Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 34

“You fucking bastards! You dare to betray me?”

Grinding his teeth, he grabbed the collar of the balding man who couldn’t escape far due to his sluggish body.

“Ca-calm down! I-I was going to help, but I was startled!”

At that moment, a male zombie in worse condition than the previous one limped out of the kitchen. Although half of its body was torn away to the bone, it quickly pounced on the defenseless prey standing with its back turned.

“Be-behind you!”

“What? Aagh!”

The bearded man, caught off guard, eventually had his neck bitten by the zombie.

“Let go! I said let go!”

Even while being eaten, he didn’t want to die alone and refused to release his grip on the balding man.

‘Disgusting till the end.’

Seeing this scene, Seokjae inwardly clicked his tongue. Then he retrieved what they had taken under the pretext of carrying it for him. It was the bag that the balding man had to put down due to its weight.

Seokjae, lightly holding the bag in one hand, immediately headed towards Muyoung.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t go anywhere and just sat quietly on the table waiting for him to approach. Seokjae, looking at him as if praising him, grabbed his waist and pulled him into his arms like a child.

“Oof.”

Muyoung, who had been indecisive about whether to help or not in the sudden chaos, was helplessly dragged away by Seokjae who had appeared out of nowhere. Though brief, his bottom was in the air, and he instinctively gripped the shoulder in front of him tightly. A small laugh was heard through the helmet, as if amused by his reaction.

‘Am I being held by hyung right now?!’

Only after hearing his laughter did Muyoung realize whose arms he was in. He was so surprised that he tightened his fingers without even realizing what he was gripping. Then he felt firm muscles under his palm.

‘Gasp…!’

Just as the startled Muyoung was about to struggle, his feet touched the ground. Then his hand was pulled, and as he looked up, he saw Seokjae’s hand covering his own.

“Ha-hand.”

“Hm?”

Overwhelmed by the rush of fortune, Muyoung couldn’t speak properly and froze stiff.

Watching this series of reactions, Seokjae furrowed his brow.

‘He’s not saying he can’t leave because he has to save someone else, is he?’

He whimpered as soon as their hands touched, but instead of trying to run away, he just stood still, looking like he had something to say. Seokjae spoke first, lest Muyoung start talking.

“We need to escape. Didn’t you come to save me?”

He tried to speak gently, but his voice came out a bit sharp as he couldn’t completely hide his dissatisfaction. Even in the midst of being distracted by the physical contact, Muyoung quickly nodded, sensing the faint anger.

“Th-that’s right!”

“Shall we go then?”

“Ye-yes.”

Seokjae’s face immediately softened at the obedient response.

It might have been bewildering how quickly he changed, but Muyoung was impressed by Seokjae’s kindness in bringing him back to his senses without raising his voice, despite Muyoung’s daze in the urgent situation.

‘Right, what’s important now is escaping to a safe place with hyung. This isn’t the time to be happy about holding hands.’

Reminding himself of the original purpose, Muyoung tightly closed and opened his eyes. After calming his excited heart a little, he carefully led Seokjae to the hotel lobby.

“The-the zombies will come this way because of the noise… Let’s go out through the revolving door over there instead.”

“Revolving door?”

“It’s open there.”

He didn’t forget to make his eyes shine as if telling Seokjae to trust him. He had completely forgotten that Seokjae couldn’t see his eyes because of the helmet.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

However, as long as he wasn’t running away from him, Seokjae was fine with whatever he did. To be precise, he had no intention of doubting him in the first place.

As the presence of zombies gathering from outside approached right in front of them, the two hurriedly left the restaurant.

“Ugh.”

“Gasp, are you hurt somewhere?”

“It’s nothing. Just the place I hurt yesterday.”

“Oh no…”

Throughout their movement, Seokjae intentionally drew Muyoung’s attention. Because of this, Muyoung didn’t see the bespectacled man, still alive, crawling on the floor with his legs giving out, nor did he see the man with torn eyes encountering zombies as he tried to escape through the broken glass window.

Leaving all the commotion behind, the area around the back door they went to was quiet without a single zombie, just as Muyoung had predicted.

Having safely escaped the hotel, the two immediately dashed towards their shelter.

‘If something happens, I have to protect hyung!’

The path to the house was relatively safe as Muyoung had already cleared it once. But not knowing when or where an unexpected situation might occur, Muyoung was much more alert than when he was alone. Even if the object of his concern was actually distracted by something else.

‘The helmet covers the whole face, so I can’t see anything.’

Seokjae was frowning, wanting to see the face hidden behind the helmet swaying in front of him.

Lost in their different thoughts, silence continued to surround the two. And about 10 minutes later, the silence was broken when Muyoung, who had been running ahead to guide the way, spotted a wall covered with flowers.

“It’s here.”

Muyoung gently pushed the closed gate as if testing it. The gate, which had been left unlocked and only pretending to be closed, opened without resistance to the slight force. Muyoung’s face brightened with relief.

‘I thought we might have to ring the bell or climb over the wall since the note I left on the door was gone.’

It seemed they had taken the risk to leave it open for themselves who would follow. Judging by the fact that they had the leisure to be considerate, it was clear that everyone had arrived safely without major danger. As soon as he was certain of their safety, the tension that had been building up in his shoulders suddenly released.

“It’s open. Looks like everyone arrived safely.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

As Muyoung spoke while crossing the gate, a gentle response came from behind. The moment he heard that voice, Muyoung’s feet, which had taken a few steps into the yard, came to an abrupt stop.

‘Gasp! I forgot to tell hyung about the kids!’

He only realized now, after they had arrived at the shelter, that he hadn’t told him about the whereabouts of the two people. He always cared about their well-being before his own, so he must have been constantly worried about their whereabouts.

‘If he had asked, I would have answered right away. Why didn’t he ask? Was I running too frantically?’

He only wanted to let the injured Seokjae rest as soon as possible, but perhaps his behavior made it seem like he didn’t even have the leisure to be asked questions.

‘It was the first request I received from hyung, and I wanted to carry it out perfectly…’

Even though it was such a small mistake that it would be ridiculous to call it a blunder, Muyoung’s spirit was crushed. Watching Seokjae’s reaction as he followed, he said:

“Um, well, it might be too late to say this now, but I sent the kids who were at the hotel here first. There were no zombies on the way, and judging by the fact that the note on the door is gone, it seems they all arrived safely.”

Seokjae stared for a moment at Muyoung, who was fumbling with embarrassment and apology, then replied:

“I thought so.”

Contrary to the expectation that he would be greatly relieved, Muyoung’s eyes widened at the calm response.

Although he couldn’t see his face due to the helmet he still hadn’t taken off, Seokjae easily guessed that Muyoung was surprised and added, closing and locking the gate for him who seemed too preoccupied to remember:

“You came to save me, after all.”

It was such a short sentence that it might have sounded unkind. Muyoung, not understanding the meaning, tilted his head.

‘Even the helmet looks cute now that he’s wearing it.’

Seokjae let out a small laugh seeing the helmet tilted sideways, then continued to explain:

“The lobby was empty, and the back door that had been blocked was open. So I figured you must have sent the kids out that way. After all, I was the one who asked that girl to go meet you with the bodyguard, and seeing that you came to save me, it means you must have met up with the kids successfully.”

While he had rushed to escape without explaining anything, it seemed Seokjae had quickly assessed the entire situation in that time.

Just as Muyoung was about to applaud loudly in admiration, forgetting they were outside, a hint of mischief rose in Seokjae’s eyes.

“And… you wouldn’t have come to save me until the kids had safely evacuated, right?”

Indeed, Seokjae had a longer-lasting grudge than expected, and he hadn’t forgotten for a moment that Muyoung had left him behind to save another man yesterday. Muyoung’s hands, which had risen to his chest to applaud, lost their purpose at Seokjae’s words and wandered in the air for a few seconds.