Chapter 6: The Road to Busan
The dawn came with a cold breeze that carried the scent of ash and distant smoke. Jin woke with a start, eyes scanning the horizon before he remembered where they were. The world felt quieter than it should have. Too quiet. The towers stood in the distance, monolithic and indifferent to the chaos they had caused.
Min-Ho stirred beside him, groggy and disoriented. "How long do you think it'll take to reach Busan?" he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
Jin stretched, scanning the map on his phone. "We're about halfway there. If we keep up the pace, we should make it by nightfall."
Min-Ho nodded, but Jin could see the apprehension in his eyes. It wasn't just about getting to Busan; it was about what would happen when they arrived. The resistance might have answers, but it also meant stepping into the heart of the fight. Min-Ho had never been the kind of person to look for trouble. He had been a quiet, average man before all this—a man who now had the power to heal but no idea how to wield it.
Jin, too, felt the weight of the unknown pressing down on him. The pull he felt from the towers was growing stronger with every mile they traveled, and though he tried to ignore it, the sensation gnawed at him. The towers wanted something from him. He just didn't know what yet.
"We'll be okay," Jin said, trying to reassure himself as much as Min-Ho. "We're not alone in this."
They packed up their makeshift camp and hit the road again, the empty highways stretching out before them like veins leading to an unknown heart. Every so often, they would pass the wreckage of a battle—burnt-out cars, shattered glass, and the occasional glimpse of something far more gruesome. The aftermath of skirmishes between humans, creatures, and sometimes the awakeners themselves.
About halfway through their journey, they came across the remains of what had once been a military convoy. The vehicles were overturned and scorched, the bodies of soldiers lying motionless, half-buried in rubble and dust. Jin slowed the car as they approached, his heart sinking.
Min-Ho stared at the wreckage, his voice barely above a whisper. "What do you think happened here?"
Jin pulled over, stepping out of the car to get a closer look. The air was thick with the stench of smoke and death. As he moved closer, he noticed something odd—there were no bullet casings, no signs of a firefight. Whatever had attacked the convoy had done so with such overwhelming force that the soldiers hadn't even had time to fight back.
"It wasn't human," Jin muttered, his eyes scanning the scene. "Whatever hit them was fast. And strong."
Min-Ho swallowed hard, stepping out of the car to stand beside Jin. "Do you think it was one of the creatures from the towers?"
Jin nodded grimly. "Maybe. Or worse, it could've been an awakener."
The thought lingered between them. The idea that some of the awakeners were no longer allies but potential enemies. If people with powers had already turned against their own, the world was even more fractured than they had feared.
Jin motioned for Min-Ho to follow as they moved carefully through the wreckage. They needed supplies, and the soldiers wouldn't be needing them anymore. As they picked through what was left, Min-Ho suddenly froze, his eyes locked on a nearby figure lying beneath an overturned Humvee.
"Jin," he whispered, his voice shaking. "There's someone alive."
Jin rushed over, crouching beside the figure. It was a soldier, a young woman, her face pale and bloodied, but her chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths. She was barely conscious, her eyes fluttering open as Jin knelt beside her.
"Help… me," she gasped, her voice barely audible.
Min-Ho dropped to his knees beside her, his hands already glowing faintly with the soft blue light of his healing power. "I can help her," he said, his voice filled with determination and fear in equal measure. He hadn't had much practice with his abilities, but this was the moment to try.
Jin watched as Min-Ho placed his hands gently on the soldier's chest. The glow intensified, spreading from his fingers into the woman's body. Her breathing grew steadier, her face relaxing as some of the tension left her. It was working.
After a few moments, the woman's eyes opened fully, and she stared up at Min-Ho, confusion and gratitude warring in her gaze. "What… happened?"
"You were attacked," Jin said softly. "We're not sure by what, but it's gone now."
The soldier sat up slowly, still weak but clearly alive thanks to Min-Ho's intervention. "My name is Corporal Yuna," she said, her voice hoarse. "We were sent to investigate the tower up ahead. But then something came… something massive. It wasn't like the other creatures. It was—" she shuddered, her eyes wide with the memory. "It was one of us."
"One of us?" Jin repeated, his stomach sinking.
She nodded, wincing in pain as she moved. "It was an awakener. But not like me. Not like a normal human. He was… different. Stronger. Like he had given himself over to the tower completely. He tore through our squad like we were nothing."
Jin's mind raced. This was worse than he had feared. If awakeners could be corrupted by the towers, they were facing a threat far more insidious than just monsters. The towers weren't just producing creatures—they were turning humans into weapons.
"We need to keep moving," Jin said, helping Yuna to her feet. "Can you walk?"
She nodded, though her legs were still shaky. "I'll manage."
Min-Ho's face was pale, his hands trembling slightly from the effort of healing. Jin could tell the experience had taken a lot out of him, but there was no time to rest. They needed to get to Busan and warn the resistance about what they had learned.
As they continued down the road, the tension between them was thick. Yuna had seen firsthand what the towers could do to people, and her warning echoed in Jin's mind. If the towers were capable of corrupting awakeners, how long before it happened to Min-Ho? Or even himself?
By the time they reached the outskirts of Busan, the sun was beginning to set, casting the city in an eerie orange glow. Busan had always been a bustling metropolis, but now it looked like a ghost town. The streets were deserted, and the only sounds were the distant echoes of gunfire and the occasional roar of a creature in the distance.
Ha-Yoon had sent them coordinates to a hidden base on the edge of the city, far enough from the tower to be relatively safe. As they approached, they saw the faint glow of lights in the distance—signs of life in an otherwise desolate landscape.
"This is it," Jin said, his heart pounding as they approached the base.
The gates were heavily fortified, guarded by soldiers and awakeners alike. As they pulled up, a familiar figure stepped out from the shadows.
Ha-Yoon.
She smiled, though there was a weariness in her eyes. "You made it."
Jin nodded, stepping out of the car. "We found something on the way. There's more going on than we thought."
Ha-Yoon's expression darkened. "We know. Come inside. There's a lot we need to talk about."