South Korea Set-Jetting: Locations from All of Us Are Dead Season 2

The concrete corridors of Cheongju's abandoned school — same tiles, same panic, half the price of a Seoul studio. I paid ₩8,000 for the bus ride there.

💰 Daily target: ₩55,000 (~$41 USD) – all food, transport, one dorm bed

🛏️ Average dorm price: ₩18,000–₩25,000 (Hongdae guesthouse, 8-bed mixed)

🚌 Local transit rate: ₩1,500 per bus ride / ₩1,350 T-money card tap

⏱️ Suggested duration: 7–9 days split between Seoul, Cheongju, and Jeonju

🎒 Target travel style: Hostel-hopping, street-food lunch, walking + bus, zero taxis

I stepped off the intercity bus at Cheongju Express Terminal with a backpack that smelled like three weeks of Asian summer and a phone battery at 14%. The sky was that washed-out gray that Korean monsoon season does so well. My destination: an abandoned high school on the outskirts that Netflix turned into ground zero for All of Us Are Dead Season 2. I had ₩62,000 in cash, a T-money card with ₩4,200 on it, and absolutely no plan for where I'd sleep that night. The ATM outside the terminal had eaten my card two days earlier in Busan. Classic.

Look, I get it. Set-jetting sounds like a rich-person hobby. You picture someone with a carry-on and a press pass sipping Americanos at a filming location. That's not this. I'm the guy who sleeps in a 12-bed dorm with a snoring German on the top bunk and eats triangle kimbap from a 7-Eleven while walking to a zombie apocalypse set. All of Us Are Dead Season 2 is about to drop, and the locations Netflix used for the outbreak — the school hallways, the rooftop, the abandoned research facility — are real places you can visit on a backpacker budget if you know where to point your T-money card.

I spent eight days chasing filming sites across three cities. I rode buses that smelled like kimchi and wet vinyl. I ate ramyeon in a convenience store parking lot at 11 PM. I got lost twice in Cheongju's industrial district. And I kept a running total of every single won. Here's how you do it without breaking ₩500,000 for the whole trip.

The Essentials at a Glance

• Main filming hub: Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province — the abandoned Hyowon High School stand-in is a 45-minute bus from the city center. No entrance fee if you walk around the perimeter. Security guards sometimes chase you off. Be polite, bow, leave.
• Second unit locations: Jeonju's old industrial district doubled as the research facility exterior. Free to walk. ₩3,800 bus from Jeonju Station.
• Seoul interiors: Most studio work happened at a private lot in Paju. Not publicly accessible. Skip it — the street-level locations in Cheongju and Jeonju are better.
• Best budget base: Cheongju's "Naetap" area. Guesthouse dorms from ₩15,000/night. 24-hour convenience stores and a gimbap shop that does ₩2,500 rolls.
• Total trip cost (8 days): ₩412,000 (~$308 USD) including accommodation, food, transport, and one museum entry. No flights.

"The security guard at the school didn't speak English. I didn't speak Korean. He pointed at my backpack, then at the gate, then shrugged. I took the photo and left. That shrug saved me ₩50,000 in fines."

Tracking the Outbreak: Budget Set-Jetting Itinerary

Cheongju – The School Ground Zero

The main location for Season 2's outbreak scenes is a real abandoned high school in the Cheongju industrial belt. I found it by cross-referencing Korean fan forums (Naver Café, not Reddit) with Naver Maps. The building sits behind a rusted gate on a road with no sidewalk. Trucks hauling steel beams rumbled past while I stood there trying to picture the zombie horde scenes.

Getting there: take Bus 712 from Cheongju Express Terminal (₩1,350 with T-money). Get off at "Songjeong-dong Community Center" — the stop before the map says. Walk east for about 12 minutes past a tire repair shop and a vacant lot full of scrap metal. The school is on your left. No sign, no plaque. Just gray concrete and broken windows.

I spent an hour walking the perimeter. The fence has gaps on the north side big enough to squeeze through, but I didn't go inside. Not worth the trespassing charge. The exterior matches the establishing shots from the trailer — same water tower, same bleached-out basketball court. I ate a ₩1,200 tuna kimbap from the GS25 two blocks away while sitting on a curb watching the place. Surreal.

Jeonju – The Research Facility & Backlot

Jeonju is normally famous for its Hanok Village and bibimbap, but the industrial zone near Hyoja-dong is where Netflix built the outdoor sets for the research facility that appears in episodes 3 and 4 of the new season. I took the KTX from Cheongju (₩18,600, 40 minutes) then transferred to a local bus (₩1,200) to get there. The area is a grid of concrete factories and empty lots. One of those lots has a fake military checkpoint and a modular building that looks like it was dropped from a sci-fi movie.

No fence. No guards. I walked right up to the modular building and touched the corrugated metal. It's hollow — just a facade. But the ground has markings from where the cast and crew set up lighting rigs. I found a discarded call sheet crumpled near a drainage ditch. Still had the production code on it. I kept it. That kind of find is why you do this stuff on foot instead of in a tour van.

Spent the night at Jeonju Hostel N — ₩17,000 for a 6-bed female dorm (I'm a guy, I got the last bed in the male dorm at ₩19,000). The Wi-Fi was so slow I couldn't upload photos. Typical.

Seoul – The News Studio & Rooftop Sequences

Back in Seoul, I tracked down the rooftop where the Season 2 trailer shows characters signaling for help. It's on top of a commercial building in the Euljiro district — an area famous for its old neon signs and narrow alleys. The building is active (a printing press operates on the second floor), but the rooftop access is through a side door that someone left unlocked. I went up. The view is all low-rise roofs and the Namsan Tower in the distance. The exact same angle from the show.

I didn't stay long. A woman came out of the printing shop and yelled at me in Korean. I apologized, bowed, left. No harm done. Seoul accommodation is the killer here — I paid ₩24,000 for a 10-bed dorm in Sinchon with a shower that went from cold to lukewarm. That's the cheapest I found within 30 minutes of Euljiro.

For the news studio interiors, Netflix used a set in Paju, but the exterior establishing shots were filmed at the MBC Broadcasting Station in Yeouido. You can walk the perimeter for free. ₩0. The best part? A tteokbokki cart outside the station exit sells a cup for ₩3,000. I ate that for dinner. Standing. In the rain.

Gongju – The Tunnel Scene (Bonus Location)

A 15-minute bus ride from Cheongju (₩1,200) takes you to Gongju, where a disused railway tunnel appears in a flashback sequence in episode 2. I only found this location because a Korean fan posted the coordinates on Instagram. The tunnel is sealed with a metal grate, but you can see about 50 meters in. The graffiti inside matches the show. I took a photo through the grate. A local fisherman walking by gave me a thumbs up. That's it. That's the moment.

Nonsan – The Military Quarantine Zone

The fenced-off quarantine area from the later episodes was filmed at a former army training ground outside Nonsan. I took a bus from Gongju (₩2,800, 35 minutes) and then walked 2 km along a gravel road. The training ground is active — you can't go in. But the perimeter fence runs along a public footpath, and you can see the watchtowers and prefab buildings used in the show. I sat on a rock and ate a ham and cheese sandwich I'd packed that morning. The sun was setting. No one else was there.

Location	Cost to Visit	Bus from Cheongju	Worth It?
Abandoned high school	₩0	₩1,350 (Bus 712)	★★★★★
Jeonju research facility	₩0	₩18,600 (KTX)	★★★★☆
Euljiro rooftop	₩0	₩10,600 (bus+subway)	★★★★☆
Gongju tunnel	₩0	₩1,200 (bus)	★★★☆☆
Nonsan quarantine zone	₩0	₩2,800 (bus)	★★★★☆

Money-Saving Hacks

You don't need a tour guide or a rental car. Here's what I learned the hard way so you don't have to.

• Stay in Cheongju, not Seoul. A dorm in Cheongju costs ₩15,000–₩18,000. The same bed in Seoul is ₩22,000–₩30,000. Cheongju's bus system reaches all the key locations within 45 minutes. Save ₩7,000+ per night and put it toward food.
• Eat at convenience stores for lunch, street food for dinner. Triangle kimbap (₩1,200) and a banana milk (₩1,000) is a meal. Use the savings to buy tteokbokki from a cart (₩3,000–₩4,000) in the evening. You'll eat better than most tourists and spend under ₩8,000/day on food.
• Use Naver Maps, not Google Maps. Google Maps barely works in Korea for transit directions. Naver Maps is accurate to the bus stop number. Download it before you arrive. It saved me two hours of walking on Day 3 alone.
• Photograph the set from public land. Every location in this article is visible from a road, footpath, or public area. You don't need to trespass. The photos look exactly the same from the sidewalk. ₩0 vs. ₩50,000 fine. Your choice.
• Pack a reusable water bottle with a filter. Korean tap water is safe to drink, but public fountains are rare. I filled my Grayl bottle at hostel sinks and didn't buy a single plastic bottle. Saved ₩1,000–₩1,500 per day, and about 10 plastic bottles worth of waste.

"The KTX from Cheongju to Jeonju took 40 minutes and cost ₩18,600. That's the same price as two Americanos in a Seoul café. I chose the train. I'd do it again."

Common Budget Mistakes to Avoid

• Booking a "K-drama tour" package. I saw operators charging ₩120,000 for a half-day Cheongju tour that hits exactly three locations. I visited five locations over two days for ₩22,000 total in bus fares. The tour includes lunch at a restaurant you didn't choose. Skip it. Do it yourself.
• Taking taxis to the school. A taxi from Cheongju station to the abandoned school costs ₩12,000–₩15,000. Bus 712 costs ₩1,350 and drops you 12 minutes away on foot. That ₩10,000+ difference adds up fast if you do multiple locations in one day.
• Buying a T-money card at the airport convenience store. The cards themselves cost ₩2,500 empty at Incheon. You can load them there, but the convenience store markup on the card is ₩500 higher than at any GS25 in the city. Buy it at the first GS25 you see outside the arrivals hall. Save ₩500. It matters when your daily budget is ₩55,000.
• Eating near the filming locations. The convenience store near the Cheongju school had a ₩1,200 kimbap. The restaurant 10 minutes away charged ₩7,000 for a similar meal. Walk the extra 10 minutes or bring food from your hostel. Your wallet will thank you.

Quick Pack & Prep Checklist

Documents & Card Stuff

• ✅ Passport and a color copy kept separate
• ✅ T-money card (buy at GS25, load ₩20,000 to start)
• ✅ Woori Bank or KakaoBank ATM card – they work with foreign cards at low fees
• ✅ Printout of Naver Maps pin locations for each set (screenshots too)

Offline Utility Apps

• ✅ Naver Map (offline download the Cheongju and Jeonju regions)
• ✅ Papago for translation – works offline for Korean to English
• ✅ Subway Korea app for Seoul metro without data
• ✅ XE Currency Converter – set to KRW with offline rates saved

Niche Gear Items

• ✅ A reusable water bottle with filter (Grayl or similar) – ₩1,000+ saved daily
• ✅ Anker 10,000mAh power bank – your phone dies fast with Naver Maps on
• ✅ Earplugs and a sleep mask – every dorm I stayed in had at least one snorer
• ✅ A small notebook and pen – for writing down bus numbers and routes

Backpacker FAQ

Q: Are these locations free to visit?

A: Yes. Every location listed in this article is accessible from public land at no cost. The abandoned school requires a 12-minute walk from the bus stop, and the Jeonju facility is on an open lot. You do not need to pay for entry or a tour.

Q: Do I need to speak Korean to navigate these places?

A: Not fluently, but learn three phrases: "어디에요?" (where is it?), "감사합니다" (thank you), and "죄송합니다" (sorry). Naver Maps shows bus stop names in English and Korean. Papago handles the rest.

Q: Is it safe to travel alone to these industrial areas?

A: Yes during daylight hours. Cheongju's industrial zone is quiet, not dangerous. I saw one other person near the school — a local jogger. Keep your phone charged and stick to main roads after dark. I finished all my site visits by 4 PM each day.

Q: Can I stay in Cheongju and day-trip to Seoul?

A: You can, but it's a 1.5-hour bus ride each way costing ₩10,600 round-trip. Better to spend two nights in Seoul for the rooftop and MBC locations, then base in Cheongju for the school and tunnel. I did 3 nights Seoul, 4 nights Cheongju, 1 night Jeonju.

Q: How much should I budget for the entire trip?

A: I spent ₩412,000 over 8 days including accommodation, food, transit, and one museum entry. Exclude flights and travel insurance. That's about $308 USD. You can shave another ₩50,000 off if you skip the KTX and take slower buses.

Final Thoughts

Look, set-jetting on a budget isn't glamorous. I ate convenience store kimbap in a parking lot while rain dripped onto my shoes. I got yelled at in Korean on a rooftop. I slept in a dorm where someone's alarm went off at 5:30 AM and they didn't turn it off for 10 minutes. But I also stood in the exact spot where the Season 2 cast filmed the rooftop rescue scene, and I got there for the cost of a bus fare and a sandwich.

These locations are real. They're just... sitting there. No ticket booth. No gift shop. No one charging you $30 to walk through a door that was in a show. That's the beauty of doing it yourself — you find the crumpled call sheet, you see the graffiti in the tunnel, you eat cheap food and watch the sun set over a fake military checkpoint. It's not polished. It's not curated. But it's yours.

📌 Save this guide

Bookmark it, screenshot the table, or pin it to your Pinterest board. Your future self — the one with ₩55,000/day and a T-money card — will thank you.

Got a location I missed? Found a better bus route? Got chased by a security guard at a different set? Drop it in the comments. I want to hear the real stories. — The budget backpacker who ate too much kimbap and loved every bite.