"We have to accept that people are going to start killing each other."
Jin didn't ease into it. He didn't soften the words or try to dress them up. He said it plainly, standing there with the pipe in his hand, looking at each of them in turn.
"And if we stay here, we're going to get caught in it."
The room went still.
They all knew he wasn't wrong, but the thought of leaving their safe haven...
Min leaned forward slightly, already watching the others instead of Jin. Joon-seok stayed against the wall, arms folded, eyes narrowed like he could already see where this was going. Seul-ki didn't say anything, but her posture shifted, her attention locking onto Jin completely.
The others didn't move.
Minho was the first to respond.
"We're safer here."
His voice wasn't aggressive exactly, more like defensive, like he was holding onto that belief because letting go of it meant admitting something worse.
Jin shook his head once.
"No, we're not."
He gestured toward the barricade.
"This won't stop any real threat. If something big shows up, or a pack of them like in the stairwell …" He exhaled slowly. "Do you remember how one singular monster made the entire stairwell collapse? Parts of this building are unstable, and it will fall apart eventually. We don't know how long that will take, so we need to leave."
Daniel frowned.
"So your plan is what? Walk out there and hope we don't run into something worse?"
"My plan," Jin said, steady, "is to move before we're forced to."
Sora pushed herself up from the floor, arms crossed tightly.
"And where would we even go?"
Jin didn't hesitate.
"Find a better position to bunker down in. A place we can control. Something that isn't a break room with one exit."
Silence followed that statement, but it didn't last long.
Minho shook his head again.
"No."
That was firmer and more certain.
"We stay here, thats our plan."
Jin's grip on the pipe tightened slightly.
"That's not a plan."
"It's called surviving," Minho snapped back.
"No," Jin replied, just as sharp. "It's hoping nothing finds us."
Daniel stepped in this time, his voice lower.
"You're asking us to walk out there when we don't even know what's out there waiting. We barely survived getting here."
"And we won't survive staying," Jin said.
The tension in the room thickened; they couldn't risk getting divided at a time like this.
Sora let out a slow breath.
"You don't get it."
Jin's eyes flicked to her.
"Then explain it."
She met his gaze, not backing down.
"You can fight."
"You've been fighting since the start. You killed one of those things. You held your own against another. You make decisions like this because you think you can handle what's out there, and you probably can..."
Jin didn't respond.
Sora's voice sharpened slightly.
"But we can't."
Minho nodded.
"Exactly."
He gestured to himself, to Daniel, to the healer.
"We're not built for that. We don't have what you have."
Jin frowned.
"You think I'm built for this?"
"You are compared to us," Daniel said bluntly.
That stung more than Jin expected; he was originally complaining about his skill, but there were people who were even worse than him.
Minho stepped forward slightly.
"And now the system's telling us something else."
Jin already didn't like where this was going.
Minho continued anyway.
"It's not just monsters we have to fear anymore."
"People are going to start killing each other as you said," he said. "All for some rewards and a better rank, a lot of people won't hesitate."
Joon-seok muttered from the wall,
"That's the part I'm worried about too."
But Minho didn't stop.
"If that's what this world is now… then we need to think about that too."
Jin's eyes narrowed.
"…What are you saying?"
Minho hesitated for a second.
"I'm saying if killing makes us stronger… if it gives us a better chance…"
Jin's voice cut through him.
"No."
Minho frowned.
"You didn't even let me finish."
"I don't need to," Jin said. "No."
Daniel stepped forward now.
"It's not that simple."
"It is," Jin replied. "We don't kill people."
Sora's voice came sharp.
"Easy for you to say."
Jin turned toward her.
"What does that mean?"
She didn't look away.
"You already killed something, the system said there may be consequences, and you won't face them,"
The room went still again.
"You crossed that line already," she continued. "You don't get to stand there and act like you're above it."
Jin's jaw tightened.
"That was a monster."
"And how is that different?" she shot back. "Dead is dead."
That was it.
Something in Jin snapped.
"Don't!"
His voice wasn't loud, but it hit harder than if it were.
"Don't go there."
Sora didn't back down.
"You think we won't have to? You think everyone else is going to follow your rules?"
Jin stepped forward.
The pipe shifted slightly in his grip.
"Monsters are different," he said, his voice sharp now. "They're trying to kill us. There's no choice there."
"And people won't be? Why shouldn't we get ahead by going after them?" Minho argued.
"Not all of them," Jin shot back. "And we shouldn't be the ones who decide who deserves to die before they even do anything."
Daniel shook his head.
"That kind of thinking will get you killed."
"Maybe," Jin said. "But I'm not turning into that."
Silence hit the room again.
He looked at all of them.
Really looked.
They weren't exactly wrong.
That was the worst part.
They were all just scared and desperate, trying to find something they could control in a world that had taken everything from them.
But this-
This wasn't survival.
This was something else.
Jin exhaled slowly.
Then made his decision.
"If you stay here, you're not safe."
No one interrupted.
"If you go out there looking to kill people, you're not surviving. You're just becoming part of what this thing wants."
His voice steadied.
"So I'm leaving."
That landed harder than anything else.
Sora blinked.
"…What?"
"I'm not staying here," Jin said. "Not like this."
Minho frowned.
"And you expect us to just follow you?"
Jin shook his head.
"No."
He met their eyes one by one.
"I'm not asking."
That changed the air completely.
This wasn't a discussion anymore.
This was a decision they needed to make right there and now.
"You come with me," Jin continued, "or you stay here and do whatever you think will keep you alive."
Minho's expression hardened.
"So that's it?"
"That's it."
Sora let out a bitter laugh.
"Wow."
Daniel shook his head slowly.
"You're serious."
Jin didn't respond.
Minho stepped back.
"Then leave."
The words were sharp and final.
"If you think you've got it all figured out, go ahead."
Jin held his gaze for a second longer.
Then nodded once.
"Alright."
He turned.
"Min, are you coming?"
Min didn't hesitate.
He pushed himself to his feet, slower than usual, but steady.
"I'm coming."
Joon-seok sighed from the wall.
"Yeah… I'm not staying here; Jin is right about all this, so I'll stick with him."
He stood up, brushing dust off his pants.
Seul-ki shifted in her chair, testing her leg once.
It held up, and she didn't feel any more pain, which was good enough for her, so she stood.
"I owe Jin my life, so I'm sticking with him; he makes good points, too."
Jin didn't argue with that.
The healer hesitated.
Looked between both sides.
Fear was clear in her eyes.
But in the end, she stayed.
Jin didn't try to change her mind.
This wasn't something you could force.
He moved toward the barricade.
The others didn't stop him; they didn't help either, they just simply watched their sole protector walk away.
Furniture scraped softly as Jin began pulling it aside, creating just enough space to get through.
The hallway beyond was still dark and possibly dangerous; nothing had changed.
Except now they were walking into it by choice.
Jin stepped through first.
Min followed.
Then Joon-seok.
Then Seul-ki.
The door stayed open behind them for a second.
Neither side spoke.
Then it closed.
And just like that, they were on their own.