Chapter 26: Looking for Cleaning Part-Timers
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 26: Looking for Cleaning Part-Timers
Pork belly and soju-and-beer was a classic pairing, but wrapping them up with Hetbahn and kimchi like a samhap was absolutely incredible.
Personally, I prefer freshly made, crisp kimchi over sour, fermented ones. The great thing about the food supply was that it actually provided fresh kimchi.
It didn't come every day, but once every two or three days was more than enough.
Plus, after reaching Level 4, it upgraded to a medium food ration twice a day. They called it "medium," but it came in three massive, jam-packed boxes, so I was practically overflowing with food.
So, for just the two of us to have a pork belly party, the spread was bordering on pure luxury.
"Ugh, I'm stuffed."
"It's so delicious. I've been so happy lately."
"Are you possessed by a ghost that starved to death? You're really packing it away."
"...I spent four years as a trainee. I can't even remember the last time I ate what I actually wanted."
With some alcohol in her system, and since she seemed to have opened up to me lately, Kim Ji-hee was sharing quite a bit about herself.
She really did work hard in her own way.
"Thanks to you, Oppa... I think I'm happier now than I was before. I'll do my absolute best to be useful to you."
If it weren't for the zombie apocalypse, would a bottom-tier loser like me ever have had the chance to look Kim Ji-hee in the eye?
If time had flowed normally, she probably would have debuted. With her face, body, and work ethic—the perfect trifecta—she might have become a famous idol, the main vocalist of a successful girl group.
As for me, I would have wasted my life on a shitty game for 100,000 hours, run out of money, hit my thirties while drifting from one convenience store part-time job to another, and died as a pathetic nobody whom no one would even remember.
But now, that very game I threw my life into had become a real-life zombie apocalypse, and here I was, hearing these words from Kim Ji-hee.
I knew that promising to be useful to me "in any way" wasn't something she said lightly.
Even if it meant offering her body, she was willing to do it to maintain her current lifestyle.
"Don't sell yourself too short. Your body is delicious, but that's not the only reason I brought you along."
Her low self-esteem worked to my advantage.
It made her easier to handle and more dependent on me.
But there was no need to drag her self-esteem all the way to the gutter just to control her.
I had cheat modes that others didn't.
Even without crushing her self-esteem and sexually grooming her, the circumstances were already set up so that she would naturally want me out of sheer necessity.
So, I told her the truth.
"Healing Level 4. That's incredibly fucking rare. Even if those tattooed thugs at the Seongsu Apartment or other people don't realize it."
Or maybe they knew and just ignored it.
Of course, since modes could be leveled up to 10, Level 4 might not seem that high in the grand scheme of things.
But Level 10 was a level that required an insane amount of playtime even in the actual game. It was the realm of pure grinding, achieved only by those who sank hundreds of hours into a single server.
Starting at Level 4 compared to Level 1 for the same healing mode made a world of difference.
Not only was the starting line completely different, but the options themselves were on another level.
"Right now, since we don't have any injuries, your only use is those tits of yours. But later on, you'll be the doctor around here."
"...Okay."
In reality, doctors handled medical treatment, but in a zombie apocalypse, a healer with a mode was far more competent than any doctor.
A healer who also possessed medical knowledge would be ideal, but instead of hoping for someone like that who also happened to have Kim Ji-hee's face and body, I decided to just rely on game abilities.
Anyway, after celebrating becoming a building owner, I lay down on the wooden bench to look at the stars. During the day, I could hear and see quite a few people moving around outside.
That didn't mean the zombies were gone.
A zombie rush wasn't some final, desperate struggle by the zombies.
It was just that, every now and then, the zombies were drawn by the power of the Blood Moon, causing them to roam and migrate much further than usual.
Unless they were all wiped out, the zombies would eventually return to their territories and behave normally.
Still, while many humans died during a zombie rush, a lot of zombies were killed too, making it slightly easier to move around than usual.
For nearly four days.
The people who had been holed up in their homes were probably starting to run out of food.
Unless they were the type to stockpile months' worth of food in preparation for an apocalypse, it had already been nearly two weeks since the outbreak began.
If they hadn't farmed for food on the very first day, they would be completely out by now.
That's why they were coming out.
Because they knew that if they didn't want to starve to death, they had to go out and farm.
I was going to exploit that.
"Post it."
"Yes."
Danggeun Market.
A highly popular local secondhand trading app.
Since the apocalypse began, it had been serving as a community hub for various neighborhoods. Kim Ji-hee uploaded a post there.
[Looking for cleaning part-timers. Will pay in food.]
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I gathered the people in a nearby empty building.
About eight people showed up at the designated time, which was a surprisingly decent turnout.
Even though I had set quite a few conditions, the pay was so good that they seemed to have shown up just in case it was real.
Of course, there had been more people initially.
"I said only those with Strength 3. Get lost."
"Please... my child is starving... Just one Hetbahn, please..."
"So what? Beat it. You wanna die?"
After chasing away the begging bastards, I was left with eight people, most of whom were sturdy, able-bodied men.
"Are you really giving us ten Hetbahns, five cup ramens, and four 1.5-liter bottles of water?"
"I told you, yes. But you read the part where how long it takes depends on how well you work, right?"
"Yes."
First of all, I had specified that I was only looking for people with a base Strength of 3 or higher.
It might seem like simple cleaning, but they had to lift furniture and constantly clear out corpses.
Furniture that would require two people at Strength 2 could be lifted and moved by a single person with Strength 3, even if it took a bit of effort.
On top of that, some people had modes that could temporarily boost their strength, so I didn't think the cleaning would take very long.
Another condition was that they had to have plenty of time.
It would take quite a while for eight people to completely empty out all the rooms in a four-story building.
Throwing out all the furniture and clearing everything.
I planned to hire actual cleaners once the rooms were cleared, but just clearing them out alone might take all day, perhaps until sunset.
So, I took the eight of them to my studio apartment building and set them to work.
We agreed that payment would be handed out upon completion, and I promised to provide meals. To keep them from slacking off, I gave them some light snacks before they started.
They slacked off a bit at first, but around lunchtime, I grilled about 5kg of meat from my overflowing freezer and served it with rice. After that, they worked twice as hard in the afternoon as they did in the morning.
Around sunset, they all gathered to have their work inspected.
It was spotless.
I could have moved the furniture outside myself, but it was a hassle, so this worked out perfectly.
It also let me get rid of some of the excess food I had piled up.
I handed out the promised food to each of them.
"Do you live here?"
"Why? You wanna come back with a crew and rob me? Come on over if you're suicidal."
"...No, it's not like that..."
Unless they were idiots, the workers would realize by now that I had food to spare.
But that was exactly why I called them.
I took it a step further.
"Are you done?"
Right on cue, I had Kim Ji-hee come out wearing nothing but a thin padded jacket.
Since she was only wearing dolphin shorts underneath, her bare legs were fully exposed to everyone.
A woman and food.
Even a clean place to live.
I had blustered and threatened them, but there would definitely be some bastards who took that as a green light.
You have to keep creating incidents.
To live in peace, I would eventually have to either force the surrounding factions to their knees or eliminate them entirely. It would save me the trouble of hunting them down if they just came straight to my safe base.
Unfortunately, none of them were brave enough to make a reckless move right then and there.
Watching them leave, I posted the next listing.
Cleaning part-timers.
This time, I recruited mostly women.
This didn't require any special stats, but since there were six rooms across four floors, I selected twelve women with Stamina Level 2 or higher, assigning two to meticulously clean each room.
I didn't bother hiring specialists like wallpaperers.
For now, this building was just my own little base, but if I was going to go that far, I might as well just find a new base.
I moved the food supplies into the now-spotless Room 201 to use it as a warehouse.
I left the food I'd eat in my room and only moved the medium food ration boxes up there.
It felt like my home had suddenly gotten much bigger.
I shoved a large freezer into Room 201 as well, organizing my farmed items with the intention of clearing out space in my own room.
They say once you get a house, your desire to fill it only grows.
Now that I had more space, I started wanting things I hadn't even considered when it was cramped.
Well, that's just how you find an excuse to go farming.
Just as I was doing that, guests arrived much earlier than expected.
Hearing a commotion outside, I went out to find nearly twenty people huddled together in front of the barricade, just outside the building entrance, waiting for me.
Or rather, they were holding a meeting among themselves.
"Shouldn't we just break in?"
"What if they have a gun inside..."
It was a group made up of the elderly and middle-aged people.