By Zephyria 
Cough, cough, Baek Seol! Gilsu! Are you okay? Answer me, you bastards! Screams of people overflowed from everywhere in the dark. Jang-cheon groped ahead with his hands. He touched something squishy and wondered what it was, but then Gilsu shouted.
“Damn it! Why are you grabbing my balls, you crazy bastard!”
Jang-cheon breathed a sigh of relief at Gilsu’s voice.
“Where’s Seol-ah? Where did Seol-ah go?”
“I don’t know. It’s so dark I can’t see anything! Baek Seol! Seol-ah!”
As he desperately called out, bright light poured in. Ugh, barely opening his eyes, he saw Baek Seol standing confidently where the entrance used to be.
“Where the hell were you?”
“I saw a supervisor hanging a lantern around here.”
Of course. Baek Seol had the strongest survival skills in a crisis.
“Get out quickly. We don’t have time to dawdle here.”
The sound of sirens was constantly heard in the distance. Seeing that everything was pitch black, it seemed that all the electricity was out. As they came outside, they coughed incessantly because of the hazy dust and dirt. When they shone a light, the right side was completely collapsed and unrecognizable, but the left side looked relatively intact.
“We’re so damn lucky, aren’t we?”
“Let’s talk after we get out of here safely.”
As they were about to find the entrance and leave, Baek Seol grabbed Gilsu. Then he pointed somewhere with his eyes. The place he pointed to was where Ire was trapped. Gilsu frowned.
“He’s the one who ignored us whether we died or not.”
“Why are you so narrow-minded? Did you forget what the leader said?”
“The Goblin Unit is over anyway. Besides, he’s a soldier. Absolutely not.”
Baek Seol looked at Jang-cheon. It meant that he should take sides since it was 1-on-1. Jang-cheon, who was hesitating, slyly came to Baek Seol’s side, and Gilsu shook his head as if he was dumbfounded. Saying that everyone was overflowing with kindness.
As they walked to the left to find the place where Ire was trapped, the remains of the building continued to fall above their heads. Since even this place might collapse at any moment, the three of them moved forward with great tension.
Then a man clung to the bars and shouted.
“Save me! Please get me out! I’ll do whatever you tell me to if you get me out! Please!”
Baek Seol told them to just go, but Jang-cheon picked up a large stone and slammed it down on the lock. The door broke, and the man came out. Hearing that sound, people everywhere cried out to be let out. As Jang-cheon broke the doors one by one, Baek Seol stopped him.
“You idiot! What are you doing!”
“We don’t know what it’s like outside. What if we’re caught after only we get out? We need bait.”
Oh! That could work. Gilsu and Baek Seol also helped Jang-cheon let the rest of the people out. Then Jang-cheon suddenly stopped in front of a certain room. It was quiet inside the bars. Unlike the others who were asking to be saved, the person in that room was lying on the floor as if dead.
Baek Seol stuck his face through the bars and checked.
“That’s him, right?”
“Is he dead?”
Hey! He kicked the door, but it was still silent. Could he really be dead? Jang-cheon broke the door and went inside. There were bloodstains on the floor, and the back of his hands were torn and bloody. Gilsu clicked his tongue, looking at his messed-up fists.
“Did this bastard… masturbate on the floor?”
“It’s self-harm, you idiot.”
Ah. Gilsu had an expression of realization and then kicked Ire’s body. Baek Seol carefully examined Ire, who was not moving at all. Wake up. Her face hardened as she slapped his cheek. Touching his cheek and the back of his neck, she turned to Jang-cheon with a serious expression.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Why?”
Jang-cheon came over and touched him, and his complexion darkened. How could a person be so hot? People often say that when a fever rises, it feels like a fire, but this was a real fire. As he made a confused expression, Gilsu interjected.
“Leave him. He’ll only be a hindrance in this situation.”
“Are you saying we should abandon him?”
“Is it worth taking the risk when he could become a corpse at any moment?”
“You hold grudges for so long. Seriously, you’re such a petty man.”
“Baek Seol, you really!”
As Gilsu was about to get angry, Jang-cheon picked up Ire and carried him on his shoulder. Gilsu muttered a small curse, and Baek Seol took the lead. When they came outside, it was as chaotic as expected. Information Bureau officials with injuries were noticeable everywhere, and red flames were rising from the building on the opposite side.
The sound of sirens was constantly heard, and the city center was literally a battlefield. In the meantime, the intact Information Bureau employees seemed busy catching the criminals who were constantly popping out.
The three of them avoided their eyes and escaped the Information Bureau. The streets were crowded with people who had run out of the surrounding buildings. Everyone’s faces were pale with shock and fear, and Gilsu sneered at the sight.
“They said they know in advance in District A before an earthquake, but that was a lie too.”
“Shut up. Find a car to get out of here.”
“Even if there’s a car, how are we going to get out of District A?”
“Search him for anything useful. He’s a citizen of District A, so he must have something.”
Jang-cheon laid Ire down on the alley floor and searched his body. There was a cross necklace and a dog tag around his neck, but nothing else was visible. He slowly went down and rummaged through his pockets, and his eyes widened slightly. Huh? He groped his crotch and tilted his head.
“Hyung, what are you doing? Don’t tell me you had that kind of taste? You weren’t planning to target me while I was sleeping, were you?”
“Shut up.”
Jang-cheon put his hand inside Ire’s pants. There was another pocket lined with cloth inside the pants. After a while, a small plastic card came out in his hand. Gilsu frowned when he saw it.
“What is that? It looks so useless.”
Baek Seol’s reaction was similar at first. He was about to tell them to just give up and hide in the sewer, but then his mouth dropped open. Baek Seol snatched the card that Jang-cheon was holding and shouted, “Uh-oh!”
“This, this is it!”
Jang-cheon blinked, seeing his expression as if he had found a gold nugget in a mine. What is it?
“That! We saw it in the car we hitched a ride in before!”
When they secretly entered District A, it was a man who made and delivered goods from District B who brought the three of them here. At the time, they gave all the money they had to the man, and they saw something similar in the driver’s seat. When they asked what it was, he said it was a Pass, and that the one he used was disposable, so he had to get a new one every time he went.
“It looks different. That one was white.”
The three of them were silent as if they had made a promise. Then Gilsu snatched the card. We’ll know if we try. All or nothing. Do or die. There’s no difference between being beheaded and dying here or being shot while running away.
Baek Seol and Jang-cheon thought that Gilsu was right for the first time in a long time. The three of them found a car parked nearby and ran towards it while lowering their bodies. After threatening the driver to get out, they moved Ire to the back seat first, and the remaining three took their places.
But Baek Seol, who was holding the steering wheel, had no intention of starting at all.
“Seol-ah, what are you doing?”
“Wait, this, hey… Where’s the button?”
It was so different from the old truck he drove in Area C that he didn’t know what to press. He pressed this and that in a panic, but the car didn’t even budge.
“Hurry up, hurry!”
“Don’t rush me! I’m trying too!”
In the meantime, someone knocked on the window. The three of them turned around and their faces turned pale. A soldier was standing there with a rifle, having arrived at some point. Damn it. Baek Seol tried not to show that he was nervous, and Jang-cheon wondered if he should go out and attack the soldier.
Baek Seol opened the window and smiled first.
“Please check my Citizen ID.”
Baek Seol groped his pants pocket.
“Where did I put my Citizen ID? Oh, right. I must have taken it out because I came out in a hurry…”
The man’s eyes scanned Baek Seol’s clothes. He should have changed his clothes. Doesn’t he look suspicious to anyone? He regretted it belatedly, but the man now shifted his gaze to the back seat. He stared at Ire, and Gilsu hurriedly made excuses.
“Ah, this friend is drunk. Haha. Did he drink too much? Wake up. We have to go home.”
“What’s your friend’s name?”
Gilsu was flustered by the unexpected question and put his arm around Ire’s shoulder.
“Ire. He’s my friend, but he’s handsome, right?”
In the meantime, a shout was heard from behind.
“Private Seo! What’s going on there!”
The soldier straightened his body and turned around.
“It’s nothing! I was mistaken.”
Then the soldier reached inside, opened the cover next to the steering wheel, and pressed the button. Vroom, as the engine started, he disappeared to the back as if nothing had happened. The three of them simultaneously relaxed and slumped their shoulders.
“Wow, I thought I was going to die.”
“Why did that soldier help us…?”
“I don’t know. That’s not important right now. Start quickly!”
As they escaped the ruined city, the shape of the buildings became intact as they got farther away from the Information Bureau. It seemed that the area around it was the epicenter of the earthquake. After driving like that for a while, they arrived at the tunnel in front of the gate. They heard that if a car invaded from the outside, it would become a honeycomb inside the tunnel.
The three of them stared at the tunnel with tense expressions.
“Will it be okay?”
“Let’s go for now. We don’t have any other options.”
“What if a bomb explodes…?”
Baek Seol, who was hesitating, took a deep breath and then rushed forward. Cold sweat dripped down his back as he passed through the tunnel. Please. Please. Let me get out of here! When nothing happened even after passing the end of the tunnel, the three of them rejoiced, bouncing their butts in the narrow car.
“Haha, it’s nothing!”
“Did something break because of the power outage?”
But their joy was short-lived, and their mood became bleak when they saw the large door that appeared soon after. The iron door, the height of a dozens-story building, looked like it would crush them just by looking at it.
“This door isn’t broken too, is it…?”
“Don’t say unlucky things!”
“Insert the card.”
Jang-cheon inserted the card into the reader.
“……”
It was quiet. Is this also broken after all?
In the quiet surroundings, the sound of a helicopter was heard from somewhere. Gilsu, who was looking back, cursed. No matter how he looked at it, they were coming towards them. And in the distance, cars were coming in groups. That’s right. He knew things were going too easily.
“Damn it!”
Baek Seol slammed the dashboard with his fist. He didn’t want to die so futilely! Damn it! Damn it! But suddenly, a light came on at the bottom of the reader and a voice message was played.
―Code number K-0001, permission to enter.
As soon as the voice message ended, the tightly closed door slowly began to rise.
“Ha, hahaha. Haha!”
Gilsu laughed like a madman, and Baek Seol’s eyes shone sharply. At the same time, the corners of Jang-cheon’s mouth next to him rose coolly.
“Step on it! Seol-ah! Show them your driving skills!”
Vroom, vroom – with the sound of the engine overheating, Baek Seol stepped on the accelerator forcefully towards the door that had risen as high as a person’s height. The car, which shot out like a bullet, advanced fiercely into the mouth of the giant monster.