A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

18 | Yunho

Seoul, South Korea

We were lucky.

Not only could Mr. Yi fly a plane, he was even nice enough to drive all eight of us from Gimpo Airport to Seoul's city center, where I soon learnt was home to over half of our team.

When we got there, though, we could barely recognize it.

At first, Mr. Yi thought he made some wrong turns, but having been raised in Korea for forty years, even the debris started to look familiar to him: the half-collapsed buildings, the remains of whatever street signs were left, the damaged and flickering neon signs.

When we landed less than an hour ago, Mingi's phone managed to connect to the internet. Jongho and I didn't have phones, while the others' devices ran out of something called mobile data. Anyway, with Mingi's phone, we found out just exactly what wreaked havoc over Seoul.

A meteor shower.

Yeosang called them flaming rocks falling from the sky. That explained the occasional small fires and burnt trees I saw on the street.

Eventually, Mr. Yi dropped us off at a crossroad I vaguely recognized. He himself left right away, saying that his house was in the suburbs and that it might still be intact.

"Make sure you find shelter before the sun comes down." That was the last thing he said before waving at us through the window and driving off in the shuttle bus we took from the airport.

Almost immediately, I felt a tingle in the back of my throat, and when I breathed, there was a raspy sound in my airway. I put on a mask just as an involuntary cough escaped my mouth, which soon grew into an uncontrollable fit.

Jongho frowned at me, the deepening lines of concern on his face stabbing knifes of guilt into my heart. "Hyung, are you alright? Did it get worse?"

I forced in a few deep breaths, hoping that I could finish a whole sentence without interruption. "No, it's fine. It's probably because Seoul's air is much more polluted."

As soon as I muttered the last word, I couldn't hold it in and started wheezing again. Jongho passed me my inhaler and I didn't hesitate to take a puff out of it.

While I was struggling with my asthma, it seemed like Hongjoong and Seonghwa were figuring out what to do next. Once I could breathe with less difficulty, I went closer to the group to hear what they had to say.

"We maybe have an hour or so before the sun sets, and the Invincs will start to be a serious threat." Even now, our leader was speaking in a low voice in fear of being sought out by a robot. He paused, as if to wait for some kind of response from us.

Mingi and Yeosang nodded as I did, but their eyes were hollow and staring into space. Seonghwa avoided anyone's gaze. I feared that he was returning to his old self and giving up on trying to survive.

However, San and Wooyoung were surprisingly enthusiastic. It felt almost odd as I turned to watch them whisper into each others' ears. I heard nothing but by the looks on their faces, whatever they were sharing seemed to be serious and urgent.

Hongjoong-hyung rubbed the nape of his neck, no doubt finding this situation tricky. As a leader, he was supposed to encourage us. But even after a fitful rest at the hotel and on the plane, everyone's condition was... not ideal.

"Wait, there's a place we'd like to go to first."

It was San who saved the soldier the trouble of thinking of the right thing to say. Jongho and I looked at him, but Wooyoung immediately pulled his friend back.