Expansion and Growth: Leo
"Leo."
When I called his name, Leo came trotting over with that bouncy little gait. He couldn't even open his eyes at first, but in just a few minutes he was already up and exploring. The growth rate was beyond astonishing—it was downright unreal.
"Seunghee, keep that thing on."
"I already am."
The red bikini that boosted pet growth rates by thirty percent. I'd ordered her to wear it constantly. A dog could help with hunting and guarding the house. If we raised it fast, it would definitely prove useful.
"Oppa, why are you giving Leo so much food? You gave me so much grief when I fed Peep."
Seunghee grumbled as I filled the dog bowl to the brim.
"Is Leo the same as Peep? That thing won't be any use no matter how much you raise it."
Peep did nothing but eat and shit. At least Leo was a dog. He'd be more helpful than a damn chick.
"That's so mean! No animal discrimination!"
-Peep! Peep!
Seunghee and Peep immediately protested. The chick in particular seemed to understand me perfectly and started pecking the top of my foot.
"Get lost, you useless thing."
-Peep!
When I rolled it away with my foot, Peep scampered off to its mother.
"Changjae. You can't treat it like that. You have to cherish animals."
-Peep!
"Tsk."
Cunning little bastard, running to Mom. I'd deep-fry you as seasoned chicken later.
"Leo. Eat up and grow fast so you can teach Peep some manners."
-Woof.
"Ugh. This one doesn't look very promising either."
It had been less than an hour since he was born, so it was only natural, but Leo still didn't inspire much confidence. Those thick paws suggested he'd grow big, but that gentle face made him look too soft.
"Oh, right. Mom."
"Yes?"
"I think it's time we expanded the hideout."
Now that Kaylee had joined us and we had two pets, the space that felt fine for three people suddenly seemed cramped. We couldn't leave the chick or puppy outside, so we needed dedicated areas inside. It was time to expand.
"I was thinking we should divide the rooms too."
"Oppa. You said we weren't dividing the rooms."
Seunghee still remembered what I'd told her when we first took her in.
"The number of people has increased."
I couldn't divide rooms because of Seunghee. I'd only said that back then to mess with her. Seeing how she was acting now, I should have broken her spirit a bit more. I was too nice for my own good.
"Do you need your own room, Seunghee?"
"Mmm~ Not really~?"
"Mom, don't bother asking her."
"Hmph."
"What about you, Mom?"
"Mom's fine staying crowded together like this. Should we ask Kaylee too?"
"We'll ask her when she comes out."
Kaylee was still showering after sex. Since she was the one freeloading off us, there was no real need to consider her opinion anyway.
"Then let's skip dividing the rooms for now and just expand the space. We'll need room for a dog house too."
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"I agree too."
"I wasn't asking you."
We doubled the size of the living room-slash-bedroom. All it took was pressing a button on the terminal. Of course, the coins drained away just as fast. Leveling and expanding the floor alone had already cost three hundred coins.
"Whoa."
Seunghee watched in awe as the bedroom stretched outward.
"This looks like the limit for this side."
Our hideout was essentially a cave inside a massive rock. The size of the base rock itself put a hard limit on how much we could expand the interior.
"We could probably expand the kitchen more."
"The kitchen is fine as it is."
The kitchen looked narrow compared to the newly expanded bedroom, but if its owner—Mom—said it was okay, we'd leave it alone.
"Then over here..."
Instead, I created space beside the entrance for a dog house.
"Leo. This is your spot from now on."
-Bark.
"Oppa, what about Peep?"
-Peep!
"He can rent a corner of Leo's house."
-Peeep...
"That's too mean, isn't it?"
-Peep! Peep peep!
"She says even if you lay a golden egg later, she won't give it to you."
"Golden egg my ass. Lay a normal egg first, then talk."
We returned to the bedroom and started adding furniture.
"We should get a linen closet too. We change the sheets pretty often."
"Should we?"
Thanks to all the post-sex cleanup, we went through bed sheets daily. That meant two wardrobes for clothes, a large dresser, and two smaller ones. The place was finally starting to look like an actual home.
"For the bed... I guess we need another one."
The three of us had managed to share one bed, but adding Kaylee made four people. That was too much.
"Should we buy one proper bed? We can throw out the old mattress."
In the corner sat two stacked mattresses—an ancient relic from back when Seungpil was still around.
"...Alright."
We sold the old mattress for half price and placed a new bed in its spot. I picked one that was fairly large, keeping Kaylee's height in mind.
"Hmm. Anything else we need?"
"The corners don't get any light. How about adding another lamp?"
"I'll add a small one then."
"Please buy me a big hugging doll."
"Do you think coins sprout from the ground?"
We kept adding things one by one until the space felt complete.
"Hmm. I think that's everything."
We'd bought new sheets and pillows for the new bed too. We had about a thousand coins left. That was enough to keep as a reserve.
"Oppa, can I sleep on the new bed tonight?"
"Then do you want to sleep there with Kaylee? Mom will sleep with me, right?"
"...Yes."
That meant after dinner tonight it would just be me and Mom. After sleeping as a trio every night, it had been a while since it was just the two of us. Actually, this was practically the first time, wasn't it? I'd better conserve my energy.
"Hmm... huh?"
While idly playing with the terminal, I noticed something had changed.
"Overall map?"
A new button labeled Overall Map had appeared in the map menu. Now that I thought about it, my terminal had leveled up again when I formed the partnership with Kaylee. I'd forgotten that other functions would upgrade along with it.
I tapped the new button. A bird's-eye view of the entire island—shaped like Jeju—filled the screen.
"Whoa."
"What is it, Oppa?"
"It's a map of the whole island."
Unfortunately there didn't seem to be any zoom function. All it showed was the island's overall shape and our current position. Not particularly informative.
"This is where we are."
Judging by the orientation, we were in the southwest, relatively close to the center.
"What's this?"
Seunghee pointed at text in the corner that read Hazard Level. When I tapped it, the island filled with color. The northern half turned green—Safe Zone. The western and central areas became yellow—Boundary Zone. Our southern region was painted red—Danger Zone. And in the far southeast corner was a black area marked ???.
That last one was obviously dangerous. We should never go near it.
"Oppa, it says we're in the danger zone."
"Yeah..."
The black ??? was worrying enough, but even our hideout was located inside the red danger zone.
"No wonder dangerous things kept showing up."
"Oppa, shouldn't we move to the safe zone in the north? There are dinosaurs here..."
Seunghee hugged her arms, visibly getting goosebumps.
"That might seem logical, but... this side could actually be safer."
"Why?"
"Because people will gather where it's safe."
"Ah!"
The safe zone was exactly what it sounded like—an area without dangerous animals. Naturally, survivors would congregate there. Whether people or beasts were more threatening depended on the person, but I believed scheming humans were far more dangerous than mindless animals.
"Do you think there are more people?"
"Probably."
Me and Mom. Seunghee and Seungpil. The middle-aged man and his daughter who killed Seungpil. Kaylee and her son. In eight days on this island, those were the only six survivors we'd encountered. But that couldn't possibly be everyone. The island was large, and we were in a danger zone. The northern safe zone likely held far more people.
"It would be nice if everyone could just get along..."
"You know better than anyone that isn't possible."
The very first survivor we met had murdered Seungpil. That experience had left an indelible curse on us—the curse of being unable to trust other survivors.
I pulled depressed Seunghee into a hug and kept exploring the terminal. Other than some new luxury items in the shop, nothing else seemed to have changed.
"Hmm."
Most of the new items were indeed luxuries—decorations and paintings for the hideout, accessories with no special effects, alcohol, cigarettes, and the like.
"Alcohol, huh."
"No alcohol allowed!"
Seunghee's expression turned dead serious.
"Why not?"
"Because Oppa will turn into a violent monster when you're drunk!"
I had no intention of wasting precious coins on something like that anyway. Still, being treated like I became a raging dog after one drink was unacceptable.
"I can be a violent man without drinking anything."
"Ow ow ow ow ow!"
Annoyed, I ground my knuckle into her temple. Seunghee shrieked and fled straight to Mom, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen.
"Waaah~! Mom~!"
"Changjae! You shouldn't bully a girl!"
Tsk. Even Mom was taking her side?
Since Seunghee had pissed me off, I decided to take it out on Peep instead.
"Hey. Don't eat that."
-Peep...?
I snatched away Peep's feed and gave it to Leo. You can go hungry tonight.