Breathing Life into Real Dolls

1.

I thought a lot on my way to D-Mart. How should I explain Ciel to people?

In Serena’s case, I introduced her as Kim Rena, adapting her name to Korean. I insisted that she spoke to me informally when in front of others.

But now, I honestly wondered if that was really necessary.

“Serena. From now on, there’s no need to speak informally to me in front of others. Just act as you usually do. I’ll call you Serena.”

“Yes…!?”

Serena looked shocked for some reason. Her voice was filled with emotion as she spoke.

“Then, then, does this mean… my role as your girlfriend is over…?”

“Ah.”

I see. Serena thought I was taking away her qualifications as a girlfriend, and that was why she was shocked.

“No, no. Serena, you’re still my girlfriend. We just don’t have anything to hide from people anymore.”

“Re-really!? Hee hee hee…”

Serena, who was gleefully smiling, suddenly turned to the side with a start. There stood Ciel, her expression calm as usual.

“Ah, Ciel…”

Serena turned back to me and spoke.

“Master, how about you make Ciel a girlfriend too…? I think Ciel would be lonely if it’s just me…”

“Huh? Sis?”

But Ciel seemed uninterested. She spoke in a calm voice.

“I’m not interested in the position of girlfriend, Sis. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“What, what—!? Are you serious, Ciel!?”

“Yes.”

Ciel’s answer was firm and unwavering.

Somehow, hearing her say it so definitively hurt a bit…

But Ciel’s words weren’t over yet.

“I’m content being a slave.”

“…Wait.”

I asked in bewilderment.

“Why are you a slave, Ciel?”

“Ah… Is being a slave not acceptable? Then something like a vehicle or a foot wipe…”

“…”

Ciel had been a Real Doll and had only become human about 24 hours ago.

It seemed there was still much to learn about her.

When I asked, ‘Why a slave,’ why did she negotiate for a lower position, like haggling…?

I firmly declared,

“You two are both my girlfriends. You calling me ‘Master’ is because of my preference, and I’ll say as much to others from now on, so be aware.”

“Yes!”

Serena answered with energy.

“I, I too…!? Thank you, Master…”

Ciel looked a little bewildered but seemed satisfied nonetheless.

2.

As I entered the D-Mart shelter, people who saw me enthusiastically welcomed me.

“Oh, Doha oppa! Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in days… Huh!?”

“Doha, it’s been a while! Where have you been? At this rate, I’ll forget your face… Eh!?”

“Captain. I was worried, but I’m glad you’re safe. Where have you been until now… Hmm?”

The reactions of the people were all the same.

Everyone was responding to Ciel, who was following me.

More precisely, their reactions were to Ciel’s pure white wings that were as large as her body.

“Beautiful… Cosplay?”

“Could those be real wings…?”

“Who, who is this person…?”

I answered the last question without hesitation.

“My girlfriend.”

At that, Mr. Sangdeok, who had been wearing a delighted expression, asked with a shocked face.

“Girlfriend…? Then what about Rena…?”

I didn’t hesitate this time, either.

“Serena is also my girlfriend. I’m planning to date two at once. It’s a hero’s privilege.”

“Serena…?”

“Actually, Rena is like a nickname, and Serena is her real name.”

“…”

I decided to maintain a poker face.

Having done so once, it really wasn’t difficult at all.

It was just that people’s reactions were a bit jittery.

3.

Next, we immediately held a meeting with the representatives of the D-Mart survivors.

Although it was midnight, the meeting could not be postponed, as there was an urgent matter.

Fortunately, the representatives quickly gathered without any fuss.

The gathered people were once again captivated by Ciel, who was standing next to me.

“Do, Doha, sir. Who is the person next to you…?”

“She’s my girlfriend.”

I had to repeat the same explanation once again before I could finally start the meeting.

The first item on the agenda was the new enemies I had encountered, the mutant zombies.

“Mutant zombies…?”

“Yes. I actually met and fought them near Jeongbalsan Station. They’re stronger than the zombies we’ve dealt with so far, which even ordinary people could easily handle if armed. They’re on a different level.”

At that point, Baek Seona, one of the D-Mart representatives participating in the meeting, spoke up.

“I heard from Doha earlier, and I also looked for related information in the community. And I found several credible posts saying they’d discovered mutant zombies.”

Oh… As expected of Baek Seona. She was competent.

“The characteristics of the mutant zombies that the witnesses commonly testified to included stronger strength than regular zombies, fast and flexible movement, and tough black skin that was almost impervious to ordinary attacks.”

Listening to Baek Seona’s words, I nodded. These were the exact features of the mutant zombies I had faced.

I added only one thing.

“Additionally, there’s a very high possibility that they are intelligent beings who can think and act. At Jeongbalsan Station, they deliberately let go of the humans they’d captured and then traced back to the base to attack at dawn.”

My remark had a significant impact on the people.

“Intelligent beings…!?”

“What’s happening to the world…?”

“Most shelters won’t be able to cope with this…?”

I asked Baek Seona an additional question, thinking her meticulous nature might have investigated this as well.

“Was there any consistency in the places where the mutant zombies appeared, according to community information? Like appearing mainly in specific areas…?”

Hearing my words, Baek Seona hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Actually, I was debating whether to mention this, but it seems that the appearance of mutant zombies is limited to places near military bases. It could be a misconception, but many testimonies said that they shot them with rifles, but the bullets didn’t seem to affect them much.”

“……I see.”

I fell into a brief contemplation.

Mutant zombies appearing only around military bases? What could be the reason?

If there was consistency in their appearance locations, could it mean someone’s intent was involved?

Could someone who wished for the world’s destruction be intentionally doing this?

‘There are many questions, but I can figure out nothing just by worrying…’

I stopped pondering and looked at the reactions of the people around me.

While I focused on the location of the mutant zombies’ appearance, it seemed that the other attendees of the meeting were more shocked by other aspects.

“The bullets don’t work on them? Zombies…?”

“My goodness, that means resistance by ordinary, powerless people is completely impossible…!”

The meeting room was filled with the buzzing sound of people talking for a while.

Certainly, the mutant zombies were powerful enough to elicit such a response.

However, in this respect, our D-Mart shelter was in a very favorable situation.

“It’s really fortunate that we have the Land of Hope…!”

The barrier set up around the Land of Hope was blocking the intrusion of unauthorized entities.

As everyone’s gaze focused on him, Baek Jihun, who had been sitting quietly, smiled smugly.

“Don’t worry. My abilities are intact.”

He was faithfully playing the role of the great savior.

The next item on the agenda was food supplies.

The stockpile of food in D-Mart was not infinite. If consumption continued like this, it would run out in a few months.

But we had a way to solve this problem. That was, once again, the Land of Hope.

The Land of Hope had this effect.

‘You can register and manage livestock and crops and make them grow quickly.’

I had asked Baek Seona before what ‘registering’ and ‘managing’ meant, and she said it meant literally monitoring them through the system window.

In other words, it was like the farming or ranch tycoon games that were popular in the past, where you could raise livestock and crops.

But to do that…

“We need to start farming and livestock raising soon. For that, decisions and focus on what and how much to raise are necessary. I asked Mr. Baek Cheolmin to handle this part at our last meeting.”

Mr. Baek Cheolmin was a person who had been farming in the countryside before moving to the city and was said to be a landowner of a significant scale in his hometown.

So now, he was attending the survivors’ representative meeting as the person in charge of farming and livestock at D-Mart.

Of course, he didn’t know much about livestock, but he was handling it because there were no other experts.

Mr. Cheolmin responded to my words.

“That’s right. Since then, I’ve determined the land area within the Land of Hope that can be used for farming and livestock. I created a crop ratio that can be raised with maximum efficiency. Here.”

“Oh, thank you.”

I accepted the documents as Mr. Cheolmin handed them to me.

Since he had exerted his expertise in his field, it was now my job to procure these.

Originally, figuring out where to get them had seemed daunting, but now that I could fly around on Ciel, it didn’t seem difficult.

“So… Is there another item anyone would like to discuss?”

“……”

“If not, we’ll conclude today’s meeting. I will give separate orders to strengthen the defenses against mutant zombies. Thank you for your hard work.”

Now I had taken care of all the matters that needed to be handled immediately upon arriving at D-Mart. I headed to my room, dragging my tired body.

“Ughhhhhhh….”

As soon as I entered the room, I collapsed onto the bed.

I had so many things to do during the day, and having to have another meeting right after arriving at D-Mart made for a truly exhausting day.

‘I need to recharge Ciel’s magic… She must be tired from continually using her magic for flying…’

I had carefully taken care of everyone, including Ciel and Serena, in thought, but my body couldn’t keep up.

I fell asleep to the soft touch of the fluffy comforter.

“Good night, Master.”

“Sleep well……”

With the last greetings from Serena and Ciel ringing in my ears, my consciousness faded into darkness.

4.

Tap, tap.

“……”

Ciel felt someone gently tapping her shoulder but ignored it in her sleep.

Tap, tap.

But the movement that was touching Ciel did not stop.

“Mmm…”

Ciel got up, rubbing her eyes. Her elder sister, Serena, woke her up by touching her.

“Shhhhh…”

Serena looked at Ciel, placing her index finger on her lips, and fervently went, “Shhhhh.”

‘How cute…’

Generally, a younger sibling would not feel such sentiment towards an older sibling, but Ciel thought her sister was cute.

‘But why did she wake me? The Master is still asleep…’

Ciel wasn’t sure what time it was, but since she was still feeling sleepy, it seemed like it was before morning.

Then, Serena spoke to Ciel in a whisper.

“Ciel, can you hear me?”

Ciel replied in a whisper as well.

“Yes. I can hear you well, sister.”

“Hehe.”

Serena gave a shy smile and continued her words.

“The reason I woke you up today is to tell you something you must know now that you’ve become the Master’s new girlfriend…”

“Something I must know…?”

“Yes. Being the Master’s girlfriend is an important role, with important responsibilities…”

“What is it, sister…?”

Serena whispered with a serious expression as if revealing a very grave fact.

“It’s about satisfying the boyfriend’s sexual desires…!”

“Ah…”

Ciel quietly accepted it.

Indeed, she also knew that sexual relationships played a very important role between men and women.

As Ciel nodded, Serena finally got to the point.

“And… outstanding girlfriends must all wake up their boyfriends with fellatio in the morning…”

“Fellatio…?”

“Is it a strange word…? I’ll explain in detail what it is right now…!”

“Thank you, sister…!”

Ciel’s heart started to pound with curiosity about this unknown experience.