The Rod of Love
It was only an old story now, but every profession had its golden age — a stretch of years people still talked about with a certain wistful pride.
Teaching was no exception. Whether it truly deserved the name "golden age" was another matter, but for the male teachers at least, the label fit well enough.
Because even into the 2000s, the idea of some small-time delinquent talking back to them was still unthinkable.
History had proven it the finest educational system of all — and the eternal kryptonite of every punk kid alive. But as the rod of love gradually became taboo with the passage of time, the storm-and-stress teenagers of each new year pushed the line a little further.
Open sexual assault on school grounds. Attempted murder. Driving classmates to suicide…
And every time the perpetrators looked back at them with those contemptuous, what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it eyes, the veteran male teachers — the student affairs directors among them — could only grind their teeth and bleed tears of nostalgia for the old days.
You leave a girl looking like that and the best you've got is "I'll just do my time in juvie"? You piece of shit…
Ten years ago I'd have half-killed the little bastard…
And so the rod of love — polished smooth by the hands of true educators who had ground their teeth and waited for the day they might use it again — still sat gathering dust in a corner of the faculty office.
"……"
Haejun listened to the whole explanation with a dubious look, then finally opened his mouth.
"Wasn't that just stuff the student affairs guy kept around for show? Why the grand history lesson…"
"No. I asked him myself. In his prime he swung those things nonstop. Not on regular students, of course — on kids like you."
Chaeyeon's deadpan delivery left Haejun with nothing to say.
"Hey, what did I ever do…"
"You know exactly what. Anyway, I get the idea. You want us to go grab those paddles, right?"
Soeun cut off Haejun's excuses, and Chaeyeon nodded.
"Yeah. Even if we tore this whole school apart, those are the most usable weapons we've got."
"…Can't argue with that."
Aside from what was in the faculty office, the only things in this school you could even pretend to fight monsters with were the mops from the bathrooms.
That was when a first-year named Kim Yunho raised his hand with a clueless look on his face.
"Uh… aren't there plenty of other weapons? Kitchen knives from the cafeteria, or the art room on the second floor has a ton of carving knives…"
"You're not serious, are you? You want to fight monsters with something that has the reach of a palm?"
Soeun looked at him with an expression that said she hadn't expected even that much courage, and Yunho promptly shut his mouth.
Haejun was snickering to himself at Yunho's expense when he caught Chaeyeon's stare fixed on him and flinched.
Looks aside, those eyes of hers carried an atmosphere that even a hothead like Haejun couldn't help but read carefully.
"And the ones going to the faculty office are me and you two."
"…W-what? Why me…"
"Kang Soeun's going to cover the door in case anything goes wrong. The other two aren't exactly reliable in a real fight. That leaves you."
It was a cutting assessment — and an accurate one. While Hyunmin and Yunho wore awkward faces, Haejun couldn't decide whether to feel flattered or not.
So… is she saying I'm the most reliable one here?
That part was nice, but the thought of actually stepping out into the hallway made it impossible to feel good about it. He managed a halfhearted lift of one corner of his mouth.
Soeun shook her head at him, then shot Chaeyeon a look that said tone it down. Chaeyeon just tilted her head with an innocent little shrug.
Hmm? What did I do?
Stop with that backhanded flattery, you fox.
She'd always been like this — charming male upperclassmen just enough to wriggle out of annoying situations. But doing it now, with lives on the line, left Soeun speechless.
Chaeyeon, for her part, didn't care how Soeun looked at her. She kept her focus on reeling Haejun in.
"Don't tense up so much. It's right next door. We're just grabbing a few weapons."
Her voice was soft, almost a murmur against his ear. Haejun swallowed hard, then finally nodded.
"…Fine. Whatever. I'll do it."
And just like that, everything resolved on a pleasant note. Chaeyeon tossed him a cool, casual wink — and Soeun was left with nothing to say at all.
But even if starting was half the battle, when the single most precious thing you owned — your life — was on the line, nothing was ever going to be that easy.
Haejun carefully cleared the barricaded desks and opened the door, his face so tight with tension he looked ready to stop breathing. Soeun muttered beside him.
"Hey, Kang Haejun. Just go with the same confidence you used to hit on me with. What's the problem?"
"…Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
He snapped as he scanned the hallway, dim and murky from the cut power. Soeun snorted a quiet laugh and gave him a light shove between the shoulder blades.
As much of a nuisance as he'd always been, she didn't hate him enough to want him dead.
"Yeah. Getting mad is better than freezing up like that. Don't die. Come back."
"…Thanks."
Haejun caught the meaning behind her words. He slowly unclenched his face and steeled himself, and for a moment the whole group felt a little warmer — everyone except one person, who was built differently from the rest.
"It's not even five meters. We're going and coming right back. Why is everyone making such a production out of this?"
Chaeyeon asked it like she genuinely couldn't understand, then shoved the door open herself in frustration. Everyone else nearly jumped out of their skin.
"There's nothing nearby. I already checked."
The hallway itself would make noise the second anything approached — so what was the point of all this dithering? She headed for the faculty office without waiting.
One wrong step and a monster would tear your throat out and end your life, and she was strolling along like she was stepping out for a morning walk. Haejun stood there with his mouth hanging open, unable even to follow. Soeun sighed.
"She's always like that. Just go after her. If you really can't, I'll go."
"…No. I'll go."
That finally snapped him out of it. Holding his breath, Haejun stepped out into the hallway.
Dying was one thing — but looking like a coward in front of the girls was something Kang Haejun's personal code would never allow…
And then, from further down the corridor, the sound of rough footsteps began to approach, and his mind went blank.
"Ah, this won't work. Let's fall back and try again in a bit."
Chaeyeon stopped as well, glancing toward the sound and murmuring under her breath. Haejun creaked his way back into the science room and muttered,
"Now that I think about it, looking a little pathetic and staying put might actually be better…"
"Hm? What was that?"
"…Nothing. Never mind."
Some tens of minutes passed. The other side of the door showed no sign of quieting down.
The heavy footsteps, the low and bone-chilling moans — everything pointed to the same conclusion: open that door now and you were absolutely, thoroughly fucked.
"This is a problem. We can't just sit here…"
Chaeyeon muttered, then rolled her eyes over the stacked hazardous chemicals before turning to Hyunmin with a proposal.
"What about luring them? If we herd them all one way, that should clear things right up."
"…Huh?"
"You said bombs were possible, didn't you?"
Hyunmin had been the one to bring up bombs, so even if they couldn't hope for real firepower, the noise alone ought to live up to the name. Chaeyeon looked at him expectantly.
He worked his mouth for a moment, then finally nodded. Chaeyeon's pretty lips curved into a smile.
"Great. Senior. Can you make one right now? I'll throw it."
"Wait — throw it where? Is there even a route that would actually draw them off?"
"Hm? Just the opposite end of the hallway?"
Bounce it off the wall, send it down the stairs, wait for the zombies to pile up down there, then stroll out with the paddles. That was her plan.
And as always, it fell to Soeun to lose her grip on reality first.
"Hey, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Even if your athletic ability is good—"
"Uh, sorry, but the bomb I mentioned is absolutely not the kind you can use like that."
"Oh my, is that so? What a shame. We could have solved this so easily…"
Chaeyeon's completely unbothered pivot left Soeun clinging to the last shreds of her composure.
Why is she so excited? "Oh my"? She only uses that when she's actually having a good time…
In a situation like this, instead of being anxious or stuck, she was openly enjoying herself — and Soeun couldn't shake the feeling that none of it was real. Was she the only one who saw it that way?
Having lived this long with a friend named Im Chaeyeon, she still couldn't get used to that personality — a walking, talking paradox that somehow existed inside the real world.
And apparently, even after reality itself had completely fallen apart, that hadn't changed.
"Why are you staring at me like that? Need the bathroom? Want me to go with you?"
"…I don't need anything from you, you bitch."
Soeun shoved Chaeyeon away as she grinned and teased her, and let out a long sigh.