The next morning.

Seongho, hiding in an abandoned store, watched the shadows moving outside.

The figures wandering the streets were zombies, heads hunched forward as they aimlessly roamed.

As soon as they left the mountain trail and entered the urban area, the zombies were everywhere.

He had already sneaked inside buildings over twenty times to avoid them.

As a result, unlike when they were traveling through the mountains, it had become much harder to pick up speed.

However, it wasn’t entirely a bad situation.

*Grrr!*

Finally, the zombies that had tracked Seongho’s group entered the building.

*Flash! Flash! Flash!*

The zombies collapsed one after another as soon as they came into contact with Seongho, who had emerged from underneath the table.

**[System Message]**  
- The members of the world have witnessed the Destiny Pioneer’s actions.  
- The members of the world are now affected by the Destiny Pioneer.  
- The influence of the Destiny Pioneer has slightly increased.  
- Deviation points decreased by 2.  
- Deviation points decreased by 1.  
- 1 Contribution Point earned.  
- Deviation points decreased by 3.

After collecting the additional virus, Seongho checked the outside again.

The commotion from the hunt earlier hadn’t caused any major issues.

The sounds of starving zombies echoed through the abandoned buildings around them.

*Grrr...*

The noise around them masked any sounds Seongho made, making the hunt relatively easy.

Especially now, the delay in leveling up was paying off.

**[Character Status Window]**  
- **Name**: Han Seongho  
- **Role**: Destiny Pioneer  
- **Level**: 3 (21/125)  
- **Physical Ability**: 7  
- **Special Ability**: 8/17  
- **Activity Info**:  
  - Contribution Points: 21  
  - Deviation Points: 198  
  - Influence: Very few of the world’s members recognize you, and your influence is minimal.  
  - Title: None  

‘Once again, I’ve leveled up, and now the number of uses for my special ability has increased by 5.’

To level up again, the amount of virus needed had multiplied five times, and if this rule continues, it would get harder and harder to level up.

But that was something for later.

‘With level 2, I had 12 uses available. Now, with today’s level up, I have 17 uses, and I've already used 9 of them, so there’s still room to spare.’

Of course, while the hunt was going smoothly, the speed of travel was a different story.

Even though they had set out early in the morning, they had only covered three blocks in two hours.

"I’m going crazy here," Seongho muttered with a sigh.

Im Chan, who had been covering Ji-hyo’s mouth, finally spoke up as he stood up.

"There are still a lot of zombies... I didn’t expect it to be this bad."

Seongho agreed with him.

The atmosphere in Jongno-gu was drastically different from Eunpyeong-gu.

‘The area around the hospital was pretty well cleared out.’

The area within 1 km of the hospital was practically zombie-free.

But in Jongno-gu, zombies could be seen wandering the streets frequently.

It was tense, and every step they took was met with caution.

Swallowing a sigh, Seongho stepped back onto the streets.

Im Chan, still holding Ji-hyo, followed behind him.

Seongho glanced back at Im Chan and asked, "Is it too hard for you?"

Im Chan had been carrying Ji-hyo for several hours, and Seongho was concerned.

"It’s... It’s better for me to carry her with all these zombies around," Im Chan answered quietly.

Im Ji-hyo, still gripping her father’s clothes, gave no response, though her silence might have been interpreted as a reprimand. 

Seongho, feeling awkward, looked between Im Chan and Ji-hyo, then spoke.

"If you’re struggling, just say so. I’ll help."

Before he could add anything else, Seongho suddenly stopped and raised his fist.

Im Chan, without question, halted too, as Seongho had used the signal they had learned in the military.

Seongho had likely spotted another zombie.

"That...?"

Through the distance, Seongho noticed a faint shadow of someone else stopping like they had.

Beyond an abandoned vehicle, there was movement—definitely not the stumbling gait of zombies.

‘Survivors.’

It was a quick decision.

Seongho, keeping his eyes fixed on them, turned right.

Fortunately, the other group seemed to have no desire for contact and veered left.

They both kept watch on each other as they distanced themselves.

Seongho waited until the other survivors were out of sight, then entered the vacant building.

He took cover behind an overturned table, hiding his body.

‘In the original story, these kinds of moments never passed quietly.’

Although time was precious, this world was unpredictable, and life was fragile.

Safety was something to overreact to, rather than underreact.

One minute, five minutes, and then ten minutes passed.

Just as the wait was starting to feel unbearable, a voice suddenly reached Seongho’s ears.

“Wait... didn’t I say just go?”

"Why expose yourself for nothing?"

Seongho, holding his breath, focused intently on the conversation.

"We should at least give a warning."

"What if they’re the ones who caused all this?"

"Come on, think logically. They were coming in from outside, weren’t they?"

"They might’ve gone out and come back!"

A back-and-forth.

From the tone of the conversation, it seemed like the group consisted of two people, with some disagreement between them.

One sounded frightened, their voice trembling, while the other tried to remain calm, though their nervousness was still evident.

‘It seems like they followed us.’

Seongho furrowed his brow in confusion.

‘There’s no sound of footsteps.’

How could they be so quiet, no matter how careful they were?

The answer came soon enough.

A strange, wobbly mass of water drifted in front of the building where Seongho’s group was hiding.

‘Water...?’

The large mass of water shimmered as it passed by, and through it, Seongho glimpsed a human-like figure.

“Why are you repeating yourself? With my abilities, there’s no risk, so just wait.”

“Ugh, really stubborn.”

The voice was familiar, coming from the other side of the water.

‘An awakened one.’

It seemed like an ability that allowed long-range communication.

If the person could share their sight, this ability was more useful than clairvoyance.

‘This power never appeared in the original.’

Seongho watched the water mass until it disappeared from view.

When the mass was no longer visible, Seongho headed toward the entrance of the building.

He didn’t reveal himself but instead called out softly.

“Why are you following us?”

The shadow of the water mass froze and stopped in place.

But it was only temporary.

The awakened one, appearing flustered, hurried to explain.

"Oh, no. I wasn’t trying to hurt you."

Seongho smirked and replied.

"That’s for me to decide. Stop wasting time and tell me why you’re following us. If you don’t, I’ll find out myself."

"…You’re full of bluster. We’re far from you, you know?"

"It’s only about 1 or 2 km. You think I can’t find you?"

A tense silence followed, and Seongho could sense the other person’s hesitation.

Seongho didn’t let the opportunity slip by and pressed.

"There are plenty of awakened ones like you. Finding your location won’t be hard for me."

"…"

"Answer me properly. Why are you following us? If you don’t answer again, I’ll track you down and ask myself."

Perhaps the threat had worked?

"…I wanted to warn you."

It was only after asking the question three times that Seongho finally got a real answer.

"A warning?"

"I think they’re heading toward Myeongdong."

"Is there a reason not to go?"

"I’m not sure, but... I haven’t seen it firsthand."

The man hesitated, trailing off as he spoke.

“I think there’s a group eating people in Myeongdong.”

Im Chan, who had been inside the building, sucked in a breath.

The stranger continued speaking, ignoring Seongho’s reaction.

"Do you know Myeongdong Station? There were a lot of human bones left there."

Now Seongho understood why the man had used the word "cannibal."

"Zombies don’t strip the flesh off bones, do they?"

Right, zombies didn’t peel the flesh from bones.

They consumed humans whole, bones and all.

It seemed the man had deduced it wasn’t zombies who had done this.

"This isn’t just a guess. It was too strange, so I kept watching with my power."

Sure enough, he saw survivors coming to dispose of the bones.

“They’re probably using that place as a dumping ground, so we decided to move our camp. I didn’t want to get involved for no reason, so we were leaving.”

Seongho scowled and stared at the shadow of the water mass.

"Why would you give me a warning like that? We’ve never met."

"...I saw you with the child."

When Ji-hyo was mentioned, Seongho instinctively tensed up.

If they were targeting the child, Seongho would strike first, without hesitation.

Luckily, he had

 left some Contribution Points, so finding their location wouldn’t be difficult.

But thankfully, he didn’t need to track down the mysterious awakened ones.

"If I hadn’t seen the child, I wouldn’t have followed and told you this. In this world, you haven’t abandoned her, so I thought you might be decent enough... I just want you to live."

Without the ability to see through someone’s soul, trusting only words was dangerous.

It was possible the entire story was a carefully crafted lie.

‘They could have watched us hide and then approached, weaving a believable conversation.’

Perhaps they were awakened ones too.

Before using their abilities, it was impossible to tell, so it was better to remain cautious.

After carefully considering the suspicion, Seongho decided not to dwell on it too much.

"I saw the bones near Exit 9 or 10. I’ve told you everything I know, so that’s it. Whether you live or die, it’s up to you now."

With that, the water mass vanished.

Once the strangers' traces were gone, Seongho told Im Chan to wait for a moment and moved to another building.

He quickly opened the Pioneer’s Cradle.

‘The Cradle doesn’t see through people’s intentions.’

The Cradle only confirmed objective facts, not omniscient knowledge.

If he asked why the strangers gave him the information, he wouldn’t be able to get an answer.

Then, maybe asking whether what they said was true would be better?

‘No.’

After this incident, if he were to ask the Cradle a question...

"Are there survivors watching Myeongdong Station?"

It would be better to ask an objective question that could be verified.

After confirming the use of Contribution Points, the answer arrived quickly.

**[No, there are none.]**

Seongho recalled the face of the man who had just left.

If there wasn’t a trap near Myeongdong Station...

If the information they gave was true...

‘Did they really give me this information out of goodwill?’

The truth, which even the Cradle couldn’t reveal, was something Seongho couldn’t help but wonder about.

Staring at the puddle left behind, Seongho shook his head.

‘Don’t think too highly of them.’

There were still too many doubts to fully let his guard down.

If this was a trap, and he met that awakened individual again...

‘I’ll strike first.’

Seongho clenched his trembling right hand with his left.

It was something he had prepared for since he first faced Choi Seungjo and his daughter, Choi Ji-young.

He steadied his resolve and closed the Cradle.

‘If there’s really something at Myeongdong Station, I can save time.’ 

When Seongho returned to his group, Im Chan was waiting stiffly with a concerned expression.

It was likely because of the information he had just heard.

Im Chan, trembling with fear, asked in a shaky voice.

"Seongho, are we really going?"

Seongho gave a single nod, avoiding any lengthy explanation.

Im Chan, noticing his lack of words, quickly continued.

"Isn’t it too dangerous? If what they said is true, near Myeongdong... wouldn’t it be better to turn back?"

Seongho stared at him silently.

Im Chan, feeling the weight of his gaze, seemed to come to an understanding.

"Could it be... the reason you're going to Myeongdong?"

His voice had a touch of certainty now.

Seongho, meeting his gaze, responded clearly.

"I have to go there."