Jongno

Jongno is the central district of Seoul whose real-world geography anchors several of the named landmarks confirmed in the closed alpha expedition map. The district is named after Jongno (literally "Bell Street"), the historic east-west thoroughfare that runs through the heart of old Seoul, and in real life it is home to both NAKWON Arcade (the 낙원상가 instrument shopping arcade that lent the game its name) and Tapgol Park. Because at least three of the fourteen confirmed expedition landmarks share that real-world neighborhood, the in-game expedition theatre is most strongly associated with Jongno, though the alpha map also includes locations whose precise district placement has not been spelled out in primary press materials.

This article collects what is publicly confirmed about Jongno's role in the game and how to think about the surrounding city ruins when planning a venture out from the Yeouido quarantine zone. For the broader city setting, see the Seoul article. For the wider list of named drop points and districts in the alpha build, see the landmarks hub.

Jongno in the Setting

In the fiction of the game, the wider city has fallen to the outbreak and Yeouido is the last fortified safe zone. The streets outside the walls belong to the infected and to other survivors. Jongno's role within that setting is geographic and atmospheric rather than narrative: it is the part of Seoul where the closed alpha expedition map most clearly draws on the real city, with its arcade and park lifted directly from the neighborhood that gave the game its title.

Mintrocket and Nexon have not published a sub-district map of the alpha build, and the dossier of confirmed facts does not assign every landmark to a specific Seoul ward or street. The safe statement is that NAKWON Arcade, Tapgol Park, and the Jongno Building are the three landmarks whose names tie directly to this neighborhood; the rest of the fourteen-landmark list represents the wider city expedition theatre.

Jongno-Linked Landmarks (Closed Alpha)

The closed alpha confirmed fourteen named landmarks across the city expedition map. The three rows below are the landmarks whose names tie them to the Jongno area. Two further landmark families on the map (Art Gallery, Reconstruction Site, Parking Lot) appear in paired North/South variants whose specific neighborhood placement is not stated in primary press.

Other Confirmed Landmark Families

The remaining eleven confirmed landmarks complete the city expedition map. These appear alongside the Jongno-linked locations in alpha press materials, but the dossier does not attach any of them to a specific Seoul district by name. They are listed here for reference.

• Police Station

• Incinerator Facility

• MR Building

• Seongdo Building

• Hotel Momo

• Art Gallery (South) and Art Gallery (North)

• Reconstruction Site (South) and Reconstruction Site (North)

• Parking Lot (South) and Parking Lot (North)

The paired North and South variants of the Art Gallery, Reconstruction Site, and Parking Lot suggest a deliberately mirrored layout across the map, but the exact relationship between the two halves has not been spelled out in confirmed press.

How Jongno Fits the Expedition Loop

Players approach the Jongno area the same way they approach the rest of the city: as a night-side venture out from the safe zone. The full expedition loop is shared across the whole map and is described in detail under the day-night cycle article. Within Jongno specifically, the standout points are:

• Iconic naming.

  Both the game's title and one of its headline landmarks come from Jongno. Players who recognize the real-world references will pick up on the connection between NAKWON Arcade and the Sino-Korean word

  nakwon

  (paradise) used in the subtitle.

• Park-and-arcade pairing.

  NAKWON Arcade and

  Tapgol Park lie close together in the real city, and both are confirmed as named drop points in the alpha. Sound discipline matters around either one because the same special infected behaviors apply across the whole map.

• Office-tower presence.

  The Jongno Building rounds out the trio of district-named locations and provides another named drop on the city map alongside the MR and Seongdo buildings.

Real-World Context

The real-world Jongno district is the historic core of central Seoul. The actual NAKWON Arcade (낙원상가) is a shopping building famous as a hub for musical instruments, and Tapgol Park is a small public park associated with early-twentieth-century Korean independence history. The game borrows the names and the broad geographic association rather than recreating the buildings in detail. Treat the in-game versions as fictional adaptations: factual loot tables, room layouts, and connecting streets are products of the game's level design, not of the real district.

Where to Go Next

For more on the wider city, the safe zone, and the rest of the expedition map, follow these articles:

• Seoul

  : overview of the city setting and the Yeouido safe zone.

• Landmarks

  : the full list of fourteen named drop points confirmed in the alpha.

• NAKWON Arcade

  : the headline Jongno landmark that gives the game its title.

• Tapgol Park

  : the second confirmed Jongno-area drop point.

• Closed Alpha

  : the March 2026 test that confirmed the current map and landmark list.

• Overview

  : high-level introduction to the game for first-time readers.