Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

The man shook his head.

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“Get down.” Out of instinct, Yeowool followed his command.
As soon as she got down, Seongho released the bowstring he held.
The arrow flew and pierced the head of a goblin, which had just popped out of the alley.

Kiak-!!

As soon as another shout was heard, the man pulled the bowstring again.
Yeowool didn’t know why, but for some reason she was glad that the man used respectful speech towards her.
Thinking like that, she looked back and saw the heads of goblins which were pierced by the arrows the man shot out.

‘Strong…’ Yeowool said in her head.
The man had killed four goblins in an instant without much effort.
Every time an arrow found its target, a scary but reassuring crunching sound could be heard.
At that revelation, she felt like the bow she and her friends had been using was nothing but baby toys in comparison to his bow.

The man retrieved the arrows he shot from the goblin corpses and rummaged through the goblin’s pouches.
Yeowool stayed silent while he did that and then got up.
He didn’t even ask if she was okay.
It felt like he was just doing his job.
From what he had been doing until now, Yeowool could easily see that he’s something different from ordinary survivors.

She mustered all the courage she could find in herself and called him.

“Ah-ahjussi.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a question for you, could you please give me a moment?”

“It’s not difficult… Since when have you been living here?”

At that moment, the two boys moved towards the girl.
At the sight, Seongho realized that they were the group of high school students that Cheoljun and Yuju told him about.

“We have been here since July.”

“We also have lived here since we were born.
We are native.”

If so, they would undoubtedly know some information about the area, Seongho thought.

“Let’s go over there and talk.” Seongho nodded his head and looked at the shop next to him.

“Okay.”

Seongho looked at the boys behind the girl.
They looked pretty excited.
What were they excited about when they almost got attacked by monsters just a few moments ago? Seongho looked around him again with an absurd expression on his face.
There were a few zombies in the distance, but he didn’t think they’re going to attack right away.
It’s always like this in the morning.

The three entered the store and Seongho took a seat at the closest chair to the entrance.

“My name is Han Yeowool, this guy is Junho, and this is Dohyung.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Hello.”

Seeing them nodding their heads sincerely, Seongho felt that they weren’t bad students

or people who acted as good people only to hit him in the back later.

“My name is Kang Seongho.” He introduced himself.
“Have you been following me since morning?”

The three didn’t answer right away and only looked at each other’s faces.
In the end, Yeowool took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“I saw you taking out your fish trap, earlier today, at the pier.”

“You want to know when is the correct time to put the fish trap? When there are no monsters at night?”

This man is quite quick-witted.
Which means, lying would only impact them negatively, so Yeowool nodded her head.

At night, you can’t really see anything.
If you went out blindly just to find out the timeframe when the monsters were gone from the beach area, you would be stinged by the goblins.
And if you go out after the goblin disappears to install the fish trap, it will be taken away by some random kobolds who must have been watching you from somewhere.
Therefore, the best timing to install the trap was when there’s no monsters at all.

Looking at Yeowool, Seongho had an ambiguous expression on his face.

“You seem like good kids, so I want to help you.
But, let me ask you one thing first.
Is there any group aside from the three of you nearby?”

“There is!” Before Yeowool could even open her mouth, Junho and Dohyung started talking.

“Isn’t there a school nearby? There are some people there.”

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“There are also many people on the west side of the railroad tracks.”

“What about those who stand out or those who look strong?”

“Ummm…I’d say they’re all equally arrogant.”

“Did you know the court over there? The people who occupied that place were people who already opened the Auction House.”

“We also need to open the Auction House soon or we’ll be in big trouble.”

“Hyung, have you opened the Store and the Auction House?”

The two boys began to act friendly by calling Seongho hyung out of nowhere.
However, Seongho answered indifferently.

“I already opened the Store.
I’d like to hear more about the people on the court group… is that okay?”

When he pulled out some jerky from the backpack, the three’s eyes brightened.
How can’t they? It’s meat! Something they haven’t seen in a while.
Yeowool took the three strips of jerky and shared it to her friends equally.

From that action, Seongho inferred the relationship between the three of them.

‘I think the girl is their leader.’

While the two boys were munching on the jerky, Yeowool confided.

“Actually, we don’t know the people on the court side very well.
There’s one thing we do know though…”

“Are you talking about the man who got kicked out by them?”

“I’m telling you, he ran away from those guys because he’s too nice, unlike them.”

When Seongho heard their bickering, he guessed that there’s a story here that he didn’t know.

Then, Yeowool elaborated.
The story goes like this: The court group had a strong influence in the area around them and somehow managed to recruit a certain young man.
However, the problem was that the unique ability of the young man was special.

“Have you seen wild animals approaching without warning? That’s just amazing.”

“When that hyung threw a bait to the sea, the fishes around started flocking right away.”

“Is that so?” Seongho said.
Obviously, he already knew such things because the Whining Series no.
5 had said so in the Auction House.

“Do you guys know the name of the group occupying the court?”

“Isn’t it something like samu?”

“Oh, what was it again…”

As the two of them stumbled, Yeowool hit them in the head, frustrated.

“Gathering of people preparing for the apocalypse!”

In short, JongSaMu… It’s them, huh? Seongho thought.

“By the way, the young man with the amazing unique ability, was either kicked out or ran away, right?”

“Yes.
That hyung was very nice.
Sometimes, he handed out what he caught to us too.
But, the JongSaMu guys didn’t like it… They even tried to restrain him from doing anything other than being a bait for animals.”

“What do you mean by ‘restrain’?”

“They tried to lock him up.
And whenever he goes outside, they will attach some people to monitor him.”

“That’s too much…” Which means, he’s unique ability was just that good.

The JongSaMu guys probably thought like this: ‘What’s the problem when we’re just trying to protect a guy with poor fighting ability? Isn’t this a win-win situation, both for him and us?’

However, it’s not a protection by any stretch of meaning, but a confinement.

Anyway, when Seongho combined the inclinations of Whining Series No.
5 and the testimony of the three students, it sounds like the survivor with the jackpot unique ability of bio-friendliness ran away from the group.

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Seongho asked,

“You guys don’t know exactly where that person ran away to, don’t you?”

“Yes… All we knew was that he went southward…”

Seongho nodded.
It seems he would have no choice but to go south if he wanted to find the guy.
Though, he would go right away, since the Orc First Kill event was drawing near.

Then, Seongho suggested to the students who looked at him with a gaze which was burdening him.
“I’m saying this because you gave me some good information, but if you tell me the location of your hideout, I’ll go meet you tonight.”

“Are you going to tell us the timeframe when there’s no monsters?” Yeowool’s voice brightened at Seongho’s words.

“Well yeah, however, it depends on several factors too.
But I’m sure after doing it a few times, you would get a hang of it.”

“If you teach me, I will learn.”

Seongho held out his hand to her.
“Then… let’s help each other out.”

“Okay!” Without much hesitation, she grabbed his hand and shook it.

“Yeah!”

“Hyung, please just call us by our first names from now on.”

‘Why are they so happy?’ Seongho thought.
Maybe it’s nice to have someone you can trust and rely on in Apocalypse.
Though, Seongho himself was not capable of feeling so, because of his playstyle.
Anyway, since he had to stay here for a while, it wouldn’t be bad to help them.

.

.

.

The Orc First Kill event was drawing near.
I had spent some time exchanging information with the trio these past few days.
But of course, I didn’t forget to prepare everything I needed in order to get first place in the event.

I should start making some flame cans.

As I entered the cave and was about to grind the ignition stone, the scarab leader came to me with a black charcoal on his foreleg.

“Huh? Why?”

At my question, the guy made a gesture of breaking both the ignition stone and black charcoal and mixing it.

“You want me to mix them? How about the ratio?” However, the scarab leader didn’t give me the exact answer but only told me that if I mix black charcoal in moderation, the firepower of the flame can would increase, but if I mixed too much of it, the power would decrease instead.

It seems like I have to do some experiment if I want to get the best ratio.

“Let’s start with the 2:1 ratio.” I grinded the ignition stone and black charcoal completely and mixed it little by little.
I took some of it and set it on fire.
When it lit up, compared to adding only ignition stone powder, the firepower was much higher.
It seems it was almost 1.5 times stronger.

“This is good.” Even though I reduced the amount of ignition stone powder in the mix by 30%, the firepower was increased by 1.5 times.
When I increased the proportion of black coal powder out of greed, the size of the flame became smaller instead.
It seems like what the scarab leader said was correct.

“So, in order to get the most out of everything, I need to put in the black charcoal at exactly half of the amount of ignition stone powder used.”  

So, by adding black coal powder, I could reduce the amount of the precious ignition stone powder by half.

This is good.
Afterall, currently I only have a total of nine ignition stones.
Including those in the newly discovered cave, there should be around 15.
However, I could get as much black coal as I wanted, since it was relatively abundant.

“We don’t have much in stock, but there are a lot of them in the cave…” According to the scarab leader, if we dig the ground, black charcoal would come out.
I didn’t do it because I didn’t feel the need to stock it up.

In conclusion, by adding black charcoal powder to the mix, the amount of the flame cans I could make is doubled.

“I can sell this for a high price too.” Black charcoal was something the Store didn’t have available.
And back in the game, I had never seen it being sold as well.
On top of that, I haven’t met anyone who claimed they got it from a goblin’s pouch.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that it was a resource unique to the forest.
Which means, I was the only one who could procure it.

“Isn’t the flame cans worth a lot right now?” There should be quite a few people who could manufacture the flame cans itself.
Afterall, it was our ancestors who found the recipe and spread it.
However, the problem was the ingredients.
The drop rate of the ignition stones was not good, so in the end, only a few people could make flame cans.

When I turned on the Auction House, everyone, without exception, was waiting for the ignition stone auction to come up.

“Even if it’s as expensive as the wild boar meat, people will still buy it… I think.” Well, one ignition stone could be used to kill an orc, so 1,000 points wouldn’t be a problem.

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I divided the black charcoal powder into two.
One for sale, while I’ll put the other one as a sample.
I priced the sample as low as possible so that anyone could buy and use it without hesitation.
Of course, the amount for the sample was miniscule.

“First, we need to promote it.” When I wrote the ratio in the comment section after uploading it, people’s attention was instantly drawn into it.

-Black charcoal powder? What is this?

-The description says that if you mix it with ignition stone powder to make a flame can, you can reduce the amount of ignition stone powder needed, while getting almost the same result…

-?? So, you’re saying that, with this, we can make two flame cans with one ignition stone?

-This is a scam!

-If it’s a scam, the uploader won’t bother to upload a sample, you stupid ass bitch.
I will buy a sample and try making it.

Because the black charcoal powder for samples was cheap, it was instantly sold out.
And after a while, the auction of black charcoal powder began.
Because of it, a lot of people were confused.

-What is it? Is it true?

-If the auction began, didn’t it mean that it was real?

-Those who are quick-witted are surely different.

-People who joined the auction were semi-stagnant waters while the person who uploaded it is a stagnant water.

-I am envious of those who were born with both golden spoon and silver spoon.

-Hey, how high will the price go up, I wonder?

-I saw an auction for an ignition stone before.
It got sold for 1000 points.

-Then wouldn’t it go up to 500? The rest of the ingredients are easy to find.

-That thing will cost 500 points? Half the price of the wild boar? Bullshit!

-You bastard, can you even compare it to the wild boar? You can catch orcs with that powder.

-Yeah, it’s incomparable! With those 500 points, you will get the chance to get some skill or item.
If you’re lucky, you can even get first place.

-But, has anyone ever found a black charcoal while farming? Why have I never seen it?

-Isn’t that because you’re unlucky?

-I saw quite a few ignition stones being auctioned, but this is the first time that a black charcoal has been put up.

-Then, where did this guy get it from?

-Don’t tell me…

-Is it that bastard again?

Yes, it’s that bastard again, you bastards.
I laughed as I watched the auction prices go up.
It has already reached 400 points.

Looking at the comments section, the bidders were fighting.

-Because it will exceed 500 points anyway, so for those who don’t have that many points, fuck off! Stop wasting my time!

-Is there anyone here who doesn’t have 500 points?

-Hehe, this will go up to at least 1000 points.

-Are you crazy? The winning bid for the last ignition stone was 1000 points.
So, there’s no reason for this black charcoal to reach that point.

-Hey, fools, I’ll teach you.
That 1000 points was because there’s only a few ignition stones being auctioned, not the real market price.
But with this item, you can make two flame cans with just a single ignition stone.
500 points? That’s nothing.

-LOL?

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-If you already have an ignition stone, you might want to buy this and increase the flame cans you make into 2.

-The price is surging! Let’s go!

-This shit.

And when I put one of my ignition stones up for auction as a test, another uproar erupted.

-That bastard was watching us.

-I Love Gimbab, you know what I love, right? Loyalty ^^7 

-Just how much money that bastard will get from this! Fuck!

The auction price of the ignition stone rose to 1,500 points in an instant.
Normally, the auction price would not go this high.
It seems like it was the result of the anticipation for the Orc First Kill event.

“In the first place, the first kill event itself was quite famous…” The reason was none other than the fact that no one knows who will be number one.
People would think, if everyone has a flame can, and they have one as well, wouldn’t they have a shot at winning it?

With a single correct throw, you would be able to defeat an orc.
Of course, there were still issues with how to break through their subordinates…

I enjoyed watching the auction prices of ignition stones and black charcoal powder go up.
It was going up endlessly because people were paying attention.
Then, when the price starts to approach 2000 points, the competition starts to dwindle.

-You crazy people, you are willing to buy an ignition stone for 2,000?

-I only have 600 points… There’s so many rich people here…

Actually, I also don’t have that many points right now.
I’m not too obsessed with earning points since I have many ways to get points instantly whenever I need it.

“This is one of the ways, though.” Finally, the auction is over.
The final bid was 1980 points for the ignition stone and 1050 points for the black charcoal.
The two items disappeared from the Auction House and 2727 points, excluding the fee, came to me.

“This is cool.” The points I currently have were 3550.
Probably I was the richest man around, second only to Dajeong.
Hopefully, this was just the beginning.
If I use the forest of another world, I could easily sell things the survivors need and earn their hard-earned points.

“Though, currently, the situation of the other survivors isn’t that good…” However, once dungeons and other things come out later, they would be able to farm points much easier than right now.

Looking through the video, I realized that the tier 2 Store was scheduled to open once the first kill event finished.

“The elderwood longbow is a good choice.” It was an item that was popular with many users because it was quite a light bow, yet it carries a great strength.
If there’s a problem, it’s the damn price.

“Two thousand points? Was it originally this expensive?” Back in the game, I didn’t care about the price because I had a lot of points.
Though, the maintenance cost was quite high since I had to purchase arrows separately.
If you have the right skills, you can shoot from a very far distance, which increases your survival rate.

“The power is good, so I’ll buy this when the Store opens.” The adamantium spear with an improved penetration option was also quite attractive.
With that weapon, I could easily kill an orc by simply stabbing it.

“It’s also a good throwing weapon.” Seems like I would have to buy both.

I spent the rest of my time practicing my archery and javelin throwing.

And after a few days, as I was wandering around the city centre of Masan, I finally found a crazy kobold wandering around during the day.
But I wasn’t the only one who discovered it, because several people wearing similar clothes also found it.

I quickly went up to the roof of a nearby building and watched them.

“What kind of rustic group uniform is that?”

Is that some sort of symbol of unity?

When I followed them as they walked away, they went near the courthouse.
It seems like my competitor for this event would be Whining Series No.
5’s group, JongSaMu.

As I was hiding inside the portal, a large man passed by.
It’s none other than Whining Series no.5.

“Make sure no one walks in here, okay? Be especially careful with that newcomer.
That huge bastard.”

He seems to know me.
Well, I’ve been actively wandering around, so it would be weirder if he didn’t know.

But why do you call me a bastard?

“Is it a sin to wander around?”

There is a saying, If someone hates you for no reason, give them a reason. (E/n weird flex but ok)

I plan to do that from now on.