The first orange light of the rising sun slowly illuminated the dark, debris-filled room. I opened my eyes, a sharp pain spreading through my arm—but more disturbing than that was the emptiness clinging to my mind. Our world had fallen apart... and I had to find a way to survive.
With effort, I sat up, feeling the stiffness in my body. Slowly, I stood and looked around the room. Ten students were scattered in the corners. Some looked dizzy and half-asleep, others stared blankly. Their faces were painted with fear and despair. And I could feel it too—so deeply.
But I couldn't just let them sit there, waiting for death.
I took a deep breath and clapped my hands loudly, trying to get their attention. "Everyone, get up! Listen to me for a second!"
Some opened their eyes, others still reluctant to move. Farya squinted at me with disinterest.
"I know… we're all confused, scared, and clueless about what's going on. But if we stay here, just sitting and doing nothing, we'll die slowly. Our food is limited. Medicine too. We don't even know if this place will still be safe by tonight."
I looked at them seriously, hoping they could feel the urgency. "I'm going to the main academy building. There's still stuff there—tools, food, supplies we can scavenge. I want some of us to come with me."
Silence filled the room before someone protested.
"What?!" shouted the girl with glasses, her voice high-pitched and anxious. "Are you insane?! It's still dark out there, and we don't know what's out there. Do you want to get us all killed?"
"You think we can just sit here and survive?" I replied, a little irritated. "We have no choice, Yena. If we want to live, we have to go."
The timid girl hiding in the corner behind a wall started to cry. Her sobs were quiet but clearly audible. "I don't want to go out! It's too dangerous! We should wait for help. The government will come… drones, signals, something! We just need to hold on, right?"
I looked at her with a firm gaze. "If we stay here, we're just waiting to die. We'll last longer if we get out and find anything useful."
Then, a sharp voice cut in—Minji, the delinquent girl who seemed tired of everyone's fear. "Look, I'm scared too. But we can't live in this room forever. This world's gone to shit. You still think someone's coming to save us? Didn't you see? Half the school's already collapsed. We have to make our own way out. Better to risk it than rot here."
Minji stepped closer, her stare sharp. "And we don't have time to wait."
The room fell silent again. Everyone looked unsure, but their faces slowly shifted. The girl with glasses lowered her head in defeat. Yena still clutched Evelyn's hand, the two silently bracing each other.
Renji stood beside me, nodding. "I'm in."
Dae shrugged, clearly tired of sitting. "Better than dying doing nothing. I'm coming too."
Minji glanced at the timid girl still crying. "Dae's right. We can't just sit here. You wanna wait to be eaten by monsters? Go ahead. But I'm leaving."
With pressure in the air, the crying girl wiped her tears and nodded weakly, still trembling.
"I'll come too," Yena finally said, her voice steady.
I gave a small, relieved smile. "Take anything that might help. Bags, cloth, flashlights, kitchen knives—whatever. We leave in ten minutes. Move."
The sunlight grew stronger, piercing through the broken windows. At least now we could see better. Everyone started moving, grabbing whatever they could find. No one talked much anymore—everyone lost in their own thoughts.
We moved under the shadow of a not-yet-risen sun, our footsteps quiet as we headed for the main Academy building. The structure stood half-collapsed—the upper floor had caved in, but the entrance and some corridors were still intact.
I opened the front door. Shards of glass littered the once-pristine marble floor. Now, everything was broken. But among the destruction, supply racks were still recognizable.
"Good. Farya, Lyn, look for medicine. Dae, Jihwan, help me carry food. Yena, you and Renji guard the entrance."
"G-guard it?" Yena gulped.
"Just in case."
"And the rest of you—split up and find anything we can use against those creepy-ass creatures."
We moved. Everyone worked in silence—except Farya, who let out a happy shout after finding a first-aid box intact.
But that peace didn't last.
A scraping sound—like claws against concrete—echoed from the back hallway. Everyone went quiet.
Renji pulled me back. "You hear that?"
I nodded, breath caught in my throat. "Hide," I whispered.
Too late.
A creature shot out from the hallway. Its body resembled a goat, but its legs had three claws, and its fur was made of jagged feather-like spikes. Red eyes. Sawtooth mouth.
One scream broke the silence—a short-haired girl who had come along. I didn't have time to remember her name. The creature pounced without hesitation, and the sound of tearing flesh echoed.
"Run!" Dae shouted.
"What the fuck is that?!" Jihwan screamed, panicking as he sprinted away from the monster.
Everything fell apart. The weird glasses girl bumped into me, clutching her bag. The delinquent girl—I still didn't know her name—fought with a chair before running. The timid girl just screamed and fell, but Lyn pulled her up.
We ran down the hallway, our footsteps and screams merging. One by one, the sounds of others vanished. Either dead… or caught.
Eventually, we broke into a large room and locked ourselves in.
The old steel door groaned shut, screeching like rusted metal. Naomi's flashlight lit up a half-dark space filled with scattered chairs, academic luggage, and exhausted bodies.
Seventeen people. Four of them stood out right away: Bugof and his gang—Gery clinging to his shadow as usual. The rest looked average, their eyes empty. But in one corner, two boys sat leaning against the wall.
Ahreum scanned the room. Renji, just behind her, froze when his eyes locked on the two boys.
"...Nikoo? Evan?" he whispered, barely audible.
Evan slowly turned. Nikoo raised his head too.
"Renji," Evan said flatly.
Ahreum glanced at Renji, puzzled. "You know them?"
Renji didn't answer. His legs took him straight toward them. But before he got close, a smug voice cut the air.
"Look who wandered in. The Academy's VIP group," said Bugof, arms crossed, smug grin on his face.
Beside him, Gery grinned. "Wow, all alive, huh? We thought you'd be monster meat by now."
Jihwan and Dae stepped forward, faces dark. But Ahreum raised a hand to stop them.
"Oh, we're playing nice now?" Bugof mocked, eyeing Ahreum's group. "You think we're all gonna hug it out?"
Gery chimed in, "Yeah, maybe throw a welcome party? Get real…"
"No one's saving anyone," Naomi snapped, her tone sharp. "We're all stuck in this hellhole together."
Tension sparked in the air like static. Dae clenched his fists. Farya stood ready, eyes darting around.
Meanwhile, Renji stood in front of Nikoo and Evan. He lowered his head, his voice soft.
"I… left you guys," he said quietly. "I thought—"
"So?" Nikoo cut him off.
Evan spoke with no emotion, "We didn't expect you to come back, Renji. But here we are again."
Renji bowed his head lower. "I have no excuse. But I… want to say I'm sorry."
Nikoo took a deep breath, then nodded.
And just as the tension peaked—from whispers to pride, from pride to confrontation—a heavy step echoed through the room.
The teacher swept his gaze across everyone. His breathing was heavy, but calm. Then, without saying a word, he pulled something out from under his coat—a small monster's skull, its eyes crushed, the neck looking melted as if it had been burned from the inside.
THUD.
The skull dropped onto the hard floor, bounced slightly, then rolled slowly. The sound echoed in the silence.
"That thing chased us all night," he said flatly. "And I killed them all. Because I didn't want a single one of them to die for nothing."
No one spoke. Even Bugof and Gery had lost their smirks. The tension shifted into something deeper—real fear.
Ahreum glanced at the skull lying near the teacher's feet. Its lower jaw was shattered, and the back of its neck looked… melted. Not the kind of mark left by an ordinary weapon.
'What could melt its neck like that? And… how did he even get the skull?'
Ahreum's face tensed, but her eyes were still filled with questions. Not just about the skull—but about who this teacher really was.