Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

"There you go."

Ah-yong said after rewrapping Jin-woo's shoulder.

"Be careful how you raise your hand, if you don't, you're going to reopen your wound again and then it'll take even longer to heal."

Jin-woo was slumped against the wall of the cafeteria. He had his head lowered as he nodded and responded to Ah-yong in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Thank you."

Ah-yong paused and looked at Jin-woo with a worried expression before asking.

"Are you hungry? I can go get some porridge for you."

Jin-woo shook his head.

"No, I don't feel like eating anything right now."

Hearing this Ah-yong became even more uneasy, but she really didn't know what to do. She could only caution Jin-woo about his wound once again before leaving for the lunch line which still had a few people lining up.

After Ah-yong left Seong sat next to Jin-woo and rested his head on his shoulder. The two remained silent and time passed like that until someone approached.

Jin-woo, with his head still down, saw the legs of someone as they used a crutch to hobble up to him and sat down to his left.

"Give it."

The hand of the person was shoved in his face. Jin-woo looked up and followed the hand of the person to see Seo-joon's side profile.
Your adventure continues at empire

Seo-joon wasn't looking at him, he was looking at the bustling but silent cafeteria.

With brows furrowed Jin-woo asked.

"Give what?"

Hearing this response, Seo-joon's head snapped towards him, his eyes narrowing in anger as he asked.

"Don't tell me you didn't pick up my pack?"

"Oh."

Jin-woo's brows relaxed as he finally understood what Seo-joon meant.

"I have it."

Jin-woo then turned to his right, where Seong no longer was, and reached into his drawstring bag. After some time, he fished out a white pack of cigarettes with a red label and placed it in Seo-joon's outstretched hand.

Jin-woo saw Seong crouching next to Seo-joon silently staring at him but soon turned away. He surveyed the cafeteria wondering why it was so silent. Turns out the atmosphere was still tense; the students haven't shaken off the horrifying incidents they've been through thus far, so they don't dare to speak too loudly.

At one point a student accidentally dropped their spoon and the cafeteria became even more deathly silent, everyone tensed up and stopped talking. Some even stopped breathing.

Only after a few seconds and with the teacher's reassurance did the students somewhat relax.

Meanwhile, Jin-woo was observing this, Seo-joon took out two cigarettes from the pack and after putting one in his top pocket he fished out a lighter from his pants and lit the other. His foot with his bandaged right ankle was outstretched, while the other was bent, his left hand which was holding the cigarette resting on it.

Each time Seo-joon released the smoke from his mouth, his gaze would linger on the smoke and watch as it dispersed around him. After watching the smoke disperse for who knows how many times, he suddenly spoke.

"You know I knew you even before I met you."

"Hm?"

Jin-woo was brought out of his thoughts and he glanced at Seo-joon confused but waited for him to explain.

Inhaling and exhaling another round of cigarette, Seo-joon casually spoke.

"My Grandmother has some power, and she spoils that man. When he was in the Marines he used her influence to cheat on my mother with a bunch of unwilling women. My Grandmother covered it up, but it still reached the higher-ups in the Marines, and he was kicked out. The person who blew the whistle was your father."

Hearing this, Jin-woo was slightly stunned. Only after a moment of silence did he say.

"…I didn't know that."

"Hm, because Seong asked me not to tell you."

"Seong did?"

Jin-woo was confused once again, and discreetly shot Seong a questioning look. In response, Seong scratched the back of his head and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Why are you so surprised? You know, I was also friends with him before he met you."

"Huh? What? Is that true?"

By now Jin-woo had sat up, this was his first time hearing any of this, and he kept giving Seong looks.

Unaware of Jin-woo's actions, Seo-joon clarified.

"Mom found out about that man's affairs, and they got into a big fight when she said she wanted a divorce. I met Seong at the hospital when I was getting treated for the injury I got when I tried to stop that man from hitting my mother.

We didn't talk then, but after that, we met at the station again, and then I found out his father was the one who handled the case, and his mother was the nurse who treated me."

Jin-woo shot Seong more glances as if to ask why he never told him about this, but Seo-joon continued.

"We started elementary school sometime after that, but we went to separate schools, so we only spoke when he visited his father's office in Gangnam, and I was there after my mom was hit. Eventually, that man was found having another affair with one of his students, and to escape he moved to Itaewon with me and my mom.

I transferred to the middle school here and met up with Seong again… But unfortunately, you were in the picture."

Seo-joon had been wearing a slight smile at the corner of his lips up until his last words, where it faded.

Jin-woo remained silent as he listened to this backstory that was unknown to him until now. But he should have guessed this was the case, Seo-joon had always seemed closer to Seong than him.

Unprompted, Jin-woo couldn't help but recall what Seong said.

'…He did it to get my attention.'

Pause...

"Ha?"

Jin-woo's expression turned strange as he suddenly connected the dots.

"Don't tell me you were being an asshole to us because you were jealous Seong replaced you and that I took your spot?"

Seo-joon's eyelid twitched, but he didn't deny it and instead said.

"Something like that."

Jin-woo looked away from Seo-joon and glanced at Seong, who was glaring at Seo-joon with an irritated expression.

Whether this was because Seong didn't want him to know, or because he was upset about Seo-joon's absurd reasoning, Jin-woo didn't know. Maybe it was both.

However, Seo-joon couldn't see Seong's glare so he didn't stop talking.

"If it was him just becoming friends with you it wouldn't have mattered much, I could get along with you, but your condition made it near impossible for him to live a normal life. You were like a leech firmly attached to him, the longer things went on the more his thoughts shifted from what was best for him, to what was best for you and only you.

From what I saw, it felt like it would reach the point where Seong would forsake everything and start living entirely for your existence. So, I thought it was better for you to get lost. Damn becoming the villain, damn your illness, just get the fuck lost. I was here first. I li-"

The more Seo-joon spoke the more heated he got, but he seemed to realize what he was about to say and abruptly stopped talking.

Seong, who was off to the side, had to cover his face with his hand.