Characters who originally died in All of Us Are Dead - Oh Joonyeong, Jang Woojin, Yoon Isak, Han Gyeongsu, Kim Jimin, Lee Nayeon, Kim Minji, Jung Minjae, and Yoo Junseong - replace the canonical survivors in a Role Swap AU. In doing so, they must navigate their grief and survivors' guilt in the way only they know how. Meanwhile, Lee Cheongsan is somewhere out there, living as an asymptomatic member of the undead.
The Lucky Ones is a collection of fanfics by GlitterFairy_21225. While there is a multi-chaptered story (which is what this series is named after), there are many prequels that provide crucial context for the main story. These stories as well as the multi-chaptered one can be read here
on Archive of Our Own.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
- Characters who died in canon are now alive.
- Unlike in the original series, Gyeongsu wasn't killed by Nayeon. Instead, Isak caught onto what she was doing in time to stop her and force her out of the group, as seen in But I Took Your Matches Before Fire Could Catch Me (So Don't Look Now).
- While Nayeon dies in canon, in this story, she manages to bring food up to the group and rejoin them. However, this doesn't raise the others' opinion of her one bit.
- Instead of possibly surviving an explosion like in canon, Cheongsan instead becomes a hambie, taking on Namra's role as an asymptomatic member of the undead. This ensures his survival, which is left uncertain in the original show.
- Unlike in canon, Park Heesu survives the apocalypse and is rescued by a police officer, Song Jaeik.
- Joonyeong doesn't die like his canon counterpart because when escaping the gym, the survivors didn't go through with his plan. They went through with Mijin's instead.
- Woojin doesn't die saving Hari - Hari dies saving Woojin (which makes this an Adaptational Angst Upgrade as well).
- Joonyeong's, Woojin's, and Isak's families survive the outbreak.
- Characters who died in canon are now alive.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Since this is a Role Swap AU, characters who survived in canon are now dead.
- Suhyeok and Namra die minutes of each other in I Didn't Have It In Myself To Go With Grace ('Cause When I'd Fight You Used To Tell Me I Was Brave), à la Romeo and Juliet.
- Daesu dies in the music room as the group heads up to the roof.
- Hyoryung saves Jimin after the latter slips and falls, which leads her to get bitten by a zombie.
- Woojin has to watch his older sister, Hari, die. On top of that, he has to watch Cheongsan snap her neck so her zombified form wouldn't kill the rest of the survivors.
- Mijin is the one who dies instead of Joonyeong because the group goes with her barricade plan in the gym. As she's trying to save Joonyeong from a zombie, she gets bitten in the process, which leads her to jump out of the barricade and attempt to drag the rest of the group to safety.
- With Onjo dead, Cheongsan has lost the love of his life while Isak has lost one of her best friends.
- Isak has a close relationship to her doting father, who isn't mentioned in canon. He's revealed to have died in the initial carnage of the zombie outbreak.
- Jimin, like in canon, has a very close relationship with her parents. However, in this story, her entire family - not just her parents - are gone, which leaves her with no relatives left.
- Because Namra was Assemblywoman Park Eunhee's only child, with her gone, Eunhee is childless.
- Since this is a Role Swap AU, characters who survived in canon are now dead.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Joonyeong and Woojin are friends in canon. In this story, they're close friends, and they develop strong romantic feelings for each other that stem from as early as their middle school days. Right before Joonyeong reaches the camp with his surviving friends, he realizes that he's fallen in love with Woojin.
- Much like Joonyeong and Woojin, Gyeongsu and Isak are clearly friends in canon. However, in this story, it's taken to the level of them being best friends, with each of them navigating growing romantic feelings for one another. Gyeongsu, particularly, understands Isak on a deeper level than her other friends had understood her.
- While Jimin displayed more masculine tendencies than her female classmates in canon, that's where it ended. In Said "I'm Fine" But It Wasn't True (I Don't Wanna Keep Secrets Just To Keep You), she becomes best friends with Woojin after they meet at a party and Jimin gives him street credit by making it as if they had made out in a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. As their friendship grows, they bond over Taylor Swift music, and they eventually start dating. However, due to both of them having an Adaptational Sexuality which makes them incompatible with each other, they break up amicably after two weeks and continue being close friends.
- Though Suhyeok and Namra are a canonical couple, in this series particularly, they're already together before the zombie outbreak. This serves to strengthen their romantic bond overall, leading to them being in love at the time of their deaths.
- Adaptational Expansion: Character backstories and motivations are expanded upon in the prequel fics.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Joonyeong is bisexual, Woojin is gay, and Jimin is asexual/aromantic.
- Better as Friends: When they break up, Woojin and Jimin agree that they should have just been friends the entire time.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Isak isn't mentioned to have autism in canon. Here, she displays signs of autism, and flashbacks of her unique behavior/tendencies as well as her inner suspicions of being neurodivergent heavily imply that she is autistic.
- Hidden Depths: Woojin has an immense talent for art, which isn't known by his parents, sister, or friends.
- Imaginary Love Triangle: Joon-yeong thinks that Woo-jin and Ji-min still have feelings for one another, while being in love with Woo-jin himself.
- Incompatible Orientation: A mutual example. Jimin and Woojin try dating but neither is attracted to the opposite sex, so their breakup leaves no hurt feelings (it helps that the 'romance' was short lived being a couple weeks) and they're happier as friends.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Joonyeong mistakenly thinks that Woojin is in love with Jimin, who at this point is Woojin's ex-girlfriend. Therefore, he tries his best to let go of his love for Woojin so that Woojin can freely be happy with Jimin.
- Teen Pregnancy: Like in canon, Park Heesu is pregnant. It's specified that the sex she had was consensual. The father may or may not be alive.
- Parental Neglect: Woojin was neglected by his parents as a result of their favoritism of his late older sister, Hari, who was an archery prodigy. Because of this, his parents truly don't know their son - and frankly, they didn't know their daughter too well either.
