Third Quarter Settlement
A rural house sat beside the national highway running from Gyeongju to Pohang. Kang Dohyun, Kang Dohun, and Lee Chaerin were staying there for a while.
The brothers had finished farming items in Gyeongju and were on their way to their destination, Pohang, when they noticed something along the route—three dungeons. Two light-green ones and one yellow.
It had been a month since they'd last cleared a dungeon, so they decided to tackle all three. Over the course of three days, they cleared every single one.
And today was September 30th. Midnight would bring the third-quarter settlement, so the brothers had gathered to prepare.
But before they could get to the actual settlement talk, they were already clashing over something else.
"What do you mean, no?"
"I just don't want to."
"I can't accept an answer that's just 'I don't want to'!"
"I said I don't want to."
The brothers exchanged words with unusual sharpness. Dohyun's eyes were cold, and Dohun's were filled with stubborn resolve.
"Hey, are you really not going to listen to me?"
"Hah... Hyung, I'll be thirty next year, you know."
He was the younger brother, but he'd been a grown man for quite some time now.
"And when did you ever hear of a hyung forcing his brother to sleep with a woman?"
The reason the brothers were at odds was Lee Chaerin, who stood beside them with a bright, innocent smile. Dohyun had been urging his younger brother to have sex with her.
Chaerin had become a perfect sex slave by now.
Not just bound by contract—she had become a slave who obeyed Dohyun's words unconditionally.
During their stay in Gyeongju, Chaerin had realized something.
'Hmm? My headaches are weaker than before.'
So she'd gotten a little bold and exchanged a few notes with her mother. But of course, Dohyun had noticed.
'Stubborn bitch. I'll take care of you properly.'
She lost her freedom of thought once again. If she so much as thought something that could harm Dohyun—even a little—
'Aagh!'
she'd be wracked by excruciating headaches all over again.
That way, she was left abandoned for ten hours at a time. And the sex that happened after those ten hours naturally came with an overdose of adrenaline. Repeat that cycle for nearly a month, and the side effects were inevitable.
"Hehehe..."
Her intelligence dropped further, until all that remained was a slightly deficient woman who blindly followed Dohyun's commands.
Chaerin had become even more vacant, but she was still beautiful, and the trait she possessed was unchanged.
'Skill Transferrer'—any man who had sex with her could awaken a new skill. That was why Dohyun had urged his brother to sleep with Chaerin multiple times during their stay in Gyeongju. But—
'No.'
Dohun always said no. So after Dohyun had urged him many times, the brothers had recently clashed over this very issue.
When his younger brother still wouldn't listen, Dohyun's temper flared.
"What's wrong with you? Is it because of Gaeun?"
Honestly, Dohun didn't particularly like Lee Gaeun either. He'd given her the 'Training Bracelet (U)' that his hyung had bought for him to use for cultivation.
When his hyung mentioned Gaeun, Dohun knew he had to answer carefully so she wouldn't get hurt.
"It's not because of Gaeun. I just don't want to. Sleeping with a woman my hyung slept with. Even if I get a skill from it."
"No, that woman isn't my girlfriend. She's a slave. A tool! I'm not asking you to sleep with my girlfriend!"
Dohyun saw Chaerin as a perfect sex slave, a tool. But Dohun didn't see her that way.
"But I don't want to."
Dohun answered without backing down from his stance.
His younger brother went up to his room on the second floor, leaving Dohyun downstairs with Chaerin, who was still smiling brightly.
"Hmm."
He was troubled. His brother's reaction was frustrating.
No matter how he thought about it, the only way to resolve this was—
'There's only one extreme option.'
Dohyun decided to use an extreme method that exploited his brother's strengths and weaknesses alike.
'He'll resent me for a while, but it's all for his own good.'
Everything was for his brother's sake.
Dohun went into his room on the second floor and deliberately stayed quiet.
Then, as the time on his wristwatch approached midnight—
'I should go out now.'
He had to prepare for the third-quarter settlement, so he left his room and went downstairs.
When Dohun came down to the first floor—
"Haa... haa..."
he saw Chaerin masturbating naked, but he coldly ignored her and called out, "Hyung? Hyung! We need to prepare for the Q3 settlement!"
He wandered around the first floor, but—
"....."
His hyung wasn't home.
While Dohun frantically searched the house, Chaerin kept masturbating. But her condition was a little strange.
'Squelch, squelch.'
"Haaak! Haaak! Haaak!"
She was ramming a dildo into her anus with brutal force, yet she still couldn't reach climax.
Eventually, she began to beg.
"Please... fuck me! Master said this pain won't end until you take Dohun's cock!"
Chaerin grabbed Dohun's leg and started begging. Only then did Dohun understand the whole situation.
"Ah..."
His hyung had placed a restriction on her to force him into having sex with Chaerin.
Leaving the begging Chaerin behind, Dohun went looking for his hyung again.
He searched the house and even the surrounding area, but—
"....."
His hyung was nowhere to be found. And even after waiting until 11:30 PM—
"...."
he still hadn't come back.
As time dragged on—
"Aaagh!!!!"
Chaerin began to scream in agony.
Dohyun had made her head hurt, and he'd set it so the headache wouldn't go away unless she had sex with his brother.
So she was suffering through excruciating pain.
Dohun realized.
'This... my hyung set up a situation where I can't escape.'
His hyung probably wouldn't come back until tomorrow. Absolutely not.
He'd sent a note, but of course there was no reply.
In this situation, Chaerin's condition was getting worse. To prevent her from becoming a complete idiot or dying, he had no choice but to have sex with her.
"Aaagh!! Please!! Please!! Please!!"
Watching Chaerin beg, Dohun finally took off his clothes. When Chaerin saw his cock—
"Ugh!"
she lunged at him roughly and sucked his cock into her mouth. And when it hardened—
"Put it in me!"
At her plea, Dohun thrust his cock into Chaerin's anus.
'Fwoosh.'
"Heeuk!!!"
The moment he entered, Chaerin reached climax, and once again she felt her head burning. An overwhelming pleasure soaked through her body, making her tremble.
But the pain still lingered, so she shook her hips violently to eliminate what remained.
'Squelch, thump! Squelch, thump!'
"Haaak! Haaak! Thank you! Haaak!"
The sounds of their flesh colliding and their moans echoed through the house.
And so, the two of them mixed their bodies together.
While Dohun and Chaerin were having sex in the temporary house they were staying at, Dohyun was outside preparing for the third-quarter settlement.
He sent a note to Kim Harin.
He'd already sent a list of key items to buy earlier that afternoon, but he sent one final confirmation note.
Kim Harin's reply came back.
And the moment it hit 12:00—
'Quick, quick, let me find them.'
He searched the refreshed shop window for the items he wanted, but—
'Sold out, sold out, sold out...'
Every item he looked for was sold out.
By now, many—no, most people—knew that during the quarterly settlement period, special items would appear in the shop with limited quantities.
So he was competing with people from all over the world, making it hard to buy good items.
Still, Dohyun managed to purchase two items.
◈ Equipment for carrying a pistol. A pistol stored in this holster gains increased attack power. After firing once, the pistol's attack power decreases, and it rises again when returned to the holster.
After the apocalypse, not many people used pistols. They were weaker than rifles, louder, and ammunition was hard to supply. That's why Dohyun was able to buy it.
The second item he purchased was—
◈ Earrings made of aquamarine with water properties. Increases water-attribute attack power.
At this point, not many people could use water-attribute attacks. It was an item that hadn't been selling, and he expected it would be very useful for his brother.
He felt a sense of satisfaction looking at the two items he'd purchased.
Especially the aquamarine earrings—they boosted attack power significantly with no cap as long as the user had water attributes. He was very pleased.
Then Dohyun sent a note to Kim Harin.
The uninhabited island group had been busy organizing things, so it took about five minutes before—
That was good. They hadn't been able to buy random trait tickets, random skill tickets, or permanent stat-enhancement potions, but they'd purchased a lot of the next most important items.
Especially the Ancient Blessing scrolls—
'Looks like not many people know the effect yet.'
The uninhabited island group had bought most of them.
'Good work. You did very well.'
Dohyun wrote a long praise-filled note to Kim Harin and sent it.
With the shopping done, he had time left, so he checked the third-quarter settlement message.
'This was an expected achievement.'
It was a well-known achievement that appeared when you cleared many dungeons in a short time. He'd been expecting it, so he was calm.
After checking the message, he looked at his status window.
'16,121 Zombie Coins left... is that number for real?'
He'd worked hard to accumulate coins over three months, so the number was large. But—
'I have so many coins, but I couldn't spend them.'
All he'd bought in this settlement was two unique items. It was too disappointing.
He wondered 'Would it have been different if I'd prepared with my brother?' but there probably wouldn't have been much difference.
By now, the competition to buy items from the shop's quarterly updates was too fierce.
After sorting everything out, Dohyun opened the shop window again.
The shop window had been slightly revised for Q3—the food category had expanded compared to before.
Cigarettes and alcohol, which hadn't been sold previously, had been added to the shop.
So Dohyun immediately bought a bottle of beer for 10 coins.
'Thump!'
A bottle of beer dropped from the air. And this beer—
"Refreshing."
It was ice cold. So Dohyun popped the cap and drank right away.
"Ahhh!"
Cold beer. It felt great.
"Dohun-ah. You'll resent me, but this is for your own good."
He drank a whole bottle of beer, hoping Dohun would have sex with Chaerin and get a good skill.
The next morning.
Dohyun returned home. And in the living room was his brother.
"......"
The brothers looked at each other but neither spoke.
Dohun had a slightly angry expression, but Dohyun wore a completely unfazed face.
The two brothers stared at each other for a long while, then each went back to their own room.
Without talking, the two of them packed their belongings and prepared to leave.
When both had packed and met again at the entrance of the house—
"....."
Once again, they only looked at each other without speaking. Dohyun took Chaerin and stepped outside, and Dohun followed his hyung out.
Dohyun got on the bicycle in the yard with Chaerin, and Dohun got on another bicycle.
And then—
'Click, clack, clack, swoosh.'
As Dohyun pedaled and the bicycle moved forward, Dohun pedaled too, and they set off.
The two brothers didn't talk, but they both knew their destination well.
The bicycles they rode sped along the national highway toward Pohang.