Reception
The moment white powder burst from the fire extinguisher hose in Hong Seok-hui’s hands, the entire area in front of the music room was instantly swallowed in a haze of pale smoke.
Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, the zombies crowding the doorway began to falter one by one. Hong Seok-hui didn’t miss the opening, pushing the extinguisher harder and spraying the powder with even greater force.
The sheer pressure of the discharge sent the zombies toppling from the front row backward, one after another. Those in the back tripped over the fallen ones in front and went down with them, slipping and crashing to the floor.
Even in the middle of that chaos, Hong Seok-hui kept swinging the body of the extinguisher, bashing in the heads of the zombies. The rough, dull thudding blended with the spray of the extinguisher into a tremendous roar of noise — loud enough to feel completely out of place in a school.
It was just as the extinguisher’s pressure began to die down that Kim Jae-yun appeared, having been biding his time behind Hong Seok-hui and waiting for the right moment to strike. Kim Jae-yun gripped a flat, foldable metal chair with both hands, and his eyes gleamed with something close to madness. More than anything, it was the way one corner of his mouth curled upward — even with a horde of zombies right in front of him — that seemed to prove he had truly lost it.
I flinched at the sight of him and took a step back. I had always thought he was unhinged, but the fact that he could smile even in a situation like this left me utterly speechless.
With each step I retreated, Kim Jae-yun stomped over the tangled mass of zombies beneath his feet and swept the chair sideways, taking out the powder-coated zombies one by one.
The blood that splattered coarsely against the scattered white powder looked like red paint flung across fresh winter snow. I let out a dry cough as the powder began to slowly cloud my vision and fill my lungs.
Even standing as far back as I was, the white haze was drifting all the way to where I stood — clearly the fire extinguisher had an impressive range. I was squinting with one arm raised to cover my mouth when a familiar voice cut through the noise.
“Open the back door, quickly!”
The voice echoed through the hallway — rough and cracked, like it hadn’t been heard in a very long time. Cha Do-hyun’s head was turned to the side, apparently shouting at someone still inside the music room. A moment later came the sound of someone calling back in acknowledgment, and Cha Do-hyun turned his head forward again.
The way he joined the sweep — one hand gripping a spear-like rod and swinging it hard — had a different feel to it than Kim Jae-yun. If Kim Jae-yun was drenched in madness, hurling the metal chair with brutal, heavy force, then Cha Do-hyun was something else entirely — precise, deliberate, cutting down only the zombies lunging toward Kim Jae-yun.
I stood there for a moment, staring at Cha Do-hyun in a daze. By then the white haze that had been filling the air was beginning to settle. I could feel the blurred outline of Cha Do-hyun’s silhouette slowly growing sharper.
“Hey, I think that’s enough. Let’s get out of here.”
Kim Jae-yun said it as he swatted zombies aside like they were made of paper. The fire extinguisher powder Hong Seok-hui had been spraying seemed to be running out as well. Kim Jae-yun kicked away the zombie that had been grabbing at his ankle and trying to crawl up, then quickly shifted into position to run.
They were about to head for Lee Min-jae and Han Chae-rim, who had already gone out through the back door to secure an escape route.
“…Han Jae-i?”
The name came out of nowhere, and I went rigid all at once. The brief moment my eyes met Cha Do-hyun’s, every instinct in my head screamed at me to run — anywhere — but for some reason my legs refused to leave the floor. It might have been because of Cha Do-hyun’s voice, cutting through all the chaos so clearly it felt like nothing else existed.
“Damn it, that crazy son of a bitch….”
I only realized that Cha Do-hyun was moving toward me, eyes locked on me, after I heard Kim Jae-yun’s curse slice through my thoughts like a blade.
Cha Do-hyun shouldered zombies out of his path with his arms and walked straight toward me, like something had him completely under its spell. Then Kim Jae-yun came into view as well, rushing after Cha Do-hyun in a panic.
“Hey, Cha Do-hyun!”
Even at Kim Jae-yun’s shout, Cha Do-hyun showed no sign of stopping. I finally moved my feet and tried to back away — but it was already too late to avoid Cha Do-hyun, who was right in front of me now. And just as Cha Do-hyun’s arms reached out toward me —
From behind him came a violent swing of a metal chair, and a zombie collapsed to the ground behind Cha Do-hyun, bleeding. At the same time, I could see dark red blood dripping from the broken end of the chair, now split clean in two.
But Kim Jae-yun paid it no mind, grabbing Cha Do-hyun by the back of the neck and shouting.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?! We need to get out of here—”
But even that shout from Kim Jae-yun never reached its end. Kim Jae-yun stared at me — at what had stopped his gaze — with eyes that struggled to believe what he was seeing.
For a brief moment I could see Kim Jae-yun’s clenched mouth move slightly. It was only then that I became aware again of what state I was in.
I have to get away. I snapped back to my senses and tried to pull back. But this time even Kim Jae-yun couldn’t stop Cha Do-hyun — both of his hands clamped down hard around my forearms.
“Jae-i….”
“What the hell are you two doing?! Snap out of it!”
The shout this time was Hong Seok-hui. With the extinguisher powder settling in the air, Hong Seok-hui slammed the canister down on the heads of the reawakening zombies and called out to the two of them. Beyond that, I thought I could hear Lee Min-jae shouting for them to hurry up and come.
Kim Jae-yun finally came to his senses and yanked at Cha Do-hyun again. But the harder he pulled, the tighter Cha Do-hyun’s grip on my arms became. The pressure felt like his fingertips might bore straight through the fabric of my clothes and into my skin — and I bared my teeth on reflex.
Grrgh. The guttural animal sound I had grown all too used to spilled out from between my teeth. Kim Jae-yun saw it, and while dragging Cha Do-hyun back, he said:
“Let’s go. We have to go — we’re out of time.”
“Let go.”
“For fuck’s sake, Cha Do-hyun!”
Kim Jae-yun held tight to Cha Do-hyun, who refused to budge, and turned to go. Hong Seok-hui was still holding out alone for now — but before long, zombies would be flooding in from elsewhere too.
Kim Jae-yun kicked the zombie that came stumbling at him from behind square in the chest, sending it crashing noisily to the floor. But the number of zombies stirring back to life was already, even at a glance, far too many for just the two of them to handle.
“Cha Do-hyun!”
Even with me baring my teeth in threat, even with Kim Jae-yun pulling with everything he had — Cha Do-hyun still refused to let go, gripping me as if he had no intention of releasing me at all.
This can’t keep going.
To break out of this suffocatingly unbearable situation, I needed to find another way. If Cha Do-hyun had no intention of leaving on his own, there was only one option left.
I lifted my limp, slack hands and silently wrapped them around both of Cha Do-hyun’s wrists. Then, with just enough force to match the grip he had on my arms, I slowly pressed my nails into Cha Do-hyun’s skin.
I look into Cha Do-hyun’s trembling eyes. In those dark blue-black irises, taking in every part of me, despair takes root. At the same moment, my sharpened senses caught the thick scent of Cha Do-hyun’s blood in the air.
I feel the revolting thirst rising inside me as I peel Cha Do-hyun’s hands away from me.
The sound of zombies closing in grows louder and nearer. I can see Kim Jae-yun grabbing Cha Do-hyun by the collar and dragging him back.
I breathe slowly, letting the noise around me fall away. And just as Kim Jae-yun pulls Cha Do-hyun back, I use everything I have to shove Cha Do-hyun in the chest. The Cha Do-hyun who had been standing like a stone statue — as if he would never move — stumbles backward with a dull thud.
“Jae—….”
Thanks to the timing of the push, Kim Jae-yun doesn’t realize it was me who shoved him. But Cha Do-hyun is different. Cha Do-hyun’s wide eyes lock onto me.
Cha Do-hyun grows further away. I stand still and watch him go. Every backdrop surrounding Cha Do-hyun seems to flow in slow motion — even though in reality it was over in an instant.
Kim Jae-yun and Cha Do-hyun disappear through the wrecked hallway. The fire extinguisher Hong Seok-hui left behind rolls across the floor and comes to a stop at the tips of my feet. The noises of the hallway flood back into my ears all at once. Only then do I let my legs give out beneath me.
And for the first time,
I curse the reality of having become a zombie.
Sweetheart…