The world ended quietly — and then it started screaming.
GENRE: Zombie AU / Thriller / Survival / Angst
PAIRING: cortis (Rookie boy group, 5 members) x gn!Reader (group survival dynamics, romantic focus)
Optional Future Pairing Hints: The tall mysterious guy from Cortis 👀
CONTAINS: Mild peril, zombie encounters, tense survival moments, minor injuries, group dynamics, gore(slightly?), panic, (SFW)
✨ Synopsis:
One month in Seoul. life takes a turn when she joins an exchange program in Korea. New friends, unfamiliar streets, and the unexpected glimmer of magic in the everyday… but some things aren’t what they seem. Between school, food stalls, and a mysterious rookie idol group, ordinary days are about to collide with chaos she never saw coming.
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📝 Author’s Note:
Heyy! this is a mix of slice-of-life, school drama, and a little bit of K-pop (looking at you, Cortis 👀). I promise there’s adventure, friendship, and maybe a few heart-fluttering moments ahead. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I loved writing it!
The day passed like any other — classes, hallways, and caffeine-powered chaos. School was still a maze I hadn’t mastered. Every corridor looked the same, but the people? They looked straight out of a web drama. Perfect uniforms, perfect hair, perfect eyeliner.
By 3 p.m., I was exhausted and half-asleep, standing beside a grey sedan in the parking lot, waiting for my driving instructor. He’d gone to the restroom, saying, “Just two minutes.” It had been fifteen.
I kicked at a pebble, checked my phone (2% battery), and muttered, “Sir, you better not have gotten kidnapped or something.”
That’s when I heard it.
Footsteps. Fast. Urgent.
I turned—and nearly screamed.
Five boys were running straight toward me, yelling something in Korean. Loud. Panicked. Totally unintelligible.
“Wha—?! Wait—what’s happening??” I stuttered, backing up.
The tallest one — blonde, built like a skyscraper, definitely over six feet — stopped right in front of me, breathing hard. He switched to English in this low, clipped tone:
“It’s dangerous. You need to drive.”
I blinked. “...Drive? You mean this car?”
He nodded quickly.
“I don’t know how to drive!” I said, throwing my hands up.
That apparently broke him. He groaned, dragged his hand down his face, and muttered something that sounded a lot like Korean curse words.
“Okay, rude!” I snapped. “You come here, shout at me in another language, and now you’re mad?!”
By then, the others were already piling into the car like they owned it.
The one with orange hair — calm but clearly panicking inside — got into the driver’s seat (James, apparently).
Two others, Juhoon and Keonho, claimed the back.
The passenger seat was taken by this soft-looking guy with black hair — Seonghyeon — who looked like he’d apologize for existing if you bumped into him.
Which left… no seat for me.
And yet, the tall blonde had the audacity to sit in the only seat left — the one spot that was supposed to be for me.
“Hey!” I said, glaring. “That’s my seat!”
He looked at me like I’d just asked to borrow his soul. “No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is!”
“Not anymore!”
“What—?! Excuse me?!”
We were full-on arguing now, voices rising. I was seconds away from yanking him out by the collar when one of the boys in the back — bright smile — pointed at me and started shouting something rapid-fire in Korean.
I threw my hands up. “Oh my god, DUDE! This is my car! You can’t just colonize it and yell at me!”
I turned to yell back again, but before I could even process what was happening, the seonghyeon guy suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled both of us inside.
I stumbled forward, half-tripping over his legs, ready to go off on him — when I froze.
Because something cold brushed against the back of my neck.
A sharp tug—so hard it yanked my head back.
Pain exploded through my scalp, and I gasped, twisting around—
And saw it.
A humanoid creature, missing one arm, its eyes milky white, its skin peeling like burnt wax. Blood smeared down its jaw. It was gripping my hair in its one remaining hand, dragging itself closer.
My breath caught in my throat. “What the hell—?!”
James slammed the engine on, the tires screeching. The car lurched forward, but the creature didn’t let go. It clung to my hair like it wanted to rip my skull clean off.
The pain was blinding now. I screamed, tears burning my eyes. I didn’t care that the boys saw me crying — it hurt, so bad.
“Hyung!” Seonghyeon shouted, panicked, fumbling for something.
Someone from the backseat — maybe Keonho — tossed forward a pair of scissors.
Before I could even ask what was happening, the guy i was sitting on seonghyeon, I’d later learn — caught them, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and—
snip.
The pressure vanished. The creature tumbled away from the moving car, disappearing into the distance.
I sat there shaking, staring at the uneven ends of my hair in Seonghyeon’s hand.
Silence filled the car. Only our breathing and the roar of the engine.
Seonghyeon’s knuckles were white around the scissors. martin from the back, voice was low, almost trembling:
