Shelter 2
The shock of the empty hydroponics room poured over our buoyant hearts like a bucket of ice water.
What had felt like the discovery of an eternal food warehouse turned out to be nothing more than finite emergency rations with a hard expiration of a little over a hundred days. The perfect utopia we had risked our lives to reach might, in truth, be a paradise on borrowed time—missing its most essential seed of life. That anxiety settled deep in my chest.
The corridor back to the cafeteria felt unusually long and quiet. Footsteps that had been filled with hope only moments earlier now dragged as if invisible shackles weighed them down.
We returned to the cafeteria and sat around the table in silence for a long while.
Brilliant light from the ceiling fixtures spilled across the smooth white tabletop. Outside the windows the world had already sunk into pitch darkness, yet the Shelter’s interior maintained an artificial midday brightness, as if no darkness could ever invade. That perfect calm only amplified my unease.
I forced myself to my feet to break the heavy silence.
“For now… let’s eat dinner first. We’re hungry, right?”
I went to the emergency food storage, grabbed a white box labeled “5-Person Emergency Ration Set (30 Meals),” and brought it back to the cafeteria.
When I set the surprisingly heavy box down on the table with a solid thud, a faint spark of life finally returned to the three women’s dazed eyes.
“Wow… is this really ours? There’s actual food inside?”
Nam Jin-ju carefully stroked the box, her voice bright with childlike excitement. Anxiety still clung to her tone, but the concrete hope of food right in front of her was slowly pulling her upright again.
“It says thirty meals… for five people that means the four of us could eat for more than three months! That’s right—we still have time! We just have to find seeds before then!”
Yang Jin-ju fought to reclaim her usual cool-headed clarity, deliberately hunting for the positive angle.
Watching them, I felt a quiet gratitude. During the five days I had been unconscious they must have survived on the last scraps of ramen soaked in water—yet they had still saved a final handful for me when I woke.
“Still… this is something.”
Yang Jin-ju finally spoke, a sigh that mixed resignation and relief. She cradled a smooth ceramic cup of warm water in both hands and gazed out at the darkness beyond the window.
“At least now we don’t have to stand watch in shifts every night with our hearts shriveling at the sound of zombies howling. We can stretch out both legs and sleep without worrying whether they’ll smash the door in or tear our throats out while we’re unconscious… just that alone feels like our quality of life has shot straight up.”
Nam Jin-ju nodded vigorously at her words. She still smelled of fragrant shampoo from a recent shower; the Shelter’s provided training clothes were a little large on her, but she kept fingering the soft sleeves as if she couldn’t get enough of the clean fabric.
“Right! And we can shower as much as we want! First warm-water hair wash in five months—I almost cried. But you know what’s actually hilarious? When I washed under my chest and between my legs, pitch-black filthy water just kept pouring out forever! I started wondering if I’d always been that dirty. Total existential crisis while scrubbing.”
“Hey, me too! I thought I was covered in charcoal soot. No matter how much soap I used the foam stayed gray. First time I realized how much dead skin my body could shed. Felt like I peeled off an entire layer.”
When Yang Jin-ju chimed in, the women’s shower talk grew unstoppably frank and graphic. My face heated without permission; I coughed awkwardly and looked away. In a space where I was the only man, they no longer seemed to regard me as the opposite sex—just a comfortable comrade. I was grateful for that, and a little embarrassed at the same time.
Yeong-ju, chin propped on her hand, didn’t miss my reaction.
“Oh? Is your face red right now? What exactly were you imagining to get so flustered? They’re just talking about washing their own bodies.”
At her mischievous teasing, Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju both started giggling at me.
“N-no! It’s just… just that… it doesn’t feel like dinner-table conversation…”
I mumbled. In this hellish world, it was the first ordinary, mortifying moment I had felt in five months.
We laughed and chattered for a long while after that. At last we decided to begin our first proper feast.
“But… electricity I can understand—looking at those panels stuck all over the outer walls, solar power or something like that makes sense…”
Yang Jin-ju stared up at the bright ceiling lights.
“Where does the water come from, though? Is there a giant tank in the basement or something?”
“We wondered the same thing. We were so scared it would cut off that we filled every container we had. But days went by and the water just kept coming—like an infinite resource.”
Yeong-ju answered. I vaguely recalled the Shelter’s functions from the game. Probably a system that condensed moisture from the air and purified it through nano-filters.
While we talked, Nam Jin-ju pulled a finger-length piece of hard dried meat from the kit.
“Ehh? What’s this? Why’s it so tiny? Who’s supposed to stick this on their nose…?”
She grumbled in disappointment. Then Yeong-ju spotted the tiny print inside the kit box.
“Instructions right here. ‘Type-A dried food: pour 200 ml room-temperature water and wait three minutes.’”
“Pour water on it?”
Half-skeptical, we placed the dried meat in a clear glass bowl and poured clean water from the purifier over it.
Then magic happened.
The dried meat soaked up the water and began to swell with a soft sssss, like a freeze-dried sponge. In barely a minute or two the pathetic finger-sized scrap transformed into a thick, palm-sized steak glistening with juices, releasing a rich aroma of black pepper and herbs.
“Whoa…! Whoa! What is this?!”
Nam Jin-ju’s eyes went round as she shouted. All of us stared blankly at the steaming steak, unable to believe what we were seeing.
That was only the beginning. Like children who had discovered a marvelous toy, we started pouring water on every dried item in the kit.
Tiny cube-shaped dried vegetables became a crisp, fresh salad plate. White powder turned into steaming, butter-scented mashed potatoes. Even something that looked like a hard biscuit became a soft, sweet chocolate brownie, and pink powder transformed into cold strawberry ice cream.
Everything, with nothing more than water, perfectly recovered its original appearance, flavor, and even temperature—as if it had just been cooked.
In moments the table was laden with a lavish banquet we could rarely have afforded even before the world ended.
We cheered and shoveled food into our mouths. Real food. Warm, soft, full of flavor. Salt and pepper and herbs dancing on the tongue, hot mashed potatoes sliding down the throat. We savored every bite and smiled at one another. Tears had gathered at the corners of our eyes without our noticing.
“Buuurp~.”
The warm, abundant meal poured magical vitality back into our starved, exhausted bodies and hearts. But the long-overdue binge carried an inevitable aftermath: crushing food coma.
“Haa… I’m so full I’m actually sleepy.”
Nam Jin-ju nearly collapsed onto the table, stretching out a long, satisfied yawn. Her eyes were already half-closed. Yang Jin-ju and Yeong-ju likewise leaned deep into their chairs with languid expressions, leisurely enjoying the post-meal fullness.
“Shall we go to bed? Starting tomorrow we need to properly explore this Shelter.”
When Yang Jin-ju suggested it, everyone nodded as if they had been waiting for the words.
We left the cafeteria and began checking the rooms lined along the corridor. Beyond the medical bay, cafeteria, and bathroom with showers we had first found, several more doors waited.
“Alright, let’s each pick a room. Finally we can enjoy one-person-one-room life.”
Heart fluttering, I opened the nearest door. Inside was a cozy bedroom with a plush-looking bed, a small desk, and a wardrobe neatly arranged.
“Oh, nice.”
But after opening every door along the corridor we discovered one unexpected fact: inside this enormous Shelter there were only three bedrooms.
“Huh? Is that all? Why are there only three rooms?”
At my words Yeong-ju shot me a look that said, We found three, but maybe there’s more like the storage rooms earlier?—except this was something even I didn’t know.
“Maybe there’s a hidden room somewhere else?”
Yang Jin-ju asked me the same question.
On the off chance, I opened the system window, selected the Facility Management tab, and tapped Bedrooms. The screen showed only three entries—nothing more.
“…Looks like three is correct.”
When I muttered that, a subtle disappointment flickered across everyone’s faces.
“Aww, one-person-one-room isn’t happening.”
I mumbled to myself in disappointment. Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju suddenly burst out laughing at the sight.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. You just look really disappointed.”
Yang Jin-ju said with a smile.
“We’re fine. We’ve already been sharing Room 3. After months of sleeping stuck together, it feels empty and we can’t sleep if someone’s not next to us. Right, Jin-ju?”
“Yeah! Exactly! I can’t sleep without you, Yang Jin-ju—I’d be too scared!”
Nam Jin-ju latched onto Yang Jin-ju’s arm. The two same-age friends opened the door to Room 3 as if it were the most natural thing in the world and slipped inside.
“Okay, good night then!”
Just before the door closed they waved at us. Now only Yeong-ju and I remained in the corridor. An awkward silence settled.
“Then… I’ll take Room 2. You can…”
Before I could finish, Yeong-ju shoved me in the back.
“Your room is Room 1.”
As if it had already been decided, she pushed me into Room 1 without the slightest hesitation.
“W-wait, then you…?”
“I’m taking Room 2, so quit the pervy thoughts and just sleep.”
She snapped bluntly and slammed the door shut right in my face with a sharp click. I stared blankly at the closed door for a moment, then a snort of laughter escaped me.
Pervy?
I sat on the edge of the bed. The plush mattress seemed to suck out every last drop of five months’ fatigue. Outside the window the darkness still reigned, yet my heart felt strangely peaceful.
How long did I sleep? I had sunk into deep, comfortable rest when my eyes suddenly fluttered open. After more than five days of unconsciousness my body felt refreshed, but sleep simply wouldn’t return.
The room was perfect darkness and silence. I quietly rose from the bed and stepped outside, killing my footsteps like a cat so I wouldn’t wake the others.
In the corridor the view beyond the massive reinforced glass windows spread out at a glance. The two hundred meters the Defense System had swept clean were empty, but beyond that countless zombies still shambled about. The blue light pillars were gone, yet the creatures continued to loiter around this enormous foreign object.
I approached the Shelter’s huge entrance. There I found a familiar back.
Seo Yeong-ju.
She sat curled on the steps in front of the door, chin on her knees, staring blankly outside. She couldn’t sleep either.
When I drew near she sensed me without turning her head.
“Why’d you wake up?”
“Yeah. Maybe I slept too long—can’t fall back asleep.”
I sat beside her. For a while we said nothing. We simply watched the landscape of death outside from this perfectly safe space, as numb as if we were watching a movie.
Now and then a tiny, sharp ping, pong sliced the silence. Each time, one or two zombies that had stupidly wandered into the Defense System’s range had their heads explode and collapsed. Silent death.
“…Weird, isn’t it?”
Yeong-ju spoke first.
“Just a few days ago we had to risk our lives against every single one of those things. Now we’re just sitting here watching them die like it’s nothing.”
Her voice carried a deep emptiness at the unreality of it all.
“Yeah.”
“…Thanks.”
She spoke again, very softly.
“For what?”
“Just… everything. For bringing us this far. For turning this ridiculous thing into actual reality.”
She was still looking outside, but I felt her sincerity and answered with a smile.
“Without you I never would have made it here alone. So we’re even.”
We fell silent again. The intermittent ping filled the spaces between our words. The night was deep; the world was quiet. Then Yeong-ju carefully began to voice something she had kept buried deep for a long time.
“Honestly… every time you started ranting about this ridiculous Shelter from the very beginning, I got really pissed.”
Her voice was low and calm, yet it carried the weight of five months of suppressed emotion.
“To be honest, I thought more than once or twice about just ditching you and running off somewhere safe by myself.
Even when we finally found a decent hideout, within a few days you’d start saying we had to head north again because of that damn Shelter… every single time I resented the hell out of you. Why the hell am I putting myself through this because of this crazy bastard?”
At her honest confession I couldn’t say a word. I simply waited quietly for whatever came next.
“But… looking back now, maybe it was that insane stubbornness of yours that got us this far. If we’d settled somewhere, we probably would have died there eventually. So… yeah. That’s all. I’m sorry.”
I lightly tapped her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. If I’d been you, I would’ve wanted to ditch a guy talking like that ages ago and resented him to death. You’re not the weird one—I was. You suffered because of me; that’s a fact. I’m the one who should apologize.”
Our honest conversation quietly melted the guilt and resentment that had piled up between us over five months.
For a long while we simply watched the zombies explode helplessly again. Then Yeong-ju threw out a sudden question.
“Hey. Room 1—is it big?”
“Huh? Uh… bigger than I expected? Bed’s large, there’s a window… why?”
At my answer Yeong-ju stared at me blankly for a moment, then snorted as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Hah… this bastard really is dense as hell…”
She muttered to herself, then stood up abruptly.
“Follow me.”
“Where?”
Instead of answering she simply started walking. Completely lost, I followed. She stopped right in front of the door to Room 1—the room I had been sleeping in until a little while ago.
She glanced at me once, then without the slightest hesitation opened the door to Room 1 and slipped inside.
I froze on the spot. Only then did I understand what her bold action meant. My heart began to pound like mad.
“Uh… uhh…?”
I stood frozen, staring blankly into the open doorway. Yeong-ju stood in the middle of the room and turned to face me.
The Shelter’s soft indirect lighting gently wrapped her silhouette. Her eyes trembled with a deep, dense emotion I had never once seen before. It was a clear provocation.
And she slowly, deliberately, took hold of the hem of her loose training top and began to pull it upward.
With every slow, intentional movement my heart seemed to drop through the floor—thud, thud.
I snapped back to myself and almost reflexively rushed into the room. Behind me the door shut with a sharp click. Inside the narrow bedroom only our time, only our space remained. Every noise and despair of the outside world perfectly sealed away—a world that contained nothing but each other’s breathing.
She finished peeling off the top and let it fall to the floor. Even after five months of hellish journey her body was still dazzlingly beautiful. Under the faint light her white shoulders, slender collarbones, and the silhouette of her abs shook my reason to its foundations.
I could only stare blankly at her standing there in nothing but a black bra and training pants. My mind went pure white; I couldn’t form a single thought. I couldn’t even twitch a finger. She was so precious, and at the same time so blinding, that I didn’t dare step closer.
Watching me, Yeong-ju gave a faint little snort of laughter. A mix of tension and shyness colored it.
“I’ll give you five minutes.”
Her voice was low and slightly trembling.
“If you just keep staring like an idiot… I’ll take the rest off myself too.”
Her fingers moved slowly—very slowly—toward the strap of her bra.
In that instant I finally broke free of the seal. I swallowed dryly and stepped toward her. I barely managed to calm the heart that felt ready to burst from excitement.
Standing in front of her, I reached out with trembling hands toward the clasp of her bra. The moment my fingertips touched her bare skin her body flinched and trembled finely. That tiny shiver spread through my entire body like an electric thrill. But my fingers, too hurried, kept slipping off the clasp. After several failed attempts Yeong-ju finally couldn’t hold it in and let out a small laugh—“Ugh, seriously.”
“Idiot.”
She whispered, laid her hand over mine, and helped me undo the clasp. With a soft click the last restraint that had been holding her fell away.
Clumsily but carefully I peeled away the rest of her clothes one by one. This moment when everything of hers was revealed before my eyes for me alone.
I lifted her into my arms and carefully laid her on the plush bed; she raised both arms and wrapped them around my neck. But instead of kissing her right away I paused to catch my breath and simply took in the full sight of her.
The Shelter’s soft indirect lighting gently illuminated her body. And under that light, traces I had never properly noticed before became visible. A faint white scar beneath her right collarbone—probably from early on, when we were fleeing zombies through a ruined shopping mall and she scraped against a shattered display case. A small coin-sized dent on the side of her thigh—the mark left when she grabbed me as I nearly fell through a supermarket ventilation shaft and a protruding rebar tore her skin. And the calluses and tiny cuts that had settled on her once-pretty hands from gripping a dagger and swinging a crowbar.
Each of those scars looked like a milestone of the hell we had walked together for five months. Without thinking I lowered my head and pressed my lips to the white scar beneath her collarbone, gently tracing it with the tip of my tongue.
“Hnn…! Hey, what are you doing…”
Her body jerked hard in surprise.
“Why are you licking a scar? You pervert?”
She asked, flustered, but I didn’t lift my head. This time I moved my lips to the scar on her thigh and left a soft trail with my tongue there as well.
“I never said it until now… but you’re really beautiful.”
I raised my head and met her eyes, pouring every bit of sincerity into the words.
“All of these wounds. They’re medals that show how fiercely you’ve lived, how desperately you fought to protect me. That’s why they’re more beautiful than anything else in the world.”
At my heartfelt confession Yeong-ju’s eyes trembled hard. Surprise and an emotion she couldn’t hide surged through them like waves. She said nothing. Instead she tightened her arms around my neck just a fraction.
I couldn’t hold back any longer and lowered my head toward her lips.
The moment our mouths met, everything of the past five months exploded. Terror, despair, rage, and the unspoken affection and solidarity that had grown while we overcame all of it together. Our kiss began gently but soon deepened and grew fierce, as if we were confirming every part of each other.
Her lips were sweet; her breath was hot. Her tongue carefully entered my mouth, wrapping around and licking mine. At that unfamiliar yet intoxicating sensation I felt every drop of blood in my body heat up. The soft sound of her drawing breath—“Hnn…”—pulled the last thread of my reason taut.
“Hnn… slow down, slow… I can’t keep up with my breathing!”
While we kissed her trembling hands climbed my back and began fumbling at my clothes. With clumsy fingers she tried to pull off my training top. That small movement was a signal more intense than any words.
We peeled each other’s clothes away one by one, slowly. Boundaries crumbled; the last scraps of shyness melted. When we finally faced each other with nothing left between us, we simply looked. The mottled wounds left on my body and the survival marks carved into hers. We gently caressed each other’s scars and offered wordless comfort.
Just as I was about to dive for her mouth again, her hand gently pushed against my chest.
“Wait.”
She sat me on the edge of the bed, then climbed down and knelt in front of me.
“Uh…?”
At my flustered voice she looked up. The sharp, cynical gaze she usually wore was nowhere to be found. In her eyes a firm resolve mixed with a dense desire and shy curiosity I had never once seen before.
“I can’t just let you do everything.”
She whispered softly and wrapped her small, soft hand around my already burning hardness. The touch was so gentle and warm it was hard to believe these were the same hands that gripped a dagger.
“Wow… bigger than I thought…?”
She muttered as if to herself. At that innocent observation I almost burst out laughing.
“Ah…!”
A moan escaped me without permission. Her touch was clumsy, but that very clumsiness drove me even wilder. She stared at it for a moment as if fascinated, then seemed to make up her mind and slowly lowered her head.
The instant her hot breath touched me, electricity seemed to race through my entire body. Instead of taking me into her mouth right away she carefully, very carefully, began to lick me with the tip of her tongue. At that tickling sensation my hips twisted.
Slurp… suck…
And at last a soft, warm sensation completely enveloped me. Clumsily, slowly, she took me into her mouth.
My mind went pure white. This was a sensation on an entirely different plane from any pleasure I had ever imagined. It wasn’t simple physical pleasure. It was the wondrous moment when the strongest, most proud woman in the world accepted me. I gently stroked her hair and surrendered my body to her movements.
Suck… slurp…
Perhaps she liked the stroking; she looked up at me with a faint smile in her eyes, and the suction grew a little stronger.
Her tongue was clumsy, yet the desire to please me came through perfectly. Sometimes she carefully licked upward; sometimes she looked up at me with eyes full of curiosity, checking my reaction. With every movement of her hot tongue and the clumsy wet sounds—“schlick, schlick”—my hips trembled.
The sight of her looking up at me excited me even more. I couldn’t hold back any longer; I cradled her head and let out a deep groan—“Nngh…”
Spurt—
When I came back to myself from the blinding pleasure, she was looking up at me with a flushed face, slowly swallowing what was in her mouth.
“…Tastes bad.”
She said it bluntly, yet her eyes were more lovable than anyone’s. I pulled her into my arms and laid her back on the bed.
“My turn now.”
I buried my face between her legs again.
“Haa…!”
A sharp moan burst from her lips. I gently caressed her deepest, most secret place with my tongue. A tart yet sweet flavor that belonged only to her filled my mouth.
“I think it tastes good, though?”
When I whispered teasingly her face flushed even redder.
“Yaa… ah, nngh… no… stop…”
She said she hated it, but her body was honest. Her hips moved more fiercely; her fingers clenched in my hair. Wet sounds mixed with our breathing and filled the room.
At last her body convulsed and released something hot. With a long cry—“Haaaaah!”—she went limp. I licked up every last trace of her.
When her senses returned she looked down at me with a flushed face.
“…You pervert bastard.”
She said it, yet her eyes were full of affection.
I climbed over her again and spread her legs. I aligned my already burning hardness with her entrance.
“…You okay?”
When I asked, instead of answering she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me deeper into her body.
I entered her slowly—very slowly. At that narrow, hot, soft sensation my entire body felt like it was melting.
“Ah…!”
A moan mixed with pain and pleasure burst from her lips. Afraid of hurting her, I stopped moving and looked at her. She had her eyes squeezed shut, but soon she looked at me and gave a faint nod.
Move.
Her eyes said it clearly.
I carefully began to move my hips. Because it was the first time everything was clumsy. In our haste our foreheads bumped; an awkward position made us both laugh for a moment. Yet even those clumsy moments were infinitely precious and tender to us.
Wet, explicit sounds—“schlick, schlick”—began to fill the room.
Rough breathing and the desperate voices calling each other’s names layered over them.
“Haa, haa…”
My head wouldn’t work properly. All I could see was Yeong-ju right in front of me. Even though it was my own body I somehow couldn’t control it; I just kept moving my hips in a frenzy.
“Ah… you idiot… aah… slower! Slow down!”
Every emotion and desire that had been suppressed for five months erupted through our bodies.