IZSTASL Chapter 20

I turned to Yoon Si-chan, hoping he’d agree, but instead, he said something completely different.

“Then you carry the laptop.”

He gestured toward the desk where the laptop was placed.

Kim Woo-hyung’s face immediately lit up.

“No, fuck—”

“Okay, okay! I’ll carry it properly, I swear…!”

My cursing was drowned out by Kim Woo-hyung’s frantic voice.

He rushed to the laptop, even grabbing the mouse in his panic.

Yoon Si-chan added another command.

“Bring the bread and water too.”

“O-Okay…!”

I could hear Kim Woo-hyung clumsily opening the fridge, scrambling to gather supplies.

The whole situation was so ridiculous I didn’t even know where to begin.

Is he seriously planning to bring that bastard with us?

Has he lost his fucking mind?

Does he really think Kim Woo-hyung is just going to obediently carry the laptop?

I swallowed down the urge to say all that and instead turned toward Yoon Si-chan, who was still holding Cha Min-seok up by his hair.

“Hey… you’re not actually keeping him alive, are you?”

I tried to phrase it as neutrally as possible.

But instead of answering, Yoon Si-chan suddenly let go, dropping Cha Min-seok’s limp body onto me as he spoke.

“When I open the door, throw this out the exit. Left door.”

“No, but—what about that bastard—”

“…….”

Yoon Si-chan’s face twitched slightly in irritation as he gestured toward the door, explaining something.

I immediately sensed that pushing the question any further would get me killed.

Fine, whatever. What did he even just say? Left door… throw something…

“Uh, yeah—okay, got it. Left door.”

If I admitted I hadn’t heard him properly, he might grab my collar next.

So I just repeated the most important part—left door.

Seeing me respond correctly, Yoon Si-chan’s expression relaxed again as he continued.

“I’ll throw that one to the right.”

When he said “that one,” he nodded toward Lee Seon-kang.

The guy was still hunched against the wall, mumbling to himself as he sobbed.

Crying like it was his fault for speaking up earlier.

Fucking idiot.

So, that meant the thing I had to throw was Cha Min-seok.

“That way, they’ll spread out. Then, you and I will take care of whoever’s left and head for the back door on the stage.”

After finishing his explanation, Yoon Si-chan locked eyes with me, as if making sure I understood. Then, he turned to look at Kim Woo-hyung.

Kim Woo-hyung, struggling to hold onto a laptop in one hand, bread and water in the other, and a Coke bottle wedged between his arm, darted his eyes nervously at Lee Seon-kang before nodding.

“Woo Tae-jung. You got it?”

I had been glaring at Kim Woo-hyung, but as soon as Yoon Si-chan turned to me, I snapped to attention.

“Huh? Oh—of course, fuck.”

Shit.

The truth was, I still wasn’t exactly sure which door he meant by “left.”

And if even Kim Woo-hyung understood the plan while I didn’t, that meant if we ever had to ditch someone later, I might be the one getting sacrificed instead.

I thought about asking again, but before I could, Yoon Si-chan had already turned away and was heading toward Lee Seon-kang.

Still completely out of it, Lee Seon-kang didn’t react as Yoon Si-chan grabbed the back of his shirt collar and started dragging him along.

That finally snapped him out of it.

Lee Seon-kang thrashed on the ground, kicking and struggling—until he spotted Cha Min-seok’s limp body.

He let out a terrified scream and clamped his hands over his ears.

Turning back, I saw Kim Woo-hyung, his head lowered, lips so tightly pressed together they’d gone pale.

Feeling guilty?

Too bad. My cheek still fucking hurts because of you.

Yoon Si-chan picked up one of the books Lee Seon-kang had stacked at the door last night and gestured for us to follow.

Kim Woo-hyung and I moved almost at the same time, heading toward the door.

“Opening it.”

Gripping the doorknob, Yoon Si-chan gave a curt warning before pushing the door open.

Because of all the screaming earlier, zombies had gathered thick at the entrance.

Through the gap, I could see their rotting figures crammed together, waiting.

Yoon Si-chan wasted no time.

He kicked the closest zombie in the chest, shoving it backward, then hurled the book deep into the gymnasium.

The book soared over the zombies’ heads and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

The ones at the back immediately turned and rushed toward the noise, clearing out a good chunk of the crowd.

Only then did Yoon Si-chan fully swing the door open, revealing the rest of the zombies.

They looked even nastier than before.

Maybe because they were decomposing—the skin around their eyes looked like it was about to peel off.

Yoon Si-chan didn’t hesitate.

He swung his bat, caving in skulls as the zombies lunged forward.

I smashed the heads of the ones coming from the side.

The repeated thwack of bats meeting bone rang out over the chaos.

Then, Yoon Si-chan stepped forward into the hallway and shouted.

“Throw it.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice—I wanted to throw it.

The problem?

There were too many fucking doors.

One directly ahead, wide open because its lock was broken.

Another, half-open, leading to the broadcasting room where the performance crew used to go in and out.

I knew it was supposed to be the left door.

But suddenly, left and right weren’t making any sense.

Which one was left again?

Which hand do I eat with? What’s the word for that—

“What the fuck are you doing, dumbass?”

Yoon Si-chan had turned around, frowning slightly like he was actually surprised.

“Hey, fuck—where am I throwing this?!”

“Are you fucking kidding me, you brain-dead idiot?! That way! The door you idiots came through!”

Kim Woo-hyung, standing behind me, screamed at the top of his lungs.

The zombies that had chased after the book were already closing back in on us.

He yelled for me to hurry the fuck up while pointing frantically at the door straight ahead.

Panicking, I grabbed Cha Min-seok’s upper body, lifted him up, and threw him toward somewhere—left or right, I had no fucking clue.

He didn’t fly far before crashing to the ground, and in an instant, the zombies swarmed him, eager for their first fresh meal in a while.

“That was the right side, you fucking moron!”

I had thought I did it properly, but then Kim Woo-hyung’s furious voice rang out in frustration.

Fuck.

So that was supposed to be left.

“Shit….”

This was seriously fucked.

Suppressing his irritation, Yoon Si-chan muttered a curse under his breath before grabbing Lee Seon-kang by the collar.

Without hesitation, he hurled him hard toward the actual left side.

Some of the zombies that had been about to feast on Cha Min-seok abruptly changed course, sprinting toward Lee Seon-kang instead.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!”

His bloodcurdling screams echoed through the gym, and the majority of the zombies heading toward us broke formation, scattering.

With the remaining stragglers now manageable, Yoon Si-chan swiftly bashed in their skulls before leaping onto the stage.

He yanked aside the half-drawn curtain, revealing the back door.

Gripping the doorknob, he pushed it open.

Beyond it was the recycling area—where I had spent countless breaks smoking.

Thanks to all the chaos inside the gym, no zombies were visible here.

Beyond the recycling area, a tall green metal fence stretched across.

It was high, but nothing we couldn’t climb.

Finally, we were about to escape this fucking school.

“Woo Tae-jung.”

“Huh?”

At the sound of my name, I flinched and turned to face Yoon Si-chan.

For a second, I thought he was about to kill me right then and there, and I instinctively took a step back.

But he didn’t seem interested in attacking me.

“If you don’t understand, fucking say so.”

“Oh, uh… my bad.”

His voice was the same as usual, but as he let out a sigh and gripped his bat tighter, it was obvious he was holding back his irritation.

At least, for now, he was letting it slide.

I was still alive.

I needed to stay on his good side from this point on.

Yoon Si-chan turned his gaze away from me and scanned beyond the fence, narrowing his eyes before speaking.

“There are zombies right in front of us.”

“F-Fuck…! Then what the hell do we do?!”

Kim Woo-hyung, still shaken from seeing Lee Seon-kang get torn apart, was biting his lip and shifting his eyes anxiously before his voice cracked into a panicked shout.

“Keep your voice down, dumbass.”

Yoon Si-chan lightly smacked Kim Woo-hyung’s mouth with the back of his hand, frowning as he surveyed the area again.

Beyond the metal fence, the slope led from the far-left end of the schoolyard up toward the main gate.

Since we were already near the gate, the height difference between the inside and outside of the fence was nonexistent.

Zombies were swarming right there, practically within reach.

To the left, there was a staircase leading up to the main gate.

To the right, if we kept going, there was an old, barely used storage shed for the gym.

Neither option looked promising.

“We go that way.”

Yoon Si-chan turned his head and pointed—toward the main gate.

“Are you fucking serious? How?”

I asked, stunned.

He explained that since all the zombies had been drawn toward the gym, we had to move as quietly as possible toward the guard post behind the main gate, then climb over the fence there.

It was a risky plan.

But right now, it was the only shot we had.

I considered whether we could just use Kim Woo-hyung as bait, but then we’d lose the supplies—laptop, water, and everything.

Not to mention, it would probably attract the zombies outside the main gate too.

“Keep your mouth shut until I tell you otherwise.”

After that order, Yoon Si-chan rested his bat on his shoulder and began advancing slowly.

I followed carefully behind him.