A Meaningful Sacrifice || All of Us Are Dead

2. Taking Charge

At Joonyeong's correction, Daesu goes very still. Everything—including time—seems to stop.

His head turns slowly, and Joonyeong simply stands at the opening, his hands crossed on the ledge and his face sporting a shit-eating grin. He can't help himself; the satisfaction of giving his friends a miraculous surprise is too good to resist.

When Daesu's head is finally turned enough as to where he can directly see Joonyeong, many things happen in rapid succession.

First, he gasps sharply, his eyes widening as he stands very quickly. As he stands, he nearly loses his balance. Next, the others also gasp, their heads turning to see that Joonyeong has, in fact, not died.

"Joonyeong-ah?"

Then, Joonyeong smiles tearfully as Cheongsan, Suhyeok, and Woojin stand up in shock. Finally, Mijin gasps as she sees a very alive Joonyeong.

"Oh, God," breathes Cheongsan, making his way forward to grab one of Joonyeong's arms. "Come on, let's get you over." Daesu, snapping out of his reverie, grabs Joonyeong's other arm and helps him climb over. Once he's on the other side, Daesu pulls him into a bone-crushing hug.

"Never do that again," he tells him with a hard tone, holding Joonyeong tightly.

"I thought I was gonna die," Joonyeong wheezes slightly (due to Daesu's iron grip), "so I did what I thought was best."

"Yah!" Mijin cuts in, speaking for the first time since Joonyeong's appearance. She stands up and walks towards him. Joonyeong expects her to welcome him, but instead, she gives him a hard slap, causing him to recoil. As expected, he only feels a faint sting from the contact due to his high pain tolerance. "You asshole! Don't ever do that again!"

"Shh!" Suhyeok warns, making his way over to the four of them. After momentarily pausing to get a look at Joonyeong—perhaps to verify that his friend is not a hallucination—he continues, "The sound will attract the zombies." Now smiling, he wrenches Joonyeong from Daesu's arms and engulfs him with his own.

"Yah, if I knew I was gonna be this popular just by giving myself to the zombies, I would've done it sooner," Joonyeong jokes.

"Shut up," says Mijin.

"Please don't joke about that," adds Hyoryung, looking up from her spot on the construction ledge.

"What matters is that you're alive," adds Woojin, rubbing Joonyeong's shoulder. "Come on," he then invites, leading Joonyeong to sit between him and Mijin.

When he sits down, he stares at the landscape in front of them. It's barren.

Infested.

Eyes flitting to the distant city, Joonyeong wonders for the first time whether his parents are even alive. He can't believe he didn't think about them at all before this. But maybe it's because he was too focused on surviving. Yeah, that's probably it.

Appa is a chemical engineer. The plant he works at is big enough as to where he can find someplace to hide. But he's not a good fighter. What if Appa didn't get out? Eomma is a doctor. What if the hospital Hyeonju was taken to was the one Eomma works at? He's less certain about her survival. But the person he's most worried about is his sister, Soowi, who's in elementary school. He doesn't talk about her much to his friends, but she's nonetheless very important to him, perhaps even more than Appa and Eomma.

He won't be able to take it if his sister is dead. His parents, maybe. But he knows he'll kill himself if Soowi doesn't survive.

From the corner of his eye, Joonyeong catches a glimpse of Onjo's face, and he realizes she's the one who's been crying. Looking over at Cheongsan, he asks, "How'd you get out?"