Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Kwon Kyung-joon was dead. People who were under the effect of his brainwashing ability had also come to their senses. They all decided to leave after sharing the supplies stockpiled inside the bunker among themselves. Naturally, the rest of the survivors in the area, including people from the academy group, also got their share. But amongst them all, it was me who got the most. After all, I hoarded supplies from one of his bunkers entirely for myself. I also took Kwon’s diary with me, and there’s quite a lot of information written inside.

“Hmm… The other survivors were making a communication network with him.” I murmured as I read what was written inside Kwon’s diary. Those who were in constant contact with Kwon were survivors whose main range of activities concentrated around Gimhae and Changwon. I couldn’t figure out what kind of people they are as of yet. However, it was clear that I had to be vigilant towards them since they were pretty much allied with Kwon.

The next piece of information that caught my eyes was the code they used to have a conversation in the Auction House. It was a method of communicating using an encrypted language that they have decided on in the comment section of a specific item on the Auction House every week. It was important to do so because the Auction House was a place that everybody can use.

“Aha. They already did this, huh?” I was thinking of using the same method to talk with Rapwi or Duck, but it seems these guys had beaten me to it. “Today should be September 1st, so I will have to look for some strange items in the Auction House on the 8th.”

By the way, the name of the group who was active in Changwon was Changwon Clan…  Did they already gather enough power to call themselves a clan? It would be a difficult thing to do since a zombie raid would come if there’s more than five people gathering…

“But it’s not impossible, as they can just use the same method as Kwon.”

They might think that there would be no major problems if they just exchanged encrypted conversation through the Auction House. However, that’s not the case. By using that method, control becomes more important. If the others have a different thought from the agreement, what can the others do? Nobody knows what others are thinking. We humans are a fickle being who only act for our own benefit. So, how could they be sure that they wouldn’t get backstabbed by the others?

“Well, that’s not something I need to be worried about.” I shrugged. They may delude themselves by having a sense of peace and superiority in numbers after surviving through zombies and goblins hordes. However, I’m sure it’ll crumble soon. After all, menacing monsters, including orcs and werewolves, have not yet appeared. On top of that, winter is also approaching in 3 months.

“Since the summer was so hot, the winter will be freezing.” In this kind of world, winter was a season which was much more difficult for survivors to endure than summer. And since it’s been awhile since the apocalypse began, food supplies which could be looted would become more and more scarce. In short, the time has come for survivors to come up with a long-term survival plan.

“No one wants to live their whole life while eating just military rations, right?” Looting for supplies while hunting monsters was a much more efficient method to get some food source rather than farming or fishing right now. But, things will change soon. When the kobolds came, hordes of kobolds would sweep through the city at night, and there would be nothing left for humans.

More difficult times are coming, how should I prepare my group members, I wonder?

“…they wouldn’t even remotely care.” I said when the thought of Rapwi and Duck entered my mind. They were capable of resolving it by themselves. They weren’t called stagnant waters for nothing. In the end, the one I should help was the academy group. For now, with the supplies they will get from the rice centre as well as from Kwon’s bunker, their food situation should be safe for another month.

“Seems like we will need to move soon…”

I think it would be better to go to Gimhae first. Then if we still need to move again, Changwon would be a good destination. No matter what kind of place we ended up settling at, the place should have a stable source of food.

“It has to be a place where we could fish as well as make a vegetable garden.” When my thoughts reached that point, one particular place came to mind. Changwon, especially Masan-gu, should be suitable for that purpose. It was the largest city in Gyeongnam so it should be big enough. Moreover, it has the advantage of being attached to the sea.

“What about other cities…” I searched the Auction House to see if there was anyone else who had the same thought as me. The Auction House was now being used as more than just a place to auction items, but also as a place akin to a forum. Every forum had their respective topics marked by the items so people could navigate easily.

The content of a forum I entered was as follows:

-Going inland is foolish when the sea is not polluted. Considering that food supply will become even more difficult in the future, coastal cities are the best.

-It is necessary to secure as much fishing gear and nets as possible, too. I’m sure you can survive with your supplies for now, but it will be difficult in winter.

-Before winter, you have to finish making a garden and stocking up some firewood. In particular, those who are in Seoul, Gangwon-do, Gyeonggi-do. It’s going to be extremely cold there.

-Some people might think that winter will be better than summer, but that is only when your home and workplace are warm. This time, it will be hell.

“Seems like people are thinking similar things as I did.” I nodded my head. Since this particular item’s comment section was where survival information is shared, there’s almost no joke comment here, only serious comments.

However, If someone’s goal was to only prolong their lives, they didn’t have to do such things written in the comments. Together with the appearances of the goblins, bread is now available to buy on the Store. Which means, you could simply buy it with points after killing some goblins or zombies. The problem is, the bread tastes awful on top of being quite expensive.

There was a time when Mikyung, who had accumulated a lot of points, bought one out of curiosity and spit it out instantly without even getting a single chew.

-It’s like chewing raw flour…

She said at that time.

Literally, that bread should be something that you only take when you are in the most extreme and urgent situation, with no other choice to pick from.

“The current situation isn’t that bad yet.”

As I was looking for this and that in the Auction House, Yoohyeon’s plane flew in through the window.

It’s time for us to hunt together.

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In the academy group, Sooyeon and Yoohyeon are the only ones who haven’t reached level 10 yet. They were currently at level 8 and 9 respectively. Therefore, I’m going to help them to get that level in order to get an additional effect on their unique ability.

When I got to the meeting place, the two of them were already waiting.

“Seongho. Did you hear about the golf course?” Sooyoen asked as soon as she saw me.

“I have heard about it from Yoohyeon.”

“I’m really surprised that a group with such a strong bunker like that would collapse in just one day. When I saw it in the morning, a lot of people were going crazy around it.”

“Isn’t there a saying that says it’s easier for things to fall rather than to be built?”

“Seongho, even Rome did not fall in a single day. It’s strange, truly. There didn’t seem to be a group nearby who were powerful enough to destroy the whole bunker in a night.” Sooyeon said as her brows furrowed. It seems like she didn’t really understand how such a bunker fell in just one day. Well, any normal person would be as lost as Sooyeon.

“Yesterday, I had Yoohyeon do some reconnaissance, and their defenses were amazing. The ability to destroy them in a single night means they’re much stronger than we are, so we’ll have to prepare.” I said as Yoohyeon looked at me. They both nodded their heads at my words.

Of course, that strong force would not harm them in any way. I mean, why should I? But it’s not bad to say so to keep these people on their toes.

“Seongho hyung, you know people who came out of the golf course yesterday, right? The three people.”

“Those three murderers?”

“Yeah. I just found out that they had settled down near our hideout.”

“How about the guys who originally live in the bunker?”

“They now occupy the other two bunkers. It seems like this one bunker can’t be used anymore since It was completely on fire.”

I nodded at Yoohyeon’s words. It was clear as day that the two newly established factions will be quite aggressive. One faction was filled with people who had already committed murder once, while on the other side, there’s people who use to be Kwon’s subordinates, who of course wouldn’t shy away from resorting to violence.

Yoohyeon told me that, after they came to their senses and listened to what they’ve done under Kwon, they didn’t even show any remorse.

– So what? We’ll live our own way from now on, so don’t be nosy.

-Those supplies are all our stuff, right? Why are you taking them?

The ‘You’ in that story were the other survivors in the area, including people of the academy group. When people said that they looted it amidst the chaos that happened in the Bunker, Kwon’s subordinates could only grind their teeth. However, it didn’t mean that they would only take it just like that. A storm of another chaos was already brewing.

Sooyeon said worriedly. “When that confrontation happened, there were people who threatened that they would guide zombie hordes here, but I didn’t know what happened next.”

I paused at her words. I only killed Kwon, which means that his 11 subordinates were still alive. They also had taken over the two bunkers. Even if there’s no murderer system, it wouldn’t be easy for me to attack them since it means there’s at least 5 people in each bunker. I said hastily. “Yoohyeon, can you check how many people are in each bunker?”

“Okay, Hyung.” Yoohyeon took a notebook out of his backpack, ripped one page, folded it into the shape of an airplane and sent it to the sky.

After a while, Yoohyeon, who was closing his eyes, said, “I see… People fighting in front of the… Uh, clubhouse? It seems to be a matter of which bunker the two women should go to.”

Ah, that… I just remembered that out of 11 Kwon’s subordinates, there were 2 women. And they were fighting because of them?

“It seems that they want to have Kwon’s two lovers.” Sooyeon laughed dryly.

“It would be interesting if the two of them decided to be independent.”

At my words, Sooyeon sighed. “Is it easy for the two women to be independent in this situation? If they want to live, they have to stick with them even if they are not a decent group. They couldn’t simply beat those guys and run away.”

That’s right. I don’t know how strong those two women are, but I know that their strength wouldn’t be enough to beat the other nine. Therefore, in order to survive, they must attach themselves to one side.

After solving the problem of Kwon, a new problem arose. Although this world was ruined by the zombies and monsters, somehow it’s humans who became the source of all my headaches.

“Uh, uh… the atmosphere is very bad right now. They are arguing that one guy should either die or get out…”

“Is that so?” If a person who had murdered someone before commits another murder, an event will appear immediately. The problem was that I didn’t know which one of his subordinates had killed before. Kwon didn’t even write it in his journal.

Yoohyeon’s face scrunched. “Gosh… they already killed one. The smallest uncle is surrounded by everyone…”

“Did you see who killed him?”

“No…”

I sighed at Yoohyeon’s answer. Since the murderer event didn’t happen, it seems like the one who killed him was a clean person.

Should I say this is lucky?

Soon after, Yoohyeon said that the two women had already attached themselves to one side.

“The other side is objecting to their decision, but they said ‘Why should you care?’.”

“Those two women said that?”

“Yes…”

When one conflict ended, another happened. For those women, it would be terrifying, I bet. They’ve barely escaped from Kwon’s grasp, but were now forced to join a group of people which was not that different from Kwon.

Anyway, it seems like that faction wouldn’t last very long. They’re already fighting among themselves like this from the beginning, so it wouldn’t be strange if later they become real enemies.

“We can’t stay here long.” As I spoke, both Yoohyeon and Sooyeon looked at me.

“Where should we go, then?”

“There are only two possible places to go, right? I think Changwon would be better.”

“Uh… Hyung-jun Hyung seemed to want to go to Gimhae…” Yoohyeon said after hesitating a bit.

When I asked him why Hyung-jun Hyung wanted to go to Gimhae, Yoohyeon told me that Hyung-jun Hyung’s ex-wife and daughter were at Gimhae. There’s no chance that the two of them were still alive, but it seems that Hyung wants to find at least the traces of them. However, it seems like he couldn’t say it outright because he’s thinking of what the other members are thinking about, as he’s currently the leader of the academy group.

“What do you think, Sooyeon? How about you, Yoohyeon?”

“Um… I think Changwon will be good, since it’s close to the sea. It’s going to be winter soon, so shouldn’t we stock up more food?” Sooyeon said.

“I also think so.” Yoohyeon concurred.

I think Mikyung will also think the same… So, it could be said that our next destination had been decided.

We wrapped out our chatter, packed our things and went hunting. After killing several monsters, Yoohyeon finally reached level 10.

“I finally got another additional effect… doll bomb?”

“Does that mean you can turn your dolls into bombs?”

“I’ll try it now.”

He folded the paper into the form of a frog and sent it away. After the frog was quite a distance away from us, Yoohyeon muttered ‘doll bomb’. Then, the frog exploded on the spot.

“Ugh.” As the fragments flew, Sooyeon lowered her head and covered it with her arms.

The power was quite ambiguous…

“…a goblin won’t die in one shot.” Yoohyeon said dejectedly.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be too disappointed. Try to use it by combining it with other attacks. For example, tying a folded paper to an arrow and shooting it. Wouldn’t it explode after the arrow digs into the flesh of your target?”

“Oh…” I guess he hadn’t even thought of that.

“Even if it is a large monster, if you shoot the arrow in a place like its groin and explode it, they will be fatally injured. Imagine a bomb going off here.” As I pointed between the crotch, Yoohyeon became quite pale and instantly folded his legs. Meanwhile, Sooyeon’s face turned beet red. She moved her hands to fan it.

We continued hunting and managed to raise Sooyeon’s level to 9.

Then, Hyung-jun Hyung and Mikyung, who had gone to loot the rice centre, returned and showed off their loot. I ate with them before returning to my own hideout.

The labyrinth will open soon, so I should review the video about it.

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Labyrinths were a fairly large-scale event in Survival Life. However, the labyrinth which would open soon was just a simulation. It would appear together with the speedrun event, an event which would judge how fast a user could get to the end of the labyrinth. Whatever trick they used, or whichever route they took was of no concern.

There would be quite a few monsters inside. On top of it, the track would be quite narrow. Therefore, it would be hard to pass through even a zombie which normally could be avoided easily thanks to the nerf they suffered.

Then there’s another problem. It was the darkness. They could use glowstones to light the way, but it would mean that they have to face all the monsters inside that are attracted to the light it emits. So, their clear time will definitely plummet. However, if they decide to not use it, without a shadow grape, they will get lost inside.

Also, because it was an event that came quite early, it was difficult for people to do it because they haven’t grown strong enough yet.

“It’s hard and dangerous even in the game. And because now it’s in reality, it was much more dangerous.” Back in the game, if you die, you can just start over from the tutorial, but in real life, you can’t do that, right?

There won’t be many people with the courage to break through the labyrinth that they enter for the first time in their lives. At most, there should only be a few stagnant waters, including me… and some foolish and greedy people.

Or that’s what I thought…

As soon as I opened the Auction House, I could see there’s quite a lot of people who were already waiting for the event to come.

-Ah, when will the labyrinth appear? Why is it so slow?

-The monsters inside are completely stupid. They can’t even sense us when we pass near them. Just be careful with the kobolds.

-Are you guys really going to join the event? It must be very dark and scary inside. How can you guys endure it?

-Just think about the sweet rewards that are waiting in the deepest part.

-Don’t you want to put your name on the rankings? Just join the fun, man!

-You bastards, it’s only fun when it’s in the game. But you’re saying that you wanted to risk your life for this?

-Don’t be such a scaredy cat, you noob…

-What? I’m at least better than you.

-Want to have a bet?

-Call.

(T/N call is like, ‘Okay’.)

Hmm…

“Isn’t that guy just bluffing?” I mean, what can’t people say in the anonymous comment section?

I left the Auction House right away and searched on my video storage for a video regarding the speedrun event. However, only two videos came out. And both of them only have one viewer: Poor Man.

Come to think of it, Poor Man was a stagnant water of my stream. He was the person I am most grateful towards who came every time I started the broadcast and had also supported me with donations. If it wasn’t for him, I would have quit streaming sooner. In a way, he was the one who made me decide to save all of my stream recordings.

(T/N TBH, that’s what keeps me translating too. Even when sometimes I got angry, when people asked ‘Asta, SWOA chapter where?’ I got energized. I can’t just quit now…)

When I played the video, Poor Man sponsored me again as always.

-Poor Man donated 4,000 won!

-Poor Man: Are you doing a labyrinth speedrun? I hope you leave a good record.

-I Love Gimbap: What kind of part-time work did you do today?

-Poor Man: I was sick, so I took a break.

-I Love Gimbap: Oh, you should get well soon.

-Poor Man: That’s right. I have to get well so that I can pay for the donations.

-I Love Gimbap: No, that’s not it.

My conversations with Poor Man always went like this. Then, the viewers who came later used this as an excuse to slender me. At the same time, Poor Man solidified his persona.

“Is this person alive?” I murmured. If he had played the game at least once, he probably wouldn’t have turned into a zombie. However, it was difficult to think that the poor Poor Man would have purchased an expensive VR equipment. The game could also be played through VR café, but that was long after the game had been released. It seems like it would be correct to assume that he was dead. If by chance the guy was alive and I was able to meet him, I would definitely help him.

I scoured the video to find the settings and started reviewing. The exact date of the appearance of the labyrinth was tomorrow. Though, the location of the portal would be random. But since it opens so many times, people would be able to find it without any problem.

“I’m the only one who can get in there around this area.” My main competitor for the event in this area, Kwon, had died.

I packed my things and slept in the cave. When I woke up due to the alarm, it was already dawn. When I went outside, the parking lot of the nearby building shook violently, and a portal appeared.

As I entered, a pitch-black space greeted me.