4. The Reward

I hung up and headed for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠warehouse.

Lumber and ore were stacked high inside. By the entrance a man had set his axe down and was rubbing his palms; when he saw me, he started to rise.

"Ah, stay where you are. I only came to see how much we've gathered."

I looked around the warehouse and opened the resource status.

Oh. Moving that fast was worth it after all.

I opened the construction list at once.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

A long list unfurled in front of me. One thing was off, though. In the original, building a lumber camp or a quarry raised gathering efficiency. Those buildings weren't here.

Hmm... Maybe because the old logic—drop one building and people magically start moving faster—doesn't make a lick of sense anymore?

Whatever. What I had to do right now was already decided. A standard build meant the field came first, no exceptions. I opened its details.

Nothing had changed. Same idea as the game: plant today, harvest tomorrow.

Good. Buying this one.

After the field, I'd have four hundred wood and three hundred minerals left. I checked the lodging too.

Oh. Beds and cookware?

I glanced toward headquarters. A man leaning against the wall had his eyes closed, then bumped his head into the person beside him.

"Ah, sorry."

He rubbed his neck and shifted how he was sitting. Spend the night like that and you could sleep and still feel like you hadn't.

Yeah. Food and a roof first. That's just the rule.

I selected the lodging and placed it on the empty lot beside headquarters, then set the field next to the lodging so the walk between work and rest would be short.

"Huh? What's that?"

A woman pointed at the empty lot. Posts were rising out of bare ground, and people got up one after another to stare.

"Commander... did you... do that?"

"Yes."

"Then... does that mean we're... inside a game right now?"

"Mm... yes. You could say that."

"Then... have you played this game, Commander?"

"Yes. For quite a long time."

The woman's eyes went wide. The man who'd been gawking at the buildings beside her turned to look at me too.

"Ah... so that's why you told us to gather wood and stone from the start."

"Do you know what we're supposed to do from here, then?"

I looked the crowd over. A moment ago they'd been staring at the lot. Now they were waiting on my answer.

"First we need somewhere to eat and sleep. After that I'll put up walls and upgrade the turrets."

"The turrets can be upgraded too?"

"Yes. Which means you have to keep gathering. I can't build without materials."

"Ah... yes. Understood."

The man nodded. I pointed at the axes behind him.

"Rest a bit, then head back out. I'll only need two of you to help with the planting."

The woman stayed, and so did the man beside her. The construction was nearly finished anyway.

I walked up to the field and opened the seed selection.

Figures. Breadfruit is still the correct first pick.

I remembered how absurd the name had sounded the first time I saw it. Bread, growing on a tree? I'd searched it up, half convinced it was some fantasy magic-school nonsense, and then been startled all over again to learn the breadfruit tree was real.

I selected breadfruit and received the seeds.

"We're planting breadfruit. Cook the fruit and you can eat it."

"Bread... tree...? Bread grows on a tree?"

"It's a tree you eat by cooking the fruit. It actually exists."

"Oh... so the game didn't invent it?"

"Haha. I thought it had, at first."

I split the seeds between the two of them.

"They're trees, so leave plenty of space. Start planting from this side."

"Yes... thank you, Commander. I looked online and everyone's... it's a complete disaster out there. I'm so glad we met someone as kind as you."

"Ahaha... you're too kind. Anyway, the fruit should be ready tomorrow, so hang on a little longer."

The woman looked down at the seeds in her hand, then rolled up her sleeves. I marked out the spots for them and stepped out of the field.

Passing the lodging, I saw the man who'd been dozing against the headquarters wall. He was already in bed, one arm thrown over his eyes, his shoes set neatly side by side underneath.

Whew... that's one weight off.

I went back to the commander's office and shut the door. Then I pulled up the perk at once.

The moment I selected the perk, a map snapped open. Red dots were marked all through the forest. I tapped the nearest one, and a zombie marker appeared along with a command window.

Whoa... this is honestly broken. I could ring the whole base with a zombie horde and use them as a living wall.

I selected every zombie marked on the map.

"Circle up outside the base and the gathering zone, and hold there."

Yoon Seoa kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed. The moment her head hit the pillow and she stretched her legs out, a sigh left her on its own.

Ah... this is nice.

Leaning against the headquarters wall earlier, she hadn't really rested at all. Sit for even a little while and her backside hurt; close her eyes and her head kept dropping. Seoa rolled onto her side and took out her phone.

"Pfft."

The man in the bed across from her was on his phone too. He tapped the screen a few times, then laughed again.

Haa... Asking them to give the women their own lodging... that would be too much, wouldn't it?

Seoa sighed and opened the gallery. A new post caught her eye.

The man across from her snorted.

"If you're jealous, just say you're jealous, asshole."

He grabbed the phone he'd left resting on his stomach with both hands.

Haa... Knock the women up and make cheese...? Everyone really has lost it...

Still, the commander here hadn't done anyone any harm yet. That, at least, felt like a mercy. Seoa scrolled down to see how everyone else was living. There was a post about a commander executing an old man because he wanted to eat human flesh. Another about people deciding they were all going to die anyway, so they might as well have as much sex as they wanted, and throwing an orgy.

S... scary...

Seoa turned her phone off and sat up.

There was a rumor, too, not long ago. Someone in this base tried to rape a woman...

She pulled her discarded shoes in under her own bed and looked at the lodging door.

If this place falls apart too...

Could she even call the commander on it? And if he told her to leave, where would she go?

Nowhere.

She didn't even trust herself to run if she met a zombie out there alone. So she had to get close to the commander while he was still sane. Close enough that whatever anyone else tried, they wouldn't lay a hand on her. Close enough that even if the commander himself went strange, he would treat her a little differently from the rest.

Seoa slipped a hand into her pocket. One chocolate bar, picked up while she was out gathering. Every time her stomach growled she'd turned it over in her fingers, saving it for when she truly couldn't hold out any longer.

Even this...

Right now, this and her body were all she had to give. She put her shoes on and stood. Before leaving the lodging she checked her face in the phone screen and pressed her messy hair down with her hand.

Knock, knock.

"Come in."

When Seoa opened the door, Taehyun looked up from his phone. Tousled hair. Horn-rimmed glasses. Nothing like the tone he'd used on that greasy middle-aged creep—he looked almost gentle.

He... he looks way more like a dork than I thought...?

Seoa edged into the commander's office, hesitant.

"What is it?"

"I... um, have you eaten anything?"

"No. Not yet."

That answer let her relax a little. She stepped up to the desk and held out the chocolate bar.

"H-here. Please take this. I picked it up outside earlier."

"Oh? A chocolate bar?"

"Yes..."

Taehyun set his phone down. Then he looked at the hand gripping the bar and asked, "You didn't bring that to eat yourself?"

"It's fine. You said there'd be food tomorrow."

Seoa smiled and added, "And you built the lodging... I wanted to thank you."

Taehyun took the chocolate bar.

"Thank you. Honestly, I was pretty hungry."

He tore the wrapper open right away, and some of the tension went out of Seoa's shoulders. He didn't seem annoyed, at least. There was a loud crunch as Taehyun bit off a huge piece.

"Whoa..."

He chewed, sounding genuinely impressed. Watching him, Seoa let out a small laugh.

"Hehe... is it good?"

"Yeah. I don't remember it ever tasting this good."

Taehyun nodded at the chair beside the desk.

"Sit for a minute."

Seoa quickly pulled the chair over and sat. Taehyun broke the bar and held a piece out to her.

"Eat with me. When things are rough, you share whatever you've got."

"Oh... thank you... I... I'm Yoon Seoa. Please take care of me..."

"Ah, right. Seoa. I'm Kang Taehyun."

"Yes..."

Seoa ate the chocolate carefully and dropped her gaze. She'd come in ready to offer her body too, but now that she had to say it, the words wouldn't come easily. She hesitated, then opened her mouth.

"I... I! Um..."

"Yes?"

"If... if you're cold... you could sleep with me... and... I could keep you from getting lonely..."

Taehyun stopped mid-bite and looked at her. Seoa rushed to add, "If you just... tell me what to do... I-I can do it well...!"

"Um... I'm a little thrown, honestly. First... it's not that I don't like you, Seoa, or that I'm turning you down because of that. I mean... sure, the law doesn't mean anything in this world anymore, but even so, this could still be rape by abuse of authority... and it pricks my conscience, so it's... it's just... but that doesn't mean I'm a eunuch, either..."

"Pfft... pffhah..."

Seoa burst out laughing at the way he tangled himself up. For all that talking, his cock had gone stiff—he crossed his legs trying to hide it, and the sight was oddly cute. She laughed for a good while, watching how he reacted, and then she simply peeled her clothes off.

What showed was a pair of pale white breasts, and a neatly groomed pussy of soft pink.

"I... your figure is... really something..."

"Would you hold me, Commander?"

Taehyun got up from his seat, awkward and hesitant. What she saw then was his cock, standing so rigid it looked ready to tear through his pants.

What? His face is one thing, but... that's impressive.

He came waddling toward her like an idiot, ass stuck out behind him.

"Pfft... I'll take your pants off."

"I... I can take them off myself..."

Seoa kissed him and pulled his pants down just like that. Embarrassed, Taehyun drew her into his arms, and that thick shaft wedged itself between her thighs.

Nnh... why is it so hard...? It only touched me and I already feel like I'm going to come.

A wet rush burst out of her.

"Ah—aaahn...!"

Seoa squirted, hard.

"Hey... are you okay?"

"I... I'm not okay..."

At that same moment, Lee Junhyuk was in a filthy mood.

Kang Jinsu, that son of a bitch. Doing that to Jiyeon right in front of me...

And then, just because their eyes met, the bastard picked a fight and shipped him out on recon without even letting him rest.

First chance I get, I'm knocking every last tooth out of his head. Fucking piece of shit.

The man walking ahead of him stopped dead.

"Fuck, zombies!"

Junhyuk looked up. Through the trees, a pack was swarming in.

"Up! Hurry!"

The two of them scrambled up the nearest tree. The zombies passed right underneath and never once looked up.

...What? They didn't see us?

They waited a long while after the horde had gone before climbing down.

"What the hell kind of misery is this, all because of that bastard Kang Jinsu."

"Right? He should've come himself."

Junhyuk picked the bark out of his palm and kept walking. He'd nearly died earlier, and the second they hit the forest it was the same shit all over again. They had just reached the area near the neighboring base when—

"Aaahn...! Baby, harder... pound me harder..."

"Haa... Yeonju, why are you so wet today? Look at you, glistening. Want me to come inside?"

"Aahn! No, baby...! If I get pregnant we're screwed. Seriously... nnh! I'm gonna die..."

Anyone listening would have known that was sex.

How the hell are they doing it outside in the middle of all this...?

Some people had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clinging to a tree, hiding from zombies. And these two were out here fucking. While Junhyuk stared blankly at the scene, the man holding the woman turned his head. Their eyes met.

"Wh-who the hell are you!"