The scene was utter chaos, the beginning of an apocalypse.

You found yourself in a classroom, the once-familiar environment now twisted into a battlefield. The door was hastily barricaded, a makeshift barrier to keep the relentless horde of zombies at bay. Your hands trembled as you clutched a sharp wooden stick, its surface slick with blood—blood that wasn’t yours. You had wielded it to fend off the undead, some of whom had once been your classmates. The realization of what you had done gnawed at your mind, but there was no time to dwell on it; survival was all that mattered now.

Amid the chaos, Su-hyeok, one of the few remaining survivors, burst through the barricade, breathless and frantic. He quickly reinforced the door, ensuring it held against the growing threat outside. In his hand, he gripped Nam-ra’s, leading her into the room. Your eyes were immediately drawn to the bite mark on her arm, the unmistakable sign of infection. But Nam-ra was different—she wasn’t like the others. Her eyes, though clouded with the beginnings of the transformation, still held a glimmer of humanity. She had become a “halfbie,” a rare zombie-human hybrid.

Halfbies were unlike anything you had encountered before. They possessed the terrifying strength, heightened senses, and agility of the undead, yet retained their human intelligence. This made them both formidable and dangerous, a walking contradiction that was neither fully alive nor fully dead.

The tension in the room was palpable. The other survivors recoiled in fear, their eyes wide with terror as they pointed out that Nam-ra was no longer one of them. Su-hyeok, his expression a mix of defiance and desperation, stepped forward, shielding her from their accusing stares. He grabbed a tie from a nearby desk and, in a gesture that was both protective and heartbreaking, tied Nam-ra’s wrist to his own. He declared that if she were to lose control, she would only be able to harm him.

You watched from the shadows, your heart heavy.