The hallway running through the building and the classroom space on the left were exactly the same as Seongho remembered them.

The only things that felt strange were the people and belongings occupying the space.

The survivors who had woken up due to the earlier commotion, and those who had yet to rise.

And the sleeping bags, blankets, and other items they used.

These things made the familiar space feel unfamiliar.

The absence of wooden furniture, like desks or bookshelves, which should naturally be found in a school, also contributed to this sense of strangeness.

‘They’ve probably been turned into firewood by now.’

It wasn’t the most welcoming news, but Seongho had expected it to some degree.

‘In a world where electricity and gas are cut off, there’s no way proper heating would be possible.’

Even the oil, with its limited quantity, couldn’t be used freely.

In the end, the survivors, now facing winter, would have to cut down trees or destroy wooden furniture to keep warm.

This didn’t help with Seongho’s plan to set the cathedral on fire.

Without wood, it would be hard to spread the flames quickly, especially in a cement-built structure.

However, if Im Chan had worked hard through the night, it was something that could be solved easily.

Having confirmed the structure of the first floor, Seongho immediately headed upstairs.

Some survivors were also using the second floor, and the third floor and above were completely empty.

And then there was the fourth floor, the rooftop.

The door was tightly locked with chains and a padlock.

Seongho used tools to unlock the padlock, then grabbed a hammer.

Bang, bang!

With exactly two hammer strikes, the metal handle rattled and fell off.

He opened the door and stepped outside, and a harsh winter wind hit him.

Seongho didn’t flinch but instead looked around to get his bearings.

Though it was still dark, he could see the spire of the cathedral building, the symbol of the structure.

‘That way is north.’

Then, south would be the opposite direction.

Seongho walked along the southern side of the roof to the end.

He then faced a building not far from the school.

How long had he been waiting there?

The sky slowly started to brighten.

Seongho raised his head and stared at the rooftop of the building across from him.

As if waiting for this very moment, something suddenly popped out of the rooftop railing at just the right time.

‘Im Chan.’

He had appeared exactly on time, just as he promised.

Seongho waved his arms enthusiastically at Im Chan on the rooftop.

Im Chan responded by waving both of his arms back.

A moment later, Im Chan’s figure disappeared, and something fell from where he had been standing, landing on the roof.

It was a bundle of dry grass that Im Chan had made alone on the high-rise building through the night.

‘Good, well done.’

This much would be enough for the flames to spread without needing any intervention.

Seongho checked the bundle of dry grass tied with twine, then looked again at the building’s rooftop, drawing a large circle motion above his head.

Im Chan, looking down from below, mirrored the motion and made the same circle gesture with his arms.

Then, the dry grass began to fall in earnest.

Seongho carefully moved the bundles of grass inside the building.

How much time had passed?

When he looked up to check the rooftop again, Im Chan had crossed his arms and made an ‘X’ to indicate that there were no more.

Seongho responded with a circle gesture, then entered the building.

He began counting the bundles of grass stacked on the stairs.

‘Let’s see… one, two, three…’

There were a total of 17 bundles, more than Seongho had expected.

‘Looks like he really worked hard.’

He clearly hadn’t slacked off and had used his full strength consistently.

‘Once this is over, I’ll have to thank him.’

Of course, moving these bundles came first.

Fortunately, each bundle wasn’t too heavy.

‘If I can’t carry them, I’ll roll them.’

As Seongho was rolling the bundles of grass down to the second floor, he suddenly heard bustling footsteps and urgent shouting from below.

“Wake up! Get the kids up!”

“Pack your things! We have to leave!”

“Move! Get out of the way!”

Soon, some people from the first floor rushed up.

The second floor quickly became chaotic.

“What’s going on…?”

“Hey, Kang Taeho! Why the sudden outburst?”

“I don’t have time to argue! We need to leave now!”

“We have to run! People… people are dead!”

“Honey, what are you talking about…?”

“There’s a cannibal camp here! People who eat others!”

It seemed like Song Inhye, who had gone to the morgue, had returned with undeniable evidence.

The survivors inside the school were frantically running through the hallways.

Each person was packing their things from their classrooms, bumping into others, falling, or even tumbling down the stairs.

To avoid getting caught up in the chaos, Seongho moved back up the stairs.

Once the second floor was empty, he began rolling the dry grass bundles again.

He stacked them neatly at the northern end of the first floor.

At the same time, he gathered the abandoned bags left by the survivors in one place, making it easier for the fire to spread.

Just as he was fully immersed in the work, Seongho suddenly saw a familiar face across the hallway.

It was Song Inhye, who had come up from the basement.

“Hey!”

Seongho stared at her as she hurried toward him, holding a sharp axe in her hand.

A moment later, Song Inhye stopped in front of him, panting heavily.

‘She must have been in quite a hurry.’

Seongho waited for her to catch her breath before making a move.

He reached out and took the hand axe she was holding.

He then crouched down and opened his toolbox.

He pulled out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around the axe’s head, then flipped over a portable heater.

Drip, drip.

The oil that flowed from the narrow opening drenched the cloth.

As Song Inhye watched, holding her breath, she swallowed nervously and asked,

“Where did you get this grass… no, more importantly, are you really going to set a fire?”

It seemed like she had already heard about it from Yoo Min-sang.

In that case, there was no need to explain again.

Seongho waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t forget to close the basement door. Once inside, take the others and head toward the morgue.”

It was a precautionary reminder.

‘Since the underground passage leads to the morgue, there will at least be some ventilation.’

Moreover, hot smoke tends to rise.

So, the underground should be relatively safer.

‘But you never know with people.’

Once Seongho finished speaking, Song Inhye hesitated for a few moments before grabbing a steel cutter from the toolbox.

“Just in case, I’ll take this too! I tied new cable ties while coming here.”

She urgently spoke as she turned and rushed back down to the basement.

Seongho waited until she was completely out of sight before picking up the portable heater.

He splashed the remaining oil all around.

Though it wasn’t much, it would be enough to spread the flames.

Once everything was ready, Seongho took a lighter from his pocket.

‘Alright, time to cast the bait.’

It was the perfect bait to draw all the members of the camp and Ko Ji-hoon’s puppets toward this spot.

---

**Boom! Boom! Boom!**

Ko Ji-hoon was woken by the loud knocking on the door.

He had been dreaming about tormenting the man he had met the day before, but his fun had been interrupted.

His leisure time had been disturbed.

Ko Ji-hoon grumbled angrily without even opening his eyes.

“Who the hell is it?”

Normally, his reaction would cause everyone to quiet down, that was the kind of presence he had in the camp.

But today was different.

“Boss! Boss! Wake up!”

The urgency in the voice sent a chill down Ko Ji-hoon’s spine.

Even in his groggy state, Ko Ji-hoon forced his eyes open.

At the same time, the door swung open without his permission.

“Boss! There’s a fire in the warehouse! Get up!”

Shocked by the news, Ko Ji-hoon jumped out of bed, yelling,

“What? What’s going on?”

“There’s a fire! In the warehouse where the meat is stored!”

Ko Ji-hoon hurriedly threw on his clothes, shouting,

“The meat? Did you get the meat out?”

“The flames suddenly grew... no, that’s not the point! We tried to put out the fire, but the puppets you gave us won’t go near it! They’re not listening at all!”

The subordinate’s urgent words made Ko Ji-hoon’s shoulders twitch in surprise.

“So the kids are putting out the fire themselves! Please do something about the puppets!”

“Damn it!”

Ko Ji-hoon cursed loudly.

‘You want me to send the puppets to the fire?’

He would have never considered such a thing under normal circumstances.

But the fact that they came begging for the puppets so urgently meant it was a serious situation.

Ko Ji-hoon bit his lip in thought before deciding to assess the situation.

As soon as he stepped out of the nun’s quarters building, he realized how naive his earlier thoughts had been.

Even though it was fully daylight, he could see the blazing red flames in the distance.

Thick black smoke was rising, threatening to cover the entire sky.

The

 scale of the fire was much larger than he had anticipated, and it took his breath away.

Without further hesitation, Ko Ji-hoon summoned all the puppets he could control.

“Cough, cough!”

“Did you bring all the fire extinguishers?!”

“Pour more sand!”

“Get dirt from the field!”

When he arrived at the fire scene, the building’s center had already been completely consumed by flames.

It wasn’t stopping; the fire was continuing to spread.

Some people had already gotten their clothes and hair blackened by the smoke.

They had probably failed to enter the building when the fire started.

“You guys, get dirt from the field!”

Ko Ji-hoon gave orders to his puppets and questioned his subordinates.

“What happened to the people inside? Did they get out?”

“When we discovered the fire, it had already grown too large... no one has come out!”

“Shit! Is this a joke? Where are the night guards?!”

“We don’t know! When we saw the flames, no one was there!”

In one night, the food supply for the next few weeks had all burned up.

There couldn’t have been worse news.

Ko Ji-hoon was considering trying to save the people who might have died inside, but the fire had grown too large, and it wasn’t easy to fight.

It was already too late for any human efforts to make a difference.

The helplessness he felt naturally fueled his frustration and anger.

“Dammit! How could you not notice the fire spreading this fast?! Find the guards who were supposed to be on watch!”

Ko Ji-hoon barked orders angrily as he vented his fury.

But most of the people were busy hauling dirt and had no time to search for the missing personnel.

Finally, one of the workers, carrying dirt, spoke up.

“Could we send the puppets inside now? We could still save some people who might be suffocating…”

Ko Ji-hoon’s eyes shot sparks of anger.

“Are you crazy?! You want me to send my puppets into the fire?!”

Thud!

Ko Ji-hoon kicked the worker who had spoken out of turn.

“Shut up and get back to work!”

He yelled at them harshly before quickly turning back to his thoughts.

Though he was scolding them, deep down, Ko Ji-hoon was gnawing on his lip.

Helping people in the fire might have been one thing, but sending his puppets into that inferno was something he could never do.

‘That’s absolutely out of the question.’

Ko Ji-hoon bit his lip in frustration, unable to calm his anger.

Just as he was about to snap once more, he felt a strange presence behind him.

He hadn’t consciously noticed it, but the unmistakable feeling made him turn reflexively.

A figure wearing a padded hat stood there.

‘Who the hell is that?’

It seemed to be a camp member rushing to help with the fire, carrying a basket of dirt, just like the others.

But why did this person feel so familiar, and why did it make him uneasy?

Without knowing why, Ko Ji-hoon stared directly at the man’s face.

At that moment, the dirt in the man’s basket spilled out, falling directly toward Ko Ji-hoon.