Mine
"Maybe I shouldn't have spared them after all."
Locking a new padlock on the school gate of Seongjeong Central High School—Seongjeong High for short—with the last of the supplies in hand, that thought just wouldn't leave me.
"They seemed like they had potential... Tsk. Whatever, humans are a dime a dozen."
"Pardon? What did you say, Master?"
Bag Monster... Jeong Da-jeong, covered head to toe in bags, waddled around at my mutterings.
I glanced down at the shattered old padlock—the one that had originally secured the gate—and tapped it. Tok, tok.
"Talking about this."
"Oh, that."
She turned her gaze toward the distant school building. Survivors had been peeking at us through the windows nonstop since we'd pried open the gate and started clearing zombies.
"They're probably the ones who were already here at the school. The gate was locked, after all."
"Likely. But I only see adults."
"There are teachers who stayed during break to work."
Break... that explains why I haven't seen any zombies in school uniforms.
Mystery solved. Heading to the gym—now our warehouse and home—to lock its door the same way, she reacted with surprise.
"Huh? You're just going to sleep like this?"
"What else? It's 4 a.m. Unless you wanna fuck?"
"N-no, not that... I thought you'd... deal with the school people first."
Swoosh.
"Just say you thought I'd kill them. Don't beat around the bush."
I got what she meant anyway. Probably worried they'd raid us at night or something. I'd thought the same at first glance.
But after multiple trips back and forth, seeing them still holed up, I realized.
"If they had the balls, they'd have rushed the gate by now."
They couldn't even clear the zombies inside the school. With the gate locked and them ceding the playground to zombies while coexisting, I'd downgraded their threat level to zero.
"We'll see how they act. If they get annoying, we can clean them up then."
Enough of that.Click.
I wrapped chains around the gym entrance, padlocked it, and stripped off my sweltering motorcycle suit with a sigh.
"Phew. Thought I was gonna melt."
It was July when the story started, so the heat was expected. But between tossing phones, pushing cars, and handing out sword rice cakes to neighbors, I'd sweated buckets—way more than usual.
Yesterday, I'd have showered coolly and crashed under AC. Now, power and water were out.
Gotta grab a generator soon. AC would be nice, but a shower first.
Grabbing bundled water bottles for the bathroom, I locked eyes with her wiping herself down with wet wipes.
"What're you doing?"
"Wiping off sweat... washing up...?"
"Huh."
There was a limit to moping. With the gym corner stacked from our farming, her outfit was ridiculous.
"Cut the crap and grab a bottle and follow... Nah. Stuff everything in your inventory and come."
She slipped in late with water, eyeing me warily.
"Master, did I do something wrong...?"
Still dense as ever. I ripped her sweat-soaked clothes off.
Riiip.
"Eek..."
She squeaked in sudden exposure, but I ignored it and dumped a bottle over her head.
Gurgle, gurgle.
"Ahh-."
The cool water drew an involuntary gasp. Seeing that only deepened my irritation—she'd been holding back too.
"Listen up. Can't be helped when we're short on time, but don't go around looking like a loser's trash when it comes to food or clothes."
Squeeze.
"Especially in front of others."
"Eek...!"
"You're mine. If you strut around like a beggar, what does that make me look like? Some scrub who can't handle his own slave? Or what, you doing it on purpose to fuck with me?"
"S-sorry..."
"Damn right you're sorry. Your body's not yours anymore. Not here."
Squelch.
"Eung..."
"Not here."
Squelch.
"Ah-♡"
"All of it's mine. So act like a proper slave—keep it clean and ready for me to fuck anytime. Got it?"
"Y-yes... Master."
Only then, seeing her teary face, did I release her hair with satisfaction.
Flick, flick.Drip, drip.
I stripped too and doused my head generously. No skimping. Did she think I'd been busting my ass like a dog just to survive a day longer?
Well, it'd be a lie to say I didn't enjoy watching others suffer hunger and thirst, but that was a side benefit. Not the goal.
In this world, this is money.
No water, you die. Needed daily. Starts as a goal, builds up, then becomes a tool when you've got excess. Same as always.
Powerful enough to turn cowards into my slaves.
Staring at the school through the window, I scrubbed every nook and cranny. Knowing they'd soon trade their bodies for water just to sleep easy tonight made it feel even cooler.
Squelch, squelch.
"Ah...♡"
That night, I drifted off hugging shampoo-scented Jeong Da-jeong to my heart's content.
...
They came quicker than expected.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Anyone there?"
A disarmingly polite knock from the gym door.
"Master."
"Heard it."
Adding a bed to today's farming list, I got up. Throat wasn't dry, but I grabbed a cola anyway and headed to the entrance.
Gulp.
Two older men—one middle-aged, one elderly—and a younger woman and man watched, swallowing hard.
Click.
"No insurance, papers, religion—whatever. Scram."
"Aigoo. Sorry to bother you so early. I'm Lee Chung-ryeol, the vice principal here. And this is the Student Affairs Director..."
They introduced themselves all polite-like, but my brain logged them as: vice principal, Student Affairs Director, Teacher, Teacher 2.
"We heard a student pried open the gate from outside last night..."
Grab bed today. Yeah. Generator too while I'm at it. How do I hook up a generator to AC anyway?
"...that's what happened."
I didn't catch the words, but my response was the same anyway.
"So what? You want the room? Kick me out?"
"...Ahem. No need for that. We were wondering if you could share outside info..."
"Outside? What outside?"
"Did you see soldiers on the way? Any rescue news?"
For a second, I wondered if this vice principal was from the same neighborhood as those neighbors who'd tried to rob me yesterday.
Scratch that big pond bullshit. Big or small, it's how you play that matters.
"Nothing. I checked everywhere. Happy? Get lost."
"W-wait!"
Grab.
The vice principal caught the closing door and probed slyly.
"Heard you brought a lot of stuff yesterday. Need any help?"
Glance.
They peeked at the supplies stacked inside the gym through the cracked door. I'd left it open on purpose, so no issue—but it pissed me off for another reason.
This fucker saw it all yesterday but acts like he heard from someone else?
Their pre-apocalypse speech patterns—straight out of 3, no, 4 days ago—confirmed their world had frozen in time.
Then I'll drag 'em into the present by force.
Click.
"Mind your own business—whether I move luggage or an elephant."
"Gasp."
Twitch.
The nail gun to his forehead made the vice principal flinch a beat late.
Normally, they'd tuck tail or bare teeth here. But they were worse off than I thought.
"Aigoo, young man, don't be like that. Didn't school teach you to help each other in tough times?"
"Right. You have so much—share a bit."
"Yeah. We're not asking too much. Technically, you trespassed on our school."
"Now, now, Kim Teacher, Park Teacher. Easy. Listen, student—we're not asking for free. We'll repay double, triple later."
"Repay?"
"Y-yes. Of course. Loans, sell the house—whatever it takes."
"Don't need it. Fuck off."
Listening longer felt like it'd suck me back to the old world. As I shut the door, the Student Affairs Director grabbed my wrist.
Grab.
"Hey, you little shit. Interrupting adults... " He spat, dripping suppressed hostility.
"Wanna die?"
Twitch.
"Uh... n-no... I mean..."
"Touch me or my stuff again, and you're dead."
I locked eyes with each frozen one, then slammed and padlocked the door.
Bang. Click.
Inside, Jeong Da-jeong stood by the door with a wry smile, eavesdropping.
"Remind you of the old days? Get my mood now?"
"Ahaha... Shall I prep breakfast~?"
She smiled awkwardly and looked away. My words last night weren't wasted—she'd laid out way more food than our usual skimpy meals, enough for two to stuff themselves.
"Dig in, Master."
As we ate with clinking sounds, she said casually,
"Honestly, when that Student Affairs guy grabbed you? Thought you'd kill him right there."
"Yeah, crossed my mind."
My body—Cheongun—had screamed to kill, shoot, stab, crush, explode them. But after indulging body-Cheongun so far, time to heed head-Cheongun for once.
"House got bigger. Need a guard dog now."
Scrape.
"Anyway, gotta show 'em their place."
Munch, munch, gulp.
"And how far above them I am."
Couldn't drag them around awakening them like Da-jeong. No pretty faces worth it either—not a single woman from last night sparked value.
Livestock fit them better than slaves.
"That's that. Prep when you're done eating."
Farming time. Bed, generator, meds. Maybe even a slave-worthy woman. Hope—or hunch. Preferably a good cook. Tired of retort pouches.
"Oh, right. Dump the leftovers where they can see."
To get livestock or slaves fast, had to move fast.