Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 54

Thinking about it, Muyoung never called Seokjae by his name. While Kyungho and Junwoo easily called him “Seokjae hyung,” Muyoung always just called him “hyung.”

Of course, Seokjae knew that unlike Kyungho and Junwoo who had two older brothers, Muyoung only had one, so he didn’t need to add the name for distinction. However.

‘Couldn’t he still call me by my name?’

Knowing and understanding were two different things.

Even before meeting Muyoung, the other two had no problem calling him Seokjae hyung, so why wouldn’t Muyoung call him by his name?

‘He calls Lee Kyungho and Park Junwoo by their names just fine…’

Now that he noticed, Muyoung even called the two upstairs by their names. With childish jealousy, the veins on Seokjae’s hand gripping the kitchen doorframe began to show.

‘Doesn’t he look… a bit upset?’

After their conversation ended, Muyoung felt a bit awkward standing next to Seokjae and was about to go set the utensils. That is, if Seokjae hadn’t been staring at him with such intense eyes.

‘I thought the mood was pretty good until just now.’

Wondering if he had done something wrong, Muyoung tried to recall their recent conversation, but couldn’t find anything amiss.

“Hyung… What’s wrong?”

Muyoung asked cautiously. But confirming once again that his name wasn’t included even in this question made Seokjae’s mood sink further.

His jealousy over such a trivial matter made him look exactly like a teenager in love, but unable to see his own state objectively, Seokjae concluded that Muyoung was discriminating against only him and became thoroughly upset.

‘Just when I think we’ve gotten closer, he makes me feel left out as if telling me to wake up from my dream.’

He felt like this disappointment would only be resolved if Muyoung called him by his name. So Seokjae called Muyoung’s name pointedly, aware of the gazes from the side.

“Muyoung.”

“Yes?”

“Kang Muyoung.”

“Y-yes…?”

“Mr. Kang Muyoung.”

“Hyung, did I do something wrong?”

As the form of address became more formal, Muyoung’s hands, which had been comfortably pointing towards the floor, gradually came together until they formed a shape like a polite hamster’s paws.

“Try calling me Seokjae hyung.”

“Pardon?”

“If you don’t like that, then Mr. Seokjae.”

“Why so suddenly?”

Seokjae’s words after his silence were abrupt, but Muyoung was at least relieved that he wasn’t angry at him.

“If you don’t like that either, ‘Seokjae-ya’ is fine too.”

“No, how could I address you so casually?”

“Then say Seokjae hyung. Do you know you’ve never called my name even once until now?”

“Me?”

Saying “Eh?” and thinking about it, Muyoung realized he really had never uttered Seokjae’s name. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, and Seokjae raised an eyebrow as if to say, “See?”

“Right? Everyone here has had their name called by you at least once, so why not me?”

After finishing his words, Seokjae let out a deep sigh that sounded like a haughty “Hmph!” to Muyoung.

‘Now that I think about it, he’s right. I would have felt hurt too if hyung never called my name.’

Muyoung felt sorry as he recalled the day Seokjae first called him by his name. He wasn’t sure why Seokjae suddenly became concerned about the form of address, but this seemed to be his own mistake. However, he wanted to clear up any misunderstanding that he had done this intentionally.

“I guess I got used to calling you hyung.”

“Then try calling me now.”

“Ah, okay.”

Although he felt a bit embarrassed to actually do it, he didn’t want to hurt Seokjae’s feelings over a misunderstanding when they had just agreed to be friends. Muyoung cleared his throat once and opened his mouth.

“Seok-“

Beep beep beep.

The microwave alarm interrupted Muyoung’s words. As the conversation between the two, which had been flowing like a ping-pong match, stopped, silence fell in the kitchen.

‘Isn’t it too quiet like this…?’

Even without conversation, there should have been noise from preparing the meal, but it was too quiet. Feeling strangely uneasy, Muyoung quickly turned his head, which had been fixed on Seokjae, towards Kyungho and Junwoo.

Soon, Muyoung’s eyes met with two pairs of eyes that had been watching them.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What, why did you stop calling?”

A suffocating silence fell between the three people, excluding Seokjae who had been aware of those gazes from the start.

Beep beep beep.

While they couldn’t avoid each other’s eyes or say anything, the microwave alarm rang again, urging someone to open the door. Only then did all three seem to come to their senses and move hurriedly.

“Ahem, w-where’s the tray?”

“Uh, the tray is here.”

For some reason, Muyoung wanted to escape this situation where he felt like he had done something extremely embarrassing in front of the kids.

“Ah, that needs to be taken upstairs, right? I’ll take it up!”

He grabbed the tray prepared for the people upstairs as soon as he spotted it and fled. He worried Seokjae might stop him as he brushed past, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

After Muyoung escaped to the second floor, Kyungho and Junwoo continued preparing the meal while trying hard to avoid Seokjae’s gaze. However, they couldn’t drag out the time much just by transferring the heated instant food to dishes.

“I-I wonder when Muyoung hyung will come back?”

“Yeah… He should come back before the food gets cold. Haha…”

When everything was set, including the utensils on the dishes, they could no longer avert their gaze elsewhere and sat down, making awkward conversation.

‘Did we just interrupt something?’

‘Probably?’

Then, using their experience as childhood friends, they had a silent conversation through eye contact.

They had noticed that Seokjae’s attitude towards Muyoung was different from how he treated them and seemed incredibly intimate, so even though they knew it was rude, they couldn’t take their eyes off them.

It was the tactless microwave that broke the strange atmosphere flowing between the hyungs, not them, but for some reason, they found themselves holding their breath and watching Seokjae’s reactions.

“…Kids.”

Seokjae, who had somehow sat down facing the two high school students with his chin resting on one hand, opened his mouth. He turned only his gaze to the two while maintaining his posture of looking at the kitchen door through which Muyoung had left.

“Yes?”

“Yes?”

They answered his call with stiff postures like well-disciplined trainees. The black eyes that had been quietly observing them soon narrowed.

“Are you curious?”

His attitude was light, as if he might tell them if they asked. A fresh-looking smile appeared on Seokjae’s face.

“Uh… that- oof.”

“It’s, it’s fine, hyung.”

Junwoo, who was about to ask what he was curious about since Seokjae didn’t seem to be in a bad mood, collapsed after getting elbowed in the side by Kyungho.

“Really? Then never mind.”

“Y-yes…”

The moment Kyungho refused, Seokjae’s eyes became indifferent, as if he had lost interest. In fact, he was satisfied, having achieved what he intended.

‘I knew they would react like this.’

In reality, if Junwoo had asked “What kind of relationship do you two have?”, the only answer Seokjae could give was that they were friends. But he had guessed from their time together that Kyungho, who was very mindful of others, wouldn’t let such a question be asked.

Thanks to this, the two would have to speculate about his relationship with Muyoung without getting an answer. They probably wouldn’t ask questions like “Why did you sleep together?” again, as they did today.

‘Since Muyoung is shy, I should block anything that might interfere in advance.’

Given his personality, if there were interruptions from others, he would become that much more cautious, so it was better to take care of these things early. The only side effect was that he didn’t know how far the two’s speculations would go… but from Seokjae’s perspective, this wasn’t a problem at all.

‘As long as the result is good, it doesn’t matter how we get there.’

He too was experiencing these feelings for the first time, so he wasn’t sure if his feelings for Muyoung were obsession, possessiveness, or something else. The important thing was that he should be the most important person to Muyoung. As long as that could be achieved, he didn’t care how others might misunderstand.

“Hmm… I’ll go wash my face for a moment. I’m not fully awake yet.”

Having finished his business, Seokjae stood up.

‘He seemed to like my face, so I should take care of it as much as possible.’

Recalling the hot gaze on his face until just before falling asleep on Muyoung’s lap, he headed to the bathroom with light steps.

As soon as the two adults left and only the watchful younger ones remained, groans of relief burst out.