Chapter 135
Chapter 135
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: To Use the Dimension Gate - 1
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Doduk Island's members each packed a few bags of gear before leaving.
The remaining stockpiles were to be stored in my shelter.
I grabbed the necks of the chickens Ji-man had been raising and moved them inside the dimension gate.
As I headed to the lodging area, Da-jeong, who was sipping coffee on a bench out front, threw out a comment.
"It's weird seeing you actually enjoy working."
"You could call this a form of farming, in a way."
"...Do you know what I'm most curious about?"
"The root cause of all this mess?"
"What your shelter even looks like."
"It's nothing special."
It really wasn't anything fancy.
A cave and a circular plot of land shaped around it, plus the stockpiles inside—that was it.
...Now that I thought about it, there was also a vegetable garden, a basement, barbed wire... yeah, it added up to quite a bit.
Anyway, the Doduk Island crew had farmed pretty diligently, so there was a ton to move.
I'd return it someday, but for now, thinking of it as mine put me in a good mood.
Da-jeong caught my expression and let out a sigh.
"You're such a freak. Anyway, we have enough rations until those two show up, right?"
"Yeah. It'll be faster if they come here."
Yeo-ul's childhood friends, Park Jun-ho and Kim Do-hyeong, had gone to Changwon.
It wasn't anything major—they just got bored being cooped up on Doduk Island.
Made sense. With their terrain-overcoming traits, it was basically a penalty for them.
Kids who always had to be on the move.
Yoo Hyun-i had sent a paper airplane, so they'd be here soon.
The farming dungeon would last another two or three days anyway, so we'd wait it out.
Da-jeong got bored and wandered around the lodging area, eventually spotting the vegetable garden.
"Whoa... Poor Man's trait is insane. Strawberries in this cold?"
"Pretty impressive, right?"
Even I was shocked by the size of the garden and the variety of crops.
There was so much growing, it looked like enough to start a business.
Especially the strawberries.
Fist-sized red berries hung in clusters from the vines—truly amazing.
My garden relied on the forest's power, but this one was all thanks to Ji-man's trait.
Da-jeong squatted down, picked a strawberry, and popped it in her mouth.
"Mmm. So sweet and perfectly tangy. I've never had strawberries like this. Here, Sung-ho, try one."
I ate the strawberry she fed me.
...His trait really was something else.
Sending him to Seoul might've been a mistake.
I had a bad feeling Jang Won-taek wouldn't let him go easily.
"Da-jeong, doesn't the government shelter have land? For long-term crop cultivation."
"Bam Island. We went there before to hunt plant monsters. They said they'd farm it once things settle down."
"Bam Island? Where's that?"
I pulled up a map and checked Bam Island's location.
It was an island in the Han River, pretty close to the mainland.
Close enough that monsters could probably swim over, right?
No.
Just a hunch, but monsters couldn't cross the ocean.
If rivers were the same...
"Da-jeong, any monsters on Bam Island?"
"Just plant monsters. Is that what you were wondering? Whether monsters can cross rivers or seas?"
"Your ghouls can swim, so I was curious if wild monsters could too."
"Hmm... Want me to test it now?"
"I'd appreciate it."
She summoned her ghouls, who caught a wild ghoul and a goblin.
It took a while to swim them over, so by then I'd moved the entire garden into the shelter.
The two monsters that finally made landfall on Doduk Island were surrounded by ghouls.
"Just make them swim, right?"
"Yep."
Da-jeong snapped her fingers, and a burly ghoul hurled the ghoul into the sea.
It flailed around but wasn't actually swimming.
Did zombies and ghouls never swim in the first place?
Makes sense—I'd never seen them in the swamp labyrinth...
"Weird. You didn't teach them to swim, did you, Da-jeong?"
"You think I have that much free time? Guys, push the goblin."
The goblin, surrounded by ghouls and terrified, still wouldn't head for the sea.
One ghoul got right in its face, jaws wide in a threat.
But the goblin seemed more scared of the water.
I reached a conclusion.
"They must see the sea as a server boundary."
"What does that mean?"
"In games, players can connect to Korean servers, Japanese servers, whatever. But for NPCs like monsters, that's not possible. So they treat the sea like a server edge and avoid it."
Da-jeong rested her chin on her knee, still squatting.
"That make sense? They're monsters. Not created by anyone."
"They could be influenced by some force. Like how we awakened and got the system."
"Hmm... Doesn't sit right with me."
"That's reality for you. Where's the nearest river..."
The Nakdong River up north should do.
The goblin, which resisted to the end, was finally forced into the sea.
It flailed and sank.
Land monsters were definitely weak to water.
Combine this with what the swordmaster knows about zombie raids and safe shelters—could be interesting.
Da-jeong sat on the bench and stripped off her puffer jacket and insulated pants.
Guess the warm south suited her.
"Why haven't those punks shown up yet?"
Her slender legs danced in the air.
"...Yeah."
A bit late.
.
.
.
They didn't show up even by evening.
We lit a bonfire and had dinner.
Da-jeong snuggled up beside me and brought up something out of the blue.
"Did you see the doc and Mi-kyung's faces earlier?"
"No."
"You're brutal... They both seemed kinda into you, but you don't even notice."
"Mi-kyung, maybe, but Soo-yeon too?"
She hadn't shown any signs.
Da-jeong stretched her legs out straight and muttered.
"When everyone was packing, I asked them straight up. If they'd be down for a threesome."
"You lunatic."
There's a limit to reckless comments—this was like slamming into someone with a truck.
Da-jeong ignored my glare.
"They're adults, so what's the harm? I just asked if they were interested. The doc looked totally grossed out, though."
"Who'd like that?"
"I'd be down. Guys, girls—doesn't matter to me."
...Hanging out together had made me forget how off her rocker she was.
Or was this about her orientation...
Anyway, I wanted to drop the topic, but Da-jeong wasn't done.
Her leg draped over my thigh.
"Truth is, I don't mind girls either. Tried hitting on the doc and Mi-kyung, but struck out."
"You were really gunning to make them hate me."
"If I hated you, would I have let you play with my hair for an hour?"
True, couldn't argue there.
Mi-kyung had spent a full hour styling my hair.
I'd always thought guys' hair took twenty minutes max, so it itched, but she was so serious I couldn't stop her.
"From where I was watching, she treated your face like a sacred relic. Thought she was caressing it."
"Just trimmed my beard a bit."
"Beauty salon girl, right? Do they shave beards there?"
"...Not usually."
No idea about fancy salons, but most just washed your hair and called it a day.
Da-jeong leaned in to look at me.
"Doc's out, but Mi-kyung's still around. We'll have our threesome someday."
"What are you, a cheetah...?"
Mi-kyung would never go for it, so it'd never happen.
Wonder what kind of life she'd lived to end up like this.
"Da-jeong, what did you do before the apocalypse? I know about the snack bar."
"You know from experience it wasn't ordinary. Better not to ask. Would make us both uncomfortable."
"Yeah..."
Her tone was oddly wistful.
Best to shut up then.
But my curiosity about her past lingered.
Seok-hyun too—they'd clearly lived unconventional lives.
What kind of lives...
We leaned against each other, gazing at the moon in the night sky.
"Punks really aren't coming."
"Nope."
Guess I'd go look for them first thing in the morning.
Da-jeong slipped into my arms.
.
.
.
We got up at dawn to prepare to leave Doduk Island.
If we didn't find the punks by tomorrow, using the farming dungeon would be impossible.
We left the beloved island, ghouls leading the way as we trekked along the industrial road for a good while.
Entering Yanggok-dong, we heard the chorus of zombies and ghouls.
Zombie raid.
"People here, huh."
"Not those Japanese guys from yesterday?"
The Japanese who'd attacked Doduk Island were just a fraction.
No need to waste energy here, though.
Whether they got hit by a zombie raid or not—didn't care.
We skipped Yanggok-dong and veered northeast.
At the intersection, staring at the pathetically crumbled industrial complex, someone sped past.
Who was that?
I'd forgotten the punks' faces, but their movement style stuck with me.
"Jun-ho!"
He screeched to a halt and hopped over a pile of metal scraps.
"Huh? Hyung!"
Had to be Jun-ho.
He dashed over, panting in front of me.
"Whoa, Sung-ho hyung, it's been forever. But..."
Da-jeong had forgotten his name.
Makes sense—they'd met in the farming dungeon but hadn't spent much time together.
"Ten seconds. Say my name in ten."
"S-sis, sorry..."
Da-jeong cupped his face in her hands and squeezed.
"Da-jeong. Choi Da-jeong. Forget again, and I'll shove it up your ass. Got it?"
"..."
His face turned red—guess that counted as a reward in his world.
I pulled him away and asked.
"You guys get the paper airplane?"
"No? We didn't."
No contact then.
I gave him the short version.
When I said the Doduk Island crew had all gone to Seoul, his face grew urgent.
"That's bad. We gotta go too."
"Plenty of time still—don't worry. Where's Do-hyeong?"
"Do-hyeong's with the Japanese right now."
Of all people.
Noticing my sour look, Jun-ho hurried to explain.
"They're not bad guys. Treated us well. Didn't have much themselves."
Different from the crazy ones we'd met.
About a dozen of them, led by what seemed like siblings.
Jun-ho got excited at that part, bouncing around.
"Japanese kazoku! Kazoku—super high-class family!"
"Kazoku? What's that different from overseas Chinese?"
Da-jeong asked, and he spilled everything he knew.
TL;DR: Old Japanese nobility.
Class abolished ages ago, but influence lingered.
They even had special schools for kazoku kids.
Hearing "upper crust" twisted my gut.
"Tell Do-hyeong to hurry up. You guys need to head to the government shelter too."
But Jun-ho hesitated.
"Um, hyung... I was just coming back from looking for a pharmacy..."
"Pharmacy for what?"
"Yuzuka's sick... Looking for cold medicine..."
"Aww, our Jun-ho's in love with a Japanese noble lady~"
Da-jeong teased, and Jun-ho flushed.
"N-no, it's not..."
"Then what?"
"She was coughing bad, so I wanted to help..."
"Got it, got it."
No need to belittle wanting to help someone.
That said, Yuzuka... rang a bell.
"Oh, auction house."
"What auction house?"
"Someone asked before if there were Japanese here. Checked, and Yuzuka's name popped up."
"No Survival Life ID means it shows your real name."
"Huh?"
Jun-ho looked confused.
He didn't know my identity...
"You'll hear about it from the others later. For now, let's go."
Da-jeong cut in.
"Why? Help them?"
"High-class folks might have info."
"Japanese info at best. Wait, you don't mean...?"
I voiced my plan.
"We'll hit the Japanese server someday, right? Like how foreigners came to ours in the speedrun labyrinth."
"Fine. Ghouls'll soften 'em up—you finish 'em. Level 27 here."
Her determination to enter that dimension gate was something else.
We hurried toward Yanggok-dong.
.
.
.
The Japanese nomads led by the Shiraishi siblings were locked in a desperate fight against the zombies.
They didn't know about zombie raids.
They'd heard about it on the auction house after arriving in Korea—no groups over five—but kept forgetting.
Result: this.
"Hiyah!"
Shiraishi Kenji's long knife and machete cleaved a zombie's skull with force.
He was holding his own pretty well, but there were too many zombies.
Plus ghouls mixed in, which were a real headache.
Tough vitality, quick moves, insane strength.
Low-level folks struggled even in groups.
"Kenji-sama! We can't hold like this!"
Screams echoed around.
Their already small numbers kept dwindling.
Kenji gritted his teeth, glaring at the charging ghoul.
Those grotesquely twisted limbs never got easier to look at.
He wanted to run, but his sick little sister was behind him.
He drew a ragged breath.
"Even if this is my grave! I won't fall!"
The ghoul finally leaped.
Kenji's eyes widened at its long claws and sharp teeth.
His long knife about to clash—
Then, something incredible happened.
Something grabbed the ghoul's leg.
"Wh-who?"
Kenji and Yuzuka's jaws dropped.
It was a big guy.
He casually seized the ghoul's hind leg and slammed it into the ground.
Kek!
Blood and fluids sprayed from the ghoul's mouth.
"Tough one."
It struggled to escape his grip.
"There."
The ghoul broke free at last.
But waiting wasn't a welcome—it was a long knife.
Shwick—
The ghoul disassembled mid-air into chunks.
Kenji couldn't close his mouth.
The mighty ghoul not only smashed but filleted like fish—unbelievable.
The man shook blood from his knife and eyed the siblings.
His piercing gaze made them swallow hard.
This guy's insanely strong.
To Use the Dimension Gate - 1 End