Chapter 31: An Unexpected Crisis Strikes
Kim Jun let out a long breath the moment he woke up, then washed himself with the leftover water from yesterday.
The two-story pump hose he’d installed the day before would have its silicone fully cured by now, so he decided to check that first.
As he got dressed, the sight of Rana lying naked on the bed brought a smile to his lips without him even realizing it.
He started cleaning up the mess—gathering the torn stockings scattered across the floor, the used condom, the ripped wrapper—and stuffed everything into a black plastic bag. The rustling sound gently woke Rana.
“Mmm… you’re up already?”
“Goddamn, you were awake?”
Rana rolled over, looking at him through half-lidded eyes, then flashed a bright smile. Lipstick smudges from last night’s biting and sucking marked them both. According to Mari’s official call time of eight o’clock, they hadn’t slept more than a few hours.
Even so, Rana pushed herself up, still completely naked, and wrapped her arms around Kim Jun.
“Should we just tell everyone?”
“You really want to start some shit, don’t you?”
“Still… if we make it official, I think they’d all understand…”
They were already on the fourth mutual-consent relationship. If this kept up, their survival shelter really would turn into a goddamn love commune.
“Forget it. Get up and put some clothes on.”
“Mmm~ Okay.”
Rana reached for her panties first and slipped them on right in front of him, then slowly fastened her bra. He’d only ever thought about peeling these things off her, but watching her put them on—slow and deliberate—was surprisingly arousing.
Once she’d finished with her underwear and pulled her dress over her head, Kim Jun stepped behind her and gently ran his hand down her back.
“Hmm?”
“Feels nice.”
“My back?”
His fingers traced the strap of her bra beneath the fabric. At her question he chuckled and let his hand slide lower.
“Get dressed. We’re going outside for a bit. I want to check the work I did yesterday.”
“Right now?”
“We need to make sure the water’s flowing properly.”
“Huuuam… okay. Let’s go together.”
Kim Jun gave the room one last look, making sure every trace of last night was gone, then headed out toward the pump.
He fitted the wooden cover he’d built last time over the rattling pump to muffle the noise, laid a heavy tarp on top, and flipped the power switch.
“It’s going to be a hassle, but from now on whenever someone needs water, one of us will have to come down and run the pump.”
“A remote control would be perfect.”
“Yeah, but then we couldn’t check if it’s actually working properly.”
“…Ah, that’s true.”
Kim Jun ruffled Rana’s hair, then prepared to test the water inside the house.
“Go wash up with the cold water, Nara.”
“…Huh?”
“We need to test if it’s working, right? Plus you’ve still got lipstick all over your face…”
Since they’d worked on it together he’d been considerate, but Rana’s cheeks flushed bright red. Being called by her real name—Cha Nara—instead of her stage name seemed to excite her. She hummed a little tune as she went inside.
While he waited to see if the water would flow properly, Kim Jun lit a cigarette in front of the pump. Soon Rana was waving wildly from the second-floor bathroom window, signaling that the water was gushing out perfectly. He gave her a thumbs-up.
Thanks to that, the idols who woke up one by one enjoyed long, refreshing showers for the first time in ages and sat down to a genuinely pleasant breakfast.
“All right, second floor’s taken care of. Now we just need to figure out water for the rooftop room.”
“How are we going to run it all the way to the third floor? Same hose setup as the second floor?”
“No.”
Kim Jun set down his spoon and told the girls to pay attention.
“The third floor is going to be a major project. We’re drilling a well.”
“A well?”
“Oppa, what’s that?”
“Oh my!”
At the mention of a well, most of the girls looked confused, but In Ah startled visibly.
“There was a well here?”
As expected from a countryside-born idol, In Ah already knew what it was. Kim Jun nodded, relieved he wouldn’t have to explain from scratch.
“I kept it as insurance for the end of the world.”
“Then why haven’t we used it until now…”
“It made me nervous. I kept worrying whether the groundwater had been contaminated by the zombie outbreak.”
“Ah…”
At that point the impatient ones—Gaya and Emily—spoke up.
“Okay, but what exactly is a well?”
“Simply put, it’s an artificial well. You drive a pipe into the ground and use a pump to draw groundwater straight up.”
“Oh my! So we’ll have unlimited groundwater? That sounds so convenient!”
“But like Jun oppa said, I’m still worried it might be contaminated.”
Eun Ji, who had been quietly eating, spoke up.
“It should be fine.”
“Huh?”
“I drank river water outside. I know what I’m talking about.”
Everyone’s mouths fell open, but Eun Ji simply gestured at herself to show she was perfectly healthy.
With the second floor done, the outdoor team decided to tackle the massive project of installing a well to supply water all the way to the third floor.
That was when Do Kyung spoke up hesitantly.
“Um… oppa.”
“What?”
“Can I sit out the outside work today?”
“Why? Are you sick?”
“My body feels a little chilly…”
When he pressed a hand to her forehead, he could feel a slight fever.
Kim Jun decided to swap her out with one of the indoor team members. The substitute who stepped forward was Mari. She gave them both a knowing smile—as if she’d already figured out what happened between him and Rana last night—then held out her hand and said she’d do her best.
The well equipment was stored in Warehouse 2, right next to the rainwater tank.
“I drove about eighty meters of pipe into the ground before. Stopped using it after that.”
“Eighty meters…”
He had drilled for groundwater, but then a factory opened nearby and he’d given up on it. The memory resurfaced. Back then it had cost him several million won—enough to bring tears to his eyes—but after a lawsuit the factory paid him a settlement.
Now it was finally time to put that pipe to use again.
“First we need to install a motor to run it properly.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Do Kyung already did a good job with the wiring, so Gaya, you’ll handle that. There’s a camping generator in Warehouse 1—go bring one out.”
“Yes, oppa! Mari, come with me. I’ll show you which one.”
They had been saving the generators to conserve fuel, but now they had no choice but to start using them.
While Kim Jun worked on the installation, he kept the toolbox nearby and had the girls hand him tools one by one.
“Wrench. Twenty-two millimeter.”
“Here.”
“Calipers.”
“Oh, vernier calipers? Here you go.”
Once he taught them the names, the girls quickly learned and watched his every move with fascination.
Looking at the mountain of rice sacks and soju boxes stacked in Warehouse 2, they felt full and drunk just from the sight.
Whoa. There was this much rice in here the whole time?
No wonder we never had food problems.
The memory of fighting over a single slice of ham in the fridge and constantly checking supplies felt incredibly awkward now.
Kim Jun, unaware of their thoughts, continued installing the motor, connecting the wires Do Kyung had carefully joined earlier, and preparing the power cord.
“All right~ Let’s eat lunch and keep going!”
After half a day of construction, Kim Jun checked the time, stood up, and headed to the second floor. Everyone followed.
During the meal Gaya asked him quietly.
“How long will this project take?”
“Three or four days.”
“We’ll have to stay on it the whole time.”
“It’s a good thing the pipe was already driven in. Without that we couldn’t even try. We’d need professional heavy machinery to dig that deep.”
In Ah spoke up while eating.
“But after this we’ll have groundwater, right? All thanks to Jun oppa.”
Kim Jun shrugged. Truth was, this was his first time doing it too. He had only watched a neighbor drill a well once and was improvising the design in his head. So far, everything was going smoothly.
“Ugh…”
“Why are you leaving rice?”
“My stomach feels off…”
“Trying to diet?”
“…Fuck off.”
Do Kyung, who had complained of feeling unwell since morning, now had a flushed face and was burning up with fever.
Kim Jun couldn’t ignore it.
“Is the fever getting worse? You sure you’re not coming down with something serious?”
“I’m fine… I just need a little rest…”
“Mari, take care of her after lunch and come down when you can.”
“Yes~ I will.”
They would have to make do with the medicine they had looted from the pharmacy before. In this world, getting sick could easily become a death sentence. Even with a doctor, without proper equipment there wasn’t much they could do.
After the meal Kim Jun rested briefly, then returned to the well installation. He mounted the motor, connected the electrical wiring, attached the ball valve, and began working on the control panel.
The girls watched intently as they handed him tools, marveling like they were witnessing a magic trick. The remaining three continued their support work, then at Kim Jun’s direction began preparing the cleanly scraped pipes from before.
With only the well installation, the afternoon passed and they wrapped up the day’s work.
But the next morning, just as Kim Jun was about to start the day refreshed, a commotion broke out.
***
“Ugh… ugh…”
“What the hell? How did it get this bad in one day?”
“She was fine yesterday after taking the fever reducer.”
“Look at her—she’s burning up!”
“Her throat looked clean yesterday, so it’s not tonsillitis. And if it were the flu, someone else would have caught it by now…”
Do Kyung, who had only shown a slight fever the day before, was now suffering from a high fever so severe she couldn’t even get out of bed.
Mari checked her symptoms carefully before speaking.
“This looks like…”
She examined Do Kyung’s body thoroughly. When she reached her feet, she noticed the back of the sock—among the extra layers Do Kyung had worn because she felt cold—was sticky. She pulled it off immediately.
And there was the cause.
On Do Kyung’s heel was a red, swollen wound. Blisters had formed, filled with pus, and rashes spread around the area.
“Fuck!”
“Oh my god!”
Kim Jun recognized it instantly. Mari had only heard “fever” and hadn’t seen the wound until now.
Of all the things to catch in this situation—and to have left it neglected this long.
“Hey, how did you let it get this bad without saying anything?”
“What do you mean… I just popped the blister on my heel last time. What does that have to do with a fever…”
Do Kyung still didn’t seem to understand what illness had laid her low.
Mari disinfected the wound as best she could with their limited supplies. Kim Jun couldn’t sit still either and decided to move right after breakfast.
When he returned to the dining table, the other girls looked at him with worried eyes.
“Is Do Kyung unnie going to be okay?”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“It’s not an infection, right?”
Faced with the barrage of questions, Kim Jun let out a long sigh while eating.
“It’s cellulitis.”
“What?”
“You were in the sports club all through school—how could you not recognize it and just leave it alone? If we’d caught it earlier we could have disinfected it and been done.”
“Cellulitis… I heard it’s really painful and the wound gets badly infected…”
“It’s already at that stage. Even if it heals, expect a scar on your foot.”
“Ugh…”
Kim Jun had seen countless soldiers suffer from it during his military days. He had watched the military doctor perform debridement surgeries multiple times. Some men screamed so loudly from the pain that others had to hold their legs down to maintain discipline.
“If we could get her to a proper hospital for a couple days of outpatient treatment, it would heal right away.”
“I disinfected it for now. But I can’t lance it by hand, and to treat it properly I need the right tools…”
“We’re going to need surgical instruments.”
“Scalpel, sutures, antibiotics are essential. We’ll also need dressing forceps and various medicines.”
Gathering all that meant today’s priority had to shift from the well to something far more urgent.
“Mari. After you eat, let’s head out to find them.”
“Huh? Oh… I’ll get ready then.”
After Eun Ji and Gaya, Mari became the sixth looting partner.
Today they would search nearby hospitals for the necessary tools and medicine.
Kim Jun looked at the feverish Do Kyung, changed the damp towel on her forehead, and spoke gently.
“Hang in there just a little longer. I’ll bring back medicine and surgical tools.”
“Surgery…? Is it that serious?”
“No. Just need to scrape the wound with forceps and a scalpel. That’s it.”
“Scrape it with a knife…? That sounds so painful…”
Kim Jun told the bedridden Do Kyung to wait, then went into the master bedroom to gather his gear and firearms.
Mari, meanwhile, listened to the other members explain the basics of looting and finished her preparations with firm resolve.
So instead of working on the well today, they set out to loot medical supplies and treat the patient suffering from cellulitis.
* * *