𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 & 𝐳𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 | All of Us Are Dead

prologue

               The heavy rain paddled loudly on their umbrella, Oh Na-Bi pressed herself further into the boy behind her so as to not get soaked. Ahn Chang-Hoon draped his arm over her shoulder as they watched Myeong-Hwan confront the younger boy.

               Lee Jin-Su had been their target for a while now, and Na-Bi felt an immense amount of sorrow for him because even after the boy had transferred schools Myeong-Hwan, Chang-Hoon, and Gwi-Nam just kept finding and harassing him.

               The three boys along with Kim Hyeon-Ju and Na-Bi were supposed to get chicken at a restaurant when they had stumbled across Jin-Su and pulled him to the rooftop of the building.

               "I heard you named me in your suicide note," Myeong-Hwan spoke after inspecting the scars on Jin-Soo's wrist. "That you want to die because of me."

               Na-Bi swallowed the lump in her throat, averting her gaze from the scene and choosing to stare at her reflection in one of the puddles on the ground.

               "I'm sorry." Jin-Su choked out.

               "What a piece of shit," Na-Bi heard Hyeon-Ju scoff.

                Her heartbeat sped up and Na-Bi once again regretted ever accepting that cigarette Hyeon-Ju had offered her all those months ago. She had been so scared to say no to the girl, consumed by the irrational fear that she would become one of their victims as well if she refused. She wished that On-Jo had gone to the bathroom with her that day; the Nam girl would have surely stopped her.

               But then again, On-Jo and Cheong-San had stopped including her in things long before that. Maybe that's why she had gone looking for new friends.

               She was pulled out of her thoughts when Chang-Hoon dragged her back a little to make room for Gwi-Nam, who was in the midst of beating up a defenceless Jin-Su.

               "Stop, please stop" the boy begged, kneeling on the ground. His pleas went ignored by the other five teenagers on the rooftop.

               Na-Bi ducked out of the way when he suddenly picked up a rusty pole off the floor, aimlessly swinging it around as a means to defend himself from the bullies.

               Chang-Hoon stumbled forward a little, giving Na-Bi no choice but to follow if she didn't want to get wet. He kicked the boy in the back of his thigh, making him stumble forward.

               Yoon Gwi-Nam overtook again, pushing the boy to the ground and kicking the pole out of his reach.

          "Get up, dipshit!" Gwi-Nam pulled the boy up by his shirt, punching him in the face twice before dropping him again.

               Na-Bi tilted her head up to look at Chang-Hoon, keeping her voice quiet as she spoke, "Yah, I'm getting bored, can we get the chicken now?"

               "Shut up, it's just getting fun." He dismissed her, handing her his cigarette. He didn't even spare her a second glance, his eyes glued to the fight. If you could even call it that.

                Gwi-Nam was now repeatedly kicking Jin-Su in the torso, spitting a round of profanities at him. He stopped, turning away from the boy on the floor to catch his breath before continuing the assault. Na-Bi flinched at the sound of bones cracking. Gwi-Nam now had his foot placed on the side of Jin-Su's face, pressing down with all his body weight.

               "Hey, stop it. Stop." Myeong-Hwan called his gopher back from where he stood on the sidelines. The Yoon boy followed his command.

               Na-Bi's gaze was still focused on Lee Jin-Su, her brows furrowing as he let out almost animalistic growls. Her eyes widened in fear as he got up from his position on the ground in the most inhumane way, his limbs stiff and his bones cracking.

               Chang-Hoon handed her the umbrella, walking towards his friends, but he didn't get far --Jin-Su tackled him to the ground, letting out an angry cry while doing so. They stumbled into the barrels standing behind them, barely having time to get up before Son Myeong-Hwan started hitting the Lee boy with his umbrella.

               Both Na-Bi and Hyeong-Ju sidestepped out of the way when Jin-Su was thrown in their direction, not daring to take their eyes off the scene that was quickly escalating.

                "Aishh, cut it out already, fuck," the Kim girl cursed, annoyed that this was taking so long.

                But Lee Jin-Su would not give up; getting up from the ground once more before starting at Gwi-Nam at full speed.

                Na-Bi could have sworn her heart stopped beating as she watched Jin-Su fly over the side of the building. A loud crash was heard as he hit the sign of the building opposite them before landing on the ground with a disturbing thud.

               Deafening thunder echoed in the silence that had settled between the teenagers. Na-Bi suddenly recoiled, dropping the cigarette that still resided in her hand. She let out a painful hiss, inspecting the fresh burn mark on her finger.

               "Can we leave now, please?" Hyeon-Ju spoke, making Myeong-Hwan and Gwi-Nam return from the edge of the building.

               "Is he dead?" Na-Bi questioned, forcing her voice not to break.

               Myeong-Hwan looked her in the eye, shrugging. "Who cares? The bastard wanted to die anyway."

___

           Of course, they ended up not getting the chicken – not that Na-Bi was hungry anymore anyway. The prospect of potentially having killed someone lay far too heavy on her.

           She was so focused on what had just conspired – would Jin-Su be found? Was he alive? Would he go to the police? God, had someone seen them leave the building? What if she was arrested? Who would take care of Oji? No, wait, she didn't do anything wrong, right? She wasn't the one who threw him over the side of the building, she didn't even touch him – that she didn't notice her phone vibrating in the pocket of her jumper until Chang-Hoon pointed it out.

            With a nervous glance at the boy, she pulled it out. Her face quickly dropped when she saw the caller ID, and with a sigh, she clicked the accept button.

            "Yeoboseyo?"

            "Na-Bi-ya! How are you? Are you good? How was school?" She was immediately bombarded with questions. "Why aren't you home yet? I wanted to let you know that Ji-Soo came over to play with Cheong-San."

             "I'm great, Mrs Lee." She forced a smile on her face. "I'm doing just great."

a/n:
I literally fell in love with cheong-san the second I saw him so I'm really excited to write this fanfic
and hopefully I'll be able to stick to a schedule
this time around
(looking at all my unfinished drafts 👀👀👀)
anyway—
if you liked the prologue make sure to vote or leave a comment. also I'm always open for constructive criticism especially since english isn't my first language.

word count: 1056
( not proofread )