly into the labyrinth, while those who lacked skills had no choice but to suck their fingers and only watch.

However, out of a sudden, an ominous news came from people who attacked the labyrinth. It was a piece of information that stated that everyone who went inside was killed. On top of that, it was in the hands of a single person.

People who were thirsty for the information about it, left no auctioned items unturned and checked every comment section they could find. And after a long search, they finally found the latest news about what happened inside at an item auctioned by someone who said he was a survivor of I Love Gimbap’s manhunt.

-Don’t ever go into the labyrinth!

-Don’t ever go into the labyrinth!

-Calm down and tell us what happened!

-What happened inside?

-Everyone is dead…

-Is the labyrinth that dangerous?

-It wasn’t that, someone killed them all… I barely survived…

-You are so frustrating, just tell us who killed them all…

-it’s I Love Gimbap…

To be honest, his ID was pretty funny to begin with, as it was a very simple name that anyone could come up with. However, no one could laugh every time that ID was uttered. After all, he was someone who was famous in the Awakened Community even before the apocalypse. Though, his fame was closer to infamy, as he received numerous insults for not disclosing information to the public as someone who played the game the longest. Perhaps the amount of curses that the awakened have got in their lifetime will not be able to surpass the swears that I Love Gimbap got from them.

Even after the apocalypse, the situation continued. With their anonymity guaranteed by the Auction House, the Auction House addicts, the mainstay of the Auction House, chewed I Love Gimbap’s reputation as if they were chewing gum. They always cursed at him in every single topic of conversation they found, even though it didn’t have any relation to him. For example:

-A survivor in Gangwondo died after trying to fight an orc alone because he was overconfident in his skills.

-That fucker I Love Gimbap!!! If he spread his know-how, that poor guy wouldn’t have died…

It would have been nice if it was only a joke. However, every single one of them were serious about their cursing. Apparently, the anonymous space made people reassured that they wouldn’t be found out. Thanks to that, whenever I Love Gimbap’s ID was mentioned, a lot of people ignored the comment section except for those who also like to blame him.

However, now, the very I Love Gimbap, who had never come out even though he was cursed everyday by a lot of people, had killed all the people inside the labyrinth. Though, according to the only survivor of the tragedy, most of those who died were the Auction House addicts.

-So, what is I Love Gimbap’s unique skill?

-His unique skill is… Ah, no, I won’t say anything… It’s so scary…

After crying for a long time, he finally calmed down and told the Auction House about what he had experienced. While running away from I Love Gimbap, he suddenly fell into a huge sea. In that dark and vast sea, he couldn’t see any land, no matter how much he swam around.

-I was so scared because I kept hearing strange noises from under the surface…

-His unique skill wasn’t creation-type?

-That’s not important right now. How many people are staying inside the labyrinth, even after hearing his warning?

-There seemed to be at least ten people.

The atmosphere of the comment section was friendly, contrary to before. Even when I Love Gimbap’s ID was uttered, no one cursed. It was only filled with people who were curious about him. And that too, not in a bad way. It was probably the result of the disappearance of a large number of Auction House addicts who used swear words all the time. Of course, not all of the Auction House addicts died. However, they were too afraid to appear in the comment section. After all, they were sure that I Love Gimbap was watching.

-Wow, how strong is he, to actually kill ten people by himself…

-Are you defending I Love Gimbap now? Don’t you know that he’s nothing but a murderer?

-But, the guy said that he couldn’t hear any heartbeat from him. In other words, he’s not a murderer.

-I’m not talking about murderer designated by the system. He had killed dozens of people, if he’s not a murderer, than what is he?

-It doesn’t matter, because I’m not the one who died.

-I don’t think it’s bad either.

-Wow… You guys are so cold-hearted. People died, you know…

-They always said that they want to meet I Love Gimbap. Now that their dreams come true, we should congratulate them rather than feeling sorry for them.

The atmosphere of the Auction House was favorable to I Love Gimbap. Some even defended him.

-Wait, doesn’t that mean the person who auctioned kimchi and food until now is I Love Gimbap? He is a much more useful person compared to those Auction House addicts.

-The tteokbokki set he auctioned was very delicious.

-Woah, here’s the person who won that expensive bid.

-Yeah, that tteokbokki is good.

-Anyway, there is no point in cursing I Love Gimbap here.

-Yeah. Even when you cursed him, he kept silent for so long. Imagine what he would do if you guys just stayed silent and didn’t curse at him! Why are you guys triggering someone who is just living quietly… be glad that he didn’t decide to be the dictator of South Korea or something.

Lee Beom-seok of the government shelter, who was looking at the comment section, compiled all the information he read and reported it to Jang Won-taek. “At least ten to twenty people have died…”

“But it seems people didn’t think much of it since those who died are mainly bad people, huh?” Jang Won-taek murmured as he read the report.

“No one deserves to die.”

“I know. But we can do nothing. This is an apocalypse, after all.”

“But…”

Jang Won-taek closed his eyes and rested his back to his chair without listening to Lee Beom-seok. It was a pity that dozens of people had died, but he couldn’t do anything about it. It was better to think about the future than to put too much thought into it.

“What about Geom-in? Is he dead too?” Jang Won-taek asked as he tapped the armrest with his finger.

“We can’t confirm his whereabouts yet.”

“Looking at Seokhyun’s behavior, I don’t think the other three of the four stagnant waters were treating Geom-in as their enemy.”

“We will know about their relationship soon. I am certain that they had made contact inside the labyrinth.”

“That’s right…” Jang Won-taek wiped his face with his palm. A total of four people of the government shelter entered the labyrinth, but none of them were confirmed to be alive or dead as of yet. However, by looking at the report of Lee Beom-seok, it was easy to figure that at least 3 of those people were dead.

Anyway, it was a big deal that people died when they did something related to Kang Seongho. It’s sad that those people died, but it’s unavoidable. It’s time for him to take some countermeasures. He’s not sure it will work, though.

At that moment, Lee Beom-seok brought out a new piece of information.

“it’s information regarding the Japanese people who landed in Busan… Their number seems to be quite large. We estimated there’s at least hundreds of people.”

Jang Won-taek’s eyebrows furrowed at those words. “Why are they in our lands?”

“According to the agent, it was due to radiation…”

Jang Won-taek smiled wryly at those words. They came to Korea to avoid radiation, but out of all places, they landed at Busan, which was also currently contaminated with radiation.

“So, are they still there?”

“No. They noticed that Busan was also contaminated with radiation and dispersed into various places. Some people chose to stay… but…”

“They all died.”

“Yes…”

“What about the rest?.”

“It is said that a lot of them entered Masan.”

“It seems that they don’t have maps of South Korea. They should have gone to Changwon.”

“There’s also reports about several clashes happening between them and our citizens.”

“That’s not good… Spread the words to ask our people not to touch them carelessly.”

“It has already been advertised.”

“Good… The only thing left to do is to prepare myself for my talk with Seongho tomorrow.”

Maybe the four original stagnant waters will come out together. And if that’s really the case, he should be ready to talk to them. Jang Won-taek got up from his chair with those thoughts in his mind.

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After killing the boss of the labyrinth, I headed towards the hideout where Da-jeong and Geom-in were waiting with Seokhyun in tow. When we arrived in front of the building, the grasshopper ghoul led us to a room on the third-floor of a one-room building. When the giant ghoul, who was guarding the entrance, moved aside, Da-jeong came out with a smile on her face.

“You guys are still alive?”

“Well I’m sorry, but we are. Where’s Geom-in?”

“Don’t worry, he’s inside.”

When Geom-in saw us entering the room, he jumped up. A look of impatience was seen in his eyes, which looked back and forth between me and Seokhyun. Though, before I talked more with him, it’d be good to get his promises.

“We have helped you, yes?”

“Uh, yes. For that, I thank you guys.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re someone we can trust just yet.”

“…” Geom-in bowed his head and didn’t say anything. Meanwhile, Da-jeong and Seokhyun also went silent. They seemed to be waiting for what I had to say, too.

“I will give you a choice. Now that you are healed, you can return to the government shelter. We will not get in the way of whatever plan you have.”

“You won’t get in my way?”

“That’s right. You can expand your influence in government shelters as much as you want. But in exchange, our relationship will end right here, right now.”

Geom-in swallowed dry saliva as he heard my words. Perhaps, because he was still young, he couldn’t hide his feelings well yet.

“D-do you have a second option?” He muttered.

“Tell us everything you know and our relationship will become like when we are in the game.”

Geom-in’s expression changed. It seems like he was remembering the time when we were laughing and dying together. There were many times when he was locked up in his own shelter, but there’s even more times when we played together.

“It doesn’t matter what happened so far. We will be like we used to.” I said to him softly.

“Like we used to…”

“Those two were the only choices I can offer you. If you choose the first, you can just leave. Like I said, we will not get in your way.” Seokhyun and Da-jeong nodded at the same time. Even if they disagree with me, I would make sure that the two didn’t get in his way.

Geom-in thought for a long time. Then, he opened his mouth.

“I…”