Alex walked out of the building feeling no sense of accomplishment.

  It’s hard to when he didn’t get the answers he wanted, but instead a haze was wrapped around the information he already knew.

  The doctor had no previous impression in Alex’s mind, so he couldn’t say whether the man had changed or not.

  Alex felt he was suspicious and had a natural wary feeling towards the doctor.

  It’s hard not to when the man effortlessly portrays a calm fanatic.

  It always feels like there’s another meaning behind each smile and each little movement.

  An inside joke known only to the doctor.

  Polite yet distant.

  Truthful and sincere in tone and demonstration, yet everything he says leaves one doubtful.

  A man hidden behind a fog, hard to read.

  Alex rubbed his head in frustration, feeling like he had taken a step back.

  Firstly, the crazy woman from his past life had disappeared.

  A strong man came out of nowhere to rescue her.

  Accomplice? It doesn’t seem like it with the way the doctor described it.

  Though having confidence that the doctor would know Seo Rina should be a bit far-fetched.

  According to the words spoken about Seo Rina, she should have been someone with a bad reputation in the hospital.

  To that, Alex wasn’t too surprised.

  A normal woman certainly wouldn’t grow into such a wicked woman in the future.

  As such, Seo Rina with a bad reputation must have been ostracized by the staff.

  He doubted the doctor would choose to be close to her while she was in such an embarrassing position.

  Plus, he seemed quite preoccupied with the matter of Shae Harris.

  Who knows, maybe Seo Rina had friends outside — even a lover would be possible.

  In any case, she isn’t here and is being protected by someone strong.

  Although revenge should be taken, it doesn’t seem fair to do it to a woman who hasn’t done anything yet.

  Alex paid attention to news about a rampaging crazy doctor, but there wasn’t any.

  Come to think of it, there were also four other women with an equal reputation of killing masses for no reason.

  Alex hadn’t heard about any of them.

  He had a conjecture that the mysterious man who took Seo Rina probably took the others too.

  Whether good or bad, that stands to be seen.

  So far, it has been for good.

  So Alex focused on the most important thing: going home.

  And to go home, he had followed a trail to the doctor.

  Now that doctor had led him to another person — Shae Harris.

  A teenager, almost an adult.

  According to the file he had seen, she had been sick for a very long time.

  Since she was a child.

  Yet she had survived with a terminal illness for a long time.

  And had retained her cheerful spirit just as long.

  At least, that’s what Paul claimed.

  The doctor hinted that her cheerful demeanor was a fa?ade.

  He described it as something darker being hidden beneath the surface.

  In truth, Shae Harris was a psychopath who had given up on life.

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  She was someone who wanted others to lose hope too.

  But does that really make her cruel?

  It isn’t easy to judge a person who has been on the brink of death for more than ten years.

  Normal standards might mean nothing to such a person.

  Life becomes a burden and death a sweet release.

  Alex felt like he couldn’t condemn her for refusing treatment.

  Some people just can’t stand the idea of hope.

  They have lived in the darkness for so long that just a little ray of light burns their skin.

  And because of that, they avoid such a light like it was a plague.

  It all comes down to choice at the end of the day.

  A person’s choice stems from a mixture of unique experiences that only they have gone through.

  To other people, it might be nonsense or foolish.

  But to the person who has actually lived the problem, that choice is their most optimum solution.

  Their actions accompanying that choice are also due to their own personality.

  Alex pursed his lips and decided to meet the person.

  Finding a teenager would be hard in the apocalypse.

  But he believed the doctor’s last words as he left his office must be a hint.

  Just to be sure, he decided to talk to Paul first.

  That guy might be an idiot, but he’s a truthful one.

  Alex wandered around the hospital until he found Paul handing out food to a man who seemed injured.

  “Where do you get the food from?” Alex asked curiously. He noticed that Paul did this frequently — helping others, that is.

  “Why, do you want to donate and help others?” Paul jumped up.

  Alex kicked him down before he could stand upright, and Paul fell.

  Alex resisted the urge to kick the fallen man and walked over to a secluded spot after winking at him to follow.

  “So I guess that’s a no.” Paul rubbed his back and sat on the ground.

  “What do you think of Shae Harris?” Alex rolled his eyes and asked directly.

  “A good kid,” Paul chuckled.

  “Be more specific.” Alex frowned.

  “She had a big heart. Unfortunately, I was quite sad that I couldn’t steer her to the faith before we parted,” Paul said sadly.

  “Are you sure she wasn’t hiding anything not so nice?” Alex pressed him.

  “No. I can make an oath with my life that she was a good person,” Paul said with a serious face.

  “People can change, and no one reveals everything in their heart,” Alex said meaningfully.

  “You’re right, but I believe in my judgement,” Paul shook his head.

  “Well, I believe in what I see personally.” Alex turned to leave.

  “Wait!” Paul grabbed his shoulder.

  “What do you want?” Alex thought he had remembered something.

  “What do you want to do?” Paul asked anxiously.

  “None of your concern.” Alex narrowed his eyes and shook him off.

  Surprisingly, Paul’s hands were holding tighter than he thought.

  This idiot is quite strong, huh. Alex glanced back at Paul and glared.

  “I have a bad feeling that you want to meet Shae Harris,” Paul said.

  “And if I do, does that concern you, or are you my mother?” Alex turned back and grabbed Paul’s arm.

  “You can speak to her if you want to, but I have to stop you if you want to bring her back here.” Paul merely glanced at Alex’s hand holding his arm but didn’t let go.

  “Are we familiar? What right do you have to stop me?” Alex squeezed Paul’s arm.

  “I just have a bad feeling about this. Why don’t you calm down and think it over,” Paul winced and grabbed Alex’s arm instead.

  “Let go of me before I kill you. I’ve tolerated you long enough.” Alex clenched his fist.

  “Kill, kill, kill. Is that the only thing you can think of?” Paul retorted.

  “No, I have many ways to torture you,” Alex sneered.

  Paul tried to wrap his body around Alex.

  But Alex was alert and threw a punch.

  The sound of a fist hitting flesh was loud.

  Alex froze, and a sense of guilt washed over him for the first time after hitting someone.

  He snorted and turned to leave, but someone wouldn’t give up and entangled his leg.

  “You love a beating, don’t you?” Alex spat.

  “And that is the only thing you can think of,” Paul retorted with a swollen cheek.

  “You—” Alex was about to curse but was interrupted.

  “Or maybe you’re just afraid. Afraid of your own cowardice and helplessness…”

  “Shut up.” Alex felt the violent aggressive thoughts emerge.

  “Do you think just because you have a bigger fist you can win? Sorry to inform you that you’re only digging yourself deeper into the abyss…” Paul continued.

  “Shut up or I’ll kill you.” Veins bulged on Alex’s forehead as his bloodshot eyes turned to Paul.

  Paul shrank back and stammered the rest:

  “The truth is that you can never be free as long as you remain the way you are.”

  Just as Paul spoke, Alex sent a full-powered kick to him.

  Paul flew back, spurting out blood.

  “What do you think you know about my burden and the reason for my rage?” Alex said with a voice full of calm aggression.

  “I understand more than you think, because I lost someone.

  She was also very sick, but she could live as a normal person as long as she took her drugs on time.

  I met her on missionary work at this same hospital.

  I was attracted to the smile on her face even when they denied her admission into the Special Disease Center.

  I wanted to comfort her at the time, but I got embarrassed when I saw she wasn’t crying.

  We crossed paths a few more times when she would stop by the hospital to get her drugs.

  We grew close after I realized that she went to the same church I did.

  We eventually got close enough to develop a relationship.

  I don’t know about her, but I was sure she was the love of my life sent by the Lord to me.

  I was happy, and we were happy.

  Then the apocalypse happened.

  I was at the hospital that day and had a bad feeling.

  The whole way, that bad feeling kept getting worse and worse till it was suffocating me.

  I ran all the way, avoiding people and zombies.

  Thinking back, I only made it through by the Lord’s grace.

  Especially when I reached the apartment — it was chaos from the zombie attacks.

  I managed to dodge them all and reach our apartment, slamming the door shut.

  I ran inside and bolted to her room.

  But I was met with a bat to my face instead.

  It turns out a group of people with ill intentions, fleeing from a zombie, had forced their way inside.

  They were residents of the building and knew she was sick, so they saw her as an easy target.

  They were attempting to capture my love and use her as bait.

  They heard me coming in and decided to add extra insurance.

  I begged them to at least let her take her drugs, but they refused, thinking it was a ploy to escape.

  Instead, they mocked me and forced me to watch the love of my life have a seizure.

  I watched the light fade out of her eyes and her smile lose its brightness.

  Those men realized I was being truthful and did not feel any guilt.

  Instead, they clicked their tongues and called it a waste.

  Then they threw her body out the window and into the streets.

  I went mad with rage and beat them all half to death while sustaining injuries.

  Actually, I had lived on the streets when I was young until I was taken in by a priest.

  Then I became his little altar boy, and he became the man I know as my father — a man who died a long time ago.

  So fighting again was strange, but I was past caring or realizing.

  The intruders begged me with tears in their eyes and snot running down their faces.

  They claimed they only wanted to survive and accused me of being hypocritical and selfish for trying to stop them.

  Amidst my anger, I laughed at their absurdity.

  They killed my love in such a cruel way, and yet they still blamed me.

  I stormed into the kitchen after that and brought back a knife to stab them.

  All knowledge about the Bible had been thrown away because I felt that God had abandoned me in my time of need.

  I felt so alone and angry at everything.

  Just then, I heard that same voice of the Holy Spirit.

  It was telling me that God didn’t abandon me, but I had chosen to believe that He had.

  Maybe God had been speaking to me since the beginning, but my emotions had already deemed me to be alone.

  I knew the answer in my head — that God had already been comforting me since I felt that bad feeling at the hospital.

  It wasn’t a warning, but the beginning of a comforting presence.

  I wailed and raged.

  I argued with the Spirit like a mad person but only received words of comfort.

  I knew what I should do next, but I felt like I didn’t have the strength to take that step.

  It seems like I didn’t need to, because those cruel men got strength from nowhere and bolted out.

  I could have followed them easily, and the struggle within myself was tearing me apart.

  But eventually I listened to the teachings of the Bible.

  I went downstairs in a soulless daze and carried her body in my arms.

  I took my car and drove straight for the church cemetery.

  I didn’t care whether I was attacked by zombies or people.

  All I could see was her bright smile and her peaceful face in my arms.

  I buried her in a spot where the light rays always seemed to hit.

  She would joke a lot about how she wanted to feel the sunlight even in death.

  But I thought that such a bright person should forever remain in the light.

  After that, I shut myself away and helped as many people as I could.

  Do you know why? Because I wanted to do anything to escape thinking about it.

  I got nightmares every day since that day and had to listen to gospel music just to fall asleep.

  Sometimes I would wonder why I was alive, with such a crushing depression that only loudly singing songs could stop me from breaking down.

  I persevered through it all because I needed to believe there was a purpose the Lord kept me alive till now.

  Then I met you, and I saw that same despair in you.

  I felt such a great joy that I couldn’t resist meeting you.

  It felt like I was alive for the first time and everything was clear.

  All I had gone through must have been to meet you,

  Alex.”