SU-HYEOK PLAYED WITH Ji-a's fingers as they sat by the window, waiting for On-jo and Joon-yeong to come back down. "I'm so scared," Ji-a spoke through the comfortable silence, her voice coming out as barely a whisper, but Su-hyeok still heard. "What's wrong?" Su-hyeok questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. "What will happen if everybody in the world but our group ends up turning?" Ji-a started to bite down on her lip harshly.

"Hey," Su-hyeok reached up, swiping his thumb against her bottom lip to get her to stop. "It won't happen," he shook his head. "But what if it does?" she looked up into his eyes. "Enough. You're freaking yourself out, Ji," Ji-a's heart dropped at the nickname, almost as if she heard Gyeong-su himself say it. "We would be the minority. And all minorities go extinct eventually," she mumbled.

"We're not the minority," Su-hyeok straightened up as he stared deep into the shorter girl's eyes. "Not yet. Do you think we can really make it through this?" Ji-a asked.
"Ji—" Su-hyeok began, but Ji-a quickly stopped him by placing a gentle hand on his chest. "Don't lie to me, Su-hyeok. Please," she sighed, looking out the window. "I don't know... I don't want to be a zombie, though. You don't recognize anyone. I won't even recognize you. It's scary for me to even think about hurting you," Su-hyeok answered truthfully, making Ji-a's heart flutter.

A soft smile appeared on the flustered girl's face as she broke eye contact. "In case I get bitten, I have a favor to ask—" she softly began to speak but Su-hyeok harshly gripped at her wrist, making her lightly gasp. "No. Don't get bit," he shook his head, searching her eyes. "Just in case—" she tried to start once more, but he stopped her again, pulling her closer to him; she craned her neck to look up at him.

"Stop talking. Don't even think about dying before I kill you myself. You won't get bitten, not while I'm here. I won't let you out of my sight," his left hand reached up to grab the back of her head, caressing her hair. She smiled, letting out a light chuckle. "Okay, okay, I won't," she nodded. He removed his right hand from her wrist, bringing it up to cup her jaw. Ji-a's smile dropped as they both went silent, only their quiet breathing heard. Su-hyeok's eyes flickered softly to her lips, causing her to look at his pretty pink lips.

Suddenly, Joon-yeong almost fell into the room from the open window, making the two of them jump apart and quickly catch him. "Joon-yeong! Where's On-jo?" Ji-a bombarded him after he was back on solid ground. Just then, On-jo's foot set on the windowsill, Ji-a rushing to help her inside. "Do you guys have everything you need?" Su-hyeok asked,
following Joon-yeong over to the table. Joon-yeong answered with a "yes" and began preparing the drone.

Twenty minutes went by and the drone was complete. Joon-yeong attached a sticky note that read "Help, we are in the broadcasting room in Hyosan High School" to the top of the drone in case they came across any rescuers. He made some finishing touches and then turned it on, picking up the remote control. "Did it work? Is it working?" Dae-su questioned. "I think it will work," Joon-yeong nodded as he took off his glasses and then put on the headset.

He clicked some buttons which made the drone rise. Ji-a looked at the camera on the drone, seeing all of them in the room staring at the camera. "Woah," she whispered. The drone then went fast around the room, everybody ducking to avoid it. "Holy crap! That thing's crazy fast," Dae-su muttered. "I'll take it outside after I find Cheong-san. If I find any rescuers out there, I'll land in front of them," Joon-yeong informed the group.

The boy began flying the drone out the open window. "Wait a second..." Nam-ra grabbed everybody's attention. "They say when people know their situation is hopeless, that's when they despair," the class president looked around the room. Everybody stayed silent, not knowing what to say. "Sweet saying. But what does that mean?" Dae-su spoke up. "Even if everybody in the world but us turned into zombies, we can't fall into despair," Nam-ra answered.

"Ahh. So what's that mean?" Dae-su asked again. "Nam-ra. It's best we make a plan and try to stick to it, but we're not all top students and we can't be as smart as you. Being logical isn't part of human nature," On-jo addressed the president. "In a crisis, it's better to be logical," Nam-ra shot back. "We need hope more than logic. Don't you think that's the best right now?" On-jo remarked. "Hey. I think flying the drone is what we need right now," Dae-su suggested, Ji-a quickly agreeing.

"Okay. Try it," Dae-su leaned down over Joon-yeong. "Here goes," he began flying the drone outside. They all crowded around the camera, watching as the drone flew pasts the windows of the classrooms filled with zombies who used to be students. Ji-a's breath hitched as she recognized people she used to make small talk with around school. Su-hyeok was standing behind the shorter girl and noticed she became tense. He slowly brought his arms up and wrapped them around her waist, back hugging her and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Oh, no... Everyone's zombies," Hyo-ryung weakly said, her voice cracking. The drone then came across a broken window and entered the infirmary. "No one's in the infirmary," Wu-jin observed. "Joon-yeong, go somewhere else," Dae-su instructed the boy. He flew the drone out the door and into the zombie-infested hallway. One of the zombies stumbled back, getting hit in the chest with an arrow. "Wait a minute. Hold on. Stop right there. Is that an arrow?" Wu-jin questioned.

"Where?" Dae-su asked. "This," he pointed to the arrow that was through the zombie. "That's right. It is," Dae-su nodded. "My older sister..." Wu-jin began. Ji-a quickly caught on, smiling. "She had a competition today," the boy told Dae-su. "Ha-ri unnie?" her eyes lit up at the mention of the girl. Wu-jin nodded. Ji-a loved Jang Ha-ri. She had idolized her for years now. She was never into archery but whenever she went to Ha-ri's competitions, she was always amazed.

Ji-a noticed Wu-jin began looking pale and nervous and she reached out to put her hand on top of his. "It's okay. Ha-ri unnie is strong and fast and really, really smart. If it's her and she's actually here, I'm sure she's safe with a group of people. She'll be fine, Wu-jin," Ji-a gave the boy a soft genuine smile, him slowly returning it. The two held eye contact for a moment until Su-hyeok grumbled in an annoying tone against Ji-a's neck and reached down, pulling her hand away from Wu-jin's.

Wu-jin cleared his throat and gulped, looking away from the piercing gaze of Lee Su-hyeok who still had his chin rested on Ji-a's shoulder. The drone's camera came across a student who had hung herself outside of a window, making Ji-a freeze up as if she was about to puke. Joon-yeong led the drone father and came across the music room windows, finally spotting Cheong-san.

"It's Cheong-san! What room is that?" On-jo exclaimed in relief. "Cheong-san!" Su-hyeok smiled. "He... he can't hear you," Joon-yeong told the over-excited boy. "Be quiet," Wu-jin muttered. "Hey, Cheong-san!" On-jo shouted. "He can't hear you," Joon-yeong repeated. "Thank god. He's alive," Ji-a heard Su-hyeok mumble into her shoulder. "What's he doing? Where's he going?" Dae-su questioned, watching the screen intently.

"Look this way! Over here! Where are you going, you stupid moron?" Dae-su scolded Cheong-san. "He can't hear you, Dae-su!" Joon-yeong was beginning to lose his patience. "Be quiet, will you? You're so damn loud," Wu-jin swiftly hit Dae-su on the arm. Suddenly, Nam-ra shot up from her seat, heading over to the door. "Didn't you say the battery was low?" Ji-min asked Joon-yeong as Nam-ra came back to her seat. "Yeah. I couldn't charge it, so it's almost dead," Joon-yeong simply answered.

"Now that we know for sure where Cheong-san is, let's go look somewhere else. You wanted to check outside and look for help? On-jo, is that okay?" Ji-min looked up at the girl. "Mmm. Now that we know he's alive," On-jo nodded. "Okay. Here it goes," Joon-yeong began flying the drone out to the field and all of the kids watched as the zombies began running after the drone. "Whoa. It's Zombieland out there..." Chae-sol mumbled.

"I think we should look outside of the school grounds," Nam-ra suggested. "Let's take it outside," Su-hyeok nodded, agreeing with the prez. "Okay," Joon-yeong replied. The drone flew past a bus and turned towards the road, showing smoke from abandoned cars that seemed to go for miles. The drone began turning around to the right side of the road, until Ji-min stopped Joon-yeong.

"Wait a minute," she spoke. "What is it?" Joon-yeong asked. "Wait a sec," she began breathing heavily. Ji-a looked over to the girl, seeing tears brimming in her eyes. Something was wrong. She softly began whimpering, making everybody turn towards her. "Wha... what's wrong, Ji-min?" Hyo-ryung sputtered. "Wait a minute. I-I can't," she stuttered. "What? What is it?" Joon-yeong repeated. "This... that's my dad's car..." Ji-min mumbled, making everyone in the room tense up.

"Which one? The white one? The black one?" Joon-yeong asked. Ji-min reached up a shaky finger. "It's this one. It's my dad's car," she cried, pointing at the white truck on the screen. "Don't worry. I'm sure there are a lot of cars like that," On-jo tried to soothe the crying girl. "Hold on. I'll check," Joon-yeong began flying the drone down to the front window of the car. Ji-a's heart dropped and a tear slid down her cheek when Ji-min started sobbing into her hands after Joon-yeong revealed the woman and man inside the car.

The room went quiet, the only thing you could hear was Ji-min's sobs. On-jo put her arms around the shaking girl, trying to comfort her as Joon-yeong took the headset off. Su-hyeok tightened his grip around Ji-a's waist when he noticed her starting to shake in his arms. Chae-sol sat with Nam-ra, pressing her head into the older girl's shoulder as she began to cry as well. This moment was when the kids realized they really are in hell, and the chances of them making it out were very slim.

author's note !
poor jimin awww
anyway 🥰