The Illuminated Nest
Boyeon suddenly felt a chill crawl down her spine at the sight of them. Even after their true, ugly natures had been exposed, none of the four showed the slightest hint of guilt. They had already slipped back into their social masks, pretending to be perfectly respectable men.
Dokyung tapped his fingers as if weighing something in his mind. Then he turned to Boyeon.
“You said you wanted to make a vegetable garden.”
A vegetable garden, out of nowhere? Was that why he had asked if there were any farmers?
If things keep going like this, we’ll start running into expiration problems. Should we at least grow a garden for self-sufficiency?
Boyeon had, in fact, muttered something like that in passing.
Don’t make the yard look like people actually live here.
Yet he had refused her so bluntly.
“Shall I give you some?”
“Sorry…? Give me what…?”
When Boyeon blinked, unable to follow the sudden shift in conversation, Dokyung jerked his chin toward the four men forced to their knees in a pathetic heap.
“Four slaves.”
They could never have imagined it. Far from making slaves of others, they themselves would fall into slavery.
The moment Dokyung spoke those words, the four became garden slaves whether Boyeon wanted it or not.
That night, Dokyung did not hold her.
Boyeon had braced herself for harsh punishment for disobeying him, but when he simply walked past as if nothing had happened, the silence felt far more ominous. Reading his thoughts behind that expressionless face was nearly impossible. He was calm as a windless sea. She felt trapped in the eye of a typhoon, helplessly waiting for the disaster that would inevitably come.
At the same time, his unusual reaction filled her with anxiety. Not only had he not slept with her that night, he hadn’t even pulled her into his arms as he usually did. Lying alone in bed, Boyeon realized with a start that falling asleep by herself now felt strangely awkward. Then came the miserable spiral of wondering whether she had displeased him and fallen out of favor.
Until now, Dokyung had never truly pushed her away, so she hadn’t worried too deeply. But in reality, her anxiety was overwhelming. If she lost his interest, what would become of her?
And so Boyeon was left neglected for four full days. The unease kept her from sleeping properly at night.
The four slaves were forcibly relocated to a house a short distance away that had a large yard. Dokyung appointed Jiwon as their leader, gave him the only gun, and ordered him to watch over the other three. Jiwon, his face pale from whatever threat he had received, threw himself into monitoring the “traitors” with frightening zeal. He even took over the drone Boyeon had been keeping.
The four Immunes, able to move freely during daylight, tilled the yard, stretched plastic over frames, and built a makeshift greenhouse. They used cold-weather crop seeds, fertilizer, and insulating materials taken from a nursery.
They had chosen an empty house with a groundwater pump already installed in the yard, so as long as they managed the risk of frozen pipes in winter, water would remain available.
Cold-weather crops were meant to be sown in winter and could grow almost anywhere, but whether they would actually yield a harvest remained doubtful. It might all end up as pointless suffering. Yet the tyrant, for reasons known only to him, refused to change his mind once it was set.
Dokyung didn’t let them rest. He dragged them out again at night—this time bringing Boyeon along as well. It had been a very long time since she had stepped outside after dark.
Night-vision goggles were issued only to Boyeon and Jiwon.
“Stay close. I’d advise against thinking about running. I’ll shoot you on the spot!”
Jiwon shouted with surprising enthusiasm, as if the role of head slave overseer suited him perfectly. Though his earlier words had been unsettling, seeing the others bound with ropes and dragged along made Boyeon wonder if this was truly acceptable. There was still no clear evidence of their crimes, and strictly speaking, none of them had any legal right to punish the men.
“Treating people like that…”
Dokyung leaned closer when he overheard her quiet murmur.
“Do you want to help them?”
Boyeon flinched. A cold breath brushed the sensitive shell of her ear as he swept her hair aside.
“Do you think they’d thank you? Can you imagine what would happen if I died or disappeared right now?”
“……”
Boyeon knew she was clinging to an idealism that had no place in their current reality. She still hadn’t fully grasped the situation. Having been sheltered from it, she lacked the experience. And it was obvious whose protection had allowed that ignorance.
“If you’re going to stir up trouble, you should have been prepared to suffer the consequences.”
Reap what you sow. Boyeon closed her mouth and stepped back.
In truth, she was far too anxious to spare any worry for others. There had been days without sex before, but they had always shared the same bed. Now, after four nights of sleeping apart, she was dazed, tormented by miserable fantasies about what she might have done wrong.
Besides, he had always been protective of her safety and had never taken her outside. Suddenly being dragged out into the night left her terrified.
Without thinking, Boyeon clutched desperately at the hem of Dokyung’s clothes.
“You’ll understand once you see.”
Dokyung stroked her head with surprising gentleness and gave a short laugh. His hand slid slowly down her small head, then brushed teasingly along the pale line of her neck and the swell of her chest before falling away.
Ah… Horrifyingly, Boyeon felt her anxiety ease just a little at his touch. The miserable relief nearly shattered her. She trembled like a beaten dog and clung to him even tighter.
“Can you see clearly?”
Dokyung was noticeably gentler with her. He carefully fitted the night-vision goggles over her eyes himself.
“Yes…”
Boyeon had no mental space left to marvel at the new technology. On the night she first met Dokyung, she had suffered terribly even though such equipment had been available in the bunker, yet she couldn’t even feel resentment.
Just like the first time she had faced Seoul’s lawless night, she clung to his hand with pathetic desperation.
Tonight their goal was to find cold-weather supplies to survive the coming winter. The bunker could run hot water and heating on electricity, but the house the Immunes used had no such luxury. They could endure for now, but as the weather grew colder, it would become a serious problem.
After walking for about thirty minutes, they reached the department store. Camping insulation and similar supplies could be found there. The problem was that the building sat squarely in the center of the main road, making it undeniably dangerous. There would be zombies, of course, but also multiple mutants. Even Immunes had to avoid mutants, so nighttime was marginally safer than day.
What puzzled her was Dokyung himself. Wasn’t it strange? The man who had been indifferent until now was going out of his way to help the very people he called “slaves.”
Still, he was the one directing the group. No one could defy him. Including Boyeon, they all moved as he commanded.
They reached the vicinity of the department store without major incident.
“……”
Boyeon stopped dead in her tracks the moment she saw it.
A shiver ran through her.
The transparent glass at the department store entrance was faintly glowing.
It wasn’t a particularly bright light source. But in a city swallowed by total darkness, even a weak flame would appear intense.
The department store was a place presumed to still have survivors. It made sense. Food was the most critical resource for survival, and the supermarket on the first basement level contained an abundance of supplies. If the entrance was properly sealed, it could sustain people for a long time. While fierce competition might shift control from one group to another, it wasn’t considered a place where all survivors would have been wiped out.
Yet there was light. Would humans really leave lights on like this at night? It would draw every zombie on the surrounding streets.
What was even more bizarre was that the zombies seemed unable to approach beyond a certain distance, as if an invisible boundary had been drawn around the building.
There was only one possible meaning.
“Why… is it glowing?”
“There are no zombies nearby…”
“It’s been claimed by a mutant! There’s a powerful mutant inside…!”