IZSTASL Chapter 12

“What the hell are you doing? You lose your mind or something?”

He was staring at my fingers as he spoke.

Slowly, I looked down.

My thumb was in my mouth.

As I pulled my hand away, I saw that I’d bitten my nail too deep—blood was dripping from the torn skin.

“Ah, fuck.”

I grimaced and wiped my finger against my uniform pants. The metallic taste of blood lingered in my mouth, making me feel even worse.

Lee Seon-kang handed me a tissue while Cha Min-seok and Kim Woo-hyung kept staring at me. Meanwhile, Yoon Si-chan barely spared me a glance, as if he couldn’t care less.

Right. That bastard was here too.

The guy who tosses people aside like it’s nothing.

The guy who kills even when he doesn’t have to, just because someone pissed him off.

It was Yoon Si-chan who killed Seo Jae-jun in the first place.

As long as that bastard is still alive, I’m fine.

In this situation, there’s no one who wouldn’t act like him or me. The world is fucked—there’s no way there’s a single person left who hasn’t killed at least once. The real freaks are them…

Something heavy inside me seemed to settle.

After wiping my thumb with the tissue Lee Seon-kang gave me, I felt better.

Looking around the faculty office again, I realized it was even smaller than I thought.

To the left of the door, there was a desk with a laptop on it. On the right, two chairs were scattered around. A mini-fridge sat against the left wall with a microwave on top of it, and a mostly useless desk was shoved against the right wall, taking up unnecessary space.

“You got anything in there?”

Yoon Si-chan asked as he walked toward the fridge.

Kim Woo-hyung, who was sitting in front of it, answered.

“Water and Coke. There’s bread on top of the microwave too.”

At the mention of bread, I got up from my spot.

Inside the fridge, there were two 500ml bottles of water and a thick can of Coke. Yoon Si-chan nodded before turning his attention to the laptop on the desk.

“Oh! That thing won’t turn on….”

Cha Min-seok, who had been sitting in front of it, started to speak up but trailed off like some timid loser.

“Fucking useless.”

Yoon Si-chan muttered flatly.

He flipped the laptop over, tried to pry open the cover, and then pressed the power button hard, as if attempting to fix it.

I walked over to check the bread sitting on top of the microwave, moving past the chair where Kim Woo-hyung was sitting.

As I got closer, his expression twisted in annoyance, and just as I reached out for the bread, he shoved his head forward to block my hand.

“Fuck off, asshole.”

I swatted his head aside, but he grabbed my wrist.

“I was saving that for later. Don’t just take shit like it’s yours.”

There was pure contempt on his face as he said it.

What the fuck? That’s bullshit.

Sure, I had considered sneaking one for myself, but I wasn’t about to eat it right now. I had a chocolate bar anyway, you bastard.

The sensation of his hand gripping mine made my skin crawl like I’d just been touched by some disgusting insect. I yanked my arm away, shaking it off.

“You crazy fuck, what’s your problem? I was just looking to see what was there.”

“Yeah, right. You always say that and then take everything for yourself.”

“The fuck are you talking about? Have you ever seen me steal anything?”

“You take whatever you see, like some kind of fucking hobo.”

“Then tell me exactly what the fuck I’ve stolen, you piece of shit!”

Losing patience, I grabbed his collar and shouted in his face.

Kim Woo-hyung stood up as well, grabbing my collar in return.

Lee Seon-kang and Cha Min-seok quickly stepped in.

“Hey, hey, why are you guys fighting?”

“We can just split the bread… Calm down, both of you….”

Cha Min-seok got up and grabbed Kim Woo-hyung’s arm, while Lee Seon-kang patted my shoulder.

Kim Woo-hyung shot me one last glare before loosening his grip and sitting back down.

Fucking hell, this is so unfair.

Now these bastards probably think I was actually trying to steal the damn bread.

I mean… okay, maybe I was gonna take a bite.

But I hadn’t done anything yet.

“You seriously think I started this shit over a fucking piece of bread? I was just looking, and this asshole went off on me.”

Feeling wronged, I pointed at him and tried to explain myself, but Lee Seon-kang and Cha Min-seok only gave me awkward smiles and avoided my gaze.

My head ached from the sheer absurdity of it all. Clenching my fists and gritting my teeth, I looked around and saw that Yoon Si-chan had somehow fixed the laptop. He was now staring at the Windows startup screen.

“Hey, Yoon Si-chan….”

I knew damn well that bastard wouldn’t take my side, but I called his name anyway. He turned away from the monitor and looked at me. The other three shifted their attention to the now-lit screen.

“What the hell? How’d you turn it on?”

“Whoa, Si-chan… What about the internet? Think it still works?”

Cha Min-seok, startled, and Lee Seon-kang, murmuring in admiration, both rushed toward the laptop. Yoon Si-chan handed over the mouse and straightened up from his hunched position.

“There’s a Wi-Fi password. You guys know it?”

“Oh, wait, I remember the PE teacher used this before. Hold on.”

Lee Seon-kang sat in front of the laptop, saying he’d try everything he could remember. Cha Min-seok, standing beside him, started throwing out guesses.

Kim Woo-hyung, who had been scowling with his head turned away, also got up and stood next to Lee Seon-kang.

“Fuck….”

Muttering curses, I sat down in the spot Kim Woo-hyung had just vacated.

Yoon Si-chan, having stepped away from the laptop, leaned against the microwave beside me.

“You’ve made a lot of enemies, Woo Tae-jung. What the hell did you do with your life?”

His words were expressionless, but his gaze was fixed on me.

If even he had started talking shit about the bread, I might’ve actually killed them all. But strangely enough, his sarcastic question made me feel relieved.

At the same time, I felt disgusted by the fact that I might’ve started thinking of Yoon Si-chan as an ally.

“Those bastards are just fucking idiots….”

Muttering under my breath, I glared at Kim Woo-hyung’s head like I was ready to tear it open. Yoon Si-chan chuckled and looked away.

The other three were too focused on cracking the password to pay us any attention.

“So, what now?”

I glanced at them and asked in a low voice.

Yoon Si-chan observed them for a moment before turning to me and answering.

“We kill them.”

When I asked what he planned to do for lunch, he answered in the same casual tone someone might use to say, we gotta eat.

I had already expected this plan, but I didn’t think this bastard would say so bluntly that he was going to kill someone.

By now, the zombies that had fallen earlier were probably back on their feet, and the gym was likely packed with them. The only way out of here was to throw someone to the horde.

“Who are you going to kill?”

“Whoever’s in the best spot when we get out.”

Yoon Si-chan pulled his gaze away from me and stared at the locked door.

That was a really bad sign.

That “best spot” could very well be me.

The only reason he’s kept me alive so far is because I’m the most useful to him.

The others might be obedient pushovers working on the password, and while the remaining two were weaklings, Kim Woo-hyung had better physical strength than me.

He could easily ditch me as bait and escape with those three instead.

That thought sent a chill down my spine.

I lifted my head, looking up at Yoon Si-chan, and asked,

“So… does that mean you might kill me too…?”

There was a slight tremor in my voice.

Yoon Si-chan turned to look at me, his eyes unwavering and unreadable.

Then he spoke.

“We’ll see.”

Fuck.

I’m fucked.

If it comes down to it, this bastard is fully prepared to kill me.

My mind went blank, and my heart plummeted.

Up until now, despite all my paranoia, I had assumed I’d be escaping the school with him. But from his perspective, there was no real reason to keep me alive.

That fucking bastard.

I have to kill him before he kills me.

But unless those three help me, if I try to take him on alone, I might end up dead instead.

And even if I do succeed in killing him, that would be a problem too.

Those three would treat me like some deranged monster and run the hell away, leaving me alone.

And if I end up alone, I won’t survive.

As my mind raced, my eyes darted around the room.

Yoon Si-chan, watching me, suddenly let out a laugh.

“I’m joking, dumbass.”

That son of a bitch.

Another joke.

His way of toying with people pissed me off, but seeing his eyes curve into a smile somehow made my anxiety settle.

I should have been furious that this bastard was smiling. But instead, I felt relieved, and that pissed me off even more.

I forced down the bubbling rage and answered as casually as I could.

“You sure have a fucked-up way of joking.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“The fuck, asshole?”

“Ah, fine, fine. It’s a joke, a joke.”

Yoon Si-chan laughed slightly, lowering his head, then rested his elbow on top of my head.

Fucking psycho.

There were zombies swarming outside, and this bastard was here playing shitty jokes.

In his eyes, I was nothing but a scared little pawn, someone who wouldn’t even think of fighting back.

I wanted to jerk my head back and knock his arm off, but there was a chance he was only pretending to joke while actually being dead serious.

So instead, I just flicked my fingernail.

Yoon Si-chan turned his gaze toward the other three and casually rotated the arm he had been resting on me.

“We need to kill two of them if we want to get out.”

I looked up at him again—his face was back to being expressionless.

He explained that we needed one person to handle the faculty office door and another for the gym door.

If he killed me first, those three wouldn’t just sit there and take it.

That would be a hassle.

But if we took out two of them at once, the last one wouldn’t stand a chance no matter how much they struggled.

Killing me wasn’t efficient.

I scowled as he pressed down on my head, cursing under my breath.

“But seriously, why the fuck are you messing with me? It’s annoying.”

“Because you looked fucking anxious.”