Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Heartfelt Confessions
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The cult leader had forced herself to sleep, but even after waking in the morning, the nagging unease lingered.
“Cult Leader…?”
A maidservant gazed blankly at her.
She sat perched on the edge of the bed, staring anxiously at the cult leader with wide eyes, waiting for her next move.
‘…Unpleasant.’
The cult leader was sulking.
What she kept mulling over were the scenes from last night’s care routine.
Before falling asleep, she’d been too focused on the sensation of those hands on her body to think straight.
‘Come to think of it, that male slave… he didn’t say a single word to me, did he?’
The cult leader gritted her teeth and unwittingly puffed out her lips.
The maid, who had been watching her intently, jumped in surprise at the childish expression and bowed deeply.
“S-Sorry! Cult Leader! D-Did I do something wrong?”
“……”
Seeing the cult leader’s discomfort upon waking, the maid assumed it was her fault.
But oblivious to the maid’s distress,
the cult leader’s mind was filled only with the image of Lee Seo-ho massaging her last night with that subtle smile.
‘How dare he not say anything, even after I permitted him to speak?’
There had to be something.
He should have said something, anything.
Even something trivial like, “Is this spot okay?” or “Where feels good?”
Even silly small talk would have been fine.
‘Is it that hard to make a sound?’
It irritated her.
And ironically, his massage had been so gentle and pleasant that she hadn’t even needed to ask such questions.
‘…Or like, where did you buy him from, or what did he do before. There’s so much to ask.’
Deep down, the cult leader knew.
She had ordered him from the start of their first meeting: no speaking without permission.
Even with permission, casual questions like that would be hard for him.
But that made it all the more infuriating.
Crunch…
“Eek…!”
The cult leader was sulking.
“Call the head maid.”
“Y-Yes! Right away!”
Startled by the cult leader’s unprecedented irritation, the maid rushed out of the room toward the head maid.
Afterward, the cult leader instructed the head maid.
“From now on, have that new male slave handle all the nightly care duties exclusively.”
“Pardon? …But he’s a man. Are you sure that’s alright?”
“He has the best skills. Men are no different from inanimate tools anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“U-Understood.”
The head maid bowed immediately, helped prepare for the morning, then withdrew.
‘Hmph, let’s see how long you can keep quiet.’
The cult leader gazed out the large window at the ruined city, thinking of Lee Seo-ho.
She couldn’t let it slide like this; her irritation wouldn’t fade.
And so, Lee Seo-ho found himself spending intimate nights alone with her every evening.
‘Whatever it is, this is pure honey.’
Receiving the head maid’s orders, Lee Seo-ho bowed his head and smirked slyly to himself.
He hadn’t intended to stoke her irritation, but his cautious approach had yielded unexpected gains.
That night, Lee Seo-ho headed to the cult leader’s room with a pleased expression, carrying various tools.
Knock knock.
“Cult Leader, pardon the intrusion.”
[……Come in.]
With permission granted, Lee Seo-ho carefully opened the door and entered the dimly lit room where candlelight flickered softly.
The cult leader sat in the same chair as before, draped in a gown, legs crossed.
‘She’s here early today.’
Lee Seo-ho arranged the tools nearby and approached her from behind, drying her wet hair with a towel just like last time.
As he skillfully tended to her locks,
“…Ahem, hum.”
The cult leader suddenly let out an awkward cough.
‘What’s this?’
Yesterday, she had dozed off not long after this.
While Lee Seo-ho tilted his head in confusion, the cult leader turned her head slightly to look at him.
“I’m bored.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m bored. Sitting here waiting is so dull.”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll dry it quickly.”
“…N-No, that’s not it.”
Lee Seo-ho had taken it as a request to hurry, but seeing her flustered, he tilted his head again.
Through the strands of damp hair, her pale ear peeked out, slightly flushed red.
‘At this point, he should pick up on it and say something….’
Usually so perceptive, his obliviousness this time made the cult leader pout again.
“Don’t rush and mess up. …Just talk about something, anything.”
“……Talk? …Sorry. My experiences are limited, so I don’t know any stories you’d enjoy…”
“Ugh, who asked for some profound tale? Anything about you would be fine!”
“……Mm, got it.”
Lee Seo-ho glanced from her reddened ear to the back of her head, which trembled faintly.
‘Suddenly wants stories about me? What’s going on…?’
He briefly wondered if she suspected him, but the embarrassment evident even from behind dispelled the doubt.
‘If not that, hmm…. Guess I’ll just say something random.’
Of course, he couldn’t mention the department store.
He had to carefully choose topics to avoid her spotting inconsistencies in casual details.
‘…Well, this is the only interesting one I’ve got.’
After a moment’s thought, Lee Seo-ho began slowly.
“Not sure if it’ll amuse you, but… before coming here, I was surviving in a university dormitory.”
“Hmm…. A dormitory, huh.”
“Yeah, pretty common story. Maybe not exciting?”
“No, go on.”
The cult leader didn’t mind the topic.
‘Stories from before he came here.’
Curiosity stirred.
Hearing trivial details about this stranger made her heart flutter faintly.
Like when her mother read her a new fantasy tale as a child.
With that excited feeling, the cult leader swung her feet lightly, listening intently.
And then.
His next words made her stop.
“I was a slave there too.”
His calm voice held no emotion as he began.
‘……Huh?’
That made her still her excitedly swinging legs.
“Nothing different from what I do with other men here. Except handling all the dirty chores alone.”
The content was clearly unfair and painful.
Yet his voice carried no resentment or anger.
The cult leader knew why.
A sense of resignation toward males as a species, learned from her father in the past.
Men are just like that.
She sensed the same resignation toward those who treated him as a slave: ‘They’re just like that.’
That’s why no emotion colored his tone.
“Why…?”
“Hm?”
“Why did you become a slave there? …Did you do something?”
What could he have done to end up a slave in an ordinary university dorm, not even a Hwangmae cult?
Something inhuman, as expected of his kind?
“Haha, yeah, I did something. Our dorm was unusual—we shared it with a military unit.”
“Then… maybe with those soldiers.”
“Yeah, a few tried to assault schoolmates, and I intervened. Got marked for it.”
“……”
As expected, men were trash.
But unexpectedly, he had tried to stop such men and ended up like this.
Hearing the truth, the cult leader unwittingly gripped the chair’s armrests tightly.
For some reason, a corner of her chest burned hot.
This heat differed from when Lee Seo-ho massaged her.
If she had to name it.
Faint anger.
“Then one day, a professor we survived with gathered people secretly at night. To drive out the soldiers crossing lines more and more.”
Listening on, the cult leader turned to look at him, eyes full of anticipation.
“A coup! You drove out the soldiers, right?”
After all, he was here now, not in the dorm.
They must have banded together, ousted the soldiers, and drifted here.
At her childlike reaction, Lee Seo-ho chuckled softly, gently combing her hair.
“No, it failed. …We didn’t even get to try. Got caught midway.”
“Huh? …Why?”
“Mm…. Kinda stupid, maybe.”
Lee Seo-ho averted his eyes, scratching his cheek embarrassedly before speaking.
“There was a girl I liked in the dorm. She joined our side.”
“……Ugh.”
At his next words, the cult leader flinched and turned away, bowing her head slightly.
“Haha, turns out she was sleeping with the company commander. She sniffed us out and spied.”
“…Pardon?”
“The plan got busted the night before… so it failed.”
“Then you stayed a slave? …Betrayed by the one you liked?”
“No way.”
At the unexpected turn, the cult leader peeked back at him.
Their eyes met as she turned.
He smiled faintly.
But recalling that time, his usually bright eyes had darkened, grown murky.
“They decided to execute one as an example. I got voted—easiest target.”
His voice was chillingly calm, stirring an inexplicable ache in her.
She couldn’t grasp the emotion’s source.
But learning his past through his story, she felt pity for Lee Seo-ho.
“Still, I escaped somehow and made it here. Lucky for me. Haha, a happy ending, sort of.”
Lee Seo-ho resumed tending her hair casually.
But the cult leader sensed it faintly.
The lingering wounds and fears from then, still rooted inside him.
And seeing this vulnerable side of the man,
a maternal instinct—what’s commonly called ‘motherly love’—surged within the cult leader’s heart.
‘Such things happened….’
To Lee Seo-ho, who had only stirred an inexplicable flutter until now, pity was added.
His slave story brought faint anger.
The dorm girl midway brought a small pang.
After the full tale, an unidentified feeling welled up, muddling her mind.
But the cult leader clenched her fists and feigned nonchalance.
“Hmph, well, now you’re my exclusive slave, so you’ll enjoy far greater peace than then.”
“Yes, it worked out perfectly. Thanks to you, I’ve been happy lately.”
“…Is there anything you need?”
“……Pardon?”
“U-Uh, I mean… something you crave. …Or want to have.”
The cult leader spoke casually but couldn’t comprehend her own words.
Good thing she only showed him her back.
Face-to-face, he’d have seen her flushed cheeks and spinning eyes.
‘Somehow, I want to do something for him.’
An unidentified emotion in her heart.
It urged her to make this man happy right now.
To worry for him, care for him, and feel joy.
‘…Why am I like this?’
Lee Seo-ho, seeing only her reddened ears from behind, just tilted his head questioningly.
His story was pretty tragic, sure.
But she herself treated men like past Lee Seo-ho.
‘Anyway, something I want, huh.’
Her sincere tone made Lee Seo-ho ponder.
Truthfully, he needed nothing.
He had ample food, a cozy home, plenty of beautiful women.
‘Be my woman… nah, that won’t fly.’
The only silly idea that came to mind made Lee Seo-ho chuckle secretly before replying vaguely.
“Then… if it’s not rude, could I hear about you, Cult Leader?”
“……About me?”
He had nothing he wanted, but sharing his story sparked curiosity about her.
To him, she was just the leader of a crazy fanatic cult.
Her personal history intrigued him greatly.
“Hmm…. Curious about me…?”
“Yes, whatever you’re comfortable sharing—I’d be grateful.”
With her back to him, the cult leader smiled secretly.
‘If he asks me, he could get anything—food, good treatment, anything valuable.’
From her perspective, unaware of Lee Seo-ho’s situation, he chose her story over plentiful food or favors.
He wanted to know about her more than anything.
‘Hmm…. That curious about me?’
The cult leader blushed faintly, twirling a strand of hair with her finger.
“Fine, I’ll tell you a bit simply.”
Afterward, while he tended her hair, the cult leader shared her story.
Truthfully, she had nothing special to tell him.
She couldn’t mention being bitten by a special zombie and gaining powers.
She had to skip founding the Hwangmae cult.
So what remained was
her dark past.
‘…He won’t be disappointed, right?’
Starting her tale, worry gripped her.
Sharing her story with someone proved more nerve-wracking than expected.
‘Is it okay to tell him I was born from an affair…?’
But on the other hand,
she wanted him to hear even her darkest secrets.
For reasons she couldn’t fathom, she hoped he’d understand her anyway.
So the cult leader calmly poured out everything.
Born from her father and mother’s affair.
Her father’s original wife dying in an accident, leading to their marriage.
Then first meeting her father.
Growing up affluent but under a father unlike a true father.
Witnessing her father’s new affairs and her grieving mother.
Like Lee Seo-ho, she recounted her upbringing flatly, nonchalantly.
Finishing with studying abroad and coming to Korea.
“……”
“……”
The two fell silent.
‘……W-What?’
His reaction stirred slight anxiety in her.
Why no response? What face is he making?
She had chimed in variously during his story.
Lee Seo-ho just silently combed her hair slowly.
‘…No way.’
Disappointed?
The thought stabbed her chest.
Her eyes unwittingly welled up.
As the surging emotion threatened to burst,
“…You’ve been through so much.”
Lee Seo-ho finally spoke softly after the long silence.
“……Huh?”
And he
wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Yet you grew up so strong.”
Pressed his cheek to her head.
Hugged her gently from behind.
Thump, thump.
His embrace: warm, broad, firm.
The cult leader gently placed her hand on his thick forearm.
‘……Ah, I see. …This is it.’
The darkness that had reddened her eyes moments ago shifted to a warm emotion, stimulating her tears anew.
Now with even her nose tip flushed, the cult leader
gripped his arm tightly where her hand rested.
‘This is what I wanted.’
The strange emptiness in her chest since childhood.
She had thought it was hatred toward men.
Seeing her father meet other women, ignoring her and her mother.
She believed that bred disillusionment with men.
But no.
It wasn’t a new negative emotion.
Just an empty void, nothing more.
And that void
was slightly filled in this moment.
The cult leader realized the lack in her heart.
And at that new, warm sensation,
with teary eyes, she gazed at Lee Seo-ho, head on her shoulder.
Unthinkingly, she spoke.
“……Papa.”
“……Pardon?”
“……Huh?”