Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 42

Seokjae’s group’s daily routine was simpler than expected. Except for times when they needed to decide something together or during meals, they engaged in individual activities freely, such as resting or sleeping in their rooms.

Thanks to this, even if someone stayed in their room until it was time to wash up after meals, no one thought it was strange.

And now, several hours had passed since dinner ended, so it was a time when people rarely came out of their rooms even if they were awake.

Muyoung gently turned the doorknob while holding bags in both hands. With a faint click, the door opened, and he poked his head out to survey the corridor. Fortunately, the doors to the others’ rooms remained quietly closed.

Slowly stepping out of his room, Muyoung carefully closed his door. Clang. As the door closed, the cans inside the bag collided, making a noise as if his arm had vibrated. Muyoung bit his lip and stood still, holding his breath.

“…Phew.”

Maybe today was his lucky day. Once again, no one came out to the corridor. Muyoung exhaled softly and walked slowly on tiptoe in the opposite direction of the entrance.

Past the corridor was the living room. There was a large window big enough for a person to pass through. However, it was heavily taped with boxes, and removing them to open the window would be impossible without making noise. Muyoung gave up on that idea and walked to the kitchen.

Even after reaching the kitchen, his steps didn’t stop. He carefully made his way to the utility room at the far end.

“This is definitely the safest place.”

There was a small back door that Muyoung had used when he first entered this house. Whether the homeowner forgot the back door was open or didn’t have time to think about it while escaping, it had allowed him to enter easily.

“I should have come this way on the first day.”

If he had, he could have made an excuse about getting water when Seokjae asked where he was going. Muyoung shook his head, thinking he had acted stupidly, blinded by the front door right in front of him.

“Let’s quickly dispose of this and come back.”

There was the issue of having to go out barefoot since he couldn’t carry shoes, but since he couldn’t feel pain even if he stepped on glass shards, it was fine. No, it was just a minor inconvenience that couldn’t even be called a problem.

‘This time, I’ll be able to get out successfully.’

As his mood improved, Muyoung’s steps became less cautious. Clang clang. The sound of cans rang out repeatedly as he approached the back door, but it was clear that this level of noise wouldn’t be heard from the corridor, which was quite far away.

“Is someone there?”

Yes, it should have been that way…

“Who’s there with the lights off? Is it Seokjae hyung?”

Voices coming from a bit further than the kitchen. It was Kyungho and Junwoo.

Muyoung froze in place, his hand stretched towards the back door, at the unexpected appearance of these obstacles. They had probably noticed someone was here due to his careless steps just now, but he couldn’t let go of the faint hope that they might think they had misheard and move on.

“…What’s going on? Why isn’t there an answer? Don’t tell me someone got in from outside?”

“That’s impossible. We checked that the door was locked again after dinner, remember?”

“They could have picked the lock and come in!”

But in a city overrun with zombies, no one was careless about safety. Muyoung gave up hope and turned his head slightly to watch as the kitchen lights, which he had deliberately left off, turned on brightly.

What should I do now?

Perhaps because he didn’t answer, the sound of the two people’s footsteps grew closer.

‘Let’s get out first.’

It seemed better to go out and greet them before they entered the utility room, to divert their attention. Muyoung first put down the plastic bags he was holding on the floor. Then he immediately ran out of the utility room, saying:

“Hey guys, it’s me!”

However, Muyoung had overlooked one fact. The time he spent trying to find a solution had lengthened the time he didn’t answer the two’s questions, and during that time, Kyungho and Junwoo’s vigilance had inevitably increased.

When he went out, trying hard to hide his flustered state, what he saw was far from the relieved faces he had expected, but rather a very sharp, blue blade. Seeing the kitchen knife, Muyoung gasped in surprise and instinctively tried to step back from the blade, tripping over his own feet and falling.

“Muyoung hyung!”

Recognizing him, a startled Kyungho immediately put down the raised knife, almost throwing it onto the sink, and ran over.

“What? Hyung, you say?”

Junwoo, who was about to dash out of the kitchen, turned his body and entered the utility room.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Ye-yeah. I’m fine. Perfectly okay.”

“You really scared us… With the lights off. And why didn’t you answer?”

Junwoo, who had turned on the utility room light and was checking on the fallen Muyoung’s condition, grumbled as he squatted down, his legs seemingly giving out as the tension dissipated.

“Well, when you suddenly asked, I was so surprised I couldn’t speak.”

“We thought you were a suspicious person.”

“So that’s why the kitchen knife…?”

To think they had resolved to point a knife at a person. Muyoung was bewildered that Kyungho, whom he thought was timid, had acted more decisively than expected.

“Ah, this was just for threatening to buy time. The real plan was Seokjae hyung. Junwoo was about to go call him.”

When there was no answer to their question about identity, the two quickly divided roles and were about to take action when Muyoung came out.

‘It’s good I came out quickly.’

He had almost caused everyone to be summoned in the middle of the night just to throw away one can.

“But why were you here, hyung? And what was that sound earlier…?”

As the situation settled, Junwoo, curious about the identity of the suspicious sound they had heard earlier, casually looked around the utility room and discovered the mountain of canned food placed in front of the back door.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Puzzled by Junwoo’s trailing off, Kyungho also followed his gaze. And upon discovering the canned food Muyoung had tried to hide, he let out an “Ah” with a sigh.

“Ah! This is, well…”

Belatedly reacting to their response, Muyoung flailed his hands, trying to obstruct their view, but it was of no use.

In the end, the fact that he had been eating pet food all this time was completely exposed. It felt like being caught by an unfamiliar neighborhood kid while picking up and eating food that had fallen on the ground.

‘How embarrassing…’

It felt like his human dignity had crumbled, and if it were in the past, he would have been so ashamed that his face would have been burning, even to the point of exploding.

However, contrary to inwardly grabbing his head in embarrassment, his outward appearance maintained the usual pale complexion, so to the two, Muyoung just looked flustered and at a loss for what to do.

“Hyung, it’s okay to eat confidently, why did you do this?”

Huh?

“It’s not like we’d say anything if you ate food you had personally. Most of what we eat was obtained by you anyway.”

Muyoung’s mouth fell open at Junwoo’s words as he patted his shoulder in understanding.

‘Did they not notice it was pet food?’

Although it was in transparent plastic bags, if they hadn’t seen the dogs or cats drawn on the cans, it was possible to think it was regular canned food.

The secret he didn’t want revealed was kept, but the situation had become even worse. Between someone who secretly eats alone because they don’t want to share food and someone who eats dog food, if asked which is worse, it would obviously be the former.

“Was that why you kept your door closed all this time? We thought you felt awkward around us-“

“No! No, guys! It’s not that I didn’t want to share with you!”

In the end, Muyoung desperately denied it to the two who looked at him with kind eyes that seemed to understand everything.

There would be plenty of dangerous situations where survival was at stake in the future, and if he became known as someone who secretly ate canned food alone even when food was plentiful, he would never be trusted by the two again. Rather than that, it was far better to reveal the truth himself and become known as someone who ate dog food.

“Those… aren’t human food, they’re pet treats.”

Muyoung got up from where he had been sitting after falling, pulled the plastic bag over, and showed it to them.

“…What?”

“Pet treats?”

The faces of the two, which had been disbelieving, gradually turned to surprise as they saw the parade of numerous dogs and cats drawn on the cans.