Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 92

For Muyoung, Seokjae had always been someone who would take care of him first, but never ignore his words. Yet until now, there had been no questions about whether he was okay, not even a scolding about moving dangerously.

Just silence. Like the calm before a storm…

As this thought occurred to him, Muyoung realized that the strength in the two arms tightly binding his upper body was unsettling. The next thing he noticed was the faces of the children beside them, constantly glancing over nervously.

‘It seems like the kids are looking at Hyung right now…?’

Muyoung carefully raised his head. It was a bit difficult to move his head while being held so tightly that he was almost crushed, but he managed to lift his chin with some effort and rest it on Seokjae’s chest. It was the first time he’d attempted eye contact since being embraced by him.

“Hup.”

And Muyoung froze completely. Seokjae was looking down at him with an expression so frightening he could intimidate anyone.

In reality, he was merely looking at Muyoung with his mouth firmly shut, but those unmoving eyes were the problem. Those pitch-black eyes. If Muyoung had been an animal with a tail, he would have made a whimpering sound and curled it up—that’s how fierce the gaze was.

‘What should I do? He seems really angry.’

The forceful speed with which he had pulled him up seemed driven by anger rather than joy. Muyoung didn’t have the courage to maintain eye contact, so after avoiding his gaze a few times, he smiled broadly and called out to him.

“Um… Hyung?”

They say you can’t spit at someone who’s smiling.

“…”

“Haha… ha.”

But perhaps that only works when the anger is moderate. The more he smiled, the colder Seokjae’s face became. There was no sign of his anger subsiding. No, it seemed to fuel his rage even more.

If only he would yell at him, then Muyoung could at least grovel. At a loss for how to appease him, Muyoung suddenly recalled Seokjae’s angry voice that he had pretended not to hear several times.

‘You really…!’

‘Kang Muyoung!’

At the time, he had pushed those shouts to the back of his mind, overwhelmed by his desire to help and the dizzying sense beneath his feet.

‘My liver must have been hanging outside my body.’

Thinking about it now, to ignore ‘that’ Seokjae’s voice filled with anger rather than warning—he must have been out of his mind. Or maybe he had thoughtlessly assumed things would blow over this time too. After all, no matter what mistake he made, Seokjae had always accepted his apologies immediately.

He had put too much faith in Seokjae’s kindness. It was stupid to forget the truth that naturally kind people are even scarier when they’re angry.

However, Muyoung had his own grievances.

‘If it weren’t for that zombie, there would have been no problem.’

Judging by the fact that Seokjae had let him release the hose when crossing to another classroom, that much must have been within the acceptable range of their bet. So if he had returned safely as he was, he would have been scolded but not severely reprimanded. He might even have been praised.

‘Hyung said he was having terrible luck today, and it was true.’

Perhaps because it was already in the past, or because he now faced an opponent even more frightening in a different way, the zombie that had made Muyoung tremble was now merely considered “bad luck” by him.

Though no one had promised him praise, he somehow felt robbed, making his eyes droop and his face fall.

“Hah…”

At that moment, the chest where Muyoung’s chin rested slowly moved, followed by the sound of a deep breath. It was Seokjae’s sigh upon seeing Muyoung’s forlorn expression, mistaking it for one of remorse.

He had kept his mouth shut to avoid being harsh while his emotions were still intense. But as Muyoung continued to look at him with that adorable face…

‘I almost lost this again, didn’t I?’

Anger continued to rise. But once it exceeded a certain level, his mind began to cool down at some point.

‘I was thinking of saying to hell with the bet and putting him on a leash…’

Until he pulled Muyoung up, he had been determined not to let this slide.

But after regaining his senses and pondering, that approach didn’t seem particularly effective. Finding restraints that couldn’t be undone would be a task in itself, and given the conditions where unexpected events kept occurring, there was too high a chance of him escaping. After all, who wouldn’t try to flee from a madman treating them like property?

Plus, there were two people nearby who would help if Muyoung asked. Even assuming they parted ways with them, the situation wouldn’t noticeably improve, making it a stupid action with more drawbacks than benefits.

‘If we were outside the city, I wouldn’t even need to consider it—what a shame.’

Though he would have been treated differently, Muyoung had narrowly avoided becoming a “slave on a leash”—one of the reasons he couldn’t approach people in the past.

Unaware of this, Muyoung thought he had been caught thinking about other things while being scolded.

“H-Hyung-ah…”

Trapped in this misunderstanding, worried that Seokjae’s unresolved anger might lead to an awkward relationship, Muyoung forgot about his embarrassment and the presence of the younger ones beside them, adopting a submissive attitude.

“I…”

In other words, he used the ultimate child-specific technique that would melt his mother, who was as frightening as a tiger when angry. Muyoung blinked cutely while putting more strength into his arms embracing him.

“…”

“I done wrong, I did.”

The dialect he had corrected after getting tired of hearing “Try saying it!” while attending university in Seoul. Using this dialect with aegyo would remind his mother of her son’s childhood appearance, making it an effective technique that worked every time without fail.

Normally, he would have mixed in sounds like “eeing~” while saying “Mama, your son done wrong, he did,” but he hadn’t lost his senses to that extent.

‘I would if necessary, though…’

Muyoung endured the embarrassment and finished his words properly.

However, there were two problems here: Seokjae and he were from different regions, and Seokjae had never seen Muyoung’s childhood self speaking in dialect.

“…”

Therefore, Seokjae’s reaction was distinctly different from his mother who would forgive him with an “Aigoo~” as if she couldn’t resist whenever Muyoung said these words. If raising one eyebrow askew could be considered a reaction, that is.

‘It’s not working after all…?’

His dialect didn’t evoke regional affection, and there were no childhood memories to recall. Having considered nothing and attempted this based solely on the commonality of Seokjae being older than him, naturally, it couldn’t be very effective. If the one trying hadn’t been Muyoung, and the recipient hadn’t been Seokjae.

“Muyoung.”

“Yes!”

Seokjae, who had been looking at Muyoung as if witnessing something bizarre, quietly called his name. Muyoung froze like a job applicant hearing an interviewer’s call and answered.

Muyoung was unaware of Seokjae’s true nature to realize that those strange eyes were vowing to “absolutely make this irresistibly lovable creature his own.”

“Hyung-ah is upset.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Had he liked the cute term of address? Muyoung stuttered, surprised by the unusual third-person reference. But the atmosphere had definitely softened compared to when there was only silence.

“What are you sorry for?”

“Um, well—because I didn’t come back when told to and acted dangerously? I’ll be more careful next time…”

“Haha.”

While feeling relieved, he answered carefully, constantly reading the atmosphere since the conversation flow was about blaming him. In response, a light laugh escaped from Seokjae’s lips.

‘It seems my ultimate technique worked on Hyung after all?’

Just as Muyoung felt reassured, Seokjae firmly said:

“That’s not it.”

Though he wore his usual gentle smile, the emanating atmosphere still felt cold, so Muyoung didn’t dare ask again. Seokjae kindly provided the answer like a teacher instructing an ignorant child.

“Why would I complain about conditions set by our bet? I’m talking about breaking a promise.”

After finishing his words, Seokjae stared quietly as if waiting for an answer. Under that gaze, Muyoung hesitated before carefully asking. Rather than succumbing to the piercing stare, he genuinely wondered what promise Seokjae was referring to, as nothing came to mind.

“…What promise?”

“That you’d come back right away.”

Seokjae answered, tilting his head askew. Only then did Muyoung recall what he had said to him before going down through the window. And he realized that he had almost created another trauma for someone who was already suffering enough to have nightmares.

“It wasn’t right away, but I did c-come back!”

He urgently exclaimed, trying to downplay the incident in case Seokjae would be troubled by what happened today.

“This isn’t you coming back—it’s me finding you.”

That’s true…

Muyoung’s defense immediately sank with Seokjae’s rebuttal.