A Silent Message
When I stepped out of the bathroom, Kim Ye-jeong slightly turned her head away in embarrassment, as if she had overheard the commotion inside. I noticed she was finishing up the kimchi stew I had left on the stove after turning off the gas before heading into the bathroom.
"Are you finishing up what I started? You could have just left it; I would've taken care of it."
Since I had already stir-fried the ham and seasoning paste, poured in the water, and brought it to a boil, it was at a stage where anyone—unless they were a useless bitch like Minji—could easily finish it. Actually, even Minji, who scored a flat zero as a housewife, could probably manage to finish a stew that only needed kimchi, tuna, and sliced chili peppers thrown in.
Just like Jihye had earlier, Minji was rolling around on the bed, completely dumping the cooking duties onto her mother the moment she arrived. Seriously, raising daughters these days is a waste of time. People used to say raising sons was pointless, but ever since feminism spread, it feels like daughters have become just as useless.
"You seemed busy, Son-in-law Park, so I figured I'd finish it."
Well, I had been busy.
Come to think of it, a week ago, my nose only picked up strange odors and my tongue tasted nothing but bizarre flavors, preventing me from properly enjoying the aroma and taste of food. But now that a week had passed, it seemed my senses of taste and smell were finally returning. The tuna kimchi stew was giving off a mouthwatering aroma.
After a short wait, Jihye emerged from the bathroom, supporting Lee Jeong-a. Feeling a bit bad for Jeong-a because of what Jihye had just done to her, I walked over to show some concern.
"Mother-in-law, are you feeling alright? The kimchi stew smells great, doesn't it?"
Jeong-a didn't offer a single word in response. Typical. Females are so ungrateful; they don't even know how to appreciate it when someone looks out for them.
"Jihye, go to the next room and bring the men over."
"Sure thing~"
Jihye chirped, grabbing the key to the padlock.
Beep—beep—beep—beep—click.
A moment later, the electronic door lock chimed, and Jihye walked in with the three men: Jeong Hyeong-uk and Jeong Ju-ho in handcuffs, and Choi Ji-hun. Fuck, that middle-aged bastard is still way too good-looking for his age. It made me angry for no reason.
Whatever. My wives are way prettier than his wife anyway. Well, except for my primary wife, Minji.
Seeing Minji and Jihye sitting idly again, just waiting for their mothers to scoop the rice and ladle the stew for them, I gave them a pointed look.
"Minji, Jihye. What are you two doing instead of helping your mothers?"
Only then did the two of them finally start moving. Ah, having bitches like these as my wives makes the future look incredibly bleak.
Besides, how could that bitch Jihye just sit there waiting for her mother to serve her food after the absolute shitshow she pulled with her in the bathroom earlier? Is she completely devoid of tact? People often call me tactless, but if I were in Jihye's shoes, I would have scooped my own rice and stew until my mother's mood improved.
Minji, true to her stupid-looking face, also acted like an idiot, completely failing to pick up on the hints her mother occasionally dropped.
Well, since they're such bottom-tier trash, they really ought to be grateful that I'm keeping them around. I felt a swell of pride, thinking about how I had done another good deed for society today. After all, I was the one who salvaged abandoned, spoiling ingredients to feed and sustain a whopping seven people.
"Son-in-law Park, this kimchi stew is absolutely delicious," Ye-jeong praised. "Where did you learn to make this? Did your mother teach you? Come to think of it, where are your parents? Don't you need to go rescue them?"
It was all ancient history now, so hearing about them didn't bother me in the slightest.
"My mother passed away when I was young, and I don't know who my father is," I replied casually. "So I'm basically an orphan, but it's all in the past now. It doesn't bother me."
It was the truth. Aside from the occasional urge to fondle my mother's breasts again, I didn't even remember her face. As for my father, he was a school bully, a gangster, and a rapist, so I might as well pretend he didn't exist. His family currently struts around acting like local dignitaries under the guise of running legitimate businesses, but everyone in this neighborhood knows the truth. They're a classless family of thugs. The only thing of any value about them is their bloodline—the fact that they are descendants of royalty.
From what I heard, my great-great-great-grandfather was a military officer of the Korean Empire who turned into a pro-Japanese collaborator during the colonial period. Then, my great-great-grandfather had his land confiscated in North Korea, fled south, and founded a gang called the Seorabeol-pa. Of course, I only heard this through word of mouth, so I can't be entirely sure. How do I know a fancy historical term like 'great-great-great-grandfather'? Don't ask. I didn't want to know either.
The old man used to brag to people that he wasn't actually a collaborator, but had merely disguised himself as one to secretly fund independence activists. But funding activists who wanted to resurrect the Yi Dynasty of Joseon was a moronic move by an old geezer who didn't understand our family's true heritage.
The descendants of Park Hyeokgeose originally held the throne of Saro-guk—which later renamed itself Shilla—before passing the crown to a son-in-law of the Seok clan, whose children of Park blood continued the royal line. Later, the Seok clan ruled until they passed it to a son-in-law of the Kim clan, whose children of Park blood once again inherited the throne.
This lineage continued all the way to Shilla's fifty-sixth ruler, King Gyeongsun, also known as Kim Bu. Although Wang Geon's rebel army overthrew Shilla, the eighth king of Goryeo, Hyeonjong, was also a descendant of the Park royal family through his maternal grandmother, who was King Gyeongsun's niece. Thus, the Park bloodline ran all the way to Goryeo's thirty-fourth and final ruler, King Gongyang, also known as Wang Yo. Afterward, the rebel Yi Seong-gye established the Yi Dynasty of Joseon, followed by Kim Il-sung's classless Kim Dynasty, but the royal Park bloodline in the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago has never been broken.
First and foremost, I am a legitimate descendant of the royal Park family. If I were to ascend the throne, I would become the eighty-fourth ruler of the Park Dynasty, succeeding Wang Yo. This is the divine mission bestowed upon me in this ruined world. Any minor suffering that occurs along the way is merely unavoidable collateral damage in the pursuit of a grander destiny.
"I'm sorry," Ye-jeong said softly. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
Don't be sorry, Ye-jeong. I really don't care.
I thought my sense of taste had returned today, but for some reason, it faded again, leaving me unable to taste anything just like a week ago. Was this a side effect of the radiation?
After finishing lunch, we tidied up the place.
Bored out of my mind, I cut up some paper to make black and white stones, drew a grid on a sheet of paper, and played Omok with Minji. Jihye, who had been watching from the side, found it interesting and joined in. Eventually, even my mother-in-law Kim Ye-jeong joined the fray, and we all spent the afternoon playing Omok together.
After dinner, I went out for a stroll in the hallway and ran into my other mother-in-law, Lee Jeong-a.
"Are you out for a walk too, Mother-in-law? It's dangerous, so don't wander around alone. Next time, call me or Jihye to accompany you. Even if we're inside the building, the atmosphere out there is so grim it feels like a murder could happen at any moment."
I gave her a warning, considering there could be crazy killers roaming about.
"Pfft! A murder inside a sealed building? You do love your jokes, Son-in-law."
Despite what had transpired earlier, Jeong-a didn't seem like the type to harbor deep grudges. She quickly played along with my banter, showing a warm, motherly side. I suppose that was how she managed to raise a psychopath like Jihye in the first place.
"Would you mind sleeping with me tonight?"
"I must decline," she replied, her expression instantly stiffening.
Her sudden change in attitude was jarring. Hey, I actually meant it in a completely innocent way this time! It's so unfair that she misunderstood my intentions. Fuck, I miss my mom.
The atmosphere turned incredibly awkward. We walked in silence for a bit before parting ways to our respective rooms.
As I lay in bed, Mother-in-law Ye-jeong crept toward me. For some reason, I couldn't stand the sight of her massive breasts and ass tonight.
"I'm sleeping with Minji tonight. Minji, get up here."
*Slam!*
My mother-in-law slammed the door shut as she left. Perhaps she was having trouble digesting her dinner and decided to go get some exercise.
Not feeling particularly sexual tonight, I simply held Minji tight as I drifted off to sleep. As I idly kneaded her small breasts, she squirmed happily in my arms, which made me feel pretty good too.
The next day.
Today was Sunday, a day of rest. Though, ever since the apocalypse, every day had basically been a holiday. It was already the twenty-seventh, meaning March was drawing to a close.
With absolutely nothing to do since morning, I decided to head over to the next room to check on Jeong-a. First, I gathered some ramen and water. Drinking water, our most critical resource, was kept entirely in Minji's room. Carrying the supplies, I went next door intending to wake Jeong-a up, but to my disappointment, she was already awake—a surprise, given her usual habit of sleeping in. What a shame.
"I brought some ramen and water for your breakfast."
Jeong-a emerged from beneath the blankets. Since she was already wide awake, I simply handed over the ramen and left. Fuck, she's wearing long pants and long sleeves. Not even a sliver of skin for eye candy. Should I just kill her?
I had let my temper flare up into a dark thought for a split second. She was the mother of my beloved wife, Jihye; I couldn't actually kill her.
To clear my head, I took a walk up the stairs to the fifth floor. When I reached the top, I ran into the Cat Mom Grandmother from Room 504, who also seemed to be out for a stroll.
"Ah, is our good young man out for some exercise too?" she greeted me. "It's so boring lately, not being able to go out and feed the stray kitties and doggies, isn't it? I wonder what happened to them, with the outside world looking like that."
I still couldn't get used to her calling them 'stray kitties' and 'doggies'—she probably picked up those terms from some online cat-mom forum. They were probably all dead by now, though maybe a few had found a safe place to hide.
"Yes, I was bored, so I came out for a walk. But Grandmother, you seem to look younger every time I see you."
This wasn't empty flattery; I was entirely serious. She used to look like she was in her seventies, but last Saturday she looked like she was in her sixties, and now she looked like she was in her fifties. It was a good thing I had verified this phenomenon with Lee Jeong-a yesterday. I needed to constantly gather crucial data like this to ensure I could protect the people under my care.
"Are you doing alright, young man?"
"I'm doing great. And I'm not a bachelor anymore, Grandmother."
"Oh, is that so? Then who is the lucky bride?"
"A short, skinny girl, and a tall, slender, pretty one."
"My goodness, you're quite the capable young man, having two wives! Then who is the woman you always walk around with?"
"Ah, she's the mother of the short one. One of my mothers-in-law."
"My, your mother-in-law is a real beauty."
"Are the other neighbors doing okay?"
"Actually, I wanted to ask you about that. I haven't heard a single sound from old man Park's place next door since yesterday."
When I had gone around taping up window frames and ventilation shafts last Saturday, Room 502 was empty, and Room 503 was where the old man lived, right?