Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 36

“Hayun, let’s go upstairs quickly.”

The woman gently shook the child’s shoulder, urging her as she showed no sign of turning her attention away from Muyoung.

“Can’t I play with oppa for a little bit?”

Reluctant to easily give up on an interesting situation she hadn’t experienced in a long time, the child whined and gently shook the woman’s hand. Sensing this wouldn’t work, the woman put on a stern expression.

“Kim Hayun. Are you going to keep disobeying unni?”

“Hmph…”

The child made a crying sound and looked at Muyoung as if asking for help. However, unfortunately for her, Muyoung was on the guardian’s side, not the child’s.

‘After all, our first conversation was a threat.’

He thought it was only natural for her to be cautious, considering what had happened between them. Moreover, even if that wasn’t the case, this city wasn’t a place where a young child should easily let down their guard around an adult they had just met.

Muyoung suppressed his feelings of guilt and quietly averted his gaze.

“Kim Hayun.”

“Okay…”

Having failed to gain an ally, the child, thinking there was no other way, obediently followed the woman’s words with a disheartened expression.

‘Take care.’

Feeling guilty for ignoring the child’s request, Muyoung mouthed a farewell to Hayun, who still had a lingering expression as she was moving away.

He wondered if she would understand, but the child, who had somehow read his lips, widened her eyes in surprise and then waved her hand slightly while watching the woman. She seemed to find it fun to do something secretly, even if it was just a greeting. The last glimpse Muyoung caught of the child’s face before she went up the stairs showed a smile.

Having successfully completed another instance of human interaction, Muyoung flopped back onto the sofa.

As Muyoung was indulging in this sweet rest, one of the doors in the hallway opened, and two people appeared.

“He’ll wake up soon, right?”

Kyungho, looking worriedly at Junwoo who was still unconscious, asked softly while closing the door.

“His fever is going down gradually, so he’ll wake up soon.”

Seokjae patted Kyungho’s shoulder, comforting him as his complexion looked worse than Junwoo’s.

“Hyung, um…”

Kyungho, who had been receiving comfort, suddenly became cautious and carefully spoke up.

“Even after Junwoo wakes up, don’t you think it would be better to stay here for a few more days until he regains some strength?”

Although the most rational choice currently was to ‘move as soon as Junwoo wakes up’ since they needed to move to the outskirts as quickly as possible, Kyungho, having witnessed his friend collapse before his eyes, now had a stronger desire to take the safe path rather than the rational one.

‘Junwoo would definitely object…’

This was why he deliberately brought it up to Seokjae now. If he could get Seokjae’s consent in advance before Junwoo could object, Junwoo would have no choice but to reluctantly go along with it.

‘Since it’s a matter of safety, hyung will probably allow it.’

Kyungho believed without a doubt that Seokjae would support his opinion.

“Let’s talk about the details tomorrow.”

However, unfortunately, Seokjae withheld his decision with a sound of “Hmm.”

“It’s gotten quite late, hasn’t it?”

Hearing the fatigue in his low voice, Kyungho was reminded once again that the man before him had just gone through another life-and-death experience today. It had only been a few minutes since he had cried in gratitude for his safe return.

They say a person’s mind changes between entering and leaving the bathroom, but he shouldn’t be like that. Today, this man had nearly died trying to find a place for Junwoo to rest, and had even endured all the dangers alone.

“Ah, that’s right. You must have been exhausted today, hyung. I’m sorry.”

Ashamed of his own thoughtless behavior, Kyungho couldn’t bring himself to look up.

“It’s okay. You seem pretty shaken up too, so go get some rest. You need strength for nursing as well.”

Feeling no anger in the response, Kyungho’s head sank even lower, and because of this, no one saw Seokjae quietly gazing at the ceiling.

* * *

Muyoung, who had been keeping his eyes closed, slowly lifted his eyelids upon hearing approaching footsteps. As he focused on the calm sound, he realized that unlike when they left, there was one less set of footsteps returning.

Who could it be? As he gazed at the area outside the living room with curious eyes, it wasn’t long before a handsome face appeared from the hallway.

“Ah, here you are.”

He approached with a bright smile. Feeling somewhat dazzled, Muyoung unknowingly furrowed his brow.

How can the kids face that face so casually?

“What’s wrong?”

Seokjae, who had come close, stopped in his tracks and asked.

“Pardon?”

“You were frowning. I thought you might not be feeling well.”

“Ah, no! It’s not that.”

Frowning at a smiling person – afraid that Seokjae might misunderstand him as someone with a terrible personality, Muyoung quickly waved his hands.

“Maybe it’s because I had my eyes closed until just now? My eyes were a bit dazzled.”

Unable to think of any other excuse for frowning, he tried to package the compliment “Your beauty is too dazzling, hyung” as best he could.

“More importantly, how is Junwoo? Is he very sick?”

“He caught a cold from the rain yesterday. He’s still not fully conscious, but his fever has gone down a bit.”

Seokjae relayed the news about Junwoo to Muyoung, who was hastily changing the subject. Then, with a worried expression, he patted Muyoung’s head as if to comfort him.

“If you’re tired, why don’t you go rest in a room instead of sitting here?”

The moment Seokjae’s delicate fingers touched his hair, memories of days when Muyoung had envied seeing Kyungho and Junwoo being patted flashed through his mind. He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to nuzzle his head for more pats, shamelessly.

‘So this is why Gwanghun bought mountains of albums and went to fan signing events.’

When Gwanghun had bragged about interlocking fingers with Songyi and touching her cheek, Muyoung had thought it was a waste to spend so much money for less than a minute of interaction, no matter how much he liked her… That was truly the thought of an outsider who knew nothing.

‘Isn’t it unconscionable to receive all this for free?’

Muyoung was overwhelmed by the urge to do something in return every time he conversed with Seokjae or had even the slightest physical contact. However, in a city overrun by zombies, money was nothing more than useless scraps of paper, so he could only resolve to work harder to bring food in the future.

“Well, you see, there are only four rooms in this house.”

Stiffening his body for fear that even the slightest movement might end the patting, Muyoung managed to remember the question and answer.

“And?”

Seokjae thought Muyoung looked like a dog wearing shoes. He had only patted him lightly, yet he froze up.

Then, a question occurred to him, and he raised one eyebrow.

‘He was like this at the hotel too. Does he dislike being touched by anyone?’

Wondering if this was normal for him, Seokjae briefly reflected on the past. Half out of curiosity and half out of personal interest, he moved his hand from patting Muyoung’s hair to gently caressing his cheek. The cool yet soft sensation felt like rice cake fresh from the refrigerator.

“Um, uh…”

“Oh, did I startle you? There was something here. Must have been from inside the helmet.”

Seeing that he didn’t pull away, it seems he doesn’t dislike it. Quickly concluding this, Seokjae removed his hand and shamelessly lied.

“It’s gone now.”

“Th-thank you.”

“It’s nothing. So, what about there being four rooms?”

Muyoung, who had been touching his face where Seokjae’s hand had been, feeling strangely empty, snapped back to attention at his prompting and continued his explanation.

“Even if Hayun’s unni shares a room with Hayun, one person would still have to sleep out here. So I was planning to sleep here.”

He wasn’t sure how long they would stay here, but since Junwoo hadn’t woken up yet, it seemed they might stay longer. During that time, wouldn’t it be unfair to both the others and the beds for a zombie who doesn’t even sleep to take up a bed?

While he did feel the urge to lie down, that desire could be sufficiently satisfied with just the sofa. Especially since this house’s sofa was comfortably firm yet soft, which he quite liked.

‘There might also be times when I need to sneak out.’

For various reasons, Muyoung thought everyone would be satisfied if he was assigned to the living room. However, Seokjae said with an expression of complete incomprehension:

“Then why don’t you two share a room?”

Oh, that’s an option!

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Muyoung inwardly broke into a cold sweat. He had a feeling that, statistically speaking, he would likely be the one ending up in a shared room.