Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 5

If left as it was, they would surely be chased. Muyoung quietly moved and kicked over a zombie that had crawled out the door.

“Shall I try to hold out until the alarm goes off?”

If possible, he wanted to block all the zombies here, far from the exit where the three had gone out. Even though he was at a disadvantage for not having any weapons since he had rushed out of the security room.

Muyoung didn’t give up and bought time by grabbing and pulling at the zombies’ clothing and heads with his bare hands.

However, no matter how hard he tried, there were always one or two zombies that slipped out of his sight. As he chased after them to catch them, he inevitably got closer to the exit.

While struggling to hold off the zombies, Muyoung thought that by now the three must have escaped to some extent. If that was the case, it would be much more efficient to block the door entirely rather than stopping them one by one. Muyoung pushed over a few zombies and ran straight toward the exit.

“……Huh?”

Contrary to his expectations, they were still standing in front of the exit.

Why are they still here? As Muyoung hesitated in confusion, his heightened hearing caught the sound of the three talking.

“But… it’s because you’re saying something ridiculous, hyung.”

“Right. Why would we leave you behind?”

Leave behind? What does that mean? Did something happen? Can’t I help? Worried, Muyoung listened more closely to their conversation.

“If we run away like this, the zombies around will definitely swarm in.”

Muyoung’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Seokjae’s back, visible through the glass door.

‘……So, he’s trying to sacrifice himself because he’s worried the zombies will follow them out, right?’

He wondered if he had misheard, but seeing the darkened expressions on the two’s faces, it didn’t seem like it.

“Crazy….”

Muyoung couldn’t take his eyes off Seokjae, who was acting in stark contrast to the people he had seen until now, who had abandoned their humanity to survive.

“Graaah!”

At that moment, a limping zombie tried to pass by the dazed Muyoung and head for the exit.

“Hey! You can’t go!”

With a piercing scream, Muyoung snapped back to reality. He quickly reached out and grabbed the zombie by the back of its neck. He then froze, dragging it back inside the store while keeping an eye on the three outside. He felt he had acted too conspicuously in his haste.

One zombie should be enough to block the glass door, but he didn’t want to disturb their conversation by acting too much.

Fortunately, Seokjae was still leaning against the door. It seemed that Kyung-ho and Jun-woo were also too focused on Seokjae to look anywhere else.

“……They didn’t see me, right?”

Relieved, Muyoung cautiously lifted his head. He then threw the struggling zombie in the direction of the other zombies that had followed it.

“Graaah!”

“Grr, ugh….”

In the brief moment he had taken his eyes off the three, a few zombies that had approached were crushed under the thrown zombie. The sound of something squishy bursting echoed throughout the first floor.

“Ugh.”

Having dealt with countless zombies, the biological disgust never faded easily. The grotesque sight made him grimace.

But this kind of mental pain was bearable for the sake of their safety.

In fact, Muyoung was feeling the same desperation he had felt when helping a child. He wished that such good people wouldn’t die, wouldn’t get hurt.

And he hoped that the man who was willing to sacrifice himself for others would find happiness. If it was hard to do so in the midst of the zombie crisis, he wanted to step up and make it happen.

“……Huh?”

Muyoung, who was focused on blocking the zombies that were trying to rise again despite having broken spines, suddenly stiffened. Did he just… distinguish between a person and the man who was trying to sacrifice himself?

“Oh, this can’t be….”

Muyoung’s expression turned sorrowful. Recognizing a specific individual was a thought he had consciously suppressed after becoming a being that could no longer live among people.

Most of the people he encountered would pass by in less than a day, and if he grew attached, he would ultimately be left alone and lonely. Realizing this, Muyoung had tried to avoid recognizing humans as individuals.

For example, he had only judged the survivors he had met as “people in need of help” and had blocked his interest in them.

He had classified them as good people, bad people, or weak people, but ultimately, he had lumped them all into one category: “people.” Even when he later tried to recall them, he could only remember the situation at the time, with their faces blurred, and that was the extent of his recognition.

But Seokjae was now trying to be recognized by Muyoung as an individual, not as a lump of humanity. If this continued, the emptiness that would come when he left would be on a different level than before.

There would surely be a desire that could not be satisfied by mere self-satisfaction of having connected with them, even if only for a moment.

“……No. Just hold on a little longer. Don’t think about it, Kang Muyoung.”

Forgetting the blood on his hands, Muyoung slapped his forehead hard to cut off the thoughts that were trying to connect.

The alarm he had set would go off soon. If he heard that sound, the zombies would be drawn elsewhere, and the man would surely hurry to escape. He just needed to confirm that he was escaping safely and then return to where he had been.

And fortunately, Muyoung would be busy for a while. He needed to find a new place to stay.

If he focused on finding a decent place, time would fly by, and in the meantime, he would meet new people, and he would soon forget about that man. No matter how much he craved something, if it was out of sight, that desire would fade.

“Yeah, that’s definitely how it will be.”

He would remember that there had once been such a wonderful person, but it would remain just a memory.

After finishing his thoughts, Muyoung’s face was clouded with gloom. Nevertheless, his determination to help the three remained, so he steadied himself and lifted his head.

“Uh, huh?”

Unfortunately for Muyoung, the zombies did not wait for him to think. Instead, they took advantage of the gap and, with their injured bodies, moved eagerly toward the exit. Seeing the zombies that had moved close to the glass door where the three were, Muyoung was startled and ran.

However, like the fable of the tortoise and the hare, Muyoung, who had fallen behind due to his distracted thoughts, couldn’t completely stop the zombies. In the end, he even clung to the rotting flesh of the leading zombie’s waist to block it, but it still reached the glass door.

‘I’m such a fool! I was sitting here lost in thought in this situation. I’m really a bad person… a zombie!’

Muyoung, who was crying inside, decided to let go of the zombie he had been holding, even if it meant being discovered by the three.

And just as he quickly regained his balance and looked ahead to use his strength properly, he heard a voice so charming it felt like a chill that would never rise again.

“I’m only blocking you until you escape. So hurry up and go while I still have some stamina left.”

Thud.

The sound of a zombie’s head hitting the glass, yet somehow, Muyoung felt it was the sound of his stopped heart beating again.

‘How can he say that with a smile?’

It was a greater shock than when the man had said he would sacrifice himself for the two.

He didn’t know that the emergency exit door had closed again. He also didn’t know that Muyoung had prepared a distraction to draw the zombies’ attention elsewhere. Yet, he was just smiling to relieve the guilt of the two. He was truly… a perfect saint.

“Hurry.”

The urging voice snapped Muyoung, who had been staring blankly, back to reality.

“Hyung, you have to come back alive, okay?”

“I’ll wait for you, hyung.”

“Yeah. I got it, so hurry.”

The two, reluctant to leave, shuffled their feet on the ground as they turned away, trying to hold back their tears.

Watching their retreating figures, Muyoung had to struggle to suppress the exclamation that was about to burst out. The man named Seokjae was so perfect, and the two of them were also a rare type to see in a situation like this.