007: Train To Hell

Levi looked around at the people and saw many taking out their smartphones and dialing whatever family they knew.

A lot of them still were in a state of panic, for sure.

And all things considered, it was remarkable that some even had the thought process to fall back into their modern trap to use their tech to get information on the current chaos or at the very least call their loved ones maybe a last time.

Not that it was a bad thing per se. Come to think of it he wondered why the technology in some areas in this world seemed to be somewhat faster developing than in previous one.

It was nothing to complain about but smartphones were already a thing since about 4 years or something along those lines. Normally that is about a whole decade too soon.

Well, putting that aside, Levi also took out his phone.

Looking at the cracked screen made him frown lightly at first, but it still turned on and worked normally with a signal. 

Quickly dialing a number from his saved quick dials, he soon got a response.

"Sir?" a female voice answered what seemed to be with a yawn. Understandably since the time over in the States was probably a different one. Even in them, one could nearly get 24 hours of sunlight when driving from one coast to the other.

"Sarah, please take a look at the news for me."

"Uhm...okay?" It took a minute until she said something else. Probably walking to her living room. "What am I supposed to see?"

"Is there no news about South Korea currently?"

"No, the channel is talking about the usual...wait! They just got some incoming news that all plane flights are being canceled to and from South Korea because some riots started around some areas."

"I see. At least there is some news. Well, truth be told, I'm a sitting duck over here by the looks. Send a word to Michael and his guys to take their ship and exfiltrate me."

"Sir, you want security to get you out of Korea? Should we not just wait until things are calmed down over there? Wouldn't it complicate things?"

"Listen, Sarah, things aren't going to calm down over here anytime soon. Who would believe some riots warranting a whole closing of airports? It's a damn pandemic here and they seem to try to play it low. I'm sure they will soon quarantine even the ports. I myself will try to get to some coastal place with a harbor. Preferably hijacking a civilian ship and traveling over to Japan. If it is safe there, I can wait it out. What I want is for my team to be already on their way to get me out. Did you understand that?"

There was a long silence at the other end of the phone.

"Sarah...?" Levi asked and for a second thought, the line was cut. But he soon her her words.

"No, I'm still here, just looking at the news starting to increase about Seoul. I'll will make the necessary calls. Do you have your emergency GPS transmitter with you? Where are you headed right now?"

"On me all the time. And I think we left Seoul a while ago. Maybe 15 minutes?" Levi agreed and pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a USB stick but actually was a GPS tracker in disguise.

He wanted to make sure it was active and not damaged. Putting it back into his pocket he took a quick glance outside through the side windows and then at his watch.

"I'll try to keep taking the train to Busan. It's conveniently on the right coastline of South Korea where the guys can pick me up. If, and I mean a big if, everything somewhat moves here without hiccups I should be there in about 6 hours or so."

"Also, from now on I will conserve my battery and call if I need something or inform you if things go haywire. Keep calls to me to a minimum, alright?", he added.

"Yes, sir." She agreed and seemed to have now woken up from her sleepiness.

"Hopefully we see each other in good health....And don't tell my parents anything yet...Later." After finishing the call he proceeded to deactivate the alarms and all sounds it would make. Hopefully, only vibrations are enough to keep himself unnoticed.

Normally he would put it away completely but missing calls right now would get him stuck in this peninsula.

What Levi called and requested from his assistant was for his private security team to get him out of there.

Well, the security team was only in name but what they are is more of a private mercenary group made up of old veterans that he gave jobs after their service time ended in the military.

Most of those took civil jobs but some of them were gladly taking military jobs like security. Maybe it was because of having PTSD or other reasons.

Nevertheless, he could not complain and was happy having formed this group. In a scenario like this one, they would be invaluable soon.

Dangerous as well, but that would be another story he would have to take care of later.

Right now though he would have to keep himself calm and start thinking of how to reach his destination.

Not only that, but he also had to make sure that he survived the city for a few days until receiving a call that his people are ready.

Let's just hope the government makes things not more complicated than it already is.

Hell, let's hope that there is even remotely any control over this pandemic in the first place. 

Come to think of it, there was an eery familiarity with this situation. Yet he couldn't put his fingers on it. 

Just when he scratched his chin and looked overly contemplative in his thoughts, a burly man approached him.

"Hey, kid. Thanks for earlier." The man said and still held an arm around his wife.

At least Levi presumed this to be his partner. With her being pregnant and all. Not a really lucky thing to be in such a chaos, mind you.

That aside, this man was the one he helped get inside this compartment before and the woman was the one who had a quick head on her shoulders.

"You're welcome." Then he stood up and gestured to the woman. "Here, take a seat."

There were only a few seats at the end of the wagon near the connection to the next compartment.

"You sure? I saw you limping a little before." The woman looked concerned herself.

But Levi shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Go ahead, I just nicked my toe I think."

The woman just nodded and sat down to relax a little.

A little girl from the side that had been observing him for a while saw this and then looked at an old lady. She immediately jumped from her seat and brought the older lady to her seat.

Apparently, her father seemed to dislike her honest behavior and told her to be more selfish.

'What a way to raise your child...' Levi frowned but also believed he had no say in this. In this current situation, his words are not completely wrong.

"So now you even teach your girl to be a prick like yourself?" The burly guy seemed to be angered by this though. "First you shut the door in our faces and then you reprimand the child for being nice? Scum"

That brought Levi to look at the person more in detail. "You were the one who nearly killed us!?" His anger started to flare up slightly.

"Everyone here has to take their own responsibilities. I took the actions that made our survival." The guy glared back at him.

Levi remained silent for a moment and calmed down. A quick glance at the little girl close to the guy made him look away. "You are lucky I get your point as a father. I would have punched your teeth out by now otherwise."

The burly guy smirked with a small snort. "You speak out my words, kid. The name is Yoon Sang-Hwa by the way. This is my wife Yoon Seong-Kyeong." He then reached for a handshake.

Levi nodded and took the handshake and was also weirdly surprised. "Huh, I'm Yoon Levi." He did leave out his first name for better communication. "The world is a small place, isn't it. I thought Kim would be a more common family name but here we are."

The burly man was surprised at that as well and even his wife chuckled a little at this outcome.

(A/N: And I'm as well rofl)

Sang-Hwa grinned "I think we will get along really well."

Levi only smiled at this.