Promise; Lee Su-hyeok

015. Emo Boy

1040 words

I shift around once again when my legs starts to go numb. I wish I'd taken the opportunity to skip school this morning. I was already late, but nooo.

Wake up, he said. You're gonna be late, he said.

Well, look where it got me, Gyeong-su.

No offense. I still sorta love you.

As if in sync with my thoughts, he sneezes. I half yell. "Bless you, Gyeong-su!" Hopefully he can hear me.

My legs start to go numb again. They're tingling, but like times four. "Oh my god." I groan and pull my knees up to my chest. Eventually, the feeling of pins and needles viciously attacking my legs fades away.

Cheong-san starts approaching On-jo slowly. Hesitantly, he asks, "Are you okay?"

She looks down, "I keep thinking about I-sak."

Oh, right. She's dead.

"You held on until the last possible second." He mutters. Wow, what a great way to cheer her up.

She shakes her head. "Stop. That doesn't help."

I knew it. I'm always right.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Stay strong." He says softer than before. On-jo's face visibly relaxes slightly, making it seem like she's now deep in thought. "Your dad or someone else will come save us."

"Sure they will," I mumble. I know it's good to be optimistic in situations like these, but, like... that takes effort.

I look up when I hear ringing. A noise I've heard one too many times. "Hey, do any of you still have a phone?"

Dae-su shrugs, "I don't know. Why?"

"Don't you hear that? A phone is ringing." I pause, "No... now it's several phones ringing."

Ji-min frowns, "I don't. Y/n, what are you talking about?"

I use the wall to stand up. "Do you really not know? Be quiet and listen." As soon as they all get silent, the phones stop their ringing. "Shit. Of course. Just my luck."

I lay down and rest my head on the cold floor. "Just forget I even said anything."

Not a zombie? Yeah, right.

-----

"Y/n."

"What, Cheong-san?"

"Imma go bother Gyeong-su. Wanna go with me?" I smirk, "Hell yeah!"

We waddle over to the broadcasting room, giggiling like little kids. Cheong-san presses his face on the door's glass, not allowing me to see anything.

"Move." I whine, shoving him just enough so I can see. He knocks on the window thingy and starts whistling Auld Lang Syne. Gyeong-su furrows his brows and Cheong-san continues to whistle, but way more aggressively.

In return, Gyeong-su starts whistling, also to the tune of Auld Syne Lang. I smile, "Finally, he's not emo anymore."

They end the song and they both laugh. "Freak," Gyeong-su chuckles.

Cheong-san points at him. 'Han Gyeon-Su,' he mouths. 'I'll kill you,' he raises his fist, scrunching his nose. I push Cheong-san away. 'Fucking emo boy,' I mouth, showing him my middle finger.

Gyeong-su gestures for us to wait. He pulls something from beside him and starts... reeling it? He flips us off and Cheong-san and I laugh.

"What a clever young woman you have raised, Cheong-san," I praise.

Cheong-san bows, "Why thank you, Y/n. Oh hey, look."

"Hm?"

He opens his mouth and presses his lips onto the glass. Gyeong-su
laughs again, "What a fucking Idiot." I join him and press my face against the glass, smushing it.

"What are you doing?" Gyeong-su asks, still laughing. I look at the clock. It's been like 20 minutes since he came in here.

I hold up three fingers. '30 minutes, Gyeong-su.'

He won't mind if I round it up just a bit, right?

"What's that?"

'It's been 30 minutes,' Cheong-san mouths. 'Come out.'

Instead, he just waves at us dismissingly. He goes back to making patterns with the embroidery board. Why is he so stubborn?

"Ms. Park," Cheong-san snitches. "It's been more than 30 minutes, but he still doesn't want to come out."

Ms. Park sighs, "I'll see what I can do." She walks into the broadcasting room and closes the door behind her.

Su-hyeok slides off the table. "What's wrong with him?" All of us go over to the large window because we're nosy and want know what's going on. Na-yeon looks up and I accidentally make eye contact.

I ignore her, of course.

[epie041 thank you for reminding that the word nosy existed jsjsj]

Dae-su rests his chin on his crossed arms and his arms on the cotnrol panel, "Looks okay to me."

"He's fine. I knew it," I sigh. I mean, I knew that anyway. But still, you never know. A little reassurance never hurt anyone.

From my point of view, I can see Ms. Park say something and Gyeong-su glancing at us, then shaking his head. Maybe, just maybe, we're the zombies and he's the only unaffected one.

That would explain why he refuses to come out. Boom, Imma genius.

"I dont undertsand why he's being so stubborn," Cheong-san grumbles. Su-hyeok turns his head, "He won't come out?"

Cheong-san looks down and nods, indicating that Bare-su's assumption is correct. He sighs, "Ugh. He's always like this."

"He's too stubborn," Dae-su says.

I shrug, "I don't get why yall are saying that he's so stubborn."

Nam-ra speaks, her soft voice barely audible since she's across the room, sitting against the wall. "That's no suprise coming from you. You're more stubborn than him."

And I took that personally.

"I am not."

Su-hyeok scoffs, "Oh, but you are."

"Su-hyeok. Shut."

Ms. Park opens the door and we all focus on her instead. Cheong-san speaks first. "So what did he say?"

I walk up behind him, "He won't come out?"

"He said he's staying the full hour."

Dae-su sighs, "He's pissed."

I rub my eye with my hand, "Of course he is. Cheong-san, you should go in."

Joon-yeong shuffles over to us. "I think Y/n should go. She's his little sister after all."

"He won't listen to me."

"No, Joon-yeong is right. You should go. Just because you don't listen to him, doesn't mean he doesn't listen to you." On-jo urges, "Go Y/n."

"Why should she have to go?" Ji-min asks.

"If anyone should, it's Na-yeon."