Taming a Feisty Wild Female
Gulping hard, Seo Jisu hesitated for a moment before finally opening her mouth.
"...I'll do it."
"Do what?"
"I-I'm saying I'll join you guys. For now."
Unable to resist the temptation of food, Seo Jisu had made her choice. I nodded with a smirk.
"Good. Take it and eat."
The moment I gave her permission, Jisu began tearing into the food like a starved animal.
A can of tuna, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of mineral water—all scavenged from the convenience store.
To someone who had been starving all day, it must have tasted like absolute heaven.
Munch, munch.
Stuffing her face until her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's, a faint smile soon spread across her face.
I leaned back against the wall, watching her in silence.
I don't always have to use Flesh Subjugation to break them.
A true tamer adapts his methods to the target's personality and traits.
Forcing myself on Lee Jihye to break her was highly satisfying, but slowly domesticating Jisu using food and comfort as leverage would be a different kind of pleasure entirely.
While Jisu ate, I rummaged through my bag, pulled out a chocolate bar, and took a bite.
Then, I tossed another one toward Lee Jihye, who was squatting in the corner, massaging her aching legs.
"Eat up."
It had been a brief skirmish, but she had fought, and a good master always rewards his pets.
Jihye frowned as she looked down at the chocolate bar that landed by her feet.
"Ugh, seriously? Can't you just hand it to me instead of throwing it?"
"Just shut up and eat what you're given."
Though she grumbled, Jihye naturally picked up the chocolate bar from the floor and peeled open the wrapper.
Her fiery attitude remained, but her body was already conditioned to obey. Her taming was progressing beautifully.
However, watching this exchange, Jisu's expression turned peculiar.
"..."
A woman dressed in a clean, sophisticated office look was completely subservient to my casual, commanding tone.
On the surface, they looked like ordinary companions, but the way she took orders and obeyed made their master-slave dynamic glaringly obvious.
Chew.
Jisu clearly found it strange, but she chose to keep her mouth shut.
After finishing our quick late-night meal, we settled down for some much-needed sleep.
The next morning.
Morning sunlight filtered through the cracks of the abandoned building.
After packing up our things, I stood up and gestured toward the exit with my chin.
"Let's get moving."
"...Where are we going?"
At Jisu's cautious question, Jihye opened her mouth to expose my true intentions.
"Where else? Even with the world ending, he's just trying to satisfy his own greed—mmph!"
I quickly clamped my hand over Jihye's mouth, cutting her off.
There was absolutely no benefit in letting Jisu, who had just joined the party, know that we were heading out to claim an idol.
She might get disgusted and run away, so I gave her a plausible cover story instead.
"We're heading to the nearby Stadium to recruit a new party member. She has a highly useful skill."
"A skill... Okay."
Jisu nodded, seemingly satisfied with the explanation.
In a world where civilization had collapsed and zombies roamed the streets, skills were the only thing one could rely on.
She seemed to understand just how valuable a teammate with a powerful skill could be.
We left the building and began navigating the ruined streets.
On our way to the Stadium, zombies constantly lunged at us from the shadows.
Crack!
Taking the lead, I whipped out my baton and brought it down hard on a zombie's skull.
Fracture Strike
A dull, cracking sound echoed. However, instead of its head exploding instantly, the zombie merely stumbled backward.
I tilted my head in confusion.
Usually, that would have been a one-shot kill.
It took three more heavy swings of my baton before the zombie finally collapsed, dead.
I narrowed my eyes at the corpse on the ground.
They're getting tougher. Their durability is significantly higher than the ones I encountered at the start.
You have acquired 10 Points.
Even the points rewarded had increased slightly. It was clear that the enemies were growing stronger.
Was the overall level of the world rising, or was this particular zombie an anomaly?
Or perhaps the difficulty varied depending on the zone. I would have to figure it out as I went.
A few hours had passed since we set out. After constantly fighting off zombies along the way, my companions were starting to look exhausted.
"Haa... Haa..."
"Let's take a quick break."
We sat down at the entrance of a seemingly safe alleyway to rest.
We drank some water and ate the whole-wheat crackers we had brought along, replenishing our fluids and calories.
While the two of them munched on their crackers, I took the opportunity to check my team's stats and points.
My base stats had become exceptionally high.
It was all thanks to fully absorbing the stats of my slave, Lee Jihye. However...
Stats don't increase through combat alone.
Despite killing several players and zombies, there was no level-up system or automatic stat growth.
It seemed that even if you earned points and acquired skills, a human's raw physical capabilities didn't naturally transcend their limits.
In a way, it was highly fitting for an apocalypse.
My personal points stood at 875.
I had earned 100 points each for killing eight players, and another 100 points for subjugating Jihye.
This was the remaining amount after spending 100 points on the option to preserve Jihye's original personality.
The extra 75 points came from killing zombies.
I had saved up a decent amount, but I was still far from the 2,000 points required to unlock another skill slot.
Next, I checked Jihye's status window.
Jihye's remaining points were 195.
She had earned 300 points by personally killing the thugs who raided the convenience store, and had spent 125 points on cleaning her office wear and modifying her high heels.
The remaining 20 points came from killing zombies.
Since her skills, Fireball and Mana Arrow, consumed mana upon use, they weren't very efficient for farming points off weak, trash mobs.
Finally, I checked the status of our newest addition, Seo Jisu.
Since she wasn't my slave, I couldn't see her point balance. I could only scan her stats using Prey Search.
Fitting for a high school physical education student majoring in archery, her Agility was exceptionally high.
She had mentioned earlier that her family's poor financial situation made it difficult for her to turn professional.
If I returned her bow, her stats made her the perfect candidate to provide long-range fire support from the rear.
For now, however, her bow remained confiscated, and she was carrying a metal pipe she had scavenged nearby.
While I was reviewing their status windows, the two girls began chatting.
Jihye, sitting a short distance away, questioned Jisu about last night's ambush.
"Why did you attack us yesterday? You even used an illusion to bait us. Well?"
After hesitating for a moment, Jisu replied.
"...Because it was the most efficient way."
"Efficient?"
"Yeah. You guys survived until the end and looted the helicopter supplies. I watched you the whole time. If I just waited and took out the last two survivors, everything would be mine."
Hiding and waiting for the last survivor to emerge before stealing the kill—it was the exact same tactic I had used.
Hearing Jisu's cold logic, Jihye let out a dry laugh and turned to me.
"Ha! This little brat is bolder than she looks. What do you think, Siwoo?"
I shrugged at Jihye's question.
"Unlike you, she actually has high combat intelligence. And patience."
"What?!"
To be honest, this was one of the main reasons I had recruited Jisu.
Unlike Jihye, who had massive tits but zero brains, Jisu was a player who had already adapted to the law of the jungle in this apocalyptic world.
If she had been some useless, whining brat who only served as dead weight, I wouldn't have even bothered bringing her along.
Having rested enough, I stood up.
"...If you're done resting, let's move."
With our status check complete, I led the two girls forward once more.
How long had we been walking, beating down any zombies that blocked our path?
Beyond the horizon, where darkness was beginning to fall...
The white roof of our destination, the massive Stadium, faintly came into view.
We were getting close. If we maintained this pace and direction, we would reach the place where my target, Eun Yerin, was hiding in about three to four hours.
However, as the sun dipped below the horizon, night was once again settling over the ruined city.
Traveling any further in the dark was too risky. I stopped and scanned our surroundings.
"It's getting dark. Let's find a place nearby to sleep."
At my calm command, Jihye, who was trailing behind, pouted with dissatisfaction.
"But we can see the Stadium roof right there. We're almost there, so can't we just keep going?"
"Do you want to walk all night? Through pitch-black streets with zero visibility?"
A city without electricity plunged into absolute, suffocating darkness.
Wandering around with a flashlight in that environment was practically begging someone to ambush and kill us.
It was much safer to stop here and resume our trek in the morning.
Besides, reaching the Stadium wouldn't be the end of it. In fact, that was where the real battle would begin.
We needed to rest up tonight so we could face tomorrow's challenges in peak condition.
Activating my stealth skill, I turned to the two girls.
"I'll look for a place to shelter. Stay hidden for a moment."
"...Got it."
Shhh.
Just as I vanished from sight using Cognitive Interference...
Flash!
A bright beam of a flashlight cut through the darkness, illuminating the entrance of the alleyway where we stood. Then, a hostile voice barked from the shadows.
"Who goes there?! Freeze!"
"Ah!"
Startled by the sudden blinding light, Jihye flinched and shrank back.
Jisu also froze in panic, her body tensing up.
Several men approached us, keeping their flashlights trained on the girls.
They were guards stationed around the entrance of a subway station.
Brandishing metal pipes and sharp weapons, they shouted threateningly.
"Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!"
"What do we do... Siwoo, they saw us!"
Jihye turned her head toward where I had been standing, whispering in a panicked rush.
"Answer me right now or we attack!"
As the guards closed the distance with their weapons raised, I leaned in close to the panicked girls and whispered softly into their ears, completely invisible.
"Calm down. For now, join their group and scout them out from the inside. Find out how many there are, what weapons they have, and what skills they possess."
"Join them? Just the two of us?"
Jihye whispered back to the empty air, her voice barely audible.
I calmly added to the plan right next to her ear.
"Yes. I'll follow you while invisible, so don't worry. Just cooperate with them for now. Do not mention my existence."
My composed instructions managed to bring Jihye back to her senses.
She raised both hands high into the air and shouted toward the guards.
"We're survivors! Please don't shoot! We don't have any weapons! There are only two of us!"
"..."
Jisu also threw her metal pipe to the ground, stepping close to Jihye's side as she raised her hands.
"Keep your hands where I can see them!"
The guards approached and inspected the two of them.
Revealed under the flashlight beams were Jihye in her torn office wear and Jisu in her school gym uniform and jersey.
Once they confirmed they were just two unarmed women, the tense guards visibly relaxed.
"It's just two girls. No weapons either."
"We don't know what kind of skills they might have. Tie them up for now."
"Hold on. I'll report to the leader."
While two of the men began binding their wrists with rope, another guard pulled out a walkie-talkie and made a quick call.
Soon after, a man who appeared to be the leader of the group walked up from the subway stairs.
He was in his mid-forties, with a gentle and warm impression.
Seeing Jihye and Jisu, he quickly stepped forward and stopped the guards from tying them up.
"There's no need to bind them. They clearly harbor no ill intent."
He then offered them a warm, reassuring smile and introduced himself.
"Ah, my apologies for startling you. Are you hurt anywhere? I am Yoon Seongcheol, the leader of this survivor group."
Jihye glanced briefly toward my invisible presence before introducing herself.
"...I'm Lee Jihye. And this kid next to me is Seo Jisu."
"Who are you calling a kid? I'm an adult."
Jisu snapped back at Jihye, but she made sure not to mention my hidden presence.
Seeing her keep the secret, it seemed she was willing to cooperate with my plan for now.
Yoon Seongcheol replied warmly.
"Haha, Jihye, Jisu. It is a pleasure to meet you both. The world has truly become a terrifying place, hasn't it? It must have been incredibly difficult for two women to survive out there on their own. The streets are crawling with zombies, and there are far too many dangerous people with strange abilities running around."
Wearing a benevolent, trustworthy smile, Yoon Seongcheol offered them a place in his group.
"If you don't mind, why not join our group for a while? We have plenty of food and weapons. Ah, and there are other women here as well, so you don't have to worry. What do you say?"
Yoon Seongcheol extended his hand to Jihye and Jisu.
I gave Jihye a subtle nod of approval, and she quickly accepted the offer.
"Y-Yes! Thank you so much for taking us in!"
Yoon Seongcheol smiled warmly and gestured toward the subway entrance.
"Excellent. Please, follow me."