A Faint Hope on the Waves
I woke up to a strange sensation while cuddling Ye-jeong, the MILF whom that foxy Jihye had brought into this world. When I opened my eyes, Minji was staring down at me, her arms hanging limp and lifeless. In her right hand, she held a kitchen knife, her face twisted in the tragic sorrow of a mother about to murder her own child.
"Die... you son of a bitch... just die..."
Her voice was so quiet it was barely a whisper, but I managed to catch it. I snatched the knife from her hand and tossed it onto the floor. Then, I gently nudged the handcuffed Ye-jeong toward the wall, grabbed Minji by the wrist, and dragged her onto the bed.
"Let's sleep."
Minji said nothing.
When I woke up the next morning, Ye-jeong—whom I had pushed toward the wall—was sleeping soundly in my arms, while Minji was shoved against the wall. What the hell? Did they roll over in their sleep?
My hand was resting directly on Ye-jeong's breast. Her one-piece dress was pulled up to her chest, and her bra was pushed aside. Yesterday, she was definitely fully clothed when we went to sleep. Had my hands reached a level of mastery where they groped women automatically in my sleep?
As I pulled my hand away, I noticed something different. Her nipples and areolas were a beautiful, vibrant pink, completely unlike yesterday. I had hoped she would de-age, but has the mana already started affecting her? But if that were the case, why were her breasts still just as saggy as before?
I shrugged it off as unimportant and headed to the bathroom.
Just as Juho had said yesterday, the tap water was shut off for 72 hours, meaning I couldn't wash up. I couldn't exactly waste our precious bottled drinking and cooking water on a shower, either.
Which meant sex was officially on lockdown for the next three days.
Fucking hell. I was sleeping with three fucktoys and I couldn't even lay a finger on them!
As I stood in front of the toilet to pee, I spotted a women's makeup pouch on the sink. It was slightly open, and I could see a lipstick peeking through the gap. Ah, or was it called a lip tint?
So Minji really was a girl after all. Or was it Jihye's? Minji had her own vanity table in her room, so it was probably Jihye's. But Jihye was gorgeous even without makeup, so why bother?
When I walked out of the bathroom, I glanced at Jihye. Her face was so naturally beautiful that it was impossible to tell if she was wearing makeup or not. Her pillow was clean, so it wasn't like she had put on makeup and gone back to sleep. Then who the hell used the lip tint?
The mystery deepened.
Well, whatever. If they did it to look pretty for me, prying into every little detail would be unmanly. Let's just assume my women were putting in the effort to please me.
Since the girls in Minji's room were all awake, we boiled some quick instant ramen for breakfast. Once our room finished eating, I grabbed some ramen and bottled water, headed next door, and shook Lee Jeong-a awake.
"Mother-in-law, wake up."
"Mmm... just five more minutes..."
If it were Jihye, it'd be one thing, but having Jihye's mother act like this was... well, I couldn't tell if it was annoying or cute like a spoiled brat.
Smack!
I slapped her butt, and she rubbed her eyes as she sat up.
"Here's some ramen and water. Cook it up and share it with the others."
"But we don't have a stove here."
Ah, right. The city gas was cut off, so they needed a portable gas stove or a burner.
"I'll bring you one. Wait here."
I brought Jeong-a a portable gas stove. The camping burner's LPG tank looked heavy, and I didn't feel like exerting myself so early in the morning.
To discuss our next move, I wanted to gather everyone. But unlocking Jeong Hyeong-uk and Jeong Juho every single time was a pain in the ass, so I just brought the women over to my apartment.
"Juho, what's next?"
Juho glared at me with eyes full of resentment, but he quickly answered.
"In a situation like this, we need information. I brought a radio in my luggage. We can use that."
It sounded reasonable, but his informal tone rubbed me the wrong way.
"Jihye, don't you think his informal tone is a bit insolent? Why don't you take him next door, teach him some manners, and bring him back?"
Jihye looked annoyed but grabbed Juho anyway.
Seeing this, Ye-jeong, Jeong-a, Hyeong-uk, and Choi Jihun didn't react much, probably assuming she was just going to slap him around a bit.
But Minji's face went completely pale. She desperately rubbed her small breasts against my arm, looking up at me with teary, sparkling eyes as she begged.
"Master, please spare my brother! If she takes him, he's going to piss and shit himself! He won't even be human anymore!"
Ye-jeong and Hyeong-uk's eyes widened in shock.
By the way, where the hell did Minji learn to flirt like this? Just yesterday, she was a blank slate of a virgin who knew absolutely nothing. Ah, wait, she stopped being a virgin the day before yesterday.
Ye-jeong watched Minji closely, the right corner of her mouth twitching upward in a barely perceptible smirk.
Juho, still oblivious to what was about to happen, let Jihye grab him by the scruff of his neck and drag him next door without much resistance.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Aaaargh! Spare me! Noona! Please!"
"Aaaagh! Mmph! Mmph!"
"Mmph—mmph—"
After a brief scream, all sound vanished.
Except for Minji and me, who already knew what to expect, everyone in the room froze. Jihun and Jeong-a looked far more shocked than Hyeong-uk and Ye-jeong. Did they seriously not know their daughter was such a demonic bitch?
Ye-jeong glanced at Jeong Hyeong-uk. Then, as if making up her mind, she slid her handcuffed hands around my arm, pressing it deep into her voluptuous cleavage.
She spoke in a slightly nasal, coquettish voice.
"Son-in-law Park... can't we go check on Juho together~?"
Now, I'm not the kind of pathetic man who falls for cheap seduction, but as a son-in-law, how could I refuse my mother-in-law's request?
"Let's go."
We walked over to Minji's apartment. The living room was a complete mess, as if they had fought there before Jihye dragged him into the bathroom.
I gave Ye-jeong's ass a firm squeeze.
"Wait here. I'll check the situation first."
Leaving Ye-jeong outside the bathroom, I cracked the door open and peeked inside. Juho was sprawled on the floor beneath Jihye in a state that defied verbal description.
"I brought Mother-in-law Ye-jeong with me. Clean him up and bring him out," I told Jihye.
Then, I turned back to Ye-jeong.
"Mother-in-law, wait just a moment. Jihye will clean him up and bring him out."
While Jihye was busy, I hugged the handcuffed Ye-jeong from behind. I groped her breasts over her dress, then slid my hand inside her cleavage to feel her bare skin. Unable to contain myself, I pulled her dress down to her chest and pushed her bra aside, revealing her beautiful pink nipples.
After fondling her bare breasts and sucking on her nipples for a bit, I unzipped my pants, pulled out my cock, and showed it to her.
"Suck it clean and get me off before Jihye comes out. Quick."
Ye-jeong stared at my cock for a moment, then silently knelt and began to suck. She barely made a sound, clearly trying to keep Jihye and Juho from hearing.
Slurp, slurp.
Still, some wet noises slipped through.
Ah, I was close.
Spurt! Spurt!
I finally ejaculated.
"Just swallow it."
Since Jihye and Juho could walk out at any moment, I ordered her to swallow. Hearing my command, Ye-jeong gulped down my semen.
A moment later, Jihye dragged Juho out. He was a completely changed man.
"Juho, let's go back."
"Yes, Master."
"Master? Cut that out. You're the brother of my primary wife, and you're actually useful. From now on, call me Hyung-nim."
I spoke to him with grand generosity.
"Actually, it is proper for a brother-in-law to address his sister's husband as Hyung-nim and use formal honorifics, Hyung-nim."
Ah...
So this is what Minji meant when she said her brother was a bit of an idiot.
"Do you expect me to use honorifics with you? Shut the fuck up and do as you're told. Or would you rather I just call you my slave?"
Only then did Juho realize his blunder and shut his mouth.
I led everyone back to my apartment.
"Good. Now you look ready to have a proper conversation. Speak, Juho. What did you say we need to do?"
"I said we need to get information using a radio, Hyung-nim!"
Where did we put the radio we took from the camper van? Ah, it was in Minji's room!
"Minji, go grab your brother's radio. Actually, Jihye, take Juho with you and bring back everything we need."
Jihye and a trembling Juho went next door and returned with the radio and a rolled-up bundle of wires.
"Now, explain."
"This radio can be charged by turning the crank handle or using solar power. Right now, the sky is overcast because of the fallout, so solar charging won't work, but we can charge it manually with the crank. Also, FM has a short range, so nearby broadcasting stations are probably dead. But AM and shortwave broadcasts might still have surviving stations. Shortwave signals can travel to other countries."
"Then try turning it on."
"We won't get good reception indoors like this. We need to use this wire as an antenna."
Juho took about 10 to 20 meters of wire and taped it along the ceiling molding of my room with duct tape, forming a square loop. My room wasn't long enough to stretch it in a straight line, so he had to loop it.
Once the antenna was secured to the ceiling, he connected it to the radio.
Creak, creak—
Juho turned the crank to charge it, the mechanism making a bit of noise as if it hadn't been used in a while. Finally, once it was sufficiently charged, he began tuning the frequency.
"So it wasn't just Seoul. Other regions got hit by nukes too. But it looks like the government isn't completely paralyzed?"
"They have nuclear bunkers, after all. A flat underground bunker like the one at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan might be vulnerable, but bunkers built by tunneling into the solid granite of mountains would easily survive nuclear weapons of North Korea's caliber."
"Are there any other foreign broadcasts?"
"Yes."
Juho tuned the frequency again.
"Liz Cleater? What kind of name is that?"
"Because she's an American woman?"
Juho looked like he didn't understand what I meant.
"But if it's an American broadcast, why is it in Korean?"
"Unlike FM or AM, which are for domestic use, shortwave broadcasts are meant for foreign propaganda. The US government doesn't broadcast in English to Asia in the first place."
Juho tuned the frequency again.
"Why did it suddenly cut off? Is China's communication that bad?"
"Maybe an accident happened inside the broadcasting station while they were on air?"
Did zombies break into the station?
"Yes! This is it! I told you Jihye's gun didn't fire at Suah University Hospital!"
"What do you mean? Her gun didn't fire?"
"Exactly what I said. Jihye encountered a zombie at the hospital, tried to shoot it, but the gun didn't work."
"Zombies? Are there really zombies? It wasn't just an internet rumor?"
"We killed two of them yesterday. Come to think of it, on our way to the hospital, some kids were playing with firecracker guns, and those were all duds too."
"Then it's not just Jihye-noona's gun that's broken. There might be a fundamental issue with gunpowder itself on this Earth."
"Wait, why are you calling her Jihye-noona? Aren't you two the same age?"
"We were the same age? Ah... well... I guess..."
Embarrassed, Juho let his voice trail off and changed the frequency again.
"What is this? Why is it suddenly gibberish?"
"It's a numbers station broadcast from a Russian military base. 'Mikhail, Dmitry, Zhenya, and Boris' are call signs they always use. The rest are numbers, so I don't know what they mean."
"Well, at least it means Russia has at least one military unit still alive."