The De-aged Cat Mom
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Open up! Is anyone in there?"
I pounded on the door of Room 503. Just as the Cat Mom Grandmother had said, there was no answer.
"Grandmother, I think something might have happened to him," I said, turning to her. "Wait here for a second. I'll go grab something to pry the door open."
When I walked into Minji's apartment, the women all stared at me with puzzled expressions. Even Lee Jeong-ah was among them. Despite what had happened yesterday, it seemed she found it too difficult to stay in my apartment with only the men around, so she had migrated over to Minji's place where her daughter was.
Honestly, if I were Lee Jeong-ah, I would have stayed put over there rather than coming here to be near a daughter like hers. I mean, what kind of crazy bitch shoves her hand up her own mother's skirt?
"Oppa, what's going on?"
Minji wasn't just calling me 'Oppa' as if I were her actual brother Juho; she had also started speaking to me completely informally. I swear, this little brat... I've been spoiling her too much just because she's my Jeongsil. Still, I couldn't very well beat a female over something so trivial.
"Do you remember the Cat Mom Grandmother from the fifth floor? The one we saw last Saturday."
"Ah, I remember her! She was so unique, using internet slang like 'doggo.'"
"It looks like the old man next door to her hasn't been seen since yesterday. No sounds coming from his place either. This building is old, so normally you'd hear some noise through the walls, right?"
That was exactly why Jihye had been dispatched in the first place—on the Saturday morning after that fateful Friday night when I claimed Minji, I was busy paddling her when some neighbor, probably nursing a hangover headache, got annoyed and reported us.
"So, what are you planning to do, Son-in-law Park?" Yejeong asked.
"Since there's no response even after I pounded on the door, I'm thinking he might have passed away from old age. Or maybe dehydration. Even we almost died from lack of water, and we have eight people here to help each other. Other households are completely on their own."
Jihye armed herself with her whip, Minji took a dagger, I grabbed a crowbar, and Yejeong held a fire axe. Even Jeong-ah, feeling awkward standing there empty-handed, grabbed a traditional Korean bow and a single arrow from the corner.
"Mother-in-law, why are you carrying a bow? Do you even know how to shoot?"
"No... I just saw everyone else grabbing a weapon, so I thought I should carry something too."
Pfft. She might be older than me, but the way she acts is almost cute. I can see why Jihye likes to tease her, just like she does with Minji.
We arrived on the fifth floor and prepared to break down the door of Room 503.
"Grandmother, I brought the others with me," I called out.
"Oh my, isn't this our young man's wives and mothers-in-law?" the old woman exclaimed warmly.
"Hello," Minji greeted her politely.
"What a polite young bride," the grandmother replied, beaming.
"Oh, you even know about that? You must be quite close with our son-in-law," Yejeong chimed in, acting coy.
"This young man is truly a good soul. He could never just pass by a poor stray cat or dog without helping."
The grandmother showered praises on my character. If my mother up in heaven heard this, she would surely be pleased.
"You saw how we did it when we broke into the empty apartments last time, right?" I double-checked with Yejeong.
"Do you take me for a fool? Of course I know."
Is that so? Females are predictable creatures. Only someone like Jihye can actually pull her own weight. Just look at how useless most females are even when you dress them up in a police uniform and strap a pistol to their hip—they still can't do a cop's job properly.
As I wedged the crowbar into the door lock, Yejeong, remembering what she had seen last time, tried to jam the pick-like back of the fire axe into the gap. However, it kept slipping, unable to find purchase.
"Ugh, step aside, Ajumma. Let me do it."
Jihye snatched the fire axe away and wedged it into the gap herself. Yejeong had tried to hold on, but she was no match for Jihye's physical strength. Jihye easily wrested it from her grasp, leaving Yejeong huffing and puffing in indignation.
I'll soothe her ego when we get back. Yejeong might be useless for physical labor, but her face and cunt are still top-tier.
"One, two, three!"
Creak— Screeech— Thud!
The door was pried open in a matter of seconds.
Suddenly, a thick, metallic stench of blood wafted out from inside the apartment.
The old man was collapsed on the floor. Most of his hair had fallen out in clumps. Traces of dried blood stained the corners of his mouth, and the exposed skin of his arms and legs was covered in massive, purplish bruises.
"Husband, look at how much hair he lost, like a cancer patient undergoing radiation therapy. He definitely didn't die of old age. It must be the radioactive fallout, right?"
As expected of a former cop, she assessed the situation instantly.
"I think so too. Let's get Juho up here. Minji, go downstairs and bring your brother."
"Why am I always the one who has to do the annoying errands?" she grumbled.
"He's your brother, isn't he? Besides, you're the Jeongsil."
"You only call me that when it's convenient!"
Minji stomped off downstairs, huffing. Does that brat need to be demoted to a slave to finally learn some respect? I made a completely average girl my primary wife; she should be bowing down to me in gratitude. Does she even realize she has the lowest looks among all my women?
Before long, Juho came up.
"You're right. This is definitely death by acute radiation sickness."
"But why are we perfectly fine?" I asked.
"Because we're on the second floor. For the fallout accumulated on the rooftop to reach us, the radiation has to penetrate multiple floors of reinforced concrete. But on the fifth floor, there's only a single ceiling separating them from the roof."
"But isn't there fallout on the ground level right below us?"
"Not directly beneath us, no. For the people on the top floor, the entire space right above their heads is covered in fallout. When they stand up, they're practically touching the ceiling where the radiation is concentrated. For us, even when we lie down, we're at least three meters away from the ground. The further we are from the windows, the safer we are. Plus, the alley next to us is narrow, and the buildings are packed tightly together, so not much fallout actually settled in the alleyway. The residents in Rooms 201 through 204, which face the main road, probably suffered much worse radiation damage than we did."
That made sense. Fuck, then how many people in Suwon—no, around the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress—actually survived? Just as Jihye said, only Awakeners and zombies probably made it. In fact, the Cat Mom Grandmother in Room 504 had clearly awakened some kind of ability, considering she had de-aged. Even though her next-door neighbor had died, she was still completely fine and full of energy.
"Grandmother, given the circumstances, we won't be able to hold a proper funeral. For now, make sure you don't go outside until next Saturday. This young man here is quite smart, and he says it should be safe to go out by then."
"Oh, thank you, young man—no, young groom. I always knew you were the kindest soul in this neighborhood. If I had a granddaughter, I would have introduced her to you. But since you do so many good deeds, heaven must have blessed you by sending you two beautiful wives."
Well, I am a pretty nice guy. I took in two useless bitches and am even feeding their families. It's nothing new to me, really. This grandmother and I used to feed all the stray cats and dogs in this neighborhood anyway.
"Jihye, go back to the apartment and grab some water and food. The grandmother must be running low on supplies. We need to give her enough to last until next Saturday."
Remembering how Minji had grumbled earlier, I decided to send Jihye this time.
A few moments later, Jihye returned with a generous haul: bottled water, canned tuna, spam, rice, instant rice bowls, and various retort pouches.
"Oh my, look at how much the young bride brought! Truly, a kind groom makes for a kind bride."
"Oh, it's nothing," Jihye replied smoothly. "I only did what my husband told me to do."
"Don't look down on me just because I'm old! I know how the world works nowadays. Grooms can't just spend resources however they want; they always have to get their wives' permission first."
Beside us, Minji pouted, her lips sticking out. Both of them had run an errand for me, but Jihye was the only one getting showered with praise while Minji had only done the grunt work. It seemed she was sulking.
I walked over and patted Minji on the back.
"Don't pout so much. I'll praise you instead."
Minji looked up at me. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she turned to the grandmother and offered a shy smile.
Seeing that, the grandmother chuckled. "Oh my, look at them. Newlyweds really are so full of passion!"
As we all headed back down to the second floor, I felt a wave of satisfaction from having done a good deed. If I died right now and met Madame Jung Seoyeon in heaven, I felt like I could happily give her a high-five.
Suddenly, Lee Jeong-ah spoke to me.
"Doyoung-ssi, I didn't think you were this kind of person, but I saw a different side of you today. Hearing that grandmother call you a good young man... you must have lived a decent life before all this. You've just gone a bit astray because the world ended, right?"
It seemed my mother-in-law Jeong-ah was deeply misunderstanding my character, but since it was a favorable misunderstanding, I saw no reason to correct her.
"That grandmother and I used to feed the stray cats and dogs in the neighborhood. I think that's why she thinks so highly of me."
Jeong-ah looked at me with a warm, proud smile. It reminded me of the way my mother used to smile when she watched me ride a bicycle as a child.
"Jihye."
"Yes?"
"Are there many weapons at the Haenggung-dong Police Substation where you used to work?"
"How many weapons could a small substation possibly have? The total staff is twenty officers, but we work in a four-team, two-shift system, so only about five people are on duty at any given time. We have three patrol cars—two in active use and one reserve. The one I drove out on Saturday was the reserve car. We have .38 caliber revolvers, live ammunition, Tasers, tear gas guns, stab-proof vests, and bulletproof vests. There are also batons, handcuffs, a patrol motorcycle, and a patrol scooter."
"What are the exact quantities? Exclude the guns, since gunpowder weapons don't work anymore."
"Five Tasers, three gas guns, twenty stab-proof vests, and four bulletproof vests. We also have about twenty-something batons and around thirty pairs of handcuffs."
"We'll have to go raid your substation sometime soon."
"But those numbers might not all be there. Normally, we patrol in pairs, so we only use two cars. But when martial law was declared and chaos broke out, all three cars—including the reserve—were dispatched. That day, the day shift was from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. The nuclear blast happened at noon, and the fallout arrived at 5:00 PM. So, if the patrolling officers didn't return and just fled when they saw the fallout—like I did—then those supplies are gone. As for the single officer left guarding the station, they probably locked up and ran as soon as they saw the mushroom cloud, or locked themselves inside to hide from the fallout and died."
"The rain washed away most of the fallout in the air, and after eight days, the radiation from the dust on the ground has decayed significantly. We need to hit the substation and loot it before anyone else does."
"Honestly, I think the cops who used to work there will probably show up to loot it before any scavengers do."