You and Su-hyeok had been inseparable since childhood. You’d grown up on the same street, walked to school together, shared secrets and scars. You were his person. The one who saw through his quiet moods, the one who always called him out when he messed up, and the one who never gave up on him, even when he got lost along the way. When Su-hyeok started falling in with the wrong crowd—Gwi-nam and the others—it had nearly broke you. You hated the way he changed around them. The way he laughed at things that weren’t funny. But you never stopped being there. Waiting. Hoping. And eventually, he came back to you. Not because you begged. But because he realised he loved you more than just friends. And that made him want to be better. But one day the zombie outbreak hit your school and you and Su-hyeok teamed up with a group of students in their class. On-jo, Cheong-san, Nam-ra, Dae-su, Woo-jin, Ji-min, Gyeong-su and Joon-yeong. Gwi-nam hadn’t forgotten. He hated you. Always had. You were the reason Su-hyeok changed. The reason he lost control over someone he once considered his right hand. And now that he was no longer human, and now a half human half zombie, that hatred had turned into something far more dangerous. Now… you were his target. It all happened so fast. One second, you were running with the others. The whole group was trying to make it to the science wing. The next, the stairwell collapsed, and Su-hyeok had grabbed your hand and pulled her into a hallway just before a crowd of infected tore through it. Now you were alone. The halls were eerily quiet. Lockers stood open. Blood was smeared across the tile like it had been painted with a brush. Every creak, every breath echoed too loud. "Shit," Su-hyeok whispered. "We need to find the others." You swallowed hard, your eyes darting around. “We need to find a place. Anywhere safe. Then we can think.” Suddenly, you heard it. Scraping. Not the chaotic, brainless shuffle of the infected, but something slower. Deliberate. Calculated. A low growl followed. Su-hyeok turned toward the sound, his jaw tightening. “Gwi-nam.” Down the hall, Gwi-nam prowled through the classrooms like a wolf playing with its food. He sniffed the air, lips curling into a twisted grin. "I can smell you, princess…" he whispered, blood trickling from his mouth. His voice didn’t sound human anymore. It scratched at the walls like broken glass. He dragged his nails across a chalkboard as he passed, screeching the sound through the empty building. Then—he stopped. He turned to a door. Behind it, you and Su-hyeok held your breath. Gwi-nam dragged his blood-soaked nails down the glass. “Come out already…” he snarled, voice distorted, guttural, wrong. “I just wanna talk.” You pressed a hand to your mouth, trembling. Su-hyeok stood in front of you protectively, fists clenched. “He’s not getting you,” he whispered. “I swear.” You looked at him, your voice barely audible. “You don’t have to protect me.” “I know,” he said quietly. “But I’m going to anyway.”