Preparing Revenge at a Leisurely Pace
Melonia. A popular girl group currently riding the crest of their prime.
Wherever they went, stalkers and paparazzi clung to them. Even the solo tracks they'd released were climbing to number one — their popularity was swelling by the day.
Inside the van, the four members climbed aboard with exhaustion written across every face.
"I'm so tired. Exhausted. Feels like this is already our fourth run today."
A woman with straight hair past her shoulders, unusually wide hips, and firmly tanned thighs quickly claimed the window seat.
That was Ara, Melonia's vocalist, snatching first dibs. Next came a pair of breasts so large they looked ready to burst out of her outfit.
Ji-yu, Melonia's rapper.
She sat down, waving her wavy hair with a gentle expression. After her came a smaller figure.
Her long legs stretched out farther than anyone else's — longer than the rest of them by a clear margin.
The woman with a short bob slightly shorter than Ara's and a sharp, intense face was So-mi, the sub-vocalist.
Finally, the last woman entered and shut the car door, completing the full lineup.
The last to board had two-toned dyed hair tied back in a ponytail.
Compared to the other three, she had the best overall balance — and above all, her face held a fierce gaze like a black panther.
Moderately full breasts and solid thighs; she might not take first place in every category, but she looked like a solid second across the board.
That was Hyojin, Melonia's leader.
"I'm so tired..."
The moment they sat down, they all started leaning against anything they could find.
The way they gasped for breath like wilted vegetables created an oddly sensual atmosphere that would have stirred desire in most ordinary men.
The four of them panted until the vehicle started moving, then let out a collective sigh.
"Oppa, where are we going this time?"
Hyojin, the team leader, sighed as she noticed the sun-tanned marks on her white skin.
"Seriously, Oppa, shouldn't I just get a tan already? I burn way too easily."
"You? But that pure white skin is better for popularity, isn't it?"
The manager driving answered casually. Hyojin's expression hardened.
"No, Oppa. Who asked you for a solution? When I say something like that, you're supposed to agree and find me a nice place."
"Sorry. Sorry. Busy driving."
"How many years have we been doing this? Ha... my mood just dropped even more."
Her rude tone made a vein bulge on the manager's forehead.
But this was normal. Managers were the ones idols treated the worst.
Especially girl group idols. Male idols at least had hierarchical pressure that kept them somewhat in check, but girl idols were notoriously hard to control.
And like all idols, during promotions they were run so hard they barely slept.
In other words, they dumped the irritation their fans never saw onto their managers and anyone close to them.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted. Manager Oppa really works us to death."
"That's because you're popular."
"Like we don't know that?"
"..."
The manager was fully occupied holding back his anger.
"The next schedule is a radio show in three hours, at least. You'll be able to rest until then."
"Thank god."
Hyojin exhaled and lay back in her seat, closing her eyes.
The manager glanced at her through the rearview mirror and let out a breath of relief.
These rude little shits. This is the end of it.
Unable to tolerate Melonia's attitude any longer, he had declared a month ago that he was quitting as their manager.
The only reason he'd stayed this long was because a handover was necessary.
This bullshit is finally over. Just a few days of taking the new guy around and teaching him, and I'm done.
He felt the stress finally starting to lift.
After dropping Melonia off at their dorm to rest, he headed straight to the agency to pick up the manager he was supposed to train.
There, the manager greeted the pitiful junior manager who stood facing the director with a welcome smile.
"Glad we found someone so fast. Hey, you got a strong patience threshold?"
"It's a job. And I'm a Melonia fan."
"Yeah? You're going to be disappointed. Brace yourself."
The manager offered a handshake with a look of genuine pity.
"It's fine. I can handle anything."
Of course, the manager had no idea that the new hire was someone being paid from elsewhere.
Which was exactly why he would endure it well — and last a long time.
Jin Dohyuk's plan was beginning to unfold, piece by piece.
There were supplies needed for the future world, and weapons only I could possess.
And among them was a piece of equipment that would play a truly critical role in this zombie world.
"Drones first, I guess?"
A convenient device that could handle reconnaissance in urban areas for me. With one of these, I could avoid ambushes and replot routes on the fly.
I ordered these from overseas as well, and of course they took forever.
"Solar-powered so fuel resupply isn't an issue... and real-time streaming capability is a must."
With those basic requirements in mind, I searched hard for the right drones.
"Nothing with guns mounted?"
As the news showed, these days some of them even fired miniature missiles.
Military drones typically carried guns or assassination weapons, but they weren't exactly sold to civilians. Even if they existed, you'd need illegal channels the same way you did for firearms.
That route would honestly require another commission through a private investigation agency.
Besides the drones for easy reconnaissance, there was also the ground unmanned recon vehicle.
Basically what people called RC cars, scaled up a bit and capable of mounting guns.
Air for drones, ground for unmanned cars. That was the plan — the problem was that unmanned vehicle tech itself was still pretty underdeveloped.
And nothing was available commercially. Most of the applications were military anyway.
"Anyone out there modifying these things?"
In the zombie world I could do whatever I wanted with unmanned craft, so it didn't really matter... but maybe something was on the deep web or dark web.
I wasn't expecting much, but I looked around just in case.
Whatever it was, I needed things set up for my convenience.
I settled on two drones. In case one got wrecked by accident during operations, I couldn't afford to be stuck.
When I ordered them, the estimated delivery came out to a little over twenty days.
Fine. Plenty of other things to do in the meantime.
There was a lot on the plate — real estate alone was more than enough.
About ten days into this busy stretch, a photo of evidence arrived via Telegram.
"So he successfully infiltrated as the manager?"
It showed four women sprawled out asleep in the car, completely defenseless.
"Haha. Looking real glamorous these days, Hyojin."
Her skin had changed as if she'd been tanning, but that face was one I would never forget.
There was even some underwear exposure from how carelessly she was sleeping — but what hit me first wasn't arousal. It was the hunger for revenge.
I would thoroughly humiliate her and make her submit. I wanted to treat her like a dog, pure and simple.
This was only the beginning.
I was busy on my own end. Military supplies and foodstuffs kept arriving from overseas.
And the secluded space where I would destroy those bitches in the present.
Especially if it had mountains and a valley nearby — the effect would be enormous.
I remembered Gangwon Province from when I'd gone there for part-time work years ago. You could drive in for over three hours and still be surrounded by nothing but mountains.
There was a reason I'd deliberately chosen that area as the work site.
No matter how advanced society got, when someone went missing in the mountains, finding them was naturally difficult.
And searching wasn't easy either. I scouted two candidate sites through real estate agents.
Most importantly, I was buying up the surrounding forest land — mountain property.
And it cost less than expected, because a surprising number of people had been scammed by "planned real estate" schemes into buying empty wasteland with nothing on it.
The middle-aged man I was meeting now was one of them.
"Thank you! I really got scammed! There's literally nothing here — what was I even expecting when I bought this... it's mountains all around. Mountains!"
"For someone like me who wants to live quietly, it's not bad at all."
Buying a fifty-million-won plot for ten million, or a two-hundred-million-won one for fifty million. The savings added up more than you'd think.
On top of that, I'd ordered a prefabricated mobile home — one that could be delivered quickly.
"These days a two-story prefab house runs about two hundred million for over fourteen hundred square feet."
I bought one without even looking at the design.
Because it was purely for camouflage. A decoy to send the police on a wild goose chase when I eventually kidnapped Hyojin.
I planned to move her to a valley and tangle up the trail.
"Fuck. Back then I was just going to rape her, spread it around, and go to prison..."
The situation had changed, so I was adapting accordingly.
My phone kept buzzing as I worked through ancestral mountain land deals with real estate agents.
"Yes. Eight hundred million? That's fine."
I could barely keep track of how many tens of thousands of pyeong I'd bought at this point.
But every property met the conditions: near a road, with a valley or river close to the mountains.
"Maybe I'll give someone a pension..."
To lure Hyojin, I needed resorts, vacation spots — all kinds of bait.
And I'd need to build sufficient underground facilities too. I saved various projects on my phone for later.
"For Gangwon Province, what's left is installing the house and building the pension, right?"
Two houses total. One to bait the police, and the real one where I'd actually kidnap Hyojin.
I prepared everything for self-sufficiency, starting with solar power.
"Next up..."
The matter of Lee Soyeon and Seol-hwa's houses.
With assets in the trillions, buying a few newly built villas was nothing.
I confirmed both of their addresses and immediately went into negotiations.
"What? Oh, the villa landlord is already clearing out the jeonse tenants?"
Since the landlord on the new villa side was already in the process, I left it alone. I still didn't fully understand the future, so messing with something they were personally involved in could have unpredictable consequences.
Once construction finished, I could buy the whole thing. So I successfully purchased two houses near each of them instead.
Then I installed solar equipment on both and started renovations.
I mobilized movers to transfer food and supplies.
"Yes. Over this way, guys."
I moved foodstuffs and equipment to the vicinity for now.
Traps, arrowheads, water — the works.
Thoroughly stocked so that even without electricity or running water, nothing would be lacking.
"Hey, mister, why so many water containers?"
"That's all there is, though. Nothing else, right?"
I left the structure alone for now and focused on solar for electricity. The real problem was the bathroom.
The toilet situation had to be solid for everyone to be comfortable.
"Should I use camping gear for the interior?"
A large portable toilet was hard to even get inside. Even a single-person no-discharge unit was too big, the ceiling height was wrong, and they wouldn't install it anyway — unless you had a yard.
"Camping supplies supposedly have coagulants and dissolving agents..."
I'd have to handle it like changing a baby's diaper, one by one.
Whatever — use everything first and figure it out. I had money. I ordered all of it delivered straight to the houses I'd bought.
"Haa. Busy. So busy."
Ten days, but between organizing supplies all day, real estate, moving, and on top of that maintaining military equipment...
Rest didn't feel like rest at all.
But it had to be done. Solely so that I could thrive.
And what came next?
"The fourth expedition."
Scopes, a repeating crossbow, night vision goggles, traps, and self-defense gear.
Armed more solidly than ever, I once again set my feet toward the future.