January 7, 2023, 11:57am, Daegu, South Korea.
It has been nearly two days since the apocalypse fell.
The snow was still falling down on the frozen, destroyed streets of Daegu. The skies were still dark grey-- a clear sign that the sun wasn't going to shine anytime soon.
Zeke slowly wakes up to the rustling of boxes, as he looks around.
"Rise and shine, Zeke!" Jihyo said.
Zeke looks at Jihyo, who seems to be packing some essentials using a bag she found in the stockroom. "How are you?"
"A bit better than last night.." He said as he yawns and rubs his eyes.
"That's good," Jihyo replied.
"What did I miss..?" He said, stretching a bit. He winces as he still feels his wounds.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just trying to pack some stuff here for our trip." She replies, stuffing a few bandages on her bag.
"Wait. Where are we headed, anyway?" Zeke groggily asked in confusion.
"Honestly, no idea." She gave an audible sigh. "I was planning on going back to Seoul after all.. but my GPS isn't working. So we have to do this trip one step at a time if we want to survive. We could split ways if one of us finds a sure way to get back home, but for now... We gotta work through this together." She said as she wore her bag filled with supplies.
Zeke nodded as he did a few more stretches. "I'm ready when you are."
"Oh, Zeke. Chill out. We should have lunch first. I bet you're hungry." She said as she gave him a prepacked lunch she found on one of the supply boxes. "I'm sorry if it's cold. We don't have a working microwave around.." She added as she sat in front of him and opened her own lunch.
"Not that it matters... As long as it's food." Zeke replied as he dug into his lunch.
As they finished eating a few moments later, Zeke and Jihyo stood up and made last-minute preparations. Jihyo scours the area one last time, and then comes back to Zeke and gives him a huge pipe wrench.
"What's this for?" Zeke asks.
"Well... it's for fixing, right? We have to fix things. A lot of things. If you get what I mean." Jihyo said as she shows him a crowbar and swings it around.
Zeke chuckles.
"Hold on, before we go..." Jihyo said as she pulls out a lip balm from her pocket and places it on her lips.
"So.. you just bring that anywhere?" Zeke asked.
"My lips easy get all dry and stuff. Gotta have self-care even in an apocalypse, right?" Jihyo chuckled as she put her lip balm back in her pocket.
"Alright, I'm set. Let's go." Jihyo said, going down the stairs with caution. Zeke follows her.
They stepped outside into the city streets once more. Nothing's changed, it was still cold and desolate. Zeke and Jihyo cautiously walked along the side of the road.
Zeke notices a lot of food stores on this street. Some were still intact, but some were broken beyond repair.
"Lots of food stores in here, huh," Zeke speaks in a low tone.
"Yeah. I never knew this place had loads of them. I could eat here all day. Actually, no-- Momo and Nayeon can eat here all day." She chuckled.
They pass through more destroyed and frozen buildings, pieces left of the cube bombs, and icy roads. They see more frozen people along the way, and they couldn't do anything but press on.
A few more minutes of walking and they pass up on a few frozen masked men on the ground, and next to them, a destroyed armored car, with a lot of coins, bills, and gold bars, that were now slightly covered in snow and ice, scattered along the road.
They both look at the sight in front of them.
"It's a robbery," Zeke said, walking through. "These guys probably stole an armored car and almost got away with it.."
"..if not for that cube-like meteor." Jihyo continued. "Must've been a really bad day for them, huh... It looked like they were kinda going to get the jackpot. I saw no police cars on the pursuit." Jihyo said as she noticed a lot of gems also scattered on the ground amongst the cold bills and coins.
"I didn't know there were lots of gems here. There's sapphires.. pearls.. amethysts.. and a lot of these.. cube-like diamond gems all scattered around." She said.
"Cube-like gems..?" Zeke froze in fear. He then looks down on the snow, noticing something familiar on the ground-- a small crystalline cube that faintly glows blue. It starts to move. His eyes widen, as he sees that they're right in the middle of what seems to be a trap. Zeke manages to go around and kick the gems as far away from them as possible.
"We gotta go," Zeke said.
"What do you mean we got--"
Jihyo looks as the cube-like gems that Zeke kicked started shaking and forming a shape.
"Are those the snowm--" Jihyo asked as Zeke immediately nodded.
"Oh."
That was the only thing Jihyo said to Zeke as they immediately ran away from the area.
"Christmas gifts came in early today, huh..!" Jihyo said to Zeke, still running.
"I'd rather have coal..." Zeke replied.
Zeke and Jihyo see at least five snowmen chasing after them. Zeke wasn't still fully recovered so he ran a little slower than Jihyo, but nonetheless, he was still running fast.
But the snowmen were faster. The longer they run, the closer the snowmen get. And their legs were starting to get tired.
They soon come across a street filled with parked cars. Some of them were either frozen or destroyed. But some looked like they were untouched.
Three of the five snowmen were now closing in on Zeke and Jihyo. Zeke anticipates the attack by just standing there, his hands tightly gripping his pipe wrench.
A snowman jumps to Zeke. He advances to hit one of them, trying to ignore the pain of his body. He manages to land a blow and used his hand to slam the snowman's head onto a car.
The two other snowmen were headed for Jihyo. She manages to swing her crowbar at one of the snowmen, but the other tackle her with full force, sending her crashing into an intact car's front window. It breaks completely as Jihyo fell inside the front seat, letting out a pained scream. She struggled to land a kick at the snowman but she manages to, knocking it off the hood. The other one takes a grab at her arm. While she was trying to pry herself free, she notices that the car keys were in the ignition. With a lot of effort and struggle, she turns it, and surprisingly, the car starts. "Today, we are lucky bastards.." She said to herself.
Zeke was already winning against the third snowman when he hears a car start. He then looks at the car and sees Jihyo inside, struggling with two other snowmen on the car hood who were trying to attack her. He sprints as fast as he can and tackles the two snowmen out of the way with so much force, leaving only himself on the hood of the car. He groans in sheer pain as he felt his wounds from yesterday sting once more.
"Nice!" Jihyo exclaimed as she immediately pulls Zeke inside the car through the front window and drives off. Two snowmen manage to jump on top of the car. One of them crawls to the side window and tries to grab Zeke.
"I didn't know you knew how to drive?!" Zeke said, struggling with hitting the snowman grabbing him.
"Well, now you know, I guess?" She smirks as she continues to be focused on the road. "Now, witness the incredible driving of Park Jihyo! Haha!"
The other snowman's claws start tearing through the car roof.
"Get your icy hands off me...! Brrr! It's really cold as shit!" Zeke said as continued to wildly smash the wrench on the snowman's arm that was grabbing him. Realizing the snowman wouldn't let go, he pulls the snowman's arm down instead, making the whole creature fall to the ground, crushing it.
The other snowman manages to pry open the car roof using its icy claws. As soon as it did, it's face was met by the cold steel of Jihyo's crowbar.
BONK!
It gets flung away from the car as Jihyo smirks. She then throws the crowbar at the back seat and sped up the car even more. They have escaped the snowmen at last.
"Where are we headed now?" Zeke asks, panting heavily.
"Just as far away from here as possible," Jihyo replied, panting as well. "We gotta find a place to stay again soon. This car's nearly out of gas."
The two knew that the dangers were far from over at this point. It was already afternoon, and if they're going to survive the rest of the day, they'd have to be more aware of their surroundings.
An uneventful thirty minutes has passed. Zeke was fiddling with the radio, in hopes of finding a signal from other people. Jihyo was still driving the beat-up car, aimlessly wandering through the desolate streets, making detours whenever there's a blocked path due to debris, fallen buildings, fallen trees, or ice. She also evaded avenues, where she thinks there are many snowmen traps. They didn't know where to go, and no place was safe enough for them to stay. The only option, for now, was to keep traveling.
It was then when they suddenly saw an old man getting flung on the street in the distance, landing on their path.
"Oh shi-" Jihyo exclaims as she slammed the brakes, grinding the whole car to a halt.
"An injured man! We should help him.." Zeke said.
"..with caution," Jihyo replied. "We can't afford another ambush."
They both went down and cautiously walked toward him.
The old man was lying on his back, unable to move. Clearly, he wasn't one of the monstrosities Zeke and Jihyo faced before. He was too weakened and heavily injured, with lots of deep wounds all over his body. Zeke holds him.
Then they hear a roar.
Zeke and Jihyo see another icy Scraper from a far distance, coming toward them. It was dragging a huge steel beam-- seemingly from the foundation of one of the destroyed buildings.
"Ugh... I said we can't afford another ambush.." Jihyo muttered under her breath.
Zeke immediately drags the old man to the car as Jihyo rushes back as well. But before they could even reach the car, the Scraper tosses the steel beam toward it. It narrowly misses Jihyo as it destroys the car.
Zeke cursed as he gets thrown off a bit. The Scraper was now slowly coming at them.
The old man feels the presence of another human dragging him. He tries to open his eyes and sees Zeke and Jihyo looking at him. He then tries to mutter something.
"Y-you. U-use my cane to fight it... I entrust it to you... Just… think.. think of what you truly need to do... Think.. of a goal... and it will answer your call.." he said to them before passing out. Jihyo looks around and sees a small bag and a wooden cane near where they found the old man.
Surely, she didn't mishear the old man telling them to "use the cane". It was a crazy idea, using a wooden cane to fend off the giant that was closing in. She hesitated. The old man was probably joking. Was it a joke?
Surely, the old man won't joke at a time like this. It has to be real.
She looked at Zeke and the old man. Clearly, Zeke was still injured from yesterday, so he can't deal with another one of these monsters. The old man shares the same fate. She was the only one left capable of protecting them.
She had to take another gamble.
Without any further questions in mind, Jihyo grabs the cane. She then closes her eyes. She remembered what the old man said.
"Think... Think of what you truly want to do... Think.. of a goal... and it will answer your call.."
"I.. I'm..." She said in a weak tone as she gripped the cane tighter.
She stops speaking and closes her eyes. Images of each TWICE member flash through her mind, until it flashes an image of Mina.
She abruptly opens her eyes as she looks at Zeke and the old man once more.
"I... I'm going to.. " Jihyo said to herself as she sees the towering golem now in front of her, about to swing its arm toward her.
Finally with a deep breath, she stops shaking, and now with conviction, she shouts at the top of her lungs.
"I'm going to save and protect ALL of my loved ones, so help me, you stupid cane!"
The Scraper unleashes it's wild swing.
She closes her eyes as she swings the cane downward in retaliation. The cane glows, and streak of light from it bursts out and slices the Scraper's fingers clean off.
Jihyo opens her eyes and sees what happened.
"What the h-"