Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Every human needs a house to live. In my case, a two-story house in Busan was my home. But, in the forest, I don’t have anything, not even a shed. The remaining time until the zombie outbreak was 30 days. Within that time frame, I must build myself a safe zone no matter what the cost.

“It would be nice if I could find a cave to live…” Having such a cave which was enclosed on every side leaving only one entrance for my use was desirable. Of course, I wouldn’t need the monster which used to occupy it, so, I would have to kill it first before I could occupy its dwelling.

With the thoughts of securing a safe zone in my mind, I walked deeper into the forest as I left a doodle mark on the nearby trees, just like what I did on my previous visit. Getting a better look at the forest, I noticed that there were a lot of thick and tall trees in this forest. Those trees would certainly become a useful resource for me in the future. And in order to process it, woodworking tools should be brought here. Though, it would be better if there’s an ebony tree here.

As I was walking through the thickets with a bow slung on my shoulder, I suddenly saw it. An entrance to a cave which I want the most.

“What a luck!” I thought. Even though I was elated by this finding, it doesn’t mean I would run directly to the cave. I know from experience that a cave like this was bound to have something living inside. There’s a long list of monsters which use caves as their dwelling, but amongst them, goblins and kobolds were the most common.

I rummaged through the forest near the entrance to look for a lead.

“Found you.” After several minutes of rummaging, I finally found a small hole in the bush near the entrance with a footprint right beside it. Looking closer at the footprints, I could easily infer the identity of the monster. It was those kobold bastards.

Kobold was a monster which lived in a small group of 7 or 8. The leader of the group, the Alpha, would have two or three females on his side while the rest of the group could be said as a lackey. However, for the current me, dealing with those number by myslef would be synonymous to suicide.

In my bag, I had a capsaicin spray ready, but I’m not sure how much it will work against monsters.

Should I just set a fire at the entrance and shoot them when they escape?

“The direction of the wind…” I raised my finger to the air. The cold wind was currently blowing from my front side, which means, it wouldn’t make the smoke move towards me in case I lit a fire in front of the cave. Therefore, I would be saved from coughing from inhaling the smoke.

Wait…can’t I just use the power of technology?

Why am I taking a risk when I could bring a gas mask or something like that here?

Fire was lethal to monsters, so they naturally shy away from smoke. And even if it was eye-catching, I wouldn’t have to worry about monsters moving closer because of that reason.

“Should I really do it?”

Since I would only light a fire on the entrance, it probably would not spread into the surroundings and become a big wildfire. Even if it does spread, I could easily put it off with a fire extinguisher.

With that plan in mind, I returned to my house. I spent the next 2 hours buying the necessary equipment for the hunt. Fortunately, when I returned to the cave with my brand-new equipment, the kobolds were still asleep because they were creatures which become more active once the night comes.

“These sleepyheads… i’ll teach you a very important lesson.” The equipment I bought was a gas mask, thick cotton clothes, and a fire-fighting ax. Those kobolds, who were still asleep, wouldn’t wake up at least for a while more. And by the time they woke up, they would have become considerably weaker as they had inhaled a lot of carbon monoxide in their sleep. And after they came to their senses and escaped out of the cave, It was my turn to work hard to cut them with the ax. By the way, for a sidearm, I bought a metal pipe. It was a pretty heavy guy as there’s a coupling at the end.

“Damn it, I wouldn’t be able to shoot the bow.” Due to the thick bushes obstructing my view, it was difficult to take an aim with the bow. I thought of getting rid of it for a moment before deciding not to do so because in the end, I would be the one who uses the cave and the bushes would act splendidly as the first line of defense.

With great vigor, I carried a lot of branches, firewood, and vines to the entrance of the cave. Though, after doing it for nearly an hour, I started to pant and felt like I was going to die.

I took my coat off and instantly felt the cold air caressing my skin and made me shiver. But, it was fine. Afterall, soon enough, this place was going to be sweltering hot.

I retrieved a gasoline bottle from my backpack and sprinkle it on top of the piled up greenery. At the same time, my eyes laid on one of the kobolds inside the cave. Its yellow eyes shone brightly in contrast to its fur which resembles a dirtiest towel in the world. Its other features were almost the same as a dog, the only difference between them was that kobold stood on two feet.

The kobold stumbled as it walked towards me. It seems that it was still half-asleep.

“Hup!” I powerfully swung my ax at kobold’s head. Surprised by my sudden attack, the kobold flinched and growled at me before tumbling down into the ground with a thud. As a finishing move, I swung my ax once again, but this time, I aimed for its neck.

[Level has risen to 1]

[Acquired 2 points]

The most important thing when dealing with monsters was to be sure you had killed them, and waiting for the system prompt to appear was the surefire way to  ensure that.

I quickly moved once again. Using a lighter, I lit a fire on a ball of tissue before throwing it into the pile I had prepared. When the tissue fell, the gasoline quickly caught fire, burning all the bits and pieces of twigs underneath and creating a dangerous black smoke that invaded the cave.

Unlike my previous calculations, the smoke also hit me. But thanks to the gas mask I wore, I was not affected too much by it.

The smoke soon covered the whole entrance, obscuring my view of the cave. In the current situation, it was questionable whether I could hit a kobold in time when it jumped out of the cave or not.

“They’re coming!” From beyond the smoke, whimpering and scrambling footsteps could be heard, they must’ve been confused since their cave was covered in smoke which choked them as soon as they woke up. Though, it would be difficult for them to jump out since the entrance was blocked by a furiously burning fire.

I hope they just die without fighting me. However, sooner rather than later, my hope was crushed. 5 kobolds suddenly jumped out through the fire.

“Die!” Without thinking any further, I rushed towards the biggest kobold—which I assumed to be the Alpha—with an ax high in the air. It couldn’t even open its eyes and could only raise its head to sense me.

But that was the end for it. My ax came down hard into its crown, causing a snapping sound to echo through the forest.

“Huh?” Letting such a sound escape from my mouth, I realized the ax was stuck since I couldn’t pull it out. Fortunately, I had prepared a backup plan for a situation like this beforehand.

I kicked the kobold’s body and picked up the metal pipe. With a shout, I swung the 1m long pipe with heavy coupling on its end and lodged it into a nearby kobold’s head.

Just like the first one I killed; it growled before falling to the ground. It was still breathing, but it would be dead soon enough, therefore I left it alone and quickly shoot a capsaicin spray into the nose of the rest of the kobolds which were groveling on the ground, trying to catch their breath

Whimper! Whimper!

They tried to brush the capsaicin spray off from their nose by scratching their nose using their paw. However, it was useless. Now, all I had to do was beat the shit out of them with my pipe until they were completely dead.

Whimper!

After swinging the pipe for god-knows how many times, the last kobold finally let out its last whimper before dropping lifelessly into the ground. The once sturdy metal pipe in my hand was now dented in many places and stained in red blood.

“Fuck you all!” I cursed as soon as I finished and took my gas mask off. My breath was ragged. I could also feel my heart beating violently as if it was only inches away from exploding. Obviously, it was all due to my lack of exercise, and it was not a problem that could be solved in a short amount of time.

“Status window.” I said.

『Level: 1

Point(s): 14

Vitality:8

Strength:10

Agility:7

Talent:8

Perception:5

Unique ability: Dedicated Dimension Portal

Skill:-

Active Buff: Exhausted』

My stats were reduced drastically. Of course, it was not a permanent one but due to the [Exhausted] debuff which was displayed on my status. It will soon return to its original value once I take a rest.

“I’m finally level 1.” I had amassed a total of 14 points in exchange for killing 1 goblin and a group of kobolds. With this amount of points, all I could buy from the store was just a stick! It’s really pitiful. Back in my Survival Life day, no matter what I bought, or how many points I wasted, my points would never drop below 10,000!

“This is not a game.” I slapped my cheek. This is not a game. This is reality. Here, one small mistake could make me lose my life.

I should consider myself fortunate as I found kobold’s cave during the day. If I had set a camp nearby without knowing that they were there… I would probably be taken alive to the cave before getting eaten after being steamed while being tied into a stick.

Let’s keep that in mind.

The only good monster is a dead monster.

Using the pipe as a makeshift crutch, I forced my body to stand up. My surroundings spinned for a moment before returning to normal a few moments later.

“Aigoo…”

Anyway, do I have to dig a pit again?

Monster’s corpses were a dangerous thing, so I probably should do it. Though, right now, I wouldn’t bury it but burn it. With the leftover gasoline I had, burning them couldn’t even be considered as a job.

But… Why did my back feel so hot?

Looking back at the entrance to the cave, the scene that greets me left me baffled.

The fire I set was spreading around!

It’s fire! (T/N Now playing Fire by BTS.)

.

.

.

I threw the exhausted fire extinguisher to the ground as I cursed myself for not being careful enough. It took all the fire extinguishers I had in store to put out the spreading fire.

Then i realized… the bush I had kept for the purpose of becoming the cave’s first line of defense had been burnt to crisp, I felt my world crumble before me.

“I’m tired…” I sighed as I sat on the nearby rock and looked at the entrance of the cave.

Kobolds’ corpses, burnt debris, and all kinds of junk were tangled into a giant mess in front of the cave. It would take me at least several hours of cleaning to get rid of all of that.

Because of my exhausted body, I really want to just return home and lie in bed right now. However, I held myself back from doing it. After all, as I had used too much stamina to kill the kobolds, if I didn’t do the cleaning right now, I would only put myself in the worst suffering tomorrow.

“It would be easier to hunt if I had guns.” If I was living in the United States, by now, I would’ve already brought all kinds of firearms.

I could just go to America now and buy it there though. However, from what I had read from the internet, it’s hard to get a gun license in America for a tourist.

There’s another way to get it though. It was through backalley routes.

I scoffed at my wild imagination. Afterall, it would be a bloody miracle if I got out of the back alley without being stabbed in the stomach.

There’s also the matter of creating a passport and flight time. With only 30 days left before the zombie outbreak, it would be a waste of time to use that route.

But still, life in the forest would be much easier with guns.

“Ah right! there’s also an air gun.”

I quickly opened the portal and searched through the internet. However, what I saw on the screen was only old news regarding someone shooting others using an air gun. And since there were a lot of incidents involving air guns, its trade was now closely monitored by the government.

Damn it.

And naturally, firearms and bullets were only available in the police stations, military barricades and maybe in shooting ranges. In other words, it was almost impossible to obtain firearms in Korea.

“Wait a minute… wasn’t there an accident involving firearms before the zombie outbreak happened?”

I suddenly remembered an event from the Survival Life’s backstory.

Some parts of the Silver Dragon, driven by the sun’s gravity, fell towards Earth earlier than its main body. It crashed into the sea near Busan and caused a tsunami which swept over a Russian fishing boat ashore.

It was an absurd imagination, but at the same time wasn’t completely nonsense, either. In reality, there’s also a chance for a tsunami to occur when a meteorite falls on the sea. And it was also true that Russian fishing boats frequently come and go through the Busan Port.

“Because of that ship, Busan was blamed  by the world as the epicenter of the zombie outbreak…” Of course, that was not true. The real source of the outbreak was spore from outer space which was carried towards Earth by the Silver Dragon Meteorite. Busan was merely an unfortunate place which was infected because the spores were carried to the land by the infected sailors from the stranded ship.

“I clearly remembered that I read something about ‘gunshot was heard at that time’.”

Was it the police who shot it?

I browsed through private videos and found the corresponding video.

Now that I think about it, I was completely in love with Survival Life. I even went through the length of recording and explaining all those cumbersome background stories.

-I Love Gimbap: Look at this, this is Gamcheon Port. The image we currently see is certainly taken from a high place. You can see the tsunami that swept the entire area and made it difficult for police to react. There’s no way they wouldn’t be delayed in this case. This is where the zombie outbreak began…according to the lore. But don’t you think the criticism the world threw at South Korea by saying we are late to respond, a little bit unfair? After all, how could we know that the fishing boat is infected?

I double click the video to pause it. In the video I could see a flight of stairs going down. However, once again, I need to tell myself this is only a game. Does it make sense such a small detail could happen in reality?

When I hit the play button again, my voice finally explains the gunfire.

-I Love Gimbap: Actually, the Russians seemed to be fine until the fishing boat landed on land because we could hear a gunshot from their boat. What I’m curious about is just how the spores infect humans here… Hey, is there anyone listening?

―A Dog That Sleeps When He’s Too Sleepy: Drool…

Judging from the sound of gunfire, it was clear that the Russians had guns. Probably, it was the captain who had it. From what I heard from older folks in Busan, back in the 1990s, Russian sailors often brought pistols with them as they did their business in Busan Port.

“Gamcheon Port, huh?” It’s quite far from my house, but it was still worth the trip if I could secure a gun. Although it would be useless on Earth because of corrosive disease, I could use it only in the forest while waiting for corrosive disease on Earth to disappear.

However, all of this was just what happened in the game. If it didn’t occur in reality in the exact same way as in the game, I could kiss the gun goodbye.

Thinking so far, I shifted my focus from the computer screen to the entrance of the cave.

I still have something to do before entering my new house.

It was cleaning.