The Motorcycle and the Silent City
Jang Yeeun and I had made a pact before we set out. It was simple: the Signal Arrow. It was a projectile I’d used once before, designed to emit a high-pitched whistle. Naturally, it had almost zero lethality and a pathetic range. But the point wasn't to kill; it was to manipulate. The things we were facing weren't sentient. Those damned monsters relied entirely on their hearing to hunt. To them, that arrow was a beacon—a tool to lure the infected away or guide them exactly where we wanted them.
And then—
"What the hell…!"
In the distance, down the street, a massive swarm of infected was sprinting toward us. And they were moving at full speed. This wasn't their usual aimless wandering. They were locked onto a target. And that target was—
"…A motorcycle?"
I squinted, my heart skipping a beat. A motorcycle was tearing down the road at breakneck speed, leaving the horde of infected in its dust. What was this? Who was that? In this city, was there actually someone else capable of moving so brazenly? And they were naturally drawing the entire swarm straight toward our position.
I bolted for the lower floors immediately. There was no time to deliberate. I had to get down there with the search team, fast. We couldn't afford to be trapped in this building when that wave hit. I sprinted down the steep stairs, every muscle in my body coiled, pushing myself to the limit.
"A horde is incoming! Move, now!"
There was no room for hesitation. If we dragged our feet, we’d lose the lower levels to the incoming swarm and end up starring in a real-life sequel to The People of This Building. If we were even a second late—
First floor. When we arrived, Jang Yeeun and the rest of the team were already prepared to bolt.
"Lee Sieun!" Jang Yeeun looked at me, her eyes sharp with tension. I caught my breath and gave a quick, sharp nod.
"I’ve blocked the entrance on the fourth floor. If we just seal the main door, this building will be perfectly safe to use again."
A short, concise report. There was no time for anything longer. We turned in unison. The infected were already appearing on the first floor. The sound of their frantic running echoed from the distance; they were closing the gap between the narrow buildings and the road with terrifying speed. It was time to run.
"Go!" I shouted, throwing myself toward Exit 2 of Aeogae Station. Jang Yeeun and the search team dived into the exit right behind me. The moment the last member scrambled inside—we slammed the door shut.
BANG!
And at that exact moment—
KRAAAAAAAAASH!!!
A deafening roar shattered the air. At first, it was the motorcycle—the intense, high-pitched whine of an engine pushed to its absolute limit. It was a cacophony designed to draw the infected like moths to a flame. And right after that—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of infected sprinting past us like madmen. They were chasing the sound with pure, instinctual ferocity. Their footsteps shook the ground, the sound of their rotting feet scraping against the asphalt echoing through the walls. We held our breath, separated from them by nothing but a single door. The sound slowly faded into the distance. But even so—my fingertips were drenched in cold sweat. That had been too close. And only one thought circled in my mind: The motorcycle… who the hell is that?
We caught our breath and headed toward the entrance of the blocked Exit 2. My heart was hammering, and my hands were trembling, but we had made it back safely. At least, I tried to convince myself of that. Then—
"…We’re missing one team member."
Jang Yeeun’s voice cut through the silence. Ugh… I slowly lifted my blood-stained axe. The blade was caked in sticky, black gore, and above it, dried blood flaked off like dust. "…There was an infected on the upper floor… they… they got taken."
Jang Yeeun didn't say anything for a long time. Neither did the other team members. No one spoke. We all understood. We knew what had happened, what the situation was, and—
We quietly sealed Exit 2 and headed toward the soldiers and police officers on guard duty. They approached us with practiced efficiency to search us. Since there were female officers among the police, it wasn't an issue for Jang Yeeun and me to be searched.
"All clear. You may enter."
The search team members filed inside one by one. I turned to look at the door one last time. The horde of infected had already vanished into the distance, following the motorcycle.
"…We have a lot to talk about."
We walked down the levels until we reached Gongdeok Station. Our clothes were stiff with sweat and blood, and our footsteps felt heavy. It was quiet. No one cracked a joke; no one tried to make small talk. Was this mission a success? We’d scouted the building and gathered the information we wanted. But a team member had died. And then there was that motorcycle we’d seen on the way back.
When we arrived at Gongdeok Station, Lee Junhyeok was waiting for us. His gaze was sharp from the start, as if he were trying to read our expressions before even acknowledging that we’d returned safely.
"One of the search team members is dead."
Lee Junhyeok’s eyebrows twitched slightly. "…What happened?"
I took a breath and delivered two stories. The first was about what happened in the building: the people who had starved to death, the signs of cannibalism, the neatly picked human bones, and the man who had died alone on the 15th floor. Lee Junhyeok’s face hardened as he listened. Then, the second story: the motorcycle we’d seen on our way back. The fact that a swarm of infected was chasing it, and that someone was moving freely through the streets in the middle of this chaos.
Lee Junhyeok crossed his arms and bowed his head for a moment. None of this was information he could just brush off. We decided to talk it over—just the three of us: Lee Junhyeok, me, and Jang Yeeun. Everyone else was busy with their own tasks.
"By the way, where’s Pastor Son Gangjo?"
"…Doing psychological counseling for the survivors, I suppose. They say the number of people attending his services has increased quite a bit lately."
I nodded slowly at that. It could be a good sign, or a bad one. People lean on religion when they’re anxious and seek miracles when they’re in despair. But in this situation, faith shouldn't be allowed to breed more despair. I let out a short sigh and got to the point.
"First, about the building."
Lee Junhyeok listened in silence, his expression cold and set. "…So, the people there weren't infected. They were… eating each other."
"To survive, they ate each other."
Lee Junhyeok closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "…Humanity is collapsing much faster than we imagined."
That was the reality. "So, this is what people turn into. Even without the virus, monsters like that emerge." I thought of the emaciated corpse of the man who had died there. He was no different from the infected. No, perhaps he was even more grotesque.
"That’s why we’re gathered here like this. To make sure people don't eat people."
Silence hung in the air. But there was still one thing left to discuss.
"And… we need to talk about the motorcycle."
Who was riding it? Where did they come from? Was it trying to lure the infected away, or were they just running for their lives? As I tried to form a hypothesis, Lee Junhyeok seemed to remember something. He opened a drawer and pulled out a map of Seoul’s roads. He spread it out and quietly pointed to one spot.
"Remember when we heard that there were no infected at Seoul Station?"
The story about how Seoul Station, a place that should have been crawling with the infected, was strangely empty. I nodded silently. Lee Junhyeok circled Seoul Station on the map and drew a long line following the Gyeongui-Jungang Line upward.
"The infected at Seoul Station have vanished. If so, where did they go?"
He traced the path, connecting the dots: Seoul Campus of Kyungpook National University, Ewha Girls' High School, Deoksugung Palace, City Hall Station, and Gyeonghuigung Palace. A pattern began to emerge.
"…And you said there was a civil war at City Hall Station, right?"
At that, I recalled the information I had about that place. "That’s right. But the people who were fighting that war… where did they go?"
Lee Junhyeok scanned the area he’d just connected. He quietly pointed his finger at the green zone in the middle—the area stretching straight out from Exit 9 of City Hall Station: Seosomun Shrine History Park.
"…There might still be a small number of survivors on the surface. And if there are, one of these places is likely where they’re staying."
If there were survivors there, did we need to make contact? Or—did we need to be wary of them?
Jang Yeeun bit her lip. "This… this could get pretty complicated."
Most importantly, just as we had seen the motorcycle, the motorcycle had almost certainly seen us.