Four individuals ran fast yet silently, namely Hyun Reeve, Min Jae, Soo-min, and Joon-ho. Their destination, Jen Subway Station, was just in sight. Once they entered the underground station, they would be safe... temporarily.
Of course, nothing ever goes that smoothly.
A frantic shout pierced the air. A boy, maybe a year or two younger than Min Jae, stumbled into view, his feet pounding the cracked pavement. He waved his arms, breath ragged, his voice carrying through the chaos.
"Help! Somebody, please!"
The sound carried further than he realized. Hyun's eyes snapped toward the noise. Two monsters, grotesque and hulking, jumped from behind a bus, their elongated limbs swinging, claws scraping concrete. They were fast, and the boy had drawn them straight to the group.
"Shit," Hyun hissed, teeth grinding. Min Jae shivered instinctively. Soo-min grabbed his arm, tight enough to leave bruises, eyes wide with fear. Joon-ho stammered something incomprehensible, but Hyun held up a hand.
"Run. Now," Hyun ordered, voice low, urgent. He didn't move forward. Instead, he planted himself squarely in the monsters' path.
The boy skidded to a halt beside them, eyes wild, body shaking. "I. I'm, I." he panted, tripping over his own feet.
Hyun's coat flared as he swung his sword in a blur, a swift arc cutting through the air with a metallic hiss. Sparks erupted from the pavement where the monsters' claws struck. The first beast shrieked, an unnatural sound that scraped against Min Jae's eardrums, while Hyun's sword met it with a satisfying clang. The second lunged, and Hyun twisted, slashing the air and connecting with the monster's arm.
"GO!" he barked, shoving the boy forward.
The four didn't need to be told twice.
Min Jae's legs burned as he ran, Soo-min and Joon-ho close beside him, and the boy limped, staggering, but kept up as best he could. The city blurred around them, twisted by smoke and fire. Their path narrowed to the subway entrance, the grate yawning below like the mouth of some sleeping beast.
They dove down the stairs, feet pounding metal steps. The distant shrieks of the monsters behind them collided with the echoing noise of the subway: trains groaning in the dark, the hum of fluorescent lights, and the clatter of panicked people.
When they reached the platform, Min Jae barely had a moment to catch his breath. The station was packed. Dozens of people huddled together, some crying, some shaking, all pressed close in terror and relief. They were lucky enough to had found this temporary haven.
Min Jae's eyes swept over the crowd. Faces pale, wide-eyed, hopeful... or maybe just too exhausted to hope at all. Behind him, the boy sank to the floor, trembling, as if the act of running alone had nearly broken him.
Soo-min clutched the boy's shoulder, whispering something soft, while Joon-ho leaned against the wall, panting, shaking. Min Jae could barely process it all, still focused on the echo of Hyun's curse as he stayed behind to hold the monsters at bay.
It almost felt like an eternity. But whatever time it was, Hyun finally appeared descending the stairs. He seemed tired, yet he was unscathed.
He approached Min Jae and the others. "Everyone alright?" He said pushing back a strands of hair.
They all nodded in union. "Ok." Hyun continued, "In a few hours, the monsters will retreat, and it'll be safe to gather supplies. For now, I've killed the surrounding monsters. You should probably sleep."
"Retreat? Really, how do you know of this?" Joon-ho asked.
"It's a long story. Another day." Hyun checked his watch, frowned and then said, "A few more hours."
...
..
.
Min Jae woke up to the sound of rustling. He squinted his eyes. Opening bit by bit, it was Hyun, putting on his coat. It felt early for Min Jae, too early. "What is happening?" He said, wondering if the monsters has somehow decided to enter underground.
"I have to gather supplies, find transport, and keep moving. " he said, checking his watch.
"Can I come too? You saved my life. I can help."
Hyun stopped for a second, thinking it over. Finally, he answered. "Ok, fine, but stick close, got it? And what kind of system did you awaken? Is it useful."
Min Jae's breath hitched. He willed his system interface to appear.
『SYSTEM ERROR. CORRUPTED』
He couldn't possibly say his system was corrupt now, could he? He saw first hand what Hyun did back in the train. If he reveled that his system was displaying corrupted, would he let him live?
Just as Min Jae was about to come up with a lie, Joon-ho, who had apparently heard part of the conversation, chipped in, "I want to come too."
In a few minutes, the three men, Min Jae, Hyun Reeve and Joon-ho were at the entrance of the subway station. There was barely any light at all. It was still very early in the morning. The breeze even felt a bit cold. And Min Jae a bit hungry. "We'll be back. Don't go anywhere." Hyun said, this he told to Soo-min and Yulu Kang, the boy who almost got them killed yesterday. The boys had decided to leave her with Yulu Kang. They would just quickly grab some food from abandoned convenience stores and return.
The three men stepped out, the cool air brushed their faces. "Alright, the wave of monsters arrives mid morning. I'd say about 5 hours till then. Let's move."
Hyun, Joon-ho, and Min Jae stepped into the city. The mist clung to every corner, curling around broken streetlights and the twisted skeletons of abandoned vehicles. Silence swallowed the streets whole, thick and suffocating, broken only by distant, hollow groans of people too weak, or too dead, to move. Rustling leaves, the snap of a loose sign in the wind, the faint hiss of something wet in a gutter....every sound made Min Jae's heart hammer faster.
They moved like shadows, careful, tense, each step a whisper on cracked asphalt. Min Jae's eyes darted to every shadow, every abandoned doorway, imagining the grotesque shapes that might lurk just out of view. A corpse slumped across a sidewalk, one arm stretched as if reaching for help that would never come. Another, face frozen in a silent scream, twisted at an impossible angle. The city was a gallery of horrors, the mist painting everything in ghostly grey.
Hyun finally stopped and held up a hand. "Joon-ho, Min Jae… spread out. Look for a car. We can't keep moving on foot like this." His voice was calm, authoritative, but there was no mistaking the edge of concern behind it.
Min Jae nodded, swallowing his fear. Hyun's confidence about the monsters' schedule—mid-morning, was supposed to be reassuring, but every shadow, every creaking sign, every shape in the mist made him doubt it. He moved slowly down the street, passing battered cars. Most had punctured tires, smashed hoods, or roofs caved in from debris. Some still reeked of smoke or oil, others held the faint stench of blood and death.
Finally, a sharp call cut through the haze. "Here!" Hyun's voice carried, clear and firm.
Min Jae and Joon-ho sprinted toward it. They found Hyun standing beside a car, the body almost untouched. The tires were full, the windows intact. It looked… out of place, pristine amid the ruin. Min Jae's pulse kicked up a notch as he ran closer, every instinct screaming that danger could be waiting behind the next corner, or inside that very car.
The three now surrounded the car. It looked functional, it was unscathed and it definitely would run. There was just one problem.
It was manual transmission.
Hyun smirked, "Anyone know how to drive?"