Chapter 32: The City Without People

None of the countless people who once filled the city could be seen anywhere.

In just a single month, people had vanished without a trace.

We drove slowly, looking around the surroundings as we went.

“We can’t keep going like this.”

This was already the fifth time.

Trees or streetlights had fallen over and were blocking the middle of the road.

The elevated highway ahead was cracked and split apart.

It looked so unstable that even a single monster appearing might cause the entire overpass to collapse.

“Let’s park the car somewhere and continue on foot.”

“That’ll be a lot of walking. You okay with that?”

“It’s just walking.”

“Then do you want to ride that cart over there?”

Han Jun asked while pointing at a discarded cart on the roadside.

The faded cart looked like it would squeak loudly if pulled.

Its old wheels and cracked wooden barrel were especially impressive.

I was briefly tempted, but firmly refused.

It looked way too pitiful.

“No. Maybe if it were a supermarket cart. But I’m not riding that.”

We parked the car in an alley between buildings and started walking deeper into the city.

As we walked along the main road, the tall Lotte Tower slowly came into view in the distance.

Seeing the tower faintly appear meant we were heading the right way.

The amusement park that should have been crowded with people must have turned into a haunted house by now.

Or maybe not ghosts—maybe monsters instead.

Looking around the city, which felt even more desolate in the cold weather, Han Jun sighed.

“Isn’t it strange how few people there are?”

“They’re probably gathered somewhere.”

I remembered the military unit we encountered when we left earlier.

The army was probably gathering citizens in one place to manage them more easily while dealing with monsters.

There must be shelters where people had gathered.

If the central government had already fled to Jeju Island, then the one currently occupying and managing the city would probably be the military commander.

Compared to the endless stream of monsters pouring out of portals, the weapons used to fight them were limited.

Securing a safe zone, evacuating people there, and defending the surrounding area would be the most efficient strategy.

But it seemed not all citizens had made it to a safe place.

“Huh?! Mmph—”

In the empty city, a child’s voice suddenly rang out and then quickly disappeared.

We turned our heads toward the direction of the sound, but there was nothing there.

“Let’s go check.”

It seemed there were still people who hadn’t made it into shelters.

Quietly suppressing our footsteps, we looked into the dark alley between buildings.

But the alley appeared empty.

Why were they hiding?

Just as I was wondering that—

Creak—

A slightly open metal door slowly closed with a creaking sound.

It seemed likely the child was hiding inside.

I hesitated whether to approach or leave.

They seemed to be hiding from us.

“Is there anyone there? We’re not dangerous people.”

“Hyung, that sounds even more suspicious.”

“Then what should we say? You try.”

“…Uh, please feel reassured?”

“That’s even stranger. Why would they suddenly feel reassured?”

“Well, they need to feel reassured first.”

“Hey, we need to prove we’re innocent first. Something like ‘we’re safe people.’”

“How do you show that?”

“Look at my face.”

“….”

“Don’t I look innocent?”

Han Jun stared at me with an awkward expression before whispering in my ear.

“No. I want to eat you.”

“…Alright, so maybe I don’t look innocent.”

While we were bickering like this, perhaps our strange conversation eased their suspicion.

A man slowly poked his head out through the gap in the door.

His eyes were hollow and his cheeks were gaunt.

“Oh? You were there. Hello.”

I quickly bowed my head when I saw him.

But the man still looked at us suspiciously.

He was clearly afraid.

“A-are you soldiers?”

“Soldiers? No. I finished military service, but he hasn’t.”

“…So you’re not part of the army?”

The man, who looked to be in his early thirties, was trembling.

Behind him, a young girl peeked her head out.

Her face and clothes were dirty, but she was a very cute child.

She looked like she might say something, but she kept her mouth tightly shut and only blinked her eyes.

“Can I ask you something?”

“…Come in.”

After seeing that we had no guns and were dressed in ordinary clothes, the man seemed to relax and opened the door.

We carefully stepped inside his home, intending to learn what had happened in the city.

It seemed the man lived alone with the child in a storage room converted inside the building.

With the electricity cut off, they were living in the pitch-dark storage room using candles for light.

The yellow flame flickered, illuminating the interior.

The room was filled with objects that looked like they had been picked up from outside.

A torn sofa, a simple bed, an ice box, dusty artificial flowers for some reason, and even stained dolls filled the space.

“It looks like you live here.”

The interior felt strange, filled with items that didn’t match the dull, unpainted warehouse walls.

The man smiled awkwardly and pulled the child closer to him.

“I tried decorating a little because of the kid. It’s a bit messy.”

“But why are you here? Where is everyone else?”

The man looked at us strangely, realizing we didn’t know anything about the situation.

But when we said we had come up from the southern regions, he nodded in understanding.

“The city is even more like hell. Why did you come here…?”

He added that we should return to where we had been living before the soldiers discovered us.

Before explaining what had happened in the city, the man began telling his own story.

“Juri’s mother was killed horribly by a monster… and now I’m the only one left to protect Juri… but the soldiers keep drafting people to fight monsters…”

The man sniffled and spoke slowly.

Sometimes he wiped his eyes.

Apparently the child’s mother had been suddenly killed by a monster.

After that, the father evacuated with the child to a safe place according to government instructions.

Luckily, they managed to reach the shelter at the Olympic Stadium.

But the shelter wasn’t truly safe.

Men were being drafted there almost every day.

Reservists were the first to be taken.

Rumor had it that civilians were being pushed to the front lines to eliminate monsters.

With only a shield and a gun, they were expected to fight monsters as large as trucks, sometimes even as large as houses.

It was the same as asking them to risk their lives.

Deaths were reported almost daily.

The man, who had been a public service worker, was selected after only a few days.

He worried about leaving his child alone at the shelter.

Because even though there were no monsters inside the shelter, it was chaos due to people.

The soldiers were soldiers in name only—they behaved like thugs.

They used violence under the excuse of controlling the large crowd.

The food rations were barely enough to fill an empty stomach.

Even that was often stolen.

It wasn’t a place where a child without parents could survive.

“Eventually my name was called, and I was ordered to deploy to Hannam Bridge the next morning. All day I kept seeing my wife’s face in my mind, and the child was crying from hunger. If I left too, there would be no one to take care of Juri… so I had no choice but to escape secretly at night. I know it would be terrible if I were caught…”

The shelter was called a shelter, but it was essentially a forced camp.

Citizens’ movements were controlled, and when orders came down, they had to go out and fight monsters regardless of their will.

But leaving the shelter was even more dangerous.

So most people endured the unfair treatment.

“How do you get food?”

“There’s a mart nearby… but some bad guys have taken it over. For the past few days… I’ve had to sneak in secretly to steal food. And if I get caught…”

The man sighed and shook his head.

Apparently not everyone had entered the shelters.

The shelters closed early, so those who arrived too late had to survive on their own.

Some people had even escaped from the shelters.

Most of those were young men who fled at night because they didn’t want to fight monsters.

People over sixty-five who weren’t accepted into shelters, children under two who were hard to control, their parents, disabled people, and those with chronic illnesses were never even given the chance to enter.

They were living outside.

Meanwhile, gangs had begun forming.

Groups of strong men had banded together and monopolized food supplies.

The army was too busy fighting monsters to deal with these small gangs running wild.

It had become a world where killing someone wasn’t even considered a crime anymore.

Gang members beat and killed people without hesitation, and the weak struggled to survive.

“So you haven’t had a proper meal for days because of them?”

“That’s right… But one of those guys has some kind of strange power. No one dares to say anything. If you get on his bad side, you’re as good as dead.”

“Ah.”

While listening to the man’s story, Han Jun and I looked at each other with widened eyes.

A strange power…

Maybe a psychic had appeared.

It seemed worth checking out.

We could see what kind of abilities the city’s powered people had.

And while we were at it, maybe we could get rid of the gang and bring some peace to the neighborhood.

The child, who had been silent the entire time, tugged on the man’s sleeve.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.”

“Just wait a little longer. We’ll go to the distribution center today, okay?”

“Mom… I miss Mom.”

“Shh… what did I tell you about whining and talking about Mom?”

“…A scary monster will come.”

The child buried herself in her father’s arms and whimpered.

She even held her breath as if afraid her crying might be heard outside.

The sight of her covering her mouth with her tiny hands was heartbreaking.

“Daddy… Daddy pushed Mommy… and the monster swallowed her in one bite…”

The child muttered something strange.

Han Jun and I stiffened slightly.

The man gently patted the child’s back and looked up with empty eyes.

“Ever since her mother died, the shock must have been too much. She says strange things like that sometimes…”