Expansion
"Fuck this shit! I can't fucking take it anymore!"
The man rubbed his swollen cheek, seething through his teeth, until he finally couldn't hold it in. He shot to his feet with a roar.
The women beside him, who'd been touching up their makeup with hand mirrors, jumped out of their skins.
"Jesus! Why are you yelling like that?!"
"Shut the fuck up! A bitch who doesn't even fight zombies talking back to me!"
It wasn't just the extreme edge in his voice. His face looked ready to start stabbing someone on the spot, so the women had no choice but to clamp their mouths shut mid-retort.
"Hey, hey. Calm down. I get that you're pissed, but still—ugh!"
One of the others tried to intervene, but before his hand could even reach the man's shoulder, he was shoved aside with a snarl.
"You're the same, you piece of shit. Won't even pick up a weapon because your back's a little sore…"
"…No, I threw my disc out fighting, that's why."
"So fucking what?! You think I don't have injuries? Here! And here! How many infected bites from those filthy corpse teeth do I have festering on me?!"
He turned on the rest of his companions, who were quietly nursing their own swollen cheeks just like his.
"Am I wrong? Why the hell should we be the ones getting hit?! We risk our lives every day and come back with nothing—is that even human?! Huh?! We're just fucking hunting dogs!"
"Yeah. Well said."
A heavy voice cut in from behind. The man's boiling head went ice-cold in an instant. He slowly turned around.
"You idiots who can't even tell when to stand up and when to shut up—you're the real dogs, not people."
"No, wait. Looking at you now, you're worse than dogs. You can't even catch something like this, can you?"
Do Wangu dangled the anaconda head he'd picked up as a souvenir, waving it for show as he stomped toward the man.
"Got a problem? Don't take it out on the others. Say it to my face."
"…"
Then he turned his head and looked at me.
"Take a break, Lee Sijun. I'll straighten this bastard out and finish talking."
Watching that thick neck crack and pop, I felt a strange flicker of the mutt from earlier. The mood was weirdly familiar.
"I'm Lee Sijun. Your name's Seo Yuna, right?"
"…"
"Should I send her farther away? Or should we just head somewhere else?"
"…No. It's fine."
She hadn't looked my way once, eyes locked on the mutt still chewing the anaconda's tail. At my words she finally managed to tear her gaze free and glance over.
Then a rough voice exploded from the corner nearby, and Seo Yuna flinched hard.
"Hey, you dumbass. Still don't get it? I'm saying learn to tell the difference between a woman you can hit on and one you can't!"
"If you keep that mindset and screw every girl who doesn't even like you, you have any idea how completely fucked the atmosphere's gonna get later? That's why I keep handing the women carrots and asking them to cut you some slack! But then—fuck!"
A bang rang out, followed by Do Wangu's words, enunciated loud and clear for everyone to hear.
"You ignore all my effort and start pawing at a new girl who's already dying from the stress—what the hell does that make me look like?"
"…Hyung-nim, it's not like that…"
"Not like what, you fucking bastard."
In the end Do Wangu couldn't hold his temper. He grabbed the man by the collar, dragged him out of the corner, and flung him to the floor.
Then he walked over to one of the women hovering nervously off to the side, seized her wrist, and pulled her forward.
"You know why I'm deliberately trying to send these girls over to Lee Sijun? Because your pathetic superiority complex is going to drive them to suicide. I'm sending them so they can rest for a bit. That guy's dozens—hundreds—of times stronger than you, and he still doesn't carry that kind of attitude."
Wait. That deep a meaning?
If that was the point, he could've just said so from the start. Why phrase it like he was shipping them off on a whore expedition? Confusing as hell.
Do Wangu stepped up to the silent man and opened his mouth again.
"This is your last warning. You bunch up, I handle more than half the work, and you just clean up the leftovers—yet you still put on airs. Show that shit one more time and I'll sell you straight to the cannibals."
"Ah, right. I had something to say about that."
"…What?"
I cut in out of nowhere in the middle of that bloodthirsty atmosphere. He couldn't even snap at me—just gave a half-hearted reply.
"Those cannibal bastards. Found their base. Thinking of paying them a visit later."
"Ah, what. I thought you were about to say something big—wait. What?!"
"Just saying. Keep doing what you were doing."
It had gotten so loud I couldn't run an interview to save my life. I stood up from the sofa and looked down at Seo Yuna.
"You heard what he said just now, right? It's not some weird place. That funny tsundere gorilla's recommending it. Let's try talking a little more actively."
"…"
She looked back and forth between Do Wangu and me in a daze, then finally nodded.
For some reason the back of my head where Na Sehee was sitting had been itching for a while. Just my imagination, probably.
I should wash my hair before we head to the factory. Or maybe switch shampoos. It's been itching a lot lately.
A little later, I came up to the quiet second-floor lounge, rubbing the now-fine back of my head, and looked at Na Sehee sitting in the chair beside me.
"Why?"
"Nothing. Never mind. But why'd you follow me up here?"
"Wanted to try it. Coffee."
"…"
What the hell was I supposed to do with her casually sipping the coffee I'd made for myself?
My own personality was already stubborn enough—my-way-or-the-highway—but whenever I was with her, I somehow ended up being the one who kept getting steamrolled. It left a weird aftertaste.
Anyway, I decided to ignore it and turned to Seo Yuna, who was quietly holding a cup of instant coffee.
"So. Nothing you need to pack, right?"
"…Excuse me?"
"We're leaving with you in a bit. Anything you need to bring—keepsakes, for example?"
Once I'd decided to take someone, I took them. No need to ask the person's opinion. Whatever the angle, it was pure gain for her too.
The only real problem was the total lack of will to even care about those pros and cons…
"I'm… fine. I'll just stay here. If it's that good a place, someone else besides me…"
"No. That's not for you to decide. It's already been decided."
"What?"
Whether she looked at me with that drained, bewildered face or Na Sehee stared blankly from beside me, I didn't care. I looked down over the lounge railing at the first floor.
The furious gorilla was still shaking the combat-team guys by their collars, wringing them dry. Even in the middle of that, the women were touching up their makeup in their mirrors, glancing up at me with interest.
Securing talent I wasn't even expecting is great. But I still haven't found anyone for the sexual-frustration recycling program.
I'd been hoping to pick one who had a bit of experience and an easygoing personality—and she had to be decent-looking enough that I'd actually want to bring her. But with that god-awful cake-face makeup, I couldn't even tell them apart.
Kim Yejin or Im Chaeyeon would be unrecognizable under that much paint. That said it all.
I sighed and called out.
"Hey! You ladies gathered down there!"
"Y-yes?!"
They flinched, then all chirped up at me like baby birds fighting not to be left out. It was almost cute—until I remembered the makeup, and the thought evaporated.
"I'll settle up with your boss for the bottled water. Wash those faces first and come up here. I have to judge you bare-faced or this isn't going to work."
"…What?"
They all stared at me with the same stunned expression Seo Yuna wore across from me. Do Wangu rubbed the back of his neck, stiff with stress, and barked,
"What are you standing around for?! If you want to go see that school you've been dying for, grab a water bottle and haul ass to the bathroom right now!"
"F-for real? Using drinking water for something like that…"
One woman, at least, had grasped the value of resources after the end of the world and tried to protest—but the sight of the others scrambling for bottles forced her to snatch one up in a hurry herself.
"…Hyung-nim."
"…Ah, whatever. It's fine. It's Lee Sijun. He'll probably pay us back with some booze he looted from a club or something."
Do Wangu made a half-hearted excuse to the dumbfounded Ju Minho and looked up at me—but I'd already tuned them out. I snatched the cup Na Sehee had been drinking from and downed the coffee in one shot.
A few minutes passed.
The first one up the escalator, gasping for air, was a short-haired bleach-blonde. She managed to get her breathing under control and approached the table where I sat.
I gave her face a quick once-over, then tore open a bag of chocolate chips and stuffed one into the sulking Na Sehee's mouth.
"Sit and wait for now. We'll start once everyone's here."
"Y-yes."
I hated to admit it, but Do Wangu was right—the raw material underneath wasn't bad.
She couldn't compare to Na Sehee, of course, or the girls at the school, but still, at that level…
But I should check both the face and the body first.
While I was thinking something that sleazy, Na Sehee—who'd been nibbling chocolate chips one by one—suddenly bit down hard on my finger.
"What the hell?!"
She chewed with a completely straight face and swallowed the chip. I stared at her in disbelief as the lounge chairs gradually filled with women.