IZSTASL Chapter 14

The pinky resting against my ear bent slightly, making a sharp cracking sound in my joint.

“What the fuck did you just say, asshole?”

I grabbed Kim Woo-hyung by the collar.

His eyes widened as he slowly and clearly repeated himself.

“I said, why are you taking out your mommy issues on some random kid?”

“Hey… you lost your fucking mind?”

My hands shook with rage.

It wasn’t even about my mother—I didn’t give a shit about the woman who left me and whose face I couldn’t even remember.

But suddenly, I remembered that time at the disciplinary hearing—how Kim Woo-hyung had sat between his parents, while I sat alone.

“So, is that dad you said you’d kill still alive?”

“You motherfucker—!”

I swung my fist straight into his cheek.

Kim Woo-hyung staggered from the impact, but then lunged at me, grabbing my collar.

His weight pushed me back, and I hit the floor hard, my head slamming against the ground.

Lee Seon-kang, startled, shouted at us to stop.

My head buzzed from the impact, but I barely had a second to process it.

As Kim Woo-hyung tried to pin me down, I raised my left arm and aimed my elbow straight at his neck.

But he grabbed my wrist with both hands and twisted it sharply.

“ARGH!”

It hurt like hell.

I winced and struggled, and just as Kim Woo-hyung let go of my wrist and raised his fist to punch me—nothing hit me.

I opened my eyes.

Yoon Si-chan was gripping Kim Woo-hyung’s wrist.

“Ah, let go! I said fucking let go, you—!”

When I lifted my head to look at Yoon Si-chan, his expression screamed I can’t believe I have to deal with this bullshit.

If we kept pushing our luck, we’d both end up getting our asses beat.

I slowly lowered the hand I had been about to slam into Kim Woo-hyung’s ribs.

Still seething, Kim Woo-hyung clenched his free fist and tried to hit me again.

“Let go, I sa—Guhk!”

Yoon Si-chan kicked him straight in the solar plexus.

Kim Woo-hyung stumbled back and slammed into the wall, collapsing face-first onto the floor.

He groaned in pain, clutching his head, and it was honestly satisfying as hell to watch.

Cha Min-seok sniffled loudly, still looking up with red-rimmed eyes, while Lee Seon-kang stood frozen, hands hovering midair.

Kim Woo-hyung, still wheezing, clutched his stomach and looked up at Yoon Si-chan, who was standing over him.

“If you’re gonna fight, take it outside. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.”

I couldn’t see Yoon Si-chan’s face from behind, but his tone was full of irritation.

Kim Woo-hyung, suddenly looking way more obedient, muttered a weak “Got it” and lowered his gaze.

“Hey, are you okay…?”

Lee Seon-kang hurried over, crouching next to Kim Woo-hyung as he asked.

Kim Woo-hyung wiped his mouth, scowling when he saw blood on his hand.

Then, suddenly, he apologized for getting too worked up—but, of course, only to Lee Seon-kang.

Lee Seon-kang turned toward me, hesitated, and then finally spoke.

“You… were kind of out of line too….”

“I tried to let it go, but this fucker—”

Kim Woo-hyung muttered under his breath, continuing to curse me out.

I wanted to slam his head into the ground and throw him out to the zombies, but if I did that, Yoon Si-chan would definitely toss me out along with him.

So, I swallowed my rage.

“Fucking hell….”

As I shook out my throbbing wrist and got up, Yoon Si-chan started walking toward me.

For a second, I wondered if he was about to hit me too, so I instinctively wrapped my arms around my stomach.

But he just let out a small laugh before sitting down in front of the computer.

Cha Min-seok, now whispering quietly, moved closer to Lee Seon-kang and Kim Woo-hyung.

The three of them started talking amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, Yoon Si-chan kept scrolling through news articles, and I stood behind him, pretending to read the screen while eavesdropping on their conversation.

Cha Min-seok whispered that you don’t avoid shit because you’re scared of it—you avoid it because it’s filthy.

Lee Seon-kang said we shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves in a situation like this, but the way he said it sounded more like, Don’t bother dealing with that dumbass.

Kim Woo-hyung, still pretending to reflect, admitted that making mom jokes had been a step too far.

Fucking disgusting. I want to kill all three of them.

“Woo Tae-jung.”

The clicking of a mouse stopped as Yoon Si-chan suddenly called my name. I had been focused on them, but I turned my attention to the monitor, where a news article was displayed.

[Infection confirmed in parts of Gimhae]

The article was only a few lines long. The cause remained unknown, but the infection was now spreading from certain areas of Gimhae.

Despite being posted just moments ago, the article already had 400 comments. Yoon Si-chan, reading through them, furrowed a brow slightly.

“We’re fucked.”

He muttered and kept scrolling.

If Gimhae was infected, then Seoul was already done for.

It was bad, sure, but given that even Gwacheon had fallen, it wasn’t exactly surprising.

I couldn’t understand why the bastard, who had seemed unfazed when we first saw news of the outbreak, suddenly looked so serious.

Had I missed something in the article? I read it carefully again, but there was nothing new.

“What exactly is fucked?”

At my question, Yoon Si-chan turned to look at me like I was the dumbest person alive.

“Can you not read?”

“No, you fuck, if it’s fucked here, then obviously everything up north is fucked too.”

“Gimhae is up north, you idiot?”

“Of course it is, dumbass.”

The bastard just stared at me in silence, as if at a complete loss for words, before asking seriously.

“…Are you for real?”

“What? I mean, I’m right, aren’t I? There’s that airport next to Seoul.”

“That’s Gimpo.”

I hadn’t expected that. Gimpo, Gimhae—who the fuck names cities so damn similarly?

Yoon Si-chan turned his head, wiped a hand down his face, and let out a dry laugh.

“…Then where the hell is Gimhae?”

When I asked, Yoon Si-chan, still grinning like an idiot, didn’t answer. Instead, he searched for Gimhae and showed me the results.

I had assumed it was somewhere near Gangwon-do at worst, but the map showed it was way down in Gyeongsang province, at the very bottom. It was on the complete opposite side of the country from the capital region.

We were really fucked.

If it had spread all the way down there, then chances were everything above and below was already infected. There was nowhere left to run.

“Fuck!”

I shouted, and the three whispering bastards turned to look at me.

“What? Did something else come up?”

Lee Seon-kang, tilting his head as he checked the laptop screen, stood up and walked over. Cha Min-seok and Kim Woo-hyung quickly followed, getting to their feet.

“Gimhae’s fucked too.”

“Gimhae?”

Cha Min-seok, reacting to Yoon Si-chan’s words, practically yelled the name as he rushed over to the laptop.

Yoon Si-chan propped his chin up with one hand, while Lee Seon-kang scrolled up to read the article.

“No way… That doesn’t even make sense. It’s already spread there?”

Kim Woo-hyung muttered as if he couldn’t believe it, his face twisted in despair. Watching him bite his lip in frustration was pretty entertaining.

I had expected Cha Min-seok to start whining again, but this time, he was frozen with his mouth slightly open.

“…Could it be a false report?”

Lee Seon-kang, visibly anxious, mumbled as he quickly exited the article and searched ‘Gimhae zombie’ on a portal site. A flood of news articles popped up—most of them posted within the last ten minutes.

The terrifying reality was laid out: if the infection had spread to Gimhae, then non-capital areas weren’t safe either.

Cha Min-seok muttered to himself, questioning how that was even possible while nervously biting his nails.

I didn’t want to agree with these bastards, but they had a point.

Even when zombies were frenzied, sprinting full force, they were still slightly slower than me. There was no way they could have reached all the way there so fast.

“No, but fuck, it’s not like those zombie bastards can hop in a car and drive there. How the hell is this even possible?”

“They probably arrived before turning into zombies.”

Yoon Si-chan turned to me as he answered, his face already back to being calm. Typical psychopath—his recovery speed was insane.

“So you’re saying some asshole got bitten, then drove all the way to Gimhae?”

I shot back immediately, but before Yoon Si-chan could respond, Cha Min-seok butted in.

“What if it’s actually airborne? Airborne infection?”

His voice trembled as he spoke, his whole body shaking with fear.

Kim Woo-hyung and Lee Seon-kang immediately went stiff at his words.

Fucking hell, why did this bastard have to start spouting ominous bullshit?

My cheek suddenly felt disgusting, like I could remember zombie spit landing on it. I started scrubbing my face aggressively while cursing.

“The fuck… that’s some bullshit. If that were true, I’d be dead already, dumbass.”

“Or maybe… maybe airborne infections just take longer to turn people. That would explain Gimhae too….”

Kim Woo-hyung, who had been in shock, suddenly voiced that horrifying possibility.

Cha Min-seok frantically rubbed at his arms and backed away, while Lee Seon-kang’s pupils darted around in panic. Even I started scratching my cheek harder.

If that was true, then fuck… I was already in the middle of turning into a zombie. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

As I ran my hand up to scratch my eyes, someone grabbed my wrist.

I turned to see Yoon Si-chan.

Even in the middle of this whole shitshow, his expression was still as blank as ever.

Somehow, just seeing that face calmed me down a little.

Lowering my arm, Yoon Si-chan narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke to Kim Woo-hyung.

“Then that just means we’re all dead already. So stop bitching and say something useful instead.”

Lee Seon-kang’s face brightened a little. He patted the shoulders of the still-freaking-out Kim Woo-hyung and Cha Min-seok, trying to reassure them.

“He’s right, guys. It could just be a delayed reaction or something… Let’s calm down.”

Kim Woo-hyung, who had been frozen in place, finally loosened up a bit and nodded.

Cha Min-seok, on the other hand, seemed completely deaf to everything around him. When Lee Seon-kang touched his shoulder, he flinched violently, recoiling backward.

Lee Seon-kang had been forcing a smile, but seeing that reaction, his hands hesitated awkwardly in the air before he slowly lowered them.

“Yeah, you fucking idiots. Stop spewing that ominous bullshit.”