It didn’t take long to reach the demilitarized zone.
As expected, there were no longer any units guarding the DMZ. It seemed the military had retreated to the rear, leaving only abandoned buildings where the bases once stood, and the barbed wire fences were overgrown with vines.
Yonghoon quickly crossed the DMZ. Swimming across the river that ran through the North and South and traversing the mine-filled demilitarized zone, Yonghoon swiftly made his way through the North Korean military zones.
As expected, the North Korean side was also completely deserted.
However, it didn’t seem like the northern units had retreated peacefully. Bloodstains and bullet marks scattered along the way suggested that fierce battles had taken place.
Watching the North Korean facilities from atop a hill, Yonghoon checked his smart watch. Countless dots were blinking on the device. The rulers of this place were no longer humans but monsters.
Yonghoon constantly checked his smart watch and moved northward, avoiding the monsters’ Dimensional Power. There was no reason to provoke a fight and attract more monsters.
But there were simply too many monsters. Yonghoon couldn’t avoid them all. He either unleashed killing intent to drive them away or outran the slower ones.
Sometimes, he had no choice but to engage in battle. Yonghoon swiftly eliminated the monsters and continued northward.
The path north was rougher than Yonghoon had expected. Reluctantly, he gave up moving through the mountains and decided to travel via the road.
After considerable hardship, passing through Jangpung County and Geumcheon County, Yonghoon finally reached the Pyongyang-Kaesong Expressway.
There wasn’t a single car on the road. Judging by the traces left by the wind and rain, it seemed no vehicles had passed since last winter.
Yonghoon ran quickly along the edge of the expressway. He planned to continue north along this highway. He had suffered too much coming this far through forest trails and valleys. Although there was a risk of being spotted by people, it seemed preferable to fighting monsters.
As he ran along the highway, Yonghoon felt as if he were racing alone through a post-apocalyptic world. The vast, deserted road evoked a deep sense of loneliness.
While running, Yonghoon occasionally spotted abandoned military trenches.
However, every trench was half-collapsed and overgrown with weeds, indicating they had been deserted for a long time.
Yonghoon ran toward Pyongyang, passing barren mountains where monsters roamed and fields overrun with weeds.
Some monsters spotted Yonghoon and charged at him, but he outran the slower ones and quickly dealt with the others. Fortunately, there were no high-level monsters, making it relatively easy.
By the evening of the second day, Yonghoon reached a place where he could see Sariwon City. Although he had passed a few villages along the way, they were all in ruins, making this the first proper city he encountered.
Sariwon City, once home to 300,000 people, had transformed into a strange sight. The outskirts were in ruins, but near the city center, walls had been built in a circular formation using various construction materials. It resembled a fortress city from a post-nuclear war movie.
“It’s been a long time.”
Yonghoon was overcome with emotion at the sight of the city.
Although it was his first time seeing such a scene in this world, it was a sight he had often witnessed in the other world-cities cut off from central government communication, desperately trying to survive.
Of course, building walls like that wouldn’t completely stop monster invasions, but it could buy time until Awakened arrived.
There were no signs of life outside the walls, only the occasional movement of monsters. It seemed the residents had either died or fled into the fortress.
Yonghoon felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Perhaps the world was already collapsing in places he didn’t know. But there was nothing he could do about it now.
Yonghoon found a spot outside the monsters’ territory to set up camp.
He activated his smart watch to vibrate if any monsters entered a certain range, then tucked himself into his sleeping bag and dozed off.
The next day, Yonghoon left Sariwon City behind and continued toward Pyongyang.
The road to Pyongyang was surprisingly smooth. Occasionally, monsters blocked his path, but he avoided fights by taking large detours. The radar on his smart watch was a huge help.
Yonghoon was able to enter Pyongyang by late afternoon.
As he arrived, Yonghoon realized why the expressway had been blocked. Many sections were overrun by monsters.
One area, in particular, seemed to be a Singularity, where bizarre-looking cats roamed in massive numbers.
Without the smart watch and the ability to detect monsters’ locations like Yonghoon, it would have been impossible to pass through.
The Pyongyang that Yonghoon finally reached was not what he had expected.
The city was completely destroyed.
Yonghoon abruptly stopped. A foul stench assaulted his nose. He slowly stepped back and surveyed the city. Many buildings were ruined, and corpses littered the streets.
The city was filled with signs of battle.
However, most of the traces indicated that people had fought each other.
Yonghoon left the road. Corpses were scattered across the ground. He examined a few bodies and frowned.
“Gunshot wounds?”
The cause of death appeared to be gunshots. They had died fighting each other.
Yonghoon stopped examining the corpses and hid in the shadows of a building. Wolf monsters passed by in front of the building.
Checking his smart watch, Yonghoon let out a groan.
It was filled with blinking dots. This place had become a complete monster zone. It was as if every monster nearby had flooded into Pyongyang.
Yonghoon couldn’t understand the situation. Just a few days ago, he had confirmed that the North Korean government still held Pyongyang and was holding out well. But the reality was completely different.
He looked at the city. Smoke was rising from various places. Although he wanted to investigate further, he couldn’t enter the city.
Even from the outskirts, the stench was overwhelming. The city center must have been a complete mess of corpses.
With this level of stench, it was clear that Pyongyang was overrun with disease, making it uninhabitable for humans.
He couldn’t risk entering a city teeming with monsters and plagued by disease out of mere curiosity.
Yonghoon withdrew from Pyongyang and circled around the outskirts.
It would take more time, but safety came first.
Strangely, the mountains and fields surrounding Pyongyang were free of monsters. For some reason, they had all been drawn into the city.
Passing by Pyongyang, Yonghoon saw a mass of tangled tanks. It looked like a massive tank battle had taken place here. With a grim expression, he quickened his pace. The sight of humans fighting each other dampened his spirits.
Reaching the upper stream of the Taedong River, which ran through Pyongyang, Yonghoon fortunately found a wooden boat moored at the riverbank. He used it to cross the river. Though it was his first time rowing, he managed by using his superhuman strength.
Yonghoon finally learned what had happened in Pyongyang when he arrived at Sunan District, a satellite city north of Pyongyang. There, he found refugees who had fled from Pyongyang.
The refugees were scattered all over the area. They seemed deeply distrustful of one another, keeping as far apart as possible.
Yonghoon chose a family living separately on the outskirts and approached them. At first, they trembled in fear, but upon seeing the food he offered, they rushed toward him hungrily.
It was a family consisting of an older couple and some teenagers, all extremely emaciated from lack of food.
After they finished eating, Yonghoon was able to hear about the situation in Pyongyang from the older man.
The course of events was both simple and absurd.
When monsters began ravaging all of North Korea, the government ordered all military units to retreat to Pyongyang, leaving only a few units at the front.
They feared that if monster attacks cut off communication, they would lose control over the provincial troops.
The scattered units moved toward Pyongyang as per the central government’s orders. The sudden mass movement startled the monsters, leading to heavy attacks and massive losses during the retreat.
After much hardship, the units finally reached the vicinity of Pyongyang, and the number of troops gathered there grew enormously.
Then hell began.
There wasn’t enough food to feed the swollen military forces.
The land route to China was cut off by monsters after the military retreat, leaving only the sea route via Nampo Port. But China, overwhelmed with its own problems, unilaterally severed maritime routes with North Korea.
Moreover, the nearby mountains and fields, potential food sources, were inaccessible due to monsters.
Amidst all this, the North Korean government made an even bigger mistake.
They forcibly gathered Awakened and threw them into Pyongyang to clean up the monsters.
The government thought new Awakened would continue to appear and wanted to clear Pyongyang as quickly as possible.
The result was disastrous.
Initially, the monsters seemed to be under control, but as the number of Awakened dwindled, the monsters regained dominance.
In the end, the remaining Awakened were reorganized into direct government units to guard the Presidential Palace and a few government facilities.
As a result, the government lost control of more than half the troops stationed around Pyongyang, and the starving soldiers surged toward the city.
Starving soldiers opened fire on each other. Tanks used their last remaining fuel to charge toward Pyongyang, and other tanks fired shells to stop them.
Eventually, the attacking troops annihilated the North Korean leadership, and the rebels seized the Presidential Palace.
But even the rebels weren’t intact. More than half of them died, and the survivors were too starved to continue fighting.
The city was devastated by the battles, and countless civilians perished.
But the true tragedy was just beginning.
The explosions, flashes, and smoke from the massive urban warfare could be seen and heard dozens of kilometers away, attracting monsters from all around Pyongyang.
And thus, Pyongyang became a ruin.
Neither the military nor civilians could stop the flood of monsters. With the last Awakened executed by the rebels, no one remained to fight.
Yonghoon gave a bitter smile. It was a different outcome from the other world. At least there, North Korea had managed to hold out somewhat united until the end.
But in this world, North Korea had collapsed miserably.
‘Was it the difference in leadership?’
Yonghoon shrugged. There was no reason to argue over what was already done.
Yonghoon gave them a few more military rations and stood up. Their eyes briefly gleamed with greed but quickly gave up when they saw the spear and sword strapped to his back and waist.
They, too, had seen Awakened fighting countless monsters and soldiers.
Although they were eventually killed by soldiers, the Awakened they had witnessed were superhumans capable of taking on hundreds alone.
The children, hearing Yonghoon’s southern accent, asked if they could travel south, but their faces darkened when he said it would be difficult for anyone but strong Awakened.
Leaving the dilapidated building where they lived, Yonghoon looked back at the remaining refugees.
There was no hope for the North Korean civilians here. Without Awakened and without food, survival was nearly impossible.
But Yonghoon wasn’t a savior. He tightened his backpack and continued northward.
Yonghoon kept moving north along the Pyongyang-Heichon Expressway. He saw a few abandoned cars along the way but continued on foot. Driving would have made too much noise and attracted monsters, and the road was too damaged for vehicles anyway.
North Korea seemed finished.
Yonghoon now understood why the South Korean government was keeping this a secret. If the truth came out, public outrage would be inevitable.
But given that there was nothing they could do about North Korea now, such outrage would be of no help.
Yonghoon continued moving along the national highway from Mount Myohyang and was able to reach Manpo City on the morning of the fourth day.
Fortunately, Manpo City still seemed to function somewhat as a city. Behind Manpo City, he could see the Yalu River, and beyond the river, a Chinese city.
It was Jian City, where the Tomb of King Jangsu was located. The sight of the city, with its tall walls built for defense, told Yonghoon that the city was still alive.