Tearjerker / This Is A Wild Game Of Survival

• Ji-min discovering her parents dead, just like in canon. What's worse is the backstory. Ji-min was close with her parents, who absolutely adored her. However, they were conservative and extremely homophobic, having already cut off a family member, and pushed her to have crushes on boys when she prefers girls.
• Nam-ra believing that Su-hyeok's attempts to get to know her was actually him making fun of her.
• Woo-jin and Joon-yeong's fic Something's Different Now (But It's Been Like That For A While). They both have strong feelings for one another, but are both terrified of losing each other, so neither says anything about their feelings. Not to each other and not to anyone else. Woo-jin especially, since he comes from a homophobic family and fears the reaction of everyone around him.
• Cheong-san, after finding out his mom died trying to rescue him, is inconsolable, breaking down crying in On-jo's arms.
• By the end of Seek Shelter From The Storm Class 2-5 is convinced Gyeong-su, Na-yeon, and Ji-min are all dead, and all Su-hyeok can do is hope that no one else dies.
• Ms. Park tries so hard to rescue Ji-min after she abandons Hyo-ryung, but in the end, she's left sobbing over 'her baby'. Hyo-ryung is described as being inconsolable while Woo-jin is upset over everything that happened.
• The story of Ji-min's poor uncle. Shunned and disowned by his family for being gay, his own niece doesn't even know he existed until she is twelve years old. He goes on to live happily with his partner but dies of cancer. His own mother says that it was God punishing him for his sins, and that he's rotting in hell. What's worse is that Ji-min's parents and grandparents are normally very loving towards her but see absolutely no problem with how they treat their son and brother. No wonder Ji-min has issues.
• Hee-su, who is abused by her parents and bullied at school. She is sexually assaulted by Myung-hwan before he loses interest in her. Su-hyeok is her only ally. She gets pregnant young and wants to keep the baby but is in no position to give him a good life so has no choice but to give him up.
• Na-yeon, after her fight with Ji-min, laments all the ways she's been rejected before by the adults in her life and now by her best friend. It's so bad she genuinely believes Ji-min's words that she's unlovable.
• The description of Ji-min's hysteria after abandoning Hyo-rying is absolutely chilling. You can't help but feel horrible for her despite what she's done.
• All of Without You My Friend. It's a particularly low spot for the group. Gyeong-su spends most of it grieving I-sak while Joon-sung gets stabbed, to Mi-jin's horror. Ha-ri is also upset at the thought that Woo-jin could have a similar fate as his classmate.
• The flashback to Ha-ri and Woo-jin learning that he was an accidental pregnancy and that their parents almost had an abortion. The parents say it so casually and jokingly too, showing how inconsiderate they are over their children behind their backs.
• On-jo, fresh off of I-sak's death, is scared about her father's fate as he went to the hospital with Hyeon-ju, who was the first zombie.
• I-sak crying after Joon-yeong rejects her. She keeps quiet to not ruin On-jo's night but is clearly devastated. She consoles herself with the thought that she has her whole life ahead of her, and will eventually find someone for her, but the reader knows... her life is cut short too soon.
• Woo-jin believing that Ha-ri rejects him for liking boys. It's a misunderstanding of course, but it's the way he literally begs her, crying, for her to not be like their parents. Ha-ri is horrified when she realizes what she implied and hates that she made him think that.
• There's also something to be said for how neither Jang sibling has any doubts about how their parents will react. Both siblings say at different points that they can accept eventually losing their parents because it's a given. In fact, Ha-ri refrains from coming out to Woo-jin because of him potentially getting in trouble if their parents learn about her and only her and question him about if he knew. There's so much fear and hiding all because of two people who should love them the most.
• Ha-ri looking through old photo albums of her and Woo-jin and wondering if her mother will miss the wasted pictures more than them or if she'll miss her children after they're disowned, but no matter what, she knows that nothing is going to change her mother's mind about LGBT+ people.
• Joon-seong's death. Min-jae and Ji-min have to drag Mi-jin away from him as she screams out protests while he calls after her that she's an amazing friend. He easily accepts Na-yeon's apology for her rudeness towards him and then tells Hari to take care of Mi-jin. And while his actual death is a Crowning Moment of Awesome, Mi-jin is absolutely devastated afterwards, sobbing into Ha-ri's arms, with the rest of the group devastated as well.
• Class 2-5 realizing that the school was bombed, long after they've left the grounds, and realizing that the military was willing to sacrifice them completely. On-jo mourns those she's already lost and that they won't get proper burials and is completely unsure about if her and her remaining friends will be able to find safe place at all.
• There's something quite sad about the amount of stress Ha-ri is put under, being barred from any fun activities, with her parents insisting it will take away from her archery. It's because of that stress that she doesn't do well, and yet she and Min-jae both know the blame will be pinned on her and any freedom she already has will be taken away.
• Woo-jin and Ha-ri prove time and time again that they love one another more than anyone else, and yet, their relationship is strained because of their parents, who neglect Woo-jin to the point that he acts out in hopes of getting their attention, which is seen as him being let off easy by the overworked Ha-ri, who is put under copious amounts of pressure to succeed and is scolded for everything. Both siblings are jealous of one another but neither realizes how much the other is struggling, and it puts a big strain and what would normally be a strong relationship. In fact, after two flashbacks of them being very close as babies and toddlers, Ha-ri, now a teenager, mentions that they aren't as close anymore and blames Woo-jin for it.
• Ha-ri comes across a corpse that looks a lot like Woo-jin and breaks down, convinced that she's found her brother dead. It's not him, but she's just so exhausted that she's giving up hope of finding him at all.
• Class 2-5, after making it to the survivor's camp.
  • On-jo and Cheong-san are cuddling together, both devastated from losing their parents and best friends.
  • Hyo-ryung is unresponsive to the other kids' attempts to talk to her, and Nam-ra suggests she just needs time to process everything that's happened.
  • Woo-jin and Dae-su are comforting a guilt-ridden Joon-yeong, who's convinced that he could have prevented two bad things that happened to their group.
  • Su-hyeok feels helpless in helping his friends.
• One of the instances Joon-yeong feels so guilty about is Woo-jin breaking his wrist and nearly getting bitten after Joon-yeong left his side, thinking the danger had passed. This is the boy Joon-yeong's been in love with since he was twelve, and has only recently started dating, and of course, he's terrified of losing him. He's convinced he could have stopped him from getting hurt if only he hadn't left his side. To make matters worse, he wasn't even the one to save him.