Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 29

Seeing Muyoung’s request, the child’s round eyes became somewhat fierce, as if thinking he might be a bad person. Worried that the child might leave if offended, Muyoung hastily waved his hands and quickly wrote down his situation on the paper.

[The people who just went in are my friends. What are they doing now?]

The child’s gaze softened compared to before, but still held some suspicion. Nevertheless, they didn’t ignore the question and conveyed the situation inside to Muyoung.

[Bad]

[Man]

[Went]

Bad man? As Muyoung was confused by the child’s explanation, he suddenly remembered the man who had acted like a leader. About to write “bald” to ask if the bad man was that person, Muyoung changed his mind, wondering if the child would understand the word. Instead, he roughly sketched the appearance of the man with little hair left and showed it to the child.

Seeing the drawing, the child suddenly snorted with laughter, then quickly covered their mouth. It seemed hard to contain the laughter; their cheeks puffed up.

A moment later, after holding it in until their face turned red, the child let out a big breath. Although it was cute, Muyoung couldn’t just enjoy watching as the situation wasn’t appropriate for that. He wrote down the question he was most curious about.

[Is it safe?]

Hayun pondered upon seeing this question. Unlike the people she was staying with, the child enjoyed talking with Muyoung, who looked pretty and kind.

When she first saw him standing outside, she thought he was a scary monster. But he smiled at her kindly. Since the monsters appeared, the only kind stranger had been Unni Hyunyoung.

Moreover, he played the sketchbook game with her. Although without an actual sketchbook, communicating through small pieces of paper and the glass window was fun enough.

When he asked to see where they were living, she initially thought he might be one of the bad people targeting this place, as the bad uncles had mentioned. But she soon realized that wasn’t the case. The moment she saw his worried face, it reminded her of her parents, whom she could no longer see.

‘Mom and Dad looked at me with that expression until the end… If he can’t meet his friends, he’ll be sad like me, right?’

After a brief contemplation, Hayun made a decision. The child pointed towards the direction of the back door, gestured for him to follow, and then stood up abruptly.

‘I hope the nice oppa doesn’t have to be sad.’

* * *

The place Seokjae followed the group to had an empty front desk and scattered lobby sofas with vacant spots here and there. In one corner, there was a pile of soil and withered flowers that seemed out of place, as if someone had broken a plant pot while moving it to the door.

“Come on, come on. It’s not much, but for now, sit here and rest.”

Despite clearly knowing there was a patient, the bald man showed no intention of offering a room. Instead, he seemed to expect them to be satisfied with the dust-covered sofas.

“Thank you.”

“Th-thank you.”

Kyungho’s expression hardened, worried about Junwoo who couldn’t lie down comfortably. But gratitude was still gratitude. Following Seokjae’s calm response, he also bowed his head in thanks.

The man smiled with satisfaction as Seokjae, with his impressive physique that would command respect even if they met outside, showed a submissive attitude.

Meanwhile, Seokjae scanned the lobby, pretending to look for a place for Junwoo to lie down, without others noticing. He let out a small sigh upon noticing the thoroughly blocked windows.

“What’s wrong?”

“The windows are very meticulously blocked.”

“Ah, that’s just basic. It’s to keep out zombies and other people who might be troublesome if they get in.”

“I see.”

“Well, those who want to get in will find a way, regardless.”

As he said this, Seokjae’s eyes met with the balding man who was glancing at them, and he raised the corners of his mouth.

“That’s true. It would be troublesome if that happened. Life could be in danger in an instant.”

As soon as his quiet words ended, the surrounding air grew heavy. Most of the people, except for Kyungho and Junwoo, instinctively shrank back. Among them, a man with a beard seemed offended by being overwhelmed and was about to step forward, puffing up his unimpressive body.

“It’s really scary not knowing when and where zombies might appear, isn’t it?”

Seokjae deliberately used a lighter tone than usual. In an instant, he created an atmosphere where getting angry would seem odd.

“You bastard!”

Despite this, the bearded man shouted loudly, trembling. As the atmosphere was about to turn hostile, the balding man sitting across from Seokjae cleared his throat and restrained him.

“Ahem, that’s true, but… You seem to be quite a scaredy-cat despite your appearance?”

“No matter how many I kill, zombies never stop being scary.”

“Haha, aren’t you ashamed with that build of yours? That’s useless then.”

The balding man mentally calculated as he watched Seokjae joke around with a smile. He had seemed like a fool who would throw away his pride to protect others, but with that one remark, he became someone not to be trifled with.

“Even with a big build, fear isn’t something you can control. As an adult, I endure it for the kids’ sake.”

He wiped Junwoo’s sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and smiled with an innocent face. Seeing not a trace of awkwardness in that expression, the man who had been wary of Seokjae felt ridiculous instead.

“I-I see.”

The balding man concluded that Seokjae was just an oblivious guy who couldn’t read the atmosphere. Still, he continued a precarious exploration, telling himself not to let his guard down and that he should keep watching.

Of course, Seokjae paid no attention to him at all.

‘It doesn’t seem like I can be seen from outside anyway. Do I really need to manage my expression this much?’

As soon as he arrived at a place where Muyoung couldn’t spy on him, Seokjae was overcome with boredom, barely suppressing a yawn. He thoroughly hid his encroaching tedium and waited for the man to stop his useless probing and reveal his true colors.

“So, how old are you? Have you finished your military service?”

“I’m twenty-six. And yes, I’ve completed my military service.”

The balding man was in the middle of interrogating Seokjae, trying to establish superiority somehow, unaware that Seokjae wasn’t feeling any tension at all.

“My goodness, you look so manly but you’re so young.”

A middle-aged woman sitting next to the man, who seemed to be about his age, suddenly interjected into the conversation.

“Ahem. Can you stay quiet for a bit?”

“Oh, why? You’ve been saying useless things too.”

The woman couldn’t take her eyes off Seokjae, seemingly attracted to his young and handsome appearance. Unlike when Muyoung looked at him, Seokjae gazed at her with contempt, disliking her clingy stare.

The woman, who had been glancing at him even while bickering with the balding man, felt the naked disdain in his eyes when their gazes met and quickly looked away, startled.

“Useless! I’m asking all this because it’s necessary. If you don’t know anything, you should just keep quiet.”

The man, not noticing Seokjae’s reaction, yelled angrily, thinking he had been embarrassed in front of others because of the woman. The woman, who had already been holding back her rising sense of humiliation, stood up abruptly at the man’s rebuke.

“Don’t know anything…! Fine! I’m going in, so do whatever you want!”

As she stormed out of the lobby with a red face, the woman who had been protecting the child during the confrontation at the revolving door quickly called out:

“Hey! It’s your turn for night watch today!”

“All the men are going to be here anyway, do I really need to be here? If you’re so worried, why don’t you take the night watch yourself!”

“Huh! Stop pushing it off on others like this every time!”

The two sharp voices clashed. The men in the surrounding group made no attempt to intervene in the conflict, just watching with disgusted faces. Rather, Kyungho, who was protectively embracing Junwoo, rolled his eyes as if wondering if he should be the one to intervene.

The only person likely to have a similar reaction to Kyungho was the child in the group, but they had disappeared at some point and couldn’t be found in the lobby.

‘What a mess.’

Every person in the group was only asserting their own pride and emotions. Even the woman who had seemed worthy of being considered human for protecting the child was now angrily arguing with the middle-aged woman, and then left somewhere alone, still upset. She didn’t even seem to notice the child was gone.