do or die | yang jungwon

stage 10: half-bies and ethics

HIYYIH DOESN'T KNOW WHAT'S LOUDER: THE BEATING OF HER HEART OR THE BLOOD RUSHING THROUGH HER SKULL AS TRIES TO PROCESS HARUTO'S WORDS ABOUT THEIR FIGHT WITH GWI-NAM.

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"we think he's a half-bie," haruto said, wincing as he touched the bruises on his arms. jungwon nods in agreement, not even the slightest bit skeptical as hiyyih was used to him being.

hiyyih is tucked into jeongwoo's side, a sight which had been somewhat difficult for jungwon to understand but yoonah, thankfully, had already been aware of their...situation and was beyond supportive.

"trust me, if i had someone who loved me half as much as jeongwoo loves you, i'd be doing the same," yoonah had said, her monotone voice stained with a little pain that hiyyih had never thought to be possible of the stoic class president.

"i'm sure someone does," hiyyih had said, to which yoonah had smiled sadly.

"i wish. even though you guys hadn't been able to date openly like jeongwoo and i were forced to, on those 'dates', which was really just us playing it up for the press, all he could talk about was you."

"what's a half-bie?" hiyyih questioned, as she put ointment on jungwon's arms. thankfully, the boys had managed to secure the necessary medical equipment. the phones, unfortunately, were another issue. principal kim had left a sticky note on his desk to remind professor im, the technology professor, to return the phones to professor joo, their first and last period professor.

"a half zombie," yoonah said, taking inventory of everything they had gathered that hadn't been damaged in the fight. they had managed to salvage most of the medical supplies they had taken from the nurse's office (along with some bottled water and saltine crackers that were practically dust at this point) but they had only found one landline phone in the principal's office that didn't connect to anything in the first place. hiyyih could only assume that the wifi in the school was down which meant that they could only make calls through service - which meant they had to find the phones.

"how are half-bies different from normal zombies?" she asked, looking for a bag or container to consolidate all the supplies to carry to the broadcasting room. jungwon seemed shaken to the core as he opens his mouth to speak, running a hand through his hair as he thinks.

"i don't know why they're different, to be honest. but i do know that gwi-nam wasn't fully turned. he had super strength - haruto can usually take him in a fight but it took three of us to really even get him to trip and fall out the window. the only reason why he hasn't been able to get back in is because i stabbed him in the eye," jungwon said, grimacing as he nodded at the wooden stake in the corner. it was bloodied and the end of it was jagged, as if the other half was still stumbling around somewhere. 

"you stabbed him in the eye and he's still alive?" hiyyih said indignantly. jeongwoo shivered, nodding as he tucks hiyyih closer to his body.

"yeah. we don't know why he's different from the other zombies and we honestly have no clue how to kill him. he was talking and acting completely normal when we saw him. it wasn't until he tried to get to yoonah that we even noticed that he had been bitten," jeongwoo said, his gaze hardening as him and hiyyih got up to stuff medical supplies into a clean garbage bag left in an unchanged garbage can.

"he tried to get you?" hiyyih gasped, turning to yoonah in thinly veiled concern. yoonah shrugged casually but hiyyih could see the discomfort in her tensed muscles the second jeongwoo had brought up the encounter.

"yeah. i guess assholes are assholes regardless of if they've been bit or not," yoonah laughs bitterly and hiyyih can see haruto's fists clench in anger through the corner of her eye.