Chapter 23

It wasn’t a common name, but for some reason it felt familiar. That strange sensation made me pause, briefly puzzled.

“Seriously, make sure you contact me!”

Kwon Mieon kept insisting until the very end, then turned back toward the café.

He’d been intimidating even up close, but seeing him from a distance made it even clearer why. I wasn’t exactly small, but Kwon Mieon was just... too tall.

“Wh-why, why why are you suddenly showing up!”

“You said to go. Hurry up.”

“What the hell, why are you pu—ah! I’m gonna hit— I’m hitting it, I said I’m hitting it!”

Kwon Mieon hauled Miyoung straight to the car when she tried to walk over to me. After some back-and-forth, I watched the two of them get into the car, then turned away.

The note crinkling in my hand. The umbrella looped over my arm even though the rain had already stopped.

“Kwon Mieon? I swear I’ve heard that name somewhere.”

Why was he going this far? Back at that party, was there something big between me and this Kwon Mieon—something I didn’t remember at all?

Kwon Mieon’s flashy face, those two unusual moles, the expression he’d made as he looked at me—like he didn’t know what to do with himself—wouldn’t leave my head even after I showered.

I lay there blankly staring at the ceiling, then slowly pushed myself up.

“Maybe I’ll play a bit... then sleep.”

I’d been drinking today, and I’d actually seen Miyoung’s face in person, so I’d thought maybe I wouldn’t— but the habit I’d built up from playing all this time hadn’t gone anywhere. The moment I tried not to, it felt weirdly empty.

Welcome back, Survivor

“Yeah. This.”

The moment I stepped into the world of Zombie Village, greeted by that blood-red system window, only then did it feel like my day was properly ending.

Without even realizing I was slowly forgetting my thoughts about Miyoung—forgetting, too, the reason I’d started the game in the first place—I hummed to myself and stared at the screen.

“Where do I farm first today.”

A brain pickled in labor was more dangerous than you’d think. I logged in not to think about my character’s growth, but to agonize over whether it would be better to harvest corn or cabbage today.

Even though it was dawn, I could see a few alliance members moving in and out of alliance territory.

(Alliance) 0momo0: heyyyy~!

When I greeted them, the alliance members acknowledged me right away.

(Alliance) ShinJadu: welcome backkk

(Alliance) FUNK: hey hey

(Alliance) GoodLuck: yooo welcome~~

(Alliance) MouseTrap: welcome backkk!!!

(Alliance) 1Poop1: hiya

(Alliance) ShinJadu: ur on late today?? whatcha gonna do?_?

No matter how much they still suspected 0momo0 was a spy, that didn’t mean the alliance members treated me like trash or ignored me.

Right now, I was just a laborer. So a few of them would casually strike up conversation with 0momo0 while I quietly farmed or gathered.

(Alliance) 0momo0: logged on to harvest cooorrrnn haha

(Alliance) GoodLuck: oh my god again~?? u never rest~~ ur gonna burn out

(Alliance) CheersInMyEyes: LOL for real

(Alliance) 0momo0: haha today’s the day the corn grows!!!! if u make a lot u can make popcorn too!!!

(Alliance) 1Poop1: popcorn’s cost efficiency is f*cking terrible though

(Alliance) 0momo0: huh... rly????

(Alliance) 0momo0: i already bought a ton of popcorn boxes what do i do T_T T_T T_T

(Alliance) 1Poop1: if u eat it sometimes it’ll probably be f*cking delicious tho

(Alliance) FUNK: look at poop going soft

(Alliance) BBQ: LOLLOL if you bring them I’ll make you a lot of popcorn..

Watching 0momo0 was kind of... entertaining. He was being suspected as a spy, and because of that Miu kept dumping all kinds of work on him, and yet he still laughed like that—bright as anything.

(Alliance) 0momo0: it’ll be fun if we share it together! i heard there’s even an emote for it???

(Alliance) 0momo0: it’ll be so cute!!

Finding joy in even the smallest things. No matter how much your head tells you he might be the enemy, of course your guard starts to slip.

While I was laughing about popcorn, someone walked up beside me.

Dressed head to toe in black, with a miniaturized drone floating lazily above his head, and the only person in the entire game carrying the title “<47 Master>.”

(Alliance) 0momo0: miu!! hi!!!!!

Miu must have been playing without sleeping at dawn too—because he was here, in alliance territory.

“I was gonna say hi since he seemed online!”

He didn’t accept friend requests, so I couldn’t track his exact location, but if you had the walkie-talkie, you could at least tell whether an alliance member was logged in.

I’d gotten distracted by popcorn and hadn’t gone looking, but now that I’d spotted him, I was even happier. Like I had a tail stuck on my butt, I started trotting toward Miu the way I always did.

(Alliance) Miu: Welcome, Momo haha

I froze on the spot.

“What? Did I... see that wrong?”

The old days, when I had to cling to him forever just to barely get a greeting back. Even then, getting ignored was the default, and the rare days he actually replied were always the days I had to go gather an insane amount of stuff...

I closed my eyes once, then opened them and checked the chat again.

(Alliance) Miu: Welcome, Momo haha

A greeting. And even a “haha.”

“He... smiled at me?”

Today’s Miu was different. I worked my lips like I wanted to type something, but I couldn’t. I just sat there blinking— and it wasn’t only me who saw it.

(Alliance) KimFactory: ??what is this, is that my leader?

(Alliance) 1Poop1: d..right?? he’s like greeting people super hard;;

(Alliance) FUNK: what?? did u eat something wrong?? leader???

Normally Miu would’ve ignored 0momo0 completely, dumped a task on him, and left. So when he greeted me, everyone freaked out. And then, right then, something even crazier happened.

(Alliance) Miu: I didn’t eat anything haha

A hush dropped over the chat window. Like everyone had gone speechless, nobody said a thing—until suddenly the messages started pouring in.

(Alliance) FUNK: he def ate something wrong this is an emergency

(Alliance) ShinJadu: uh uh uh...?

(Alliance) KimFactory: my leader is answering????

Our leader, Miu, preferred keeping quiet. Unless it was important, he almost never spoke up or put himself out front. And he found typing kind of annoying too—half the time you had to ask the same thing over and over before he’d finally answer.

(Alliance) FUNK: no matter how many times I look it’s clear oh my god he smiled and replied fast too

(Alliance) GoodLuck: omg~???? why is miu replying so fast today??

(Alliance) FUNK: no seriously what is this?

(Alliance) ShinJadu: what.. what is it?? miu did something happen????

On top of that, him typing with a smile was apparently so rare that the other members looked just as stunned as I did.

Miu, meanwhile, stayed perfectly calm.

(Alliance) Miu: I was always like this haha

(Alliance) 1Poop1: ...d-d???;;;??? and he’s accepting THAT too???

(Alliance) MouseTrap: waaah! leader u must have something good happen!!! tell usss let’s laugh together!! hahaha

(Alliance) KimFactory: why is my leader like this it’s awkward why is it awkward!!!!

(Alliance) BBQ: seriously are we sure that’s miu??? LOLLOLLOL

Seeing Miu reply more than usual, the alliance members exploded.

I was just as shocked. And then—while I couldn’t say a thing and only stared at the screen—Miu walked up to me.

(Alliance) Miu: Momo

Oh my god. I hadn’t greeted him back at all.

Snapping to my senses, I immediately hit the interaction for “Bow,” flattened myself to the ground, then started typing a mile a minute.

(Alliance) 0momo0: um so...

(Alliance) 0momo0: did i do something good....???

(Alliance) 0momo0: or did u finally realize how i feel??????

Had everything been cleared up?

The instant I typed in my excitement, Miu answered coldly.

(Alliance) Miu: LOLno

But somehow, even with just those three characters, I could tell Miu was in an insanely good mood.

(Alliance) 0momo0: u smiled again

(Alliance) 0momo0: u smiled at me again i’m gonna diE

(Alliance) Miu: Ah

(Alliance) 0momo0: woaaah woaaah

Normally he wouldn’t even respond. So just seeing him react like that was enough to make me lose my mind.

(Alliance) 0momo0: this is like totally different from when u looked at me like i was an untouchable peasant

(Alliance) 0momo0: usually even if someone says hi u ignore them coolly and sometimes u just log off

(Alliance) 0momo0: sometimes when i chat u i’m like did i send a letter with a carrier pigeon.. or did i send a message through the modern miracle called the internet.. it gets confusing

(Alliance) 0momo0: cuz u reply sooo late

(Alliance) 0momo0: but what is this now?? why are u so fast?? and why are u so kind?

(Alliance) 0momo0: it’s like a warm iced americano!!

(Alliance) 1Poop1: wow

(Alliance) 1Poop1: that’s f*cking good wordplay