Chapter 64
Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Arrival at the Hotel
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The men following Lee Sunji alongside me were the soldiers who'd been locked up in the dorms.
They'd been confined one per room in the dorm, surviving only on the meager rations I provided.
Those guys had been starving every single day.
The one thing I proposed to them was simple.
If they followed me, I'd provide proper meals once they returned.
But if any of them leaked word of my identity, they'd die a gruesome death.
And so, the ones who agreed were now following me toward the cafe.
The ones who refused looked relieved, knowing they wouldn't get dragged into anything weird.
Unfortunately, while I was away at the hotel, no one would feed them.
The soldiers who refused would wait for my uncertain return and starve to death one by one.
That made five men in total, including me and the ones who agreed to my offer.
After bringing the soldiers from the dorms, I made contact with the guys scouting around the department store via Lee Sunji.
It was a hassle going back and forth to the dorms without being spotted, but not difficult.
I just used pigeons to check their positions, then isolated them with zombies.
That created an opening for them to leave the department store, and they'd return the same way.
"Sunji!"
"Manager Heo."
The leader, whom I'd scouted with a pigeon beforehand, spotted Lee Sunji and pulled her into a glad embrace.
Lee Sunji, now back to a normal build after losing whatever blessing she'd had, looked almost like a father and daughter in the burly Manager Heo's arms—a bizarre sight.
Manager Heo buried her face in the nape of Lee Sunji's neck, took a deep breath, then slid her hands down from the waist and grabbed a handful of Lee Sunji's ass.
"...Eek."
Lee Sunji grimaced in disgust, but only where she couldn't see.
From where I watched, though, it was clear as day.
It seemed Lee Sunji had been lower in rank than this Manager Heo back at the hotel.
She couldn't say a word even against clear sexual harassment.
"How are you here? What the hell happened?"
Once her own excitement wore off, Manager Heo grabbed Lee Sunji's shoulders and beamed at her innocently.
"Yes, I got attacked by a zombie horde in the commercial district and lost all my comrades. After that, the owner of this department store protected me."
"......The owner of the department store?"
Manager Heo's puppy-like innocent face hardened sharply for a moment upon hearing Lee Sunji's words.
The fact that the department store had an owner clearly bothered her.
"So you met the survivor living there?"
"Not just met—the treatment was quite friendly."
"Toward you? Why?"
"Well..."
At Manager Heo's baffled question, Lee Sunji silently looked our way.
Then, gesturing toward us, she answered Manager Heo.
"Because 'she' shares the same ideals as our Hwamgyo."
Seeing the haggard, cowed men at Lee Sunji's words, Manager Heo nodded as if she understood.
Hwamgyo—the name of the cult led by the leader they followed.
Sharing ideals with that religion meant agreeing with their extreme ideology of rejecting men and deeming women superior.
"So she sent you out too?"
"Yes, she knew your group was coming and sent me."
"...That's the suspicious part. How'd that person know we were coming? We snuck around avoiding zombies as much as possible."
"That's..."
Lee Sunji hesitated for a moment, shot me a glance, then answered.
"Because the department store's owner can use mystical powers, just like the Leader."
"......"
The unexpected answer made Manager Heo widen her eyes in shock.
Then she immediately glared sharply at Lee Sunji.
"Mystical powers? What kind? Exactly like the Leader's?"
"...I'm sorry. As an outsider, she didn't tell me the details. Just..."
"Just?"
"That we should let the Leader know she'll maintain friendly relations with our Hwamgyo."
With that, Lee Sunji took off the large backpack she'd been wearing and handed it to Manager Heo.
Inside was a massive amount of food.
Two other men were carrying additional packs stuffed with food.
Even with nearly three hundred people at the hotel, this was an enormous quantity.
A clear show of goodwill.
"This... all of it?"
"Yes, along with a message for the Leader. It's just a gift. She said she can provide more food if needed."
"...I see. This isn't for me to decide, then."
"And since she heard manpower matters to us—even men—she prepared these men separately."
Only then did Manager Heo grin, realizing the identities of the men who'd come along.
She'd probably been racking her brain to get inside the department store, so this was welcome news.
Whatever else, her group had clearly come for the department store's supplies.
And now, the mysterious owner who'd already taken it over was being friendly.
If she played it right, she could bring her into the Leader's cult and take the department store easily.
"Anyway, welcome back, Sunji! We found you at least, so let's head home quick."
"......Yes."
Lee Sunji gave a faint smile at Manager Heo's joyful welcome.
But the moment she glanced my way, a complex flicker of emotion crossed her eyes.
She seemed tormented by her choice.
Well, what could she do?
What she was doing amounted to stabbing her master—the Leader—in the back.
But if she wanted to live happily with the man she loved...
She'd have to bite the hand that fed her—even if it was her master's.
。 。 。
After that, I and the soldiers selected as slaves boarded their vehicles and left the department store area.
Same as with Lee Sunji—they used vehicles for transport at the hotel.
From what she'd told me, even with vehicles, they were safe from zombies thanks to special necklaces given to the leader, which made zombies reluctant to approach.
Checking one out, I figured out why.
No clue on the principle, but it was a shard of crystal.
That explained why their base, the large hotel, was safe from zombies too—crystals.
If a tiny shard had that much power, the massive one in the department store would block zombies completely.
'Quite the drive.'
Right now, a black cloth blindfolded my eyes as I lay sprawled on the floor of a large bus.
They probably wanted to hide the hotel's location.
Anyone from Seoul would know where L Hotel was, though.
Or maybe it was just because we were male slaves.
Blindfolding made sense, but not even letting us sit— that had an obvious reason.
"Arrival. Everyone off!"
They only removed the blindfold cloth after the bus stopped and we got out.
Until now, I'd been the one driving and unloading slaves.
Now I was the slave, following orders to exit the bus and stand by for instructions.
The novelty felt pretty fun.
'This... is kinda cool.'
After stepping off and removing the cloth, I faced the towering hotel head-on.
We'd stopped at the front entrance, before a wide fountain plaza.
The kind with a cool equestrian general statue in the fountain's center.
Naturally, the hotel building was dark, all rooms unlit like it'd lost its soul.
Flickering lights here and there proved people lived inside, though.
Probably using candles or portable braziers as light sources.
'They don't have everyone surviving in the hotel building, huh.'
Like how I'd divided slaves between the department store interior and parking lot, and my women elsewhere.
The Hwamgyo Leader seemed to have split the hotel interior and plaza by status too.
The fountain plaza had several large tents.
Drum barrels with fires provided warmth and lit up the front of the plaza.
Couldn't see inside the tents yet.
But the people outside were mostly men.
A few women mixed in, but they looked like overseers managing the men or family members.
In short, the fountain plaza was basically slave quarters.
"Alright, straight to the Leader."
"Yes."
"Take all the slaves to the training ground."
"Got it."
Manager Heo stretched big after getting out, then draped an arm over Lee Sunji's shoulder as she followed.
She promptly ordered a subordinate to take us to some "training ground."
'Well, yeah. Gotta educate the clueless newbies.'
I'd expected it.
This wasn't just a survivor camp.
It was the Hwamgyo cult.
So new arrivals—especially men destined for slavery—would get special training.
To worship their religion and become slaves to the women.
"......"
Lee Sunji, following Manager Heo, turned her head slightly to look at me.
Her eyes held a hint of anxiety.
'As long as you don't screw up, nothing happens.'
I waved dismissively at Lee Sunji, who was cockily worrying about me.
She nodded secretly, then faced front and kept walking.
'Let's see what this fancy slave training's like, then.'
The rest of us followed Manager Heo's subordinate somewhere.
"Uh, hey... you think we'll be okay?"
One of the trailing soldiers cautiously spoke to me.
"Don't talk to me. You'll die. Don't act friendly."
"Eek! Y-Yes...!"
The new place's vibe differed from what they'd imagined, leaving the soldiers visibly uneasy.
Honestly, I didn't care what happened to these guys here.
Well, maybe a little.
Lee Sunji had given me a rough idea of what male slaves went through.
After a short walk down the plaza's path, our escort stopped at a tent.
She halted us, went inside, and spoke to someone.
Then someone emerged.
A woman with sharp eyes and a fierce bob cut hanging to her nape, like a wild bobcat.
She came out of the tent with a lit cigarette dangling from her lips, looking annoyed as she stood before us.
'Oh, nice tits.'
Military-style pants and just a white tank top—tough getup.
Face was average at best, but those breasts were impressive.
Not quite Ryu Dahee level, but worth a squeeze.
Apparently not just me—the soldiers lined up beside me stared at her chest and gulped.
"New slaves, huh?"
She scanned us with a sour look, then went to the tent's side and picked something up.
A bat.
Properly, a baseball bat.
The wooden one was bloodstained—not for its intended use.
Human blood? Zombie blood?
Human, probably.
The tough woman stood before us, her tits jiggling once, then tilted her head snootily and barked.
"All of you, strip."
"......Pardon?"
"W-What'd you say?"
Her quiet command left the soldiers gaping at each other in confusion.
Naturally, I started undressing right away.
The instructor-looking woman spat on the ground, cigarette in hand.
"Fucking hell, everyone but one is useless trash this time."
Then she strode to the soldier next to me.
"...H-Hey? What, why..."
She smashed her bat into his flailing knee.
Crack!
A sound no human knee should make echoed as he collapsed flat.
"Gaaarghhh━!!"
At the downed man's scream, the other soldiers finally scrambled to strip.
Satisfied, the instructor smirked and yelled at the undressing men.
"You're not human anymore! You're livestock! In exchange for living in the great Leader's safe haven, you offer everything—head to toe—in loyalty to her!"
Her booming shout rang clear, syllable by syllable.
Intense eyes looking at us like garbage.
Clean, hesitation-free bat swing.
I knew right away.
She wasn't just looks—this was a truly brutal goblin of an instructor.
Faced with her, I gave a slight smile.
'This bitch...'
I licked my lips and eyed those tits softly.
'Wonder how she'll be in bed.'
Couldn't wait for that moment soon.