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ELEVEN | ONLY THE STRONG
WILL SURVIVE

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THE NIGHT AIR was crisp and cool.

Stars lit the sky like snow-flakes in the night, appearing still, like an old photograph. Soo-Jin smiled, feeling the wind blow her hair into a tousled mane. The night sky was such a welcome sight, appearing like magic at each sunset, promising to return as she faded in dawn's first light.

"You sure you're going back to the campus alone?" asked Sang-Woo, pushing his eyeglasses up his nose. There was a hint of worry and concern in his voice, but Soo-Jin dismissed it.

It was already eight in the evening and two weeks after the welcoming party. Soo-Jin and Sang-Woo had been bonding almost every other night, just casually talking about their classes. They also discovered through their conversations how similar they were. It was kind of funny for her since they almost knew each other for half of their lives already, but there were still things they weren't aware of one another.

Soo-Jin found his presence and company very light and comforting especially in a place where everything was like a competition. He was like a breath of fresh air to her. There was a sense of stability with him that she didn't feel with Gi-Hun, the first man she fancied.

Gi-Hun didn't exactly have a direction in life. He just wanted to go where the wind blew. Something that Soo-Jin didn't like. She was a woman with a goal always in mind. Sang-Woo was the same.

"Yeah," She shrugged, casually. "I'll just get this books I need to study for tomorrow then I'll go home."

He nodded. "Okay, be careful."

"Thank you for the company, Sang-Woo. See you maybe..." She then chuckled, remembering how busy their schedules will be. "after three days?"

The corners of his lips twitched into a smile and he inserted his hands into his pockets. He was wearing a white dress shirt and pants, once again very formal. She felt small standing next to him with her pink polo shirt and dark jeans.

The two parted ways after bidding each other goodbye and Soo-Jin proceeded to get inside the campus, heading to her locker. It wasn't too quiet since there were still students walking around. It was only until when the lights went out that the woman was suddenly filled with fear.

It was dark around save for a small blue light coming from outside illuminating her surroundings. Why did she have to experience a power outage at this time? Such perfect timing.

Releasing a loud exhale, she pulled her books close to her chest and walked forward.

That's when she heard loud grunts coming from upstairs.

"No, shit." She murmured. "Don't tell me SNU has a ghost lurking around."

But, the grunts became pleads and Soo-Jin knew it didn't come from a ghost, it came from a person.

Alarmed and curious, she climbed up the stairs and checked if there was anyone. She then caught sight of three people standing above a bleeding, unconscious student. Soo-Jin emitted a soft gasp as she realized she had just witnessed a crime. The assailants were all wearing black masks, and black jackets and so she couldn't see their faces.

The student they had just beat up twitched, a sign that he was still alive.

"Kill him." One of them declared and Soo-Jin, feeling the urgent need to intervene, emerged from her hiding spot. She had no exact plan in mind, but she was sure she wasn't going to let the poor student die.

"Ya!" She shouted, catching their attention. The brunette narrowed her eyes, and put her books to her side. "Get away from him!"

The three masked men tilted their heads and almost immediately, ran towards her. Registering this, she sprinted down the staircase and into the lockers area where she tried to pull each classroom door open. But, alas, all of them were locked.

At this, her hair was yanked back by one of the attackers and she let a loud scream for help. She fought her assailant by throwing punches to no avail. Wordlessly, the masked man struck her gut and she doubled over, feeling all the wind from her lungs being knocked out. Soo-Jin then exhaled, inhaled, inched her arms under her and pushed herself herself up on her hands and knees, but her attacker had no plans for her to recover.

He kicked her once again in the stomach.

A hot tear rolled down her cheek as she felt like the pain crushed her in and claimed her body for its own. Was she going to die?

As she laid on the ground, feeling helpless, she heard one of them say, "No witnesses."

She then caught sight of a hammer being handed down to her aggressor and she knew that was it. She was going to die.

"Ya!" bellowed someone not far from them and Soo-Jin tilted her head to see a blurry vision of a man. Dazed, she wasn't able to capture exactly what happened next, and instead focused on herself. She sat up and groaned, clutching her stomach. Her eyes soon focused a little better and she caught sight of her savior.

It was Sang-Woo.

IT WAS ABSOLUTE chaos.

For as soon as the lights went out, a loud scream across the room was heard. Soo-Jin, alerted, jumped up from her bed and reached out to get Minjun off his top bed. But, then she was tackled to the ground by one of Deok-Su's goons, his hands grasping at her throat, leaving her without air.

Taken aback, she wasn't able to fight immediately. She clawed her fingers at his hands, as his palms continued to press against her throat. Soo-Jin could already feel her esophagus closing from how much pressure her attacker applied. Desperate to break free, she tucked her chin and poked his eyes with two of her fingers, hard, blinding him. He let go of her, screaming in pain, as he put his hand over his eyes. She didn't know if her fingernails actually scratched his eye, but why should she care?

Standing up and panting, she made her way back to her bunker bed and there was Minjun, frozen in fear. It was easy to say he hadn't seen too much violence in his life by the way he was shocked.

"Minjun!" She grabbed his wrist, shaking him back to reality. "Come on, kid! We have to go!"

He nodded frantically and both of them evaded the crazed murderers and defenseless victims around. Stabbing, shrieks, loud bangs of metal... it was a total murder frenzy. It was as if someone had just turned off the moral switches inside their brains and everyone went beserk.

It didn't even help that they couldn't even see their surroundings. The lights were flickering off and on like how in a disco would, but she could see the blood splattering on the smooth floor. She could hear the victims gurgling as they struggled to survive. Soo-Jin and Minjun resumed their way across the chaos until her brute archnemesis came into view.

Deok-Su.

His visage was covered entirely with blood, his pocket knife dripping with crimson liquid too. The blood of those who he had slaughtered. He was no doubt a murderer now.

"You think we're done, you bitch? Of course, not." snarled Deok-Su. "I'm killing you tonight."

And with that, he pounced at her just like how a predator would catch their prey. Pushing Minjun away from her, she moved away from him and kicked his side.

"Minjun! Go to Gi-Hun's bed! Now!"

Soo-Jin then tackled her enemy, slamming his body and bed against the bunker. It toppled over and they were caught inside. The two struggled to dominate each other, but the brunette, despite her little figure, was a brutal fighter. Her fights have prepared her to kill... if necessary.

The knife was no longer in his hand, relieving her. It didn't last long, however, since he threw a strong jab at her cheek. Recovering immediately, she put out a nice stiff left, and follow with a right cross and he fell over on the floor.

Soo-Jin rose from the bed, catching her breath. She avoided the middle area where the carnage was happening. The floor was beginning to be slippery as well due to the spilled blood. Her mind was alert and her emotions were shut off. She had to find Minjun and make sure he was safe with Gi-Hun and Sang-Woo.

Soo-Jin, at that moment, became a fighter with no mercy as she dodged the incoming knife towards her and grabbed their wrist, twisting it. Once she heard a crack and an excruciating scream, she let them go.

She continued breaking people's bones and evading strikes until she reached Gi-Hun's are, but he was nowhere to be found. Panic rising in her chest, she searched for him and saw him getting attacked repeatedly by a man with a metal bar. He was about to finish Gi-Hun off when Soo-Jin, Sang-Woo, and the foreigner intervened.

The foreign man stopped the man from delivering the final blow, and Sang-Woo snatched the metal bar, hitting the man repeatedly until he was kicked to the side. Soo-Jin then savagely pulled his head forward and broke his nose with her head. Still holding his hair in one hand, she slammed his had down on the metal stairs. He grunted, and went limp, slowly sliding off and splaying on the floor with his mouth open.

"Is he dead?" were the first words that came out of Gi-Hun's lips as he stared at the lethal woman in front of him.

"Of course not."

He nodded, a bit troubled. "Where's the old man?"

"I'm not sure."

That's when Soo-Jin became aware too that Minjun wasn't around. Just when she was about to ask for the boy, the three men dashed over to the old man's bed. Soo-Jin and Sang-Woo helped clear the way for them by attacking first. Once they reached the old man's bunker bed, the brunette shook her friend's shoulders.

"He's not here."

"Oh, no."

"Hey, old man! Are you there? Old man!"

"Gi-Hun! Look at me! Goddammit!" screamed Soo-Jin as she was growing exhausted. "Where's Minjun? Did you see him?"

He turned to her, perplexed and still shocked. "He didn't come to my bed."

Soo-Jin's heart stopped beating for a moment and her world began to cave in. The boy didn't reach Gi-Hun's area. That would mean...

"Minjun!"

She snatched Sang-Woo's metal bar and beat every bloody player in front of her.

"Soo-Jin!"

The brunette didn't know why she was still trying. The boy could be dead already since he didn't reach Gi-Hun.

Only the strong will survive, Soo-Jin. Only one will remain standing.

But, no, she had hope. She still hoped there could be more than one winner.

In the short time they have bonded, Yang Minjun became very important to her... like a son. Her maternal instincts raged in as she brutally hit everyone who was in her way.

"Minjun!"

There was no way in hell would she let that boy die. Not if she could help it.