The survivors were finally able to sleep late at night, after the zombie wave had been dealt with.

While the survivors were fast asleep, Kim Hyeong-Jun, Do Han-Sol, and I reinforced our lookouts and gathered in front of the campfire.

Kim Hyeong-Jun, staring at the faint sparks that scattered from the burning firewood, spoke first.

“Ahjussi, the little mutant we saw…”

"Yeah."

“What do you think it was?”

"Judging by the way it looked, I’m assuming it’s a stage-two mutant.”

I kept my expression blank as I stared into the fire. Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed toward the night sky and smacked his lips. His expression grew bitter.

“Do you really think it was a kid? I think it kept on saying ‘It’s my turn’ as if it was the tagger.”

“It’s possible. If its desire is to play tag.”

“...”

No one spoke for a while. Although the creature it had turned into was a monster, the fact that its essence was a child’s made me question the way I was supposed to feel about it.

Do Han-Sol chucked more firewood into the fire and muttered to himself.

“Double-income…”

“Double-income?”

I raised my eyebrows, repeating his words as a question. Do Han-Sol smacked his lips and spoke up.

“There were a lot of kids like that when I used to volunteer at daycare. Both of their parents worked, and they were left alone with us after all their friends went back home early.”

“...”

“What I noticed when I observed those children…...