Man’s Greatest Treasure || Joongki & Youngshin
After being trapped inside the Firefly zones while his leg healed, Joongki was more than ready to get out. The skyscrapers that littered the landscape were more than enough proof that Seoul used to house millions of people, yet being stuck too long in the zones with the remnants of humanity made him feel crowded. He didn’t want to endure anymore of Jihyo’s fussing, either, so he wrote her a note in his rough penmanship to tell her where he was headed and when to expect him back before he slipped away while she was on a hunting trip.
He saluted the members of the patrol at the gate, told them he was going on a test run to see if he was fit for duty again, and headed out with a mostly empty backpack, his baseball bat, and his hunting knife. The area immediately around the Firefly zone was frequently patrolled and relatively safe, but Joongki made certain to travel as stealthily as possible. It was a good test run—he couldn’t crouch as low as normal, not without a nasty twinge which swiftly progressed to a painful cramp if his thigh tensed up too long.
It took him nearly an hour to reach the small library he liked to frequent. The windows had been boarded up for years, ever since he first ran across it, but the front doors only looked barricaded at a passing glance. Joongki levered himself over the rubble he had strategically piled in the way and opened the front doors.
Joongki pulled out his flashlight but didn’t turn it on immediately. He crept through what had once been a lobby—or rather, the circulation desk, as a rotting sign had once proclaimed—listening closely for any sign of the Infected. Once he was certain the place was clear, he switched on his light and took the stairs to the second floor, where the nonfiction section was housed. He would like to haul as many books out as possible, but books were heavy, and with his mostly healed leg, it would be better if he didn’t take the risk of being weighed down. Just two, maybe three, and then he needed to leave. He could come back for novels another time.









