Date: July 28th, 2017

Nari purses her lips, marking the printed out map of Seoul. Her brother hadn’t called back in the last three days, and with the fighting closer than ever, she had to prepare for the possibility that she would have to stay underground temporarily.

That thought makes her swallow. She wasn’t prepared for that. There was no how-to prepare for war. So instead, she finds herself looking up instructions for a zombie apocalypse and an outbreak of a disease.

First thing was food, water, and some sort of lighting. Second, she had to nick more medications and medical supplies. She was out of antibiotics. Third, she needed stuff for hygiene and she needed random tools: knives, duct tape, and the works. Fourth, maybe she should invest in protection.

The random tools and the medication had to be done in person. The rest could be done in phone calls.

She dials a familiar number, humming as it rings.

“Hello?”

“It’s me, Son Nari.”

“Nari? Have you heard from your brother?”

“No.”

There’s a pause over the phone until the male speaks again, “Nari, what can I do for you?”

She inhales, hoping that he could somehow pull it off. “I need weapons.”

“Is this about the crime rate? Listen, we’re the police. We have a plan to put it under control.” He rambles on and on about the given plan, and Nari is polite enough to let him. But she knows better. He was ignoring talking about the war completely.

He is a friend of her brother’s, and she couldn’t exactly remember his name. He’s named ‘Police Guy’ in her phone, and that is familiar enough.

“Look, I’m a young female living alone in the middle of Seoul. Do you know what’s going to happen to me if things get too bad? I’m scared,” She hates to play that card, but it was necessary and not completely untrue. She is scared. She could only hope that her prepping was useless and her brother would be back.

She had a few knives and unloaded guns that her brother had left behind in her apartment. He supposedly worked in the government, and she didn’t know much other than that and the fact that he had special permission to have guns.

The man over the phone pauses, “I’ll see what I can get you. Are you going to be at your parents’ apartment in downtown later today?”

“Yes, thank you so much,” She sighs out of relief and hangs up. She is lucky enough that she lives in a good apartment in the middle of downtown. She is even luckier that it was free of cost and that her parents owned the building.

She is incredibly lucky that there’s an underground area with facilities that was rarely rented out below the building. It had bathrooms, a wide space, well-reinforced ceilings, and most importantly, no windows. It was practically made for bunkering down.

Nari had slipped into the underground area several times so far, bringing down bedding and spare clothes and a few valuables, making sure that no one saw her. If she was lucky, she could use half of the gigantic room for storage of food and supplies, which would last her years.

But she wouldn’t be that lucky. She had to be realistic.

Her phone starts to vibrate, and her eyes widen at the caller ID. She immediately lifts the phone to her ear, murmuring with a surprised, “Where have you been?”

“I have maybe sixty seconds to say this. Did you get tickets to get out of Seoul?”

“Didn’t you hear? The airports are being blocked off. There’s been too many people trying to leave.”

Nari’s brother growls with frustration, “I heard rumors. Hunker down in the unused ballroom. I’ll get someone to get food, water, and basic supplies by tonight.”

“I talked to your supposed police friend asking for weapons,” She says quietly, checking the time. She knows that she needs to get to the university, and the sooner, the better.

“I’ll send you more just in case,” He promises before his voice turns more serious. “I’ve heard rumors of a possible attack, stay ready-”

He cuts the phone without another word, and she frowns. A possible attack? That was unlikely because the majority of foreign forces were still up in the mountains northeast of Seoul.

Nari pushes the thoughts out of her head, slinging the large duffel bag and backpack over her shoulders. At this rate, she’d need a lot more than just the basic supplies for herself. If she knew her brother well, as she would like to assume that she did, she knew that he would send supplies for her and maybe fifty others.

And if she would feed fifty others, she had to be willing to treat fifty others.

She swallows. It was easy enough to take small bits of gauze and a few dental instruments, but this would be much harder. Nari locks the door behind her and heads down the stairs, running into Hoseok.

“Nari? Where are you going?”

“Out,” She smiles back with an innocent tilt of her head. “You?”

“Namjoon and Yoongi’s,” He says dismissively, eyes narrowing at her. “You shouldn’t go out in clothes like that.”

She looks down, seeing nothing wrong with her jeans and t-shirt, “What do you mean?”

“You’re too clean and you scream well-off,” Hoseok was serious, which Nari thought was odd in itself. “If you’re going out like that, you should go with someone so you don’t get threatened or jumped.”

She shrugs, “It’s not like I have a boyfriend-”

“Namjoon!”

“What?” The man was making his way downstairs, and Hoseok cranes his head back to look at him.

“You busy?”

“Not really,” Namjoon answers, leaning over the railing. “Why?”

“Go out with her,” Hoseok points, and Nari flushes at the implication. “She needs to go out and at this rate, she’s going to get jumped.”

Namjoon says nothing back, taking anoth