[Switching to autonomous driving due to repeated lane departures.]
The car changed modes on its own because Ire couldn’t concentrate on driving. Still, he couldn’t let go of the steering wheel. Machines could break down at any time. Looking closely, he noticed the car was heading somewhere other than District A. Had he entered the wrong destination? He was about to correct it when Kim Ha-yoon reclined his seat.
“Wake me when we get there.”
“Where are we going?”
“District D.”
Ire’s eyes widened at the unexpected words. He thought it was a joke, but Kim Ha-yoon’s expression was serious. District D was now completely closed off, a place rife with rumors of monsters and ghosts. He only knew it as a ruined city, the first place where the virus spread and was bombed.
“Why there…”
“I thought you seemed depressed, so I’m going to show you something fun.”
“I’m not depressed. Just annoyed.”
Apart from his complicated feelings, he was intrigued. What lived in the other districts? What kind of people were there? He had always been curious since he was a child. At the same time, he was worried. Would it be as dangerous as when he went to Area C without preparation?
“We can skip it if you don’t want to.”
“Can just anyone go there?”
“I’m not just anyone.”
How arrogant. When Ire didn’t refuse, Kim Ha-yoon smiled silently and closed his eyes. He told Ire to get some sleep if he was tired, but Ire didn’t want to let go of the steering wheel and sleep in a moving car. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he saw the car was getting farther and farther away from District B.
They arrived in District D at dusk, as the sun was setting. The massive iron gate guarding the entrance was in good condition considering its age. Next to it, the Barrier Wall stretched endlessly, blocking outsiders from entering. After a moment, an automatic sensor scanned the vehicle and opened the gate.
Passing through it, a road leading into an underground tunnel appeared. The tunnel was old and dilapidated, looking like it could collapse at any moment. Bones, whether human or animal, were scattered everywhere.
Ire switched driving modes and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. After driving for a long time, a warning sounded from the car as they emerged from the tunnel. “Movement of a life form detected 250m ahead at 12 o’clock. Please be careful.” A red light lit up on the dashboard, and the warning continued. Suddenly faced with this situation, Ire scanned the surroundings.
Kim Ha-yoon had also woken up.
“Are we there?”
“Something’s appeared ahead.”
“Keep going.”
The warning message repeated. 200, 150, 100, 50, 30, 20… Ire screeched the car to a halt and stared straight ahead. If they kept going, they would crash. As he was about to reverse, Kim Ha-yoon grabbed the steering wheel. He gestured ahead, and soon an unidentified something revealed itself.
“Ah…”
A large deer stood in front of them, staring intently at the car. Deer were sometimes seen in the mountains of District B. It gazed at the car with its dark eyes, then turned and disappeared into the forest as if nothing had happened.
“Keep going…?”
“Yeah.”
Driving in the direction the deer had appeared, they came across a city. Many of the buildings were ruined beyond recognition, and the walls were covered in vines and moss. Rebar jutted out grotesquely, and abandoned cars, like toys, were old and rusted, providing shelter for small animals and birds.
Looking at the city, now entirely green, gave Ire a strange feeling. As they drove, the surroundings grew darker, and they encountered animals of all sizes. They eventually arrived at a building about 10 stories high.
Pressing a button in the car, the door that tightly blocked the entrance slid open.
“Go inside.”
Kim Ha-yoon got out first after parking the car in the building’s courtyard. Ire grabbed a flashlight from the car and followed him out. Shining the light around, he saw grass growing thickly through the cracks in the asphalt, which was cracked like a desert. And fragments of debris scattered about, their origins unknown.
This time, he looked up. The center of the building had a gaping hole, blackened with soot. Had it been bombed? Then, seeing the word “Laboratory” written at the entrance, he involuntarily looked at Kim Ha-yoon.
He dazedly followed Kim Ha-yoon into the building, which was so cold it sent a chill down his spine. Soot marks and strange handprints were stamped everywhere.
“It’s eerie.”
“A lot of people died here before.”
“What did they do here?”
“They did a lot of experiments.”
Ire didn’t ask for details about what those experiments were. Going up the stairs, the upper floors were in even worse condition than the first. It got worse with each floor, and the fifth floor looked like a bomb had exploded, with all the glass shattered and the windows severely twisted.
Looking closely, something was strange about the traces of the explosion. There was no sign of an initial blast. Before he could think further, Kim Ha-yoon moved on, and Ire went to the next floor.
Arriving on the tenth floor, they found a door leading to the rooftop. Unlike the mess below, it was in relatively good condition. Opening the iron door, they found a hammock, tent, portable burner, and small table on the roof.
“Looks like someone’s here?”
Ire was wary, but Kim Ha-yoon turned on a lantern on one side.
“I come here sometimes. You’re the first person I’ve brought.”
It was nothing special, but Ire didn’t know why it sounded ticklish. Looking around, he walked to the rooftop railing. A portion of District D was visible at a glance. Then he noticed a small building behind the laboratory. Seeing the chimney, he was puzzled when Kim Ha-yoon came and stood next to him.
“Incinerator. They used to throw the Infected in there and burn them.”
“Ah…”
“The first Infected appeared in District D.”
Ire knew this from his classes. In the early days of the outbreak, the government’s response was inadequate. They dismissed the fever and vomiting as just a cold and only recommended wearing masks.
Then, at some point, a variant appeared, and the first cases of people attacking others occurred.
The media reported it as an accident caused by drug addicts, but exactly two weeks later, the number of Infected increased exponentially. It took less than a month for the social system, which had been painstakingly built up over a long period, to collapse.
Most of the people who escaped in the chaos were from the upper class, and the rest, unaware of the impending disaster, were trapped in this terrible place, forced to watch their families and friends transform.
Afterward, a large-scale air raid began, and the place became a ruin.
But now, it looked more like a giant forest than a ruin.
“Why did they build a laboratory here?”
“It used to be a company run by my grandfather. He moved to District A and fortified it, and after things stabilized, he used this place as a laboratory. To be exact, my mother led the project. She was a person who devoted her life to research. So much so that she didn’t care about her children.”
Kim Ha-yoon smiled as he said the last words. Ire didn’t ask where his mother was now. He remembered what the trainees had said in passing. That his mother had died in a laboratory fire. Was it in the place where the fire was the worst?
Meanwhile, Kim Ha-yoon opened a nearby metal box, saying he would show Ire something interesting. Inside the box were guns and flares. He took out a flare and fired it without hesitation, lighting up the sky like daytime. Ire stared blankly for a moment, watching the light slowly fall. He had occasionally seen shooting stars, and it was very similar to that.
“Look there.”
Snapping out of it, Ire looked where Kim Ha-yoon was pointing and paused. Movement was detected under the bright light. At first, he thought it was an animal, but seeing it walking on two legs, he knew it wasn’t. Ire gripped the railing and leaned forward.
“There are people!”
“Those aren’t people.”
The flare that had fallen to the ground was still emitting a bright light, and dozens of creatures were gathering around it. Kim Ha-yoon took out a telescope from the box and handed it to Ire.
“See for yourself.”
Ire put the telescope to his eyes and increased the magnification, revealing their true identities.
“…!”
Why are the Infected here…!
The Infected, with slumped shoulders and staggering gaits, were mostly unclothed.
“They dropped bombs, but they didn’t completely eradicate them.”
Ire looked at Kim Ha-yoon, who was loading a gun. Before he could ask what he was going to do, Kim Ha-yoon rested the sniper rifle on the railing. Before Ire could stop him, he pulled the trigger. Bang—! At the sound, Ire looked at the Infected through the telescope.
He gasped as he saw one of the Infected’s heads explode and fall to the ground.
Ire stopped Kim Ha-yoon, who was pulling the bolt handle to reload.
“Why are you killing them?”
“You should use the word ‘killing’ for things that are alive.”
Kim Ha-yoon replied nonchalantly and fired the gun again. Ire flinched with each bang. Then, Kim Ha-yoon handed him the gun with a relieved expression.
“Here.”
“…”