Advent (1)

Advent (1) — Seoul Metropolitan City, Guro-gu Safe Zone

"Rescue... rescue, huh."

Could what was happening right now really be called a rescue? If so, then what had he been abducted from, and who exactly had rescued him? Everything was unclear.

A single blink. He had closed his eyes once — just once — and opened them to find himself sitting slumped on the floor of some strange room.

In his unsettled vision, he could make out a man. A white garment designed with an unmistakably religious flair. A face strangely blurred, hard to see clearly.

"Wh-where am I?"

He asked, fighting down his fear, but no answer came.

Then, the woman from next door — someone he'd only ever nodded to in passing — let out a scream. At the end of her gaze hung a grotesque white corpse. Black blood trickled down flesh shriveled like a dried persimmon, soaking into the floor.

"Wh-what the hell iiiiis—! Th-that's, that's bloooood!"

It was a completely different thing from the red blood that flowed from a lightly cut finger. The black color, chilling to even look at, held something his mind could not begin to judge or categorize.

An incomprehensible man, and an incomprehensible situation. Kim Jiho's instinct urged him to flee.

He half accepted that instinct, and half rejected it. Bracing himself against the unidentified man, he hid the woman behind his back, and as she finally registered the man's presence and screamed, he proposed a negotiation. He invoked the system that had propped up society and kept them all safe.

The man didn't answer. With an unsettling smile, he simply opened the way outside.

...Now's my chance!

Kim Jiho ran. The moment the side path opened, without so much as a backward glance, at full sprint. He passed the shoe lockers, passed the corridor of front doors — every single one of them hanging open — through a hallway that was silent in a way that felt deeply wrong. The sobbing of the neighbor woman trailed behind him in that unnaturally quiet corridor. And so did footsteps, following at a leisurely stroll, as if on a morning walk.

Conscious of a sound that neither grew closer nor farther away no matter how fast he ran, he pushed himself faster still.

"Gyaaaaaaah!"

The shocking scene that greeted him at last brought him crashing to his knees. A feast of corpses, heads and torsos severed from one another. His vision lurched violently; he felt sick with dizziness, vomit clawing up his throat. But he couldn't stop.

Tap... tap...

Because the one responsible for this scene — one hundred percent certain — was coming.

Kim Jiho ran, screaming. Shrugging off the woman's voice calling for him to wait, fleeing the towering forty-something-story apartment building. His breath ragged and gasping, he crossed past Building 101 and out to the front gate of the Fresian Apartments.

"...Huh?"

And there he was, reunited with a city that had fallen asleep. Everything that matched his memory was nothing more than a shell. The convenience store he frequented, the restaurant he visited every evening to pick up side dishes, the cars on the road that had made him grumble about why a short street needed so many crosswalks — all of it. An empty world where everything had vanished. The world he had lived in had gone to sleep.

As his voice died in his throat with hollow futility, a familiar color reflected across his retinas. The black blood he'd seen pooled around that rolled-up corpse now blotted out the entire sky.

"A wall. But a wall that does not open."

It was the first time he heard the man's voice. When Kim Jiho slowly turned his head, the man was already standing beside him, gazing up at the black barrier. Into a city fallen silent, everyone asleep. Someone who was the only one left awake.

"Wh-who are you, mister?"

Kim Jiho asked who he was — the most obvious question in the world, all things considered. The man smiled at him. A benevolent smile, ill-fitting the image of a cold-blooded killer, and then he spoke: that he was their guardian and their guide. That he was the Cult Leader of the One Heart Salvation Cult.

...He's insane.

Of all the people left alive, it had to be some crackpot pseudo-religious fanatic. It was such a nebulous, pie-in-the-sky answer that Kim Jiho swallowed a long sigh. Still, he didn't let his displeasure show. If that man had created the horrific scenes he'd passed through, then any act of rebellion would only get him killed.

The Q&A concluded with nothing of nutritional value, and the cult leader began to walk somewhere. For the first time, he was walking ahead of them, not expecting them to follow. There was no choice. Kim Jiho gave a small nod to the neighbor woman, who was staring back at him with eyes full of confusion. If that cultist had wanted to kill us, he'd have done it already. For now, let's follow him. When it came to survival, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gathering information came before everything else.

And so began the awkward companionship of a cult leader walking far ahead, and a man and woman trailing at a distance. Three sets of footsteps woke a city so dead that not even an ant's passage could have been heard. On the pedestrian walkway, empty of any soul, the man and woman exchanged awkward glances and belated smiles, and began their belated introductions.

"Ha, haha— it's, it's really quiet, isn't it."

"More than that... um..."

"Ah, I'm Kim Jiho."

"Oh! Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Jiwoo. Um, more importantly, is it really okay to follow that man?"

Lee Jiwoo. Kim Jiho repeated the neighbor woman's name in his head as he stared at the cult leader. From earlier until now, there hadn't been the slightest hesitation in his footsteps as he walked toward some destination.

"The way he talks is exactly like a cultist. I've never even heard of this One Heart Salvation Cult thing."

Lee Jiwoo suddenly stepped close and whispered right into his ear, and every hair on his body stood on end. He was extremely flustered, but he didn't really deny the question. Even to himself, that man did seem like someone whose screws had come entirely loose. Still—

"Let's follow him for now. He seems to be the only person who knows what's going on."

"Uuuu— this is scary. You saw those bodies earlier, right?"

"Y-yeah, I did."

"This is exactly the kind of time when the people who are left need to stick together. I'm only going to trust you, Jiho. That's okay, right? Riiight?"

Lee Jiwoo, who had already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been standing close, leaned in a little further and asked him. The sliver of cleavage revealed so that only Kim Jiho could see it turned his face apple-red. Watching him nod his head like something had short-circuited, Lee Jiwoo beamed and opened her mouth again.

"Anyway, where do you think we're going? If we keep walking like this, it'd be Hang-dong, right?"

"That's right. The area with all those mixed-use residential high-rises."

The place where land prices had risen so absurdly that he couldn't have forgotten it if he tried. Just as they'd predicted, the man's footsteps led toward Hang-dong. Luxury apartments everyone had once gazed at with envy lined up in succession.

"...What's that? The ground is red."

Lee Jiwoo was right — the man was walking toward a place where the ground itself was dyed crimson. They followed slowly behind him for the time being.

Thonk—!

"Oof!"

The moment Kim Jiho set foot in the red zone, his body was flung backward as if by something invisible. At the pathetic sound of him rolling across the ground, the man who'd been walking far ahead even turned around to come back.

"A-are you okay, Jiho?"

"Ahh, yeah. Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Kim Jiho gave Lee Jiwoo an embarrassed smile at her concern, and fixed his gaze on the man. The man's eyes weren't looking at them but at empty air, darting busily back and forth. And in perfect sync with his pupils returning to their place, the red zone shifted exquisitely to green.

Exquisitely?

No. Kim Jiho's eyes flashed as he watched the man walk on, indifferent as ever. That man... there's something he can see that we can't.

Kim Jiho carefully filed away the first clue he'd obtained, then stepped into the green zone. This time, he wasn't thrown backward like before. Following quickly in the man's wake once more, he studied his back at a measured pace — or more precisely, collected whatever fragments of a clue the man might let slip.

The man entered a mixed-use residential tower faced in glass. Following them in, the doors opened automatically, then closed. Tap... tap... The luxurious marble flooring amplified their footsteps. But soon, their footsteps had no choice but to stop entirely. The man who had been walking ahead of them had, for the first time, stopped in the center of the lobby.

"Um, mister! Where did everyone go? Th-the rescue teams, and...?"

Lee Jiwoo asked the man in a voice far more terrified than the one she'd used on Kim Jiho. Feeling a strange, inexplicable swell of pride, Kim Jiho waited for the man's answer too.

"You two are the only people here. From tomorrow, there may be a few more."

"What? Um... is there someplace where people are gathered? A-a shelter, or..."

"Look outside, Lee Jiwoo."

The man called her by a name she had never given him. Startled, Lee Jiwoo followed the finger pointing out the window. Toward a city with nothing left in it.

"In Guro-gu, there is only you two, and me."

"Th-then the rescue teams, when are the rescue teams coming? The police, or the military, or..."

"Look outside, Lee Jiwoo."

His finger pointed a little higher. The pitch-black, bloodlike barrier of unknown origin. And he repeated the same words.

"In Guro-gu, there is only you two, and me."

"Y-you know something, don't you? That's why you can be so calm, right? Couldn't you share it with us too?"

"You seem to have a lot of questions."

"O-of course I do! Um... are you angry, by any chance?"

As if recalling the horrific scene from earlier, Lee Jiwoo's voice trembled violently. The man gave a soft chuckle at the sight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of her, and backed away slowly, the way one might soothe a startled puppy.

"Not at all. On the contrary — asking questions is a very fine way of coming to know the truth. And that truth will set you free."

"Uh... h-haha—."

Lee Jiwoo smiled awkwardly and shot Kim Jiho a pleading look. He picked up on the distress signal instantly and stepped forward.

"Why did you bring us here?!"

He deliberately tensed his shoulders and demanded in a voice that came from deep in his gut. At the quiet gaze of the man studying him, the tension in his shoulders drained away on its own. Watching Kim Jiho stammer and retreat another step, the man spoke.

"Did I not tell you? That I am your guardian, and your guide."

"...What?"

"We are family now, and this place is our home."

In an utterly calm voice, the man spat out an answer so madcap they couldn't possibly comprehend it. Watching the two of them, at a loss either way, the man smiled brightly. Then he pointed at the ceiling and said, gently:

"Savor your safety, and find yourselves a resting place. If you grow hungry, come to this place. I will remain here."

With those words, he sat down on a bench behind him. While Kim Jiho tilted his head at the somewhat absurd guest farewell, Lee Jiwoo tapped him and nudged him along.

"G-go. Who knows what'll happen if we stay with him any longer."

"Ah, yes. Right."

Kim Jiho, dragged along for a moment, then walked alongside her. When they reached the elevator in the lobby, Lee Jiwoo pressed the button as naturally as breathing. Neither the up button nor the down button lit up.

"...Is the power out?"

At the question soaked through with bewilderment, Kim Jiho didn't have much to offer either. After pressing the button several more times to no effect, the two of them veered toward the emergency stairs right beside it. As they opened the emergency door, they heard the man's voice.

"Savor your safety."

"...What is he even saying."

Glancing at Lee Jiwoo's small grumbling, Kim Jiho looked back. The face of the man smiling faintly at them refused to leave his head for quite a long while.

"That man must be seriously out of his mind! Calling himself a cult leader — he's definitely a cultist, right?"

Lee Jiwoo asked loudly as Kim Jiho climbed the stairs in a daze. How her voice shot up the moment the man was out of sight worried him deeply.

"Ji-Jiwoo. Could you keep it down a little..."

"It's fine! We're far enough that there's no way he can hear."

"Still... he knew your name without hearing it, remember? It seemed like he heard everything we said back there..."

"Oh..."

With her face showing one hundred percent undiluted mortification, Lee Jiwoo quickened her pace up the stairs. Following her as she took the steps two and three at a time as if flying, Kim Jiho spoke up.

"Ji-Jiwoo. If he wanted to kill us, wouldn't he have done it already?"

"You seriously never shut up, do you! Did—did the emergency door open?"

"Uh... no."

"Ugh... I swear I don't understand a single thing about today!"

Lee Jiwoo, venting her frustration in full, flung open the 4th-floor door where the apartment units began.

Upon entering the 4th floor, luxury apartments with front doors hanging wide open greeted Kim Jiho and Lee Jiwoo.

"All the doors are open, at least. Just in case anything happens, how about we rest here instead of going too far from the 1st floor?"

"Yes, good idea."

"First I should try calling my mom and my little siblings. Come to think of it, I don't even have my phone. Ugh— most houses don't even use landlines these days, but maybe this one has one."

Lee Jiwoo stepped into the first apartment, its front door wide open. As she was taking off her shoes at the shoe locker, she caught Kim Jiho about to follow her in and fixed him with a narrowed, blade-sharp glare.

"Jiho. There are plenty of houses wide open right next door. You weren't seriously thinking of coming in here, were you?"

"...What? Ah! N-no, of course not! I-I'm, I'm sorry!"

"We're not at that stage yet, are we? Right?"

"Ahaha— r-right. Not yet."

Phew— that was close. That could've been really bad.

Thud—!

The front door slamming shut in her wake ruffled Kim Jiho's bangs as he hurried out of the apartment. Clack—! Ding-dong—! Sweeping his chest in relief at the sight of the door now firmly locked, he stepped into the apartment right next door and closed its door as well. Only after hearing the electronic chime confirming the door had fully shut did he scan the living room.

"...Wow."

A luxurious exterior completely unlike the apartment he had lived in. He slowly looked around a space that oozed wealth from the living room onward.

"Haah......"

It was only upon seeing someone else's home — not his own — that the reality he'd been holding at bay finally raised its head. What on earth had happened? The lights didn't come on no matter how many times he pressed the switch. The TV, unsurprisingly, didn't work.

"...Power's out."

It was the same when he turned the faucet in the bathroom. Nothing came out.

"...Water's cut."

There wasn't a single piece of good news. Every single thing he touched only fed the anxiety creeping up on him, adding certainty to it.

After checking the bathroom and kitchen, Kim Jiho opened the door to the innermost room. A bookshelf and desk filled a room about the size of his own living room. It seemed the owner of this home had used it as a study. Tapping the bookshelf crammed with books whose titles meant nothing to him, he settled into a chair that looked expensive even at a glance.

"Wow— this thing is so damn plush."

Leaning into the chair's comfort, Kim Jiho began turning his mind over carefully. First, he needed to figure out what he'd been doing when he blacked out. So—

He had definitely received an emergency alert, and had been watching that... that minister on the news, whatever his name was. He'd been watching the broadcast of some old minister mumbling about how a riot had broken out, heading out with the soldiers. And just as he'd opened the internet on his phone, thinking what kind of bastard even does that—

Right. That's where it starts.

From that moment, he had no memory at all. The next time he blinked, he'd been with the woman from next door and a strange man.

Okay. Record it. Record everything first.

Gripping the notebook and ballpoint pen on the desk, he slowly began writing down the clues he'd gathered today.

"Aaaaargh! I don't understand a single thing!"

Thud—! Thud—!

Fist clenched, Kim Jiho thumped the desk, then brought his pen to the top of the page. It was a record, after all — marking the dates properly mattered. Rolling his eyes for a moment, he scribbled down the header.

Drowning in the muddle fogging his brain, Kim Jiho dropped his head onto the desk. He needed time to cool his aching skull. Just a short while — a short while, and then he'd think again... think...

Screeeeeeech—!

"Huk!"

Kim Jiho jolted upright, head snapping up. A study gone so dark he could barely make out his surroundings — and the skin-crawling sound that had just rung out.

Thud—!

"Aagh!"

Stabbing his knee as he scrambled to his feet, Kim Jiho hopped in place as he flung open the study door.

Screeeeeeech—!

It came again. A sound like something being raked across a surface, unpleasant just to hear. It chilled him more than nails scraping down a chalkboard.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

The instant a piercing scream rang out from the apartment next door, Kim Jiho broke into a run. Something had happened to Jiwoo. He flung open the front door and burst into the corridor to find a figure that looked like Lee Jiwoo already shoving open the emergency door and bolting down the stairs.

"Jiwoo!"

Kim Jiho chased after her at once. Shoving through the emergency door just before it closed, he descended after a candle someone must have left burning. He could hear Lee Jiwoo thundering down the steps and throwing open the 1st-floor door.

"Jiwoo! Wait!"

Having nearly caught up with her, Kim Jiho wedged his shoulder into the closing emergency door.

WHAM—!

Pushing through the wide-open emergency door, he burst into the lobby where that man should be.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble—!

"Screeeeeeech—!"

The moment they hit the ground floor, the roars of some manner of creatures and the trembling of the earth came through far more vividly. Trembling finely with dread, Kim Jiho's gaze searched out and found the man standing before the glass window. And beside him, Lee Jiwoo, staring blankly outside.

"Ji-Jiwoo!"

As Kim Jiho looked up with a grimace, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he spotted a flashlight floating in midair.

"...Huh?"

Staring dazedly at the flashlight suspended in the air, he began to walk, following it as it moved. The flashlight guided him all the way to the glass window, then swept slowly across the world outside.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble—

"......"

People were charging down the road. Waves of human bodies — far past dozens, past hundreds — flooded down the sleeping road. With every step they took, he could feel the glass window shaking.

CRASHSHSHSHSH—!

Here and there in the wave ran hulking masses of bloated muscle. With every sweep of their arms, people went flying through the air like stalks of rice. Especially one that ran so diligently — missing an arm—

"Hold on......"

Kim Jiho's eyes trembled violently in the face of the unknown. A person with no arm. A person with a leg cut off. A person with a shoulder, a face, crushed inward. No... was that even a person? People in states where running should have been impossible were moving somewhere, like a tide.

"Screeeeeeeeech—!"

The roar bursting from their mouths raised every hair on his body.

"Zombies."

He turned at the man's voice, arriving out of nowhere. Kim Jiho and Lee Jiwoo, who had been staring blankly at the grotesque spectacle, both looked at him.

Zombies.

"The predators who brought down the world of mankind."

Predators. Predators of humanity.

"Th-that kind of thing can't—"

The man called out to them — the two of them, shaking in place, unable to finish their sentence.

"Kim Jiho and Lee Jiwoo."

And with eyes spitting blinding white light, he asked them:

"Did you savor the safety I have gifted you?"