Expanding the Territory
Maybe I should try putting my primary wife in a school uniform skirt?
"Hey, Minji?"
"What?"
"Aren't you going to change into a skirt?"
"Do I really have to? Even back when I was working, the boss kept giving me dirty looks whenever I wore pants, so I was forced to wear skirts all the time."
This girl doesn't understand a man's romance. There's a damn good reason why all those feminists who push for short hair, no makeup, pants, and glasses need to be lined up and shot. Don't tell me this bitch is a feminist? If she is, she's getting demoted from primary wife to sex slave instantly.
"Since you're changing anyway, try on a school uniform."
"Just looking at a school uniform reminds me of that bitch Jihye. I hated it so much I threw mine in the trash the second I graduated."
Fuck, Jihye you absolute troll.
"Jihye, you still have your school uniform at your place, right?"
"Of course I do. I only graduated a year ago. Why? Do you want me to wear it for you, Husband?"
"No, I mean, I want to see you in it too, but right now I really want to see Minji wear it."
"The height and chest sizes are totally different, though. It's going to look pretty awkward on her."
"We can just fold the skirt at the waist for her height. As for her chest, we can always stuff her bra with some cloth."
"Then make sure to stop by my place later to grab some clothes. I don't even have any spare underwear, so I've been wearing Minji's."
Ah, so that's why she was wearing Minji's underwear when I violated her in her sleep last time. But wait, why was she wearing my mother-in-law's dress then?
Minji glared at Jihye the moment she heard her underwear was being shared. Well, what can you do? It's the apocalypse; we have to share. A moment of silence for the four people who graciously 'donated' their water to us.
Looking out the window, the rain that had started on Thursday finally stopped on Friday. Today, Saturday, the air had cleared up enough that I could easily see the building across the street. But when I looked up, the sky wasn't a clear blue yet—it was still a dull, murky leaden gray.
"Today is a perfect day to raid the convenience store."
I really should have raped that convenience store part-timer on the first floor. Back then, I was too much of a pussy to do it. Even after raping Minji and Jihye, I was trembling with fear that I'd end up in prison because the Brand hadn't registered yet. Looking back, it's hilarious. If I'd known things would turn out like this, I would've dragged that bitch on the first floor back to my place and violated her before she could run away.
Well, it's not a huge loss. Honestly, I've never seen any women in this neighborhood as hot as Jihye or Yejeong. In a way, Jihye was surprisingly wholesome. If she had become an internet camgirl begging for star balloons, she easily could've made dozens of times her police salary. But she didn't take that path; she diligently worked her police job for a meager paycheck. She didn't even touch Minji's hymen back in high school.
"Alright, everyone, let's head to the next room for a meeting. We're raiding the convenience store today to get some water. I'm dying of thirst."
As I turned to lead Minji, Jihye, and Yejeong out, I noticed Minji's chest looked unusually prominent.
Wait, that looks only slightly smaller than Jihye's or Jeonga's. Why did her tits suddenly get bigger?
Well, I'll find out once I peel off her bra later. Brushing it aside for now, I took the three of them over to my apartment. At this point, Minji's place felt more like my actual home, while my own apartment felt like a stranger's. Inside Room 209, Jeonga, Choi Jihun, Jeong Hyeonguk, and Jeong Juho were waiting.
"I hereby call the meeting of March 26th to order."
Exactly one week had passed since the nuclear war broke out last Saturday, making today our first Saturday in the apocalypse. Dates didn't really mean much anymore, but I said it anyway just to set the mood for a proper meeting.
"As you all know, a week has passed since the nuclear strike, which means the minimum quarantine period Juho mentioned is over. Today, right here and now, I declare the expansion of our territory by seizing the convenience store on the first floor!"
Clap! Clap-clap-clap! Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap!
The moment my speech ended, Kim Yejeong started clapping. Seeing this, Jeong Minji hesitantly followed suit after reading the room. Choi Jihye joined in next, followed by Lee Jeonga, and finally, Jeong Juho. Soon, the room was filled with the sound of applause.
I memorized the faces of everyone who didn't clap. I could excuse Jeong Hyeonguk since I stole his wife, but Choi Jihun didn't clap either, huh?
"Alright, Juho, your turn. Tell us the plan."
"Why are you asking me?"
"Jihye."
"Yes, Husband~"
Jihye really knew her place as a female. The way she immediately responded with "Yes, Husband" the second I called her name was perfect.
"Juho, do you want to have a private counseling session with Jihye first, or do you want to just start talking?"
"Ah~ Hyung-nim, why are you being like this? Isn't our Minji your wife? I was just joking, just joking!"
Didn't sound like a joke to me. Whatever, a piece of shit like Juho didn't matter. It was his knowledge that was valuable.
"Even though it rained on Thursday, stepping on the ground will still kick up radioactive fallout. So we need KF94 masks at the very least, or KF99 if we have them. It's best to layer two or three of them. If you have raincoats, wear them. If not, we'll cut up plastic bags, tape them together, and wear them over our clothes. We need at least two layers of plastic for this too."
Where the hell did this bastard get all this information? Minji mentioned he was a massive alternate history geek. Did he read military web novels too?
"We'll also wrap our shoes in two layers of plastic and secure them at the ankles with tape. But we should place socks or scrap cloth between the two plastic layers. Unlike the raincoats, the plastic on the soles of our shoes can easily tear. Once we return to the first-floor lobby, we must strip off all these outer plastic protective layers and discard them outside before stepping inside."
As soon as Juho finished speaking, I organized the expedition team. First, I excluded Jeong Hyeonguk, since there was no telling what kind of trolling stunt he might pull. Since we could face a sudden ambush, I assigned myself, Jihye, and Minji—the Awakeners—to armed security and perimeter watch. The rest—Juho, Yejeong, Jihun, and Jeonga—were designated as the labor force.
"Alright, everyone, move it. Get ready. Fortunately, we didn't throw away our KF99 masks after COVID ended, so they're actually coming in handy now."
At my command, everyone began cutting plastic bags to fashion makeshift raincoats and wrap their shoes. I had a single-layer raincoat I used for cycling, so I wrapped an extra layer of plastic over it to make it double-layered. For my shoes, I wrapped them in plastic once, slipped on two layers of socks scavenged from the closets of the empty apartments we had raided, wrapped another layer of plastic over that, and sealed it tightly around my ankles with tape.
We all wore rubber gloves on our hands. Thanks to the growing number of vacant apartments generously 'donating' their supplies to us, we had more than enough rubber gloves for everyone.
"If you have glasses, wear them. Sunglasses are fine too. If anyone has ski or snowboard goggles, those are even better."
Everyone was fully geared up, covered in plastic raincoats from head to shin, with their feet and lower legs wrapped in extra plastic. The plastic wrapping the shoes was wound around the calves and secured with heavy-duty packing tape. We wore two or three masks each. When I noticed Jeonga, who wasn't an Awakener, only wearing two masks, I personally stepped in to fit a third one over her face. Seeing me take such good care of my mother-in-law, my father-in-law looked like he was about to die of joy.
As we walked down the second-floor hallway, the doors of Rooms 203 and 206—which had been vacant from the start—were covered in messy, leftover scraps of duct tape and green packing tape that we had ripped off and discarded.
The doors of Rooms 204 and 205, where people had actually lived, were pristine. Minji had taken out the resident of 204 in a single blow with a monkey wrench, and we had strangled the one in 205 to death. We had also cleaned up the blood splatters on the floor from Room 201, where the resident had been stabbed in the lungs. Only Room 207's door looked like a complete mess, shredded in various places by Jihye's whip, but fortunately, it was at the very end of the hall, so we didn't have to worry about the residents upstairs noticing it.
Fortunately, thanks to the radioactive fallout, no one had looted our convenience store yet. Even if someone had tried, they probably would have dropped dead on the way.
When we reached the first-floor lobby, I saw the notice I had posted a week ago.
RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT OUTSIDE!
DO NOT OPEN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
ANYONE WHO OPENS THIS DOOR WILL GET THEIR HEAD SPLIT OPEN WITH AN AXE!
Even looking at it now, it was a masterpiece of warning signs. After all, absolutely no one had opened this door for an entire week. Come to think of it, killing those second-floor residents who seemed likely to troll us was definitely the right call. If they had held a grudge and decided to drag us down with them by throwing open all the doors and windows to let the fallout in, we'd all be dead by now.
I peeled off the duct tape sealing the edges of the glass door. As I pushed it open, the crisp, fresh air rushed in—the first taste of it in a week. High up in the atmosphere, the sky was still a leaden gray, likely due to lingering radioactive dust, but the blue sky would surely return soon.
Yejeong, holding the fire axe, looked thrilled as she playfully swung it back and forth.
The convenience store was right next to the first-floor lobby, so we arrived the moment we stepped outside. Ah, the memories. I remembered sitting under the parasol out here on the first floor before following Minji all the way to her boss's mansion. That president's estate was massive, with a traditional Hanok building on the first floor, another Hanok on the second, and even a three-story pagoda. Maybe I should just seize that mansion for myself?
Since they apparently looked down on Minji's family, I'd have a perfect excuse to take revenge on her and Yejeong's behalf. Sure, the president had lent them money for Juho's leg surgery, but what happened to that bastard Juho was none of my concern.
"Son-in-law Park, can I smash this glass door?"
Yejeong asked, looking as excited as a little kid. Was smashing things really that fun? Seeing her so happy made me feel like spending 90,000 won on the fire axe was totally worth it. A sledgehammer was 50,000 won and a crowbar was 20,000 won, so a single fire axe cost more than both combined. I had hesitated to buy it at first, but after dropping 700,000 won on a military saber, 90,000 won didn't seem all that expensive, so I just went ahead and bought it.
Thwack!
Crash—
No matter how weak my mother-in-law might be, if a glass door could withstand a swing from a three-kilogram, ninety-centimeter axe, it would have to be bulletproof glass.
"Wait a second. The glass shards might tear the plastic wrapping our shoes, so let's clear the glass out of the way before we head in."
Juho stopped everyone. Back at the first-floor lobby, he used scissors to cut off the plastic wrapping his shoes, discarded his outer plastic suit, mask, and rubber gloves, and stepped inside. A moment later, he emerged holding a broom. His body and shoes were wrapped in fresh plastic, and he was wearing a brand-new mask and rubber gloves.
Watching Juho constantly swap out his disposable gear reminded me of an apocalyptic novel I read once.
Didn't the protagonist in that book wear the exact same gas mask the entire time? Once you unseal and attach a gas mask filter, it only lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours before it becomes completely useless.
Juho swept away all the glass shards with his broom, and we finally stepped inside. This bastard was actually incredibly useful, wasn't he? Setting aside the fact that he was my brother-in-law, I'd have to reward him with a female of his own sometime.