This article contains major spoilers for All of Us Are Dead.
Romance is rarely at the forefront of anyone’s mind during a zombie apocalypse, but since All of Us Are Dead is also a high-school drama in many ways, who’s crushing on who is kind of a big deal. Most of the show’s will-they-won’t-they dynamics are bundled up in a single love square involving four characters, and this article is going to cover two sides of it: Nam On-jo and Lee Cheong-san.
These two are highly important characters in the show. And their story is kind of classic, at least at first. They have been best friends and neighbors since childhood, Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson style, and they’re so socially close that all their associates just assume they’re dating. They’re not, however, and On-jo, at least, has never even considered it. But Cheong-san on the other hand? Well, that’s a different story.
Do On-jo and Cheong-san end up together in All of Us Are Dead?
Cheong-san is fiercely loyal to and protective of On-jo, and he’s clearly in love with her. However, he’s also a nice guy and wants to see her happy, so he stays out of the way and even encourages her and Su-hyeok, who she has a crush on and, at the start of the series, makes moves towards romantically by giving him her nametag. Su-hyeok, though, has eyes for someone else, and as this becomes clearer through the season, so too do the feelings between On-jo and Cheong-san.
There’s nothing like the threat of impending doom to force someone to admit their true feelings, and as the stakes get higher and Cheong-san and On-jo continue to lose friends and loved ones and find solace in each other, Cheong-san confesses how he really feels. On-jo doesn’t take it well at first, believing him to have somewhat damaged their platonic relationship, but in an ultimate act of self-sacrifice after being bitten by Gwi-nam, Cheong-san stays behind to ensure that everyone else, including On-jo, can escape.
Even though this is the end for Cheong-san, and the last time the characters see one another, the symbolic gesture of swapping nametags proves for both of them and indeed the audience that the feelings between them were mutual and reciprocated. Cheong-san dies, turned to ash in the bombing of Hyosan, clutching On-jo’s nametag, and On-jo keeps his with her. They don’t end up together physically, but in a sense, their relationship ultimately came to define them both.
