Sign Here and Become My Minions

"I want you to sign a contract with me and become my minions."

There was still a fair distance between us, but if we kept wasting time here, we were going to get caught red-handed.

The woman glared at me with eyes full of venom.

"It's over. All of it, because of this bastard..."

"How is that my fault? You could've just kept walking."

Granted, I had dragged things out on purpose, but hearing it put that way stung. I was the one who'd taken the first punch, after all.

Unable to find a rebuttal, she pressed her lips into a hard line.

I turned back to the man.

"So. What'll it be? Same question as before."

Whether he wanted in on a safe job.

He answered through gritted teeth.

"...Yes. Hurry. Next."

I pressed the status window without hesitation.

Fwoosh-!

Blue light flashed, and a window rose up before their eyes.

Yu-jin stared at the status window, slack-jawed.

"Wh-what is this? That's an actual contract..."

"So he really is Awakened."

It was enough to shock anyone. Not a scrap of paper — a contract floating in a status window.

Yu-hyeon lowered his knife, his face blank. My neck finally felt a little less crowded. No matter how certain I was of my invincibility, the sensation of a blade against my throat was never a pleasant one.

His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠voice had softened.

"You're saying you'll take us on?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"What do we do? Do we have to sign something?"

A man showing interest. A wise choice. Sign a contract with me of their own free will and become my slaves...

No — my employees. Which would work out in their favor too.

"It's simple. See the [Agree] button at the bottom? Just think about wanting to press it."

"Oppa, wait! Are you seriously doing this? We don't even know what it is..."

Her mouth was uncooperative, but the status window was honest. If she'd truly meant to refuse, the contract window would never have appeared in the first place.

"Yu-jin, let's accept. There's nowhere left that would offer terms this good."

He had a point. A year since the world went under, and countless survivor groups and factions had already formed — solid fortresses built on rules of their own making. Once the walls went up, anyone outside them was just an outsider. Worse, prey.

And these two planned to walk into one of those places of their own accord? The ending wrote itself. The man would be worked to the bone and thrown away, and a woman with a face like his sister's...

No, it wasn't only women. These days plenty of men had their 'hymens' opened for them and discovered whole new tastes. Women had become that scarce — word was, any man who was even passably good-looking got dragged off without ceremony. People used to at least be picky about the goods. Now...

A chill ran down my spine. The world had already fallen once, but now I could feel in my bones just how truly finished it was.

But the uglier the world became, the more certain things shone. The status window. In a world where scraps of paper had lost all meaning, it was the only contract you could trust. After all, I was an honest business owner in full compliance with status-window law.

"But, Oppa, this alone doesn't..."

Yu-jin must have been badly shaken, because she kept muttering. Hard to blame her. I'd suspected I was insane too, right up until the almighty status window showed me its miracles.

Yu-hyeon, by contrast, came around quickly.

"At the very least we'll keep our arms and legs. All I can do is trust this contract will be honored."

"Ugh, fine, I don't know anymore. Let whatever happens, happen."

They accepted at the same moment.

The contract dissolved, and light washed over the siblings' bodies.

Welcome aboard of your own free will, my minions!

With the contract in force, these two could no longer lay a hand on me.

I pocketed the awl I'd had pressed to his throat and dusted off my hands.

The siblings were still frozen, not quite believing it. I clapped them both on the shoulder.

"Right, introductions can wait. First, let's sweep up everything in sight."

A short while later, the two of them were busily stuffing the junk littering the floor into burlap sacks.

Save for a few tools, it looked like ordinary trash to any outside observer — but that was only by a regular survivor's standards.

"Seriously, why does he want us packing this stuff? Does he have some power that turns garbage into chicken?"

She wasn't wrong.

Collect enough of this junk and convert it into points, and you could probably buy a whole chicken from the shop.

But I had absolutely no intention of doing that. Was I out of my mind? Waste precious points on something like that?

I stood at the door with my backpack on, keeping a relaxed watch.

Behind me came the siblings' hushed voices.

"Oppa, is this the right call?"

"There's a reason for it, surely. All we can do is trust him."

"Ha, unbelievable. Fine — let's just sit back and see how great this Awakened one really is."

I opened the employee tab and checked their status windows.

Most ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fields read [???], so beyond their names there was little to learn.

Once unlocked, though, all manner of information came into view — body measurements down to trivial little hobbies.

There was even a [Virginity] field, plus a whole row of... heh-heh... informative entries.

Not that I was particularly interested. ...If I said that, it'd be a lie.

Actually, shouldn't they just delete the virginity field altogether? There were no virgins in my world even before the fall — what were the odds any survived into this one?

You'd have better odds of a status window appearing before your eyes and Awakening on the spot.

Oh status window, am I allowed to hope?

I shook my head. No. No hoping. Hope is what invites betrayal in the first place. Expect nothing, and betrayal never comes.

I pulled her profile back up.

What bothered me most was the loyalty score of zero. I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠saved their lives and even gotten them jobs, and after pressing the contract with their own fingers, their loyalty sat at zero? A more ungrateful pair of siblings I'd never met.

The good news was that low loyalty carried no debuffs or restrictions.

The scale was divided into twenty-point tiers, starting at [Wary], then [Calculating], [Cooperative], [Loyal], [Blind], and finally [Absolute Obedience].

According to the description, each tier deepened the psychological bond, cutting off at the source any chance of them harboring other ideas or stabbing me in the back.

For now it did little more than stop an actual knife fight, but with every tier it unlocked backstab prevention, work-efficiency buffs, and bonus traits in an unbroken chain.

"Hey! Do we take this one too... too, sir?"

A woman who caught herself mid-casual and scrambled into politeness.

"Just talk how you were. Casual's easier on me too."

Not that I was chasing the female-friend vibe I'd never gotten to enjoy in college. Really.

I told Yu-hyeon the same, and he declined.

"No thank you, Manager. This is more comfortable for me."

Didn't want entanglements outside of work, maybe. Ex-military, perhaps — the way he drew his lines was positively jackal-like.

Fine. Whatever suits him.

Then Yu-jin asked me again.

"No, but seriously — are we really taking this? It looks completely useless."

In her hand was a toddler's bubble-blowing play set. I couldn't imagine needing the thing, but there was no reason not to grab it either.

It was point fodder anyway, and I wasn't the one hauling it.

"Spend the time you'd waste asking on one more item. Just think of it as sweeping the place clean."

"Got it..."

She pouted, then went back to gathering.

I'd picked up employees faster than expected. Two of them, no less. Everything was falling into place.

Unlike the man, who packed in silence, the woman kept coming back for conversation.

"...Hey."

"What."

"That establishment in the contract — it's like a hotel, right?"

"Yeah."

I wasn't lying. She hadn't asked whether it was a hotel — she'd asked whether it was like one. Inn or hotel, a lodging house was a lodging house.

Suspicion still brimmed in Yu-jin's eyes.

"So when we get there, can we shower? Is there breakfast, stuff like that? And—"

"One question at a time."

"Well, excuse me for being nervous. I don't know who you are or what your ability even is."

"Manager of the Ark."

Yu-jin's eyes went wide.

"The Manager of the Ark..."

I had a rough idea why her loyalty had jumped.

Manager of the Ark.

As Awakened titles went, wasn't that a solid one? The Ark, in the middle of an apocalypse.

She probably wasn't expecting five stars, but at minimum she had to be picturing clean, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠motel-grade service.

I understood completely. If someone had shoved a status-window contract like that at me, I'd have pictured my base as some magical citadel too.

But I was sorry, Yu-jin.

The moment we arrived, she'd be scrubbing the toilet rings. She wasn't a guest — she was staff.

I saw no need to break it to her. I wanted her happy, if only for the moment.

"Okay, we've got everything."

If her hands had picked up speed somewhere along the way, that was probably my imagination.

"I'm finished as well."

Both siblings stood there, arms loaded.

"So what happens now? Don't tell me we just teleport there."

Teleportation. Dream big, why don't you.

"I wish I could."

"Then what is it? You have to have a plan."

"Of course I do."

By now the sounds of people were uncomfortably close. The search party had apparently reached this area.

The siblings' faces went tight.

"Manager, they're close."

"Yes, I've confirmed it as well."

I'd decided to show him a reasonable amount of courtesy. It seemed like the fastest way to push his loyalty up.

The woman... no read on her. Women were difficult creatures.

I knew exactly one formula.

'Bury it in them and they can't move.'

The so-called stick-it-and-stuck principle.

Though I'd watched plenty of men die in the apocalypse for living by it.

"Ugh, seriously. What good is just knowing? Oppa, let's at least prepare to fight them ourselves. If we keep standing here, we're all going to die."

We could probably shake off a handful and keep moving, but then this haul would have to be abandoned. Too good to give up.

A head-on fight was a losing trade, though. We'd risk burning precious skills for nothing, and even a lucky win paid out nothing.

Now wasn't the time to be meeting other Awakened. I'd confirmed that Awakened existed besides me — that much was enough.

Loot secured, staff hired. My victory condition right now was simple: get back to base.

Apparently my standing there with crossed arms was getting on her nerves, because Yu-jin rounded on me.

"Tell me what exactly you're banking on. Do you have some incredible weapon or something?"

"Perhaps?"

It was a weapon, if you counted it as one. A weapon scattered across the entire world.

Click.

As if I'd been waiting for exactly that, I drew the revolver.

I fired the loaded blank into the sky.

Bang-!

The siblings recoiled in horror.

"What in the world was that...!"

"Hey, are you crazy?! If you want to die, die alone! The zombies are all going to come pouring out!"

I smiled at them.

"I know."

Don't worry, kids. They're on our side right now.