The Sixth Companion

The next morning, I left the room a little later than usual with Nam Jin-ju. Four intense rounds, all sparked by one bold line from her the night before. The aftermath left me with a dull ache in my lower back and a bone-deep exhaustion.

"Ugh… my lower belly hurts a little too?"

When I groaned that my back was killing me, Nam Jin-ju walking beside me said her stomach was a bit sore as well — except she looked far more lively and energetic than I did. I could only marvel at her stamina as we headed for the cafeteria.

"Sorry. We're a little late."

By the time we arrived, Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already finished eating and were waiting for us over morning coffee.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to get up."

Yeong-ju regarded me with her usual deadpan expression, the words dripping with sarcasm.

"The great man who, under the noble banner of shelter advancement, took three women one after another — your back hurting a little, is it?"

Still holding my lower back, I bowed my head. "What can a guilty man possibly say…" I picked up the sandwich Yang Jin-ju had set in front of me.

Leaving me to my fate, the women huddled together and started whispering among themselves. Then, suddenly, Yang Jin-ju cried out in pure shock.

"Four times? You actually did it four times?"

She stared at me like she couldn't believe it.

Yeong-ju, too, stroked Nam Jin-ju's hair with a look of pity. "You poor thing, our baby…" Then she turned and glared at me like she wanted to devour me whole.

Those scorching stares made my throat seize up. I gulped down coffee in a desperate bid to buy time for an excuse.

Watching all of us, Nam Jin-ju spoke up with a face of pure, clueless innocence.

"No, no! When I asked him to keep going, Oppa… he, um… he kept it… standing up just fine?"

That pure, nuclear little remark.

Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju's gazes shifted from me straight onto Nam Jin-ju. They simply stared, speechless, at the girl cheerfully devouring her sandwich like nothing in the world was wrong.

After breakfast, Seo Yeong-ju, Yang Jin-ju, and Nam Jin-ju headed for the multipurpose room as they always did. The moment the door shut and they had a space of their own, Yang Jin-ju couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Hey. Nam Jin-ju. You really… last night…"

Seo Yeong-ju crossed her arms and interrogated her.

"So. How was it. Tell us everything, honestly. That bastard Seo Yeong-chan didn't rough you up or anything, right? If he hurt you even a little, say so. I'll go kill him."

But beneath those worried questions, a distinctly feminine curiosity kept peeking through.

"So… how was that part yesterday? Was it okay? It was your first time…"

"Did he… take care of you properly? That bastard was huffing and rushing like crazy with me — does he even know what he's doing?"

Under the barrage of questions, Nam Jin-ju flushed with embarrassment at first. Then she seemed to make up her mind, and began describing everything that had happened the night before in meticulous, vivid detail.

"At first… it hurt a little, but Oppa was so careful and went so slow that… it was okay. The second I flinched, he stopped right away and kept asking if I was all right…"

She paused, fidgeting with her fingers in shy embarrassment.

"…And the foreplay…. Wow, he was… he was really, really good. With his tongue… all over my body…. From my shoulders to my chest, my navel, and then… down there…. It was a feeling I'd never had before. Like my whole body was melting…. Like electricity running through every inch of me…"

At her frank, graphic account, Seo Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju swallowed hard without realizing it.

"And… the reason we did it four times is actually because I… I kept begging him for more. After the first time, I just weirdly wanted to keep going…. Oppa looked exhausted, but when I pleaded he just smiled like he had no choice and… did it again…"

She couldn't finish. She covered her face with both hands.

"…And Oppa. He's way bigger than he looks… and so hard…"

At that final line, Seo Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju both coughed at the same time, as if something had just occurred to them.

The further her story went, the more complicated their expressions became. Sometimes startled, sometimes impressed, they sank into Nam Jin-ju's account the way readers lose themselves in a steamy romance novel.

I want to be part of the conversation too…

They'd dumped me in the cafeteria like a sack of borrowed barley, claiming they had important things to discuss among themselves. Nearly two hours had already crawled by.

I sat alone in an empty support-room chair, staring blankly at the system window floating in midair. With their laughter gone, the Shelter felt strangely silent and vast — like I'd been left behind on some enormous spaceship. I was the Master of this place, living with three beautiful women, something like the king of a harem. In reality, I was just a lonely guy locked out of their private sanctuary.

I traced those letters in the corner of the system window with my fingertip again and again. Thinking back over the past few days, I found myself re-examining how this bizarre system actually worked.

In the end… is sex the most proven method?

At first I'd written it off as coincidence. Yang Jin-ju, then Nam Jin-ju. Both women who'd spent a night with me had, without exception, been registered as Companions the following morning. This was no longer chance. The system clearly recognized the deepest, most primal form of intimacy with me — the Master — as the core condition for Companion registration.

"I just hope the next level-up condition isn't 'go make more women…'"

With that thought, I turned my eyes to the large display. The two mutants were still out there, tirelessly hurling rocks. The dull thunk, thunk had become so familiar that its absence would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have felt emptier than the noise itself.

Power had dropped into the eighty-eights. Strangely, though, I wasn't worried anymore. Something solid and reassuring had settled in a corner of my chest. Everything was about to be resolved.

I believed it completely. Nam Jin-ju would be back soon. And once she and I passed through this final gate for the Shelter's future, we would at last meet every condition for a Shelter level-up.

"Just a little longer, Seo Yeong-chan."

I don't know how much time passed. The support-room door opened, and at last the three of them walked in together. Something about their mood was off. The second they entered, Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju stared straight at my lower body like they'd planned it in advance.

Under those blatant stares, I instinctively clamped my legs shut.

"What? What is it? Is there something on my pants?"

Both of them whipped their heads away.

"It's nothing."

Yeong-ju said it curtly, then asked about the Companion status. Eager to shake off the awkwardness, I hurriedly opened the system window.

"Yes! Nam Jin-ju's registered as a Companion! Starting it now!"

I hit the button without hesitation. A blue light bloomed briefly over Nam Jin-ju's body and faded. She blinked several times, then stared into empty air with a mix of shock and wonder.

"Whoa… I'd only heard about this, but seeing it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for real is actually mind-blowing…"

She looked at me and carefully opened her mouth.

"SlurpSlurpBoo—"

"Do not say that name!"

While I screamed, Yeong-ju and Yang Jin-ju snickered behind Nam Jin-ju's back. Desperate to escape the humiliation, I moved my trembling finger to the newly generated button on the system window, the one flashing red with the word UPGRADE — [Shelter Level-Up Available].

The moment I pressed it—

Woooooom—

The entire Shelter shuddered with a low, deep mechanical drone and a vibration stronger than anything we'd felt before. We had to grab each other or brace against the walls just to stay upright.

"Huh? What? What is that? Are we collapsing?!"

Nam Jin-ju shrieked in terror. A moment later the earthquake-like shaking stopped. We looked around, but nothing seemed different.

"What? Nothing changed? Just the vibration and that's it?"

Yang Jin-ju muttered, puzzled, carefully scanning the support room. Right then, with a metallic clack, the transparent cylinder in the corner of the room opened, and the Walker Suit inside stepped forward as if greeting us.

"Oppa! The rooms increased!"

Nam Jin-ju cried out, staring at the small status window only she could see.

"There are… five bedrooms now! Wow! Real one-person-one-room!"

And in that exact instant, a sharp warning-like whine cut through the air, and on the large display the umbrella-shaped Defense System that had been protecting us folded in on itself and vanished into a hatch above the Shelter.

"Huh? Why is that going away? No! Those monsters might come!"

As we shouted in panic, the two mutants on the screen seemed to sense the change too. They let out grotesque howls and charged the Shelter in a frenzy — like predators that had just realized their prey's shield was gone.

New text appeared on my system window at the same moment a massive, heavy THOOM — nothing like before — rolled down from above our heads. On the screen, a new umbrella-shaped Defense ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠System rose into view, far larger and thicker-armored than the last, blue energy lines glowing across its surface.

The new Defense System unfurled like a great umbrella. A single low, resonant note rang out — doom — like the beat of a small drum. And in that instant, through the display, we witnessed something unbelievable.

The first mutant, charging full tilt, was slammed backward as if struck by a gigantic invisible hammer. Unlike its upper body, sheathed in hard muscle-armor, its relatively weaker lower half couldn't take the impact. It burst apart with a wet crack.

Even without its legs, the thing stubbornly tried to crawl away on its remaining torso. That vitality was almost awe-inspiring. But two more soft pong, pong sounds followed, and what was left of its upper body exploded into dark-red pulp and vanished without a trace.

All of us stood frozen, speechless before that overwhelming display. When I finally collected myself, I checked the system window in front of me with trembling hands.

But what truly seized my eyes were the other numbers underneath.

Maximum storage capacity. Power had doubled, while water had risen by roughly thirty percent. And the hourly auto-recovery rates… power was triple what it had been; water had only climbed modestly.

"Guys, look at this!"

I ran to the support-room console and worked the screen with shaking hands. The feed of the Shelter's surroundings switched to a detailed status display.

"Huh? Those numbers…! Power max went up to double, but water didn't increase that much?"

Nam Jin-ju was the first to spot the change and call it out.

"Still, the recovery rate for power went from 0.5% an hour to 1.5%… that's triple. Which means… even if three or four more of those monsters show up and start throwing rocks, our power wouldn't drop — it'd actually keep climbing…"

Yang Jin-ju murmured in disbelief as she stared at the staggering figures.

Yeong-ju said nothing, looking back and forth between the screen and me. Then a bright, genuine smile — one I had never once seen on her face before — bloomed at the corners of her mouth.

"…That's insane."

I muttered it without thinking, and the other three nodded blankly, as if in full agreement.