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Published:
2022-02-27
Updated:
2023-10-10
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12/27
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Shattered Dice

Summary:

"Me? Smiling?” Namra grinned at him, which unnerved Cheongsan. Seeing his disturbed expression, her smile faltered. “Does this mean your memories are getting jumbled?”

“Because of the parallels,” Cheongsan concluded. “The parallel universes, and the two ‘routes’. Maybe the universe is trying to fix everything by giving me what is supposed to be my ‘correct’ memories and...”

“Erasing your real ones?” Namra suggested.

“Don’t say it like that,” Cheongsan immediately begged, clutching his head with the impending sense of doom at that realization. “Namra, what if I’m actually going insane? What if I’m starting to lose myself?”

“Fight it,” Namra urged in a low tone. “You’re a strong person, Cheongsan. Don’t let fate tell you what to do. You’re in control of your own destiny, so seize it.”

All Onjo did was hit a zombie in the head with a tray, and it's only then that Cheongsan starts getting visions about events that happened, but didn't actually happen...at least, not yet. But every time those events start to occur, things end up going differently than expected. Is Cheongsan predicting the future, or is there more going on here?

Notes:

so yeah im doing this now huh.
after hearing that AOUAD was getting a drama, i was really hyped bc i had been halfway thru reading the webtoon at the same time. when i finally got around to seeing it though, the storyline was so drastically different i had no idea what was going on! but it was in a good way. i liked both stories. some parts more than others. and then that's what led me to here, with 4 ideas:
- bromance but its ROMANCE
- gwinam and eunji could've had so much more
- what if i combined both storylines
- what if i added my old ass zombies from my 2019 story i wrote for class once
and now you have this monstrosity. you're welcome.

every source is really inconsistent with some of the character's name spellings, so im going to be going with Joonyeong, Joonseung, Woojin, and Cheolsoo as such.

this is not a time-loop story!! this story involves parallel universes involving more "what if this happened instead", with different origins. cheongsan is not time travelling. hopefully that clears up some confusion.

Chapter 1: not the apocalypse

Notes:

alright boys here is some great info on how i've ordered this:
- given the nature of the fic some events from both versions will be mashed into each other.
- this means that some personalities may also be different.
- this ALSO means that things will be out of order timeline wise (in the case of the drama timeline). so if you're seeing something that definitely didn't happen while this other group was doing this its all out of order once again so yeah
- there will also be things that change that originally didn't happen. this means more or less people may die.
- also daesu and hyoryung are weird cases in which the former died early on in the webtoon and the latter didn't even exist, so they're both kind of wild cards here
- since this is a parallel universe, locations may be fucked up for plot reasons. also, given that this is a mashup of two stories, if you've watched the drama but are still reading/haven't read the webtoon, if you see an event that you don't recall happening in the drama, either assume its from the webtoon, or its my own canon divergence. i won't be saying which events are from what until the very end to keep it spoiler-free as much as you can get in a story that is literally a spoiler in itself

that should be it i don’t think i forgot anything else
why are kdramas the things that get me out of writers block
anyways here you guys go!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Though Cheongsan had figured the world was gonna go through a zombie apocalypse of some sort, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. All around him, students were clambering around the cafeteria, a mess of chaos as undead creatures hunted down their victims. To his left were people getting bitten, and they collapsed onto the floor, convulsing as their skin began to bulge and burst and their eyes became nothing more than a scarlet oculus. To his right was the window and Onjo, on the verge of getting bitten by one nasty-looking zombie.

“Onjo!” Before Cheongsan could run over and help her, Onjo’s hand landed on a fallen lunch tray, and she whipped her hand upward to slam the metal plate into the zombie’s face. It fell to the side with a sickening crunch, and Onjo scrambled to her feet just as the sprinklers turned on, making the cafeteria even slipperier than before.

With the tray connecting to the zombie’s head, Cheongsan stumbled from where he stood, even though nothing had hit him in that moment. A sharp pain struck through his head, quickly turning into a dull throb, but it was enough to disorient him as another zombie lunged toward him. A chair from the other side of the room slid and hit the zombie mid-jump, causing it to hit the ground. Cheongsan darted his eyes toward the source, but already the cafeteria was still in chaos and he couldn’t keep up, instead rushing toward Onjo.

“Well, that’s awfully convenient,” Cheongsan mumbled under his breath, grabbing Onjo’s wrist. “You okay?”

“We need to get out of here!” Ignoring Cheongsan’s question, Onjo climbed onto a table, making a hurried dash toward the window. Cheongsan mindlessly followed, still trying to process the newfound calmness Onjo suddenly had. He didn’t bother looking back as both of them tumbled out the small window, slamming into the ground. Cheongsan didn’t get a chance to gather his thoughts before Onjo was pulling him upward, dragging him along as they evaded zombies left and right. Limbs cracked and scratched against the concrete, blood everywhere and the screams filling the air.

Only moments ago was he eating lunch with the rest of his friends. What had even gone wrong?

“The AV room!” Onjo pointed upward at where their teacher, Mrs. Park, was waving her hand, trying to catch people’s attention. “We have to get up there somehow.”

Staring up at the AV room, Cheongsan blinked, and for a moment, a different picture of the zombified school flashed in front of him, with the AV room being much higher than usual. Was it always like that?

Before he could ponder on it more, the zombie growls only intensified as he snapped out of it, and he regained awareness of the current situation. “Well clearly we can’t go back inside the front entrance!” Cheongsan yelled as he narrowly avoided a truck ramming into the side of the school.

“I know that, dummy!” Already Onjo was scrambling up the truck, pulling Cheongsan up despite her limited strength. A small crowd of zombies was starting to circle around them, blocking off their path. Cheongsan whirled around, looking for openings, when he saw the balcony right above them. “Onjo!”

“Help me up,” she replied, understanding immediately. Hoisting herself onto Cheongsan’s shoulders, she grabbed the ledge and toppled onto the other side, leaning over to grab Cheongsan’s wrist as he jumped upward to grasp the side, pulling him over.

They took a small moment to catch their breath, staring at each other in disbelief. “What’s going on in the first place anyway!?” Onjo hissed in frustration.

“Zombies, that’s what’s going on! It has to be the only explanation,” Cheongsan replied. “It’s like Train to Busan—you remember watching it?”

“Yeah, but—that can’t be! Zombies aren’t even supposed to be real! Do you think what Hyeonju said about Mr. Lee was true then? Did he start this!?” Onjo frowned.

“Well, we can’t stay here! We gotta get to the AV room and find our friends,” Cheongsan sighed. “If Mrs. Park is in there and able to wave her hands around like that, then she must be safe, so the room should be fine. We just need to find a way to get inside.”

“This is going to kill us,” Onjo grumbled.

“Well, everything’s already trying to kill us! No need to be so down about it,” Cheongsan replied in a sarcastic cheerfulness as he opened the door and went back inside the school, Onjo following him into the unknown.

_______

“Eunji, please don’t do this,” Cheolsoo begged as he watched Eunji step onto the edge of the rooftop, stepping closer to her. “You don’t have to throw away your life for this!”

“It won’t stop,” she replied bitterly, not bothering to glance behind her. “He’ll send out that video and everything will be over. People are going to make fun of me forever. I can’t stand that.”

Cheolsoo stammered, trying to find something to say, and Eunji could only quiver a little harder. “This is hell,” she started off, “and I’m just escaping from hell.”

She bitterly wiped her tears away, thinking about what had happened that morning. Gwinam grabbing her, Myunghwan tearing her clothes off, Chanhoon grabbing Gwinam’s phone to record the scene. Suhyeok barging in, pulling her away, but the damage was already done. Gwinam deciding to safekeep the video and putting a timed post on Twitter, threatening to release it if she tried to do anything to oppose him.

Why was she the victim? Why did she have to suffer? It wasn’t fair. But it didn’t matter anymore.

One foot leaned forward off the building, and that was when the windows below her shattered, students falling out from them, screaming as other bloodied students clawed at their skin. their bodies slamming into the ground. The fields and school grounds were havoc, people running away from other students with twisted limbs, loud groans, and animal-like instincts. She could vaguely hear Cheolsoo coming up next to her, staring out at the massacre below, but she paid him no mind. Her mind merely drifted toward the teacher’s office. Where her phone was. Where Gwinam’s phone was.

“I’m going to the teacher’s office,” she announced, stepping off of the ledge back onto the rooftop. “I’m going to destroy his fucking phone.”

“I mean, I’m glad you’re not killing yourself directly, but going back inside the school is like killing yourself anyway! Didn’t you see what happened down there!? Those are zombies, Eunji! Zombies from the movies!” Cheolsoo was panicking as Eunji made her way to the rooftop door.

“Cheolsoo, you like me, don’t you?” Eunji replied, staring down at the doorknob. “If you did, wouldn’t you help me?”

“Eunji, I...” Cheolsoo started, but Eunji held up a hand.

“Shut up. You’re a coward, and you’ll always be.” She twisted the doorknob, opening the rooftop doors, finding the staircase eerily silent. Before she could step in, there was a hand on her shoulder, and she smacked it away, not wanting to look back at Cheolsoo. She began to descend the steps, listening to see if another pair would follow her. To her surprise, there was. As the rooftop door closed, she turned around to see Cheolsoo right behind her, looking like he was on the verge of pissing himself.

“W-Well?” He awkwardly coughed out.

Eunji rolled her eyes and began to descend at a quicker pace, the sounds of zombies nearing as she made her way to the first floor. If she didn’t get to those phones before Gwinam did, zombie apocalypse or no, she was going to end it. The second she reached the first floor, zombies from the opposite hallway spotted her, their growls piercing the air. Cheolsoo let out a strangled scream, but Eunji laser-focused onto the teacher’s office in the other direction, immediately making a sprint for it. Cheolsoo, still screaming the entire time, ran after her.

“Will you shut up!?” She screeched.

“Sorry!” Cheolsoo gasped as Eunji shoved aside a zombie running toward her, reaching the sliding door and pulling it open. She pulled Cheolsoo in just as the zombies caught up to them, jamming the door from sliding shut.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Eunji pulled at the door, kicking at the zombie’s feet.

“Eunji...” Cheolsoo stammered out nervously, eyes wide as saucers. “There’s more zombies in the room with us!”

“Take care of them or something, fuck!” Eunji yelled angrily. “Smash their heads!”

“But they were our teachers!” Cheolsoo protested as Eunji successfully kicked a hand away.

“Teachers my ass! They never did shit for us! They can go fuck themselves!” With a final kick she pushed the last hand jamming the door out and closed it shut, pulling Cheolsoo toward the door. “You take care of the door then!”

“W-What!?” Cheolsoo panicked as Eunji turned toward the two teachers stumbling toward them, both of their legs bent unnaturally. Eunji grabbed the nearest chair, lifting it up with some effort, and slammed it down into the first teacher’s head, watching him crumple to the ground. The second one took a little more effort, but after sufficiently slamming the chair enough times in the woman’s face, one of the legs pierced her throat and she went silent. The neck , Eunji thought to herself.

Already the first one was getting up. “I can’t hold them much longer!” Cheolsoo yelled.

“One second!” Eunji threw one of the computers at the teacher, causing him to fall down again, and before it could rise and lunge at her one more time, she lifted a monitor and slammed it repeatedly where his jugular lay, watching the body twist and move before falling dead.

“The closet,” Cheolsoo yelled. “We have to hide!”

“Why are you always thinking about hiding!?” Eunji whirled around, staring at the windows and doors, and realized that Cheolsoo was right. “Well fuck. Come here!”

Cheolsoo released his hold on the door, Eunji tugging him toward the closet and pulling him inside. She slammed the door shut, maneuvering her foot slightly as to not be so close to Cheolsoo in the dark. The crack of light from the door being slightly ajar was their only source of light. The zombies suddenly grew louder as the main doors to the teacher’s office gave way, all of them piling into the room. To both of their surprise, none of them immediately banged on the closet door.

Cheolsoo opened his mouth, but Eunji grabbed his arm harshly, shaking her head in the dark.

Well, this is fucking great , Eunji thought to herself dejectedly. We’re stuck in a closet in the teacher’s office, I didn’t get the fucking phone, and Cheolsoo’s here. He’s pretty sucky. Maybe not that bad.

Like Cheolsoo heard her thoughts, he opened his mouth again to protest, but Eunji pinched him, and he winced.

Nope. Still an issue.

_______

“Fuck, and now we’re stuck in here too,” Hari grumbled as she buried her face in her hands, fingers grabbing her hair. Outside behind the closed curtains, zombie growls and screams could still be heard plaguing the campus. She pulled at her uniform in frustration. Where she and Minjae currently were was not exactly the best scenario to be in. They were currently in an unused classroom, thin desks flipped upside down stacked on top of each other like they were from 2009, dusty shelves lining the walls and chairs stacked nearby. When the apocalypse had started, they had just made it back into the school after the misery that was the archery competition and putting their equipment away. Now she was regretting her decision greatly.

“We can’t stay here forever,” Minjae muttered, scanning the room. “We’re going to get cornered and die of starvation otherwise. We should’ve kept our equipment, ugh...”

“You think Woojin is okay?” Hari asked, lifting her head up slightly.

“He’s your brother, not mine.” Minjae picked at his uniform, then brushed his bangs to the side to see through his other eye. “Seriously, a zombie apocalypse? In this day and age?”

“Way to top off the shitty day,” Hari grumbled. “So now what? We’re sitting ducks?”

“Do you have any other ideas?” Minjae asked.

“No.”

“Then there you go.” Minjae leaned back on the desks. “I’m taking a nap. Wake me up if something goes wrong.”

Hari sighed. “Are you stupid? This is the zombie apocalypse. Of course something’s going to go wrong.”

“Goodnight,” Minjae mumbled, turning onto his side.

“I—” Hari huffed, burying her face in her arms again. This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?

Notes:

so i lied and there was some crazy. kudos comments and bookmarks appreciated ofc!

these chapters aren't going to be very long for the sake of being able to update often!

Chapter 2: well that's unfortunate

Summary:

namra doesn't realize the situation, but suhyeok has her back. gwinam, still in the cafeteria, deals with the oncoming zombies, but more and more keep coming. mijin tries to stop one of them from killing her, while cheongsan experiences something strange that completely changes everything.

Notes:

hi im alive
so i got a bigger response than expected on the first chapter which has convinced me to continue with this one
i was originally gonna make this shorter but writers inspiration is hitting hard. hopefully i got the events i wanted in my head right LOL
enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Focusing on her book, Namra calmly paced down the outdoor hallway, looking over the math problems from the previous class. Her Airpods continued to blast their EDM music, drowning out the world around her. From beyond her noise-cancellation, she could make out vague screams, but naturally those were just the screams of horseplaying students, right?

Evidently not, according to the sharp tug on her shoulder causing her to drop the book. She whirled around in annoyance, the Airpods slipping out of her ears in the process, but it quickly faded when she saw Suhyeok’s terrified expression, screaming at her. “Prez! We have to get out of here!”

It was only after she was being pulled along at a fast running pace and could adjust her ears did she notice that the whole place was filled with screams and other sickening crunches not unlike the ones she had heard in horror movies. Glancing back once, she saw a zombie running toward them all full speed, one of the sophomores eager to take a bite out of their flesh. Suhyeok rushed her down the stairs, both arms around her in a tight embrace, as they made their way toward the gates. Namra had many questions, but right now wasn’t the time to ask them, especially when one zombie lunged near them and missed, digging into another person behind them.

“Shit,” Suhyeok gasped as he skittered to a stop at the gates, the fields filled with hordes of mindless zombies, grabbing and running toward scattered students. “Inside! Back inside!”

Both him and Namra turned around immediately, Suhyeok’s hand firmly gripping hers as they weaved through the crowds of students and zombies alike, moving back into the building and running up the stairs with a crowd of zombies following them. Namra, disoriented and filled with adrenaline from the sudden chaos, slipped out of Suhyeok’s hold as they got separated in the hallway, Suhyeok opening the door to another classroom and slamming the door shut inside. Namra was forced to move to the right staircase, heading back down as she wildly looked for an exit.

Before she could decide for herself, a pair of hands grabbed hers, and she glanced up to see Jimin grasping them, both of them running toward an unused classroom clear of zombies. Jimin pulled her inside, dragging the door shut as zombies slammed into the wood. Two other students inside the classroom ( Joonyeong and Hyoryung , her mind supplied) held the door shut as the zombies banged on the doors for a short amount of time before moving away toward other, unluckier students.

“What are those things!?” Jimin cried out, visibly shaking as she sank to the floor in momentary relief.

“It’s zombies, isn’t it? Just like in the movies,” Hyoryung said fearfully.

Namra took the moment of respite to take in the surrounding classmates inside the classroom with her. Nearby the windows were Woojin and Daesu, the former staring out of the windows in horror while the latter tried to wipe the blood off of his uniform, visibly disgusted and bewildered at once. Nayeon, still as rude as ever, was blaming Gyeongsu for the entire incident, Gyeongsu himself seeming heated as well. Isak stepped between them, trying to calm the tension. Joonyeong was checking Jimin for bite marks, before moving onto Namra.

“Did you get bit?” Joonyeong asked, for what seemed to be the fifth time judging from the exasperated look on his face.

“What?” Finally processing what Joonyeong had said, Namra shifted her gaze toward him. His face was covered in sweat and his glasses slightly fogged up. Unlike the others, he was mostly free of blood on his clothes, but the tiredness in his eyes was enough to show how he really felt.

“That’s how they turn into zombies. Bite marks. Did you get bit?” He asked again.

“No,” Namra shook her head, rolling up her sleeves. Her mind wandered back to Suhyeok as Joonyeong inspected her carefully before nodding silently. Suhyeok had saved her from getting eaten by the flesh eating monsters, and yet his fate was left unknown to a separate classroom. Fear welled up in her heart.

“Suhyeok,” she mumbled. “Suhyeok saved me.”

“Where is he now?” Daesu asked, turning his attention to the two of them.

“We got separated,” Namra replied dejectedly. “I don't know if he's alive or not.”

“It's Suhyeok; he'll make it out for sure!” Gyeongsu had turned his attention away from Nayeon to Namra, much to the former's chagrin. She was about to stomp up and berate him, but Isak stepped in her way, calmly telling her that it was enough. Nayeon seemed to fume for a bit before deciding to sulk at the nearest desk.

At that very moment, Namra’s phone dinged with the familiar notification sound she had gotten used to over the past couple of days. She pulled out her phone, finding a new text message from Suhyeok. Her heart soared at the possibility that he might be alive, unlocking her phone quickly to see what Suhyeok had typed to her:

Suhyeok: are u ok

“He’s alive!” Gyeongsu, who had been peering over her shoulder, let out a cheer that greatly contrasted the screams still outside. Both Woojin and Joonyeong made their way over toward Namra as she texted back frantically.

Namra: I’m alright. Where are you?

Suhyeok : in the classroom upstairs there’s so many zombies wtf

“He’s surrounded? That’s not good,” Woojin commented helpfully, as if pointing that out would help the situation. “Are we going to go after him?”

“We can’t really stay here,” Hyoryung pointed out. “They’ll have us surrounded soon if we don’t leave—”

“Let me in! Let me in!” A loud voice from behind the door startled them all as the door slid open, two faces running in and closing the door behind them just as a zombie ran down past the classroom in the hallway. His red jacket redder than before, Mr. Kang took a moment to catch his breath, sweating profusely. Next to him, the terrified face of Minji greeted them all.

“What the—” Daesu’s head shot up in surprise.

“Are you guys okay?” Isak began to step forward, but Joonyeong held her back, eyeing Mr. Kang suspiciously. Isak blinked in confusion. “Joonyeong, what—”

“Your sleeves. They’re ripped. Did you get bit?” Joonyeong glared at Mr. Kang, who seemed to be sweating even more at the question. Everyone turned toward him, and Minji seemed to back away slightly, her back slamming into the nearest row of stacked desks.

As Mr. Kang twisted his arm to show the gaping bite taken out of his arm, Namra internally sighed. They weren’t getting out of this one, were they?

_______

“Shit, shit, shit!” To say that Gwinam’s day had gone from great to hellish was an understatement. Weaving around the zombies in the kitchen, he frantically grabbed a sieve to keep one of the zombies at bay, searching for a weapon, tool, anything . As if it had been there the entire time, he managed to find a large kitchen knife. Without considering a second thought, he drove it into the zombie’s neck, watching as it twitched, groaned slightly, and then fell silent. He pulled out the knife, the zombie falling to the ground.

The neck kills them, he thought internally. And then: I need to get the fuck out of here!

The cafeteria was still utter chaos, zombies outnumbering humans by a long shot. Gwinam took a lunch tray as a shield, holding the knife tightly, before taking a sprint across the slippery tile floor. His foot lost balance as he slid against the floor, slamming harshly into an overturned table. He barely managed to regain his bearings just enough to roll and avoid a zombie lunging into the spot where he had just been. Gasping for air, he stumbled back to his feet, slashing wildly at the next zombie in his way, getting out through the broken cafeteria entrance.

The first floor hallway was a train wreck. Few survivors were running in and out of classrooms as zombies followed, a large crowd of them having overtaken the majority of the place. Gwinam took one glance down the right hallway before turning toward the front doors, trying to get out. Behind him, he could hear the snarls of the other zombies as they began to follow him instead of the others.

Dodging a couple on the stairs, Gwinam spotted a bicycle parked nearby, and he didn’t hesitate to jump onto it, tossing the lunch tray aside and sticking the bloodied knife into his mouth, taking extra care not to touch it with his tongue. He had a vague idea of how zombies worked, having seen a couple of movies, but he had no idea if the virus was different in real life.

He pedaled furiously, barely dodging zombies, as he made it out onto the field, where the bumpier ground did nothing to help him. A frantic “Shit!” escaped between his clenched teeth as the chain loosened and fell off, rendering the pedals useless. He climbed off and staggered backwards as the first zombie following him slammed into the bike he had just been on, the rest rerouting their course of action. Gwinam considered leaving the school entirely, but the front gates were blocked by crashes. With no other choice, Gwinam made a break for the front entrance.

Knife in hand now, he managed to cut his way through to the front entrance, but just as he made it to the teacher’s office, one zombie grasped his wrist tightly. Unlike the other zombies, it didn’t go for a bite, but as Gwinam pulled himself into the teacher’s office along with it, it grasped his chin and forced it to turn toward Gwinam, blood foaming at the mouth, eyes strangely grey instead of red, the door sliding shut as the zombies outside howled for blood.

At once, Gwinam found himself unable to move. He tried to convince his body to scramble away, but it was no use—he was practically paralyzed. Watching in horror, the zombie clambered over him, mouth gaping open, before something slipped out of its eye and fell into his.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Gwinam, suddenly broken out of the paralyzation, clawed at his eye in horror, trying to get the foreign object out. Just as soon as it had fallen into it, he no longer felt it there, and he watched as the zombie no longer stared at him lifelessly, instead climbing out of the window and scrambling onto the grass instead. Gwinam’s head began to spin as the two other zombies in the room turned toward him, preparing to maul him.

He stumbled to his feet, grasping his knife, before heading forward and pushing one down to the ground, knife slashing through one’s throat. The other was quick to follow, but at that point, Gwinam was already starting to lose consciousness. His vision blurred in and out, the knife slipping from his hands. Before he could completely lose everything, he saw the closet doors move slightly, and for a brief moment, he could see a familiar pair of eyes.

“Eunji?”

Then he blacked out.  

_______

Mijin puffed out another breath of smoke, the cigarette in her hands keeping her from going into a full-blown panic. In the next stall, she could hear her classmates Joonseung and Halim, the former seemingly panicking while the latter was crying quietly. “Will you be quiet?” she spat, irritated.

“Hey, have some sympathy,” Joonseung protested. “Halim got injured.”

“And why are you in the girl’s bathroom anyway?” Mijin sneered, though worry welled up in her stomach when she heard about Halim’s condition. She had barely made it out from the fucking zombies or whatever they were, and even though it was quieter compared to before, the snarls were not a comfort.

“H-Hey, this is the zombie apocalypse!” Joonseung protested with a hint of indignation. “Gender doesn’t matter anymore in a situation like this.”

“I don’t feel so good,” Halim mumbled, breaking through their flow of conversation. “I feel dizzy...and one of those guys bit me...”

“They what?” Mijin froze at that, blood running cold as the cigarette fell from her fingertips.

“Bit me,” Halim repeated.

Standing up from the toilet seat, Mijin carefully opened the bathroom door before walking over to the next stall and banging on the door. “Open up! It’s Mijin!”

“Okay, okay,” Joonseung mumbled as he opened the door, revealing him standing while Halim was on the toilet seat, clenching at her arm. Mijin pulled Joonseung out, and Halim moved to follow, but Mijin raised her hand up. “No! You stay in there.”

“W-What?” Fear rose in Halim’s voice. “Why?”

“Let me explain it to you simply,” Mijin hissed, grabbing the nearest mop. “You know how to play hide and seek, right?” When Halim nodded, Mijin stomped on the mop, breaking off the handle. “That’s what’s going on right now! This is a hide and seek game, and we were the hiders, but now...you’re the seeker.”

“I’m the what?” Halim gasped as Joonseung barely caught the remainder of the mop, staring at Mijin in confusion. Mijin closed the door on Halim, gritting her teeth. “You’re turning, that’s what’s going on!”

She turned back toward Joonseung, who seemed to cower at the sight. “When she turns, she’s going to burst out of that door. When that happens, we’re going to stab her through the head with this.” She lifted up the mop handle, which was now sharp due to the splintered wood. “I’m going to need you to help push her back into the stall, okay!?”

“What!?” Joonseung cried fearfully.

“Just do as I say!” Mijin growled.

“When I turn,” Halim muttered between sobs, “I’m going to kill you first, Mijin.” She began to climb onto the toilet, head poking out of the top of the stall. “I’m going to—”

Mijin smacked her in the head harshly with the mop handle, Halim going out cold and hitting the toilet seat harshly. Both Mijin and Joonseung waited for a tense couple of seconds before the now-familiar growl of a zombie began to emit from the stall.

“Ready?” Mijin said, to which Joonseung shook his head, but already there was no time. Halim burst through the door, red eyes and bloodied face greeting them, and Mijin took no hesitation in driving the stake right through her mouth with a sickening squelch. Joonseung stood frozen in fear, watching in horror as Mijin struggled to push Halim back. With the zombification came unfound strength, as Halim backed Mijin toward the door of the opposite stall.

“Help me out here!” Joonseung stared at her for a few more seconds before whimpering and placing his hands on the stake, driving it through the back of her skull and pushing her back into the stall. Despite their combined efforts, Halim was still thrashing around wildly, trying to dig a bite into their bodies. “Fuck, why isn’t she dying!?”

“Oh god,” Joonseung cursed as the handle split in half, Halim having pushed herself forward using the walls of the stall. In a panic, Mijin grabbed the broken-off half of the stake, and as Halim rushed toward them, she ducked, driving the second stake through her neck.

It did the trick. Halim stopped moving, blood pooling out of her throat, before she fell to the ground and remained motionless. Joonseung, now crying, stared at her dead body in horror, while Mijin cursed under her breath. “Holy shit.”

“S-So even the head doesn’t work!?” Joonseung wiped his tears away with his non-bloodstained sleeve, coming down from an adrenaline rush.

“We can’t stay here,” Mijin muttered, pulling out both stakes and tossing one to Joonseung, who nearly dropped it. “Let’s find a classroom to stay in.”

“It’s empty,” Joonseung mumbled, but Mijin put a finger to her lips, hissing a quiet “Shh!” just as one zombie stumbled past the girl’s bathroom stall, hitting its head on the wall. Both of them quietly made their way through the now-calm hallway, the zombies loitering around, none of them having spotted them yet. Then, they made it to the left staircase, making their way upward to the top floor in eerie silence.

_______

“Cheongsan!” Onjo grasped the boy’s wrist tightly, worry in her eyes as Cheongsan clutched at his head, groaning in pain. “Cheongsan!”

“Onjo, shut up for two seconds!” Cheongsan hissed, and Onjo’s face turned to one of hurt, but at the moment he couldn’t see it, literally. One moment they were running away from the zombies inside, Onjo letting loose a fire extinguisher to help them upstairs, and the next moment he was on the ground, crying out in agony. His head was throbbing, and through his vision, he could see flashes of visions as memories flooded through his mind.

Onjo stumbling to the ground in the cafeteria, Cheongsan himself pulling the zombie off. Him looking back at all the chaos in the canteen before they made it toward the truck and up into the stairway window. Arriving in a classroom full of his friends, calling the fire department for help, a teacher coming in that was bitten, biting another girl and causing them to abandon the classroom, them getting trapped in the hallway, Suhyeok and the rest of the boys fighting as they made it upstairs into another classroom, a fire hose, and then—

“Cheongsan?” Onjo’s voice, now considerably quieter, shook Cheongsan again. “We need to go!”

“Sorry, sorry, I just saw—” Cheongsan shook his head, the pain now a dull ache. “Follow me. If I’m right, I know where to go!”

“What are you talking about!?” Onjo replied indignantly, but pulled Cheongsan up as he began to follow the footsteps he could recall tracing in his memories. He made it from the empty hallway toward a classroom full of voices, and swung open the door—

—only to find a zombified Mr. Kang growling, lunging at the new mass of students that were in the room. Cheongsan didn’t take long to know who was in the room—most of the students were in the same positions like his recent vision(?) just showed, with the exception of Suhyeok.

“Isak!” Onjo spotted her friend immediately, surprise on her face. There was no time for a happy reunion, however—Minji was already turning and on her way toward Gyeongsu. “Get out!” Cheongsan screamed, recalling where he imagined Suhyeok to be. “Get out!”

The first person to dip was Nayeon, clearly panicking, followed soon after by Woojin, Hyoryung, and Gyeongsu. Unlike his vision, Daesu threw Mr. Kang to the side instead of Suhyeok, Isak and Onjo clambering out soon after. Jimin and Joonyeong came out last, and Cheongsan immediately slid the door shut on the two new zombies, taking the lead at the front, his mind retracing the steps for him. “Upstairs, now!”

They made it up the staircase, the only sounds being their footsteps with zombies growling from the first floor. Immediately making it to the floor above, Cheongsan froze when he saw the crowd of zombies turning toward them with hunger in their expressions, but that was when the door next to them slid open, revealing Suhyeok inside the dark science lab. “Come in!”

Without even thinking twice, Cheongsan began ushering all of them in, noticing that the zombie sounds seemed to be getting even louder than before from below. As he finally pushed Jimin inside and slipped inside himself, the zombies slammed into the doors. Not even hesitating, both Suhyeok and Daesu began pushing unused desks toward the doors, barricading them as best as they could. While the others managed to catch their breath for a little longer, Onjo grasped Cheongsan’s shoulders, worry in her gaze. “You okay?”

“I-I’m okay,” Cheongsan mumbled, but Joonyeong quickly interrupted them, a mix of confusion and cold analysis on his face. Onjo glanced up at him confusedly until Joonyeong spoke.

“You knew where to go. How did you know?”

At this, everyone turned to Cheongsan, surprise in their faces as they realized that Cheongsan did indeed know where to go. Onjo grabbed Cheongsan’s shoulder, a rare moment of physical comfort given her personality, and Cheongsan let out a shaky sigh.

“When I was running upstairs...my head began to hurt, and then I started...seeing things. Like memories, I think. But it wasn’t exactly like this. Suhyeok was with us, there was a fight between the zombies, and...” Cheongsan clutched his head, the dull throb starting to flare up again. In between blinks, flashes of a bloody and zombified Isak flickered in front of his face, the girl tumbling out of the window. Before he could even gasp in horror, the pain went away again, and he was left even more dumbfounded than before.

“Seeing things? Like...you actually saw them happen in front of your eyes?” Daesu stacked another chair quietly on top of the desks as he stared at Cheongsan inquisitively.

“Yeah, and my head hurt.” Cheongsan shuddered before turning to Onjo. “I saw things from when we broke out of the cafeteria, but already things were different—I was pulling the zombie off, it took us longer to get inside, and we went in through a window instead.”

“But that’s not right! I smacked the zombie with the tray,” Onjo recalled, distressed.

“Are you losing your mind?” Nayeon, rude as ever, broke through with her snobbish demeanor. “We don’t have time to debate what’s going on with your head. We need to get out of here and call for help.”

“She’s right,” Jimin added. “We’re trapped.”

Cheongsan looked around, realizing that the science lab was not the original location of the classroom at the end of his first vision. With horror, he turned toward the window. “There’s no fire hose.”

“What?” Gyeongsu blinked.

“There’s no fire hose.” Cheongsan began to feel fear well up in stomach as he turned around frantically. “There’s no fire hose! Without the hose, we can’t get out!”

Notes:

le kudos, comments, adn bookmarks appreciated

Chapter 3: oh hell no

Summary:

cheongsan tries to convince the group of his plan, but doubts still ring stronger than ever. at the climax of it all, a horrible realization strikes him.

Notes:

for some reason i had a hard time writing this chapter???
anyways after a while i had to cut out the second half of this chapter bc it was getting really lengthy, ill make that the next chapter LOL
thank you guys for the support!
this ones dialogue heavy

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“What are you talking about?” Woojin, still confused, stared at Cheongsan in disbelief. “What fire hose? Are you talking about the things on the side of the hallways?”

“Yes! That’s how we got out in—in my...” Cheongsan’s voice faltered as he noticed the judging gazes of some of the other students; clearly he seemed like a lunatic. “The point is, there was a fire hose and we...we used it, probably to get out or something.”

“The fire hose is thick and can hold a lot of weight,” Onjo commented, and Cheongsan’s eyes flickered toward her thankfully: she was one of the few that had faith in him. “Maybe what Cheongsan was thinking was to use it as a way to climb out the window into the classroom below?”

“But the classroom below is probably filled with zombies by now,” Hyoryung pointed out. “How are we ever going to get out by climbing down?”

“And like you said, there’s no hose in the first place. So his plan is useless after all.” Nayeon scoffed, turning toward Namra, who had been in the back standing quietly. “Hey, class president. You’re supposed to be the leader; how come you haven’t thought of anything?”

This bitch, Cheongsan thought internally, but before he could think about anything else, his head began to throb again, and he fell back into the nearest chair. Without thinking, he grasped Onjo’s wrist tightly, mumbling under her breath. “It’s starting again.”

“It’s okay,” Onjo whispered. Cheongsan’s vision began to flicker, the throbbing in his head turning into a pounding, and he barely managed to catch a glimpse of Suhyeok turning toward them in concern before he went under, all noise being a muddled murmur.

”So now that we’re in this mess, I’m your class president?” Namra scoffed at Onjo and the rest of the group, a tight-lipped smile on her face. They were back in the first classroom from the previous vision, tensions higher than ever before. Suhyeok still in the room with them. The scene shifted again, toward the second room with the fire hose, Onjo grasping Isak’s hand toward her cheek. “Isak, why is your hand so cold?”

“I’m not one of them, am I? I’m not!” Isak, eyes turning bloodshot, nose bleeding, begged Onjo to say something, say something besides the truth. Onjo could only stare in horror, before grasping her in a tight hug.

Isak hanging out of the window, Cheongsan smacking her with a stool as Onjo brokenly held onto her friend’s hand, refusing to let go. The weight of Isak becoming too much, Onjo’s grip slipping, and Isak falling from the sky down toward the ground, crashing onto the grass below.

Then he grabbing the fire hose with the dummy hand, creating loops for handhelds as it was lowered down toward the broadcasting room where Mrs. Park was. All of them going down one by one, Cheongsan falling out of the window as the zombies broke through, Suhyeok climbing out of a classroom window to his northeast, Suhyeok lunging, both stuck on the hose together, and—

Just as soon as it had started, the vision suddenly stopped, and Cheongsan covered his ears from the sudden rush of noise that filled his ears. His headache faded away, and Cheongsan opened his eyes.

To his surprise, Suhyeok was standing over him, concern in his gaze. Nearby, Onjo was grasping his arm tightly, but Suhyeok demanded the most of his attention. “Are you okay?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore...” Cheongsan mumbled. As he uncovered his ears, the voice of Namra’s angry tone reached him, and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Now that we’re in this mess, I’m your class president?” Namra scoffed at Nayeon, the latter positively fuming. “Go make a call if you want, but don’t make it my responsibility to look after you now.”

“You fucking—” Before Nayeon could reach over and punch Namra in the face, Cheongsan stood up abruptly, causing his chair to hit the floor harshly and attract the rest of the group’s attention. “Wait!”

“What is it? What did you see?” Onjo asked. Suhyeok threw his arm around Cheongsan, keeping the boy stable on the floor, and Cheongsan glanced toward Isak, who was nearby the window.

“She said that. Namra said that exact line,” Cheongsan murmured, and Namra’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “She said that to all of us though, not just Nayeon...”

“Are your dreams predicting the future or something?” Daesu asked in disbelief. “And are you good? You were crying out in pain in the corner there.”

Suhyeok’s grip tightened around Cheongsan’s arm. Cheongsan rubbed his temples, shrugging. “I don’t know. This is just really weird.”

“What did you see?” Onjo echoed, expectancy on her face.

“Isak,” Cheongsan murmured, head turning toward Isak again. The girl shrunk slightly the second she was the center of attention, confusion in her face. “What?”

“Onjo, check Isak,” Cheongsan demanded, shaking her shoulder with his free arm. “Check her ankles especially; check her hands too!”

“What the fuck are you on about?” Nayeon spat, but Cheongsan ignored her as Onjo walked up to her friend, grabbing her hand momentarily, before checking down toward Isak’s ankles. “There’s no injury and her temperature seems normal.”

“Oh god, thank god,” Cheongsan breathed out in relief.

“What? Why are you checking on me so much?” Isak, confused, stepped toward Cheongsan in an almost-defensive manner.

“In my first vision, we had a fight with the zombies. In the one I just had, Isak got bit during the fight, and...and I watched you die,” Cheongsan said quietly, and the atmosphere grew solemn. Onjo gasped, clutching Isak tighter. “I...”

“No, stop.” Onjo interrupted him, her voice starting to break. “Don’t finish that. I don’t want to know.”

“Yeah!” Nayeon yelled, causing the zombies behind the doors to growl even more loudly. Everyone nervously glanced at them, before Suhyeok turned back toward Cheongsan. “Did you see anything else?”

“We made handhelds with the fire hose and climbed down into the broadcasting room where Mrs. Park was,” Cheongsan grumbled in frustration, “but there’s no fire hose in the first place!”

“This is a science lab, there has to be something we can use,” Hyoryung replied, running toward the other end of the room. “If we look hard enough, maybe we’ll find something to help us!”

“Isn’t the broadcasting room above us?” Joonyeong pointed out. “Why can’t we just grab Mrs. Park’s attention and see if she can help us?”

“It’s above us?” Cheongsan frowned in confusion, heading over to the window and pulling it open, glancing upward. To his surprise, the face of Mrs. Park peered down from above him, and both jumped with a startle.

“Mrs. Park!?” He nearly shouted with surprise. At that, everyone rushed toward the window, peering up at their teacher.

“Cheongsan! Namra! All of you—it’s good to see you alive,” Mrs. Park yelled back down with relief in her voice. “Can you come up here?”

“We’re trapped,” Woojin cried out. “Cheongsan suggested using a fire hose, but there isn’t one!”

“I don’t have anything like that up here, but if you can get one, I can tie it to the window frame.” Mrs. Park wiped the sweat off of her forehead, avoiding eye-contact with the rest of the zombies on the ground. “Be careful!”

“Let’s keep searching!” Onjo began to open closets at random, looking for something to help them out. The rest of the group dispersed, save for Nayeon who just stood near the window complaining. “Why are we listening to Cheongsan anyway!? There’s no fire hose; let’s find another fucking way!”

“Can you shut up for two damn seconds?” Gyeongsu snapped at her from where he was holding the barricade alongside Daesu as the zombies seemed to get more and more rowdy. Nayeon seemed like she was going to burst a blood vessel, but that was when Jimin shouted excitedly that there was a fire hose inside the classroom, unattached to anything. Most likely a spare one, but to all of them, it was their saving grace.

“We need to tie handholds, quick!” Cheongsan ordered, and like a well-oiled machine, the rest of the team other than the ones holding the barricade and Nayeon began to tie loops at certain intervals. “We’re going to climb upward with it!”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Joonyeong asked frantically. Cheongsan’s mind flashed back toward when he fell out of the window, but he quickly wiped the memory out of his current thought process. “It doesn’t matter right now! Let’s just hurry!”

With the loops now tied, Suhyeok, being the athlete he was, offered to throw up the hose toward Mrs. Park. Everyone watched with their breath held as Mrs. Park successfully tied the hose to the window frame, arms ready to pull them up. “Come on!”

“Let me go first!” Nayeon hissed, pushing the rest out of the way as she grasped the loops, completely outside of the room now. Everyone watched nervously as she climbed her way up, the hose shaking in the process. Thankfully she made it to the broadcasting room, Mrs. Park pulling her inside before beckoning the rest to climb upward.

“I’ll go last,” Suhyeok immediately said as Gyeongsu became the next to start the climb. The barricade shook slightly with his departure, and Suhyeok turned toward Cheongsan. “You said I was in the fight the most, right? I can hold them for a bit if it comes to that.”

“You shouldn’t be risking your life for that!” Onjo protested, but Suhyeok merely flashed a smile at her. “Don’t worry about me.”

“It’s risky,” Cheongsan said, worried. “That was only like seven zombies. There’s way more out there; you’re going to get overrun.”

“Onjo, it’s your turn!” Isak, who had made the climb safely alongside Jimin, Hyoryung, Joonyeong, and Woojin (who seemed to be processing the events with a blank stare in his face), waved her upward. “Hurry! Don’t worry about the cries; Joonyeong’s just cramping up.”

“Got it,” Onjo replied. As she stepped onto the first lock, she made eye contact with Cheongsan. “If I die, I’m blaming this on you, you know.”

“I know,” Cheongsan reassured as Onjo began to make his climb. The remaining classmates in the room were now only Namra, Suhyeok, Cheongsan, and Daesu. The barricade shook again, some of the classroom windows shattering as zombies began to break through. “I can’t hold it,” Daesu warned. “Let me up next!”

Without anyone holding the barrier back, it was starting to fall apart. Daesu, despite his weight, managed to get upward without the hose breaking, though it was starting to strain. Namra was next, and as she climbed on, she nodded at Cheongsan in understanding. “Everything’s going smoothly so far. Hopefully it stays like this.”

“It’s just us now,” Suhyeok muttered, chairs beginning to fall from the barricade as Namra disappeared from their view. “Do you think the hose can hold both of us?”

“If actually connected to the wall, barely. I don’t know about the window frame,” Cheongsan realized belatedly just as he heard his name being called, signaling his turn. “I’m going now!”

He placed his feet on the loops, trying his best not to look down as he grabbed at each loop, slowly making his way up. His sweaty palms threatened to end his life, but just as he was halfway up, the sound of shattered glass caused him to freeze in place.

Everything happened suddenly at once—the growls of zombies getting louder, a sudden shout of “Cheongsan!”, Suhyeok lunging onto the fire hose just as a crowd of zombies fell from the window altogether, one zombie threatening to pull the hose off the window, the hose stretching from the strain, and panicked cries from inside the broadcasting room.

Cheongsan was forced to look down and assess the predicament, which didn’t look so hot—Suhyeok was right below him, trying to slide the window shut on the one insistent zombie tugging at the hose, one foot in the loop while the rest of his body hung precariously around the rest of the hose. Cheongsan recalled his vision, trying to align the events with the current situation, and began to shout. “Kick it harder!”

“I’m trying,” Suhyeok gasped with effort as he swung with his free foot, causing the hose to rock dangerously. Daesu had grabbed the top of the fire hose to keep it from breaking the window frame, but if they didn’t get the zombie off of them soon, both Cheongsan and Suhyeok would fall to their deaths. Suhyeok kicked again harder, causing them to swing violently toward the left, but at last the zombie let go, and the window slid shut, though there was no way of telling how long it would take before the zombies broke the window.

“I’m coming up,” Suhyeok said immediately, beginning to make his way up the other loops before stopping right below Cheongsan. “We have to go together; we don’t have the time.”

“Right,” Cheongsan agreed, realizing that they were stuck on the hose together just like his previous vision, but began to panic when he saw Suhyeok prepare to climb over him. “Hold on, moron—”

“Sorry, coming through,” Suhyeok said jokingly, and Cheongsan, in all of the insanity, couldn’t help but scoff at the lame attempt at a joke. Above them, Onjo and Namra stuck their heads out, watching them banter. Suhyeok’s legs came to wrap around Cheongsan’s to keep himself stable, arms coming to wrap around Cheongsan’s waist. “Sorry, your hands are in the way.”

“Hey, stop hugging me,” Cheongsan managed to gasp out, suddenly very aware of the hands around his waist, clutching the sides of his body tightly. His heart jumped at that, and a weird sensation filled his stomach.

“I’m not hugging you,” Suhyeok denied easily as if they weren’t hanging off of a window a couple of steps away from death.

“Fuck off,” Cheongsan muttered, trying to avoid thinking about how his face was starting to flush. The exertion, it’s the exhaustion, it has nothing to do with—

“You like this?” Suhyeok said jokingly, a smirk on his face as Cheongsan risked glancing down at him, and Cheongsan quickly realized something drastically horrible.

The way his heart beat erratically. The sensation in his stomach—those were butterflies, he knew that all too well. Blood was rushing to his face now, making him sweatier than before, and it definitely wasn’t just from the climb either, the climb that wasn’t really high effort in the first place. He recognized these too clearly, from when he was a child to just a couple days prior as he watched Onjo put her hair behind her ears, asking for his opinion. These were the same feelings that he felt physically when he was around Onjo, the same ones that he had been feeling for the past twelve years.

Except this wasn’t Onjo. This was Lee Suhyeok. Glancing back up at Onjo, those same feelings he knew since forever were no longer there, not for Onjo. But all he had to do was glance back down at Suhyeok, whose smirk was fading into concern, and his heart went back into overdrive.

What the fuck?

“Hey Cheongsan, you okay?” Suhyeok squeezed around his legs tighter, trying to keep himself afloat, and Cheongsan blinked before awkwardly laughing.

“Sorry, let’s go.” Cheongsan began to climb upward again, though with Suhyeok on his back now, it was an actual effort to make it upward. Thankfully, Onjo and Namra helped to pull Suhyeok from around him into the classroom, and Cheongsan was the last to climb in just as the fire hose snapped from beneath him, leaving only a stub of it on the window frame. As Mrs. Park checked on all of them, Joonyeong still suffering from his cramps, Cheongsan snuck a glance at Suhyeok, finding the former bully staring back at him. They made eye contact, and Cheongsan could feel bile rise up in his throat from the nervousness. It reminded him of his childhood years, and he could only feel dread now.

Oh no.

Notes:

kudos comments bookmarks are yummy food and the crumbs are what im surviving on thank you

Chapter 4: but why us?

Summary:

gwinam awakens, but something's not right. minjae and hari meet unexpected guests.

Notes:

another case of a chapter being longer than expected, oops
i might have fucked up some of the dialogue but this is canon divergence so lets pretend that was on purpose. enjoy!
and thank you guys for all the support!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Like a fairytale, Gwinam’s eyes fluttered open slowly, the sun hitting his eyes harshly. At once, something was already off. The sky was no longer a bright blue, but instead a monotonous grayscale that conveyed almost no sense of depth. The rest of the world was still in full color, with some loss of saturation. His mouth tasted funny, his saliva thicker than usual. Sitting up and glancing downwards, he saw his hands were also in color, but richer in tone. The blood sharply contrasted with the rest of the scenery, now a strange pink instead of its usual red.

The next thing that hit him was the air. He was breathing, but almost as if he were breathing underwater. His lungs felt congested, but at the same time, his sinuses were clear. The stench of dead bodies was suddenly hitting him much more strongly than before, and noise rushed into his ears like a tidal wave, causing him to nearly cry out in agony. The zombie cries were piercing his ears now.

His legs felt weak and he stumbled to his feet, only to fall back down. He was sitting in a pool of blood, surrounded by the dead bodies of the teachers around him. The teachers that he had slaughtered only...a couple minutes ago, given the clock still ticking on the wall. He hadn’t been out for that long, but already he was starting to lose his sense of time. “Did I fucking die?”

He did his best to recall the events that had just transpired. Him barely escaping from the zombies outside, to him breaking into the teacher’s office, that one really weird zombie that dropped something into his eye—

“Oh fuck!” Gwinam tried to claw at his eye again, but once again, there was nothing in there. After trying for a couple minutes, he began to open the drawers, finding the phone collection box with all of the phones still inside, and began rummaging around until he managed to draw his phone. Swiping to the camera, he took a look at himself, a surprised reflection meeting him.

His eyes were the same color of the weird zombie, now a listless grey instead of his usual black, though whether that was because of the loss of saturation in his vision or something else, he didn’t know. His veins were pulsating, especially toward his eyes, and if he squinted close enough he could’ve sworn he saw something wriggling underneath. Disgusted, he panned the camera toward the rest of his body, noting how sickly he seemed.

His skin was greenish-gray, almost red, and he was visibly shivering, most likely from how cold he suddenly felt. There was zombie blood splattered all over his shirt, and occasionally his arm or leg would twitch. He took a couple steps toward the door, experimentally sticking his hand out toward a zombie lumbering down the hallway. No response came, not even a growl of slight interest. Feeling bold, he went outside completely, arms outstretched in the wake of the zombies, and not a single one turned toward him intentionally.

“What the hell?” Gwinam went back inside the teacher’s office, pulling on a spare track jacket from one of the teacher’s desks, before stashing the phone away in his pocket. “If I’m basically a zombie now...does this mean I’m in heaven?”

Before he could answer his own rhetorical question, the sweet smell of blood hit his nostrils. His body turned toward the giant closet on the other side of the room. Oh, right. Eunji.

“Come out! I know you’re in there,” Gwinam called out mockingly, picking up the knife from where he had dropped it earlier. “You don’t have to hide from me, I already saw you earlier!”

For a couple of seconds, he was met with momentary silence. Brandishing the knife, he stepped closer toward the closet. “Don’t make me come in there!”

At that, the closet door finally creaked open. Out slid Eunji, white shirt with his sprawling on the back untucked from her skirt, bruises on her knees, hair covering most of her face. Unlike previous times where she couldn’t bear to look Gwinam in the eye, this time she made direct eye contact, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “You’re not going to kill me, are you?”

“Min Eunji!” Gwinam spread his arms out wide, a psychotic grin on his face. “Did you see everything? I’m the king of this school now. I’ve been infected, but I’m immune!”

“Give me your phone. Delete the video,” Eunji said quietly, and Gwinam laughed, causing a single tear to fall from her cheek.

“Oh, you mean the one on my phone? I’m not deleting it anytime soon,” Gwinam scoffed. “Actually, I have other ideas. How about this?” Gwinam placed the knife down on the nearest desk, reaching over for a broom before stomping hard on the straw, leaving only the stick. Picking the knife back up, he began to sharpen the end, talking continuously. “Let’s rule the school together, you and me! I won’t leak the video, and you’ll work with me.”

“Are you crazy to think I’d ever work with you!?” Eunji nearly shouted, but that caught the attention of a couple zombies outside. As they banged on the doors once again, Gwinam sighed. “See? Now look at what you’ve done. I could leave you out here for dead, or I can kill them and do you a favor.”

“What would you even get by working with me?” Eunji asked evenly.

“Easy! Some way for me to assert my dominance.” Satisfied with his new spear, Gwinam gave it an experimental twirl. “It’s the end of the world! And you do smell really nice, by the way.”

“What the fuck?” Eunji hissed.

“Oh, I meant your blood. Sorry, zombie instincts and all that.” Gwinam tapped his forehead knowingly, though truthfully he had no idea what exactly was zombie about him. “Besides, this is way more fun.”

“You—” Eunji tried to step forward, but to Gwinam’s surprise, her foot wouldn’t budge from its current position. Eunji tried to move her head downward, but seemed to be struggling. “What the hell did you do to me!?”

“I didn’t...” Gwinam’s voice faltered, before realization struck him. “Are you paralyzed?”

“No shit!” Eunji snapped. “Whatever you did, stop it! Stop it now!”

“Then if that’s the case, should I...” Gwinam experimentally turned his head away, and the minute he broke eye contact with Eunji, her foot finally moved, causing her to stumble from the exertion she had been putting there. Turning back, Gwinam carefully avoided eye-contact with Eunji. “Can you move now?”

“Yes?” Eunji frowned, waving her arms from the corner of his vision.

“So if I make eye-contact with you, then you get paralyzed. Got it.” Gwinam smirked. “So. Still thinking of teaming up with me? I could paralyze you with some simple eye-contact and you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. I could send out that video and you’d have to watch without being able to do a single thing—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Eunji screamed, the zombies banging on the door harder now. “Don’t! Don’t do that! I’ll work with you, but don’t you fucking dare!”

“Oh?” Gwinam raised his eyebrows in mock concern. “If you’re that sure, then you’ll have to back up everything I say and do, you know that?”

“I know,” Eunji muttered quietly. “I don’t have a choice.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Gwinam laughed, before eyeing the closet again. “Maybe check up on your buddy while I clear out the hallway. I know he’s in there.” Before Eunji could gape at him in surprise, Gwinam twirled the knife in his hand before exiting the teacher’s office. Two zombies tried to rush in for Eunji, but Gwinam quickly sliced through their jugulars, the pinkish blood splattering across his newly-found jacket. As Eunji pulled Cheolsoo out of the closet from the corner of his eye, he stepped into the hallway, barely flinching as he used his knife. The bodies on the floor were becoming nothing more than a nuisance to him as zombies wandered around listlessly before falling to a combination of the spear on his left and the knife on his right. He could still hear growls from above, but he didn’t bother to pay attention to those.

Heading back to the teacher’s office, he watched as Eunji and Cheolsoo both fidgeted in place, unable to look Gwinam in the eyes. Gwinam tried to wipe the pink blood off of his face from all of the killing, but that only smeared more of it across his face. Disgusted, his gaze flickered toward Cheolsoo. “What do you think we should do with him, Eunji?”

“Eunji, this is ridiculous! You shouldn’t be—” Cheolsoo tried to protest, but when Eunji turned toward him with cold eyes, his voice trailed off. “Eunji, he’s going to kill us anyway in the end. This is Gwinam; you can’t reason with Gwinam!”

“Better him than Myunghwan,” Eunji pointed out, and Gwinam’s slight triumphant smile faded at the name. Myunghwan. He had forgotten about the head bully from earlier that day, but he decided that finding him and killing him a thousand times over, zombie or no, would be the next thing on his agenda.

“Yeah, but—” Cheolsoo froze, literally, when he made eye contact with Gwinam, who leaned back into one of the spinny chairs. Cheolsoo tried to move his arm, but could only blink. “W-What—”

“I told you. He’s not a normal zombie, he’s more dangerous than the rest,” Eunji mumbled. “We don’t have a choice but to comply. You can stay here and hide in the closet if you want, but Gwinam might come back for you later.”

“Don’t be so uptight!” Gwinam laughed, a terrible sound that made Eunji cringe on the spot. “Bring him in the team, why not? He can be another form of bait!”

“Bait?” Cheolsoo echoed.

“Another?” Eunji frowned, before crossing her arms and glaring at Gwinam. “So we’re just bait to you.”

“Oh, don’t get so worked up! I promised you I’ll delete the video if you work with me, right?” Gwinam reassured, a smile playing on his blood-crusted lips. “I won’t eat you guys, trust me.”

“That...is a horrible idea.” Eunji sighed.

“Then it’s settled!” Gwinam’s grey eyes shone with malice as he patted them both on the shoulder, noting how much they were trembling. “The king, queen, and...servant, I guess, of the new Hyosan High!”

“This is fucked,” Cheolsoo muttered, but Gwinam shrugged, turning away to leave. “Let’s go! Bathrooms first; I want to get all of this blood off of my face.”

_______

Minjae’s head shot up as he heard the sharp rapture at the door, the knocks startling him from his nap. Hari had been at the window, staring outside at the carnage, but she also stumbled from where she was standing. Brushing whatever bangs were covering his eyes again, Minjae scooted his chair back. “I’ll go check. How long have I been out for?”

“Only an hour. I don’t hear any humans anymore.” Hari sighed, before taking a chair off of where there was a stack and handing it to Minjae before grabbing one herself. “Use this just in case.”

“Right,” Minjae nodded as he crept toward the door. He had covered it with a curtain prior, but the knock sounded again. “I don’t think zombies know how to knock on a door.”

“Still,” Hari hissed, but Minjae was already opening the door.

Standing outside were two students, one being a girl with mousy brown hair and a blood-splattered spear in her hand, the other being a chubby boy holding a similar weapon and hiding behind the girl with a worried glance back and forth. Minjae took two seconds to recognize the two students—Mijin and Joonseung, from the classroom next door. They never talked that much, but he was relieved to see survivors. “Oh, thank—”

“Don’t come in.” Hari, who had been behind Minjae the entire time, raised her chair in self-defense. She glared at both of them, but Mijin met her gaze evenly.

“We’re not zombies, you bitch,” Mijin spat. “Let us in, damnit! The zombies haven’t followed us yet, but they will soon.”

“Hey, I think they’re okay,” Minjae whispered. “Zombies usually don’t curse.”

“What was that?” Mijin, taking offense to the comment, raised her spear threateningly, but Minjae shook his head, lightly pushing Hari aside to let the two newcomers come inside. Closing the door quietly behind them and shutting the curtain, Minjae waved his arms around awkwardly. “Welcome to the humble abode.”

“Have you two been in here the entire time?” Joonseung asked, voice quiet. Minjae nodded, but before they could even continue the casual conversation, Hari’s sharp tone cut through the air, creating more tension.

“Park Mijin,” Hari said mockingly, crossing her arms with a glare. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Jang Hari,” Mijin retorted. “Miss Archery? Came back from a loss, it looks like. Where are your weapons, anyway?”

“At least I was doing something useful. You’re always smoking in the bathrooms, skipping class, not bothering to even make an effort.” Hari smirked as Mijin seemed to tense at that. “We put our weapons away in the gym—we got back earlier, so how were we supposed to know?”

“Oh no, Miss Archery screwed up,” Mijin mocked, and Hari’s smirk faded in a flash. “Who do you think you are, huh?”

That seemed to do it for Hari, the archer kicking Mijin in the stomach harshly. Mijin hit the floor harshly before rising to her feet, nearly screaming. “You bitch—”

“Can we not fight right now!?” Joonseung begged. When both girls glared at him, he shrunk into himself. “Sorry.”

“Whatever.” Mijin rolled her eyes, leaning back on one of the desks. “Fuck. I’m never studying again.”

“Can you please be serious in serious situations?” Joonseung begged, only to be met with a fiercer glare from Mijin. “I am very serious right now!”

“We need to get our weapons back.” Minjae’s voice cut in through the tension, trying to take charge. “They’re in one of the smaller gyms near the backside of the school. If we can get there and get our weapons back, we can formulate a plan from there.”

“How are we going to get there?” Mijin, more than eager to get away from the conversation, immediately diverted her attention to Minjae. Hari seemed to scoff, but didn’t fight back.

“I was thinking about it while you were napping,” Hari butted in, pointing to the window. “If we take the window and jump down to the ground, we can make a break for it. It’s a short sprint, it’ll be dangerous, but it’s our only chance.”

“The window?” Joonseung asked fearfully. “But we’re on the third floor!”

“So? Let’s do it,” Mijin immediately agreed, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. “Falling from the third floor won’t hurt as much as failing to get into college.”

“Are you sure about this, Hari?” Minjae asked as he peered down at the jump. “You really think we can make it?”

“It’s clear right now, so let’s make the best of it as well as we can.” Hari pointed at a dumpster. “Break our landing there, and then move onto the gym.”

“I’ll go first,” Minjae immediately offered, hoisting the spare chair onto his back as he pulled open the window, to everyone’s surprise. Joonseung’s eyes widened at the sight, but before any one of them could protest, Minjae had already launched himself from the ledge.

Slamming into the dumpster harshly, he winced as the sound reverberated—the dumpster had been emptied a while ago. The chair slid off of him and onto the grass, him following as he tumbled onto the ground. Rising to his feet, he listened for zombie noises, but didn’t hear any. Quickly glancing back up, he waved for the other three to come down.

Mijin seemed to be taking her sweet time, but a shove from Hari solved that, Mijin almost screaming the entire way down. At the same time, one zombie nearly got Minjae, but he whirled around and smacked it with the nearest chair, the zombie tumbling down the side of a hill instead. Joonseung was next as Mijin seemed to gain her bearings, but Minjae could already hear the sounds of other zombies being attracted to their location.

“Hurry!” Minjae hissed as Hari was the last one to fall down, noticing that the zombies were starting to notice them and run toward them in an ever-growing horde. “Which way?”

“Follow me!” Hari commanded as she broke into a sprint, the rest of them following as the zombies quickly caught up to them. There was already another group arriving from the opposite direction, but Hari made a quick right as both zombie groups convened, bloodthirsty growls piercing the air.

All four of them reached the gym entrance, the walls clean of blood due to the lack of students there beforehand, but as Mijin reached the door, she screamed out in frustration. “What’s the passcode!?”

“Fuck, they locked it already!?” Hari, holding her spare chair, motioned for Joonseung to prepare for a fight. “3210!”

“3210!?” Mijin screeched back, fingers fumbling on the lock.

“Three-two-one-zero, damnit!” Minjae brought the chair down on the first zombie, blood splattering on his clothes as the zombie continued to attempt at a crawl. Hari moved in, bashing the zombie’s head to ensure there was nothing left.

“Go for the neck!” Joonseung cried out as he speared a nearby zombie through the throat, lip trembling. At the same time, Mijin cried out. “I got it!”

“In, in, in!” Minjae threw the chair toward the next round of zombies, temporarily pushing them back, as he grabbed Hari and pulled her toward the glass door where Mijin was already waiting for them. Just as Hari crossed the entrance, Mijin screamed in horror. “Joonseung!”

“Go!” Turning around, Minjae’s eyes widened as he saw that Joonseung had been a couple steps too slow, and already a zombie had gotten to his ankle. Waving them away, tears began to fall from his cheeks. “Close the door and get out of here!”

“Joonseung, no!” Mijin was starting to cry now, but it was already futile to try and save him. With no choice but to turn away, Minjae pulled the glass doors shut as Joonseung disappeared from view, the zombies overwhelming as they slammed against the glass doors. Hari pulled aside a crying Mijin, Minjae reaching up to secure the lock, before shutting the curtains and doing his best not to think about how someone just died.

Notes:

F in the chat for joonseung, our first casualty
roses are red, this is complicated, kudos and comments are always appreciated

Chapter 5: i should've known better

Summary:

fights break out in the av room, and more information about the virus is discovered.

Notes:

ohoho this ones gonna be fun, we're back to the main gang pov! bit of an infodump here
sorry for the late-ish chapter i got demotivated and shit :(
thanks for all of your support i love reading yalls reactions!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Why didn’t you close the window already!?” Nayeon screeched angrily, stomping her foot on the ground. “We almost died!”

“Didn’t you see that Cheongsan was still coming in!?” To everyone’s surprise, Isak was the one to speak up against Nayeon, standing up indignantly. “Why are you being so rude anyway!? Can you shut the hell up for two damn minutes?”

“Was it wrong for me to say to close it!?” Nayeon retorted accusingly.

“Is your own survival all that matters?” Isak argued back, Onjo resting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I don’t need to listen to you, you stupid bitch,” Nayeon hissed, and that seemed to set Isak off because she shoved Nayeon harshly back into the spinning chair, causing the pink-vested girl to yelp in indignation. “Did you just push me?”

“Damn right I did,” Isak spat, crossing her arms. “You’ve only been complaining the entire time. Say that again, I dare you!”

“Cut it out; what are you two doing!?” Mrs. Park, having checked Cheongsan and Suhyeok for injuries at last and finding none, came from the closed window toward the two arguing girls, bewilderment on her face.

“She just pushed me,” Nayeon retaliated, jerking her head up in an accusatory manner.

“You called me a bitch first,” Isak snapped.

“Was I wrong?” Nayeon scoffed. “You’re always the one gossiping about other people. I know you’re secretly talking shit behind everyone’s backs. Always making rumors about other people and spilling your friend’s secrets to other students. You’re a backstabber.”

“How could you say that!?” Onjo stepped defensively in front of her friend, glaring down at Nayeon, but Mrs. Park came in between them both, reaching out to calm the tension.

“That’s enough, both of you! What matters now is that no one got bit and everyone’s safe. Let’s not fight, alright?” Mrs. Park waved her hand, and the two girls glared at each other before returning to their respective corners.

Cheongsan’s eyes flitted toward Onjo and Isak, tending to each other quietly. He was still processing the fact that his heart had done a complete 180 and reversed his feelings toward Onjo to Suhyeok instead. It was almost like he wasn’t in control of his own body anymore, and that terrified him.

Taking a deep breath, he took in the state of everyone else in the room: Nayeon was still standing, miffed and darting her eyes between Onjo and Isak. Joonyeong sat on a chair nearby, clutching his ankle in pain. Woojin had his arms wrapped around Daesu in his typical touchy manner, still seemingly out of it. Jimin was whispering to Hyoryung quietly, and Gyeongsu was pacing around, anxiety starting to get the better of him. Namra was following Mrs. Park into the recording room inside, and Suhyeok was still staring at him, though Cheongsan did his best to avoid his gaze.

The broadcasting room seemed untouched, and the hallways outside were oddly quiet, though it was hard to tell whether or not that was because of the soundproofing walls or if there were really no zombies in the vicinity. Contrary to what Cheongsan was starting to remember, the broadcasting room was on the fourth floor, which confused him because he swore that it had been on the second floor originally. Having never been in it before, he took the moment to take in his surroundings. Shelves lined the walls with scripts and previous recordings, the table in the middle was littered with pens, and an extensive soundboard and speaker system lined the wall facing the recording room, which was bright red and had its own equipment inside.

“What is going on out there?” Mrs. Park returned from the broadcasting room, rubbing her temples. “I saw a student attack another teacher and kids running everywhere...it’s a mess.”

“Zombies, Mrs. Park,” Hyoryung replied quietly. “There’s a zombie virus!”

“A zombie virus?” Mrs. Park blinked at Hyoryung in bafflement. “Are you saying that zombies are real? It fits, but...”

“But what?” Jimin butted in.

“I went to confront Mr. Lee after we took Hyeonju to the hospital. We brought him to the main office, the police were contacted, and they took him into custody. He told us that we had to put her in quarantine, but no one believed him, naturally.” Mrs. Park crossed her arms, contemplating. “However, before we took him to the office, I did manage to grab this.”

In her hand was a thick journal, the pages stained yellow from old age. Mr. Lee’s full name was scrawled on the front cover, as well as a “DO NOT STEAL” sticker pasted on top.

“I never expected you to do something like that,” Daesu remarked. “Wouldn’t you usually leave it there for the police to take?”

“Too tempting,” Mrs. Park admitted. “But we can look through it later together. I’m going to make an announcement to the school, if there’s anyone left.”

The atmosphere grew somber at that last sentence, and the rest of the group decided to sit on the floor, catching their breaths and letting the adrenaline settle for good. A wave of exhaustion crashed into Cheongsan, even though it was still well in the middle of the day. He stumbled backward, nearly falling onto the floor, but Suhyeok caught him, causing him to blush furiously.

“Are you okay?” Suhyeok’s calm and concerned voice washed over him like a tidal wave, and Cheongsan nodded, both of them settling down on the floor.

The loudspeaker crackled from within the room, and soon, Mrs. Park’s voice came through them, voice slightly trembling as the students listened to her words. “Students and teachers of Hyosan High School...I’m Park Sunhwa, the English teacher. Something’s strange going on at this school. Some students are attacking others indiscriminately. So...please flee and find a safe place to hide. And if any student or faculty is able to, please call the police and the fire department. Students, hide somewhere safe until help arrives. If you can get out of the school...please get out. I’ll say it again. Some students are...” Her voice broke off, faltering, before she swallowed back what seemed to be tears and spoke up again. “You guys are okay, right? I don’t know how this started, but...these are zombies. Find a safe place and hide. I’m sorry. I can’t help. Don’t get hurt, okay? Please. Let’s stay alive and meet again, okay?”

Cheongsan would’ve cried, if it weren’t for the sudden vision that his mind had plunged him into at the end of that speech. Once again surrounded by muffled noise, he tried to make sense of what was playing in front of his eyes this time, though for some reason, there was no prior pain beforehand.

”I can’t stand you, you stupid welfie,” Nayeon hissed at Gyeongsu, to which the latter responded by shoving her into a spinning chair harshly. Isak was not in the room with them. Mrs. Park butted in, reprimanding both of them for their actions, but Nayeon seemed murderous with that glare of hers.

“What if this all started with Hyeonju?” Onjo asked fearfully. “Her hand was cold and so was Isak’s.”

“She was taken to the hospital, too,” Hyoryung added on.

“Does that mean the infection spread there as well?” Joonyeong questioned.

“Maybe that’s why no one’s coming,” Hyoryung replied, hanging her head in defeat. “We already called them and they weren’t coming.”

“But wait...the internet should still work, right?” Joonyeong rose from his seat toward the computer that sat on the middle of the table. Everyone began to fight over what Joonyeong should be looking up on the internet, but then the fire hose began to swing and hit the window, drawing their attention. When Cheongsan himself went to check, a zombie fell and got caught in the ropes, swinging toward them harshly as the window broke.

“Push it off!” The group screamed as he fended off the zombie with the mop in the corner. After a couple unsuccessful attempts, Cheongsan smashed the mop against the window. The mop top broke off, leaving a point, but when he couldn’t bring himself to drive it forward, Suhyeok did it himself, smacking Gyeongsu’s nose with the blunt tip in the process. It still didn’t work.

After Gyeongsu smashed the zombie out with the computer, they could all finally relax—until Nayeon began accusing him of being bit, using the nosebleed he got from the mop and a scratch on his hand, trying to use Onjo’s testimony with Isak to prove her point. The fight got heated, Cheongsan himself stepping in to protect his friend. “This is about life and death.”

Nayeon using the handkerchief to wipe Gyeongsu’s hand, dabbing it onto his scratch. Not long after, he became a zombie, Cheongsan’s vision going blurry as tears crowded his eyes, the world spinning around him as he swung on the fire hose, Gyeongsu falling into the ground below.

Namra accusing Nayeon of doing what she did, slapping her across the face harshly. Nayeon getting up, walking toward the door, Woojin trying to stop her, but with no use. Mrs. Park following after her, leaving them alone.

His fists slamming into the glass shelf of recording equipment, a strangled “Fuck!” leaving his mouth, and then—

“Cheongsan? Cheongsan, hey, are you with me?” Suhyeok’s voice, an ever-calming stability, brought him fully back to reality. Cheongsan blinked and shook his head to get used to the rush of noise, before turning around to meet Suhyeok eye-to-eye. Big mistake. The taller’s face was too close to his for comfort, eyes wide and arms gripping his shoulders tightly.

“Yeah, was I crying out again?” Cheongsan asked, trying his best not to think about how close they were. All he’d have to do was move a couple inches forward, and then— Oh HELL no. He had just barely processed that he suddenly had feelings for Suhyeok and now he was thinking of kissing him too.

“Actually, you weren’t… but you went still, like a statue. I tried to snap you out of it, but you wouldn’t budge.” Suhyeok ruffled his hair, effectively wiping out the sad remainder of the gel that was once in it. “Did you… see another vision of the future?”

“Yes, but—I wasn’t in pain this time?” Cheongsan slipped away from Suhyeok’s grip, already missing the warmth of his hands on his shoulders, but as soon as he backed away from Suhyeok, the throbbing in his head returned, although subdued as usual when it wasn’t attacking him with visions. Frowning, he clutched his head. “Suhyeok, I need to test something.”

“Uh, sure?” Suhyeok raised an eyebrow curiously.

Cheongsan moved closer to Suhyeok, finding the pain slowly going away entirely as he neared. Being right up in Suhyeok’s personal space omitted the pain entirely, but as soon as he moved out of that bubble, the throbbing in his head would return. He stood up abruptly at that, catching the attention of the rest of the room, including Mrs. Park. “No way.”

“What is it? What did you figure out?” Suhyeok asked inquisitively.

“It’s you,” Cheongsan breathed, mumbling to himself as he began to pace in a circle. “Getting closer to you makes the pain go away, but when I back off, it starts to hurt again, but it’s not like being super far from you makes it spike up, so maybe it’s just you getting the pain away somehow, but this doesn’t even make sense...well, okay, everything else doesn’t makes sense at the moment either, but still… why you? What’s the difference? What’s—”

“Cheongsan,” Mrs. Park’s sharp voice cut through his babbling. “What are you on about?”

“My visions,” Cheongsan replied simply, before remembering that Mrs. Park had no idea what was going on about Cheongsan. “I’ve been...seeing things, events that were supposed to happen. But something is different every time, and things have been getting more and more different from right now.”

“Still, they’ve saved us. His vision of using the fire hose let us get here,” Onjo protested.

“Yeah, if it weren’t for Cheongsan, we’d all be dead,” Gyeongsu added.

“Well...it all sounds really far-fetched, but I trust you,” Mrs. Park pondered after a moment. “Let’s focus on this notebook that I’ve gotten from Mr. Lee’s office."

The group surrounded Mrs. Park as she began to read from the notebook, her expression changing with every sentence.

Day 5

I decided to change my initial plan. I thought a virus alone would be good, but it’s too risky and unpredictable. Putting one into my son alone without a proper cure beforehand would be too much. I’ve decided to examine through a list of buyable parasites, see if I can modify one to fit what I need.

Day 12

Loa loa! A perfect solution. An eye parasite may be a bit much, but it fits all the criteria that I need. I’m having trouble modifying it to what I want without anyone to experiment on.

Day 14

I tested on a corpse today. Not only did it reanimate, but the worms multiplied too rapidly, causing the body to fail after five minutes. The corpse could not speak. The eyes were grey colored. They nearly locked me in place: a psychological effect? I need more research.

Day 17

I’ve figured it out. This parasite, when combined with the virus, would embed itself in the human brain, settle near the eye area, and cause the body to shut down and wake back up within a couple of minutes. The virus keeps the corpse from becoming too docile, to increase the testosterone levels, influence the hippocampus, and facilitate fear and anger. When this new form of a zombie would then stare at the target in the eyes, it would cause paralysis. I don’t know how that seems to work, but it is convenient. The parasite can transfer through the eyes with one of the worms falling into the eye of a victim. However, without the original zombie virus, the zombie can’t have the regenerative abilities and can be killed easily. I have not tested sentience, but who knows? If Jinsu gets this, then everything will be alright.

Day 20

Good news! Jinsu is still sentient until he experiences too much fear or anger. Despite making eye contact with me multiple times, he has not made a move to infect me parasitically. It seems like the parasite has some sentience and decides which victims to take on its own, but how? Considering therapy as a potential solution??

Day 24

I have made a terrible mistake. But it’s too late to turn back now. There is nothing to regret anymore.

“It ends there,” Mrs. Park murmured. “But Jinsu went missing a long time ago...”

“So there’s two infections going around?” Daesu shuddered. “I don’t want anything in my eye.”

“Then Mr. Lee did start all of this!” Nayeon waved her hand around, disgusted. “No wonder he smelled like a rotting corpse that one time.”

“That still doesn’t explain...” Joonyeong frowned, before raising his hand in realization. “Hyeonju may have wandered into the science lab after we left her yesterday to get tteokbokki, since she was supposed to be cleaning it, and then contracted the virus there!”

“The zombies we’ve seen so far don’t have grey eyes, so are we just dealing with normal zombies then?” Namra asked.

“Well, I hope so. I don’t want things to get worse,” Onjo murmured.

“Mr. Lee’s at the police station, so there’s no way to get contact with him now,” Mrs. Park said with a finality that ended all other discussion. “Let’s try to clean up each other now, alright?”

Everyone shuffled from their spots, looking around the recording room for supplies. Finding towels and handkerchiefs, people began to clean their wounds, wiping zombie blood off of their clothes to the best of their ability, and getting sweat off of their bodies. Cheongsan kept close to Gyeongsu, the zombified version of him still swimming in his head along the dull pain that he felt when he wasn’t near Suhyeok. Glancing toward the table, he noticed that there was no computer this time, though he had no idea why.

“You alright? You’re out of it,” Gyeongsu asked quietly as Cheongsan helped Gyeongsu with a particularly nasty cut from holding the chairs back in the science lab.

“It’s not like you to be concerned about my wellbeing,” Cheongsan joked weakly, humming the Auld Lang Syne tune they would share with each other when leaving school. Gyeongsu joined in, and Cheongsan, despite the visions in his head, could manage a genuine laugh, though it was quiet.

In their moment of respite, they didn’t notice how in the background, Onjo was clutching Isak’s hand tightly, putting it to her cheek, eyes widening in confusion, before crying out. “Cheongsan!”

“What? What? What is it!?” Cheongsan whirled around immediately, rushing to Onjo. He took one glance at Isak, and his face fell. Isak’s eyes were slowly becoming bloodshot, crimson starting to trickle out of her nose.

“I’m not...I thought I was okay! You said I was okay!” Isak protested as the remainder of the room scrambled against the wall. “Because it didn’t happen that time so it shouldn’t happen now! Right?”

Belatedly, Cheongsan’s eyes darted between Onjo and the ever-zombifying Isak, and he realized with a horrifying clarity that he had completely forgot to tell someone about his most recent vision. He began to cry, as well as Onjo, who hugged the ever-in-denial Isak, trying to comfort her in her last moments. He buried his face in his hands, sobbing, realizing for the first time that while it seemed at first he could prevent some deaths, in the end, he could only delay the inevitable.

This was all my fault.

Notes:

i am not sorry. okay maybe i am, a little.
also disclaimer i like skimmed the loa loa page so if my science is incorrect sorry LOL

Chapter 6: as you deserve

Summary:

as isak turns, cheongsan must deal with the rising tensions between the group and the anger directed at him. gwinam's team makes it to the bathroom, where quiet talks ensue.

Notes:

hey guys, another chapter being longer than expected? yep!
im trying to tone down the amount of POVs to just three characters for the three groups (Cheongsan, Minjae, and Eunji), hopefully it makes it easier to read
the support im getting is overwhelming! thank you guys so much!
i also plan to revise chapter 1 a bit since im unhappy with it

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Cheongsan didn’t get enough time to continue crying, because Isak collapsed to the floor before cracking her bones, rising unnaturally from the ground. Onjo, hair disheveled and tears streaming down her face, could only stare at Isak as the girl locked eyes with her, a snarl leaving her lips. “Isak, please don’t do this. Isak, please.”

When Isak lunges, Cheongsan shoves her aside in a daze, Onjo screaming out her friend’s name. Isak slammed harshly against the recording desk attached to the wall, one of the chairs spinning out of control in the process. Most of the girls shrieked, the boys and Mrs. Park moving in to shield them as Isak snapped her neck toward Onjo, seemingly hellbent on infecting her.

“Cheongsan!” Onjo cried out, and remembering his vision in the science lab, he grabbed one of the spinning chairs, albeit with more effort than usual. As Isak rushed toward Onjo with a terrifying growl, Cheongsan held the chair in front of him, ramming it forward toward Isak mid-lunge. The force was enough to shatter the window, Isak and the chair both tumbling out. Isak grasped the windowsill, but her fingers slipped, and she fell—only for Onjo to grab her wrist, a broken expression on her face.

“Are you crazy!?” Cheongsan leaned out of the window, trying to pull Onjo’s hand off of Isak. “Let go! Let her go!”

“No, no, I can’t!” Onjo cried out quietly, her grasp starting to slip as Isak clawed at her. “I...”

“Cheongsan!” Gyeongsu’s shout from inside drew his attention, and he glanced back to narrowly catch a thick binder thrown at him. “Use this!”

“Thanks,” Cheongsan replied breathlessly as he leaned back out, smacking the binder against the bloodied Isak. Isak was still clawing at Onjo, but with Cheongsan’s repeated efforts, Isak finally fell, her body reaching out for Onjo even as she hit the ground harshly, rising to wander around with the rest on the ground floor.

Cheongsan pulled the binder back inside, the cover stained with Isak’s blood. Onjo did as well, staring at Cheongsan for two seconds, before curling up on the ground and breaking out in sobs.

An awkward silence filled the air, Cheongsan putting the binder aside before falling back into one of the remaining chairs, wiping the mixture of sweat and tears that was on his face.

“Onjo...” Hyoryung separated from the group first, followed by Jimin as they both did their best to console Onjo on the ground. Mrs. Park, unable to speak, could only walk into the recording room to contemplate her thoughts. Daesu let out a sigh of frustration, Woojin muttering a quiet “fuck” under his breath, and Joonyeong took off his glasses, head hung in sympathy.

Gyeongsu stood close to Cheongsan, Suhyeok right next to him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” Cheongsan murmured back, glancing toward Onjo continuously. She lifted her head to glare at him, tears still falling from her eyes. “This is all your fault, Cheongsan.”

“What?” Cheongsan blinked at her, trying his best not to get angry at the outlandish assumption.

“You told us that she was okay! That we avoided her original death! Why did you lie to me!? Why did you...” Onjo’s voice broke, and she buried her face in her hands again, sobbing uncontrollably. Cheongsan could only stare at her, lip quivering.

“It’s not your fault,” Suhyeok whispered, but Cheongsan was starting to visibly shake now, partially from grief, partially from anger. He took a deep breath, trying his best to calm himself down. He gripped the armrest of the chair tightly enough for his knuckles to go white.

“You did it.” To both of their surprise, Namra’s voice cut through the tension, grabbing everyone’s attention. Onjo lifted her head shakily, moving her head to where Namra was standing in front of Nayeon, the latter looking positively furious.

“Are you talking to me?” Nayeon scoffed.

“Yes I am. You infected Isak,” Namra said quietly, and Cheongsan realized quickly what was going on. His vision danced in his mind, the zombie Gyeongsu falling to the ground in front of his eyes, and he could hear the words align with the fight that he knew was just about to occur—earlier than expected, but still happening.

Namra paced over closer to Nayeon at a brisk pace, Nayeon staring back at her defiantly. Cheongsan could already hear the same words in his mind play out just as Namra spoke. “I saw everything.”

“What? What did you see?” Nayeon glared at Namra, raising an eyebrow in mock inquisitiveness.

“You’re the one that did it,” Namra only reaffirmed, and that confirmed the matching conversation in Cheongsan’s head. Both he and Onjo rose from their positions at the same time. Everyone, including Mrs. Park, was watching the fight unfold slowly.

“Who did what?” Nayeon continued to feign ignorance. “I didn’t do anything to Isak.”

“Since when did I mention Isak?” Namra shot back, and Nayeon shut her mouth before she was about to deny anything.

“Knock it off,” Woojin, still confused at the sudden accusation, shrugged. “Namra, what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Nayeon continued to protest.

“While we were cleaning each other off,” Cheongsan butted in, to everyone’s surprise. Namra turned toward him with vague interest. “A handkerchief with infected blood on it.”

“Cheongsan, what do you mean?” Daesu frowned.

“No. He’s right.” Namra pointed to where there was a now-dried stain of blood in Nayeon’s brown hair. “You wiped the zombie blood on your hair with your handkerchief.”

“No, I didn’t,” Nayeon spat, but she was starting to tremble as everyone’s eyes landed toward the stain in her hair.

“You wiped that on the scratches on Isak’s hand,” Namra continued. Onjo’s expression was morphing from broken grief to unbridled rage as the argument continued.

“I did not!” Nayeon nearly shouted.

“It’s in your pocket,” Namra accused harshly. “Take it out.”

“No,” Nayeon hissed.

“Take. it. out.” Namra lifted her hand in an offering position, but Nayeon slapped it away. “I said no!”

Onjo took a step forward with an unreadable expression, Hyoryung grasping her shoulder in order to hold her back slightly.

“Should I take it out, then?” Namra tilted her head in a drawl, before lunging for Nayeon’s skirt pocket, much to Nayeon’s anger. “Fuck you! Who the hell do you think you are? Class president?”

Cheongsan knew it was coming, but the sound of the harsh slap that Namra delivered still hit the air like a pile of bricks. At the physical blow, Joonyeong stood up from his seat, nearly reaching out but holding back at a second thought, just like how Cheongsan saw. Everyone seemed much more positively scandalized now, but Cheongsan could only watch with mild mirth.

“You never treated me like class president,” Namra scoffed. “Don’t pull that on me now.”

“Namra, that’s enough—” Mrs. Park moved forward to stop Namra, but held back her words, evidently new to this kind of situation. “Namra, do you realize what you’re saying right now? If that’s true, then that means Nayeon killed Isak.”

At the word “killed”, the tension raised in the room tenfold. Onjo’s hands were balled into fists, and while Hyoryung attempted to hold her back a little more, Jimin only watched from the back with an unreadable expression. Suhyeok, Joonyeong, Woojin, Gyeongsu, and Daesu watched the argument with varying degrees of concern, while Cheongsan could only cross his arms and wait for the whole thing to play out.

To everyone’s surprise, even Nayeon’s, Namra turned her head toward Cheongsan. “If you can really see the future, what am I going to say next?”

Spotlight suddenly on him, Cheongsan racked his brain for the exact conversation. Although some parts had been changed, the structure remained primarily the same, and Cheongsan pursed his lips. “It’s true. Nayeon did it.”

Namra nodded approvingly. “That confirms it, then.” She then turned back to Nayeon, crossing her arms. “You killed him.”

Nayeon finally nodded, though she tried to put up a fight nonetheless. She whipped out the handkerchief, hissing as she threw it at Namra’s shoulder. “You fucking cunt. There. Happy?”

Namra calmly picked up the handkerchief, unfurling it to reveal the harsh bloodstains. “This is blood.”

“I wiped Isak’s hand,” Nayeon pointed out, though the argument was feeble.

“This is her blood?” Namra questioned.

“You can’t tell?” Nayeon nearly laughed, but nervousness played in her face.

“Put it on your wound, then.” Cheongsan spoke out, unable to help himself. He pointed at the scratch on Nayeon’s leg. “Wipe yourself with it if—”

“—you’re so confident.” Namra finished Cheongsan’s words, holding out the handkerchief. Nayeon seemed to freeze at the suggestion, and Cheongsan knew they had caught her.

“Like her blood is so clean?” Jumping around the idea, Nayeon continued to ask questions. “Cheongsan already said that Isak was supposed to die. She probably got infected a long time and didn’t show symptoms until we got into here, and that’s just her getting unlucky. If what Cheongsan said is true, then Isak getting infected in the science lab is also true.”

Namra slammed the handkerchief on the ground, the cloth snapping against the floor as she stomped forward. “I don’t care about Cheongsan’s credibility. Isak was just fine until you infected her with your handkerchief.”

Nayeon’s lip trembled, and Onjo began to move forward again, being held back barely by Woojin and Hyoryung. “Nayeon, you—”

“Damn it! It wasn’t me!” Nayeon screeched, grabbing the handkerchief on the ground and holding it dangerously close to her wound, her hands trembling as everyone watched her. Looking around, she locked eyes with Cheongsan, glare intensifying. “You knew this was going to happen, right!? You knew she was going to die!”

“I didn’t know whether or not I stopped her death entirely! You’re only using me just to prove your point, but I don’t even know anymore if my own visions are factual enough,” Cheongsan lashed out, earning a sideways glance from Onjo. “You don’t get to decide whether or not I made Isak die.”

“Don’t do this,” Mrs. Park interrupted, grasping Nayeon’s wrist. “Stop it. Let go. I said to stop it.”

Nayeon wrestled out of Mrs. Park’s grip, frustration in her voice. “Leave me alone! Fuck!” She rose from the ground, throwing the handkerchief aside as her eyes darted between the group wildly. “I should just die too then, huh? That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Her lip trembled harder and tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m just following Cheongsan’s vision. If we all managed to live up to this point because of them, then shouldn’t I also follow the deaths in his visions to make sure we all stay alive?”

Mrs. Park blinked at Nayeon, still in denial. “Nayeon, you didn’t...”

“So you did it.” Onjo’s pain-stricken voice broke through, wrestling out of Hyoryung and Woojin’s grips. “How could you just—”

“She’s not dead!” Nayeon, in a delirious state and using her last resort of defense, grinned weakly. “Isak fell, but she got up and ran. She’s still alive. She didn’t die, she just turned.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Suhyeok, usually a meditator, had an unusually dark tone to his voice.

“Stop ganging up on me!” Nayeon shrieked. “You guys probably didn’t like Isak knowing all of your secrets either, right? Don’t act like you didn’t hate her deep down.”

“You asshole! How could you kill her!?” Onjo ran forward, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shoved Nayeon to the floor harshly. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown, trying to catch her breath as she wreaked loud sobs from her body, trying not to hyperventilate. “This means...you’re a murderer.”

Nayeon raised her head, tears falling from her eyes as well as she made eye contact with everyone in the room, burning with hatred. “I don’t need any of you. Fuck you.”

Cheongsan immediately knew what was going to happen, and his feet moved before his mind could catch up. As Nayeon prepared to slide the door open, he grabbed her sweater, pulling her back. Nayeon writhed in his grip, but she could only cry in protest.

“Cheongsan, what are you doing!?” Mrs. Park nearly ran over to pull him off, but he only turned Nayeon around harshly, his back pressed to the sliding door. “If she left, you’d be gone too.”

“Your vision,” Suhyeok suddenly blurted out. “You didn’t get a chance to tell me. How far did you...”

“Up to here,” Cheongsan replied. “We are not letting her go out this time. If she left, Mrs. Park would’ve followed her, and we would’ve lost them both.”

“Well, I don’t really care about Nayeon, but if keeping her here is going to keep Mrs. Park from leaving, then...” Jimin’s eyes darted toward Nayeon. “What are we going to do with her?”

“Easy,” Cheongsan shrugged as Nayeon blabbered out expletives. “We’re tying her up.”

_______

The bathroom was surprisingly empty, though there were bloodstains on the walls, probably from zombies that had infected others inside and walked out. The hallways were eerily silent from the lack of zombies as Gwinam, Eunji, and Cheolsoo went inside the dimly-lit first-floor bathroom on the other side of the floor from the teacher’s office.

Gwinam tested the sink, the water running properly, and he examined himself in the mirror, poking at the wriggling movements at his cheekbones with his grey eyes still lifeless. Eunji watched as he splashed some water on his face, the clear liquid staining crimson as he washed off blood that was splattered on his face. His eyes darted toward Eunji’s reflection in the mirror, and Eunji prepared to feel frozen in place again, but there was nothing. Reflections don’t count, she thought to herself.

“Use the bathroom, get some water, do whatever,” Gwinam said between mouthwashes. “We won’t get this luxury again for a long time.”

Cheolsoo took his words to heart, going into a stall and closing the door. Eunji stepped toward the sink, and to her surprise, Gwinam’s hand reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a black hairtie. He held it out to Eunji. “Take it.”

Eunji couldn’t comprehend what was going on, but Gwinam shoved his hand out more, and she tentatively took it, pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail. With her hair out of her face, she could see more clearly the bruises on her skin from previous beatings, and anger stirred up in her heart. I just need to find the right time to knock Gwinam out. “Why do you have a hairtie?”

As Gwinam began to wash his hands next, he seemed almost wistful. There was a moment of silence, Gwinam contemplating on what to say, before finally speaking out. “I have a younger sister.”

Eunji had been expecting an entirely different response, either complete silence or a “fuck off”, but this sudden truthfulness surprised her. “You have a sister?”

“Yeah. Middle school. I hope she’s okay,” Gwinam muttered. Eunji continued to finish tying her hair, splashing her face in the sink next to Gwinam as she thirstily drank as much water as she could. She didn’t know how to feel about Gwinam now.

“Why did you pick on us?” Cheolsoo, who finally came out of the bathroom, made his way to the third sink. “What made you choose us?”

Gwinam glanced at him from the mirror, eyes focusing on the cowardly boy. “I don’t know what to say that you guys won’t get angry. Was it for fun? Was it because I was forced to? Was it because I just wanted to take my anger out on something? Was I projecting?”

Cheolsoo and Eunji both glanced at each other, this newfound insight throwing them off, but Gwinam sighed. “Hanging out with Myunghwan kept me from being just like the rest of you. Had no choice. If you can’t beat them, you join them, I guess. Did his dirty work while he laughed it all away.”

“It doesn’t matter at that point. You pretty much committed murder because you had no choice?” Eunji spat resentfully as she opened a stall, finding someone’s makeup bag on the box for tampons and pads. “You think this zombie apocalypse is your redemption arc? You’re still using us as bait.”

“You don’t have to forgive me,” Gwinam grumbled. “I’m just putting my story out here.”

“What good is that going to do to us though? We’re still your victims. You didn’t really answer our question, either. Why did you choose to pick on us?” Cheolsoo, despite his trembling voice, still managed to speak.

“I didn’t choose you guys! Myunghwan did,” Gwinam huffed. “I’m just his gopher or some shit. That changes today.”

“Do you still need us?” Eunji began to apply red lipstick to her lips. “Still need us alive so we can be your little plaything? Is that your only purpose now?”

“I’m not saying you need to be sympathetic. Now that we’re in this mess, I’ve got my own personal vendetta. I’m not going to ask you guys to start being friends with me or whatever, but we’ve gotta work together at this point to stay alive, right?” Gwinam cleaned the knife next.

“We almost killed ourselves because of you. Why should we start agreeing with you now?” Cheolsoo frowned.

“You guys what?” Gwinam raised an eyebrow at that, his expression morphing to one of anger. “That’s enough for me. First thing we do after we get out of this bathroom is find Myunghwan and kill him. After that, we leave the school.”

“Can we burn it down?” Eunji continued searching the stalls, trying to find a change of clothes. To her surprise, there was a clean shirt and sweatpants folded neatly in the last stall, probably someone that had heard the commotion and left them behind in a hurry to escape. She closed the stall door, stripping off the vandalized shirt on her back.

“Do whatever at the end.” From where she was, she could hear the sound of Gwinam’s phone unlocking, and then a couple taps.

“You’re...deleting the post?” Cheolsoo’s voice carried over, making Eunji stop in her tracks.

“First step of trust is to put the past behind us.” Gwinam shut off the sink. “I still don’t want you guys leaving my side, though. I still have the file and can change my mind.”

“Of course there’s a catch,” Eunji mumbled as she finally finished changing and came back out of the stall. “How exactly are we going to work together if Cheolsoo and I are still human? We’re still attracting zombies everywhere we go.”

As if her question has just gotten answered, a loud growl emitted from the hallway. One lone zombie stumbled into the bathroom before lunging at Cheolsoo, who shrieked and tried to kick it away, back pressed against the wall. Gwinam pulled out his knife, but Eunji was already moving before her brain could yell at her not to make stupid decisions, and she pulled off the zombie, albeit with a little effort. The zombie didn’t hesitate as it sank its teeth into her wrist, catching her by surprise. Ah.

“Eunji!” Cheolsoo’s teary voice reached her ears as she grabbed a fistful of hair, almost screaming. “Why are you doing this to me!?”

Gwinam’s knife made swift work of the zombie, but at that point Eunji could already see her vision turning red. She could only burn with anger that she went out so quickly, stumbling to the sink as she tried to wash the bite wound with the water. Her wrist stung, and she could already feel like she was starting to lose control of her body. Gwinam was moving toward her, and she could vaguely hear Cheolsoo crying out her name from where he was on the wall, but that was when her ponytail was grabbed, pulling her back, and Gwinam hovered over her, face blank.

“What the fuck are you—” A small thin creature crawled out of Gwinam’s eye, falling into hers, and she screeched, falling backwards onto the floor and hitting the stall wall as she grasped at her face, nausea welling up. “What did you do to me!?”

Gwinam blinked and he stumbled back in shock, as if he had been unaware of what he had just done. “What—” It was only belatedly that she realized that his paralyzation didn’t work on her that time.

Before she could utter out another word, the dizziness got the better of her, and everything went black.

Notes:

kudos and comments are my food thank you
and the plot thickens :D

Chapter 7: even then

Summary:

jaeik listens to a recording, revealing more information about the virus. the rest of the av room group settle for the night.

Notes:

SORRY THIS WAS A WHOLE WEEK LATE :( I GOT REALLY DEMOTIVATED AND ALSO I FINALLY UPDATED MY OTHER FIC (WHICH YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT HERE!) AFTER A MONTH SO I FINALLY GOT BACK TO WRITING THIS! i might not be able to update for a couple weeks bc i have finals very soon and i need to study :( sorry once again
we now have chapter summaries! wooooo :D
as compensation, i provide some more cheongsan x suhyeok content (whats their ship name btw? cheonghyeok?)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

”There’s two infections. I didn’t make only one. The original one, the Jonas virus...like an advanced version of rabies. Made to turn fear into anger, create a race of superhumans, spread through bite. Strengthens the body, making them like unkillable puppets...unless speared through the spinal cord. Rather than have my son die as a human, I wanted him to survive as a monster.”

A thump could be heard in the recording, fists slamming into the interrogation table.

“The second infection, a parasite...it seems almost supernatural in itself. I haven’t named it yet, but combined with the Jonas virus, it retains the sentience, intelligence, the qualities that make humans what they are. To destroy the eyes is to destroy the parasite. Spread through the eyes, combined with the Jonas virus, ensures that the superhuman doesn’t become a mindless creature.

“I gave Jinsu the Jonas virus first, before giving him the parasite. With both of them, he could retain his memory, but when he was angered or cowering in fear, his actions would become more like the Jonas virus alone. It came to a point where it took over the parasite side of him.”

There was a murmur, unclear of what was said, but a question for sure given what Mr. Lee responded with.

“If the parasite was in the body alone? Well...given its properties and its intention to work with the Jonas virus, having the parasite alone may make the infected even more docile in particular. Soothing the more violent traits of someone over time. The infected cannot detect those with the parasite as human, so the only way to get the Jonas virus is through entering the bloodstream by getting blood on wounds or injections. Parasite alone won’t give them the regenerative qualities that the Jonas virus would. If anything, the parasite is more of a downgrade...except for the paralyzation part.

“Oh, what that is?” A scoff could be heard from Mr. Lee. “I don’t exactly know either. But the parasite is sentient, and infected can paralyze people they make eye contact with, so as long as they retain that eye contact. Most likely a way to ensure the spread of the parasite, though more often than not, spreading the parasite is hard given it has to fight the will of the infected host.

“If two look at each other? You’re asking the wrong questions here. The parasite isn’t the infection you should be worried about. The Jonas virus is your problem.”

Static, and then—

“My laptop! Inside the school, in my lab, along with my notebook. My notebook has the password in it. It holds the cure.” Screams could be heard, snarls and growls intertwining with them. Fast footsteps, and then silence.

“We need to find a way to alert the military about the laptop,” Jaeik finished as he closed the recording on his phone, shutting it down to preserve battery as he and Hocheol hid behind a wall, looking for their opportunity to escape. “The faster we can find it, the faster we can save everyone.”

“Right,” Hocheol stammered. “But do we really have to go now?”

“Are you an idiot? If we stay here, we’ll die.” Jaeik lightly bopped Hocheol’s head, before standing. “Let’s go downtown first. Hopefully we can find stuff there along the way.”

_______

“What the fuck are you guys doing to me!?” Nayeon screeched as she writhed in her new duct tape bonds, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the attached table. “Let me go!”

“You won’t be able to hurt people anymore,” Onjo hissed as she glared down at the snobbish girl.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Mrs. Park murmured. “Are you sure about this?”

As Onjo and Mrs. Park argued about the state of Nayeon, Cheongsan stared out of the window, watching the sun set. Around the rest of the front campus, zombies stumbled about, having no target to focus onto. Helicopters flew by in the distance, leaving the clear sky as they passed by the high school. Next to him, Gyeongsu stood next to him, watching the helicopters go by.

“Do you think they’re going to save us?” Gyeongsu asked quietly.

“We have to keep hoping they’ll come here. They’ll definitely come here tomorrow, if they can’t reach us today,” Cheongsan murmured, though his resolve was weak. He would find out sooner or later for himself either way, whenever his visions would come back.

“Isak didn’t deserve to die,” Gyeongsu replied suddenly. “Knowing that it was supposed to be me...I don’t know if I’m allowed to be happy that it wasn’t me.”

Cheongsan blinked at Gyeongsu, noting his moral dilemma. Given his friend was more empathetic than he let on, he could understand how his friend felt. His own visions, which he still had no idea how they worked, ended up killing Isak because Nayeon took them too far. On one end, they could be guiding them, but on the other hand, they could also be pure speculation. Judging from the looks on his friend’s faces, most of them were thinking of it to be on the more unreliable side, while his closer friends like Gyeongsu and Suhyeok believed them entirely.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Cheongsan settled on, patting Gyeongsu’s back. “I’ll miss Isak too, but I’m glad you’re still here.”

Turning around, he took a glance around the room. Mrs. Park and Onjo seemed to have calmed down, the former now comforting a terrified Hyoryung while the latter went searching around the room alongside Namra and Joonyeong for food. Suhyeok was cross-legged on the table, looking uncomfortable while Jimin, Woojin, and Daesu were arguing over whether or not Nayeon deserved it. Nayeon, exhausted, could only watch them with hateful, but tired eyes.

“Shouldn’t we make a signal for the helicopters to come over here and save us?” Gyeongsu asked, causing Cheongsan to turn around again.

“I don’t know that many,” Cheongsan muttered. “The only way they can come over and help us is if they see us...” Cheongsan’s voice faltered, before he whirled around. “The rooftop.”

“What?” Pairs of heads turned toward him, expressions ranging from mild annoyance to confusion.

“The rooftop. Can’t we use the rooftop to get their attention?” Cheongsan blurted out. “If we want to get rescued faster, we should try to get to the rooftop.”

“That’s a good idea,” Namra commended, a warm smile spreading on her face. In the back of his mind, Cheongsan thought this was unusual coming from her, but then again, his own mind was starting to get warped around. Was he always this oblivious to the changes? Had he been misremembering everyone?

“There’s too many zombies out there to clear a path, though,” Gyeongsu pointed out. “We’ll die trying to go there now.”

“Besides,” Suhyeok interrupted with a growl from his stomach, a sheepish smile on his face. “I kinda need to use the restroom. And eat something too.”

The others nodded and murmured in agreement, and Cheongsan realized that there was a severe lack of resources in the room—they had shelter and space, but the lack of food, water, and basic amenities was a big concern. “Did anyone find anything?”

“Ramen packs,” Joonyeong called from inside the recording room. “I don’t know why they’re here, but we shouldn’t really question good things that come to us, right?”

“Sweet!” Daesu pumped his fist, and the mood seemed to lighten considerably. “How many?”

“Er...if we all ate one full pack, we’d be down to only a few left. So likely we’ll have to be eating small portions.” Joonyeong frowned. “And there’s no water as well, so we’d have to eat it as it is.”

“Three days without water, three weeks without food,” Namra noted. “We’ll have to find water soon.”

Mrs. Park glanced outside. “The sky is almost clear, so we might not have rain for a while.”

“And we can’t go to the bathroom when the hallways are filled with zombies, right?” Jimin hung her head slightly. “Where would we even go?”

From the doorway to the recording room, Cheongsan could see Joonyeong glance at his empty pink thermos, but one judgmental side-eye from Onjo and he immediately looked away. His head seemed to throb a little harder and that, and subconsciously he started moving toward Suhyeok slightly to ease the pain.

“I have an idea,” Daesu announced, rising from where he sat. He walked over to the window, pointing outside. “Boys and girls can take turns. For boys, if we need to pee, we can just stand there, while the girls can hang off of the support beam. If we need to poop, just follow that method too.”

Doubtful and partially-disgusted faces met Daesu. “What if we need to wipe?” Woojin asked.

“Well...just get someone else to wipe for you,” Daesu shrugged, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

“This is ridiculous,” Joonyeong grumbled, but Cheongsan shook his head, catching Onjo’s attention.

“Cheongsan, you’re not actually agreeing with Daesu, are you?” Onjo asked.

“Er...” Cheongsan glanced back at the window, uncomfortable under the weight of so many stares. “Yeah, I know it does sound kind of ridiculous. But there’s not much of any better option, is there? We won’t see any waste because we’re so high up, and the zombies can’t reach us. If we make a bathroom inside, we’ll probably have to sacrifice a room since the smell and the waste will end up creating a biohazard.”

“Fair point,” Mrs. Park acknowledged. “Let’s let the boys try this idea out first, and then the girls?”

“I really don’t want to do this, but...” Hyoryung went into the recording room, the rest of the girls following as they drew the curtains closed.

“I’m glad you got my back, Cheongsan!” Daesu cheered as Joonyeong facepalmed. “Let’s do this!”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll take it back,” Cheongsan mumbled, but there was no venom to his words.

_______

Cotton balls, CDs, newspapers, the movement of shelves. A basket becoming the base, with every layer being carefully moved. Daesu’s neck pillow, used as the primary seat.

“We’ll use this.” The bathroom in the recording room was being explained to them, but immediately after, Suhyeok pushed them all out in order to use it first. As people weaved in and out of the recording room to use it, a small conversation rose in the room. Onjo and Namra were getting into a small spat about whether or not the authorities would ever really come. Onjo had her faith, but Namra was insistent on being realistic about the whole situation. Gyeongsu, Mrs. Park, and Nayeon were all missing from the room, but everyone was still alive.

After a hopeless conversation, everything went dark, but soon after dawn was breaking into a new day, everyone sprawled out on the ground. Helicopters still flew by, lights passing by their room, but to no avail.

Communication became the next priority, Cheongsan and Suhyeok both going to the teacher’s office to retrieve a phone to use. As they were climbing on the ledge, they had a conversation about their feelings, particularly about Onjo, before making it to the lounge.

A girl smashing phones, her body moving erratically. Zombies becoming agitated as she noticed them, screaming and trying to kill them. Cheongsan grabbing a phone but getting separated in the process, running through the school until he got into the main office and then—

—one of the bullies from Suhyeok’s ex-friend group, Gwinam, with the principal tied to the table. Cheongsan mocking him, recording him with the phone, the principal’s throat getting slit—

Cheongsan’s eyes snapped open, awakened from the terrible sleep he had attempted. He blinked, regaining his surroundings, before taking a deep breath. He just had another vision. And this one seemed even more dangerous compared to the rest.

After the bathroom situation, the sun had set completely, making Cheongsan’s sense of time get even more warped with the broken clock in the recording room. A very small dinner of two ramen packs split among the group of twelve barely did anything to stomach them, but with Namra’s advice to ration their food for the time being, they did their best to commit despite their growling stomachs. There was no fight between Onjo and Namra like what he had just seen in his vision, which was late with events compared to the previous ones. Everyone had decided to rest, getting some sleep as they decided to cling onto the hope of authorities coming to help them soon.

Namra, Onjo, Jimin, and Hyoryung took the four chairs in the room, either leaning against the shelves or slumped on the movable desk. Daesu took to the floor, Joonyoung on one arm while Woojin curled close toward him on the other. Mrs. Park decided to take the dangerous spot at the door, her feet blocking it from sliding. Nayeon, weirdly quiet after being proven a murderer, was still tied and leaning against the nailed-in desk. Gyeongsu was leaning on the glass shelf that Cheongsan had punched in another vision, and Suhyeok was against the window. Cheongsan was next to him, partially because he had been worried about visions (which he had been right about in the end) and partially because of that feeling in his chest that left him dizzy and elated all at once.

Cheongsan took a couple more deep breaths, calming himself down. Instinctively, he shifted closer to Suhyeok, causing the headache to slightly go away more.

“Cheongsan?” Suhyeok’s sleepy, but concerned whisper reached him. Cheongsan’s head turned to his right where Suhyeok was, the latter becoming more and more awake. “You okay?”

“I do not feel good,” Cheongsan grumbled quietly. “Another vision woke me up.”

“Another one?” Suhyeok scooted closer. “Then does your head still hurt?”

“N-No, not when you’re this close,” Cheongsan stammered, blush starting to creep up his cheeks again. Thankfully with both of them out of the moonlight, it was nearly unnoticeable. “It was pretty scary. I’m worried.”

“What did you see this time?” Suhyeok asked.

“I don’t know if I want to tell you,” Cheongsan murmured. “I can’t even trust if they’re credible anymore. I don’t even know why I have them anymore. They’ve done a lot more harm than good at this point.”

“Still,” Suhyeok muttered, “they’ve saved all of us. And even if Isak’s death was inevitable, we managed to delay it. Have some faith in yourself, dude.”

“Onjo probably hates me even more,” Cheongsan muttered. “And Gyeongsu’s torn on how to feel about him not dying this time. What if he dies too soon? What if we haven’t saved him for long?”

“She doesn’t hate you,” Suhyeok reassured, and Cheongsan could see his despondent expression. “And you saved Gyeongsu’s life, and he’s alive right now, right? So if you keep freaking out about the future, you won’t be able to appreciate the present.” His eyes flicked upward toward the window. “We have to keep up our hope. So whenever you feel comfortable, you can tell me about it.”

“Thanks, Suhyeok,” Cheongsan whispered, feeling a little better about the whole situation. His mind danced with the conversation on the ledge they had in his vision, talking about Onjo. He wondered if things would be different, now that he could no longer lie through his teeth about his feelings for Onjo since he didn’t feel them anymore.

As if Suhyeok was reading his thoughts, he inched closer enough for them to be touching shoulders. Cheongsan nearly jumped out of his skin at that, but he managed to keep himself from nearly causing a ruckus, his heart palpitations threatening to kill him. “W-What are you doing!?”

“Oh, sorry? I thought you’d be okay with it, since we’re usually arm-to-arm. If not, I can back off,” Suhyeok immediately stammered.

“No!” Cheongsan whisper-shouted, grabbing Suhyeok’s arm as he was planning to move away. “It’s...it’s okay. You just scared me for a sec, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Suhyeok’s sheepish, almost-toothy smile came back, and Cheongsan could feel his heart flutter even harder, if that was even possible. “If I fall asleep on your shoulder, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I’ll tell you what I saw tomorrow,” Cheongsan promised.

As they fell into comfortable silence, Suhyeok’s shoulders touching his, and his classmates sleeping peacefully in the AV room with the sounds of zombies being nearly unheard, Cheongsan could finally feel peace for the first time since the entire thing started. He knew that if he had been alone this whole time, he would’ve gone insane, or broke down from having no company. But with his friends by his side, and the helicopters passing by the city, they were bound to get help soon.

He just had to keep hoping.

Notes:

kuods comments appreciated as always! hope to see you guys soon :)

also why did they not go with daesus idea in the drama i thought it was brilliant :(

Chapter 8: have hope

Summary:

eunji wakes up, and the team moves on from the bathroom. the archers, now in the gym, contemplate the situation.

Notes:

hahah filler ish? i know i said i wasnt gonna be able to update but anxiety got the better of me HAHAHA
anyways more minjae content because i love him so much and he deserved way better in the drama >:(
we got 3000 hits!!! thank you guys so much!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“We can’t kill her! Gwinam, please, please don’t kill her!”

“Shut up! If she’s really a zombie, then we have to do what needs to be done!” Muffled voices were slowly becoming clearer.

“She’s been out for hours! There’s no way she’s a zombie at this rate.”

“Even if she were like me, I only took a couple of minutes to wake up. For all we know, she could be dead.”

“No, she’s not! See? She’s waking up now!”

Everything hurt. Her head throbbed as she slowly opened her eyes, blurry vision becoming clear. Red veins pulsed at the edges of her now-desaturated vision, slowly fading away. Her wrist hurt, but not so much that she couldn’t move the rest of her body.

In front of her were Cheolsoo and Gwinam arguing, the former tugging on Gwinam’s arm as the latter attempted to swipe his knife at Eunji. Moonlight streamed into the bathroom, giving everything a dark green glow. Tilting her head toward her wound, she noticed the blood was pink. Her breathing felt unnatural, and her newfound clothes were suddenly uncomfortable with how much perspiration she could feel. The talking hurt her ears, but that was most likely due to the headache in her head.

“Stop it, Gwinam! She’s not trying to bite us! She has the same eyes you do!” Cheolsoo was still tugging at Gwinam. Gwinam turned around, paralyzing Cheolsoo, as he wrestled his arm out of Cheolsoo’s grip. But before Gwinam could lunge at her completely, he broke eye contact with Cheolsoo and the latter grabbed his arm again, continuing the stalemate.

“Will you two shut up!?” Eunji hissed harshly, her voice cracking as she slammed her fist against the bathroom stall she was leaning against, causing both of them to jump and turn toward her in surprise. Eunji closed her eyes, the headache making her feel dizzy.

“Eunji...” With no eye contact from either party, Cheolsoo rushed forward, bending down and hugging her. “You’re okay! You’re not a zombie!”

“Of course I’m not, what the hell are you talking about!?” Eunji grumbled, but grateful for the hug. She opened her eyes, avoiding Cheolsoo’s gaze, and staring at Gwinam’s shocked expression. “What?”

“The wall...” Gwinam lifted a shaky finger, pointing at the wall. “Why is it...”

Cheolsoo lifted his head from where he was still hugging Eunji, getting off of her as he gasped in surprise. “Eunji, turn around!”

Eunji opened her eyes, rising to her feet with minimal effort as she turned around. To her utter surprise, the area where she had slammed her fist in was dented, the wall bending inward toward the area itself. She stared at her right hand, avoiding where the bite was, and turned it around to notice the lack of bruises...or any sort of pain. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it doesn’t make sense!” Gwinam complained. “Are you a vampire now!? How come you get to have super strength and I don’t!?”

“That’s what you’re worried about!?” Cheolsoo blinked at Gwinam, and Eunji could commend the lack of cowardice in his voice. Cheolsoo turned back to her. “When I look at you, it’s a little easier to move, but I’m still mostly stuck in place.”

Eunji turned to the mirror, observing her new appearance. Blood had trickled from her nose and down her lip, her ponytail now a little more disheveled than before. The bite mark had left nasty pulsating veins rising up her arm, and while one eye was normal, the other eye that Gwinam had dropped something in had a gray iris instead. Something was wriggling under that eye, and she scrunched her nose in disgust. “Ew. Also, Gwinam: What the hell went into my eye?”

“I think it was one of the...I think it’s worms? One of those that I got infected with. I don’t know why it’s like this. I think it took control of my body for a moment.” From the reflection, Gwinam shrugged. “If it saved you, I guess that’s a win?”

“A win? You lost bait,” Eunji pointed out.

“Still, your strength will be useful. And it looks like you didn’t get my sense of smell, so there’s that,” Gwinam mumbled. “So Cheolsoo is our only human left?”

“Don’t say it like that,” Cheolsoo retorted. “You guys are still human to me.”

“I’ll protect him,” Eunji declared.

Gwinam widened his eyes in surprise. He blinked at her in the reflection as she turned on the tap again, running her wrist under the cold water to wash the wound, speaking. “Cheolsoo could’ve just stayed on the rooftop and be his usual self, but he followed me instead, and he saved me from the zombies in the teacher’s office. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get bit.”

“Wow,” Gwinam mocked, though there was no real malice in his voice. “Taking the honorable route. Still clinging onto whatever pride you have left?”

“I can kill you right now,” Eunji muttered, and Gwinam rose his hands up in surrender as she moved on to splashing her face and washing out her mouth. “Now that we’re on equal terms, let’s not cause any more trouble for each other. Besides, we’re going to find Myunghwan, right?”

“Can we please sleep first?” Cheolsoo begged, a yawn escaping his lips. “I know you were out for a while, but if I don’t sleep I’m going to collapse. And I stayed up trying to keep Gwinam from killing you.”

“Yeah, but not here. Let’s find somewhere more comfortable to sleep in,” Eunji shrugged.

“I’ll lead,” Gwinam muttered as Eunji turned off the tap, keeping a close arm around Cheolsoo in the case that she needed to drag him away. “The main office has a couch and other seats, but there’s zombies in there last time I checked. We’ll need to kill them.”

Eunji nodded as she grabbed the spear that had been leaning against the other stall, handing it to Cheolsoo. “I grab, you stab.”

Cheolsoo nodded shakily as both of them followed Gwinam out of the bathroom, the zombies outside docile and unable to notice Cheolsoo. The hallway was empty, but zombies could be heard from other places in the school, the most prominent ones being from the main office.

“On the count of three,” Gwinam whispered as the three of them surrounded the office door. Eunji prepared to count, but Gwinam hissed “three” without warning, and twisted the doorknob open, all of them rushing inside as Cheolsoo closed the door behind them.

With Cheolsoo’s presence in the room, the three zombies that had been stumbling around up until that point snapped their necks toward them, growls intensifying as they locked on the one human behind the two hambies. All three of them began rushing toward them.

Gwinam was already moving, knife poised to strike as he grabbed a zombie with effort and sliced through its jugular, the blood splattering against once-pristine bookshelves. Eunji grabbed Cheolsoo and pulled him aside as another zombie dove for him, barely missing and hitting the door instead. Eunji stomped down on its leg, hearing bones break, and Cheolsoo turned around to spear the last one in the chest, stalling for time as Gwinam ensured that the first one was down.

The zombie on the ground crawled toward them with a terrifying ferocity, causing Eunji and Cheolsoo to both stumble backward. Gwinam tackled it, both of them slamming against the other bookshelf on the wall as Gwinam struggled to keep it down. Eunji whirled around, seeing that the spear had missed the neck and was droven through the chest of the other zombie instead. It was wriggling harshly on the stick, threatening to grab Cheolsoo and take a bite out of his hand.

Eunji grabbed the zombie by the neck, feeling the skin fold under her fingers like paper, before squeezing tightly. A sickening crush could be heard as the zombie went limp on the stick, Eunji dragging it off of the stick with a squelch. Behind them, she could hear the dying sounds of a zombie going lifeless as Gwinam repeatedly stabbed the remaining one with a howl of desperation.

Glancing toward Cheolsoo, Eunji stared down at Cheolsoo’s hand, where a fresh scratch had formed. “Are you alright?”

“T-That was scary,” Cheolsoo stammered as he dropped the stick to the ground, examining his hand. “It’s just a scratch...I should be fine.”

“Just be care—” Eunji paused mid-sentence as she neared the wound. Now that she was closer, her mind had blanked as a sweet smell permeated her nose, coming from the cut itself. Cheolsoo’s voice became a murmur in her mind as her heartbeat grew louder, the red veins starting to creep into her vision. Had blood always smelled this...succulent?

“Eunji?” Cheolsoo’s voice cut through the haze this time, and Eunji blinked, backing away. As she reverted to her normal senses, she became painfully aware of a growl in her stomach, a voice in the back of her mind telling her that one bite would be okay. Just one...

“Sorry,” she managed to croak out, shaking her head to shut her mind up. “I got distracted for a moment there. We should wrap it up before we go to sleep.”

Gwinam eyed her suspiciously, but shrugged as he kicked the remaining bodies away toward the bookshelf. “Sounds good by me. Dibs on the couch.”

As Gwinam collapsed on the couch, Eunji searched for a bandage, finding her luck in a shelf on the wall. She pulled it down, wrapping the linen around Cheolsoo’s hand and cutting off the smell coming off from it. Cheolsoo stared downward as he watched Eunji work. He grabbed Eunji’s hand in the middle of her wrapping his wound, causing her to stop and look up at him.

“I-I didn’t get to apologize,” Cheolsoo mumbled, keeping his gaze downcast as he shuffled in place. “If I hadn’t been so much of a coward...you wouldn’t be like this. It’s my fault.”

Finally, he’s taking a little responsibility, the harsher side of her mind supplied. She sighed. “Cheolsoo, it’s fine. I’m pretty much immune, aren’t I? And besides...” Her voice dropped low as she leaned in to whisper in his ear. “With this, we can take down Gwinam later.”

Cheolsoo’s eyes widened, blinking at Eunji with his face flushing from how close she was. “But—”

“We just need to wait,” she added. “Lay low for now. Then we can get our revenge on him, and everyone in the school.”

She pulled back, slight smirk on her face as Cheolsoo looked to the side, unsure of the idea. “Still...”

“You have plenty of time to think about it. Get some rest now; you look exhausted.” Eunji finished wrapping his wound, patting his shoulder. “You can take the armchair. I’ll take night watch; I was already out for a while so I don’t need to sleep.”

“If you’re sure.” Cheolsoo finally made eye-contact with her, despite the paralyzation, and Eunji changed her smirk to a reassuring smile as she turned away, taking the spear in hand. Gwinam was on the couch, arm over his head and knife in his other hand. Cheolsoo sunk into the armchair, closing his eyes. Eunji took a seat on top of the desk opposite the other couch close to her, swinging her legs as she waited for dawn to arrive.

Little did she know that underneath the principal’s desk in the room were the principal himself and Myunghwan, both wide awake, breathing heavily, and scared out of their minds.

_______

“I took him for granted, and now...” Mijin cried, wiping her tears furiously with a towel as she hung her head low on the bench in the empty gym complex, mourning the loss of Joonseung.

Minjae watched awkwardly as he restrung his bow, counting up the number of arrows he had. After closing the glass door and the curtains in front of it, the zombies had eventually gave up and stopped banging on the doors, though it was clear they were still surrounding the building on all sides. The gym was utterly silent save for the squeaking of their shoes on the pristine waxed floors and the buzzing of the fluorescent lights high up on the ceiling. The storage closet was open, Hari inside rummaging for more materials besides the restock of weapons that both siblings got. The fact that there were no zombies inside the building was already a miracle, but as Minjae zipped up his archery jacket to protect from the cold of the night, he couldn’t help but still feel a shiver.

“Mijin, there was nothing we could do. The best thing we can do for him is stay alive for his sake,” Minjae offered, experimentally shooting an arrow into one of the targets that he had pulled out. A 9. He frowned in dissatisfaction at the near miss.

“Still, if I had been a little nicer to him...” Mijin muttered.

“He’s dead now, so you’ll have to save your apologies for later when you die,” Hari interrupted from inside the storage closet. “Still...I’m sorry. It was my idea.”

Mijin finally lifted her head, tear-stricken face meeting Hari’s from where she was sticking her head out from the door of the storage closet. Mijin’s fists tightened in rage, before subsiding into tiredness as she laid down on the bench, closing her eyes. “You didn’t know it would happen.”

Hari stepped out from the storage closet, holding football gear in her hands. “But...” As she stepped closer, she noticed the now-calm face of a sleeping Mijin. “Asleep already?”

“I don’t blame her,” Minjae murmured, only now noticing the bags underneath Hari’s eyes. He still felt wide awake, but he also took a nap earlier at the onset of the zombie apocalypse, so he wasn’t too sleepy yet. “Are you okay?”

“I still think it was my fault, but other than that, I am,” Hari replied, handing Minjae a set of knee and arm pads. “Wrap these around your joints. I’m trying to find some more stuff in the office to wrap our ankles and hands.”

“Do we have any archer gloves? Like the ones that the beginners usually use?” Minjae asked.

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Hari commended, thoughtful. “We should get those as well. It’ll keep our fingers from blistering in the long run.”

Minjae glanced up at the ceiling, and then at the arrow wedged in the target. “We still need to find Woojin, don’t we?”

“Yeah.” Hari began tying the wraps around her jacket. “I know you don’t consider him your brother, but he’s still mine. He would’ve known about the zombie apocalypse happening before us.”

“I only don’t consider him my brother because he’s in your new family,” Minjae pointed out, but there was no bitterness in his voice, only resign. “Ever since our parents divorced...”

Hari’s lips drew into a thin line, subdued anger in her eyes. “You didn’t deserve to stay with him.”

“I know,” Minjae sighed, trying his best not to think about the fresh bruise on his back that didn’t come from any zombie. “But we had Uncle An, right? So it wasn’t as bad.”

“Don’t say it like that!” Hari hissed. “You were still abused in the end. Nothing is going to change that.” She turned away, finishing wrapping around her knees. “I hope he turned into a zombie.”

“That’s a little harsh,” Minjae pointed out, but Hari shot him her usual glare that left no room for argument, and he rose his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright, my bad.”

“We still have bigger problems. There might be water in the vending machines, but I don’t think we’re going to be getting food in here,” Hari grumbled. “And our best way of getting help is the rooftop, but the ladder is outside and probably surrounded by zombies at this point.”

“Besides, if we’re going to go find Woojin first, we need to get back inside the school and go look for him,” Minjae pointed out. “You think we should try to leave here as soon as possible and go back inside to search for him?”

“We can do that later,” Hari pointed out. “We need sleep first, or else we won’t be able to get a move on. When we wake up tomorrow, we should teach Mijin how to use a bow, and get some more of the other supplies in the gym. Then we can try to make a break for it tomorrow night.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Minjae offered, and Hari seemed to smile for the first time since the whole fiasco began. Seeing his sister with no tension in her shoulders, especially after they had come back from the failure that was the archery competition, made him relieved.

“If you’re sure,” Hari muttered, pulling out some mats from nearby the bench Mijin was sitting at, laying them down in order to create a makeshift bed. “Wake me up for the second watch.”

Minjae shut off the lights to the gym, encasing in in a dark blue darkness that was slowly growing lighter. “I mean, it’ll be daytime soon, but I’ll wake you up anyway.”

Hari nodded before collapsing on the mat, closing her eyes. Minjae waited for her breathing to even, before leaning against the wall, contemplating the incoming future. Whether or not they would make it out alive, they had to keep trying.

Notes:

all kudos and comments appreciated! depending on spring break i might not update for a bit :(

Chapter 9: you little shit

Summary:

dawn breaks, and cheongsan wakes up to find that something's wrong. as new theories ensue, four floors below, the trio confront the others hiding in the office.

Notes:

motivation alert!
thank you guys for the comments on the work btw, they're my source of validation LMFAOoo
here's some more exciting content, but suicide and mentions of vomiting are in this chapter. please be careful when you proceed!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

As early morning sunlight streamed into the room, encasing it in a golden glow, the first thing Cheongsan noticed as he awoke was the heavy weight of Suhyeok’s head on his shoulder, the taller boy pressed into his side in a feeble attempt to stay warm. Cheongsan couldn’t help but start sweating at the contact, shivering internally as he tried to swallow down the butterflies in his stomach. His newfound feelings for Suhyeok were something he was still confused about, but he had to worry about that later. It didn’t help that he felt the need to be close to him at all times to keep his head from hurting.

He decided to take a quick headcount of the room, doing his best to shift his head around without waking Suhyeok up. Over the course of the night, Daesu had wrapped Woojin up in his arm entirely, the latter with his legs swung over Daesu’s in a very intimate manner. Cheongsan had always suspected something was going on between them, but it was really starting to show this time. Joonyeong didn’t seem to mind being third wheel, comfortably snoozing away on Daesu’s other outstretched arm. Mrs. Park was still slumped nearby the door, her foot having shifted since then but no trace of blood could be found. Nayeon continued to lean against the desk, and Namra, Onjo, and Hyoryung were still in their respective positions, having barely shifted. Gyeongsu had changed spots from the glass shelf to the bookshelves, which couldn’t have been comfortable, but Cheongsan figured that the survivor’s guilt had kept him awake.

That was nine, not including himself and Suhyeok. Doing a second scan of the room, he belatedly realized there was still one person missing.

“Suhyeok,” he whispered, lightly shaking the boy next to him. “Suhyeok, wake up!”

“W-What? What’s going on?” Suhyeok blearily opened his eyes, rubbing at them quickly as soon as he saw Cheongsan’s horrified expression.

“Where’s Jimin!?” Cheongsan asked frantically. “She’s not in the place she was when we woke up last night!”

“She...” Suhyeok ran his eyes through the room. “Did you see anything about her in your vision last night?”

“No,” Cheongsan murmured. “The vision wasn’t about her at all.”

“Maybe she’s in the recording room,” Suhyeok murmured halfheartedly, though he sounded doubtful.

“You don’t think she actually walked out, do you?” Cheongsan asked. “Mrs. Park’s foot moved, so Jimin could’ve left.”

“Why would she? She’s got Hyoryung here, and the rest of us as well.” Suhyeok rose from the ground quietly. “I’ll go check the recording room. Take a look out the window to see if any help arrived?”

“Sure,” Cheongsan whispered back, crawling to his feet. He dusted himself off, taking a couple deep breaths to calm his racing heart, and glanced out of the window. In the wake of the new dawn, zombies still roamed the field in front of the school, unable to function. The school was quiet otherwise, and in the distance, Cheongsan could see billows of smoke, as well as helicopters flying by. No help had arrived to them last night, just as he had expected from his dream.

He nearly pulled his head back in, but then he glanced downward, and slapped a hand over his mouth to barely cover his strangled scream. Suhyeok, who had just been about to inform Cheongsan that the recording room was empty, turned to see Cheongsan shaking at the window, and he raced over, doing his best not to step on the trio on the ground along the way.

“What? What is it!?” Suhyeok asked.

Cheongsan could only hyperventilate, pointing downward. Suhyeok moved his eyes down, and froze.

Hanging from the window with the cord that was usually plugged into the recording system was Jimin, eyes closed and body in the air, the wire digging into her neck. She didn’t move, but her hair would shift when the breeze moved in.

Suhyeok pulled Cheongsan back, turning the boy to face him. “Cheongsan, you didn’t know this was going to happen.”

Cheongsan could only wrap his arms around Suhyeok tightly, wanting to erase the image from his mind. As he tried to process the fact that Jimin had committed suicide, the logical aspect of his mind took over to distract from the overwhelming grief, and soon his breathing could even and he was able to calm down. Still buried in Suhyeok’s warmth, he didn’t want to let go and face the reality. He didn’t want to do this anymore.

“Why are you guys so loud in the morning?” Daesu’s sleepy and annoyed voice broke through the air, the rest of the group starting to awaken. Cheongsan reluctantly pulled himself out of Suhyeok’s grasp, turning to face Daesu, who was now standing with a still-sleepy Woojin leaning on his side.

“Jimin...she...” Cheongsan didn’t even know where to start. As he made eye contact with Hyoryung, knowing how close the two were, he could only point his finger shakily at the window.

Hyoryung stepped forward, concern overwhelming her distaste for being awakened without warning, and she glanced out the window. One look was all it took for her to yelp and completely wake up the others, falling to the ground as she tried her best not to break into sobs.

“What’s happening?” Multiple voices of surprise rose from within the room as they all went to the window to see what Cheongsan and Suhyeok were both freaking out about. Daesu could only mutter an “Oh shit” before turning away and going over to Hyoryung to try and comfort her. Woojin merely blinked in disbelief, staring at the corpse with incomprehensibility. Namra and Joonyeong both looked away with trembling lips. Gyeongsu cursed under his breath, while Onjo continued to cry alongside Hyoryung, still freshly grieving from Isak and now Jimin as well. Mrs. Park hung her head, rubbing her temples. Nayeon was the only one to not go to the window, but she seemed to be in a world of her own.

“How?” Hyoryung could only mumbled out. “How could she do this? There was nothing that could make her commit suicide like that...”

“Was the zombie apocalypse too much for her?” Woojin speculated.

“No, that can’t be it. She’s always been the most cynical of all of us,” Namra pointed out. “Cheongsan, did you see anything in your vision that could’ve led to this?”

“No; I didn’t predict this at all,” Cheongsan shuddered. “It doesn’t make sense!”

“She deserves a proper burial, at least,” Gyeongsu murmured. “Can we try to pull her up?”

The next couple of minutes, Cheongsan could only watch, frozen, as the group made a poor attempt to pull Jimin’s corpse back up. With the overwhelming grief impacting some of the group’s strength, and the cord having slowly loosened its knot overnight, they only succeeded in lowering the body closer to the ground. It was only after a second tug that the cord came free, Jimin tumbling to the ground with a crunch that would ring in their ears.

Hyoryung pulled the cord back inside, staring at it, before crying again. The girls moved in to console her sans Nayeon, keeping her close as the boys paced the room, unsure of how to make of the horrible start to their second day in the apocalypse.

“Cheongsan,” Onjo’s voice cut through. “You really didn’t know it was going to happen?”

“No, I didn’t!” Cheongsan huffed, frustration welling up in him. “I saw Gyeongsu turning, and Nayeon and Mrs. Park gone, and us making an interior bathroom, and other things, but nothing regarding Jimin at all.”

“Do you think...” Joonyeong paused, contemplating. “Do you think you’re seeing the future specifically from your perspective?”

“What do you mean?” Cheongsan asked.

“I mean literally. Your eyes. You’re seeing the future from future you’s eyes. Maybe he’s missed some things because he wasn’t there,” Joonyeong offered.

Cheongsan’s mind wandered to the windowsill in his most recent vision, where he and Suhyeok talked. Slowly, he shook his head. “I don’t think it’s that. Well, I mean, it’s that, but that’s not just it.”

“What else could there possibly be?” Gyeongsu asked.

“I didn’t know Jimin was going to die. But it still happened anyway.” Cheongsan began to pace toward the door. “When I’m away from Suhyeok, my headache comes back. But when I’m near him, it goes away. And this headache all started when Onjo hit the zombie with the tray in the cafeteria.”

“Where are you going with this?” Daesu, confused, leaned against the soundboard.

“I don’t think I’m seeing the direct future at all,” Cheongsan muttered. “I think what’s going on is like a route in an RPG. You know, when you go one route and that affects the entire story?”

“Are you saying that what’s going on right now is one route, and what you’re seeing in your visions is what would’ve happened in another route?” Suhyeok asked.

“Yes, like that. But what I’m seeing in my visions is probably the original route, or the ‘main’ route. And where we are now is the side route. Sometimes, there are events that stay the same, but more often than not, things become different.” Cheongsan waved his arm around to get his point across. “When Onjo hit the zombie with the tray. We changed from the main route. We were supposed to go to the main route, but that event ended up making us go the other route.”

“The butterfly effect,” Joonyeong murmured. “Where one small event can lead to large differences in the future.”

“Like who lives and who dies,” Hyoryung mumbled.

“So are we on the ‘wrong’ path now? It’s not like we can turn back,” Woojin pointed out.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s just only that. I keep remembering the wrong things about people,” Cheongsan muttered. “Like Namra—sometimes she’s cold, like I’m used to, but she’s nicer than the last time I checked.”

Namra gave him a pointed glare, but there was no harshness, and Cheongsan continued on. “I think...I think it’s parallel universes. Like maybe this has already happened before in another universe or something, and right now, because we changed from what was supposed to be fated, everything is...everything is crashing into each other.” Cheongsan pointed at the window with a renewed fervor at this revelation. “That would explain why Jimin committed suicide. Yesterday, when Namra and Nayeon fought, the fight happened earlier than what happened in my vision. And now because my visions were falling behind, to keep the...the timeline stable, it sped up the process of events. Maybe I was supposed to see Jimin commit suicide in a future vision, but the universe made her commit early.”

“...You’re crazy,” Woojin concluded, and Joonyeong just sighed, sitting back into a chair with resign.

“Wouldn’t that make everything my fault, then?” Onjo frowned. “Cheongsan, are you just trying to blame me now?”

“What? No! That’s not what I want at all! I’m not trying to blame you—Onjo, listen to me!” Cheongsan hissed out in frustration, but Onjo wasn’t paying attention to him anyway, blocking her ears and turning away. He sighed, mumbling a small curse under his breath. “Does anyone believe me!?”

He ran his eyes over the group, most of them staring at him like he was mad. The only ones to raise their hands were Suhyeok, Gyeongsu, and eventually Onjo, though it was with a glare.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I do think it’s all really illogical,” Namra pointed out. “No hard feelings, of course.”

“Namra, I literally knew every word you were going to say when you fought Nayeon,” Cheongsan grumbled, but didn’t protest more.

Mrs. Park, who had been silent up to that point, gave a mild shrug. “Well, we can continue discussing after we have breakfast first.”

At the notion of food, all discussion about Cheongsan’s visions ceased immediately, the rest of the group more concerned about rations. Cheongsan, being shut out from Onjo and with Gyeongsu being preoccupied, could only turn to Suhyeok. “They don’t believe me,” he muttered.

“I still believe you,” Suhyeok declared. “I don’t care how farfetched it is, but I trust you. You’ve saved my life and so many others as well. That’s enough for me. Whether we’re controlled by fate or not, it’s up to us to keep going.”

Cheongsan swallowed. “I mean, that’s not all. There’s more I wanna talk about, but...” He paused, turning to see the rest of the group, before turning back to Suhyeok and dropping his voice low. “Not here. Not now, not while everyone is here.”

“The recording room, then?” Suhyeok asked, and Cheongsan nodded. Sooner or later, he would have to discuss his newfound affection for Suhyeok that was definitely more than just platonic. He still had to figure that out himself—how did it happen? Was this a part of the side route? Could he get rid of it? Were these his feelings, or were they just parallel-him’s feelings? Were he and parallel Cheongsan the same person now? Had he always been gay or something?

This train of thought was interrupted abruptly by the sound of a grunt and surprised shrieks, Cheongsan whirling around to only have his blood run cold.

Surrounded by the others, Gyeongsu stood in front of the soundboard, cursing from anger and hissing from pain as he stumbled backward. Driven straight through his stomach was a pair of large scissors, driven up to the pivot area. He was facing straight toward Nayeon—

Nayeon, who had slipped out of her bonds. Nayeon, whose hand was covered in blood splatters from what she had just done. Nayeon, who was wide-eyed and looking crazed and overall unstable as she shook on the spot.

“Nayeon, you fucker, I’m never going to forgive you for this,” Gyeongsu hissed as he fell back into the nearest chair, Mrs. Park and most of the boys immediately rushing to get some help and give aid.

“What the fuck did you do!?” Onjo’s sharp voice cut through.

“I..I thought it was Isak. I saw Isak, I saw her, she was going to kill me!” Nayeon blabbered out, shaking. “I needed to keep her quiet, I needed to—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Cheongsan finally found his voice, and the initial shock in him turned into rage. “When are you going to learn to sit still?”

“Cheongsan, what should we do?” Hyoryung asked, deviating to ask him for help.

“New bonds, keep her out of any weapon’s reach, and lock her in the recording room,” Cheongsan muttered. He glanced back toward Gyeongsu, who was sweating and struggling to stay conscious as the others tried to staunch the bleeding.

Whatever fucking universe this is, this is a shitty one, was the only thought to run through his mind.

_______

“Hey, hey, wake up.” An unfamiliar voice hit Eunji’s ears, a slight whisper causing her to jolt awake completely. Blinking, she took a look around, taking in the sights.

She was still in the principal’s office, having slumped over on the table after passing out mid-watch, sunlight streaming in through the blinds. Next to her, the principal himself was shaking her awake, and she did her best to avoid eye-contact, not wanting to reveal the paralyzation immediately. Turning behind her, Cheolsoo was starting to open his eyes from the ruckus, and on the couch, slapping Gwinam awake, was—

“Myunghwan,” Eunji grumbled, unhappy to see the boy.

“Get up, asshole,” Myunghwan hissed into Gwinam’s ear, and without the knowledge of his super hearing, Myunghwan jumped back in surprise as Gwinam let out a shout, scrambling to his feet as he grabbed the knife, nearly swiping at Myunghwan. Myunghwan himself slipped on the floor, stumbling to keep his balance as he glared at Gwinam in indignation. “What the hell?”

“Oh shit, it’s you.” Gwinam huffed, lowering the knife. He then glanced toward the principal. “And you’re here, too.”

“Why the hell are your eyes gray?” Myunghwan muttered. “Also, how are these two—” He waved to Eunji and Cheolsoo. “—still alive?”

“It’s the zombie apocalypse, we don’t have time to deal with them right now,” Gwinam retorted, looking down to wipe the knife on his shirt.

“You’re...Yoon Gwinam, right?” The principal hesitated. “Is it still bad out there?”

Eunji watched as Gwinam shrugged. Her stomach was churning, hunger starting to get the better of her, even though she didn’t really know if she was actually hungry or if the zombie virus was starting to get to her. “We don’t know.”

“Well, whatever.” Myunghwan walked over to Cheolsoo, jabbing at the boy’s stomach until he was sitting straight up, trying to swat Myunghwan away as the bully chuckled. “Look at this loser.”

“Leave him alone,” Eunji hissed, moving around the table and toward the chair where Cheolsoo was.

Myunghwan glanced up at her and scoffed. “Min Eunji? You? You’re going to stop me?” He laughed before smacking her across the face, causing the principal to jump in surprise. “Don’t even talk. Keep your damn mouth shut.”

“My keys,” the principal was blabbering as Myunghwan continued to hiss insults at Eunji. “My car is right outside in the parking lot. Gwinam, you go out there and drive it here so the rest of us can get out.”

Gwinam blinked at the principal incredulously, before sitting back down on the couch. “I don’t want to.”

“Stop it,” Cheolsoo begged, trying to pull Myunghwan away. “Eunji, why aren’t you paralyzing him?”

“Fuck off!” Myunghwan pushed Cheolsoo off of him, throwing him back into the seat. “What paralyzation? You make me sick.”

“What do you mean, you don’t want to?” The principal hissed at Gwinam.

“Aish, are you really saying you’re the one in control?” Myunghwan turned away from the two bully victims. “I’m the god of this school now. Gwinam, help me tie this fucker up.”

Gwinam didn’t move, his expression unreadable. Myunghwan shook his head in frustration before turning around. “Why won’t you—”

“You know what? Eunji,” Gwinam drawled out as Myunghwan struggled to move, Gwinam still maintaining eye contact with the bully. “Let’s kill him. Keep him in place?”

Eunji wasn’t too keen on taking orders, especially from her ex-bully, but Myunghwan was making her blood boil. She glanced at Cheolsoo quickly to ensure he was okay, before walking over and grabbing Myunghwan by the arm, watching as his eyes told his expression completely—from disbelief to fear. Her vision was starting to pulse red, and her mind continued to zero in on the skin showing in front of her. In the fog of her suddenly-muffled hearing, she could hear the principal’s shock as he saw her wrist. “She’s—”

Eunji twisted his arm downward, and she could hear Myunghwan straining to get out of her iron grip and Gwinam’s paralyzation. Just a little farther, and the bone would snap. A grin could only form on her face as Gwinam stepped up behind her, his casual drawl now a furious growl. “Look at you now. Unable to move, about to die. I’m above you now, you got that?”

Myunghwan nodded, but Gwinam scowled. “You moron. Do you want to live? Beg for it. ‘Save me’,” he mocked. “Go on.”

Eunji could barely hear them anymore, but she could vaguely make out Myunghwan repeating Gwinam’s words, but Gwinam shrugged and merely replied with a “No way” before Eunji lost her control.

The next few minutes were out of her control. As her mind succumbed to her hunger, in the midst of the haze she was in she could barely make out the scene in front of her. Myunghwan screaming as his arm snapped in half, the bone jutting out. The blood being so, so sweet. Something going down her throat—was it a finger? Muscle? She didn’t know, but it tasted so good. The screams of her victim were lost in her mind.

When she collapsed, finally finished with devouring her meal, she gasped for breath, her mouth and clothes both stained with blood. Her stomach no longer hurt from hunger pangs, but there was an uncomfortable growl coming from within. Myunghwan was already turning as he continued to cry for with what little human noise he could make. Eunji could only leave a bloody smile, the death of her primary bully being the greatest thing that had happened to her all week.

The principal was doing his best to run away, but Gwinam had already caught up to him, slicing at him with ease. He fell to the ground, bleeding out rapidly, as Gwinam came back to the bloodied floor and tilted his head at Myunghwan. “Fucking asshole.”

Before the newly-turned zombie could lunge at the only other human in the room, Cheolsoo drove the spear Eunji had left on the table the night before straight into Myunghwan, this time his aim hitting true and giving the bully a deserving end. The principal gasped for his remaining words, but soon he fell silent as well. Cheolsoo took the spear out, dropping it to the ground in shock at his first kill, before turning to Eunji.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“I’m doing amazing,” Eunji laughed, moments before nausea hit her and she bent over, puking.

Notes:

i know i keep saying this and then breaking it but for real I COULD not update at all next week, so be warned!

Chapter 10: you're in control

Summary:

with his friend passed out and nayeon being locked in the recording room, cheongsan can't bring himself to pay attention to anything anymore. communication becomes the next hot topic.

Notes:

motivation alert! i know for sure the last chapter definitely caught some people off guard. am i sorry? a little bit, but not entirely. although, maybe im better at writing small casts, but then again, my other fic has plenty of protags...
anyway, thank you guys for so much support! we're almost at 4k hits <3
kudos, comments, and bookmarks appreciated as always! enjoy~

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Cheongsan, despite his rumbling stomach, couldn’t bring himself to eat. He could only stare at the now-passed out Gyeongsu with his vest pitifully tied around his stomach to keep the bleeding from getting worse, but the dark red splotches were already telling him that he needed medical attention immediately. Cheongsan was so tempted to leave and get to the hospital, but after Joonyeong pointed out that Hyeonju may have infected the place already, he could only sit back in despair.

Nayeon banged on the glass windows of the recording room, her shouts going unheard from the room as everyone averted their gaze. Since the stabbing, Nayeon’s bonds were fortified to her hands and her feet, and she was banished to the recording room until they could figure out a use for her.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Suhyeok asked as he did his best to savor every bite of the ramen that he was given.

“We're not monsters. Leaving her to die makes us no better than murderers.” Mrs. Park, the moral compass, had her head lowered. “The best thing we can do is keep him from bleeding out until we get help.”

“What if it doesn't get better?” Woojin mumbled. “What if we're stuck like this for the rest of the year? Or our lives?”

More silence came over the group after that. Cheongsan could only stare at the ramen in his trembling hands. Everything had been his fault in the first place. If he had never told them about his visions, if he had never listened to them in the first place...Isak could still be alive. Gyeongsu could still be awake. Onjo wouldn't be giving him the cold shoulder.

“I already know what you're thinking,” Daesu, to his surprise, spoke up. “’I started all of this, I should've done something, blah blah blah.’ Tell that voice in your head to shut up. You've already helped us a lot, so don't go beating yourself up.”

Cheongsan's eyes darted toward Onjo, who averted her gaze.

“Yeah, what he said.” Hyoryung, who had been quiet after Jimin's unexpected death, had a tremble in her voice. “You already said you didn't see her death coming, so it's not your fault that Jimin committed suicide, or that Gyeongsu got stabbed.”

“Nayeon's gone crazy, anyway,” Joonyeong grumbled. “We still have other priorities, though. Namely communication.”

“Should we go try and get a phone?” Daesu asked.

“No!” Cheongsan shouted, causing everyone to jump. “I mean...It's not a bad idea, but...my vision, Suhyeok and I went to get one and it went badly.”

“Did he die!?” Onjo asked suddenly.

“No! But we got separated and I ran into...” Cheongsan faltered. “We got separated is the whole point. I didn't see anything after that.”

“I still have my phone,” Namra pointed out, fishing through her skirt pocket to find her phone. “Suhyeok, do you still have yours? You were able to text me.”

“It probably fell out of my pocket when I jumped out the window onto the fire hose,” Suhyeok sighed as he turned his pockets inside out to show their emptiness.

“It's almost dead, but let me see if I can contact emergency services,” Namra offered, and the group crowded around her.

“Dial 112,” Onjo asked, and Namra did as told, but the line only returned the busy tone. Woojin sighed, demanding her to try again, but once again, no luck.

“If the virus spread beyond the school and into the city because of Hyeonju, then the call center must be swamped with people trying to get in,” Joonyeong reasoned. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to contact them now.”

“If anything, shouldn’t we try to get a look of the current situation outside of the school?” Hyoryung offered.

“That’s a good idea, but...” Onjo glanced toward the window, seeing a helicopter fly in the distance. “Joonyeong. Didn’t you mention that your science club made a drone?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. You wanna use that to get a look at the outside situation?” Joonyeong asked.

“I mean, can we?” Onjo frowned.

“Well, yeah. But it’s in the science lab. And the fire hose broke, so there’s no way to get back down there now.” Joonyeong frowned.

“Then we’ll just have to go out the main hallway and go down there ourselves,” Onjo suggested.

“No,” Cheongsan immediately interjected, causing all eyes to swivel toward him. “No, that’s too dangerous.”

“You never let me do anything for once,” Onjo snapped. “It’s two floors down, and we can barely hear the zombies anymore. It’s worth the risk if it works.”

“Aren’t there zombies in the science lab, though? When we left,” Hyoryung protested.

“Not in the supply room,” Onjo fired back, glancing toward Joonyeong. “Right?”

“That’s true, but...” Joonyeong looked away. “The chances of there being no zombies in the hallway or stairway in this floor and the two floors down are so low that there’s no way to guarantee our safety.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Onjo pointed out. “There’s no one else besides us to start looking for and rescuing people. The helicopters are probably already too preoccupied with the main city. It’ll take too long for them to come for us.”

“You’re right,” Namra agreed. “It’ll be good if we had the drone. We can see if there are any other survivors in the school with us, and then take it outside to see the situation outside. If it’s bad out there, we’ll have to figure out a way to leave this place eventually. We could even get an emergency message out to call for help.”

“I still think it’s really risky, but if you’re so sure, and if this’ll end everything quicker, then...” Hyoryung nodded shakily, and Onjo smiled in relief. “But...who’s gonna go?”

“I’ll go,” Onjo immediately offered, and Cheongsan wanted to speak out again, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it this time. “I’ve taken fire rescue classes and know how to climb.”

“No. I’ll go,” Suhyeok stepped up, but Cheongsan put an arm in front of him, surprising everyone. Cheongsan swallowed, shaking his head as Suhyeok stared at him in surprise and disbelief.

“You’re not going,” Cheongsan muttered. “We already almost lost you. We can’t bear to lose you now.”

“Cheongsan, I haven’t even left this place yet. You’re assuming the worst,” Suhyeok tried to put him down gently.

“No! I just...” Cheongsan couldn’t bring the words to fruition, instead slumping as he lowered his arm. “Just please. Don’t go.”

“You can’t keep putting yourself in danger,” Onjo added on, to Cheongsan’s surprise. “Suhyeok, you’re too self-sacrificing. You know that, right?”

Suhyeok, who had been ready to protest, could only press his lips into a thin line and sit back down. Cheongsan felt a little guilty about the wave of relief that rushed over him, but he ignored that.

“The drone isn’t finished yet; we need to find a few more parts to run it.” Joonyeong looked up at Onjo. “Do you know what to get?”

With the awkward silence that ensued, Joonyeong huffed, standing up. “Well then, I guess I’m going to have to go anyway. I’ll go with Onjo.”

“No way,” Daesu muttered. “I’ll go this time, so stand back.”

“Don’t.” Woojin grabbed Daesu’s arm, pleading with his eyes. “We need mobility, and while you’re strong, I wouldn’t exactly say you’re fast.”

“In that case, shouldn’t I be—” One glance from Onjo, and Cheongsan shut his mouth, feeling miffed at the treatment he was getting.

“Joonyeong. Come with me,” Onjo asserted, and Joonyeong nodded. Both of them prepared to leave, but Suhyeok grasped Onjo’s arm. “I still think it’s too dangerous. Please, don’t go.”

“Thanks, but I can handle myself from here,” Onjo mumbled, brushing him off with a side-eye toward Cheongsan. Cheongsan could only blink. Was that supposed to mean something?

“We’ll wait for you here,” Mrs. Park finally spoke, though it was with resign; clearly the idea of putting her students in danger didn’t sit right with her. “You knock the door with four taps and we’ll open it to let you in, got it?”

“Why four?” Daesu mumbled.

“People usually knock with three,” Namra thought out loud. “It’ll be a good indicator that it’s them and not someone else that could be potentially infected, like what happened with Mr. Kang.”

Joonyeong, putting on the bravest face he could muster, stood in front of the sliding door and put his ear to it. “We’ll take the stairs on the left.”

Cheongsan stood up, as well as everyone else. He reached over to Onjo, grabbing her wrist to turn her around to face her. Despite the clear annoyance in her face, she made no move to smack his arm away.

“Regardless of the visions,” he began quietly, “if you die down there, I don’t want our relationship to end on bad terms. So I’m sorry. I’m not trying to blame you for everything.”

Onjo blinked, before rolling her eyes. “Okay, maybe I was being a little unreasonable. But I’m not ready to forgive you yet.”

“That’s okay,” Cheongsan reassured, and he let go of her wrist.

“Hallway sounds clear and looks clear. I’m going,” Joonyeong announced, and Onjo joined him.

“Be careful, guys,” Hyoryung begged.

“And be safe. We’ll be ready at any notice to get you,” Mrs. Park added.

The door slid open quietly, and Joonyeong poked his head out, looking both ways, before motioning Onjo to follow him. The door slid closed behind them after that, and their footsteps retreated into the distance. No agitated zombie growls followed.

“Do you think it’s really safe out there?” Hyoryung asked Mrs. Park.

“I’m sure it is. There are soldiers and cops out there, and they must be doing something,” Mrs. Park reassured, patting Hyoryung’s back.

The remainder of the group returned to eating their breakfast, the banging of the recording room window having gone silent after Nayeon had apparently given up. Cheongsan still found it hard to stomach the food, especially without any water to wash it down, but he had to have faith. He glanced toward Gyeongsu’s unconscious body on the table, sighing to himself—

—and of course, his headache had to start coming back in full force. He stumbled from where he stood, his vision starting to blur, and the group turned toward him in surprise and worry. Suhyeok, from the blurry confines of his vision, was the first to rush toward him as Cheongsan’s back hit the floor, his ears barely registering the cries of pain that were coming from his mouth.

“Cheongsan! Cheongsan!” Suhyeok’s voice faded out, as did the rest of the world, with another vision starting to play in his head.

Cheongsan had recorded the entire thing, but Gwinam wasn’t having it. His angry tone demanded him to hand over the phone, and when Cheongsan himself refused, Gwinam rushed toward him, knife aimed to kill. Cheongsan barely escaped from the office, running away as fast as he could to get away from the crazed bully. His ears could register the knife flying through the air, slamming into his back harshly, but otherwise leaving him unharmed.

He ran into the library, climbing onto one of the shelves that a survivor had been staying on. The survivor, hellbent on survival, pushed him off onto the other side, but moments later, Gwinam dragged the screaming student to their doom. Cheongsan barely had time to move again, Gwinam still chasing him.

The cat and mouse ended up with him being pinned on the bookshelf by Gwinam, who was choking him to death. Despite the dream-like quality of the vision, Cheongsan could still feel the lack of air. “Do you want to live?” Gwinam demanded, triumph in his face. Determination swelled up in him, and the next thing he knew, Gwinam’s eye had been mauled by the phone, the bully falling into the pit of zombies below, screaming. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you.”

Cheongsan barely made it out of the library. He could only climb into a maintenance hatch, trying to contact the emergency services through the phone, but there was no use, since all the signals got shut down right at that moment. In frustration, he nearly spiraled into giving up entirely, but memories of Onjo and his friends flashed in his mind, and he climbed up, reaching the next floor where the door was supposedly unable to open from inside—until he busted out of it.

More running ensued, and Cheongsan, exhausted, could only barely make it into the music room, where there was one trapped zombie under the piano that had overturned. Confused, he whirled around, unsure of what to do with his current predicament, but then the speakers began to work, and Suhyeok and Onjo were telling him to stay put. He was protesting, telling them not to come, but of course, it was of no use.

A strange tape played over the speakers, diverting the zombies away, and Cheongsan could only wait until—

He gasped for air instinctively, the rush of noise in his ears making him wince. Blinking a couple of times, he did his best to calm himself down, the real world coming back to him. In front of him, Suhyeok had grasped his arms, close enough to turn the pain into nothingness. Woojin and Daesu stood close behind, while Namra watched observantly from where she sat. Hyoryung and Mrs. Park hung toward the back.

“Cheongsan, you good?” Woojin asked.

Cheongsan felt like bursting into tears, but he bit his trembling lip. “I’m fine. It was just another vision, but at this point, they don’t even matter anymore. We’ve gone so far off the main course that there’s no point in paying attention to it anymore.”

Daesu raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged. “I mean, if it’ll make you stop sounding like you came out of the mental asylum, then sure?”

Cheongsan couldn’t bring himself to get mad at Daesu. Suhyeok was watching him with great concern, but Cheongsan brushed him off, going toward the window. The rest of the group seemed to leave him alone after that, but one particular person surprised him when they tapped his shoulder. He turned around to face Namra. “What?”

“I want to talk,” she muttered.

“What’s there to talk about?” Cheongsan frowned. “You guys don’t believe me half the time anyway, so why should I bother?”

“What’s with the attitude?” Namra’s gaze softened. “Either way, there’s definitely some discrepancies in your memory. Like my personality. And your visions, they don’t sound like they make sense logically, but at this point, we can’t use logic for everything. And you’re right; you did know every word I was going to say to Nayeon. So let’s talk about it. I want to know more.”

Cheongsan blinked at her. “But you won’t believe me.”

“Who knows?” Namra glanced back out toward the window and toward the field. “At this rate...those visions may become the only lifeline we have left.”

“People died because of those visions,” Cheongsan protested. “Maybe it’s the other way around. If I didn’t pay attention to them, more people would be alive.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” Namra argued back. “Nothing is ever set in stone.”

“Still...” Cheongsan ran his fingers through his hair, the conversation starting to stress him out. He quickly looked over to where Gyeongsu was still out cold, his closed eyes and relaxed expression free of any stress. Mrs. Park’s figure eventually blocked his view as she switched out Gyeongsu’s wrappings, and he turned back to Namra. “What do you want to know first?”

“How you see me,” Namra answered. “You kept saying I was cold, but I don’t ever remember being that way.”

“Well...” Cheongsan racked his brain. “I’m remembering you now as an outcast. Not like in a bad way, but more like...you were just pretty lonely. You kept to yourself a lot. You didn’t really talk with any of us. You’d always make some sort of comment about how your mom gave you the presidential role, so you didn’t feel like you deserved it. I don’t think you had any friends, actually...”

“Huh, that’s weird.” Namra frowned. “I remember other people describing me as someone who was a lot warmer and more friendly to her classmates. The part about my mom giving me the position is true, but even if I don’t deserve it, I still gotta fill in the role and do my part, so...”

“I mean, I’m glad you’re friendlier. It’s just that I’m not used to you smiling,” Cheongsan muttered. “And if that’s really the case, and how you see yourself is actually the true you, then what have I been thinking about this entire time?”

“Me? Smiling?” Namra grinned at him, which unnerved Cheongsan. Seeing his disturbed expression, her smile faltered. “Does this mean your memories are getting jumbled?”

“Because of the parallels,” Cheongsan concluded. “The parallel universes, and the two ‘routes’. Maybe the universe is trying to fix everything by giving me what is supposed to be my ‘correct’ memories and...”

“Erasing your real ones?” Namra suggested.

“Don’t say it like that,” Cheongsan immediately begged, clutching his head with the impending sense of doom at that realization. “Namra, what if I’m actually going insane? What if I’m starting to lose myself?”

“Fight it,” Namra urged in a low tone. “You’re a strong person, Cheongsan. Don’t let fate tell you what to do. You’re in control of your own destiny, so seize it.”

“Namra, does this mean that my—” Cheongsan paused, side-eyeing to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them, and leaned in to whisper quietly. “Namra, does this mean my feelings for Suhyeok are also not my feelings?”

“Your what.” Namra’s deadpan surprise caught the attention of the others, Daesu in particular looking miffed. “You’re not leaving us out of the conversation, are you!?”

“I’ll tell you more later,” Cheongsan mumbled, turning to placate his friend. His mind was in turmoil, mixed with feelings of regret and confusion. Looking back, he saw Namra’s piercing eyes stare into his soul, and he couldn’t help but feel chills run down his back. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, one question came to the front.

Does Namra know something that I don’t?

Notes:

:)
next chapter will definitely be late for sure, because i plan to update ADAD, flesh out this story's plot, and study for my finals over the remainder of my break. expect it around mid to late april!

Chapter 11: tumbling in ashes

Summary:

the archers search for the missing family member.

Notes:

hey everyone, can you believe it? no way. it's an ACTUAL UPDATE! and im sorry that this note is about to be long, because it has been almost a whole year and that is my fault lol.

i am so sorry for leaving yall hanging. after i posted chapter 10, i got caught up in finals, then i graduated and went to college and had to deal with that whole shit. and i was also trying my best to finish my other longfic, and other inspiration ideas took form instead, and well, here i am. also i fell out of the fandom so there was that to worry about too lol. im so sorry for leaving yall hanging!

this chapter was a fucking pain in the ass to get out but i hope you guys enjoy :) sorry if its shorter than usual :(

enjoy! thank you for reading! kudos, comments, and bookmarks appreciated! i love all of you guys <3

Chapter Text

“It’s not working,” Hari muttered dejectedly under her breath as she pressed the call button on the telephone over and over again, hands trembling as she tried to contact emergency services. No luck.

“Fuck!” Mijin cursed out, sipping a bottle of water she found in the storage room near the front office. “Why does this have to happen?”

“Knew we shouldn’t trust the adults,” Hari sighed as she placed the telephone away, shrugging. “Guess that means that they’ve cut off all communication to the outside world, so our phones are now useless as well.”

“We can still use them as flashlights,” Minjae murmured as he felt his pockets for the familiar weight. “Still, it’ll be a detriment if we can’t use them at the same time with our bows.”

“Maybe we can tie them to our heads? Like construction workers,” Mijin offered.

“That would be a lot of setup,” Hari countered, and Mijin gave her a glare that didn’t really reflect any actual anger. “We should head back inside the school soon. My brother’s still missing.”

“We’ll die before finding him at this rate,” Mijin mumbled. “I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Hari argued back.

“Realistically we have no way to contact him,” Minjae pointed out. “The best way to look for him would be to go back into the school.”

“Are you crazy!? That’s suicide!” Mijin threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “We barely made it back here to get our weapons and you want to go back inside!?”

“We can’t stay here forever anyway,” Minjae countered. “Sooner or later we’ll run out of resources. The school is carnage, but it’s not like this building is much better. Plus, other survivors are still a possibility, even if it isn’t Hari’s brother.”

“You’re fucking insane,” Mijin murmured, running a hand through her mousy hair. “Fine, fine! We can go back inside and look for your brother. But if we find him dead we bail out of here. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Fine by me,” Hari shrugged. “You can stay with me or go off on your own; I don’t give a fuck.”

“Well, I’m not just gonna go off on my own! That’s still suicide.” Mijin huffed. “Alright, teach me how to use one of your bows or whatever.” When both siblings glanced over at her in surprise, Mijin raised her eyebrows and threw her hands up in the air. “What? I don’t have a weapon on hand and it’s better for me to know how to use one in case I end up alone with it.”

“Just didn’t expect you to be so open to the idea,” Minjae mumbled as Hari reached over for some archery gloves and one of the bows.

“Stance like this, arms straight, bow raised up…” As Hari began to teach Mijin the proper method of using a bow, Minjae opted to search through the rest of the gym, finding more water bottles to carry in the backpacks that he and the rest of them were opting to wear. There were about twenty arrows they could each carry without their quivers becoming too heavy, but the vending machine was a bust, leaving them with only a couple of granola bars to get by.

Memories of his childhood days began to come back to him as he glanced back toward Hari and Mijin, the latter cracking some perverted joke while the former rolled her eyes with slight exasperation. If he closed his eyes and thought hard enough, he could recall the face of his uncle, and the happier days when he and Hari were together.

”You’re doing a great job,” Uncle An said with a bright smile, both he and Minjae eating through some fruit while their bows laid next to them on the bridge overlooking the lake. “Soon, you’ll be better than me!”

“That’s not true,” young Minjae had said at the time. “You taught me everything, so that’s not possible.”

“Ah, but with enough experience, you’ll surpass me one day.” Uncle An rubbed his head affectionately. “Don’t worry too much.”

There was a shout that came from the inside of the house, and Minjae peered inside to see that his father was calling for him. Uncle An’s face twisted from one of happiness to one of frustration. “I’ll go talk to him. Wait here.”

An argument clearly broke out, Minjae opting to try and block it all out in his head. He closed his eyes, trying not to think about how his uncle shouted back at his father, about the divorce, about how Minjae was barely seeing Hari anymore, how his father’s behavior had become unreasonable.

“He doesn’t need to learn archery. His sister is already much farther than he is. There’s no reason for you to come here anymore,” his father seethed.

“Bullshit!” Uncle An spat. “Prodigies can’t compete with people who love what they do. You see the boy’s face when he has a bow in his arms. He’s much happier shooting apples off a tree than he is staying around here with you.”

Minjae’s eyes flew open at that, surprised. His uncle was still defending him, even though his father was so insistent on saying otherwise. Tears pricked at his eyes. He didn’t want Uncle An to leave that night.

“Minjae?” Hari’s voice, concerned yet stern, called out to him. “Are you okay? You’re spacing out. If you keep your head in the clouds, it’s going to get you killed.”

“Sorry,” Minjae mumbled. “Just had some memories of Uncle An.”

Hari’s expression softened at that. “I’m sorry.”

“Whole situation’s getting to your head, right?” Mijin shook her head, putting down the bow she was practicing with. “I get it. I had a shitty life before this all went down too. What I wouldn’t kill for a fucking cigarette right now. But if we want things to change, we gotta get out of here alive first.”

For some reason, the words made Minjae feel a lot better. “Thanks, Mijin.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Mijin replied, a half-smile playing on her lips. Across the gym, where the targets were, numerous arrows were sticking out in all directions, some having landed close to the bullseye while others were completely off. She glanced toward her handiwork, shaking her head. “Well, archery isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be.”

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Minjae reassured. “Just…try not to kill survivors on accident.”

_______

The trip back into the school went too smoothly for any of them to relax. Hari suggested taking a back path, and the three of them had heeded her words. Sure enough, there weren’t any zombies in the outer boundary of the school. It was comforting to know that most of the school zombies were contained inside, but it kept all three of them on edge as they leapt through a broken window and headed back into what was the bloody carnage of the school.

“Ugh,” Mijin muttered under her breath, scrunching up her nose in disgust at some of the zombies stumbling around the classrooms, blocked by the doors. The staircase was surprisingly empty as well, and things were going extremely well to the point where it seemed too suspicious.

“Is there any food that you guys know could be found?” Minjae whispered. “Anything would be better than these shitty granola bars.”

“I think Woojin was in the choir for two weeks before he quit,” Hari recalled. “He said there’s a storage closet in the music room. If we can get there, maybe he’s right and there is some food left over for the rest of us.”

“We should go and get some before someone else finds it first,” Mijin insisted. “And maybe we’ll find your brother there too, if he knows about that closet.”

Their steps continued to make noise, some zombie growls being heard from down the halls as Hari led the way. As they approached the music room, Hari beckoned for them to lay low. Minjae tilted his head in confusion at first, but then he picked it up—hushed voices from the other side of the music dorm, panicked and worried, but human.

“The zombies aren’t out there anymore; we should go and make a move now,” a female voice hissed.

“No, it’s better to set up the drone here and have it with us in case of an emergency,” a male voice argued back.

“They’re human,” Minjae muttered.

“Survivors, too,” Mijin grumbled. “You think they raided the storage closet already?”

Before either of them could say anything more, Hari swung the door open with a quick slide, causing the two people in the room to jump out of fear. The noise quickly attracted the zombies, and the three archers clambered into the room, sliding the door shut and ducking down as zombies roared past, looking for the source. A couple banged against the door, but even their efforts eventually stopped.

Now inside, Minjae could get a better look at the two inside the music room. One was a short boy wearing the vest uniform, glasses on his face and holding a makeshift drone in his hand. The other was a girl with a low ponytail and sweater, blood staining her feet and wearing a backpack. They both were wide-eyed and confused at the sight of the three seniors.

“Are you bit?” Mijin didn’t hesitate to raise her bow upward, nocking an arrow, and both of the survivors raised their hands up instinctively in horror.

“Mijin, chill!” Hari hissed.

“Wait—” The boy lowered his hands, pointing a finger at Hari instead. “You’re…are you Hari?”

“Yeah…” Hari squinted. “Wait. I know who you are!”

“You’re Woojin’s sister,” the boy spoke, eyes widening. “You’re alive!”

“Joonyeong.” Hari quickly put a name to the face. “Is Woojin—is he—”

“Yes, he’s with us,” Joonyeong replied, and Hari seemed to nearly collapse in relief.

“Great, we found your brother,” Mijin muttered, lowering the bow. “Where the hell is he then? Why are you two down in here?”

“We went to the science room to get the drone that Joonyeong was working on,” Onjo supplied. “We were thinking of using it to get help, take a look outside.”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Minjae murmured. “Is it finished?”

“I managed to patch it up entirely,” Joonyeong murmured. “The battery isn’t at full capacity, though. We’ll have to be very sparing with it. Best if we use it to get a look around the outer perimeter of the school, since most of the gates are still closed and locked up last I checked.”

“So where is the rest of your group, then?” Hari asked.

“The AV room,” Onjo replied. “We should start heading back up there as soon as we can, actually. We need to get back to the others before the lower floors get overwhelmed.”

“You guys just walked down here?” Minjae frowned, pondering. “That sounds awfully convenient. Maybe someone or something is lowering the amount of zombies inside the school.”

“Either way, we need to find a source of water soon,” Joonyeong mumbled. “We’ll all die of dehydration at this rate.”

“Let us come with you,” Mijin insisted, to both of the juniors’ surprise. “We can share our supplies and work together.”

“I agree,” Hari pressed. “We need to—”

Before either side could continue speaking, a cacophony of zombie growls suddenly erupted from down the hall. Moments later, a wave of zombies slammed against the doors, causing them to rattle. Joonyeong yelped in surprise, and the three archers immediately backed away from the door, whirling around with bows at the ready.

“Shit, how did they hear us!?” Mijin hissed.

“Crap, now we’re stuck,” Hari muttered. “Anyone got bright ideas? Because all of our arrows are not gonna be enough to take down this horde.”

“Mijin, you said ‘hear’, right?” Joonyeong was in the process of grabbing the goggles to see through the drone, turning it on at the same time. “If zombies can hear, then maybe we can use the drone to distract them away from us!”

“That makes sense,” Minjae agreed. “Go for it, but be careful!”

Onjo rushed over to the window as Joonyeong slipped on the goggles, the drone letting out a high-pitched whirr that seemed to simutaneously attract and annoy the zombies outside of the door, their growls increasing in volume. “The AV room is upstairs,” Onjo noted. “We’ll have to clear the stairway!”

The drone rose in the air, Joonyeong controlling it with the device in his hand. It flew out of the window steadily before zooming out of sight. At the same time, the zombies growled and began to move away from the door, running toward the right staircase. Hari made the first move to open the door, but the sound was enough to distract a couple zombies and make them turn around, and she immediately stepped out, nocking and letting the first arrow fly into the first zombie.

“Let’s go!” Minjae hissed, stepping out to help his sister. Mijin, despite her terrible aim, did her best to contribute as well, and Onjo wrapped an arm around Joonyeong to help guide him out of the room, the boy unable to see anything else outside of his goggles. Onjo was already moving toward the left staircase, but as Joonyeong was forced to move the drone back within controlling distance, a couple of zombies being lodged behind classroom doors fell out into the hallway, splitting up Onjo and Joonyeong from the archers. Mijin glanced back, cursing under her breath. “We’re split!”

“We’ll meet up later!” Onjo shouted from over the zombies as Mijin took to taking care of the backside. “Rooftop! That’s where we’re trying to go!”

“Wait!” Minjae rummaged through his backpack, feeling for one of the plastic water bottles he had taken from the gym. Tossing it over the zombies blocking the way, he heard Onjo barely catch it before both her and Joonyeong’s footsteps faded away, heading to the left staircase. With the zombies no longer preoccupied by the drone, they all turned their attention on the three archers, almost completely surrounded.

“Time to get out of here,” Hari muttered as she began to descend down the floors, Minjae and Mijin both coming up the rear as the zombies roared after them. The sheer number of them ended up working in their favor, a large blockade on the stairs from too many of them causing the stairwell to stop moving. Hari continued running, breathing heavily as she slid open the door to the infirmary, sliding it shut behind Minjae before ducking behind a white curtain. Seconds later, zombies tumbled down the stairs onto the floor they were on, thankfully passing by.

Except for the clutter from the nurse’s desk and some bloodstains on the walls, the infirmary was mostly clean and empty of zombies and people. Minjae peered around, frowning. “Well, so much for trying to meet up with your brother.”

“He’s alive,” Hari breathed. “He’s alive. That means there are more survivors with him, too.”

“So what? Are we playing hero now?” Mijin rolled her eyes. “Not to be the devil’s advocate, but don’t you think taking on more survivors is going to run our supplies dry? We don’t know how many are with him, but with the three we already can confirm that’s already a lot of people.”

“Yeah, point taken,” Hari murmured. “But we have to try.”

“Not now,” Minjae muttered. “We gotta stick it out here for now until the zombies clear up.”

“Soon,” Hari promised. “Hold on, Woojin. We’re coming.”

Chapter 12: desperate measures

Summary:

with the remnants of the principal's office, moral dilemmas ensue.

Notes:

hey guys im alive. just wanted to get a chapter out for yall before i return to my regularly scheduled content of my current hyperfixation. i swear i will finish this story. ive set my whole heart on it. i won’t give up. also my old writing sheeesh what was i on???? ngl i barely remember anything about this show atp i still have my outline so im just going off of that atp. sorry for the shorter chapter today folks, im trying to see if i can do a shorter chapter faster upload type of thing

yall think we getting a season 2? its been almost two years now, so time to consider whether or not this show is ever coming back

thank you guys for checking this out btw! kudos comments bookmarks much loved!!!

Chapter Text

By the time Eunji properly came to, there was a bloody mess all over the floor in front of her, and she glanced down, noticing that she was covered in blood all over again, this time a fresh wave of it, and the floor seemed to suffer the same fate, covered in guts and other body parts she had consumed in her haze. The worst part was how she still felt hungry, and while her stomach only remained mildly sated, she still hungered for flesh like any other zombie would. Nearby laid Myunghwan's corpse, and Cheolsoo, despite his cowardly nature, remained by Eunji's side, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Are you actually okay now?"

"I-I'm fine," Eunji choked out, dizzy as she leaned back to sit on the ground, warm blood seeping into her clothes as she glanced over at Cheolsoo. "What about you?"

"I should be worried about you," Cheolsoo shot back. "I've been calling your name the entire time, and you just kept puking." He glanced down at the bloody pile on the ground, wincing but no longer cringing from it like he would've before. He still had Eunji's spear in his hand. "Look, I'm fine. I'm not infected or anything."

"Good," Eunji replied, despite staring down at Cheolsoo's bandaged wrist, now slightly-stained with blood. "You should keep that wrapped."

Cheolsoo, rather than questioning, nodded. "Yeah... It'll make you go crazy, right? The blood."

Eunji stared at Cheolsoo, frowning. "How are you so calm? Literally ten minutes ago you were still a scaredy-cat."

"I'm starting to come to terms with this whole... zombie apocalypse thing," Cheolsoo admitted, sighing. "I liked reading manga where there were zombie apocalypses that took over the world. I guess you can smell my blood and you want to bite me."

Eunji swallowed, nodding. "Yeah. That's why—"

"—I have to keep it wrapped," Cheolsoo finished.

"Where's Gwinam?" Eunji asked, realizing that the bully was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm right here," Gwinam announced from where he had been staring out of the window. "Just getting a good look outside. Still a lot of zombies out in the front field. There's no way any of us are leaving this school sooner or later, especially with Cheolsoo around."

Cheolsoo winced. "Thanks for reminding me I'd get mauled out there."

"You could always turn," Gwinam offered, pointing upward toward his eyes were the skin seemed to wriggle. "At least with the worms, you won't be noticed."

Cheolsoo scrunched up his face in disgust. "No. I am not letting you put worms in my eyes."

Gwinam rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Not like they want to infect you either... If they really wanted to, I would've done it a long time ago, against my will."

"Better that you're not infected, anyway," Eunji chimed in, feeling the need to defend Cheolsoo. "Not that I don't like my new superpowers or whatever the hell happened to me, but nothing will ever be the same."

Gwinam stepped over toward them, bending down toward the pool of Myunghwan's blood. He tentatively placed a finger in it, swiping up some of the viscous liquid, and then glanced back up toward Eunji and Cheolsoo. "If I take this, this will make me just like you, Eunji."

Eunji tensed at that, shaking her head. "I wouldn't do that."

Whereas Gwinam would've just ignored her entirely before, he actually seemed to take in her words, contemplating heavily. "Well, from what we've gotten, there's two infections going around, right? I have one of them and you have both."

"Right," Cheolsoo confirmed, glancing toward Eunji's bitten wrist. "You have the worms, and Eunji has the worms as well, but she's also been bit, so she has both the zombie virus and the worms in her body."

"Exactly," Gwinam continued. "And since I've gotten those worms, I've been... weaker, almost. Like I'm holding back. I'm not here for my redemption arc; we all know that. But they keep my head a little more clear, which is kind of ironic, but..."

"If you end up like me, you might end up going in some sort of feeding craze," Eunji added on, glancing toward Cheolsoo. "And you might end up eating Cheolsoo if that happens."

"Is that so bad?" Gwinam asked.

"You'd lose me as bait," Cheolsoo interrupted, scooting away from Gwinam ever so slightly. "As long as I'm here, the zombies won't focus on you guys, and it'll help you guys get away from here and toward real help."

"Not like you don't need it too," Eunji retorted. "We all need to get someone to cure us."

"How? Is there even a cure for this virus? And what about the worms in my eyes? There could be too many at this point." Gwinam poked at his own eyes, cringing slightly. "Ew. Whoever made this is disgusting."

"...You think the infections are man-made?" Cheolsoo asked hesitantly.

"They have to be. Otherwise, we would've had this apocalypse way sooner." Gwinam glanced back down toward his own bloodied hand, Myunghwan's blood a gnarly pink in Eunji's vision. "If I take this, I can get super strength just like you, Eunji. I can escape this place, or rule the school, or anything. I can fight even better than before."

"You're already fighting as well as is!" Eunji protested. "And how can I trust you'll keep our alliance up after you take that blood? If you're as chill as you are now, taking that blood will just make you more dangerous."

"What if that's what I want to be?" Gwinam gave Eunji and Cheolsoo both a glare. "It doesn't even seem like you guys are scared of me anymore. I need to fix that."

"No, you don't." Cheolsoo grabbed Gwinam's wrist, pausing as Gwinam turned to make eye-contact with him, paralyzing his body in place as he continued to speak. "This is a chance for all of us, you know. Myunghwan is dead. We can just leave this school together without having to fight. None of us can get hurt anymore already as is... not anymore."

Gwinam bit his lip. "I still want to be powerful."

"You can be without having to sacrifice more of your humanity for it," Cheolsoo continued.

Gwinam wrestled his wrist away from Cheolsoo, scoffing. "Yeah, right. I'm already a zombie as is."

With that, he moved to grab his own knife from nearby on the ground, moving to slice his own hand enough to draw blood. Cheolsoo stumbled back in shock, and Eunji could only watch as Gwinam bloodied his other hand with Myunghwan's infected blood on the ground and smeared it all over his hand, letting the infection course through his bloodstream.

"Some people never change," Eunji muttered as she managed to get to her feet, pulling Cheolsoo up. "Come on!"

"What? Where are we going!?" Cheolsoo cried out in surprise as Gwinam began to cry out in pain, jerking around as the infection started to take hold of his body.

"We're leaving," Eunji spat. "Remember what I said last night? Now we won't be able to stand a proper chance against him. We need to get out of this school."

"Eunji!" Gwinam roared from where he was curled up on the floor, pulsating veins starting to crawl up his hand as he bent his fingers in an attempt to gain control of his own body. "Don't you dare fucking leave me, not after everything, not after all of this—"

Cheolsoo's hand trembled, gripping onto his makeshift spear. "Eunji, are you sure we really should go?"

"He's unstable now," Eunji reasoned, noticing the zombie growls outside had become louder thanks to Gwinam's raised voice. "He could turn and feed on you any time he wanted if he really wanted to! This is our only chance to really get away, so come on! Let's get the fuck out of here!"

"You bitch! I trusted you! I'll send that video out! I'll make sure everyone sees it!" Gwinam trembled as he tried to get to his feet, hands digging into the ground so harshly cracks began to form.

"I never betrayed you if you planned to send that video out all along," Eunji replied with an air of finality. "And I'm not scared of you sending out the video, not anymore."

Gwinam screamed with twisted rage, and that was Eunji's cue as she ran toward the main office door, tearing it open with her strength as the door crumpled onto the ground nearby. Cheolsoo hung onto her for dear life as they broke out into a sprint in the hallway, zombies starting to appear in the stairwell. Noticing Cheolsoo, they began to run toward them, but Cheolsoo gripped his spear tightly and whacked them away as he sprinted, Eunji clearing the way as she kicked up her feet in order to push them back. In the distance, she could hear Gwinam's footsteps and his angry screams, clearly enraged thanks to the virus that he had infected himself with.

She managed to make her way upward, zombies coming from above as Cheolsoo managed to stick by her. One zombie managed to leap from the stairwell and tackle Cheolsoo, sending him flying as they rolled into a hallway. Eunji whirled around to see Cheolsoo barely fending the zombie off, and with her strength, she moved to rip the zombie off of Cheolsoo with her hands, throwing it against a wall as she pulled Cheolsoo up, adrenaline making her feverish. "We need to split up," she insisted.

"What!?" Cheolsoo's face paled. "I can't survive out here on my own!"

"Yes, you can!" Eunji glanced back toward the stairwell, where she could hear Gwinam's running from afar. "He can't chase both of us at once, and he's focused on me. We'll meet at the front gate and get out into the main road, got it?"

"I have nothing to protect myself with!" Cheolsoo protested.

"You have my old spear," Eunji reassured as best as she could. "Go! We're running out of time!"

Cheolsoo swallowed, nodding fearfully as he ran toward the opposite stairwell. He managed to turn a corner and disappear out of sight, the sounds of zombies missing in his direction as Eunji turned to face the stairwell to see Gwinam coming up.

Gwinam's hands were twitching, zombie virus clearly working its magic as he stumbled up the staircase, his bleeding hand a garish pink that made Eunji's head spin. One of his lifeless eyes had turned back into its original brownish-black color, scleras bloodshot as he gripped his knife in one hand, tightly enough that the handle nearly broke entirely. He glared up at Eunji with a terrifying ferocity that would've had her crumpling to her knees a couple days ago. "Eunji," he snarled. "I'm going to kill you, Eunji; I'm going to kill you!"

"No, you won't," Eunji said as steadily as she could, despite the growling in her stomach making her weak. "I told you not to take the blood! Now you've gone back to your old self. You'll never change, will you?"

"That's not true," Gwinam spat, trying to keep himself together as he clambered up the staircase, getting closer and closer to Eunji. "I can change! I'm the king of the school, now that Myunghwan's dead! I'm the one in control now!"

Eunji glanced toward the other hallway where she planned to run. "So you've just wanted control all this time. I should've known better than to make an alliance with you. You'd rather stay here than find your family, huh? What about your sister!? You wanted her to be okay!"

Gwinam hesitated momentarily, uncertainty flickering in his eyes before his face hardened. "She can take care of herself. I have more important things to do—such as getting you back here!"

With that, he lunged, superhuman strength coming into display as he leapt from the step he was on directly onto the next floor. Eunji broke out into a sprint at that, running toward the opposite staircase where she could hear the zombies start to come down, all of the ruckus making a loud noise. As she ran into the first one, she threw it behind her, hearing Gwinam get taken by surprise as she continued to run upward until she reached the rooftop doors, kicking them open after a couple slams on the keypad.

She managed to burst through into open air, the sun beaming down on her as she heard Gwinam follow close behind, the rooftop empty and devoid of any zombie or human, looking just the same as it had yesterday. Standing near the edge was Cheolsoo, visibly shaken and clothes bloodied with what seemed to be more zombie blood, spear in his hands soaked with more crimson. At the sight of Eunji, his face lit up before falling at the sight of Gwinam close behind her, the rooftop door closing behind them in the process as Cheolsoo gripped his spear and shakily stood toward the edge that Eunji had been on just less than forty-eight hours prior.

Cornered at the edge, Eunji scanned the front field, noticing just how hopeless it looked with all of the zombies in the vicinity. She whirled around toward Gwinam, the half-zombie coming to a stop in front of them both, still holding onto his knife and giving them a dangerous glare. "Don't even think about running away," he hissed. "I'm going to kill all of you."

"We're trapped," Cheolsoo breathed.

"It's not too late," Eunji found herself saying. "Snap out of it. That anger is going to get you nowhere!"

"Don't tell me what to do." Gwinam laughed, a horrible sound as the laugh seemed to scrape against his own vocal chords. "What are you going to do? Jump off of the building? You can't possibly land that, you know."

Eunji turned back toward the side of the building, an eerie mirror to how she had nearly killed herself. She moved to wrap an arm around Cheolsoo tightly, keeping him close. "Hold on," she muttered.

Cheolsoo gulped, nodding. "Okay."

Gwinam frowned, initial cockiness washed out. "Wait, are you actually going to—"

Eunji didn't reply, instead leaping from the top of the building with as much strength as she could muster. Cheolsoo screeched all the way down as Gwinam leaned over the rooftop, watching them go. Seconds later, Eunji slammed into the dirt, having managed to overshoot enough to avoid the concrete sidewalk as she and Cheolsoo rolled a couple feet before stopping, the sounds of zombies all around them. Not bothering to hesitate, she scrambled to her feet, pulling Cheolsoo up just in time for him to avoid a lunge from a zombie preparing to take a bite out of him. The front gates weren't far, and they were open as well.

Gwinam leapt from the rooftop as well, determined to follow them, but he instead slammed onto the concrete with a sickening crack that left him motionless. Not bothering to dwell on whether or not Gwinam just died, Eunji pulled Cheolsoo toward the front gates, zombies diving after Cheolsoo and missing him by mere inches. Cheolsoo winced all the way, struggling to stay on his feet. "Too tight—you're pulling me too fast—hold on, Eunji!"

"We don't have time," Eunji insisted, continuing to run until they made it past the metal gates, back out onto an open stretch of road. Turning around, she moved to pull the iron gates back closed together, the clanging drawing some zombies' attention as they slammed against the bars. She backed away, watching the zombies slowly lose interest before turning to Cheolsoo, checking his hands. "Are you okay!? Did you get bit!?"

"No," Cheolsoo replied, catching his breath. "Do you think Gwinam is—"

"Definitely not," Eunji muttered, moving to tear part of her shirt with her hand and wrap it around her bite wound, effectively covering it as best as she could in some sort of makeshift bandage. "We need to find shelter and somewhere safe to stay so that we don’t get—"

The honking of a car interrupted her, and she turned to see a truck coming down the road, clearly driven by non-infected people. One of them poked his head out as the truck stopped, the man waving them. "Are you two infected!?"

"No!" Cheolsoo shouted back before Eunji could open her mouth to reply. "What about you?"

"We're from the police," the driver said from inside. "I'm Jaeik, and this is Hocheol. We're about to head downtown. We might have a way to look for a cure!"

A cure? Eunji and Cheolsoo glanced at each other, Cheolsoo momentarily freezing due to the paralyzation, and then Eunji faced them, remembering her eyes were unnatural and that she probably would be shot on sight. "Okay," she finally said, trying her best to ignore the hunger in her stomach. "But we have to hurry."

Hocheol pointed toward the back of the truck. "Climb in! And quick!"

As both of them reached the side door, Cheolsoo hesitated, glancing over at Eunji slightly, whispering. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll run if I have to," Eunji whispered back as they opened the door and climbed into the truck, closing the door shut as the truck left the school, zombies calling after them but unable to reach them.