After recording a video of herself to her dad, Onjo stood from her seat and walked toward where both Areum and Suhyeok were sitting. Once she reached them, Onjo stood beside Suhyeok and handed him the video camera, so her isolated friends could have a chance to leave a video message to their parents before anything happened to them.
"You guys can leave a message as well if you want." The white hoodie girl mentioned as she watched Areum lifted her head away from Suhyeok's shoulder. Then, Onjo took a sneak peek at both Namra and Wujin.
"I've already told them but they didn't have any message to leave for anyone." Onjo added as Suhyeok took the video camera from her hand.
"I don't really have anything to say." Suhyeok uttered as he stared down at the camera recorder. A few seconds after that, the tall boy shifted his attention toward Areum. The white hoodie girl followed his eyesight and stared at the class vice president.
"What about you?" The tall boy asked the girl he likes as he gazed upon her side profile. Areum shook her head in response as she looked at the video recorder on Suhyeok's hand.
"I don't have anything to say, either. Maybe later." Areum replied as she lifted her eyes from the camera recorder to look at the white hoodie, giving Onjo a soft smile before returning to stare at the scene of the school yard.
"We believe in you." Onjo suddenly spoke, making both Areum and Suhyeok look over at the white hoodie girl. "You can untie that now." She continued as Areum stared at her.
"Jimin will not like it. Because of her hatred and rage toward her parents' death, she completely saw us as zombies. It's the only reason why Suhyeok's really stubborn on tying our hands together." The beauty whispered as she stared at Onjo's facial expression.
Fully aware of how true the statement coming from Areum, Onjo left the two of them and she went back to her seat. Suhyeok glanced over at the black haired girl, who was continuously stared at Onjo's spot with regretful expression, before placing the video recorder on top of the table behind where they were sitting.
Minutes later, the black haired girl then took the video camera once Suhyeok placed it on top of the table. She flipped the side of the screen and switched the video camera open. Once the screen came alive, Areum lifted the video camera to her face level using her free hand.
The young girl only stared at the screen as she kept visioning her appearance when she tried to bite the boy she likes. Not wanting to keep thinking about the horrible thoughts, the black haired girl lowered the camera as she closed the side monitor of the recorder. Then, her eyes drifted to the red curtain rope that tied their hand together.
"Why are you doing this to yourself, Suhyeok-ah?" Areum asked as Suhyeok glanced his head at her. The black haired girl held onto the video camera in her hands.
"Because the others are really scared." The tall boy simply replied as he followed the trail of her eyes looking at.
"And you're not scared?" The black haired girl questioned, averting her focus to the boy beside her. The two of them then stared at each other's eyes.
"Mm-mm." Suhyeok nodded his head in response.
"Why not?" The beauty curiously asked as she stared at his black eyes.
"Because...I'm just not. You're still the Areum that I know from the past few years." Suhyeok replied in a serious tone of voice.
"You know how I said I wanted to bite you earlier?" Areum uttered as she silently brushed her thumb nail against the surface of the video camera.
"It's okay. It's in the past now." Suhyeok interrupted when he knew the beauty was feeling guilty about the earlier incident.
"It felt like I was dreaming. You were just giving off such a beautiful scent." Areum continued as she looked away from the boy beside her.
"What kind of scent?" The tall boy asked as he watched her with compassion.
"I'm not entirely sure." The black haired girl said as she shook her head when she was unable to describe the scent that she smelt before attacking Suhyeok.
"It was something that I had never smelled before. All I could think of was that I wanted to eat you. I wanted to bite you." Areum said as a flash of what she was thinking before attacking Suhyeok kept playing on her mind. "I kept thinking of biting and eating you. That was all I could think of." The black haired girl revealed as she lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Then, I heard your voice." Areum muttered as Suhyeok quickly gazed upon the young girl. Lifting her head in confidence, the black haired girl turned her head as she stared at his black eyes.
"It was your voice that woke me up. You know, you never called me by my nickname ever since we went to high school? I've always missed it when you're always called me by my nickname." Areum said as she gave him a soft smile. After finishing her sentences, the black haired girl turned her head back to the window.
"It was the first time I heard you call me by my nickname ever since we're in high school." Areum uttered as she still held a soft smile on her face. Listening to the girl beside him, Suhyeok blinked his eyes as he turned his head back to face the glass window.
"I know." Suhyeok announced nervously as his heart rate began to beat faster. The black haired girl slowly shifted her eyes to look at the tall boy while listening to him. "I was afraid that you'd find out...if I called you by your nickname."
"Find out what?" Areum asked in confusion. Almost immediately, Suhyeok faced her as he stared at her brown eyes with gentle affection.
"That I like you." The tall boy finally confessed to the girl he likes. Areum's heart skipped a bit when she listened to Suhyeok's confession. She continued to stare at his black eyes as her heart beat started to beat fast and her stomach filled with fluttering butterflies. "I've liked you for as long as I can remember. It's always been you." He added as he faced the window once again.
"I'm just afraid to confess to you. Besides, I don't get good grades and I used to hang out with the group of bullies before. And you're one of the role model students in the school and get good grades. I couldn't tarnish that reputation by telling you that I like you." Suhyeok revealed as he looked outside of the window.
"But you, being a thoughtful person, didn't mind about your reputation at all. You've always tried to make me realised how bad it was being in a group of bullies. That I could improve myself into a better person by helping someone in need. Even after that...you've always helped me with my school grade." Suhyeok chuckled when he remembered how strict Areum was when she helped him in improving his grade, especially for their English class.
"That's why I've decided that I needed to improve myself to be a better person before confessing to you." Suhyeok continued as Areum remained silent. The black haired girl was playing with the video camera as she tried to overcome her nerves.
"Suhyeok-ah." Areum called after minutes of silence, making the tall boy glanced at her. "I like you too." She confessed as she softly smiled at the boy beside her.
"I know I can be quite clumsy whenever you're not with me. But you're always worried about me until you bring some band aid in your trouser pocket. You're really compassionate and I could see that you tried to redeem your past actions by helping others, especially the bully victims. That's one of the things that I admire about you." Areum continued to confess to the boy beside her as the black haired girl bit her lip to hide her smile.
"But..seeing the situation I'm currently facing right now, I wish that I hadn't been bitten by that Gwinam bastard. Because I don't want to be a burden to you." The black haired girl mentioned as she lifted her eyes to his black eyes.
"You're not a burden to me, Rumnie-yah. Never. Don't say that. You're one of the strongest girls that I know. Even the bravest. You've overcome your own fear when you tried to help me on the stairwell knowing well you'll risk your life with the zombies around while looking for me." Suhyeok muttered as he leaned closer to the girl he likes.
"But, you'll be in danger whenever you're with me. I don't know what will happen to me." Areum stated as she looked at him with worry.
"No... You'll be fine and so am I." Suhyeok replied as he kept staring at her brown eyes.
"How-." Areum was stopped when Suhyeok closed the distance between the two of them. Feeling his soft lips against her lips, Areum was frozen in surprise for a few seconds. Before the black haired girl could do anything, Suhyeok pulled away from the kiss as he leaned his forehead against her. Slowly opening his eyes, the tall boy stared at her brown eyes, trying to catch Areum's facial expression.
However, the tall boy was unable to see her expression when Areum closed her brown eyes and leaned toward the tall boy to kiss him once again. Closing his black eyes, Suhyeok kissed the beauty's soft lips as he cupped her face using his free hand. The tall boy then deepened the kiss as the action made Areum feel the butterflies rapidly flutter in her stomach.
Moments later into the kiss, both Areum and Suhyeok pulled away from the kiss and placed their forehead against each other as they took a few breaths. Areum kept her eyes closed as she took her breaths and tried to calm her heart beat.
"We'll go through this together, Rumnie-yah. We'll figure this out together. Okay?" Suhyeok muttered as he opened his eyes to look at the black haired girl. Areum nodded her head in response, which made Suhyeok widely grin in happiness after he was able to convincing the beauty.
Slowly opening her brown eyes, Areum gazed upon Suhyeok, who was grinned in happiness. Seeing his expression, the black haired girl held a soft smile as Suhyeok tucked her loose hair behind her ears.
***********
Hearing the grunting, munching and growling sound in the distance, Areum quickly turned her head toward the source of sound. Through the corner of her eyes, Areum could see Namra also noticed the distant sounds from her seat. The class vice president rose from her seat as she looked at the closed window in concentration.
"What is it?" Suhyeok asked the beauty after following her eyesight toward the covered window.
"I heard something strange. Namra-yah, do you also hear it?" Areum mentioned as she glanced over at her close friend.
"Yeah. I heard it too." Namra nodded her head as she replied to the beauty in question. Not minding their tied hands, Areum went to walk to the window for a closer inspection as Suhyeok followed after the black haired girl.
Once the black haired girl reached the covered window, Suhyeok stood behind her as he quietly observed Areum's action while some of the student bodies came near the two students to see what was happening. When Namra and Wujin joined the pair of students, both Areum and the class president were focused on listening to the distant sound from outside of the room, completely disregarding the hushed words from the rest of group friends.
"What if they're finally starting to turn?" Hyeryeong whispered as she leaned closer to Onjo's ears. Aftering hearing the short haired girl's whisper, Onjo turned her head to face her friend who was standing beside her.
"I thought half-bies don't turn?" Daesu questioned as he leaned closer to Hyeryeong. A surprise gasp came out of Hyeryeong's mouth as the short haired girl was startled with the plump boy's sudden appearance.
"You scared me." Hyeryeong claimed as she instinctively slapped him over his face.
"I'm sorry. My bad." Daesu apologised as he wore a poker face after receiving a small slap from Hyeryeong and continued to observe the two female students. Despite the small ruckus beside her, Onjo intently watched both Areum and Namra's actions from where she was standing.
"I hear it." Areum mentioned when she heard the muffled groaning and shrieking from outside of the room. The black haired girl frowned her eyebrows a little bit as she continued to listen to the distant sounds.
"What?" Suhyeok gently muttered as he worriedly watched the girl in front of him.
"What do you hear?" Onjo asked, at the same time when Suhyeok questioned Areum. Overheard their questions, the beauty turned her head to face her friends, who were watching the four of them.
"I think someone is puking." Areum informed the group of friends before returning her focused back on the covered window.
When the two intelligent duo stopped hearing the retching and coughing sound of someone puking, Namra glanced over at her close friend as she looked for the confirmation after hearing nothing after a few seconds. Understanding what the class president was silently asking, Areum nodded her head in response.
"It stopped." Namra announced after receiving a nod from her close friend. All of the student bodies were surprised when they heard a discord key piano played in the corner of the room.
"What stopped?" Wujin asked when he spotted Namra and Areum sharing a look with each other.
"The sound of puking." Namra answered as she continued to stare at the covered window and focused on listening for any sounds in the school.
"Stop that. You're scaring me." The short haired girl uttered as fear could be seen on her black eyes. The four students that were standing near the covered window instantly looked over at Hyeryeong.
"Don't you hear it?" Areum asked the group of friends with confusion when only Namra and herself could hear the puking sound.
"What are you talking about? I didn't hear anything." Hyeryeong replied as she stared at Areum. After hearing the answer from the short haired girl, Areum could clearly hear Hyeryeong breathing heavily and her heart beating rapidly in fear.
"What?" Hyeryeong asked the black haired girl when she saw Areum was concentrating on looking in her direction. "What is it?
"Hyeryeong-ah. Are you scared?" The beauty worriedly asked as she continued to stare at the scared girl.
"Stop that." The short haired girl ordered after hearing Areum's words.
"It's just that...'' Areum paused when the black haired girl still could hear Hyeryeong breathing heavily. "...you're the only one here that breathing the loudest." She continued.
"I hate this fucking school" Both the intelligent female duo could hear someone murmuring the sentences, which made Areum blinked her eyes rapidly.
"Do you hear something?" Onjo asked as she faced her classmates when she saw the black hair girl beside Suhyeok rapidly blinking her eyes with skeptical.
"All I hear is that zombie." Daesu replied as he motioned his head toward the growling zombie that was crushed under the piano.
With her sense of listening heightened, Areum started to feel panic rise through her when she could hear the smallest noises in the room. The black haired girl was stunned when she was able to hear Jimin's gulping her own saliva and the clicking noise of her nails, Joonyeong sighing as he was playing with the zipper of his bag and Daesu's grumbly stomach. Then, the black haired girl quickly averted her attention toward the supply room when she heard some objects scraping and footsteps inside the supply room.
"Let's get out of here. This place feels weird." Areum suggested after hearing all of the sounds that a normal person could not hear.
"I agree with her. We're starting to hear some strange sounds here." Namra agreed with her friend's recommendation.
"We can't just leave. There are too many zombies out there." Cheongsan protested toward the black haired girl's suggestion. Deasu sighed in frustration as he sat on top of the table near him.
"We should've gone to the rooftop when the music was playing earlier. Damn it." The plump boy cursed.
"Music." The white hoodie girl mumbled to herself as she remembered Jimin playing music on the video camera. "That's right. We have music." Onjo claimed.
"Where do we have music?" Daesu questioned as she looked at Onjo. Turning her whole body to where both Areum and Suhyeok were sitting, Onjo roamed her eyes to look for the video camera. When she spotted the camera on top of the wooden table, Onjo went to take it.
***********
"We'll build a tall barricade here and lure the zombies in with the music. We'll use the instrument as well." Onjo explained. Areum was leaning her body against the wooden table as her untied hand supported her body with Suhyeok, who was standing beside her with his free hand inside his trouser pocket as they listened to Onjo's escape plan. "If we leave the door open, they'll hear the music and come in. So, when the hallway clears, we'll use the back door and go to the rooftop." The white hoodie continued explaining her escape plan.
"So you're saying we should stack desks, chairs and whatever else we could find in the middle of the room, open the front door and run out through the back door, right?" Cheongsan asked for her confirmation after listening to his childhood friend's escape plan.
"Not here but a little farther back." Onjo mentioned as she pointed her index finger to show them where the barricade should be stacked. "We need more room on this side." Onjo stated.
"Why is that? Daesu asked in confusion, frowning his eyebrow in the process.
"There aren't many of us but there are many zombies" The white hoodie girl replied.
"Ahh, I see." The plump boy said in realisation. "She sucks at school but she's pretty smart." Daesu uttered as he looked at Joonyeong.
"Hey!" Onjo yelled in anger as she glared at Deasu.
"It's a compliment." Cheongsan said as he tried to calm the angry girl. Then, the boy in the green vest turned to face the rest of his classmates. "Let's give it a shot. We can think about the rest later." He added.
"We also have a TV. We should be able to connect the music and make it louder. We have to look for the cord. Ah, Jimin, can you help me look for it?" Joonyeong stated as he turned to ask for help from Jimin.
"Sure." The girl in the green vest answered as she followed the boy with glasses.
"Me too." Hyeryeong volunteered as she tagged along to help searching for the cord.
Both Cheongsan and Daesu also began to build the barricade while Onjo walked to the four students, who distanced themselves away from the group. After accidentally spotted Suhyeok kissing Areum earlier, Onjo felt a bit dumb after not realising the sign Suhyeok usually had when he was with Areum before confessing toward the tall boy.
Once she stood in front of the pair, Areum straightened her posture from leaning her body against the table and she also observed Onjo was lowering her eyes to their tied hands. Not only did Areum noticed Onjo's change in mood, Suhyeok also saw the change of demeanor of the white hoodie girl when she stood in front of them. The tall boy spotted Onjo was looking at their tied hands with a solemn look
"Guys. We should untie that." Onjo uttered toward the two pairs of students as she lifted her eyes to look at Suhyeok's black eyes. Without wasting any time, the white hoodie girl tried to grab the red rope on the beauty's wrist. However, before she could touch the rope on Areum's wrist, Suhyeok pushed their hand away from Onjo's reach.
"It's okay." Suhyeok insisted as he kept holding Areum's hand while Wujin and Namra watched the three of them.
"Suhyeok-ah." Onjo called as she looked at him once again, "She'll never be able to get close to the others like this and no one will approach her." She continued as the tall boy averted his eyes to look at his friends on the other side of the room.
"Hatred is contagious but so is trust." Onjo informed as Areum lowered her eyes when she heard Onjo's wise statement. The white hoodie girl then shifted her attention toward the black haired girl.
"Areum-yah." Onjo called, making the black haired girl slowly lift her eyes to stare at the white hoodie girl, who was watching her with worry. Then, Onjo reached the beauty's hand as she untied the knot of their rope.
"You should've been the classroom president." Namra voiced behind the three students after hearing her wise statement.
"She's right. You could have joined the election of the class president as well as the class vice president. I'm sure the class would've voted for you." Areum stated as Onjo tried to hide her amusement smile. Once she untied the knot, the white hoodie girl put their hand back on their side. Before joining to help the rest of the friends, Onjo stared at the intelligent duo and sent a small smile in gratitude.
"Come on, let's help them out." Suhyeok suggested as he patted the small of her back. Areum nodded her head in agreement after she spotted Wujin had finished untying his hand and Namra's. "Let's go." The tall boy encouraged. Wujin nodded his head in understanding as both Namra and himself went to help the others.
When the beauty saw the red rope still attached around his wrist, Areum grasped his hand before Suhyeok walked further to their friends. The tall boy halted his movement when he felt Areum's small hand clasped on his hand. Turning his body to face her, Suhyeok watched the black haired girl walk closer to him and she tried to untie the knot of the red rope around his wrist.
Once she untied the rope, Areum lifted her eyes to see Suhyeok's black eyes were staring back at her. Giving him a soft smile, the black haired girl gently pushed Suhyeok's back using her small hands so he could walk forward to help their friends.
"Let's go help them." Areum motioned her head toward Onjo, Namra, Wujin Cheongsan and Daesu, who were busily stacking the chairs on top of the table. Suhyeok smiled when a soft smile appeared on Areum's face and felt her small hands pushing him from his back in order to start moving toward their friends. The tall boy then grabbed one of her small hands from his back and intertwined them together as they approached their friends and started to help build the barricade.
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