Chapter 56 – War (1)
[I am like a single drop of oil floating on the sea.
I can’t mix in anywhere, so I stand out… yet no one pays me any real attention. That kind of existence.]
In the back row of a high school classroom during an ongoing math lesson.
One student sat at his desk, staring blankly out the window with a vacant expression.
Through the window, he could see the track team members running laps on the field.
A faintly bitter look crossed his face as he watched them.
“Oh Han-cheol.”
“……”
“Oh Han-cheol!”
Snap!
In an instant, a piece of chalk flew through the air and struck the boy squarely on the head.
“Ahh!”
Laughter from the rest of the class echoed through the room.
“Hey, you idiot, stop staring out the window and focus—focus! You’re not even in the track team anymore… If you want to live like a proper person from now on, you’ve got to at least handle the basics, don’t you?”
“…Sorry.”
The boy nodded quickly, showing no intention of resisting.
He let out a deep sigh and forced his gaze forward again.
But no matter what, he couldn’t concentrate on the lesson.
Oh Han-cheol, second-year high school student.
He used to be a member of the track team—once selected as a youth national representative for short-distance sprinting.
But a single incident shattered everything.
- You little shit, what did you just say?
- You fucking orphan bastard with no mom or dad. What? Did I say something wrong?
Even now, if he closed his eyes tightly, the memory replayed vividly before him.
One punch he couldn’t hold back had taken everything away.
For a boy who believed that track and field was the only thing that could save his life…
After that incident, the spark inside Han-cheol had gone out completely.
Now he simply drifted through each day like a jellyfish—numb and aimless.
All he thought about was somehow graduating high school, leaving the orphanage, and getting any factory job he could find.
But the world wasn’t kind to wounded animals.
While walking to the cafeteria to ease his hunger—
He ran into a boy with a particularly vicious face coming the other way.
Surrounded by a group of delinquents who looked rough just by appearance, the boy flashed a smile full of malice.
“Hey, O-bastard. Can’t even run anymore, huh?”
“Heh heh, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cut you off completely. Shouldn’t have acted so big from the start, right?”
Pat pat!
He openly slapped Han-cheol’s shoulder with his palm.
Han-cheol’s fist clenched.
But he couldn’t bring himself to swing.
Because that guy’s parent was an education inspector.
He had already learned—painfully—how one punch could destroy a track athlete’s dream.
He now roughly understood just how far the aftermath of one swing could reach.
The orphanage director might have to kneel in apology. Or maybe even graduating high school would become impossible.
So all the boy could do was endure and force a fake smile.
“Nah… it’s fine. It was my fault anyway.”
Maybe his reaction wasn’t fun enough.
The group that had been picking on him huffed in disappointment and walked into the cafeteria.
Han-cheol arrived at the serving line and filled his tray with rice.
Without a single word to anyone.
Without any expectation or emotion.
He was just trying to find a quiet moment of peace—
Trip!
Someone stuck out a foot.
Crash!
He fell hard. Food from the tray splattered everywhere, soaking his uniform.
It was hot, but the shock, humiliation, and shame drowned out the pain at first.
Slowly turning his head, he saw the same group from earlier snickering.
“Oops, my bad.”
Crackle—
In that moment, something inside the boy shattered.
Why are they doing this to me?
Is it my fault I was born without parents?
I chose running to escape with all my strength from this cruel world—and now even that the world won’t allow.
If no one will ever love me, and even the tiny will to live I finally found is taken away like this…
Then why the hell was I even born into this world?
Han-cheol clenched his fist tightly and glared at the inspector’s son.
“Oops, gonna hit me again? Go ahead if you’re that pissed. What, you can’t do it anymore?”
His hand reached toward the spoon that had fallen to the floor.
Suddenly, the pointed end of the spoon looked incredibly sharp.
If he struck that guy’s temple with it… wouldn’t his head gush blood, flesh splattering sideways?
As if possessed by something… an intense, burning desire wrapped around Han-cheol’s entire body.
Eeeeeeeee—
A ringing filled his ears.
While he focused, entranced, on the sensation of the spoon gripped in his hand—
“KYAAAAAAAAAA!!”
“Huh? What the hell.”
One sudden scream rang out, and everyone’s heads turned toward the source.
“Grrrrr… Kk… Krrrrrrgh!”
From the direction of the kitchen, one person staggered out.
A woman with a ponytail, wearing a white gown.
It was the recently replaced nutritionist.
For some reason, foam bubbled from her mouth, her face flushed bright red—she looked furious.
“What’s wrong with that bitch? Why’s she acting like that?”
“How the hell should I know, you fuck. Damn, she’s already ugly as sin, now she looks even more fucked up.”
The delinquents standing in front snorted and threw out comments.
Then—
“Food… eat… food… KYYYYAAAAA!”
In an instant, the nutritionist lunged forward like a wild beast…
“AAAAAHH! FUUUUCK!”
…and bit straight into the neck of a boy who had been eating nearby.
Blood sprayed everywhere. Screams erupted from all directions.
“Hey, get her off! Hurry!”
“Shit—fuck!”
A few kids rushed in to pull her away, only to get bitten themselves.
A few seconds passed like that.
“Uh… huh…? Krrrr…”
“What’s wrong with you?”
The bodies of the bitten kids flushed red, veins bulging, foam pouring from their mouths.
And before even a full minute had passed…
“KYAAAAAK!”
They transformed into the same state as the nutritionist and immediately turned to bite the kids around them.
“KYAAAAAAAA!”
“Run—RUN!”
Finally realizing the gravity of the situation, students scattered in small groups, fleeing.
“What the fuck… is this some hidden camera prank?”
In front of Han-cheol, the inspector’s son hesitated, clearly conflicted.
But just as he started to slink toward the exit—
Trip!
Han-cheol, still holding his spoon, stuck out his leg and tripped the boy.
The kid lost balance and crashed to the floor.
“What the—?!”
“My bad.”
Returning the exact words he’d heard earlier, Han-cheol immediately broke into a run.
As he burst out of the cafeteria—
“KYAAAAAAAA!”
“HELP! SOMEONE HELP MEEEE!”
“Call 112—someone call 112!”
Everywhere he looked, people with the same flushed-red faces as the nutritionist were rampaging wildly.
‘I need to get somewhere safe.’
Even amid the chaos, he kept running… but more and more infected kept pouring in.
The place that came to Han-cheol’s mind was the school rooftop.
If he could get up there, he could survey the surroundings and figure out what to do next.
Having made up his mind, he reached the second floor.
“AAAAHH! You crazy—WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
“Die, you fucker—DIE!”
In the hallway: kids fleeing, kids already turned into zombies, and others swinging chairs and mops in desperate resistance.
The corridor was a complete mess—impossible to pass through easily.
Han-cheol steadied his breathing and lowered his stance.
Then—
Dash!
He kicked off the ground and shot into the hallway.
In an instant.
“KIEEEE!”
Zombies reached out with grasping arms, but Han-cheol slipped past them effortlessly, weaving to the other side.
Speed lines stretched long behind him, hair whipping wildly. As if proudly showing off that he used to be on the track team… his face was filled with exhilaration as he sprinted.
Han-cheol didn’t stop.
As though determined to shake off everything, he poured power into his thighs and simply thrust his legs forward.
He climbed the stairs, accelerating with the single-minded resolve that no one would catch him.
How long had he been running?
BAM!
Han-cheol slammed his body against the rooftop door and burst through.
And then—
“You… you’re…”
He saw that several other kids were already on the roof.
Probably ones who had made the same judgment he had.
Without a word, Han-cheol quietly dragged over scattered materials and barricaded the rooftop door.
Only after finishing the work did he finally turn and look the other way.
And there—
“KIIIEEEE!”
“BANG—BANG—BANG!”
BANG! BOOM!
Explosions and smoke rose from everywhere. Zombies chased people down the streets… cars swerved to avoid them only to crash into roadside trees.
It was literal hell on earth.
But the moment he saw it…
“Ha… haha… ahahahaha!”
The boy Oh Han-cheol began to let out a mad, crazed laugh.
And with that, the chapter ended.
The title floated up on the final page.
[School of Deadline]
[Story & Art: Yang Jae-han]
After turning through every last page—
[To be continued…]
“Huuuuhhhhh…”
Sitting in the bathroom stall reading <New Chance>, the owner of Buksaetong Bookstore finally let out the breath he’d been holding in sheer excitement.
Because…
‘Yang Jae-han, this guy… his skill has gone up another level.’
Kim Pan-geol.
He had run Buksaetong Bookstore for decades now.
At this point in his career, he could—exaggerating only a little—judge a book’s potential just by looking at the cover… or even by smelling the ink on the pages.
And according to his sharp instincts, the prospects for <School of Deadline> were probably…
“A massive hit. Maybe even more than that.”
He still remembered it vividly.
Back when Yang Jae-han was getting pummeled in Jump Comics.
Then appearing in <New Chance>, sweeping the published comic market with <Aureka>.
But this work…
It was delivering an even fresher, more powerful shock than that one had.
“Heh heh… hehehe… No wonder <New Chance> was making such a fuss.”
He thought back to a few days earlier.
- Boss, please—just trust me this once and put it on the display stand! Just help me out once and I swear I’ll make it worth your while!
- Come on, who even buys magazines these days? Why would I stock <New Chance>?
- Just once! Go Gwang-jin from there—he’s the kind of guy who always repays favors!
The rough-looking <New Chance> staffer who resembled a gangster.
He had begged so persistently that Kim Pan-geol gave in and laid out the issues on the stand.
Now he felt like he had made the best decision of his career.
“Huuu… This one… a real strong contender just showed up.”
With an intrigued expression, Kim Pan-geol turned the page.
He was searching for traces of the young challenger taking on Yang Jae-han’s fortress.
[♕ Brave King ♕]
[- Chapter 15: Reverse Heaven’s Monarch -]
David’s Brave King.
He wanted to see whether this work—now facing Yang Jae-han head-on—could actually stand its ground in this Chapter 15.
To be completely honest…
‘It already feels like Yang Jae-han has won.’
He genuinely thought <Brave King> was a fun comic.
But no matter how good it was… it seemed unlikely to surpass the sheer impact of <School of Deadline> Chapter 1.
Flip flip flip!
With half anticipation, half worry, he turned the pages.
Flip! Flip! Flip flip flip!
And when he reached the very last page—
“Crazy… what the hell is this?”
An expression of pure excitement spread across his face.
It was the exact same look he’d worn when he first read <School of Deadline>.
Knock knock knock!
“Hey, come on—how long are you gonna stay in there? Planning to live in the bathroom?”
“Ah—sorry, sorry.”
Someone knocked on the stall door. He hurriedly stood up.
As he stepped out of the bathroom—
“Damn, I almost shit myself for real.”
“Sorry, really sorry.”
He bowed apologetically to the irritated customer waiting outside.
But right now, his mind was completely elsewhere.
He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed someone.
Ring ring ring!
<<Hello?>>
“Is this Go Gwang-jin from Jangsan Publishing?”
<<Ah! Yes, what can I do for you?>>
“This is the owner of Buksaetong Bookstore. From now on, I’ll put <New Chance> and the <Brave King> volumes together on the main display. And when Yang Jae-han’s volumes come out later, I’ll feature those too.”
<<S-Suddenly?>>
“But in return—I want signed copies from both authors, and one original sketch from each. Can you make that happen?”
<<…Yes. I’ll find a way.>>
“Good. Then keep in touch.”
Click.
After ending the call, a wide, satisfied smile spread across Kim Pan-geol’s face.
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If You Fall in Love at the Academy, You Die
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