While Cheongsan let out a frustration scream, Suhyeok was busily tending Areum’s wound. The tall boy gently removed the thermal blanket away from her body and  examined her wound. Suhyeok sighed in relief when he saw the beauty’s wound was not deep as the bullet only grazed on her skin.

“Suhyeok-ah. I’m fine, really.” Areum reassured the boy she likes after observing Suhyeok was tending her wound. Hearing her statement, Suhyeok lifted his eyes in disbelief to stare at her brown eyes as he gently squeezed her arm to see if she was indeed fine.

“Aak~ Yah!” Areum shrieked in pain, flinching her body away when the hurt sensation started to travel on her left side after Suhyeok gently squeezed her arm. The beauty instantly glared at the tall boy, only to see that one of his eyebrows raised with a knowing look, a look in which Suhyeok did not believe any of her words. 

“You know better when you lied to me, Areum-ah. I can clearly see you in pain.” Suhyeok mentioned as his eyes softened after watching the black haired girl beside him lowered her head in embarrassment. 

“Hey. It’s not to be ashamed of. Everyone can feel pain, Rumnie-yah. Even I can feel it.” The tall boy uttered, comforting the beauty as he lifted her face by her chin using his other hand. Suhyeok smiled when his eyes met her brown eyes.

“It’s not to be ashamed of when you tell someone that you’re not feeling well.” He continued.

“I know.” Areum whispered, biting her lips in the process. “But I don’t want to be a burden.”

“Remember what I said in the music room? You’re not a burden to me, not to anyone, Areum-ah. If it wasn’t for you and even Prez, we'd be in trouble facing Gwinam earlier.” Suhyeok muttered as he tried to reassure Areum, who kept doubting her abilities after the beauty got bitten by one of the school bullies. 

“Suhyeok’s right, Areum-ah. Never doubt yourself as a burden to us. You’ve helped us when we’re in trouble. Now, it’s our time to help you, cousin.” Wujin joined in, causing  Areum and Suhyeok to turn their heads to look at both Wujin and Namra were approaching them with the first aid kit on Namra’s hand.

“Don’t think of that to yourself, Areum-ah. You more than that. Remember our plan after our graduation? We’re still planning on doing that, right? I’m not going to do it alone. So you better be alive.” Namra smiled as she lightened the dull atmosphere that surrounded them. Hearing her close friend's effort to lighten the mood, Areum chuckled at Namra’s joke. The two boys smiled when they watched the two close friends were able to help lift each other spirit.

“Would never dream of missing it, Namra-yah.” Areum smiled. The black haired girl then shifted her eyes toward her bleeding arm when she felt a stingy sensation before glancing back at her close friend and cousin. 

“I'd better treat the wound before it gets infected.” Areum mentioned as both Wujin and Namra nodded their heads in understanding. She watched as Suhyeok grabbed the first aid kit from Namra and placed it near the beauty while her close friend and cousin gave them some space to tend her wound.

The pair of them then worked together when Suhyeok insisted that he would do all the physical work while Areum only needed to tell him how to treat the wound on her arm. The black haired girl hissed in pain when Suhyeok applied a cotton ball of antiseptic liquid on her wound, causing the tall boy to halt his movement in worry. 

Once Areum notified him that she was fine, Suhyeok continued to gently patted her wound with the cotton ball that was drench with a bit of antiseptic liquid. When the tall boy finished tending her wound, Areum then asked him to wrap the gauze bandage around her wounded arm.

“Thank you, Suhyeok-ah.” The beauty whispered when she felt he finished wrapping the bandage around her arm before leaning closer to kiss his cheek. The tall boy smiled when he received a soft peck on his cheek.

After placing back the items he had used in the first aid kit, Suhyeok stood up with the box on his left hand while extending his right hand for Areum to take it, so she could stand from her sitting position. However, a sudden loud thunder crack throughout the city of Hyosan, caused the black haired girl to quickly let go of his hand as a massive pain traveled to her ears.

After hearing the loud thunder, Areum fell back on the hard floor as the beauty grunted in pain while covering her ears with both of her hands. Seeing Areum falling on the ground and groaning in pain, Suhyeok instantly went to help the girl he likes.

“Are you okay?” Suhyeok asked, holding her arms as he watched Areum close her eyes as well as covering her ears in pain.

“My ears hurt so much.” Areum breathed heavily as her ears produced a ringing sound that managed to hurt her ears badly. Seeing the beauty in massive pain, Suhyeok frantically searched around him to see if there was something he could help to reduce her pain, then an idea came to his mind when he remembered seeing Areum always wearing her earphones whenever she recalled the memories of her father.

Quickly ripped his white uniform shirt, Suhyeok then rolled the ripped shirt into buds, which could help covered Areum’s ears from hearing the thunder and reducing the experience of pain on her ears.

Once he was done, the tall boy lifted his head as his eyes softened with worry when he watched Areum’s current state. The redness and black veins under her jaw became worse as more redness and black veins became visible on her ears.

“This should help.” Suhyeok mentioned as he lifted the two rolled ripped shirts to Areum’s view, causing the black haired girl to look at them in confusion

“I know it’s not much but at least it can help reduce the pain when you hear the thunder.” The tall boy assured her when their eyes met each other. Appreciating Suhyeok’s effort in helping her, Areum took the two handmade earbuds from his hands and placed them on both of her ears. 

Suhyeok stayed by her side as he watched Areum done placing one of the earbuds on her right ear and struggled to put the other earbud on her left ear due to the restriction movement of her left arm. After seeing the beauty struggling to put it on her left ear, Suhyeok took the earbud from her hand and put her loose hair behind her ear before placing the handmade earbud on her left ear.

Once again a thunder struck in the night time at the city of Hyosan as both intelligent duo flinched in pain after hearing the loud rumbling of thunder. Areum was breathed in relief when Suhyeok’s handmade earbuds were able to reduce the pain on her ears, even though she still could hear the ringing sound after the crack of thunder. Then, the black haired girl could feel water droplets begin to slowly patter down on her arms after the rumbling of thunder. 

“It’s raining.” Daesu announced when a droplet of water fell on his face. “It’s raining.” He chuckled in happiness when rain started to pour down on them.

“It’s fucking raining!” The plump boy claimed as he drank some of the rain water.

“It’s pouring rain.” Joonyeong asserted in happiness, following the plump boy’s action.

***********

When the rain started to pour down on the students, all of them lifted their faces toward the sky as they dehydrated themselves by drinking some of the rain water and washed the dried blood away from their faces. 

From where she was sitting with the company of Suhyeok, Areum smiled when she watched Daesu laughing gleefully as he laid on top of the floor, moving his arms and legs in upward and downward motion, as if he was making a snow angel. The black haired girl then turned to face Suhyeok, who lifted his face upward with his eyes closed as he took the chance to dehydrate himself. 

Areum then lifted her right hand as she slowly brushed the dried blood off his jaw. Her small action had made Suhyeok to faced the beauty, who held a small smile on her face as she kept brushing her thumb on his jaw. The pair of them seemed to be in their own world as they stared at each other's eyes.

Unfortunately, their moment did not last long when they heard their friends sobbing and crying under the pouring rain. The smile on Areum's face quickly disappeared when she glanced over at her friends. Seeing her friends crying and sobbing under the pouring rain broke her heart after knowing well that all of them were only teenagers already experiencing the horrifying occurence in their life.

The clattering sound of raindrop helped Cheongsan calm down after his raging episode, in which the boy released a deep sigh once he felt relaxed as the same time a loud rumbling thunder could be heard through the rooftop. 

Overheard a female grunted in pain, Cheongsan blinked his eyes before looking where the source of sound was coming from. After finally finding the source of sound, he saw Areum covered both of her eyes as Suhyeok comforted her.

“Joonyeong-ah.” Cheongsan called as he approached his friend, who wiped his face after crying under the pouring rain. The said boy turned his whole attention toward Cheongsan as he waited for him to continue what he was going to say.

“You know how the zombies follow us if they hear us? If we move every time there’s thunder, maybe they won’t hear us.” Cheongsan recommended when he thought about this after watching Areum’s reaction to the rumbling sound of the thunder. Joonyeong took a moment to think of Cheongsan's suggestion, unable to get a quick response for him.

“I don’t think anyone is coming to save us.” Cheongsan uttered after looking over at the rest of his friends, who seemed to have lost hope after being abandoned by the rescue team earlier.

“Wouldn’t it be better to die trying to get out than die waiting here?” He continued as he faced Joonyeong once again.

“All right then. What do you have in mind?” Joonyeong sighed when he finally agreed with Cheongsan’s idea.

“If we take the back door of the auditorium to the tennis court and go through the English center, we can get to the mountain.” Cheongsan explained as he pointed his index finger toward the direction of the school auditorium to the English center and finally to the mountain, causing Joonyeong to follow where his finger pointed after he finished explaining his idea. Once the genius boy followed Cheongsan’s idea, he turned to look at the mountain near the school premise and nodded his head in agreement.

***********

When the pouring rain turned into a heavy rain, the surviving students took shelter under the tarpaulin sheet, huddling around each other beside the double-door of the entrance door of the rooftop and pondering about Cheongsan’s idea while both Suhyeok and Cheongsan were currently fixed the sheet above them. Both Areum and Namra were sitting side by side on the wall of the entrance building as the class vice president was snuggled under the thermal blanket due to the cold temperature.

Once the two boys were done fixing the tarpaulin sheet, Suhyeok went to Areum’s side and put his arm around her body as he pulled the beauty closer to him to give her some warmth.

“Th…Thank yo…you, Suhyeok-ah.” Areum whispered with her chattering teeth. Hearing the black haired girl thanking him, Suhyeok turned his head to face the beauty, only to watch her face turning pale due to the low temperature that currently surrounding them.

“No need to thank me. In return, I just want you to stay alive and stay beside me. We’re going to get out of here, okay?” Suhyeok muttered as he put her wet lock of black hair behind her ear, so he could clearly see her face. The tall boy’s eyes softened when he watched Areum nodded her head as a sign of acknowledgement. Seconds later, they heard Onjo talk about Cheongsan’s plan, making the pair focus their attention toward the white hoodie girl.

“If we manage to reach the mountain, we can make it to Yangdong. I’ve been hiking there a few times with my dad.” Onjo mentioned it to her friends.

Wujin signed in distress when he thought about getting out of the building with the zombies roaming around the school premises. “Don’t you think it’s too crazy to try?” The male cousin questioned.

“I’m not going. I’m scared.” Hyeryeong admitted. “What if the zombies catch us?”

“It’s not like anyone is going to save us if we stay here. We’re the only ones who can save ourselves.” Cheongsan uttered as Onjo turned her focus toward the boy. Then, Cheongsan shifted his eyes toward Joonyeong, who quickly avoided Cheongsan’s eyes before letting out a sigh.

When the rumble sound of the thunder once again reappeared, Areum flinched in pain beside Suhyeok as the beauty was unable to watch Cheongsan move himself in front of the group of friends. The tall boy soothed the beauty’s shoulder in circular motion when he felt her flinced.

“Let’s go. If anything happens, I’ll scream and lead the zombies away.” Cheongsan volunteered as the boy was drenched under the heavy rain,  causing the white hoodie to quickly glance at the boy. 

“That way none of you will get hurt, okay? So, let’s do this.” He continued before landing his eyes on Onjo.

“Don’t say that.” Suhyeok urged as Cheongsan turned his head to his close friend, who slowly stood in protest. 

“We’re all going to make it.” The tall boy comforted as Areum leaned her back against the wall of the entrance door building. 

“If anyone has to die tonight, I’ll die in their place.” Cheongsan muttered as he seemed to have already set his mind into the idea.

“Be..Because of the rain, all…of the scents ca…came to me at once. They get mi..mixed up. The rain is…really loud as well.” Areum tried to explain with her chattering teeth.

“We’re pretty sure the zombies’ senses are dulled.” Namra mentioned as she helped Areum finish her statement. The beauty nodded her head when Namra finished explaining their theories to their friends.

“If that’s what half-bies says, it should be reliable.” Daesu claimed, forgetting the presence of the protective boy who turned his head toward the plump boy.

“What’s a half-bie?” Suhyeok sternly asked as he looked at the plump boy with a hard look.

“A half zom…” Daesu paused when he looked Suhyeok’s hard look before shifted his eyes toward Areum and Namra, who looked up at the plump boy as they waited for his answer.

“Someone you can rely on.” The plump boy continued. 

“Should we go?” Daesu asked before averting his eyes toward Cheongsan, who nodded his head in agreement.

“Besides, both Areum and Namra are strong. They’ll keep up. Let’s trust them and go.” The plump boy suggested as he glanced over at the two intelligent duo.

“I’m not strong right now.” Areum stated as she fiddled with the end of the thermal blanket.

“Me too.” Namra muttered as she stared at her classmates.

“Why not?” Hyeryeong curiously asked as she looked at the two intelligent duo.

“We don’t know.” The class president replied, looking down at her hands as Areum was still shivering due to the cold weather.

“I think some of us might not be able to keep up the pace.” Jimin uttered to Cheongsan as she was concerned about being left behind.

“We can’t have anyone fall behind, so let’s pair up and hold hands.” Cheongsan suggested as he glanced over at his friends. “To protect each other.”

“Okay!” Daesu's loud voice boomed over the heavy rain.

“Hey.” The plump boy called Hyeryeong as he extended his hand toward the girl. Seeing his extended hand, Hyeryeong watched in confusion before turning her gaze to Jimin as she decided to extend her hand to pair up with Jimin, leaving Daesu’s extended hand hanging.

After watching the short haired girl paired up with Jimin, Daesu then offered his extended hand toward Areum and Namra. However, the two girls could not see the plump boy’s hand as at the same time, Suhyeok offered his hand to Areum whilst Wujin extended his hand to Namra.

Both of the female students quickly accepted their hands and paired up with them. Once Areum took his hand, Suhyeok helped her stand and the boy noticed how cold her hand was when they held each other’s hands. Glancing over the pouring rain, the tall boy was worried about her condition with the current weather.

When Daesu saw the two female students grab the two male’s hands, the plump boy turned his body at Onjo and quickly offered his hand for the white hoodie girl to take. Unfortunately for the plump boy, Cheongsan went to approach Onjo and took the girl’s hand.

“Stay close behind me.” Cheongsan uttered as he stared down at Onjo. When the white hoodie girl lifted her head to look at the boy in front of her, she tried to remove her hand away from Cheongsan but the boy only tightened his grip on her hand.

“Let’s survive first. We can talk about us later.” He mentioned when he felt Onjo tried to remove her hand. Taking a moment to think, Onjo finally agreed to pair up with the boy who had feelings for her. The white hoodie girl then stood from her position and walked to the entrance door of the rooftop, leaving a speechless Daesu behind.

“Aish. Why have we always stuck together recently? You’re always with Wujin.” Joonyeong complained when he saw they were the only remaining students who did not have any pair.

“Wujin abandoned me for prez. Now I’m alone.” Daesu mumbled in sadness when his best friend was paired with the class president. 

“So, Joonyeong-ah. Let’s go.” The plump boy offered as he extended his hand toward his friend. The boy that once wore the glasses released a deep breath as he stood from this sitting position and grabbed Daesu’s hand.

“Let’s go.” Joonyeong said before halted his movement and faced Daesu with a serious expression. 

“We’ll never talk about this, okay?” He sternly whispered. 

“Alright.” The plump boy agreed as he did a close zip motion over his mouth before following the rest of their classmates.

***********

“You guys ready?” Cheongsan asked once all of them stood in front of the double door of the rooftop. All of the surviving students in class 2-5 nodded their heads as a response.

After they responded to Cheongsan’s question, the boy slowly opened the rooftop door, in which the door produced a squeaked sound. One by one, each pairs cautiously started to get inside the school building with Cheongsan and Onjo leading their way out of the building, 

“Careful. Careful.” Hyeryeong advised the rest of her friends as they walked down the main stairwell in the building. 

Thunders rapidly rumbling when they walked in alert down the stairwells, causing Areum to halt her movement for a second before resuming her walk. Suhyeok, who was in front of her, tightened his grip on their intertwined hands when he felt the black haired girl paused on her walk, not wanting the beauty left behind. 

Cheongsan paused at the platform of the stairwell, scanning through the hallway before walking down further on the stairs. With the lightning flashed through the window, the boy in the green vest jumped back in surprise when he spotted a half-dead body laying on the hallway.

“What are you doing?” Hyeryeong warned in a hushed tone when Daesu loudly closed the door shut, making the rest of the students tense with the loud sound.

Luckily, there were no zombies that could be seen through the hallways below them. The plump boy repeatedly apologised while Cheongsan released a deep sigh when he realised he was surprised for nothing.

“Are you okay?” The boy that led his friends asked the girl in the white hoodie.

“Yeah.” Onjo replied. Continuing the journey to the ground floor of the school, Cheongsan led his friends down to the last steps until he abruptly stopped, making the rest of his friends halt on their movement as well.

“What’s wrong?” Suhyeok asked when they suddenly stopped.

“Hold on.” Cheongsan whispered as the growling sound of the zombies could be heard from the stairs they were currently standing on. Peeking his head over the stair railing, Cheongsan could see three zombies were standing on the hallway.

Just at the right time, a loud rumble of thunder cracked throughout the school building, catching the attention of the zombies as they staggering their way from the stairwells.

“It’s gone.” Onjo mentioned in a low voice.

Then, without wasting any time, they started heading down the rest of the stairs. Once they reached the last step of the stairs, Cheongsan took a final scan of the hallway before running to the school lobby. One by one the rest of group friends followed the boy’s action

With the rapid of thunder cracking in the heavy rain, Areum was doing her best in keeping up the pace with her friends as she felt quite light-headed after experiencing constant pain that traveled through her ears. 

“It’s okay. We’re almost there.” Suhyeok comforted when he spotted the beauty was not in the best condition. Seeing her current condition, Suhyeok wrapped his arm around her body and guided her through their next destination.

***********

The surviving students of class 2-5 finally reached outside of the school building, where they quickly hid themselves from being seen by the zombie who wobbled its way in different directions. Each of the students then calmly waited for Cheongsan’s next action as he sneaked a peek of the only zombie near the outside of the school building.

“I’ll lure that zombie and go over that way. Use that time to run away.” Cheongsan mouthed the words to Onjo, making the girl frown her eyebrows in protest.

“No.” Onjo moved her lips as she shook her head in objection.

“I’ll lure the zombie and go…” The boy once again mouthed the words when Onjo protested with his suggestion. Cheongsan stopped mouthing the words when he saw the white hoodie girl was about to punch him in frustration. Once the boy stopped explaining his idea, Onjo quickly glanced over the school building near the large bushes before landing her eyes back to her childhood friend.

“Let’s just go along the wall and cross over there.” The white hoodie girl proposed while pointing her finger to the school wall. Cheongsan seemed reluctant with her idea as he tried to check on the only zombie in front of them, causing Onjo to place her hand on top of him, in order to persuade him to agree with her suggestion. It took several seconds for Cheongsan to nod his head in agreement after the boy stared at his childhood friend’s brown eyes.

Once they were done with passing along the information to the rest of group friends, they slowly made their way along the school wall behind the line of large bushes before the zombie managed to see the students.

Following the rest of her friends, Areum blinked her eyes as the heavy rain droplets kept pouring down on her face. Another rumble sound of thunder made the beauty winced as she covered her ears when the hurt sensation kept reappearing on her ears.  Spotting the beauty winced in pain, Suhyeok watched the girl in front of him in worry as he placed his hand on her small back, keeping her from falling.

Once they reached the parking lots, the surviving students of class 2-5 crouched behind the truck with the metal pipes scattering beside the large vehicle. Out of nowhere, Daesu crouched beside Cheongsan as he volunteered to go under the large vehicle to check the other side of the area.

The plump boy then started to crawl under the truck as Wujin and Joonyeong joined to help their friend. The rest of the students were anxiously waiting for the three boys to give a signal once the coast was clear.

While waiting for the three boys, Areum gently nudged Suhyeok’s side when she saw Cheongsan spotted something in front of him, which made the boy slowly stand behind the truck as he blinked his eyes in disbelief.

“Mom?” Cheongsan muttered as he stared at his mom who had turned as a zombie as she frantically tried to get to him.

***********

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