Breathing heavily, Suhyeok moved sideways against the glass windows outside the school building, he managed to reach the classroom next to the science lab after escaping the art room. The tall boy had difficulty proceeding to the next window ledge as there was a huge pipe blocking its way, making the tall boy cursed as he almost fell down from the building. Unable to reach the science lab window sill, Suhyeok leaned his back against the window once more as he tried to catch his breath. Then, he noticed Cheongsan jumped out of the window with several zombies.
"Cheongsan-ah! Look down, look down!" Suhyeok instructed and watched in relief that his friend hung onto the rope while one of the zombies had latched onto his leg. Looking for the source of the voice, Cheongsan stared back at his friend, who leaned his whole body against the window, feeling relieved he was still alive.
"I know." He muttered as tried to get rid of the zombie.
"She's holding on you, moron. What are you doing?" Suhyeok argued as he pointed to the zombie on his friend's leg.
"I know that." Cheongsan repeated.
"Drop her. Drop her now." the tall boy demanded.
"I'm trying." Cheonsan panted as he hit the zombie using his other leg.
"What are you doing, you moron?" Suhyeok mumbling as he watched his friend tried to get the zombie to release his leg.
"Yah!" Suhyeok was surprised when Cheongsan almost fell due to the weight, luckily the hanging boy managed to grab onto the rope, preventing him from completely falling to the ground.
"Hey, I'll come to you." Suhyeok muttered after watching his friend struggle to get rid of the zombie on his leg.
"No. don't come." Cheongsan insisted as the tall boy tried to reach over the ledge on the next window, completely ignoring his friend's words.
"Wait for a moment." Suhyeok breathed as he was unable to reach the window ledge as a big pipe prevented him from reaching over.
"Hey, Bare-su, above you." Cheongsan warned. Suhyeok looked up and saw a male zombie leaned its body over the window as blood dripped from his mouth onto Suhyeok's face. The male zombie then jumped out of the window, causing Suhyeok to make a rash decision, which was jumping from the window ledge to the rope that Cheongsan hung onto. He landed a few meters above Cheongsan, where a number of zombies were trying to grab him from the science lab window. The tall boy then began to climb down off the rope, resulting in the boy below him groaning in pain.
"Stay still. I'm trying to help you." Suhyeok mentioned as he continued to descend down off the rope. Once he was the same level as Cheongsan, the tall boy hugged his friend from behind.
"What are you doing?" Cheongsan questioned as he does not like his current position.
"Wait for a moment, will you? Moron." Suhyeok uttered as he repeatedly hit the zombie that latched onto Cheongsan's leg.
"It's Bare-su." Daesu announced while Gyeongsu shouted Cheongsan's name. Areum along with Onjo went to the window to look at the two boys. Sighing in relief, Areum continued to watch Suhyeok holding onto Cheongsan as he kicked the female zombie.
Back at the two boys that were hanging on the rope, Suhyeok managed to kick the zombie off Cheongsan's leg and he began to complain to the boy that he hugged. "Shit. I told you to drop her. Why couldn't you do it?"
"Yah. Stop hugging me. You're grossing me out." Cheongsan said to the tall boy that hugged his torso.
"I'm not hugging you, moron." Suhyeok argued as both Areum and Onjo curiously watched the two boys hugging outside the school building.
"Get lost." Cheongsan playfully said.
"Do you like this?" Suhyeok teased, a smirk appeared on his face as he kept hugging his friend.
***********
After the two boys safely landed on the broadcasting room, Areum went to help Suhyeok from the window but Onjo beat her to it as the black-haired girl saw the white hoodie girl grab onto his hand. After helping Cheongsan into the room, Suhyeok searched for the girl who he had feelings for. Seeing the girl standing a few meters away from him with a relieved expression on her face, he rushed to her and hugged her tightly.
"I'm so glad you're alive. I was so worried about you." Areum mumbled as she moved her head against the crook of his neck. Suhyeok smiled against her long black hair, able to inhale the hint of the raspberry scented shampoo that she always uses as he wrapped his arms around the girl.
"I'm sorry for making you worried. I'm here now. I promise" Suhyeok assured her. Hearing the word 'promise' from the tall boy, Areum was triggered as she slightly pulled away from him and repeatedly hit him on the shoulder.
"Promise, my foot. You always make promises and then you break them." Areum claimed. "You keep making me worry about you. Never do that ever again." She continued. He chuckled in amusement as he watched her rambling, glad to see Areum being herself after her panic attack.
"This is not funny, Suhyeok. I'm being serious right now." Areum frustratedly said, staring at his black eyes.
"I know. Sorry for making you worry, I'll never do that again. I promise." Suhyeok smiled, stared at her lovingly.
"You better keep your promise this time." Areum silently told him as she wiped the blood away from his face using her thumb. Namra watched the two interactions from the corner of the room and a smile appeared on her face when she saw Areum had returned to her usual self.
"I can't stand you, welfie." Both Areum and Suhyeok heard Nayeon talking badly to Gyeongsu, making all of the students stare at the light brown-haired in disbelief. Unable to contain his anger toward the rude girl, Gyeongsu roughly pushed her onto the wheel chair.
"Hey. What the fuck did you say?" Gyeongsu angrily asked her.
"Stop it. Remember what Areum said.'' Cheongsan muttered as he grabbed Gyeongsu's arm, preventing him from moving toward the rude girl.
"Do you hit me?" Nayeon countered back, standing in front of the raging boy.
"Yeah." Gyeongsu state. Areum, who was standing between Suhyeok and Jimin, sighed when she had a feeling a fight would soon appear again between the two of them.
"Cut it out. What are you doing?" Ms. Park interfered after closing the window, making sure it was completely closed. Both students complained about what they did to their English teacher and started to bicker in front of the teacher.
"What's a welfie? What is it?" Ms. Park questioned, not understanding the phrase coming out of her student. When none of her students answered her question, she asked them again with a stern voice, "What's a welfie?"
"A person on welfare." Areum answered.
"What?" Ms. Park asked as she turned her attentioned to Areum, wanting to hear the answer clearly.
"A person on welfare. 'Welfie' for short." Suhyeok repeated Areum's answer. The English teacher was shocked when she heard the answer. She turned her attention back to both Nayeon and Gyeongsu.
"Nayeon, you were wrong. Don't you ever say that again." Ms. Park said as she focused on the light brown-haired girl, causing the young girl to glare at the teacher, not liking for the teacher to be side with the boy.
"Gyeongsu, if you hit someone for saying that. You're the one who loses. You understand what I mean, right?" Ms. Park told as she rotated her focus to the young boy. Gyeongsu mumbled the word no to the teacher.
"Kids, we shouldn't be fighting among ourselves right now." Ms. Park consulted the two fighting students. Areum rolled her eyes when she heard Ms. Park's advice, fully aware that her two classmates, especially Nayeon, would not take the English teacher's advice after the black-haired girl coldly advised them in the science lab.
"We don't know what's going on..." The English teacher was cut in by one of her students.
"Aren't they zombies?" Suhyeok questioning the teacher, making the English teacher stared the young boy, unable to answer the question as her other students bombarded her with different questions.
"Where are the other teachers? Did you call the cops?" Jimin asked, taking a few steps toward the teacher.
"I'm sure someone did." Ms. Park reassured her students."I don't have my phone."
"We called too, but they're not coming. Both the police and the first responders." Cheongsan stated.
"They'll be here soon. Let's wait a little longer." The English teacher told them.
"Ms. Park. Hyeonju's hands were cold too. So were Isak's. What if it started with Hyeonju?" Onjo spoke. Areum instantly remembered the earlier occurrence when Hyeonju was trying to bite her, finally able to find the explanation of what happened to Hyeonju.
"She went to the hospital." Hyeryong added.
"Then, maybe it spread there too." Joonyeong simply said, sitting on the chair at the corner of the room.
"Maybe that's why no one's coming." The short haired girl made assumption
"Hold on. This computer works, right?" The glass boy asked when he spotted the computer sitting on top of the desk. "Hey, the internet. We can use the internet to look for any clues." Joonyeong said as he hopped on one leg (his other leg was cramped) toward the computer. Seeing the boy was hopping toward the computer, Daesu encouraged him to sit down after giving the wheel chair. All of the students, except for Areum, Suhyeok, Namra and Gyeongsu, went to huddle around Joonyeong as he tried to switch on the monitor. Both Namra and Gyeongsu went to the window as they looked over the school front yard. Areum went near Suhyeok and tugged on his blazer sleeve, trying to get his attention from the group.
"Where were you this whole time?" Areum asked, standing beside Suhyeok as she leaned her body against the control cabinet, crossing her arms across her chest as she waited for his reply.
"I was actually at the art room." Suhyeok replied as he watched her expression. Areum nodded her head in understanding as she stared at the group, who were still waiting for the monitor to start.
"Oh, then, you don't see the note that I wrote for you." The black-haired girl mumbled to herself. Unknown to her, Suhyeok was able to hear her quiet mumbling, which piqued his interest.
"What note?" Suhyeok suddenly voiced, startling the black-haired girl beside him.
"Nothing." Areum flusteredly answered as her eyes widened in surprise that the tall boy was able to hear her mumbling. When she heard the computer chimed, she quickly rushed toward the group, not wanting to be questioned by Suhyeok any longer. The tall boy beam in amusement as he watched Areum flustered. Then, he followed her from behind and huddled near the group of students, standing in between Areum and Onjo.
"Look up 'zombie virus'." Daesu instructed as others started to give instruction to Joonyeong as well, making them debate with each other.
***********
"I'll check on Facebook." Joonyeong announced as he started typing on the keyboard once they could get access to the internet.
"I'm on Instagram." Daesu mentioned.
"How many followers do you have?" The boy with glasses asked as he stared at Daesu, who kneeled beside him.
"Let's just check on Facebook." Daesu quickly said as he was unable to tell his friend the number of followers on his Instagram. Joonyeong looked at the boy in annoyance as he turned his focus back on the computer, continued to type in his Facebook account.
Several notification chimes could be heard once he managed to login into his Facebook, making Daesu stare at the monitor in disbelief after watching the flooding incoming notifications.
"How many friends do you have?" Daesu asked as they continued to stare at the computer monitor. "Look at your notification. You have 1,700!" The plump boy exclaimed.
"That's strange." Joonyeong muttered as they watched one of the videos on Facebook page as Namra, Cheongsan and Gyeongsu went to the group to see any updates on the website. Areum quietly studied the video as she could watch the police officers lying down on the side of the road while the civilian people tried to help them. "I'll check the messages first."
The sound of the window crash had startled all of the people inside the broadcasting room, causing some of the students to scream as well as curse after being surprised by the loud crashing sound.
Areum was standing beside Suhyeok, staring toward the sound as the metal nozzle of the fire hose kept clashing against the window due to blowing wind.
"Get over here. Step back." Ms. Park instructed, not wanting her students to stand near the broken window.
"Did someone not make it in?" Wujin asked as he looked at every one of his classmates, checking if someone was missing.
"No. We're all here." Cheongsan stated, moving a few steps forward to the broken window.
"Don't go." Gyeongsu warned as Suhyeok called his name and told him to be careful. Once he was in front of the broken window, Cheongsan examined the window as the wind was blowing his hair from the outside.
"Do you see something? What is it?" Gyeongsu asked as he was a few steps behind his best friend. While waiting for the two boys to give any responses, Areum gazed at the nozzle of the fire hose as it violently kept swinging back and forth.
"It must be the wind." Gyeongsu assumed, waving his hand toward his friends after examining the broken window. "Ah, that's scared me."
Out of nowhere, a zombie suddenly appeared in front of the broken window, making Cheongsan fall down on the floor in shock. The other students began to scream as they moved away from the zombie.
Areum was completely startled on her spot as she stared at the upside down female zombie, who was dangling on the fire hose. Noticing the black-haired girl's state, Namra went to Areum and pulled her away from the zombie by tugging her arm while Suhyeok was occupied in pulling Gyeongsu away.
"Yah! It's coming in. Watch out." Daesu announced while the other kept moving away from the zombie near the window. "Cheongsan-ah, get back here."
Trying to find something to prevent the zombie from coming in, Cheongsan looked around the broadcasting room for any weapon until he spotted a mop next to the control cabinet. He rushed to pick the broom and used it to push the zombie away.
"Push it! Push it off." Suhyeok yelled. He watched Cheongsan push the zombie with force, however the female zombie grabbed onto the mop, causing Cheongsan to struggle to push it away. Seeing the struggle evidently on his best friend's face, Gyeongsu went to help him as the zombie's hand held onto the window frame.
Gyeongsu tried to pry off its hand off the window frame, leading the zombie to grab his hands instead. Feeling panic when the zombie grabbed his hand, Gyeongsu cursed as he tried to remove his hand from the growling creature. Thanks to Cheongsan's help, Gyeongsu was able to free his hand from the flesh eating monster.
Cheongsan then hit the zombie with the mop, breaking the wooden stick in the process. After the unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the zombie, Cheongsan hesitated to push the zombie using the sharp wooden stick, not hearing Daesu's debate on whether he should help him or not.
"What are you doing? Give me that." Suhyeok shouted, rushing to the boy and grabbing the wooden stick from him once he saw the hesitation from Cheongsan's action. Unnoticed to him, when grabbing the wooden stick from Cheongsan, Suhyeok accidentally hit the wooden stick across Gyeongsu's face.
The tall boy quickly pierced the zombie's shoulder with the sharp wooden stick, making it stop its movement for a moment. Areum could see from the distance that Suhyeok was breathing heavily after stabbing the zombie with the wooden stick.
However, much to their relief, the zombie was still alive as it forcefully pushed its body inside by grabbing onto the wooden stick, causing the tall boy to grunted as he tried to get rid of the zombie away.
"Shit. We're completely fucked." Daesu sweared as he watched Suhyeok struggling to get rid of the zombie. Both Cheongsan and Joonyeong yelled at the tall boy to push the zombie while Nayeon and Hyeryeong whimpered in fear as they stood behind Ms. Park.
"Suhyeok-ah! Watch out for your hand." Areum shouted when she saw the zombie trying to grab his hand. She tried to help him but her hand was being held by Namra, preventing her from walking forward to help the boy. Namra shook her head as she silently pleaded with her close friend not to go near the shrieking zombie.
Afraid of the zombie entering the room, Gyeongsu quickly grabbed the desktop computer off the desk and told Suhyeok to move away from smashing it on the zombie, making it dramatically fall to the ground. All of the male students went to the broken window to see the fallen zombie run after it landed on the ground.
"That was crazy." Daesu sighed in relief. The female students also breathed in relief after the surprise appearance of the zombie.
"I'm so exhausted." Suhyeok breathed as Wujin asked him if he was alright, patting lightly on his shoulder, silently praising him after eliminating the zombie. Areum glanced at Suhyeok once she felt him staring at her. Areum mouthed the words, asking him if he was okay. Suhyeok nodded his head, telling the beauty that he was alright.
***********
"Hey!" Nayeon loudly called Gyeongsu, making the boy look at her, not noticing blood was dripping down his nose.
"Gyeongsu-ah, you're bleeding." Cheongsan told his best friend.
"I am?" Gyeongsu asked as he checked his nose using his hand. He scoffed when he saw the red blood on his hand.
"Right, it's because Suhyeok hit me with a fucking mop." Gyeongsu calmly told them as he went to the desk to take some tissues.
"Stay back. Stay where you are." The pink sweater girl breathed shakily as she stepped away from the boy. "You were bitten, weren't you?"
"No, I wasn't." Gyeongsu denied as he wiped his nose with tissues. "Didn't you see Suhyeok hit me?" The boy's voice was muffled against the tissues while pointing toward the broken window. Seeing Nayeon walking backward in fear had made him frustrated with her accusation.
"Why do you keep picking on me?" Gyeongsu annoyedly asked her while the others watched the two of them.
"You were bitten!" The light brown-haired girl shouted, not wanting to back off from the argument. Gyeongsu scoffed, feeling annoyed and tired of having to argue with her.
"Isak got a nosebleed just before she turned." Nayeon informed the English teacher. Then, she turned her attention to Onjo as she continued, "Onjo. You saw it, right? That's the same thing that happened to Isak."
"Gyeongsu-yah." Ms. Park calmly called him,
"I really wasn't bitten! I swear!" Gyeongsu tried to explain to the teacher as well as his friends. "Damn it." The boy sighed in annoyance as he wiped his nose using his other right hand. This action had made the girl in the pink sweater suspicious of his scratch hand.
"Your hand. What is that then?" Nayeon suspiciously asked. "What is that?"
Gyeongsu then looked down on his hand and saw three scratches from earlier. "This was from when I picked up the desktop computer!" He loudly explained to them as he took a step forward to the female students. Seeing Onjo, Hyoryeong and Jimin take a step back from him while Areum and Namra remained on their spot, seeing they were unable to step back due to the wooden shelf behind them. Gyeongsu felt hurt as they didn't trust him.
"Don't you trust me? I got this trying to save all of you. How could you do this?" Gyeongsu cried as he was getting frustrated with his friends.
Not wanting to be suspicious of Gyeongsu as she felt bad toward her friend, Areum left Namra's side as she went to the frustrated boy's side and grabbed his hand to examine it. "It's definitely not a bite. It's just a scratch. We can see the bite mark if the zombie actually bite him." Areum informed the others. "Whoever wants to check, come and see it for yourself."
Suhyeok, Cheongsan, Daesu and Wujin went to both Areum and Gyeongsus's way to check the confirmation.
"It's a scratch?" Daesu asked. Seeing Gyeongsu's scratch on his hand, Suhyeok suddenly remembered the scratch on Areum's hand from earlier.
"It's a scratch. I'm sure of it." Suhyeok announced as he coldly stared at the light brown-haired girl, slightly angry for targeting his friends.
"Saem (샘), please take a look." Areum said as she leaned her body against the desk behind her. The English teacher checked her student's hand and saw it was indeed a scratch.
"It's just a scratch. Thank goodness." Ms. Park breathed in relief.
"He's okay." The female teacher told Nayeon, making the girl scowl after hearing her teacher's statement.
"Are you satisfied? I asked if you were satisfied." The accused boy yelled.
"But the computer's gone." Joonyeong muttered, holding the computer keyboard in both of his hands.
"Then, no internet...Did you have to throw that out of all things?" Daesu complained as furrowed his eyebrows toward Gyeongsu.
"What could I do? The zombie was trying to get in." Gyeongsu once again argued.
"I'm saying you did good. Thank you. So, don't get mad." Daesu tried to calm down his angry friend. "Hey, Lee Nayeon." He called after he went to walk in her direction.
"Say you're sorry and end this." Daesu instructed.
"Why should I?" Nayeon defended herself.
"He did it to save us. Just say you're sorry and end this." Daesu uttered, trying to get the light brown-haired girl to apologise to Gyeongsu.
"Why should I say sorry?" Nayeon insisted. "I saw everything. I saw the zombie grab your hand. I'm right. He may be infected."
"Hey, Lee Nayeon. Stop it." Areum calmly said as she straightened her posture from leaning her body against the desk. "The zombie only scratched his hand. Not bite him."
"So? He may be infected because of the scratch on his hand." The pink sweater girl argued. Once she heard the light brown-haired girl's words, Areum scoffed in disbelief.
"Did you just say that because you saw someone turned into a zombie because of the scratch or just because you hate Gyeongsu?" Areum remarked as she stood a few steps in front of the pink sweater girl, leaving her speechless.
"I know for a fact, when you get a scratch from the zombie, you'll not turn into one." Areum calmly explained as she remembered Hyeonju earlier had scratched her hand after trying to bite her.
"How do you know that?" Nayeon tried to argue back.
"I also got scratched by Hyeonju while helping her in the infirmary." Areum mentioned as she ripped off the band aid that was covering her scratches on her hand, showing it to Nayeon as the evidence. "I've been with you the whole time and I haven't turned into a zombie."
Seeing the scratches on Areum's hand, Nayeon was dumbstruck as she was unable to come up with any remark. The English teacher went to the two girls and separated the two away from each other, trying to handle the situation that she had faced.
"Stop it. That's enough." Ms. Park interfered as Suhyeok went to pull Areum to his side, so she could calm down after the argument with the rude girl. "Areum's right. Getting a scratch from the zombie will not make you turn into one."
"But the zombies really touch him." Nayeon argued.
"Yah! Lee Nayeon! Stop it!" Areum loudly voiced as she calmly charged toward the rude girl. Suhyeok immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, preventing her from moving to the pink sweater girl.
"He's not going to turn into a zombie!" Areum exclaimed as she stared at Nayeon.
"Calm down. Take a deep breath." Suhyeok whispered, rubbing the side of her waist with his hands to help her calm. The tall boy knew that Areum rarely burst her anger as the black-haired girl has a friendly and cheerful personality. Once Areum has reached her limit point like situation right now, she would release her anger by either being silent the whole day or she would give the person her piece of thought.
Taking Suhyeok's advice, Areum closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, ignoring her other friends arguing with the pink sweater girl. When Suhyeok felt Areum begin to relax, Suhyeok released his tight grip around her waist and then stood beside her as he put his hand back inside his trouser's pockets
"Don't yell at me. Think about it." Nayeon defended herself from her classmates' remarks.
"Hey, I know you've always hated Gyeongsu but this is completely different from badmouthing him. Besides, Areum has already explained your theory about the scratch from the zombie. She hasn't turned into a zombie and she has been with us the whole time. So, drop the act. This is about life and death." Cheongsan uttered as Areum kept glaring at the light brown-haired girl.
"She's always like this." Jimin announced.
"If it weren't for him, we may all be dead." Suhyeok stated.
"And now he may kill us." Nayeon retorted back. Areum intensified her glare at the pink sweater girl as she remained silent, feeling exhausted after releasing her energy toward the rude girl.
"I'm about to die because of you." Wujin said to Nayeon, making Areum chuckle at his words.
"I'm really fine." Gyeongsu argued.
"That's enough, all of you! Shut it." Ms. Park angrily told her students.
"Ms. Park-." Nayeon tried to give another reason but she was cut off by the teacher.
"Silence!"
After a few moments of silence in the broadcasting room, Ms. Park sighed in exasperation after watching all of her students argue with each other. The English teacher then came up with an idea to stop the argument between her students.
"Let's do this." She started as she looked at Gyeongsu. "Gyeongsu, you're going to wait in the recording room for ten minutes. I know it'll be hard but at least it's better than people thinking you're infected."
"No one else thinks that I'm infected. It's just her." Gyeongsu muttered.
"Gyeongsu, would you do it, please?" The English teacher pleaded.
"Forget ten minutes. I'll stay half...No, a full hour." Gyeongsu announced, feeling hurt when the teacher had asked him to wait in the recording room.
"Hey, there's no need for that. It takes less than five minutes to turn. Stop overreacting" Cheongsan claimed.
"Let's just be sure, so she doesn't suspect me any more." Gyeongsu tiredly uttered.
"Will that do? If nothing happens, you'll sincerely apologise to him, okay?" Ms. Park stated, staring at Nayeon.
"Yes, I will." Nayeon uttered while her friends looked at her in disbelief.
"You guys are all okay with that, right?" The English teacher questioned. All of the students respond in agreement.
"He's clearly fine as Areum has mentioned. If we do this, who would step up next time? Everyone is too scared." Cheongsan spoked.
"You're right but..." The English teacher paused as she looked at her students. "Let's consider this a way to learn to trust each other."
"I trust Gyeongsu." Cheongsan claimed.
"See you guys in an hour." Gyeongsu declared as he pushed him away from the table.
Before he walked, he glanced at Areum and said, "Thank you for helping me, Areum-ah. I appreciate your help. Don't get angry, okay? You can be scary sometimes." Areum held a small smile as Gyeongsu tried to joke with her as she watched her friend go to the recording room.
"Should I go in with you?" Daesu offered. The only response the plump boy got was a middle finger from Gyeongsu. The teacher and students watched through the recording window as Gyeongsu sat on the wheel chair and facing away from them.
"That stubborn punk. Ten minutes would be fine." Suhyeok muttered beside Areum.
"He's not that stubborn. Compared to her." Jimin implied, making the light brown-haired girl glared at her.
***********
"Maybe they're drawn to smell. They go after you like crazy." Wujin claimed, making his best friend sighed after hearing his ridiculous claim. While waiting for an hour to pass, the students took a seat, either on the chair, table or on the tile floor, and started debating about what type of sense zombies use when they chase down humans.
"I don't smell." Daesu disagreed.
"But you sweat a lot, Daesu." Jimin commented.
"I sweat but I don't smell." The plump boy once again disagreed. Areum chuckled in amusement when she heard their debate from where she was sitting in the corner of the room. Sitting beside Namra, Areum placed a new band aid, the one she got after asking from Suhyeok, on top of the scratch on her hand.
"What's that smell?" Daesu asked as he loudly sniffed on his body.
"Your sweat." Her cousin replied, taking a few tissues from the tissue box and plucking it into his nose after the boy noticed Suhyeok clean his feet near him.
"I think they're more sensitive to sound than smell." Daesu said in a serious tone.
"Sound?" Jimin inquired.
"Yeah, sound." The plump boy answered.
"This isn't a movie." Joonyeong simply stated, making the three students look at him.
"That's how most zombies are. And you saw their eyes. They can't see with those eyes." Daesu argued. Finishing plastering her scratch on her hand, Areum spotted Onjo sitting near the widow, completely spacing outside while looking outside the school. After telling Namra that she wanted to check on Onjo, Areum went to stand beside Onjo.
"Are you feeling alright, Onjo-ah?" The class vice president said as worry laced in her voice.
"I keep thinking about Isak. I miss her already." Onjo replied, making Areum look at her sadly.
"Me too. Amongst the three of us, Isak was the one who dragged me along whenever you two went after school periods." Areum muttered as she had a quick flash of how her cheerful friend always tried to drag her with them after school periods.
"Yeah, you're right." Onjo smiled as she remembered the memories of Isak forcing the class vice president to join them. "I remembered Isak once threatened you after you declined to go with us."
"That girl can be scary once she threatens you. She tried to burn my books. My precious books." Areum exaggeratedly told her, making the white hoodie girl quietly laugh at her dramatic speech.
"You can mourn for her, Onjo-ah. We'll understand that, but you also need to remember there are other people that also care about you. Your dad, Cheongsan, your friends and even Ms. Park. So, be strong, okay? We're here for you." Areum comforted her friend.
Unknown to the two girls, both Suhyeok and Cheongsan watched them with a small smile on their face, relieved to see they helped one another after the stressful occurrence earlier.
***********
"Ms. Park. It's been more than 30 minutes, but Gyeongsu won't come out." Cheongsan informed after playfully comforting Gyeongsu through the window of the door of the recording room.
"Okay, I'll see what I can do." Ms. Park sighed as she went inside the recording room to get Gyeongsu.
"What's wrong with him?" Suhyeok rhetorically asked as all of the students went to see Ms. Park consoled their friends through the window that overlooks the recording room. Areum went to join them after asking Namra if she wanted to join their classmates. The class president declined her offer as she decided to watch from where she was sitting.
"He looks okay to me." Daesu commented as Areum joined them, standing in between Onjo and Joonyeong.
"He's fine. I knew it." Hyoryeong added, standing beside the plump boy.
"I don't understand why he's being so stubborn?" Cheongsan grumbled, watching his friends still sulking after the earlier incident.
"He won't come out?" Suhyeok asked him. Cheongsan nodded his head as a response.
"Ahh, he's always like this. He's so stubborn." Cheongsan sighed tiredly. They watched their teacher walk out of the recording room after consoling Gyeongsu. Once the teacher was out of the recording, Ms. Park closed the door with a remorseful expression.
"What did he say?" Cheongsan questioned the teacher.
"He won't come out?" Daesu added.
"He said he's staying in the room for the full hour." Ms. Park replied, putting her hands inside her pockets on her pants.
"He's sulking." Daesu sighed as he watched his friend inside the other room.
"I should go in." Cheongsan offered himself to console his best friend.
"Why should you go? If anyone should go in, it should be Nayeon." Jimin interrupted, leading the rest of the friends to look at Nayeon.
"Why should I?" Nayeon innocently asked, sitting on the wheelchair near the entrance door.
"He's like that because of you." Jimin retorted as she began to walk toward the light brown-haired girl. Luckily, Onjo stopped her before another fight began.
"What did I do?" the Lee girl questioned.
"Like you don't know." Jimin uttered.
"Was it wrong to suspect him?" Nayeon mentioned, making some of the students frown when they heard her. "You guys also did too. It wasn't just me." She tried to defend herself.
"I always believe in him." Gyeongsu muttered as Daesu agreed with Cheongsan's statement.
"Well, I didn't at first." Jimin confessed. "But after Areum explained everything, I believe him, after witnessing Areum hasn't turned into a zombie. And I didn't insult him like you did."
"Why are you picking on me?" The Lee girl calmly questioned her.
"'Cause you deserve it." Jimin frustratedly answered.
"That's enough, Jimin." Ms. Park ordered as she tired watching her students fight. The mentioned girl scoffed at her teacher and went back to stand in between Suhyeok and Onjo. The English teacher sighed as she stared at Nayeon before standing in front of her.
"You remember your promise, right?" Ms. Park bent her body toward the girl, so she could speaked in the same eye level as the sitting girl. "After 30 minutes you'll apologise to him?"
"Yes." The pink sweater girl mumbled, looking elsewhere but her teacher. Ms. Park straightened her body after hearing her response.
"It's been 30 minutes." Ms. Park notified her. The light brown-haired girl lifted her head in disbelief after hearing her teacher.
"Fine, I'll apologise to him." The Lee girl said. Areum observed Nayeon enter the recording room and make her way toward the sulking boy. Feeling someone tapped her right arm, Areum turned her attention from the recording room to Namra, who was worriedly kept glancing at Gyeongsu inside the recording room.
"Namra, what is it? What's wrong?" Areum asked her close friend after moving away from the group.
"I saw Nayeon wiped that blood with her handkerchief." Namra informed as she pointed toward the bloody stick that Suhyeok used earlier. "I've a bad feeling after she walked through the door of the recording room. I'm scared she's going to use it on Gyeongsu."
"What?" Areum whispered, not wanting to believe Nayeon would be capable of doing that to one of her friends. "But how's she going to use it on him?"
"I don't know. Maybe applied the bloody handkerchief on his scratch." Namra suggested, making Areum's eyes widened in realisation. Turning her gaze back to the recording room, Areum watched both Nayeon and Gyeongsu standing near each other as she completely ignored Daesu begging them to kiss.
Without wasting any time, Areum went to the door of the recording room, not hearing Ms. Park and Hyeryeong called her name. Before Areum could open the door, Nayeon walked out of the door and harshly pushed the black-haired girl out of the way in the process.
Hyoryeong gasped in surprise when she saw Nayeon roughly pushed Areum to the floor. Ms. Park, who was standing near Areum, and Hyoryeong quickly went to help the fallen girl. A few seconds later, Gyeongsu angrily rushed after Nayeon and tried to grab her but all of the male students and Ms. Park restrained him from doing so.
"Are you okay?" Hyeryeong asked as she crouched beside Areum, who hissed in pain.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Areum nodded her head as a reassurance.
"You're fucking...You're such a fucking cheat...Seriously." Gyeongsu muttered, making the teacher and other students look at the light brown-haired in shock.
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