The Master's Embarrassing Name

Perhaps it was the lingering afterglow of the fierce lovemaking that had lasted all night. For the first time in five months, I sank into a deep, peaceful sleep, as if floating atop clouds of cotton candy. No matter what the world outside the window was like, the simple fact that she was beside me made it perfect rest.

Around the time soft morning sunlight began to filter gently through the window, my eyes slowly opened. The first thing that came into view was Yeong-ju’s face, her head pillowed on my arm as she slept with soft, even breaths. The face that was always so sharp and full of wariness looked, in sleep, as peaceful and defenseless as an angel’s. Slightly parted lips, steady breathing, long eyelashes that trembled faintly. Quietly, I wished this moment could last forever.

My gaze drifted naturally to the soft curve of her breast that had slipped free of the blanket. The place my hands and lips had touched last night. Without realizing it, I reached out and gently cupped her breast. A soft, warm sensation filled my entire palm.

At that moment, Yeong-ju’s eyes slowly opened. She stared straight at me and spoke in a drowsy, not-yet-awake voice.

“…You were groping them all night, you pervert bastard.”

“Huh? Oh—okay.”

I jerked my hand away in surprise, then immediately snuck it back onto her breast. She looked at me as if she couldn’t believe it, finally gave a snort of laughter, and closed her eyes again. But she didn’t push my hand away.

I was still savoring that soft sensation when Yeong-ju finally sat up.

“Ah, what a shame.”

When I voiced my genuine regret, she picked her underwear up off the floor, pulled it on, and looked at me as if I were a bug.

“That’s enough. Get up, Seo Yeong-chan.”

She said it, yet her voice no longer carried any sharp thorns. Instead it sounded soft and affectionate, like a mischievous tease between lovers.

I was staring blankly at her as she dressed when something that had been nagging at me for a long time suddenly surfaced in my mind.

I sat bolt upright and opened the system window in midair.

That was the message. The very button that had said synchronization would become possible once I activated the Shelter.

“Yeong-ju, come here a second.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and called her over. Fully dressed, she approached with a puzzled look.

“What? Just because it’s daytime now, don’t think I’m going to do it again.”

She had the wrong idea, but with trembling fingers I pressed the button labeled Companion: Seo Yeong-ju (Status: Unsynchronized) without hesitation.

I pressed the [YES] button without a second thought. Yeong-ju’s body was briefly wrapped in blue light before returning to normal.

“Well? Do you… see anything? Feel anything?”

I asked her with expectant eyes.

Yeong-ju closed her eyes for a moment as if sensing something, then opened them and looked at me with a very strange, complicated expression.

“…Yeah.”

“Yeah? What? What is it?”

“…Something’s showing up, but…”

She tilted her head and spoke slowly, as if reading something floating in front of her eyes.

“Master… ‘SlurpSlurpBoobies’ has formally registered you as a Shelter resident… it says?”

“…What?”

I doubted my own ears.

“C-can you say that again? Master what?”

“Slurp. Slurp. Boobies.”

She enunciated every syllable with perfect clarity, reciting the name of my darkest history.

In that instant my mind went completely blank. I had forgotten. Completely forgotten. Ten years ago, as a thoughtless teenager, the nickname I had made as a joke while snickering with friends—the character name from the game. That perverted nickname had been linked straight into this system as the Master’s name! And it had been shared with her in full!

“Ah… aaaah… aaaaaaaah!”

I clutched my head and began rolling around on the bed. Shame and humiliation made my whole body feel like it was on fire. Being bitten to death by zombies would have been less painful.

“Pffft…! Puh, puhahahahaha!”

Watching me, Yeong-ju finally burst out laughing. She held her stomach and laughed until tears came.

“Slurp… pff, SlurpSlurp… Boobies? Hey, Seo Yeong-chan! You really were a total freak! Not just any freak! Ah, my stomach hurts… ahahaha!”

Her clear laughter filled the Shelter’s morning. I pulled the blanket over my head and could only wait for her laughter to stop.

After that hellish(?) morning finally passed, I headed to the dining hall with half my soul missing. The terrible nickname ‘SlurpSlurpBoobies’ kept circling inside my head like a demonic chant. Yeong-ju followed behind me, still desperately trying to hold back laughter, her shoulders shaking hard.

When we entered the dining hall, Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju, who were already preparing breakfast, greeted us cheerfully.

“Oh, you’re up! I thought both of you were total sleepyheads.”

Yang Jin-ju said with a bright laugh. On the table she had prepared a simple breakfast from the dried foods we had marveled at yesterday.

But Nam Jin-ju was different. The moment she saw us—especially the subtle change in Yeong-ju’s usual atmosphere—she seemed to notice it with uncanny accuracy. The Yeong-ju who had always been like a prickly hedgehog now felt somehow languid and soft.

Nam Jin-ju narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between us, wearing a meaningful smile that clearly said, Something happened last night… Under that gaze I felt strangely guilty and looked away.

We sat down awkwardly and began a breakfast a little different from yesterday’s. To soothe stomachs still heavy from last night’s feast, the table held lighter fare: chicken salad, stir-fried meat and potatoes, and sandwiches that had puffed up like freshly baked bread.

“Starting today we should properly tour the Shelter. There are still a lot of areas we haven’t seen—the control room, the power room, places like that. We need to understand this facility properly if we’re going to make plans going forward.”

Yang Jin-ju spoke seriously about future plans while eating her salad. I nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Nam Jin-ju, sitting beside me, quietly scooted her chair right up against Yeong-ju. Then she leaned in close to Yeong-ju’s ear and began whispering with an excited expression.

“Unni, last night… did you do it?”

At the blunt question, Yeong-ju’s face instantly flushed bright red.

“Wh-what?!”

“Come on, you know. The vibe is totally different. So how was it? Was Oppa better than he looks? …Is it big?”

“Hey! You—stop it! Cut it out!!”

Flustered, Yeong-ju clamped a hand over Nam Jin-ju’s mouth and tried to push her away. But Nam Jin-ju clung stubbornly, continuing to interrogate her with eyes full of curiosity.

Watching the two women’s silent scuffle, Yang Jin-ju’s face had also turned faintly pink. She was pretending to poke at her salad with forced nonchalance, yet every time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she snuck a glance at me, her eyes held a subtle, intrigued emotion I had never seen before.

Under the three women’s gazes I couldn’t lift my head; I just kept chewing my sandwich.

First the nickname ‘SlurpSlurpBoobies,’ and now total chaos first thing in the morning.

After the meal we began a proper exploration of the Shelter’s interior.

Besides the bedroom, dining hall, medical room, hydroponics room, and emergency food storage we had already checked, unknown spaces still remained. Only by confirming the heart of this perfect fortress could we properly plan our future survival.

The first place we headed was the massive door labeled ‘Power Room.’

When the door opened, a space as wide as a basketball court appeared. Yet in the center of that vast chamber stood only a single, surprisingly small transparent cylindrical pillar about the height of a person. Inside the pillar, a silver sphere the size of a fist spun on its own with no visible power source, emitting a faint blue light.

“…That’s it?”

Nam Jin-ju asked, sounding deflated. She had apparently expected a huge generator or complex machinery.

“That little ball is producing all the power for this entire massive Shelter? That’s impossible.”

Yang Jin-ju looked equally unbelieving. But I knew. That was the semi-permanent energy core that had been called the pinnacle of technology in the game.

So that’s the Shelter’s battery and heart. Seeing it in real life is amazing. Right now at Level 1 there’s only one, but as the Shelter level rises there’ll be more and more of those cores, right?

I gazed at the spinning silver sphere with wonder.

Next we went to the ‘Resource Room.’ Besides the hydroponics room and emergency food storage from yesterday, there was another huge door. When we opened it, a blast of cold air hit us. Inside was a vast warehouse; about thirty percent of the space was sealed off by thick glass walls that poured out cold air like the meat section of a big supermarket.

“Wow, it’s freezing! Is this a refrigerator?”

Nam Jin-ju pressed her hand curiously against the glass. Temperature displays on the wall clearly showed ‘4°C’ and ‘-18°C.’ Refrigerated and frozen sections. They were empty now, but someday when we obtained food we would be able to keep it fresh here.

“Later if we get seeds and grow crops, or if we’re lucky enough to hunt animals… we can store them here.”

At Yeong-ju’s words we briefly lost ourselves in happy daydreams. The very fact that we could plan a future in this hellish world felt like a miracle.

And at last we arrived at the Shelter’s most critical space—the Support Room. In the game it had been called the Control Room. When the door opened, an overwhelming sight unfolded before our eyes.

One entire wall of the room was a giant screen. On it, views of the area around the Shelter were displayed in real time from multiple angles—the Defense System’s surveillance camera feeds. On one side of the screen, various figures showing the Shelter’s current status were neatly arranged.

“…Crazy.”

Yang Jin-ju murmured.

“The power and water being recharged are way more than what we’re using. This is… a truly semi-permanent fortress.”

We looked at one another in relief. At least from now on we would never have to worry about energy or water.

I slowly walked around the Support Room. It matched my game knowledge almost perfectly. And finally, in the farthest corner of the Support Room, I found the thing I had been looking forward to most.

On a stand that looked like a mannequin hung a single sleek full-body tights-style suit in black and silver.

“What’s this? It kind of looks like a wetsuit…”

The moment Nam Jin-ju reached out curiously to touch the suit, a warning message appeared on the holographic display in front of it.

Knowing the incredible performance of this metal suit, I couldn’t hide my disappointment. In the game the Walker Suit multiplied the wearer’s muscular strength several times over and blocked ordinary impacts and even bullets—an insanely useful piece of gear for outside activity. With this, going out into the world to find seeds would become far easier.

“Ah… so we need Level 2 to use it.”

At my deep sigh the three women turned to look at me.

“What’s wrong? Is it that disappointing?”

When Yeong-ju asked, I poured out my regret.

“This… isn’t just clothes. Put it on and you get Hulk-level strength and it even stops bullets—super useful for going outside. If we only had this…”

At my explanation the three women’s eyes went round.

“Really? Gear that broken actually existed?”

Yang Jin-ju marveled.

But soon they patted my disappointed shoulders.

“Hey, at least we’re alive. Be grateful.”

Yeong-ju said gruffly, yet comfort was in her voice.

“That’s right, Oppa! Once we raise that level thing or whatever, we can use it, right? Then let’s all work hard together and raise that level! With the four of us, there’s nothing we can’t do!”

Nam Jin-ju clenched her fists and declared bravely.

Their comfort let me shake off the disappointment and smile. Yeah, they were right. We had survived, and we were together.

I opened the system window and checked the Shelter level-up conditions.

Beneath the Support Room’s giant screen, the four of us sat around a long conference table that ran along the wall. The excited atmosphere from marveling at the Shelter’s amazing facilities moments earlier was gone without a trace.

All we knew was that those numbers were our next goal. The empty hydroponics room and the locked reinforced suit. To overcome the clear limitations this Shelter still had, leveling up was essential.

“2/4… does that mean two out of four are already filled?”

Nam Jin-ju spoke first. Chin in hand, she stared hard at the screen and muttered.

“Then what are those two? One is Oppa, the Master, arriving here. And the other? The Shelter activating successfully? Or…”

“It might be referring to the number of residents.”

Yang Jin-ju cut into our speculation.

“Two out of four people. (2/4). Isn’t that the most intuitive interpretation? A Shelter is ultimately a place for people to live. A condition that a certain number of residents must be registered before advancing to the next stage seems plenty possible, doesn’t it?”

Yeong-ju’s words were reasonable. Even in the game, raising a base’s level often required securing a certain population.

Since being synchronized as a Shelter resident that morning, Yeong-ju had also begun seeing a simplified version of the system window. So was it really the resident count?

Frustrated, I opened the system window in front of me again. Desperate for any clue, I started tapping through sub-menus I normally never looked at. [Shelter Management], [Resource Status], [Resident List].

When I casually pressed the [Resident List] tab, my name appeared along with Seo Yeong-ju’s, newly registered. On a hunch I clicked her name. Her detailed information window popped up.

Her physical data was displayed down to the decimal point. I swallowed hard without meaning to. 48.9 kg… at that height… after five months of barely eating properly while walking together, she had gotten this thin. A wave of guilt and pity I hadn’t even noticed before crashed over me.

No, no. This wasn’t the time to get sentimental. Curiosity killed the cat, they said.

I hurriedly shook my head and closed the detailed window. If I got caught looking later, Yeong-ju would leave nothing of my solar plexus intact.

I went back to digging through the system window, searching for information on ‘Companions,’ my original goal.

Just then, as if she had read my mind, Yeong-ju spoke first.

“Guys, hold on. There’s something I need to tell you.”

At her serious tone, Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju, who had been arguing heatedly, fell silent and looked at her.

Yeong-ju took a breath and began explaining what had happened in the bedroom that morning—that I had ‘synchronized’ her as a Shelter resident.

“…So now I can see a very simplified system window like Seo Yeong-chan’s. Basic Shelter status, my personal status, things like that.”

At her explanation, hope lit up on Yang Jin-ju’s and Nam Jin-ju’s faces.

“Really? Then we…! Can we get registered like that too?”

Nam Jin-ju looked at me with expectant eyes.

But Yeong-ju shook her head coldly, dousing their hopes.

“No. That’s the problem.”

She glanced at me once and continued.

“In Seo Yeong-chan’s system window there’s a separate Companion list. And on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it… only my name was listed. That’s why only I could be registered. Your two names weren’t on that list at all.”

“…What?”

In an instant the light of hope vanished from Yang Jin-ju’s and Nam Jin-ju’s faces, replaced by deep anxiety and suspicion.

“Don’t tell me… we can’t? We… can’t be registered as residents?”

Nam Jin-ju’s voice was trembling. In her eyes flickered the fear of being abandoned once again.

Yeong-ju hurriedly waved her hands.

“No, no! It’s not that we’re discriminating against you or deliberately refusing. It’s just… it seems you only get registration rights once the system recognizes you as a Companion. The problem is… we have no idea what the conditions for becoming a Companion even are.”

Despite Yeong-ju’s explanation, the atmosphere in the Support Room had gone ice-cold. The unknown condition of ‘Companion’ had erected an invisible wall between the four of us. The two of us were official Shelter residents; the other two were outsiders who could be kicked out at any time.

I had to break this awkward, uneasy atmosphere before the misunderstanding deepened.

“We’ll find a way.”

I spoke up.

“There has to be a condition for becoming a Companion. And we’ll find it together. We’re a team now. No one gets left behind. Ever.”

I looked straight into Yang Jin-ju’s and Nam Jin-ju’s eyes and spoke with complete sincerity. At my firm promise, the shadow of anxiety on their faces seemed to lighten just a little.

With the system window still open, I desperately dug through old memories. Squeezing every brain cell, I searched for any moment of even the smallest system change during those five months of hell.

“I remember. Yeong-ju got registered as a Companion on my status window… about a month after the zombie outbreak started. We ran into a survivor group for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first time, they wiped each other out fighting, and the two of us barely escaped… then we spent days starving, hopping between abandoned buildings. That was when the Companion entry first appeared, I think.”

Yang Jin-ju latched onto my memory with sharp precision. She had already returned to her usual cool-headed analyst self.

“A month? Then the Companion condition is most likely simply the total amount of time spent together. We’ve only been together a few days so far. That hypothesis is the most rational.”

“Could be. But whether just being together is enough, or whether… something like the total time spent doing life-or-death actions together is needed… there’s no way to know. The system doesn’t explain anything. It’s like a really unfriendly game tutorial.”

At my words the Support Room sank into heavy silence again. If it was simply a matter of time, the problem was simple. We could just spend a month or more together inside this safe Shelter. Emergency food was plentiful, water and electricity infinite. It would be boring, but not a painful wait. But if it was the latter… the problem became serious.

“Then… what do we do? Do we just… have to wait a month?”

Nam Jin-ju asked in an anxious voice. On her face mixed relief at being able to stay another month in this comfortable Shelter with anxiety over the still-unresolved fundamental problem. She clasped her hands together and fidgeted restlessly.

The four of us kept turning over the same worries, offering this idea and that. But nothing became a solid answer. Then Yeong-ju, who had been quietly lost in thought until now, suddenly lifted her head.

“Hey, Seo Yeong-chan.”

“Yeah?”

“You said this is a facility from the game you used to play.”

“That’s right.”

“In games, how do you usually get party members or companions? Do they just become companions if they stand next to you?”

At her sudden question I thought for a moment.

“Hmm… usually not. You have to raise a specific NPC’s affection, or clear a hard quest together, or…”

In that instant Yeong-ju’s eyes flashed. She cut me off and stated her conclusion.

“Or you hunt monsters together.”

She stood and pointed at the Support Room’s giant screen—at the zombies still wandering outside the Shelter. On the screen the zombies were still aimlessly milling about just beyond the 200-meter Safety Zone the Defense System had cleared.

“Maybe… the condition is really simple. Hunting a certain number of hostile entities together with you, the Master. That might be exactly how you become a Companion. At the time you mentioned—when we first escaped that survivor group—we killed more zombies together than ever before just to survive. The system might recognize us as Companions through that kind of shared combat.”

Yeong-ju’s hypothesis pierced straight through our complacent core. Thinking of game systems, it was the most likely theory.

And what that hypothesis meant was only one thing.

We… would have to go back into that hell and smash zombie heads again.

The moment Yeong-ju’s words dropped, Yang Jin-ju’s and Nam Jin-ju’s faces went deathly pale.

“…Go outside?”

Nam Jin-ju’s voice trembled almost like a sob.

“To that… place crawling with those monsters… again?”

Back when we had been desperately surviving outside, killing zombies would have been routine. But after tasting the comfort and peace of this perfectly safe Shelter, it was a different story.

A warm bed, delicious food, clean water, and above all perfect safety free from the fear of death. The thought of abandoning all of that and once again risking our lives to return to that hell was torture in itself.

Nam Jin-ju shuddered as if goosebumps had risen and rubbed her arms. Her skin was covered in chicken skin from sheer terror.

“I don’t want to… I can’t go…. We only just barely survived… I never want to go back out there…. The smell of their guts, the blood stench, the rotting flesh… uugh.”

Tears finally spilled from her eyes. Yang Jin-ju too was biting her lip, face ashen. She was clearly feeling the same fear as Nam Jin-ju.

Comfort can sometimes be the most powerful poison of all.

Having fought hard against danger outside myself, I could fully understand their terror.

Still, if Yeong-ju’s hypothesis was correct, the biggest problem was that we had no other choice.