The class has barely calmed down but was still in shock, after Ms. Park, along with the volunteers: Suhyeok, On-jo, and I-sak rushed Hyeonju to the school’s infirmary.

“Last time I saw Hyeonju was in the science lab,” Joonyeong repeated what he said earlier in class as they were asked by their English teacher about who was the last person who saw Hyeonju yesterday.

Hyunjae playfully rolls his eyes, “We already know that, you said it so earlier.” He muttered as his right hand rubbed his nape. Joonyeong sighs in annoyance, then he raises his middle finger to Hyunjae’s direction.

Their small group circle of friends shaped a small gathering between Daesu and Wujin’s seat and Suhyeon and Hyunjae’s.

“Hey, I think Mr. Lee made porn with Hyeonju.” Daesu shamelessly commented before receiving a spat from Wujin.

“Porn?”

“Hey, you moron, get your mind out of the gutter, asshole.”

Suhyeon scoffs, “What kind of porn does include hurting his or her partner to the point he or she is close to dying?” She muttered then Daesu lifts his head and looks at her with joy.

“Oh, you are too innocent. Probably one who’s into BDSM,” Hyunjae interjected.

“Hey, do you even know what that means?”

Hyunjae scoffs arrogantly as he rolls his eyes at Wujin, “Of course! Bondage and Discipline—”

“Hell, Hyunjae, you’re teaching Suhyeon bullshit.”

Suhyeon were suddenly felt uncomfortable with the thought of a student and a teacher having an affair with each other. It is morally wrong. And BDSM? That is one of the worst of the worsts.

Wujin threw his notebook and aims at Hyunjae’s head at his remarks as he glanced at his lady friend getting uncomfortable with the topic.

Daesu, however, was a little to happy with Suhyeon’s previous comment, assuming that she sides with him. “Does that mean you believe me, Suhyeonie?” He raises a question. His lips releases an innocent and pure smile as his eyes glimmers.

“No, dipshit. Porn, really? That is so absurd! Hyeonju’s a student and minor, so it’s totally illegal!” Suhyeon snaps then Wujin continued scolding Daesu. She looks over Cheongsan who appears to be in deep thought as he stood right next to Hyunjae who teams up with Wujin as they poking fun of Daesu, along with Gyeongsu and Joonyeong.

“Hey, Cheongsan, you alright?”

Cheongsan, a little surprised with Suhyeon’s unexpected showing of affection towards him, simply nodded his head. “Oh, I’m fine, I’m just worried about­ On-jo.” He answered back, letting out a deep breath.

Suhyeon beams. On-jo is so damn lucky to have Cheongsan in her life. “She’ll be alright. Ms. Park and I-sak are with her, and so is my brother.”

Instead of making the young man feel at ease, Suhyeon unconsciously made Cheongsan’s jealousy grow deeper.

The noise of the sliding door at the back of the room was heard, making everyone turn their attention towards it. It was I-sak. And she was alone. Making Suhyeon furrow her eyebrows, wondering what was her brother is doing to take that long.

Just as she steps inside the room, I-sak was bombarded by tons of questions from her classmates. Just the same question, asking what happened to Hyeonju after she was taken to the infirmary. I-sak’s responses were unexpected and somewhat very strange.

I-sak claims that Hyeonju was biting people and trashing around. She replied to Cheongsan’s question about On-jo, that she got hurt after fighting off Hyeonju from biting her. She also said that Hyeonju went crazy and smelled like a rotting corpse, just how Mr. Lee smelled a few days ago.

Last and definitely the spookiest, Mr. Lee gave Hyeonju some kind of weird shot.

Suhyeon was glued to her seat, as did Hyunjae while they were listening to what was I-sak was sharing with their classmates.

Hyunjae couldn’t leave her alone in the corner, especially without her brother on her side. She must’ve been so worried about Suhyeok. Hyeonju was so ready to attack people and somewhat rabid as per I-sak’s story.

Obviously, no one is going to attack Suhyeon inside the room. It’s just, he could only count on his fingers the people he fully trusted. Besides, he doesn’t care about everyone in their school.

His friends were included in the exemption.

And of course, Suhyeon.

"Biting people, huh?”

“Maybe that is her kink. Or Mr. Lee’s, we don’t know.”

“You’re still on that BDSM shit?” She asked as Hyunjae just grinned.

Suhyeon rolls her eyes while Hyunjae only chortled, “Or, it could be a virus.” She unknowingly prophesied, her shoulders shrugging. She is still unsure but after COVID and its tons of variants, every scenario is possible.

“You mean, like, a zombie virus? We are not in some kind of a movie. This is not The Walking Dead or Train to Busan, Suhyeon.” Hyunjae whispered, covering his fear with him chuckling, shrugging it off as if Suhyeon were joking. “I’m going to pretend you just say that because you just finished watching Park Hyunsik’s latest drama.” He chimed.

She chuckled at his last comment before answering, “We’ll just have to wait and see.” Suhyeon let out a heavy sigh. As much as she loves to convince herself that she was only kidding around about a potential zombie outbreak, she cannot. A few symptoms were already shown. It is only a matter of time to prove herself wrong. At least, that’s what she hopes for.

But then, she’s no prophet nor a clairvoyant, how is she so certain such chaos will occur?

“I-sak,” Suhyeon calls out the lady’s attention, “Is my brother okay?” She inquired.

“Suhyeok’s alright, Suhyeon. He will be here shortly, he asked me to tell you that there is nothing to worry about.” I-sak sent a genuine smile to Suhyeon.

Suhyeon couldn’t shake the thought of her twin brother being exposed to a person she suspects a human turning to a zombie. She started looking around the room, searching for Cheongsan. Turns out, he wasn’t around. Maybe he is already on his way to the infirmary.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Cheongsan.”

“Do you like him?”

“No.” Suhyeon strongly denied in the most polite way. “I mean, I do, but only as a friend. I am just wondering if he is going to the infirmary to check on On-jo.” She clarified.

Hyunjae breathed in relief, “You know Cheongsan, and how much he cares about On-jo. That crazy asshole has had feelings for On-jo ever since I ever knew that guy, he is just too stubborn to confess.” He spat as Suhyeon nodded her head, agreeing.

On-jo can be a little dense sometimes and Cheongsan, a stubborn lad.

“Are you going to the infirmary?”

Suhyeon nodded her head again, “I’m starting to worry about—”

“You—you don’t need to explain anything to me, just go do your thing.” Hyunjae’s lip curled. He knows how important Suhyeok is to Suhyeon. She should not feel obligated to explain, especially not to Hyunjae.

Suhyeon gave a lopsided grin before throwing her arms to Hyunjae, a few seconds after, his palm was on her back, carefully caressing her. She then rose from her seat and left the room immediately.

Wujin shifted from Suhyeon’s seat, “When are you going to tell Suhyeon about what you feel about her?” He raises a question towards the man sitting next to him.

Hyunjae opens one of his textbooks, diverting his attention from Suhyeon to their interrupted English class lecture. “When I’m certain that I am worthy of her.” He mumbled.

Wujin hated his friend. Hyunjae was always too hard on himself and thinks so low of himself. In fact, he has never heard Hyunjae praising himself, not even once. That is quite big for Wujin because they were surrounded by people who have a narcissistic personality—that includes himself.

Wujin and the whole gang is hoping that one day, Hyunjae will be able to see himself worthy of everything that he has on his grasps and everything he has worked hard to achieve.

On Suhyeon’s way to the infirmary, she crosses paths with On-jo. The latter had a weak smile on her lips as the former sprinted and embraces her friend.

“I am so glad that you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, Suhyeon, don’t worry too much. It’s just a small scratch,” On-jo lets out a chuckle before they pull away from each other then raises her bandaged wrist for Suhyeon to have a clear vision. “Suhyeok is with Cheongsan, they’re at the stairs and he’s in a perfect shape. No scratches, bites, or bruises.” She informed. Suhyeon looks at On-jo for the last time, thanking her non-verbally before running to her brother.

Just like On-jo said, Suhyeok and Cheongsan were together. Suhyeok automatically removed his arms around Cheongsan as Suhyeon pushed her body towards him.

“You were gone for a little longer than I expected, I thought something bad happened to you.”

Suhyeok ran his fingers to his sister’s hair to make a mess, “We waited for the ambulance before leaving the infirmary. I’m sorry if I made you worried.” He apologized, as the twin pull out from their embrace and walked back to their room. Suhyeok’s left arm was on Cheongsan’s shoulders, while the other is on Suhyeon’s as they proceeded to talk about the events that occurred today.

Lunch break came. Half of the students were in the cafeteria while the other half were minding their business. Some went to practice. Some were just strolling around. Some were just in their classrooms doing their own thing.

As for Suhyeon, she was having her lunch together with her brother and their friends. She was settled next to Cheongsan and followed by Suhyeok, while Hyunjae was across the table, rightfully in front of Suhyeon’s seat.

The duo was discussing a potential zombie apocalypse. Yes, they are still not done with that conversation. They just thought that it is inevitable. It will most likely happen but the real question is: when?

“What is the first thing that you’re going to do if a zombie outbreak occurs?” Suhyeon raises a question to Hyunjae while chewing her food. Yeah, talking while eating, very unladylike, but who cares? Her parents aren’t there to watch her every move and scold her for it.

Before answering, Hyunjae wipes the excess liquid on his lips then passes the unused table napkin to Suhyeon and asks her to do the same. “Go to the nearest police station.” He responded, then he continues to eat.

“Like Rick and Morgan did, huh?”

Hyunjae nodded his head, “Guns and ammunition is a must to survive in a zombie apocalypse.” He chimed, slowly chugging on his grape juice.

“But, hypothetically, how are we so sure that the zombie that we are going to face is the same as TWD’s zombies?” She mumbled a question.

“We’ll never be sure. But we’d be dead in a matter of seconds if it wasn’t TWD kind of zombies.”

“Zombies? Why are you two talking about zombies?” Wujin who’s sitting next to Hyunjae interjected, just before Hyunjae could reply to Suhyeon’s question.

“Everyone,” Wujin yelled, enough for his pals to hear what he is about to say, and points his finger at Hyunjae and Suhyeon, “These two lovebirds are talking about zombies. What a weird conversation.” He announced, grinning.

“You don’t know The Walking Dead?” Hyunjae asks his friend, receiving shaking heads, meaning they didn’t.

“We were talking about a western zombie apocalypse series, dipshit.” Suhyeon lashed out at him as everyone on their table laughs their asses off including Wujin who playfully ridicules his friend before taking a sip from his drink.

They find it amusing that the little girl they used to play with at their town’s park together. The sweet girl who gives them candy every time they visited their house could utter profanity. Especially, Suhyeon has been the good sibling between Suhyeok and her.

It is music in their ears when she swears or even raise her voice when she gets annoyed. The group knows that she’s been seen as the kind and respectful one, and besides, hearing her utter those foul words is a once in a lifetime even so of course they are happy. Even Suhyeok is happy.

Just then, the entire people at the cafeteria heard I-sak’s voice as she shouted, making everyone swivel their heads in her direction. She was at the same table with her best friend, On-jo.

What did I-sak learn from On-jo that made her react like that? Suhyeon thought. Maybe it has something to do with her brother, Suhyeok. Suhyeon’s not dense, she has been comprehending that On-jo likes her brother.

Too bad, he doesn’t feel the same way.

It’s not like Suhyeon is being a bad friend, because she isn’t—at least that’s what she thinks. In her defence, she wanted On-jo to get together with Cheongsan.

A few minutes later, Suhyeok and some of their friends left the cafeteria since they are already done eating. It was only Cheongsan, Suhyeon, and Hyunjae left. All because Suhyeon is a slow eater and the two guys decided to wait for their lady friend while the others were complaining about how slow she eat.

Hyunjae cleared his throat, “So, when are you going to tell her?” He inquired.

“Tell who?”

“Cheongsan, we are not stupid.” Suhyeon implied, still not yet finished with her food. She blamed her brother for putting his unmoved leftovers on her plate.

Of course, Suhyeon couldn’t say no. The food tastes delicious, it was worthy of getting bloated stomach. And she has been doing it ever since she could remember—only if the food is good.

Cheongsan’s brows raised, “Okay, but what are you talking about?” Still acting innocent. He already knows who they were talking about.

Suhyeon drops her chopsticks, “Okay,” She sighed, “Do you want me to yell her name or what?” She taunted. Then she emptied her glass of water.

“Okay, okay. I don’t know. It seems like On-jo—”

Finally. Cheongsan’s in denial phase ended.

“Ooh! So, On-jo, huh?” Hyunjae teases as he wiggles his eyebrows.

“What? Didn’t you say...that was bait. Fuck you both.”

“Oh, so you’re into that kind of shit, huh? When do you want?”

A flush of crimson red crept up on Suhyeon’s face, as Hyunjae laughs in amusement while it was nervousness dominated Cheongsan’s. The only lady on the table hit Hyunjae’s side rib with her elbow with all her might.

“Hey, do you have any desire to join the national rugby team?” He groaned, his eyes narrowing as Suhyeon continued sipping Hyunjae’s iced tea as if nothing happened.

Cheongsan bitterly laughs, “On a serious note. There is a small chance to nothing of her liking me back.” He stated, then she looked at Suhyeon, “She likes your brother.” He cited.

It wasn’t a surprise to Hyunjae and Suhyeon. They have noticed it since the beginning.

“I know, but I’m not giving up—” Suhyeon glances at Hyunjae, expecting him so finish her sentence. “And know that we are the captain of On-jo and Cheongsan ship and we will never let it sink.” The man beside her added.

Suhyeon is not going to give up on her main ship. On-jo will only have her heart broken if she makes a move to Suhyeok and knowing her brother, he would agree just so On-jo won’t be upset.

“Finally. That took forever.” Hyunjae moaned, noticing that she is already done. While Suhyeon only rolls her eyes.

“I never asked you to wait for me,” Suhyeon snapped as Hyunjae only laughs at her, making Suhyeon huff in annoyance.

“Yes, you didn’t, but I know you were expecting that someone would wait on you.”

Suhyeon rolls her eyes, not even bothered to reply. Hyunjae was right, so what was the point of defending herself.

While Cheongsan, being the good friend that he is, offered to take their trays back to the counter after seeing On-jo on the line. It was time for him to bug his friend again.

“Did you hear that?” Hyunjae raises a question for Suhyeon to answer. The lady hummed softly, confused about what he was talking about.

“Hear what? I don’t hear any—” Suhyeon was cut off immediately by the sound of the main door slammed open as dozen of students of Hyosan is panicking and hurrying to enter the building.

•─────⋅☾ 𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔶𝔵𝔳𝔦 ☽⋅─────•

chapter two, down!

idk about this one, but still, i hope you enjoy this one.

thank you for leaving such heartwarming and uplifting comments, it really means a lot to me. and let’s not forget about the votes too!

again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. and hopefully, you will join me until the end of this journey.