Chapter 206
Chapter 206
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: People Living in the Apocalypse - 1
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Ahn Geun-seok opened his eyes.
He was deeply submerged in something that sloshed gently with every movement.
He didn't need to breathe through his lungs—skin respiration alone was more than enough.
"...Damn it."
Ahn Geun-seok struggled to sit up.
His body, ravaged by an anti-tank attack, hadn't fully recovered.
Muscles lay exposed where skin hadn't reformed yet, and bones rattled at his elbows and knees.
But he was alive.
As the price of fusing with a monster boasting immense vitality, he had transcended humanity.
It hadn't been his choice, but now that he was this far, there was no turning back.
He climbed out of the tub and snatched clothes from his waiting secretary's hands.
He had shed his humanity, but clothes still held some precious meaning to him.
He hadn't completely abandoned his human side.
At least dressed, he looked roughly human.
Aside from the cheek where flesh hadn't regrown.
He glanced at his secretary, Go Ho-kyung.
"Are you very angry?"
"No, sir. If anything, he's feeling regretful. 'We could have taken it slower...' he said."
Ahn Geun-seok's lips twisted oddly.
Worship the god.
But the entity he'd glimpsed at the deepest core was no god at all.
Just a monster consumed by insatiable greed.
"...That's what he'll say on the surface. But we don't have time. He's already acquired a griffon. Soon, he'll be exploring the Lotus Continent."
"Even if he scours the entire Lotus Continent, he won't find a way to deal with that one."
"Nothing in this world is absolute... Has Hyun-soo returned?"
"He's a bit injured and resting."
"Tell him to come in here. He might not like using my tub, but the effects are top-notch."
"I'll contact him."
"Elderwood roots... Corrupting them was a smart move. So efficient."
Ahn Geun-seok's gaze shifted to the root in the corner.
It was impossibly thick for a tree root.
Sap oozed from spots along it, pooling in natural depressions.
It resembled the one in Sung-ho's forest, but this had been forcibly restrained.
Some power had corrupted the Elderwood's root.
Thanks to that, his subordinates enjoyed the privilege of resurrection without revival scrolls.
As Ahn Geun-seok stepped into the corridor, Go Ho-kyung followed.
The 14th floor of the labyrinth was covered in living tissue and mucus, creating an utterly alien atmosphere.
Even the two who had once been human could never fully adapt to it.
Ahn Geun-seok, walking ahead, spoke up.
"That guy's dimension gate isn't just one. At least two."
"It could be three, then. That one will be pleased."
"We're uncovering his abilities one by one, but it's not enough... I want to learn them all at once. Any way to do that?"
"How about using those on the 13th floor?"
Ahn Geun-seok halted.
The 13th floor housed beings the labyrinth's master had painstakingly cultivated.
Once human, they were now something between human and monster.
They burned with endless hatred and rage toward their master, who had dragged them here, and toward Ahn Geun-seok.
Ahn Geun-seok shook his head.
"Beating those bastards wouldn't be hard... But can we control them?"
Go Ho-kyung pulled something from her pocket instead of answering.
A ring containing an ether stone.
"Domination is imprinted on it. Since that one made it himself, the effect is absolute."
"...No, it's too soon to unleash them."
"Didn't you say we don't have time?"
"Even accounting for that, it's too early. If we send out unfinished ones and they die, Sung-ho will learn too much."
Fusing with a monster meant skills could be stolen upon death.
This system was absolute, even for the entity at the deepest layer.
Go Ho-kyung suggested an alternative.
"Then how about dominating the Chinese players? Their levels aren't high, but there are many of them."
Ahn Geun-seok's face finally lit up.
"Those guys have a bad history with Sung-ho, right?"
"Over 300 of them died because of him. If we catch him, they'll skin him alive."
Catch who and do what?
Ahn Geun-seok sneered at the Chinese players, but their intense hatred and rage were undeniable.
That made them prime material.
"Test them out before using the lunatics. Who's their leader?"
"Zhao Ziwei. 33-year-old man, former gymnast. Trait presumed to be acceleration-type."
"Tempt him with power. Strengthen a few of his underlings, and he'll bow on his own."
"I'll handle it."
She vanished, and Ahn Geun-seok seethed with fury toward Sung-ho.
"Not content with wasting revival scrolls, now he's forcing us to use the sap reservoirs too... I don't know how many he's hoarded, but I'll make him burn through every last one."
He wanted to see Sung-ho's face when they were all gone.
Sincerely.
.
.
.
I don't know much about Texas.
My vague image was just vast wastelands and cowboys herding cattle.
Add armed militias running wild, church crosses, and steaks big enough for two, and you have my preconceptions.
James laughed it off, saying it wasn't entirely wrong.
"Everything in Texas is big. The land, the guns, the food, the women's chests."
"I like the last one best."
"There's a saying: No such thing as too big a chest. The bigger, the better."
"That's a bit..."
James and Sang-shin oddly clicked, chattering nonstop as they pushed through the labyrinth.
James would brag, "Texas has stuff like this too!" and Sang-shin would react with shock or stunned silence.
Paige rolled her eyes at her dad.
"Believe half of what Texans say. Better yet, believe none."
Texans seemed prone to tall tales, in my view.
Though that's a generalization—everyone's different.
Truth is, it was just banter.
Dungeon crawling gets boring; you can't help wanting to talk about something.
James, walking beside us, spoke up.
"The labyrinth wasn't this quiet when we came. Feels like a church, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, because of this guy here."
Sang-shin pointed at me, piquing the father-daughter duo's curiosity.
"Why? Do the monsters fear Mr. Kang?"
"He smashed all the nearby ones, so no respawns for a while. Head to the Texas entrance, and it'll be crawling."
"My God..."
Paige looked shocked.
Probably hadn't heard of my reputation, having spent little time in Korea.
James nodded approvingly.
"Mr. Kang's a real man. Terence, that musclehead with brains full of meat, isn't."
This felt aimed at Paige.
Shockingly, she flipped her dad the bird.
"I'll pick my own man. Terence was dumb, but his muscles were killer."
"So where is he now?"
"Um..."
Paige glanced at me, then crossed her arms.
"This one's got great muscles too, so he's fine."
She falls easy, that's for sure. James glanced back and chuckled.
"Shame—he's taken."
"...He has a girlfriend?"
"Choi Da-jeong, a real knockout."
"Big chest?"
Don't people usually ask if she's pretty?
Sang-shin jumped in, calling her terrifying, and Paige recoiled in horror, latching onto his arm instead.
"Then how about you?"
"Uh, I don't have much muscle..."
"We can build some. And you're strong anyway."
"Shh, we're here."
We cleared the swarming monsters and reached the dimension gate.
Outside, streets overtaken by Lotus's ecosystem stretched out.
"This is Crosby County, northeast Houston. Thirty klicks east is our ranch."
Thirty kilometers?
Too far to rush right away.
Looking around, Crosby embodied my Texas stereotypes perfectly.
How can there be zero mountains?
The horizon stretched endlessly, rare in Korea.
Worn wooden houses and tumbleweeds rolling in the wind amplified the desolation.
We ducked into a nearby wooden house.
First order: scout the area.
Opening my dimension warehouse made the duo gape.
"Wow, what a huge door!"
"Bigger than all of Texas!"
Their help was essential for herding cattle, so revealing my ability made sense.
Especially since Jang Won-taek had probably spilled the beans.
James stroked his goatee, intrigued.
"First space-type psychic I've seen. Folks around me were all sharpshooters or horsemen."
"You call ability users 'psychics'?"
"Just among us. Superpowers, you know."
Paige asked me,
"Can people go in there?"
"No one else."
"Wow, super selfish trait."
This girl's brutally honest.
The duo now knew some of my powers but weren't overly impressed.
Probably because they had no clue what was inside.
I went in, grabbed a drone and laptop, and came back out.
Soon the drone was airborne, streaming footage to the laptop.
We huddled around to watch.
"From the sky, it's a total mess. Can't tell forest from city."
"Where's my house?"
"Too far for this drone."
Paige pouted, and I maneuvered the drone to scout.
Then I spotted a group of humans and a massive cattle herd.
James urged,
"Bring it lower. I can tell if they're mine up close."
Dropping altitude, he shouted triumphantly.
"Angus! That's Angus, the herd leader! Still alive!"
A huge black bull fleeing at the front.
At least 200 cattle followed.
People shot arrows but kept missing.
Sang-shin sighed enviously.
"Ah... keeps missing."
"It better! Those are my cows!"
"But months have passed—ownership expired, right? No proof."
"Prove it with strength! Right?"
James eyed me.
But with 200 cows, no need for a fight.
We could split them amicably.
I told James,
"Before securing the herd, let's settle the split."
"I take 4/10, Mr. Kang 6/10. I'll teach you ranching, butchering, cooking—no holding back."
Not a bad deal.
"Can I deposit your share at the Korean shelter?"
"Of course. No place to keep them here anyway."
The duo seemed set on settling in Korea, not Texas.
"Good. Let's catch them. Wait here a sec."
I opened a dimension gate and entered the shelter.
Jiman greeted me with sparkling eyes.
"Bro, you found cows?"
"Just confirmed—about 200. Taking 60%."
"Pasture them here in the forest. Monsters are scarce now."
Thanks to shelter members' diligent hunting.
Not ideal to free-range fully yet—better keep them inside for now.
I took Jiman to the forest plot.
"This'll be the barn for now. Divide chores; let them graze."
"Yeah, out in the morning, back at night."
We had plenty of feed grain in storage.
Now, grab two motorcycles and Jiman, and go.
Last, I checked the message board for Seok-hyun's team.
Jiman explained beside me.
"They reached Luat Kingdom. Looks like Chichen Itza vibes."
"Chichen what?"
"Mayan ruins. Pyramids in the jungle."
I remembered from textbooks.
Apparently, Seok-hyun coined the nickname.
From his museum explanations before, he knew a lot about history...
"Met stag beetle kin there."
Probably more rude ones.
They'd mellowed some after group interactions, but their prickly nature remained.
Liked only Jiman; cold to others.
But these weren't stag beetles.
"The stag beetle drew forest warriors tattooed on its body. Those guys showed up."
"...For real?"
"Yeah. Check the encrypted messages."
I pulled up the auction house comments.
Damn.
Seok-hyun had caused an incident.
They'd reached the ruins but clashed with stationed elves.
Elves fired arrows, but Seok-hyun ignored and flattened them.
I hurriedly typed a comment.
—Where'd the elves go?
Soon, Geom-in replied.
—Possible? Seok-hyun's perception is insane.
—All of them?
Anyway, Seok-hyun was at fault here.
Potential allies, and he punches first?
Then Seok-hyun barged into the comments.
—You threw the first punch?
That changes things.
Open hostility—no reason to wait for their attack.
I'd have struck first too.
They might have reasons, but no need to care.
I patted Seok-hyun on the back.
—Good job. Don't sweat it. Located them?
—Hold up. Organize first.
I closed the auction house and gathered my thoughts.
No need to escalate the mishap.
Best to let it slide if possible, but unsure their side's view.
Maybe send the stag beetle as ambassador...
I messaged Da-jeong.
—Captain Stag Beetle doing what?
Really pissed.
Makes sense—punched kin and tied up.
—Calm it, release the leg. Ask what they like.
—Seems like a misunderstanding. No reason to hate strangers. Unless super isolationist.
—Include that. Probe gently. Avoid clashes.
—Here for intel, not brawls.
—In Texas now. Herding cows—busy. Handle it.
—Been ages since I had beef.
—Yeah.
All three crave beef, judging by the unison replies.
Feels like wrangling kids.
[People Living in the Apocalypse - 1] End