It had been thirty minutes since Zion Kang went inside the house.
During that time, Jae Hee sat on the steps at the entrance of the villa, keeping watch for monsters.
At the same time, she didn’t let down her guard against Players either.
In this city, where a true ‘Gunjoo’ had yet to appear, Players were the most dangerous threat.
But since the round had only just begun, Players wouldn’t be quick to show themselves.
So far, the only people she’d seen were the group of four who’d passed under the bridge earlier.
If they kept moving around so openly, that group wouldn’t make it through the night.
Jae Hee took a cigarette pack from inside her jacket.
Tap, tap.
She naturally tapped the bottom of the pack against her palm, tore off the plastic, pulled one out, and put it to her lips.
Cigarettes became rarer the longer the round went on.
That’s why she had to smoke as much as she could while she still had them—and save some for Zion, too.
Soon, cigarettes would be used as “currency” in this league.
As she flicked her lighter, footsteps echoed from inside the villa.
Jae Hee recognized the sound of human footsteps.
Everyone had their own unique rhythm when they walked.
It was a kind of habit, something that wouldn’t change unless you were really trying.
Just from the sound alone, Jae Hee could tell it was Zion Kang.
The footsteps came up the stairs and gradually stopped.
Jae Hee exhaled a stream of smoke, and Zion sat down beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Zion was breathing heavily, his body stained with blood and exhaustion.
She didn’t need to ask to know what had happened inside.
Zion spoke first.
“…Just promise me one thing.”
His voice was full of sorrow.
Zion stared ahead.
Or rather, he was just looking off in whatever direction his eyes happened to fall.
Jae Hee took another drag of her cigarette before answering.
“Yeah.”
Zion tightened his grip on the kitchen knife in his hand.
Zion was gripping the kitchen knife so tightly that his hand trembled.
His emotions, his thoughts, and his deep sorrow all washed over Jae Hee.
With a trembling voice, he continued.
“…Just let me find my brother.”
Jae Hee still had the cigarette between her lips, and Zion covered his face with one hand.
His voice shook.
“…Then, whatever you want… anything… No. Just… I just want to be with my brother. That’s all I need.”
It was hard to make sense of what he was trying to say.
He was so shaken by the shock that he couldn’t put his feelings—or his words—in order.
But after taking a moment to collect herself, Jae Hee understood what Zion wanted.
Jae Hee lowered her head a little.
As she exhaled smoke between her knees, it drifted upward, briefly clouding her vision.
Zion Kang from her previous life.
And Zion Kang now.
And herself, sitting before him.
Jae Hee’s feelings grew complicated. But her answer was already decided.
“Yeah. I understand.”
She tossed her half-smoked cigarette into the snow, and it plunged deep into the white.
The ember melted the snow around it as it sank even deeper.
Jae Hee thought,
The man beside her probably had no idea.
In the end, what he wanted was the same as what she wanted. That’s why there was no need to ask, and anyway, they were destined to see this through together.
Jae Hee would restore every world to the way it was meant to be.
She would erase this miserable slaughter game, the otherworldly creatures that plagued the city, and even those distant, godlike beings beyond the laughing, chattering Administrators.
A world where they were all gone.
In that world, Zion Kang would be able to watch his brother Junho go off to college, just as he wished.
If they won the League, both of them would be able to smile.
Truly smile.
For that, she was willing to offer up her wretched body, any time.
She had waited so long for this.
A second chance was that precious, and Jae Hee didn’t want to let it slip away.
Jae Hee turned her head and looked out across the city, toward the mountains.
There, a shimmering, transparent barrier rippled around the entire city.
The boundary of Round 2.
An invisible cage.
* * *
I walked a short distance away from the building where my brother had disappeared.
Jae Hee followed behind me.
Then, I suddenly remembered the status window I’d seen inside the shopping mall.
I quietly called for the status window.
But nothing appeared.
“It’s probably because you’re not part of a group. As you know, in Round 1, the king was chosen by vote, but from Round 2 onward, you have to fight for it.”
I listened to Jae Hee as I walked ahead.
It meant that, right now, I didn’t qualify as being part of any group.
Under those conditions, the interface for efficiently managing people wouldn’t be provided.
Either way, if I wanted to find my brother, I had to go to places where he might be.
The city was vast.
There were too many buildings, roads, and alleys for one person to search alone.
In the end, I had to prioritize the places my brother would most likely have gone.
Thinking simply, he probably hadn’t gone far from here.
And as long as the boundary existed, he had to be somewhere inside this city.
The end of Round 1 happened at different times for each building.
According to Jae Hee, taking as long as a week was considered unusually long.
Most places finished in two or three days.
That was why K couldn’t stand by and ended up getting involved in the game.
Still, the situation wasn’t all that bad.
“In Round 2, the people who’ve taken control of the streets hold the initiative.”
I walked almost side by side with Jae Hee.
We walked through the snow, where there was nothing—no bodies, just rows of abandoned cars lined up.
It felt like the two of us were the only people left in this huge city.
Setting aside that strange feeling, our eyes were constantly darting around, on guard for anything.
“Players who started Round 1 out on the streets have the advantage when it comes to taking over the city. They’ll surround the people who came from buildings, force them into their teams, or kill them. They might have already formed a major faction by now.”
As I listened, I walked a bit farther, then pointed with my finger at something piled up on the opposite side of the street.
“Is that the result of a turf war on the streets?”
“…You could say that.”
Bodies were stacked up like a pyramid.
The pile was nearly as tall as the traffic lights.
Whoever had burned them, the corpses were so thoroughly charred that you couldn’t recognize any features.
There must be a group nearby who incinerated those bodies.
“We have to choose. Do we form a new faction and fight back against them? Or do we try to join their ranks and wait for an opportunity?”
“……”
Unlike Round 1, the administrator didn’t step in directly to select a ‘king’ in Round 2.
The goal of Round 2 was simply to survive this winter.
To survive the winter, forming a group was unavoidable.
Even if Jae Hee had strength beyond that of ordinary people, it was uncertain whether she could stand against a group capable of piling up corpses like that.
To ensure a certain outcome, I needed to make a sure move.
In the end, my brother would have gone where people were gathered.
If he finished Round 1 in the villa four days ago—
How far could he have traveled in four days?
And where would people have gathered?
The situation on the streets inside Anyang City.
If I were my brother, where would I have gone?
If I were in his shoes right now, what would I do?
As I was thinking this, Jae Hee quietly came up beside me and said,
“Your body isn’t fully developed yet, so unless you have a gun, you don’t have any way to defend yourself—whether it’s against people or monsters.”
“……”
She was right.
Right now, my body was pathetically weak compared to other adult men.
The last time I’d measured my height was during day labor orientation, at my physical when I was nineteen.
165 centimeters, 54 kilograms.
Those were my physical stats.
I was still so weak that I couldn’t even protect myself.
Just then, Jae Hee handed me something.
It was a self-defense stun gun.
When I pressed the button, it crackled and sparked.
“For some reason, these aren’t banned items, so I made sure to grab one in advance. Take it. Also, Artifact unsealing happens in a week. Until then, we need to set up a place to live and secure our safety.”
I watched the sparks fly from the stun gun as I listened to her.
“After the Artifacts are unsealed, I’ll make sure you become the strongest person in this place. Honestly… I’m not sure how things will go in Round 2, but the wider the area gets, the stronger the monsters will become.”
I took the stun gun and examined it.
It really was the perfect weapon for me.
With this, no matter how much someone outclassed me physically, I could take them down in one shot.
She’d prepared this ahead of time, using her advantage as a regressor.
But it was a bit odd that she hadn’t given it to me back at the mall. She must have planned to approach me from the start—maybe she was testing me?
Jae Hee glanced around and said,
“Once we’ve secured a place to stay, even if the Artifacts aren’t unsealed yet, we’re starting training. No exceptions. So steel yourself.”
I put the stun gun in the pocket of my padded jacket and turned to look at her.
She was scanning the area.
For some reason, it felt like this was the first time I was really seeing her.
It was only after checking on my brother’s whereabouts that I started to notice other people’s faces.
Jae Hee was wearing a thick gray parka with a fur-lined hood pulled up over her head.
Inside the hood, her face was framed by long eyelashes, a sharp nose, and striking brown eyes.
Strands of black hair peeked out from under her hood, falling to her collarbone. Every time she spoke, white breath puffed from between her slightly pink lips. Her pants were joggers, which looked like they had plenty of pockets for storage.
Below that, she wore high-laced combat boots.
It was all for mobility.
Looking at her now, I could see she’d come fully prepared for the league.
Maybe she noticed me staring, because Jae Hee asked,
“What?”
“…So, what’s your conclusion?”
I turned away, avoiding her gaze.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d looked at someone else’s face this closely.
As I took a step toward the road, Jae Hee answered my question.
“We join a faction.”
“A faction?”
“Yeah. I know it’s not ideal, but we lost most of our people in Round 1. All we can do now is join an existing group, kill the king, and take over that faction. To do that, we need to find a stable group… but that won’t be easy.”
In short, she wanted us to do what the Black Team did.
Like Kyung Soo, who hid in our team last round and survived until the end.
Last time, we were the ones who got played, but this time, we’d slip in under their noses and wait for a chance to take over.
It wasn’t a bad plan.
With just the two of us, we couldn’t find my brother or build up our own power.
I trudged through the snow and said,
“Let’s join the group near Manan Police Station.”
“Near Manan Police Station…? Are you sure there’s a group there?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know?”
Jae Hee followed behind me, asking.
Crunch. Crunch.
With every step, my feet sank deep into the snow.
It was harder to pull my feet out of the snow than to put them in.
“It’s simple logic. If you were in danger, what would you do?”
“…”
Jae Hee thought for a moment, then answered.
“Go to the source of the danger and destroy it?”
I glanced back at her, surprised by her offbeat answer.
Jae Hee just blinked at me. I turned my eyes forward again and explained.
“Wrong. I mean, think about it from the perspective of an ordinary citizen. The most typical response would be to head for a shelter. Disaster manuals even say the first thing you should do is evacuate to a shelter.”
There was a huge hole in the building across the street.
I looked inside.
There was no way a human could have made that hole.
“So, you’re saying we should go to a shelter?”
“A shelter wouldn’t be bad. But I’m considering four things: factions, safety, my brother, and faith in the law.”
“My brother?”
“No, I mean faith in the law.”
“Oh. Faith in the law?”
“The belief that the law will protect you. No matter what, when citizens are in danger, they believe the state will save them. To put it simply, they’ll wait for rescue teams.”
We came out to the road at the edge of the apartment complex.
Inside the complex, behind iron bars, a few people were gathered.
They were collecting wood and making a fire in the playground. I made eye contact with a few of them, but none looked hostile.
I stayed alert as I passed by.
Jae Hee was still following behind me.
“In the end, when disaster strikes, most people out on the street won’t head for a shelter—they’ll go to the nearest police station or military base. Because of that faith in the law I mentioned.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why, if we’re talking about the Republic of Korea’s police, there’s a good chance the government’s forces are still intact even after Round 1.”
“Yeah.”
We walked up to a traffic light.
I stopped out of habit.
But I quickly took in the situation and crossed anyway.
The traffic lights were out now.
Jae Hee fell silent, as if she was thinking it over.
I summed it up in a single sentence so it would be clear.
“The faction you mentioned earlier—the one with the most order, stability, and numbers—is the one the police have built.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Jae Hee let out a sound of realization.
“There’s a good chance my brother went there too. And above all, its internal stability is better than any other faction. Honestly, if we ended up under someone like Kim Dong-gil, the internal chaos would make it impossible to get anything done.”
In the end, I was choosing exactly what I’d always worried about and despised.
When it came down to it, I was picking the faction led by someone like Kyung Soo.
Jae Hee muttered, “You’re amazing. How do you come up with all that so quickly? I always wondered—back in our previous life, and even now.”
“I just choose the most rational option… This way.”
I turned off the main road and headed into a desolate street.
We followed the road for a while, then slipped into an alley.
The depth of the snow was different on every street.
In some places, it reached up to my calves; in others, it came up to my navel.
And then there were streets with no snow at all.
On those snowless streets, human corpses were scattered here and there.
If the snow was cleared, it meant someone had passed through.
The road we were walking on had been shoveled just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, centered on the street.
I checked the rooftop of the building across from us, then scanned the area for any movement.
It was deathly silent.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us.
And soon, I realized it wasn’t just my imagination.
A group of people emerged from the side of a commercial building.
Most of them were huddled together, trembling in fear, and only a few were holding weapons.
They were police officers in uniform.
Among them, a middle-aged officer was slowly walking out, holding a pistol.
I knew from K that the gun wouldn’t work.
The police held the initiative here, and the civilians clustered behind them for protection.
Everything was unfolding just as I’d expected.
This was a faction formed by the police.
It was unfortunate for them.
But I planned to use this faction.
And then, I would swallow the entire group whole—to find Junho.
I slowly raised both hands, but Jae Hee didn’t.
(Continued in the next episode)
