Return to the Uninhabited Island
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Digging earth with a pickaxe was hard work. Still, Dongwoo kept at it under the blazing sun, swinging away with everything he had.
Just as Kang Dohyun had ordered, he had stayed behind on the uninhabited island — farming by day, fishing by night — and he had kept that life going without fail.
The outside world had been transformed by the apocalypse, but here, everything remained peaceful. Peaceful enough that he could devote himself entirely to farming.
Even so, Dongwoo was lonely. Being cut off from the world, living in isolation — that was the most painful part of his current existence.
Still, I'll do what Dohyun hyung says.
He was thinking that as he swung the pickaxe when—
Whoosh.
A white, disc-shaped object came flying toward the island from far off.
Hide.
Lee Dongwoo ducked behind a tree. But then—
"We've arrived."
From the landed drone stepped Kang Dohun, along with Kang Dohyun, who was carrying Kim Harin — her arms and legs bound — over his shoulder.
The moment Kang Dohyun and Kang Dohun appeared, Lee Dongwoo was overjoyed.
"Hyung! Dohun!"
He was so happy he sprinted over and threw his arms around both brothers in a fierce hug.
"Hey, that's weird — get off."
"Calm down."
The brothers recoiled at Dongwoo's sweaty approach, but—
"I missed you guys so much!"
Starved for human company, Lee Dongwoo was simply too glad to see them.
They headed for the house. Once inside—
Thud.
Kang Dohyun set Kim Harin down on a bed and said,
"If you keep acting like this, it's going to be hard on both of us. There's a limit to how much I can cut you slack."
He was warning her because she had tried to jump from the drone mid-flight. Of course, the brothers — with their superior physical abilities — had stopped her.
"....."
Kim Harin wore a sorrowful expression. She still refused to accept reality.
Looking at her, Kang Dohyun felt a headache coming on.
What a pain. Why won't she submit to me?
He had taken her virginity, and for the seventeen days it took to reach the uninhabited island, he had slept with her every single night. That should have been more than enough to max out her affection and bring her under his control… but not with Kim Harin.
What should I do with her?
Kang Dohyun decided he would need to think carefully about how to handle her, then left her in the room and stepped out.
In the living room, Kang Dohun and Lee Dongwoo were waiting.
"Who's that woman?"
"My woman."
Kang Dohyun's short answer prompted his younger brother to elaborate.
"Hyung says he's going to make her his wife. So treat her well."
"Okay, but why is she tied up?"
"Just take it as is."
After that rough explanation, Kang Dohyun moved on to something more important.
"Dongwoo, how's your Status Window looking?"
"Me? My Status Window is insane. It's great."
At the first monthly settlement, Lee Dongwoo's existing trait Exercise Enthusiast had risen to Exercise Fanatic, and Diligent Farmer had risen to Excellent Farmer.
"Huh? You really lived hard, didn't you."
"Yeah. Just like you told me, hyung — I worked my ass off."
There hadn't been much else to do on the island. So Lee Dongwoo had spent his days cycling through farming, fishing, and exercise, over and over.
Dinner was meat.
"Let's have some meat for the first time in a while."
The freezer in the underground bunker held a considerable stock of frozen meat. Dongwoo pulled out some frozen pork belly and laid it on the grill, and—
Sizzle—
—a violently appetizing sound filled the room.
"How long has it been since we had meat?"
Kang Dohun swallowed hard, waiting for the pork to cook. Kang Dohyun, meanwhile, went and fetched Kim Harin from his room.
"Harin, come eat dinner."
He sat her down at the table.
The four of them began their meal.
Chew, chew.
"Whoa! This lettuce is great. Dongwoo, you grew this, right?"
"Farming with an Achievement really does make a difference."
"The meat's incredible too."
The three men enjoyed their meat feast with gusto, while Kim Harin ate quietly.
Only after they had put away a fair amount of pork did conversation start flowing again.
"Hyung, am I just gonna keep farming and fishing here forever?"
Dongwoo's question earned a nod from Kang Dohyun.
"For a while longer, yeah."
"Hyung, I'm so bored and lonely. Can't I go outside with you and Dohun?"
"No."
Faced with Kang Dohyun's flat refusal, Dongwoo looked to his friend Kang Dohun for support — but—
"Hey, the outside is hell. You stay here and farm and fish."
"Come on, it's so boring."
"You don't even know how good you've got it."
As Dongwoo kept grumbling, Kang Dohyun spoke up.
"We're going to stay here for a while before we leave. So quit complaining."
"Really? Then at least it'll be fun for a bit."
The news that they would be staying for a while took the edge off Dongwoo's discontent.
Kang Dohyun looked at his younger brother.
"The first quarterly settlement is in seven days. Until then, you and I are training on this island."
At the mention of training, Kang Dohun steeled himself.
"Good. Hyung, go as hard as you want."
"Alright. Your abilities are too good to waste — I'll push you a little harder."
The brothers decided to remain on the uninhabited island until the first quarterly settlement, dedicating themselves to combat training.
The next day.
The brothers were out of the house the moment the sun rose. And then—
Whoosh, whoosh, thud!
"Ugh!"
Kang Dohyun sparred with Kang Dohun bare-knuckled, drilling him in combat fundamentals.
"Dodging by eye alone has its limits. Read the muscle movement and predict."
"Hyung, that's hard, okay?"
"Hard? Then learn by getting hit."
In the end, Kang Dohun learned by taking the hits. By evening, his entire body was a mass of bruises.
After the sun went down—
"Dohun, let's go fishing."
"Yeah. Ah—!"
Kang Dohun winced from the bruises, and Dongwoo asked,
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Let's go."
Lee Dongwoo and Kang Dohun were the same age, friends since childhood, so they fished and talked at the fishing spot without any awkwardness.
Meanwhile, back in his room, Kang Dohyun sat looking at Kim Harin, who kept her silence, and turned the problem over in his mind.
What the hell do I do with this woman?
Since kidnapping her, he had fed her well and treated her decently enough. And he had slept with her every night. By now she should have submitted to him and unlocked the Internal Assistance trait…
Is my Achievement not applying?
Kang Dohyun's Achievement, Reasonable Rapist, was supposed to generate affection whenever he had sex with a woman and then compensated her. The problem was that Kim Harin didn't consider herself compensated at all.
Should I just force her into being a sex slave?
The condition for unlocking the Internal Assistance trait was submission to a boyfriend, husband, or man — in other words, becoming his slave.
The look in Kang Dohyun's eyes was different from usual, and Kim Harin felt a flicker of fear.
This is bad.
She had good instincts, so she decided not to provoke him.
"O-oh… are we not doing it today?"
When Kim Harin brought it up first, Kang Dohyun looked at her with mild surprise.
"You want to?"
"No… that's not what I meant…"
The way she answered, shy and flustered, was cute.
"Well, the body is honest. Doing it every day feels good, doesn't it?"
"That's not—"
She trailed off, but she didn't push him away as he came closer. He began peeling off her clothes one piece at a time as he spoke.
"Ordinary, but fine."
It was a fair assessment of Kim Harin. She was a little prettier than a plain seven-out-of-ten, and when it came to sex, she was more than decent.
By now Kim Harin no longer resisted his touch. She just said, flatly,
"Just do it quickly. I want to sleep."
The request to hurry pleased Kang Dohyun.
"Right. You like it too. Admit it already. It'll be better for you that way."
Kim Harin was naked. Kang Dohyun stripped as well, and both of them were bare. He slipped a finger between her legs and found—
Slick.
"Hnh…"
"You're getting wet faster these days."
Her juices were already flowing.
"Alright. Here we go."
Thrust.
"Ahh—!"
Kim Harin was making lewd little sounds quite naturally now. Kang Dohyun took her late into the night, working off his lust.
They spent the next seven days on the same schedule.
Then, at eleven o'clock on March 31st, the three men and one woman gathered in the living room.
Kim Harin, who had been having sex with Kang Dohyun only moments before, sat at the table looking a little worn out. Kang Dohyun began speaking carefully to Kang Dohun and Lee Dongwoo.
"The moment April 1st hits, the first quarterly settlement begins. But there's something more important than that."
"More important?"
"Yeah. Open your Status Windows right now."
The two of them did as Kang Dohyun instructed.
"There's nothing there yet, but once April 1st passes, a system icon will appear next to your names."
"System?"
"Yeah. The System."
A whole range of functions would open up. And among those functions were things they needed to grab as fast as possible.
"Dongwoo, you probably don't have any Zombie Coins. Dohun — how many Zombie Coins do you have?"
"I've got 5,213."
"Alright. Here's what we do."
Kang Dohyun explained to Kang Dohun exactly how he needed to act. Lee Dongwoo listened intently — and he wasn't the only one listening.
System?
Kim Harin had heard every word. She opened her Status Window and waited for the first quarterly settlement to begin.