Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

“It won’t be easy for them to beat Geom-in.” I said towards Da-jeong. Even though Geom-in was relatively the weakest among us, he was still one of the four stagnant waters nonetheless. Therefore, when it comes to things like a sudden enemy attack in the labyrinth, he shouldn’t be able to be completely caught off guard. Looking at the last comment he left, it seems to be the case, so he should be able to act accordingly.

Da-jeong said.

“But he’s Geom-in… Don’t you think he’s a little too weak?” Da-jeong disagreed.

“I think so too.” I said as we traced the way we came and headed for the swamp where the old tree was. As Da-jeong said, Geom-in was a little too weak when compared to us. Of course, his multiple unique skills acquired by copying others were a fairly powerful unique skill. However, it was by no means overpowered, because just like in Wolmido, the result it brought was not that good.

Da-jeong followed me and murmured. “I don’t think he will be able to fight them because he’s timid.”

“Back when he fought against the griffon, he fought well.”

“That’s because he’s fighting with other people. He’s not good at fighting alone.”

“Have you seen it?”

“A few times. That guy isn’t particularly good at direct fighting. If you are like a butcher when you fight, he’s like headless chicken. He ran around well, but not cool at all.”

“What kind of analogy is that…” It seems to be true that Geom-in’s fighting power is weak. If he joined us after this, it seems like I would have to give him some counseling.

When I said that, Da-jeong’s voice rose several notes higher. “You are willing to let him join us? Will we be finally reunited?”

“Yeah. Now is the time for all of us to gather.”

“Is that so? I’m still unsure about him…”

“The most important thing is his feelings. Do you still hate him, by the way?”

“It’s not like I hate him… I just don’t like his attitude. Whenever I meet him, I feel like he’s spying on my legs.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t because of that, but because he’s not crazy like the 3 of us.”

“What the… Why are you suddenly taking his side?”

“It’s not like that… That guy is a bit ordinary, a bit timid, and a bit greedy. But he’s still fine. And to be honest, me and Seokhyun are more abnormal, because we can treat you normally even after looking at your body.”

“Hmm, I do admit that.” Da-jeong giggled.

“When you travel with Seokhyun, nothing happens, right? When we first meet, too, nothing happens, right?”

“Now that I think about it… you guys are weird. Usually, in an apocalypse, men would do anything to have a go with a woman, right?”

“Yeah. And Geom-in should also be like that. He wants to stand above others, he wants to dominate and rule people, and he wants to date pretty girls…”

“Now that you put it like that… I guess you are right.”

“You said he was in his mid-20s, aren’t you? It seems to me that he was deliberately acting like that towards you in order to not get pushed away by you. He’s at an age when he can be a little pretentious, after all.”

“So what do you want to say?”

“If we save him this time, he will definitely be on our side. There’s no need to wait for a crack to appear in the government shelter before taking him.”

“But, if our relationship with him becomes better, wouldn’t he be able to copy our unique skills?”

“That…” To be honest, I never thought that Geom-in’s unique skill would be able to copy our unique skill perfectly. After all, it had the modifier ‘unique’ to it. If he were able to get a perfect copy of our unique skills, it wouldn’t be unique anymore, after all. So, the most probable outcome was it could only make an inferior copy of a unique skill.

“And when that happens, the world inside the portal will no longer be mine alone.”

“Ah… that’s right? Will the portal open for me to enter?”

Perhaps the portal will open only with my permission.

“There is a possibility. If we can do that, we can all enter, work together, play together, eat together… and so on.”

“All four of us, wandering through a forest in another world? It’s gonna be fun!!!”

“To do that, we have to rescue Geom-in first. Let’s see…” I drew the surrounding terrain and explained what we were going to do to Da-jeong. I planned to make her drag the aggro of those guys from the front, while I attacked them from the flank.

“Don’t attack and just draw their attention. Check the situation and let them come to you.”

“What if the situation makes me have to attack? Now that I look at it, the b*st*rds at the Auction House were feeling very excited.”

“If the situation becomes like that, just retreat. After all, people who want to meet me are not just one or two people, and I want to make their dream come true.” I smirked. Even at this moment, their swearing was still coming at me in the Auction House. I had grown tired of their swearing. So, this time, I wouldn’t just let them go away with it.

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In the middle of a wet, swampy area, four people were fighting. It was Geom-in and his ex-colleagues. The three of them launched a surprise attack towards Geom-in when he was warning Seongho through the Auction House. It was partly Geom-in fault too, though. He misjudged Lee Jang-hoon’s sensory ability range and ended up getting attacked by those who were suspicious of his movement.

Of course, Geom-in wasn’t someone who would easily go down because of an attack. Even though he deliberately avoided fighting against humans, it didn’t mean he was afraid of them. He was ready to do it if he didn’t have any other choice.

However, currently, he was in possession of three unique skills: Blink, Physical Strengthening, and Restraint. A set of unique skills specialized in fighting a small number of enemies. Therefore, he was quite at a disadvantage. However, he still withstood the surprise attack and took the opportunity to counterattack.

“That b*st*rd is screwed!”

“Attack!!!”

The wide swarm turned messy due to the fight. Geom-in widened the distance between him and the three with a blink. The distance he traveled was not long due to his narrow field of view, but that was enough.

“YOU TRAITOR!” Kim Dae-ho jumped and flew towards Geom-in. Unfortunately for him, Geom-in was already prepared for his attack and restrained him with his skill. Then he used blink once again and moved towards Lee Jang-hoon, who was just loading his crossbow.

Lee Jang-hoon immediately swung his crossbow, and Geom-in blocked the attack with his shoulder.

“Ugh!”

If it had been Seongho or Seokhyun, who excel at close quarter combat, they would have launched a headbutt or knee strike to him after blocking the attack. However, because Geom-in was quite timid, he wasn’t familiar with the pain and withdrew, which was a fatal mistake.

“You’re dead!” Chae Sang-shin rushed in without missing an opportunity. Since his unique skill was instantaneous acceleration, if his enemy was not used to it, they would be beaten one-sidedly by him. It was proven by the fact that Geom-in–who had little experience in 1 on 1 fight–was beaten unilaterally by him only after a few exchanges of strikes.

Puk-!! Puk-!! Puk-!!

Geom-in was being hit in the face in succession and retreated. When he was distracted by his pain, the other two rushed to him. With the one with physical strengthening unique skill stuck close to him and the one with sensory ability blocked his movement, Geom-in quickly turned into a rag. In order to fully demonstrate his unique skill, he had to concentrate, but it was difficult to do so while fighting three people at the same time.

At that moment, the bolt shot by Lee Jang-hoon lodged into Geom-in’s shoulder, who was still hesitating.

“ACKKK!” Geom-in grabbed his shoulders and fell to his knees. Without giving him time to recover, the two other men surrounded Geom-in on both sides and presented indiscriminate violence to him.

In front of the flurry of attacks, Geom-in had no choice but to wrap his head and crouch as much as possible. He didn’t even think of using his blink to run away as he was worried that he would die.

“I can’t believe this b*st*rd!”

“Kick him hard! Break his head!”

“Hey! Hey! Let him stand right there.” With his crossbow loaded, Lee Jang-hoon smirked. He was planning to use Geom-in as a target practice. After all, with physical strengthening unique skill, if he avoided shooting his vitals, he wouldn’t die.

Noticing Lee Jang-hoon’s intentions, the other two nodded and dragged Geom-in to his feet. Despite his fairly strong body, he was now a mess of bruises and wounds.

“Hey b*st*rd, stand up!”

“Shoot him in the d*ck!”

“If I do that, wouldn’t I become a murderer?”

“Ah…” It’s a very delicate situation where they could beat him as many times as they want, but they can’t kill him.

At that moment, two men entered the swamp. While Geom-in was warning Seongho about the ambush, the three of them did not only stand still. They also did the same to the other survivors in the labyrinth. And the two men were part of people who were incited by them.

Chae Sang-shin clapped his hands as he saw them.

“Here you go! This guy is I Love Gimbap’s colleagues!”

“I beg your pardon? Isn’t that person Survivor 1?”

“He’s the one who entered the underwater cave.”

“This b*st*rd deceived us! He’s deliberately not helping us to buy time for Gimbap!”

“Cough… Cough…”

Geom-in gave strength to his arm which was being held from behind him, but he could not get away. After all, Kim Dae-ho, whose stats were almost the same as him, was the one who was holding his arms.

Only then did the two new arrivals understand the situation.

“Are you going to kill him?”

“Didn’t you guys come from the government shelter? What if they questioned why did you guys return without him?”

“We can just say that he died in the labyrinth.”

“Yeah. This place is dangerous, it wouldn’t be strange if people died here.”

“AHA!”

“But… We can’t use our own hands… You guys, get 50 points…”

“Still, killing people is a bit…”

“Just think this guy is Gimbap and do it.”

“…”

One of the two new arrivals walked closer towards Geom-in, as if persuaded. Meanwhile, Kim Dae-ho smashed Geom-in’s head to the ground. At that moment, someone appeared from the other entrance. It was a woman draped in a pink swimsuit. People instantly drooled over her body.

“Who is that?”

“Wow, her body is no joke.”

With her hair tied up and a hat on, the three men of the government shelter did not even recognize that the woman was Da-jeong. Meanwhile, from their flank, a human butcher entered.

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A bolt popped out of the air all of a sudden and stuck in Kim Dae-ho’s abdomen.

“ACCKKKKK!” Without being able to do anything, he fell to his knees and screamed. At the same time, his grip on Geom-in’s arms was released, and people looked at him with their eyes widened.

“Huh?”

“Wha-what’s happening?” Between the remaining 4, Lee Jang-hoon was particularly surprised. He never thought that someone would be able to sneak through his senses.

Where the hell did he come from?

In the span of two seconds, of which they used to try and get a grasp of the situation, Seongho spread the dimension wall around his surroundings and used it as a footsteps to rush in. Everyone was astonished at his movement, which looked as if he was running and stepping on air.

“Uh, how did he do it?”

“Wow…”

“Now is not the time for admiring things!!!” One person who grasped the situation quicker than others screamed and rushed to intercept Seongho’s movement. But, Seongho didn’t entertain him and just opened his dimensional prison in front of the guy, sending him to god-only-knows where. Only then did the remaining three realize who the attacker was.

“It’s I Love Gimbap!!”

“That’s right.” Seongho jumped into the air and threw his emeras throwing knife at Chae Sang-shin. WIth a ferocious hum, it pierced the air and dug deep into the shoulder of Chae Sang-shin, who was right next to Geom-in. Seongho had aimed at his body, but he was able to avoid it with his instantaneous acceleration unique skill.

“You b*st*rd!” Chae Sang-shin endured the pain and ran towards Seong-ho. His anger, which was already overflowing, became even more so because of the pain. However, as soon as he entered a hand-to-hand fight with Seongho, he realized that something was wrong.

‘How…’ His opponent easily avoids his rapid attack. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. No matter how high ones’ stats was, it was still difficult to cope with such a quick attack.

Did he by chance already meet someone with instant acceleration before?

Many thoughts ran through his head. However, it was soon cut off as Seongho’s fists buried itself in his stomach.

“Keuk!” His body trembled as he fell to his knees. His intestines ruptured, and blood foam poured out of his mouth. At that moment, Seongho’s eyes were already dyed red as he slowly retrieved his fist. Meanwhile, the other two retreated, startled by his eerie gaze.

“Cr-crazy…”

“What the… He’s not weak…”

Up until now, there were a lot of false rumors about I Love Gimbap making rounds at the Auction House. While many people acknowledged his achievement, there were also a lot of people who didn’t share the same feeling.

However, Seongho had no intention of correcting it. After all, in the apocalypse, ignorance meant death. He ran towards the two of them without saying a word.

Meanwhile, Da-jeong, who rested on top of a broken old tree, couldn’t peel her eyes from the fight. She felt it all over again…

“He’s really strong…” At first, she thought she’d help him a bit, since there were five opponents. However, it turns out to be unnecessary. His stats was one factor which was enabling him to win. However, what made her astonished was not that, but the way he utilized his unique skill.

His dimensional wall was strong even though it only lasted for a few seconds. However, if one only focused on that wall, they would be in for a surprise since his punches were deadly. With only one punch from him, they would surely fall and die. Moreover, Seongho seemed to understand his opponent’s unique skill well and was capable of responding accordingly.

‘I think I’m going to fall in love even deeper….’

The battle was over in an instant. The man who finally came out of the dimensional prison was out cold. Meanwhile, Seongho was just fine. his breathing was a bit rough, though.

“Can you stand up?”

“Uh-huh.”

Geom-in opened his mouth and barely answered. After drinking the potion Seongho gave to him, the wound around his body was healed quite a bit, but the psychological impact he suffered was quite severe. After all, he never thought that Seongho would be this strong. Yes, he knows that he’s strong, but not this strong.

Then Da-jeong said, “Hey you two, we don’t have time for a tearful and dramatic reunion. People are coming.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think one of them reported it to the Auction house.”

“Th-then, we’ll be in trouble…” However, unlike Geom-in, who doesn’t know what to do and is afraid, Seongho was carefree.

“We can just kill them all.”

“You want to become a murderer and resurrect?”

“No, there are a lot of penalties for that. In this kind of environment, there are many ways to kill people without become a murderer.”

“How exactly?” When Da-jeong asked, Seongho told them the methods he had been using: Blocking the entrance of the underwater cave with his portal and making them die in the hands of monsters, pouring gasoline around them and forcing them to hold firecrackers in their hands, and many more.

“Oh my god…·”

“You’re totally crazy…”

The eyes of the two opened wide at Seongho’s ruthless methods. He’s really the human butcher.

At that moment, she stood up and walked towards Geom-in.

“Our timid Geom-in, are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Even if I looked like this, I was quite strong.”

“Then, why can’t you fight properly?”

“That…” Geom-in, who was about to make more excuses, bit his lips. Right now, instead of making excuses, he feels like he just wants to admit it. “It’s because I’m weak. Sorry.”

“…”

Da-jeong, who wondered what kind of excuse he was about to make, couldn’t help but be surprised at his answer.

Had he grown up a bit?

At that moment, she heard a clap from somewhere and whipped her head towards the direction it was coming from. There, she could see someone walking towards them, wearing nothing but a wet panty. Geom-in and Seongho, who were also looking in the man’s direction, were surprised by his sudden appearance.

“Seokhyun, why are you here…”

“Rapwi! You are here to help?” Da-jeong was happy and proud at the same time, smiling broadly.

“No. I just came here because I saw you guys while passing by.”

(E/n the four are now reunited!)