Everyone Descends Together - 2
"Alright, come down slowly. Don't get hurt."
"Master just dropped right down!"
"If you can drop like me and survive, then go ahead and try it."
I'd had to dig pretty deep into the ground before finally completing this mine. But to handle all the other tasks, I needed people besides myself to help out. My women, of course, had followed me here as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Still, I never imagined we'd end up working in a coal mine."
There were safety measures here and there, but in the end, they had no choice but to climb down the long ladder to reach this depth. Making that ladder and digging the tunnel had taken no small amount of time. Now it was time to reap the rewards.
"Sua's here. Seohee's here. Haena's here. Everyone's made it?"
The women, dressed in slightly more ragged clothes than usual, pulled flashlights from their pockets and shone them into the darkness.
"From now on... let's start digging down."
The scene reminded me of those block games I'd played before. The thought of having to carve through this darkness left me with no choice but to flash a wry smile.
"Having to go through all this just to mine a single rock feels pretty bleak."
Fortunately, once we hauled the mined stone to this underground space, sending it back up wouldn't be hard. The primitive manual elevator in the base facility—mine would lift the stone material all the way to the surface.
"This is insanely fast already. Can't help it if you feel impatient, though."
Seohee gave a faint smile.
"Is it?"
"We've never helped build a new territory from scratch, so we can't say for sure. But we know this pace is abnormally quick."
"Hmm..."
"Without your strength, we'd probably still be out there logging trees."
Seohee was right. I nodded. I'd accomplished it all so easily and naturally that I hadn't realized it, but this territory had overcome obstacles that would have plagued any other settlement—more cleanly and simply.
"I've felt this for a while, but Master... how should I put it? You're a bit lacking in sensitivity toward ordinary people."
"Yeah?"
"Obviously."
The other women nodded too, as if they couldn't deny it.
"That logging work alone—even an ordinary person swinging an axe like a dog couldn't pull it off."
"Umm..."
"And repelling the outside invasion without any real cost... well, we lost a bunch of stuff, but we handled it great anyway."
"Ah."
Come to think of it, Kim Soi's attack had been a clear case of an "outside survivor invasion."
"That's a good thing. No need to assign people to defense. Normally, a small base like this—even with ten or twenty people—can't put them all to work."
"Then?"
"Say there are about thirty people at the base—"
There wasn't a hint of doubt in Seohee's words. It felt like she'd witnessed and heard every detail herself.
"The strongest one's just slacking off, barking half-assed orders while eating well, with three lackeys kissing up to him."
It was eerily realistic—and a little scary, since it felt like something I could have ended up doing if I'd been just a tad lazier. Picture Roa and Heea staying at the apartment, while Sua, Seohee, Haena, and I holed up somewhere in the base: that'd be me plus three idling instead of working.
"Roughly ten have to serve as soldiers or hunters. Gotta run guard rotations, patrol nearby, kill zombies whenever you're bored."
"And that's not even the end. Out of the remaining seventeen, about six form cliques and bully the others."
"Why?"
"They don't want to risk fighting zombies head-on, but they're strong enough that no one dares mess with them."
"Hmm..."
"Subtract them, and you're left with about seven. But is that all? Nope."
"What's next?"
"With thirty people gathered, you're bound to have three or so injured, kids, or elderly no matter what."
Thinking about it that way, three out of thirty—10 percent—didn't seem that high. No one unplanned would have kids, but injuries were inevitable in fights against zombies or other survivors.
"So the remaining four handle cooking, cleaning, digging..."
"That's horrifying."
"Exactly. Don't rush it. Food's not an immediate crisis, so take it steady. Steady."
"Alright, I'll think about it."
Even if I tried to stay relaxed, there was no reason to put off what I could do right now. I picked up the shovel.
The women sitting in the prison cells were working tirelessly. Their individual thoughts varied, but they all shared the same conviction: they had to work harder right now.
"Hey, everyone doing okay?"
A red-haired woman appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Until recently, Kim Soi had been locked in this very room with them, but now she roamed freely outside. Some envied her; others pitied her. But right now, Kim Soi held the power. She wasn't just another powerless prisoner like the captured women.
"Hungry? Eat this at least."
She pulled bread and snacks hidden in various spots on her body.
"Won't you get in trouble for bringing stuff like this?"
"That's why I snuck it in. Hide the trash well. I'll collect it later."
To some of the mercenaries, that bread and snacks brought heartbreaking sorrow.
'The boss, for our sake...'
'Even after becoming a slave, she hasn't forgotten us. As a sex slave now, who knows what she'd suffer if this got out—'
They knew what fate befell women who became sex slaves. Their respected leader had no choice but to sell her body and soul for them.
"Boss... eat some too."
"Nah, I'm good. I eat like a queen out there. Don't worry."
"Isn't the outside work tough?"
"Tough? More like... I'm just the lighter girl. Constantly using my ability wears me out, and it's filthy hot... but my body's not hurting."
Kim Soi joked around.
"The man..."
"Yeah, it's complicated one way or another, but we're all alive, right? No missing limbs, no torture."
She gave an awkward smile as she looked at the imprisoned mercenaries.
"He's a good guy. Life's worth living."
"Boss..."
But not everyone envied her.
'...We're stuck in here, and she's seducing the man to get special treatment—'
A few harbored small jealousies. They didn't truly hate Soi. She had real respect from her subordinates, and the mercenary band's cohesion was solid for these times. But women dissatisfied with being locked up couldn't accept their situation.
'I admit the boss is tough... but honestly, does she even have appeal as a woman?'
Mercenaries who'd never actually met a man didn't know precisely what feminine traits appealed to them. But they had a rough idea from women who'd curried favor with men to live well.
'She's not even slim, her personality's rough... honestly, wouldn't I be a bit better than the boss?'
Becoming a sex slave was naturally horrific. But not everyone saw it that way.
'As a sex slave, I'd be unable to refuse that man's commands... but what's different now?'
'We're all leashed to that man anyway. If I'm still a pet, better a full-fed dog than a starving one, right?'
They wanted to become sex slaves. They envied Kim Soi, free to wander outside and eat what she wanted without a care. Even if it meant sacrificing much for just a little more food, they yearned for that position.
'Maybe next time the man comes, I should say I have something to tell him...'
Objectively, he looked quite dashing and strong. Plenty thought they'd happily accept even being taken by him.
"I-Is it just... just the boss sacrificing for us? That's not fair..."
And some sniffled for the exact opposite reason. Those who saw becoming a sex slave as suffering, and Soi's actions as sacrifice, couldn't bear the idea that their leader had become that man's slave because of them. They didn't want to let the boss suffer alone. If someone had to endure the pain, they all should share it.
'...What the hell's with her now?'
Kim Soi panicked at her sniffling subordinate and hurriedly comforted her.
"It's fine. It's... more bearable than I thought. Getting taken... isn't even that bad."
"Hic... snif..."
The mercenaries who thought Soi was sacrificing believed she was lying to reassure them. Conversely, those pondering becoming sex slaves perked up their ears and took her words at face value.
"Anyway, I'm off. Keep working hard!"
Unaware of how much weight her recent words and actions carried, Soi left the prison casually, leaving the mercenaries to their tangled thoughts.