Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

I looked at him while activating my Eye of Analysis skill. His level was just 21 and nothing could be seen as an oddity on his stats and skills. Even though he filled his lacking stats with items, the important thing was still the level. After all, the higher it was, the more additional effect someone would have.

Just take Mi-kyung as an example. After mastering the After Image additional effect she got at level 25, her fighting ability dramatically improved.

‘A girl in her early twenties often ventured out of the shelter hunt, risking her life just so that she can help people, but this bastard…’ When my thoughts reached that point, Lee Beom-seok’s prestige in my mind kept getting lower and lower.

Lee Beom-seok paused for a moment before plopping his ass to the edge of the bench.

“I’ve heard rumors that you’ve been following me a lot lately.”

“Let’s not waste our time and get to the point.” I chided. “You’ve met Go Ho-Kyung, haven’t you?”

His lips twitched before answering. “Yes, I’ve met her.”

“Since you’ve met her, I bet you heard one good thing or two from her, correct?”

“We talk about the world and about the future…”

What a load of bullcrap. However, I knew that it wasn’t a lie. Go Ho-kyung probably told him that Giudecca and its minions were going to destroy the world before putting it back together on their own terms.

“So, did you decide to become a monster under that so-called Lord Giudecca?”

“You speak as if you are not a monster yourself. If we calculate the amount of lives that you and Hwang Seokhyun kill alone, I’m sure it will reach about 1,500. Going by that fact, aren’t you two the real monsters?”

This bastard… Is he perhaps an idiot?

“Aren’t you a politician? Is it considered a massacre when a general who went out to the battlefield gave instructions to his men and killed the enemy? If you are really a politician, would you discipline the general for that?”

“It’s different from your case. You killed both combatant and civilian. You could’ve killed the combatant only…”

Just what kind of lesson this madman is trying to teach me?

“What about the guys who just stayed in the shelter, then? Are they combatant? Or civilian? If it’s that easy to categorize them, then let’s take an example from the Vietnam War. In that war, Americans burn down whole villages without care because there might be rebels hiding and camouflaging themselves as normal civilians just to suddenly do a surprise attack on the soldiers. If it is really that easy to categorize them, then why were the entire villages being burned down during the Vietnam War? They could have separated them first.”

At my words, Lee Beom-seok could only bite his lips.

“That case and your case are both wrong. It’s not war, but massacre…”

“For someone who can’t do anything alone, you are indeed a good critique. But do you know that hundreds of Koreans would have died if I or Seokhyun didn’t do anything?”

“…”

Lee Beom-seok just looked at the empty street in front of us for a moment and said nothing. I wondered if he finally understood my action, but no, that must not be the case. After all, if he was someone who could be persuaded in the first place, he wouldn’t have come this far.

“Your slaughter yields nothing.”

“Then, what will the massacre of Giudecca lead to?”

“Creation. Go Ho-kyung said that the current destruction is for the future creation.”

“You know that they destroyed our humanity to create a world of monsters, right? Are you dumb? How can you be convinced?”

“No matter how much you mock me, it’s useless. I’ve decided what I’ll do, after all.”

“Then I’ll kill you before you fall down any further.” I took out a mithril blade from the dimensional slot as I said that. But surprisingly Lee Beom-seok just sat still.

He then looked at the sword and laughed.

“Haha… I found it odd that you aren’t doing anything to me. I thought you would wield your blade as soon as you met me, like the butcher you are.”

From his words, I realized. This guy had not met Go Ho-kyung just once. Otherwise, there’s no way he would look down on death like this.

“What did you hear from Go Ho-kyung?”

“They said they are evolving even at this moment… The method you used against them before will not work anymore.”

Did they find a way to resurrect someone even when their body was stored in the dimensional warehouse?

No, it can’t be.

After all, Lee Beom-seok’s status window was clean. If it happened because of Giudecca’s power, it should’ve been written on the buff window.

Wait a minute…

I remembered the unique ability of Ahn Geun-seok at that moment. He couldn’t create things out of nothing, but he was capable of twisting things into something else. It means that what I saw right now was not everything. If I wanted to see what kind of thing that he planted on Lee Beom-seok, I had to kill him first. However, I couldn’t just do it since we already have a plan to make him into a villain.

Lee Beom-seok kept his eyes on the sky and started talking nonsense.

“Come to think of it, none of this was Giudecca’s fault. People just misunderstood that the Eunjambi meteorite was his doing.”

“Then, what about those monsters who killed people? Whose fault is that?”

“It’s not Giudecca’s fault.”

“Then whose fault is it?”

“I don’t know if you know. There are people who made Giudecca and threw him into the Great Labyrinth. At first, Giudecca and them went their own way.”

I looked at him without showing any information. I bet all my fortune that the thing that Lee Beom-seok just said was just a bait to pry information from me. After all, Giudecca’s side knew that I had roamed around the Lotus Continent.

I changed the subject.

“Now that we have reached this point, let’s just be honest with each other. What did Giudecca promise you? Let’s find out if that’s more important than your long relationship with Jang Won-taek.”

At this point, for the first time, Lee Beom-seok started to get excited.

“I… never betrayed the President.”

“Do you mean you never served him in the first place?”

My smirk made him even more excited.

“Do not be ridiculous. Even now, I just want to serve him.”

“Stop fucking around and go back to the office, then.”

“I can’t do that now. I want to give the President the gift that I’ve been given.”

My head throbbed after listening to his words. He had completely become Giudecca’s believer.

“Aigoo, you even want to spread the belief now? So what do you want to give him?”

“Strength and eternal life. It was something we can’t get no matter how hard we try. We will make the world a better place with it.”

“A world full of monsters? That would be very cool.”

“It’s no use being sarcastic. After all, you won’t be able to do anything about this apocalypse. It’s Giudecca and… us who can change this damn world.”

I almost swung my sword at that moment. It had become a certainty now that this bastard had used Giudecca’s power to some extent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have such baseless confidence.

“So… you’re going to betray Jang Won-taek and throw away the world he envisioned?”

“It is about possibility. It’s not a problem at all to take the side of those who have more chances to succeed.”

“Soon, tentacles will come out of your nostrils, monster man.”

“You know that Giudecca-nim is still evolving, aren’t you? Things like tentacles are just one of the processes.”

“You must be afraid of tentacles coming out of your nostrils, huh?”

“…Let’s stop.”

Lee Beom-seok stood up, turned his back to me, and spoke again.

“I only ask for one thing. Give me some supplies and firearms and I will quietly withdraw.”

“Then attack the Korea Shelter with Giudecca’s power?”

“I am not interested in the shelter itself. All I want is the President. I will… make a new shelter. A shelter that will not be attacked by monsters… isn’t it cool?”

“Peace granted by monsters, for monsters, and from monsters. Yeah, it’s cool.”

“We can’t understand each other, after all.”

“As always.”

It’s difficult to change people’s minds. It was even harder to change the mind of an adult like Lee Beom-seok and me.

I grabbed my mithril blade and stood up.

“We won’t give you anything. Just get lost immediately.”

“It can’t be helped then.” He shrugged and walked away from me.

I knew he had left out the word ‘We’ll take it ourselves.’

Just do it then.

I’ll make sure you will be the target for the subjugation quest.

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The Korea Shelter was in a state of lockdown. They once again stopped taking new members and all outside activities were prohibited. All the members could do in the meantime was the most mundane action.

People who don’t know anything start to be concerned from the lack of preparation the shelter made in the dawn of System Quest. Several people went to the office to voice their concern, but could not hear Jang Won-taek’s answer.

He was currently meeting with several people in his office. They were office workers who followed Lee Beom-seok. They came out swinging from the very beginning, as if they were looking down on Jang Won-taek.

“We will leave the shelter, so we want to ask for supplies.”

“There’s no need to make a fuss, isn’t there?”

“…”

Jang Won-taek, as always, was leaning against the chair and closing his eyes. He looked 10 years older than before, probably because he had suffered a lot recently.

“Mister Jang Won-taek.” Someone called out to him rudely and he opened his eyes.

To be honest, the way he called him mister was not wrong. But isn’t it a bit odd to call him like that when he called Mister President a while ago?

Jang Won-taek smiled at the speaker.

“You have a new boss, congratulations.”

He shouted and shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s no boss on our side. Everyone is equal.”

“Are you saying that everyone is equal under the name of Giudecca?”

“Whether you believe it or not, we are free. They say we don’t have to take orders from anyone.”

“And… We haven’t decided to follow Giudecca yet. Their side said it’s okay to just come without believing.”

“We will form a force among ourselves.”

“Isn’t it strange?” Jang Won-taek raised his voice towards them. “It doesn’t make sense that people who just sat behind the wall every day just a while ago saying they don’t want to go out to the field are taking the initiative now.”

People who heard him reacted immediately.

“When did we say we don’t want to go to the field? It’s just we didn’t have a chance.”

“You seem to be mistaken, but if we had a gun, we would have gone out a long time ago.”

‘What a blatant lie.’ Jang Won-taek laughed inwardly. He had been working together with them for nearly a year and had felt their thoughts clearly. They were people who didn’t want to do their duty fully but still wanted the right.

Let’s say that they were not useful in hunting because their unique ability was not combat-oriented. But, isn’t it still possible for them to do other things like patrolling?

They refused to do so. They banded together under the bizarre excuse that office work and warehouse management were already too much work for them. Of course, their reasoning left the people who came back after fighting the monsters outside dumbfounded.

However, it was true that some people had to devote themselves to office work in order for the Korea Shelter to run. Isn’t it simply impossible to operate with only fists?

Jang Won-taek also thought it would be better to have them in charge of the shelter’s office work and chores. So, even when war broke out with the Chinese, they did not scold them.

‘That was the start of the problem.’

Office workers, just like their name, did not fully understand the field. They didn’t know that the tension of having a person, not a monster, as an enemy was more bloody. It was a problem that stemmed from the fact that they were confined at the shelters since the beginning of the apocalypse.

Even though no one spoke about it, their level was low.

Probably around 10?

There was a period of time when the shelter had to raise their level with the support of others because their Store feature had to be opened. Jang Won-taek tried to get rid of their crutch using the occasion and let them experience the horrors of the apocalypse. But they vehemently rejected the idea. They claimed that the Korea Shelter would not work without them.

But now, those very people wanted a gun. Jang Won-taek knew very well that even if they had a gun, they wouldn’t be able to live in this harsh world. They must have been promised something else.

‘Did we really have to do it like this in the end…’

In the end, it was highly likely that it was Lee Beom-seok who led them in the wrong direction. He must have promised them a shelter that would not be attacked by monsters for the time being. Those who were disgusted with Seongho and his party would of course accept those kinds of promises in an instant.

‘That’s funny.’

Hating humans but joining hands with monsters?

“Mister Jang Won-taek, Mister Jang Won-taek!”

At someone’s call, his consciousness returned to reality.

“It’s not possible. We cannot give you the materials.” Jang Won-taek said firmly.

His answer was based on Seongho’s request. It was, of course, his meddling hand that made Jang Won-taek put Korea Shelter in a lockdown. It all stemmed from his wish for Korea shelter to lay as low as if they were dead.

Jang Won-taek didn’t know what it meant, but he thought it was probably related to the quest. If so, he should do as requested…

“No, why not? We want our share!”

“Since there are 10 people in our group, please give us 10 man worth of supplies. Is it that difficult to understand?”

“There are only a few people who know the warehouse as well as we do…”

Jang Won-taek’s brows furrowed. Their words meant that if he didn’t give it to them, they were going to steal it.

That’s not bad.

Jang Won-taek affirmed again.

“We absolutely cannot give the materials to you.”

“Tell us why you can’t!”

Finally, a loud voice erupted in the office.

Meanwhile, Seongho was just listening to it at his dorm.

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I enjoyed a meal at our dorm with the members. The menu was seafood and sashimi. These were the things Jiman prepared after entering the Lotus Shelter.

It’s June on Earth, but it’s close to winter over there, so the fishes are full of fat. Everyone said it was delicious and finished the sashimi in a jiffy. Even Yeowool, who didn’t like seafood very much, couldn’t even put her chopsticks down.

In the meantime, Sooyeon looked outside and said, “The shelter is so quiet… it’s as if no one lived here.”

The reason behind the quiet shelter wasn’t solely because of the lockdown. Recently, the shelter had been in trouble because Lee Beom-seok and his 10 subordinates suddenly caused a ruckus. Even during the daytime, loud voices erupted from the office.

It’s clear to everyone that a conflict had broken out between the office worker and Jang Won-taek regarding materials acquisition. Fortunately, violence didn’t break out because of the conflict. However, it was clear that it had turned the atmosphere muddy.

Mi-kyung looked at me and asked me.

“But oppa, you told us not to go outside… is there a reason?”

“Shh.”

Seeing my finger, she quickly moved back and covered his mouth. Since we are currently in Korea Shelter, the possibility of having rats listening to us was not zero.

I then wrote my answer on a slip of paper all the way to the method to activate the villain subjugation quest.

-At the beginning of the quest system, farming, hunting, and strategy quests appear.
-The system assigns quests according to our actions.
-When people hunt a lot, hunting quests will appear…
-What if we don’t do anything? The quest will give us something to do by looking at the influential activities that happened around us.
-Since the office workers were angry and fought with Jang Won-taek during the day, they will surely commit theft soon… We will get a villain extermination quest soon.

Of course, since Lee Beom-seok was the one behind the office workers, he would be designated as the villain.

Back in the game, there’s no villain quest in the beginning due to the setting. After all, there’s absolutely no one who could be designated as one. However, with this bug that even the developer wasn’t aware of, I could make it happen.

There was amazement in the eyes of those who read the note. Everyone let out a sigh as if their chest was stuffy, and continued to eat in silence.

Ordinary people would have said something like this.

‘You can just tell us in advance.’

But in that case, we will have to live while suspecting everyone since we couldn’t be sure that no one leaked the plan. So this is the better way to do it.

When the day finally darkened. Someone outside shouted on the top of their lungs.

“A thief! A thief!”

At the same time, a heartbeat and a system message also appeared. People who were sleeping woke up in surprise thanks to that.

“Just what…”

“I think I hear a heartbeat?”

“What is that just now? I heard the sound of the deathmatch starting…”

I checked the equipment and confirmed the message.

The villain subjugation quest really appeared.

「System Quest: VIllain Subjugation
Details: Kill Lee Beom Seok who turned into a villain and his 10 followers.
Deadline: 24 hours
Reward: 1 bottle of Elixir」

And to think an elixir would be given as a reward…