The Dark Zhao Dongxu
Jenny, sitting in the passenger seat, glared at Zhao Dongxu in fury.
"What are you doing? Teacher Ki-chul hasn't gotten in the car yet!"
"Really? Sorry, I didn't notice."
Zhao Dongxu smirked, his expression dripping with malice.
Jenny froze, then her face twisted in disbelief.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
She could hardly believe it. Every one of them—including Zhao Dongxu himself—had survived the school thanks to Teacher Ki-chul. And now he wanted to abandon the very man who saved them?
Behind the car, Ki-chul sprinted desperately, but there was no way he could match the speed of a pickup truck. Within moments, the vehicle vanished from his sight.
"Damn it!" he spat, throwing down his backpack before running flat-out down the road.
The gap between him and the pursuing zombies widened, but he knew it was temporary. He couldn't sustain this pace forever, while the undead could run until they fell apart.
Scanning the roadside, he spotted a tall willow tree less than a hundred meters away. With no other options, he bolted straight for it.
Clambering up the trunk with surprising agility, he perched high in the branches. The first wave of zombies swarmed beneath and began clawing their way up, stacking atop one another.
Ki-chul snapped off a branch and jabbed furiously at the climbing corpses, but it was only a matter of time before they reached him. His arms shook with exhaustion; if he had kept running, he would already have been caught.
Despair crept into his face as the tide of zombies climbed higher and higher.
Then, in the distance, a line of pale figures appeared.
A mounted skeleton knight led the charge, scattering the horde like straw before a storm. The dead fell in heaps under the sweep of their blades.
Ki-chul's eyes widened in shock. Skeletons? Not only did the dead rise as zombies, now bones themselves walked and fought?
But then he noticed the rider at their head: a young woman astride a skeletal horse, clearly the one in command. That realization eased his fear—better humans than mindless monsters.
Moments later, the rider guided her horse to the base of the tree and looked up at him.
"Did you escape from the university?" she asked directly, urgency in her tone.
Ki-chul slid down the trunk, panting. "Yes. I'm a teacher at Seoul University. Who are you?"
The woman leaned forward in the saddle. "Among your group, was there a girl named Jenny? I'm her sister, Kim Tae-hee!"
Relief lit Ki-chul's face. He quickly explained what had happened, pointing toward the direction Zhao Dongxu had fled. "That bastard took them that way!"
Kim Tae-hee's heart clenched—Jenny was alive, but clearly in danger. She gave a sharp gesture.
An armored skeleton knight hauled Ki-chul up onto his horse. Then, with Tae-hee at the lead, the undead cavalry thundered down the road in pursuit.
---
Seaside, at the docks.
The pickup truck screeched to a halt. Blood stained the pier, but no zombies lingered—drawn away, perhaps, by some other noise.
Everyone clambered out. The girls from the back immediately turned on Zhao Dongxu.
"How could you leave Teacher Ki-chul behind?"
"That was intentional, wasn't it?"
"There was still time!"
Zhao Dongxu's face twisted, his eyes blazing. "Shut up!"
He kicked two of the loudest girls to the ground. "One more word and I'll throw you off the dock myself."
Terrified, the others shrank back in silence.
Satisfied, Zhao Dongxu turned toward Jenny—only to be met by a bloody baseball bat swinging straight at his head.
Crack!
The blow sent him sprawling, clutching his skull. Jenny gritted her teeth, swinging again, but he wrenched the bat from her hands with raw strength.
"You bitch!" he snarled, rising unsteadily. "You'll regret that."
Jenny staggered back, then spun to run. But Zhao Dongxu swung the bat low, smashing her leg.
She screamed and collapsed, writhing in agony.
The other girls shrieked and fled in all directions, but Zhao Dongxu ignored them. His eyes were locked on Jenny alone.
His lips curled as he loomed over her, the crazed hunger in his gaze unmistakable. But instead of giving in to madness on the dock, he yanked her upright, dragging her toward a fishing boat moored nearby.
Whatever he had planned, Jenny was his true prey.
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