Darker Twist | All of us are dead

╰┈? Chapter 32

Hye-wol's forehead furrows, "Cheong-san? Cheong-san didn't die?"

On-jo shakes her head, turning to her, confusion written on her forehead, "Shouldn't you know? You're the author."

Hye-wol was taken aback, "I didn't. It was open-ended and I wasn't sure if Cheong-san's going to be alive or not." she confesses. Hye-wol's the author. She turns her imagination into words but the characters were the one writing their destiny. When she's writing, her fingers will just move on its own like the characters were the one writing it. At some point, she stops creating the story and starts discovering it with characters. She has the outline but it was never followed, the story changes itself so it would look natural and not forced.

On-jo hummed, "Cheong-san turns out to be a hambie too and he fought Gwi-nam. Nam-ra catches up so do we and we start arguing and fighting physically. Well, the physical part is with hambies and not us. And then that left you alone without supervision, that's when you decided to run away from us and we noticed it late," her expression dropped and it looks like she's about to cry, "That's when we lost you. We lost you because of our negligence. And when I saw you turned, that's when I realized how important you are to me. I mourned for you and you haven't left my mind since. It seems like you are haunting me even when I'm asleep. Five months have passed but I'm still having nightmares about you. It stopped when the three hambies, which after your death become friends, told us about the chance to correct our mistakes. And the rest is history."

'Her obsession was rooted from guilt.' - Hye-wol thought mentally.

On-jo suddenly grabbed her hands, "I know you're afraid of us because of what we've done but I'm not going to hurt you– I won't be able to hurt you. They won't going to hurt you, sweet Hye-wol. They just want to protect you."

"As long as our agreement is not broken, you're not going to have a problem with me," Hye-wol told her. 

However, they're moment was broken by Cheong-san's scream of pain slicing through the thick air. The girls' head snap towards their direction and Hye-wol briefly witnesses Gwi-nam biting Cheong-san on the arm before her vision turns black, On-jo tip toeing to cover her eyes. 

"What the fuck?" she can't help but to curse in confusion and disbelief. 

"Don't worry, it's all agreed prior to this. Cheong-san agreed for Gwi-nam to bite him so he'll turn into a hambie," On-jo whispers to her, "That way, we'll have more advantage and it will cement the possibility of you surviving. Three hambies is enough for us to survive."

"What if it didn't work? He was supposed to get bitten at the end, not now. Jonas Virus is much more complicated than you thought—"

"Fear, right?" On-jo interrupted her, "Extreme emotion triggers the virus but extreme determination to do something plus compatible white blood cells will turn you into a hambie instead."

Hye-wol stopped because what the fuck?! That's exactly the concept of Jonas Virus. 

"We know. Nam-ra found out from Lee Byeong-chan himself," On-jo answered the question going on in her mind right now, "There are so many things that happened in the span of five months and for worse so going back to this timeline is easy for us."

"You destroyed the continuity, everything will be different from now on," Hye-wol told her, referring to the now unknown future waiting for them. 

"We don't care. As long as you survive, that's the only thing that matters to us." On-jo said, sincerity lacing her voice.

When she removes the hand covering her eyes, they are already at them, beckoning the two to go under the makeshift roof Gyeong-su, Wu-jin, and Joon-yeong made.

"We'll be leaving the rooftops soon so we have to go through the plan now," Nam-ra started, standing at the middle of Cheong-san and Gwi-nam, "So, as you all already know, aside from few," she gave Dae-su and Gyeong-su a pointed look, "We'll all go by pairs and then we go down the ground floor, cross the courtyard and go to the auditorium room. We'll stay the night there and then we'll go out to the tennis court and then to the construction site and then finally, to the forest. That's easy."

"I believe you guys already know your parts so make sure you conduct them very carefully," Cheong-san added while grasping his bloody arm, looking at Joon-yeong, "Especially you, four eyes."

"Yah!" he weakly snarled.

"So partner up," Gwi-nam stated, "I want to be partnered with Hye-wol. She's much safer with me."

"Heck no!" Su-hyeok was quick to argue, "You have a different set of tasks to do, you can't drag Hye-wol with you. She's going with me."

Gyeong-su shakes his head, "No, she's much safer with me. Come on, give this to me, man! You've been hogging her since."

"No, not going to happen," Wu-jin butted in, "I'm 100% sure that she'll be safer with me."

"Dude, you trip every minute. I'm smart so she's better with me," Joon-yeong argued. 

"Back off, I'm the leader so she'll be safe with me." Nam-ra joined. 

"says who?" Cheong-san butted in, "She's safer with me."

"Yeah, like you weren't just bitten by Gwi-nam. What if you suddenly turn and attack her?" Gyeong-su pointed out. 

But Cheong-san confidently shakes his head, "Not going to happen,"

"Guys!" On-jo decided to butt in before it escalates, "and girl. Are you going to argue again? Arguing will do nothing but conflict. Why don't we just ask Hye-wol who she wants to go with."

Everyone (even Dae-su) turns to look at Hye-wol who's been silent ever since the beginning of the meeting. And then as if something snapped, they (except Dae-su) offer their hand to Hye-wol and she swear, their eyes look like dogs begging for treats.

Hye-wol scans each one of them, weighing the pros and cons before she reaches her hand to intertwine it to one, pulling herself up so she would be standing beside her, "I'll go with On-jo."

Cue in their negative reaction, "What?!"

"Why her?"

"On-jo?"

"Why not me?"

"What?"

But one reaction stood out the most. Cheong-san snorted, "On-jo? Really? the smallest among us? What will she do when we get terrorized by zombies, kick them on the shin?"

On-jo's eyes turn into slit and before Cheong-san knows, he's already hunching over while hopping on one foot, holding the other that On-jo kicks. 

"Jerk," The shorter lass curse, intertwining her fingers with Hye-wol before pulling her, "Come on, Hye-wol." she even have the audacity to flip her ponytailed hair when she passes the hunching Cheong-san.

Nam-ra and Su-hyeok partnered up, the latter patting Cheong-san in the back, "You kind of deserve it, bro. Don't mess with girls, they are closer to hell."

This made Nam-ra's expression turn sour, pinching Su-hyeok on the arm, "Come on, I'll give you hell." she pinches Su-hyeok on the ear, although she has to reach her hand straight but Su-hyeok hissing in pain made it worth it. 

Gyeong-su and Joon-yeong partnered up, then Wu-jin and Dae-su. That left Cheong-san with Gwi-nam. 

"What do you expect?" Gwi-nam smirked, "We have to do a side mission while they enjoy Hye-wol's presence. Fuck!"

But Gwi-nam turn to him, mischief gleaming on his eyes, "But look at that, I'm not the only gopher now."

"Do you want me to throw you over the railings?" Cheong-san glares at him. 

***

Clarification: When they follow Hye-wol when Gwi-nam kidnapped her, Wu-jin was already dead, Ha-ri and Mi-jin went on their way to the quarantine area. I don't know how to add it on On-jo's story because it was on her point of view.