Upon seeing her father open the exit door of the auditorium that was full of zombies, Onjo quickly went to her father and embraced him in a hug, feeling relief to see her father was still alive since the beginning of the zombie outbreak. The white hoodie girl cried in happiness as she hugged her father.
“Let me see you.” Mr. Nam said as he pulled Onjo’s head away from his chest in order to look at his daughter properly.
“Get out! Hurry!” Suhyeok yelled when a bright light filled the auditorium, indicating the exit door had been opened.
One by one, all of the students then began to rush out of the auditorium with Suhyeok being the last one to leave after the tall boy grabbed the cloth on the floor that he used to tie the carts earlier. Cheongsan quickly slammed the door shut before the zombies were able to reach them. Once they left the room full of zombies, the students took a moment of rest after quickly scanning the area that was indeed no zombie insight.
Seeing there were no zombies in the area, Areum released a deep sigh before remembering her fresh bite mark on her left hand. Before she could hide the bite mark, Areum jumped in surprise when she felt someone hug her. Instantly knew who the person who hugged her, the beauty began to relax upon his hug.
“Don’t ever do that. You’re scare the hell out of me, Rumnie-yah.” Suhyeok muttered as he lowered his head against her neck.
“We promised each other that we would be careful once we leave the storage room. Why can’t you keep your promise, huh?” The tall boy continued as Areum felt a wet tear landed on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. But I can’t let Joonyeong get bitten. I’m sorry, Suhyeok.” Areum apologised in a trembled voice as she comforted the tall boy by gently patting her right hand on his back.
“Can’t you just be selfish for once?” The tall boy questioned as he lifted his head away from her neck, his black teary eyes met her brown eyes.
“And let our friend get bitten and turned into a zombie?” The beauty softly mentioned as she cupped his face with her right hand. Suhyeok leaned his head against her right palm when Areum brushed her thumb to wipe the fallen tears on his face.
“Aish. You know I can’t argue with you when you mention something like that.” Suhyeok mumbled in frustration, leaning his face closer to the girl he had feelings for.
“I know.” Areum held a small smile when the tall boy placed his forehead against her own, closing their eyes for a moment. After a moment of silence between the pair, Suhyeok released a deep sigh before pulling away from Areum, just enough for the tall boy to give some personal space for the beauty.
“Let me take a look at your hand.” Suhyeok mentioned as his eyes met her brown eyes.
The black haired girl gave her right hand while she tried to hide her left hand behind her back, hoping Suhyeok would not press the matter any longer.
“The other hand, Rumnie-yah.” He claimed, narrowing his black eyes to the girl when he saw her tactic of hiding her bloody left hand.
Sighed in defeat, Areum reluctantly moved her left hand away from her back and showed it to the tall boy. Suhyeok gently grasped her hand before he wrapped the cloth around her bloody hand.
“You don’t need to-” Areum was about to give a reason to not wrap her bloody hand when suddenly she was interrupted by Suhyeok.
“Just let me wrap this around your hand. It helps ease my worry a bit.” Suhyeok softly stated as he continued to wrap the cloth around her left hand.
“Are you kids okay?” Mr. Nam asked after checking his only daughter’s current condition.
The middle-age man turned his whole body to the rest of the young teens when he double checked their state after escaping the auditorium full of flesh-eating monsters. Then, Mr. Nam watched as each of the students nod their heads in acknowledgement when words were unable to form after the incident they had faced earlier.
“Good.” He softly whispered, feeling relieved after knowing the state of the young students. Then, through the corner of his eyes, Mr. Nam spotted a familiar boy near them.
“Cheongsan.” Onjo’s father called as he approached the quiet boy in relief.
“Ajusshi.” Cheongsan replied before pulling the man into a hug.
All of the students watched as they embraced each other in a hug as Cheongsan’s sorrowful emotion was evidently seen due to the memory of the loss of his mother.
“Okay.” Onjo’s father uttered as he gently patted Cheongsan’s back in comfort. “Are all of you able to run?” He asked, glancing over at each of the surviving students.
“Yes.” Both Wujin and Daesu replied.
“Good.” Mr. Nam muttered before turning his whole body facing toward the tennis court, pointing his finger to the direction the students would be taking in order to leave the school premises.
“If you go through the tennis courts and the construction site, you’ll reach the mountain. Go over the mountain and get to Yangdong-” Onjo’s father explained before Cheongsan called him, making the male adult stop explaining and averted his attention to his daughter’s childhood friend.
Hearing the alert in Cheongsan’s voice, the group of students began to feel alert as some of them stood up from their seats and mimicked Cheongsan’s action by turning their gaze to see a zombie were running and snarling at them.
Almost instantly, Mr. Nam sprung into action and rushed to the zombie. Onjo’s father picked the zombie up and slammed it on the ground before twisting and breaking its leg. The fallen zombie was crawling on the ground using its hands.
“Kids, go run!” The male adult firmly yelled after he managed to twist one of the zombie’s legs.
“Aish.” Both Areum and Suhyeok heard the short haired senior letting out a curse upon hearing Onjo’s dad order. Obeying Mr. Nam's instruction, all of the surviving students ran toward the small hill toward their next destination, which would be the tennis court.
Able to hear the distant growling and snarling of the zombies from the other side of the auditorium building, the rest of the young teen hurriedly ran for their life. Clasping his hand with the beauty’s hand, Suhyeok was making sure that Areum would not be left behind after witnessing her sacrifice incident from earlier. The tall boy quickly glanced behind him to see Onjo and her father were trailing behind them.
“Run! Go! To the tennis courts!” Mr. Nam yelled as they ran away from the building and the incoming group of zombies. After seeing this, all of the young teens began to quicken their pace. With the group of zombies chasing them from behind, the group of students finally reached the bright green tennis courts ahead of them.
Being the first person to reach the gate of the tennis court alongside Namra, Wujin shoved open the gate door and let Namra enter before himself. The rest of the students quickly followed their action as Nam Soju ushered them inside.
With Suhyeok being the last student to set foot inside the court, Mr. Nam quickly followed the tall boy and went inside the court. The male adult did not notice that one of the students, specifically the senior athlete, was still standing in front of the gate with her bow ready in her hands.
The eldest Jang had stopped right in front of the gate door and was ready to shoot the zombie ahead of her in the forehead. However, out of nowhere, a female zombie tackled the female athlete to the ground, causing Mr. Nam rushed over and pushed the zombie away from the girl.
Helping Hari stand up from the ground after being tackled by a zombie, Onjo’s father pushed the young athlete inside the gate. The male adult then joined her inside the court and closed the gate by locking the door before the zombies flooded against the door gate.
The surviving students continued to run to the exit door on the other side of the tennis court. But with not much luck, they came to a sudden halt when Daesu spotted an army of zombies coming to the other side of the gate.
“Hey! Hey! Wait, wait.” Daesu urgently mentioned as the plump boy grabbed Joonyeong’s arm to slow him down.
Hearing a quiet shriek from behind her, Areum quickly glanced behind her to see Hyeryeong had fallen to the ground due to tripping over her own legs. Quick to her reflexes, the beauty went to help her short haired friend, as at the same time, Suhyeok also went to help Hyeryeong.
Then, afterward the group of young teens and Mr. Nam watched in horror as more zombies came in different directions outside of the tennis court. It was as if the zombies were waiting for them to come out and ready to eat them.
“We can’t get out there. We can’t.” Daesu mumbled in panic after realising that they were trapped inside the court when they were surrounded by the group of zombies.
“What should we do, Daesu?” Joonyeong asked in fear after witnessing the zombies begin to crowd outside of the tennis court.
“Damn it.” Mijin let out a curse upon seeing they were once again trapped with an army of zombies.
With the loud sound of snarling and growling on the entrance door they had entered, Areum turned to the source of the sound and watched as the group of zombies were currently pressing themselves against the metal door.
The beauty fully knew that the weight of the zombies against the court door would cause some damage. Second laters, Areum observed as the metal door suddenly swung open, making the zombies rush inside the tennis court.
“Oh shit!” Areum heard someone cursed.
All of the young teens stumbled back in fear as the flesh eating monsters were charged their way toward the surviving students. Seeing the zombies rushing to their direction, Suhyeok quickly pushed Areum and Hyeryeong behind before the tall boy got into a fight stance. Beside the tall boy, Cheongsan also joined him, ready to defend the rest of the group against the army of zombies. Unknown to the young teens, Mr. Nam was frantically unzipping his bag on the ground and searching for something inside his black backpack.
Some of the zombies had tripped over the tennis nets when they tried to reach the surviving young teens. Both Suhyeok and Cheongsan took this opportunity as they began to hit the flesh eating monsters with the baseball bat that they carried from the auditorium. While the two boys busily hit the zombies, Mijin helped them by repeatedly stabbing the zombies’ neck using the sharp spear on her hand.
Areum held Hyeryeong’s arm as she stepped back from the scene, bringing along her friend in the process. Namra also followed her close friend's action, making sure both Daesu and Joonyeong stayed away from the zombies seeing they did not hold any weapon as defence while Wujin held onto his sister’s arm, stopping her from risking her life like earlier.
The sound of sizzling could be heard by both Areum and Namra, which immediately grabbed their attention as well as the army of flesh eating monsters. Turning her head from looking at the scene in front of her, Areum turned her head and saw that Onjo’s father was grasping a lit flare on his hand. When the beauty spotted through the corner of her eyes that the lit flare stick had also caught the attention of the zombies, Mr. Nam quickly threw the flare stick away from the exit door.
The lit flare landed in the corner of the court causing the zombies, both inside and outside of the tennis court, to flee toward the lit flare. Once the army of zombies were distracted with the sizzling sound of the lit flare stick, Mr. Nam had instructed the young students to go while he kept monitored for any incoming zombies with Onjo stubbornly standing beside him.
The students quietly stepped toward the exit gate on the other side of the court and Daesu slowly opened the metal door to avoid making any sound, which could attract the attention of the zombies near them. Once he managed to open the door of the tennis court, the plump boy looked at both sides before completely going out of the court.
“Hurry.” Daesu urged his friends.
Joonyeong grasped Hyeryeong's hand as the short haired girl kept looking back at the distracted zombies. Then, Namra, Wujin, Hari and Mijin followed after them, leaving Areum, Suhyeok, Onjo, Cheongsan and Mr. Nam inside the court. Upon hearing the loud snarling and growling of the zombies from behind, Suhyeok quickly pushed Areum outside of the court before the tall boy turned around and waited for his two friends and Mr. Nam.
“Cheongsan-ah, take Onjo with you.” Mr. Nam said, not looking at his daughter as his eyes still remained watching the zombies. Overheard her father’s words, Onjo furrowed her eyebrow as the girl was ready to protest.
“Dad! Where are you going?” Onjo said after watching her father run away to the other side of the tennis court.
The white hoodie girl tried to step forward toward her father’s direction but Cheongsan quickly held her arm, stopping her from following after the male adult. Cheongsan instantly proceeded to pull the protest girl toward the direction of the exit door.
Then, a loud sudden sound of the whistle caused the group of young students to snap their heads back inside of the court. All of them saw Mr. Nam ran to the other side of the court and grabbed his black backpack while blowing the whistle on his mouth. The loud whistle had immediately grabbed the attention of the zombies as they began to sprint toward Mr. Nam’s direction.
“Dad, no!” Onjo cried as Suhyeok ran past Areum and went inside the court to help Cheongsan dragged Onjo out of the tennis court.
With the zombies coming near him, Mr. Nam quickly reached another flare stick inside his backpack. The older male then lit the flare before throwing it near the entrance door of the tennis court, resulting in the zombies frantically running toward the lit stick.
“Dad, come back!” Onjo yelled with both Cheongsan and Suhyeok on both of her sides, dragging her toward the exit door. Mr. Nam glanced over at his daughter when hearing her cries before lighting another flare.
“Run!” He said while throwing the flare stick in the same direction as before.
“Get out! Get out now!” The older male repeatedly ordered as he started to run over the group of young students.
Onjo, Cheongsan and Suhyeok quickly followed what the older male instructed and waited for Mr. Nam to come out of the tennis court. However, Mr. Nam’s arrival from the court was being delayed when one of the male zombies began to attack him.
Confronting many zombies while trying to search for his daughter, Nam Soju instantly threw a punch on the zombie’s face, making it fall on the hard ground. Before he could manage to get to the group of students, Mr. Nam tumbled over the ground when a female zombie threw itself on him.
When Suhyeok and Cheongsan spotted the older man toppled on the ground, the two boys quickly went back inside the court to help him. Unknown to Cheongsan, Suhyeok shared a look with Areum, silently telling the beauty to keep Onjo outside of the tennis court. Nodding her head in understanding, the tall boy rushed over to his close friend and helped Mr. Nam.
Outside of the tennis court, Areum had grabbed hold on Onjo’s hand while watching what happened inside of the court. Once they helped the older man, the black haired girl watched as Mr. Nam ushered the two boys out of the door before he completely slammed the gate door shut, locking himself with an army of zombies inside the court. The beauty frowned her eyebrows in confusion after witnessing what Mr. Nam had done.
The sound of the metal clicking made Onjo turn her whole attention when she was ready to move to their next destination. The white hoodie girl ran back over to the locked door and stared at her father with confusion.
“Why are you?” Onjo softly uttered before spotting the bite mark on his hand.
“Dad.” She cried as she watched her father tying a knot around the door’s lock using his belt, making sure the door remained shut. Once the older male done with his current task, he looked up and met Onjo’s teary eyes.
“Onjo, look at me.” He said when he saw his daughter kept looking at his bite mark.
Once their eyes met, Mr. Nam began to talk to her with a sorrowful voice. “Go.”
Seconds later, Mr. Nam spotted several zombies coming their way to the young teens through the corner of his eyes. Quite panicked with the situation, Mr. Nam shouted to the young teens to go without him. Onjo once again started to cry as she did not want to leave her father behind.
Seeing the young teens still remaining in front of him, Onjo’s father began to shout, which was able to draw the zombies’ attention to him.
“Go! Now!”
The group of students watched with tragedy as Mr. Nam got bitten by the zombies while shouting with his best to draw the zombie to him, instead of the surviving teens. With heavy hearts, the young teens leave the scene and make their way to the construction site. Both of the senior students led the rest of the students to the construction site.
Upon seeing the construction site, they began to rush inside the building with the zombies chasing them from behind. The group of students ran through the hallway until Areum’s sudden shout halted their movement.
“Stop!” Areum yelled, making the rest of her friends abruptly stop their running.
“Why?”
The black haired girl completely ignored when someone repeatedly asked the question when they suddenly stopped. All the beauty did was focusing all her attention when she heard rapid footsteps coming their way. Then, as her brown eyes slowly looked ahead of her and out of nowhere, a zombie suddenly appeared by falling out of the room.
“Go upstairs! Go!” Areum yelled with panic as she swiftly turned her body to her group of friends.
Panic evidently could be seen on every students’ faces when they saw the zombies approaching toward their direction. Mijin froze in alarm upon seeing the group of zombies while the rest of her friends went to the next floor. Both Suhyeok and Areum noticed the state of the senior girl, which made the pair grabbed Mijin’s arm and help her go to the second floor.
“Hurry! To the second floor!” Joonyeong yelled. The students were running in fear to the staircase. Still being protective over Areum with the zombies chasing them, Suhyeok gently pushed the beauty in front of him before following her with the zombies trailing closely behind him.
Rushed in adrenaline to go to the second floor, the group of students managed to hear the sound of snarling and growling become louder behind them. Areum’s heart beats faster when she spotted the zombies were nearly coming closer behind Suhyeok.
The black haired girl stopped running and kicked one of the zombies on its chest, making it tumble down the stairwell with the rest of the zombies behind it. Seeing the girl he likes stopped and kicked one of the zombies, Suhyeok blinked his eyes with disbelief, unable to feel either he should be proud or angry at her because of risking her life once again.
“Rumnie-yah!” Suhyeok shouted, catching her attention as he struggled to form any words in his mouth due to the adrenaline that he was currently experiencing.
“I’m not going to say anything right now because I don’t have any words in my head. Let’s just go.” He sternly uttered while clasping his hand with the beauty and rushed to join the rest of their friends.
“Then, don’t.” The beauty mumbled under her breath after she managed to stop the zombies from reaching Suhyeok.
“I heard that.” The tall boy muttered while glancing back at her, narrowing his eyes as a warning. Areum rolled her eyes upon seeing his narrowed eyes.
The pair then finally reached the second floor whilst the rest of their friends were in alarm, trying to search for any place that was able to hide them from the army of zombies. Seeing the panic expression on their faces, Suhyeok let go of their intertwined hands and left Areum’s side to search for any hiding spot. Whereas for Areum, the beauty remained on her spot with Hyeryeong on her side. Then, the beauty spotted Namra sprinted toward the covered window.
“There’s no way out. It’s blocked.” Wujin mentioned as Namra slowly lifted the cover of the window and checked if there was scaffolding alongside the building.
“Go through this way!” Namra yelled, drawing her friends’ attention as she pulled the cover to the side while everyone rushed to her.
“Is there a way?” Wujin asked as he checked outside of the window to see a platform outside of the building that they were able to hide from the upcoming flesh eating monsters.
The younger Jang boy mentioned to anyone who was near him, which happened to be his best friend, to grab the bench. Following his best friend’s instruction, Daesu quickly grabbed the nearby bench and put it near the window, so that they could step on it when they got out through the window.
Once the bench was placed near the window, Suhyeok with ease climbed over the window and helped the rest of the group onto the platform outside of the construction building.
“Hurry up.” Suhyeok urged as he helped both Hyeryeong and then Onjo climb over the window to the platform while cautiously watching the staircase for the incoming zombies.
Being the last one to climb over the window, Areum grabbed onto Suhyeok’s hand and climbed over the window before she stepped onto the concrete platform. The beauty let out a breath once she managed to slow down her rapid panting. Then, Areum tried to swap places with Suhyeok near the end of the platform, seeing the beauty was a half-bie and wanting to help her friend whenever something unwanted occurred, however Suhyeok firmly declined her request and remained on his position. Feeling exhausted to argue with the tall boy, she slowly slid against the wall and sat down.
“Stay away from the edge.” Cheongsan warned Hyeryeong, who was timidly standing at the edge of the platform.
“Okay.” Hyeryeong said with understanding as she stepped away from the edge of the platform outside of the construction building to the centre of the platform.
“Come here.” Daesu called loudly when he spotted Hyeryeong moving away from her previous spot.
“Please be quiet.”
“Don’t say a word.”
Both Areum and Namra softly uttered to Daesu as the intelligent duo were focusing on listening to the zombies’ footsteps. The several footsteps became louder indicating the zombies were currently stepping onto the second floor. Upon hearing the two intelligent duos as well as the growling and snarling sounds of the zombies from inside of the building, Hyeryeong quietly sat in between Joonyeong and Daesu.
Unknown to the group of friends, Onjo was still standing and currently had a flashback of her father being left with an army of zombies on the tennis court. When she remembered her father, the white hoodie girl grabbed a metal rod on the platform and held onto it with frustration.
Hearing the sound of the metal clicking beside him, Cheongsan quickly glanced over at Onjo and realised that she was currently holding the rod in her hand in anger. The Lee boy quickly tried to get the metal rod out of her hand with some struggles from Onjo’s strong grip, then after several attempts, he managed to get the rod out of her hand before throwing it away.
The sound of metal rod clicking could be heard once it reached the ground below them, which made the white hoodie girl cry in resentment as she slid against the construction wall. In order to not grab the attention of the zombies, Hari quickly put her arm around Onjo’s shoulder as a comfort and shut Onjo’s mouth with her palm when the white hoodie’s whimpered got too loud.
The group of students then heard the growling and snarling of the zombies inside of the building become louder as they began to scramble around the room. Not knowing what to do, all of the young teens sat in silence as they watched Onjo’s whimper being muffled against Hari’s palm.
Watching one of her classmates cry over her father, Areum watched at the girl with sympathy before the beauty herself remembered about her mother. Before any tears escaped from her eyes, Areum turned her head away as she rapidly blinked her eyes.
Sitting in between Areum and Daesu, Namra could see her close friend trying to not cry herself as she fully knew that the class vice president missed her mother. Reaching over Areum’s cloth-wrapped left hand, Namra gave it a gentle squeeze as a comfort, which made the beauty shift her gaze to the class president and gave her a small smile as a token of gratitude.
***********
With the sun blaring hot above them, the group of students were silently sitting on the platform outside of the construction building as they waited for the zombies to leave the room inside of the building. Currently, Areum was leaning her head back against the wall behind her as she sat in between Suhyeok and Namra. The beauty was fiddling with the necklace in bored while waiting for the situation inside of the building to calm down a bit.
“Fuck. Nothing’s working out. We keep hitting dead ends.” The short haired female senior complained under her breath. Hearing her complaints, Daesu who was sitting near Mijin, narrowed his eyes upon hearing her whining.
“Be quiet.” Daesu curtly said as he met Mijin’s eyes.
“It’s your fault that Joonyeong almost got bitten. He’s lucky that Areum was there to prevent that from happening.” He continued as he glared at the short haired senior.
“Daesu-yah. Stop that.” Wujin and Suhyeok sternly said at the same time, stopping the plump boy before a fight began to arise between the two pairs of students. Seeing the serious faces on the two boys, Daesu immediately stopped the argument with Mijin before shifting his eyes away. However, the short haired senior did not like being criticised by the junior student, therefore Mijin was not willing to stop the argument.
“Okay. It is my fault. Are you happy?” Mijin retorted as she glanced over at the plump boy, who was sitting two rows on her left.
“Are you happy, asshole?” She repeatedly asked when Daesu did not show any response. Overhearing the conversation from the female senior student who began to pick a fight with Daesu over small things, Areum let out a deep sigh and stopped fiddling with her necklace. The beauty quickly faced the two students.
“Unnie.” Areum called with a cold tone. “With all due respect, can you stop picking a fight? Give it a rest. Now is not exactly an appropriate time to start an argument with each other, seeing we’re clearly all stuck here for a while.”
“So, please stop. You’re already giving me a headache.” The beauty stopped as she leaned her head back against the brick wall behind her.
Sitting beside her, Suhyeok took a quick glance over at the beauty and saw Areum was closing her eyes while leaning her head against the wall. The tall boy then intertwined his hand with her and calmed her down by brushing his thumb against her smooth skin.
Trailing his black eyes over her face, Suhyeok spotted the black veins under her jaw begin to reappear after her outburst. Completely ignoring the exchanged conversation from the rest of the group, the tall boy gently pulled Areum’s hair tie off her black hair, in the process letting her hair down on her back.
“Wh..what are you doing, Suhyeok?”Areum stuttered, feeling a bit of flustered after opening both of her brown eyes when she felt someone was pulling her hair tie.
“The black veins under your jaw appear again.” Suhyeok quietly muttered as he watched Areum's eyes widened in surprise while he hid the veins under her jaw with her hair.
“What? Ho..how did that happen? I didn’t have an urge to eat someone.” The beauty uttered as she fixed her hair in order to hide the black veins under her jaw. Suhyeok could sense the confusion in her brown eyes after knowing this new information.
“I..I don’t know either. Maybe your emotions triggered them back.” The tall boy replied as he stared at her brown eyes.
“Just stay calm, Rumnie-yah. Can you do that for me?” Suhyeok softly uttered as he waited for her response. The black haired girl nodded her head whilst closing her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down.
While Areum tried to calm her temper down, Suhyeok observed the black haired girl slowly breathing as a method to relax. Then, he watched as the black veins under her jaw slowly began to disappear. Unconscious with his action at the moment, the tall boy cupped her face and brushed his thumb under her jaw as a confirmation to see if the veins clearly disappeared.
“Is it gone now?” Areum softly whispered, slowly opening her eyes after calming her heart beats down and leaned her face against his palm.
“Mm-hmm.” Suhyeok hummed as he stared at her brown eyes.
“Mijin-ah.” Hari called, making Areum and Suhyeok pull away from each other and avert their attention to the eldest Jang.
“Let’s go.” The senior female archer mentioned as she stood up and looked down over at her short haired friend.
“Where and why?” Mijin retorted. Due to the bright light blaring over them, the short haired girl squinted her eyes to look up at her friend.
“Let’s look for a spot we can jump off from. We’re the seniors.” Hari instructed as she looked at both sides of the building.
“Whatever. It’s not like they show us any respect.” Mijin grumbled under her breath. Completely ignoring her friend’s complaint, Hari continued to give instruction to her friend before leaving to the other side of the building to check for any suitable place for the group of students to jump off from the platform of the building.
“Damn it. She’s so cool.” Mijin sighed in admiration as she watched her fellow friend walk in another direction of the building.
Then, the short haired senior got up from the platform and began to walk over to the opposite side of the building. Feeling a shuffling of movement beside her, Areum silently watched as Suhyeok stood up and stopped the female senior from going, which caused Mijin to look at him with confusion evidently on her facial expression.
“I’ll go.” Suhyeok volunteered.
“Just stay down. I’ll do it.” Mijin said as she placed her hand on his arm to push him out of her way. However, the tall boy still remained in his position as he did not budge when Mijin tried to move him out of the way.
“Aish. Why you little…” Quite frustrated with the tall boy in front of her, Mijin quickly raised her hand to smack him, which made the tall boy flinch, unaware that he had raised his arm in fear.
“Move.” The female senior frustratedly argued as she smacked the boy’s arm, making the tall boy clear the way for her to continue walking over in the opposite direction of the construction building.
Meanwhile, after flinching in fear of almost being smacked by Mijin, Suhyeok once again slowly sat down beside Areum, who held an amusing expression. At the same time, through the corner of her eyes, the class vice president spotted Wujin move from his previous sitting spot to sit beside Namra.
“Okay.” Suhyeok mumbled under his breath before he caught Areum’s amused expression. “What? What’s wrong?” He cluelessly asked.
“Hmmm…Should I tell you in a gentle way or a harsh way?” Areum asked with a teasing tone laced in her voice.
“Areum-ah.” Suhyeok sternly called her real name as he glared at her, not likely the black haired girl teased him after being told off by Mijin.
“Okay, fine. I’ll tell you in the best way I can.” The beauty muttered as she held a small smile on her face, in order to make the tall boy stop glaring at her. Hearing the beauty's soft voice, Suhyeok’s glare instantly softened as he continued to observe her action.
“I know that in a situation that we’re currently facing right now, we need to help one another.” Areum gently said as she reached over to Suhyeok’s hand, intertwined their hands together.
“But sometimes, you need to tone down that heroic character that you have. It's amongst one of the characteristics that I loved about you. It shows that you care about other people and I love that.” The beauty explained as she stared at the tall boy for any reaction before she continued. The response that she got was a gentle squeeze from their intertwined hands, in which Suhyeok silently told her to continue.
“I just don’t want you to be in danger when you try to help others before yourself, Suhyeok-ah. It scares me very much of the idea of you being lifeless, not breathing. Especially after… after we split up on our way to the science lab yesterday.” She added.
“I’m sorry for worrying you, Rumnie-yah.” Suhyeok apologised before he paused for a moment. Minutes passed by, he released a deep sigh.
“I’ll try my best to tone it down. But I can't promise you if the hero instinct comes back when I see someone really needs my help, especially you.” Suhyeok stubbornly stated as he stared at her.
“Fine.” The black haired girl sighed after hearing his stubborn statement. “Just promise me to stay alive, okay?”
“Mmm. I promise.” He softly said as he tucked a loose hair behind her ear, which made the beauty smile in relief.
Then, out of nowhere, both of them heard someone tearing their shirt, which made the pair search for the source of sound. Both Areum and Suhyeok watched as Wujin wrapped a cloth piece around Namra’s head, making it cover the class president’s left eyes. Upon observing her cousin securely tying the piece of cloth around her close friend’s head, Areum frowned her eyebrows in confusion as to what had happened to the pair of them.
Before the beauty managed to ask them, both of the female seniors came back to the platform, where the rest of the group were waiting for them after checking the suitable place around the construction area. After seeing the two female seniors approach the platform, all of them began to listen to Hari and Mijin explaining about their finding while Wujin was multitasking with both listening to their explanation and tying a knot on the cloth around Namra’s head.
“I really think that’s the only way out.” Joonyeong mentioned upon hearing the two senior’s explanations.
“No. It drops into the basement on that side and there are exposed steel bars. So we can’t jump down.” Mijin stated as she pointed her finger toward the direction of where she checked earlier.
“That side faces the school, so there’s no point.” Hari added as she nodded her head toward the direction she went to scope earlier.
“The ground is filled with zombies, so we’ll die if we go down.” Mijin informed whilst furrowing her eyebrows in an attempt to search for any solution for them to escape the construction building.
“There’s a door on the first floor that leads to the mountain. I think we have to go that way.” Hari commented after there was no sign of an appropriate approach for the group of students to escape the building.
“But it’s full of zombies in there.” Daesu reminded the eldest Jang sibling as he motioned his head toward the barely covered window. After hearing the plump boy’s statement, the rest of the group stayed silent as they tried to find any solution for them to leave this place.
Sitting at the end of the platform, through the corner of his eyes, Suhyeok managed to see Cheongsan was glanced over the rooftop of the building. Quite curious with what his close friend’s plan was, the tall boy remained silent and let Cheongsan finish his new idea of their escape route.
“Can’t we reach the roof if we climb that and the windows?” Cheongsan suddenly spoke up as he pointed toward the roof on top of the building.
“If someone goes to the roof and screams, the zombies will follow them. Then, I’m pretty sure it’ll empty out in there and the rest can escape.” He finished as he was eager to hear his friends’ opinion of the solution for their new escape route.
“I think it’ll work.” Suhyeok said as a hint of hope could be heard in his voice. After hearing Cheongsan’s idea, Areum proactively tried to think who would be willing to do this dangerous task while the rest of the group made their escape.
“It’s a great idea, Cheongsan-ah…but, not to be a downer, who’ll be willing to do this job?” Areum asked softly. For a moment, Cheongsan remained silent before the beauty spotted the boy was about to open his mouth to reply before Onjo quickly interfered.
“No.” Onjo quickly mentioned when she catched what the boy was about to reply. Cheongsan willingly be the one who screamed from the rooftop whilst the rest of the group made their escape.
“If that’s the only way-” Cheongsan tried to reason with the girl he had feelings for.
“I said no. Please stop sacrificing yourselves.” Onjo firmly warned as she looked at the rest of her friends.
“Yeah, I also agree with you.” Hyeryeong muttered in a soft voice. “We agreed to survive together.”
“Me too. I also feel the same.” Daesu added as he shared a look with Hyeryeong and Joonyeong.
“I’m also with you guys.” Joonyeong said as he glanced to look over at both Onjo and Cheongsan. Hearing every one of them agreed to not sacrifice themselves, Mijin released a deep breath before the short haired senior spoke up.
“Then, let’s just wait for now.” Mijin declared.
“And then what? Do you have a plan?” Hari asked as she shifted her attention to her friend.
“Maybe if it rains again, they won’t be able to hear us. Then, we can escape.” The short haired senior replied.
“Who knows when it’ll rain?” Hari scolded at her friend’s unthinking plan.
“My knees are aching. I think it’ll rain soon.” Mijin claimed, completely telling the rest of the students to trust her instinct as she comfortably sat on the platform ground.
“Look at the sky.” Mijin gleefully instructed the group as she looked over at the sky. All of the students, except for Namra, followed her action and they could only see a clear sky above them.
“It’s way too clear.” Daesu commented before shifting his gaze to Mijin, who was still looking up at the clear sky, nodding her head with a silly grin on her face.
Then, out of nowhere, Namra spoke up, making the rest of the group shift their attention toward the class president. “Areum-ah. Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Suhyeok curiously asked while Areum tried to concentrate to use her new found hearing ability.
“They’re telling us to take cover.” Namra softly announced, resulting in the rest of the group to be alert upon hearing her statement.
“Who is?” The tall boy questioned.
“The authorities.” Areum answered while listening to the authorities sending a message to the rest of survivors in Hyosan city.
“There’ll be explosions. We need to take cover.” Namra relayed the authorities’ messages to the group of students.
“Explosions? What do you mean by explosion?” Hyeryeong asked in panic.
“Are you sure about that? Can the two of you listen again?” Wujin asked, wanting to be 100 percent sure of the news he currently learnt.
Both of the intelligent duo once again focused their attention and listened to the authorities’ messages. Once they confirmed what they heard, the two girls alternatively repeated the area that the authorities had mentioned.
“Hyosan Intersection, Future College…” The two intelligent duo alternatively mentioned before they sharply gasped and shared a look at each other when they heard their school was also mentioned in where the explosions took place
“Our school will also be blown up.” Areum shared as she worriedly stared at Suhyeok’s black eyes.
“Is the army going to fucking launch a missiles at us?” Joonyeong uttered as he was feeling quite frustrated with their current situation.
“When is it going to happen?” Daesu asked in alarm as he watched the two half-bies girls.
“We can’t really tell, Daesu-ah. But we need to go now before they bomb this place.” Areum mentioned as she worried about their situation.
“Yeah, we need to go. The authorities had mentioned to evacuate right now.” Namra added, hoping the group of friends understood about how dangerous the situation they faced right now.
“Shit.” Mijin swore before continuing, “Where do they expect us to go, huh?”
“So when are the explosions happening?” Daesu once again asked the same question from before. Panic and frustration could be heard through his voice.
“Won’t we die if we stay here?” Hyeryeong asked.
“Do they say where to flee to?” Onjo questioned as she stared at the two intelligent duo.
“They say that we should hide underground.” Namra muttered as Areum nodded her head in agreement after hearing her close friend’s statement. Daesu sighed in defeat while the two senior girls tried to search for another way for the group to leave the building.
“What if they drop a nuclear bomb?” Hyeryeong hurriedly asked as she looked at the two girls in alarm.
“Korea doesn't have nukes. What are you saying?” Daesu answered as he glanced over the girl after hearing her ridiculous question.
“Whatever!” Hyeryeong said loudly due to frustration as well as panic with their situation.
“They’re blowing up our school.” The short haired girl continued before she averted her eyes away in fear.
“Where are we supposed to take cover?” Wujin asked as he looked at his surroundings.
“Exactly. There’s nowhere to go.” Joonyeong agreed.
“Cheongsan!”
In this panic and alarm situation, the group of students heard a loud male voice yelling Cheongsan’s name from inside of the construction building. After hearing the loud voice echo throughout the building, the rest of the students, except Hari and Mijin, became quiet as they remained still in their seats.
On the other side of the platform, Suhyeok instantly rose up from his sitting position and was ready to protect the group. He then felt a small tug on his school blazer and immediately looked down at the person who tried to grab his attention.
Upon staring at her brown eyes, Suhyeok knew what her eyes meant. Earlier, the black haired girl had warned him to tone down the need to be selfless when there were dangerous situations. Seeing her worried, the tall boy reassured her with a small smile as he mouthed words that helped soothe the girl down.
“It’ll be okay. I promise.” Suhyeok quietly mouthed the word to the girl he had feelings for.
“It’s Gwinam.” Cheongsan announced as he stood up with the metal baseball on his hand, ready to defend the group from the aggressive school bully.
“Aish. That asshole doesn’t die.” Daesu mumbled under his breath.
“Who is that?” Hari confusedly asked after hearing an unfamiliar voice echo throughout the building, shouting Cheongsan’s name.
“One of the school bullies.” Joonyeong quietly replied.
“Maybe we misheard it. It’s quiet now.” Hyeryeong tried to reassure the rest of the group after a few seconds of silence filled the building.
When Cheongsan moved to the nearly covered window, the rest of the students’ bodies rose up from their seat. Out of nowhere, the covered window was suddenly being torn by Gwinam, which alarmed Suhyeok as he pushed Areum behind him from the bully’s view.
“Here you are.” Gwinam smugly said with a sinister look as his eyes lingered at Cheongsan.
***********
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