Chapter 1

A soft chime sounded from the monitor.

A message preview appeared in the corner of the screen, and Yu-su’s brow furrowed at once. He knew perfectly well who was hiding behind the sender name marked [Unknown].

It has to be Do Muwon.

Without hesitation, he swiped through the chat list on his tablet and deleted the message. Even after it vanished, he continued staring at the screen for a long moment. At last, he dragged a hand over his dry face and drained the last of his lukewarm Americano.

How about we say hello?

Was he seriously sending personal messages instead of using the company messenger?

The melted ice crunched between Yu-su’s teeth, but the fire simmering inside him refused to die.

I’m exhausted, and I’m already pissed off.

The entire day had been haunted by an unsettling sense of déjà vu. It felt as though he had already dreamed of Section Chief Ma hurling documents at Senior Associate Shin for arriving late.

All day, he had been gripped by the certainty that the project he had prepared through countless sleepless nights would be taken from him. Nothing had changed, yet everything had still managed to end in the worst possible way.

Senior Associate Shin had indeed arrived late. Section Chief Ma had indeed flown into a rage. And the project Yu-su had ground himself down preparing, working day and night until exhaustion hollowed him out, had been ruined by Do Muwon.

More precisely, Do Muwon had stolen it from him.

“Ha…”

Do Muwon. Do Muwon. Do Muwon.

Of all the people in the world, it had to be Do Muwon.

Had it been anyone else, Yu-su might not have found it so infuriating. But Do Muwon was the childhood friend he had fought with like a pair of rabid dogs, the same friend who had vanished for ten years without a word, only to join the company two weeks ago and become his superior.

Yu-su had gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid him.

Now the bastard was sending messages asking whether they should “say hello.”

The sprawling office had already emptied, and the clock read 8:30 p.m. Yu-su tossed his empty plastic cup into the trash, rose from his seat, and slung his bag over one shoulder.

I’m not avoiding Do Muwon. I’m simply going home now that I’ve finished working overtime.

He shut down his computer and turned around.

“…”

His entire body jolted.

A human silhouette stood leaning against the office door.

Yu-su was not easily startled, but his heart slammed hard enough to hurt. Releasing the breath trapped in his throat, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

The shadowy figure appeared to be trembling. Judging by how long she must have been standing there, the sensor lights in the hallway behind her had already gone dark.

Her narrow frame and the outline of her skirt identified her as Senior Associate Shin Young-eun, the employee who had arrived late that morning and been torn apart by Section Chief Ma.

“Senior Associate Shin, did you leave something behind?”

“…”

She staggered, swaying as though her legs might give way beneath her.

Yu-su frowned and moved closer. “Young-eun, are you all right?”

“Ah… ngh.”

Her ragged groan quickened his steps.

Get away!

The desperate warning ripped through his mind. His heart struck once against his ribs, hard enough to stop him in place. Only a short distance remained between them.

What was that?

Something primal surged through him, sharper than instinct and more violent than mere suspicion. Pain flared across the back of his neck, carrying a warning too powerful to ignore, almost as though unseen teeth had sunk into his flesh.

What kind of phantom pain is this? Why should I stay away from Senior Associate Shin?

His mind could find no answer, yet his body had already begun to retreat.

Graaagh!

Senior Associate Shin’s slumped body snapped upright. Her eyes had rolled back until almost nothing remained but the whites. With both arms thrust toward him, she lunged.

Splat.

Her hands closed around the empty space where Yu-su had stood a moment earlier, and she crashed face-first onto the floor.

The office lights exposed her in all her mutilated horror.

Her eyes were bloodshot, every capillary ruptured. Her nose had been torn away, leaving a deep, blood-filled cavity in the center of her face. Each time her body convulsed, clots of dark blood and pulpy entrails spattered across the floor.

“…!”

A scream erupted inside Yu-su’s chest but never escaped his throat. The ringing in his ears sharpened until it seemed to pierce his skull. His entire body shook as though seized by a violent fit, and his lips moved without sound.

What is that? Is that a corpse?

Senior Associate Shin is dead?

No. She screamed at me just now.

No.

No. No. No. No.

Then what the hell is she?

His mind churned like a storm. Even with the truth writhing before his eyes, he could not force himself to understand it. Shin Young-eun forced that understanding upon him.

Grrr.

Grrr.

Snap.

Bone ground against bone as her jaw wrenched itself back into place at a jagged, impossible angle. The dry crack of fractured anatomy rearranging itself echoed through the silent office.

Yu-su stood rooted to the spot, his breath snagging in his throat as he watched her broken body reassemble itself through a series of violent, jerking movements no living human could have survived.

Her head slowly turned toward him. Predatory hunger burned in her bloodshot eyes, empty of reason and utterly beyond human logic. Her limbs had twisted backward at the joints. No living body could contort itself that way.

Even in that condition, Senior Associate Shin struggled desperately to rise. Bloody foam spilled from her mouth as she writhed across the floor, clawing at the tiles with shredded fingertips while her jaw stretched open far wider than it should have been capable of moving.

Kiyaaaah!

“…!”

Yu-su recoiled from the bloodcurdling scream. His body and mind, frozen rigid until that moment, finally lurched back into motion.

Run.

Now.

Right. He had to run.

Leaving Senior Associate Shin behind, Yu-su stumbled into the corridor. He was about to bolt when an overpowering certainty seized him.

He had to lock her inside.

He could not simply walk away and leave the office open.

Click.

Click.

Click.

His trembling fingers slipped from the doorknob again and again. He clenched his fist, forced it open, and tried once more.

At last, the lock turned.

Yu-su spun away and sprinted down the hallway.

The familiar nighttime office had been contaminated by an alien scent, sharp and metallic with blood. Biting down on his lip, he forced his legs to move faster.

Click.

Click.

The sensor lights flickered on one after another, revealing the corridor’s carnage section by section. Bloody footprints stretched along the floor like signposts. Coils of crimson intestine, still warm from the bodies they had been torn from, lay tangled across the tiles.

Then Yu-su stopped.

His breath locked in his lungs.

Crunch.

Snap.

Wet chewing noises drifted from farther down the corridor.

Half a dozen figures, each in the same hideous condition as Senior Associate Shin, crouched around something on the floor and devoured it with ravenous greed.

It was not difficult to guess what they were eating.

Two mangled feet protruded from the heap. One jerked in a final convulsion, knocking an old brown loafer loose and sending it clattering across the floor.

Yu-su knew that shoe.

It belonged to the friendly team leader from the neighboring department. He had bought those loafers with his first paycheck and worn them for years.

Yu-su’s heart hammered so violently that each rush of blood seemed to make his entire body throb, yet an icy chill spread through him. He pressed his trembling lips together.

A shrill electronic tone split the air.

Beeeep!

Even in movies, disaster always struck at the worst possible moment.

The emergency alert blaring from his pocket tore through the corridor, which had been silent except for the wet sounds of feeding.

The creatures stopped eating.

Their faces slick with blood, flesh, and gore, they slowly turned toward the noise.

One head tilted.

Then another.

Then another.

Like animals struggling to understand an unfamiliar sound, they cocked their heads at different angles and blinked. The muscles in their faces spasmed, crumpling and smoothing in rapid succession until they almost appeared to be grinning.

Then they rose.

Aah! Aah!

They screamed as they stood, disgorging chunks of flesh and splintered bone onto the floor in a spray of blood.

“…”

Yu-su slipped a hand into his pocket and silenced the alert with the power button, never allowing his gaze to stop sweeping across his surroundings.

Behind him was the office where Senior Associate Shin had been locked away.

Ahead stood a pack of walking corpses.

Turning back was impossible. Charging through them seemed equally suicidal.

Think. Stay calm and think.

His gaze darted around the hallway until something seemed to seize it and drag it toward the window. Beneath the glass stood a long bench.

An unshakable certainty settled over him.

That was his only way out.

Any other choice would kill him.

Amid all this impossible confusion, this was the third time instinct had assaulted him with absolute certainty, screaming that only one course of action was correct.

The first had warned him away from Senior Associate Shin.

The second had driven him out of the office.

Now came the third.

There was no time to wonder why this was happening.

Hee… hik… hee.

Guhk… aah…

The creatures had risen fully and begun shambling toward him.

I can do this.

Even if I can’t, I still have to.

I’ve crossed balance beams and swung from gymnastics bars thousands of times.

“Hoo…”

Yu-su released the breath he had been holding and lowered his stance. The pupils that had wavered with confusion sharpened, fixing entirely upon his target.

Then he exploded forward, straight toward the dead.

His dress shoes scraped across the marble, and his tailored jacket flared behind him as though caught in a violent gust. Every movement of his lean, flexible body was precise and economical, like an illustration from a physical education textbook brought to life.

The distance between him and the blood-soaked mob vanished.

They reached for him with grasping hands as he charged directly into their midst.

Kiyaaaah!

Graaah!

“Hup!”

Just as their fingers were about to close around him, Yu-su leaped. His foot struck the long bench beneath the window. Without breaking momentum, he vaulted onto the frame, hooked his toes against the narrow ledge, and kicked away from the wall. He sailed past them and landed on the other side with silent, practiced grace.

By the time they turned, Yu-su had already left them behind.

Graa… ah… aaah!

A bubbling shriek clawed at his back, whether from frustration at losing their prey or because it was the only sound their ruined throats could produce.

Yu-su ignored it.

He ran with everything he had.

Like Senior Associate Shin, the creatures could not run properly. Their movements were slow, stiff, and clumsy, allowing Yu-su to widen the distance between them. Then his eyes caught the fire alarm on the wall, and he remembered the company fire drill from the previous month.

The shutter.

Bam!

He smashed his fist into the alarm.

The emergency shutter came crashing down behind him. It was an old-fashioned metal barrier with a narrow auxiliary door built into one corner, but Yu-su could only pray it would hold them back for a little while.

He sprinted away as the fire siren wailed in pursuit of his shadow.

“Haa… ha… ngh…”

After crossing the long corridor in a single desperate run, Yu-su stopped only when he reached the lobby. Nausea churned in his stomach, but he had no time to be sick. He needed to decide where to go. The familiar lobby began to feel like a labyrinth, and the mind he had briefly managed to steady started spinning out of control once again.

The elevator was too dangerous.

The emergency stairs had to be the better option.

But was the outside safe?

Were those things truly confined to this building?

Those things.

There was only one word Yu-su could think of.

Zombie.

How could any of this make sense?

This was twenty-first-century Korea.

This was Gangnam.

Beyond the lobby’s floor-to-ceiling windows stretched the heart of Seoul, its brilliant nightscape glittering like elaborate embroidery.

Look at it. This is Seoul. Seoul is…

“What… the hell?”

The city lights were going out.

One by one.

It was not an illusion.

Darkness crawled across the city, advancing slowly but unmistakably as entire sections of Seoul vanished into blackness.

“No…”

Yu-su’s body began to shake.

The sight before him felt far more real, and far more terrifying, than Senior Associate Shin’s mutilated body or the zombies he had just escaped. It was as though someone had struck him across the crown of his head, leaned close, and whispered directly into his mind.

Where are you going?

Where on earth do you think you can escape?

Then it happened.

The familiar mechanical hum of an ascending elevator echoed through the lobby.

A moment later, a soft chime sounded.

Ding.

The square box of hell had arrived.

Once the pride of Hyeonmyeong Construction’s headquarters, the central elevator had long since been incorporated into the building’s renovated core. Its front and rear walls were made entirely of transparent glass, exposing everything inside with brutal clarity.

Torn chunks of human flesh lay scattered across the floor, which gleamed beneath a layer of congealed blood. Five or six zombies stood amid the remains, feeding upon two people.

One of the victims appeared to have already drawn his final breath.

The other was still alive.

The middle-aged man’s face and body had been crushed against the elevator doors as though caught beneath an immense press. His wheezing breaths fogged the glass while the creatures tore him apart. His eyes bulged and trembled in their sockets, looking ready to burst.

Then they found Yu-su.

Splat.

The man pressed one blood-drenched hand against the glass. It slid slowly downward, his fingernails tearing away one by one and leaving behind a crimson handprint. His lips moved around one final message.

“Run… away…”

“Ah…”

The color drained from Yu-su’s face as he staggered backward.

Perhaps mercifully, the light in the man’s eyes flickered out.

Then the elevator doors began to open. They parted only halfway before catching on something and grinding to a halt, leaving behind a narrow gap. Broken, mangled fingers thrust through the opening. Slick with blood, they wriggled in a grotesque display of excitement.

Clack.

Clack, clack, clack.

The opening, initially wide enough for only a few fingers, slowly expanded to admit a fist, then a wrist, an elbow, and finally a shoulder. The creatures forced themselves through with every shred of strength their ruined bodies possessed. Their noses and chins flattened against the doors, and shattered shoulder bones punched through torn flesh as they squeezed into the lobby.

Ahead of Yu-su waited the living hell inside the elevator.

Behind him, Seoul’s lights were steadily vanishing into darkness.

Only one choice remained.

Yu-su turned and sprinted toward the emergency stairwell without hesitation.

Click.

“Ha…”

The door was locked.

Which bastard locked the emergency door? Were they trying to get people killed?

After coming this far, Yu-su had nowhere else to run. Driven by panic and fury, he yanked the handle twice before slamming his fist against the metal.

Bang!

Bang!

His knuckles split and bruised almost immediately, but the iron door did not move an inch.

Grrk… ugh… keugh.

Aaaaaaah!

The stench of rot surged closer.

Yu-su spun around.

The zombies crawling out through the fire shutter’s auxiliary door and the glass elevator were closing in on him with every passing second. Their shadows stretched across the dim lobby, and their sheer number made the space feel as though it were shrinking around him.

There was no room to maneuver.

They had trapped their prey and were steadily tightening the circle.

Dozens of bloodshot eyes rolled through the corridor like those of reptiles searching for movement.