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“Have you seen these people? A mother and her daughter.”

Park Yang-gun aimed his handgun at the other person’s head and spoke. He described the appearance of the family he had been searching for nearly a month while wandering the city. Their eyes, their height.

The other person, also aiming a handgun at Park Yang-gun, listened quietly before responding incredulously.

“No. Uncle. How can you find someone with just that?”

“If you don’t know, then forget it.”

Finding a family separated in the apocalypse isn’t easy. Especially since they might already be dead.

Park Yang-gun sighed softly in disappointment, while the other person clicked their tongue sympathetically and spoke.

“Just give up. If it’s just a mother and daughter, the chances are high they’re already dead.”

“Then I should at least find their bodies and give them a proper burial. I don’t have much time left, so I need to do that much.”

This winter won’t be easy to survive. Park Yang-gun will likely die alone in the cold. That’s why he wants to see his family’s faces before he dies.

Just then, someone suddenly popped out from the window of the building next to them.

“Uncle. I think I know someone similar.”

“…”

He had already sensed their presence. The other person wasn’t alone; they were a duo. Park Yang-gun rolled his eyes to glance at the newcomer.

The person he was talking to and the newcomer exchanged glances, seemingly communicating something silently, and then spoke.

“We don’t know if they’re the people you’re looking for, but we do know of a mother and daughter who are survivors.”

“Ah, those people. Their height seems similar to what you described. If you give us some food, we’ll tell you. We’ll even guide you.”

Park Yang-gun smiled, his eyes crinkling with joy.

“Really? That’s great. But I don’t have much food either. Is this enough?”

He took off the bag on his back and threw it forward. As the two pairs of eyes followed the falling bag to the ground, Park Yang-gun quickly pulled the trigger.

Bang, bang. Two gunshots rang out, and two holes appeared in the heads of the two people, who collapsed.

Park Yang-gun sighed again.

“Lying through their teeth. Amateurs.”

It was obvious they were lying, trying to lure him in and kill him.

Though obsessed with finding his family, that obsession didn’t blind him. In fact, the danger of searching for his family sharpened his mind and senses.

Because the humans left in the city were becoming increasingly cunning.

“Hope there’s something useful.”

Park Yang-gun rummaged through the corpses, looting them skillfully. A lighter, essential for winter, and a few remaining cigarettes.

And a bundle of papers.

After briefly flipping through the papers, Park Yang-gun let out a hollow laugh.

“Kim Da-in, you devil.”

He had heard the stories, but this was the first time he had seen the Pillage Manual. Park Yang-gun tucked the Pillage Manual under his arm and slipped into a nearby building.

***

Kim Da-in’s shadow haunted the city like a ghost. Park Yang-gun, wandering the city, knew this better than anyone.

Zombies burned buildings every day, pillagers began using more sophisticated and sinister methods, and the Alliance had already found Kim Da-in, who was likely a zombie or a corpse.

With the Pillage Manual in front of him, Park Yang-gun recalled the Alliance member he had once met.

– We have to find him, whether he’s a corpse or a zombie!

What had he replied to that anxious voice?

– Why bother with someone who’s already fallen?

Perhaps he wanted to protect Kim Da-in’s final moments. To preserve his corpse intact. Because he saw theft as a talent and viewed himself positively. Because he had given him countless opportunities to steal.

But the Alliance member was terrified of someone who had already fallen, like a madman.

– No! We can’t rest until we confirm his death!

Who knows what he might do while hiding? What if he became a zombie? Then he’d be even more dangerous. Why did he teach zombies how to use lighters? He was preparing for when he became a zombie.

While everyone was busy dealing with zombie fires, Kim Da-in the zombie might be hiding in a prepared hideout, learning how to kill people.

– He might become the most dangerous zombie! We have to find and kill him before he learns! Before he leads a zombie horde!

He was spouting nonsense, almost like a conspiracy theorist.

But Park Yang-gun found it surprisingly plausible.

‘He’s the kind of guy who’d cause chaos even in hell.’

He thought demons were just bureaucrats, mere cogs in an orderly system, and underestimated humans.

Would such a human quietly become a zombie?

Maybe, like the Alliance’s conspiracy theory, he was really stockpiling food and weapons somewhere, growing stronger while studying his prepared materials.

When Kim Da-in returns, he might lead a massive zombie army and kill everyone.

Such futile thoughts grew stronger as he flipped through the Pillage Manual.

Stories of killing people from the first day of the zombie outbreak, stories of luring and killing police officers to obtain firearms when society was still intact, and honest accounts of the malice and deeds he harbored and committed while with him.

Park Yang-gun burst into laughter.

“I knew there was something off about him from the start.”

But he hadn’t realized he was this insane. How could someone harbor such malice for no reason?

It made sense that the Alliance was panicking to find Kim Da-in. A human like this, who had been teaching zombies even before becoming one, disappearing without a trace—it was terrifying to think what he might be plotting.

Park Yang-gun suddenly looked out the window.

It was snowing. A blizzard. The wind howled, and snowflakes swirled. The world was painted white, as if white paint had been splashed across it. Park Yang-gun imagined people’s faces on that blank canvas.

Kim Da-in.

“I still don’t know if your name is really Kim Da-in.”

He couldn’t believe it. Names meant nothing to a human like that. But the time they spent together was real, and it remained a not-so-bad memory for him.

“Anyway, I hope I never see you again.”

A human who became a myth, a legend, a superstition, or a conspiracy theory in a world ravaged by the apocalypse.

Other faces flashed by too—Jeon Do-hyeong, Sa Ji-hyeok, the pastor, and church companions.

Park Yang-gun closed his eyes. His memories eventually led him back to his family.

“I have to find them…”

***

Park Yang-gun was also wanted by the Alliance, but he hadn’t been caught. He always wore a bucket hat and mask, completely covering his face, so even a slight change in accessories completely altered his appearance.

As long as he avoided people he knew from the Hope Community, he was fine.

Plus, he had the skills of a thief to move stealthily.

And so, Park Yang-gun crossed the snow-covered city.

Sometimes he met survivors and talked, sometimes he infiltrated survivor bases to steal resources, and sometimes he engaged in gunfights.

“It’s getting harder.”

Park Yang-gun, hiding in a nearby building, frowned as he stopped the bleeding from a graze on his forehead caused by a bullet.

His age was catching up to him, and his stamina was lacking. Though he had experience from living with Kim Da-in and the Pillage Manual, even that was becoming insufficient.

Because the seeds Kim Da-in had sown were sprouting rapidly.

‘I can’t even touch the real pillagers now.’

The pillagers’ nature had been tainted with vicious malice and venom. Every word they spoke was bait with malicious intent, and every action was a disguise hiding murderous intent.

Though still clumsy, that clumsiness itself was seen as a deception, as distrust and suspicion took root among people.

“Kim Da-in. What were you really thinking?”

Park Yang-gun took out a lighter from his pocket and stared at it.

He had seen it firsthand and read the Pillage Manual, so he knew. Kim Da-in didn’t use simple plans. He hid his true intentions behind disguises and bait.

So, what was Kim Da-in’s final move? What was the real success he wanted?

‘Is he really learning somewhere?’

Was the Alliance’s conspiracy theory actually true?

Park Yang-gun sometimes thought it was just a political move to create an external enemy, but Kim Da-in’s actions made the conspiracy theory seem plausible.

What if he spread bait to buy time for his zombie self to quietly learn and grow? Even if he failed, wasn’t it a means to destroy the world?

The lack of Kim Da-in’s corpse or any trace made it all the more tempting to believe.

Park Yang-gun suddenly let out a hollow laugh.

“Am I getting old? Thinking such stupid thoughts.”

This was just a simple conspiracy theory, an external enemy created by the Alliance. Using Kim Da-in’s shadow as a threat to unite the Alliance.

No matter how plausible it seemed, reality was different. Even if Kim Da-in returned as a zombie, zombies had limited intelligence. And with firearms still around, zombies couldn’t easily become a threat to humans.

With that, Park Yang-gun dismissed his wild thoughts and moved on to search for his family.

***

“Uncle, they say the Alliance caught the person you mentioned.”

“What? Why?”

Park Yang-gun blinked and looked at the survivor in front of him. He genuinely didn’t understand and seemed baffled, as if he had heard a hallucination, and rubbed his ears.

The survivor he was talking to observed Park Yang-gun carefully and continued.

“The person you mentioned looks like someone the Alliance is after. They’re a criminal’s family. Your name is Park Yang-gun, right?”

No matter how carefully Park Yang-gun moved, he had been wandering the city for over a month. It was only natural he’d be caught in the Alliance’s information network and become suspicious.

Park Yang-gun realized it instantly.

‘Bait.’

It was bait to catch him. Bait he couldn’t resist.

But Park Yang-gun reacted with full-blown incredulity. Lies flowed naturally.

“My last name is Park, but it’s not a thief’s name.”

“Huh? Why is Park Yang-gun a thief’s name?”

The survivor naturally continued the conversation while still observing Park Yang-gun, who answered calmly.

“Don’t you know Yang Sang-gun-ja? Tsk tsk, kids these days don’t know Chinese characters.”

“So what’s your name?”

“My parents named me Jik-in, meaning ‘honest person.'”

Lies flowed as naturally as breathing. There was no sign of someone lying. The survivor, disappointed inwardly, waved his hand.

The bag on his back was his only value—a signal to kill him.

“Then I don’t know. All I know is…”

“An ambush won’t work.”

Before the other person could properly attack, Park Yang-gun quickly fired bullets. One shot at the person in front of him, and three warning shots toward where he sensed movement.

The person in front died, and the hidden person froze momentarily. It was time to escape.

Park Yang-gun quickly left the spot. Like a parkour athlete, he leaped over the window ledge of a nearby building and, like a thief, ran through the optimal escape route.

“Kill him!”

The others jumped out of their hiding spots belatedly, but Park Yang-gun had already left them far behind.

Running across buildings to avoid leaving footprints in the snow, Park Yang-gun panted as he looked in a certain direction in the city.

The Survivor Zone.

“I have to go.”

He couldn’t ignore this bait. Whether the Alliance’s words were true or lies, it was the only lead he had.

 

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