Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Lee Beom Seok was already dead.
The only reason why his body was still moving was because of Giudecca, the self-proclaimed king of all beasts.

I kept beating him until my transformation was released.
And even though I felt like the weight of the world fell onto my shoulders because of the aftereffects, I did not let his neck slip away from my hand.

“What a good performance you have.” Giudecca said.

“Looks like you need to be beaten more.” I punched Giudecca in the face as I answered.

The guy slowly turned his head at that moment.
Madness glinted from the dead eyes of Lee Beom Seok.

“Abomination polymorph spell puts an enormous burden on the caster.
You are really great to be able to handle that.”

“It’s not that big of a deal since I took care of it using a bug.”

“I really want to have you.”

“Shut up.” I threw Lee Beom-seok’s body towards the closest wall and unsheath the mithril blade.
If I couldn’t do it with my fist, I just had to cut it into pieces with my sword.

As I approached him, I heard a cracked male voice coming out from the body.

This voice is… Lee Beom Seok’s…

“You must have killed countless people with that sword…”

“You are correct.”

“You kill, kill, and kill again… I can see it clearly… There are mountains of corpses all around you…”

That’s not wrong.
My number shouldn’t be as much as Seokhyun’s number as of now, but it was still considerable.

Do I regret it?

Nope.
Not at all.

“Once everything is over, I can see that no one will be left around you… I can’t wait to see that day come…”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but that day won’t come.” I thrust the sword into Lee Beom Seok’s belly.
Then, I looked straight into his eyes.

“There are plenty of people in the world who don’t cross the line.
Those who died at my hands were those who crossed the line.”

“Are you trying to filter out who to kill and who to keep alive? By what right…”

“The right of the strong.
If someone didn’t like that, they should hide in a corner somewhere in this world.
I don’t even have time to kill a guy like that.”

Lee Beom-seok’s head slightly lay down.

“In the end, what Giudecca-nim said is correct… You know nothing but destruction… You had no right to kill them…”

“If you mess with someone, there’s a chance your life would be forfeited as the consequences.
In Apocalypse, that’s the natural way of the world.”

“I will wait for someone to stop you…someday…”

“You are going to wait for that guy? You, who had been eaten by Giudecca and going crazy?”

Lee Beom Seok’s face distorted greatly at my words.

If it were me, I would have run away as soon as I was designated as a villain.
After all, it would only last for 24 hours.
Since his unique ability was Blink, it should be a piece of cake for him to escape.

However, Lee Beom Seok made the worst possible choice; He decided to kidnap Jang Won-taek first.
If it was him from before, he wouldn’t have done that.
It was also strange that he didn’t actively use Blink’s additional effects.
At level 50, blink should get a lot of additional effects.

I applied force to the sword stuck in Lee Beom-seok’s belly and pulled it out.
Blood poured out from the wound and the lower half of his body fell to the ground.

This time, Giudecca spoke to me.

“Since you refuse to take my hands, I wanted to see your frustration…”

“Are you planning to send out something great?”

Giudecca smiled eerily.

“Fight, endure… and grow… Your growth will be my future…”

“What a nonsense.” I have no intention of sharing a future with such a monster.
Finally, I blew Lee Beom-seok’s neck.
The ground was littered with blood and a corpse that was cut into three parts.

I leaned against the wall as my head started to throb.
Following Hyunwoo, Lee Beom Seok also died at my hands.
Even if it’s not my intention, it was as if I cut both of Jang Won-taek’s arms off.

“If you don’t know anything, just stay still…”

In an ordinary society, even if someone were a little bit crazy, they wouldn’t be too much of a trouble.
At most, they would end up in prison.
Even though it sounded horrible, at the very least their lives could be preserved.

But in Apocalypse, the story was different.
If someone was thinking of doing something crazy, they had to be prepared to lose their lives.

That fact applied to me too.

Just like Lee Beom Seok said, if someone stronger than me ever appeared, everything I’d done so far would be undone.
There’s also a chance that I would die.
However, I am 100 percent sure that at that moment, I would felt no regret.

“I will kill, kill, and kill again.” Until all problems were gone.

Only when my thoughts reached that point did Jang Won-taek open the door.
He walked out and his body instantly shuddered.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

Jang Won-taek held Lee Beom-seok’s blood-stained hand.

“I should have persuaded you more… I’m sorry…”

I couldn’t say anything as the person with highest authority in Korea wailed.

.
.
.

A total of 11 people died in a single night.
The culprit was, of course, me.
However, instead of turning into a murderer after killing them all, I received a bottle of elixir in return.

The effect of the elixir was amazing to say the least.
It would negate the effect of all debuffs upon consumption.
Additionally, it would also heal wounds, and make the one who ingested it invincible for 1 minute.
In other words, that single potion would turn someone’s body into an indestructible object.

My level was also raised after killing Lee Beom-seok, but that didn’t matter too much.
After all, Jang Won-taek announced his retirement.

He said this when he called me and the backbone of the Shelter:

“I never thought that I would send Major Kim and the chief of staff like that… All of that was due to my negligence.
I’m the only one who was in fault.”

“Mister President…” The eyes of his subordinates, including Oh Seungyeon, were watery as they listened to Jang Won Taek’s words.
Since I just killed 11 of them, there’s not much left of them now.

When they looked at me, there was horror and fear in their eyes.
It’s only natural since I had killed all of his colleagues in one night.
Jang Won-taek, who had become nothing but a gray-haired old man before I knew it, smiled dejectedly and said,

“As of this time… I am about to let go of everything.
And I am about to leave this shelter…”

“Mi-Mister President, Where are you planning to go?” Someone asked.

“There is no place for this old body anymore in the current times.
But, there are still places for someone like Seongho to go.”

Everyone’s eyes turned towards me at that moment.

“I do not resent you.
Because someone had to do it.
It would have been better if you let them go without pain, but since Giudecca appeared, it couldn’t be helped…”

“If you fall for Giudecca, you won’t be able to die peacefully.
Your negative emotions are amplified, and normal thinking is impossible.
Your body too will turn into something akin to a monster.”

He weakly nodded his head at my words.

“I know.
So, I have something I want to ask all of you.”

“…”

“Please never fall for Giudecca’s temptation.
His flattery is nothing more than a rotten promise.
He will brainwash you to fulfill his desires.
You must not cross to that side.”

“We will keep that in mind.”

“There is one more thing I want to ask you… If possible, please stay here and help Seongho.
There should be a few people who know the shelter situation well around him.”

“Why don’t you just stay here?”

His end was clearly in sight.
Since in the current times monsters were everywhere, and the environment itself was hellish, It was no exaggeration to say that the current world was a demonic realm.
It’s a perfect place for an old man who had low combat power to die screaming once he went out.

But Jang Won-taek refused.

“Of course I can stay here and give advice to a lot of people.
But I want to completely let go of everything… It has become difficult to live in this shelter.”

I could understand his feelings.
He had worked really hard to prepare for the inevitable end of humanity, but what he got back was the death of two of his men.

“I can’t help it when you say it like that.
I will tell Mi-kyung to take you to your destination.”

“Thank you.
Since my destination would be Hannam-dong she should be fine.
Since there are no people there, there should be no monsters too.”

He handed me a stack of papers at that moment.

“This is a record of the time schedule before the apocalypse.
Also attached are the minutes of the meeting with the heads of state of the world.
There is also the location of some undisclosed Time Shelter as well as bunkers written there… I hope it can be a help to you.”

Handing over such a secret was synonymous to leaving behind a will.
I looked into his eyes and became speechless.
His eyes that had given up on everything were looking at the space behind me.
If it’s not because of the monster, the old man’s end was probably due to his own hand.

Jang Won-taek smiled weakly at us.

“I wanted to establish a government and officiate the marriage of Seongho and Da-jeong, but… hahaha, I think it will be difficult now.
Everyone, you’ve been through a lot.
Even though I am an old man who is not the president any longer, I will commend you for your hard work.”

People had tears in their eyes as he left his last words.

I called the auction house and called Mikyung.
President Jang Won-taek simply packed his belongings and a few days worth of supplies before leaving.

Entrusting the Korea Shelter fully in my hands.

.
.
.

I was lost in thought in the office which used to be Jang Won-taek’s room.
I had a feeling that I couldn’t get things to continue like this.

“To think Giudecca will appear like that…” He didn’t give up on me.
Rather, the obsession had gotten worse.
He even threatened to keep me in check.

“You want me to hold on? Are you kidding me now…”

I gnashed my teeth at the thought of what he had done.
He plunged the entire Korea shelter into unrest using Lee Beom Seok’s stupid greed.
and almost split apart.
It was good that things ended on a good note.
If things had gone a little bit south, the shelter would have collapsed by now.

What’s even more annoying was the fact that this incident was nothing but a small game to him.
In order to strike him, I must eventually attack the Great Labyrinth.

However, the reason I couldn’t do so as soon as right now was the fact that I found a new risk factor in the time schedule documents that Jang Won-taek handed over.
The Korean Government had advised all world leaders to dig shelters before the apocalypse.
But none of them had shown themselves until now.

“Are those guys perhaps waiting?”

1 year.
It’s the time limit that many governments set using the knowledge they had about the end of Corrosive Disease.
Maybe governments around the world were still staying in their shelters and waiting for the Corrosive Disease to disappear.

“If that’s the case, they will start coming out next month…”

If things went wrong, troops from other countries armed with firearms might storm into Seoul.
Before the apocalypse, we managed to live with them thanks to the fact that they were our allies, but what use was that feeble relationship in the apocalypse?

“I’ll have to find out.”

In particular, I had to gather information on the trends of the United States, Japan, and China, which we had confirmed to be connected with us through the first floor of the Great Labyrinth.
After all, who knows what had happened in their shelter for the past one year.

“There’s no law against a madman like me taking power.”

The reason Jang Won-taek didn’t inform me of this must be because he wasn’t sure about the situation over there.
Another reason would be that he never thought that the Great Labyrinth would connect the cities of each country.

Putting all these things together, what I should do became clear.
Considering the ever-evolving demonic realm and the powers of each country, we shouldn’t be satisfied with the survival of a few like now.

“We need to be more determined and aggressive.” If possible, I want our group to finish settling down in Lotus and finish the maintenance of this shelter before July.
The atmosphere was chaotic right now, so I would have to let them take a few days break first before starting reorganizing.

“We need to gather people and attack the Great Labyrinth.” Hunting in the Great Labyrinth would make the survivors stronger.
Supplies wouldn’t be a problem for us since the almighty Ji-man was the one who was in charge of it.

I called all of Jang Won-taek’s subordinates to my room.
In addition I also called Hyung-jun hyung, Sooyeon, Oh Jeongmin, Lee Minsoo, and Soye from Hannam-dong.

“Lee Beom Seok had died, and Jang Won-taek left the shelter.
As a result, the leadership of the Korea Shelter has collapsed.”

People groaned in unison at my bombshell announcement.

“Ah…”

“Then, what should we do now?”

The important thing is from now on.

I looked at people’s faces and said, “Nothing changes.
Because I took over the Shelter.”

People’s expressions become much better in an instant.
What matters to them was someone who would lead them and give them directions.

“The shelter will continue to be closed until June 5th.
After that, maintenance will begin in earnest.
It will be very different from the existing atmosphere, so prepare your mind.”

Soye asked as her eyes shone.
“What kind of preparation are you talking about?”

“I want everyone to be ready to fight.
We will prepare to attack the Great Labyrinth, prepare to fight survivors from other countries, and prepare to fight Giudecca.
For the necessary knowledge, you can ask my members… no, our members.
Hyung-nim, Soo-yeon.”

The two looked at me and nodded.
You need to tell them about what had happened and about Lotus in order to prepare.
However, There’s still one more thing that needs to be done before that.

I raised my voice, “Of course I will not force anyone.
Those who are afraid of a fight, and those who do not want to be involved in this, may leave.
However, they need to make their decision immediately.
Go back to your quarters and make a list of people who will be leaving the shelter.
Ample supplies will be provided to them if they decide to do so.”

Everyone was only looking at me at my words.
Soye was the only one who was not speechless.

“Would there be anyone, though? Everyone knows that this place is the most comfortable place.”

“Well, that’s right…”

“As long as we don’t do anything stupid, this is the best place.”

“The meals come out well, and the defense is strong…”

“Though, it will be even more perfect if we have more water…”

“You don’t have to worry about water.
Once we are done organizing, we will have an unlimited supply of water.”

A look of joy appeared on their faces right at that moment.
In fact, the most important thing in the apocalypse was clean water, not food.
It was easy to fill the required amount of food.
They just had to go hunting.
In the worst case, survivors could survive with the store’s bread.
But they couldn’t do the same with water.

Soye asked, clearly trying to ascertain that my word was the truth.
“W-will it really be unlimited?”

“You won’t be able to use it like before, but you will be able to wash and drink without holding back.”

“That’s good enough.”

Once I let the people go, I asked Hyung-Jun hyung and Sooyeon.

“Jang Won-taek had given me this shelter, but I can’t just sit here everyday.
So I want you two to take over the operation.”

“Uh… honestly, I’m not confident.”

“Me too.”

They both shook their heads.
They probably felt burdened to suddenly take on the work of Jang Won-taek and Lee Beom-seok.
But, they shouldn’t worry too much in my opinion.

“You two just have to keep it running as I will establish the rule and proceed with the big plan.
I want Hyung-jun hyung to take care of the shelter’s supplies, while Sooyeon takes care of the people.”

It’s my judgment that the status quo could be maintained once the two issues are resolved.
The rest was up to me to figure out.

“You mean I just have to give the supplies to the people?”

“It doesn’t matter as long as everything is fair.
Though, I want the distribution of firearms to be clear.
Just keep that in mind.”

Hyung-jun hyung pondered something for a moment, and then he vigorously nodded.

“You ask for help, so I have to do it.
I get it.”

This time, Sooyeon opened her mouth.

“I will take care of the people? Do you mean personnel management?”

“Yes.
We will bring foreigners from District 2 in.
You can guide them, listen to the shelter’s staffing and inconveniences, and deal with them appropriately.”

“If that’s the case…”

Fortunately, Soo-yeon responded positively.
She used to be a doctor, so she must be quite used to collaborating with people.

I called a few more people to do the work.
Seungyeon, Yoohyeon, and Yeowool were entrusted with the scouting and information duty, while Sangshin was entrusted with the defense of the shelter.

The last thing left was the three…

To be honest, I just don’t want to give them a separate job.
After all, they would fight to the point where they couldn’t afford to do the job assigned to them.

I saw Da-jeong and Seokhyun’s comment at the auction house as I browsed through it.
They said that they had finished their work.

When the dimensional door was opened, the three appeared one by one.
When I explained to them what had happened, they were quite surprised.

“Then Seongho, you are the Shelter’s leader now?”

“Yeah.
Since that man is leaving, I have to take care of it.”

“It was unexpected, are you okay?”

“I knew a day like this would come.”

Geom-in wrinkled his nose and looked around the shelter.

“Not much has changed, hasn’t it? It’s just that the leader has changed from the president to Seongho.”

“But I heard Giudecca raided this place?”

I explained Giudecca’s possession of Lee Beom-seok’s body and his request.

Da-jeong frowned, “But what does he want from you? They keep talking about pureblood this, pureblood that… Just what the hell is that?”

“It’s obvious.”

Seokhyun’s finger came out and pointed at Dajeong.

“It want life to be born between the two of you.”

“Life?”

“That guy is really disgusting.”

I have the same opinion as Seokhyun on this matter.
But to be precise, I was the most important on Giudecca’s plan while Da-jeong was the number two.

For whatever the reason, Giudecca seemed to be unable to leave the Great Labyrinth.
All it could do was to possess an entity that had ate a part of itself.
The prime example was Lee Beom Seok.

To get out of the Great Labyrinth, It would need a new vessel, not its current body that had been damaged.
The stronger the vessel, the better, so it wanted its new body to inherit the blood of me and Da-jeong, who had the highest level.

If it’s only level, it should’ve left the great labyrinth by now since it could make anyone rise to level 50.
So, the reason It didn’t so yet was probably because it wanted it to be a pureblood.

Da-jeong listened and covered my face with her hands.

“Even if Giudecca transformed into a pretty woman, don’t give it your heart, okay?”

“I have no intention of doing that, so you can rest assured.”

“But, if we went to Giudecca’s side, wouldn’t I lay eggs? I’m kind of drawn to it since I can be the very first woman to lay eggs.”

I had forgot…

Da-jeong was as crazy Seokhyun…