To stay human

C1. Hall of Shame (Part 1)

Nayeon staggers as she walks into the hall with the food bag on her right side, her senses are gradually coming back to her.

How long has it been since the last time these halls felt so calm?

It's hard to imagine that in a span of two, was it three days(?), everything changed completely. The halls once were filled with the noise of students, the lecture of teachers now filled with eerie silence and faint noises of the zombie in the classroom. Are they sleeping?

She doesn't see many of them near her or out in the hall yet she can hear so many at once. And the ones that were near her didn't bother to react.

Strange. Maybe they are sleeping(?)

Her vision is starting to become clearer to her, especially now that the sound of her heart has calmed down and not overriding all her other senses like before. It was so loud that it was hard to focus on her surroundings. But that was when the smell starts coming.

The stench.

Like that of Mr. Lee and Hyeon Ju.

She remembers how her classmates would wear perfume that would irk her sensitive nose she would complain and her classmate would give her dirty looks. Not that she cared much at the time since they were just cheap like the perfume that they wore. Those were the simpler time when all she really cared about were the next gossip, celebrities articles, getting her grade high enough so that her parents don't cut her allowance but not for her future (let's be real her parents would give her a spot in an expensive prestigious university anyway).

Her parents.

She does not...dislike her parents but she also doesn't think they care much about her anyway. They only care about the idea of her, a daughter who they can brag about to their associates and people she doesn't care enough to remember.

Still, she hopes they are alright. They are hardly ever at home, always on their business trips so they should be fine. This isn't the first time she's glad they are not home. Whenever they are home, they don't ask about how her days were. It's always about school and her school result.

.

.

.

"I noticed you got B for Maths and Biology"

Was the first thing her dad said to her when she came back home and saw him after weeks of his business trip.

"You know I never liked Math, right? And the biology teacher, Mr. Lee, always give me the creeps, he would always look at students weirdly"

That was a lie, an excuse for a teenager who didn't want to hear what her dad says. Before the virus outbreak, heck even before his son's disappearance, Lee Byeong Chan was an upstanding teacher. Always on time for his class and returned his students' test results. She just wanted to blame someone other than herself.

"Enough with the excuses, your mother is preparing dinner with the maids. We will discuss this later." – his voice stern as he said so.

Her mother wasn't much different from her dad. Nayeon lost her appetite.

"Okay, dad. I will just change my clothes first."

As Nayeon walked up the stairs to her room, her dad said

"And Nayeon..." – he paused for a moment

"I'm sorry we didn't celebrate your birthday with you."

Another moment of silence

"We left a present in your room. It's your favorite color too. Once you finish, we can discuss where your future will be."