Black Swan.

𝖎𝖎. the loner.

(  CHAPTER TWO  ༒︎ the "loner" )

         SEVENTEEN YEARS IS A SIGNIFICANT amount of time in life for any human being. but for lee eun, now known as cho jihyun, it felt as though seventeen years had managed to slip pass him in the blink of an eye. as he navigated through the journey of growing older once more, he began to uncover the layers of his new existence. one of the most significant discoveries being the world into which he has been reincarnated.

all of us are dead.

in a short and simple summary, all of us are dead is a series that explores the topic of a zombie apocalypse. the series mainly follows a group of high school students who become trapped in their school after the virus breaks out. besides that, the series also delves into things like bullying, friendship, romance, and more things that jihyun can't be bothered to remember. however, their main objective remained the same: to survive at all costs.

the only reason he was able to figure out where he was so early on was because he happened to attend the same middle school and share majority of the same classes with lee suhyeok. just thinking of the boy makes him nauseous. suhyeok was a total asshole when he was younger. theres no denying it as it's even mentioned in the series how suhyeok used to be friends with gwinam.

just like in the series, jihyun assumes, back then suhyeok had a reputation for being reckless and intimidating, causing many students to steer clear of him. he often hung out with a group of bullies, including gwinam, and terrorized other students at the school. unfortunately for jihyun, he had to witness and experience firsthand on how suhyeok used his strength to terrorize others.

but that's beside the point. currently, jihyun is consumed by anxiety about the impending future. he's been spotting an awful lot of black swans lately and he can't shake the feeling that the outbreak is coming soon. after all, the last time he had ignored a black swan, it cost him his life at a young age. the memory sometimes still lingers in his mind, a haunting reminder of the consequences of inaction. call it paranoia, and maybe it is, but he refuses to take any chances this time around.

while he's lost in his thoughts, jihyun didn't notice yuri— his best friend from the orphanage— quietly creeping up on him from behind. just as she was about to pounce, he instinctively moved to the side which caused her to tumble forward and land face-first onto the ground with a soft thud.

"that hurt hyunie!" she whined as she rubbed her nose.

"why are you acting like it's my fault? i've told you a hundred times to stop sneaking up on me." he said with a playful grin spreading across his face as he watched yuri sulking on the ground. she slowly pushed herself up, brushing off the dirt from her skirt with a pout. though, all her pout did was add on to his amusement. "now c'mon, we're going to be late." he reminded, still chuckling at her mischief.

with that, the two continued their walk to hyosan high school.

         RUSHING PAST THE SCHOOL GATE to get in school on time had never been a problem for jihyun. he keeps his grades up and goes to school quietly as he would leave. no one could argue that he was a bad student, even if they wanted to. in fact, many saw him as a prodigy. what they didn't know was that his brilliance stemmed from being a reincarnated soul, carrying all the memories and knowledge from his past life. but that was a secret he intended to keep for however long he could.

truly though, he really did put the time and effort into his studies, but that was only because once he comes of age he's planning on leaving the shitty orphanage he's in. he isn't sure what he was going to do after he graduated but whatever it is, he's going to make sure no one looks down on him ever again.