They moved like ghosts, slipping out of the classroom and into the shadows of the hallway. The smaller, skittering creatures—twisted things that looked like spiders made of bone—watched them from the vents, but the team didn't give them a chance to scream. Jeesuk led the way with silent, controlled strikes, his blade ending any threat before it could cause chaos.
Then—they stepped outside.
The world didn't just feel different; it felt empty.
Cars stood frozen in the middle of the road, tilted as if their drivers had simply evaporated mid-turn. A few doors hung open, swaying with a rhythmic creak-creak in the stagnant air. A phone lay abandoned on the asphalt, its cracked screen flickering once before going dark forever.
No voices. No engines. No life.
Only the school compound behind them still hummed with a weak, dying electricity. Beyond the gates, the city was swallowed by a heavy, unnatural silence. A few crows perched on the power lines, their beady eyes tracking the students as if counting the survivors.
They crossed the road with bated breath and reached the supermarket directly across from the school. The automatic glass doors were jammed halfway open, stuck in a jagged yawn.
"What the—where are the people? Did they disappear like the teacher too?" Minnie's whisper was thin, trembling with the weight of the void around them.
"It's not just the teachers," Yoorie said softly, her eyes scanning the dark aisles. "It's everyone."
The supermarket felt like a tomb. Shelves were a mess—some untouched, others raked over by panicked hands. An overturned shopping cart lay near the entrance, its wheels spinning slowly in the draft.
Hunger eventually overrode fear. Joel and the others grabbed whatever they could find—crackers, bread, anything sealed. Yoorie picked up a bottle of water, the cold plastic grounding her as she drank. Jeesuk circled the perimeter, his eyes never leaving the shadows.
"What are we going to do?" Kyna asked, her voice barely audible.
Suddenly—Jeesuk's head snapped up. "Wait."
"What's that sound?"
The group froze. At first, there was nothing. Then—the unmistakable scrape of footsteps and the murmur of voices from outside.
"Maybe… monsters?" Joel whispered, his hand tightening around his weapon.
Liyana and Kyna crept toward the glass entrance, peering into the crimson twilight. Their eyes widened.
"There!" Kyna hissed.
A group of students stood near the loading dock. Their uniforms were different—a dark navy blue from the vocational school down the road. Survivors. For a heartbeat, relief flickered through the group. But as the newcomers noticed the food in their hands, that relief soured into something ugly.
"You took that from here?" a boy from the other school snapped, his eyes hard and hungry.
"What? No—we just got here," Joel replied, defensive.
"Then drop it," another boy said, stepping forward with a rusted pipe.
"There's more inside," Kyna pointed out, her jaw tightening. "Take your own."
The tension didn't break. Instead, it curdled.
"So you get first pick?" a girl from the other group spat. "Is that how it works now? The smart kids get the good stuff while we starve?"
Jeesuk stepped forward, his silhouette tall and imposing against the red sky. "We're not fighting over food. There's enough for everyone if we're smart."
But the other group didn't move. They didn't trust. In a world that had just ended, everyone was an enemy. The air tightened, ready to snap—
Skritch.
A faint, wet scraping noise echoed from deep inside the store. Yoorie's head turned instantly. Her Level 999 senses flared, picking up a heartbeat that didn't sound human.
"Wait—" she started.
Too late. A piercing screech tore through the aisles. A creature burst from the shadows of the cold storage—limbs long and distorted, its skin the color of bruised meat. It lunged with terrifying speed.
"LOOK OUT!"
The monster slammed into one of the students from the other group, pinning him to the floor. As the boy screamed, Jeesuk moved like a blur.
CLANG!
His sword struck the creature's hide, forcing it back in a shower of sparks. Joel and the girls rushed in, but the fight was a mess. The other group panicked, swinging their pipes aimlessly, hitting shelves and nearly striking Jeesuk's team.
"Heal!" someone cried out as a claw caught Kyna's arm.
Minnie's hands glowed with a soft, steady light, mending the wound even as the chaos swirled. Unlike the other group, Yoorie's team moved like a single unit—coordinated, protecting each other's backs.
Yoorie stood in the center of the storm, her fingers hovering near her wand. She watched the way the monster moved, calculating its trajectory. She didn't strike—not yet. She stayed hidden in the noise.
With one final, synchronized strike from Jeesuk and Liyana, the creature collapsed. Its body flickered like a glitching screen and vanished into black ash.
Silence returned, heavier than before.
"You call that teamwork?" Joel scoffed, wiping sweat from his brow. "You were all over the place. You nearly hit Jeesuk!"
The other group didn't apologize. They looked at their bruised hands, then at Yoorie, who was standing perfectly still.
"And her?" one of them sneered. "She didn't even move. Just watched while we almost died."
The insult hung in the air. Jeesuk stepped in front of Yoorie, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low chill.
"Watch what you say."
"You don't know anything about her," Kyna added, her eyes flashing.
"She was in a wheelchair before this started," Liyana said firmly. "She's a Level 1 Mage who just got her legs. Give her a break."
The other group went quiet, a mix of guilt and annoyance on their faces. "Tch. Whatever," the leader muttered, gesturing for his group to follow. "There's another supermarket down the road. Let's go before these 'honor students' decide we're a threat."
As they left, one of them threw a final remark over their shoulder: "Don't let the dead weight slow you down."
The door creaked shut. Joel let out a long, shaky breath. "They're going to get themselves killed."
Yoorie didn't look at the retreating group. Her eyes were fixed on Jeesuk's hand. A thin red line marked his palm where a claw had grazed him during the struggle.
"You're hurt," she said softly.
Jeesuk glanced at the scratch, dismissing it. "It's nothing. Minnie is exhausted; she shouldn't waste mana on a scratch."
Yoorie didn't argue. She turned, grabbed a small first-aid kit from a nearby shelf, and walked back to him.
"Give me your hand."
Jeesuk hesitated, surprised by the quiet strength in her voice. He reached out. Yoorie's touch was light—careful and focused—as she cleaned the wound and applied a bandage. For a few seconds, the apocalypse outside ceased to exist. There was only the sound of their breathing and the small, domestic act of care.
"There," Yoorie said, stepping back.
Jeesuk looked at the neat bandage, then up at her. A strange, unreadable expression crossed his face.
"...Thank you, Yoorie."
She nodded, her hand tightening slightly on the ruby wand.
"The wand is pretty," Jeesuk added, his gaze lingering on the glowing stone.
Yoorie felt a small, genuine smile tug at her lips. "Your sword too."