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The beginning was intense.

“I don’t care if I die.”

A blizzard raged, making it impossible to see even an inch ahead. Sajihyeok, who had parted ways with Kim Da-in, walked with determination. Despite the snow piling up on his body and the cold stealing his body heat, he didn’t stop.

He had done too many terrible things. Thinking it was the only way to survive, believing it was normal in this world, he had committed sins.

“A cold world… But I didn’t have to lose my warmth too…”

Sajihyeok muttered bitterly, rubbing his frozen hands. He had been walking through the blizzard for who knows how long, and even as he rubbed his hands, he couldn’t feel anything.

It felt like two pieces of wood clashing against each other.

Just like people living in this world. Losing warmth and humanity, seeing others as mere objects, clashing until one side breaks.

Among those people, Sajihyeok was especially worse. With the same mind that committed fraud, he planned to kill and exploit people.

Now, wanting to find warmth and goodwill might just be nonsense from a conscience-less person.

“Maybe it’s too much greed. Wanting to meet a good person and live a new life.”

Sajihyeok walked like a zombie, staring blankly at the white world. His consciousness was slowly fading. His life force was draining in the cold. With a hazy mind, he continued to talk as if conversing with someone.

“So I need a miracle. If I meet someone at the end of this road who welcomes me with warmth, then…”

At that moment, his foot caught on something.

“Ah!”

Sajihyeok tilted and fell forward, his entire body buried in the snow. The snow seeped into his suit, and the intense cold spread through his body.

Sajihyeok’s eyes widened. His mind sharpened as if stabbed by a knife.

“I’m going to die like this!”

He was really going to die. Freeze to death. This couldn’t be happening. The sensation of slowly freezing to death triggered his survival instinct, making his previous resolve seem meaningless.

He jumped up and frantically ran towards a nearby building. Even as he fell and rolled several times, Sajihyeok managed to get inside a building with intact windows.

***

It was cold, and he was hungry. He regretted leaving without any preparation.

“Why did I do that?”

Sajihyeok, huddled in a corner of a nearly ruined commercial building, shivered and muttered pitifully.

He wanted to go back to the time when he had left everything behind—clothes, food, weapons—to make a fresh start. Should he have even left in the first place?

‘I left because I couldn’t find goodwill among the people tainted by Kim Da-in.’

But wasn’t this better than freezing to death on the road? At least if he had eaten breakfast before leaving, it would have been better.

‘If I go back now…’

Just get breakfast, change into warm winter clothes, and take some food. It’s embarrassing to leave dramatically and then return, but a scammer wouldn’t care about that.

But when Sajihyeok looked out the window, he sighed and hugged his knees.

“I don’t even know where I am.”

At some point, he had been walking in a daze. Even if he wanted to go back, he didn’t know the way. The blizzard was so fierce that his footprints were probably gone.

Growl, his stomach signaled hunger, but there was nothing to eat.

Eventually, Sajihyeok tried to ignore his hunger by thinking about various things.

‘Are the remaining people living well?’

They probably are. Even if the infected become zombies, the uninfected will live under Kim Da-in, dealing with the world with malice as they learned, and at least getting enough to eat.

Maybe the uninfected will purge the infected. Killing those who would become zombies saves food and reduces losses, and these people would easily kill anyone if it benefited them.

But Sajihyeok tilted his head as he thought of Kim Da-in.

“Normally, purging would be the way, but…”

Kim Da-in isn’t someone to be purged. She’s someone to kill before she kills. Or maybe she’ll infect even the uninfected and turn them into zombies to move with her?

Sajihyeok scratched his head as he imagined Kim Da-in’s choices.

‘I don’t know. That person is unpredictable.’

During his time as a scammer, he had seen all kinds of people. Their reactions when approached and when they realized they had been scammed.

Innocent believers, greedy people, cold analysts, skeptics, those who thought they could escape before losing anything.

After being scammed, some threatened, some begged, some went through legal procedures, some even chased him with knives.

But among all those people, he had never seen anyone like Kim Da-in.

“An unpredictable person.”

Sajihyeok muttered, huddled up.

Still, as a scammer, he had met many people. He could roughly predict people’s reactions, but Kim Da-in was different.

If a normal person showed reactions from A to Z in a situation, Kim Da-in would suddenly throw out a 1 or an exclamation mark.

Suddenly killing survivors in Villa Street, killing children, making survivors run pyramid schemes, setting mountains on fire.

She was even more skilled at understanding and manipulating people’s psychology than a scammer.

“Haha.”

Sajihyeok suddenly laughed. He thought of the time Kim Da-in manipulated him, a scammer’s mind.

She said he chose cooperation and consideration because it was beneficial. To do what he was good at. That conflict and strife were the foundation of survival in this world. The process of Kim Da-in steadily carving his mind as she pleased.

Everyone around her was like that. Whether they realized it or not, they were tainted by her malice.

He was probably the only one who came to his senses. Even Jeondohyeong moved according to Kim Da-in’s ways. Park Yang-gun, who looked like a habitual criminal, didn’t need to be tainted.

Sajihyeok smiled brightly as he looked at the blizzard outside.

“But it was a good experience.”

Kim Da-in was right. At first, he thought goodwill was beneficial and pursued cooperation and consideration.

But after going through many things with Kim Da-in, he truly believed that only goodwill could bring hope.

A world with only malice is hell, where people are desperate to kill each other. The end of such a world can only be destruction.

A white light, like sunlight or winter’s whiteness, formed in Sajihyeok’s eyes.

‘Kim Da-in is right. I’ll either freeze to death or be killed.’

But maybe, a miracle will come, and I’ll meet someone with warmth. Of course, the possibility is almost nonexistent. His experience as a scammer tells him this is nonsense from the start.

Sajihyeok calmly ignored the inner voice.

‘It’s definitely possible. If I risk my life, I might find it.’

He saw the possibility.

People fleeing to the Survivor Zone in the face of a fire.

Rider Zero tried to gather their strength to deal with the fire, and the survivors clearly tried to join hands.

Although Kim Da-in ruined everything, Sajihyeok saw the potential for cooperation then. If it weren’t for Kim Da-in, the survivors would have united around Rider Zero.

Because Rider Zero was there, because she showed hope, Sajihyeok reaffirmed his resolve.

“I can do it, I can do it. My thoughts aren’t delusions; they’re definitely possible.”

Unless someone like Kim Da-in suddenly intervenes and turns everything upside down…

Imagining Kim Da-in’s intervention, Sajihyeok shivered.

“Kim Da-in. Let’s really never see each other again.”

She’s a person with a strange thought process. Someone who comes up with bizarre conclusions. Even as a zombie, she might become something entirely different from other zombies.

And so, Sajihyeok stepped back out into the blizzard and began walking aimlessly.

***

When thirsty, he ate snow; when hungry, he chewed gum found in abandoned cars to stay awake; when cold, he entered any building or lit a fire with a lighter found in a corpse’s pocket.

As time passed, Sajihyeok’s body grew thinner, and his skin turned pale. His already unstable body frequently tumbled in the snow. But despite falling repeatedly, Sajihyeok kept getting up and walking endlessly.

He didn’t even know where he was walking, just moving in search of people.

But perhaps because he was walking in an area with few buildings, like the outskirts of the city, people were hard to find.

Sajihyeok wiped the fog off his glasses and laughed hollowly. His hands were trembling.

“The problem isn’t warmth. There’s just no one here. Did I take the wrong direction?”

It seemed he would die lonely in this desolate ruin.

“At least there are no zombies…”

After hesitating for a moment, Sajihyeok looked back, then forward again. He couldn’t bring himself to go back. He didn’t even remember the way.

Sajihyeok weakly put on his glasses and let his hands hang. It had been nearly three days since he had a proper meal. He wasn’t starving yet, but his head hurt, and his body felt weak.

Deciding to rest for a while, Sajihyeok entered the bathroom of a nearby commercial building and sat on the toilet.

“The bathroom is definitely the warmest.”

Convenience stores, cafes, and restaurants on the first floor had all their windows shattered, letting the cold in.

Only the bathroom had intact windows and doors, blocking the cold somewhat.

Sajihyeok, crouched on the toilet, tried to find a comfortable position and dozed off.

How much time had passed?

He heard voices.

“What’s this? A corpse? Why did he come here to die?”

“He looks alive…”

 

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