Expansion
It was nothing more than rampant rumor. Those who had seen it with their own eyes were vanishingly few.
Had Do Wangu — who was as good as the master of this department store — not personally vouched that it was real, everyone would have dismissed it as pure exaggeration.
In a ruined world, the sole remaining bastion of modern civilization.
Even so, clinging to a sliver of hope, the women who had only ever imagined those remnants of the pre-apocalypse world — a school with electricity, where they could wash freely and stay warm — stood before me more tense than they had ever been in their lives.
Then the woman with wavy hair, the last in line, hesitated for a long while before finally asking.
"Um, so… is it really possible? Full-body baths and all that?"
"Of course it is. And not with cold water, either — hot water."
"…*Gulp.*"
Humanity's craving for hygiene ran far deeper than most people realized. And when the humans in question were women, that craving only intensified.
You could call it foolish — throwing everything on the line for a single visible advantage, without even knowing what might be done to them if they followed me. But after the world had fallen apart, maybe that was only natural.
If you were going to live under someone else's thumb either way, selling your body just to survive, you might as well pick the slightly better environment.
Once I had finished appraising every woman's face and figure, I perched on a chair, stretched, and spoke.
"Last check. Anyone here with a special skill I would regret overlooking if I passed on you now?"
"…M-me."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I've got a lot of experience, so I'm really good at sucking."
"…Rejected."
My own fault for getting my hopes up. I shook my head and was about to move on when the only woman among them with a gentle, Ye-jin-like air about her — the one with straight brown hair — carefully raised her hand.
"Yes. Lee Dasom, go ahead."
I wasn't expecting much. She hesitated, then opened her mouth.
"Actually… my family runs a famous massage shop in Seoul. So I have some experience in that field."
Massage? Instantly, I was interested.
Every day I pushed this absurd body of mine to the limit, thrashing my muscles without mercy, and when it was over I always ended up with a strange residual ache. If an expert's hands could work that out…
Still, better to make sure.
"We're not talking some sleazy massage parlor, right? You mean actual professional bodywork?"
"Y-yes. Absolutely not that kind of place. Female celebrities and idols used to book appointments, come straight after work, leave satisfied, and tip us. Happened all the time."
"…What was the average price?"
"Um… my dad, who had the most experience, charged about two hundred thousand won for a full-body session."
Wow. This was the real deal.
Overcome with gratitude, I shot up from the chair, left the startled women behind, walked straight over to Lee Dasom, and seized her hands.
"I almost let a talent like this slip right past me."
"Th-thank you…"
"I'll factor that specialty in heavily. Just wait for now. Anyone else have something to add…?"
"A-and… there's one more thing."
"Hm? What is it?"
Whether it was because I was holding both her hands or because my gaze was too much, her face flushed deep red as she whispered.
"Besides regular massage… I, um, I can do that kind of massage pretty well too… My mom taught me…"
"…??"
What kind of mother teaches her daughter that?
The women standing nearby who had overheard stared at Lee Dasom in pure shock.
That face — harmless as a golden retriever — and she was sitting on a specialty like that? Their expressions said it all.
I only smiled more warmly and nodded.
"I'll factor that in as well. Haha."
Decision made.
"…Well, I mean. I guess that could happen. Knowing how to give a massage is such a big deal that— wait, what? Sleazy? She can do both?"
Do Wangu, cooling his temper with sips of hot cocoa, looked thoroughly bewildered as the women I hadn't selected swarmed around him, chirping their complaints.
"There's a separate technique for clean and dirty? What the hell does it mean she can do both?"
"No idea. I'll have to try it myself."
"Keh. Lucky bastard. Why was Lee Dasom hiding that this whole time? I want a session too."
"What's her personality like?"
"What do you think? Easygoing. Twenty-four, twenty-five, something like that. Young, but she doesn't act like the work is hard. A little shy around strangers, but that's not even a problem."
I glanced over at her — fidgeting as she sat beside Seo Yuna next to Na Sehee — and nodded.
Lined up like that, though, one difference jumped out immediately.
I swept my eyes across the three women's midsections, nodded to myself that I had chosen the other two well… and locked eyes with Na Sehee.
Her face was as blank as ever, but she had clearly noticed where my gaze had been. The look she gave me was more murderous than anything I had seen from her before — honestly more chilling than the time a Beta had me by the back of the neck. Those inverted crimson eyes of hers never got any less…
"Ahem. We should get going."
"Yeah. Head back before sundown. Shame we can't eat dinner together, but wanting something like that in a ruined world is pure luxury."
"Not luxury for me. We'll grill some meat together sometime."
"…Huh. You're not joking."
Of course I wasn't. Why would I joke about food?
Do Wangu stared at my freewheeling attitude with pure envy, then glanced past me, flinched, and took a step back.
"Haha. Right. Anyway, take care. Look after the girls."
"…Mm. I'll drop our two off tomorrow or the day after."
Ignoring the prickling sensation at the back of my skull, I finished my goodbyes with Do Wangu and spoke as if nothing were wrong.
"Let's go. You want to get back and change clothes too, right?"
—…
She only glared in answer. I ignored it, spotted Kang Yundo and Shin Sujeong resting on a sofa in the first-floor food court, and waved them over.
Come to think of it, Shin Sujeong's looking pretty voluminous herself.
Whatever. Better to keep pretending I hadn't noticed.
"…Ah!"
Then a sparrow's surprise peck slammed into the crown of my head. I scowled and muttered,
"If you're an alien, shouldn't you at least be able to inflate yourself to whatever size you want?"
"Kyaa?"
What did you just say?
I grabbed the hand of a murderously head-tilting Na Sehee and, feigning total innocence, headed for the department store's main entrance.
Watching my retreating back and the party trailing after me, Do Wangu muttered a single line.
"I don't know whether to call that free… or exhausting."
Or maybe both.
And a short while later — a few hours on —
The sun had fully set. In the gathering dark, the only sounds were the scrape of dragging corpses and their low groans.
Rustle. Rustle.
In the middle of all that, I calmly pulled a chocolate bar from my pocket, stuck it in my mouth, and muttered,
"…What a pain in the ass."
Thanks to a certain someone, I had spent the day playing shopping boyfriend and interview officer — roles that had never been in my destiny. Every scrap of motivation for the day was gone. All I wanted was to sprawl on a sofa and sleep it off.
But what choice did I have? Better to handle things now than deal with a bigger headache later.
I fished around in my coat pocket — stuffed with snacks meant to stand in for dinner — blew on my hands, and settled onto the rooftop railing.
"Alright. Let's see how thick they are out there."
I hadn't packed them for exactly this, but just in case I had brought binoculars. I raised them to my face and slowly zoomed in.
Except — nothing. Not a thing.
Night vision dependent on moonlight alone was part of the problem, sure, but I should at least have been able to make out dark human-shaped blots. No matter how thoroughly I swept the area around the factory, there was no one outside.
…Come to think of it, with no way of knowing when a zombie aggro pull might hit, maybe it is strange that anyone would still be out here.
Still — shouldn't there be at least one person on night watch?
I frowned, searching for any sign of life, when a presence suddenly registered behind me — on the same commercial building rooftop where I was sitting. I lowered the binoculars.
"A neck I didn't finish cleaning up, maybe… Hm?"
Our eyes met. The black-painted figure was a familiar shaved head.
I stuffed the binoculars away and started climbing down from the railing — and the bastard grinned, his eyes flaring a sudden red.
Only one corpse out there that laughs like that.
I recognized it as an Original and reached casually for my crescent blade — only for something to snatch my ankle at the same moment.
A corpse, arm thrust out at a grotesque angle from the window directly below. Its eyes glowed the same red as the bald one's.
…It gave an order?
The thought that a brainless zombie could never manage something like this hit me at the same instant the corpse yanked with everything it had.
Not that it mattered.
"…?"
"Even if I've been neglecting my lower body compared to my upper, I'm not about to get dragged off by one corpse's arm."
The bald one hesitated for a beat, then nodded and lowered a finger.
Like he was giving a command.
At once the weight on my leg surged downward. I scowled and looked — the zombie gripping my leg was now dangling from it completely, hanging like a dead weight.
"GRAAAAAAAAH!"
His face twisted into a bizarre smile as he bellowed, and from every direction crimson eyes flared in answer.
"Ah. Making a racket is going to be a pain."
Those goddamn bald bastards were never any help.
I checked the quiet factory with a sidelong glance, sighed, raised my crescent blade, and leapt straight off the railing.
Might as well make some money while I was at it.