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Fanfic / A Meaningful Sacrifice

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Instead of fully turning into a zombie after being bitten in an attempt to help Mijin, Oh Joonyeong becomes a hambie, a half-zombie/half-human hybrid, leading to the survival of several other characters. He comes across a wide variety of other characters as the group leaves the school grounds and makes it to the survival camp. However, all is not well as he deals with grief and the changes that come with his new status.

A Meaningful Sacrifice is an All of Us Are Dead fanfic by Glowstar826. It can be read on Archive of Our Own here.


This fanfic provides examples of:

  • Adaptational Angst Downgrade: The prevented deaths of Joon-yeong, Woojin, and Cheongsan leads to this. On-jo, Hari, and Daesu no longer have to grieve them. Also, Joonyeong manages to stop Namra from leaving the group, meaning that survivors remain as True Companions.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Joonyeong's life is elaborated on, and he now has two dead parents, a kid sister he has to care for, and a craving for human flesh that he despises. Additionally, Woojin and Hari's relationship deteriorates after it's revealed she lied about their parents.
  • Adaptational Badass: Joonyeong definitely went out with a Dying Moment of Awesome in canon, but due to surviving and becoming a hambie, he now has super strength and is a main player in the remaining fights the group has to endure, such as fighting Gwinam.
  • Adaptational Expansion: Delves deeper into the family lives of characters who don't get such development in the original, and also follows the aftermath of the virus in the outside society and in the survivor camp.
  • Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
    • Hari and Woo-jin's relationship in the show is only ever shown as being caring, with the occasional bickering over who protects who. He never shows resentment towards her over their parents' Parental Favoritism. Here, it's a lot more complicated, with them feeling quite disconnected with one another due to their different personalities. They eventually become estranged and stop talking for two months.
    • Joon-yeong and Woo-jin were friends in the show, but how close they were is not elaborated on, though there were occasional hugs and other acts of affection between them. Here, they were Childhood Friends who were extremely close and Joonyeong is quickly developing romantic feelings when the series begins. I'm Slipping and Falling (and Falling and Falling...) shows that Woojin's crush was already fully formed and he was pining after the other boy as the original show was occurring.
  • Adaptational Sexuality: Woo-jin and Hari are both gay, Mijin is sapphic, and Joonyeong is bisexual.
  • Almost Kiss: Woo-jin and Joon-yeong come very close to kissing the night they spend at the hotel. Joon-yeong quickly becomes overwhelmed though, leading to this trope.
  • Artists Are Attractive: Woojin is a talented artist, and Joonyeong will tell you many times how attractive he is.
  • Berserk Button: Woo-jin clearly hates being loudly woken up. He hits Cheong-san when him and the other boys prank him by yelling at him when he was sleeping in.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Joonyeong towards Soowi. On-jo is also very protective of the little girl. Hari towards Woojin, though their relationship isn't as cut and dry.
  • Big "NO!": Joon-yeong when Woojin is about to get bitten by a zombie, which would have been where he dies in the canon events.
  • Blessed with Suck: Joon-yeong gets a second chance at life and has enhanced abilities to aid his friends. However, he hates the changes it brings to his body, such as the inability to digest food unless it's raw meat. His hunger for human flesh leads to him changing cells to stay away from Soowi. The night he gets together with Woojin, he has a nightmare about accidentally turning his boyfriend.
  • Christmas Episode: Chapter 18 Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.
  • Death by Adaptation: A unique example. The fic I'll take a quiet life is a canon divergence fanfic of a fanfic in which Soowi dies, while she's very much alive in the main series.
  • Fantastic Racism: Captain Ahn makes it clear that he doesn't see Joon-yeong and Nam-ra as regular teenagers deserving of care during his argument with Kangdae, as they crave human flesh. He acts as if asking for their permission to experiment on them isn't a given, which, considering that they have Eunji locked up and experimented on, it clearly isn't for the military.
  • Foil: Joon-yeong's relationship with Soo-wi has been compared Woo-jin's and Ha-ri's. In both cases, the older sibling is protective of the younger one. However, the latter relationship quickly sours, as Hari's protectiveness leads to her hiding their parents' fates, to Woojin's fury. Not to mention, they're closer in age so he doesn't need her as much. On the hand, Soo-wi and Joon-yeong adore one another, however her young age leads to a lot of stress for him about having to take care of her.
  • Generation Xerox: Joonyeong and his mother are both intelligent older siblings who are attracted to more than one gender. They both confess their feelings to their same-sex friends in their youths. Both lose their parents relatively young and have to take over looking after their younger sibling and both have to endure much tragedy.
  • Good Parents: Joonyeong's parents.
  • Hereditary Homosexuality: Both Jang siblings are gay. Both Joon-yeong and his mother are bisexual.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Woo-jin is secretly a very good artist, but only Joon-yeong (and secretly Dae-su) knows about it.
    • Daesu actually comes from a fatphobic family, which chips away at self-esteem greatly.
  • Manly Tears: Joon-yeong cries several times throughout the series. Most notably when his mother dies. Other notable instances include; When he has a nightmare about turning Woo-jn into a zombie, in the au where Soowi dies, when he overhears Captain Ahn talk about him and Namra like they're monsters, and after he has an anxiety attack upon meeting Eunji.
  • Official Couple: Joon-yeong and Woo-jin, On-jo and Cheong-san, Nam-ra and Su-hyeok, and Ha-ri and Mi-jin.
  • One True Love: Woojin is this for Joonyeong and viceversa.
  • Parental Neglect: Woojin suffered from this, as his parents preferred his sister to him. He eventually blames Hari for their lack of closeness.
  • Parents as People:
    • Seongmin and Taehyun had to make a choice and saved their youngest child first before going after Joonyeong, though they couldn't get to him and Seongmin only reunites with Joonyeong after he and his friends escape the school.
    • Namra explains her mother's reasoning for putting so much pressure on her, which stemmed from her past experiences working for the position she has.
  • Promotion to Parent: Joonyeong to Soowi after they are orphaned. Or at least he believes he's this, as Lieutenant Song offers to adopt them, and he easily becomes overwhelmed at all the facets of taking care of his sister fully.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Hari and Woojin are described as being fundamentally different, with her being stoic while he's more emotional.
  • Snow Means Love: The Love Confession happens as Woojin and Joonyeong are sitting outside and the latter takes note of the white snow.
  • Spared By Adaptation: Joon-yeong, Woo-jin, and Cheong-san.
  • The "I Love You" Stigma: Joonyeong is shocked that Woojin would say he loves him after only dating for a short time. He quickly realizes that he loves him back however, but even after that wonders about the validity of the confessions.
  • There Is Only One Bed: The night at the hotel, Joon-yeong refuses to wake Soowi and so sleeps in bed with Woo-jin.
  • Wham Line: "My name is Lee Byeongchan. I am the one who created the Jonas Virus."

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