Seoul Escape Plan (1)
I headed to the shower room first and washed off. The warm water finally brought me back to my senses.
"Here, eat this."
"Thanks."
Slurp. I got by on a cup of instant ramen handed over by Jeong Suhyun for what passed as both lunch and dinner. The day was already darkening.
"...So, what's your plan now?"
Jeong Suhyun, changed into comfortable clothes, asked me.
"Beats me."
It felt like my goal had suddenly vanished. I'd assumed Rocket Mart would have survivors, but it turned out to house that goddamn Ruin Fragment, which seemed tied to the Status Window and the apocalypse. So I'd set my sights there.
Now what?
But the Ruin Oracle I'd actually obtained was just one cryptic phrase. Plus, since I'd taken out the enemy with firebombing, all we'd seen of the bastard in the mart was a silhouette.
Which meant I hadn't gained much.
For starters, collecting Ruin Fragments would make me stronger. Sure, gathering all ten might yield clues about this mess, but who knows.
They're probably scattered across the country—no, the whole world.
This time might've just been dumb luck. Call it a freebie. If we'd gone straight into the mart as originally planned, it could've been disastrous. I had no idea what abilities that silhouette had, but just handling the armed guards from Yeoseot was proof enough it was dangerous.
So that's why the military never made it up here.
The fact that there were at least nine types of those monsters was bad news. Didn't that mean more of them were lurking somewhere we didn't know about?
But I couldn't just hole up in Northdong forever. My goal was still reuniting with my family. Now that I knew those things existed, I had to get back to my hometown fast.
For now...
I assessed the situation objectively. What I'd gained from this incident was leveling up from Mage (Beginner) to Mage (Intermediate). I wasn't sure what the "Intermediate" meant exactly, but I'd acquired a new skill, and my mana pool and regen had doubled. I could now fire off nearly four times as many Ice Spears—104 shots. Excluding the mana occupied by Ashes Veil, that came out to about 100 per five hours.
So I saw a path forward.
"We have to escape Northdong... no, Seoul."
"...From here?"
"Yeah." I gulped down the ramen broth and told Jeong Suhyun, "What about you, Suhyun? What's your plan?"
"...Me?"
"Yeah, doesn't matter now, right? What're you gonna do?"
"....."
"If you've got nothing, come with me."
Jeong Suhyun shut his mouth. He'd caught the layers in my words. Murder, armed groups, survivors, and him left alone. Whether his story was true or not, the survivors were all dead, and he was a functional one left behind.
So this was basically an invitation. Join me. I won't hold it against you—let's team up.
"Guess I should head out too."
He nodded. A positive response.
"No matter how much food we've got, it'll run out eventually. And besides..."
Jeong Suhyun continued, "Infrastructure's about to collapse soon anyway."
I tilted my head.
He explained. "You know about underground cabling?"
"...Burying power poles in the ground?"
"Right. Fifty percent of Seoul's already done it, Northdong included. That's why power from the substations is still holding up."
True enough.
"But the more poles there are, the more likely power's already out. Just look at the fires this time—nearby poles are probably fried. Birds or animals on the lines could cut it too."
"...So basically, no maintenance means it's fucked."
"Exactly. Water too."
Seoul, far from power plants and substations, would lose electricity first, not last. Water would follow. Unmaintained systems would shut down soon. Sewage and water facilities needed human oversight, and without power, even pumping from tanks wouldn't work, he said.
"...Plus, I wanna see my family."
His face darkened. It dragged me down too—thoughts of my parents and grandma. Were they okay?
"Ah."
As the mood soured, Jeong Suhyun cleared his throat and forced some energy.
"Ahem. So yeah, gotta go find family. No roads? We'll walk."
"Right. Yeah."
"I'm just glad you invited me. Feels like we've got some asymmetric power now."
"Same here. Gotta find my family too."
He smiled. I smiled back.
"Looking forward to it."
"You too."
We shook hands. Three days since we met, and a sliver of trust had formed. Even without trust, we were useful to each other. He wanted my magic; I needed his eyes. Going solo from here would be poison. I'm human—I sleep, eat, rest sometimes. Having someone to watch for danger and take night shifts was crucial.
Same for him. Plus, we shared a goal: head home for family.
So we decided to leave.
"Rest up today, talk tomorrow. I'll crash in the next room."
"Sure. Get some sleep. I'm beat too."
"Call if anything comes up."
"Got it."
Not leaving today, of course. Neither of us had the energy beyond eating and sleeping. We both knew tomorrow would get busy again.
With that, I closed my eyes in the room next to Jeong Suhyun's on the fourth floor.
=====
The next day, Jeong Suhyun and I gathered in his fourth-floor room to figure out how to escape Seoul.
"Hm..."
He spread out a national map he'd found on the first floor of the office and said, "Northdong really has no clear way out."
True. Northdong sat slightly north of central Seoul, between North and South Districts. Post-outbreak, escape routes were a pipe dream.
I pointed left of Northdong—along the road from Rocket Mart.
"What about skirting Bukhansan? Stick to the mountain paths."
"No way. Getting there is one thing, but even if you exit the mountains, you're in the city center."
Fair point. I studied the map. Even taking the right trails down from Bukhansan, you'd hit blocked roads around Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul.
"Tch... What about the subway?"
Taking the station meant Line 4 to Gwacheon.
"...Not bad, but too risky."
Jeong Suhyun shook his head.
"It's been fourteen days. Seoul's water and sewage systems are probably failing by now."
"...No way."
"'No way' is what kills people. Power's holding for now, but who knows when it snaps."
He went on: Modern water systems rely on electricity; no power means no water. Sewage and graywater were worse. You could drown in a flooded subway. All that stuff needed human management, and week two of the apocalypse was too late.
"Then what?"
It was frustrating. No subway. No mountains. What options did that leave?
Then Jeong Suhyun said seriously, "We move slow. Secure waypoints as we go."
"Waypoints?"
"Yeah. Minimize food use, clear zombies slowly along resupply routes, bypass them where possible, claim safe spots, and leapfrog south. Most realistic option."
I grimaced. It'd take forever.
But... it had the highest odds.
Two of us won't burn through supplies fast. And we can handle surprises.
Just one extra person covers blind spots. Like how Jeong Suhyun spotted those two zombies under the SUV on the way up from the mart.
"...Sounds good."
"Right. So we push south fast—before the power dies."
He was cold now. No more trembling about staying put. He'd faced reality.
Probably triggered by going out with me.
Didn't matter. Him snapping out of it was a win for me.
I nodded and asked, "So, where first?"
"...I've got a spot in mind."
He pointed to a section of the map.
"...Yuseong University? A college campus?"
It was Yuseong University, Korea's second-best school at the edge of Southdong.
"Not heading there first."
Jeong Suhyun traced from the back gate.
"See this? Follow the road down, and it pops up right away."
"...That's Yuseong University."
"Yeah. And up here."
His finger went north along the road—to Northdong Station, the one he'd mentioned before.
"From the church, follow the road down to Northdong Station. From there, down to Yuseong University. And this road? It's a one-way walled path."
He continued, eyeing me. "Secure this route, and we can claim Benefit Mart near Yuseong."
"...Leapfrog waypoints south?"
"Exactly. And... avoid spots like that freakshow this time."
The plan: Resupply near safe zones with each move.