I would like to make a special thank you to all of the lovely readers for your supports. Seeing all of your supports and excitement in reading the storyline between Areum and Suhyeok. It has helped motivate myself in writing the next chapters of their storyline. So, here's the next chapter of the story!
Enjoy reading them!!!🧡💛
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Dodging the students along their way to the front entrance of Hyosan school building, Areum tried to keep up the pace as she was being dragged by Suhyeok.
“Come. This way. This way.” The tall boy instructed as they were finally able to enter the school entrance. However, when they were able to set foot in the school building, a zombie student slammed its body on the school entrance door, preventing the pair from entering the school premise. Startled by the zombies, Suhyeok tugged Areum through their intertwined hands to the school yard. Both of them halted their movement as their eyes widened seeing the increasing number of zombies in the school yard.
Hearing the clanking sound of metal, the black-haired changed her view toward the source of the sound. Watching the school gardener was hanging on his life on top of the ladder, banging his clutter against the flesh eating monsters from biting him. Seeing the gardener fallen from the ladder, Areum stared with devastation as the gardener got bitten by the students after several attempts of pushing them away. Breathing heavily as panic slowly began to rise, Areum squeezed Suhyeok’s hand in order to get his attention and pointed toward the fallen ladder near the biting flesh zombies. Getting the same idea as Areum, Suhyeok quickly rushed to grab the ladder with the black-haired girl following him from behind. Then, he positioned the ladder near their classroom window.
“I’ll climb first. I need to check the class if it’s safe for us to hide there, okay?” Suhyeok told Areum, who was breathing heavily due to her panic attack. Suhyeok grabbed her face as he tried to calm her down.
“Areum-ah. Look at me. I know you’re afraid but it’s going to be okay. I promise.” Suhyeok calmed her down as his thumb moved in circular motion against her cheeks to soothe down her panic attack. “I’m going to climb first, okay?” He repeated, earning a nod from the black-haired girl. As Suhyeok climbed up the ladder, Areum frantically looked around her surroundings.
“Areum-ah! Hurry. Climb up.” Suhyeok shouted, causing the girl to start climbing up the ladder. At the same time, a newly turned zombie ran its way toward the girl. Seeing the zombie coming toward the class vice president’s way, both Daesu and Wujin shouted at her to hurriedly climb the ladder and told her to jump off the ladder. Taking the advice from the two classmates, Areum jumped to the window the moment the ladder fell to the ground. Clutching whoever’s arms she managed to grasp, Areum was pulled into the classroom by Suhyeok with the help of Daesu and Wujin. Once she was standing inside the classroom, she panted heavily as panic began to arise once again, Areum clutching Suhyeok’s shoulders as she tried to slow down her breath.
Knowing the girl for the past eight years, Suhyeok knew that Areum tends to get panic attacks because of her past trauma when she was younger. What she saw earlier has triggered her memories as she remembered how her father was murdered in front of her. Suhyeok instantly went to hug her, resting her head against his shoulder as he worried about her well-being.
“It’s okay, Areum-ah. You’re safe now. Breath slowly.” Suhyeok comforted her, feeling wet tears soaking through his school uniform blazer. He didn't mind the wet tears as he rubbed his hand in circulation motions along her back, hoping it would soothe her down. The whole students in the class 2-5 stared at the pair in sympathy as they had never seen their class vice president act this way. They usually see her as the bubbly and cheerful person, who is always friendly and thoughtful toward other people.
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Sitting down on the floor with Areum’s head leaning on his right shoulder, Suhyeok rubbed his thumb at the back of her small hand. Suhyeok glanced down at the girl he likes, who peacefully slept on his shoulder with dried tears after she calmed down. Onjo looked at the pair as she was feeling disheartened, remembering her conversation with Isak in the cafeteria earlier, finally realised that Suhyeok has feelings toward the beauty beside him.
“Is she fine now?” Wujin asked the boy who was sitting beside her sleeping cousin as he worried about her. Suhyeok nodded his head in response. “I never seen her like that before. I didn’t know she had panic attacks even though we’re cousins. She never told me about it.”
“She tends to hide it whenever she’s having a panic attack. I also didn’t know about this either. After 2 years being her friend, I caught her having a panic attack when we were studying together at my house.” Suhyeok mentioned to Wujin, remembering the memory when he caught her having a panic attack when he was 12-years old.
Nodding his head while listening to his explanation, Wujin stared at the pair with a smile, feeling relief that his cousin had someone beside her. “I’m glad she had you, Suhyeok-ah.” Wujin approved, giving the tall boy a small pat on his shoulder, the one that was unoccupied before leaving them alone.
“The things that are roaming around school. It’s that, isn’t it? Zombies.” Suhyeok mentioned after the silence had consumed the classroom. All of his surviving classmates stared at him, not wanting to believe what he said. Out of nowhere, a zombie slammed itself on the front of the classroom door, startling Joonyeong who was holding the door shut. The sudden noise also woken Areum up, making the girl lift her head from Suhyeok’s shoulder.
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Helping the others searching for a phone amongst her classmate’s belongings, Areum went to check on the lockers at the back of the classroom, hoping one of the locker doors would be unlocked. Namra approached her close friend as she was worried about her since the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.
“Areum-ah, how are you feeling?” Namra concernedly said. “I shouldn't have left you alone earlier.”
“I’m feeling fine now. I’m just worried about my grandparents. I hope they’ll be safe.” Areum muttered as she tried to open each of the locker doors.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. You didn’t know that this’ll happen. Beside, Suhyeok was there helping me escape from the zombies.” Areum reassured her close friend with a smile. Namra nodded her head toward her close friend, still feeling guilty for leaving her at the bridge. After the commotion earlier, the class president felt relief once she saw Areum still alive after climbing into the classroom through the window with the help of the three boys.
“Here! I found one.” Isak announced to her classmates. All of the students, except Namra and the two boys who were assigned to keep the door shut, quickly huddled around the head bun girl.
“Whose it is?” Someone asked.
“This is Yeongju’s desk.” Isak replied “Shit. It’s locked.”
“Do something.” Nayeon demanded as she shaked Isak’s arm.
“What do you want me to do? It’s locked.” The head bun girl frustratedly told the light-brown haired girl.
“Maybe the password is her birthday.” Hyoryeong tried to calm the tension between the two girls. Isak then asked her friends about Yeongju’s birthday so she unlocked the phone. Hearing his friends muttering amongst themselves, Cheongsan looked at the hallway and spotted Hyeongju amongst the zombies outside their classroom.
“She’s over there. Give it to me.” Cheongsan ordered. Taking the phone from Isak’s grasp, he went near the door and tried to scan Hyeongju’s face in order to unlock her phone.
“You’re gonna have to get closer.” Suhyeok commented as he watched his friend timidly scan the owner’s phone. Seeing the timid boy walking closer to the door, Areum sighed in frustration beside Namra.
“Cheongsan-ah. You do know that Yeongju’s face is completely different compared to before. I can assure you that’s not going to work.” Areum sighed. “You can just use the emergency calls.”
“Areum’s right. For emergency calls, you don’t have to do that. Just call 112.” Onjo proposed. Cheongsan quickly dial 112 in the emergency call after hearing their suggestion.
“Hello? This is Hyosan High School. A ton of zombies showed up at lunch and they’re eating people.” Cheongsan told the person over the phone.
“Yah! Don’t say zombies.” Onjo whispered. Then, the two childhood friends started to bicker with each other.
“Did you happen to see the movie Train to Busan?” Cheongsan continued to tell the person over the phone, completely ignoring Onjo’s warning. “This isn’t a joke. Everyone’s …Anyway, come quickly.” He said in frustration.
After making the call, all of the students relentlessly waited for the authorities to come. The surviving students were startled when the zombies ran away from the classroom. Areum went to stand in between Suhyeok and Gyeongsu to look over the hallway window to see what was happening to the zombies that were lingering outside their classroom.
“Gyeongsu!” Seeing Gyeongsu had opened the door through her peripheral view, Areum hurriedly pulled him back into the classroom.
“What are you doing, you moron? Close it.” Suhyeok whispered as he helped Areum pull him away from the hallway.
“You scared me.” Gyeongsu exclaimed. Hearing Onjo asked Cheongsan about the police, the students turned their attention to the boy, eagerly wanting to hear his answer.
“He said they’ll come.”
“Did they believe you? What if they think it’s a prank and decide to not come?” Gyeongsu question.
“Well, then try again! And tell them to hurry up!” Nayeon screamed as fear started to consume her.
“Shh. Stop yelling.” Kim Jimin muttered, stopping the frightened girl from screaming. “What if the zombies come back?”
“Give it to me.” Onjo uttered, taking the phone from Cheongsan as she went to the window that overlooks the school yard to call someone.
“Who do you think she’ll call?” Suhyeok whispered to the girl beside him.
“I don’t know. Maybe her dad.” Areum assumed as she observed Onjo while the two boys beside her checked the hallway from the small windows on the door.
“There’s a fire.” Onjo claimed, grabbing the attention of all of her friends. “At Hyosan High School. Classroom 2-5. Hurry up. The fire is massive.”
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Sitting beside Namra as they waited for the fire department to rescue them, Areum stared at the window that overlooked their school yard, seeing the students' bodies had turned into zombies as they were roaming around the school field.
“Let’s call the cops again.” Nayeon anxiously stated. “Get them to listen.”
“I am, but they won’t pick up.” Onjo replied. Not able to stand with the given situation, Nayeon approached the class president as well as the class vice president.
“Yah. Do something.” Nayeon insisted as Areum turned her vision toward the pink sweater girl. “Tell Ms. Park to come and help. Do something.”
“Do what exactly?” Suhyeok asked.
“I don’t know. Anything.” Nayeon yelled, turning her view back toward the two sitting girls, specifically at Namra.
“What have you done as the class president?” the pink sweater girl challenged.
“Yah, Lee Nayeon. Stop it.” Areum warned as she glared at the girl. Hearing the scraped sound from the chair beside her, Areum watched as Namra went to stand in front of Nayeon, who was taking a few steps away from the intimidating girl.
“The teacher’s office? So you want me to leave now? Along with Areum since she’s also the class vice president. So you want us to leave?” Namra asked as she stared at the girl.
“Well, if you’re offering.” Nayeon stammered.
“You told me to do something. Do you want us to leave?” The class president remarked, leaving the girl in front of her speechless.
“Stop it, you two.” Onjo interfered. “She’s only saying that because you’re the class president and Areum is the class vice president.”
“Still, can’t she see the situation we’re faced with right now? And she even had the nerve to ask Namra to do something while the zombies are still walking around the school?” Areum commented, still sitting on her chair as she slowly got frustrated with the demanding girl. “Go to the teacher’s office? Why don’t you go yourself?” Areum remarked.
“What? You’re scared because of the zombies?” Areum scoffed once she did not hear any answers from Nayeon. “We’re also scared, you know. You’re not the only one. So, please, think before you act on it.” Nayeon blinked her eyes repeatedly at Areum in disbelief after hearing her remark.
“Calm down.” Suhyeok whispered. He stood behind the frustrated girl, putting both of his hands on her shoulder, calming her down by rubbing her shoulders.
“Onjo’s right, You're the class president right?” Daesu said as he tried to lighten the tension between the two girls.
“So just be patient, okay?” Wujin muttered, causing the class president to turn her head toward the two. Wujin immediately moved his head away from her sharp eyes and moved Daesu’s face to the side as well using his fingers.
“So stupid. Typical.” Namra uttered.
“What’s typical?”
“Now that we are in this mess, I’m your class president?” Namra said as she turned to Onjo, making the white hoodie girl look down in shame.
“We called the police, so I’m sure we’ll be fine soon.” Suhyeok spoke.
“But no one’s coming!” Nayeon groaned in exasperation.
“Enough already. We’re all scared too!” Jimin claimed.
“That’s why I’m telling them to call!” Nayeon snapped back.
“Yah. Lee Nayeon. Stop screaming. Onjo told you that she’s already called them but they won’t pick up. Why don’t you call them yourself, hmm?” Areum sternly said as she coldly stared at the frustrating girl.
“Ladies, ladies, can you just stop the whining?” Gyeongsu voiced his opinion.
“Oh, now you’re butting in, shithead?” Nayeon yelled, turning her attention to the boy who was guarding the door.
“What? Did you just call me a shithead? Call me a shithead, you shithead?” an angry Gyeongsu retorted, leaving the door unguarded as he slowly advanced toward the rude girl.
Chattering could be heard throughout the class as Daesu and Wujin stopped Gyeongsu from charging toward the girl while Suhyeok instructed Gyeongsu to hold the door. Able to prevent a fight from happening between Nayeon and Gyeongsu, the black-haired boy complained as he went back to guard the door. Before Gyeongsu was able to guard the door, the door suddenly opened, startling all of the students as a figure quickly came into the class and slammed the door shut.
“Coach Kang.” Gyeongsu called the frantic teacher.
“Are you guys okay?” Coach Kang asked the students as he looked at them. Areum quickly stood from her seat and stood beside Namra near the window as she had a bad feeling after the teacher came into their classroom. The black-haied girl also took cautions and glanced toward the teacher, trying to find any bitten mark on his body.
“What about you? You weren’t bitten?” Gyeongsu approached the male teacher.
“No. Of course not. I’m… I’m all right.” Coach Kang panted. “Hey, guys. Let’s block the door first.” The teacher took the nearest desk to block the door. Instantly, the students followed his action as he instructed them once again. Even though the bad feeling still lingered around her, Areum helped her friends block the door.
“Yes, yes. Stack them high. Just like that.” He ordered when one of the students asked him.
“Coach Kang? You called the cops, right? You and the teachers. Help is coming right?” Nayeon questioned the teacher while others were busily stacking the desks on the door.
“Yeah, sure.” Coach Kang half-heartedly said. After giving the desk to Suhyeok for him to stack them, Areum went to grab another table when Isak halted her movement along with Onjo.
“Onjo, Areum, look.” Isak whispered to the two of them.
“What?” Onjo questioned.
“There. His arm.” Isak muttered, staring at something. Hearing her words, Areum quickly turned to look at his arm. There was a bitten mark on his right arm.
“Coach Kang.” Onjo called, trying to grab his attention. “Your arm.”
“What are you doing? Come help us.” The teacher ordered.
“You have a bite mark on your arm.” Areum loudly told him when she noticed the coach seemed unfocused on her friend’s words. Hearing her loud statement, all of the students right away stopped what they were doing and stared at the coach.
“I wasn’t bitten. No, no. I…I wasn’t bitten.” The male teacher denied as he tried to cover the bitten mark with his sleeve jacket.
“That’s a bite mark.” Areum said.
“I said it isn’t. Don’t talk back to me. Okay?” Coach Kang said in panic.
“It looks like you were really bitten.” Isak urged.
“I wasn’t!” The male teacher shouted.” How many times must I tell you?”
“Then, why the hell are you hiding it? Just show it to us.” Isak argued as she took steps forward toward Coach Kang. “I think you should leave right now.”
“What?”
“Get out of here immediately.” Isak insisted.
“You want me to go out there? After all I did to get here? You want me to go back out?” Coach Kang asked the girl in disbelief.
“You were bitten. Come on, Get out.” Isak said as Suhyeok went near to stand beside Areum. “I said get out now.” the head bun girl bravely shouted.
“You fucking bitch! How dare you yell at me like that. I’m your teacher!” The teacher screamed, starting to get angry at the head-bun girl. “You little… Get over here. Come here. Now!” Coach Kang stepped forward toward the girl. Onjo instantly grabbed her friend's arm, pulled her away from the male teacher’s reach.
“You won’t come? Hey.” Seeing Coach Kang threaten to come their way, Suhyeok immediately pushed Areum behind him while other students moved away from the angry teacher.
They saw the teacher paused as blood began to come out of his nose, Onjo took the opportunity to grab the school bag and smacked him with it, causing the male teacher to glare at the girl. Cheongsan quickly pulled his childhood friend away from the teacher.
“You fucking bitch!” Before he could slap Onjo, Coach Kang fell on the ground. Students gasped when they saw him fall, making them move further away from the male teacher.
“Guys, we should get out of here as soon as possible.” Gyeongsu suggested as Areum noticed the male teacher began to jerk his body around on the floor.
“Hey. Hey. He’s turning.” someone informed the others.
Hearing the loud bones crunching, Suhyeok took a few steps back, pushing Areum along as she clutched onto Suhyeok’s right arm in fear. Students began to move away from the teacher when he began to turn into a zombie. The newly turned zombie then began to charge toward Minji, causing the two of them to fall and begin to bite the short-haired girl. Daesu rushed to help the girl by lifting the teacher from her and throwing him away.
“Daesu-ah, I don’t…I don’t want to die.” Minji cried. Areum spotted the bite mark near her mouth, unable to help her as she would soon be turned into a flesh eating monster. Coach Kang began to rise again and charged his way toward Suhyeok and Areum. Seeing the zombie coming their way, Wujin hurriedly pulled his cousin out of the way by grasping her arms while Suhyeok fought the zombie. Managed to push the zombie away, Cheongsan helped his friend by pinning the teacher on the wall using the desk. Watching Cheongsan struggle in constraining the zombie teacher, Gyeongsu went to help him.
Areum watched Nayeon run toward the barricade desks and began to remove the desk away from the door. Hearing footsteps behind her, Nayeon turned to see Minji slowly approaching her.
“Don’t come closer. Get away from me. No!” Nayeon whimpered in fear. Because of her fear of being turned into a zombie, Nayeon kicked the short-haired girl away from her, causing her to fall to the ground. The surviving students then could hear the sound of bones crunching coming from Minji as she turned into a zombie. Areum looked downhearted as she saw one of her classmates begin to twist her body before letting out a screeche. The short-haired girl then stormed her way to Daesu. Luckily, Daesu was able to restrain the girl from biting him.
“Stop it, Minji. Snap out of it. Please.” Daesu begged as he kept restraining Minji.
“We gotta go.” Suhyeok told his friends. He went to Nayeon and helped her remove the desk from the door. ”Get out.” He shouted once they cleared the doorway. Areum went to grasp Namra’s hand and together they went out of the classroom. Following Nayeon’s lead at the front, the rest of the surviving students ran for their lives through the school hallways. Seeing a group of zombies in front of them, Suhyeok went to fight the zombies, preventing them from going to his friends. Areum helped the fallen girl standing up, even though she could be annoyed sometimes and watched Suhyeok fighting the zombie alone. Worried about her friend’s safety, Areum looked around for any weapon to help him.
“Yah. Cheongsan-ah. Use the window to push the zombies away.” Areum suggested as they moved backward when Suhyeok smashed his body onto the zombie before it reached the group. Cheongsan nodded his head and went to help Suhyeok in fighting the zombies. The other boys except Daesu then followed Cheongsan’s action and pushed the zombies using the window frames.
“Watch your hands!” Suhyeok shouted as they kept pushing the zombies away.
“Yah! Get out of the way.” Daesu yelled once he took the wooden door from its frame. He began to sprint toward them as the boys moved out of the way, giving Daesu the opportunity to use the wooden door to push the zombies. All of the male students then help Daesu push the zombies so they can escape to the next floor.
“Hey, come on. Let’s help them push.” Areum proposed. The female students ran toward their friends and helped the boys push the group of zombies.
“Keep pushing!” Wujin yelled. Finally able to push the zombie to the stair, Wujin ushered the girls to go upstairs. Namra grasped Areum’s hand and began to run upstairs. Running in adrenaline as they went toward the hallway on the next floor, an upcoming zombie suddenly came out from one of the classes, surprising both Areum as well as Namra.
“No! We have to go up.” Jimin screamed as she grabbed both Areum’s and Namra’s arm, pulling them away from the zombie. While the others ran to the next floor, Suhyeok busily fought the zombies from chasing them. Once the coast was clear, Suhyeok went to the stairwell when one of the zombies grabbed onto his leg, causing him to fall on the stairsteps.
“Suhyeok!” Cheongsan called as he saw his friend pushed the zombie away by his foot.
“Go to the science lab! Hurry up!” Suhyeok shouted as Cheongsan hesitantly left the tall boy behind.
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Arriving on the next floor, Cheongsan, Gyoengsu, Wujin and Joonyeong pushed the zombies using the window frame while Daesu pushed the zombies from the other side using the wooden door. The female students helped them as much as possible. Once they managed to get access to the science lab, Isak went to open the door only to see it was locked.
“It’s locked. We need to go somewhere else!” Isak mentioned.
“Where? We’re surrounded!” Daesu yelled as he hung onto the wooden door to block the zombies coming their way with Areum, Namra and Jimin helping him.
“Daesu, push it back.” Onjo instructed when she caught sight of the fire hose cabinet. Both Onjo and Isak went to help her friends push the zombies until Onjo was able to grab the fire hose.
The next few minutes flashed through her eyes as Areum helped Daesu push the zombies using the wooden door alongs with Namra and Jimin. She could not see the commotion that happened behind her as she tried to focus her energy in restraining the zombies away.
“It’s open!” Onjo announced as she pushed both Nayeon and Hyoryeoung inside the science lab. Both sides of the defense students roughly pushed the zombie down so they could enter the science lab.
After finally managing to enter the science lab, Areum took a seat beside Namra, catching her breath. Suddenly, Daesu screamed in fear, causing the others to stand as they turned to look at him. Daesu's face was covered in blood after the zombie tried to grab him.
Joonyeong grabbed the fire extinguisher as he began to hit the zombies. Due to his frantic movement, he accidentally smashed the other window, causing them to be more exposed to the zombies. Jimin went to help her friend by hitting the zombies using the wooden tube holder.
“Move the desk.” Cheongsan shouted as he pushed Jimin away from the zombie. The male students began to block the exposed area with the large table while the female students blocked the doorway.
“How could you lose it?” Nayeon shouted in anger.
“Who cares about that right now? This is more urgent.” Gyeongsu remarked as he grabbed the desk near them.
“Who are you to butt in?” Nayeon angrily said as they once again started to fight. Not liking the way her friends fought each other, Areum suddenly shouted at them, causing the rest of her friends to look at her in shock. They knew once Areum was unable to keep her frustration, which they rarely saw, they would feel intimidated toward the black-haired girl as she could be really cold when addressing someone. The only one who could calm her would be her childhood friend, Suhyeok.
“Stop it! The both of you. Is fighting each other can get you out of this situation, hmm? Both of you are getting on my nerves for the last minutes with your childish fighting. Nayeon-ah, stop picking a fight with others, especially Gyeongsu. You’re always targeting him, calling him names and always see him as someone beneath you because of your wealth. It won’t help you get out of this situation if you keep that attitude. So, don’t be rude to other people.” Areum calmly said while she stared at the pink sweater girl, who seemed frightened once she saw the girl’s cold expression.
“Gyeongsu-ah, I know sometimes it hurts when she calls you names but you’re better than her. I know that because I can see it. So, please restrain yourself from fighting. It’s not gonna get us anywhere. We need each other in order for us to escape this shithole. So, please get your act together.” Areum continued as she stared at both Gyeongsu and Nayeon. Closing her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down her anger.
“Sorry, if I’m being too harsh. I just need you two to stop fighting because it keeps irritating me. Look at the situation we’re facing right now. I don’t want us to fight while we try to keep each other alive, okay? I need the two of you to remove any of your grudges toward each other. Especially you, Nayeon, if you want to survive this zombie chaos.” Areum apologised as she tucked her loose hair behind her ear.
Gyeongsu nodded his head in understanding as Nayeon went to take off her school bow in annoyance after being told off by the class vice president again. Areum ignored the annoyed girl as she helped her friends, blocking the doorway.
Feeling something was missing, Areum looked around and notice Suhyeok was not in the science lab. “Where’s Suhyeok? Has anyone seen him?” Areum asked them as tears began to fill her eyes. “Cheongsan-ah. You were with him.” the black-haired girl turned to Cheongsan, waiting for his reply.
“He was behind me, but….” The boy replied as he held the table against the window along with Wujin.
“Then, where is he?” Areum muttered as she tried to hold her tears,
“I don’t know.” Cheongsan uttered as he stared at her with sadness. Areum shakes her head toward the boy in disbelief, as she kept denying that the boy she had feelings for would turn into a zombie somewhere in the school.
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