The aroma of coffee greeted Jinsoul as she entered the cafe. She didn't have any classes for today so she decided to take an extra shift at the cafe, Aroma Supreme. As she entered the shop, she saw her co-worker, Youngeun, already preparing the machines for service.

"Good morning, Jinsoul unnie." Youngeun greeted Jinsoul.

"Good morning to you too, Youngeunie. I see that you're early today." Jinsoul replied.

"Umm yeah, my mom left early for work so I decided to come with her. She dropped me off just a while ago." Youngeun continued on what she was doing.

"Can you please check if we have enough cups there? The baristas from yesterday left a lot of used and uncleaned cups so I'm not sure if we have enough cups that we can use today." Youngeun added. Jinsoul went next to Youngeun, near the coffee machine to check.

"We got like 10 cups here. I think that'll be enough for now. I'll wash more cups so we can use it for later." Jinsoul gathered the used cups just right next to those unused ones and went to the sink to wash it. She wore her apron for work as she started to rinse the cups.

"Good. It's still a little early. I doubt that a lot of customers would come here." Youngeun stand corrected. After a minute or so, people began to fill the place. Jinsoul thought that it is a school day that's why plenty of students come in and out of the cafe.

The place was packed. Jinsoul wasn't even sure if she and Youngeun could keep up with the number of people ordering. She was unsure to why their boss only hires two baristas a day when there are thousands of people who come to the cafe everyday.

Well, everything has its end. The customers began to lessen as time passed. The cafe wasn't deserted nor packed, it was now your usual cafe. Just some people here and there – some with their laptops and others with their newspaper.

"Ugh finally we can rest!" Jinsoul said.

"Wow, I thought that the line of customers won't stop. We did a pretty good job. We make a good team." Youngeun fist pumped with Jinsoul.

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team. Good job." Jinsoul patted the younger girl's head.  "We don't have a lot of customers right now so you can go ahead and take a rest. I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure, unnie? I don't want to leave you all alone here." Youngeun said.

"I'm fine. You were here really early so you deserve some rest. I'll call you when something comes up. Now go and rest." Jinsoul stated. Youngeun gave Jinsoul a smile and proceeded to the breakroom.

Jinsoul spent most of her time alone sitting and waiting for customers to come and order. In that span of time, nobody came. The cafe is just quiet as usual. The clicking of keyboards echoed throughout the small space. Jinsoul almost fell into a slumber, not until she heard a pounding sound from the entrance.

"Huh? What's that? What happened to him?" Whispers and murmurs were heard from the customers inside the cafe. Since Jinsoul was the only worker present there, she decided to check what was going on.

As Jinsoul got closer to the man on the other side of the glass, she noticed that the man looks ill. She couldn't quite point her finger on what's wrong with him, but she's sure that he's very very sick.

"Excuse me?" Jinsoul knocked on the glass. "Are you okay?"

As if on cue, the man looked directly on Jinsoul's eyes. "Help me, please. I don't...I don't feel so well." Jinsoul felt defensive at that moment. She had this gut feeling that she needs to keep the door shut.

Jinsoul held on the door's handles before speaking. "You look like you're really sick. Just stay put. I'm going to call for help."

"No, no! Please. Let me in. It's very hot here. I think I'll feel better on a cold environment. This cafe is airconditioned so please, let me in." The man begged.

Jinsoul didn't budge. Something is very very wrong here.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. These people here are terrified and I can't just let you in looking like that. You might have some sickness that is airborne." Jinsoul explained. The man seems not to be giving in to Jinsoul's statement.

"Please!! Let me in!! I'm also a customer for fuck's sake!!" The man was causing a scandal outside the cafe. Jinsoul kept thinking on what she should do or what she should say to make the man shut up. Suddenly, an old woman spoke from the inside.

"Why don't you let him in? That poor man is all by himself outside and he looks very ill. You can let him stay inside as you call an ambulance for help." The old woman said, making the others look at each other and nod their head.

"Ma'am, I am so sorry but I cannot do that. This man might be sick and if I let him inside, you may catch that disease."

"How can you be sure that that disease is infectious? You don't even know what's wrong with him." A man, about the age of Jinsoul's dad, spoke.

"Yeah, let him in!! Let him in!! Let him in!!" Customers inside the cafe starting chanting together to persuade Jinsoul to let the sick man inside. With the number of people chanting, Jinsoul was sure that something bad might happen to her if she decides not to follow them.

"Please, everyone calm down. Before I let him in, can you please all go back to your seats. He can stay here at the table near the exit so when the ambulance comes, they can easily help him get outside." The customers went to their respective tables after Jinsoul's words.

Jinsoul slowly let go of the entrance's handle. The man hurriedly opened the doors and went inside the cafe.

"Ahhh." The man sat down the chair and tilted his head up. "It feels nice here. It's different from the warmth outside."

Jinsoul ignored the man's comments and proceeded back to the counter. She took her phone out and called 911. After talking to the phone, Jinsoul heard gasps and screams coming from the customers. "What's happening here?"

People were gathered around the man as they stared at him, fear evident in their eyes. When Jinsoul saw what they were looking at, the man who came in a while ago was gurgling with blood. He then vomitted tons of blood.

"Umm, sir? Do you need some he–" The man collapsed right in front of Jinsoul's eyes.

"Help him!" Someone shouted from behind.

"What do you want me to do?!?! I already called 911 and they said they're on their way." Jinsoul shouted back.

Before someone could respond back, the man started twitching and shaking as if he was being electrocuted. They all watched him in fear. To say that Jinsoul was surprised was an understatement. She was terrified and flabbergasted when the man's white eyes opened.

The first person he saw was Jinsoul. He shrieked so loud and suddenly pounced on her. Jinsoul was fast to react. When he saw the man coming towards her, she kicked the man's crotched and at the same time, using her foot, she stomped on his leg as hard as she could. The injured man was basically limping right now but was still going after Jinsoul.

Jinsoul held unto the small menu board sign on top of the counter and smashed it to the man's head. The hit she made was hard enough to send the man's head twist 360 degree to the opposite direction. Jinsoul felt this revolting feeling when she saw what happened.

Fortunately for her, the man spotted those people at the other side of the cafe. Instead of going after her, the injured man limped towards the direction of the customers as they started screaming.

Jinsoul was supposed to head outside the cafe, but then she saw more of those monsters at the cafe's entrance pounding on the door. The only good thing that happened that day was that Jinsoul was able to lock the door when the injured man came in.

The last thing she did was enter the breakroom where Youngeun was located. She was questioning herself as to why Youngeun didn't seem to come out of the room with all the chaos that occurred.

She went inside the breakroom and immediately locked it. Jinsoul saw Youngeun laying down, sleeping, on the small blanket that she usually brings to work. She was also wearing her airpods as she slept which explains why she didn't bother to come out.

Jinsoul smiled slightly and decided not to wake the other girl up. She sat adjacent to Youngeun and covered both of her ears – trying to avoid hearing all the screaming, shouting, growling, shrieking, and the sound of the door breaking from the outside.

***

The sound of the cash register dinging filled Yerim's ears as she inserted another bill inside.

"Thank you. I hope you'll have a great day!" Yerim cheerfully told the couple in front of her.

Yerim works at the convenience store, just below her apartment, during mornings to be able to pay her place's rent. She is one heck of a hard working student as she takes her classes at night so she'll have time to work in the morning.

Yerim roamed around the store as she kept on checking whether things are organized or not. Yerim is a very meticulous girl. A single bottle that is not aligned inside the refrigerator annoys her. That is why her boss keeps her around because the store couldn't get more organized not until Yerim is around.

As she went back to the cashier, a girl with triangle-shaped lips entered the store. Yerim found her mysterious and scary at first, but she shrugged it off, telling herself that 'You shall never judge a book by its cover!'

Yerim continued reading the book she brought with her when the girl suddenly appeared in front of her, placing down a sandwich and a bottled water.

"Good afternoon!" Yerim looked down on the sandwich and bottled water. "Anything else you want to add?" She questioned.

"No." The girl bluntly replied.

"Are you sure? It's currently lunch time and only eating a sandwich is not good fo–"

"Look, I already told you that that's all I'm going to buy. Hurry up and punch it, I still have to get back to my game."

"But it's important to eat a lot these days. You need to keep your immune system strong so you can figh–" Yerim was cut off for the second time.

"Fine, fine, whatever." The girl went back to get something from the other side of the store. Yerim smiled to herself, thinking that her plan of making the girl eat more succeeded.

As the girl returned, Yerim was confused when she saw her holding a bottle of alcohol. "That's not what I meant..."

"What? I won't feel hungry when I pass out because I'm intoxicated." She pushed the bottle together with the other things she bought.

Yerim tried her best not to open her mouth and lecture this girl about proper eating habits and drinking style. She reached out for the sandwich and the bottle of alcohol when a high school student went inside the store without warning.

The girl with triangle-shaped lips eyed the high school student with squinted eyes as if observing her from afar. Yerim look at the high school student at the entrance way and back to the girl in front of her.

"Yah! What are you doing?!?!" Yerim was shocked when the girl snatched the bottle of alcohol from her grasp, smashing it in the process. She's now holding half of the bottle, with the shattered pointy part on the bottom.

The noise caught both the old woman and the man wearing a suit's attentions as they checked what was happening.

"Please, don't hurt the little girl! She didn't do anything wrong." Yerim begged as the girl walked slowly towards the high schooler.

In the blink of an eye, Yerim watched as the high schooler lunged at the girl with broken bottle. She wanted to help them but she's frozen in place. The shrieking sound came from the high school student's mouth. The sound made Yerim cover her ears, but the girl with the bottle didn't seem bothered at all.

The high school girl attacked the other girl again at a fast pace. Skillfully, the girl was able to dodge her. The high school student almost lost her balance, not until the other girl grabbed the hem of her shirt and stabbed the broken bottle on her head.

The corpse-looking high schooler fell on the floor. The girl who killed her dragged her away and threw her body outside the store. Blood covered the path where the body was dragged that made Yerim feel uneasy.

Yerim look at gamer girl and saw that she was about to leave the store, but she stopped after looking at the exit.

"Fuck." Yerim heard her whisper.

"Hey you, convenience store girl. Do you have keys for the roll up door here?" She called out.

"Me?" Yerim asked.

"Yeah, who else am I talking to?"

Yerim stood there, confused. She later on regained her consciousness when she answered, "Uh yeah, I have it. Our boss leaves it with the workers who stays at the store during working hours. Why do you need it?"

"Just give it to me. We don't have much time." Yerim could feel a slight panic from the girl's tone. Following her gut feeling, she hurriedly searched for the keys on her pockets and gave it to the other girl.

"Okay, here's what I'm going to do. We can't go out right now 'cause the place is infested." Infested with what? With bees?

Yerim's thoughts were cut short when the girl spoke again. "I'm going to head outside for a while so I can reach for the roll up door. When it's already covering the entrance, you'll immediately insert the key to lock it. Do you understand?"

"Why would you want to lock us inside?"

"It's either you get locked inside or die outside. Your move." The girl rudely replied.

Yerim still doesn't know what's going on, but she knew that she didn't want to die. "On second thought, let's just stay here."

"Okay, here it goes." The girl went outside and reached out for the roll up door. People outside heard this and followed the direction of the sound. Yerim was not sure if they are to be considered as people anymore as she caught a glimpse of a girl running towards them.

"Now, Yerim, lock it!" Pounding from the other side of the door can be heard as Yerim inserted the key and successfully locked the roll up door. They also locked the entrance door inside so it will be safer.

"Yah, what was that back there? And how did you even know my name?" She asked the panting girl beside her.

"You have a name tag for God's sake."

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A/N:
This is my first LOONA book so please bear with me :)

How's the story going so far?