Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Da-jeong and I originally planned to go all the way to Bucheon Stadium before stopping. But our plans changed as soon as Seokhyun told us that the President wanted to meet me. However, unlike our last meeting, this time, he wanted us to talk face-to-face.

“Why should we meet him? We don’t even need anything from them…” Before I could react, Da-jeong reacted first. She firmly deny the proposal.

“No, I think I would have to meet him this time.”

“Because of those suspicious people?”

“Yeah. The President probably knows some things about those people… So, I want to meet him.”

“If you talk to him face-to-face, your identity would be known, is that okay?”

“If he had ever wanted that to happen, my information would have been circulating in the Auction House from long ago. He’s a tight-lipped guy.”

“But it’s also possible that he wanted you to think that, in order to know who you really are. You know that, right?”

“What will he get by doing that? Revealing my identity will not bring any benefit to that guy. And he knew that.”

“Well… That old man was indeed a calculative guy…”

“And there’s no point in knowing just my face. It’s not like I had ‘Kang Seongho’ or ‘I Love Gimbap’ written on my forehead.”

“He could just tell the Auction House about your characteristic features, that you are a man with a big build and short hair who travels with me.”

“The weather is this cold. Everybody should’ve locked themselves inside their shelter. in this cold weather, who’s going to be able to see us going around?”

“Hmm… Yeah, that’s right.”

The fact that the weather was crazy right now also helped me to conceal my identity. With the temperature reaching below minus 20 degrees Celsius, no normal person would want to go outside, except if it was absolutely necessary. And in order to preserve the warmth inside their shelter as much as possible, they would have to close their windows or any other openings of their shelter. Thanks to that, I was able to go around unnoticed, even when I went with Da-jeong.

“Once the winter passed, corrosive disease would also go away. At that time, I would be able to use guns, and I also have the resurrection scrolls and the spring. Who’s going to attack me? I can just shoot all of them and respawn if the worst case scenario happens.”

Da-Jeong smiled and patted my back. “Our timid Seongho has become a little bolder. Well thought.”

“I will still be as careful as possible, though. I would only resort to such things if it’s inevitable. Just like a docile retriever who reveals his teeth only when they need to.”

“You’re closer to a pitbull with rabies rather than a retriever…”

Well, I can’t deny that. Though, I don’t have any rabies.

“By the way, people also wouldn’t be able to notice that you’re Duck Buttock easily now.” It was because, except for the time we were on the sled, the ghouls–the trademark of Duck Buttock the Ghoul Queen–were placed far away from our location.

She looked down at her own attire and started weeping. “What is this… I’ve become completely unfashionable.”

“Don’t worry, you’re still pretty.”

“Hehehe. Well, yeah, I know I’m pretty..”

Hearing my words, she got happy immediately and gave me 10,000 points, as well as the resurrection scroll she bought from Seokhyun. When I asked why, she said she still felt sorry for sticking a knife inside my chest.

“I’m going to do some ghoul farming. So, in the meantime, you should farm to restore your level.”

Well, that’s just one problem among many that needs to be fixed. I still have to figure out how to cleanse the spring, and I also need to tidy up the shelter with all the new stuff coming in.

“Let’s see…” Once we parted, I summoned the portal and walked in. The shelter was actually fine before I looted Joo Seung-cheol’s bunker, but now, it was a mess because of all the scattered supplies and materials I looted before.

“It makes me happy just looking at it, though.” The amount of supplies piled as high as my own height in warehouses assembled from sandwich panels was staggering. If It was only me, Dingo, Ding-soon, the scarabs, the stag beetles, Da-jeong and Seokhyun who used it, it would last for more than 10 years. However, considering that the resources of another world were practically infinite, there was no need for me to do that. That being said, I had no intention of quitting my farming plan whatsoever.

“People should take everything they can whenever they can.” Even at this very moment, the amount of supplies that had not been looted yet in the city were dwindling rapidly. Thus, most of those things would disappear in a few more months. So, the best course of action was to take them when you still got the chance.

“By the way, I ran out of sandwich panels…” On top of it, the barbed wire also ran out, making it difficult to expand the shelter. It was too time consuming to ask the scarabs to make it, and making a wall out of brick was out of the question, since it was not as strong as a barbed wire fence, and it also limited my own field of view.

“What should I do…” At that moment, the saying ‘offense is the best defense’ entered my head. If monsters flocking around the shelter are the problem, wouldn’t the problem be solved if they all die?

“It was a thought I didn’t dare to entertain in the past…” However, it’s different now. After all, I just looted thousands of bullets from Joo Seung-cheol’s bunker. I should use it as sparingly as possible, but once I rob the Incheon and Bucheon Subway Station’s time shelters, I believe more bullets will come to my arsenal. But to be honest, aside from those reasons, the most important reason was just because I wanted to clear the area off of hostile monsters.

I loaded a magazine into the AK-74 rifle and put some spare magazines in my pocket.

Shudder-!!

Goosebumps ran all over my body as I felt a feeling of ecstacy. The world felt like it had become mine with this durable rifle in my hand.

“You b*st*ards who dares to bare your fangs at me! Get f**ked!” When my fingers pressed on the trigger, lights flashed from the extinguisher.

bang! bang! bang! bang! bang!

The monsters were killed one after another by the power of 5.45mm rifle bullets.

Kiaaak-!!

Keeeek-!!

Khaaak-!!

Countless death throes could be heard beneath the deafening blast of the AK-74.

“Fyuhh… This is refreshing.” Watching the monsters run away in a hurry at the sound of gunfire, it felt like a 10-year-long congestion was finally going down. Without lowering my vigilance, I took Dingo and Ding-soon to the forest to kill all the surviving monsters.

After shooting dozens of bullets on them, the surroundings finally became quiet. Once again, I was reminded why guns are the absolute power of wars. Had it not been for the corrosive disease, mankind would’ve easily destroyed the monsters and went on living without having to go through the age of apocalypse.

“It’s all good until this point. But the post-processing is a problem.” I had to dig a huge hole with a fork crane to bury all the corpses because I never knew when bone creepers would spawn and break past the barbed wire fence.

“Come a little later please. Let me live comfortably for now.”

When I tried to push the corpses of dozens of monsters into the pit, a curse came out of my mouth. Is there anything that can just block the invasion of monsters?

“Such things probably exist. After all, monster raids were not different from zombie raids.” However, I don’t know what and where the thing is. This kind of knowledge was not my specialty, but Geom-in’s. Once I finally pushed all the corpses into the hole, I covered the pit and drove the forklift back to the shelter.

“It’s hot…” Contrary to Earth, the weather on another world was only getting hotter. I took off my stab-proof armor and put on a short-sleeved shirt. Once I’m done, I brought the forklift to the empty lot beside the cave and turned off the engine. At that moment, I saw a well-organized vegetable garden a short distance away from the parking location. It was much wider than the time when the scarabs were the ones managing it. On top of it, there were also more types of crops than before. I know the stag beetles did not like me too much, but it looks like they do like various seeds that I brought in.

“I am their landlord, so that’s the least they could do.” Currently, watermelons are growing rapidly. But only when midsummer arrives will it finally become fully grown, ready to be eaten.

“But those guys really should stop fighting.” I walked towards the bickering Captain Scarab and Chief Stag Beetle in the distance. These guys are normally peaceful when they’re alone, but they would growl and fight whenever they meet each other for some reason. On top of it, the fight wasn’t just your usual fight between insects. It was a bloody battle that included swords and arrows.

(E/n so I was mistaken about the name of the leader of the scarabs, it was actually Captain Scarab. Chief Stag Beetle is correct though.)

The scarabs were superior in numbers, and they also had the advantage in terms of strength and size. Meanwhile, while the stag beetles are losing in number, they substituted it with their agility and their hit-and-run strategy.

Watching them fight in the wide open space in front of the cave, it really feels surreal. Of course, no one died because of the battle, but it was still frustrating for me.

Now that those guys are in one family under my shelter, why are they still fighting?

“YOU GUYS! Were you guys archenemies in your previous life?” When I put the leader of both sides on the palm of my hand and asked, they turned away from each other.

Guess I should warn them here.

“For three weeks, there will be no royal honey and solar apples for you guys.”

The two of them turned to me at the same time as soon as I finished my declaration. Then, the two leaders hung on my finger. I put up with the tickling and said,

“You know? I had just finished taking care of the problems in this shelter and felt happy because of it. So, why was I served with the view of you guys fighting against each other? If you guys can keep the peace of this shelter, and do not fight for three weeks, then I will give those honey and apples again to you guys.”

Captain Scarab went down to the ground in a gloomy mood. Meanwhile, I took the Chief Stag Beetle and headed to the spring deep in the forest. When we arrived, a strong smell of gunpowder mixed with the musty smell of filth greeted us. The Chief Stag Beetle looked at the polluted spring and grabbed its head with its front paws.

Shake-!! Shake-!!

If I had to tell anyone about what I saw right now, the Chief Stag Beetle’s action was similar to the painting of Edvard Munch, ‘The Scream’. (The Scream = https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream)

The guy approached the spring and checked the dark liquid. Moments later, his body trembled and turned around towards me. From his eyes, I could sense an overflowing resentment and a question of ‘what I had done to turn the spring like this’.

“I didn’t do anything. I woke up and it was already like this.” Then, I told him what happened. The Chief Stag Beetle was startled to hear that I had died and was resurrected.

‘Really?’ His eyes seemed to ask.

“Yeah. Is that a sin?”

‘Ummm… that’s right.’ The Chief Stag Beetle scratched its head with its chin and drew a picture with a branch he found on the ground. What the beautiful drawing depicted was a certain energy flowing into the spring.

“So… What is this? An essence or something?”

nod nod.

According to the Chief Stag Beetle, a unique essence flowed through this forest. It is said that the place where the essence gathered would become a spring after a long time. However, such occurrences only happen very rarely. Therefore, such a spring was highly sought by anyone.

“I polluted that essence, so I have to resurrect it… But it’s not like I deliberately do it.”

Sting-!!

I felt a pricky gaze at me. This guy is definitely rebellious unlike the scarabs.

“If the spring returns to its original state, it’s good for me. After all, I’ll be able to have one more life. So what should I do?”

He drew a picture of collecting sap from the root of a large tree.

“Isn’t it too big for a tree root? Is there something like this in this forest?” To be honest, rather than a tree root, it looks more similar to a building. He ignored my question and drew a sharp piece of something that is cutting the root.

Huh? This shine, this pattern… Something made of Elementium?

Elementium was a material similar to Emeras. Although it’s use for combat was absolutely trash, it had the characteristic of being colorful, so it’s very good to be used as a decoration. But even though it’s useless, there’s still crazy people who uses it to hunt monsters. Of course, the crazy people I mentioned were us, the Four Stagnant Waters.

“Where do you even get this?” At my question, Chief Stag Beetle pulled out a map from my backpack and put his claws on the mines northwards of the snowy mountains–the very same place the scarabs told me when I showed them this map.

“There’s Elementium there?”

nod nod.

Then we should go. I returned to the shelter, packed my gear, and headed to the snowy mountains with the Chief Stag Beetle. As we got out of the forest with the ATV, the snowy mountains, reflected in the warm sunlight, were revealed. Meanwhile, a group of valley deer rushed right next to us.

They are really fast.

.

.

.

Once I arrived at the Black Forest, the Chief Stag Beetle led me into one particular cave. When I entered, something glistened on the walls of the cave. Seems like what the scarab said about how there were various rare minerals here was spot on.

“Jackpot…” Even though I still couldn’t see any Elementium, the amount of glowstones I saw was enough to make me smile. On top of that, there’s also several ignition stones here and there, as well as an overflowing amount of black charcoal.

I pulled a flashlight from my bag and shone it towards the deeper part of the cave.

“It doesn’t look like a nest.” Fortunately, the walls and floors were made of soft material, so it should be easy to dig out those precious materials. I promptly took a shovel from my backpack and started to work in earnest.

Meanwhile, the Chief Stag Beetle was putting the mined ores into my backpack. After all, unlike the scarabs, they did not have the ability to extract metal. Instead, they excelled at finding ores. If you ever walk around with them, and they suddenly went somewhere and marked the place they went to, you should just trust them and start digging. After hours of digging, I finally found a chunk of Elementium.

“They are that rare, huh?” I pulled out the chunk of Elementium and put it in the backpack. Inside, I could see a lot of glowstones, ignition stones, and black charcoal filling the bag. In addition, several rare ores such as Emeras, Mithril, and Adamant were also in the mix.

“If we process all of this into a weapon and put it in the Auction House, the price will be insane…”

Da-jeong already gave me 10,000 points, but I still want more. After all, there was a need to accumulate enough points so I would be able to buy new weapons once the tier 3 Store opened.

When I looked outside, the sun was already in the middle of the sky. It seems like I need to stop mining for now and go to find the tree roots the Chief Stag Beetle told me about.

I loaded the heavy bag into the ATV’s trunk and left the mines with Chief Stag Beetle. The place where the root was located was in the Black Forest, so it will be quite dangerous. It was even farther north from the location where I found the other scarabs and the stag beetles.

In this place, all kinds of monsters were roaming in groups. There were even plant-type monsters emitting poisonous smoke. In short, it’s a place where one’s life was bound to be gone if they entered clumsily.

Kieeeeeeek-!!

The sound of stone monkeys being chased by something can be heard above the trees. I looked up and saw it was a black serpent who was chasing them. Although it was a small snake monster, it was very dangerous because it could spit poison up to several meters.

“It can even fly…” It has no wings, but when it glides by spreading some kind of coating on their skin, it could fly away for several tens of meters.

“Did you really have to bring me to this place?” When I asked the Chief Stag Beetle, he just pointed his claw towards one direction. Steeling my heart, I went north while killing all the monsters on the way. And thanks to that, my level got back to 25.

“The additional effect is still the dimensional prison.” Let’s expect that the additional effect Da-jeong desperately wanted will appear once I reach level 30.

When I finally reached the root of the tree, my mouth simply wouldn’t close. “Why is it so big…”

The thickness of a single tree root was at the same size of a single house. Mind you, when I say house, what I mean is a countryside house, which is normally very huge, even bigger than your usual city house. However, I couldn’t see where the trunk was, and many animals were coming and going from it as if it was their home.

“Isn’t this some kind of monster?”

When the Chief Stag Beetle heard that, he pulled my hair with all of his strength.

“Hey, hey! No violence allowed! Use words, WORDS!” I said. I shaped the chunk of Elementium with a hammer and chisel into sharp pieces. It was not as sharp as Emeras, so it was relatively easy to handle. Once I was done, I wrapped the piece with cloth and tape before pushing it into the root. Soon after, white liquid flowed out, and the stag beetle pointed to it.

Surprisingly, there was a buff in the white liquid itself.

「Elderwood’s Sap」

「Effect: Pain tolerance, skin regeneration」

Moreover, it was a double buff. Pain tolerance is a good buff that literally reduces the amount of pain, and skin regeneration was self explanatory. However, what surprised me the most was the name of the tree.

“Elderwood…? Could it be that Elderwood longbows were made out of this wood?”

I didn’t bring it because I can use guns here, but it was a bow that I really liked. The material of that wonderful bow was this wood in front of me. Knowing that, it’s impossible for me to not take some, right?

When I took out the mini saw from the bag, the Chief Stag Beetle pulled my hair once again.

“Why? It’s just a tree, isn’t it?”

As I moved the saw closer to the root of the tree, I felt a stinging sensation from all directions thanks to my Perception stat. The cause of those stinging sensation was the countless gaze I was receiving from all of the monsters around the tree.

“…” Cold sweat poured all over my body as my breathing got rougher. Only when I put the saw down did all the gaze disappear. Just what’s wrong with this forest?

Anyway, it seems dangerous, so let’s not touch the tree any more than this.

“Is that the reason why I should use a piece of Elementium to cut it?”

Nod-!! Nod-!!

You should’ve told me in advance!!!

I put the Elderwood sap into a bottle. When I tasted it with my little finger, it tasted like plain milk. Or is it non-fat milk?

“Hmm. It’s pretty good.”

I wanted to get more of it, but when the bottle was filled, the sap stopped flowing. The cut wound was also healed in an instant, and the large stag beetle pulled my hair once again. I think that means no more harvesting.

“Okay, okay.”

I am greedy, but I felt like I should only take as much as the tree gives. I put the bottle in my backpack and got on the ATV. As I was driving away from the tree root, I felt as if someone was waving their hand at me.

“Ah, I must be mistaken.”

I returned to the spring and poured the Elderwood’s sap into the black water. As the cloudy liquid fell, the water slowly turned transparent. It was amazing. The Chief Stag Beetle put his claws in front of his body and spun around me. I think he’s happy that the spring has been cleansed.

When I asked him if the sap could be collected again, he told me that it would take some time to do that again.

“I can’t restore it every time I want, huh?” I was expecting an infinite resurrection, but it seems like that expectation was a pie in the sky. Or is it an Elderwood tree in the middle of Black Forest?

When I returned to Earth after returning to the shelter, Da-jeong hadn’t come back yet. When I opened the Auction House and checked the comments of the government shelter, the place and time of our meeting was written there. It was close to my location, so it was good.

However, Jang Won-taek was not the only person who wanted to meet me.

-Bae Geom-in wants to meet you too. Would it be okay?

“Why…”

Was he angry because he got threatened with a gun by me?

He should have been grateful to me since I saved his life, so why?

“Wait, seeing how he defended Seokhyun, he might have changed his mind.” I think I should check on him to be sure. Therefore,

-That’s fine. Let him.