Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

The morning news these days never fails to put a frown on my face. The currently airing news in front of me was summarizing that the incident from several days ago—where an Awakener stole some cash from a convenience store—was nothing but a cute act. I couldn’t help but wonder what they think Awakeners really are, are they predicting that the Awakener will rip the whole ATM machine away in the near future?

They also reported that there were times when some Awakeners were wanted by the police after making a riot on their drunken stupor. Just how could they know that the identity of the man was an Awakener? In the first place, finding someone who could disappear right in front of the police wouldn’t be that common.

The announcer added cautiously at the end of the news.

―The behaviour of the so-called ‘Awakeners’, who appeared in our daily lives a while ago, is getting more and more violent. Don’t we need to know what they want and what they’re doing?

“It was too late…” When I changed the channel, the question that happened in the National Assembly yesterday came up.

―Is the government aware of this problem? The people are quite distressed! Do you know who exactly they are and where did they come from, Mr. Minister?

―For now, we are constantly trying to figure out their exact number…

―Mr. Minister, if it’s only words, even I can say it. Have you heard about the rumour that those so-called Awakeners are preparing for a zombie apocalypse?

After those questions, I could see someone whispering towards The Minister of Public Administration and Security from behind. It looks like the whispering man was giving him some advice.

Then, a member of the National Assembly stood up in anger and shouted out towards the Minister. The shout was so loud, even though the mic was off, emphasizing his anger.

―What are you doing right now? Just what are the Ministry of Public Administration And Security doing when thousands of people have awakened strange abilities out there and some kind of conspiracy was happening on the internet! Does it make sense that a Minister like you doesn’t even know about that!?

―And, is the Ministry of National Defence really working properly? We are curious about what happened to the shootout which was caused by a deserter that happened a few days ago! Please do your job right! People are frustrated!

– No, wait a minute.

As other members of the National Assembly raised their voices, the conference room became chaotic. But contrary to them, my heart was relieved by their display. If things continue like this, the chance that the men in black suits would come to me would be greatly diminished, since they would be busy with their own internal affairs.

It had already been over two weeks since the appearance of the Silver Dragon meteorite was known to the world and status windows started appearing. It’s already far too late for the government to try to grasp the situation.

“I’m sure there must be some reason.” However, I don’t care about it at all. At that moment, the thought of the meteor’s current position enters my mind. Thus, I went to a site where space enthusiasts gathered.

“It’s moving fast.” It’s already coming close to Jupiter. However, everyone on the site was clasping their heads because it was difficult to calculate the arrival date because of what happened to it on its journey.

―If you look at the announcement made by NASA, it’s certain that some parts of the meteor were chipped by Jupiter’s gravity. Looks like the meteor has turned into a fragment.

That’s it. It was the very fragment which would be the cause of the Russian fishing boat events. And five days after that, the zombie outbreak would occur.

16 days left.

When I was doing my daily routine of ordering food and other necessities from an online shopping mall, a text message from the courier service came. They’re giving me the notification that the generators and the CCTV set have arrived.

“It’s finally here.”

I went down to the first floor and received it before moving it through the portal.

Upon closer inspection, I wondered if I could make these things work properly.

“I just have to read the manual carefully…” Except for the manual for the diesel generator, everything else was written in English.

“Let’s be thankful it’s not written in Chinese…” I read the manual thoroughly and carefully to not misinterpret even a single sentence. Afterall, these precious and valuable machines would be the backbone of my life in the forest. Without them, the foundation of my plan would be greatly shaken.

“Turns out, it’s not that difficult.” Fortunately, I would be able to assemble it, albeit little by little.

Pull out the cable… and install the panels…

I struggled quite a lot at this step. In this forest, it was difficult to pick a place where the solar panel could get enough sunlight while being hidden from any monsters passing by.

“Dammit. It’s difficult to make it work.” I could barely finish it by laying an additional mortar mixture beneath the panel. The hiding was solved by cutting the bushes and putting them around the panel, though.

From the outside, it didn’t seem strange.

“Is this enough?”

Woof!

I took Dingo back to the cave and started the generator with an anticipating heart. As soon as I clicked on the switch, the generator turned on while letting a soft hum.

Well… it’s pretty quiet. It’s said that the low noise was caused by the parts called inverters. I couldn’t make it more silent than this, so I guess, I just have to get used to it.

“It will take some time for it to charge.” Bored, I decided to bring some diesel oil and test the diesel generator out. However, unlike the solar panel, the machine roared as soon as I put the oil in and started it out.

Because of it, Dingo was startled and scurried away.

“Ugh!” I quickly turned it off. If I let it roar for a few more seconds, all the monsters nearby would certainly flock towards the cave. I guess I would only turn on the diesel generator if the surroundings were already perfectly safe or in case of emergency.

The manual generator also did its job splendidly. After I turned the knob hard for several minutes, the power to charge one tablet was produced.

After I finished piling up the groceries delivered by the courier in the warehouse, a number appeared on the solar generator panel.

“12.5 volts…”

I brought my laptop, tablet as well as my smartphone and connected all of it using the cables. Then, on their respective battery bars, the sign of thunder symbolizing that it’s currently charging appeared.

“Amazing.” It was surprising that such electronic devices could be used in a dimension other than Earth.

“Now I should be able to install CCTV here…” Though, it was still questionable whether I could install it or not because the power requirement is quite huge. But it should be doable as long as I didn’t charge multiple electronic devices at the same time.

I unpacked the CCTV set and installed it in the vicinity of the cave’s entrance to test it. Then on the monitor of my laptop, the feed came.

“Wow, the picture quality is really good.”

Are all civilian CCTVs this clear these days? It even had a motion detection function!

As a test, I told Dingo to stand on the cave entrance. Then the moment when the bored guy scratched his head with his hind paws…

Beep~!! Beep~!!

Along with the sound of the alarm, the screen floated on the monitor as well as on the smartphone and sent a warning.

Bluetooth’s range was a little bit short, but…

“This should be enough.”

As long as I didn’t get attacked while sleeping in the cave, it’s all good.

Currently, my two-story house would still be a comfortable place to live in, but when the zombie apocalypse breaks out, it would no longer be the case. It was better to stay in the cave rather than staying in a place surrounded by zombies on all sides.

“Screams would be heard from everywhere.”

.

.

.

Thanks to the solar power generator, there were many things that could be done.

As soon as I turned the two LED lights on, the cave subtly brightened up.

“It shouldn’t be too bright or the monsters might notice…” I tried my best to maintain secrecy by doing things such as putting blackout curtains on the door. It’s best not to get caught at all until I have enough strength.

Anyway, I would have to start expanding by making the basement. The space on the cave was diminishing quickly because so many supplies were brought in.

“It is difficult to expand to the other side aside from the basement for the time being…” I couldn’t afford to put things outside currently, so my current option was only to dig into the ground.

I had come to that conclusion and had purchased a sturdy pickaxe as well as all the necessary materials.

If I dug the ground carelessly, the thumping sound would be heard from outside the cave. If it was before, I could just escape if some monsters popped out because of the sound because there’s nothing in the cave. However, right now I couldn’t do so because there’s so much precious supplies in here.

“I’m going to try my best to do it.” I erected a sandwich panel and applied a lot of sound-proofing material around the place I would dig into. The necessary step was completed as I put a lot of sound-proofing sponge into the small gaps which couldn’t be closed by other big materials.

“Would this be enough?” I brought a bluetooth speaker and played a song with a maximum volume through it. As expected, only a very small sound could be heard from the outside.

The forest itself is quite noisy, so the chance of being heard by monsters seems to be quite low. Though, I’m not completely certain if monsters like kobolds, which had a very good hearing, pass by.

“I should only do this during the daytime only.” I picked up the pickaxe. Because I had watched a lot of videos related to making a basement, I was already familiar with what to do. However, the question was, can I actually do it?

“Well, I just have to do it.” As winter approaches, the floor would certainly become harder to dig. This time around was the best time to do it.

I hit the ground with a pickaxe. Hitting it again, again and again.

And after some time.

“Huff…Huff…Huff… This is no joke.” I deeply realize. There’s a big difference between digging aimlessly and digging into something with a plan in mind.

The size of the basement needed to store all the supplies should be 5 x 5 x 3. At first, I thought it would be an easy thing to do because the ground wasn’t very hard. But turns out, digging up the soil was no joke.

“Why is there so much soil in there…” They were simply endless. The deeper I went, the more difficult it was to dispose of the soil. So, in the end, I need to set up a ladder to help me go back and forth. Moreover, as I couldn’t just leave all the soil in the narrow cave, I had to throw it out of the cave too.

“Dammit. Moving all the soil is exhausting.” In the MeTube video I had watched, all of these things were solved with a truck. But since it was impossible to use a truck here in the forest, I had no choice but to throw it away manually.

Dingo was of no help other than watching from above.

“…it’s okay since he’s cute.” It was unreasonable to wish for more than that.

However, at some point, I realized I could just install a pulley.

“All you need for a pulley is… a rope… a bucket…” And some pillars to fix the pulley in place. Though, I still had to figure out how to build it.

I took my laptop to the two-story house and browsed the internet.

When someone is surfing through the internet like this, they often do other things than what they were intended to do at first. Those theories also applied to me.

I was looking at the community of the Awakened.

“There are people who have been scammed.”

It seems that there’s quite a few idiots who gave 10 million won to the ID [Help Me].

―At first, he sent me the first part of the video, so I transferred money to his account, but this bastard suddenly ghosts me. I will kill him if I ever find him.

-Fuck, he also did it to me.

-Try to send a complaint to the management team.

– Oh shit, I’m going crazy. Doori Bank 52132 Kim Hyo-jong is really dead.

It’s a bit harsh to say that this kind of scam was bad amidst all of this chaos. In the very near future, the world where things like that didn’t matter at all would come. If someone acts ignorantly and clumsily, their neck would instantly fly, not their money.

“There’s a lot of scammers here and there.” When people gather, money is the law. And in the Awakened community, people who were scammed and wanted to file a complaint were abundant.

There’s only 16 days left, so what did they want to achieve by filing a complaint?

“Hmm…” As I browsed the community further, I came across an unusual article.

―I’m looking for a stagnant water.

―I have some money, so I built a concrete bunker in the basement around the Busan area with a reinforced plastic gate. Here, five people had already stockpiled supplies that could last at least for three years. To the 4 users who had played until the very end, please contact me… You know ID MyDream, don’t you?

– I’m really envious

– Are you gathering all the stagnant waters now?

-Wow… 3 years’ worth of stockpiles in a concrete bunker.

-Using reinforced plastic rather than steel for the door, is it because of the corrosive disease…

-Shit, then what are the others going to do in the beginning if all the iron gates are going to break? How will they survive?

-The only downside is that there are no women. Aren’t they all black men?

-Isn’t it better?

-Crazy bastard…

“Long time no see.”

The ID [MyDream] was a very familiar name for me. He was quite active before me and the other three were the only ones left. He was especially kind to newbies and also got along well with us, so we played together.

If I remember correctly, he played for around a thousand hours?

But in the end, as he was frustrated because he couldn’t kill some giant monsters, he quitted. It’s a funny fate that the bunker was also in Busan.

“Should I contact him…” I opened the note and hesitated for a while. [MyDream] was also a user who had been playing the game for a long time. He even had built a concrete bunker, so I could say that he’s ready.

I searched for a post written by him and found that he had shared some tips. He was monopolizing the popularity of the tips board while I was not watching. Hundreds of comments were posted on his post, and he commented on each one.

His sincerity was so apparent.

“I think this person will be fine…” A person who, unlike me, had a heart to help people. But logically speaking, there’s really no reason for me to contact him. I had a lot to give to him, but on the contrary, he had nothing he could give me.

Concrete bunker? 3 years’ worth of stockpiles?

I’m sorry, but my forest and cave were stronger and more abundant. I also just finished installing a generator today, therefore electricity wouldn’t be a problem once the apocalypse hits. On top of it, in case I truly make a vegetable garden in the future, that bunker couldn’t even be compared to my forest.

Above all, the corrosive disease won’t be able to touch the forest which means I could stock up on metal tools and canned foods.

“For now, let’s just wait and see.” Because it really didn’t matter much whether I contacted him now or later. Though, If Rabbit Pwincess, Duck Buttock Goes Kwek Kwek, and Survivor 1 joined him, I would have to think about it again…

I bookmarked [MyDream]’s writing and closed my laptop.

Meanwhile, courier texts were constantly pouring into my smartphone.

“Damn, I really ordered so many things.”

But when the apocalypse came, all of it would become something that could raise my chance of surviving.

I left it all alone for now and went to the nearby hardware store to buy what I needed to install the pulley.

I’m going to have to work hard today.