How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

“So? Are you going to stay here?”

“Yes. I need to collect data.”

“And what about Nahyun?”

At that, she finally made eye contact with me. Then she spoke softly.

“Nahyun, Mommy will protect people through her research.”

Protect people? You, who are smiling brightly, saying it’s fortunate that the gate burst open?

“And I want to leave my name in history.”

My head throbbed.

“So it seems like I’ll have to be apart from you for a while.”

At those words, I nodded obediently.

After my rebirth, I had thought of her as my mother without much thought.

She was just a single mom who had a bit of an obsession with research. Sometimes neglectful of parenting because of her work, but still a kind mother.

“Then will you come to the intermediate zone as a private citizen?”

“Yes. If I go as a researcher, they’ll probably keep me under close watch since I’m an important figure. I plan to come and go as a private citizen. I think the Hunters will hire me out of their own pockets.”

“I see… Let’s go, kid.”

I watched as Choi Garam hung onto me and began talking to someone else again.

She seemed as if she was entranced by something.

That day, I realized for the first time that “Mom” had something more precious than me.

“Okay.”

Of course, I wasn’t a real newborn child, but I wasn’t concerned about that.

I just realized something new. Really.

“Your mom is a bit obsessed with research, you know? That’s why.”

Choi Garam patted my head.

I simply clung to her and fell asleep.

Perhaps it was because I had experienced a sudden dangerous situation, but exhaustion swept over me, and I found myself drowsy.

I thought that when I woke up, everything would be better.

– Confirmed the appearance of the monster ‘Doppelgänger,’ which transforms into humans. Exercise caution.

– Block the entry of all vehicles except those with authorized credentials.

– Vehicles moving under authorized credentials will also undergo strict inspections.

“Looks like such orders have been issued. We barely passed through.”

“Really? I should let Ahyun know.”

For a few days, I had been staying at the shelter where Choi Garam was.

It seemed she had decided to work as a Hunter in the intermediate zone for a while, setting up near the barricade.

I had grown accustomed to the gazes of those around me as I moved between this place, which was certainly better than a typical shelter. I was also long used to the sight of refugees lined up outside the window.

“Mom can’t come here?”

At my question, Choi Garam scratched her head as if it were no big deal.

“No, it should be fine. If we suppress the Doppelgänger early, there won’t be any issues.”

“But if we fail to suppress it early, terrible things will happen.”

“Unless someone is really stupid, there’s no way they’d fail that!”

“That’s true!”

Choi Garam and her friends laughed heartily as they casually watched the news and chatted.

“But what about housing prices here?”

“Are you worried about housing prices when it’s become a danger zone?”

So I felt relieved. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal.

I realized that wasn’t the case just a few days later.

“Block it!”

“Shoot!”

The world was noisy.

The sounds reached even the accommodation near the border, close to the barricade.

Crackle, crackle.

I could hear something coming from the spare radio that Choi Garam had left behind.

– Crackle… Repeating. Confirmation of the spread of the Doppelgänger.

I held my breath quietly.

– Block all movements attempting to cross the barricade.

Block? But Mom hasn’t crossed over to the intermediate zone yet.

– Any attempt to forcibly cross the barricade will result in immediate shooting.

Didn’t she say she’d come over today?

Carefully, I got off the bed and put on my outerwear. I needed to check outside.

– Crackle… Request for manpower…

I gripped the radio in one hand and cautiously slipped out of the house.

As soon as I stepped outside, the loud noise became clearer.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Kill it! It’s a Doppelgänger!”

“No! I’m not!”

“Please save me! It’s a monster!”

A terrible premonition crawled up my spine.

What happened to Mom?

I walked quietly, bracing myself against the wall. Finally, the moment my eyes turned toward the barricade, chaos unfolded before me.

Beyond the barbed wire, people and monsters were tangled together.

Monsters were laughing as they tore and trampled the people, and the crowd was pushing toward the barbed wire, trying to escape from the monsters.

Those in front of the barbed wire were being pushed down, trampled, and killed.

Blood splattered, and red flesh was visible.

“Na-hyun!”

In the midst of it all, I saw my mom reaching out toward me from beyond the barricade.

Behind her was something that looked like a person but had monstrous arms, extending its claws toward her.

Bang!

Gunfire rang out. The monster fell.

I could see my mom approaching this way.

“Mom…!”

I pulled my hand away from the corner of the wall and started walking toward the barricade.

Then, another gunshot echoed.

I saw my mom fall.

Mom…

…Huh? This is strange?

Why is Mom bleeding from her head?

She isn’t moving.

The surreal nature of the scene left me stunned.

A corpse piled on top of my fallen mom. People screamed.

“Please save me!”

“Die!”

Monsters, bullets, and people were dying. The sight made my stomach churn.

“Ugh!”

I heaved up whatever was left in my stomach.

Amidst seemingly unharmed people, monsters suddenly sprang out. I guessed that these were the Doppelgängers.

“I don’t know which ones are the Doppelgängers! Kill them all!”

“Push! At this rate, we’re all going to die!”

And I realized that the Doppelgängers were wearing human faces.

I wanted to look away from the scene before me, but I couldn’t.

No one cared about me; everyone was too busy with their own struggles.

The soldiers fought to protect, while those beyond the barricade struggled to survive.

“Die!”

“Shoot!”

“Push!”

“Help me!”

From behind the people, a horde of monsters was visible. The crowd grew more frantic, desperately trying to rush over the barricade. It was a fierce battle.

And only when the bodies piled high, blood flowing to form a small stream, did everything come to an end.

“Ugh.”

I clutched my stomach, now devoid of anything left to vomit.

Night had passed, and the sun was rising. Some people were moving to clean up the aftermath.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing here?”

Then I heard Choi Garam’s voice, and I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore.

“Mom, Mom is….”

“What happened to Ahyun?”

“Mom is dead….”

“…What?”

Garam seemed unaware of the truth, her voice trembling as she asked again, but my answer remained the same.

Choi Garam ran toward the barricade, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Gang Ahyun! Where are you, Gang Ahyun!”

The dead wouldn’t answer her.

***

The Doppelgänger incident resulted in devastating losses due to the failures of the commanding officer in charge of the operation.

But I didn’t care about that.

What mattered was the sight before me—the realization that everyone beyond the barbed wire was dead.

The soldiers, perhaps in an effort to rationalize their actions, yelled that they might as well be monsters themselves, but many were truly losing their minds over what had happened.

Those who waited for their families beyond the wire clung to the hope that the bodies were not theirs, while simultaneously searching through the piles of corpses for any sign of life.

After my mother’s death, Choi Garam seemed to lose herself for a while, but soon began to busily attend to her research and the closure of her business.

And I…

I was left in a relatively safe survivor’s shelter.

“Ahyun, you live in that big building over there, right? I’m jealous!”

It was a place where people with at least some strength, different from ordinary civilians, could stay.

Choi Garam probably thought I was mature enough to be left alone for a while in a safe place.

While not the best choice, it seemed like a compromise given the circumstances—balancing her long-standing career with that of her friend and her child.

I merely wanted to ease her burden.

“Yeah. That’s right. I live there.”

“Your parents must be amazing!”

“They’re all dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

Still, I believed she would come if I were in danger. I fidgeted with the signal device Choi Garam had given me while keeping an eye on the other children in the shelter.

“It’s okay.”

I wasn’t a little kid anymore. If I took care of myself, I would be fine.

But that was a naive thought, one that soon proved to be terribly mistaken.

I underestimated the situation, where security had dramatically deteriorated. A lone child wandering around was prime prey in this environment.

“…What do I do?”

I forgot that fact, and this was the outcome.

I pressed the signal device in my pocket firmly. Scary-looking men were surrounding me.

“Oh, she looks fine!”

“Think we can sell her?”

And then thick, rough hands bound me.

I struggled, but I couldn’t compete with them. I felt a sudden, violent blow to the back of my head, and then darkness descended.

***

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a moving vehicle, hands and feet tied.

The inside of the car was dark and quiet. I could clearly hear the conversation happening in the driver’s seat.

“So what about that signal device?”

“Oh, that? Apparently, it contacts the nearby soldiers. So I just paid off the guys who showed up. They said they’d keep quiet, so they probably don’t know where I’ve gone.”

He had told me that it would contact him.

What a liar.

Well, given the situation, it makes more sense for it to contact the soldiers nearby than for it to reach someone far away like Choi Garam. He probably said it would contact him to ease my worries.

If it contacts the soldiers, it will eventually reach him too, so it’s not completely a lie.

Still,

‘If you press that, I’ll come running, so don’t worry!’

Still…

…what a foolish thing this is. I’m not a little kid. Before lamenting, it would be more rational to think of a way to escape.

“Um…