The war is over.

However, the end of the war did not mean everything returned to normal.

Collapsed buildings, scorched earth, and ash scattering with every gust of wind. The streets where people once lived were now filled only with broken concrete fragments, and human voices were nowhere to be heard.

Guest walked through that desolate land alone.

As a soldier who had taken up arms to protect the nation, he was tasked with finding survivors after the war. But even after wandering for days, it was difficult to find a single intact house, let alone a living person.

That day was no different.

It happened just as he was staring at the horizon of endless ruins.

A faint glimmer caught his eye in a corner of his vision.

At first, he thought it was a shard of glass left among the wreckage.

But as he drew closer, he realized it was a massive vinyl dome.

And inside—

There were flowers.

Countless flowers.

In the middle of a desolate world, that place alone looked fresh, as if time had stopped. Red roses bloomed under the sunlight streaming through the transparent dome, while purple violets and white flowers harmonized with one another. Vines growing along the ceiling and walls enveloped the garden like an ancient forest.

Every time the wind seeped through small gaps, the scent of flowers drifted faintly.

It was a landscape far too alien for a world filled with death and ruins.

Guest stepped into the dome slowly, as if possessed.

In that moment, the thick scent of flowers brushed against his nose.

And at the innermost part of the garden.

A person was tending to the flowers.

The hands carefully tidying stray branches, removing withered leaves, and tilling the soil were surprisingly calm.

Jung Yi-won.

He was the one who had protected this garden alone at the end of this desolate world.

Even after the war took everything away, Yi-won did not give up on the flowers.

It was because he believed people needed something to hold onto in their hearts.

It wasn't guns, weapons, or massive walls.

Just a single small flower.

He believed that as long as flowers bloomed, one could remember a reason to live, no matter how cruel the world became.

So he built the vinyl dome alone, gathered soil from the ruins, and planted the remaining seeds.

He watered them day by day.

He waited for the sprouts to emerge.

And finally, this place became the only peaceful spot in the world.

Yi-won had created the garden to survive.

But at some point—

He began living for the garden.

He finished pruning the last rose and looked up.

Their eyes met.

It was only for a brief moment.

Yet, strangely, Guest could not look away.

A person so vivid amidst the ruins.

Standing among the flowers, he looked so unrealistic, as if he shouldn't exist in this world.

Though he had faced countless people on the battlefield, he had never felt this way before.

At the end of a world that had been filled with gunfire and screams.

The first peace he had encountered.

And the person standing at the center of that peace.

Guest realized in that moment.

It wasn't that he had discovered this place—

But perhaps he had been drawn to this garden all along.