Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 30

“I apologize. My wife is quite tactless.”

“It’s fine.”

So they were a married couple. As he had roughly expected. Seokjae thought the vain, empty-headed pair were well-matched, and waved his hand as if embarrassed to receive an apology.

“As you know, women tend to be emotional.”

“Is that so?”

“Come on, don’t pretend you don’t know when you clearly do.”

The man, thinking he had lost the initiative he never had from Seokjae in the first place, became even more pretentious.

There was a limit to watching this clumsy act of imitating an arrogant person rather than genuine arrogance. Not wanting to waste any more time, Seokjae spoke first.

“So, is it alright for us to stay here for one night?”

“Ah, right. You want to stay here?”

“Just for one day. If possible, in a room. The two of us are fine anywhere, but we’d like to put the sick person in a bed.”

Suddenly reminded that Seokjae was in the position of asking and he was in the position to grant, the man quickly became haughty. He stroked his round chin with his thick fingers, pretending to consider.

“Hmm… Well, it’s not a difficult request. We have many empty rooms here.”

“Then-!”

“However.”

As Kyungho, excited at the thought of letting Junwoo rest comfortably, was about to stand up, the man shook his head and cut him off.

“Those rooms are ones we’ve risked our lives to confirm are safe, so we can’t just lend them out.”

“We have some food.”

Seokjae pointed to his bag as the man predictably demanded compensation. The bag, full of various items, looked quite bulky even from the outside. Greed flashed in the balding man’s eyes.

“Come on, trying to settle this with food won’t do. If you want something, there should at least be an equal exchange.”

However, the man downplayed the value of food as if it were nothing. He had something else in mind from the beginning. In fact, not expecting Seokjae’s group to have much food, he viewed that bag as a lucky bonus he’d acquire one way or another later.

He seemed to be trying to hide his true intentions, but his face reeked of ulterior motives. Kyungho grabbed Seokjae’s arm.

“…Hyung, let’s just stay on the sofa and leave.”

Seokjae patted Kyungho’s hand on his arm as if to reassure him, then answered.

“Alright. If you have something in mind, please tell us.”

He accepted readily, almost refreshingly, as this was the conversation he had been waiting for.

“That’s more like it. It’s nothing much, I just want to ask for some cleaning.”

“Cleaning?”

“Yes. If it’s too harsh to make the young ones do it, I’ll understand if you do it alone.”

While it seemed like he was being considerate of Seokjae, he was subtly urging him to volunteer alone.

It was too obvious that he wanted to separate Seokjae, who seemed physically dangerous, from his two companions, but Seokjae smiled docilely.

“I appreciate your consideration.”

“Then how about we adults have a more in-depth talk after this?”

“Sure.”

“Let’s move to another place. Come this way.”

Pleased that things were going smoothly, the balding man left the lobby, taking all the men from the group with him, his few remaining strands of hair fluttering.

As the three were left alone for the first time since entering the hotel, only Junwoo’s rough, wheezing breaths could be heard. Kyungho, hesitating as he looked at Junwoo, grabbed Seokjae.

“Hyung. Those people seem dangerous too. Shouldn’t at least one of us go with you?”

Kyungho was worried about Junwoo, but he also thought it wasn’t right to let Seokjae go alone with strangers.

However, his concern was unnecessary for Seokjae. In a dangerous situation, that person shouldn’t have anyone else to protect besides himself. He didn’t want to reduce the chances of that person coming to him even slightly.

So, at least until he caught that person, he needed to keep Kyungho and Junwoo in a safe place as much as possible, making them a lower priority than himself.

After finishing his thoughts in a short time, Seokjae patted Kyungho’s head and said:

“Then who will stay with Junwoo? Don’t worry. They said cleaning, so it’s probably just some physical work.”

“But… that-“

Thinking Seokjae hadn’t noticed the group’s malice, Kyungho was about to warn him that ‘it doesn’t seem like just cleaning,’ when Seokjae tilted his head to the side and muttered:

“Even if it’s not, I can handle it.”

His expression, neither smiling nor frowning, seemed to say that it was annoying but he’d play along with their game. Kyungho froze, forgetting his worries.

“So don’t worry. It probably won’t happen, but if it seems dangerous, don’t worry about me and run away. You need to be alive to meet again.”

“Okay.”

It was a small, mumbled response, but Seokjae, thinking it was enough to have gotten an answer, gave Kyungho’s head a final pat and left his seat.

The three had been near the back entrance on the left side of the lobby, and the group had headed to the right. As Seokjae was walking towards there, about to pass the main entrance in the center, there was a light patter of footsteps, and then he felt a weight on one of his legs. At the same time, a cheerful voice came from below.

“Oppa! Where are you going now?”

“…Hello.”

Looking down, he saw the child who had been absent earlier clinging to his leg. They had been so wary at the revolving door, but now the child was approaching so familiarly. Puzzled and annoyed, Seokjae gave a cursory greeting, slightly curving his eyes.

“Where are you going?”

“The ajussi is going to clean-“

“Liar! You’re going to fight the monsters, aren’t you? You can’t go!”

Seokjae let out a short, troubled “Hmm.” He had been pretending not to notice on purpose, but now that the child was openly warning him not to go, he couldn’t do that anymore.

“If I don’t go, won’t those ajussis get angry? If they find out you’re stopping me, you might get scolded too.”

Seokjae wondered if the child would understand if he made an excuse about sacrificing himself for the two of them. Pondering, he explained simply that if he didn’t go, something bad would happen, giving a mild scare.

“Um… but if you go, the pretty oppa outside will cry. So come with me instead.”

“What?”

“That oppa is waiting.”

The child flinched but didn’t let go of Seokjae’s leg. Not only that, but she also shared valuable information.

Just as Seokjae’s eyes widened at those words, a man wearing glasses appeared from the end of the corridor on the right side of the main entrance, looking very irritated.

“Hey! What are you doing there? I was wondering why you were so late.”

“…”

“What, got caught by a kid? How pathetic…”

Seokjae looked at the intruding man with sunken eyes, internally cursing as he cut off the conversation. The man, who had been putting on airs thinking Seokjae was just a big, dumb guy based on his earlier behavior, backed away slightly, intimidated by Seokjae’s expressionless demeanor, and unnecessarily vented his frustration on the child.

“Hey, you little freeloader. Get out of here. Unlike you, adults are busy!”

“B-but…”

Scared by the man’s harsh words and actions, the child clung tightly to Seokjae’s leg.

You’re trying to disrespect me too? The man gritted his teeth and was about to approach to forcibly push the child away when Seokjae extended his hand to stop him. Then, holding the child’s hands that were gripping his leg, he crouched down and spoke in a gentle voice:

“Look. If I say I’m not going, you’ll get scolded too. So, how about asking the other oppas instead of me?”

“…”

“Those oppas have cute paper too, you know? If you go and ask for memo paper, they’ll do whatever you want.”

“Memo paper?”

“Yeah. If you tell them where you want to go, they might even go with you.”

The child didn’t understand his somewhat abrupt words. But hearing the last part, she cleverly realized that Seokjae was asking her to take the other two people out instead of him.

“Okay! But then…”

The child nodded vigorously, as she had originally planned to take all three of them out anyway. But what would happen to him if she took the two people out and left him alone? Worried about this, the child hesitated and trailed off.

Noticing this, Seokjae leaned in closer to the child and whispered quietly enough that the man with glasses couldn’t hear:

“In exchange, could you tell the pretty oppa outside to come rescue me?”

“Outside?”

“Yes.”

Come rescue him? As the child repeated Seokjae’s words, she suddenly seemed to realize something and gasped. Then, lowering her voice like Seokjae had whispered:

“Oppa. Is the oppa outside a prince on a white horse?”

In the world of a child who loves fairy tales, only a prince on a white horse rescues people captured by evil villains. So naturally, the person asked to come rescue became a prince.